Aitareya Upanishad - 8. - T.N.Sethumadhavan.

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Chinmaya Mission

Chinmaya Sudarshan at Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA ,had the honor of welcoming Pujya Swami Swaroopananda to inaugurate and bless the centre.

The ashram and the surrounding garden with the flowers and greenery truly touched Swamiji. So indeed, it was a ' SU- DARSHAN ' for him.

Swamiji gave the example of Goswami Tulsidas ji and his thoughts on “Theerath Raj Prayag”. . The Prayag Raj is where the Ganga of devotion flows, where brahma vichar is Saraswati and where discussions of dharma, vidhi and nished happen is the river, Yamuna. Swamiji also emphasized that Chinmaya Sudarshan is the place of worship, where people can sing with devotion, where they can perform dedicated seva, where they can gain knowledge and meditate on the Supreme.

In his concluding remarks, Swami wished everyone the best with abundance of blessings. He complimented the wonderful work done by Swami Siddhananda and Swami Shantananda in spreading Gurudev’s work and words over the years.

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Saturday, September 17, 2022. 06:00. 
Chapter I - 
Section 2 :  Cosmic Powers in the Human Body
Post - 8.

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Mantram - 5.

"Tamashanayapipase abrutamavabhyamabhiprajanihiti te abravidetasveva 

va.n devatasvabhajamyetasu bhaginnyau karomiti . tasmadyasyai kasyai 

cha devatayai havigri.rhyate bhaginyavevasyamashanayapipase 

bhavatah."

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Commentary :

Hunger and thirst said to the Creator: "For the two of us find an abode also." He 

said to them: "I assign the two of you to these deities; I make you co-sharers with 

them." Therefore to whatsoever deity an oblation is made, hunger and thirst 

became sharers in it.

 

Seeing other deities occupy their allotted places in man, hunger and thirst also demanded 

their own abode for themselves. Instead of assigning them an independent abode, the 

Creator asked them to share the abode with all the other deities. This signifies that desires 

afflict all the senses and that hunger and thirst are mere sensations which cannot subsist 

independently without their supporting sense organs; for example mere hunger cannot eat 

food unless it takes the help of the mouth to eat. 

*****


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ityaitareyopanishadi prathamadhyaye dvitiyah khandah 
End of Chapter I - Section 2

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Aitareya Upanishad: 
Origin of the Universe & Man 
(Part-2)

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atha aitareyopaniShadi prathamAdhyAye tRitIyaH khaNDaH 
Chapter I - Section 3 
Descent of Consciousness in Man

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Preamble :

After creating the fields for the functioning of the universe and the human beings which 

were both empowered by the cosmic forces, the third step in the creative process is said 

to be the creation of food. This is the reason why even today we consider food, clothing 

and shelter as the fundamental necessities of human beings to sustain life. The interesting 

allegory relating to this process is described in this section of the Upanishad.

 

Different senses urged by hunger and thirst run after food to catch it like a cat running 

after a mouse. None of them could succeed in their attempt as otherwise it would have 

resulted in a competition among the senses for the fulfillment of their desires. Finally 

food was caught by the out-breath called Apana which is one of the five forms of lifebreath. 

It regulates the digestive system. 


The incident of senses running after food made Consciousness to think about the need to 

have a unifying force in the body. So Consciousness or Atman itself entered the body 

from the suture in the skull. This point of entry called Vidriti is considered to be the door 

of bliss. The soul passing through this at the time of death attains progressive liberation. 


Consciousness pervades the whole body. However by way of illustration, it is stated that 

It has three abodes and three states of existence. It is stated to reside in the eyes during 

waking state, in the mind during dream state and in the heart during deep sleep state. 


Having descended in man, Consciousness (Atman) looked around to see if there were any 

other principles different from it. It saw the same Atman or Self in all beings. It realized 

that this Atman manifested as Cosmic Person (Purusha) was in fact all-pervading 

Brahman. The Self in man is nothing but Cosmic Consciousness. It is called Idandra - or 

Indra as a mark of respect. This narration signifies the realization by individual Self that 

the same Brahman, Cosmic Consciousness, pervades in all beings. 

*****

Next-

The Text 

CREATION OF FOOD BY THE SUPREME SELF 

sa IkShateme nu lokAshcha lokapAlAshchAnnamebhyaH sRijA iti .. 1.

To be continued ......

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