Sandilya Vidya
Divine Life
Society Publication: Appendix 1-Sandilya
Vidya –Chhandogya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
Hari Om. Om Sat-Guru-Paramatmane Namah.
Sandilya, the great Rishi, had
this revelation of the Supreme Being. Vidya is a meditation, an art of
thinking on the Supreme goal. This meditation begins with the proclamation of
the all-comprehensiveness of Brahman: "Sarvam khalvidam brahma—All
this is verily Brahman." This vidya is contained in Section 14 of
Chapter Three of the Upanishad.
Sarvam
khalvidam brahma, tajjalaniti santa upasita, atha khalu kratumayah puruso
yatha-kratur-asmin-loke puruso bhavati tathetah pretya bhavati, sa kratum
kurvita.
This is a very famous passage in the Upanishad. This is how we have to meditate, calmly, quietly and peacefully. We have to meditate that everything comes from That, everything is sustained in That, and everything returns to That. That which is the origination, the sustenance and the dissolution of all things is this Brahman. Inasmuch as it is the cause of all things, naturally, every effect in the form of this creation is contained there. We too are effects of creation. So, we too are contained in it.
There is a great justification
in the assertion that everything is the Supreme Being. Logically and naturally,
when the effects are all contained in the cause, one should be able to
appreciate the all-comprehensiveness of the ultimate cause. This cause only is,
inasmuch as no effect can be separated from the cause. There is an
undifferentiated relationship between the effect and the cause. There is no gap
between the one and the other. We are, therefore, not isolated from the cause.
There is no vital cut or gulf between this universe of effect and its cause
which is Brahman. This means to say that even now we are vitally connected with
the Absolute. We are maintaining even at this moment an organic relationship.
The difficult part of this
meditation is that we ourselves, as thinkers, are associated vitally and
organically with the Supreme Being on whom we have to meditate. We cannot think
like this. For, the mind refuses to think. We can think something outside us
and we can think of the whole universe practically, but we cannot think
something in which we ourselves are involved, because there it is that the mind
finds itself incapable of functioning. There is no such thing as mind thinking
itself.
Aristotle said that God is
thought thinking itself. It is very difficult to understand what it means. How
can thought think itself? It always thinks something else. So, Brahman cannot
be thought by the mind, and yet this is the injunction of the Upanishad. The
highest kind of meditation is sarvam khalvidam brahma. All this
manifestation which you see in the form of individuality, whether organic or
inorganic, visible or invisible, wherever it be, is That. Nothing but That is.
Again to reiterate, the most
difficult thing to swallow here is that we ourselves are a part of That. The
meditator is part of that which is meditated on. How is one to even think? It
requires a tremendous psychological preparation and an extraordinary type of
purity of mind to appreciate what this instruction is. This is not an ordinary
type of meditation. It is most extraordinary in the sense that you are
contemplating yourself, as it were, and not something or somebody else. That is
implied in the statement that everything is included in That, not excluding
oneself who meditates.
Thus should you meditate: "Sarvam
khalvidam brahma—all this verily is the Supreme Absolute Brahman." How
do you contemplate Brahman? The whole universe—you can imagine what the
universe could be—has come from That. It has not come from That as something
different from That. The very substance of this creation is the substance of
the Absolute. That is one aspect of the matter. The other aspect is that there
is no disconnection between the effect and the cause. So you can imagine how
hard it is to entertain this thought. Everything is That because of the effect
being non-disassociated from the cause. It is connected with the cause. It is
sustained, even now at the time of the apparent creation, in That only and it
will go back to That. So there is no place for anything to exist except That.
Also, there is nothing other than That. Thus, one should meditate.
The word kratuh has
several meanings. It means an effort of the will, an action of the mind, a
determination of the understanding and a meditation that you practice. All this
meaning is comprehended by the word kratuh. The whole of one's life is
nothing but a determination or willing in this manner. Throughout our life we
will in some way or other. The individual is an embodiment of action performed
through his will. And whatever we will, that we become, because of the
intensity of the will. As we affirm, so we experience and that we become. Our
experiences are nothing but our affirmations through will. We have affirmed
something very intensely in our previous lives, and the reward of those
affirmations is the present series of experiences we are passing through here.
So this is a caution, again administered to us. Inasmuch as whatever we think
intensely and continuously, and that we are going to become, what should we
think throughout our life if we want to become Brahman? We want to become the
Absolute Itself. What should be the kind of thought that we should entertain?
What should be the type of affirmation that we should make? How should our will
work? This need not be explained further, because it is obvious. Therefore, my
dear readers, spend your time in absorption of your thought in Brahman. This
should be your meditation throughout your life. The Upanishad gives some
further details as to how we should conduct this meditation in our life.
Excerpts from:
Sandilya
Vidya –Chhandogya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
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