Scholars such as Radhakrishnan and Deussen has identified the Chandogya Upanisad (CU) as one of the best descriptions of the concept of the Atman. In the final book of the CU, Book 8, Prajapati teaches Indra over a period of 101 years the four stages of the self. As interpreted by Radhakrishnan, these stages are: 1) the bodily self, 2) the empirical self, 3) the transcendental self and finally, 4) the Absolute Self, or the Atman.[3] I will examine this Book which comprises 15 chapters, summarising and paraphrasing its key elements (presented in bold[4]), sans its poetic flourishes to aid clarity. In the tradition of such commentaries and interpretations, I will add my reflections and those of other commentators below these passages, in a bid to clarify and articulate what is vital to our understanding of the Atman vis-à-vis the nature of reality.
The tale in Book 8 has a meditative rhythm. To answer the question, ‘What is the Atman?’, Prajapati reveals each stage of the self one stage at a time. Each time, Indra leaves thinking he has got the answer only to return dissatisfied. In the spirit of a true enquirer, he seeks further clarification and answers, not discouraged by how he has to invest yet another set of many years. His sacrifices mirror the sacrifices that the “chaste student of sacred knowledge”[5] (brahmacarya) needs to make. To find and understand the Atman is a journey. Prajapati was not being duplicitous in revealing the answer one stage at a time, as each answer brings Indra closer to the ultimate truth about the Atman. Similar to how a child must first learn to crawl before he can walk and then later run, and is not able to skip any stages in between, Indra and all brahmacaryas have to pass through all the stages of the self in preparation for the final stage to reach the Absolute Self of the Atman. Finally, Indra attains liberation (moksha) as promised by Prajapati to those who managed to find out and understand the Atman, enabling them to break out of the otherwise endless cycles of death and rebirth (samsara). Is moksha not the aspiration of all Hindus? In that case, the lesson of Book 8 of the CU is an important one to guide our paths to liberation.
OM. Peace. Peace. Peace.
Exposition of CU Book 8
CU 8.1.1: In the city of Brahman[6], there is a house in the form of a lotus-flower.
This city is the human body, and the house its heart, according to Sankara.[7] I understand this to mean that our body belongs to Brahman, the Absolute, or that Brahman lives in us, though at the start of a Hindu’s spiritual journey, he may not have realised that yet.
CU 8.1.2-5: Within that heart is a small space. The teacher instructs that what is within that space needs to be found and understood. He explains that that space is as large as the universe – it contains the heaven and earth, fire and wind, sun and moon, lightning and the stars. Everything in the universe is contained within it. This city of Brahman, this human body, does not grow old and cannot be destroyed.
To clarify, the author states: “That is the real city of Brahman.”[8] This can be understood to mean that our physical bodies as we know it, which grows old and dies and can be killed is not the reality, it is an illusion (maya). In the next line of the same verse, the author explains that the real city of Brahman is the Atman, which is “free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless”, which has desires which will become true, whose Will makes what it wills true.[9] Elsewhere in the Upanisads, the nature of reality is described as sat-cit-ananda, which is infinite existence, absolute truth and pure delight.[10]
CU 8.1.6: Those who live without discovering that they are Atman are not free and not liberated, while those who have made that discovery and developed that full understanding have freedom in “all worlds.”
This freedom refers to attaining the state of moksha. ‘All worlds’ possibly refer to the world of ordinary experience and the realm of pure being, referred to later in CU 8.4.1. Other worlds mentioned in Book 8 is the world of Brahman, a “heavenly world”[11] and even the universe contained in our hearts.[12] Could all worlds also refer to a transcendence of time and space, where those who have attained moksha can supersede the constraints of time and space, in ways popularised by science-fiction such as teleportation or time-travel? Remaining more down-to-earth, perhaps the physical limitations imposed by time and space, such as only being able to go forward in time minute by minute, second by second, and having to physically travel from place to place by car or foot, ceases to matter since the eternal life achieved upon liberation will make such limitations superfluous, and in that way, complete freedom is achieved.
CU 8.2: What the Atman desires will come true. If he desires fathers, mothers, siblings, friends, perfume and garlands, food and drink, song and music, or women, these desires will become true simply because he willed them.
Sensory pleasures (Kama) are not excluded from the Atman, reflecting the naturalistic aspects of Hinduism when contrasted with prudish Judeo-Christian mores. Sensory pleasures such as food, music and women are mentioned explicitly, after the desires for a world of family and friends. Hinduism recognises that such enjoyment is part of our nature and are “legitimate goal[s]”, when pursued during the householder stage in life in line with the Kama Sastra literature.[13] Nonetheless, the idea here is to show the power of the Will of the Atman. Whatever it desires, it attains. The items suggested need not necessarily be thought to represent the typical desires of the Atman. Krishnananda interprets this chapter to mean that if one’s Will is in tune with the Atman, then one’s wishes will be in accord with the universe and hence such powers will then be used in a proper and fitting way.[14]
CU 8.4.1-3: However, these true desires may be enveloped by falsity. Just like people who does not know the location of buried treasure may walk over it repeatedly without finding it, people may go every day to the world of Brahman but yet not find it. The Atman is in the heart. Those who know this go to the “heavenly world”.
Even though the possibility of finding our Atman is open to everyone, not everyone manages to find it. The Atman is within us, just like that treasure may be within our land, but that does not mean we will be able to discover it, or even be aware of its existence. Those who do manage to find out and understand the Atman will go to ‘heaven’ which in Hinduism would be a state of union with the Brahman. However, to be able to do this, one must become a brahmacarya, of which many may not be ready or willing to make the required sacrifices and study.
CU 8.4.1: The Atman is a bridge or a dam keeping these worlds apart. Day, night, old age, death, sorrow, good actions or bad actions cannot cross over.
According to Krishnananda, these worlds are 1) the world of ordinary experience and 2) the “realm of pure Being.” In this realm, time is transcended, and hence old age, death and sorrow cannot affect it, nor actions, both good or bad. No evil can cross over and so this realm of pure Being, or world of Brahman has no evil. In fact, such a realm has “no contact with anything that is phenomenal.”[15] The Atman is not the destination but serves as a bridge, a means to reach the realm of pure Being but the Atman has to be found and understood so that the bridge can then be crossed to reach that realm.
CU 8.4.2-3, 8.5.1-3: The blind and sick will no longer face their afflictions when they cross the bridge of the Atman. There is no darkness there since such a world is brightly illuminated. However, only the brahmacarya will be able to cross that bridge. They will then have “unlimited freedom.” The chaste life of the brahmacarya is characterised by sacrifice, offering, protracted sacrifice, silent asceticism, fasting and becoming a hermit in the forest.
The brahamacarya is a student of religious knowledge, the word coming from Brahman and carya which means conduct. Hence such a student aims to learn the conduct of Brahman and to live as Brahman, explains Krishananda[16] or “progressing within Brahman”, according to Rodrigues.[17] By carrying out the duties of the student, which includes sacrifice, making offerings, asceticism and going into the forest, can one then finally be able to live as Brahman, to find and understand one’s Atman and attain moksha.
CU 8.7.1-3: Prajapati, lord of all creatures, said that the Atman needs to be sought and understood. The man who manages to find out and understand the Atman will “obtain all worlds and all desires.” The gods and devils heard this and sent Indra, king of the gods, and Virocana, king of the demons, respectively, to search for the Atman so as to obtain all worlds and all desires. They both came to Prajapati with firewood as a token of discipleship, and lived for 32 years the chaste life of the brahmacarya. After those years, Prajapati asked them what they desired, and they replied they desired the Atman, so that they could obtain all worlds and all desires.
Indra and Virocana’s aim were to obtain all worlds and all desires, but they first came with an offering of firewood, as a token to indicate their willingness to serve the teacher and tend the sacred fires.[18] They then had to live the life of the student for 32 years before even being asked their wishes. While these are gods and demons whose lifespans exceed that of man’s, the idea of spending an extended period in service, sacrifice and obedience in one’s quest tells us that to attain moksha is a long and difficult journey.
CU 8.7.3-8.8.4: Prajapati replied: “That Person who is seen in the eye – He is the Atman of whom I spoke. That is the immortal, the fearless. That is Brahma[n].” The same Atman can be seen in the reflection of the water and in a mirror, he added. Both Indra and Virocana looked into a pan of water and saw their reflections. Prajapati instructed them to dress up and adorn themselves with ornaments and then look at their reflections. He asked them what they saw and they replied that they saw their well-ornamented and well-dressed reflections. Prajapati told them that that is the Atman. Both then left for their respective realms, “with tranquil hearts.” Prajapati mused that they left without having understood: “Whosoever shall have such a mystic doctrine (upanisad), be they gods or be they devils, they shall perish.” Virocana arrived at the realm of the demons. He delivered to them the mystic upanisad: “The self [Atman] must be glorified, the self must be served here. Glorifying and serving the self here, one attains both worlds, this one and that one.”
Being seen in the eye can be understood as the reflection of one’s image using another person’s eye as a mirror, which is in line with the reflections in water and mirror in the next line. However, it can also be the self that is visibly seen by others. Nonetheless, that reflection or other’s image of us is only a test by Prajapati to Indra and Virocana. If one accepted such a superficial doctrine and think that by pursuing material accomplishments, represented here by fancy clothing and ornaments, one can attain all worlds, one will not be able to break out of samsara. These verses could also be interpreted as how one is viewed by others, who may be taken in by one’s fancy dress and adornments. Other people’s image of us is also useless in knowing our Atman. Virocana delivers a false promise to his fellow demons, misleading them into thinking that to achieve success in the material world and the heavenly world is to glorify and serve oneself. Such a teaching “belongs to the demons,” according to the CU.[19]
CU 8.9: Indra, however, before reaching the gods, saw a difficulty with the upanisad, and went back to Prajapati, explaining: “Just as […] that one is well-ornamented when this body is well-ornamented, well-dressed when this is well-dressed, adorned when this is adorned, even so it is blind when this is blind, lame when this is lame, maimed when this is maimed. It perishes immediately upon the perishing of this body. I see nothing enjoyable in this.” Prajapati promised to explain if Indra lived with him for another 32 years.
Our reflection, whether in the mirror or in other’s image of us, is temporal, regardless of how well-dressed or materially accomplished that image might be. Such accomplishments or beauty vanishes upon the deaths of our body and so is ultimately unsatisfying for the true enquirer. We are more than our objective bodies and material belongings. We have a subjectivity which could end up being submerged by our objective appearance, where we appear to others in terms of objective characteristics such as our clothing or material accomplishments. If we allow ourselves to be defined only in terms of such objective characteristics, we are lost since such objective things are temporary and disappears upon our deaths.
CU 8.10: Then Prajapati explained: “He who moves about happy in a dream – he is the Self (Atman). […] That is the immortal, the fearless. That is Brahma[n].” Once again, Indra left with a tranquil heart but before reaching the gods, saw a difficulty with the upanisad, and went back to Prajapati, explaining: “Even if this body is blind, that one is not blind. If this is lame, he is not lame. Indeed, he does not suffer defect through defect of this. He is not slain with one’s murder. He is not lame with one’s lameness. Nevertheless, as it were, they kill him; as it were, they unclothe him; as it were, he comes to experience what is unpleasant; as it were, he even weeps. I see nothing enjoyable in this.” Prajapati promised to explain if Indra lived with him for another 32 years.
Rahdakrishnan interpreted this stage of the self as the empirical or mental stage, while the previous stage was the bodily stage. It is clear why that first stage was bodily, since it was concerned with material appearances. However, in this chapter, Prajapati speaks of how the dreaming subject is the self. In contrast with the bodily self, Indra realises that a man with disabilities such as blindness or lameness does not have these disabilities in his dreams. However, experiences in dreams can be still unpleasant, and can cause physical manifestations of pain and suffering such as tears. The term ‘empirical’ is used by Rahdakrishnan to denote experiences, in this case mental experiences. He writes: “Prajapati took the dream states instead of other mental experiences, because dreams being more independent of body are crucial in their nature. The self is supposed to roam untrammelled in dreams.”[20] Even if we can escape our bodies and be a pure mental being, we still suffer. Indra is hence right to be dissatisfied with this solution and recognise that the mental state cannot be the Atman.
CU 8.11: And then Prajapati explained: “Now when one is sound asleep, composed, serene, and knows no dream – that is the Self (Atman). […] That is the immortal, the fearless. That is Brahma[n].” As before, Indra left with a tranquil heart but before reaching the gods, saw a difficulty with the upanisad, and went back to Prajapati, explaining: “Assuredly, indeed, this one does not exactly know himself with the thought ‘I am he,’ nor indeed the things here. He becomes one who has gone to destruction. I see nothing enjoyable in this.” Prajapati promised to explain if Indra lived with him, but this time only for 5 years, making it in total 101 years.
The state of deep sleep, where one’s mental capacity is not even formulating experiences as it was in the dream state, is the next stage, termed the transcendent stage by Radhakrishnan. Indra objects to how the self, which is the subject of experiences now seems completely submerged and is similar to a dead body. According to Radhakrishnan, what Prajapati is trying to convey is that “the self continuously exists, even when the waking or the dreaming experience is suspended.”[21] This continuity of consciousness means the self remains, “underlying all contents of consciousness,” even when there are no objects, be they physical or mental objects, to think about. “While the self was not exclusive of conscious states, it was not the conscious states,” writes Radhakrishnan.[22]
CU 8.12.1-3: Then Prajapati explained: “O Maghavan [Munificent One], verily, this body is mortal. It has been appropriated by Death. [But] it is the standing-ground of that deathless, bodiless Self (Atman). Verily, he who is incorporate has been appropriated by pleasure and pain. Verily, there is no freedom from pleasure and pain for one while he is incorporate. Verily, while one is bodiless, pleasure and pain do not touch him.” The serene man, when he leaves his physical body and reach the “highest light” would appear in his true form, and become the “supreme person.”
While the self is in a physical body, he experiences pleasure, pain and finally death, with no way to escape these. Once the self transcends or departs the body, then such pleasure, pain and death cannot affect him. The body is merely the container, the abode of the Atman, which is immortal and without body. The Atman is “the universal self, which is immanent as well as transcendent,” writes Radhakrishnan.[23] This is the final stage of the self, the stage of the Absolute Self. The serene man, the blissful man, who have found and understand the nature of the Atman, can now appear in his ‘true’ form, the ultimate reality of his real self, which is the Atman.
CU 8.12.4-6: Such a person “goes around laughing, sporting, having enjoyment with women or chariots or friends, not remembering the appendage of this body.” It is the Atman that sees, smells and speaks, hears and thinks, with the eyes, nose, voice, ear and mind the respective instruments. Through Indra, the gods revere the Atman, and so obtains all worlds and all desires.
Despite the lack of a physical body, a person which is pure spirit can still enjoy pleasures that are normally considered bodily, such as sports and sex. Sensory pleasures can be experienced even without sensory organs since all sensations are ultimately mediated through the mind. The sensory organs are merely instruments. It is the subject, the self, that is experiencing the sensations. As Radhakrishnan puts it: “It is the person that sees, not the object seen. It is not the bundle of qualities called the “me”, but the I which remains beyond and behind inspecting all these qualities.”[24]
CU 8.15: Through studying the Veda in the time left over from serving the guru, and after returning home continuing his study of the Veda, through raising virtuous sons and pupils, focusing all his senses on the Atman, and not harming all beings (except during appropriate times such as ritual sacrifices), doing these throughout his life, one can reach the world of Brahman and not reincarnate again.
The CU concludes with practical measures of what a man needs to do to achieve what Indra, a god, has achieved. That is ultimately the purpose of this teaching, where moksha is not simply something only achievable by gods but also by man. Through study as a student, then as a householder, teaching, focus on the Atman and not doing harm, can a man attain moksha.
Brahmacarya
In Hinduism, the four stages of life prescribed are 1) the student (brahmacarya), 2) the householder (grhastha), 3) retiring into the forest (vanaprastha), and 4) the renouncer (samnyasa). The brahmacarya stage requires a boy to live with his spiritual teacher (guru) in a hermitage (asrama), living a chaste or austere life of formal study of at least one Veda, typically for nine to 36 years. Rodrigues explains that the relationship between brahmacarya and guru is “upheld in virtually all Hindu religious texts as the pre-eminent of human relationships, for it transmits the knowledge that grants spiritual maturity and may even lead to liberation,”[25] as we have seen here in the relationship between Prajapati and Indra.
Chapters 4 and 5 of CU Book 8 are devoted to the brahmacarya, with chapter 4 speaking of how only a brahmacarya can reach the world of Brahman by crossing the bridge of the Atman. Chapter 5 describes how a brahmacarya’s life is characterised by sacrifice, offering, protracted sacrifice, silent asceticism, fasting and becoming a hermit in the forest. In contrast, CU’s last chapter, chapter 15, speaks of how the brahmacarya can return home, live the life of the householder, raise sons, and yet also reach the world of Brahman. This suggests that what is important is not the strict adherence to remaining in the status of the brahmacarya so as to attain moksha, but the attitude of continuous learning of the Vedas, carrying out one’s duty (dharma) and a sustained focus on the Atman. In that way, one can still remain a brahmacarya even as a householder and hence achieve moksha.
According to Rodrigues, only a few groups of Hindus even attempt to practice the student stage as prescribed, and do so in a modified way. They send their sons to live with the teacher modelled on the traditional system for several years, or visit hermitages for spiritual instruction for days or months at any point in their lives. Conventional public schooling is now the norm for children in India. The notion of Brahmacarya today is also synonymous with chastity.[26]
Conclusion
The final book of the CU tells a story which reveals gradually what is the nature of the Atman. Each man desirous of finding out has to go through the four stages of the self and make his own realisation. Each stage of the self supersedes the former until the finding and understanding of Atman is accomplished. It speaks of how such attainment is only possible for a true seeker, a brahmacarya. Even Indra, the king of the god, took 101 years. It concludes with broad but concrete instructions on how man can accomplish the same liberation. Book 8 of the CU can be read as a tale of a spiritual quest to attain all worlds and all desires, and also a philosophical enquiry into the nature of the self, which is not the bodily nor the mental. It is not even the state of transcendence when one is having no experiences, neither bodily nor mental. It is the realisation that we are the universal Soul, leaving our bodies behind and entering into the highest light, that will allow the Atman to appear in its true form. How can one do that? By becoming a brahmacarya.
Bibliography
Deussen, Paul. The Philosophy of the Upanishads. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1966.
Hume, Robert Ernest. The Thirteen Principal Upanishads. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
Krishnananda, Swami. The Chhandogya Upanishad. Sivananda Ashram: The Divine Life Society, 1984.
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli. Indian Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1971.
Rodrigues, Hillary P. Introducing Hinduism. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Roebuck, Valerie J. The Upanisads. London: Penguin Books, 2003.
[1] Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1971), 138.
[2] Ibid., 151.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Two translations of the Upanisads were consulted. The main translation used was by Robert Ernest Hume which I supported with another translation by Valerie J. Roebuck. This was necessary as the text of the Upanisads can be cryptic. Being unable to read the original in Sanskrit, readings of multiple translations helped me clarify what is meant. My paraphrased text is a combination of these two translations with the book, chapter and verse number denoting where it came from (e.g. CU.8.4.3 means CU book 8, chapter 4, verse 3. CU 8.5.1-3 means CU book 8, chapter 5, verse 1 to 3. CU 8.2 means CU book 8 and the entire chapter 2).
[5] Robert Ernest Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (London: Oxford University Press, 1921), CU 8.4.2.
[6] Hume translates it as Brahma, who is the creator god. However, Roebuck’s translation, and Krishnananda’s and Deussen’s commentaries, translate it as Brahman, the Absolute.
[7] Ibid., 262, footnote 4 and 5.
[8] Valerie J Roebuck, The Upanisads (London: Penguin Books, 2003), CU 8.1.5.
[9] Ibid., 425, footnote 3; 426, footnote 20.
[10] Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, 150.
[11] CU 8.4.3.
[12] CU 8.1.3.
[13] Hillary P. Rodrigues, Introducing Hinduism (New York: Routledge, 2006), 95.
[14] Swami Krishnananda, The Chhandogya Upanishad (Sivananda Ashram: The Divine Life Society, 1984), 273.
[15] Ibid., 284–85.
[16] Ibid., 286.
[17] Rodrigues, Introducing Hinduism, 90.
[18] Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1966), 369.
[19] CU 8.8.5.
[20] Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, 153.
[21] Ibid., 155.
[22] Ibid., 156.
[23] Ibid., 157.
[24] Ibid., 152.
[25] Rodrigues, Introducing Hinduism, 89.
[26] Ibid., 90.
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