CHAPTER FIVE Aitareya Upanisad Introduction and Invocation : This Upanisad belongs to the Brahmana of the Rgveda. It constitutes of six sections and Sankaracarya calls it aptly as the ' Atma Satka'. Tradition attributes the authorship of Aitareya Brahmana to a seer called Mahidasa, son of a lady called Itara. Itara fervently prayed to Mother Earth, who manifested herself and bestowed immortal knowledge on the child. He is known to us as the son of Itara i.e. Aitareya and the Brahmana, as also the Upanisadic portion of it, belonging to the Rgveda is named after him. The Upanisad concentrates on a familiar methodology in scriptural study called Aropa and Apavada to be understood as the superimposition and negation technique. As in every Upanisad, the invocation exhibits the need for the Supreme's grace to accomplish the objective of both the teacher and the taught. The principle of Bhakti as we indicate devotion today is the starting point of all initiation, though the goal was to reach the Pure Advaitic truth. The efficiency of prayer as a self- development marker was evidently known to the Rsis and they advocated it seriously and sincerely. Bhakti when it means to indicate rare, subtle adjustments of our minds by prayer is a dignified inspiration to the seeker. The opening lines request for integrity in speech and mind. Also the rightful demand to the Supreme to reveal itself to the student. The priority for any student is to retain the knowledge taught to them. So the prayer continues with a request for the same and further focus. As the intellect is soaked with the study of the scriptures the need to be truthful is complete. Emphasis is then on protection for both the acarya and the student. Thus the seeker is making a prayerful introduction to his course of study indicative of Bhakti preceding other concepts in Upaniuadic literature. 154 An enquiry into the objective world proves that change can take place upon a changeless base. Here when the Seer uses the word atman, it has to be understood that before the creation of the pluralistic world all that was there was one entity. The next line indicates that there was no other active entity at that time. The latter negative statement affirms the fact of the former positive one. If before creation there existed the Self, any other principle could not be present in an infinite way, alongside it. In this we are to understand that the Infinite Supreme is compelled to project forth a world determined by the inputs provided by the Vasanas. Identifying Itself with the Vasanas, the Supreme decided that a special field of expression is necessary for them. As understood fi*om the previous sloka the Supreme creates conducive worlds for the Vasanas to express themselves. The English word "world "is inadequate to express the complete meaning of the word loka. Since it means a field of experiencing, four distinct fields named ambhas, marici, maram and apah were created by the Supreme. They are respectively the area above the atmosphere, the region of light, the world of finitude and the realm of water, minerals etc beneath the surface of earth. Each accommodates the expression of different Vasanas. The life in us conditioned by the Vasanas becomes the protector of the world and this is now brought forth by the Creator. There is a causal condition, a subtle condifion and a gross condition. This was manifested. But the Absolute is never disconnected fi-om them at any time; it always maintains a lien over everything that it has created. It enters the great objects of a cosmical nature, and this is what we call the immanence of God. The protector : The Upanisadic seer now puts forward the concept behind this protector. He credits the Supreme to have drawn fi"om the waters and shaped a person. We have to understand the inner meaning beyond what this simple '" Atma va idameka evagra asit/ nanyat kincana misat / Ai Upa Canto I Section I Verse I 155 statement conveys. We must understand that it's the most rudimentary form which was shaped out of water that forms the the basis of the full-grown human. Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda puts it succinctly "Thus if the Rsi says that shape and girth were first warped out, in and from the waters, he is only expressing, in the poetic language of a heart ablaze with the inspiration of knowledge, the same scientific truth that is so very well-known to us today." In this section we are told how the rough lump shaped from water was brooded upon. '^^ As a result of this brooding, a cleft formed in the shape of the mouth on the egg shaped being. Expression came forth from the mouth and from this expression which is speech, the cosmic element of Fire rose up. The being created by the Supreme is next developing the nostrils after gaining the organ of speech. First the organ of smell came forth and then the power of smell developed. The Air came out then as the presiding deity of the organ and power of smell. The term Aditya denotes the light principle of the Sun and in this verse it is said that the eyes came and from them sight emerged. This sight is governed by the Sun. It is common knowledge that vision is possible only in the medium of light. Ears burst forth, from the ears proceeded hearing and from hearing, the Quarters. By the term disah translated as. Quarters we must understand space here. Almost at the end came the complete covering for the being. The skin was separated and from it proceeded hairs. The .herbs n trees sprung forth from hairs. The comparison is here with the vegetable kingdom growing from the surface of the earth as hair does from skin. The heart sprung up and from the heart, the mind and from the mind, the Moon. The heart is the localized spot from where springs forth the mind which is the indriya (the organ) to feel. The presiding deity of the mind is the moon. A navel burst forth, from the navel Apana and from Apana - death. The expression of life through a physical body is conveyed here. It is under ' Tamabhyatapat aapah/ Ai Upa Canto I Section I Verse 4. 156 five heads of the same element, Prana. That aspect of Prana which effectively throws out waste matter from the body is Apana. Also the concept of ejection is the principle of death and in all average human beings there lies Apana in the naval area. At the time of death there is a major activity of Apana in us. The generative organ burst forth and from this organ, the seeds. Water is the presiding deity of this as the human foetus is safe in the womb in water. When we hear all these great statements of cosmic manifestation, we feel elated. But we have individual sorrows in our lives. To overcome them we think about the very process of creation of our world and human beings. When we contemplate on the process we understand that there was a very dramatic action of God, as it were in the process of creation. He enacted before Himself, a real drama and there was no audience before Him. He was the director, He was the actor and He was the audience. It is very strange! He immediately visualized Himself as the all "I am this all." '^^This universe of manifested effects is my Self. Naturally, because the whole effect is constituted of the substance of this ultimate cause. The Rsi has made it clear that the Supreme working through the total of Vasanas created first of all the total gross .Thrown into the world of plurality they felt the need to satiate themselves. Whipped up by this impulse, they approached their creator and demanded separate fields of experiences to express independently, each of their pains and needs. Enjoyment of their respective objects was their goal. The lord then showed them different types of forms where they could find accommodation of their satisfaction. But they rejected both the horse and cow forms as they found these instruments neither elaborate nor intelligent enough for them to experience intensively. From this we can clearly understand that the lower realms of evolution are not platforms for the higher desires of human to be '^•' Aham idam sarvam asmi Ai Upa Canto I Section 1 Verse 157 satiated. Hence the faculties of sense, deified as Devatas refused to accept these lowly forms of expression. The process of evolution indicated here is definitely indicative of bipeds coming forth from quadrupeds! The Aitareya Upanishad is very precise. It does not go into long details of the evolutionary process of the individual body. Location of function : The Upanishad mentions that when the divinities were originally projected from the body of the Cosmic Being, there was first the location of the function. For instance regards the mouth there was the urge of the expression of that location in the form of speech and then the divinity Agni, the presiding deity over speech, manifested itself and so on with every other function. Thus, the god or the divinity came afterwards as the function came first. But now, what has happened is that when the divinities entered the human body, there was a reversal of the whole process. Instead of the mouth projecting the speech and then the Agni, or the Devata coming thereafter, Agni entered into the body as speech and found the mouth as the abode.