Pashupata Brahma Upanishad (Pāśupata Brāhmaṇopaniṣad) is another wonderful Upanishad from the Atharva Veda, part of the Atharva Veda. The Upanishad has two parts, two khandas: the Purva Khanda and the Uttara Khanda. Purva Khanda is methodology, techniques, and is also considered as the beginning and the initial. Uttara Khanda is the final, ultimate. So, the Purva and the Uttara Khandas put together, there are 78 mantras. The Purva Khanda has 32 mantras, and the Uttara Khanda has 46 mantras. The philosophy of the Atman, the Paramatma, the Paravidya, which is the ultimate, the final goal of the entire human life, is beautifully explained in the Uttara Khanda.
The entire Upanishad begins with the Swayambhu had a desire, and from that desire in the Swayambhu, the entire creation came. A nice approach is that the origin of the entire creation is from the Swayambhu, even for ourselves. All the external expressions, manifestations, and creations, even within our own minds, various ideas, thoughts, and chatting originate from a basic desire, Kamaha. This is the suggestion, which is the root, the seed of the entire creation. So, Swayambhu had the desire, and from that, Kameshwaraha and Vaishravanaha came out. Vaishravana belonged to the class of Rishis, known as Valakhilyas. And the Kameshwaraha is the Ishwaratvam.
So this Vaishravana asks Brahman. Seven questions were raised. These questions are very important. In our existence of life, in our own day-to-day life, the questions are very interesting. The questions raised by the Valakhilya to the Swayambhu are: What is Vidya of this world? And what is the Devaha, the deity? Then who is the Deva? What is Jagrada? What is Turiya? And who is the God of this? Under whose control are all of these? And what is the extension of the durations of time? Under whose control are the sun, the moon, and the planetary systems managed? By whom? And by whose greatness is this entire sky there? I want to hear. See, there are seven important questions. The first question was: What is Vidya? The second is: What is Devaha? And what is the Devaha of the Jagrada and the Turiya states? Under whose control is this entire thing? Who is the controller of it? And what is the length of time? And who controls, orders the entire planetary system? Who is the master and the controller of this entire vast expansive sky, the Akashaha?
Then wonderful answers come. The Swayambhu replies, Vidya is the alphabets. Akara to Kshakarantara. From the Akara (अ) to Kshakara (क्ष); a (अ), ā (आ), i (इ), u (उ), and all this, up to ksha (क्ष). And combination of these alphabets, Aksharas, combination of two alphabets, three alphabets, multiples of it. So entire Vidya, the knowledge, is in these alphabets. How wonderful it is! Alphabets are the expression and manifestation of the entire knowledge. Even in any other language, even if it is A, B, C, D, the knowledge is expressed in the form of a combination of Aksharas. And the highest expression is the Aum. And the Upanishad replies beautifully. The a and u combined is the Aum. We should all remember that when we chant Aumkaram, the chanting has to be Aum (ॐ), not as some people chant a(अ), u(उ), m (म्). No. The Upanishad specifies it. That the Aum is the combination of Akara (अ) and the Ukara (उ). And Swayambhu tells it. The entire cycles of time, the Kala, and its durations, the day and the night, are all controlled by myself. If you have to interpret it, we as individuals, I am, are the controllers of the time. How to use the time? How to utilize the time? How to make use of the time in the best way? It is all in our hands.
Then the radiance of the sun, the brightness of the moon, the stars, and the planets are all the formations of ours. We are the extensions, the microcosmic and the macrocosmic. And the sky and its illusory powers, Jnana Shakti, Iccha Shakti, Kriya Shakti, the Durga, the Lakshmi, the Saraswati, these are all the expressions. And then Rudra has the Maya of the Tamas. Vishnu has the Maya of the Sattva. And the rhythm is the Brahman. And the Maya of the Rajas, Tamas, Indra, and others are the Gunas of the Tamas. In the sense, all the Indriya Bhogas, sense enjoyments are Tamasic. Trying to analyze the reality is the Rajas. And finally, reaching a state of stability, undisturbed stability is the Sattva, the Vishnutwam.
Rudra is the Pashukartha of the entire sacrifices. The Upanishads beautifully describe, Nadanusandhana Yajna it is called. Merging the sound in its seed form is a Yajna. Offering all the sounds which we hear, taking them to their roots, to the seed forms. From the sounds of hearing to the sounds of unheard. Any sound to its causal state, that offering is the Yajna. And the Pashupatar Brahma Upanishad gives its name. Nadanusandhana Yajna it is. Whether it is the chanting of Om, repetition of any God's name, Rama Japa, Shiva Japa, Lakshmi Japam, or any Nama Japam, from its Vaikari level, from this hearing, sound level, to its Para level, that is the Yajna portion. It is Yajna because it is offered. The external expression is offered into the basic seed form. Nadanusandhana.
Then another technique is given by the Pashupata Brahma. It is called Hamsavidya. Hamsaha it is. Ham saha it is, means the extension of the process of inhalation and exhalation. While inhaling is 'Ham', and when you are exhaling, it is 'Saha'. Hamsaha it is. And how much we deeply inhale and exhale, the length of inhalation and exhalation, the speed of inhalation and exhalation, and those durations are termed as the Matras and the Matrukas. Matra is the time, a unit of time. How much is the one unit of Matra? It is explained that one unit of Matra is the time taken for the expression or uttering one Matruka. Matruka is alphabets. The time taken to say a, that is one Matra. The time taken to say ksha is another Matruka. So, the uttering, expressing one Matruka is the one Matra. It can be less than a second, it can be a microsecond depending upon the combination of the alphabets and syllables. And the Hamsavidya is extending the inhalation and the exhalation. And how much it has to be extended? What is the time of these Matras? The 9, the 12, the 16, it goes like that. And what is the depth, length, and distance? The Upanishad beautifully describes, wonderfully explaining that the length begins, the depth begins with the 6 angulas, 10 angulas, and the 80 angulas saying that totally it is 96 angulas. And the Upanishad wonderfully explains that these are like the beams of the sun from the heart. Beams of the sun from the heart. These are all imageries trying to explain so that one can understand it.
The exhalations issued through the nostrils are of the length of 6 angulas. From the heart, it is 10 angulas. And from the Omkara, from the deepest, it is 86 angulas. So totally, it is 96. Then what is the angula? Angula is the length of one's thumb finger. That is one angula. In English, we call it as one inch. So 6 angulas, 10 angulas, and the 86 angulas. 6 inches, 10 inches, and 86 inches. What does it mean? If one can feel the breath at a particular distance, inhalation and exhalations, and this 86, 10, 6 inches, 1 foot, slightly less than 2 feet, and about a little more than 14 feet, means the inhalation and exhalation are to be felt or are to be done so slowly with deep awareness. This is the Hamsa Vidya it is.
Hamsa Pranava Dhyana is explained in the Uttarakhanda. It is also the same. Hamsa Pranava Dhyana it is. The depth of meditation and the depth of awareness are wonderfully described. The eyes, the speech, the mind, and the functions of the senses and their motor actions do not resort to any self-radiant Pramathaman. Pramathaman means the Uttarakhanda talks about the Paravidya like external sound is merged into its seed form that is Nadanusandhana Yajna like Prana from the gross, subtler to the subtlest is offered Prana Yajna it is.
Now it comes to the Dhyana Yajna where the Atman offered into the Pramathaman and for that, an experience of silence enhancing the duration of the silence and in that particular beautiful state of the merged state, the Upanishad explains a very deep depth of that level of the Atman merged into the Pramathaman. It is not two beings are there. It is not two different things are there. It is a dissolution of oneself. What is dissolved? It gives beautifully. The Atman is full of senses. It has caste. It has ashramas. It has varnas. It has dharma and adharma. And the Pramathama is beyond all this.
The Atman and the Pramathama are not separate entities. They are not two different entities separated. Myself as we as individuals who have all these things if all these things are dropped off and we stay as pure as it is, the satya it is called. And that is the Pramathama state. It is one, not even becoming the Pramathaman. It is not one merging into the Pramathaman. It is one dissolving. One disappearing. One extending. And this one dissolution is what are all the things which are making it be as that one they are all removed. This is the vidya and paravidya of the Pashupata Brahma Upanishad. And this is the process of the paravidya, attaining of the paravidya. It is beyond the range of the eyes, ear, and it is beyond even the significance. And one who sees his own Atman as such, he is liberated. If I see, experience my original nature 'what I am', I am liberated from these bondages. The bondage of all these physical, psychological, mental relationships. This process of paravidya attaining paravidya is attained by the means of satya, tapas, and adhering to the codes of conduct like the brahmacharya as let down in the Upanishads. See how the Pashupata Brahma Upanishad beautifully explains how one can shed all the convictions by following a particular method which is also maybe looking as a bondage but ultimately it is releasing. And that is how the process is beginning. And the method is given beautifully. The paravidya sadhana is the practice of satya, tapas practicing of brahmacharya as laid down in the Upanishads. And this process and method is the highest dimension.
The Pashupata Brahma Upanishad also gives at the end- the very basic methods, very basic rules to be followed. One important rule of the Pashupata Brahma Upanishad is the rule of the food. The mind becomes pure by avoiding prohibited food. The food which is prohibited, by not consuming that, the mind stays or becomes pure. By doing so, clarity of the mind comes. And with a clear mind, wisdom comes. And that breaks, removes the knots. How beautifully the Upanishad gives a very basic daily practicable approach. The consumption of food.
What is the avoidable food? The prohibition of food applies only to the mortals devoid of the knowledge of the Brahman. A person who is in a brahmistiti, this aahara niyama will not be applicable. But to be in the brahmistiti, to attain the brahmistiti, aahara niyama has to be practiced. How wonderful it is! You climb the steps, and after reaching the last step or the place where you have to reach, we give up the steps. We use a ladder to climb up. And the use of the ladder is gone. Similarly, aahara niyama is followed for the purification of the mind to get clarity. And from the getting of the clarity, the bandhas have been removed.
And this application of the aahara niyama is not for the person who has attained, experienced the brahmistiti because Verse "Annam Brahmeti " (timing 25:35) the knowledge of the Brahman which swallows everything and that that kalabakshakaha, annabakshakaha, sarvabakshakaha means everything merges ends into that all-pervading brahmistiti that is the character of the Atman. Hence, everything becomes worthy to be eaten in this world. When the world is in noticeable form, it becomes worthy to be consumed. The luster of the Atman, when it resembles any form measurable, becomes worthy to be consumed. It is nothing but the Atman consumes its own form on its own accord. The Upanishads, these teachings, these suggestions, these techniques, these methods, these ideas of the Pashupata Brahma Upanishad, are a clear-cut expression that as human beings and individuals, we are not just human beings, we are the expressions and the manifestations of whom we all keep on saying gods, brahman, brahmatman; actually, we are that. And this is how the Purvakanda and Uttarakhanda, the Purvakhanda talks about the practices, the nada, the pranayama, the omkara, which are initials, and the Uttarakhanda talks about the highest dimensions of the sadhana of the Atman and the merging into the brahmatman. And this is how Pashupata Brahma Upanishad is an excellent Upanishad for contemplation, for practice, and for our enlightenment. Let us go into the other Upanishads. Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti:
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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