Sometimes you find a book close to your heart, you read that book a few times, hoping to return to it again, only to lose it. No matter how hard you search for it, you cannot find it again. I am sure that things like this happen to all of us. Objects and people are similar after all- they disappear leaving empty smoke behind…
When in secondary school, at the age of twelve years, I had the occasion of reading a few books with stories from Upanishads in them, and two particular books struck me as especially interesting. Not having enough knowledge of Sanskrit, I could not read the stories in their original form, nor had I the patience back then to rummage through the entire Upanishads just in order to find a few stories. These two particular books, in all their lucidity of prose and yet not-so-dramatized retelling of the stories drew me to them repeatedly. One even had particular references of the stories being retold, and in this case re-written, so that if one were to search for the original text it would not be difficult. I did not remember the publication details or the name of the authors retelling those stories and the encounter with those two books remained as a pleasant yet foggy boyhood memory of mine. Alas, for years had to go by before I could have a glimpse again.
Last year, as I was taking a walk in the college street area and was looking at the second-hand books sprawled on the footpath (for sale), one of the books caught my attention. Lo and behold! It is one of those!
I remembered some of the pictures and bits and pieces of the narration, and as I kept flipping the pages a rush of school-day memories came in. Back then we had compulsory library periods on first, and third Sundays which spanned from around 1:30 pm to 4 in the afternoon. I was in hostel then, under the Ramakrishna Mission. The library was at the back of that building, behind the assembly hall, by a pond, which was surrounded by a fence. The library itself was surrounded by trees and there was an empty building adjacent to it which was used as the Table Tennis room in normal times and as a pox ward in the spring. I myself had the occasion of staying in that one storied building when I was afflicted with chicken pox in the 10th grade. It was in that particularly memorable library where I had the occasion of first reading this book:
I liked the fact that the stories carried references of certain keywords and also mentioned clearly where they could be found. As one can see looking at the title page, at a certain point in time, this book had been part of a syllabus prescribed in the secondary level but later it was removed in favour of (I suppose) easier and more secular texts. As far as my knowledge goes, this book is currently out of print and the only copies extant are either in second-had bookstores or in some libraries. Even the publishing house A. Mukherjee and Co. do not have any copy of this book if the clerks at their stores are to be believed. I wish I could provide a complete digital copy of the text but I am unsure regarding the copyright law in such cases. So, I decided to make my own translation of this book instead and make it available in parts for people to enjoy free of cost. Nonetheless I hope that this project would be interesting to certain readers as I translate the book over a series of blogpost over the period of a few months.
Story 1
Title: “Da”
Reference:
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Chapter: 5
Brahman (Part) 2
Brahmaa created every living being on earth – be it a god, an Asura (Note: In Hinduism, gods are called Sura, their brothers are Asura which literally means ‘not sura’. For convenience, Asuras can be translated as demons but I feel that would not be the right thing to do, since the word demon has different connotation and a different history associated with it in the Western myth), or a human. Everybody being the son of the same Brahmaa, they are brothers to each other. For this very reason in Vedas, Brahmaa is called Prajapati (Praja means living beings, or son, while Prajapati means the creator) and in Puranas he is called Pitamaha (the Grandfather). Now, those three brothers grew up over the years and it is time for them to start studying. Not knowing where else to go all these three brothers went to their Father, (the eldest of all and their own Prajapati) Brahmaa and in his ashrama they started maintaining Brahmacharya. Without Brahmacharya, one cannot gain inner strength (tejas) and without inner strength one cannot attain proper knowledge.
Many years passed this way. The gods gradually felt that their nature is becoming purer and that their heart is being filled with inner strength. Thus, before anybody else, they went to Prajapati and said, “O God! (Note: In those days it was natural to call one’s teacher as such) Please, advise us, we are maintaining brahmacharya for many years now.”
But Brahmaa did not say a thing to the gods, he only uttered, ‘Da’; and after a while he asked, “Did you understand what I said just now?”
And all the gods replied together, “Yes, we did.”
Prajapati – “What did you understand?”
Gods – ‘Damyat’, you told us to suppress, to control.
Prajapati was quite happy to hear that and he said, “Yes, you have understood correctly.”
The gods were of pure intelligence; after maintaining brahmacharya for many years they understood correctly that control of the senses, of desire, is the basis for all forms of meditational practice. Hence, when they hear ‘Da’ from Prajapati they were only thinking that the Father is telling them, “to control, to suppress”
Thereafter, one fine day the humans went to Prajapati and said, “O God! Please advise us now.”
This time too Prajapati said only one word in reply, ‘Da’ and right after saying that asked, “Did you understand what I said?”
And all the humans replied together, “Yes, we did.”
Prajapati – “What did you understand?”
Humans- ‘Datta’, you told us to give, to do charity.
Like before Prajapati was happy to hear that and said, “Yes, you have understood correctly.”
Humans were by nature greedy, and after years of meditational practice they understood that. Hence, right after listening to the ‘Da’ sound from Prajapati it seemed to them that their Father is telling them “to give away, to do charity.”
Finally, came the Asuras. They too had performed brahmacharya for many years and they too told Prajapati, “O God! Give us advice.”
‘Da’ – Even to the Asuras Prajapati told the same thing and thereafter asked them the same question, “Did you understand what I said just now?”
The Asuras too replied together, “Yes, we did.”
Prajapati – “What did you understand?”
Asuras – ‘Dayadhwam’, you told us to show kindness, to be kind to others.
Prajapati was equally happy to hear this and with a pleasant smile told the Asuras, “Yes, you have understood correctly.”
The Asuras were of very cruel and violent nature. Hence, right after hearing the ‘Da’ sound from Prajapati, naturally they thought, Father is telling them, “Be kind, be kind to others! Be kind to other creatures!”
Those advised rules of Grandfather Prajapati is still present in our world. Even to this day, when the clouds thunder, those advice of Prajapati resounds in the sky, and the lightning makes the same sign – “Da! Da! Da! – Damyat! Datta! Dayadhwam!” Prajapati keeps telling us through the sound of the thundering clouds, “Da! Da! Da! Control! Give! Be kind!”
The Rishi told, “Hence, practice these three – Dam (controlling), Daan (charity) and Daya (kindness).
Dam, Daan and Daya – a great lesson from Grandfather Prajapati.
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When in secondary school, at the age of twelve years, I had the occasion of reading a few books with stories from Upanishads in them, and two particular books struck me as especially interesting. Not having enough knowledge of Sanskrit, I could not read the stories in their original form, nor had I the patience back then to rummage through the entire Upanishads just in order to find a few stories. These two particular books, in all their lucidity of prose and yet not-so-dramatized retelling of the stories drew me to them repeatedly. One even had particular references of the stories being retold, and in this case re-written, so that if one were to search for the original text it would not be difficult. I did not remember the publication details or the name of the authors retelling those stories and the encounter with those two books remained as a pleasant yet foggy boyhood memory of mine. Alas, for years had to go by before I could have a glimpse again.
Last year, as I was taking a walk in the college street area and was looking at the second-hand books sprawled on the footpath (for sale), one of the books caught my attention. Lo and behold! It is one of those!
I remembered some of the pictures and bits and pieces of the narration, and as I kept flipping the pages a rush of school-day memories came in. Back then we had compulsory library periods on first, and third Sundays which spanned from around 1:30 pm to 4 in the afternoon. I was in hostel then, under the Ramakrishna Mission. The library was at the back of that building, behind the assembly hall, by a pond, which was surrounded by a fence. The library itself was surrounded by trees and there was an empty building adjacent to it which was used as the Table Tennis room in normal times and as a pox ward in the spring. I myself had the occasion of staying in that one storied building when I was afflicted with chicken pox in the 10th grade. It was in that particularly memorable library where I had the occasion of first reading this book:
The title reads as Galpe Upanishad, which means Upanishad in stories. The author is Sudhirkumar Dasgupta, M.A., Ph.D. and the publisher is A. Mukherjee and Co. Private Limited
I liked the fact that the stories carried references of certain keywords and also mentioned clearly where they could be found. As one can see looking at the title page, at a certain point in time, this book had been part of a syllabus prescribed in the secondary level but later it was removed in favour of (I suppose) easier and more secular texts. As far as my knowledge goes, this book is currently out of print and the only copies extant are either in second-had bookstores or in some libraries. Even the publishing house A. Mukherjee and Co. do not have any copy of this book if the clerks at their stores are to be believed. I wish I could provide a complete digital copy of the text but I am unsure regarding the copyright law in such cases. So, I decided to make my own translation of this book instead and make it available in parts for people to enjoy free of cost. Nonetheless I hope that this project would be interesting to certain readers as I translate the book over a series of blogpost over the period of a few months.
Story 1
Title: “Da”
Reference:
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Chapter: 5
Brahman (Part) 2
Brahmaa created every living being on earth – be it a god, an Asura (Note: In Hinduism, gods are called Sura, their brothers are Asura which literally means ‘not sura’. For convenience, Asuras can be translated as demons but I feel that would not be the right thing to do, since the word demon has different connotation and a different history associated with it in the Western myth), or a human. Everybody being the son of the same Brahmaa, they are brothers to each other. For this very reason in Vedas, Brahmaa is called Prajapati (Praja means living beings, or son, while Prajapati means the creator) and in Puranas he is called Pitamaha (the Grandfather). Now, those three brothers grew up over the years and it is time for them to start studying. Not knowing where else to go all these three brothers went to their Father, (the eldest of all and their own Prajapati) Brahmaa and in his ashrama they started maintaining Brahmacharya. Without Brahmacharya, one cannot gain inner strength (tejas) and without inner strength one cannot attain proper knowledge.
Many years passed this way. The gods gradually felt that their nature is becoming purer and that their heart is being filled with inner strength. Thus, before anybody else, they went to Prajapati and said, “O God! (Note: In those days it was natural to call one’s teacher as such) Please, advise us, we are maintaining brahmacharya for many years now.”
But Brahmaa did not say a thing to the gods, he only uttered, ‘Da’; and after a while he asked, “Did you understand what I said just now?”
And all the gods replied together, “Yes, we did.”
Prajapati – “What did you understand?”
Gods – ‘Damyat’, you told us to suppress, to control.
Prajapati was quite happy to hear that and he said, “Yes, you have understood correctly.”
The gods were of pure intelligence; after maintaining brahmacharya for many years they understood correctly that control of the senses, of desire, is the basis for all forms of meditational practice. Hence, when they hear ‘Da’ from Prajapati they were only thinking that the Father is telling them, “to control, to suppress”
Thereafter, one fine day the humans went to Prajapati and said, “O God! Please advise us now.”
This time too Prajapati said only one word in reply, ‘Da’ and right after saying that asked, “Did you understand what I said?”
And all the humans replied together, “Yes, we did.”
Prajapati – “What did you understand?”
Humans- ‘Datta’, you told us to give, to do charity.
Like before Prajapati was happy to hear that and said, “Yes, you have understood correctly.”
Humans were by nature greedy, and after years of meditational practice they understood that. Hence, right after listening to the ‘Da’ sound from Prajapati it seemed to them that their Father is telling them “to give away, to do charity.”
Finally, came the Asuras. They too had performed brahmacharya for many years and they too told Prajapati, “O God! Give us advice.”
‘Da’ – Even to the Asuras Prajapati told the same thing and thereafter asked them the same question, “Did you understand what I said just now?”
The Asuras too replied together, “Yes, we did.”
Prajapati – “What did you understand?”
Asuras – ‘Dayadhwam’, you told us to show kindness, to be kind to others.
Prajapati was equally happy to hear this and with a pleasant smile told the Asuras, “Yes, you have understood correctly.”
The Asuras were of very cruel and violent nature. Hence, right after hearing the ‘Da’ sound from Prajapati, naturally they thought, Father is telling them, “Be kind, be kind to others! Be kind to other creatures!”
Those advised rules of Grandfather Prajapati is still present in our world. Even to this day, when the clouds thunder, those advice of Prajapati resounds in the sky, and the lightning makes the same sign – “Da! Da! Da! – Damyat! Datta! Dayadhwam!” Prajapati keeps telling us through the sound of the thundering clouds, “Da! Da! Da! Control! Give! Be kind!”
The Rishi told, “Hence, practice these three – Dam (controlling), Daan (charity) and Daya (kindness).
Dam, Daan and Daya – a great lesson from Grandfather Prajapati.
"Da! Da! Da!"
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