by Roopa Pai
This is not in the sense that there is someone sitting in the clouds recording your every deed in a giant register, which she will use to decide whether you will go to Heaven or Hell after you die, but in the sense that you can decide, for yourself, how you want to fashion your life, right here on earth, and then proceed to make that dream come true – simply by being vigilant about your actions.
That’s a tremendous superpower. Use it mindfully!
ADHYAYA 5
What The Thunder Said
One of the shortest, simplest and most heart-warming stories in the Upanishads is the one below, the very same one that influenced Eliot so deeply. Enjoy!
Once, in aeons past, the children of Prajapati the Creator – gods, humans and demons – lived with him as his students. When they came to the end of their education, they each went to him, seeking a final piece of advice.
‘Venerable One,’ said the gods, ‘What advice do you have for us?’
‘Da,’ said the Supreme Father. And then he asked them, ‘Have you understood?’
‘We have, Father,’ they said. ‘Da is for Damyata (say daam-yata). You are telling us to exercise self-restraint.’
‘You have understood,’ said Prajapati, and he was well pleased, for his sons, the gods, were unruly and given to excess, and indulged too often and prodigally in the pleasures of the flesh.
Then it was the turn of the humans.
‘Father,’ said the humans. ‘What advice do you have for us?’
‘Da,’ said he. And then he asked them, ‘Have you understood?’
‘We have,’ his human sons answered. ‘Da is for Datta. You are asking us to give, and give generously.’
‘You have understood,’ said Prajapati, and he was well pleased, for his sons, the humans, were inclined to be selfish and greedy, hoarding more than they needed, never letting go of what they considered their own.
Then it was the turn of the demons.
‘Most respected sir,’ said the demons. ‘What advice do you have for us?’
‘Da,’ said the Creator. And then he asked them, ‘Have you understood?’
‘We have, sir,’ his demon sons answered. ‘Da is for Dayadhvam. You are telling us to be compassionate.’
‘You have understood,’ said Prajapati, and he was well pleased, for his sons, the demons, had a cruel streak, and did not hesitate to harm and kill in the pursuit of their own ends.
Each stormy night, so that Prajapati’s children never forget, the divine voice of Thunder repeats the supreme teaching – ‘Da-Da-Da! Damyata! Datta! Dayadhvam!’
Aum Shantih Shantih Shantih ||
***
Da-da-da! Bet you are never going to be able to hear the voice of thunder again without going – Umm, what were those teachings again?
And that’s great, for all three teachings are really meant only for us, humans! You see, each of us contains in ourselves both god and demon – for are we not all, at different times, given to indiscipline, excess, selfishness, greed and even cruelty – in thought, word and deed?
When we live life king-size, going overboard with food, fizzy drinks, money, laughter, device-time, we are displaying the god side of our personalities – we are generous at that point, unlike humans, and perhaps even compassionate, unlike the demons, for we ourselves are so full of joy. But there is such a thing as ‘too much of a good thing’ – excess drains us in ways we do not immediately realize. When you feel you are overdoing something, therefore, pause, gather yourself, and pull back, remembering the teaching – Da! Damyata!
When we get all petty and possessive about what we consider ‘ours’, we are displaying the human side of our personalities. We could be practising severe self-restraint, which makes us godlike, at the same time, and being compassionate too, thus keeping our demons at bay, but our small-mindedness will give us away and reveal us to be mostly human. When you catch yourself being too human, remember the teaching – Da! Datta! – and let go.
When we are unnecessarily mean to someone, or fly into a rage, we are displaying the demon side of our personalities. Even if we are being highly disciplined at that time – as Prajapati asked the gods to be – or being generous with our time or money – as Prajapati asked the humans to be – the fact that we are essentially being cruel outs us as demons and brings about our downfall. The next time you are about to say or do something that could hurt someone, remember the teaching – Da! Dayadhvam! – and check yourself.
One two – da-da-da
Let’s do – da-da-da
Me and you – da-da-da
Doo-roooo...
[Sung to the tune of Usha Uthup’s ‘Cha-cha-cha’ from the film Shalimar (1978).]
Cool theme song for life, wot?
AND, IN CONCLUSION
There. We have now wrapped up a first, brief and by no means exhaustive exploration of some of the most ancient philosophical texts in the world. If you have read this far, what are you feeling just now? A sense of:
•Achievement (‘Well done, me! I never thought I’d last!’)?
•Empowerment (‘Ha! I can totally bluff my way through any conversation on the Vedas and Upanishads now – try me!’?)?
•Wonder (‘Man, those ancients figured out some pretty cool things about life, the universe, and everything, hanh?’)?
•Surprise and delight (‘Heyyy, several bits and pieces of the Vedas and Upanishads [V&U] were already familiar to me – mantras, stories, characters, concepts... Who knew?)?
•Confusion (‘Umm, I still don’t get any of it, sorry!’)?
•Validation (‘I always suspected that the ancient Indian texts were wise, wonderful, relevant, secular, liberal, egalitarian/random, pointless, irrelevant, narrow, divisive, patriarchal – and this confirms it.’)?
You may be feeling one or more of these emotions, or something entirely else, but here’s the thing – whatever it is you are feeling, you are completely entitled to it; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! What you can, and should, be happy about is that your opinion comes from having put in the time and effort to explore something (in this case, the V&U) by yourself – you are not echoing someone else’s opinion, or taking someone else’s word for what they are about.
What if it turns out that your opinion (about the V&U or anything else) is different from that of your friends or family? That’s perfectly fine – don’t doubt yourself or go against what you feel just to hang with the herd. Each of us processes and understands things based on our individual nature, upbringing, exposure, level of understanding, phase of development and past experiences, and that is as it should be. It would be a boring world if everyone understood or reacted to things in exactly the same way.
And if you feel a little divided in your own mind? That there are parts of the V&U that you love and others that you don’t feel comfortable with at all? Why, that’s easy! Just take from them the lessons that you think are useful and illuminating, and set the rest aside. To reject the whole simply because there are bits of it you don’t like or agree with seems a little shortsighted, especially because no one, least of all the sages of the V&U, is asking you to believe everything they have said.
Only make sure you approach every new field of study – and event, and situation – with a mind as open and non-judgemental as possible. Only make sure you understand that just as you are entitled to your opinion, so is everyone else. Only make sure never to stop seeking the truth, and to review, at regular intervals, what you believe to be the truth.
Only make sure you never forget that you are not small or insignificant or irrelevant, but that you carry within you the potential to be – that you can choose to be – luminous, glorious, MAGNIFICENT!
Have a fabulous life!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
‘The divine force that lives within you, just as it lives in every other being, will turn you around like a puppet on a stick, and make you follow your nature – don’t ever doubt that. Why do you fight it, Arjuna?’ – Krishna in the B
hagavad Gita, Chapter 18
After my book The Gita for Children was published in 2015, everyone I knew – and dozens I didn’t – urged me to write more books in the same vein. I baulked. Determined not to be ‘typecast’, I busied myself writing other books for children – on exciting topics like economics, life skills, history, maths – enjoying myself thoroughly in the bargain. But I realized in a while that I was fighting a losing battle. When my editor Vatsala Kaul Banerjee brought up the matter of a book on the Vedas and Upanishads for children for the 57th time – Krishna’s quote above might just as well be attributed to her – I capitulated, feeling a huge sense of lightness, gratitude and joy as I returned to push a teeny bit further into a landscape I had come to love so much.
It wasn’t easy. If I had had very little exposure to the Bhagavad Gita before I wrote The Gita for Children, I had even less to the V&U. Unlike the Gita, which is contained in a compact 700 verses, the V&U are huge, sprawling and abstract, a brihad aranya that felt at first far too intimidating to negotiate. I would not have had the courage to skirt even the outermost edge of that metaphysical forest, as I have now, if not for the guidance, encouragement and support of a great many wise and wonderful people, and many thanks are due to them.
–As always, to Vatsala Kaul Banerjee, mentor, friend and fine human being, who not only believes, generously and unconditionally, but also puts in the punishing toil that keeping that faith entails – I owe you more than you will know,
–To Sayan Mukherjee, who cheerfully came on board again for this book, even though he was in the middle of moving homes between continents, and produced all the imaginative artwork – God knows illustrating abstract concepts isn’t easy – that you see, including the dazzling cover,
–To all the intellectual and spiritual giants – Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Ralph Griffith, Eknath Eswaran, Patrick Olivelle, Swami Chinmayananda, Sri M, Wendy Doniger, and so many more – whose decades of finely honed erudition and immersion in the ancient texts I greedily feasted on; and to the World Wide Web, which makes so much of it accessible to anyone with a smartphone,
–To Swami Sarvapriyananda, Resident Swami of the Vedanta Society, New York, not only for the grace, lightness, wisdom and humour that mark his luminous discourses on the Vedanta that this book has so greatly benefitted from, but for actually taking the time to write me a personal message of encouragement in response to an unsolicited email,
–To Prof. Bibek Debroy for his extraordinary generosity, once again, in agreeing to review the manuscript of this book despite his insane work schedule, for shining the light of his immense scholarship into its every nook and cranny to ruthlessly call out biases and errors, and for always being available to promptly resolve thorny issues related to the scriptures, and beyond,
–To my aunt-in-law Tara Kini, whose own immersion in and love of the Principal Upanishads has led to three beautifully crafted stage and musical performances based on them, which I have had the pleasure and privilege to watch, enjoy and learn from,
–To Anando Banerjee, who also reviewed the manuscript (and was horrified that there was no mention of The Matrix Trilogy in its first draft), for enjoying it so much and being so gung-ho about the need for it to exist;
–To my long-suffering family and friends, who, as my sounding boards, were particularly battered this past year, for having borne their burdens so cheerfully; my children, I hope, will eventually recover from their scars, and maybe even read the book some day,
–And always, always, a deep and most heartfelt debt of gratitude and love to the land that so long ago spawned the universal truths that sustain her children still, and to the thousands of nameless sages who, once they had seen beyond the walls, spared no effort to make that glorious, edifying and empowering vision available to all seekers.
Aum Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Debroy, Bibek and Debroy, Dipavali: The Holy Vedas: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda, BR Publishing Corporation, 1994
Doniger, Wendy: The Rig Veda, Penguin Classics, 2005
Griffith, Ralph T.H., and Keith, Arthur Berridale: The Vedas – The Samhitas of the Rig, Yajur (White and Black), Sama and Atharva Vedas, Kshetra Books, 2017
Radhakrishnan, S.: The Hindu View of Life, Harper Element, 2014
Tharoor, Shashi: Why I Am A Hindu, Aleph Book Company, 2018
Zimmer, Heinrich, edited by Campbell, Joseph: Philosophies of India, Princeton University Press, 1992
Swami Vivekananda, edited by Swami Chetanananda: Vedanta: Voice of Freedom, Advaita Ashrama, 11th Reprint Edition, 2013
Singh, B.N.: The Creator: Vedic Philosophy through the eyes of a scientist, Reem Publications, 2010
Sri M: Jewel in the Lotus: Deeper Aspects of Hinduism, Magenta Press, 2011
Eswaran, Eknath: The Upanishads, Jaico, 2010
Olivelle, Patrick: Upanishads, Oxford University Press, 1996
Sri M: Wisdom of the Rishis: The Three Upanishads – Ishavasya, Kena and Mandukya, Magenta Press, 2012
Sri M: The Upanishads – Katha-Prashna-Mundaka, Magenta Press, 2017
Radhakrishnan, S.: The Principal Upanishads, HarperCollins, 2006
Sagan, Carl: Cosmos, The Random House Publishing Group, USA, 1980
And although they cannot be classified as bibliography in the strictest sense, this book has been inspired and informed by dozens and dozens of illuminating discourses on Vedic philosophy and the Upanishads by several wonderful speakers, thinkers, scientists, philosophers, historians, and men of religion.
IMAGE COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
*The following images have been sourced from Wikimedia Commons: Page 55: middle: impression of Pashupati seal: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication/Ismoon; Page 66: Rig Veda manuscript: Public Domain/source: http://www.nb.no/baser/schoyen/5/5.20/ms2097.jpg; Page 79: Bhagavata Purana: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported/ Attribution: Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Page 140: top: Dara Shikoh: Public Domain; middle: A.H. Anquetil–Duperron: Public Domain; bottom: Arthur Schopenhauer: Public Domain/source: Frankfurt am Main University Library/author: Schäfer, Johann; Page 175: Adi Shankaracharya by Raja Ravi Varma: Public Domain; Page 226: Plato (Luni marble, copy of the portrait made by Silanion): Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license/ Attribution: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.5; U.S. Public Domain tag: published anywhere before 1923 and public domain in the U.S.; Page 259: Indian National Emblem: Public Domain/source: www.mha.nic.in; Page 301: Matryoshka dolls: Public Domain/ source: Sergiev Posad Museum of Toys, Russia; Page 373: T.S. Eliot: Public Domain
ROOPA PAI is the author of several books for children, including the much-acclaimed, award-winning bestseller, The Gita for Children. Her books, on topics as diverse as history, mathematics, science, economics and sci-fi fantasy, are enjoyed by adults just as much as they are by children. Of all the Mahavakyas in the Upanishads, her favourite is ‘Prajnanam Brahma – Knowledge is God’.
SAYAN MUKHERJEE is an illustrator living in Kolkata and working from his studio. After working in advertising for almost nine years, he went solo with his passion – illustrations. He loves children’s books and loves to create art for kids. Besides Hachette India, he works with publishers like Penguin Random House India, Juggernaut, Tulika Books, Speaking Tiger and Pratham Books, among others. He has a number of sketchbooks and carries them wherever he travels, to preserve some beautiful memories.
Other Books by ROOPA PAI
The Gita for Children
Ready! 99 Must-Have Skills for the World-Conquering
Teenager (and Almost-Teenager)
THE TARANAUTS SERIES
Taranauts 1: The Quest for the Shyn Emeralds
Taranauts 2: The Riddle of the Lustr Sapphires
Taranauts 3: The Secret of the Sparkl Amethysts
Taranauts 4: The Race for the Glo Rubies
Taranauts 5: The
Mystery of the Syntilla Silvers
Taranauts 6: The Key to the Shimr Citrines
Taranauts 7: The Search for the Glytr Turquoises
Taranauts 8: The Magic of the Dazl Corals
THE VEDAS AND UPANISHADS
FOR CHILDREN
Three thousand years ago, deep inside the forests of India, a great ‘thought revolution’ was brewing.
In those forest labs, the brightest thinker–philosophers contemplated the universe, reflected on ancient texts called the Vedas and came up with startling insights into questions we still don’t have final answers to, like:
What is the universe made of?
How do I know I’m looking at a tree when I see one?
Who am I? My body, my mind, my intelligence, my emotions, or none of the above?
And where did they put those explosive findings?
In a sprawling body of goosebumpy and fascinating oral literature called the Upanishads! Intimidated? Don’t be! For this joyful, fun guide to some of India’s longest-lasting secular wisdoms, reinterpreted for first-time explorers by Roopa Pai, is guaranteed to keep you turning the pages.
Why haven’t you read it yet?
www.hachetteindia.com