Aitareya Upaniṣad (III.1-4)

02/19/2026 · Tue/Thu 12:00-1:15 PM · Brad Bannon · Boston College

📄 Synopsis

This session explores the Aitareya Upaniṣad and its central Mahāvākya, 'prajñānaṃ brahma' (Consciousness is Brahman). The instructor, Brad, uses a quiz to reinforce the distinction between viewing Brahman as an object of study versus the subjective condition of all knowing. The class delves into the creation narrative of the Aitareya, noting its epistemological shift from the Puruṣa Sūkta to ask how the 'One' knows itself as 'Many.' A significant portion of the lecture is dedicated to the Theo 1432 Chapter 11 material, including a video of a Vedic ritual in Bangalore. Brad explains the roles of the Yajamāna and the Brahman priest, the necessity of adhikāra (qualifications), and the symbolic nature of oblations like ghee and milk. The discussion transitions into the tripartite epistemology of the Mīmāṃsā theologian Prabhakara (Tripuṭī-pratyakṣa-vada), where the knower, the known, and the act of knowing mutually arise. Finally, the class applies these concepts to the nature of liberation (mokṣa), arguing it is an epistemological realization of one's inherent nature as Brahman rather than an ontological change or the result of physical ritual alone.

⚡ Key Takeaways

The Mahāvākya 'prajñānaṃ brahma' translates to 'Consciousness is Brahman,' emphasizing that Brahman is the subjective condition of all knowing rather than an object to be perceived.
Vāmadeva is a significant figure in the Aitareya Upaniṣad because he realized his identity with Brahman while still in the womb.
The Aitareya Upaniṣad retells the creation narrative with an epistemological focus, exploring how the singular Atman manifests and perceives itself as many.
Vedic rituals often require specific adhikāra (qualifications), such as the sixty-year age requirement for the specific sacrifice shown in class.
In a Vedic sacrifice, the Brahman priest acts as a silent supervisor who ensures the ritual is performed correctly and notes any errors for later atonement.
Prabhakara’s Tripuṭī-pratyakṣa-vada posits that every act of perception simultaneously reveals the perceiver, the perceived object, and the act of perceiving.
Liberation in the Jñāna Mārga is described as an epistemological shift—recognizing what one already is—rather than an ontological transformation.
The methods of upasaṃhāra (connecting) and samanvaya (harmonizing) are used to find unity and consistency across different sacred texts.
While Karma Mārga is restricted to those with specific qualifications, Bhakti Mārga is presented as radically open to anyone regardless of status or wealth.

🎤 Transcript Tap any timestamp to jump the audio player

Opening Meditation and Transition

Brad

Howdy, y'all. Howdy, y'all. Let's take a moment to transition and put screens and everything away and just be. Let's take a breath together. Go ahead and breathe in and out. Word? Word. Word. Alrighty. I think it would be super fun to start with a quiz. Uh, here, we'll just start with them face down. I don't know if it really matters for us. And I regret that I have to say it, but please don't use any devices, and please keep your eyes on your own paper while you're doing the quiz. I didn't used to have to say that at Boston College, but it's become necessary. All right, go ahead and flip them over. Everybody got one? ⚠

Student

They need more time.

7:28

Review of Vāmadeva, Brahman, and Epistemology

Brad

Good? Are we good? Yeah? All right. Please write your number on them. Please try to keep them oriented, you know, like the same direction. And pass them forward. If my, uh, unless I'm very much mistaken Today is the first day that we've had 100% attendance. It's kind of cool. Yeah, right? Yeah. So I will often give— not often, but I will sometimes give a bonus question like this time. And, you know, I think bonus questions should be bonus, right? So they're usually worth substantial amount, right? So the entire quiz is worth 9 points, but the bonuses are 10. So, um, yeah, uh, um, yeah, let's just run through it super quickly. So the Mahāvākya prajñānaṃ brahma from the Aitareya Upaniṣad translates— could be a few correct answers— consciousness is Brahman. Yeah, that's, that's pretty straightforward. So some other possibilities, but consciousness is Brahman, awareness is Brahman, something like that. Knowing is Brahman, that one would also work. What does the word prajñā literally mean? Highest knowing, awareness, or yeah, pra means like intensification, it's like intensifying, and jñāna means knowing, so that's why I wrote that. Knowing, you know, it's like really knowing. ⚠

9:29

Lecture on Mahāvākya and Advaita Vedānta

Brad

I actually don't really like the, the -ness, you know, the abstract noun aspect of consciousness or awareness, but it kind of works. So Vāmadeva is significant why?

Student

Because he realized his identity is Brahman.

Brad

Yeah, he realized his identity with Brahman while he was still in the womb, you Yup. The reading introduces Prabhakara as a theologian whose epistemological framework— I expected a very small percentage of people to get this one right. But his epistemological framework is relevant to how Advaita understands birth and death. To which of the 6 orthodox perspectives does Prabhakara belong? It is Mīmāṃsā, yeah, good. And then true or false? So according to the chapter prajñā and brahma defined brahman as an object of philosophical study, a Ding an sich that can be grasped from the outside when approached using the phenomenological method of inquiry. True or false? False, yeah, quite false. So if we were to look actually at the chapter— where did I put that? Critical point. Wow. prajñā is not an object you can know. You can't stand outside of consciousness and look at it because you are consciousness. You are knowing. It's not like looking at a purple dye in a lectern. It's the phenomenological method. Consciousness is the condition for all knowing. So in terms of the knower and the perceiver, right? So the— so it's the perceiver. ⚠

Brad

So you can't perceive the perceiver. You can't know the knower. Can only be subject, not object, whereas Ding an sich literally means like the object, right, the thing itself. In Śaṅkara's reading, the four Mahāvākyas represent four different truths about brahman, each unique to its Veda. True or false? That's false. Yeah, use the example of like different camera angles Somewhere else in that, right? Yeah. So like the four— oh, right. ⚠

Student

It's Ṛgveda.

Brad

Four— okay. These aren't four different truths, but four formulations of one truth that cannot be fully captured in language. Aitareya— "The upanishad begins with the creation narrative that parallels the Puruṣa Sūkta but retells it with an epistemological emphasis asking how the one knows itself as many." True, yeah, I think it literally said as much and then gave a link to the Nāsadīya Sūkta here, right? Aitareya, It goes further, it starts with the same creation narrative as the Puruṣa Sūkta, but it tells it epistemologically like the Nāsadīya Sūkta. How does the one know itself as many? Continuing our theme of epistemology rather than ontology. The chapter argues that liberation in Advaita Vedānta is primarily about becoming brahman ontologically through the sustained ritual practice or karma. True or false? False. Yeah, so mokṣa within Mīmāṃsā would be ritual practice, right? So karma. But in the jñāna marga, which we're studying, right, it's liberation is achieved through what? Knowing or wisdom, right? So not through the practice of the rituals, but perhaps by understanding the rituals, you know, at a deeper level. So internalizing the sacrifice and understanding it at a different level. ⚠

Brad

The term Mahāvākya in Advaita Vedānta means what? Great sentences, great utterances, great sayings, any of those. Mahā means great, and then vākya can mean any of those things. And then anybody get this one right?

Student

Tripuṭī-pratyakṣa.

Brad

So, um, I don't know, sometimes I just— I don't know, sometimes I like to like put little Easter eggs in the text. Um, and so here, um, you know, I got all these links and I've got this one link. It's a pretty big link actually. Um, but there's this dope Mīmāṃsā theologian named Prabhakara that argues for a tripartite epistemological understanding of being. And I couldn't find anything on the interwebs that really explained this, so I got, you know, so Claude and I worked on a little webpage together that's just for this class. Theo 1432, Chapter 11 Easter egg: random facts from Brad that are actually super relevant. Prabhakara's triad, triduti, pratyaksha, vada. I feel like an Easter egg should be like an egg. So here's an egg. It's golden, sort of like Hiraṇyagarbha, right? And it says click the egg. So if you click the egg, it cracks. And if you click the egg again, there's a little eagle in there, right? So like Boston College eagles. And then if you— yeah, all this like really interesting stuff. There's even Kumārila Bhaṭṭa in there. ⚠

Brad

Like he's the guy with the milk and curds analogy and stuff. And then, I don't know, it's actually quite a lot of— it's quite a good, quite a good explanation of Tripūti Pratyak��avāra. And then, yeah, here, mega bonus quiz question and answer for Thursday. Bonus question: explain Prabhakara's Tripūti Pratyak��avāra in 6 words. And There's the 6 words: knower, known, and knowing mutually arise. I actually stressed over wording that question because you could do it in 5 questions, in 5 words. No, you couldn't. Knower, known, and knowing mutually arise. ⚠

Student

Well, you just take out "and" and you have 5.

Brad

Yeah, that'd be awkward though, right? Yeah. All right, so, um, okay, this is actually an important Any questions about any of that? One other thing, since we're here, I did put an Easter egg in Chapter 8, but I did not put it on the quiz. But the Easter egg is actually this video that I recorded some years ago. I just got it pulled up here, but this is a Vedic ritual. Delaney, do you mind hitting those light switches right there? So, yeah, definitely not going to show all of it, but I just want to show you a little bit of— so this is a Vedic ritual. This is actually the yajamāna, the guy who just threw something into the fire here. So he just turned 60 years old at the time that this was taken. So in order to have adhikaras, or the, you know, qualifications to perform this particular ritual, you have to be 60 years old. And so he turned 60, and then he wanted to, you know, perform this ritual. His son is actually there beside him. It's like a teenage sun right here. ⚠

Brad

And one of the things I emphasized in Chapter 8 was that they're in a ritual, like the ritual sacrifice that we talked about in Chapter 8. There are usually 3 fires, and so here you can see obviously there's the smoke right there for that fire. Here's a large— there's the main sacrificial arena, and you can see the the bricks there, and— oh, you know what, I told you a lie just a moment ago. This is the Yajamāna. He's the 60-year-old guy. That other guy was his son, and then the teenager is his grandson. That makes more sense anyway. So yeah, so 3 different fires, 3 different— yeah. Sections of the ritual. So they're obviously reciting the Saṃhitās, right? So the Vedāṅgas, like the ones you read earlier. And in this case, the oblation is the milk. Later— this, by the way, is in an upstairs room in an apartment building in downtown Bangalore, so like 10 million people in this city, and this is like— I don't think it meets the fire codes, but you know, whatever. I think my life might have been shortened by the smoke. ⚠

19:52

Discussion on Ritual Sacrifice and Guru-Student Dynamics

Brad

This guy right here, by the way, that guy, that's Suresh. That's my guru. And this guy right here with the beard, so he's the most senior priest that there. He's called the Brahman. Brahman. But the Brahman priest is the one— he doesn't— he's not supposed to be involved in the ritual. He's not one of the— he's not chanting, he's not throwing things in. He's like the supervisor, right? So he makes sure that everything's done right. And if something is done wrong, then he kind of like takes a mental note of it. It's like, you know, Max did this thing a little wrong, so, you know, you gotta do this thing to make up for it, that kind of stuff. Yeah. No, I didn't have any part. No, I'm just, I'm just chilling and trying to not die of smoke, you know. But yeah, I'm just, I was just invited to, you know, observe. Yeah. ⚠

Student

So you said like to be able to do this ritual you need to meet the particular requirements plus the age requirement, but if like his son and his grandson, they can like be there? ⚠

Brad

Yeah.

Student

But they just cannot like do the ritual, right? So like the actual actions, the only one person who does it?

Brad

Yeah, so okay, good question. So, uh, and that's actually his wife right there. They, so I mean, different rituals are all spelled out, all of these are spelled out in the Brāhmaṇas, right? So the Śunaḥśepa story that we read, that was a little excerpt from a Brāhmaṇa, and so the Brāhmaṇas will tell, you know, if somebody has the qualifications to do this, then they should follow these things, here are the specific things that they should throw into the fire, right, the oblations for for the sacrifice, and they should be put in at this time. You should chant this hymn at this time. And yeah, I mean, oftentimes it will say like you can't perform this ritual unless you have sons, and your sons have to be there, that kind of thing, right? Or your grandson or whatever. So I mainly studied Sanskrit with them, but we studied the Bhagavad Gītā as sort of a way to study Sanskrit. And I mean, yeah, we communicate a little bit now and then, but not as much as I should. Yeah, I should reach out to him. Yeah. ⚠

Student

Sorry, was your goal to like understand and like learn or like interact? Hinduism, like that's not a good term, but— Did you like want to participate in like Hindu practices or did you just want to learn? ⚠

Brad

Some combination. I mean, I'm much more jñāna marga, so, you know, path of wisdom. So, you know, I was there primarily to study Sanskrit and to, yeah, and to study the scripture, to study the philosophy. But, you know, I think an important insight that I'm trying to emphasize through this course is that You can't properly understand Vedanta without understanding something about the rituals, right? So you don't necessarily have to perform the rituals. This is the oblation, or one of the oblations. So when you come across that word ablation, ablation just means something that you're putting into the fire, right? And so the oblations, the Brāhmaṇas will spell out in quite explicit detail, like, you know, it needs to be rice that is cooked, or it needs to be rice that's not cooked, or it needs to be rice that's boiled, or it's rice that has been husked before it was cooked, or is rice that needs to be husked and then cooked and then formed into a particular shape or something like that, right? ⚠

Brad

So the brahmanists give very, very explicit instructions, and in this case, like, you have to put all of these things in a little, in a little package, right, that needs to be, yeah, done in a particular way. And then you have to chant a particular verse, right, and then throw that into the fire. And what you saw a moment ago, this is the ladle, and they're pouring ghee in there. Ghee is clarified butter, so like the richest, the most highest fat content of butter, and this is called the ladle that's being put in there. We'll actually see a verse. Arpaṇa is the name of the ladle, and we'll see a verse actually in the Bhagavad Gītā that says, you know, like, the ablation is brahman, the ladle is brahman, the sacrificer is brahman, the fire is brahman, like, everything is brahman. ⚠

Student

Right?

Brad

And so again, kind of like you can't properly understand the Vedanta scriptures without knowing something about the rituals, right? So that's part of why I've given you this, the text that we have. Obviously we can't, you know, there's only so much we can study in a course like this, but we're studying a little bit of rituals, and then, you know, in order to kind of read the Upaniṣads through that lens, if you will. Yeah, good. Any other questions? Yes, Samuel. ⚠

Student

Are these types of rituals done like repeatedly, or is it like a one-time thing?

Brad

So, good question. So there are some rituals that are done daily. There are some rituals, far more, that are done according to the lunar cycle, so like every new moon, every full moon. Something in between, yeah, but usually new moon and full moon. And then there are some like this one that is only performed once during a lifetime. So this one you perform right after, you know, within a certain amount of time after you turn 60 years old. And so you have to meet all the qualifications for it. It's a big ritual. It's an expensive ritual. It requires lots of priests, requires lots lots, right? That's actually several days that went on. I was only there for a few hours, but it was quite, quite an elaborate thing. But some, like, you know, marriage or funerals— obviously, obviously funerals only do once in your lifetime. Marriage, I won't even go into that. But yeah, Angel, is there anyone who can't be like a witness to this ritual? Oh, that's a good question. I mean, they invited me, you know, and I— when they invited me, I asked, you know, can I bring my camera? ⚠

Brad

And my guru's response was like, yes, of course, yeah. But I don't know that everyone would respond that way, you know. I don't know that everyone would be as open to my being there. And, you know, as you can tell, it's a pretty— I mean, I'm in the corner. And I'm still pretty close, right? I mean, so it's, it's hard to pretend like I'm not there with my camera and stuff. Um, but, uh, you know, like I said, I mean, I studied with this guru in this house for years, you know, well, for a year before this happened. So there was already a level of trust there. You don't think he would have just invited anybody kind of thing. Um, but, uh, yeah, for sure there are some people that would would not want outsiders coming in and videoing and that sort of thing. Yeah, any other questions? Yeah, Alice? ⚠

Student

Are these like big ones, like milestone ones, I guess? Like, are they typically like celebrations, like after the ritual is done?

Brad

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean, after, um, after this was done, um, then we also had a big, you know, big meal, um, and everybody went downstairs, got some fresh air. And yeah, I had a big elaborate meal. It was, you know, and yeah, it was definitely— I mean, so it's somebody's birthday, right? So his birthday party, and 60 is kind of a big deal. So yeah, and, you know, some of them are much more expensive than others. Some of them, you know, not expensive at all. And this one is more expensive, more elaborate. Yeah, Olivia? ⚠

Student

That's like kind of what I was about to ask. Is there like a variance in like how people can celebrate this based on like financial limitations? Or like are some people like more like all out with it than others?

Brad

I mean, the cost of doing some of the rituals is prohibitively high. Yeah. So like the Rājasūya that we read about with the— I mean, that's the— You know, the one where, you know, if you're becoming a king, so there again, you can only do that ritual if you are becoming king. Andrew was arrested this morning, it's not becoming king, but yeah, so, and those are extremely expensive, right? Cool, yeah, good. Yeah, Alice? ⚠

Student

Do you know if the church, like kind of like how some churches here will like offer financial aid for people who want to go on like retreats or like people who want to do things that are more like financially burdening? Like do the churches that they go to also offer that kind of like financial assistance or is it like— ⚠

Brad

So I mean, the honest answer is I have no idea. Or I should say the honest answer is I don't know. But I would be very surprised if that was the case. I think, you know, part of the idea of sacrifice is that you're giving up something. And so if somebody else is giving you that, then the sacrifice doesn't work quite the same, you know? So, yeah, I think my hunch is to say no, that that wouldn't be the case. Yeah, you know, if it's a wedding, maybe, you know, people may give the dakshina, so the fee, then they may give you, you know, part of the dakshina for something like that, but not for something like this because this is an entirely optional ritual. And so you have to have the qualifications, and part of the qualifications does mean having the means to do it. Yeah, so the karma, karma marga is narrow. It is not open to everyone. It is open to a small maybe extremely small group of people, actually. So it is not supposed to be open to everyone. Whereas bhakti marga is radically open, right? Anybody can do bhakti. ⚠

Brad

jñāna marga, obviously, the burden is there, is a little bit higher, right? That's what we're studying in this course. So it's hard, right? Philosophy is hard, I mean, the philosophy is hard, so understanding it is a high burden, so that's not going to be open, available to everyone. Karma Marga is the smallest, you know, group of people. jñāna Marga, anybody who's smart enough to understand it and has the time can understand it. Whereas bhakti, which we'll get to in the second half of the course, we will talk about bhakti quite a bit. But there's no barrier to bhakti. Anybody can do bhakti. Bhakti just means devotion. And all you have to have— you do have to bring an offering for bhakti, but the Bhagavad Gītā specifically says, like, you could bring a handful of water or a leaf. It even says you could pick up a leaf and bring a leaf, right? So you don't have to have— I mean, anybody can get a leaf or water, right? So you have to bring something as an offering, but the bar couldn't be lower. Good? Yeah? ⚠

Student

I just like, I think I'm having trouble understanding like the means to become like higher up in this like belief system. It seems like you need to have access to like all these teachers, but like If the idea is that everyone is brahman and like atman and everyone has the ability to become it, isn't that like such a limitation if you can't? I just, I don't think I understand that. ⚠

Brad

What is the limitation? The limitation being to perform the karma, to perform, so yeah, I mean, there's nothing in the Veda that even suggests that karma marga is open to everyone. I would say there's a lot to suggest that it's open to very few. Yeah, and whereas bhakti, anybody could do bhakti. Yeah, so bhakti is radically— I don't know if I answered your question. Okay, anything else? ⚠

Student

Well, yeah, what is stopping someone from lying about having liberation and like saying that they are on the same level as a guru, like that they are enlightened? Like what if it's all just like your own personal experience? Like, or is there like a kind of like some sort of like, you like with, I guess, Christianity, like you can't just say you're a priest, you have to like go through and then do a lot of stuff. ⚠

Brad

Mm-hmm.

Student

Could anyone just say that they are liberated and therefore they're a guru?

Brad

I mean, I guess so, you know. Yeah, there's no shortage of news stories about gurus that took advantage of people. There's no shortage of— yeah, so I mean, certainly people are— some people are good, some people are bad, and so bad people are going to be bad. So yeah, I don't know why anybody would lie about it unless they were, you know, trying to— let's say it's a motive, some personal motive or something. But no, there's not really— I mean, in order to become, you know, a priest, then you have to, you know, kind of be born in a particular lineage. You have to go to matha, which is like the school. You have to learn all these things, you know. Technically, you should memorize the entire scripture, right? I mean, none of these folks, you can hear them in perfect harmony chanting, right? But they're not— they memorize the text, right? Yeah. So this is the son and the grandson. Good. Great. Cool. Well, let's move on then. And happy to entertain more questions. Any other questions? ⚠

35:45

Small Group Discussion on Aitareya Upanishad

Student

Okay.

Brad

Happy to entertain questions another time too. All right. Let's shift then. We'll take a few minutes in your teams and organize your thoughts for the broader discussion. Let me draw your— just a couple of themes, right, that we want to continue, that we want to continue on. They're not new themes really, but the two methods that I've been emphasizing since Chapter 8, right, are upasamhara and samanvaya. So what— and we can take these really as, you know, two different sides of the same method, but what is that method? Yeah. Connecting and harmonizing. Yes, upasamhara is connecting, right? So seeing a connection between this text and this text. May not say exactly the same thing. I mean, they don't say exactly the same thing, right? But you're seeing connections between the text. And then so that's the upasamhara part, right? And then the samanvaya is harmonization, right? So recognizing that, you know, I think in the text I gave the example of like an English horn and a French horn. I thought that duet was hilarious. I thought it was a pretty funny joke, actually. ⚠

Brad

Can you imagine an English horn and a French horn together, right, in a duet? No? Right? It's hilarious. Because, I mean, an English horn is a double reed, you know. Anyway. Yeah, so we want to continue, you know, connecting these texts, right? So connecting this text to, I mean, as I did in this chapter really to the, or actually it's not even me, right? The text itself draws direct connections to like the Puruṣa Sūkta and the Nāsadīya Sūkta. So we want to try and read all the texts in harmony together, but also in this particular unit, we're trying to draw connections and harmony between the, the Mahāvākyas, right? So now we're up to our second Mahāvākya, and then, you know, Tuesday we'll do our third, and the next Thursday we'll do our fourth. Good? Any questions? Great. So let's take until a quarter till in your teams, and then at a quarter till we'll transition And I'll go for, you know, at least 15 minutes with my Pi-hole closed and let you guys lead the discussion. ⚠

Brad

I'll take some notes and then if there's like questions and stuff, I can tackle them after that, after my quiet period. Heard? Go for it. Yeah. Are you just asking if you can leave early? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're— yeah, it's not— it's not even up to me. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Good. ⚠

45:34

Student Synthesis: Creation, Consciousness, and the Three Births

Student

Hey.

Brad

Okay. I'm not saying anything, see.

Student

Um, our group was talking about the line, the melon first opened like an egg, because we thought it was like a good visual depiction of the unfolding from the one into the many, and it made us think of the egg yolk reading from the golden embryo where the one becomes the many without losing one. ⚠

Student

Our group had a question about awareness and consciousness, just kind of like in relation to your own emotions. So there's a part of the text where they explain that you aren't an anxious person, you're the awareness of those thoughts. So does that mean that like every thought that you have, you're just aware of it and it's not actually like affecting you, I guess. I guess it affects you, but I don't know, we were kind of like grappling with that. ⚠

Student

I think like going back to like the egg, like the mouth burst open to an egg, like I found it kind of interesting how like for the other ones, like it would talk about like hearing, or the ears burst open, the ears can hear, hearing the directions. Like I thought it was kind of interesting how like hearing and directions, they're not inherently like related, but like somehow they came from the same thing. So it was like kind of interesting. Yeah, I thought it was interesting like how all the deities come from within the human, and I thought that could like represent how our human existence is powerful, which connects to like when those same deities were looking for like an abode abode. They rejected like the cow, the horse, but they ended up picking the human because according to the text it says a person is indeed longing. Yeah, with the abode, we also found it interesting that like the horses and cow, it wasn't— they weren't sufficient. ⚠

Student

But like when you think about it, like horses, cows, like they also have sight, they also have taste, or they also have like hearing, like they also have senses. But then we were kind We were talking about how it reminded us of the Passover, like how we were questioning like, oh, what makes it right for a lamb to be sacrificed rather than a human? And like we saw this kind of as like the same idea that like, or we found kind of like a parallel thought in this moment also kind of talking about like the human being, like kind of more like they can advance us to the future compared to like a horse, cow, which is like We were talking about the idea of an outer ritual becoming an inner transformation, which is something that we saw with Śunaḥśepa as well. ⚠

Student

It's like the idea that it's just recognizing the truth within yourself to reach liberation instead of doing an actual ritual.

Student

Something that I was kind of thinking about while reading this chapter was the limits that we have as humans on the idea of consciousness, and then by default brahman, or brahman because brahman is consciousness. And I was kind of thinking of this in the sense of modern-day neuroscience, like what happens to us when we're in states like a coma or things like that where we're unconscious. Does that mean that we aren't in existence, and also, does the universe exist inside consciousness, or does consciousness exist inside the universe? I was just kind of confused, like what came first, like the chicken or the egg thing. ⚠

Student

[Speaker] Our group was kind of thinking about the same thing, just like the moral aspect, like death really exists, or if just consciousness doesn't exist. We were also thinking about consciousness, like brahman, and how it's all the same, and it's just like our bodies are the different objects of awareness, and that's how we're unique. ⚠

Brad

And then we observe things through our thoughts and emotions, which are different for everyone.

Student

I think our group really focused on the creation portion for the reading because we found it super similar to, um, to the Golden Embryo that we, that we've read before. Because, uh, you know, in the story it's kind of like this one thing called atman that, you know, exists alone and, uh, you know, kind of like bring, bring the whole world out. So it's, so it's really similar to like the Golden Embryo theory, but it's like the man becomes one with the one. ⚠

Student

But there's also like, they emphasize the cyclical Nacurveda too, and the first section talks about how everything springs from the human, and then they don't just say like the deities enter the human, they say they become the things they sprung from, which was for me a bit confusing of how like if, you know, speech created fire, how can fire then kind of create, I guess, or become speech again? ⚠

Student

Well, one example that I thought was interesting was it was like your— the hairs like on your skin becomes like trees, and then also like I think it's like your eyes become sight and— or your eyes become sun, or like I think that was an example. And I kind of related that to one of the former chapters we read where it's like the sun exhibits so many rays but it never gets tired. So I thought that that was like an important thing to know that this everything is kind of made up of other things, and it kind of— you were talking about how it's all like a circle or a cycle, and how like our energy of ourselves is like coming from other things, which I thought was like an important takeaway. ⚠

Student

Another question I had was that it said that liberation is recognizing what you are or knowing what you are, and I I guess the answer to that would be awareness or the true self. But I know that, so does that mean I am liberated? Obviously there's more to it, but is it more of knowing a way of life or truly understanding?

Student

Yeah.

Student

Something I had learned from text as well. I feel like it had a good connection to the Ramachan text because it really emphasized how consciousness cannot really be observed, and it's just like a condition of awareness and knowing, which I thought was really similar to how the Ramachan text emphasized how the self is not an object of knowledge but just the knower itself. So I thought they related well to each other. ⚠

Student

Yeah, a connection that our group made was the paragraph where it says that it memory, intention, will, life, desire, control, and how they're all just names of consciousness. And that connected to the reading from Tuesday for us, where we were talking about the clay, gold, iron, and how the underlying material in this case, which is consciousness, is always the same, but we just have different names.

Student

Yeah, it's basically like just how consciousness operating through different instruments using different tools and the echoes from Chapter 10 is like, "Pot, vase, and dish, they're equal to names of clay, and the same the mind, sight, and hearing are names for consciousness." That's what we took out of this. ⚠

Student

I had another quote that I pulled from chapter 3. It's like the very end, right before the closing. It says, "He becomes immortal, becomes immortal, becomes immortal." I had to read that a couple times just because I thought it was like repetition, maybe like on accident. But then I was like, okay, it kind of does make sense because we talked about the idea of like— I feel like I keep using the milk and example, just because I feel like that made sense to me, and I can resonate with that idea because we talked about it so much. But just the idea of immortality, and I think the bedsheet example too, it's just ever extending. And the idea of immortality, and then we were talking about the idea of karma, how everything is just continuously connected. I feel like it's a really big idea to wrap your head around, and maybe the point is that we as humans aren't able to fully understand that, but I think trying to and talking about it helps us to better, like, get a grasp on it. So I thought that that was an important quote. ⚠

Student

Yeah, from the second chapter, what I was talking about was the three births.

Brad

The third birth I kind of thought of as, like, reincarnation or death.

Student

So born again after the impact on the world. But I also thought that could represent like a shift in identity awareness and finally realizing like the self is within oneself, or like the whole thing of like consciousness is one. And that could also connect with the idea that liberation is more epistemological than ontological. And I also thought our group was talking about this but like how the third birth is more subjective in terms of like when someone can achieve liberation. So I guess the other two births are more like at the start of your life, but the end of one's life is more subjective than I guess the start. ⚠

Brad

So.

Student

Just kind of like build off that point as well. Like, you know, like my— like it seems like from your reading that liberation is more like recognizing what one already is, or becoming something new. So I think it's pretty interesting. It's like, you know, your rebirth is also like just kind of like knowing who you are and kind of like self-consciousness about yourself. I think that makes very good sense. ⚠

Student

I was going to say I was kind of surprised that like, this is like 3 specific births, just because I feel like it can be taken in so many contexts, like metaphorically, because it says like conception, birth, and then also death. But I kind of thought that maybe there should— and I'm not trying to rewrite this, like that's not my place at all, but I'm just surprised that it wasn't like you could have a metaphorical like rebirth of like gaining knowledge, because that's such an important part of reaching liberation. So I thought it was just interesting how these are more physical, but we can also think about the spiritual and educational implications of this. ⚠

Student

Our group liked the repetition where he was trying to grasp the food with all the different body systems, but it only worked with the out-breath. Because we felt like how those lines were kind of like all were the same. It shows that while all systems like might have their own role and can somewhat relate to things partially, in this case food, there's only like one that allows for full nourishment. And we thought that kind of that whole paragraph was a little interesting. ⚠

Student

Yeah, I agree.

Student

I thought that part was really interesting because when I first read it, I was kind of confused like, oh, what is out there? Why is out-breath? Because to me, when I was thinking about it, I was like, oh, you breathe out. That's what out-breath is. But then when I Googled what is out-breath, I saw that there were some interpretations saying that it's talking more so about the release of energy. So I found it kind of interesting that, oh, it relates to hunger. Because when you're hungry and you eat food, you're re-nourishing yourself. So you're getting that energy back. Opposite balancing. I found that to be interesting. ⚠

Student

Yeah, our group kind of thought about that too. And I feel like everything was talking about hunger and thirst, personifying it in a way. And it was like, it's like, if you're hungry, it's different than if you're angry. And it's more factual. And then we thought through like a symbol of life and you need to take in this life to sustain your own. ⚠

Student

Talking about hunger and thirst more, it says how hunger and thirst said to him, find a mode for us. And he told them that they're co-sharers in all of the different organs. And we kind of didn't know how to interpret this, but The way we thought that it might mean is that it seems like every offering to any god under a bird, like your necessities have a place in every offering. ⚠

58:41

Theological Synthesis: Epistemology and the Nature of the Self

Brad

Really great, really good discussion, really good point. So many really good points. Yeah, I mean, let's start trying to tie them together. I mean, yeah, I mean, I like— I really like, you know, Cooper got us off to a great start with the egg and the mouth and the one and the many, right? I mean, obviously all this is, at least when we're reading through Advaita's perspective, it's going to have something to do with the one and the many, being and becoming. Yeah, and yang— do you prefer yang? Hey, Cheng. So Yang was saying, right, one already is, you know, Brahman, right? You don't become Brahman. One already is Brahman, right? Which then takes us back to, I think, you know, connecting with, I mean, I think Sophia and Samyala both had interesting connection here, you know, about epistemology and how do you know, right? And I mean, as Sophia was saying, like, I know it, right? So then am I liberated, right? But is there something more? Like, just knowing information doesn't mean that it forms you from within, right? ⚠

Brad

So information could just be data, but it doesn't necessarily inform who you are, right? Or give form to that. And so I think there is something in the samskara. We will look at a verse from the I mean, when we get to it, when we get to the Bhagavad Gītā, we'll look to a verse where they do contrast jñāna, like this is vijnana, right? But they'll contrast jñāna with vijnana. So knowing, jñāna is just like simple knowing, But vijñāna is like, I really feel it, right? I really have an experience with it, right? It's one thing to say, you know, we're all one. It's another thing to like lose sight of your individuality, right, and sort of become the one or feel the one. So yeah, I think this is a really good question, really good. Thing. And I like, uh, yeah, I mean, Samuel, you were saying, um, drawing our attention to that, um, to that passage on birth and rebirth, right? Um, and, um, as you said, right, liberation is epistemological, not ontological, right? So then, um, how do we make sense of all these, um, different things, right? And Jaden also Right? ⚠

Brad

The self is a knower, not an object of knowing. So again, we're talking about epistemology through all of this. Right? I also really liked Olivia's question. Right? If we're unconscious— how did you say it? If we're unconscious, do we cease to exist?

Student

Is it?

Brad

Yeah. So let's dig into all of those kind of questions. I feel like we can tackle a maybe all of them together and maybe even— do you mind hitting the up arrow over to— yeah, that one. Sorry for folks that it's a little awkward to look, but I'm not going to write very much. I want to come back to that guy Prabhakara that I— that was in the quote quiz question, right, or the bonus question. So for Bhāgavata's theory, triputi pratyaksha vāda. Vāda means like the teaching or the, yeah, the teaching, right, the teaching of the doctrine. Pratyaksha, you know that word, right? Pratyaksha is the first of the of pramana is direct perception, right? So directly perceiving. And then tri, three, so this is the doctrine that pratyaksha reveals these three things, threefold revelation of pratyaksha. So in any act of perception, any act of perception, if I'm perceiving, I don't know, this little Ganesha murti, right? If I'm perceiving it, there has to be 3 things. There are always 3 things that are simultaneously manifest in any act of perception, says Prabhakara. Those 3 things are perceiver, right? ⚠

Brad

There's no perception unless there's a perceiver. Obvious, right? And a perceiver can't perceive unless they perceive something, right? So there has to be something perceived, however you write letters. So, right? And then what do you think the third thing is? ⚠

Student

Perceiving.

Brad

Yeah, the act of perceiving, right? So you've got the -ing, right? Delta t, the time, right? Things take place in space. You have to have some sort of spatial differentiation between the thing that's perceived and the perceiver, some distinction that could be purely epistemological, not ontological, right? But you have to have this act of perceiving, right? So, all three things become manifest in any act of Perception, says Prabhakara, right? So let's take an obvious example. Everybody just do this. I know it's silly, right? But look at your hand, right? So now the— so this is an act of perception, right? You can see your hand. So then the hand is the object of perception, right? You are the perceiver. But what's different about this example? Yeah. It's part of me, right? So like if I see Eduardo, I know— I mean, Eduardo is not always with me, right? But my hand is. I mean, so far, right? So like, so I understand that the hand is the object of my perception. But it's also part of me, right? ⚠

Brad

I mean, maybe we're getting back to that part versus whole, right, distinction that we came to earlier that I said part versus whole is going to get you most of the way there, but not all of the way there, right? So I mean, my hand is part of me, but I don't know, I kind of think I'd be a little bit different if I didn't have this hand, right? So I would be a little bit different, right? So then It's one thing to, I think we can all look at our hand and say, all right, this hand is me, right? It's not not me, right? I could still be alive without this hand, but I would be quite different without it, right? So it is me in a way that Eduardo's not me, right? But remember we said that the scriptures, I'm sorry, the pramanas, each one of the pramanas reveals something that can't be known from any other means, right? So each pramana reveals something that can't conflict, right? So that's why all that science, like that you brought in neuroscience and that kind of thing, right? ⚠

Brad

This is, and those lecture, the lecture I gave you, the discussion with Rambachan and those other folks that he was in the discussion with, they were all professors, they were all like science, they were like, physicists and biologists and stuff. They're all professors. But so my point is, our interpretation of Scripture shouldn't contradict our understanding of science, right? And those kind of things. But that it also means that the Scripture needs to reveal something that can't be known by science, right? And so when I look at Eduardo, I'm like, okay, I can perceive Eduardo, Part of me looks at Eduardo as an object, right? Because that's the only way I can perceive. I am a subject. I can only know Eduardo as a subject, as an object, I'm sorry, right? And Eduardo can only know me as an object. But there's also a part of me that very much believes that Eduardo is a subject, right? Not just an NPC in Elon's game or a figment in my own imagination. Right? I guess you'd be an NPC in Brad's game. But you know what I mean, right? ⚠

Brad

So I believe that Eduardo is an other subject. But Advaita is saying, actually, Eduardo is a subject, but not an other subject. It's just a subject that appears different, right? In the way that my hand appears different than me, but isn't. Right? Likewise, you know, Ben appears different than me but is the same knower, right? So the knower that's perceiving Ben is the same as the perceiver that's perceiving Brad in some way, or the knower that's— you kind of get what I'm saying right there? So the difference between perceiver and perceived is not ontological, it's epistemological. Right? Let's go back then to Samiella's comment about birth and rebirth, right? So then if we— I want to try and encourage you to think more broadly about what these two words, birth and death, could mean. ⚠

Student

Right?

Brad

On the one hand, we think of birth. I mean, like, birth is when you come out of your mama's hoo-ha, right? But then death is when you, I don't know, go in the ground or something, right? But these words could be interpreted much more broadly and epistemologically, right? So then, let me give you an example. Right? We'll go back to Kamarala. Right? Kamarala and his understanding of the Abhava pramana. What does— so each one of the pramanas reveals something that can't be known by any other means. Right? So then the question is, what does Abhava pramana reveal to us that we couldn't know by any other means? This didn't entirely come through, and I think a lot of podcast scripts were a little bit confused about it. So part of why I'm going over it again. So what does Abhava pramana reveal that can't be known by any other means? According to Kamala, what it reveals is something about causality, right? Causality. And as I said, then causality is a little bit more complex than just, oh, this causes that, right? Causality, there's different kinds of causality. Did anybody do anything with their Play-Doh? ⚠

Brad

You all did some stuff, right? Okay, I'm going to use Brian's, right? So Brian made something. What'd you make? A pretzel. A pretzel, okay. So then what is the— What are the 3 types of causality? First one is material. So what's the material cause of that pretzel? Play-Doh, right? Or we just put clay, because— but it's Play-Doh. Yeah, we know it's clay. What's the next type of causality? Efficient. So what is the efficient cause of that Play-Doh? You mean like rolling it out and then shaping it? Yeah, or just more simply, Brian, right? So Brian, in that case, is the efficient cause. And then what's the last one? Final cause. Final cause. And so what does that mean? What's the final cause? The purpose. ⚠

Student

The goal.

Brad

Yeah. So why did you create a pretzel?

Student

You're starving.

Brad

I mean, you could have eaten the Play-Doh without it being a pretzel. Or, okay, you're saying he's hungry so he's thinking of food, so he's like, okay. What's the other one? I think maybe even the correct answer. Was it fun? Yeah. Is that a reason? Yeah. Okay, so I don't know, let's just put then, Play. Yeah? Just playing around. Play is certainly a legitimate final cause, right? It's why you're doing it. So what is it made out of? It's clay. How is it made? What's the efficient cause? Brian made it. Right? Why? Just because for fun, right? And so we're going to spend a lot of time on this one in the second half of the semester. But starting to put all the pieces together, right? Now I said I was going to talk about birth and death. Right? So then, could we say that this pretzel was born? Feels uncomfortable, right? We don't want to say that it's born, but could we just say— what if I take the milk curd example? Right? So, as I said then, the— The milk only becomes the cause of the curds when? ⚠

Brad

At the very moment that the milk ceases to exist, right? If it ceases to exist, could we call that death? You ever seen that Rick and Morty episode where they go back to where he resets portal travel and they They start flashing and Jerry comes in. He's like, "Why are we flashing?" Don't say you don't know because you're flashing too. And then he's like, you know, "We're going to cease to exist from this reality." And he's like, "Wait, we're dying?" He's like, "No, we're not dying. We're going to cease to exist from this reality." And Jerry's like, "That's totally dying." Anyway, so here, if the milk ceases to exist from this reality, then could we call that a kind of death? The death of the milk, right? So then I said we're going to try and interpret birth and death more broadly, right? So could we say that the curd is born at the moment that the milk dies, right? The milk dies and the curd is born, right? One last thing that I should have said to my last class but didn't. ⚠

Brad

What was the Play-Doh, what form was it in before you formed it into a pretzel? Cylindrical. Yeah, could we call it a lump?

Student

Yeah.

Brad

What form is a lump? A lump is just not really a form, right? So could we say that the form, the lump, died in order to become the pretzel, right? And then in a moment you'll probably kill the pretzel and turn it back into a lump, right? So then maybe we can think about this cycle. I don't know, there's, uh, all of these things are connected. I think you may be like, I don't know how they're connected, but you're starting to at least see that they are connected and starting to put the pieces together. ⚠

1:14:52

Closing and Office Hours Announcement

Student

Um, word.

Brad

Uh, so have a good weekend. I've got office hours right now, and, uh, I'll I'll see you on Tuesday.