In the previous episodes, we saw how father Uddalaka traces the origin of the existence by backward reasoning. He continues, to show the same unity among all the existence by forward reasoning as well.
“When someone is on the death bed, initially he recognizes the people around him. He even speaks to them. But as death approaches, he stops speaking. But he may still recognize people. That means that his mind is working.
As time passes, he stops recognizing people. That means that his mind has stopped working. But he is still alive as indicated by his breathing and body warmth.
By and by even these stop. And at last he is dead.”
Uddalaka says that what is happening is a gradual withdrawal of forces that were responsible for his life.
“First the speech withdraws itself into the Mind. Next the Mind withdraws itself into life force. And finally the life force withdraws itself into the soul. When soul leaves, he is no longer alive”
This is just the opposite of how he came into existence – First the body, then the mind, life force, and finally the soul.
What it means is that we started from something and finally we reach the same thing.
Uddalaka gives another simile to explain this.
“There are many rivers, each with a name and a form. Some may flow eastwards, some westwards. Some may run fast and others slow. One may be called Ganga, another as Yamuna and so on.
But when they finally join the sea, they become indistinguishable. You can’t find Ganga in the sea, nor the Yamuna. All of them have lost their name and form. What exists is just the sea.
But it is the same sea from which each of these rivers came into existence – the sea water evaporated, formed the clouds, became the rain, got collected in streams and finally formed the rivers.
All of them came from the sea and ultimately submerged into the sea. It is only in the ‘middle’ they appear to be different rivers”
“Similarly, all of us came from the same original ‘thing’; took different forms – dog, tiger, elephant, human, reptile, bird, and so on. As long as each held that form, they behaved like one, though each one looked different. But when ultimately they merge with the same original ‘thing’, they all become nothing but ‘that’ from which they came.”
So what is the conclusion?
We will see that in the next episode.
A
story of Uddalaka and Swetaketu from Chandogya Upanishad, which is
part of Sama Veda. Upanishads are concluding parts of ancient Indian
Vedic scriptures believed to be at least 5000 years old. The
interpretation is by Dr.King (Copyright © 2019 Dr. King).
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