"Da, Da, Da": What the Thunder Said (BrahadAranyaka Upanishad)

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Dear friends,

 

The Upanishads narrate many simple parables that

really tease our wits and challenge our deepest

thought. One such parable appears in the BrhadAranyaka

Upanishad at 5:2:1-3. It reads as follows (English

translation: Eknath Eswaran in "The Upanishads"

(Penguin); also "Selections from Upanishads" by N.S.

Anantha RangAchAr, India).

 

***************

 

"WHAT THE THUNDER SAID"

 

The children of Prajapati, the Creator -- gods, human

beings and 'asuras', the godless -- lived with their

father as students. When they had completed the

alloted period of study the gods said, "Venerable One,

please give us instruction". Prajapati answered with

one syllable: "Da".

 

"Have you understood?" he asked.

"Yes", they said, "You have told us 'damyata', be

self-controlled".

"Very good. You have understood", he said.

 

Then the human beings approached. "Venerable One,

please teach us".

Prajapati answered with one syllable: "Da".

"Have you understood?" he asked.

"Yes", they said. "You have told us 'datta', give".

"Very good. You have understood," he said.

 

Then the 'asuras', the godless ones, approached.

"Venerable One, please teach us".

Prajapati answered with the same syllable: "Da".

"Have you understood?", he asked.

"Yes", they said. "You have told us 'dayAdhvam', be

compassionate".

"Very good. You have understood", he said.

 

The heavenly voice of the thunder too repeats this

teaching: "Da-Da-Da!".

Be self-controlled! Give! Be compassionate!

 

"Om shanti! Shanti! Shanti:!

 

************

 

What are we to make of this story?

 

The Upanishad tells this story with stark, child-like

simplicity. At first sight, it seems to us as though

the parable is one of those bed-time morality tales

meant for children, with the endearing caper of "Da,

Da, Da" thrown in for effect. The story's main theme

too appears rather plain and obvious to us. It affirms

self-control ("dama"), charity ("dAna") and compassion

("dayA") as ideals of behaviour in this world.

 

So, is this then really all what the story is about?

We begin to wonder.

 

The Upanishads are divine revelations. It is said

nothing uttered by them, not even the smallest phrase

or expression, is ever without significance if only we

knew how to plumb their depths to glean it. In this

little story too, it seems to us there is perhaps more

than meets the eye. Surely, there must be more to

learn from the encounter between Prajapati and his

children. And from "What the thunder said" too?

 

*************

 

In the Vedic pantheon of gods Prajapati (or

'chatur-mukha-brahmA') is pre-eminent. He is the

first-born of the Almighty, the "paramAtma". In power

and glory Prajapati is next only to the Supreme Lord

Himself. It was thus that Prajapati came to be

entrusted with carrying out God's own function of

"srushti" -- cosmic Creation. Prajapati is the

Progenitor of all beings everywhere and they include

"dEvAs" who are higher beings (like gods and

celestials), "manushyAs" or humans who are like you

and me, and "asurAs" who are the inhuman (or the

godless beings) amongst the celestials. Hence, in the

Upanishad story, Prajapati is their common father and

is addressed as "venerable one".

 

*************

 

All these classes of being -- devAs, manushyAs and

asurAs -- the story tells us, were living alongwith

Prajapati as students... It makes us immediately

wonder.

 

If the great first-born of God Almighty himself

created these beings, why did they have to spend a

so-called "alloted period of study" under Prajapati?

We are led to conclude from this that Prajapati's

handiwork of 'srushti', although great and marvellous

in the first place, evidently fell quite short of

perfection. All the worlds and all this cosmic reality

gloriously teeming around us -- "Prajapati's

children", to use the Upanishad's metaphor for it --

they all somehow ended up being seriously unfinished.

Had the 'children' been indeed perfect at very

inception, there would have been no need at all for

'devA', 'manushya' or 'asurAs' to undergo further

'education' at the University of Prajapati, isn't it?

 

Thus, the work of cosmic Creation -- Prajapati's

'srushti' -- was not "done right the first time". It

remains so even to this day-- perennially unfinished.

Prajapati's task, alas, did not end with the mere Act

of Creation. After 'srushti' he found he still had to

go back to work again. The job of perfecting (or

'educating') that which had been created, remained...

It still remains... Which is why all the world and all

the vast universe surrounding it ("..bhUmim vishvatO

vruttvA..", the 'purusha-suktam' calls it) -are still

undergoing a non-stop, inexorable process of cosmic

flux ever since the dawn of Time until this very

moment. And this great process of flux is precisely

what we have all come to know as 'Evolution'...

 

Indeed, Evolution is but an Upanishadic metaphor: It

is Prajapati's workshop where all things great and

small -- 'dEvas' 'manushyAs' and 'asurAs' -- all go

through the ceaseless milling and grinding of a unique

process called Life until eventually, at the end, they

emerge as Perfect Beings in God's own image... in the

very likeness of 'parabrahmam' Himself.

 

In the brief time it might take to recount a child's

bed-time story, the BrhadAranyaka Upanishad thus gives

us a short history of the whole of cosmic evolution:

 

Nothing, no creature of this world -- none of

"Prajapati's child-students" -- is indeed perfect.

Yet, everything, every being that lives and breathes

in God's vast, boundless empire -- whether 'dEva',

"manushya" or "asura" -- every being carries within

itself the promise of perfection. And all Life on

earth is but a process by which Perfection is brought

to fruition by Evolution.

 

**************

(to be continued)

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

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