1 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,360 Stories from Upanishads retold by Arghya Goswami 2 00:00:25,270 --> 00:00:31,070 Episode 28 Story of King Brihad Ratha and Part 2 Moksha Chapter 3 00:00:31,070 --> 00:00:35,550 one Maitre Upanishad Dear friends, I'm back with another 4 00:00:35,550 --> 00:00:39,590 new story from Maitre Upanishad. This Upanishad is one of the 5 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:42,980 minor repetition which was composed in Sanskrit. 6 00:00:43,060 --> 00:00:48,460 It belongs to one of the 16 Upanishads from Samved and falls 7 00:00:48,460 --> 00:00:51,940 under Sanyas Upanishad which talks about renunciation. 8 00:00:52,820 --> 00:00:56,580 If you remember in Muktika Upanishad this was mentioned as 9 00:00:56,580 --> 00:01:00,100 29th in serial order of 108 Upanishads. 10 00:01:00,620 --> 00:01:05,780 Primarily this Upanishad state that renunciation or sanyasa and 11 00:01:05,780 --> 00:01:09,020 self knowledge is the part to salvation or moksha. 12 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:14,120 The name Maitreya is derived from the word Mitra, who is the 13 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,080 Rig Vedic deity. Most probably this Upanishad was 14 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,320 written by an ancient Indian scholar by the name Maitre and 15 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:25,160 hence it is named as Maitreya Upanishad. 16 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,320 According to Patrick Olively, this Upanishad was perhaps 17 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:34,480 written in the medieval period of first Millennium CE. 18 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,160 It was composed at a time when Buddhism was at his peak. 19 00:01:39,660 --> 00:01:42,060 Currently, 2 versions of this book survive. 20 00:01:42,100 --> 00:01:45,460 Although the thoughts and the messages are essentially the 21 00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:50,620 same in both the versions. However, they differ primarily 22 00:01:50,620 --> 00:01:53,300 in Chapter 2. The South Indian version of the 23 00:01:53,300 --> 00:01:57,060 Maitreya position is considered to be part of 108 opposition. 24 00:01:58,100 --> 00:02:02,060 This opposition has three chapters and each one deals on a 25 00:02:02,060 --> 00:02:04,660 specific topic. The first chapter has four 26 00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:08,300 sections, the first three of them are processed and the last 27 00:02:08,300 --> 00:02:11,820 section has a prose prologue and 14 verses. 28 00:02:12,260 --> 00:02:14,860 This chapter describes the dialogue between the great 29 00:02:14,860 --> 00:02:19,540 aesthetic King Brihadratha from Ishq Waku Dynasty or Solar 30 00:02:19,540 --> 00:02:24,820 Dynasty and Sage Sakayana. Before I begin today's story, a 31 00:02:24,820 --> 00:02:28,060 little more on these two principal characters that is 32 00:02:28,140 --> 00:02:31,100 King Brihadratha and Sage Sakayana. 33 00:02:31,420 --> 00:02:35,900 King Breed Ratta was from Ishq Waku dynasty or Solar dynasty 34 00:02:35,900 --> 00:02:38,380 which we popularly call as Surya Vangshis. 35 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:43,060 He has been referred to as a Maharata and has been mentioned. 36 00:02:44,620 --> 00:02:49,700 Repeat he has been referred as a Maharata and is mentioned in Rig 37 00:02:49,700 --> 00:02:52,540 VED. I tried to research about this 38 00:02:52,540 --> 00:02:55,580 great king as my passion is connecting mythology with 39 00:02:55,580 --> 00:02:59,840 historical facts and writings. If you try to search by his name 40 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:04,680 in Ishq Waku dynasty family tree, most probably you will not 41 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,200 find. Then the question will arise is 42 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,000 this name of fictitious character. 43 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,480 So I tried to read through many blogs and articles and research 44 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,360 papers and finally found an interesting article written by 45 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,360 Miss Rupa Bhati who is an architect and adjunct Assistant 46 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,600 professor at School of Indict Studies, Institute of Advanced 47 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,790 Sciences, Massachusetts, USA. According to her article which 48 00:03:29,790 --> 00:03:33,590 is published in Medium, she tries to find ancientness of 49 00:03:33,590 --> 00:03:37,230 King Brihadratha in Metro Punishat the 4th slope from 50 00:03:37,270 --> 00:03:40,590 chapter One state. Some of the names of the kings 51 00:03:40,790 --> 00:03:46,790 such as Marutha and Bharatha, Shatapata, Brahmana Sloke 13.5 52 00:03:46,790 --> 00:03:51,310 point 4.6 also mentioned the name of the king Marutha as 53 00:03:51,310 --> 00:03:54,350 Marutha Aviksitha or descendant of Aviksit. 54 00:03:54,700 --> 00:03:58,860 As per chronology of ancient kings of India, Aviksita and 55 00:03:58,860 --> 00:04:03,300 Maruta were descendants of King Rishtu who was brother of 56 00:04:03,340 --> 00:04:06,660 Ishqvaku. As for the research, these kings 57 00:04:06,820 --> 00:04:10,060 belong to last glacial Maximus or LGM. 58 00:04:10,380 --> 00:04:14,580 The LGM is the peak glacial condition of the most recent 59 00:04:14,580 --> 00:04:17,540 glacial interval in the geological past, and 60 00:04:17,540 --> 00:04:23,010 colloquially this is called the Last Ice Age and this may have 61 00:04:23,210 --> 00:04:26,930 occurred around 26,000 to 19,000 years ago. 62 00:04:27,570 --> 00:04:32,170 Breed Ratha is also mentioned in rig weather as Nava Vastva Breed 63 00:04:32,170 --> 00:04:37,010 Ratha in 10th, 6th and 1st Mandalas and by the astronomical 64 00:04:37,010 --> 00:04:40,970 and ecstatic evidence of Meth reopenition, the timing of the 65 00:04:40,970 --> 00:04:45,770 event was sought upon as 34,500 BCE. 66 00:04:46,260 --> 00:04:50,940 So it is assumed that Breed Ratha lived around 34500 BC. 67 00:04:51,060 --> 00:04:55,220 Another point to note is that most of the Ishquaku kings went 68 00:04:55,220 --> 00:04:59,460 by some epitate for a long time. Most of these are lost due to 69 00:04:59,460 --> 00:05:02,700 deep antiquity. Some epithets emerge which 70 00:05:02,780 --> 00:05:07,900 appears to be of Ishqvakus. Among them is Trashya Dasu 71 00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:14,150 breed, Ratha, Trisky Tristu, Try Aruna, Dasaratha Ratha and 72 00:05:14,150 --> 00:05:18,430 Ashwar were the common suffixes in Ishqvaku kings names. 73 00:05:19,110 --> 00:05:22,830 Friends, an interesting point to understand this try Aruna Tassir 74 00:05:22,830 --> 00:05:25,630 Dassu is an important figure in rig VED. 75 00:05:25,870 --> 00:05:29,710 According to Shatapata Brahmana. A connection between Trassir 76 00:05:29,710 --> 00:05:34,790 Dassu and Ishqvaku is confirmed by the fact that King Purukustha 77 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,080 was an egg shelf that means belonging to Ishq Waku. 78 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,160 Thus we can assume that Ishq Waku's line was originally the 79 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,400 line of Purus. According to Zimmer, they were 80 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,880 located in the upper Indus area and may have spread further E 81 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,040 later on they were connected to Ayodhya. 82 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:58,720 We find an astronomical pointer to specify King Briher Ratha in 83 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,680 rig VED Arjuni is the name of the Nakshatra which is called 84 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,200 Palguni. Elsewhere also Agha is written 85 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:11,240 as Magha in Maitriya Panishad. So King Bhridratha is a very 86 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,520 ancient Aishwak king and we must understand that in Dopanisha 87 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,600 this incident of Bhratha is mentioned as an old memory. 88 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:25,370 So Bhratha mentioned in the 10th mandala of Rig VED and Arjuni 89 00:06:25,370 --> 00:06:30,810 Nakshatra provides us the timing of 34500 BCE. 90 00:06:31,090 --> 00:06:33,730 Friends, please don't get confused here between 91 00:06:33,730 --> 00:06:38,490 Brihadratha of Magad dynasty, he is a completely different person 92 00:06:38,490 --> 00:06:42,250 from a different time period. In this podcast I will restrict 93 00:06:42,250 --> 00:06:46,930 to the tale of King Brihadratha from Ishq Vaku dynasty only. 94 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,560 I would like to thank Miss Rupa Bhati for the research she did 95 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:52,800 and published an article in Medium. 96 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,880 It is a great example of how there are many works those are 97 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,680 in progress where researchers are trying to connect the 98 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,800 ancient text with historical facts. 99 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,880 In fact, my friends, I'm also involved in a similar topic from 100 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:10,680 Rig VED and trying to join the bridge between ancient text and 101 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,150 historical facts. Now let's quickly learn about 102 00:07:14,310 --> 00:07:17,870 said Sakayana, who is also known as Jata Sakayana. 103 00:07:18,430 --> 00:07:21,990 He was descendant of Saka who was ritual authority and 104 00:07:21,990 --> 00:07:25,670 contemporary of Shankar in Kataka Samitha or Charaka 105 00:07:25,670 --> 00:07:32,750 Samitha, he was disciple of Rishi's maid, Three friends. 106 00:07:32,750 --> 00:07:37,010 So let's start today's story. Today I will retail chapter one 107 00:07:37,010 --> 00:07:41,330 from micropanition, in which the great Ishuaku king Breedrata 108 00:07:41,330 --> 00:07:45,490 renounced his Kingdom in favor of his son and seeks relief from 109 00:07:45,490 --> 00:07:49,290 himself from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. 110 00:07:49,890 --> 00:07:53,490 King Breedrata thought his body to be impermanent and acquired 111 00:07:53,490 --> 00:07:55,690 indifference to the objects around him. 112 00:07:56,170 --> 00:08:00,170 Therefore he gave his Kingdom to his eldest son and took one of 113 00:08:00,170 --> 00:08:02,450 Prasta and retired to the forest. 114 00:08:03,020 --> 00:08:07,220 With hands uplifted and eyes fixed on the sun, he began to 115 00:08:07,220 --> 00:08:13,300 perform a severe meditation or tapasya At the end of 1000. 116 00:08:13,300 --> 00:08:17,420 Days of such severe meditation, said Sakayana, approached the 117 00:08:17,420 --> 00:08:21,460 meditating king, the sage who was radiating lustre like a 118 00:08:21,460 --> 00:08:25,660 scorching fire with his stages and radiance, and was a knower 119 00:08:25,660 --> 00:08:29,100 of Athman. He told the king, Rise O king 120 00:08:29,580 --> 00:08:32,900 and choose a boon. The king board before the great 121 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:38,059 sage and with folded hands said, oh Lord, I'm not Atma with or no 122 00:08:38,059 --> 00:08:40,659 or a Brahman. I know that you are. 123 00:08:40,900 --> 00:08:45,900 Please enlighten me about sattva and state of Sat or Brahman, the 124 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:51,780 say smiled and replied OK from the great trace of Ishquaku your 125 00:08:51,780 --> 00:08:53,660 question is difficult to explain. 126 00:08:54,860 --> 00:08:58,940 Please do not question me. Ask any other thing you desire. 127 00:08:59,330 --> 00:09:02,130 The king touched the feet of the sage and recited. 128 00:09:02,730 --> 00:09:06,410 What is the use of these to me? Anything or anything other. 129 00:09:06,610 --> 00:09:10,610 Oceans dry up, mountains sink down, position of 130 00:09:10,610 --> 00:09:13,210 Dhruvanakshatra or pollster change. 131 00:09:13,930 --> 00:09:19,050 Earth drowns, Suras or devas run away from the respective places. 132 00:09:19,290 --> 00:09:24,210 This body which is a result of a sexual intercourse is without 133 00:09:24,210 --> 00:09:27,120 wisdom. What is the use of this body 134 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,880 which smells foul with bones, skin, muscles, flesh, marrow, 135 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:37,680 blood, cement, mucus, urine, stool, bad wind, bile, phlegm 136 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,560 and such basic and illborn impurities. 137 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:46,680 Further this body is subject to the inborn enemies of karma or 138 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:52,830 lust, crother or anger, lobor, greed, more, Infatuation, mother 139 00:09:52,830 --> 00:09:58,870 or ignorance, Bhaiya or fear, Vishadha or sorrows, Irsha or 140 00:09:58,870 --> 00:10:05,230 jealousy, Viyoga or separation, Anishta or unsteadfastness, 141 00:10:05,590 --> 00:10:13,470 Kushta or leprosy, Pipasa or thirst, Jarrah or old age, ritu 142 00:10:13,590 --> 00:10:19,130 or death, Roger or diseases show or grief, and so on. 143 00:10:19,290 --> 00:10:23,250 Is such life worthwhile? And what avail of that type of 144 00:10:23,250 --> 00:10:26,930 mundane existence? Im drowned like a frog in the 145 00:10:26,930 --> 00:10:29,530 dry. Well, you are my refuge. 146 00:10:30,410 --> 00:10:34,890 On hearing this the sage was pleased and address the king Oh 147 00:10:34,890 --> 00:10:39,130 Maharaja Bijedaratha bearing the flag of the Ishqwaa Kurase. 148 00:10:39,330 --> 00:10:42,930 You are an Aatma Gyani. You have done your duty or 149 00:10:42,930 --> 00:10:47,770 descendant of great king Marut, to which the king replied, Oh 150 00:10:47,770 --> 00:10:52,290 Lord, in what way you can describe aatman, to which the 151 00:10:52,290 --> 00:10:58,130 sage replied, sound touch. Others which seems to be earth 152 00:10:58,410 --> 00:11:01,610 or wealth are in fact unearth or evil. 153 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,360 The lower self or bhutatma, clinging to this never remembers 154 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:10,240 the supreme seat. Through tapas or meditation, one 155 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:14,160 of the three gunas or quality sattva or righteousness is 156 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,520 awkward. Through sattva a pure mind is 157 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:20,840 awkward. Through pure mind, Aatman or 158 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:25,360 higher self is awkward. Once Aatman or higher self is 159 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,240 reached, one gets liberation or moksha. 160 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:33,200 The King's eye glittered on hearing this, the sage 161 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,840 continued. O King, remember that just as 162 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:41,560 fire without fuel is absorbed into his own womb or source, so 163 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:45,840 is Chitta or mind, through the destruction of his modification, 164 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:50,680 is absorbed into his own source. To a mind that has attained 165 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:55,360 coincence and truth, and which is not affected by sense 166 00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:01,060 objects, the events that occur to it through the bondage of 167 00:12:01,060 --> 00:12:05,100 karma is merely unreal. It is chitta alone that is 168 00:12:05,100 --> 00:12:07,980 samsara. It should be cleansed with 169 00:12:08,060 --> 00:12:11,540 effort. Whatever Chitta thinks of that 170 00:12:11,540 --> 00:12:15,860 nature the person becomes. This is an archaic mystery. 171 00:12:16,380 --> 00:12:21,780 With purifying of chitta, one makes both good and bad karmas. 172 00:12:24,740 --> 00:12:29,260 One whose mind is thus cleansed, attains the indestructible bliss 173 00:12:29,540 --> 00:12:33,860 through his own Self. Just as Chitra becomes united 174 00:12:33,860 --> 00:12:38,980 with an object that comes across it, so why should one not be 175 00:12:38,980 --> 00:12:43,260 released from the bondage when one is united with Brahman? 176 00:12:44,620 --> 00:12:47,940 One should meditate in the middle of the Lotus of the 177 00:12:47,940 --> 00:12:50,060 heart. Permission. 178 00:12:50,420 --> 00:12:55,980 The Highest Lord, who is the witness to play of Buddhi, who 179 00:12:55,980 --> 00:13:01,340 is the objects of supreme love, Who is beyond the reach of mind 180 00:13:01,340 --> 00:13:07,700 and speech, who has no beginning or end, who is set alone, being 181 00:13:07,700 --> 00:13:12,100 the nature of light only, Who is beyond meditation? 182 00:13:12,260 --> 00:13:16,940 Who can neither be given up nor grasped by the mind? 183 00:13:17,510 --> 00:13:20,990 Who is without equal or superior? 184 00:13:21,150 --> 00:13:25,750 Who is the permanent? Who is of unshaken depth? 185 00:13:26,110 --> 00:13:30,950 Who is light for darkness? Who is all pervading, 186 00:13:31,190 --> 00:13:36,710 changeless, vehicleless, and who is wisdom of the nature of 187 00:13:36,710 --> 00:13:42,030 moksha or salvation? The sage paused for a bit and 188 00:13:42,030 --> 00:13:45,810 continued. I am he that Parmatma, who is 189 00:13:45,810 --> 00:13:49,890 the eternal, the pure, the liberated, the nature of wisdom, 190 00:13:50,210 --> 00:13:54,970 the true, the subtle, and all pervading, the second less the 191 00:13:54,970 --> 00:14:00,770 ocean of bliss, and the one that is superior to Pratyaghatma, or 192 00:14:00,770 --> 00:14:04,380 the individual soul. There is no doubt about it. 193 00:14:04,660 --> 00:14:09,620 How will any calamity or bondage approach me, when I am depending 194 00:14:09,620 --> 00:14:15,060 on my own bliss in my heart, who have put to shame the ghost of 195 00:14:15,060 --> 00:14:20,580 desires, who look upon this universe, but as a jugglery, and 196 00:14:20,580 --> 00:14:23,300 who am not associated with anything. 197 00:14:23,700 --> 00:14:27,180 The ignorant, with their observance of the cast and 198 00:14:27,180 --> 00:14:30,960 orders of life, obtain their fruits according to their 199 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,480 karmas. Men who have given up all the 200 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:39,600 duties of caste, etcetera, rest contained in the bliss on their 201 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:45,000 own distinctions of caste and orders of life, have divisions 202 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:49,560 among them and have beginning and end and are very painful. 203 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:55,580 Therefore, having given up all the identification with sons and 204 00:14:55,580 --> 00:15:01,220 as well as the body, one should dwell in that endless and more 205 00:15:01,220 --> 00:15:06,420 supreme bliss. This is how King Breed Ratta 206 00:15:06,420 --> 00:15:10,420 attained the knowledge of Aatman from the sage Sakayana. 207 00:15:10,940 --> 00:15:13,980 Friends, we will continue chapter 2 in my next episode 208 00:15:14,340 --> 00:15:18,140 from Maitre Upanishad in which I will tell you about how Sage 209 00:15:18,140 --> 00:15:23,080 Maitreya went up to Kailash and asked Mahadev about the 210 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,320 mysteries of Highest Tatva. Please do like, share, subscribe 211 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,280 and download my podcast stories from Upanishad which is 212 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,520 available on multiple podcast streaming platform. 213 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:41,640 And also please do visit my website HTTPS WW Stories from 214 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:47,080 upanishads.com and listen to my earlier What Cus episodes and 215 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,760 read some of the interesting blogs available in it. 216 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:55,560 Also from now onwards stories from open will be also available 217 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,520 in this YouTube channel. I'll provide the link to the 218 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,200 YouTube channel below in the show note and as I tell you 219 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:05,240 every time, please do write to me in my e-mail 220 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:16,470 orherethings@gmail.com That is a RGHYATHINK s@gmail.com. 221 00:16:17,790 --> 00:16:22,590 I look forward from hearing from you until then. 222 00:16:35,550 --> 00:16:39,310 Source content collected from various books on Open Shirts, 223 00:16:39,350 --> 00:16:43,670 such as Messages of the Open Shirts by Swami Ranganathananda. 224 00:16:44,330 --> 00:16:49,450 Brioda Aranyak Upanishad by Swami Madhavananda, 8 Upanishads 225 00:16:49,450 --> 00:16:53,050 from advaitaashramaupanishads.org 226 00:16:53,730 --> 00:16:57,770 Vedas and Upanishads for children by Ru Papai and several 227 00:16:57,770 --> 00:17:00,210 other write ups and thoughts on Upanishads. 228 00:17:01,530 --> 00:17:05,210 Background music is sourced. From various royalty free music 229 00:17:05,210 --> 00:17:09,130 sources, Apple. Loops Internet Archives with non 230 00:17:09,130 --> 00:17:12,210 commercial 4.0 International license. 231 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:17,240 Om Shanti chants are from YouTube source Gaya Sanskrit. 232 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,240 This podcast was. Conceptualized, scripted, 233 00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:24,640 narrated and audio designed by Arghya Goswami.