The Forms of Sanskrit Technology: Upanisad

Several years ago I had a very lucid dream. It happened on the full moon night of Guru Purnima, when the Teacher of Truth has the most profound influence on our spiritual growth.

I dreamt my Guruji came to me and very clearly told me to read Taittiriya Upanisad, verse number 7. I was still a graduate student and a formal devotee, but I hadn't yet read this particular scripture. Yet the glow of my Guru's face and his crystal clear voice made a strong impression on me, who usually forgets her dreams but couldn't even to this day shake that one from her mind.

As soon as I woke, I took my volume of collected Upanisads from the shelf and located the Taittiriya. Verse 7 proved to be one of the most pivotal moments of my spiritual life. It reads:

"To the Lay Student:

Let your conduct be marked by right action (including study and teaching of the scriptures),
Be truthful in word, action, and thought conditioned by your discipline of meditation, your poise, and self-control,
Perform everyday duties of life with a cheerful heart and unattached mind,
Speak the truth.
Do your work.
Do not neglect study of the scriptures.
Don't cut yourself off from life.
Remain on the path of the good.
Revere what is great and devote yourself to that.
Let your Mother be a god to you.
Let your Father be a god to you.
Let your Guest also be a god to you.
Whatever you give to others, give with love and reverence.
Give gifts in abundance, with joy, humility and compassion.
And if at any time, you experience doubt about what is best for you to do -- follow the example set by great souls.
In this way you should condut yourself. This is my blessing, this is the teaching, and this is the lessons of all scriptures."

It is said in the Taittiriya Upanisad that the Guru gives this advice to a disciple after 12 years. At the time of my dream, I'd been devoted to my teacher for 12 years. Though we live in modern times, my relationship with him was very traditional. I cleaned the floors, washed the clothes, prepared the food, fed people, and cleaned up the kitchen afterward. (One time my Guru made me weed the entire ashram grounds under unbearably hot South Indian sun -- but I think in that particularly unpleasant case, he was trying to burn up my habitual laziness. He succeeded.)

Whenever all the other devotees were sitting close to the master, he always interrupted himself to send me off to do something. He'd pass out sweets and deliberately not give one to me. And while he'd praise and compliment all the others sitting near him, he'd sternly look at me and ask plaintively, "Katy -- what have you done today for seva?" No matter what I would say, he would simply sniff disinterestedly and look away. Eventually instead of trying to come up with glowing reports of all the mundane activities I'd performed throughout the day, I just sat still and watched my reactions.

So because I'd been longing so much for profound and mind-altering teachings (and rarely got them this directly), this dream was very sweet, and ran down my throat like green coconut water -- like the kind you get off the street in India which reminds you that yes, you can go on.

I also knew that this dream was a portent revealing that my 12 years was up. (In the Vedic tradition, 12 years is the allotted time one spends serving one's Guru, after which time, the disciple is expected to enter householder life.) And then, as the Taittiriya Upanisad instructs, I knew I now had to go out and live a "normal life" and that scared me a bit. I was worried that being away from the teacher might keep me from gaining the knowledge I thirsted for. The answer the Upanisad gave to this concern was that now was the time to become totally identified with Pure Consciousness, while doing very mundane things.

This gift from my teacher taught me the real technology of Upanisad. I'll discuss this in my next post...