kah

The Vedas look upon the mundane as nothing but the manifestation of
divinity.- ` isa vasya midam sarvam' ( Upanishad of Isa) The entire
world is encompassed by the Lord Himself. Indians have looked upon
the body in particular and the creation in general as a
representation of the Parabrahman. I recall one such deitification
of the organs of human body in Taittriya upanishad, beautifully
commented upon by Sankara.

`May Mitra be blissful to us. May Varuna be blissful to us. May
Aryaman be blissful to us. May Indra n Brahspati be blissful to us.
May Vishnu, of long strides, be blissful to us. Salutations to
Brahman, salutations to You, Oh Vayu, You indeed r the Brahman
personified. I shall call you the Righteousness. I shall call you as
the Truth. May he protect me. May he protect my teacher. May he
protect and may he protect my teacher' (Taittiriya I.i.1)

Looking at the mantra, this is a prayer to deities of early `aryans'
but Sankara interprets it as a deitification of one's own body and
the mantra signifies meditation upon those deities which represent
various functions in the human body.

Mitra is the deity who identifies himself with and is the self of the
function of exhaling and of day. Varuna, of inhaling and of night.
Aryaman identifies himself with eyes and Indra, with strength.
Bhrspati identifies himself with speech and Intellect and Vishnu, the
god of long strides, with feet.

Sankara equates Vayu with Brahman, as described in the Mantra. I feel
Vayu is the medium that permeates the Yogic space inside the body.
More so, coz he is the juxtaposition between the Earth (Mooladhara)
and the Heavens (Sahasrara)( Taittiriya U. I.i.2)

Praying to the Mitra and Varuna, the gods over the breathing, has
special significance in Yoga. The yogic exponents teach us that
observing our breath is a saadhana , a spiritual practice, in itself
and this leads to ultimate illumination of man.

The new born cries ` koham'. (kah – aham : ` who am I?')

In Hindu thought of philosophy, this `kah' word is very important,
where the questioning is involved.

In the debate between Dharmaja and Yaksha, Yudhistir questions : kah
Yaksha … who is the Unknown?

This represents the highest level of questioning… ` who is the
unknown parabhrahman, whom I should attain? Who is making this
Universe run? Who is Generating, Operating and Destroying the
worlds?? "

This question is asked in fact in various places. One such
reference I can recall immediately is in Svetasvatara Upanishad.

" what is the nature of Brahman, the Source? From what have we been
born? By what do we live? And , where do we exist? O knowers of
Brahman, controlled by whom do we follow the rule regarding joy and
its opposite?" (Sv. I.1)

We can see that the same kah- question is repeated at various levels
of enquiry. In Bhagavad Gita, Dhritarashtra questions ` kim' what?
This represents karma jijnasa.- the enquiry to know what to do.

On the other hand, Arjuna questions ` katham' ie how? This is called
Dharma jijnasa> It is the Lord who takes him along the way to know
the Ultimate through the discourses in Gita.

Thus, Gita is a journey from Dharma jijnasa to Brhama jijnasa-from `
atha tho dharma jijnasa ` representing the genises of dhama sutras
to ` atha tho brahma jijsana' ( once you seek to enquire of Brahman),
the first aphorism of brahma sutras. (Incidentally, Gita,
Upanishads and Brahma sutras form the three important canons of
Hinduism called ` Trayee prastana' )

Similiarly, Koham is also a question involved with the enquiry of the
true nature of one's own self. The reply to this cry of the
ignorant is supplied by the living being's breathing process. The
inhailing says ` soh' and the exhaling says ` aham' . Juxtaposing
both, the reply is sought ` soham' ( you are that), the repetition of
Maha vakya ` tat twam asi' .

In other words, you need not run to great seers or gurus or textual
references for inquiring into the nature of the Paramatman.
Unknowingly, your body is repeating the solution- the great mantra `
soham' all the time, every moment of the day and night, whether u r
awake or not, whether u r conscious or not. Ju st know thy
breathing, u shall know thyself.

In fact, the techniques of Anapanasati of Buddhism exactly follow the
observation of breathing process.

The same philosophy is expressed here by saying that meditate upon
mitra and varuna, who represent the two aspects of the breathing and
the day.

The early Rg vedins understood the importance of the Kah so much
that they have deitified the question.

Ka is equated to Prajapati – in several Brahmanas Sacrifices are
offered to the god of ` who' `kaya'

Mahabharata identifies Ka with Daksha and Bhagavatam to Kashyapa, who
is akin to Prajapati.


kishore