Embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of Sama Veda and ninth in the 108 Upanishads, Chandogya Upanishad is the oldest. It is an anthology of texts that must have preexisted and edited by scholars. It dates back to eighth to sixth century BCE. Chanda means poetic meter or prosody, related to patterns of structure, stress, rhythm, intonation, songs and chants. The Upanishad is one of the largest compilations with lilting metrical structure. It's also one of the most quoted texts in later Bhashyas. Adi Sankara has cited Chandogya Upanishad 810 times in his Vedanta Sutra Bhashya!
The Upanishad opens thus: “ Let a man meditate on Om as Udgita (song or chant). The significance of the syllable is described afterwards. The Upanishad asserts that the essence of all beings is the earth. The essence of earth is water.The essence of water is plants and their essence is man! The essence of man is speech while the essence of speech is Rig Veda! Its essence is Sama Veda and finally the essence of Sama Veda is Udgita! Rik is speech. Saman is breath. They have mutual love and desire. Speech and breath are together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om! It is the symbol of awe, reverence, of threefold knowledge because the priest invokes it, the hota receives it and the Udgitr sings it!
The second part describes Om as a struggle between the Devas and the Asuras, both children of the same Prajapati. There is an allegory of good and evil inclinations in man! Prajapati is a man in general. The struggle is explained as a legend in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Gods took Udgita for themselves to overcome the demons.They regarded and revered Udgita as sense of smell! But the demons cursed it! Since then one smells the good as well as the bad. Similarly, when the Devas revered Udgita as speech, the demons cursed it and afflicted it. As a result one speaks both truth and untruth! When the Devas respected the sense of sight, that too was struck and cursed by the demons! Because of this one sees what is unsightly and sightly as well as the harmonious and the chaotic!
In the same way, while the Gods revered the sense of hearing, the demons afflicted it. As a consequence one hears what is worthy as well as unworthy of hearing! This did not stop at that point. The Devas revered Manas but it was afflicted with evil! It is because of this affliction that Manas vacillates between good and evil and strays in different directions! The demons tried their their best to affect Prana, the life principle! They miserably failed and fell into pieces! Life principle is inherently good and free from evil! The deities inside the man, the organs of the body, and the Senses are really great and revere the life principle Prana! Prana is the essence and lord of all of them! Om is the Udgita-the symbol of life principle in man!
(Continued)
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