Hello Friends, wishing you all a very happy Dusherra and Subho Bijoya Dashami. I welcome you all to another episode of Stories from Upanishads. Today’s interesting story appears in the 3rd Brahmana of the 1st Adhyaya of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. In my podcast series, this is the first story from this Upanishad, which is a part of Shukla Yajurveda and believed to be composed between the 9th-6th centuries BCE. It is one of the Dashopnishads to which Adi Shankaracharya provided his Bhasya- commentary.
Prajapati (Lord Brahma or Supreme Father) had two kinds of children - Asuras -Demons and Devas -gods. Asuras were influenced by their natural thoughts and actions based only on perception and inference. They were directed merely to visual ends. The Devas - gods shined under the influence of thoughts and actions taught by the scriptures. Asuras (Demons) who were the elder ones were more in number whereas Devas (gods) the younger ones were fewer. The asuras were strong, powerful, misguided, selfish and always willing to show their supremacy over others. These traits were not liked by their younger siblings - gods. They were generous, helping, lovable, respected all beings and wise! The younger siblings were tired of their elder brothers as they always wanted to dominate on them by snatching away their belongings such as Heaven. The gods were irritated and annoyed by this behaviour of Asuras. Since they were fewer in number, they decided to perform a yagna - a sacrifice called Jyotiṣṭoma, to overcome their troublesome brothers. On a side note: Jyotishstoma, is a form of Vedic sacrifice which literally means “praise of light”. However, this sacrificial Yagna has different meanings throughout Indian scriptures. The word -“Jyotish” means “Light” and the word -“Stoma” means “sacrifice”. However, the literal meaning ranges from, a yagna in which Soma is offered…to a yagna which requires 16 officiating priests. For the sake of understanding, let’s think of it… as some large-scale yagna or (sacrifice).
The Yagna required perfect pronunciation and recitation of mantras or (chants) which could be only done by a Udgaatr, who will act as Udgaatri and will sing Udgitha.
On a side note - Let me explain to you these terms, …as per Āpastamba-yajña-paribhāṣā-sūtras, Udgaatr is the priest with Sama Veda, Hotr priest performs Rig Veda, Adhvaryu priest performs Yajur Veda and the Brahmaa priest performs with all three Vedas. When the priest chants the verses at the yagna, they could ask for gifts or blessings both for the Yajamana -the host and also for themselves. If the chanting was perfect, both would receive the boons or blessings they desired!
Speech chanted -Aum, asato mā sadgamaya, tamaso mā jyotirgamaya, mṛtyormā'mṛtaṃ gamaya.Aum Shantih, Shantih, Shantih!Again on a side note - This supreme divine Pavamana Abhyaaroha has been hailed as one of the most powerful mantras from the Upanishads. Although different thinkers, philosophers and saints have translated this mantra in different ways, however, the basic meaning still remained the same. The most common and popular meaning states that -“
From falsehood lead me to truth, From darkness lead me to light, From death lead me to immortality.”
Coming back to the story…
The purest chants of pavamana abhyaaroha filled the air, the atmosphere was pious and pure and the stage was well set for the Jyotishstoma yagna. The Speech chanted Udgitha, and she asked the boon on behalf of her yajamana- the gods… to bring in the great joy that comes from being able to say things and for herself, she asked for the ability to say only things that were pleasant! On completion of the chant, they received blessings! Demons on hearing a such purest form of Udgitha from Speech were scared! They regrouped together and one of them exclaimed - “Speech as Udgaatr and her purest form of Udgitha will definitely provide gods with more power! They will eventually overcome us! ”We cannot let this happen!” They all shouted! They all rushed towards Speech and pierced her with evil and pitted her with unpleasantness! That “evil” is that which consists in saying what is bad! This may be the cause… we speak good things mostly and sometimes say awfully bad things! The evil injected into the Speech by the demons makes us say bad things! This act of demons made the Speech impure and she declined to chant any further and complete the yagna. Gods were in trouble as now they need to find a new Udgaatri for the yagna! They consulted with each other and decided the sense organ Nose and the sense “Smell” to be their new priest! The Nose agreed happily to participate in the yagna. She too chanted Udgitha perfectly and asked for the gods the great joys that come from being able to smell and for herself, she asked for the ability to smell only what is pleasant and agreeable! On completion, they received the boons! Again as before demons were in a tizzy! They decided to stop Smell from being Udgaatri. They rus...