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Dear friends,

The Upanishads narrate many simple parables that
really tease our wits and challenge our deepest
thought. One such parable appears in the BrhadAranyaka
Upanishad at 5:2:1-3. It reads as follows (English
translation: Eknath Eswaran in "The Upanishads"
(Penguin); also "Selections from Upanishads" by N.S.
Anantha RangAchAr, India).

***************

"WHAT THE THUNDER SAID"

The children of Prajapati, the Creator -- gods, human
beings and 'asuras', the godless -- lived with their
father as students. When they had completed the
alloted period of study the gods said, "Venerable One,
please give us instruction". Prajapati answered with
one syllable: "Da".

"Have you understood?" he asked.
"Yes", they said, "You have told us 'damyata', be
self-controlled".
"Very good. You have understood", he said.

Then the human beings approached. "Venerable One,
please teach us".
Prajapati answered with one syllable: "Da".
"Have you understood?" he asked.
"Yes", they said. "You have told us 'datta', give".
"Very good. You have understood," he said.

Then the 'asuras', the godless ones, approached.
"Venerable One, please teach us".
Prajapati answered with the same syllable: "Da".
"Have you understood?", he asked.
"Yes", they said. "You have told us 'dayAdhvam', be
compassionate".
"Very good. You have understood", he said.

The heavenly voice of the thunder too repeats this
teaching: "Da-Da-Da!". 
Be self-controlled! Give! Be compassionate!

"Om shanti! Shanti! Shanti:!

************

What are we to make of this story? 

The Upanishad tells this story with stark, child-like
simplicity. At first sight, it seems to us as though
the parable is one of those bed-time morality tales
meant for children, with the endearing caper of "Da,
Da, Da" thrown in for effect. The story's main theme
too appears rather plain and obvious to us. It affirms
self-control ("dama"), charity ("dAna") and compassion
("dayA") as ideals of behaviour in this world. 

So, is this then really all what the story is about?
We begin to wonder.

The Upanishads are divine revelations. It is said
nothing uttered by them, not even the smallest phrase
or expression, is ever without significance if only we
knew how to plumb their depths to glean it. In this
little story too, it seems to us there is perhaps more
than meets the eye. Surely, there must be more to
learn from the encounter between Prajapati and his
children. And from "What the thunder said" too? 

*************

In the Vedic pantheon of gods Prajapati (or
'chatur-mukha-brahmA') is pre-eminent. He is the
first-born of the Almighty, the "paramAtma". In power
and glory Prajapati is next only to the Supreme Lord
Himself. It was thus that Prajapati came to be
entrusted with carrying out God's own function of
"srushti" -- cosmic Creation. Prajapati is the
Progenitor of all beings everywhere and they include
"dEvAs" who are higher beings (like gods and
celestials), "manushyAs" or humans who are like you
and me, and "asurAs" who are the inhuman (or the
godless beings) amongst the celestials. Hence, in the
Upanishad story, Prajapati is their common father and
is addressed as "venerable one". 

*************

All these classes of being -- devAs, manushyAs and
asurAs -- the story tells us, were living alongwith
Prajapati as students... It makes us immediately
wonder.

If the great first-born of God Almighty himself
created these beings, why did they have to spend a
so-called "alloted period of study" under Prajapati?
We are led to conclude from this that Prajapati's
handiwork of 'srushti', although great and marvellous
in the first place, evidently fell quite short of
perfection. All the worlds and all this cosmic reality
gloriously teeming around us -- "Prajapati's
children", to use the Upanishad's metaphor for it --
they all somehow ended up being seriously unfinished.
Had the 'children' been indeed perfect at very
inception, there would have been no need at all for
'devA', 'manushya' or 'asurAs' to undergo further
'education' at the University of Prajapati, isn't it?

Thus, the work of cosmic Creation -- Prajapati's
'srushti' -- was not "done right the first time". It
remains so even to this day-- perennially unfinished.
Prajapati's task, alas, did not end with the mere Act
of Creation. After 'srushti' he found he still had to
go back to work again. The job of perfecting (or
'educating') that which had been created, remained...
It still remains... Which is why all the world and all
the vast universe surrounding it ("..bhUmim vishvatO
vruttvA..", the 'purusha-suktam' calls it) -are still
undergoing a non-stop, inexorable process of cosmic
flux ever since the dawn of Time until this very
moment. And this great process of flux is precisely
what we have all come to know as 'Evolution'... 

Indeed, Evolution is but an Upanishadic metaphor: It
is Prajapati's workshop where all things great and
small -- 'dEvas' 'manushyAs' and 'asurAs' -- all go
through the ceaseless milling and grinding of a unique
process called Life until eventually, at the end, they
emerge as Perfect Beings in God's own image... in the
very likeness of 'parabrahmam' Himself.

In the brief time it might take to recount a child's
bed-time story, the BrhadAranyaka Upanishad thus gives
us a short history of the whole of cosmic evolution:

Nothing, no creature of this world -- none of
"Prajapati's child-students" -- is indeed perfect.
Yet, everything, every being that lives and breathes
in God's vast, boundless empire -- whether 'dEva',
"manushya" or "asura" -- every being carries within
itself the promise of perfection. And all Life on
earth is but a process by which Perfection is brought
to fruition by Evolution.

************** 
(to be continued)
dAsan,
Sudarshan

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