In the Chandogya Upanishad, an enlightened teacher sends his son for his traditional 12 years learning about spiritual teachings an rituals from a spiritual teacher. The son returns from this teaching thinking he knows it all - he has become a little arrogant and proud. He is young; we have all been that person.
His father sees straight through him. He asks his son what he has learned & the son lists everything.
The father admits this is very impressive, but asks: “Have you learned that by learning which everything else is known?”
The son admits he does not know this teaching. He is confused by it and humbly asks, “Please teach me, sir.”
There is a very famous story from Zen, which illustrates this need to stay humble if we are to learn important things:
A learned man once went to visit a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher talked, the learned man frequently interrupted to express his own opinion about this or that. Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
“Stop,” said the learned man. “The cup is full, no more can be poured in.”
“Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions,” replied the Zen teacher. “If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?”
Likewise, in this story from the Chandogya Upanishad, the son was so full of his own accomplishments that he had failed to learn the most subtle of teachings.
Now, the father through 16 volumes of verses of the Chandogya Upanishad explains that everything in the universe is one.
“Tat tvam asi” says the father all the way through: “You are that”
He teaches that all beings are intimately connected to universal energy and cannot be separated from it. Everything emanates from that energy and returns to it. All is one. A split seed seems to contain nothing, but from that ‘nothing’ grow great trees. In the same way consciousness, which you cannot see, is the source of the entire universe, is what you are and cannot be separated from.
Tat tvam asi – you are that. All one.
The power of the father’s own attainment allows the son to get what 12 years of spiritual learning could not teach him. When the son’s wisdom comes, it comes not from books or intellectual understanding, but from being open to receiving it.
Like all Upanishadic lessons, the teaching itself is very simple: to learn the truth, open your heart, listen and be humble. Maintain a willingness to suspect that you know nothing yet. Have an open heart, an open mind and the capacity to listen, so that what is true can fall into your lap.
Sarah x
