Positive spiritual identity (Taittiriya Upanisad 1.10)

Although being a husband or a wife is not the svarūpa of the soul, these positive identities can help for the time being, helping one to perform his or her duties and thus gradually progress.

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Section 10: Positive spiritual identity

Many passages of the scriptures speak about duties and emphasize the idea of cultivating a positive identity, such as a responsible husband, a dedicated wife, an obedient child, a humble disciple, and so on. Although being a husband or a wife is not the svarūpa of the soul, these positive identities can help for the time being, helping one to perform his or her duties and thus gradually progress. Similarly, many passages recommend one to identify with the positive attributes of the soul as a way to reject the conditioned, polluted material identity. If one starts to identify with his original qualities as a soul and practices such qualities, this can surely be positive.

Text 1.10.1

aham vṛkṣasya rerivā kīrtiḥ pṛṣṭham girer iva
ūrdhva-pavitro vājinīva svamṛtam asmi
draviṇam savarcasam sumedhā amrṭokṣitaḥ iti
triśankor vedānuvacanam

Like a deep-rooted tree, I'm firmly grounded and connected with the Lord, the source of knowledge that destroys the identification with the body. I am famous for having praiseworthy qualities, like the peak of a mountain. I'm completely pure. I'm the repository of the Lord's affection and the object of His enjoyment. I am the splendid property of the Lord. I am most intelligent since I have knowledge about the Lord. I'm above birth and death, indestructible and immutable. This is the mantra uttered by Triśanku.

Commentary: Although Triśanku is famous for being cursed to become a candala and for his failed attempts to reach the celestial planets without giving up his mortal body, he is also described in the Upaniṣads as a sage who showed great spiritual wisdom. In this passage, he is mentioned in this context.

The word aham means "I". Kīrtiḥ means famous, and pṛṣṭham girer iva means "like the peak of a mountain". Urdhva-pavitraḥ means completely pure, savarcasam means "splendid", amṛta means "immortal", akṣitaḥ means "indestructible" and so on.

This verse spoken by Triśanku is a meditation to be practiced as part of the process of cultivation of knowledge. We often hear that we need to destroy our false ego, and thus it may sound strange to meditate on a mantra that speaks about oneself, but this actually has a purpose.

The point is that the mantra doesn't speak about a material identity connected with the false ego. This is made clear by the words vṛkṣasya rerivā. This can be translated as cutting down a tree that represents the identification of the body, or as the roots of a tree connected with the knowledge that destroys the identification with the body. In any case, the idea is the same: the destruction of the identification with the body.

Once the identification with the body is destroyed, one sees himself as a pure soul. As explained by Sukadeva Goswami:

"O King, unless one is influenced by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no meaning to the relationship of the pure soul in pure consciousness with the material body. That relationship is just like a dreamer’s seeing his own body working. The illusioned living entity appears in so many forms offered by the external energy of the Lord. While enjoying in the modes of material nature, the encaged living entity misconceives, thinking in terms of “I” and “mine.” As soon as the living entity becomes situated in his constitutional glory and begins to enjoy the transcendence beyond time and material energy, he at once gives up the two misconceptions of life [I and mine] and thus becomes fully manifested as the pure self." (SB 2.9.1-3)

What are the qualities of a soul? According to the Nectar of devotion, the soul has 78% of the qualities of Krsna, including qualities such as truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, perseverance, renunciation, peacefulness, simplicity, control of the senses, equilibrium of the mind, austerity, equality, forbearance, placidity, learning, knowledge, detachment, opulence, chivalry, influence, strength, memory, independence, tactfulness, luster, patience, kind-heartedness, ingenuity, gentility, mannerliness, determination, perfection in all knowledge, proper execution, possession of all objects of enjoyment, gravity, steadiness, faithfulness, fame, respectfulness and lack of false egotism.

Krsna is unlimited, therefore He has all good qualities in unlimited quantity. The soul is infinitesimal, but being part and parcel of Krsna shares most of His qualities. In conditioned life, these qualities are covered, but when one is reinstated in his original pure Krsna Consciousness, these qualities again manifest.

The verse thus serves as a meditation that can help a devotee to reject material designations and situate himself in his real identity as a spirit soul, an eternal, pure, and blissful servant of Krsna.

This process of reinforcing a positive identification instead of adopting the negative process of destroying one's material identity is commonly offered in the scriptures. The passages that speak about duties emphasize the idea of cultivating a positive identity, such as a responsible husband, a dedicated wife, an obedient child, a humble disciple, and so on. Although being a husband or a wife is not the svarūpa of the soul, these positive identities can help for the time being, helping one to perform his or her duties and thus gradually progress.

We can see that even Krsna Himself used this strategy while dealing with the illusion of Arjuna at the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita, by addressing him as the son of Kunti and the scion of Bharata (emphasizing his great heritage both from the side of the father and the mother), calling him "best among men" and so on. In this way, Krsna emphasized the greatness of Arjuna as a way to encourage Him to perform the difficult task of fighting in the battle. Only a great person could do what Krsna was asking Arjuna to do, and Arjuna was surely a great person, but in the process, he had to be convinced of that. Otherwise, he was planning to adopt the mediocre plan of abandoning the fight and becoming a beggar. As Prabhupada explains in his purport:

"The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also significant. To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great blood relations from his mother’s side, and to address him as Bhārata signifies his greatness from his father’s side. From both sides he is supposed to have a great heritage. A great heritage brings responsibility in the matter of proper discharge of duties; therefore, he cannot avoid fighting."

In the 6th chapter, Krsna explains that for a neophyte, work is the means, while for one who is advanced, cessation of all material activities is the means. While one is still on the platform of work, one has to perform different services, struggle to chant his rounds and perform austerities, work to solve the problems in his family life, and so on. In this process, a healthy sense of identity is necessary to keep himself in the fight. Otherwise, one will tend to abandon everything and go to the forest, which is precisely the wrong solution at this stage.

Similarly, passages in the Vedas that speak about the cultivation of knowledge often recommend one to identify with the positive attributes of the soul as a way to reject the conditioned, polluted material identity. If one starts to identify with his original qualities as a soul and practices such qualities, this can surely be positive.

Seeing oneself as famous as a devotee of the Lord will make him careful not to tarnish the fame of the Lord and His devotees by doing any questionable activity. If one sees himself as pure, he will not perform any impure activity. If one sees himself as loved by the Lord, he will have the confidence to maintain his spiritual practice. If one sees himself as intelligent and capable, he will persevere in his studies of the Vedic scriptures, even when challenged by difficult passages. If one understands he is above birth and death and is indestructible and immutable as a soul, he will not have fear, and so on.

When one reaches the advanced stage, one may finally practice being more humble than the grass and more tolerant than the tree, without any kind of false prestige, an attitude that reinforces his relationship with Krsna. However, until one gets there, the cultivation of a positive material identity based on duty, or of the positive qualities of the soul may help one to progress.

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