1. Suprabhaatham everyone! Today is the first day I begin the Upanishad tweetstream. So Let us pray to Lord Ganesha for nirvignam in our enterprise. Also I have to pray to my Guru Bhagavan Ramana for bestowing on me the ability to impart ब्रह्मज्ञान.
2. Today I begin with Taittiriyopanishad. It begins with introductory notes. The Upanishad tweetstreams and the Geeta tweetstreams will be done only on the weekend. So this Taittiriyopanishad will be tweeted over several weeks. I will keep each days tweet to not more than 50.
3. So Let's begin with the Introductory notes.

The Yajur-veda occupies an unrivalled place in the Divine tradition of Hinduism, as it forms the liturgical text guiding the Adhvaryu to institute the sacrificial worship.
4. It is handed down to us in two recensions, the Taittiriya and the Vajasaneyee, of which the earlier and the more important one is the first. There is a Samhita, a Brahmana, and an Aranyaka for the Taittiriyaka branch of the Yajur-veda bearing great formal affinity.
5. Here is the story on the Taittiriya.

An interesting story is narrated in the Mahabharata and the Vishnupurana, tracing the origin of the name Taittiriya.
6. Rishi Vaisampayana, a prominent disciple of Vyasa and the first teacher of the Yajur-veda, incurred the sin of Brahmahatti (Brabminicide) by failing to attend a council of the sages on the Mount Meru.
7. To get absolution from the sin he requisitioned his twenty-seven disciples to perform the necessary expiation. His maternal nephew, Yajyavalkya, remarkable for his piety and obedience, volunteered to do all that was needed to be done, himself alone.
8. He however spoke slightingly of the co-disciples, imputing to them incompetence. Vaisampayana took offence at this effrontery and bade him to give up the Veda committed to him.
9. Yajyavalkya remonstrated that it was only the partiality for his Guru that prompted him to say as he did. But that did not satisfy the sage. Yajyavalkya consequently had to disgorge the Veda in a tangible form, stained with blood.
10. At the behest of Vaisampayana the other disciples temporarily transformed themselves into partridges (Tittiri) and picked up the leavings. This connection with the Tittiri birds entailed on this Veda the epithet Taittiriya.
11. With a nonchalant bearing Yajyavalkya at once turned away from his uncle and proceeded to do intense austerities to propitiate Surya, the Sun-god, by whose grace he got the same Veda in a different shape known by the appellation Vajasaneyee.
12. Isavasya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads belong to this branch of the Yajur-veda. The colossal genius of Yajyavalkya is wonderfully evident in the strikingly original thoughts that he has revealed to the philosophic world in the latter Upanishad.
13. The seventh, the eighth, and the ninth Prapathakas (chapters) of the Taittiriya Aranyaka, known under the titles Siksha-valli, Ananda-valli, and Bhrigu-valli, constitute the Taittiriyakopanishad.
14. These chapters are subdivided into Anuvakas (Lessons) made up of a few crisp sentences, with measure and rhythm, meant to be learnt and chanted as a unit.
15. Accordingly there are thirty-one Lessons in the whole Upanishad distributed, twelve, nine, and, ten respectively, among the three chapters.
16. The concluding Prapathaka of the Taittiriyaranyaka is called याज्ञीकि or Mahanarayapa Upanishad, and is sometimes treated as a sequel to the Taittireeyopanishad.
17. The whole of the Taittiriya-yajur-veda (Krishna Yajur Veda) is studied with proper accent and employed in ceremonial worship in South India even today, at least to some extent, the Taittireeyopanishad alone is more popular than the earlier portions of this branch of the Veda.
18. This hallowed tract has clothed in sublime and lucid language gleams of supreme insight which have subsequently developed into lofty philosophy expounded in many volumes.
19. In all probability, this was the first Upanishad which attracted Adi Shankara to expound, and the fact that he cited from it 147 times in his Brahma-sutra-bhashya speaks volumes for its authoritativeness.
20. The Acarya’s successors like Suresvara, Sayana, Shankarananda, and Acyutakrshnaananda, also promoted its study by writing elaborate annotations on it.
21. A brief account of the subjects treated in the Upanishad is presented below in order to guide readers through the apparently disconnected and even incongruous Lessons in the various chapters.
22. The Upanishad starts with a propitiatory chant addressed to the cosmic powers like Mitra and Varuna to ward off all possible obstacles on the path of the seeker of Brahmavidya.
23. A brief account of the principles of Vedic phonetics is then given so that the student may not attach himself to religious demerit by the incorrect utterance of the sacred text, and that he may not fail to grasp rightly or sufficiently the meaning of the text learnt.
24. The meaning of the Vedic text can be understood well only if proper attention is paid to accent, quantity, rhythm, sequence, and the exact form of the speech sounds;
25. and constant reflection and enquiry into it alone will engender divine wisdom and deliverance from the perils and pains of life.

Reflection and enquiry can be conducted fruitfully only if the mind is made pure by meditations.
26. The third Lesson therefore proceeds to formulate suitable meditations with an initial prayer for Yashas (renown resulting from good acts) and ब्रह्मवर्चस (spiritual resplendence).
27. With the prowess and glory born of the study and practice of the Veda, meditations become effective. They are given in a series so that the mind may rest upon them and gain steadiness.
28. The thoughts of the worshipper entangled in the intricate domestic and religious rituals are lifted out of them and released in the vast sphere of cosmic contemplations.
29. The great things of the phenomenal existence, like the luminaries, the worlds, education, generation, and speech, are to be reflected upon and the relations subsisting among their components, are to be realized mentally on the analogy of Samhita, or grammatical coalescence.
30. Rewards such as children, cattle, food, knowledge, and longevity are invariably mentioned after the various meditations to attract the ritual-engrossed mind to subtle thinking.
31. The importance of material good in the spiritual evolution of the aspirant is also sufficiently stressed by this.
32. The fourth Lesson brings to the foreground the necessity of intelligence and wealth; here the prayer “May He envigorate us with intelligence” (मेधया स्पृणोतु) significantly precedes ‘ Bring in prosperity ’ (श्रीयं आवह).
33. For, if the mind is barbarous, wealth is only a dragging weight. A sublime prayer is therefore addressed to the Godhead, represented and symbolized by the holy syllable ॐ, asking for tenacious memory, able body, sweet speech, vast erudition, and general fitness
34. to receive the bliss of immortality. The prayers formulated next for offering oblations express indirectly the eagerness of the true spiritual teacher to transmit wisdom to an increasing band of calm, self-controlled disciples;
35. his prayer for copious wealth in cloth and cows, and food and drink, has for its motive only the maintenance of the dependent disciples.
36. We witness at the close of the Lesson the longing of such an enlightened teacher to share among a multitude of worthy candidates his knowledge, expressed beautifully in these words:
37. “As water flows downwards, as months go to make up the year, so may numerous celibate students hasten to me.”
38. It is only a genuine teacher who is commissioned by the Divine Power that is gifted with this capacity to communicate spiritual wisdom so widely and effectively can say this.
39. From the heart of such a Guru alone can gush out the sublime prayer: “O God, may I enter into You; may You manifest in me and take possession of me; may I be cleansed of all defilement in Thy Self having a thousand manifestations.”
40. I shall stop today's tweets here and I will continue the tweetstream tomorrow.
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