The concept that "believing shall become the truth" in the context of the
Upanishads is derived from the principle of Yad-bhavam tat bhavati—meaning "You
become that which you believe yourself to be" or "As one thinks, so one
becomes". यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् |
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: || 6||yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajatyante kalevaram taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ
BG 8.6: Whatever one remembers upon giving up the body at the time of
death, O son of Kunti, one attains that state, being always absorbed in
such contemplation.
This teaching, often linked to the Vedantic, specifically Chandogya Upanishad,
emphasizes that the mind's focus, contemplation, and self-belief (or
meditation on a specific truth) ultimately transform a person's reality.
Here is a breakdown of this principle according to Upanishadic teachings:
1. Yad-bhavam tat bhavati (You Become What You Believe)
The Power of Belief: The Upanishads suggest that the human mind has the
power to shape reality through belief. If a person constantly meditates
upon their divine nature, they will eventually realize that they are indeed
divine.
Contemplation of Truth: By meditating on the Mahavakyas (Great Sayings of
the Upanishads), such as Tat Tvam Asi ("That Thou Art"), one moves from the
false belief of being merely a perishable body to the reality of being the
immortal Soul (Atman).
2. Context in the Upanishads
Chandogya Upanishad (6.8.7): While not explicitly using the exact phrase
"believing becomes truth" in every translation, the core message of Tat
Tvam Asi is that a seeker must believe in and understand their identity
with the Brahman (Ultimate Truth) to realize it.
Inner Reality: The Upanishads argue that the truth is often hidden by
ignorance, but through focused, consistent contemplation (shraddha/belief)
and right knowledge, that truth is revealed.
3. Practical Application
Meditation on the Self: The practice involves shifting one's belief from "I
am the body" to "I am the Witness/Soul".
Transformation of Consciousness: The "becoming" is the transformation of
limited consciousness into expanded, universal consciousness (Brahman).
In essence, the Upanishads teach that by nurturing the belief in your true,
spiritual nature (rather than the ego
CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD TAT TVAM ASI
Uddalaka had a son called Shvetaketu. When he was twelve, his father said
to him, “It is time for you to find a spiritual teacher. Everyone in this
family has studied the holy scriptures and the spiritual way.” So
Shvetaketu went to a teacher and studied the scriptures for twelve years.
He returned home very proud of his intellectual knowledge. His father
observed him and said, “My boy, you seem to have a high opinion of
yourself; you are proud of your learning. But did you ask your teacher for
the spiritual knowledge that enables you to hear the unheard, think the
unthought and know the unknown?”
“What is that knowledge, Father?” asked Svetaketu. “Just as by knowing a
lump of clay, everything that is made of clay can be known, since any
differences are only words, and the essential reality is clay. In the same
way, by knowing a piece of gold, all that is made of gold can be known, since
any differences are only words, and the reality is only gold.”
Uddalaka responded, “My teachers must not have known this or they would
have taught it to me. Father, please teach me this knowledge.”
“I will,” replied his father. “In the beginning, there was only Being. Some
people claim that in the beginning there was nothing at all and that
everything has come out of nothing. But how can this be true? How can that
which is, come from that which is not? In the beginning there was only one
Being, and that Being thought, ‘I want to be many so I will create.’ Out of
this creation came the cosmos. There is nothing in the cosmos that doesn’t
come from that one Being. Of everything that exists, this Being is the
innermost Self. He is the truth, the Self Supreme. And you, Shvetaketu,
you–are that!“
Shvetaketu asked, “Please teach me more about the Self, Father.”
“Let’s start with sleep. What happens when we sleep? When a person is
absorbed in dreamless sleep, he is one with the Self although he doesn’t
know it. We say he sleeps but we mean he sleeps in the Self. ‘A tethered
bird grows tired from flying in every direction, finding no rest anywhere,
and settles down at last on the very same perch on which it is tied. In the
same way the mind, tired of wandering around here and there settles down at
last in the Self, its life and breath, to which it is bound. All creatures
have their source in that Being. He is their home; He is their strength.
‘When a man is dying, speech folds into mind, mind folds into life, life
dissolves into light, and his light merges into that one Being. That Being
is the seed, the truth, the Self, and you, Shvetaketu, you–are that!“
“Please tell me more, Father.”
“My son, bees make honey by gathering nectar from many flowers to make
their honey, so no one drop of honey can say that it came exactly from one
specific flower. You can’t identify the juice of one particular flower in
the honey. And so it is with creatures like us who merge in that Being,
whether in sleep or death.
And as the rivers that flow from the east to the west merge in the sea and
become one with it, forgetting that they were ever separate rivers, so all
creatures lose their separateness when they merge into pure Being. Whatever
creature it may be – tiger, lion, wolf, boar, mosquito, worm – it only
becomes aware of a particular life when it is born into it or is awake.
If you strike at the root of a tree, it bleeds but still lives. If you
strike at the trunk, the sap oozes, but the tree lives on. The Self as life
fills the tree and supports it; it flourishes in happiness gathering food
through its roots. However, if life departs from one branch, that branch
withers, and when life leaves the whole tree, the entire tree withers.
Remember my son, your body dies, but your Self does not.”
Uddalaka told Shvetaketu to bring him a piece of fruit from a nearby banyan
tree and to break it open. Shvetaketu did and said, “There are seeds
inside, all very small.”
“Now break one of the seeds and tell me what you see.”
“Nothing, Father.”
Uddalaka said,”‘My son, this great banyan tree has grown from a seed so
small that you cannot see it. Believe me, an invisible and subtle essence
is the Spirit of the whole universe. Now, take this salt and put it in some
water and bring it to me tomorrow morning.”
The next morning Shvetaketu looked for the salt but couldn’t find it
because it had dissolved. Uddalaka asked his son to taste the water. “Salty,”
he said, adding “the salt will always remain in the water.”
“That’s right. The salt permeates the water, just like the Self. Even
though we cannot see it, the Self is within all things and there is nothing
that doesn’t come from Him. This invisible and subtle essence is the Spirit
of the whole universe. That is reality. That is truth. And you, Shvetaketu,
you–are that!“
>From Chandogya Upanishad
THUS BELIEVING LEADS ONE TO A PERFECT POLE.
K RAJARAM IRS 23126
On Fri, 23 Jan 2026 at 07:19, Markendeya Yeddanapudi <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> --
> *Mar*Thanks for sharing this—there’s a strong, poetic core here. I’ll do
> this in two parts, as you asked:
> ------------------------------
> 1. Edited and Improved Version
>
> *(I’ve focused on clarity, flow, and tightening the argument while
> preserving your voice and intent.)*
> *Belief Becoming Fact*
>
> We suffer from a damaging social expectation about advanced age—the belief
> that old age inevitably means disability. Even people who remain physically
> fit often become disabled simply because this expectation surrounds them.
> If advanced age were instead understood as the accumulation of perception
> and understanding, as the expansion of one’s paradigm of awareness, then
> old age would be recognized as a gift.
>
> Unfortunately, in the name of economic, industrial, and urban
> development—promoted as “progress”—entire forests have been destroyed. The
> few trees that are allowed to survive in damaged soil seem to radiate
> distress. Whether it is a blade of grass or a great tree, all living
> organisms are fundamentally emotional, and emotional intelligence is their
> intelligence. The whole of flora and fauna is emotional. In free and
> healthy nature, a macro flow of emotional upliftment exists, giving every
> organism a deep taste for life.
>
> In modern cities and towns, this reassuring presence of flora and fauna is
> largely eliminated. Seniors begin to fear their own aging, each day waiting
> for the end, often holding a dark and anxious view of death.
>
> Where nature is free and healthy, beliefs that reinforce life continuously
> develop, and those beliefs naturally turn into facts. If old age is
> accepted as the accumulation of perception, understanding, and increasing
> fitness, that belief embeds itself into the living fabric of flora and
> fauna.
>
> But where nature is destroyed and demoralization fills the troposphere,
> one need not wait for advanced age to feel old. The poison in the air
> causes every organism to develop premature aging, depression, and decay.
>
> Free and healthy nature has the fundamental quality of generating positive
> beliefs and transforming them into lived realities. Today, the destruction
> of nature as a core feature of economic life has robbed many people of
> their youth itself.
>
> Modern paradigms—Cartesianism, which sees the world as mechanical and
> emotionless; Darwinian interpretations emphasizing constant war among
> organisms; the idea of the “selfish gene”; and the portrayal of bacteria
> solely as disease-causing agents—have created a widespread terror of free
> nature.
>
> We know that all activity depends on the vast coordination of trillions of
> cells within us. Each cell requires bacteria to function. Our life is, in
> truth, the collective life of diverse bacteria within us.
>
> Yet portraying bacteria as enemies has made us fearful of an unseen threat
> lurking in nature. We fear nature because we have lost our fundamental
> trust in it. We fail to recognize that we are limbs of nature, and that
> every limb is enabled by bacteria for its activity.
>
> We do not become unfit because of age, but because of these negative
> paradigms. To recognize that advanced age can mean greater fitness and
> vitality, we need free and healthy nature to reinforce us. Even a tiny
> plant can strengthen your spirit if you offer it loving and approving
> attention.
>
> Beliefs become facts. In free and healthy nature, we develop positive and
> reinforcing beliefs. In cities and towns where nature is destroyed, fears,
> terrors, and negative beliefs continuously turn into lived realities.
>
> We do not need more pills and doctors alone. We need free, healthy, and
> lush flora and fauna.
>
> — *Y. M. Sarma*
> ------------------------------
> 2. My Views
>
> I find your central insight powerful: *belief, environment, and biology
> are deeply entangled*. Modern science increasingly supports parts of what
> you’re expressing—especially in fields like psychosomatic medicine,
> epigenetics, microbiome research, and environmental psychology. The idea
> that expectations about aging influence physical outcomes is already well
> documented.
>
> Where your writing becomes most compelling is in reframing *old age as an
> expansion of perception rather than decline*. That is a radical and
> needed counter-narrative in a culture obsessed with productivity and youth.
>
> That said, a few gentle critiques and refinements:
>
> -
>
> *“Beliefs becoming facts”* is true psychologically and socially, but
> biologically it works indirectly. Beliefs shape behavior, stress hormones,
> immune response, and lifestyle choices—*which then* shape physical
> outcomes. Making this causal chain more explicit would strengthen your
> argument for skeptical readers.
> -
>
> The idea that *all flora and fauna are emotional* is philosophically
> rich, but scientifically controversial. Framing this as *“responsive,
> relational, and communicative”* rather than strictly emotional might
> help bridge poetic insight and scientific credibility.
> -
>
> Saying *“We do not need pills and doctors”* risks being read as
> dismissive of medicine. I think your deeper point is that *medicine
> without nature is incomplete*, not that medicine is unnecessary.
> Clarifying this would prevent misinterpretation.
>
> What I deeply agree with is this:
> *Modern urban life quietly teaches people to fear their own bodies, their
> age, and nature itself.* That fear ages us faster than time does.
>
> Your piece reads like a manifesto against mechanistic living and a call to
> restore trust—trust in nature, in aging, and in life’s intelligence. With
> slight sharpening and careful framing, it could speak not just poetically,
> but persuasively, to a much wider audience.
>
> If you’d like, I can:
>
> -
>
> Make this more *scientifically grounded* without losing its spirit
> -
>
> Help adapt it for *publication* (journal, magazine, blog)
> -
>
> Or rewrite it in a more *philosophical or lyrical* style
>
> Just tell me the direction.
>
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