Meaning -
Aja means that which is unborn, which also implies that which is undying. Aja therefore is that which is unborn, immortal, eternal. Aja in Vedic language is the Trinity of three: Paramatma, Jivatma and Prakrti (Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 1, 7 and 9). Which one of these three is the Aja in this hymn? ‘Panchaudana’ clearly points to the Answer. ‘Panchaudana’ means ‘that which eats five kinds of food’, i.e., the one that has five varieties of experience. Now, if you have an experience, you also feel the pleasure or the pain of it, which means that the experiencer, the experience and the sufferance (of pleasure or pain) are together. The Aja of this hymn, therefore, is that one of the three which is subject to experience and sufferance. Of the three, Prakrti is the object of experience, it is not the experiencer. The experiencer is aware of the experience and also of the pleasure or pain of it. Food for example does not have the awareness of its own attribute of taste, only the eater knows by experience whether it is sweet or bitter or, later, whether it is bitter-sweet or sweet-bitter (Gita, 18, 37). Prakrti, therefore, is not the Aja of this hymn. The Aja here is either Paramatma or Jivatma. So, which one of the two, Paramatma and Jivatma, is the Aja in this hymn? Parmatma is not the ‘Aja’ here, because it is above sufferance. Therefore the one Aja that tastes the sweet as well as the bitter fruit of the tree of existence is the Jivatma as is expressed in Rgveda, 1, 164, 1, and in Atharva-veda 9, 9, 20: There are two birds sitting on the tree of existence. One of them tastes and relishes the fruit, the other just watches. The bird that tastes is the Jivatma. The other that sits on the same tree and watches is Paramatma. What is Panchaudana, the five kinds of fruit which the Jivatma tastes? The tree is the world of existence consisting of the five elements of Prakrti: Akasha (space), Vayu (wind and electric energy), Agni (light and fire energy), Apah (waters), and Prthivi (earth). The fruit or five kinds of food is the experience of “ Shabda or the music of sound and language from Akasha, Sparsha or the romance of touch from Vayu, Rupa or the romance of form and beauty from Agni, Rasa or the taste of drink and food from Apah, and Gandha or fragrance of perfume from Prthivi. The organs of perception are the senses of hearing, touch, seeing, tasting and smelling with the ear, skin, eye, tongue and the nose. Aja in ordinary language also means ‘the goat’. But, although the goat has senses and does, by instinct, experience things, yet it is not capable of knowing and, much more, not capable of the consciousness of knowing as the human being is (mantra-1). Therefore Panchaudana Aja is the human soul. O Master, take over this child of nature, in the healthy state of mind and senses, admit him / her to the school of nurture and culture, and with love and affection lead him / her to the second birth of the rational and faithful person of education so that this devotee, knowing clearly and consciously, may rise to the state of holistic knowledge and noble action and, in comprehensive ways of life, having crossed through and over the deep layers of darkness and ignorance, may ultimately reach the third state, beyond pleasure and pain, of spiritual freedom and bliss in Moksha.