Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 38 (chAn 5)

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[Part – 37 (chAn 4)]

The instruction to Narada reveals that mantras function strictly at the mental level. Realization requires us to transcend the mind entirely. From our empirical identity down to the vital force (prANa), the scriptures enumerate fifteen transient components of the individual. None of these are absolute. Even the vital force is a continuous motion–an activity rather than an unchanging reality. To awaken to Truth, we must transcend the triad of name, form, and action (nAma, rUpa, and karma). Beyond them lies the unconditioned Infinite brahman, known as bhUma:

यो वै भूमा तत्सुखं नाल्पे सुखमस्ति भूमैव सुखं भूमा त्वेव विजिज्ञासितव्य इति भूमानं भगवो विजिज्ञास इति ॥ — 7.23.1, chAndogya upa.  Continue reading →

Deep Sleep, the “After-glow” and Energy Dynamics – 1/2

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We all know the feeling. We wake up after a good night’s sleep and say, “I slept very well,” “I feel relaxed,” or “I feel refreshed.” The feeling is immediate and unmistakable. Yet there is something intriguing about it. What exactly are we experiencing when we say this? Are we remembering what happened during Deep Sleep? Or is something else happening?

This seemingly ordinary morning experience opens the door to a profound question: What does Consciousness actually know when we wake up from Deep Sleep?

Deep Sleep

Advaita Vedānta considers waking, dream and Deep Sleep to be the three familiar states of experience. Yet the waking mind has no direct access to what was actually present during Deep Sleep. “Deep Sleep” is a name given from the waking state to a condition that the waking mind did not experience as an object.

Sureśvara makes this epistemological point with remarkable precision in his Bṛhadāraṇyaka Vārttika:  Continue reading →

Saṃsāra

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Unraveling the Wheel of Transmigration

In our day-to-day lives, many of us experience an underlying, persistent restlessness—a feeling of being inherently finite, vulnerable, and caught in an unpredictable universe. We chase happiness in relationships, careers, possessions, and worldly achievements, yet every gain seems shadowed by transience and the inevitability of change. In Indian philosophy, this perpetual roller-coaster of existence, characterized by the continual cycle of birth, death, and transmigration, is known as saṃsāra.

In the non-dual tradition of Advaita Vedānta, systematized by Ādi Śaṅkara, saṃsāra is not viewed as an external physical prison created by a distant deity, nor is it an inescapable cosmic trap. Rather, saṃsāra is an empirical plight rooted entirely in a fundamental cognitive error: Self-ignorance (avidyā). As Śaṅkara notes in his introduction to the Māṇḍūkya Kārikā Bhāṣya, the scriptures and teachings are undertaken specifically to reveal Brahman, because “by knowledge (vidyā), the illusion of duality caused by ignorance is destroyed”.

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Mandukya Upanishad and Karika (Part1)

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Introduction

The Mandukya  Upanishad belongs to Atharva Veda. Though it has only twelve mantras, its teachings are profound. Gauḍapadacharya wrote the Karika on it. A Karika differs from a commentary. In a commentary, the commentator analyses each mantra and comments on it in detail. A Karika, on the other hand, presents the essential philosophical teachings.

The Karika consists of four chapters comprising a total of 215 verses (Karikas). Chapter I is called Agama Prakaraṇa. It is so called because it is based on the twelve mantras of the Upanishad. This chapter contains 29 Karikas. Chapters II, III, and IV are respectively Vaitathya Prakaraṇa (On the Unreality of the World), comprising 38 Karikas; Advaita Prakaraṇa (On Non-duality), comprising 48 Karikas; and Alatasanti Prakaraṇa (On the Quenching of the Firebrand), comprising 100 Karikas.
The Upaniṣhad and Karika are traditionally studied together along with the commentary of Shankaracharya.

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 37 (chAn 4)

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[Part – 36 (chAn 3)]

We may currently enjoy the most prosperous circumstances, but a time inevitably arrives when we lose everything and are thrown into a desperate state beyond all human succor: death. As death approaches, our physical and mental faculties fail. Friends and family cannot save us, our limbs grow motionless, and we are left uncertain of what awaits our departure.

To prepare, we must seek a competent teacher before such an eventuality arises. A true preceptor imparts direct Knowledge, guiding us in the practice of aligning our thoughts with the nature of Pure Beingness-Consciousness. We habitually anchor our minds to finite names and forms, chasing transient worldly objects and scattered thoughts. These are mere particulars.

Spiritual practice requires us to recognize the Universal, learning to see It hidden within the particulars. By bringing this underlying Reality to the foreground, the world of forms recedes into the background. As the mind rests on the Universal, our finite sense of individual identity dissolves into formlessness; the individual soul (*jīva*) turns into the Inner Self, and the external world resolves into Space. We remain as Pure Consciousness—with the cosmos as Its manifestation. This auspicious realization of Beingness-Consciousness is the path to Immortality.  Continue reading →

lakṣaṇa

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The Language of Implication and the Definition of Brahman

A central challenge in Advaita Vedānta is a linguistic and conceptual paradox: how can we speak of a reality that is explicitly declared to be beyond the reach of words and thoughts? Scriptures like the Kena, Muṇḍaka, and Kaṭha Upaniṣads remind us that neither eyes, speech, nor the mind can directly reach Brahman. If we attempt to use ordinary language, we find it completely inadequate. In everyday life, words can only reveal objects through four distinct categories: species or genus (jāti), qualities (guṇa), actions or functions (kriyā), and relationships (sambandha).

Because Brahman belongs to no species, possesses no attributes, performs no actions, and has no relationship with anything else, it cannot be revealed directly by any word in our parlance. This is why Ādi Śaṅkara and the scriptural tradition must proceed stepwise, utilizing a sophisticated pedagogical method called adhyāropa-apavāda (provisional attribution followed by subsequent negation) and, crucially, the linguistic device of lakṣaṇa—indirect implication.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part39)

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Part 38

Chapter 19 Conversation between Atma and the Mind

19.19                                                                                                                            Owing to ignorance, people superimpose upon Atma such notions as relative existence, relative non-existence, qualified, unqualified, agent, non-agent, and so on. Yet Atma is birthless, imperishable, non-dual, and is never Itself superimposed upon anything.
The ignorant mind takes Atma and the world of duality to belong to the same order of reality. Consequently, it performs actions that produce punya and papa, which in turn become the cause of birth and death—that is, samsara. The cycle of samsara continues endlessly until the mind realizes that Atma and the world belong to different orders of reality. The mind is mithya, and all superimpositions are likewise mithya.

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“Knowingness … or Not” — A Response *

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Dear Dennis,

Thank you for the 3-part article, “Knowingness … or Not.”

I must say, I was disappointed.

Knowing the thoroughness with which you normally approach a subject, and the attention to detail you bring to a task once you undertake it, I had hoped to see a scholarly critique of “Knowingness”—particularly one supported by shAstric evidence showing where the term falls short, together with possible suggestions for improvement or alternative vocabulary for consideration.

Instead, much of the investigation seems to have gone into tracing the frequency of its occurrence, rather than examining the more fundamental question: whether “Knowingness” is an appropriate rendering of jñAnam in the particular context in which I have used it. Continue reading →

Knowingness – Part 3

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*** Read Part 2 ***

This is the second part of my search to find other users of the word ‘knowingness’, and the final part of the series.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 38)

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Part 37

Part 39

Chapter 19 Conversation between Atma and the Mind 

19.07                                                                                                                               An ignorant mind believes that it can improve the status of I, the Atma. The wise person knows that the mind can neither improve Atma nor is there any need for such improvement, for Atma is already complete. Any improvement that occurs in time is destined to disappear with time. Therefore, every improvement in the mind, or brought about by the mind, is mithya. How can a mithya mind improve the real Atma? Therefore, Atma tells the mind to remain quiet and attend to its own welfare. Atma is self-effulgent. It requires no external support, including that of the mind, to shine. Rather, it is the mind that is illumined by Atma.

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