Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 11 (kaTha 2)

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[Part – 10 (kaTha 1)]

न साम्परायः प्रतिभाति बालं प्रमाद्यन्तं वित्तमोहेन मूढम् । 
अयं लोको नास्ति पर इति मानी पुनः पुनर्वशमापद्यते मे ॥       — mantra 1.2.6, kaTha upa.

[Meaning: The means of attaining the other world does not become revealed to the non-discriminating one who, deluded by wealth, has become negligent. He who thinks, ‘this world alone is and none else’ comes to my thraldom again and again. (Trans: V. Panoli).]

An immature and unreflective person cannot easily avoid the path of the merely pleasurable. The glitter of the world blinds him; fascination replaces discrimination. Captivated by possessions, distracted by sensory allurements, he drifts without awareness of where he is heading. A seeker of the Self, by contrast, must live with vigilance. Spiritual life is not sustained by occasional effort but by sustained alertness. Each moment must be lived with inward attention, for the least lapse gives entry to ignorance. When the light of Consciousness shines unobstructed, ignorance cannot stand; but the instant that light is veiled, even slightly, darkness spreads. Darkness is bondage; light is freedom. Darkness is death; light is life.  Continue reading →

Adhyatma-yoga

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Adhyatma is adhi plus atma. It is a spiritual discipline. Yoga is of different types, e.g., Hatha-yoga which is about various bodily postures. Here it refers to mental discipline, i.e., concentration on and awareness of the Self. It is not dependent on any external factor. Instead, it is meditation on Vedantic teachings about Self.
The Lord of death mentions it (katha 1.2.12) and Shankaracharya explains. It is withdrawing the mind from the external objects and concentrating on the Self. The concentration of the mind is required because the Self is hidden (therefore hard to grasp) in the intellect surrounded by the body and senses. The body and senses are source of miseries. However, by meditating on the Self, an intelligent man perceives it in the intellect. Resultantly he goes beyond miseries, i.e., he gives up both happiness and sorrow because the Self is devoid of highs and lows. Though self-luminous and self-evident, it is hidden by the impressions on the mind arising from thoughts and actions. Hence the Upanishad says it is ‘hard to perceive’.

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Bādha

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The Process of Bādha: The Engine of Realization in Advaita Vedānta

In the rigorous intellectual and spiritual framework of Advaita Vedānta, the journey toward enlightenment is not marked by the acquisition of new objects of experience, but by a fundamental shift in understanding. At the heart of this shift lies a crucial technical process known as bādha. Frequently translated into English as sublation, subration, cancellation, or negation, bādha is the cognitive mechanism by which a previously accepted point of view or understanding is superseded by a totally different, more accurate one upon the receipt of new information. It is effectively the apavāda stage of the adhyāropa-apavāda process.

For the seeker, understanding bādha is essential because it defines the very nature of Truth and Reality. In Advaita, the “Real” is defined specifically as that which cannot be sublated—that which remains uncontradicted in all three periods of time (past, present, and future).

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 12)

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Part 11

Chapter 13 Eye-lessness
13.1 to 13.5
Yajnavalkya tells Gargi (Br Up 3.8.8): Brahman is not gross, not oily, nothing is inside outside, thereby suggesting all negations. What remains is not negated and is a positive entity, Brahman. A knower of Brahman is Brahman (Mun Up 3.2.9). An enlightened person is capable of using the word ‘I’ emperically and also at the Absolute level.
The author uses a rhetorical device of putting words in the mouth of Brahman. The verses are in the1st person. Brahman is of the nature of pure consciousness and is different from the gross and subtle bodies which are essentially inert. Therefore, Brahman speaks. Alternatively, an enlightened ego speaks:

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 10 (kaTha 1)

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[Part – 9 (kena 4)]

kaTha Upanishad

अतिमुच्य धीराः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति ॥    —  1.2, kena Upanishad.

[Meaning: The wise, having relinquished all false identifications, become immortal upon departing from this world.] 

The kena Upanishad tells us that “A dead man becomes immortal after death.” 

At first glance, what the kena says appears to be a paradox: it suggests that one must “depart” to become immortal. If we take this literally, it sounds as though a dead man becomes immortal — yet a dead man is no longer there to experience immortality. This apparent contradiction is the gateway to a deeper Vedantic truth.

kena Upanishad is actually pointing to a “solution” for the one thing we all struggle with: Freedom from the constant, grinding cycle of birth, death, and the misery in between — what the shAstra-s (texts) call samsAra.

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Ātman and Brahman

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The Pillars of Non-Dual Reality

In the vast and rigorous tradition of Advaita Vedānta, two terms stand as the absolute foundation of all spiritual inquiry: Brahman and Ātman. While these words can initially seem like abstract philosophical markers, they are, in fact, pointers to the most intimate and undeniable truths of our existence. Traditional Advaita, as systematized by the great sage Ādi Śaṅkara in the 8th century, is fundamentally a methodology designed to reveal that these two apparently different entities are, in reality, one and the same.

The core message of this teaching is famously summarized by the dictum: brahma satyam, jaganmithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ—”Brahman is the reality; the world is not in itself real; the individual self is none other than Brahman”. To understand this “Great Equation,” we must first clarify what is meant by these two essential terms through the lens of scriptural testimony (śabda pramāṇa) and Śaṅkara’s commentaries.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 11)

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Part 10

Part 12

12.6, 12.7 and 12.10                                                                                       Consciousness is independent of experience, but experience needs consciousness. There are two factors in experience. Consciousness and the mind. Consciousness is limitless.  But it is limited or conditioned by the mind. The conditioned consciousness is like a reflection in the mind. When the mind comes in contact with an object through sense organs, there are modifications in the mind called vrittis. The vrittis are illumined or revealed by the (reflected) consciousness. Illumined vrittis is experience.

A wise person knows that locus of ignorance is the mind and not the Self, his true nature, and further that the mind commits the mistake of false identification. Such a wise person is indeed the best of yogis and not anyone else. Heat of the sun on the body is an object of knowledge. Likewise, pain and pleasure and the mind where they reside are the objects of knowledge. It is wrong to superimpose them on Self. Self is neither sad nor happy. The bottom line is that the condition of the mind belongs to mind and not to Self. Sadness is natural.

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 9 (kena 4)

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[Part – 8 (kena 3)]

The Upanishad continues:

यत्प्राणेन न प्राणिति येन प्राणः प्रणीयते । 
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥                   — mantra 1.9, kena.

[Meaning:  What none can breathe with the breath, but by which the breath is directed, know that alone as brahman, and not this they worship here. (Here the word ’prANa’ may also mean smell. In that case, the translation would be: What one smells not by the organ of smell, but by which the smell is directed towards its objects, know that alone as brahman.)]

The above mantra tells us that brahman is that very Sentience behind everything that “Is” and that “Goes on” in this world and not any idol that we worship. Practices such as worship, mantra repetition, and yoga are efforts to understand brahman without relinquishing name and form. But true Knowing lies in knowing without name and form. Only the formless and featureless can be omnipresent.  Continue reading →

Chandogya Upanishad and Brahma Sutra Bhasya Part 6

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Part 5

BSB 4.1.4 and 4.1.5
Doubt: There are texts, “One should meditate about space as Brahman” and “The sun is Brahman”. The doubt is, whether self-identification should be resorted. The opponent says that one should identify oneself with those symbols as well (thinking thus: “I am the symbol which is Brahman”). Because Brahman is familiar as the Self and the symbols also are forms of Brahman. The aphorist clarifies that meditator should not identify himself with a symbol, for he cannot consider himself to be so. Brahman is taught to be identical with the individual Self after eliminating empirical characteristics like agent ship etc. from the latter, whereas meditation is prescribed without eliminating these. As the meditator and the symbols are both limited entities, self-identity with symbols is ruled out. There are supporting texts. “He who having known thus meditates about the sun as Brahman” (Ch 3.19.4). “He who meditates organ of speech as Brahman” (Ch 7.2.2). “He who meditates about resolve as Brahman” (Ch 7.4.3).

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 8 (kena 3)

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[Part – 7 (kena 2)]

The utilities that reach our homes offer a useful way to think about Consciousness (AtmA). Water and electricity come through their supply lines, and we access them using specific outlets — a tap for water, a socket for electricity. But these utilities are not produced by our house, nor can we keep them exclusively to ourselves. They are shared resources, available to all houses.

AtmA — Beingness-Consciousness — can be understood in much the same way. It is not generated by the body or the mind. It is already present: unmanifest, universal, and available everywhere. The body is like a house, while the mind and senses — the eyes, ears, nose, and so on — function like outlet points.

When Consciousness breathes, it appears as the life-principle (prANa). When it sees, it appears as the eye; when it hears, as the ear. In short, the same single power of Consciousness manifests as seeing in the eye, hearing in the ear, breathing in the life-principle, and thinking in the mind.  Continue reading →