Author Archives: Ramesam

Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 41 (brih 3)

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The shruti does not mince her words:

अथ योऽन्यां देवतामुपास्तेऽन्योऽसावन्योऽहमस्मीति न स वेद यथा पशुरेवं स देवानाम् । यथा ह वै बहवः पशवो मनुष्यं भुञ्ज्युरेवमेकैकः पुरुषो देवान्भुनक्त्येकस्मिन्नेव पशावादीयमानेऽप्रियं भवति किमु बहुषु तस्मादेषां तन्न प्रियं यदेतन्मनुष्या विद्युः ॥ — 1.4.10, brihadAraNyaka Upaniṣad.

Translation: “He who worships another deity thinking, ‘He is one, and I am another,’ does not know the Truth. He is like a beast to the gods. Just as many animals serve a man, so does such a worshiper serve the gods. Even if a single animal is lost, it causes distress; what then if many are lost? Therefore, it is not pleasing to the gods that human beings should know this Truth.”

Just as a livestock owner seeks to retain his cattle, the subtle deities are not portrayed as welcoming the transcendence of the dualistic realm by human beings. Those who worship the gods as entities separate from themselves sustain the cosmic order through ritual offerings and devotion. The gods, in turn, offer worldly benefits and heavenly rewards that keep such worshippers dependent upon them, distracting them from the pursuit of ultimate liberation.

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 40 (brih 2)

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[(Part – 39 (brih 1)]

The brihadAraNyaka Upanishad tells us,

ब्रह्म वा इदमग्र आसीत्तदात्मानमेवावेत् । अहं ब्रह्मास्मीति । — 1.4.10, brihadAraNyaka Upanishad

Meaning: “This (self) indeed was brahman in the beginning. It knew only Itself as ‘I am brahman.’”

What appears before us in the world is not an independent material reality, but a reflection (AbhAsa) of brahman. brahman alone is the ultimate reality (vastu), and the universe is Its manifest appearance. Therefore, that which perceives is brahman, and that which is perceived is also brahman.

In daily life, the mind acts as the seer and the external world appears as the seen. The mind assigns labels and categories—spouse, family, rivers, trees—generating mental concepts (nAma) that are projected outward as solid objects (rUpa).  Continue reading →

Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 39 (brih 1)

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[(Part – 38 (chAn 5)]

10.  brihadAraNyaka Upanishad 

The Upanishadic teachings are like a medicine administered to a sick patient. They help him/her to bounce back to her normal health. The Sanskrit word for “health” is “swasthata” (स्वस्थत). “swasthata” is derived from “stha” to be and “swa” in one’s normal state. Our normal healthy position gets affected, if and when we are invaded by foreign elements including alien “thoughts.” Thus far nine experts (Upanishads) have already treated us to rid us of the illness called “ignorance.” Now comes the final Specialist, brihadAraNyaka inquiring if we have come back to our normal health.  

We take it for granted that we are limited to or confined within our body-mind. That itself is our illness. It is called “ignorance.” We are not actually confined or limited to any finite form. Time and space are within me. In other words, there is no moment when we are not and there is no place where we are not present because our true nature is “Knowing.”  Our intrinsic nature is pure Knowingness (the Knowing ability) that has no form. As ‘Knowingness,’ we are formless, unbounded and all-pervasive. We are birthless and deathless. We are never “the known.” We are ever the Knower. We are eternal, immutable and indivisible.  Continue reading →

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

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[Part – 1/2]

Consciousness, History and Memory

Here we reach the central philosophical issue.

From the Advaitic standpoint, Consciousness—Brahman—is memoryless and historyless.

The body-organism has a history. It carries the effects of everything that has happened to it. The mind has memory. A past event can appear now as a memory. But Consciousness itself has neither history nor memory.

A memory of yesterday is not yesterday appearing again. It is a present mental event about yesterday. Likewise, the waking thought, “I slept well last night,” is not Deep Sleep occurring again. It is a present cognition arising in the waking mind, based upon the present condition of the body-organism and the mind’s associations.  Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

“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 →

Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 36 (chAn 3)

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[Part – 35 (chAn 2)]

An actor plays many roles in suitable costumes. Yet none of those define who he or she truly is. The actor remains unchanged when the play ends. Likewise, the world is a cosmic drama staged by Consciousness-Beingness (Cognizance). The objective forms within this world are transient and unreal; only Consciousness-Beingness is Real, serving as the intrinsic nature (AtmA) of all things.

This, in essence, is the instruction imparted by Sage Uddālaka to his son, Śvetaketu. Śvetaketu’s true reality is not his physical body. His father reveals to him: “You are That Consciousness-Beingness Itself (tat tvam asi); you are not what is merely perceived.” What we perceive are simply the functional forms through which Cognizance manifests.

  • The tvam (“you”) refers to the realm of name and form (nAma-rUpa).
  • The tat (“That”) refers to pure Consciousness-Beingness.

Thus, the core teaching is to recognize ourselves as the primary cognizance of “I am” and to view the world simply as the cognizance of “It is.” Any shift from this grounding—such as misidentifying with assigned names and forms—inevitably yields misery.

When the Upanishad discloses this supreme Truth through the mahAvAkya (“You are That”), every student of Advaita stands in Śvetaketu’s shoes. The name Śvetaketu signifies pure, luminous knowledge (śvetā-ketu). This capacity for understanding the Supreme Self is already present within us, yet it often becomes clouded.   Continue reading →

Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 35 (chAn 2)

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[Part – 34 (chAn 1)] 

The chAndogya Upanishad expresses the conclusion (at the end of the previous part) in an elegantly generalized form as follows:

वाचारम्भणं विकारो नामधेयं मृत्तिकेत्येव सत्यम् ॥   — mantra 6.1.4, chAndogya Upanishad.

[Meaning:  All products being just words, a mere name; the clay alone is real.]

In other words, ‘form’ lacks independent reality. While the substance is only one, the forms in which it presents itself could be many.

The world we perceive is an ensemble of forms. Earth is one form, water another; the same applies to fire, air, and space. Together, these constitute the five fundamental elements. Every object—animate creatures, inanimate items, rocks, mountains, and rivers—is a derived form of these primary elements.

For earthenware such as pots, pans, cups, and jars, the underlying root substance is clay. Similarly, gold is the root substance for ornaments like rings, bangles, bracelets, and necklaces; water is the root substance for waves, foam, spume, and spray. Each set of objects appears to have its own distinct material foundation. 
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