Category Archives: Bimal

ChAndogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 7(3)

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Part 7(2)
There is a need to take a pause and listen to what SwAmi KrishnAnada has to say. “As we go further and further in this chapter, we will find it is more and more difficult to understand the intention of the Upanishad. The instructions are very cryptic in their language. Even the Sanskrit language that is used is very archaic, giving way to various types of interpretations. But, the general background of the thought of the teacher here seems to be that there is necessity to rise gradually from the lower level to the higher level of comprehension. Here, by comprehension we mean the capacity of consciousness to include within its being, not merely within its thought or understanding, the reality that is outside. The more the extent of the reality outside that gets absorbed into our own being, the more is the power we can exercise over that realm of reality. This is a point, of course, that will be clear to anyone. Power is not merely imposed on us by any kind of ordinance or mandate. It is an outcome that arises automatically on account of the identity of our Being with that extent of reality with which we have become one.”

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BrihdAranyaka Upanishad (Part 7)

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Part 6

2.4.7 to 2.4.10                                                                                                                   If an entity cannot be perceived apart from something else, then the latter is its essence. Yajnavalkya gives many examples to highlight that the Self is unique, one and is the essence of one and all. When a drum or the like is beaten with a stick etc, one cannot distinguish its various particular notes from the general note of the drum, but they are included in or modifications of, the general note. They have no existence apart from the general note of the drum. They are not perceived as distinct notes. When a conch is blown or a veena is played, one cannot distinguish their various particular notes, but they are included in the general notes of the conch or veena. The universe, at the time of its origin as also prior to it, is nothing but Brahman as sparks, smoke, embers and flames are nothing but fire before emerging from the fire. The four Vedas and other scriptures are like breath of the supreme Self.

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BrihdAranyaka Upanishad (Part 6)

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Part 5

Part 7

Chapter 2 Section 4 Maitreyi brAhmana
2.4.1 to 2.4.4                                                                                                            Ygnavalkya is a jnAni householder. He wants to renunciate the householder life to take up sanyAs. He has two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. He expresses his intention of sanyAs to Maitreyi, seeking her permission and to divide the assets between the two wives. Maitreyi asks her husband if the wealth will make her immortal. The husband replies in negative. Maitreyi says that she is not interested in wealth. She requests the husband to teach her that which will make her immortal. On hearing this, as Yagnavalkya is very pleased with Maitreyi, he tells her that she has been dear to him and now is dearer. He agrees to teach Maitreyi. Maitreyi, the wife becomes a disciple Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya is the teacher.

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ChAndogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 7(2)

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Part 7(1)

Part 7(3)

From the lowest degree of manifestation, one has to gradually ascend step by step. The name of an object includes every kind of information about the object.  Sanatakumar asks NArada to have a complete descriptive knowledge of objects. One has to master it, not by excluding it or disregarding it, but by having a thorough knowledge of it, to the extent their names and forms are concerned. A common mistake is that a seeker lacks patience and tries to skip the stages or does not finish the intermediary stages. Knowledge does not mean ignorance of any particular aspect of experience. It is a total comprehension. When I am bound, I must know the reasons of bondage. It is immaturity to say that I am concerned with freedom and not concerned with the stages of bondage.  Freedom is the knowledge of the causative factors behind bondage. The cure is by removing the causative factors. Bondage is the devil which operates in a particular realm.

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ChAnyadogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 7(1)

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Part 6(2)

Part 7(2)

Chapter 7
Introduction
In chapter 6, knowledge of supreme Reality as Being is imparted and it is said that all that is perceived and conceived is nothing but Being, i.e., pure existence. It is Sat-vidya. In chapter 7, reality is graded beginning from name and ascending to prAna so as to reach Being designated as Bhuma. All the lesser degrees of reality are only forms of Its manifestation and is a lower order of reality. The higher includes the lower, and the highest is everything and is all-inclusive.
If the lower grades of reality are not described, one may think that there are things other than the Being though unknown. The intermediate realities are graded in a manner value and expanse of a reality is more than those of preceding one until the highest reality Bhuma is ascertained. Bhuma means infinite which is bliss also. The teaching is in the form of a dialogue between NArada and Sanatakumar as student and teacher respectively forming a worthy-duo.

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BrihdArnyaka Upanishad (Part 5)

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Part 4

Part 6

2.1.18                                                                                                                         During dream, the mind projects a dream world out of latent tendencies in it formed out experiences in the waking state. There are 72000 nAdis (like blood vessels) emanating from the heart through which prAna shakti travels to different parts of the body. The sense organs are not functional as they are resolved in the nAdis. The jIva (the reflected consciousness in the mind) travels through the nAdis and experiences the dream world projected out of the latent tendencies in the mind. In the dream, what are the ‘achievements’ of the jIva. He is, as it were, a king or a noble brAhmana or an animal. There are states of high and low. The achievements are false. It is to be noted that the jIva remains in the nAdis and does not reach the heart. If it reaches the heart, then it is the state of sleep.

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ChAndogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 6(2)

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Part 6(1)

Part 7(1)

ShankarAchArya answers the question: Who is Svetaketu, denoted by the word ‘thou’?
“It is he knows himself as, ‘I am Svetaketu, the son of Uddalaka’, and who after hearing the instruction, thinking over it and understanding it, asked his father for knowing what has not been heard of and thought of, and remains unknown, ‘Venerable sir, how is that instruction imparted?’ He who has become entitled to be the hearer, the thinker, and the knower, is none other than the supreme Deity himself, who, in the form of reflection has entered into the aggregate of body and organ made up of fire, water, and food, like a person in the mirror or like sun, etc., in water etc, for the sake of manifesting name and form.”

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Duality is mithyA

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 Up Sah 19.20 to 19.22 have been inter-alia discussed here. It requires fine tuning. Hence this post.                                                                                                                    Upadesha SahAsri 19.20 discusses the status of duality. It has neither birth nor absence of birth. Both have contradictions as explained below. Thus, duality is neither existent nor non-existent. It is neither real nor unreal. In VedAntic terminology, it is mithyA.
1 Suppose there is birth of duality, i.e., there is a cause of its birth. It may be an existent cause or a non-existent cause. A non-existent cause is a non-starter and cannot give rise to an effect. An existent cause can be either (a) non-duality or (b) duality.
(a) The cause cannot be non-duality, because the nature of non-duality is changelessness.
(b) If there is birth of duality A from duality B, then there is a question of birth of duality B and so on. It leads to infinite regress which is logically unacceptable.

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Waking Vs Dream

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We treat the waking state as real and dream state as unreal. ‘Day dreaming’ is used when a person imagines in the waking state. GaudpadAcharya in his karikA on MAndukya Upanishad refutes the ‘unreality’ of dream and shows that the two states are on equal footing.
I Utility
Objection: Dream objects have no utility in waking state.
Refutation: To a dreamer, dream water is useful, not the water in waking state.
II Reality
Objection: Dream objects are unreal because they may not exist in the waking state.
Refutation: Even though dream objects may not be seen in the waking state, yet they are as real to a dreamer as objects in the waking state are to the waking person.

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BrihadAranyaka Upanishad (Part 4)

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Part 3

Part 5

Chapter 2 Section 1 

2.1.1 to 2.1.14                                                                                                                   It is a dialogue between GArgya, a BrAhmana and a kshatriya king AjAtshatru of KAsi. GArgya has learnt VedAs and he knows Saguna Brahman. AjAtshatru is a jnAni. GArgya visits AjAtshatru and offers him to teach Brahman. AjAtshatru understands that Gargya’ s main intention is to get dakshinA, i.e., teacher’s fee for teaching. He gives him 1000 cows for his proposal to teach. Though GArgya’s knowledge is confined to Saguna Brahman, he thinks that he knows everything and is proud. He says that he meditates on aspects of Saguna Brahman, namely, sun, moon, lightening, space, air, fire, water, looking glass, sound of breath of walking man, directions, shadow. and asks the king to meditate on these aspects.

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