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.”
Food is greater than strength. By consuming food, a man gets strength. Water is the cause of and greater than food. Fire is greater than water since rain follows summer. Lightening, i.e., fire signals rain. Space is greater than fire as it accommodates everything. In 7.13.1, it is said that memory is greater than space because due to memory a person recognises worldly things and are useful. In the absence of memory, even an existing thing is as good as non-existing because its existence does not serve any purpose. The word used is smara which ordinarily means memory. Its extended meaning is the power of consciousness of self-existence which precedes the consciousness of the recognition of space outside us. So, smara does not merely mean a kind of memory which is the common meaning of the term. It is something superior to it.
For a person who has lost consciousness of his or her own existence, there is no question of space, no question of hearing or thinking, and no question of understanding. No function of any kind worthwhile will be possible, if there is no self-consciousness. Power of self-consciousness results in presence of I-hood. Then only arises every kind of knowledge. All our activity in life, whatever be the nature of that activity, is an offshoot of consciousness of our own existence.
Meditation on self-consciousness is a superior meditation because it is a shift from object to subject. Such a meditation results in freedom to the extent of the realm of self-consciousness. Generally, objects of meditation are outside and located in space without realising the relationship between the consciousness of objects and the objects of consciousness. It is taken for granted that objects are independent of consciousness. That the objects are suspended in space independently, independent of even the consciousness of their existence, is not true. Appreciation of this relationship is a higher knowledge which a common man lacks. As a result, he hangs on the outside objects. Turning from object to subject is a paradigm shift in meditation.
NArada wants to know the entitys greater than memory. Aspiration is greater than memory. Why? According to Swami KrishnAnada there is an inherent tendency in self-consciousness to go higher modes of being. We are happy because of the hope that we will be happy tomorrow, not only because we are happy today. We are asking for a self-transcendent existence. There is a confusion in the mind when we ask for long life. The hidden intention is to perpetuate our existence. Now this existence is not what we call bodily existence. It is perpetuation in time and expanded in space. There is a sub-conscious desire for infinity and eternity.”
There is inbuilt aspiration to transcend limitations and become free. Everything is as it were tied with the rope of aspiration. What is greater than aspiration? PrAna is greater than aspiration. Though life is identified with our activity, it is a mistake. Life is something inscrutable. Life is really what we are. It is called prAna. It is not the breathing process, but the life principle itself, without which there would be neither aspiration, nor self-consciousness. Just as the spokes of the wheel are fastened to the nave, so are all fastened to prAna. The vital force which pervades every living thing is like string to which all gems are strung. It does not depend on any organ rather when it departs the body, organs become non-functional.
If anyone uses derogatory words for his father, mother, or brother or sister, or teacher, or a Brahmin, he is shamed and called a patricide or a matricide etc or a murderer of a teacher and a Brahmin when they are alive, i.e. blessed with prana. When prAna departs them and bodies are burnt, he is not called a patricide etc, or a murderer of a teacher and a Brahmin. Therefore, by method of agreement and difference, father or mother is verily the prAna. All worldly glories belong to prAna. Hence meditation on prana as Brahman is recommended. It includes mediation on everything starting from name etc. By virtue of such meditation, reflection with reason, a person speaks with certitude the glories of prAna and he is accused of exceeding limits of speech, he should admit it without any hesitation and say, “I am transcending all in speech.”
Narada wrongly concludes that praAa is Brahman as he does not inquire about anything greater than prAna. But Sanatkumar knows that NArada is a qualified student and is willing to know more. As a good teacher would do, Sanatkumar continues teaching without being asked by NArada.
Contd Part 8