Tag Archives: meditation

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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Chandogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) (Part 14)

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Part 13

Section 13 (8.13.1), section 14 (8.14.1), and section 15 (8.15.1)
Vedantic teaching is over with section 12 of the chapter 8. Sections 13 to 15, each containing one mantra, are sort of miscellaneous.
A meditator longs for krama-mukti prays. He has practised meditation on space in the heart as Isvara. Space is one of the five elements. But here space is considered as a symbol of Isvara for meditation. It is revealer of name and form. By practice of meditation, he has reduced papas (demerits) like a horse shakes the dust off his body and the moon comes out of the grip of Rahu. Meditation has purified the mind and sense organs. He is desirous of going to the abode of Brahmaji to realize Atma so that he attains freedom from the cycle of life and death.
After enumerating of lineage of teachers, i.e., Brahmaji, Prajapati, Manus and his descendants, the Upanishad concludes with an assurance. He who serves his teacher, lives as prescribed by the Vedas and has control over mind and body, practices non-injury except otherwise ordained by scriptures, reaches the abode of Brahmaji and does not return. Continue reading →

Brihadarankya Upanishad (Part 13)

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Part 12

part 14

Chapter 4 Section 1 (4.1.1 and 4.1.7)
Janaka tells Yajnavalkya that he has learnt from a teacher that fire deity is Brahman. Yajnavalkya says that it is only one aspect of Brahman and there are three more aspects. Organ of speech is its abode; ether is its support, and it should be meditated as intelligence. Organ of speech is intelligence because through organ speech, the meditator knows his relatives, learns different types of knowledge. His speech never deserts him. And people come to him to learn. The dialogue continues in the same pattern.

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Chandogya Upanishad ( Chapters 6 to 8) Part 12

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Part 11

Chapter 8 Section 6 [8.6.1 to 8.6.4]                                                                                 By practicing meditation, a jiva after death goes to Brahm- loka where he has two choices. He may enjoy the available pleasures, take rebirth. Alternatively, he may choose to get Self-knowledge from Brahmaji and be liberated. It is krama mukti. It is not of much relevance to a seeker of liberation in the current life. Therefore, it is briefly discussed. Death is fall of physical body and separation of subtle body from it.  The jiva is in the form of subtle body. As the death approaches, the subtle body is gradually withdrawn from gross body towards heart. From the heart through a special capillary (susuma nadi), it reaches a subtle aperture in the head and leaves the gross body. Thereafter, it travels through shukla gati (bright path) and reaches Brahm loka.

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ChAndogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 10

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Part 9

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Chapter 8
Introduction
The chapter has 15 sections. Sections 1 to 6 deal with meditation on Saguna Brahman, sections 7 to 12 deal with Nirguna Brahman in the form of a dialogue between Prajapati and Indra. The last three sections discuss spiritual disciplines. The perception of objective world is dependent on sense organs. And the capacity of the sense organs is finite. They cannot provide the complete reality because the Absolute is supra-sensuous. The externality that is characteristic of the outer world prevents it from revealing the Absolute because one of the aspects of the Absolute is subjectivity which is inside.

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

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Part 7(2)

Part 8

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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Eight Upanishads (Topic-wise) Part 36

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Part 35

Part 37

Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-10-2 Anuvaka 10 The Upanishad prescribes two groups of meditation. In each group, there are several meditations: adhyAtma Brahman upAsanA, Adhidaiva Brahman upAsanA, AkAsa Brahman upAsanA.

adhyAtma Brahman upAsanA-. Here different organs in the body are locus for invocation. May you meditate upon Brahman in the form of well-being in speech. If a person’s speech is proper and appropriate, it can bring all-round wellness. Speech is the best ornament of a person. May you meditate on Brahman as yoga and ksema residing in prAna and apAna. PrAna rises from the lung upward and goes out, while apAna goes in from the nostrils and travels down to the lung. In this prAna and apAna, yoga-ksema is present. Yoga means all forms of acquisition – money, house, health, food etc. Ksema. means preservation of whatever has been acquired. Yoga and ksema reside in our breathing, because they exist only when we are alive. Once we cease breathing (die), they become irrelevant.

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Eight Upanishads (Topic-wise) Part 27

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Part 26

Part 28

Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha

6-7 Mundaka Upanishad

6-7-4 Mundaka 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 The Upanishad explains how Brahman can be known though it is formless. It is subtler than the subtlest. It shines through all experiences. It is cognized in the hearts of all beings as revealing Itself through such functions as seeing, hearing, thinking, knowing. It is therefore very near for wise. It is the support of all living and non-living things, all the worlds and the dwellers of the worlds like all the spokes fixed on the navel of the chariot wheel. It pervades all that is subtle and gross, yet not polluted by and is beyond them. It is the highest goal and the most desirable. By knowing It one is contented as if all desires are fulfilled.

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Waking Up (Conclusion)

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Part 4 (conclusion) of the review of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris

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Drugs

Many pages are devoted to a discussion of Near Death Experiences, although the reason for this is unclear – it is quite disproportionate, given the supposed topic of the book. He rightly condemns them as having nothing to do with spirituality, since they are merely the result of a cocktail of naturally produced chemicals in the brain. But then, inexplicably, he lauds hallucinogens as a mechanism for artificially inducing spiritual experiences, when all that they do is introduce a cocktail of man-made chemicals into the brain! You know full well (afterwards) that any experience you might have had was chemically created and therefore unreal. How can it possibly teach you anything useful? This is the height of irresponsibility and should have been rejected by the publisher.

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Waking Up (Part 3)

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Part 3 of the review of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris

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Other Religions and Non-duality

It is not at all obvious why ‘religion’ should be so disparaged. He recognizes “the needless confusion and harm that inevitably arise from the doctrines of faith-based religions”. The literal meaning of ‘religion’ is ‘joining back’, from the Latin ‘re ligare’. Its essential aim (and, I suggest, one rather more worthy) has nothing to do with psychology or personal happiness but with the nature of reality itself. It is difficult to understand how someone could place more value on a drug-induced experience than upon use of reason applied to scriptural revelation.

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