Tag Archives: Upadesa SAhasrI

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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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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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 10)

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Part 9

Part 11

11.10 is about avasthatraya prakriya- teaching on the basis of three states of experience. Vedanta uses ordinary experience to reveal extraordinary fact. Self is the unchanging observer of the three states. Vasanas are mental impressions left over from the experience in waking state. They are seen in the dream. They are like colour of the cloth coloured in turmeric. Self, the observer and the illuminator of the vasanas must be different from them and their locus, the mind. In waking and dream states what we experience are the contents of the mind which are illumined by Self. It follows that in the waking state also; Self is different from them. Self is different from the triad, knower, known and knowing.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 8)

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In Part 7, it is said that the chapter 10 focuses on nidhidhyasana, i.e., meditation on vedantic teachings for their assimilation and to deal with contrary feeling. The following verses do it by of ‘glorification’ of I (Self) and is in the first person.  Brahmjnanavalimala is very similar to chapter 10.  It should not be mistaken as ego-boosting because every human being is entitled to it.

10.1 to 10.3                                                                                                                         I am the supreme Brahman which is changeless and is of the nature of pure consciousness. I am unborn, imperishable. I am deathless, unchanging, devoid of old age. I am not attached with mind and body though I as consciousness pervade them. As consciousness, I am within the body, but I am not confined to the body. I have no edge and no boundary. Like space, I am in all directions and all -pervading. Worldly ups and downs belong to mind and body and do not affect Me. I am ever free. I am the ultimate subject. I am beyond objects but illumine them. I am self-effulgent. I am beyond cause and effect. Cause and effect are in the realm of duality. I am non-dual. The understanding is that though duality is experienced it is mithya. Duality is subject to change. I am non-dual and not subject to change. I alone am real.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 6)

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Part 5

Chapter 8 Merging of the mind
The chapter is meant for a seeker who has completed sravan and manan and is engaged in nidhidhyasana. He is convinced that his true nature is consciousness which is complete. Though he has contentment and peace, due to habits formed over many births, there is contrary thinking off and on. It is viprit bhavana. There is a tendency to make efforts to get over this because people are attached to the idea of cause and effect (8.5). The author says that he has composed a dialogue (chapter 8) between Self and mind to convince the seeker that viprit bhavana does not affect at all the true nature (consciousness) of the seeker. Let viprit bhavana which is due to prarabdha take its own course. The author has earlier (4.3) clarified that prarabdha has the capacity to overpower knowledge and it comes to end with death. In Naiskrama-Siddhi, Suresvaracharaya says that jnana removes avidya but not avidya vasana. However, when avidya vasana raises its head, jnana vasana also operates to neutralize it.

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Upadesa SAhasrI (Part 3)

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Part 2

Part 4

Chapter 2 Negation
2.1 to 2.4                                                                                                                        Sruti (Br Up 2.3.6) says: Not this, not this. Self is the left over after negation of everything, i.e., objects of experience. As they are mithyA and changing, they are negated to realize the unchanging remainder. This remainder, the negator cannot be negated. It is the Self and is of the nature of consciousness. It is the true nature of the negator. Self cannot be negated because it is based on pramAna (evidence). Self is the ultimate subject and is the reality. It has an independent existence. Objects are non-Self and are mithyA.

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