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Karma as the Secret Knowledge

Traditionally in Hinduism all spiritual knowledge is considered a secret, which is not meant to be taught to everyone. In fact, Bhagavad Gita is considered a book of secret knowledge and Lord Krishna even said that he gave the most secret knowledge to Arjuna. For example, in a conversation between Jaratkarava Artabhagah and Yajnavalkya, which is mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, when Jaratkarava asked him what survives after a person's death, Yajnavalkya responds, "Give me your hand, Artabhaga. We will know it between us, but not in front of these people. Then the two of them went out to talk.. What they discussed was about actions and what they praised was actions. Truly, one becomes virtuous by virtuous actions and sinful by sinful actions. After that, Jaratkarava Artabhagah kept silent." Certainly, Yajnavalkya was not willing to discuss the law of karma in front of everyone, or the consequences of actions that led people on the divergent paths of liberation an...

Dvaita vs Advaita

Dvaita and Advaita are two divergent schools of Vedanta philosophy in Hinduism which interpret reality and the relationship between Brahman, the Supreme Universal Self, and the rest of His manifestation differently in terms of duality and non duality respectively. According to the former (Dvaita) Brahman and His creation are existentially and fundamentally different and according to the latter (Advaita) the difference is only in our perception and understanding since all is Brahman only and nothing else. Putting it differently, the question these two schools try to resolve is whether the distinction between the subject and the object, or the knower and the known is permanent and real or a mere illusion arising from the limitations of the senses and of the mind. Standing in between these two in terms of a compromise is the third schools known as Visistadvaita, which acknowledges notional distinction, called bheda-abheda (different from not different). The questions that everyone may gra...

SILENT MIND

What are we? Is our notion of self real? How does it come into existence? Is it the sum total of our experiences and awareness? Or is it a mere notion sustained by a few persistent memories, attachments and desires? Are we the sum total of a few selected thoughts and memories or all thoughts and memories? Are we sustained by a few aspects of our past or all our past? Do we come into existence by the association of these thought and memories, or do we exist without them? If we are a selection of thoughts and memories, what happens to us when we enter into deep sleep? Do we still exist then? Such were the questions the Upanishadic seers explored in ancient India several thousands of years ago to know the secrets of existence. In doing so they followed a very unique method to minimize the interference of the mind and transcend its limitations. They silenced their minds and allowed the higher knowledge to manifest itself in their consciousness. We can do it even today. There are two types ...

WHAT IS REALITY?

Much of the confusion will disappear if we see Brahman not as a being, but as a supreme state. It becomes a being through its numerous manifestations. However, in its pure and absolute state, it represents the highest reality, which is pure, indefinable and without names and forms. We cannot communicate with that state or reality. We can only become That or become dissolved in That. Let's think this more deeply. If we are totally absorbed in Brahman, we will see the world differently. We will cease to identify ourself with our physical self and become fixed in the awareness, which is wonderfully expressed in the Upanishads as "Aham Brahmasmi," I am Brahman. The self-realized yogis do not declare that to the world, since it can be misconstrued by the ignorant ones. However, they remain stabilized in that awareness even in the wakeful state, battling against the duality to which the mind is accustomed and the resistance coming from the ego, which remains active even in the...

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAGGERATION

Some scholars go overboard and become irrational in their praise of Upanishads. Undoubtedly, the Upanishads have a great value for spiritual people and the wisdom it contains can be used by worldly people also to solve their problems, build their character, reason, discretion, perception and clear thinking. However, it is debatable whether they are superior to present day works on psychology or replace them. They both belong to different domains and serve different purposes with some overlapping here and there. However, comparing them to assess their superior is like comparing apples to oranges. The Upanishads look at the mind from a spiritual perspective and the books on modern psychology, if at all they dwell upon metaphysics or soul look at it from the perspective of the mind and perceptible field of experience and cognition. Thus, one belongs to the higher or the transcendental world and the other to this world. One is divine and the other human. The Upanishads may enhance ou...

SNARE

How is one to acquire knowledge? How is one to attain liberation? And how is one to reach dispassion? If we are seeking liberation, avoid the objects of the senses like poison and cultivate tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment, and truthfulness as the antidote. We do not consist of any of the elements -- earth, water, fire, air, or even ether. To be liberated, we should know ourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these. If we will remain resting in consciousness, seeing ourself as distinct from the body, then even now we will become happy, peaceful and free from bonds. Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of ours. We are neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, so we are always free. We are the one witness of everything and are always completely free. The cause of our bondage is that we see the witness as something other than this. Burn down the forest of ignorance with th...

Vajrasuchika Upanishad

From a spiritual perspective, there is no better argument against the Hindu caste system than the one we find in the Vajrasuchika Upanishad. Some believe that the Upanishad may be Buddhist in origin for its vehement stand against the traditional beliefs associated with castes. The Upanishad presents a convincing argument against the caste system and refutes the argument that a person becomes a Brahmana by mere birth. It contends that a person does not become a Brahmana or Kshatriya by birth. The soul is pure and without attributes. Therefore, it has no caste. The subtle body also has no caste because it is the same mind, the same breath and the same intelligence, the tattvas, which are active in all. The same soul enters different bodies in different lifetimes. Therefore, how can it belong to a particular caste or family? Besides, all the bodies in the world contain the same elements and propelled into action by the same triple gunas. We cannot also distinguish the castes of peopl...

Maitri Upanishad

The laying of the formerly-described sacrificial fires is indeed the sacrifice of Brahman. Therefore let the sacrificer, after he has laid those fires, meditate on the Self. Thus only does the sacrificer become complete and faultless. But who is to be meditated on? He who is called Prana (breath). What is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures in this offensive, pithless body - a mere mass of bones, skin, sinews, marrow, flesh, seed, blood, mucus, tears, phlegm, ordure, water, bile, and slime! What is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures in this body which is assailed by lust, hatred, greed, delusion, fear, anguish, jealousy, separation from what is loved, union with what is not loved, hunger, thirst, old age, death, illness, grief, and other evils! He who, without stopping the out-breathing, proceeds upwards, and who, modified (by impressions), and yet not modified, drives away the darkness (of error), he is the Self. He who in perfect rest, rising from this body (both from the sthul...

KAUSITAKI UPANISHAD

“Who art thou?” The sage asks. “I am thou,” he replies. Being freed from good and freed from evil he, the knower of Brahman, moves towards Brahman. Only by knowledge he sees clearly. I am like a season, and the child of the seasons, sprung from the womb of the endless space, from the light from the luminous Brahman. The light, the origin of the year, which is the past, which is the present, which is all living beings, and all elements, is the Atman. Thou art the Atman. What thou art, that am I. When a person is so asleep that he sees no dream whatever, then he becomes one with that vital breath. Then speech together with all names goes to it; the eye together with all forms goes to it; the ear together with all sounds goes to it; the mind together with all thoughts goes to it. When he awakes, as from a blazing fire sparks would fly in all directions, even so from this self the vital breaths proceed to their respective stations; from the vital breaths, the senses, from the gods, the...

PRECAP FOR BETTER RECAP

Five core Upanishad philosophies that can be learnt for managing our day-to-day life much better and looking at this blog as a precap for a better recap for this optimistic new year. 1. Samsara, Reincarnation The concept of samsara is prevalent in the Upanishads. Samsara, Sanskrit for, “wandering,” is the cycle of being. It represents reincarnation, the concept adopted by several Eastern religions of being reborn after you die according to the karmic cycle. Regardless of our personal beliefs, there’s something important to be taken from the samsara. Samsara tells us that all of life is in flux. The great wheel of life continues to turn, and nothing is ever stagnant: This vast universe is a wheel, the wheel of Brahman. Upon it are all creatures that are subject to birth, death, and rebirth. Round and round it turns and never stops. Samsara suggests that energy cannot be destroyed or diminished. It is simply transmuted. And it really is quite a poetic perspective on the cycle of deat...

BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD

One of the earliest descriptions of Being in the Upanishads can be found in the discussion between Ajatashatru and Gargya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Ajatashatru, the king of ancient Kashi, offered a thousand cows to Gargya, a brahmana, if he could provide a satisfactory explanation of Being. (Brahmanas refer to texts, as well as priests.) Gargya said, “The person within the Sun, indeed he is the Being I meditate upon.” The king replied, “Please do not talk to me about that being. While he is the head of all beings, he is not Being.” Gargya went on to talk about the essence of the moon, lightning, space, air, fire, water, sound, the person in the mirror and his shadow. When all his explanations of Being were rejected, the brahmana requested the king to teach him. Ajatashatru led him to a sleeping person and said, “When this person fell asleep, his consciousness gathered together all his senses, including his mind, and restrained them. When he lies dreaming, his consciousness ...

CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD

The Chandogya Upanishad provided one of the earliest descriptions of the return of the soul after death in the story of King Pravahana Jaivali’s instruction to a great sage, Uddalaka Aruni. This instruction was known as the doctrine of the five fires. The king explained that the world of the heavens was the first fire. The rain from the sky was the second fire, the earth the third, the male the fourth, and the female was the fifth fire. Two paths lay before the soul after the death of the person on earth. The first path took the soul to the gods and their abodes. This northern path of the gods (devayana) was for those who sought the wisdom of Being, said King Pravahana. For those who gave alms, a second path led them to the heavenly regions of their ancestors (pitryana), eventually returning them to earth as rain, where some of them are born again as grains, shrubs and herbs to be eaten by living beings. The form the souls took on earth depended on their previous conduct: good works me...

AITAREYA UPANISHAD

The Aitareya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads. It belongs to the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. The Upanishad was compiled from the 33 verses of the last three chapters (4,5 and 6) of the second Aranyaka. The Aitareya Upanishad reflects the beliefs, practices and philosophical notions of the early Vedic period regarding soul, creation, birth and rebirth. The verses provide information about the early Vedic beliefs regarding the arrangement of a four-tier universe, creation of beings, the embodiment of the Self, the importance of food and desire in the continuation of the worlds and beings, the transmigration of souls, the nature of Self, the manifestations of Brahman as intelligence, and the idea liberation. First chapter The First chapter deals with creation and describes how the worlds and beings emerged from the Self in the beginning when it was alone and desired to have company. It further states that after the worlds were created, the Brahman created the cos...

TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD

There are total 6 sections of this Upanishad, explained as follows: Section I May Mitra be kind to us. May Varuna and the blessings of Aryama. May also the grace of Indra and Brahaspati. And Vishnu the strider of the world. Salutation to Brahman, and Vayu, who alone we deem as Brahman visible. I declare that you are right and you are good. May that Brahman protect me and protect the speaker Section 2 The science of pronunciation we shall now expound The sounds, the tone, the measure, and the force for articulation The uniformity and continuity in their pronunciation are all important. The chapter on pronunciation is thus explained. Section 3 Having heard the basics of pronunciation from the teacher the students invoke Brahman and pray for the glory of both. And the teacher then explains the secrets of conjunction of words using the five perceptible objects: the Universe, the light, the knowledge, the people and the body. These are known as the five great aggregates. Regarding the unive...

LEVELS OF CONTEMPLATION

The purpose of meditation or dhyana is to become consciously aware of or investigate into one's own mind and body to know oneself. It is essentially an exclusive as well as an inclusive process, in which one withdraws one's mind and senses from the distractions of the world and contemplates upon a chosen object or idea with concentration. It is focused thinking with or without the exercise of individual will, in which the mind and the body has to be brought together to function as one harmonious whole. With the help of meditation we can overcome our mental blocks, negative thinking, debilitating fears, stress and anxiety by knowing their cause and dealing with them. In dhyana we gain insightful awareness whereby we can control over our responses and reactions. Through its regular practice, we come to understand the nature of things, the impermanence of our corporeal existence, the fluctuations of our minds, the source of our own suffering and its possible resolution. The differ...

WITHOUT EYE

In deep sleep awareness there are two justifications of the existence of pure awareness or consciousness and non-existing 'I' awareness are contradictory, because if nothing is known in a state that means it would become an unconscious state. 'All states of experience, have for their object something that is marked by some characteristics'. Vedanta Desika on behalf of Visistadvaita position, raises a question regarding deep sleep 'whether or not there is any experience in that state?' and says 'if there be any experience, it will present itself as qualified by attributes; if there be no experience, what is it that manifests itself as indeterminate?' Actually the thing is self-consciousness is the essential and inseparable feature of consciousness. Self is a conscious subject, which never loses its selfhood i.e., ' Ahampratyaya '. There is awareness of 'I' in the deep sleep but not pure consciousness is important in Visistadvaita philoso...

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD

The Mandukya Upanishad The Four States of Consciousness The Mandukya Upanishad belongs to the Atharvaveda. Although it contains only 12 verses, the Mandukya Upanishad occupies an important place in the development of Indian philosophical thought, following a commentary or Karika on it by Gaudapada, who is believed to be a teacher of Adi Shankaracharya's teacher. Gaudapada's Karika on the Upanishad became the basis for the emergence of the Advaita Vedanta or the philosophy of monism, according to which Brahman alone is the truth and the rest is an illusion. The Upanishad deals with the symbolic significance of the sacred syllable Aum and its correlation with the four states of consciousness, namely the wakeful consciousness, dream state, the state of deep sleep or dreamless sleep and the state of transcendental consciousness in which all divisions and duality disappears and the self alone exists in its pure state, all by itself. 1. This syllable AUM is verily all this This is th...

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD (PART 3-3)

THIRD MUNDAKA FIRST KHANDA 1. Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of them cats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating. 2. On the same tree man sits grieving, immersed, bewildered by his own impotence (an-isa). But when he sees the other lord (isa) contented and knows his glory, then his grief passes away. 3. When the seer sees the brilliant maker and lord (of the world) as the Person who has his source in Brahman, then he is wise, and shaking off good and evil, he reaches the highest oneness, free from passions; 4. For he is the Breath shining forth in all beings, and he who understands this becomes truly wise, not a talker only. He revels in the Self, he delights in the Self, and having performed his works (truthfulness, penance, meditation, &c.) he rests, firmly established in Brahman, the best of those who know Brahman. 5. By truthfulness, indeed, by penance, right knowledge, and abstinence must that Self be gained; the Self whom spotles...