The Mandukya Upanishad -1. Sami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya Mission 

On Sunday 28 May 2023, Perth was blessed to have Pujya Swami Swaroopananda, Global Head of Chinmaya Mission install Lord Parameshawara at their new Chinmaya Mission Centre - Chinmaya Prastha by the unveiling of the ever-smiling murti of Lord Shiva. Together with Swami Shrikarananda and Swami Aparokshananda, Pujya Swamiji conducted the murti sthapana and brought divinity to the Perth Chinmaya family and surrounds. 

Pujya Swamiji gave the name Chinmaya Prastha to the ashram to signify the place of entry into Australia. It is a dream come true to have Pujya Swamiji return for the murthi sthapana after the pandemic. The construction of the ashram continues and will be open to the public in September 2023.

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Thursday, 01 June, 2023. 06:45.

Post-1.

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Yesterday we observed that the human individual is a microcosmic specimen of the entire creative process of the cosmos. The layers or degrees of reality which constitute the composition of the universe of creation are also to be found in the human individual in the form of the kosas or the sheaths, as they are called – physical, vital, mental, intellectual and causal-known in the Sanskrit language as annamaya kosa, pranomaya kosa, manomaya kosa, vijnanamaya kosa and anandamaya kosa. These are the five layers of objectivity which, in a gradational form, externalise consciousness. The grosser the sheath, the greater is the force of externality, so that when consciousness enters the physical body we are totally material in our outlook, physical in our understanding and assessment of values, intensely body-conscious, and know nothing about ourselves except this body. It is only when we go interior that we have access to the subtler layers of our personality, not otherwise. The Taittiriya Upanishad dealt with subject of the five layers, known as the kosas; and the Mandukya Upanishad, which is another important Upanishad, sometimes considered as the most important, deals with the very same kosas in a different way, namely, by the elucidation of the involvement of consciousness in these kosas.

The five have been classified into three groups – the physical, the subtle and the causal. In the waking state in which we are now, for instance, the physical body is intensely operative and we always think in terms of physical body, physical objects and physical sensations. This physical sensation is absent in the state of dream, but three of the kosas operate in dream. In the waking condition, all the five are operating, concentrating their action on the physical body mostly. In the dream state the physical body is not operating, but the vital, the mental and the intellectual sheaths are active. The prana is there, the mind is there, the intellect also is there also in a diminished intensity. We breathe, we think and we understand in the state of dream. That means prana, manas and buddhi all are active in the state of dream, minus the physical element, namely the body consciousness. In the state of deep sleep, none of these are active; neither the body is operating there, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor is there any consciousness that we are even breathing. The consciousness is withdrawn entirely from all the sheaths – physical, vital, mental and intellectual. There is only one sheath that is operating in the state of sleep – that is the causal sheath, called anandamaya kosa in Sanskrit.

In the waking condition the senses are very active, physically and materially. The Mandukya Upanishad tells us that we enjoy, experience and contact things in nineteen ways in the waking state. Consciousness has nineteen mouths through which it eats the food of objective experience. What are these nineteen mouths? They are the five senses of knowledge – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. With these five sensations we come in contact with things in the world outside, and enjoy them with actions and reactions produced thereby, by means of such sensory contact. These five mentioned are called senses of knowledge – jnanya indriyas. They are so called because they give us some sort of knowledge – either of sight, or sound, or taste, or smell, or touch. Apart from these five senses of knowledge, there are five organs of action; they do not give us any independent knowledge, but they act. The hand that grasps is one organ of action. The speech that articulates words is another organ of action. The feet that cause locomotion or movement are also organs of action. The generative organ and the excretory organ also are two of the active elements or organs of action. They act, but they do not give any new knowledge. 

Whatever idea, knowledge, experience, etc. we may have through any one of these organs of action comes through the sensations already mentioned, namely, the jnanya indriyas. Even when the organs of action act and we are conscious that they are acting, this consciousness is available only through the jnanya indriyas and not separately though the organs of action, which do not give additional knowledge. It looks as if we have some sensation even through the organs of action, but actually it is not so. The sensation, the experience of the action of the karma indriyas as they are called, arises on account of the simultaneous action of the jnanya indriyas or senses of knowledge. These five senses of knowledge and five organs of action make ten mouths of consciousness.

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To be continued

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