Upanishads : "The cream of Vedas"

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Last Discussion- "Sri Madhavacharya's interpretaions" ...... Sri Madhavacharya  interprets  "aham" as  "na  heya"  meaning  :  'not  to  be  despised  or  discarded,' and  "asmi" as  'the  ever  existing  God  in  all  creatures.' Swamiji  also  sees  in  "Asavasau"  meaning :  'this  Purusha  (Asau)  within  the  Prana' ( In  Asau  =  in  prana ). Prana  is  symbol  for  God. The  struggle  is  evidently  to  avoid  the  "Advaitic"  implication  so  eloquent  in  the  Rishi-declaration. "The  Upanishad  clearly  wants  to  declare  the  identity  between  'as...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Discussion-6. " I am  seeing  His  auspicious  nature" .... "He  am  I"......"I  am  He"....." That  Universal  Reality,  BRAHMAM  am  I " ...... Just  for  the  purpose  of  elucidation  and  re-emphasise  the  most  important  point  here,  we  must,  through  a  repetition,  again  draw  the  reader's  attention  to  a  subtle  truth  underlying  the  very  arrangement  of  thoughts  here. First,  the  meditator  cries  out  :  "I  am  seeing  His  auspicious  nature," and  thus  he  hushes  himself  into  the  silence  of  joy ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Discussion-4.  "The  knower  of  'Brahmam'  becomes   'Brahmam' " .......  is  an  oft  repeated  Upanishadic Declaration,  the  truth  of  which  is  repeatedly  restated  in  all  Upanishads. Man  cannot  see  God,  but  God  is  not  an  inexperienceable  non-existence. Godhood  is  a  positive  state  which  can  be  lived  and  experienced,  but  unfortunately,  not  by  man  but  by  God  alone. It  is  because  the  man,  who  realises  Godhood,  is  no  more  a  man,  but  is  a  God  upon  earth,  walking  temporari...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Discussion-3. "He  am  I"  ...  "I behold  Thy  glorious  form"....."Savikalpa  Samadhi" ....".Nirvikalpa  Samadhi" .....    Before  the  final  experience  of  Oneness  "He  am  I,"   we  have  been  shown  how  there  is  a  lower  state  of  realisation  that : - "I  behold  Thy  glorious  form," wherein  the  ego  still  remains,  experiencing  a  divine  exaltation. This  state  is  called  "Savikalpa  Samadhi". This  procedes the  final  stage  of  total  end  of  the  ego n when  the  seeker  rediscovers  himself  to  be  the  soug...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Discussion-2. "He  am  I,  the  Purusha  within  Thee" ... The  idea  that  the  Spirit  is  not  to  be  seen  or  felt  or  understood  but  is  to  be  experienced  in  an  intimate  subjective  experience  ( anubhavam ),  is  clearly  brought  out  by  the  declaration : "He  am  I,  the  Purusha  within  Thee," This  is  not  a  declaratin  made  by  the  Self-Realised  Saint  at  the  moment  of  his  realisation, but  later  on,  when  he  wakes  up  again  to  the  world  of  the  'mind-and-intellect....

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Discussion-1. "Glory  os  Sun" ... The  very  epithets  of  glory  used  here  by  the  Rishi-s  in  addressing  the  Lord  SUN,  are  significant  in  as  much  is  the  'dying  ego'  addressing. The  philosophic  import  of  the  prayer  is  brought  into  greater  relief  by  the  unsaid  suggestiveness  that  is  implied  in  the  various  qualifications  which  are  added  to  the  Lord SUN. They  apply  equally  to  the  'Atma,'  Nourisher,  Sole  Seer,  ( Omniscient )  the  "Controller  of  All,"  etc.,  are  all  amp...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-16. Pusanne - karse  yama  surya  praja - partya, vyuha  rasmin  samuha  tejah yatte  rupam  kalyana - tamam  tatte  pasyami yo  sa - vasau  purushah  so  ham - asmi. pusan  =  O!  Pusan  ( O! Sun ); ekarse  =  O! sole  Seer; yama  =  O!  Controller; surya  =  O! Surya; prajapatya  =  O!  son  of  Prajapati; vyuh  =  disperse; rasmin  =  rays; samuha  =  gather  up; tejah  =  light; yat  =  what; te  =  thy; rupam  =  form; kalyana-tamam  =  most  auspicious; tat  =  that; te  =  thy; pasyami  =  ( I )  see; yah  =  who; asau  =  this;...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-15. Discussion- 4. Summation .... But  what  right  has  the  seeker  to  demand  from  the  Supreme  such  an  unveiling,  is  explained  when  the  devotee  declares  that  the  Truth  should  reveal   Itself  unto  him,  for  "he  is  himself  a  practitioner  of  Truth". This  is  very  significant  in  as-much-as  the  seeker's  goal  is  Truth,  his  path  is  Truth  and  this  very  path  of  Truth  is  laid  over  with  Truth  at  every  step. In  religion,  means  are  as  sacred  as  the  goal. Through ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-15. Discussion-3. "Swami Sri  Adi  Sankaracharya' says : " ...... Thus,  as  Swami  Sri  Adi  Sankaracharya  says,  "It  is  certainly  the  last  prayer  of  theb  dying  individual  but  the  individual  meant  here  is  the  ego-centre." We  are  not  to  understand  that  it  is  literally  prayer  of  the  dying  old  man  on  his  death-bed. It  is  the  last  prayer  of  the  active  seeker  in  his  meditation-seat  when  he,  in  his  divine  effort,  is  shaking  off  his  last  venture  of  ego  which  is  lingeri...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-15. Discussion-2. "Prayer  in  Vedantham" ...." LORD  SUN" ...  "ATMA-SELF" ... Prayer  in  Vedantham  is  only  an  attempt  of  the  ego-centre  to  attune  itself  to  the  "Supreme  Consciousness"  in  the  individual. Addressing  the  "Supreme  Consciousness,  the  ego-centre  in  the  individual  is  chanting  this  Mantram. The  epithets,  by  which  "Lord Sun" is  indicated,  are  chosen  with  a  special  dexterity. "PUSAN"  is  one  of  the  innumerable  names  of  Lord  SUN. "IT  MEANS  THE  "NOURISHER - - - -  THE  SUSTAINER. The  Sun  is ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-15. Discussion-1. continued .... To  consider  this  as  the b last  mantram  would  be  obeying  the  well  known  Vedantha  tradition  that  'there  must  be  unity  of  thought  in  the  beginning  and  in  then  end.' The  Upanishad  that  started  with  'clothed  by  the  Isa  is  all  this,'  must  end  in  this  prayer  unto  the  Nourisher,  Sustainer  :  'O  Lord!  unveil  the  Reality. The  world  of  objects  and  their  glittering  fascinations  seems  to  envelop  the  Truth. May  I  pierce  through  the  apparent...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-15. Hiranmayena  patrena  satya-syapi-hitam  mukham, tattvam  pusanna-pavrnu  satya-dharmaya  drstaye. hiranmayena  =  golden; patrena  =  by  the  vessel (  means  lid ); satyasya  =  of  truth; apihitam  =  covered; mukham  =  face; tat  =  that; tvam  =  you; pusan  =  O Sun; apavrnu  =  do  open; satya-dharmaya  =  the  practitioner  of  truth; drstaye  =  for  beholding. ( 15 ). " The face  of  Truth  is  covered  by  a  golden  lid; remove,  O  Sun,  that ( covering  )  for  me,  the  practitioner  of  Truth,  so  that  I  may  behold ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Discussion- 8. "Vedic-Period"..... In  the  'Vedic  period,'   there  were  none  of  those  'Puranic  gods'    to  be  worshipped,  since  they  were  of  a  later  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  'Bharatheeya  ( Hindu )  spiritual  literature. Therefore,  we  find  that,  in  this  Upanishad,  the  prayer  is  to  the  'Lord  Sun'   who  was  to  the  shrewd  intellect  of  the  Bharatheeya  people,  the  clearest  symbol  of  the  mighty  Creator,  Sustainer,  and  Destroyer  of  the  Universe. In  the  modern  times, ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14.  Discussion-7. "Sixth  wave  of  thought" ..... Now  we  have  come  to  the  sixth  wave  of  thought  in  the  entire  Upanishad  which,  to  many of  its  critics,  is  given  an  interpolation! The  eminent  commentators  like  Swami Sri  Adi  Sankaracharya,  and  others,  "It  is  a  prayer  of  a  dying  person  on  his/her  death-bed" Orthodax  Hindu  families  repeat  these  Mantra-s  in  the  ears  of  the  dying  persons. But  very  few  of  them  seem  to  understand  correctly  the  true  import  and  implicat...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Discussion-6. "Abhi-Sambhuti  and  Abhi-Sambhava".... The  experience  of  'Brahmam'  and  Its  infinite  freedom  are  described   in  the  'Chandogyopanishad'  more  than  once,  and  on  that  occasion  the  Rishi  uses  the  terms  'Abhi-sambhuti,'  and  'Abhi-sambhava.' In  the  'Brhadaranyakopanishad,'   Rishi  'Yajnavalkya,'  in  his  teachings  to 'Maitreyi,'  says : "The  mukta  attains  to  'vinasa',  and  there  is  no  other  name  for  liberation." It  is  obvious  that  here  the  destruction  ( vinasa )  is  of  the  'Vasanas'  that  maintain...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Discussion-5. " This  is  again  an  instance  where  philosophers  enter  into  unproductive  arguments"  ......   One  very  satisfying   explanation    was   from  Sri  Swami  Tapovanj  Maharaj. : It  beautifully  reconciles  this  confusing  contradiction. Swamiji  suggested  to  his  students  .to  recognize  'Sambhuti' and  'Sambhava' as meaning  the  "birth  of  a  new  spiritual  life," and  'Asambhuti  and  'Vinasam' as  referring  to  the  "the  cessation  and  destruction"  -----  cessation  of  the  creation  of  new  'Vasanas'  and  the  total ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Discussion-4. "Swami Sri Adi Sankaracharya's  views" .... Swami  Sri  Adi  Sankaracharya  takes  'Vinasa'  to  refer  "Karya  Brahmam"  which  was  described in  the  earlier  mantram-s  as  'Sambhuti  and  Sambhava.' But  in  this  mantram,  the  Rishi  says : that  'Sambhuti  and  'Vinasa'  are  one  and  the  same. The  terms  'Sambhuti' in  the  first  half  and  'Sambhutya'  in  the  second  half  must  somehow  be  made  to  mean  prakrti  ( nature)  ....but  already  'Sambhuti  and  Asambhuti'  were  explained  as  "Prakrti." How  can  this ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Discussion-3 "Vedic Perfection "..." Sri  Adi  Sankaracharya  ... Sri Ramakrishna " ... A  mere  Vedantic  perfection  does  not  make  a  man  fit  to  live  in  the  community  of  men  and  women  and  work  in  the  field  of  Avidya  to  redeem  his  generation  from  the  mental  and  intellectual  dustbin  into  which  it  has  fallen. In  the  contention  of  a  cultural  renaissance,  the  great  Master  will  have  to  face  different  types  of  challenges  in  which  he  can  easily  find  equilibrium  and  poise  ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Discussion-2. "Bhakti and  Jnanam"  ..... The  controversy  between  bhakti  and  jnanam  is  perfectly  proved  to  be  empty  and  hollow  by  suggestions  contained  in  this  mantram. It  is  suggested  here  that  these  two  are  not  contradictory,  but  they  are  complementary  and  are  to  be  practised  in  a  serial. Devotion  to  a  'Personal  God' ( Sri Rama,  Sri  Krishna,  and  many,  Sri Bhuddha,  Mahavir,  Jesus, Allah  and  so  on,  as a  person  wish )  with  a  "form  and  name"   ( images, statues, and  so  on ), is ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-14. Sambhutim  ca  vinasam  ca  yastad  vedo-bhayagm  saha, vinasena  mrtyum  tirtva  sambhutya-mrtam-asnute. sambhutim  =  impersonal  godhead; ca  =  and; vinasam  =  personal  god; ca  =  and; yah  who; tat  =  that; veda  =  knows; ubhayagm  =  both; saha  =  together; vinasena  =  by  Personal  God; mrtyum  =  death; tirtva  =  crossing; sambhutya  =  by  Impersonal  Gd; amrtam  =  immortality; asnute  =  enjoys,  obtains. ( 14) . "He  who  worships  the  Impersonal  Godhead  and  the  Personal  God  together,  overcomes  death  through  the ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-13. Anyad-evahuh  sambhavat  anyad-ahur-asambhavat, iti  susruma  dhiranam  ye  nastad  vica-caksire. anyat  =  different; eva  =  definitely; ahuh  =  ( they )  say; sambhavat  =  from  the  Manifest; anyat  =  different; ahuh  =  ( they )  say; asambhavat  =  from  the  Unmanifest; iti  =  thus; susruma  =  ( we )  have  heard; dhiranam  =  of  the  wise; ye  =  who; nah  =  to  us; tat  =  that; vicacaksire  =  explained. (13) " One  thing  they  say,  is  verily  obtained  from  the  worship  of  the  Manifest.  Another  thing,  they  s...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-12. Discussion-3. "Asambhuti" ( Unmanifest ) .... "Sambhuti" ( Manifest ) ..... The  pair  of  words  used  in  this  discussion  of  the  mantram  is  "Unmanifest ( asambhuti )  and  Manifest  ( sambhuti )." The  'asambhuti'  would  be  easier  for  all  to  understand  as  the  'Impersonal  God' and  the  'sambhuti'  as  the  'Personal  God'. Among  the  devotee  class  there  always  had  been,  and  there  is  a  lot  of  controversy  upon  the  relative  merits  of  worshipping  or  meditating  upon  the  Personal  God  and  the  Impersonal  God. Even ...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-12.  Discussion-2. "Vidya  and  Avidya"...... In  the  earlier  mantra-s  it  has  already  been  said  that  'Vidya  and  Avidya'  are  not  mutually  contradictory  or  conflicting  ideas,  each  a  sure  death-knell  to  the  other,  and  they  are  not  to  be  mixed  indiscriminately  into  a  rough  synthesis. It  has  been  said  that  they  are  complementary  to  each  other,  and  that  they  are  to  be  undertaken  in  an  intelligent  sequence. First,  action  ( Avidya )  as  dictated  by  our  desires,  in  o...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-12. Andham  tamah  pravisanti  yesambhuti-mupasate, tato  bhuya  iva  te  tamo  ya  u  sambhu-tyagm  ratah. andham  =  blindening; tamah  =  darkness; pravisanti  =  enter  into,  fall; ye  =  who; asambhutim  =  unmanifest  ( Prakrti - Nature,  the  primal  material  cause); upasate  =  worship; tatah  =  than  that; bhuyah  =  greater; iva  =  as  though; te  =  they; tamah  =  darkness; ye  =  who; u  =  verily; sambhutyagm  =  in  the  manifested  (  BRAHMAM  i e  HIRANYAGARBHA); ratah  =  devoted. (12) "They  fall  into  blindening  darkne...

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : or VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD Mantram-11. Discussion : 7. Summation .. "And  obtains  immortality  by  Vidya"  :  Mortality  is,  we  have  already  seen,  the  fate  of  'matter' and  not  the  destiny  of  the  'Spirit'. The  pot  may  break  and  destroy  the  pot-space;  but  the  'space' in  the  pot  is  neither  broken  nor  ever  made;  it  is  the  all-pervading  space,  ever-the-same. Similarly,  birth  and  death,  decay  and  disease,  bondage  and  liberation,  sorrow  and  joy,  success  and  failure,  etc. , are  all  experiences  available  only  to  the ...