Upanishads : "The cream of Vedas"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, March 01, 2021. 10:41. AM. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-5. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Super-consciousness, sometimes called the supramental state, turiya, is inclusive of all that is in the other three states of consciousness. Whatever was there of worth and meaning in the condition of waking, dream or sleep is also to be found in the turiya state, only freed from the tension of it. The turiya state of consciousness is the goal of life.  It is described as : Mandukya Upanishad -Mantram-7. "Nantah-prajñam, na bahis prajñam, nobhayatah-prajñam, na prajnaña-ghanam, na prajñam, naprajñam, adrstam, avyavaharayam, agrahyam, alaksanam, acintyam, avyapadesyam, ekatma-pratyaya-saram, prapañcopasamam, santam, sivam, advaitam, caturtham manyante, sa atma, sa vijñeyah.  "This is how the Mandukya desc...

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday, February 20, 2021. 07:15. AM. Chapter 5: Ananda Mimamsa-3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An analysis would make it clear that happiness is not in the object. If a particular object which attracts our attention is the source of happiness, then happiness should be really inside it, as a part of its nature. Then, as the sun is shining for all equally and not merely for one person, the object concerned also should be a source of happiness to everyone in the world, if happiness is the real character of that object. But we will see on observation that this is not true. The object of our love may not also be the object of other people’s love. On the other hand, that object may evoke hatred, the contrary emotion, in certain other persons for different reasons altogether. So, it...

   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, February 19, 2021. 11:01. AM. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-4. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- But the purpose of consciousness is to cease, to put an end to, all tension with objects. In this effort it has not succeeded in the waking condition, and it is not going to succeed in the dreaming condition either. Merely because we only contemplate objects in the mind instead of actually confronting them physically, it does not mean that the mind has ceased from its effort. What gives pain, inconvenience and discomfort is struggle of every kind. In sleep, consciousness falls back into a condition of inactivity where, though it is not in a state of harmony with its objects, at least it is unconscious of the disharmony that is there. See the difference between samadhi and sleep. While in samadhi we have a consciousness of harmony, in sleep th...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday, February 10, 2021. 11:01. AM. Chapter 5: Ananda Mimamsa-2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The body or the sheaths are not us. When we isolate the experiences of the sheaths, for instance as in deep sleep, we will find that we can exist independent of the function of the sheaths. And how did we exist in sleep? As a pure centre of awareness. There was no externality or corporeality. This consciousness which we really are is the selfhood of ours. To repeat, by selfhood what we mean is, we have some status in us which cannot be externalised or transferred to something else. Now the transference which takes place between the Self which we are and the object outside is a false one. All loves, therefore, are false. There is no such thing as true love in the world. It is false becaus...

  ----------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, February 09, 2021. 09:14. AM. Mandukya Karika, Slokam 1.23 ----------------------------------------------------- parent: Chapter I - Agama Prakarana (Scripture) "akaro nayate visvamukarascapi taijasam | makarasca punah prajnam namatre vidyate gatih" || 23 || ------------------------------------------------------------ 23. The sound (letter) A helps its worshipper to attain to Viśva, U to Taijasa, and M to Prājña. In the “Soundless” there is no attainment. Shankara Bhashya (commentary) Having identified the quarters of Ātman with the sounds (letters) of Aum, on account of the common features stated above, he who realises the nature of the sound Aum, described above, and meditates upon it, attains to Viśva through the help of A. The meaning is that he who meditates on Aum having1 for his support A becomes Vaiśvānara.2 Similarly the meditator of U becomes Taijasa.3 Again the sound M leads its meditator to Prājña.4 ...

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, February 07, 2021. 10:42. AM. Chapter 5: Ananda Mimamsa-1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We will continue the subject of the Taittiriya Upanishad. We observed that our individuality is constituted of different layers, and these layers are called koshas in Sanskrit. There are primarily five such koshas, or sheaths, in which our consciousness is enveloped. These sheaths are nothing but the forces of objectivity that pull the consciousness outwardly in terms of space and time. Thus it becomes clear that these sheaths are not substances or material objects like five walls that may be built round a person sitting inside a room. They are mere urges of consciousness to move outward in greater and greater density, and with more and more of impetuosity towards externality of experience. O...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mandukya Upanishad is an analysis of the states of consciousness, as the Vedantic meditation of the Upanishads is mainly a meditation on Consciousness. Consciousness is the Supreme Being, prajñanam brahma; therefore, a study of Consciousness is imperative for meditation on Consciousness. The bound soul is a state of consciousness, the liberated soul is also a state of consciousness, and meditation is a condition of consciousness. The whole of the Upanishadic teaching is, therefore, a huge essay on consciousness. Thus, entering into a study of the states of consciousness, the Mandukya Upanishad gives us a beautiful exposition of at least three of the strata of consciousness, which we generally call the waking, the dream and the sleep states of consciousnes...