The Essence of the Aitareya and Taittiriya Upanishads - 5.1 - Swami Krishnananda.

 

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF)

A successful and true celebration of Sanskrit! ✨

The CIF Shodha Sansthan Sanskrit Fest was very well-attended, bringing together 500 students from 30 schools in Kerala over the course of two days.

The event was graced by Swami Advayananda, and the judging panel consisted of eminent personalities in the field of Sanskrit, including Dr. C. N Ratnam (Retd. Professor, Maharajas College Ernakulam), Prof. Jyotsana Gangadharan (Associate Professor Govt. Sanskrit College, Tripunithura), Dr. Sarita Maheswaran (Govt. Sanskrit College, Tripunithura), Dr. Vinod Kumar K.P (Assistant Professor, Department of Sahitya Govt. Sanskrit College, Thripunithura) and Sri. Anil Narayanan (Assistant Professor, Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth).

Dr. P.N. Sudarshanan (CIFSS Director) welcomed the participants, and Dr. V. R Manoj (Dy. Director CIFSS) proposed the vote of thanks. 

The participants competed in various Sanskrit events, including Bhagavad Gita Parayanam, Poem Recitation, Essay Writing, Elocution, Story telling, Akshara Sloka and Group Song. The festival celebrated Sanskrit language and culture, encouraging the continued use of the language and its appreciation among the youth. A grand prize distribution ceremony honoured the winners and participants, making the event a resounding success.

Bhavans Varuna Vidyalaya secured overall championship and Chinmaya Vidyalaya Kolazhy was placed as the runner up.

Swami Sharadananda Acharya CIF delivered the benedictory address, with Prof. Gauri Mahulikar (Academic Director) presiding over the event as the Chief Guest. Dr. L. Sampath Kumar (HOS Linguistics & Literature studies, CVV) was one among dignitaries to present Certificates and Trophies to the winners.

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Friday, 15 Sep 2023. 07:00.

Chapter 5: Ananda Mimamsa-1.

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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.

Our unhappiness consists only in this much—that in order to come in contact with anything outside, we have first of all to forget ourselves. The more we cling to the objects of sense outside, the more is the forgetfulness of our own consciousness. There is atma-nasha, or destruction of selfhood, as it were, in a very significant manner so that, in every clinging to an object, there is a transference of ourselves to the particular object in which we are interested, or towards which our consciousness is moving.

Every kind of love, every type of attachment is a transference of oneself to another. If a mother loves the child, the mother has gone; only the child is there. The consciousness of the mother has identified itself with the child's body in such an intense manner that she does not exist any more. The child alone exists for her, and anything that happens to the child appears to happen to the mother. If the child is happy, the mother is happy; otherwise, the mother is not. If the child goes away from this world, it looks as if the mother herself is dead. This is the case with every kind of transference of consciousness to objects. Every attachment, positive or negative in the form of love or hatred, has this characteristic in it. So all our sorrows in life can be attributed to this peculiar trait in our consciousness to go outwardly—either positively as love, or negatively as hatred—in respect of certain things.

All this activity is undertaken through these peculiar apertures of personality called the sheaths, by means of which the consciousness limits itself by a kind of focusing its attention upon limited groups of objects of sense. This is what is called samsara in Sanskrit, which means earthly existence, or the life of bondage. It is bondage because the consciousness clings to what is not really there. It is moving towards a phantom under the impression that the Self is there. One of the characteristics of selfhood is non-externality. You can never become another; and by 'you' what is intended or meant is the deepest consciousness or intelligence in you.

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To be continued

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