The Essence of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: 16. Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya Mission: 

Step into the memory of Chinmaya Mission's Holi Celebration, where colours mixed with spiritual vibes, creating a beautiful scene of togetherness. 

People came together, sharing joy and love, spreading happiness. 

It was more than just throwing colours, it was about celebrating unity and goodness. 

In that peaceful place, everyone joined in, enjoying the festival's magic. 

Chinmaya Mission's Holi Celebration was like a big, colorful reunion where everyone was welcome. 

It was about feeling connected and happy, surrounded by vibrant colours and good vibes. 

Memories linger of laughter, music, and the shared spirit of camaraderie, making it a cherished experience for all who participated.

========================================================================================

Wednesday 27, Mar 2024. 07:40.

Scriptures

Upanishads

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 

Chapter 3: The Supreme Goal of Life - 3.

Chapter 4: Divine Immanence and the Correlativity of All Things:1.

Post-16.

==================================================================================

This experience is the revelation of the sage Dadhyanc, a knowledge, Madhu-Vidya, which is supposed to have been imparted to Indra and to the Ashvins, and to the other sages through them. The significance of the word 'Madhu' in the term, Madhu-Vidya, is that everything is the 'essence' of everything. 'Madhu' is honey, which symbolises the quintessential essence of everything. The basic reality of all things is called Madhu, in this Vidya. The essence of everything is, thus, the essence of everything else, also. Whatever is the basic quality, the reality, the fundamental being of anything, is also the fundamental being of everything else. Thus, there is no prerogative on the part of any particular individual in respect of anything. There is no superior, qualitative excellence in any object or any subject. It is only a point of view that is called a subject, it is also only a point of view that is called an object. So, if the isolated points of view are lifted to a universal point of view, there would be neither subjects nor objects. In a universal expanse of experience certain aspects are isolated from others and each aspect is emphasised from its own point of view. This particular point of view of a particular aspect of the total reality is called an individual subject, to which everything else stands in the position of an object. But this is not a correct point of view, because it is an abstraction from the total.

So, the Madhu-Vidya reveals to us the truth of the immanence of the Reality that is universal in every particular, so that there can neither be an ultimate cause nor an ultimate effect in a world of mutual dependence and correlativity of things. Madhu-Vidya is the knowledge of the correlativity of the subject and the object in such a way that they merge one into the other, cancelling the subjectness and the objectness of each, embracing each other in a union of their particularities and revealing their inner essence called the 'Madhu'. This applies to everything that is outside in the world called Adhibhuta, everything that is inside called Adhyatma, and everything that is transcendent called Adhidaiva. So, from three points of view the sage describes the correlativity of everything in the universality of being. Here is the conclusion of the Second Chapter.

Chapter: 4: Divine Immanence and the Correlativity of All Things:1.

The exponents of the Upanishad tell us that the First and the Second Chapters lay down the thesis of the whole Upanishad. They declare the essential content of the whole scripture, while the Third and the Fourth Chapters confirm this thesis by more elaborate discussions which happen to be in the context of an assembly held in the court of the king Janaka, where learned men and sages appeared to have conferred together for the purpose of mutual edification.

The sage Yajnavalkya is the leading figure in this great assembly of Janaka, and he is questioned by various sages. Eight of them are mentioned as principal ones, the first one being Asvala, the chief priest of the sacrifices performed in the Yajnasala of Janaka, who queries Yajnavalkya as to the way in which death can be overcome by those who are really subject to death, namely the performers of actions, the means of action, as well as the goal of action. All these are perishable in the world of space and time; anything that you do has an end, just as you yourself will have an end one day or the other. If everything is to be destroyed, is there a way of escape from this destructibility of things, or is everything doomed to failure in the end, and all will be wiped out of existence? What is the escape? What is the remedy? What is the means? This was the question of Asvala, and Yajnavalkya explained that the mortal becomes immortal the moment it returns to its cause. When the senses and the mind and the means of action and the performer himself—all—get identified in their meditations with their deities from where they come and to which they actually belong and by which they are superintended; when the transcendent divinities which are the realities behind the various functions and organs of the individual are meditated upon as organically connected to oneself, then there is an integral relationship established between the individual and the universal. Then the mortal becomes immortal; otherwise every action is perishable and everything that an action brings as result, also, would be perishable. That was the point made out by Yajnavalkya in regard to the question of Asvala, as to how the mortal can become immortal in spite of the fact that everything is subject to mortality in this world.

Then the next question was from Artabhaga about what the Upanishad specifically calls Grahas and Atigrahas—how the senses are subjected to the influence of objects, so that there is finitude on the part of the subject, which is taken advantage of by every object, and which is also the cause of the attachment of the subject to the object. Every object of sense is an Atigraha and every sense is a Graha. That which catches hold of an object is called a Graha and that which intensifies the attachment of the subject to the object is the Atigraha. So, like a crocodile catching hold of a person's legs in a river and not letting him off, the objects catch hold of the senses which are naturally prone to a movement towards the objects themselves.

*****

Continued

======================================================================================