Abhinav Agarwal: Vedanta

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Saturday, November 7, 2009

Notes on the Upanishads

The Upanishads

Notes
These are excerpts from the 51 page endnote of the book, "Reading The Upanishads".

My previous posts on the book and its chapters:

Or simply use this tag search url to view all posts on the Upanishads.

Wikipedia page on the Chandogya Upanishad

To be Hindu in means in some sense to accept their authority, and since Hinduism, uniquely among the major religions of the world, is a decentralized system with no formal institutional controls, there is almost no other criterion. [page 251]

A second meaning of Vedic includes three classes of texts which are soon attached to, and preserved with, their respective Samhitas. The first are the Brahamanas, lengthy descriptions of the Vedic rituals in a prose which is nearly that of classical Sanskrit .... Second is a smaller and more intriguing group of texts known as Aryanakas or "forest manuals," continuations of the Brahamanas but "dealing with the speculations and spirituality of forest dwellers ... those who have renounced the world." And third are the earliest Upanishads or "confidential sessions." [page 252]

... because they are handed down at the end of the Vedic collections and are meant to be learned and recited last by Vedic students, the Upanishads are classified as vedanta, "the end of the Vedas." [page 253]

At a period when Hinduism was losing its bearings, the great mystic and philosopher Shankara(A.D. ca. 788-820), knowing that only mystical experience could re-invigorate the tradition, composed remarkable commentaries on ten of the Upanishads, giving them as it were a secondary canonization by his authority, labor, and vast intellectual achievement - and renewing Hinduism in the process. These ten Upanishads are listed by Indian tradition in the following order: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittriya, Aitareya, Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka. [page 255]

... that the Vedas (inclusively defined) were created eons before mankind. ... They mean the truths embodied in these forms lies so deep they constitute templates of reality; they are, as it were, evolution's plan. Therefore these four Vedas were "given at the dawn of time"; in the Gita and other texts they are identified with Brahma (the Lord of Creation) and throughout the tradition they are classified as shruti, "heard" - as we would say, a directly revealed literature, contrasting with a more indirect but still not secular which was not revealed but smriti or "recollected" by human beings (smriti also means tradition). The Upanishads are revered as shruti along with the Samhitas. [page 256]

Besides, the Samhitas and especially the oldest, the Rig Veda Samhita, contain impressive profundity in speculation about the nature of being, time, and the universe, as in the famous Nasadiya Sukta (X.129.1.4), sometimes called a "basis of the Upanishads":
At first there was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor sky beyond.
What was its wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was water there, unfathomable and deep?
In the beginning Love arose,
Which was the primal germ cell of the mind.
The seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,
Discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.
Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?
When was it born? Whence issued this creation?
Even gods came after its emergence.
Then who can tell from whence it came to be?
[page 256, 257]

At an early period, one great commentary on the Upanishads emerged as authoritative: the Brahma Sutras (also called Vedanta Sutras) of Badarayana. Indian tradition identified Badarayana with none other than Vyasa, traditional compiler of the Vedas and the Mahabharata, which is by way of acknowledging his immense importance for the cultural tradition; for the Brahma Sutras and its commentaries, serving as a kind of intellectual access to the vision of the Upanishads... [pages 278, 279]

Book Details:

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Upanishad - Chandogya

The Upanishads

Chandogya Upanishad

My previous posts on the book and its chapters:

Or simply use this tag search url to view all posts on the Upanishads.

Wikipedia page on the Chandogya Upanishad

Notes (from the book)

According to immemorial Indian tradition, the universe is founded on two principles. One is rita, rythm, or regularity. ... The sages of the Upanishads banked on this principle, and came up with the most orderly and comprehensive description of reality known to human culture.
The second principle is yajna, sacrifice.
If rita is the moral law, within and without, yajna is the human response to live in accordance with that law... So important is this principle to human functioning that the Chandogya says simple, "Man is sacrifice" (III.16.1).

Selections from the Chandogya Upanishad
I.I.2 For as the earth comes from the waters, plants from earth, and man from plants, so speech is the essence of the Rig Veda; but Sama is the essence of Rig, and of Sama the essence is OM, the Udgitha.

III.14.1 This universe comes forth from Brahman and will return to Brahman. Verily, all is Brahman.

Chapter 4 tells the story of Satyakama, and Chapter 6 the story of Shvetaketu.

VI.2.2 "In the beginning was only Being,
One Without a second.

VI.8.1 "Let us start with sleep. What happens in it?
When a man is absorbed in dreamless sleep,
He is one with the Self, though he knows it not.
We say he sleeps, but he sleeps in the Self.

VI.8.6 "When a man departs from this world, dear one,
Speech merges i mind, mind in prana,
Prana in fire, and fire in pure Being.

VI.8.7 There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the innmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that Shvetaketu; you are that."

Chapter 7 is Narada's Education

VII.23.1 "Whatever you know is just words," said
Sanatkumara, "names of infinite phenomena.
It is the Infinite that is the source of abiding
joy because it is not subject to change.
Therefore seek to know the Infinite."

VII.24.1 "Where one realizes the indivisible unity
of life, sees nothing else, hears nothing else,
knows nothing else, that is the Infinite. Where
one sees separateness, hears separateness,
knows separateness, that is the finite. The
Infinite is beyond death, but the finite
cannot escape death."

VIII.3.1 Here our selfless desires are hidden by
selfish ones. They are real, but they are
covered by what is false. Therefore whoever
of our own departs from this life, not one can
ever be brought back before our eyes. But all
those we love, alive or departed, and all
things we desire but do not have, are found
when we enter that space within the heart; for
there abide all desires that are true, though
covered by what is false.
Like strangers in an unfamiliar country
walking over a hidden treasure, day by day
we enter the world of Brahman while in deep
sleep but never find it, carried away by a what is false.

VIII.13.1 From the Divine Dark to the manifest
To the Divine Dark I pass again.
As a horse shakes free its mane, I have
Shaken off evil. Freeing myself
From the bonds of birth and death as the moon
Escapes from Rahu's mouth, I have attained
The pure realm of Brahman; I have attained
The pure realm of Brahman.

VIII.15.1 Brahman is my home. I shall not lose it.l
Truly I shall not be lost again.

OM shanti shanti shanti

Book Details:

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Upanishads - Prashna

The Upanishads

My previous posts on the book and its chapters:

Or simply use this tag search url to view all posts on the Upanishads.

Prashna Upanishad

Wikipedia page on the Prashna Upanishad

Notes
The structure of the Prashna Upanishad is quite simple: six illustrious seekers approach the sage Pippalada one buy one and ask him a basic question about Reality. ... But the questions probe progressively deeper into the practical mysteries of human existence.
...
The Indian concept of the individual self was, of course, closer to energy or an essential vibration than to a form or name...

Prashna, "question", is cognate with the modern German word for question, Frage, as well as with the German for research, Forschung.

The two paths in the cycle of time go back to the Rig Veda. One way of looking at this, for purposes of our Upanishad, is that the moon shines by reflected light (as the intellect, in Indian philosophy, is said to shine by the reflected light of the Self); thus those who die without having realized the Self are in a state of reflected reality, while those who have realized the Self merge in Reality when the body is shed.

The individual with the "fires" of prana burning within is compared to a home with its sacred hearth-fire at the center (and, in the original, with the more common image of a city) whose sacrificial altars are active when the rest sleep. Strkingly, the mind is said to perform the life-sacrifice, or to command it: yajaman is the patron who pays the priests to sacrifice in his behalf. The final sacrifice, Easwaran comments, is that the mind "throws itself onto the fire" (i.e. is stilled, restored into prana), so that "what begins with purified butter is carried on with a purified mind."
Upanishad
Question II

2: The sage replied: "The powers are space, air, fire,
Water, earth, speech, mind, vision, and hearing.
All these boasted, 'We support this body.'

3. But prana, vital energy, supreme
Over them all, saidm 'Don't deceive yourselves.
It is I, dividing myself fourfold,
Who hold this body together.'

4. "But they would not believe these words of prana.
To demonstrate the truth, prana arose
And left the body, and all the powers
Knew they had to leave as well. When prana
Returned to the body, they too were back.

Question III

1. Then Kausalya approached the sage and asked:
"Master, from what source does this prana come?
How does he enter the body, how live,
After dividing himself into five,
How leave the body at the time of death?
How does he support all that is without
And all that is within?"

2. The sage replied: "You ask searching questions.
Since you are a devoted aspirant
Seeking Brahman, I shall answer them.

3. "Prana is born of the Self. As a man
Casts a shadow, the Self casts prana
Into the body at the time of borth
So that the mind's desires may be fulfilled.

7. At the time of death, through the subtle track
That runs upwards through the spinal channel,
Udana, the fifth force, leads the selfless
Up the long ladder of evolution,
And the selfish down. But those who are both
Selfless and slefish come back to this earth.

10. "Whatever the content of consciousness
At the time of death, that is what unites us
To prana, udana, and the Self,
To be reborn in the plane we have earned.

Question IV

1. The Gargya approached the sage and asked him:
"Sir, when a man is sleeping, who is it
That sleeps with him? Who sees the dreams he sees?
When he wakes up, who in him is awake?
When he enjoys, who is enjoying?
In whom do all these faculties rest?"

2. The sage replied: "As the rays of the sun,
When night comes, become all one in his disk
Until they spread out again at sunrise,
Even so the senses are gathered up
In the mind, which is master of them all.
Therefore, when a person neither hears, sees, smells,
Tastes, touches, speaks, nor enjoys, we say he sleeps.

5. "The dreaming mind recalls past impressions.
It sees again what has been seen; it hears
Again what has been heard, enjoys again
What has been enjoyed in many places.
Seen and unseen, heard and unheard, enjoyed
And unenjoyed, the real and the unreal,
The mind sees all; the mind sees all.

6. "When the mind is stilled in dreamless sleep,
It brings rest and repose to the body.

7. Just as birds fly to the tree for rest,
All things in life find their rest in the Self.

Book Details:

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Upanishads - Taittriya

The Upanishads

My previous posts on the book and its chapters:

Or simply use this tag search url to view all posts on the Upanishads.

Taittriya Upanishad

Wikipedia page on the Taittriya Upanishad

Notes
Spiritual economics: "Never disrespect food; never throw food away; the earth is an inexhaustible source of food. Each creature becomes food for others after death; let us swear we will never turn away whoever seeks for food!"

Part I, 3, 3: What is education? Teacher speaking to the disciple seated by his side, Wisdom between, discourse connecting them.

Part II, 1.1: From Brahman came space; from space, air; from air, fire; water, from water; Earth, from earth, plants, from plants, food; and from food The human body, head, arms, legs, and heart.

Part II, 2.1: From food are made all bodies, which become
Food again for others after their death.

...

Those who look upon food as they Lord's gift
Shall never lack life's physical comforts.
From food are made all bodies. All bodies
Feed on food, and it feeds on all bodies.

Part II, 4.1: Within the mental sheath, made up of waves
Of thought, there is contained the sheath of wisdom.
It has the same form, with faith as the head,
Righteousness as right arm and truth as left.
Practice meditation is its heart,
And discrimination its foundation.

Part II, 7.1: Before the universe was created,
Braman existed as unmanifested.
Brahman brought the Lord out of himself;
Therefore he is called the Self-existent.

Part III, 1.1: Bhrigu went to his father, Varuna,
And asked respectfully: "What is Brahman?"
Varuna replied: "First learn about food,..."

Part III 2.1: Bhrigu meditated and found that food is Brahman. ...

Part III 3.1: Bhrigu meditated and found that life is Brahman. ...

Part IV, 4.1: Bhrigu meditated and found that mind is Brahman. ...

Part IV, 5.1: Bhrigu meditated and found that wisdom is Brahman. ...

Part IV, 6.1: Bhrigu meditated and found that joy is Brahman. ...

Book Details:

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Upanishads - Mundaka

The Upanishads

See my previous posts:

Reading the Mundaka Upanishad I learned, for the first time, that the Indian motto "satyameva jayate' comes from this Upanishad (see image below in the post).

The faith which as sustained Indian civilization, which could be said to constitute (through Mahatma Gandhi) the greatest gift of the civilization to the world today, is encapsulated in part 3 of the Mundaka Upanishad, which furnished the motto of the modern Indian nation: Satyam eva jayate, nanritam, "Truth alone prevails, not unreality" (III.1.6). [page 107]

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD

I.1.3 A great householder named Shaunaka once came
To Angiras and reverently asked:
"What is that by knowing which all is known?"

I.1.4 He replied: "The illumined sages say
Knowledge is twofold, higher and lower.

I.1.5 The study of the Vedas, linguistics,
Rituals, astronomy, and all the arts
Can be called lower knowledge. The higher
Is that which leads to Self-realization.

I.1.7 "As the web issues out of the spider
And is withdrawn, as plants sprout from the earth,
As hair grows from the body, even so.
The sages say, this universe springs from
The deathless Self, the source of life.

I.1.8 "The deathless Self meditated upon
Himself and projected the universe
As evolutionary energy.
From this energy developed life, mind,
The elements, and the world of karma,
Which is enchained by cause and effects.

I.2.7 Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing
The sea of samsara, of birth and death.
Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross
The sea of samsara on those poor rafts.

I.2.8 Ignorant of their ignorance, yet wise
In their own esteem, these deluded men
Prouf of their vain learning go round and round
Like the blind led by the blind.

II.1.2 The Lord of Love is above name and form.
He is present in all and transcends all.
Unborn, without body and without mind.
From him comes every body and mind.

II.2.2 The shining Self dwells hidden in the heart.
Everything in the cosmos, great and small,
Lives in the Self. He is the source of life,
Truth beyond the transcience of this world.
He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!

III.1.6 Truth is victorious, never untruth.
Truth is the way; truth is the goal of life.
Reached by the sages who are free from self-will.

III.1.8 Beyond the reach of the senses is he,
But not beyond the reach of a mind stilled
Through the practice of deep meditation.

III.2.3 Not through discourse, not through the intellect,
Not even through study of the scriptures
Can the Self be realized. The Self reveals
Himself to the one who longs for the Self.
Those who long for the Self with all their heart
Are chosen by the Self as his own.

III.2.8 The flowing river is lost in the sea;
The illumined sage is lost in the Self.
The flowing river has become the sea;
The illumined sage has become the Self.

III.2.9 Those who know the Self become the Self.
None in their family forgets the Self.
Freed from the fetters of separateness,
They attain to immortality.

Book Details:

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Wikipedia page on the Mundaka Upanishad

Books on the Upanishads

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Upanishads - Kena and Katha

The Upanishads

See my previous post on the Brihadaranyaka and Mandukya Upanishads.

KENA UPANISHAD

Kena, the title and opening word of the text, means "by whom?" - that is, by whom impelled do all the motions of life stir? Shankara gave this question a suitably profound interpretation: "By whose mere presence does that desire arise which moves the universe?" [page 66]

I.3 The ignorant think the Self can be known
By the intellect, but the illumined
Know he is beyond the duality
Of the knower and the known
I.4 The Self is realized in a higher state
Of consciousness when you have broken through
The wrong identification that you are
The body, subject to birth and death.
To be the Self is to go beyond death.

I.5 Realize the Self, the shining goal of life!
If you do not, there is only darkness.
See the self in all, and go beyond death.

Notes

... the Kena contains one of the two mysterious Upanishadic names for God which have no (or almost no) literal meaning... The name, an answer to the opening question of the text, is Tadvanam, explained as the coming from tatam and vananiya, meaning "the all pervading lover" or "beloved". (The other mysterious name occurs at Chandogya III.14.1)

KATHA UPANISHAD (KATHOPANISHAD)

If there is one Upanishad that can be called a favorite in all ages, it is the Katha. [page 75]

1.1.22 Nachiketa: This doubt haunted even the gods of old;
For it is hard to know. O Death, as you say.
I can have no greater teacher than you.
And there is no boon equal to this.

2.2.21 Though one sits in meditation in a
particular place, the Self within
Can exercise his influence far away.
Though still, he moves everything everywhere.

2.2.23 The Self cannot be known through study
Of the scriptures, nor through the intellect,
Nor through hearing learned discourses.
The Self can be attained only by those
Whom the Self chooses. Verily unto them
Does the Self reveal himself.

2.3.3 Know the Self as lord of the chariot,
The body as the chariot itself,
The discriminating intellect as charioteer,
And the mind as reins.

2.3.4 The senses, say the wise, are the horses;
Selfish desires are the roads they travel.
When the Self is confused with the body,
Mind, and senses, they point out, he seems
To enjoy pleasure and suffer sorrow.

2.1.14 As the rain on a mountain peak runs off
The slopes on all sides, so those who see
Only the seeming multiplicity of life
Run after things on every side.

2.2.15 There shines not the sun, neither moon nor star,
Nor flash of lightning, nor fire lit on earth.
The Self is the light reflected by all.
He shining, everything shines after him.

This famous model of human life as the conduct of a chariot recurs in the framework of the Gita, where Krishna himself drives as Arjuna's charioteer... [page 102]

Book Details:

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Tales from these two Upanishads have also found their way into two Amar Chitra Katha comics:

- Tales from the Upanishads

- Nachiketa and Other Stories

Books on the Upanishads

Friday, May 8, 2009

Upanishads - Brihadaranyaka and Mandukya

The Upanishads

The Upanishads are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings of Vedanta. ... The Upanishads speak of an universal spirit (Brahman) and of an individual soul (Atman), and at times assert the identity of both. Brahman is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent, the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or shall be. The mystical nature and intense philosophical bent of the Upanishads has led to their explication in numerous manners, giving birth to three main schools of Vedanta.

Bṛhadāraṇyaka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brhadaranyaka_Upanishad)- page on Wikipedia

What I have in this and other posts to follow on the Upanishads and the book are snippets from the different chapters, where each chapter covers one Upanishad. Also to be included will be excerpts from the introduction and the Afterword by Michael Nagler, a student of the author, Eknath Easwaran.

BRIHADARANYAKA Upanishad
Among the Vedic mantras the Brihadaranyaka contains there contains a famous refrain which has sustained millions of aspirants:

Lead me from the unreal to the Real;
Lead me from darkness to light;
Lead me from death to immortality.

which may be better known to most people in its Sanskrit transliteration:

Asato ma sad gamaya,
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya,
Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya

असतो मा सदगमय
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय
मृत्योर मा अमृतं गमय
ॐ शांति शांति शांति

CHAPTER III - The Imperishable

Gargi

6. In what is space itself woven, warp, and woof? Tell me, Yajnavalkya.
7-8 The sages call it Akshara, the Imperishable. It is neither big nor small, neither long nor short, neither hot nor cold, neither bright nor dark, neither air nor space. It is without attachment, without taste, smell, or touch, without eyes, ears, tongue, mouth, breath, or mind, without inside or outside. It consumes nothing, and nothing consumes it.

CHAPTER IV
The States of Consciousness

Janaka
6. When the sun sets, Yajnavalkya, and the moon sets, and the fire goes out, and no one speaks, what is the light of man?
Yajnavalkya
The Self indeed is the light of man, your majesty, for by that we sit, work, go out, and come back.
Janaka
7. Who is that Self?
Yajnavalkya
The Self, pure awareness, shines as the light within the heart, surrounded by the senses. Only seeming to think, seeming to move, the Self neither sleeps nor wakes nor dreams.
...
9. The human being has two states of consciousness: one in this world, and the other in the next. But there is a third state between them, not unlike the state of dreams, in which we are aware of both worlds, with their sorrows and joys. When a person dies, it is only the physical body that dies; that person lives on in a nonphysical body, which carroes the impressions of the past life. It is these impressions that determine his next life. In this intermediate state he makes and dissolves impressions by the light of the Self.
21. The Self is free from desire, free from evil, free from fear.
23-30. In that unitive state one sees without seeing, for there is nothing separate from him; ...

[4]
2. ... He who is dying merges in consciousness, and thus consciousness accompanies him when he departs, along with the impressions of all that he has done, experienced, and known.
5. The Self is indeed Brahman, but through ignorance people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that, and appears to be everything.
As a person acts, so he becomes in life. Those who do good become good; those who do harm become bad. Good deeds make one pure; bad deeds make one impure. So we are said to be what our desire is. As our desire is, so is our will. As our will, so are our acts. As we act, so we become.
6. We live in accordance with our deep, driving desire. It is this desire at the time of death that determines what our next life is to be. We will come back to earth to work out the satisfaction of that desire.
7. ... When all the desires that surge in the heart Are renounced, the mortal becomes immortal.

The Medium of Awareness: The MANDUKYA Upanishad

One of the Upanishadic mahakavyas or "great sayings" occurs in the second verse: ayam atma brahma, "the Self if Brahman." ... Shankara declared that if one could only study a single Upanishad it should be this one; similarly in a late Upanishad, the Muktika ("Deliverance"), Rama appears and tells a devotee that "the Mandukya alone is sufficient for the deliverance of the aspirant,"... [page 59]

1. AUM stands for the supreme Reality.
It is a symbol for what was, what is,
And what shall be. AUM represents also
What lies beyond past, present, and future.
7. The fourth is the superconsciousness state called
Turiya, neither inward nor outward,
Beyond the senses and the intellect,
In which there is none other than the Lord,
He is the supreme goal of life. He is
Infinite peaace and love. Realize him!

Extremely condensed, it was and is considered the most difficult of the Upanishads to understand accurately. Although Shankara does not mention it for some reason in this commentary on the Brahma Sutras, his teacher's teacher, Gaudapada, had written a 215-verse commentary which was to become one of the most influential documents of Indian philosophy, being the earliest expositions of the Vedanta we possess (and a brilliant demonstration of its validity by intellectual methods alone, independent of scriptural authority or dogma). [page 62]

Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Nilgiri Press; 1 edition (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915132397
ISBN-13: 978-0915132393
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches

Books on the Upanishads