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UPANISHADS
Knowledge section of the Vedas was known by the name - Upanishads.
According to Adi Shankara, the word Upanishad is made of three root letters.
Upa - close or near; Ni - to carry; Shad- to destroy.
The complete meaning of the word Upanishad according to Shankara is –
‘That which takes you near Truth and destroys ignorance’.
Upanishads are also known as VEDANTA –the concluding portion of Vedas.
KARMA/JNAANA
The Karma Kaanda believers were opposed to Jnaana Kaanda followers.
The former category believed that ‘Karma’ (Sacrifices -Rituals performed with hymns),
was capable of fulfilling all their desires and take them to Swarga – Heaven, and bestow
on them eternal pleasures after the death of the mortal coil.
The word ‘Karma’ as used in Bhagavad-Gita refers only to the ‘Rituals performed with
hymns’.
In modern times, Karma is translated as any action performed by one, or ‘Fate’, or the
actions of previous births, as per the context.
The Knowledge-seekers were not after heavenly or Earthly pleasures. They stayed away
from crowded cities, lived a life of contemplation and realized the Para Brahman as their
own Self. They never bothered much about the Gods or Heaven.
CODES
At the time of Swami Vivekananda, most of these unseen scriptures took a printed
version and were brought to the purview of public, with great effort by his followers. But
it was a literal translated version that was made available to the public. Nobody knew the
hidden meanings of the Vedic statements. Since the Rishis were not there to explain them,
all Sanskrit words used in the Scriptures were taken at their face value. Even the word
Karma was given the translation as ‘Action’, any general action performed by body, mind
and intellect by any person.
The Upanishads were actually written in a ‘code-language’ so ordinary people would
never grasp the meaning. The reason was that the Knowledge of Brahman was considered
too sacred to be offered to any person who had not qualified himself by the rise of
dispassion and discrimination. The seeker had to prove his intense desire for liberation
through strenuous ascetic practices and please the Guru; otherwise he could beg and
plead; no Sage would explain anything to any ordinary seeker. All truths were supposed
to be learnt at the feet of the Rishis who had direct experience of the state of Brahman.
But in the modern era, the Upanishads were translated into all popular languages, just
taking the literal meaning of the words used there. They were never decoded in the
correct way. The key was lost.
PURANAS
PURANAAS composed by Sage Vyaasa were not actually a fairy tale of Heavens.
The phonetic vibrations which invoked the powers of respected deities through sound
were hidden inside the ordinary looking words of the Puranas. Only few trained ones
could recite the Puranas in the prescribed tones to reveal the hidden phonetic vibrations
or sound waves.
These Puranas also like Upanishads were translated in a word to word format just taking
the literal meanings of the words and we now have a pile of miracle-stories, which are
supposed to be the occurrences in a God-world abounding in magical mumbo jumbo.
DEVAS
‘Div’ means light or shine. The Devas have bodies made of light or shine of different
hues. They are residents of a world of a better design. They might have interfered in the
Earth-World just projecting their ‘Light-forms’. They might be projected ‘computer
avatars’ playing around in a parallel Universe like ours. They have created our world and
programmed our existence and are in full control of our world. Maybe the ancient world
of Rishis had the courage to interact with them. Maybe the Sages were intellectually at
par with those God-world residents. But now, in the 21st century, lacking the actual
Knowledge of anything and misled by the portrayal of the media, the Earth residents
might not be intellectual enough for the God-world residents to bother about contacting
us. Why would a God or a Scientist of the next world visit a slum like ours? Why should
he care? Whereas in the ancient times Rishis cared not for these projected Light-forms!
Their search was more for ‘THAT SUPREME TRUTH’ which makes ‘all these perceptive
worlds’ possible!
This is how the Teacher and the Taught offered their Prayers to the Supreme:
AUM (OM)
Everything originated from AUM.
AUM - AA+U+M is the symbolic sound representation of ‘all the sounds emanating from
the region below the throat ending in the labial region’.
AUM is the ‘Beginning’.
AUM is the First Vibration in the Vibration-less BRAHMAN.
AUM is the First Wave in the Ocean of PARABRAHMAN.
AUM is the First Manifestation of the Unmanifest.
AUM is the First Gross manifestation of the Subtle CHIT.
CHIT is Pure Awareness. AUM is the throne for the CHIT to sit and act.
AAKAASHA
From AUM arises AAKAASHA.
AAKAASHA is the idea of space-time.
AAKAASHA is the first vibration in the manifest world.
AAKAASHA is not the blue sky above your head.
The word-derivation in Sanskrit is as follows: AA – whole, complete; KAASHA – contains.
AAKAASHA contains within it everything that has existence.
Space and time are the co-ordinates of any object that is perceived in the world.
AAKKASHA refers to the ‘idea of space-time’ which contains all the perceptions
conceived by our brains.
SHABDA
AAKAASHA is connected to SHABDA - SOUND.
SOUND is the gross manifestation of CHIT.
A ‘HELLO’ from the UNMANIFEST!
SHABDA is the symbol of ‘individuality’.
SHABDA is the symbol of ‘duality’.
SHABDA is the symbol of ‘I’ and the ‘world’,
SHABDA is the symbol of the ‘arising’ of JEEVA, the LIFE PRINCIPLE.
JEEVA
JEEVA is again the collection of all ‘UNMANIFESTED VAASANAAS’.
JEEVA is one who lives; one who experiences a particular span of life events within
particular space time boundaries.
JEEVA is the expression of VAASANAAS.
VAASANAA – means ‘THAT WHICH RESIDES’
Since VAASANAAS are countless, JEEVAS are also countless.
Each JEEVA manifests a single VAASANA at one instant, in his own ‘space time bubble’.
In the scriptures this JEEVA, who acts only as medium for the manifestation of a Vaasana,
is referred by the name JANTU.
JANTU means – organism – a creature which is born, lives, reproduces and dies.
As long as a person, even if be in a human garb, acts as just a bio-chemical organism,
only reacting to outer circumstances, he is only a JANTU. He has no ‘Essence’. He has no
‘Atman’. He is just a collection of living cells randomly formed in the evolutionary cycle.
There is no after-life or identity for such human shapes. They are only gene carriers on
the physical side and Vaasana-carriers in the psychological side. They live only at the
animal level of intelligence, even if they are acclaimed persons in the world-story. They
have no control over their actions or emotions. The chemicals in the brain and body
control them. Their Vaasanaas decide their fate. They are always slave to their Vaasanaas.
Like an Earthworm which reacts to a pin prick, the JANTU reacts to the outer
circumstances. He [or she] RE-ACTS; DOES NOT ACT!
This JANTU becomes a JEEVA, through the rise of ‘self-awareness’ and ‘self analysis’; it
gets trained to ACT in this world.
AAKAASHA GIVES RISE TO SOUND; ‘SPACETIME IDEA’ GIVES RISE TO THE ‘LIVING’ IDEA.
VAAYU
VAAYU means that which blows.
Next one to rise after Akaasha is VAAYU- WIND -the ‘CONTACT PRINCIPLE’.
VAAYU gives rise to SPARSHA - TOUCH.
VAASANA needs an arena to manifest. VAAYU arranges it.
VAAYU makes the FIRE burn.
SPARSHA
CONTACT – SPARSHA - arises out of the JEEVA principle - towards the fulfillment of the
VAASANA.
TOUCH is the ‘CONNECTION’ to the things around us.
TOUCH is the ‘Dividing- Line’ in CHIT, which creates a ‘duality’.
TOUCH gives rise to ‘I, YOU, WORLD’ and innumerable relationships with everything.
TOUCH gives a ‘solid experience’ of the world around oneself.
AGNI
VAAYU gives rise to AGNI.
AGNI means that which keeps rising high.
AGNI is FIRE; the ever unsatisfied principle.
AGNI symbolizes the gross individual Ego with Vaasanaas.
AGNI symbolizes Vaasanaas getting ready to manifest.
FIRE arises.
EGO arises.
INDIVIDUALITY arises.
‘I’ arises.
ROOPA
FIRE gives rise to the principle of form.
ROOPA is form; shape.
ROOPA means ‘to appear’.
FIRE -EGO is provided with a ‘suitable form’ to
‘fulfill the Vaasanaas’.
The individual ego has to perceive forms and get perceived also as a form by others.
FIRE needs FUEL to survive.
FIRE needs FIREWOOD.
EGO needs Perceptions to survive.
EGO needs FUEL.
AAPAH
FIRE gives rise to WATER.
AAPA means to attain, to obtain.
AAPA means water.
WATER is the Experience.
WATER is the continuous flow of experiences.
WATER is the potential Vaasana turning into gross experience similar to the water vapor in
the cloud ready to burst into a downpour.
WATER symbolizes Vaasana changing into DESIRE.
Vaasana is the potential desire; Water is the grossified Vaasana.
Vaasana is just a potential state; unmanifest vibration.
Desire is the actuality of the Vaasana; manifest wave.
Desire fulfillment needs a space-time arena.
WATER is the experience of fulfillment or un-fulfillment of desires.
WATER symbolizes arising of ‘Desire and its fulfillment’.
WATER is the EXPERIENCE arising out of DESIRE.
[NAARAAYANA- the word is derived thus: AAPAAH are known as NAARAAH;
AAPAAH means Human clan; He is their abode; So He is Naaraayana. Humans are
Experiencers of Vaasana fields; Naaraayana is the abode of these subtle Vaasanaas; His
son Lord Brahma creates the rules and channelizes these Vaasanaas.]
RASA
RASA means Essence, Juice.
WATER has ‘TASTE’ – ‘RASA’.
WATER has different tastes.
EXPERIENCES are also variegated.
The world around you is nothing but water with different tastes.
PRTHVEE
PRTHVEE means ‘to spread out’.
PRTHVEE is EARTH - BHU spreading out (not the planet Earth, but anything you can
perceive in any space time boundary).
TASTE in WATER gives rise to EARTH.
EARTH is the field created for experiences to occur.
EARTH is the ‘platform’ where the ‘VAASANAAS’ wear the costume of EGO and ‘dance’.
OSHADHI
EARTH has OSHADIS.
OSHADI means PLANTS and TREES.
OSHADI means that which ripens.
OSHADI is Nature.
OSHADI is ‘nourishing food’.
OSHADI belongs to ‘BHU’.
BHU is NOT the ‘Planet Earth’
BHU means ‘that which becomes’.
BHU is anything that changes into something else.
BHU is this UNIVERSE.
BHU is the EARTH.
There is no solid Earth around us.
There is only a space time perception which keeps changing continuously.
This flux is BHU, the Universe around us.
Each person has his own Universe around him.
(The word ‘He’ in Upanishad verses always refers to PURUSHA – one who resides in the
city of nine gates; both women and men are referred to by the term ‘He’)
There is no absolute space, no absolute time and there is no solid Universe around us.
Each person’s time perception is different from that of the other person.
Everything is just a perception of the brain. Vaasana creates a new Universe every second
for its manifestation. Every fraction of a perceiving moment, the brain creates a new
Universe bound by space and time.
The Universe which spreads out through the senses is BHU.
The Brain is like the projector with the small reel of the film of Vaasana-possibilities
inside it and it projects out the film through the senses and the world-film is screened in
the space time theatre.
Adi Shankara explains this fact in detail in his UpadeshaSaahasri.
We do not experience the world already outside us, through the senses.
On the contrary, we create a Universe ‘as if outside us’, through the senses.
Senses are not the physical organs; but the faculties which create a particular
form of perception.
The Akaasha Principle in the Chit creates a projection of space and time.
The Vaayu Principle in the Chit creates the ability to contact.
The Agni principle in the Chit creates the visual Universe.
The Water Principle in the Chit creates the Experiences.
The Bhu Principle in the Chit creates the perceived Universe around the Jeeva.
With all these principle acting at once, we see a world around us; rather we create a world
around us every moment.
GANDHA
EARTH has SMELL - GANDHA.
Bhu is the field where the plants and trees arise.
Bhu is the field where perceptions arise.
Bhu is the arena for experiences.
Waters help the plants to grow.
Desires keep the perceptions well nourished.
Experiences give rise to memories.
Plants and trees give out smell.
Smell is good or bad.
Memories are good or bad.
Smell persists even after the object disappears.
Memories persist even after the experience is over.
The faculty of smell – NAASIKA (a combination of tongue and nose) is necessary to
distinguish the qualities of objects so that we avoid the bad and seek the good.
Memories are a like the persisting smell of the perceptions.
Memories help us to evolve.
Memories help us to avoid the bad and seek the good.
PARJANYA
PARJANYA is THUNDERING CLOUD.
Clouds are unmanifested desires.
Rain is a continuous grossification of water vapor into water.
Water Vapor becomes water due to a slight Variation in temperature.
The Want, the anxiety that accompanies the Vaasana to get manifested, the Hunger is the
heat which makes the manifestation possible.
NAKSHATRA
NAKSHATRA means STAR.
NA+KSHARATI – does not perish.
Stars are ‘Fixed ideas’!
These Stars namely ‘fixed ideas’ in the brain as programmed by the Creator Brahma
make us perceive a Universe in which we are all common inhabitants.
We all see the same objects because we are all programmed in the same way to see the
same objects. This common perception gives rise to the delusion that there is a solid
world outside us with absolute space and time.
Ideas which we are certain to be true are -Space time idea; the ‘Up/down idea’;
‘Directions’ idea; ‘I am a person different from the other person’ idea, etc etc.
Actually all our world consists of ‘ideas’ only.
It is enough for the brain to have just the idea-‘there is tree in the garden’; the tree need
not exist as a solid object outside; because there is no ‘outside’, unless you yourself take
the trouble of walking a few steps and perceiving the tree and check out its existence.
Only the ideas exist as the proof of a world external to us.
When we move our hands and feet, the space gets formed.
Self cannot move; because there is no space for it to move. We, who are Vaasana
manifestations of the Self, create the world by moving our hands and feet. The
Karmendriyaas create the space-time arena by movement; Jnaanendriyaas cognize it as a
solid world.
Star is the code word for the ‘ideas’ common to all selves of one particular Universe.
Planet is the code word for our particular personal ideas of family, etc. as connected to
our gross body of nine holes. That is why the nine-planet idea is in vogue; these nine
planets - the nine holed city alone controls our lives; not the gross planets of the solar
system. If we learn to have full control of our body and practice dis-identifying with it,
we will no more be controlled by these NAVA-GRAHAAS.
GRAHA means that which holds you in its grasp; the nine holes of the body keep you in
their grasp forcing you to chase pleasures in the world; not the planetary system!
Space contains within it all the stars and planets.
Space time idea – AAKAASHA contains within it all the ‘ideas of existence’.
CHANDRA/SURYA
CHANDRA! The glittering Moon!
Moon gets its shine from the Sun.
The Mind is a perturbation in CHIT.
Moon waxes and wanes! Either it is full moon or it is new moon.
Mind also waxes and wanes; either it is happy or sad.
Moon circles the Earth!
The mind constantly perceives the world and experiences pain and pleasure.
FIVE ELEMENTS
Beautiful blue sky like canopy spreads above hiding the infinity
behind it.
Sun looks on unperturbed by anything that happens anywhere like a
mute witness; yet is the cause of all activities on Earth.
Earth spreads out with countless varieties of plants and trees.
Water pouring from the clouds helps the seeds to sprout and grow.
A raging fire, a symbol of the Sun continuously swallows all that
appears in front of it. As waters make more fuel, the fire consumes
more and more fuel. The winds fan vigorously increasing the capacity
of the fire.
The process is never ending.
The sky is ever expanding.
Air never stops blowing.
Fire never stops burning.
Water never stops pouring.
Plants never stop growing.
Sun looks on silently.
Fire crawls further and further consuming everything as its fuel.
Fire changes form as its fuel changes.
Jeeva continues its unending journey assuming different forms
experiencing all the perceptions created by its Vaasanaas!
The Witness Consciousness CHIT silently exists as the Supreme cause
of all the Universes.
Where is the UPANISHAD – the Truth which destroys ignorance and
leads towards the Supreme? All around you!
Just analyze the characteristics of the world around you.
Nature silently teaches you the structure of this perceived Universe
like Sree Dakshinaamurthy, the Manifest Brahman.
The Sages were not Nature worshipers as the history text books
inform; they used the simple workings of the Nature to explain the
Highest Truths.
Ordinary people could not grasp the hidden meanings in the
Upanishads. The surface meaning was only understood and the
theory of five elements forming the world arose. So it was stated in
the texts of Hinduism, that Hindus believe that Earth, water, fire, air
and sky are the five elements which make up the world; and so on.
Of course the gross bodies are a combined form of the five elements.
However Upanishads give instructions about how Brahman appears
as this perceived world and not about the formation of gross bodies.
IF ONE STOPS EXPERIENCING, IF ONE STOPS WORSHIPPING ONESELF, WATER DOES NOT
ARISE.
Verily water is Arka. And what was there as the froth of the water, that was hardened, and
became the earth. On that earth he (death) rested, and from him, thus resting and heated,
Agni (Virat) proceeded, full of light.
That being divided itself threefold, Aaditya (the sun) as the third, and Vaayu (the air) as
the third that spirit (Prana) became threefold.
The head was the eastern quarter, and the arms this and that quarter
(i. e. the n. e. and s. e., on the left and right sides).
Then the tail was the western quarter, and the two legs this and that quarter (i. e. the n.
w. and s. w.) the sides were the southern and northern quarters, the back heaven, the
belly the sky, the dust the earth. Thus he (Mrtyu, as Arka) stands firm in the water, and he
who knows this stands firm wherever he goes.
THAT INDIVIDUAL SELF, THE JEEVA, THE EXPERIENCER, THE EGO, THE FIRE –THAT BEING –
IS THE PURE AWARENESS – THE SUN,
HE IS THREE FOLD- SUN, VAAYU AND PRAANA;
PURE AWARENESS, THE CONTACT, AND LIVING SPIRIT.
THE PURE AWARENESS CONTACS THE INERT EXPERIENCE AND JOINTLY BECOMES THE
INDIVIDUAL SELF WITH NAME AND FORM.
SPACE IDEA MANIFESTS AS THE WORLD WITH DIRECTIONS; AS BEGINNING AND END; AS
BIRTH AND DEATH.
[(This is the description of the perceived world of the individual self as a horse-ASHVA – one who is not
stable the next instant). As the horse moved the directions appeared.]
He desired, 'Let a second body be born of me,' and he (Death or Hunger) mated Speech
in his mind. Then the ‘seed’ became the year (moving course of seasons - Samvatsara).
In the past there was no year. Speech bore him so long as a year, and after that time sent
him forth. Then when he was born, he (Death) opened his mouth, as if to swallow him.
He cried Bhân! And that became speech.
A COUPLE MATED AND THE ‘VEERYA’ (VIRILITY) OF THE MAN PRODUCED THE CHILD.
MAN HERE IS DEATH – UNMANIFEST VAASANA.
FEMALE IS VAAK- DIFFERENTIATIONS – NAMES AND FORMS.
THE POWER OF PARABRAHMAN IS THE VEERYA.
THE CHILD BORN IS THE LIMITATIONS OF SPACE AND TIME.
THE CHILD WAS IN THE WOMB FOR A YEAR, THEN WAS DELIVERED.
A PAST, PRESENT FUTURE DELUSION APPEARED.
BEFORE THE CHILD DIED, BEFORE THE SPACE AND TIME BOUND WORLD BECAME
UNMANIFEST AGAIN (BEFORE DEATH SWALLOWED IT UP) THE CHILD CRIED – BHAAN –
SHINE OR LIGHT; THE AWARENESS LIGHTED UP THE ENTIRE WORLD OF PERCEPTIONS.
THAT IS HOW DIFFERENTIATIONS APPEARED. THAT IS HOW NAME AND FORMS AROSE.
He observed ‘if I kill him, I shall have but little food.' He therefore brought forth by that
speech and by that body (the year) all whatsoever exists, the Rik, the Yajus, the Sâman,
the metres, the sacrifices, men, and animals.
THE FATHER THOUGHT, IF I KILL HIM I WILL HAVE NO FOOD; AND THROUGH
DIFFERENTIONS OF NAME AND FORM, AND SPACE-TIME BOUNDARIES, HE CREATED THE
ENTIRE WORLD OF PERCEPTIONS.
And whatever he brought forth, that he resolved to eat verily because he eats everything,
therefore is Aditi called Aditi. He who thus knows why Aditi is called Aditi, becomes an
eater of everything, and everything becomes his food.
He desired to sacrifice again with a greater sacrifice. He toiled and performed penance.
And while he toiled and performed penance, glorious power went out of him. Verily
glorious power means the senses (Prana). Then when the senses had gone out, the body
took to swelling (sva-yitum), and mind was in the body.
He desired that this body should be fit for sacrifice (Madhya), and that he should be
embodied by it. Then he became a horse (Ashva), because it swelled (Ashvat), and was fit
for sacrifice (Madhya); and this is why the horse-sacrifice is called Ashva-Medha.
Verily he who knows him thus, knows the Ashva-Medha. Then, letting the horse free, he
thought and at the end of a year he offered it up for himself, while he gave up the (other)
animals to the deities. Therefore the sacrificers offered up the purified horse belonging to
Prajaapati, (as dedicated) to all the deities.
Verily the shining sun is the Ashva-Medha-sacrifice, and his body is the year; Agni is the
sacrificial fire (Arka), and these worlds are his bodies. These two are the sacrificial fire
and the Ashva-Medha-sacrifice, and they are again one deity, viz. Death. He (who knows
this) overcomes another death, death does not reach him, death is his Self, he attains the
life of all and he becomes one of those deities.
ASHVAMEDHA SACRIFICE
This is the Horse Sacrifice mentioned in the Brhdaaranyaka Upanishad.
It is like a satire of the Karma Kaanda Horse Sacrifice.
Here the entire perceived world is sacrificed through Knowledge.
If you know what is the goal the Upanishads lead to, then all the analogies can be
decoded to mean the same truth- ‘Self-realization’.
Reciting these hymns with perfect intonations, understanding the meaning truly raises
one to the state of realization instantly.
If the meanings are not understood, it is just a hotch potch of nonsense.
This is just a little hint in understanding the mysterious hymns of Upanishads.
But a seeker after Self can surely understand these sacred scriptures by sincere efforts and
hard work. All that all Upanishads declare is
AHAM BRAHMAASMI -I AM BRAHMAN.
AND
TATVAMASI- THAT THOU ART.
Truth is very simple; but explanations are varied! But all explanations have only one
target - AHAM BRAHMAASMI AND TATVAMASI!
The Upanishads may sometime contain the Karma Kaanda portions also describing in
detail the rituals to be performed desiring some result. They need to be ignored by the
seeker of Knowledge.
SELF-REALIZATION
WITHDRAW the extending arms of FIRE;
Leave the FUEL alone.
The STAGE disappears.
WATERS stop forming.
WANTS lessen gradually and stop arising.
DESIRES vanish.
VAASANAS die out.
EGO disappears.
SPACE TIME IDEA vanishes.
MIND dies.
CHIT ALONE REMAINS!
PURE AWARENESS ALONE REMAINS!
SILENCE ALONE REMAINS!
With the ‘death’ of the false ‘I’, the real ‘I’ alone remains!
TIME is an illusion.
SPACE is an illusion.
EGO is an illusion.
CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD:
om iti etad akṣaram udgītham upāsīta |
om iti hy udgāyati |
tasyopavyākhyānam || ChUp_1,1.1 ||
1. the syllable Om, called the Udgitha, should be meditated upon; for people sing the
Udgitha, beginning with Om. Now follows the detailed explanation of the syllable:
OM is Udgitha- the Higher Sound Principle – a synonym for OM – the word to denote
Parabrahman.
2. The essence of all these beings is the earth; the essence of the earth is water; the
essence of water is plants; the essence of plants is a person; essence of a person is
speech; the essence of speech is the Rig—Veda; essence of the Rig—Veda is the Sama—
Veda; the essence of the Saama —Veda is the Udgitha which is Om.
Stage for the Vaasana manifestation> Experiences> Perceptions> Embodied Self>
Differentiations>Rch (worshipping hymns) (gratification of desires)>Equanimity
(witness state) (Savikalpa consciousness)>OM (Nirvikalpa Parabrahman)
3. That Udgitha (Om) is the best of all essences, the supreme, deserving the highest
place, the eighth.
4. What, then, is the Rk? What is the Saaman? What is the Udgitha? This is to be
considered.
5. Speech, indeed, is the Rk; the vital breath (Prana) is the Saaman; the syllable Om is
the Udgitha. Speech and the Prana, or the Rk and the Saaman, form a couple.
Speech is Rk.
Rk is all the Knowledge of the perceived world.
Cognition of Differentiation is the Perceived World.
Praana is Saaman.
The Individual Self is the Witness Consciousness.
6. And that couple become united in the syllable Om. When a pair comes together they
fulfill each other’s desire.
7. He who knows this as stated above and meditates on the syllable Om, the Udgitha,
becomes, indeed, a fulfiller of desires.
One who realizes his own Self as Udgitha becomes, indeed, a fulfiller of desires.
8. This syllable Om is used to give assent, for wherever one assents to something; one
says Om (yes). Now, what is assent is gratification. He who knows this and meditates on
the syllable Om, the Udgitha, becomes, indeed, a gratifier of desires.
STUDY OF UPANISHADS
In Upanishads many words are used which have to be understood according to the
context of the ‘Teaching’.
BRAHMAN {GREATEST}
ATMAN [SELF]
OM [MANIFESTED BRAHMAN]
UDGITHA
Other than Mantras, words have to be invented which is commonly understood by all the
people and so language evolved.
The Vedic Language which was the secret coded sound system of the intellectuals and
divinities was brought under the disciplinary rules of Grammar in the recent times by
Panini, the great scholar who invented SAMSKRTAM- ‘well- modified’ Language –
Sanskrit as we say now. Dammed for the general good like the uncontrolled River
Ganges, Sanskrit was perfected with strict rules of Grammar. Coded Vedic language
vanished into oblivion. The true meanings of Vedas were lost!
One should also have a ‘thorough Knowledge’ of Sanskrit language before one starts
studying the Sacred scriptures.
‘Each word’ has to be understood thoroughly.
‘Each word’ is a derivation of a particular ‘root-letter’ with its own unique meaning.
Translated words in English do not covey the full-meaning of the Sanskrit words.
English does not have so many words as can be formed in Sanskrit.
To give an example –The word LOTUS is the same ‘translated word’ for –
Jalaja – water born
Pankaja – mire-born
Saroja – lake-born
Kamala – water decoration
Neeraja- water born
Padmam - attractive
Adding these ‘verb roots’ to all the ‘synonyms of water’ produce many synonyms for
‘cloud’-‘water giver’ and ‘lotus’-‘water –born’!
Gender is not important for recital of Vedic hymns. Vaani is the female deity who
instructs Lord Brahma about Vedas. The Upanishads speak of MAITREYI, GARGI as
‘female Sages’. Even SITA, the ‘beloved daughter’ of King Janaka was well-versed in all
Upanishads. She was present always in the countless intellectual debates held by her
father in his court. Even Rama had attained the ‘Essence of Knowledge’, at the feet of
Sage VASISHTA, before he even left with Sage VISHAVAAMITRA to fight the demons.
Even so, unless one at least has a basic Knowledge of Sanskrit, it is difficult to study
Upanishads. More than that, one should have the Knowledge of the ‘secret codes’
employed by ‘Rishis’ who hid the ‘Supreme Knowledge’ in ordinary words.
Gaargi, the daughter of VACHAKNU, and the Great Sage YAAJNAVALKYA, once faced each
other in a discussion on BRAHMAN.
Gaargi, the mischievous Seer wanted to test Sage Yaajnavalkya’s ability to comprehend
the hidden meanings of the Upanishad Truths. She asked many questions and he
answered them all immediately.
G: What are these world filled up with?
Y: Waters, O Gaargi!
[Experiences]
Yaajna valkya lost patience at her impudence. The argument had gone too far.
Yaajnavalkya spoke:
O Gaargi, do not question any further! You are asking about that which is beyond
reasoning! Be silent lest thy head fall off!
If the codes for these simple words are not known, the whole passage will appear to be
some tribal explanation of reality!
If the hierarchy is known as-
Parabrahman > Manifestation as Jeevas>Individual worlds> Sense perceptions>
Thoughts>fixed ideas>Mind>Witness Consciousness>Illusions>Boundaries>
Space Time conceptions>Contact>experiences
- it makes better sense!
ATMAN
What is ATMAN?
Soul?
Ghost?
A ‘white-light’ residing inside ‘you’, or as ‘you’?
When you die, does this ‘white light’ hover around cremation grounds?
Is the world filled to the brim with ‘these white ghosts’?
What is ‘Essence’?
Think- what is ‘your essence’?
What is the ‘real you’?
Are ‘you’ part of the surrounding patterns?
Or,
Are ‘you’ different from ‘all’ that is around you?
Start removing all that is around you-like peeling the onion.
The method of removing all that is ‘not you’ is called the NETI method.
NETI is a two-letter word; NA and ITI; meaning –‘Not so’
What am ‘I’?
Am I the ‘World around me’?
“No”!
Am I the ‘house’?
“No”!
In this way, one by one, every thing that is perceived by you is discarded as ‘Not You’!
Family, relatives, objects that belong to you, your physical limbs, mind, intellect, thought,
all are marked of as ‘Not You’! [‘Not I’!]
What is the origin of this Vaasana which is ‘you’? From where did this ‘Vaasana’ arise?
From CHIT!
THAT is the Atman!
THAT is your true essence!
THAT is ‘I’!
THAT is YOU!
You are not the Vaasana manifestation as individual Self bound by space and time.
You are THAT which transcends space and time.
From the state of acting blindly as led by the ‘Vaasana’, you realize ‘THAT STATE’ from
which the Vaasana originated!
You realize the TRUTH that, this ‘pattern-you’ is not your ‘Essence’!
You realize that your ‘True-Essence’ is CHIT!
You realize that all others around you are also just ‘vaasanaas’ masquerading as people!
You realize that ‘you are the CHIT’ from which those other vaasanaas also originated.
You realize, “I AM THAT”!
You realize, “I AM ALL”.
To stop this Vaasana-flow and ‘know’ the ‘CHIT as YOU’ is not an easy job!
It is like asking the ‘darkness’ to realize itself as ‘light’!
It is like asking the shadow to be its origin!
Only the real self seekers sought the realized Sages residing in forests and learnt from
them the ‘Knowledge of Brahman’! Later Sri Shankaraacharya chose to simplify these
instructions and wrote treatises on them. He started his instructions from a kindergarten
level and simplified the Upanishads.
He advised his students to ‘discriminate’ the ‘real’ from the ‘false’ and analyze the
Upanishad truths logically. Many saints of the later ages simplified these instructions to
the utmost level, so students could easily understand them. Simple, or complicated, the
ultimate purpose of human life is to realize the SELF!
So, what will the ‘realized man’ look like, act like?
How to find out whether anyone is realized?
How to know whether you are in the state of realization?
Arjuna once asked this question to Krishna!
He was living with a ‘realized man’ as his closest friend all throughout his life!
He never even had a hint, even for a second that his friend was acting from a ‘higher
level’! Krishna patiently explains to his friend, the characteristics of a ‘Sthitaprajna’!
Well, if every dreamer is crying in a dream world, does the waking person appear selfish,
because he woke up and escaped the sufferings of the dream world?
Or, as Sage Yaajnavalkya explains to his devoted wife, Maitreyi, - ‘Who is not selfish?’
A husband loves his wife, not for the sake of his wife, but because he loves himself or his
own self! A wife loves her husband, not for the sake of the husband but because she loves
her own ‘Self’!
Everyone loves their own ‘Self’! Only they don’t know what that ‘Self’ is!
A ‘Realized person’ knows his own ‘Self’ and acts from that level!
So where is the ‘selfishness’ that has to be condemned here?
It is as unfair as condemning a man for using a torch in a dark road, when others are
walking without torches!
Enlightenment is not a sin!
DEATH
So far so good!
But what happens after death? How to escape death?
‘Death’ does not exist for the ‘realized person’! Who is there ‘to die’?
Suppose you take a mud pot and drown it in the ocean!
The pot as it falls down inside the ocean is filled with ocean water inside and outside!
A realized person is similar to that pot!
Or, rather, he is the ‘ocean water’ inside ‘the pot’!
He has realized, he is not the ‘pot’, but that he is the ‘ocean-water’ inside and outside!
Actually there is no ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ for the ocean water!
It does not even feel the presence of the pot drowned inside it!
The pot travels down to the bottom floor of the ocean and breaks to pieces.
It is as if the inside water of the pot and the outside water of the ocean mixed up!
But did they?
What is inside and outside for the ocean? Pot never exists for it!
The realized person is always in the state of the CHIT!
The body-identification does not exist for him!
When ‘death of the body’ occurs, he never knows it!
The other pots ‘not drowned’ in the ocean of ‘CHIT’ will cry for the pot which broke
inside the ocean!
He can’t die!
He can’t die ever!
When he realizes that ‘he is deathless’, how can he die?
From the ‘dream of the body’ which gets born and dies, he has woken up to the ‘reality of
CHIT’! The body remains alive, as long as that ‘particular Vaasana manifestation’ finishes
its course! Like an arrow already shot, his body exists as long as necessary and dies!
You can ‘die’ at any age! You can get ‘born’ at any age!
Every scene in your life might be a new life you are experiencing to get the Vaasana-
fulfillment done!
Don’t be afraid! There is no ‘you or ‘I’ as persons anywhere!
It is just random fulfillment of vaasanaas that is going on!
Any wave can disappear to arise as any wave anytime!
Any ‘you’ can be any ‘you’ anywhere anytime!
Today morning you got up! Any guarantee, that you did not die the previous night?
You are only a ‘bundle of vaasanaas’, not the ‘cellular colony’ called the body!
Awareness plus Vaasana can appear in any pattern and can get fulfilled!
So, if you have developed Mumukshutva, ‘the desire to realize’, then that very Vaasana
will create conducive worlds in some space-time, helping you to achieve the goal!
The trick is to have fewer desires!
Already this birth is there to fulfill some particular vaasanaas! But as you experience the
world, you create more and more vaasanaas! And if by chance this body ceases its
existence, the Vaasana creates new bodies for its fulfillment!
If ‘hoarding wealth’ alone is your Vaasana all your life, the Vaasana may just get finished
off in a rat’s life! If shouting at others is alone your identity, a future life of a dog is the
best way for its expression! Why future? Maybe the street-dog shouting at you might be
your own Vaasana manifesting as a dog!
Are the cockroaches in your cup-board your own dirty thoughts? Is the unclean garbage
dump yard, the unclean thoughts of the people who live there?
Anything around you is just a Vaasana expression!
Yours, or some one else’s!
Even hundreds of properties you own all over the world are nothing but ‘thoughts’ in
your brain; perturbations in the mental faculty.
Every inch of the world every moment gets newly created by your Vaasana!
Vaasana predicts your future, not the astrologer!
TIME -KAALA
Absolute Time is a myth.
It is just a measurement like length or breadth or height.
Just like we measure space, we can measure time also.
It is just a number.
Absolute space also does not exist.
There is no simultaneity of events occurring at the same time.
There is no one ‘Now’ for everyone.
Everyone’s time conception differs from one another.
Your ‘Now’ is never my ‘Now’.
Similarly space also differs.
There is no solid same space where we walk about.
Space and time are relative to each other.
We just perceive objects with some time measurement and space measurement.
Objects themselves are just constantly moving atoms.
The brain has the capacity to draw pictures of the world very fast.
Every fraction of a second the retina captures just a tiny bit of the World-picture in front
of us; but the brain somehow manages to present us a full picture of a solid world in a
solid time. That is why Akaasha is considered as the first step in the manifestation of the
perceived world.
Each Vaasana creates its own space time co-ordinates for its fulfillment.
Each ego perceives its own world based on the Vaasana it is channeling out.
Each individual Self carries its own world in its mind.
The world that is perceived is a network of vaasanaas all acting at once.
Some perceptions are common for some egos and a certainty in a solid world comes into
vogue.
Just think for a few minutes what the world around us is like!
We the embodied ones who are certain that we are the gross bodies which gets born and
dies, act only from the body-level, think only from the body-level.
These bodies are just various groups of cells acting together just for survival. They have
no thoughts.
These cells are nothing but atoms which are just moving in and out of our body area.
The light which is moving at a speed of 300,000 Km per second connects these atoms to
our retina and instantly the brain draws lines and gives an audio visual presentation of the
world. Colors and sounds and solid shapes do not exist out there. They are created by the
magic wand of the brain; of course the magician is as Shankara says – Parabrahman!
But for the brain, this world is bereft of colors and sounds.
Moreover we the atom-piles are constantly on the move on a supposedly bigger pile of
atoms called Earth which is circling the Sun at the speed of 67,000 miles per hour. Sun
itself rotates and is a tiny part of a gigantic galaxy moving around in space.
Where are we solidly situated in this world? What is the meaning of our tiny identities
and the ‘mine’ ‘mine’ which we hold on to? Neither are we real; nor is the world around
us real!
Upanishads do not give us all the data science presents us now; but they do not differ in
their conceptual Knowledge from Science.
‘Space and time are just illusory concepts of the brain’ – this fact is repeatedly discussed
in Upanishads, Vaasishta Ramaayanam and Tripura Rahasya and Physics.
The perceived world is nothing but a brain signal getting its fulfillment.
Suppose two persons decide to visit a temple some two kilometers away. The Vaasana or
the brain signal is ‘going to the temple’ in both of them. Do they go to the same temple?
No!
If you go by car, the time is short, space is short; if you walk, time taken is longer, and
space is more.
Time is elastic; Space is elastic.
Time can stretch or contract; space can stretch or contract.
Clock is another illusory pattern deluding us to believe that we all experience the same
world in the same time.
‘Going to the temple’ can become a three hour movie or a five minutes flash scene. The
man who walked to the temple and one who used the car do not visit the same temple as
we commonly believe.
Car-man goes to his own temple in his own world created by his own brain. Walking man
also goes to his own temple in his own world created by his own brain. Both temples are
not the same; they are similar copies of the temple presented by their brains. When they
both meet they can synchronize their experiences and believe that they visited the same
temple. But the experiences for both of them are different.
‘Waters are different’.
They visited different temples of their own separate brain created words. They existed in
different space-time dimensions.
Every moment, whatever we perceive, be it our own homes or other objects, each person,
each ego perceives a different world based on his own brain. Each Vaasana creates a
world around us what we perceive as a huge world!
The mind just believes that a solid world exists and we feel certain that the world exists
outside our body whether we exist or not. Even the body is just an idea in the brain. The
whole existence we perceive is just a collection of ideas. Even the rainbow we see
adorning the sky is not the same rainbow for everyone. Each sees a different rainbow as
per the space he is located. Everything is just a perception created by the brain; time and
space are just illusory measures holding our perceptions together. Our life stories are
nothing but made-up stories of the brain. Even the TV programme seen, say at 6PM is not
the same 6PM for the two neighbors.
Neither do we as egos have real existence; nor does the world we perceive has real
existence.
As Shankara says-
NEHANAANAASTI KINCHANA.
There is not in the least differentiations; Just patterns in the Parabrahman!
Krishna? His life, a tragedy? A ‘God’ lost in the ‘stormy waves’ of the world?
Yes!
Before his birth itself, he was marked for death by his uncle! After birth, though of royal
blood, he had to grow with the cowherd children of Gokul. Instead of getting educated in
weaponries and higher sciences, he learnt to tend cows, and milk them. His childhood
was of course joyous and adventurous - playing in fields, grazing cows in the forests etc;
but his precious childhood years just wasted away in these routine works. As he was
getting attached to the villagers and their way of life, he was suddenly taken away to
Mathura and introduced as the prince to all the citizens. Though he had not taken much
effort to kill his uncle, Kamsa had collapsed in the mind the moment he set his eyes on
Krishna! An astrology freak, he had already lived all his life expecting death from his
little nephew. Fear had made him half insane. He had imprisoned his own sister and
brother-in -law out of fear. He had tried his best to kill Krishna. But the villagers had
spread the rumor that this little dark boy was a God in person. The killers sent by Kamsa
had succumbed to these rumors and had fled at the sight of the little boy. They were also
attacked by Krishna and his gang of boys in the forest and had been caught in the traps
set by them. Anyhow the story spread that God had killed these soldiers! And God cannot
kill ordinary soldiers; so they were weird shaped demons as Krishna himself boasted!
Krishna was an intelligent child. He was hailed as the chieftain’s son. Whatever he did
nobody questioned him. Whatever he said, every one believed him. That is how his
mother Yashoda had seen the world in his mouth!
He had been having a competition with his friends as to who will hold the breath for long.
He had turned purple in the effort. His mother saw him in that state.
She thought he was about to die. Other friends tried to put her off saying that Krishna had
eaten mud. But she had fainted away. The playful scene became very serious. When
Yashoda woke up, she saw Krishna hale and hearty. She called him a miracle child and
lost no time in exaggerating his greatness. She told everyone he was her world and life.
The rumor spread to Mathura that Krishna had the whole world in his mouth! What world
can an uneducated woman see in the mouth of a child? What does her brain know of the
three worlds, Vishva roopa etc.? An Avatar’s mother need not necessarily be a divine
being with all Knowledge and Understanding. She was just a cowherd woman, that too
not of royal genes like Krishna. Why should a playful scene in a child’s life be picturized
as some great magical event? Thanks to the devotional poetries; whatever that happens in
an avatar’s life is ‘MADHURAM’ sweet and miraculous!
Krishna had understood the intelligence level of those innocent villagers. He lost no time
in building up the stories of demons and his acts of magical valor! These stories kept the
villagers away from forest regions and he and his friends including his dear Radha spent
their time there time playing there undisturbed by anyone!
But his ‘godhood’ ended when he entered Mathura. Does anybody wonder why the
demon clan ended at Gokula and never appeared after he left Gokul? Because they were
never there! Kamsa was not a demon; he was an ordinary Yaadava Prince; how can he be
a Lord of demons? These demons existed only in the imaginary world of the illiterate
cowherds! The citizens of Mathura were not as gullible as the cowherd families of Gokul!
Krishna had to train himself as a prince now. His playful lazy life had to be left back. He
was sent to Saandeepani’s hermitage school by his parents. He was eight year old, yet had
not learnt even the basic lessons till then. He was too backward. Other boys outwardly
showed respect to him due to a prince. But he knew that all of them talked low of him in
their own chambers. He did not know how to dress up like city-boys, he did not know
proper manners, and he did not know even the language used by royalties! And he knew
they even called him in their circles as the cowherd boy or the cow dung cleaner.
That name stuck to him all through his life; Gopala – the cowherd! Any where he went,
when people wanted to curb him could only insult him in those words. He had got used to
it so much; he never bothered to even react to such ridicules.
Here now in Saandeepani’s ashram, he was very new to such a cruel selfish world. He
missed his cowherd friends, his adopted parents, and his dearest friend Radha. So many
times he wished she would come and punish all those boys who were hurting him like
this. Many a night he woke up crying out her name and calling for her help! She never
came.
He was never allowed to go to Gokul again as his parents felt anxious that he may fall
back into playful truants. He complained to his brother about his loneliness! But
Balaraama was too strong and heavy to be bothered about these small things. He was a
hero there with his muscular body and strong personality. He had gathered his own
admirers now. Krishna cried many a times alone in some obscure corner of the hermitage
unseen by anybody. That is how he became friends with Sudaama, the poor Brahmin boy!
Sudaama was able to understand the plight of this dark boy and was glad to have him as
his friend in the midst of royal kids. He taught Krishna all that had to be learnt to equal
his co-students. Being highly intelligent, Krishna soon was ahead of all the students of his
class with the tutorship of Sudaama. He over threw everyone by just keeping ahead of
everyone in studies and games. He was soon the admired student of the Sage. He became
the pet assistant of his teacher and his good heart soon won him the company of many
Sages. He studied anything and everything worth learning. He practiced contemplation
and was very easily able to reach the ‘Self state’! He sought Sages here and there and
mastered all yogic powers. He studied Vedas and understood their meaning. He sat with
Vyaasa and helped him to sort out the Vedas. He mastered sixty two types of learning and
was awarded the title- Bhagavaan by the community of sages. He learnt to dress so
beautifully, that soon he became the fashion-model of the youngsters. He fought all
enemies by careful strategies and conquered them. He rescued the sixty thousand
princesses imprisoned by Jaraasandha. His friendship with Paandavas strengthened his
position as a minority king. That is why he had to marry here and there. However, he was
a Sannyasin inside. He used the power of illusion and hypnotic powers –to keep his wives
satisfied. He actually never enjoyed any pleasure with his wives. Nobody except Sage
Vyaasa knew about his secret. Sage Vyaasa also helped him to beget children without
actual closeness with his wives.
Forget all the vivid colorful myths associated with his life.
Look at the whole thing rationally.
Let us reconstruct his story according to his personality.
Krishna’s life occupies only a small section of Bhagavata. It is just one of the avatars of
Lord Vishnu and there is just a brief account of his life mentioned there. Bhagavata is a
gigantic discourse of Shuka Muni covering all the descents of Lord Naaraayana. It
abounds with many philosophical discussions and creation theories.
What we now have as the life events of Sri Krishna are mostly imagined versions
extracted from the poetries of the devotees of Sri Krishna. Though as a spiritual practice
these works may help in the contemplation of the deity, they do not present the true facts
of Krishna’s life.
Presenting Krishna as a romantic personality attracted one and all and the trend continued
in that direction so much so that even many dance forms borrowed the idea of Krishna as
a lover and enhanced their popularity. Girls started acting the role of Krishna adorned
with colorful dresses and peacock feathers. The dances became highly colorful with many
blue hued Krishnas dancing with colorfully attired young girls. (By the way, he was not
blue colored like a monster; he was dark hued like any other Yaadava-clan child) Krishna
looked like a ‘feminine-male’ born to dance with girls! The flute which he never played
after he left Gokul became a constant decoration in the hands of Dancing lady-Krishnas
and filmy Krishnas making it a symbol of Krishna!
A picture of blue hued ‘feminine looking’ Krishna adorned with green peacock feathers
on a golden crown and a gold flute in a blue hand pressing against red lips ; pretty teen
age girls dressed in colorful attires dancing around him is a picture good for calendars
and for stage presentations; but can this be true?
Was he so feminine looking personality, that every female dancer dresses up as Krishna
and degrades his true personality?
YAADAVAAS –COWHERDS.
They lived by selling milk and milk products.
They were not educated.
Their life was centered on cows; tending cows, cutting grass, milking, making butter etc .
And their children - if girls, they must help in butter making and boys would take the
cows out to far away fields for grazing.
Girls, if we believe Indian history, would be married even before they crossed their eighth
year! They would be busy acting daughter-in-laws in their husband’s family.
And how would the boys spend time? Grazing cows in the far-away jungles!
May be playing, climbing trees, collecting all feathers and flowers of the jungle.
Maybe they all decorated themselves with any feather or flower available.
Maybe Krishna and his gang got into this habit by the company of the one and only girl
member of the gang Radha. She must have taught them to make garlands, decorated her
darling Krishna with most colorful feathers. Discarded by her husband she must be the
only one girl who had time to play around with boys. She surely must have been thrice
the age of the boys. She must have been the unanimously chosen leader of the gang!
Krishna was a child who admired her for being different from the rest of the girls.
NANDA AND YASHODA!
Though glorified as God’s parents, you can’t ignore the fact that Nanda and Yashoda
belonged to the cowherd clan; gullible – trusting every astrologer and saffron robed
Vagabond who visited their village.
Krishna was not actually a cowherd by birth. His genes were different. He belonged to
the royal family. He might have looked quite handsome in the midst of the cowherd boys.
He also was the adopted son of Nanda, the chieftain- PRADHAN. He might have used his
position as a chieftain’s son for his advantage.
All the myths of him being a God might just be rumors spread by the illiterate cowherd
clan. But Krishna indeed evolved into a God by sheer hard work and sincere efforts.
His wisdom and manner brought acclaims to him from one and all!
Let us appreciate and admire him for what he really was – a perfect man; not because he
carries a flute and wears a peacock feather on his crown!
Let us follow the footsteps of this Great Man and learn to act Gods in the garb of human.
Let us realize the true nature of our Self and become perfect like the Great Yogi!
Let us stop the mechanical chanting of the Gita and follow the instructions offered by the
Great Master!
Salutations to the Perfect Man Krishna!
Salutations to Lord Naaraayana who perfectly played the role of
Krishna on Earth!
Salutations to the Realized Yogi Krishna!
Salutations to Krishna, the Sthitaprajna!
Salutations to my own Self who is Krishna!
OM TAT SAT