The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.4 Swami Krishnananda
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Friday, May 15, 2020.
The Veda-Sastra is classified into the exoteric and the esoteric, as in the case of every religious lore.
We have this distinction in Christianity, in Islam, and everywhere : the outward religion and the mystical approach to no where.
The Vedas are a general term for this entire group of scriptures which discuss by a long range of development of thought, every approach to Reality possible, from the lowest to the highest. These layers of approach, recorded in the Vedas, are available to us in the groupings, today known as the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads.
These are terms known to many of us, and we know very well that the Samhita portion of the Veda is constituted of hymns and prayers to deities, transcendent powers, spiritual forces, which guide the configurations in the form of bodies and created beings.
They are the summonings of the soul in terms of the higher spirits which were felt to be present in the depths of contemplation, and visions of various kinds. These hymns, known as the Samhitas in the Veda, could be applied for two purposes for meditation, as well as for ritual.
When they become instruments of meditation or contemplation, they are the contents of what are known as the Aranyakas; and when they become the guidelines for action, ritual and sacrifice and worship, they are called the Brahmans.
So there are two further developments in the religious path of the Veda, known as the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas, developed from the Samhitas, branching forth in two different directions, as it were contemplation and action.
###But there was a time when the peak of experience spiritual, culminated in a blend of both these approaches, in what are known as the Upanishads; and the Upanishads represent the quintessence of thought, the essence that is drawn out from the Veda knowledge, and the honey that is sucked, as it were, from the body of wisdom Samhita, Brahmana and aranyaka – not representing conditioned life merely, but reaching up to the utmost of effort to discover the nature of unconditioned existence.
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Friday, May 15, 2020.
1.Introduction -4.
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The Veda-Sastra is classified into the exoteric and the esoteric, as in the case of every religious lore.
We have this distinction in Christianity, in Islam, and everywhere : the outward religion and the mystical approach to no where.
The Vedas are a general term for this entire group of scriptures which discuss by a long range of development of thought, every approach to Reality possible, from the lowest to the highest. These layers of approach, recorded in the Vedas, are available to us in the groupings, today known as the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads.
These are terms known to many of us, and we know very well that the Samhita portion of the Veda is constituted of hymns and prayers to deities, transcendent powers, spiritual forces, which guide the configurations in the form of bodies and created beings.
They are the summonings of the soul in terms of the higher spirits which were felt to be present in the depths of contemplation, and visions of various kinds. These hymns, known as the Samhitas in the Veda, could be applied for two purposes for meditation, as well as for ritual.
When they become instruments of meditation or contemplation, they are the contents of what are known as the Aranyakas; and when they become the guidelines for action, ritual and sacrifice and worship, they are called the Brahmans.
So there are two further developments in the religious path of the Veda, known as the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas, developed from the Samhitas, branching forth in two different directions, as it were contemplation and action.
###But there was a time when the peak of experience spiritual, culminated in a blend of both these approaches, in what are known as the Upanishads; and the Upanishads represent the quintessence of thought, the essence that is drawn out from the Veda knowledge, and the honey that is sucked, as it were, from the body of wisdom Samhita, Brahmana and aranyaka – not representing conditioned life merely, but reaching up to the utmost of effort to discover the nature of unconditioned existence.
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To be continued ....
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