The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.6 Swami Krishnananda

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Sunday, May 31, 2020.
1.Introduction -6.
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1.

#The texts, known as the Upanishads, are spread out throughout the range of the literature of the Veda, and each section of the Veda has its own Upanishad or Upani?hads. We are proposing to take up the study of the most important of them, very rarely studied by people and very rarely still discussed about – the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad – the great forest of knowledge, as its name suggests.

##One can find everything there, as one finds in a forest. This Upanishad, particularly, is never studied by students, nor is it taught by tutors, because of its complicated structure, difficult to grasp, and not safe also to communicate if its import is not properly rendered. If its meaning is properly grasped, it would be the ultimate, unfailing friend of a person, till death. It will guard you, protect you and save you, and provide you with everything, at all times. But, if it is not properly understood, it can be a sword in the hands of a child.

###So is this Upanishad to be studied with great reverence and holiness of attitude, not as a mere book that you study from the library. It is not a book at all. It is Spirit that manifests itself in language, not merely a word that is spoken. Such is this Upanishad, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
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2.

#This Upanishad, the Brihadaranyaka, which we are trying to study, is a very lengthy text, ranging from thought to thought, in various stages of development; and I have particularly found that it is something like a very elaborate commentary on one of the Master-hymns of the Veda, that is, the Purusha-Sukta. Some others have thought that it is an exposition of the principles of the Isavasya Upanishad. It may be that they are right.

##But I, in my own humble way, tried to discover another meaning in it when I studied it and contemplated upon it – that it is a vast body of exposition of the inner significance of the Purusha-Sukta and, perhaps, also, of the Nasadiya-Sukta, where the Cosmic Person is described, and creation hailed, about which we shall be studying, shortly, stage by stage.
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To be continued ...


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