The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.1. Swami Krishnananda

-

------------------------------------------------

Saturday, October 31, 11 : 11. AM.

CHAPTER - I : The Universe as a Sacrificial Horse-1

-------------------------------------------------------------

The commencement of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣhad is a description of a symbolic placement of the parts of the individual in the cosmic quarters, with the spiritual intention of an undivided meditation, where the subject commingles with the object. The peculiar technique, adopted here in this Upaniṣhad, is ritualistic as it is characteristic of the Brāhmaṇas in the Vedas, and this technique is supposed to be adopted in the case of every individual character in its correlation with the universe. Here the individual concerned is the horse of the Aśvamedha Sacrifice, which is the object of consecration and while, exoterically considered, it is one of the items in the Aśvamedha Yajña, and it becomes a part of an external act, in the Upaniṣhad it becomes a piece of contemplation, which is the avowed purpose of the Upaniṣhad – to convert every act into a mode of contemplation, to tranform every object into the Universal Subject. This is the aim of the Upaniṣhad finally; and for this purpose various methods are prescribed. One method is, here, in this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣhad, at its beginning, the transformation of the ritual technique into an inward contemplation of the Spirit.

------------------------------------------------

aum! uṣā vā aśvasya medhyasya śiraḥ, sūryas cakṣuḥ, vātaḥ prāṇaḥ, vyāttam agnir vaisvānaraḥ; 

saṁvatsara ātmāśvasya medhyasya, dyauḥ pṙṣṭham, antarikṣam udaram, pṛthivī pājasyam, diśaḥ 

avāntaradiśaḥ pārśavaḥ, ṛtavóṅgāni, māsās cārdhamāsāś ca parvāṇi, ahorātrāṇi pratiṣṭhāḥ, nakṣatrāny 

asthīni, nabho māṁsāni; ūvadhyaṁ sikatāḥ, sindhavo gudāḥ, yakṛc ca klomānaś ca parvatāḥ, 

oṣadhayaś ca vanaspatayaś ca lomāni, udyan pūrvārdhaḥ nimlocañ jaghanārdhaḥ, yad vijṛmbhate tad 

vidyotate,  yad vidhūnute tat stanayati, yan mehati tad varṣati; vāg evāsya vāk.

------------------------------------------

This is the first Mantra which is written in prose, the style of the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas. Uṣā vā aśvasya medhyasya śiraḥ: The dawn is the head of this sacred horse. The idea is that every part of the essential item in the sacrifice is to be identified, correspondingly, part by part, with the sections of the universe outside. In worship, especially that performed in temples, we have also a similar technique adopted, which is known as the Nyāsa method – the placement. Nyāsa means placement. The parts of the body of the worshipper are correspondingly placed in the parts of the body of the deity, so that the distinction between the worshipper and the deity is abolished. The two become one. Such a Nyāsa is done here. The head of the sacrificial horse must be contemplated as the dawn. Here, the dawn does not necessarily mean a particular time of the eve of the rise of the sun at any particular place, but the eastern part, mostly conceivable by the mind, as the world, as it can be visualised by us to the extent possible. Now, if it is not possible to conceive it in this manner, it can be taken literally as the eastern part of the world where we are living. The dawn is the head of the consecrated horse. The dawn, the beginning of the day, is the head, because the head is the beginning of the body. That is the similarity. The day begins with the dawn, and the body begins with the head. This is the similarity conceived here.

------------------------------------------

The eyes may be compared to the sun. The similarity is very obvious, because the sun is the eye of the day through which perception is made possible; and the eyes, of course, in the body, are the means of every kind of visual perception.

-------------------------------------------

The Cosmic Wind, the Air that pervades, is the Prāṇa within. We should identify the Prāṇa within the horse with the Air that is outside, because the two are essentially the same, one working in the world outside and another working within the body of the individual, here, the horse.

-------------------------------

To be continued ....



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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Ch-1, Second Brahmana, Post-1 : Swami Krishnananda

-
Image
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, January 25, 2021. 04:04. PM. Chapter I : SECOND BRAHMANA: THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE Post-1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now follow some very difficult symbols of the Upaniṣhad. Literally, they cannot be easily grasped. Even the Sanskrit is not classical; it is highly archaic. It is a Vedic language. And the idea conveyed through this most difficult style is still more difficult, so that one cannot easily make out the sense of some passages, unless we deeply think over the words as well as the meanings that are hidden between the lines. An unphilosophical mind may not be able to understand the hidden meaning of these symbols, and perhaps it is the case with all symbols; they cannot be understood literally. The symbolic description here is one of the process of creation. How things come; an
Read more

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.7 Swami Krishnananda

-
Image
Wednesday, June 10, 2020. 1.Introduction -7. 1. The Upanishad begins with a startling exposition of the very methodology of living adopted in our country. As I tried to mention to you, the method of the Upanishad is secret, esoteric and intended to go into the meaning of action which is otherwise exoteric. I have also mentioned that the Veda has an aspect, namely, the ritual aspect, the aspect of sacrifice, performance of religious ceremony by the application of the Mantras of the Samhitas, as expounded in the section known as the Brahmanas.  The Aranyakas go to the contemplated side of the Brahmanas, and tell us that a sacrifice need not necessarily be outward; it can also be inward; and the inward is as powerful as the outward. It can even be more powerful than the outward. The ritual that is performed by the mind, say the Aranyakas, is more puissant in the production of effect than the ritual that is outwardly performed through the sacred fire, or in the holy altar.  The entire rang
Read more

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Ch-1. Second Brahmana, The Creation of the Universe. : 4. Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, June 1, 2021. 8:05. PM. Chapter - I : SECOND BRAHMANA:  THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE-4. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The mind of the cosmos, which is called the Cosmic Mind, in usual parlance, is regarded here as an evolute, and not the original Being. The Absolute is Transcendent Being, and not a mind, thinking. It is not even a causal state. Even the causal state is supposed to be posterior to the Absolute. We never associate the Absolute with the world. The Brahman of the Upanishad, or the Absolute of philosophy, is the assertion of Being which is unrelated to creation. And, when we have to associate God with creation, we have a new word altogether for it. Ishvara is the word we use in the language of the Vedanta. Such words do not occur in the Upanishads. They are all to be found in the later Vedanta, but they are assumed here. In the Sa
Read more