The Essence of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad : 1.2. Swami Krishnananda

-

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

Monday, April 24, 2023. 07:30.

Introduction-2.

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

The seers of the Upanishads were bent upon entering into the kernel of Reality by casting off all vestures which condition human life, and attaining a kind of attunement with it. The unconditioned was plumbed and experienced. So, in a way, we may say that the Upanishadic texts are records of exclamations and experiences of Masters who set themselves in tune with the ultimate Truth. Such are the Upanishads.

It is a very strange word, —‘Upanishad,'—which is supposed to mean a secret knowledge, not to be imparted to uninitiates or the common public who are wedded to the exoteric approach only, who are totally conditioned in their life, and who cannot rise above the bias of sense-life and social regulations. Hence, the Upanishadic wisdom was kept very secret. It was never given to anyone except the near disciples who went to the Masters for training and underwent discipline for a protracted number of years, and made themselves fit to receive this knowledge which is unconditioned. That was the greatness of it, and that was also the danger of it—because it is unconditioned.

The Upanishads, therefore, are mystical revelations, secret wisdom; and, as the word denotes, they are supposed to be listened to, heard about, or learnt from a Master by one's being seated in front of him, beside him, near him—Upa-ni-shad. When the word Upa-ni-shad is split into its components, it is supposed to give the meaning: “A knowledge that is secretly obtained from a Master by one's being seated near him in holy reverence and obedience.” “Sit near” ;—that is the literal meaning of the term, Upanishad. Sit near the Guru, the Master and receive the wisdom by attunement, at-one-ment of ‘being'. This is the peculiarity of Upanishadic knowledge. It is not like science or art or any other exoteric learning that one can have in a College or a University. It is not a lecture that is delivered, but a wisdom that is communicated to the soul by the soul. That is the speciality of Upanishadic wisdom. It is a communication between soul and soul, and not merely a discourse given by a professor to students in a College. It is a Light that is made to commingle with another Light. So, the Upanishads were kept as greatly guarded secrets.

The texts, known as the Upanishads, are spread out throughout the range of Vedic literature, and each section of the Veda has its own Upanishad or Upanishads. The Brihadaranyaka is the most important of them; it is very rarely studied by people and rarely discussed about. The ‘Brihadaranyaka Upanishad' means the great forest of knowledge'. It is really a forest of every aspect of spiritual knowledge. One can find everything there, as one finds in a forest. And 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 meaning 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 like a sword in the hands of a child. So, this Upanishad has to be studied with great reverence and holiness of attitude, not as some book that you study in a library. It is not a book at all. It is Spirit that manifests itself, and not merely a word that is spoken. Such is the Upanishad, the Brihadaranyaka.

*****

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. : 12. Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, August 9, 2021.10:42. PM. Chapter - I : SECOND BRAHMANA :  THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE-12. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Cosmic Prāṇa, Hiraṇyagarbha, or Virāt, assumed a threefold aspect – Adhibhautika, Adhyātmika and Adhidaivika, viz., the physical, the subjective and the transcendent. The objective or the physical, the subjective or the psychic, and the transcendent which is the invisible divine content, are later formulations. Here again the Upaniṣhad brings us back, by a Simhāvalokana, as it were, a retrospective look, to the unity of things, in spite of the tripartite diversification that has taken place. In spite of this threefold manifestation, which is apparently a segmentation of crea
Read more