Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

------------------------------------------- Monday, September 21, 2020. 7:20.PM. 1.Introduction -15. ------------------------------------------- 1. This is to give a bare outline of how thoughts are developed in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.  We shall take up the study of the First Chapter in its proper order and consider, as the tradition goes, the meaning of the invocatory Mantram :  "Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate,  Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate." Om Shaantih! Shaantih !! Shaantih !!! "Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate, Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate." :   'That is Infinite, this is Infinite; from the Infinite does proceed the Infinite. On removing the Infinite from the Infinite, the Infinite alone remains.'  This is the chant of invocation which is recited at the beginning of this Upanishad. It is also chanted at the end of the study. This is the traditio...

------------------------------------------- Saturday, August 29, 2020. 07:13.AM. 1.Introduction -14. ------------------------------------------- Then we have, as the Upanishad proceeds, the subsequent outcome of this principal exposition in the First Chapter, namely, the Second Chapter, where we are not told anything new. It is only an elaboration of the principle which is precisely stated in the earlier one.  As a matter of fact, the main content of the Upanishad is in the First, the Third and the Fourth Chapters. The Second is a secondary elaboration, and the Fifth and the Sixth are like an appendix and are not of much importance from the point of view of philosophical study, though they are very significant in one's practice of higher meditations. The central portion of the Upanishad is in the First, Third and the Fourth Chapters, which contain the peak of human thought, and offer an exposition of the highest philosophy the human mind has ever conceived. The discuss...

------------------------------------------- Saturday, August 29, 2020. 9:21.AM. 1.Introduction -13. ------------------------------------------- 1. In the beginning, there is an attempt to describe the Asvamedha Sacrifice by identifying the consecrated horse with the universe as a whole. The creation of the universe may be compared to a sacrifice which is symbolically performed by a ceremony through rituals; and when it is contemplated it becomes an attunement of consciousness with the ultimate nature of creation. This, in outline, is the description of the process of creation. The forms, names and phenomena which we see and pass through, are a reversal of the nature of Reality, a reflection, as it were, of the Original through some medium, so that we see everything topsy-turvy and never as it really is. This is a fact which escapes our notice often, that we can see a thing and yet it can be upside down in all the features presented to the perceiving senses. Though we may b...

------------------------------------------- Thursday, August 20, 2020. 9:42.PM. 1.Introduction -12. ------------------------------------------- 1. The bondage of the self is intrinsically involved in the structure of the individual. We bring sorrow with us even when our birth takes place; and it is often said that we bring our death also together with our birth. The meaning is that all experiences – joys, sorrows, including our last moment of life all these are a fructification of circumstances with which we are born from the mother's womb. We are born under certain conditions, and they are the seeds of what will follow later, so that the entire life of ours may be said to be an unfoldment of that which is present in a seed-form at the time of our birth. We do not pass through newer and newer experiences unexpectedly, as it were, but they are all expected things only. Every experience in life is expected, as a corollary is expected from a theorem in mathematics. It fol...

------------------------------------------- Tuesday, August 11, 2020. 1:40.PM. 1.Introduction -11. ------------------------------------------- 1. The Upanishad, to reiterate, is the science of the Self, studied not for the sake of a diversion of the intellect or a satisfaction of the understanding, but for freedom of the spirit and removal of sorrow, utterly. The Adhyatma-Vidya about which we hear so much in fields of spiritual living is not 'a kind' of Vidya, just one of the branches of learning, but the Mother of all the branches of learning, including every other learning that can be conceived of in this world of sense, understanding and social living. 2. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, particularly, attempts to explain the various processes of bondage and liberation. It tells us how we are bound and how we are to get free; and it goes to the very cause ultimate, of the bondage of the soul. Our bondage is not merely physical or social. It is a more deep-rooted condition which ...

Friday, July 24, 2020. 10:34.AM. 1.Introduction -10. The Upanishad promises us a freedom which is above the turmoil of all earthly existence. It can make us happy perennially under every condition, even after death, not merely in this life. In fact, the Upani?had assures us that death is not a bar and not a fear. There is no such thing as death as we think of it. Death is another kind of process which is intended for the training of the soul in its march to a greater perfection; and perfection is what we seek, not pleasure. This is what the Upanishads teach us; that is what the Brhadaranyaka contemplates in vast detail. The knowledge proclaimed in the Upanishad is a science which deals with the removal of sorrow. Thus, it is a knowledge which is different in kind from the learning that we usually acquire or the knowledge that we gain in respect of the things of the world. It is not a science in the ordinary sense of the term. While there are sciences and arts of various kinds, all of w...

Saturday, June 27, 2020. 7:38.AM. 1.Introduction -9. 1. The Upanishads are embodiments of different types of contemplation on Ultimate Truth, and so is the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The beginning of the Upanishad is a contemplation of the inward meaning of a great sacrifice described in the Brahmanas, known as Asvamedha Yajna. It is an external performance of a religious character for the purpose of achieving higher results in the form of celestial enjoyment, etc., but, the Upanishad tells us that the proper approach to the aims of human life, such as ultimate satisfaction, delight, etc., need not be the method of the Brahmanas, which is only symbolic, and there should be a technique more affiliated to the nature of Reality than is the external action of the Brahmanas.  The sacrifice known as the Asvamedha signifies the consecration of a horse in a large ritual performance, mostly undertaken by princes and kings in ancient times for the purpose of name, fame etc. in this world and ...