Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

  Friday, December 11, 2020. 11 : 07. AM. CHAPTER - I : The Universe as a Sacrificial Horse-4. The eastern ocean, by which what is intended is the farthest eastern limit of the conceivable world, is the base. The world ends with the ocean. That is how we have to think, because we cannot think more than that. What can a child think? If you ask a baby to think of the world, it will think only up to the ocean. Beyond that, no thought is possible. But this is only a beginning of the method of extending the thought to further and further limits, until we reach the limit of the psychological horizon. The idea is that the eastern ocean is to be regarded as the limit, the farthest possible for the mind in contemplating the horizon of the universe. That is the limit of the horse. Similarly, the rear part may be compared to the night, and the western ocean, which is the other side of conceivable limit. Thus, the horse is enveloped, encircled by the ritualistic elements, which means to say, i...

-------------------------------------------------- Saturday, November 21, 2020. 05 : 49. PM. CHAPTER - I : The Universe as a Sacrificial Horse-3. -------------------------------------------- This description of the Cosmos as Horse is entirely symbolic, and highly complicated to conceive, because the purpose of the Upani?had is to bring out the psychological element that is present in the comparison that is made between the physical counterparts of the body of the horse, and the body of the universe outside. The difference between the horse conceived here, or to make a wider comparison, the case of any individual, for the matter of that, the distinction between the body of an individual, whether of an animal or a human being, and the world outside, is psychological. If it were not psychological and is really physical, an identification would be impossible. That one person is different from another person, is a psychological division. It is not physical. We have had occasion to discuss t...

----------------------------------------------- Tuesday, November 10, 10 : 53. AM. CHAPTER - I : The Universe as a Sacrificial Horse-2. ------------------------------------------------------------- The mouth is the Agnī Vaisvanara. In some Upaniṣhads, the Aitareya particularly, we have another cosmological description where we are told that from the Cosmic Virāt, Fire broke out through the mouth. And the organ of speech is supposed to be presided over, in every case, by the principle of Fire. So the mouth of the individual horse, here, may be identified with the cosmic fire which is Vaiśvānara. Vaiśvānara is a word which has two or three meanings. It is a fire principle which is hiddenly present in all things, the principle of fire which manifests itself as the visible fire outside, which, again, is sometimes identified with the Cosmic Being. Vaiśva-Nara means the Cosmic-Man, and the derivative of this word is Vaiśvānara. The Vaiśvānara is the Cosmic Person who represents the energy of...

------------------------------------------------ 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 avo...

------------------------------------------- Tuesday, October 20, 2020. 08 : 48. AM. 1.Introduction -17. ------------------------------------------- The act, the process and the end towards which the action is directed are all single in their essence, and they are not even a tripartite or a threefold process. It is a single development of Being which is impartite. This contemplation which was originally initiated in the Puruṣha-Sūkta, as the Cosmic Sacrifice, may be said to be the Mother of all other concepts of sacrifice, or Yajña in the Indian tradition, or perhaps any other tradition of this type. The offering up of oneself is the core of the Sacrifice, and, thus, the highest Sacrifice is supposed to be self-sacrifice, not the sacrifice of outward material or anything that one 'possesses'. The offering of what we have is a lower sacrifice in comparison with the sacrifice of what we are. This is the Jñāna-Yajña, or the knowledge-sacrifice that is spoken of in the Bhagavadgītā ...

  ------------------------------------------- Tuesday,October 13, 2020. 10 : 12.AM. 1.Introduction -16. ------------------------------------------- 1. Om Santih! Santih! Santih – 'Om! Peace, Peace, Peace'. We always recite this peace chant three times, indicating that there should be peace in the three realms, or in three ways, or freedom from the three sources of trouble. We have three principal kinds of trouble, and all these three are to cease and peace is to prevail. We have trouble from within; trouble from without; and trouble from above. This threefold problem is known as Tapatraya. If there is a heavy flood, or there is an earthquake, a thunderbolt, or a destruction of this kind caused by factors beyond human range, such catastrophe is referred to as supernatural adhidaivika-Tapa. When troubles come from outside, as those from animals, reptiles, wicked persons, etc., they are known as adhibhautika-Tapa. When troubles come from inside, such as illness, sorrow born of men...

------------------------------------------- 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...