In the Isa Vasya Upanishad, which is the last part of the Sukla Yajur Veda, Yajnavalkya says, as he heard from Surya (in the form of an *as’va ),
sarvANi bhUtAni : all beings (yasmin becomes “when” because of sati saptami prayoga – in which time)
Atma Eva abhut : are the Atma alone
yasmin vijAnatah : when (he becomes) one who knows
tatra kah mOhah : there what fascination – (then what distraction, desire)
kah s’Okah : what sorrow
ekatvam anupas’yatah : (he becomes) one who sees unity (one)
Sankaracharya explains this as follows in his commentary :
Sankara says that infatuation and sorrow occur in people who who are ignorant of kAmakarmabIjam – the seed of desire and karma. They cannot see the pure sky-like Unity (ekatvam). One who attains this knowledge of Unity automatically loses sorrow and infatuation.
What Krishna says in the Gita :
In the second chapter (55 to end), Krishna describes the traits of a sthita pragnyaa. You can recognise who is a person of stable mind and who isn’t by observing their behaviour. Is it same under all conditions? If, like me, you respond differently to different stimuli and favour one set over the other, then you can know for yourself that you are not a sthita pragnya.
Krishna speaks as a person who has reached this state. He says, “I am everything”.
What I think :
“All beings are my Self”. This is a state to reach. When you reach this state of knowledge, Then you lose sorrow and fascination. As per this mantram.
So the direction is first knowledge then a disappearance of sorrow and illusion.
However it comes through from various sources that you need peace to obtain knowledge and to obtain peace you must withdraw your senses from the sense perceptions, for which you must lose your fascination for them. Krishna says physical withdrawal with your mind dwelling on the objects is no use at all. It is the mind that must withdraw, and from the Gita we understand that this is a choice that your mind can and should make. Krishna will tell you that’s what you should do, but will not do it for you it appears. I don’t think this is a vicious circle as much as it is a bootstrap process.
Some gurus suggest that you indulge your cravings till you are sick of them and do the mental equivalent of throwing up. To me this sounds a little unhealthy. Some gurus suggest you follow a balanced life, with a bit of everything thrown into your day. The asrama dharma suggests a phased approach – that you equip yourself with theoretical or studied knowledge first, and then live as per that knowledge in your youth and middle age and then move into an advisory role before you retire completely from worldly duties.
I think a little study, a little practice, a little correction, more study and so on – the bootstrap process might help. I don’t think much of physical renunciation .. Swami Vivekananda also said that renunciation is of the mind. I think that reading, living, thinking, correcting, reading again.. may be the way to go forward… with goal in mind.
Abhyasa :
This is also a mantra for practice,
- trying to see everything in Krishna is easy,
- trying to see Krishna in everything is not that difficult.
- trying to see everything in ourselves is difficult.
The only way to see everything in ourselves when we are so tiny and the universe is so big.. is to ditch our body-mind identity., and identify that which is at least as large as the universe and includes it, ie the Purusha.
To see everything in the Self, you have to identify with the Purusha… thats advaita.
Or you have to know that everything thats “out-there” according to you is really a perception in your tiny little brain. Everything you perceive and understand you carry around in that microcosm in your head.
Footnotes :
*In this context reconsider the term asva-medha not as horse-fat, but as spiritual knowledge and intellect. See where that thought takes you.
See Also : A Concordance of the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita : http://www.archive.org/details/UpanishadVakyaKosha-AConcordanceOfThePrincipalUpanishadsAndBhagavad
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
