Anuja Shrivastava
Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
Anuja Shrivastava
ParticipantWhat does the upaniṣad refer to as vidyā and avidyā in verses 9 to 11?
Vidya – Upasana
Avidya – Karma (not Vidya)Why does the upaniṣad ask the practitioner to combine vidyā and avidyā?
To get greater benefit which is to upgrade oneself from animosity to humanity and enjoy a sense of relative immortality till the end of kalpa.
What is the maximum result gained by combination of vidyā and avidyā?
The maximum result will be devaatmabhaav and attainment of higher lokas like goloka, shivaloka or satyaloka..
How does it compare to the result of īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam enumerated in verse 1?
Karma and Upasana need action after knowing (and the results are limited), while nothing to be done after knowing
īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. ‘Knowing’ only can end the ignorance and repeated cycles of birth and death.What does the upaniṣad refer to as sambhuti and asambhuti-upāsanā in verses 12 to 14?
Sambhuti Upasana – hiranyagarbha, karya-brahma, vyakrita, vyakta (manifest), vinaash (despite being nectar – this also ends), born
Asambhuti – Prakriti, Maya, Kaaran-Brahma, avyakta (unmanifest), Ishwara, unborn, Aakash (that which gives space), unborn
Why does the upaniṣad ask the practitioner to combine sambhuti and asambhuti-upāsanā?
To get the maximum result, which is one crosses over death (mrityu) – one becomes one with Hiranyagarbha and one will lead a life of great capacity with lots of material benefits because limited ways of human thinking are given up.
What is the maximum result gained by combination of sambhuti and asambhuti-upāsanā? How does it compare to the result of īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam enumerated in verse 1?
One will be blessed with all siddhis (anima etc), aishvarya etc; union with Hiranyagarbha or one reaches till Brahmaloka or one reaches the prakriti laya and can remain immortal till the end of kalpa.
However, all this will keep one in the realm of ignorance only, hence, considered insignificant. It is nothing as compared to brahma-vidya.
ParticipantReflect on iṣṭa- and pūrta-karmas.
Ishta karma are Vedic rituals, yagya-yaag etc.
Poorta karna are activities aimed at social welfare of the society. By doing these karma, max one can get is pitru loka.Reflect on what can be achieved through karma and upāsanā?
1) one can achieve pitruloka through karma and devaloka/devaatma bhaava through upasana
2) By karma, one can transcend death (ie., the animalistic way of living ends as disciplined-committed life brings refinement in personality. Mediocrity transforms into life of fame and respect).
By Upasana, one gains immortality – that’s a better life till the end of the kalpa.
Reflect ahaṅgraha-upāsanā and its result.
Ahangraha upasana is one when one’s love deepens to an extent that one doesn’t feel difference between oneself and the object of worship (deity).
The result of this upasana is that it creates a devaatma bhaava – that is Oneness with deity.
The maximum result can be Sayujya mukti where one is endowed with powers to create anything just by sankalpa except the power of creation sustenance or destruction..
ParticipantQ. Reflect the apparent contradictions made by the upaniṣad in verse 4? What are the reasons the upaniṣad presents these contradictions?
Answer
Reasons for such contradiction
1) So that we don’t create a concept about what the Self is.
2) The Self cannot be known by mind and senses. The enabler is always bigger than the enabled.How is the Self faster than the mind?
The Self is the substratum of the mind. It empowers the mind. The mind (thoughts) cannot move even a wee bit without Consciousness. Reflected Consciousness is always there before mind thinks/imagines any object.
Which components of the mind does the Self overtake?
Everything – thoughts, senses
Who is referred to as ‘Mātariśva’ in verse 4 and how? What is its function?
Hiranyagarbha (Ishwara only). In presence of the Reality, Hiranyagarbha enables all deities to perform their respective karma.
ParticipantWhy should one have the notion of īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam..
The notion will help me go to my core – to the Reality. By reaching the core (Reality),
Individuality and Totality (also) will be dropped
Ignorance and its effects, kaarya-kaarana. Sanghaat will be removed.
One will be free from desire, anger, greed etc
All Lacks of his life ends
saadhana chatushtya will be natural to such a mahatma
ParticipantFor whom does the upaniṣad prescribe duty to be performed and why?
A.
If one doesn’t have abidance or keenness to know the Self-knowledge and those who have desires, upanishad prescribe duty to be performed.By doing this duty, one may start from sakaam karma (pravritti) to akaam karma (nivritti) via karmayog.
By performing duties, one will be able to
1) free oneself from raag-dvesh
2) discipline oneself
3) no new paapa is generated
4) heart becomes purified for karmayog for chitta shuddhi and chitta ekagrataParticipant- Why should the mantras of Īśāvāsya-upaniṣad not be considered as part of karma?A. The mantras here are meant for giving us the True Nature of the Self, which is pure and untouched by paapa and punya.
- Reflect how īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam is to be done.A. This means the ‘undoing of individuality’. One needs to stop thinking ‘I am limited by time, space or object’, or identifying oneself with the ‘BMI’. By giving up this individuality, one will be free from desire, greed, anger etc.
- Why is īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam not a mental upāsanā?A. Because īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam is a fact. Seeing the individuality as the Self is actually an imagination.
Upasana, as told by Swamiji, is ‘I don’t think I am everything but I will try to think I am’. This is what we have to accept that ‘I am the substratum alone. I am the world. I am everything.’
We just need to scrub our ignorance (our mistaken identity), and accept the fact as it is.
-
AuthorPosts
