Lesson 1 (Vedas)

What are the Vedas?

Veda means knowledge. It originates from the word "vit" which means
knowledge.

The original knowledge in this creation is the teachings of the Vedas. These
teachings were revealed by Lord Vishnu to Lord Brahma in his heart.

When we are in a conditioned state (that is what we are) our knowledge is
subjected to many deficiencies. These deficiencies are there because the
conditioned soul has four defects:

a. Committing mistakes: Human being is prone to making mistakes. You must
have read or heard the famous saying, "To err is human".

b. Subject to illusion: We are all subject to illusion (maya). It means that we
perceive or see things which they are not. The meaning of maya is
"that which is not".

c. Imperfect senses: Our senses are imperfect. We cannot see beyond some
distance, we cannot hear everything and so on.

d. Cheating propensity: We have a tendency to cheat. It is difficult to accept
this for us but if you sincerely think about it you will agree that we tend to
cheat at least in minor ways - don't we?

These deficiencies make us unfit for having perfect knowledge. An imperfect
being cannot create a perfect knowledge. Look at American or Indian
constitutions - how many amendments have taken place since they were written?

In contrast Vedas are apaurusheya, which means they are not compilations
of human knowledge - compiled by some humans.. Vedic knowledge
comes from the spiritual world, from Lord Krishna (Vishnu), the
Supreme God. It has remained unchanged since
time immemorial. No person has ever been able to find a single mistake in the
script of Vedas. And that is why we accept them as authorities. It is better to
follow something which is perfect rather than something which is prone to
mistakes or imperfection.

In the beginning the first living creature was Brahma. He received the Vedic
knowledge from Lord Vishnu. The existence of Vedas is Sanatana -
eternal - no beginning or end.


Vedas are compared to desire tree (kalpa vriksha) because they contain all
things knowable by man. They deal with day-to-day material necessities as
well as spiritual realization.

The main purpose of Vedas is to gradually elevate human beings to a spiritual
platform. This is recommended through the system of Varna & Ashrama.
Vedas talk of 4 varnas and 4 ashramas.

The varnas are Brahmana - the intellectual, Kshatriya - the ruler and
administrators, Vaishya - the farmer and merchants and Shudra - the
worker. The ashramas are Brahmacharya - students, Grihastha - family
men, Vanaprashtha - retired people and Sannyasa - mendicants).

These
are based on one's quality and work and not a caste system as it prevails
in our society. The caste system is perversion of the Varnashrama system
as propogated in Vedas. Lord Krishna confirms this in Bhagavad Gita.

The Vedas say that the highest spiritual realization is knowledge that the
Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all pleasures and spiritual tastes.

The Vedas were compiled in Sanskrit which is the most advanced and
perfect language and source of all languages.

The Vedas are source of all knowledge. There is no independent
knowledge beyond Vedas.

The Origin of the Vedas

When discussing the origin of the Vedas, we must keep in mind the fact
that the Vedas are eternal transcendental sound vibrations. Therefore we
cannot use the word create in its general usage to describe the source of the
Vedas. At the same time everything has a cause except for the Lord. That
is the meaning of the verse anadir adir govindah, sarva kaarana
kaaranam , "Govinda has no beginning, yet He is the beginning of all.
He is the cause of all causes."

When speaking of the spiritual realm, we must always remember that there
is no limitation of time. Time practically does not exist in that realm. Only
when you come down to the level of creation of the material world can we
actually say that time is acting on anything. So any discussion of something
constitutionally beyond the realm of material world is by nature free from
the influence of time. Therefore there is no room to bring in the idea of a
point of creation. With that in mind, when we speak of something spiritual
such as the Vedas, we can never bring in the concept of a point of creation.
i.e. "it was created at this point in time".

Therefore nothing spiritual was ever created in the general sense of the
word. But still everything has a source, something on which it is dependent.
Vishnu is the only sva-tantra (self- dependent principal) and all others
are para-tantra (dependent on another).

Everything has a cause, and that cause is directly the category of the
Supreme God. But this dependence is eternal dependence. Never was there
a time when it did not exist. So, though Vishnu is the cause of everything,
everything eternally existed beyond time.

One may ask, "How to understand this?" If you don't already understand it
there is no mental gymnastics that will make you understand it.

The Srimad Bhagavatam clearly states right in the first shloka: om namo
bhagavate vasudevaaya janmaadyasya yato 'nvayad itartash charthesv
abhijnah svarat tene brahma hrda ya aadi kavaye . (Translation : O my
Lord, Sri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, O all pervading Supreme Person,
I offer my respects to you. I meditate upon you because you are the
absolute truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation.)
Why the statement "tene brahma hrda ya aadi kavaye" is linked directly
to the statement of janmadyasya yatah? Because everything is an emanation
of Krishna, including the eternal spiritual sound vibrations (brahma) of the
Vedas. Furthermore, we should remember that the Vedas are describing
Him, the Supreme God.

The Vedas are also called Shruti - learning by only hearing. In the earlier
yugas the vedic knowledge was passed on from guru to disciple by just
recitation and hearing. In this age of Kali (kali-yuga) our memories are
comapratively duller and hence for our benefit the Vedas were compiled
in written form. There are many suggestions about the exact time they were
compiled but they still remain the oldest scriptures in this world.

(The details will be discussed in the next lesson.)


(Next lesson : The 4 Vedas - Vedic Sciences)

I got the above info through email. thought sajhites might be interested. will post the series in coming days. originally sent and described by S K Dasji

wonderful... pls continue...

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Q.

Lesson- 2-The 4 Vedas




1. Rig Veda

2. Yajur Veda

3. Sama Veda

4. Atharva Veda



Many consider Mahabharata (Bhagavad Gita, is a part of It.) as the 5th Veda.



Rig Veda: Hymns ( mantras or suktas) for prayers or for praising the Lord



Yajurveda: Hymns for oblations ( aahuti in yajna )



Samaveda: Same prayers as in Rigveda but in meters ( raga ) for singing



Atharva Veda: Describes maintenance and destruction of material world.





Westerners called these vedas as aboriginal and primitive because they could not understand them. How can they be primitive when the highest truth is spoken and that too in the most advanced language - Sanskrit?





Rig Veda



In simple words it means Hymns of praise (Rig means to celebrate).



The hymns are called mantras or suktas. The whole text of Vedas is called samhita.



These samhitas are divided by two methods:



a. One divides them into kandas (portions) or ashtakas (one eighths). Each one is further divided into adhayaya (chapters).



b. The other method divides suktas into ten mandalas (circles) subdivided into anuvakas (sub-sections)



Suktas are also divided in vargas (paragraphs) of about 5 stanzas each.



All the verses have been counted and even the words and syllables have been counted. There are 1028 hymns, words are 153,826 and syllables are 432,000.



Rig Veda is veda-par-excellence. The other Vedas contain chiefly extract from Rig Veda. The priests of Rig Veda are called hotris.







Yajur Veda:



The name comes from Yaj (sacrifice, yajna). This is divided in 2 parts: Shukla (White) and Krishna (Black). They are also called Vajasaneyi Samhita and Aitareya Samhita . Almost half of Yajurveda is taken from Rig Veda. The priests are called adhwaryus or officers.



Humans are inspired to translate good thoughts into actions. Yajurveda inspires humans to walk on the path of Karma (deeds). That is why it is also referred to as Karma-Veda. The essence of the Yajurveda lies in those mantras (incantations) that inspire people to initiate action.

Some of the quotes from Yajur Veda.

"Everybody should practice simple and virtuous living. They should never seek recourse to manipulative tendencies."

"Only a fearless person can work towards self development and can also help in social and political development. Therefore one should fearlessly perform all his duties."

"Attractiveness and magnetism of man's personality is the result of his inner radiance."

"Good work done with bad intentions inevitably leads to failure. That is why one should refrain from evil tendencies. "



Sama Veda



As explained earlier it is Rig Veda prayers re-written so that they can be sung. All the verses are having meter (raga). There are 1549 verses and all but few have been taken from Rig Veda.



The priests of SamaVeda are called udgatris or chanters.



Atharva Veda



This describes the process for carrying out our daily lives. It talks of Karma Kanda - how to gain punya and paapa, maintenance of the material life and how it can be destroyed. It gives us remedies for illness, how to fulfill our desires, how to lead pious life and so on.



Here are some the quotes from Atharva Veda.



"You now become easy victims of lust, anger, malice, envy and the rest of that evil brood; the atmosphere of the heart is polluted by the ego-fumes."

"The person, who causes the downfall of a noble woman... who causes loss to his friend...who despite of his superiority is ignorant; is called a fallen man."

"IN every country today, men have become power-mad and they resort, without any compunction, to self praise and dry declamation. They develop hatred against others, foster envy and feed their fatal egos. They plunge the Society to which they belong into fear, anxiety and disorder. They do not know that if elevating ideals are adhered to and practiced, they could gain eternal fame; instead they are content with cheap applause and short-lived publicity."

"Water is the abject necessity for any kind of life to exist."

"Happiness will not come from happiness; but only from pain. We know the value of standing in shade only after roaming in the hot day sun."

"IT takes time for a fruit to mature and acquire sweetness and become eatable; time is a prime factor for most good fortunes."

These are just few examples to give us a glimpse of these great texts.

Some of our modern subjects are directly mentioned or described in our Vedic Scriptures. They Include,

Medical Science, Music (ragas), Politics (Manu Samhita), Architecture, Warfare, Art, Drama, Psychology, Agriculture, Astronomy, Astrology, Material Science, Aeronautics, Metaphysics, Moths and so on.



I am just giving you the idea of what these scriptures contain. As we progress we will learn many more things which are directly connected to vedas and have been composed later to make us understand the meaning and purport of Vedas. Vedas are tough to understand and comprehend. That's why the sages and seers took pains to write commentaries and explanations for our benefit.



If you are interested to listen to these Vedic sutras you may cut and paste the following link into your web search.



http://www.gatewayforindia.com/vedas/samaveda.html



(Next Lesson - Shrutis, Smritis, Nyaya, Vedangas etc)

a veda lesson a day.... this is great...

Lesson 3



Shrutis



We have got a little idea of our Vedas in our first 2 lessons.



Now let us study how Vedic knowledge is gained.



There are 3 sources of Vedic Knowledge.

They are called prasthan-traya.



Shruti Prasthan

Smriti Prasthan &

Nyaya Prasthan



The Shrutis - Vedic Injunctions.

(Vedas, Samhitas & Upanishads etc)



The Smritis - Additional supplementary presentations or

evidence for Vedic Principles

(Puranas, Itihas, Mahabharat, Gita etc)



The Nyayas - Vedant Sutras (Precise formulae). They tell us about

the ultimate goal of life by using logic and cause &

effect.



In this lesson let us try to understand the Shrutis.



As stated above Shrutis are Vedas or Samhitas (Text of the Vedas).

We have read before that Vedas are apaurusheya

(beyond human endeavors). That is why they are also called

revealed scriptures. They form the base of all knowledge.





Vedas can be further divided into



The Mantra-Samhitas or hymns.

The Brahmanas or explanations of Mantras or rituals.

The Aranyakas (philosophical interpretations of the rituals).

The Upanishads (The essence or the knowledge portion
of the Vedas).



These division of the Vedas into four parts is to suit the four stages

in a man's life.



The Mantra-Samhitas are hymns in praise of the Vedic God
for attaining material prosperity here and happiness hereafter.
They are metrical poems comprising prayers, hymns and
incantations addressed to various deities, both subjective and

objective. The Mantra portion of the Vedas is useful for the

Brahmacharins (celibates).



This is what a student was supposed to learn and practice in a

Gurukul in Vedic Culture. The student was not supposed to

work in Mcdonalds or Walmart for earning during holidays.



The Brahmana portions guide people to perform sacrificial rites.

They are prose explanations of the method of using the Mantras

in the Yajna or the sacrifice. The Brahmana portion is suitable

for the householder (Grihastha)



The Aranyakas are the forest books, the mystical sylvan texts
which give philosophical interpretations of the Rituals. The
Aranyakas are intended for the Vanaprasthas or retired people

who prepare themselves for taking Sannyasa. (Vanaprastha)



The Upanishads are the most important portion of the Vedas.
The Upanishads contain the essence or the knowledge portion of the

Vedas. The philosophy of the Upanishads is sublime, profound, lofty

and soul-stirring. The Upanishads speak of the identity of the

individual soul and the Supreme Soul. They reveal the most subtle

and deep spiritual truths. The Upanishads are useful for the Sannyasins.



[Note: Although the Vedas are divided into four parts its studies continue

throughout one's life.]



Interestingly out of the four ashramas three were spent in the forest.

Only the Grihasthas or householders stayed in cities or villages.

The other three - the brahmacharis, vanprasthas and sannyasins

lived in the forest or fields.



The shrutis are also divided into three aspects of life, namely



Karma-Kanda

Upasana-Kanda

Jnana-Kanda.





The Karma-Kanda or Ritualistic Section
deals with various sacrifices and rituals and the whole theory

of good karma and bad karma - what we call as paap and punya.

The do's and dont's of material lives. This is what is minimally

required to even lead a good materialistic life.



The Upasana-Kanda or Worship-Section deals
with various kinds of worship or meditation.



The Jnana-Kanda or Knowledge-Section deals with the
highest knowledge about absolute truth.



The Mantras and the Brahmanas
constitute Karma-Kanda (rituals).



The Aranyakas constitute Upasana-Kanda (worship).



The Upanishads constitute Jnana-Kanda (knowledge).



Samhitas are the text of Vedas.



The Brahmanas and The Aranyakas

1. There are two Brahmanas to the Rig-Veda:

The Aitareya

The Sankhayana



2. The Satapatha Brahmana belongs to the Sukla Yajur-Veda.

The Krishna Yajur-Veda has the Taittiriya
and the Maitrayana Brahmanas.



3. The Tandya or Panchavimsa, the Shadvimsa, the Chhandogya ,

the Adbhuta, the Arsheya and the
Upanishad Brahmanas belong to the Sama-Veda.



4. The Brahmana of the Atharva-Veda is called the Gopatha .



Each of the Brahmana has got an Aranyaka.



The Upanishads



The Upanishads are the concluding portions of the Vedas or
the end of the Vedas. The teaching based on them is called
Vedanta. We are going to discuss these in details in future lessons.



(Next Lesson: Shurtis contd, Sutras, Vedangas etc)

Note- i will post next lesson on Monday. please party hard on weekends
also note that these lessons are from Shri S K Das

good lesson

To "Birbhadra"

We all wants continuation of Vedas lessons...

Thanks

Lesson 4



Shrutis (Contd)



As we have learnt so far we need to understand Vedas and to

enable us do so the rishis and sages have divided them in

different ways and added commentaries and sutras etc.



Let us try to understand Vedangas.



The Vedangas (The angas means Bodies or limbs)



There are six Angas or explanatory limbs, to the Vedas:



The Siksha of Maharshi Panini

(Phonetics or Shabda Vigyan)

The Vyakarana of Maharshi Panini

(Sanskrit Grammar)

The Chhandas of Pingalacharya

(Meter or Matra or Raga)

The Nirukti of Yaksa

(Philosophy or etymology, Conclusive Meanings)

The Jyotisha of Garga

(Astronomy and astrology, Science of Time)

The Kalpas

(Srauta, Grihya, Dharma & Sulba) (The rituals or social science)
belonging to the authorship of various Rishis.





Siksha is the knowledge of phonetics. Siksha deals with
pronunciation and accent. The text of the Vedas is arranged in
various forms or Pathas. The Pada-patha gives each word its
separate form. The Krama-patha connects the word in pairs.



Phonetics is very helpful in correctly pronouncing words in any

Language. We experience this problem of pronunciation of words in

other languages. For example San Jose is pronounced as San Hose

and we can find so many words in English which spell something

else but are pronounced in a different way. Phonetics being a

scientifically written language solves this problem. If you cannot

read Sanskrit or find it difficult to pronounce you may take help

of phonetics. Some books give this. I found Bhagavad Gita As it Is

having the phonetics in Appendix and that helped me pronounce

properly.

(Unfortunately I don't have phonetic fonts on my computer and

hence it is difficult to write transliteration of Sanskrit verses)



Vyakarana is Sanskrit Grammar. Panini's books are most
famous. Without knowledge of Vyakarana, you cannot
understand the Vedas. This is very elaborate and has much less

chance of misinterpretation.



Chhandas is meter or raga. As we learnt earlier the hymns or

slokas are sung in a meter to make them more effective and potential.



Nirukti is philosophy or etymology. It gives conclusive meaning

of the texts of Vedas.





Jyotisha is astronomy and astrology. It deals with the movements

of the heavenly bodies, planets, etc., and their influence on human

affairs. All of us are aware of this. Even Einstein stated that when a

star blinks in the far distance he gets affected to some degree. The

modern thought tries to reject it but it is so deep rooted in our psyche

that we do use it knowingly or unknowingly.



Kalpa Sutras are the rituals.



Kalpa Sutras are further sub-divided into different sutras. They are:



The Srauta Sutras which explain the ritual of sacrifices

(collective yajna). It means doing yajna in a society where

everybody participates.



The Sulba Sutras deal with the size and measurement of

Yajna Kundas or Garbhagriha of a temple. They also explain

how these places are built.



The Grihya Sutras concern domestic family life and the rituals

to be followed by the family.



The Dharma Sutras deal with ethics, customs and laws and

occupational duties of a person.



These Kalpa Sutras are further elaborated in different

scriptures but we will not go into those details..





(Next Lesson: Agamas)

sorry guys i just got this in email hope you will like it. again it is not my work as i have mentioned several times

Just Reviving this thread. I know some of our friends are really interested in this
so here we go........

nice info. want more of these lectures. please continue.

i will post as soon as i get another lesson

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Lesson 5 : The Agamas

Introduction
We learnt in the last lesson about the Kalpa Sutras which
described different types of rituals - collective and family
oriented. A person required guidance in conducting these
rituals. We all have different consciousness and different
likes and dislikes. Our object of enjoyment is different - for each
individual or group.

Our destinations are different.

To accommodate these variety the Vedic Scriptures gave
different philosophies and methodologies and mechanisms.
The Agamas are these rituals for worship.
The Agamas are theological treatises and practical manuals
of divine worship.

There are 3 types of Agamas.


a. Shakta Agamas: Here energy or Shakri of the Lord is
worshipped as the Supreme.

b. Shaiva Agamas: Worship of the destroyer.

c. Vaishnava Agamas: Worship of the ultimate source.

The Agamas include the Tantras, Mantras and Yantras. They
also give elaborate details about ontology and cosmology,
liberation, devotion, meditation, philosophy of Mantras,
mystic diagrams, charms and spells, temple-building,
image-making, domestic observances, social rules, public
festivals, etc.

The Agamas take care of people at all levels of consciousness.
For example Tantras were written for the lowest level of
consciousness so that even they get a chance to get purified
and advance in their consciousness. Black Magic, hypnotism
etc are all parts of these Tantras. Unfortunately this is being
misused in our society and we find tantriks playing big role
in politics, business and even normal lives.

The Agamas do not derive their authority from the Vedas,
but are not antagonistic to them. They are all Vedic in spirit
and character. That is the reason why they are regarded as
authoritative.

Vaishnava Agamas
The Vaishnava Agamas are of four kinds: the Vaikhanasa,
Pancharatra, Pratishthasara and Vijnanalalita.

The Brahma, Saiva, Kumara, Vasishtha, Kapila, Gautamiya and the
Naradiya are the seven groups of the Pancharatras.

The Naradiya section of the Shanti-Parva of the Mahabharata is the
earliest source of information about the Pancharatras.
Vishnu is the Supreme Lord in the Pancharatra Agamas.
The Vaishnavas regard the Pancharatra Agamas to be the
most authoritative. They believe that these Agamas were
revealed by Lord Vishnu Himself. Narada-Pancharatra says:
"Everything from Brahman to a blade of grass is Lord Krishna."
This corresponds to the Upanishadic declaration: "All this is,
verily, Brahman-Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma ."


There are two hundred and fifteen of these Vaishnava texts.
Ishvara, Ahirbudhnya, Paushkara, Parama, Sattvata,
Brihad-Brahma and Jnanamritasara Samhitas are the
important ones.

Shaiva Agamas

The Shaivas recognise twenty-eight Agamas, of which the chief
is Kamika. The Agamas are also the basis of Kashmir Shaivism
which is called the Pratyabhijna system. The latter works of
Pratyabhijna system show a distinct leaning to Advaitism.
The Southern Shaivism, i.e., Shaiva Siddhanta , and the
Kashmir Saivism, regard these Agamas as their authority,
besides the Vedas. Each Agama has Upa-Agamas. Of these,
only fragmentary texts of twenty are extant. Lord Shiva is the
central God in the Shaiva Agamas.

Sakta Agamas

There is another group of scriptures known as the Tantras.
They belong to the Shakta cult. They glorify Shakti as the
World-Mother. They dwell on the Shakti (energy) aspect of
God and prescribe numerous courses of ritualistic worship
of the Divine Mother in various forms.
There are seventy-seven Agamas.

(Next Lesson: The Upanishads)

Please enjoy the postings

Lesson - 6 Upanishads





The word Upanishad means to "sit near". That means the disciple or shishya sits near the guru, near his feet, and listens to an intimate session of spiritual instructions. This was the system of learning in the Vedic culture. It still exists in many places. Upanishads are also called Vedanta – Veda anta - the ultimate knowledge.



The Upanishads are not having chapters but each Upanishad is full in itself. There are 108 of them but someone says that there are 10, 11 or 12 main Upanishads depending on which branch or sampradaya you refer to.



Upanishads are commentary on Vedas but in one sense they are not philosophy. They are considered as Darshana "something seen" and the student has not only to listen but to realize them. These sessions were not casual like some seminar or workshop but the dedication of almost the whole life time. Generally a session would last for twelve years and the student would be grasping and digesting the subject matter.



Just to quote from one of the Upanishads (Katha Upanishad) it says, only a few hear these truths, of those who hear only a few understand, and of those only a handful attain the goal. Lord Krishna also says in Bhagavad Gita like this to Arjuna.



A desire to know something is the motivation behind all science, and in Vedic India this scientific tradition was started long time ago and the roots of this scientific spirit are in Vedas and other scriptures emanating from them.



The main Upanishads are



Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Mandykya Upanishad

Kena Upanishad

Katha Upanishad

Mundaka Upanishad

Aitareya Upanishad

Taittiriya Upanishad

Prashna Upanishad

Chandogya Upanishad

Isha Upanishad

Shevtashvatara Upanishad

Kali Santarana Upanishad



I will try to explain each one of them in short. For those of you who are interested to know more they can read them in details by buying some books. But before you get fascinated and jump into that I would like to caution that you have very limited free time and each one of these scriptures is attractive and wonderful. I will try to give you the guideline for reading the essences of these scriptures at the end of our sessions. Till then please go along and try to absorb the basics.



The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad



This is the longest and one of the oldest Upanishads. It touches upon themes of almost every Upanishad and it covers the style and range from the texts of Vedas to personal realization.



The text is organized into three sections: The exposition of Vedanta, a logical defense of it, and some techniques of meditation. In other words it is an encyclopedia of Vedic literature. It has verses from Vedas and also from other Upanishads, including the whole text of Ishopanishad. It has Vedic mantras, anecdotes, conversations and exposition of some mystical realities.



One of the famous mantras is



Lead me from unreal to real

Lead me from darkness to light,

Lead me from death to immortality.



The famous author T.S. Eliot used it in his story called "What the thunder said".



It also tells us about the parampara (guru-shishya chain) in which this was handed down.



One writer says that this Upanishad has mingled love with knowledge, forests with cities and practicality of daily life with the hope of attaining immortality.



Some excerpts:



Maitreyi : My Lord, if I could get all the wealth in the world, would it help me to go beyond death?



Yajnavalkya: Not at all. You would live and die like any other rich person. No one can buy immortality with money.



**************

Janaka: What is the light of man?



Yajnavalkya : The Sun: In the light we sit, work, go out and come back.



Janaka: Whane the sun sets, what is the light?



Yajnavalkya: The moon: By that light we sit, work, go and come back.



Janaka: When the sun and moon sets then what is the light?



Yajnavalkya: The Fire.



Janaka: When all go out what is the light?



Yajnavalkya: The Speech. Even if we cant see in darkness we can reach out by sound of speech.



Janaka: When no one speaks then what is the light?



Yajnavalkya: The Self.



Janaka: Who is that self?



Yajnavalkya: Self is pure awareness. It shines as the light within the heart, surrounded by senses. The Self never sleeps or wakes or dreams.



And the dialogue goes on……..





(Next Lesson Mandukya Upanishad and Kena Upanishad)

please enjoy the posting originally sent to me by S K Dasji

Lesson 7 :

The Mandukya and Kena Upanishads

The Mandukya Upanishad
:
It states that Supreme God is the only reality and is beyond
the effect of time or kala or what we call as past, present or future.
It describes the state of being awake and the state of dreaming and
the difference between the two.
It also discusses the significance of the word "OM" "Omkara"
or Pranava. It is also written as AUM. This sound vibration,
emanating from the Supreme Lord is literally experienced by
the sages - not merely heard, as we hear.

Our speech decides our feelings and character. When we speak
harshly to others or even speak ill of someone we tear the unity
amongst us souls and if we speak sweetly then it is a sacred act.
It says that power of "OM" can be felt in the mantras we chant
repeatedly - a japa. Mandukya Upanishad has a great value
amongst the scriptures and it is acknowledged by acharyas.

Mandukya Upanishad has a direct approach and does not
tell stories or anecdotes. It belongs to Atharva Veda.

Some excerpts:

Aum
stands for the supreme reality
It is a symbol for what was, what is and what shall be. Aum
also represents what lies beyond the past, present and future.

In Aum
A stands for Vaishvanara. Those who know this , through the
mastery of senses, obtain the fruits of their desires and attain
greatness.

U indicates Taijasa. Thos who know this by mastering even
their dreams become established in wisdom. In their family
everyone leads spirtual life.

M stands for Prajna or Pragya. Those who know this by stilling
the mind, find their true stature and inspire everyone around
to grow.

We read that Brihadarnyaka is the longest Upanishad and
Mandukya is one of the briefest (only 12 mantras) but in significance
both are equal. Since it is condensed it is very difficult to
understand and comprehend. Mandukya is the name of the sage
and the word manduk also means frog. But it is the name of the
rishi which makes more sense.





The Kena Upanishad
The Kena Upanishad derives its name from the first word Kena,
"by whom", and belongs to the Sama Veda. It is also known as
the Talavakara, the name of the Brahmana of the Sama Veda to which
the Upanishad belongs.
When we say 'by whom" it means that "By whose mere presence
does that desire arise which moves the universe."
It has four sections, the first two in verse and the other two in prose.
The metrical portion deals with the Supreme Unqualified Brahman,
the absolute principle underlying the world of phenomenon and
the prose part of the Upanishad deals with the Supreme as God,
Isvara.
The knowledge of the Absolute, para vidya, which secures
immediate liberation (sadyo-mukti) is possible only for those who
are able to withdraw their thoughts from worldly objects and
concentrate on the ultimate fact of the universe. The knowledge
of Isvara, apara vidya, puts one on the pathway that leads to
deliverance eventually (karma-mukti). The worshipping soul
gradually acquires the higher wisdom which results in the
consciousness of the identity with the Supreme.

Some excerpts:
Student: "Who makes my mind think? Who fills my body with
vitality? Who causes my tongue to speak? Who sees through my
eyes? Who hears through my ears?
Guru: "The Self is the ear of the ear, the eye of the eye, the mind
of the mind, the word of the words, and the life of life, rising
above senses and the mind.
Him our eyes cannot see, nor words express. He cannot be
grasped even by the mind. We do not know. We cannot
understand. Because He is different from the known and
different from the unknown. Thus have we heard from the
learned ones.

(If you want more excerpts please write to me and I will provide.)

(Next Lesson : The Katha & Mundaka Upanishads)