Chandogya Upanishad: ( 30/03/2013. )

13/12/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya -2 2.THE COURSE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH (CONTINUED)-1. These souls which are to return to the mortal world get identified in a subtle manner by their subtle bodies through these natural phenomena, viz., space, air, cloud, rain and foodstuff, even up to the grains like sesamum and barley, beans, rice and wheat, herbs, plants and trees, etc. It is very difficult to understand how they get mixed up with these things. In a very subtle form, these souls are supposed to get identified with these natural things. And they get into the body of the individual through the foodstuff with which they have been identified. Then the same process of birth takes place. The individual soul has come from the above, after finishing its career of enjoyment due to the performance of good deeds here. The soul gets identified in every manner, in every way characteristically, with the particular level through which it has to pass

21/09/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.1.7 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-7. The superiority of the knowledge arises on account of the fact of its being more inclusive in its character than all the other known branches of learning. Every form of learning in this world is isolated in the sense that it bears no connection to the other branches of learning. A person who is proficient in one branch need not be proficient in another, and, therefore, there is a limitedness of such knowledge. Our knowledge is finite; it is not all-comprehensive. Whatever be the education of a person, he cannot become all-knowing. There is something which he does not know, which keeps him subject to laws of which he has no knowledge. What binds us is the ignorance of something which exists somewhere, but about which we have no information whatsoever. Wherever there is ignorance, there is also bondage in respect of that subject or that circumstance. When we have knowledg

27/08/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.1.6 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-6. The father humbly went to the court of the king. The king, of course, received the great Brahmin with high honour, with great respect and showed the required hospitality. Gautama stayed in the palace, for the night. The next morning, when the king came to the court, in the assembly, to give audience, the Brahmin also went there. The king said: "Revered one, ask for anything which is of this world; any material gain, any amount of wealth, whatever you need for your maintenance. Ask for it, and I am ready to give it to you. Anything that pertains to this world, anything that is human, anything that is material—ask for such a boon and I shall give it as a gift." The Brahmin replied: "By God's grace I have enough of material wealth. I do not need anything of this world. You may keep this wealth for yourself. I do not require this wealth, but do give me the re

07/08/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.1.5 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-5. Then, the king said, "Why did you say that you are instructed and well-read? How is it possible for one to regard oneself as properly educated if one cannot answer even these questions? What made you think that you are educated? What is it that your father taught you if he has not told you these things?" The boy was humbled, his pride vanished, he began to realise that there are things which he could not understand. His education was not complete. This was the first time that he was taken aback from the conviction that he knew everything. Though the king asked him to stay, he ran in agony back to his father. He did not stay in the palace, and in the intensity of discomfiture he rushed to the father and cried out, "How is it that you told me once that I have been instructed and well-educated, and that I have been informed in every branch of learning? This is w

17/06/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.1.4 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-4. In this connection, the Upanishad commences with a story. There was a student named Svetaketu who was the son of sage Uddalaka. This student was well-read and finely educated. He was so confident about his knowledge that he used to parade his learning and calibre in the midst of all learned people, have discussions in courts of kings etc., and was very reputed for his great educational gift. This boy went, by chance, to the court of the king called Pravahana Jaivali, a noble emperor. The moment the boy arrived at the court, the king received him with respect, and after offering him the requisite hospitality becoming of a Brahmin boy well-versed in the Vedas and all the branches of learning, the king put a question to the boy. "Are you well educated? Have you studied? Is your education complete? Has your father instructed you?" The boy said, "Yes, my education

17/05/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.3 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-3. While the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is more transcendent in its approach and provides techniques of meditation which are mostly above the reaches of the ordinary mind, the Chhandogya Upanishad takes us along the path of ordinary experience, and then, finally, lifts us above into the empyrean of supreme transcendence. Often, scholars have held the opinion that the Brihadaranyaka is aprapancha in its view and the Chhandogya is saprapancha, which means to say that the Brihadaranyaka concerns itself with the ultimate Absolute and every solution is from the point of view of the Absolute only. So, it has taken the final step in setting about finding a remedy for the problems of life, while the normal man has also been taken into consideration in the Chhandogya, though the ultimate aim is the same, here also. Thus, the Brihadaranyaka and the Chhandogya form, in a way, complementary

04/05/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-2. 1.2 This section which we are about to commence, is a treatise on a particular method of meditation called Panchagni-Vidya, the knowledge of the Five Fires, by which the Upanishad means the various processes of manifestation, or, we may say, evolution, it being one's bondage and the way in which the cycle of transmigration revolves. There is a coming and going, descending and ascending in this samsara-chakra, or the revolving wheel of bondage. How it happens, and how one can be free from it, what are the methods to be employed for the purpose of freeing oneself from the clutches of this involuntary law that imposes itself upon us and binds us to its own mandate so that we do not seem to have any say in the matter of births and deaths or even the experiences that we have to pass through—these are our themes. The law of the universe is so vastly spread in its magnitude tha

18/04/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : Chapter One: Vaishvanara-Vidya 1.THE PANCHAGNI-VIDYA-1. The Upanishads are mainly meditations intended to act as correctives to the binding effects that are produced by the phenomena of natural processes. While what we call a natural process subjects us to its own laws, these laws can be overcome and their imposition upon the individual can be counteracted by techniques of meditation. The philosophy of the Upanishads is that it is an ignorance of the way in which the Universe works that binds the individual to samsara—the series of births and deaths. Our sorrows are, in a way, created by our own selves, because they follow as a consequence of our not abiding by the law of the universe. The affirmation of a reality independent of what really is, is called the ego. That is the centre of personality. This affirmation of individuality, jivatva, personality, or something separate from the organic structure of creation, is the cause of th

27/03/2018 The Chhandogya Upanishad : 1. Preface : I. The Chhandogya Upanishad is one of the most prominent among the major group of philosophical and mystical texts constituting one of the threefold foundation of India's spiritual lore, the tripod of Indian Culture, being constituted of the Upanishads, the Brahmasutras and the Bhagavadgita. While the Veda Samhitas are the recognised primary source of divine inspiration, their hidden intention, purported message, is supposed to be prominently revealed in the Upanishads. The Vedas are said to be capable of a variety of interpretation—a knowledge of the adhidaiva or the transcendent divinity, adhibhuta or the created universe, adhyatma or the deepest subjective consciousness, adhiyajna or the field of action and sacrifice, and adhidharma or the function of law and order. Though, in a restricted sense, the adhyatma, in this mentioned classification, may appear as an insight into the perceiving and knowing subject as dis