Upanishads

The Upanishads is a study of us.

It urges us to “Know Thyself “and be free.

In our social setting, it is the more educated that enjoy greater freedom in society, but the Upanishads tell us, that this type of knowledge cannot make us free.

The study of the Self is the study of everything the Self cannot become as the subject cannot become the object, but remains the essence.

The Upanishads remind us of 3 defects of the mind.

1)   Mala or dirt – as a thick coating over a mirror preventing the reflection of the light.

2)   Vikshepa – the inability to concentrate for a long time.

3)   Avarana – it is like a thick veil over the mind.

The Atman or Self is pure subject, but when pulled into the direction of what it is not, it is pulled toward sense perception.

So the Upanishads gives us 4 important instructions.

1)   The creator pervades the whole universe

2)   Everyone is to do one’s duty

3)   Knowledge and action have to be combined and not considered separate.

4)   We must view God and the world as being in a state of harmony and not as opposed to each other.

The first tenant:

All is enveloped by the Supreme Being. The creator manifests the Universes.

The aspect of God in creation is called Ishvara.

Ishvara is tied to consciousness. Consciousness exists everywhere. It is universal. It is the one thing being all things and being everywhere.

Upanishads on happiness:

We will not be happy by acquiring land, houses or money.

Possession is not the way of being happy.

Actually, there is no such thing as possession. We cannot possess land, because it was already here before we were even born.

What does this mean “I possess something”?

Does that object enter our being in any way? No, possession always remains outside of us, just as they were outside even before we were born. So it follows, that an object outside of us cannot become ours.

If someone has taken away something and the location shifts, we consider it lost. We get upset, because it is gone, but it has not gone anywhere, only its location has shifted.

Anything, that is capable of leaving us, is not ours.

The idea of the whole argument is to renounce attachment. Another way of saying this is to renounce our sense of possession and by doing so, we renounce attachment.

Happiness is a state of being and not one of possession.

It then follows, that the more we feel the need to be alone in a state of being, rather than in a state of possessing, the happier we will be.

Another tenant is to be in communion with the creation of God.

One needs to enjoy all things without forming an attachment. Attachment is a selfish attempt to possess.

When we have emptied ourselves of all selfish cravings and desires, the world will enter into us and it shall be ours.

Therefore perform all duties as a participation in the work of this evolutionary process of creation and not as a self serving activity.

There is no conflict between meditation and action, knowledge and work. They all go together.

We generally think, that knowledge means knowing something that can be obtained from books, art etc., but it is not necessarily so. This type of knowledge is none other than gathering of information from the outer world.

The inner essence is not gained by academic learning. It teaches nothing of its essence only of its behavior. True knowledge is the insight into the being of things, the Self of all things.

What have we observed?

Ekam sat: “Existence is only one”.

Ultimate Being is Existence. Being and Existence have the same meaning.

Everything exists in some form or another. The Upanishads states: “this existence is Supreme, complete, universal, all pervading, the only Being.

That which is everywhere and in all things is Brahman in Sanskrit.

Whoever realizes Brahman attains Supreme understanding. It is so because when anyone contacts Pure Existence, that contact is equal to the contact of all things.

How can we attain Brahman?

In the state of samadhi through meditation,

Through direct inward communion,

In deep thought and profound contemplation,

Meditation is also called jnana or wisdom path.

How to define Brahman

It is Pure Existence, sat yam, Ultimate Truth.

When we conceive this universal Brahman as the deepest reality in ourselves, it is called Atman or Self.

To go into the Self is the best achievement, the highest attainment. The knowledge of the essence in us is also the knowledge of the essential secret of the universe. With this Self knowledge we begin to feel a Bliss contact with all things. All desires get fulfilled in that state in an instant.

Brahman, God, Self experience is not an object of contact, it is an identity.

The object is the experiencing consciousness itself. The content of awareness becomes awareness itself.

Existence and Consciousness merge into each other.

Sat becomes Chit, Chit becomes sat. In actuality, it is not one thing becoming another, as the one thing is the other thing. Existence is none other than consciousness of existence. When we say we exist, we confirm that we are conscious that we exist.