Upanishad Vidyas
Sri Krishnamacharya after teaching in detail both Samkhya Karika and Yoga Sutras started teaching several upanishads and upanishad vidyas. One day I asked my Guru why there are so many upanishads and upanishad vidyas if they all have one goal of teaching one Truth principle called the Brahman. He replied that since there are several teachers and students with different abilities it would be necessary to adopt different methods, discussions and arguments to arrive at the same Truth. Here I will take up a few such Vidyas and how they help the reader to understand the nature of Brahman
Perhaps the most studied upanishad is Mandukya Upanishad wherein the Rishi author endeavours to explain that reality through our daily experiential states of waking dreaming and deep sleep to arrive at the fourth state of Brahmanhood. The Vedas refer to that ultimate reality by the pranava mantra “OM” which is made of the vowels 'a'. 'u'. and the consonant 'm' and It represents the three states we experience daily. We all agree that each one of us experience these three states daily. But are we able to identify this entity that goes through, experiences all these states. That is what this upanishad does.
We usually say that an individual acts during the waking state, then lies down and has a dream and then deep sleep before waking up again to go through activities in the waking state. But what exactly is the nature of the individual who goes through all the three stages? What are the differences among the three states and what is common in all the states? What is common in all the states is the Self and what is experienced in each state because they vary will not be the self. So the Upanishad identifies the waking state observer as pure consciousness or Brahman which is known as Atman at the individual level and is represented by the syllable 'a' of the pranava. Then the same atman is experiencing the dream state and is represented as 'u' and then deep sleep as 'm'.
Am I, Ramaswami. not the one who has experience of waking state and then I lie down and have a dream and then deep sleep? There is a big difference. In waking state Ramaswami is the person identified commonly as the subject. But in dream we have another world the dream world, the dream objects. We all agree that the dream world and dream objects are different from the waking state world and objects and persons. In addition it is easy to see that the waking state subject Ramaswami is different from the dream state subject which the mind identifies as the subject which looks and acts differently from the waking state individual. It is also said that when one has a dream there is a partial temporary paralysis of several motor functions and so the dreamer does not walk when the dream self does all activities. So the upanishad indicates that what we commonly talk about as the subject during waking state, it is different from the the subject in the dream state and the waking state dreamer is not the one who experiences the dream but the unvarying consciousness or Atman which is none other than Brahman. The upanishad wants us to see that the waking state Ramaswami is also an object for the Atman as the outside world and objects. Likewise for the Atman --and not Ramaswami-- the dream objects, the dream world and the dream self are all objects for the dream watching Atman identified by the Upanishad as 'u'. And one can extend the arguments to the deep sleep state as well. Then there is the pure state of the Atman/Brahman consciousness which yogis and liberated vedantins are said to be in, called kaivalya or brahma nirvana or the fourth state or turiya represented by the complete syllable 'AUM'
The Taittiriya upanishad looks at the ‘seen person’ as one made up of
five kosas, and exhorts the spiritual seeker to transcend the ‘five
kosa seen person’ by deep step by step contemplation and understand
the nature of the atman. These five kosas are envisaged, each one of
them as made up of the five parts of a bird, and each one of the
kosas more subtle than the outer one. The five kosas start with the
one made of food or matter, the physical body. It is made of physical
matter consisting of five distinct portions as the head, the right
and left wings, the body of the front and the tail or the back. It
gets energy from anna or food/matter. This kosa should be kept pure
and yogasanas are said to help one achieve this goal. There is a vedic
prayer which helps one pray for the pure satvic quality of the
physical body made fully of anna(annamaya) or matter.
This physical body is identified by everybody, including a child, as
the person, the self. But the self by definition is the innermost,
subtlest principle in every human being. Is there anything more subtle
than the physical body? The upanishad begins to investigate.
And it finds out that there is an inner self to the physical body made
fully of life force called prana, in the same mold of the physical
body. This pranamaya permeates the whole physical body and is
visualized as the self of the physical body or annamaya kosa. It also
is visualized with five distinct parts, the head, the two wings, the
chest and then the tail. The Prana, the main life force is the head
of vyana and apana are the right and left wings, then udana is the
body or heart of this kosa and then samana is the tail or support of
this system. A regular pranayama workout will help maintain this kosa
in good stead.
There is an inner self, of the shape of the person, to this prana maya
kosa which itself is a sheath or a kosa called mano maya. It is
permeated with an aspect of the chitta called manas. Manas coordinates
all the senses and instruments of action. Interestingly the most
important sense for a vedic scholar is the sense of hearing. Hearing
the vedas from the teacher the vedic student learns by heart the
vedas. Also this vedic student has his mano maya kosa full of vedic
knowledge. The head of this mano maya is the yajur veda, the right
and the left wings are the rik and sama vedas. The body or the chest
is the vedic injunctions (adesa or the brahmana portion) and the tail
is the last veda, the atharva veda. It therefore actually refers to
our entire memory kosa. This kosa according to yogis can be kept in
good condition by pratyahara. The vaidics would say chanting of the
vedas keeps the manomaya kosa in good shape.
Is there anything subtler than this? Yes, says the Upanishad. Subtler
than the mano maya is the vigyana maya or the kosa of intellect. This
is the self of the previous kosa, of the human form but is visualized
with a head which is shraddha or faith(in the scriptures). Since the
vedic scholar is doing this self analysis and investigation, he uses
this kosa towards the spiritual end. So the right wing is
righteousness or straight forwardness(rtam) and the left wing is satya
or the ultimate spiritual Truth. Then the heart or the atma of this
sheath is yoga or the ability to remain concentrated or go into
samadhi. The whole kosa is supported by mahat or universal
intelligence. The upanishad sadhaka has to have this kosa in good
stead to clearly understand the nature of the self using this kosa
diligently. And dhyana or meditation is the means of keeping this kosa
unpolluted.
The soul of this kosa is another subtle kosa called ananda maya which
is translated roughly as the bliss kosa. Again this kosa is in the
human form but is visualized as a bird. The head of this kosa is
affection (priya), the right wing is glee (moda), the left wing is
ecstasy (pramoda) and the heart is bliss (ananda) and the support of
this is Brahman, the ultimate reality. The ultimate reality, the Atman/
Brahman which is defined (swarupa lakshana) as pure consciousness
unaffected by either time or space (satyam, gnanam anantam brahma) and
whose realization is possible by the path shown (tatasta lakshana) by
the knowledge called the pancha maya (kosa) vidya is what is to be
known to end the evil of transmigratory existence.
The first step is to consider the human body, called the annamaya, as
part of the outside matter of the universe as it is that which is made
up of five elements, earth, water, etc., returns to the earth/universe
after death. During the lifetime, the annamaya body is sustained by
anna or food/matter, itself drawing the energy from it. The subtle
self of the human body which is the inner sheath known as pranamaya is
the one that keeps the body alive. The force that maintains it is
called prana sakti. It is said that udana, one of the five forces
keeps the balance between prana the inward life force and apana the
outward life force under balance. Once the udana loses that control at
the time of death, the apana with prana and other life forces leaves
the body. The other three sheaths , the manomaya, its inner core/
atman, the vigyana maya and the subtlest sheath the ananda maya are
controlled by the power of veil or ignorance called the avarana
sakthi. This is the power which prevents the individual from realizing
the true nature of one’s core or atman which is pure consciousness and
beyond the five kosas. This power when it operates in the subtlest or
the ananda maya kosa is known as ichha sakti or the power of desire.
When it operates in the vignyana maya kosa it is known as gnana sakti
or power of discrimination and then when it operates in the mano maya
it is known as kriya sakti. The desire for the desirable object arising
in the ananda maya leads the vignyana maya to contemplate the means
for fulfilling it and thereafter the manomaya directs the physical
body to do the necessary physical work to achieve the goal, which it
succeeds in sometimes and not some other times leading to the feeling
of happiness or unhappiness in the ananda maya self. Thus even though
the spiritual nature of the self is clearly discernible from the
pancha maya vidya of the Upanishads, it is obscured by the power of
the avarana sakthi or the power of spiritual ignorance which gets more
and more strengthened by the operation of this sakthi, life after
life. Hence the upanishad not only explains the nature of the real
self as opposed to the mistaken self (mithya atma) made up of five
kosas but also gives a step by step approach to strengthen the
spiritual knowledge leading to transcending the evil of endless
transmigratory existence.
Since the human body returns to earth and other elements the entire
universe including the human body is considered one virat one whole
universe of anna or matter of the five elements. The prana which is
the subtle self of the human body is considered the subtle self
therefore of the universe and then regressing further one arrives at
the individual soul or atman as the self. And since now it is also the
Self of the Universe it is called Brahman and the advaitins proclaims
the oneness (advaita) of the individual self (atman) and the supreme
self (brahman) as one and the same. This pancha kosa vidya episode
I am reproducing from an earlier newsletter.
Once a seeker is able to directly experience the Brahman the seeker's happiness is immeasurable. This is described beautifully in the anandamaya vidya of the taittiriya upanishad.The Bliss of one good youth well versed in the Vedas, firm, strong, healthy, quick, to whom the whole earth with all its wealth belongs, is one kind of bliss. Hundredfold and hundredfold greater in bliss in the order of succession are the states of Manushya-Gandharvas, Deva-Gandharvas, Pitris, Ajnanaja-Devas, Karma-Devas, Devas, Indra, Brihaspati, Prajapati, Brahma.
The bliss of Brahman is not to be considered as equal to a result mathematically arrived at by multiplying human joy by many hundred folds but it is the Bliss that is indescribable and infinite, the eternal the only existence. Every time it is asserted that the Veda-knower enjoys all these degrees of Bliss provided he is untainted by desire and passion. A person who realizes the Brahman also knows that the individual atman or purusha in each individual creature and the one in the Sun yonder are one and the same. Such an individual never returns to be born again after leaving the layered body.
There are many such vidyas that the variety of upanishads boast of. Satvidya, pratardana vidya, panchagni vidya, dahara vidya, sandilya vidya, upakosala vidya, pratardana vidya are some of them. The Bhagavatgita refers to the atman/brahman as the constant witness of the experiences of the childhood, then adulthood and old age and even death. The Mandukya refers to the same atma/brahman as the unvarying witness of the waking state, dream state and the deep sleep experiences of daily life and then the state of moksha or the transcendental state, the fourth or turiya. The panchagni vidya of Brihadarnyaka upanishad explains the state of five transformation the atman witnesses that take place in an individual between death and being reborn as a member of another species
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I was for three days in Germany teaching a workshop on yoga.The program was organized by BDY (German Yoga Body)( my translation). About 50 yoga teachers and practitioners attended the program.
On pranayama I had indicated that exhalation or racaka is perhaps the most important factor in learning pranyama practice. With a thorough exhalation making use ot the rectal, pelvic abdominal muscles and a flexible strong diaphragm the yogi is able to achieve exceptional racaka. And this facilitates a very good inhalation next taking in considerable fresh air. A few times say about 40 such pranayama everyday is refreshing as it helps to remove stale air from the lungs and take in fresh oxygen. My Guru would day that with recaka bala or strength of recaka or exhalation a hatayogi achieves a lot.
The whole program was arranged by my 20 year long friend Klaus Koenig.He translated the talks, demonstrated many postures. His young son 9 year old Hagen also was there helping his hard working father. A lovely kid.
On the way to the airport, Hagen gave a 'riddle'. How do you get a cow into a refrigerator? I could not imagine a cow in a refrigerator like the one in my house. I said I did not know. He said, just open the door and put the cow in and close the door . Oh yes if the refrigerator was large enough it could hold the cow. Then he went on and asked, "Now, how can get a horse into the same refrigerator. I thought I knew the answer and said "Open the door, put the horse in the refrigerator and close the door"?He smiled and said, "No, you first get the cow out of the refrigerator and then put the horse in".
Klause continued. In the same way you exhale completely and then inhale for pranayama. Remove the stale air (cow) with recaka from the lungs (refrigerator) and then fill the lungs (refrigerator) with good inhalation or puraka(the horse)
In June I will be teaching a weeklong program covering a variety of yoga related topics at East Side Yoga in Austin Texas. Here is the link for more information
http://www.eastsideyoga-austin.com/product/srivatsa-ramaswami-visit-june-2018/
From June 30th to mid July I am scheduled to teach a 15 day 100 hour Vinyasakrama yoga teacher training program at One yoga in Victoria, Canada. Though I had not planned any more of this TT program, because my last year scheduled program at Oneyoga at Montreal was cancelled, we agreed to do it in Victoria for Oneyoga of my friend Ryan Leir. It will have three components A sixty hour segment will cover more than 700 vinyasas centered around more than 120 classical asanas in 10 major sequences,following the Vinyasakrama methodology with breath orientation as taught by my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. Then there will be 20 hour segment consisting of a variety of pranayama methods and practice of some important pranayama procedures. It will also include the bandhas. In addition we will also cover yogic procedures that have a direct bearing upon the health of six internal organs or koshas viz., the heart and the circulatory system, the lungs and the respiratory system, the stomach and the digestive system, the kidneys/bladder and the urinary system, the intestines and the uterus and the reproductive systems. The third component will be for 20 hours in which we will go through all the sutras in the fourt chapters of Patanjali's yoga sutra.
I understand that there are still a few spots available even as the registration so far has been good. Here is the link.
http://oneyogavictoria.com/events/vinyasa-krama-teacher-training-with-srivatsa-ramaswami
Of course I should also mention about another important program I will be doing at Loyola Marymount University in July/August 2018. It will be 8 day program of yoga related text studies. I will be teaching the twin darsanas or philosophies of Samkhya and Yoga one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We will go throug all the 72 slokas or verses of Samkhya Karika of Iswarakrishna and then in the afternoon all the sutras of Patanjali. Since these texts complement each other it will be very useful to study them together. Here is the link for registration.
https://academics.lmu.edu/extension/crs/yoga/programs/vinyasa/
Wish you Happy reading of Upanishad Vidyas
Srivatsa Ramaswami