Upanishads-2

Read part one here.

Jagatguru Adishankaracharya Ji and Mahaguru Gaudapadacharya Ji. I bow at your divine feet

Gentle reminder : These lines are best understood when we read them without any pre -assumptions

Continuing from the last part, Sage Ashtavakra tells Janak  “bs tum hi sach” (Only you are the reality, this world is an illusion). King Janak now feels confused and asks “Then tell me dear Sage who am I ?” 

“You are that advaita (Non-dual) bliss. Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham (The infinite bliss) . It is due to your ignorance that you think this world is some thing apart from you. At this stage you have both ignorance and error. Ignorance, because you do not know what your real nature is, and because of that, you make the aforementioned error of thinking of this world as a  different entity from you . Just like in the darkness you see a rope and think it is a snake, you mistake yourself as a limited creature trapped in this body and mind and never get to know your real self which is beyond all limitations” 

You experience this waking world with your body (Five senses) without which, it is impossible to experience anything in the waking state. Can you experience any tangible existence of this world without seeing, smelling, touching, hearing or tasting it?  Think. Such a thing cannot exist for you tangibly ! So, you need your body to experience this waking world. But attributing the body to your actual self is an error.

You think you are this body. Very well ! but my dear, every night you experience a world without your body. You feel thirst in a dream which is satiated by the dream water, similar to that of actual world. You feel emotions if someone dies in your dreams. You do experience a lot even without your  senses  then how can you say that you are the body? If that was the case then you would not be able to experience your thought world, but you do. So doesn’t it mean that you are more than just the body?

“Oh !! So, am I the mind then?”

Very well said, let’s say that you are the mind. If your real self is the mind then you won’t be able to experience anything without it, right? But when you are really tired or exhausted you fall into a dreamless sleep. You don’t experience any thought world. You don’t even experience the thoughts in your mind when you are in deep sleep, do you? If you can tell that Oh I am in deep sleep now, then definitely you are not in deep sleep ! If you were the mind then your thoughts must have been present, the moment you become aware of your mind, thoughts rush in. In a deep sleep there is neither body (five senses) nor mind (thoughts). It’s just blankness, isn’t it? but you are still there, when you wake up you say “I had a nice deep sleep“You are present in the blankness too. So you are neither the body nor the mind as you are still present when both of them are not.

To be cond… 

This post on wards, serious self contemplation is required 

Upanishad series will most probably will be posted on every weekend. This post was three days early so to keep in touch with the last part  😛

Put your seat belts on, it has just begun 😉 I hope  that you are able to follow it. One of my motives behind this series is to increase my own knowledge and we have many Learned and brilliant members here, so comments are open for discussion.  😁