kah

May 22, 2004

The Vedas look upon the mundane as nothing but the manifestation of

divinity.- ` isa vasya midam sarvam' ( Upanishad of Isa) The entire

world is encompassed by the Lord Himself. Indians have looked upon

the body in particular and the creation in general as a

representation of the Parabrahman. I recall one such deitification

of the organs of human body in Taittriya upanishad, beautifully

commented upon by Sankara.

`May Mitra be blissful to us. May Varuna be blissful to us. May

Aryaman be blissful to us. May Indra n Brahspati be blissful to us.

May Vishnu, of long strides, be blissful to us. Salutations to

Brahman, salutations to You, Oh Vayu, You indeed r the Brahman

personified. I shall call you the Righteousness. I shall call you as

the Truth. May he protect me. May he protect my teacher. May he

protect and may he protect my teacher' (Taittiriya I.i.1)

Looking at the mantra, this is a prayer to deities of early `aryans'

but Sankara interprets it as a deitification of one's own body and

the mantra signifies meditation upon those deities which represent

various functions in the human body.

Mitra is the deity who identifies himself with and is the self of the

function of exhaling and of day. Varuna, of inhaling and of night.

Aryaman identifies himself with eyes and Indra, with strength.

Bhrspati identifies himself with speech and Intellect and Vishnu, the

god of long strides, with feet.

Sankara equates Vayu with Brahman, as described in the Mantra. I feel

Vayu is the medium that permeates the Yogic space inside the body.

More so, coz he is the juxtaposition between the Earth (Mooladhara)

and the Heavens (Sahasrara)( Taittiriya U. I.i.2)

Praying to the Mitra and Varuna, the gods over the breathing, has

special significance in Yoga. The yogic exponents teach us that

observing our breath is a saadhana , a spiritual practice, in itself

and this leads to ultimate illumination of man.

The new born cries ` koham'. (kah – aham : ` who am I?')

In Hindu thought of philosophy, this `kah' word is very important,

where the questioning is involved.

In the debate between Dharmaja and Yaksha, Yudhistir questions : kah

Yaksha … who is the Unknown?

This represents the highest level of questioning… ` who is the

unknown parabhrahman, whom I should attain? Who is making this

Universe run? Who is Generating, Operating and Destroying the

worlds?? "

This question is asked in fact in various places. One such

reference I can recall immediately is in Svetasvatara Upanishad.

" what is the nature of Brahman, the Source? From what have we been

born? By what do we live? And , where do we exist? O knowers of

Brahman, controlled by whom do we follow the rule regarding joy and

its opposite?" (Sv. I.1)

We can see that the same kah- question is repeated at various levels

of enquiry. In Bhagavad Gita, Dhritarashtra questions ` kim' what?

This represents karma jijnasa.- the enquiry to know what to do.

On the other hand, Arjuna questions ` katham' ie how? This is called

Dharma jijnasa> It is the Lord who takes him along the way to know

the Ultimate through the discourses in Gita.

Thus, Gita is a journey from Dharma jijnasa to Brhama jijnasa-from `

atha tho dharma jijnasa ` representing the genises of dhama sutras

to ` atha tho brahma jijsana' ( once you seek to enquire of Brahman),

the first aphorism of brahma sutras. (Incidentally, Gita,

Upanishads and Brahma sutras form the three important canons of

Hinduism called ` Trayee prastana' )

Similiarly, Koham is also a question involved with the enquiry of the

true nature of one's own self. The reply to this cry of the

ignorant is supplied by the living being's breathing process. The

inhailing says ` soh' and the exhaling says ` aham' . Juxtaposing

both, the reply is sought ` soham' ( you are that), the repetition of

Maha vakya ` tat twam asi' .

In other words, you need not run to great seers or gurus or textual

references for inquiring into the nature of the Paramatman.

Unknowingly, your body is repeating the solution- the great mantra `

soham' all the time, every moment of the day and night, whether u r

awake or not, whether u r conscious or not. Ju st know thy

breathing, u shall know thyself.

In fact, the techniques of Anapanasati of Buddhism exactly follow the

observation of breathing process.

The same philosophy is expressed here by saying that meditate upon

mitra and varuna, who represent the two aspects of the breathing and

the day.

The early Rg vedins understood the importance of the Kah so much

that they have deitified the question.

Ka is equated to Prajapati – in several Brahmanas Sacrifices are

offered to the god of ` who' `kaya'

Mahabharata identifies Ka with Daksha and Bhagavatam to Kashyapa, who

is akin to Prajapati.

kishore

May 22, 2004

The word kha also means "to come." As in Khahi - come eat.

-

kishore mohan

Friday, May 21, 2004 11:02 PM

kah