Guest guest Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 namaste. This article arises after seeing the recent discussions on "loneliness and aloneness". Fear is as unpleasant as suffering and pain but there are some differences. The fear of pain is not a sensory pain. Fear affects the whole being unlike the sensory pain. While the sensory pain diminishes gradually, the pain of fear appears to dissolve rapidly. Fear appears when there is a danger to the security of life. It seems to be like the (protective) mechanism very similar to the raise in the temperature of the physical body when the body is fighting an infection. Fear involves consciousness and arises by a definite object or perception which is cognized to be dangerous to one's existence or security. Br^ihadAraNyaka upanishad 1.4 deals with fear, and its origin and its solution. That seems to be the only place in the upanishads where fear is mentioned. This is probably due to the fact that upanishads are positive in their outlook and fear is a negative attribute. HiraNyagarbha represents the original divine being who is the father of all creatures. As he is the creator of all creatures, there could be no creation before he created them. Hence he was alone and he was afraid of his aloneness (so'bibhet, tasmAd ekAkI bibheti ...; Br. u. 1.4.2) [in the context of Br. u. 1.4.2 first part, is it aloneness or loneliness he is afraid of? I think loneliness and aloneness are at different levels or frames. Loneliness is a state of the mind. Even in a big group, a person can be lonely. The word loneliness implies yearning and an inner desire for that mind to be associated with others. Loneliness may be considered a disease in some quarters and is indicative of lack of confidence in oneself. In contrast, aloneness is not a state of the mind. It is indicative of a firm conviction in the rightness of what one is doing. Aloneness expresses independence from surroundings.] Now, the Br^ihadAraNyaka upanishad raises the relevant question "you feel afraid of only the other. When HiraNyagarbha was in aloneness, and there was no other beside him, then, of what was he afraid?" Thereupon, the upanishad says fear verily passed away. The upanishad asserts further "Assuredly, it is from the second (duality) that fear arises". Then, in 1.4.3, the upanishad continues: he (HiraNyagarbha) verily has no delight. He, who is alone, has no delight. He desired a second and the creation proceeded. Fear is a negative experience. It is one of the indicators of the lack of spiritual bliss. Fear is caused by the false notion of duality. The false notion of duality is caused by ignorance. So the fear comes from the second entity and the notion of second entity was caused by ignorance. Regards Gummuluru Murthy ------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 Br^ihadAraNyaka upanishad 1.4 deals with fear, and its origin and its solution. That seems to be the only place in the upanishads where fear is mentioned. This is probably due to the fact that upanishads are positive in their outlook and fear is a negative attribute. > Hare Krishna, In kathopanishad (2.6.3) also there is a mention about bhayam - fear : bhayAdasyAgnistapati bhayAtapati sUryah! bhayAdindrascha vAyuscha mrutyurdhavati panchamaha!! (Pls. bear with my sanskrit translation) > Apart from the above, in titeriya upanishad also the word *fear* appears : bhishasma dwatah pavate, bhishodeti sUryah! it is something similar to the above kathopanishad verse. Just FYI Hari Hari Hari Bol!!! bhaskar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 Namaste Murthy-Ji. I am happy you are back with us. Your wonderful exposition based on the upanishads is most informative and educative. My query to Shri Gollerkeri was purely semantic. Do we have to accept "aloneness" for the term to "being ekAki"? Isn't a better English word that connotes advaitic completion more desirable. I could locate only "fullness" in my English vocabulary which other scholars have beautifully employed in their interpretations. Isn't being the whole, encompassing everthing, "fullness"? Do we have to have an insecure "lone", like a thorn, in the middle of our understanding? Accepted, it is difficult to find terms exactly appropriate to Sanskrit words in other languages. This problem has wrought havoc on the Sanskrit word mAya which is often found most loosely and thoughtlessly translated as "illusion" thereby confounding advaitins who do not have a background in Sanskrit. Many of them, therefore, look down upon advaita with contempt. We, advaitins, therefore, must endeavour our best to be very careful in the selection of our words. Besides, if I am not considered as being unnecessarily critical, you referred to a 'fear' in: "Hence he was alone and he was afraid of his aloneness (so'bibhet, tasmAd ekAkI bibheti ...; Br. u. 1.4.2)'. Shri Gollerkeri's "aloneness" has no place for fear of any sort. This is very clear from the brilliant thoughts expressed in his post. As such, I still strongly believe what he meant by the term was a flashing sense of advaitic content for which our appropriate synonym should be fullness (an appreciation of one's own pUrNatva). Gollerkeri-Ji, could you kindly say something? Pranams. Madathil Nair ______________________ advaitin, Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy@m...> wrote: > > namaste. > > This article arises after seeing the recent discussions on > "loneliness and aloneness". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2003 Report Share Posted January 14, 2003 advaitin, bhaskar.yr@i... wrote: > Br^ihadAraNyaka upanishad 1.4 deals with fear, and its origin > and its solution. That seems to be the only place in the > upanishads where fear is mentioned. This is probably due to > the fact that upanishads are positive in their outlook and > fear is a negative attribute. > > > Hare Krishna, In kathopanishad (2.6.3) also there is a mention about > bhayam - fear : Namaste, I don't think fear is a negative expression, as it is a function. If it is negative, it is only in the sense that illusion is negative, but is that true also? Fear from the animal perspective is a defence mechanism. Another fear in the human is the same but also there is the fear arising from the feeling of aloneness, caused by the separation and not being realised. So although perhaps Arjuna may have felt fear, this is only negative as it referes to bodily consciousness and attachments.........ONS.....Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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