Guest guest Posted April 5, 2003 Report Share Posted April 5, 2003 Salutations to Thakur, Guru, and Ma! Upasana Upasana is a support or an object of meditation which must be learned from a teacher or taken from the scriptures. It is not to be made up. It is ritual associated with meditation which makes the mind flow and that which purifies the heart. It prepares one for jnana. It purpose is for mental concentration which can lead to Saguna Brahman. Upasana is uninterrupted meditation, the results of which are both seen and unseen. Its main purpose is to draw the mind away from exterior physical objects. Pratika Upasana is a symbolic meditation which consists of superimposing the idea of Brahman or a deity upon a physical object , such as the stone worshipped as Vishnu, a Tantric diagram or OM. Upasana is a mental activity dependent upon the will of the agent, opposed to what one sees with one's eye, such as: 'I see a tree. It is a tree.' Upasana is the doorway to Brahman and the highest good. The Chhandogya Upanishad devotes five of its eight parts in discussion of various forms of Upasana. Sri Sankara divides the varieties of Upasana into three groups: 1. Sacrifices and their accessories 2. Those that bring happiness after death in heaven 3. Saguna Brahman Satchitananda Kathy OM May the different limbs of my body, my tongue, prana, eyes, ears, and my strength, and also all the other sense-organs, be nourished! All, indeed, is Brahman, as declared in the Upanishads. May I never deny Brahman ! May Brahman never deny me ! May there be denial on the part of Brahman ! May there never be denial on my part ! May all the virtues described in the Upanishads belong to me, who am devoted to Atman ! Yea, may they all belong to me ! Om. Peace ! Peace ! Peace ! >From Swami Nikhilananda's THE UPANISHADS. Chhandogya Upanishad. commentary by Sri Sankaracharya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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