Understanding Brahman-->The Brahma Wheel.

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Very nice.

 

Adding on...read quotations and interpretations below of "The

qualities of Shakti"

 

........

 

The Svetavatara Upanishad describes the qualities of the manifest

creation inhabited by the divine power of God (devatma-shakti).

Unlike the Prakriti of the Samkhya school, the Shakti that is

described here is not independent of Brahman but an aspect of Him.

The Upanishad describes the qualities of the manifested creation in

the following manner (I.4):

 

"We know Him with one hub, three divisions, sixteen ends, sixteen

supports (spokes), six sets of eight each, whose one noose has

innumerable forms, whose paths are distinguished as three and whose

delusion arises out of two causes."

 

The symbolism is explained below:

 

One hub: The One Creative Principle, called Iswara

 

Three Divisions: The three qualities namely sattva, rajas and tamas

(Vishnu, Brahma and Mahesa)

 

Sixteen Ends: The five gross elements ( mahabhutas), the five sense

organs (jnanedriyas), the five organs of action (karmendriyas) and

the mind (manas).

 

Fifty supports: They are the five viparyayas (ignorance,

infatuation, love, anger and fear), the 28 weaknesses , nine

opposites of happiness (tushti) and eight opposites of perfections (

siddhis).

 

Twenty counter supports: They are the five sense organs, five organs

of action and their objects.

 

Six sets of eight each: They are 1. Prakriti with its eight

principles of gross elements, mind, buddhi and ego-sense, 2. eight

types of minerals (dhatus) found in the body, 3. eight types of

wealth or abundance (aisvarya), 4. eight types of feelings or mental

states (bhava), 5. the eight types of gods (devas), and 6. eight

qualities of the self (atma guna).

 

The one noose with innumerable forms: It is the desire or kama which

manifests itself in many forms and holds the beings in bondage.

 

The three paths: These are the three paths to salvation namely, the

path of knowledge (gnanamarg) , the path of devotion (bhaktimarg)

and the path of action (karmamarg).

 

The two causes of delusion: They are the good actions and bad

actions performed with desire which lead to delusion only.

 

The subsequent verse speaks of Brahman as a river of five streams

flowing from five terrifying and crooked sources, whose vital

breaths are five, who is at the root of the five perceptions, five

whirl pools, five pains that are divided into five branches of fifty

each. The five streams are perceptions flowing from the five sensory

organs, the five vital breaths are the five types of prana that

flows in the body, the five whirlpools are the five types of mental

afflictions caused due to ignorance, desire etc.

 

 

Practical Hints:

================

 

 

For just one day try this: Stop living and thinking for yourself.

Stop putting yourself in front of every one and every thing. Stop

behaving as if the world should and must exist for you, for your

happiness and comfort. Accept the notion that it does not matter

whether you are a part of this great world or not.

 

Stop declaring your thoughts, expressing your dear opinions in order

to impress others. Instead listen to others with enormous patience,

without feeling the compulsion of speaking in reply to prove a point

or project your knowledge.

 

Set aside all impression management. It does not matter whether any

one really likes you or not. It does not matter whether you should

become acceptable to the world outside or not. Forget about self

presentation and self advancement. Do not react. Do not put forth

any suggestions or view points.

 

Live as if it does not matter whether any one should really care

about you, think about you or feel concerned about you. Do not draw

any attention to yourself by such acts that place you prominently in

any group. Do not make yourself important in any way. Do not give

your opinions unless you are asked.

 

Do not defend yourself verbally unless there is something very

serious at stake. Do not worry about what is going to happen. Do not

plan anything in particular. Let things happen rather than you

forcing them to happen. Do not strive. Do not struggle. Cultivate

the silence of the heart and keep praying.

 

And if you can do this sincerely for some days, you will realize

that you have just crossed the first hurdle, the transformation of

your outer self. This is only the first stage in that long journey

that leads you finally to the world of God.

 

Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti.

 

--Sanjay Aggarwal.

 

, Chandrashekhar Joglekar

<cjoglekar2002> wrote:

> Dear Sanjayji and all others,

>

>

> Bhagwat Geeta classifies a person at 4 different

> levels. These are brahman, shatriya, vaishya and

> shudra.

>

> At same time it is said that people are of 3 natures

> or Gunas. The three natures are satwik, Rajsik and

> tamsik. The chapter 8 of Bhagwat Geeta explains the

> Term "Brahman". The chapter opens with Arjunas

> question to krisna "What is Brahman? What is Adhyatma?

> What is Action? What is declared to be Adhibhuta? And

> what is AdhiDaiva said to be?"

>

> And Lord krisna answers these questions in the Chapter

> 8.

>

> stanza 3.

>

> " BRAHMAN is immperishable and the Adhibhutas

> constitute my perishable nature"

>

> What Bhagwat Geeta says is the aim of our life is to

> become desireless. And Being Brahman is Being

> desireless and the desireless never return to earth

> plane.

>

> Geeta chapter 8:stanza 11, 12 AND 13 LORD KRISNHA SAYS

>

> "THAT WHICH IS DEECLARED IMPERISHABLE BY THE VEDA

> KNOWERS; THAT INTO WHICH THE SELF CONTROLLED AND

> DESIRE-FREED ENTER; THAT DESIRING WHICH BRAHMCHARYA IS

> PRACTISED- THAT GOAL I WILL DECLARE TO THEE IN BRIEF"

>

> "HVAING CLOSED ALL THE GATES, HAVING CONFINED THE MIND

> IN THE HEART, HAVING FIXED THE LIFE-BREATH IN THE

> "HEAD" ENGAGED IN THE PRACTICE OF CONCENTRATION,

>

> UTTERING THE ONY SYLLABLED 'OM- (THE SYMBOL OF) THE

> BRAHMAN- AND REMEMBERING ME, HE WHO DEPARTS, LEAVING

> THE BODY, ATTAINS THE SUPREME GOAL"

>

> Geeta chapter 8 , stanza 15.

>

> " HAVING ATTAINED ME, THESE MAHATMAS (GREAT SOULS) DO

> NOT TAKE BIRTH AGAIN, WHICH IS HOUSE OF PAIN AND IS

> NON ITERNAL, THEY HAVING REACHED THE HIGHEST

> PERFECTION, MOKSHA"

>

> Stanza 16.

>

> WORLDS UPTO THE "WORLD OF BRAHMAJI", ARE SUBJECT TO

> REBIRTH, O ARJUNA, BUT WHO REACHES ME , O KAUNTEYA,

> HAS NO BIRTH.

>

> Stanza 21.

>

> "THAT WHICH IS CALLED THE UNMANIFEST AND THE

> IMPERISHABLE, THAT, THEY SAY IS THE HIGHEST GOAL. THEY

> WHO REACH IT NEVER AGAIN RETURN. THIS IS MY HIGHEST

> ABODE."

>

> Stanza 23

>

> "NOW AT WHAT TIME (PATH) DEAPRTING, YOGINS GO, NEVER

> TO RETURN, AS ALSO TO RETURN, THAT TIME (PATH), I WILL

> TELL YOU, O CHIEF OF BHARTAS"

>

> Geeta chapter 8, STANZA 24

>

> "FIRE, LIGHT, DAY TIME, THE BRIGHT FORTNIGHT, THE SIX

> MONTHS OF NORTHEN SOLSTICE; FOLOWING THIS PATH , men

> who know Brahman go to Brahman"

>

> According to Upnishdic traditions

>

> "He who lived a life of rituals (karmas) and worship

> (Upasna), will walk the path of the gods and entering

> through the sun will go beyond it to Brahmloka. There

> he enjoys the supersensous Bliss till the end of the

> "cycle", when along with the creator, he gets total

> liberation. "

>

> Geeta Chapter 8:25

>

> " SMOKE , NIGHT TIME, THE DARK FORTNIGHT, ASLO SIX

> MONTHS OF THE SOUTHERN SOLDICE, ATTAINING BY THESE TO

> THE MOON, THE LUNAR LIGHT, THE YOGI RETURNS"

>

> Those who leave the world after spending there life

> time in doing good and performing rituals (karmas)

> without worship (Upasna), are those who go to the

> world of Ancestors (pitrus, world of heavens). On

> having exhausted their merits, they return into

> deserved embodiments ordered by individual Vasna

> (desire) balance.

>

> So these two stanzas make it clear that Brahman is

> essentially one which is desireless. Because only

> desireless spirit is liberated permanantly from the

> perishable (the elements) and so never return to earth

> plane.

>

> So any one BORN is born with DESIRES and there for is

> not a Brahmin. The way we attain these desires are the

> three Gunas (satwik, rajsik nad tamsik) and only

> satwik guna can lead us to become Brahmin.

>

> OM.....

>

>

> --- sanjaytechnology <sanjaytechnology>

> wrote:

> > All:

> >

> > The knowledge of Brahman and the desire to fell

> > Brahman is the

> > beginning of understanding of the "SELF". However,

> > the statements

> > below are very powerful especiall the one "The Isa

> > Upanishad warns

> > the students of Brahman not to take sides while

> > approaching Brahman.

> > Those who worship the unmanifest (asambhutim) enter

> > blinding

> > darkness and those who worship the manifest only

> > (sambhutim) enter

> > into greater darkness. The right approach is to

> > worship both and

> > realize one through the other." This is a very very

> > powerful

> > statement.

> >

> > Read the statement below, and then the article

> > below.

> >

> > A man knocked on the God's door. "Who's is there?"

> > asked God from

> > within. "It's me," said the man. "Go away then.

> > There is no room for

> > two," said God. The man departed and wandered in the

> > arid desert

> > until he realized his error. Returning to the door,

> > he knocked once

> > again. "Who's is there?" asked God as before. "You,"

> > answered the

> > man. "Then come in," God replied.

> >

> >

> > Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti.

> >

> > --Sanjay Aggarwal

> >

> > Difficulties in Understanding Brahman

> > Any attempt to explain Brahman to the satisfaction

> > of a mind that is

> > driven by reason and familiar with the

> > concretization thought is

> > fraught with enormous difficulties, because that

> > which is

> > inexplicable cannot be explained by any amount of

> > reasoning and

> > logic. Brahman is beyond the senses, beyond the

> > mind, beyond our

> > intelligence and dreams. Then how can It be

> > explained to the

> > satisfaction of an intellectual and curious mind?

> > The Rigvedic seers

> > themselves had this problem in their mind when they

> > called Him

> > vaguely as "IT" or "This" or "That"

> >

> > The difficulty in understanding and knowing Brahman

> > is well

> > explained in the Kena Upanishad. Even gods are not

> > free from their

> > ignorance of Brahman (II.2.1). All that we can

> > understand about

> > Brahman is that we cannot understand It. Even after

> > prolonged

> > spiritual practice and meditation, one cannot even

> > conclude whether

> > one knows it or not. If a person thinks that he

> > knows It, he does

> > not know that he does not know. To whomsoever It is

> > not known, It is

> > known to him. But to whomsoever it is known, is not

> > known to him. It

> > is not understood by those who understand it and

> > understood by those

> > who do not understand it. It can be known only when

> > one experiences

> > directly at all levels of consciousness. (II. 2.

> > 2-4).

> >

> > Trying to worship Brahman incorrectly and ignorantly

> > without knowing

> > the right approach can also result in great

> > difficulties for a

> > person who is on the path to salvation. The Isa

> > Upanishad warns the

> > students of Brahman not to take sides while

> > approaching Brahman.

> > Those who worship the unmanifest (asambhutim) enter

> > blinding

> > darkness and those who worship the manifest only

> > (sambhutim) enter

> > into greater darkness. The right approach is to

> > worship both and

> > realize one through the other.

> >

> > Even an enlightened seer like Yagnavalkya had

> > difficulties in

> > explaining the nature of Brahman and his creation.

> > While speaking to

> > Sakalya in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, he declares, "

> > That Self is not

> > this, not this. It is incomprehensible for it is not

> > comprehended."

> > When Gargi Vacaknavi asks him too many questions, in

> > the same

> > Upanishad he expresses his irritation saying, "

> > Gargi, do not

> > question too much. Otherwise your head may fall off.

> > You are asking

> > so many questions about a divinity about whom we are

> > not expected to

> > ask many questions."

> >

> > Else where in the same Upanishad he resorts to

> > negative terminology

> > to explain the inexplicable using such words as

> > aksaram

> > (imperishable), asthulam (not gross), ananu (not

> > subtle), ahrasvam

> > (nor short), adirgham (not long), achchayam (not

> > shadow), atamah

> > (not tamasic) and so on (Brihadaranyaka III.8.8).

> >

> > What is the original state of Brahman? Even the

> > seers do not seem to

> > have an answer. Uddalaka Aruni tells Svetaketu in

> > Chandogya

> > Upanishad, that in the beginning the Being was

> > alone, one only, one

> > without a second and in the next moment changes his

> > statement

> > stating that according to some in the beginning the

> > non-Being was

> > alone, without a second and that from that non-Being

> > being was

> > produced. (VI.2.1)

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

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