Sri Sadhguro Pahimam Parama Dayalu Rakshamam

[Guest guest]

Dear Members

" Hindu Dharma " is a book published by Bharatiya Vidya

Bhavan which contains English translation of two volumes of the Tamil

Book " Deivatthin Kural " ; which is a collection of invaluable and

engrossing speeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi

MahaSwamiji.

 

http://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap35.htm

 

Essence of the Upanisadic Teaching

 

What

is the essence of the Upanisadic teaching? How do we realise the

ideal state mentioned in the Upanisads [the oneing of the

individual self and the Overself]?

 

The

phenomenal universe, in the view of modern science, is embraced

by the concepts of time and space [it exists in the time-space

frame]. The Upanisads declare that only by being freed from time

and space factors can we grasp the ultimate truth that is at the

source of the cosmos. I told you about the horizon - where we are

right there the horizon is. A recognition of this truth takes us

beyond space. In this way we must also try to transcend time.

 

Is

it possible?

 

To

give us the confidence that it is, an example could be cited from

everyday life. To spend the time we lap up newspaper reports of

the fight going on in a distant country like, say, the Congo [

now called Zaire]. If a dispute or trouble erupts nearer home, in

a country like Pakistan (or at home in Kasmir), we forget the

Congo and turn to Pakistan or Kasmir. The newspapers themselves

push reports of the Congo trouble to some corner and highlight

developments in Pakistan or Kasmir. But when a quarrel breaks out

even nearer, say, a quarrel over Tiruttani between the Tamils and the Telugus,

Pakistan and

Kasmir are forgotten and the boundary quarrel claims all our

interest, Now, when we come to know of a street brawl in our

neighbourhood, we throw aside the newspaper to go out and see for

ourselves what the trouble is all about. Again, when we are

watching the street fight, a friend or relative comes and tells

us that a war is going on in our own home between the wife and

the mother. What do we do then? We forget the street brawl and

rush home at once.

 

On

an international level the Congo dispute is perhaps of great

importance. But we pass from that to quarrels of decreasing

importance. Our interest in each, however is in inverse

proportion to its real importance. Why? The Congo is far away in

space. We are more concerned about what happens nearer us than

about distant occurences. It is all like coming to the horizon,

the spot where we are.

 

Now

let us turn our gaze inward. If we become aware of the battle

going on within us, the battle fought by the senses, all other

quarrels will become distant affairs like the Congo dispute. Let

us try to resolve this inner conflict and try to remain tranquil.

In this tranquility all will be banished including place, space,

and so on. When we are asleep we are not aware of either

knowledge or space, but the jnana (in the state of enlightenment

of the inner truth) we will experience knowledge without any

consciousness of space.

 

The

time factor is similar. How inconsolably we wept when our father

died ten years ago. How is it that we do not feel the same

intensity of grief when we think of his death today? On the day a

dear one passes we weep so much, but not so much on the following

day. Why is it so? Last year we earned a promotion, or won a

prize in a lottery. We jumped for joy then, did'nt we? Why is it

that we don't feel the same thrill of joy when we think about it

today?

 

Just

as nearness in space is a factor in determining how we are

affected by an event, so too is nearness in time. Evev when we

are turned outward and remain conscious of time and space, they

lose their impact without any special effort on our part. So the

confidence arises that we can be totally freed from these two

factors of time and space if we turn inward. When we are asleep

we are oblivious of time and space without any effort on our

part. But we do not then have the awareness of being free from

them. We must go to the state spoken of by Tayumanavar, the state

in which we sleep without sleeping and are full of jnana and are

immersed in the bliss of freedom from time and space. Then

nothing will affect us, not even a quarrel right in our

prescence, in our home. Even when we recieve a stab wound we will

not be affected by it - it would be like a happening in a remote

land like Congo. When someone very dear to us dies in our

prescence - husband, wife or child - it would be an occurence

remote in time, like our father's passing ten years ago.

 

Let

us, for the time-being, forget arguments about non-dualism and

dualism. Let us think about our real need. What is it?

 

Peace.

Tranquility.

 

We

are affected by good and bad things alike. We cry, we laugh. Both

sorrow and joy have their impact on us. Even excessive laughter

causes pain in the stomach, enervates us. When we are tickled we

react angrily. " Stop it! " we cry. Even when we dance

for joy we are fatigued. We like to remain calm without being

affected by anything, without giving way to any type of emotion.

Such is our need. Not dualism or non-dualism.

 

Let

us consider what we must do for this goal. One point will become

clear if we think about how the impact produced by a happening or

an emotion is wiped away. " When news about the Congo war

broke how we became engrossed in newspaper reports of the

dispute. How did we lose interest in it later? Why does it not

have any impact on us now? " If we think on these lines we

will realise that the impact of any event - or whatever - is

progressively reduced as it is pushed further in space. If we

also consider why we are not as much affected now by our father's

death as we were ten years ago when he died, we will realise that

with receding time we are less and less affected by past events.

So if we are to remain detached we must learn to think that what

happens close by is happening in a remote place like the Congo.

 

Similarly,

we must also learn to think that all the happy and unhappy

incidents of the moment occured ten years ago. We must

assiduously train ourselves to take such an attitude. No joy or

sorrow is everlasting. They are all relative [that is they do not

have their own integral or independent force but rely on other

factors]. So without being part of anything or else dependent on

anything, we must remain in the absolute state of being

ourselves. Then alone will be free from all influences and

experience eternal peace. This is how Einstein's Theory of

Relativity is applied to the science of the Self (Atmavidya).

 

The

essence of Upanisadic message is the burning desire to be from

time and space. It would be in proportion to the extent to which

we burn within in our endeavour to be free from the

spatio-temporal factor that we will be rewarded with the grace of

Isvara and be led towards the fulfilment of the great ideal.

 

There

is no need to go to the mountains or to the forest for

instruction. Space and time teach us how to remain unaffected by

events. All that we need to do is to pray to the Lord and make an

effort to develop the will and capacity to put happenings of the

moment back in time and distant in space

 

The

first of the ten [major] Upanisads. Isavasya,

says: " It is in motion and yet

it is still. It is afar and yet near. It is indeed within. . . .

.. " . This statement refers to space and time and creates the

urge in us to be freed from both. The next mantra asks us to see

time and space and all creatures in our Self itself. Then there

will be no cause for hatred, delusion or sorow, that is nothing

will affect us. Another mantra of the same

Upanisad declares that the Self is all - pervading, going beyond

space, and distributing things through the endless years

according to their natures.

 

On

the whole, the Upanisads speak of the same basic truth of space

and time that modern science teaches. But there is this

difference. For science this truth is a mere postulate. For the

Upanisads it is a truth to be realised within as an experience.

 

This

is a conclusion of the Upanisads which themselves are the

concluding part of the Vedas.

JAYA JAYA SANKARA HARA HARA SANKARA

 

Thwameva Maathaa Cha Pithaa Thwameva Thwameva Bhandhuscha Sakhaa Thwameva

Thwameva Vidhyaa Dhravinam Thwameva Thwameva Sarvam Mama Dheva Dheva.