Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Mahavakyas - "Great Sayings" of Upanishads

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81v%C4%81kyas

Swami
http://www.swamij.com/mahavakyas.htm

Negative Meditation

"I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa." Meditate on the above ideas constantly. Feel you are the Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa always, all through twenty-four hours. Negate the body-idea. Incessant Sadhana is necessary to remove Deha-Adhyasa which is due to Anadi Samskaras (beginningless impressions). If you can go above the body-consciousness, if you can leave the body at will, three fourths of your Sadhana is over. There is a little balance only. Then, there remains only the drawing of the curtain, removal of the veil of Avidya. That can be done quite easily. Even when you move about, even when you are at work, always feel that you are all-pervading, infinite Brahman. This is important. Thinking, concentration and efforts to separate yourself from the body should go together. In negative meditation, the Jnani dwells in Suddha, Nirguna Brahman. He has no consciousness of the world.


Positive Meditation

I am the All (Sarvatva) I am in All (Sarvatmaka) Meditate on the above ideas. In this meditation, the body and the world are taken as Brahman. As expressions of Brahman they are included. It is highly preposterous to think that Brahman is by itself full of Ananda and that which is expressed out of Brahman is full of misery, pain and sorrow. Pessimism should be shunned. It is the Jiva Srishti that is at the bottom of all pain and misery. There is nothing wrong in Isvara Srishti. Isvara Srishti does not give the least pain. On the contrary, it is Kama, Krodha, idea of mine, thine, "I am the doer" etc., that cause all trouble. This is due to Ajnana which causes identification with the limited mind.

Repeat the above idea mentally at all times. Feel you are the All. Feel that your Shakti is working in all bodies. Constantly dwell on these ideas: "The whole world is my body. All bodies are mine. All lives are mine. All pains are mine. All joys are mine." Jealousy, anger, hatred, egoism all will vanish. In the Samadhi of positive meditation, the Jnani sees within himself the world as a movement of ideas. He is both Saguna and Nirguna.

Online
http://sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=archives-search&search_string=Mahavakyas

Essay
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/essays/mahavakyas.asp

Vedas
Shishya
(lineage)
DirectionMaṭhaMahāvākyaVedaSampradaya
PadmapādaEastGovardhana PīṭhaṃPrajñānam brahma (Consciousness is Brahman)Rig VedaBhogavala
SureśvaraSouthSringeri Śārada PīṭhaṃAham brahmāsmi (I am Brahman)Yajur VedaBhūrivala
HastāmalakācāryaWestDvāraka PīṭhaṃTattvamasi (That thou art)Sama VedaKitavala
ToṭakācāryaNorthJyotirmaṭha PīṭhaṃAyamātmā brahma (This Atman is Brahman)Atharva VedaNandavala

Daily Life

Saturday, October 4, 2014

33 Crore Gods


Śākalya         : "How many gods are there?"
Yājñavalkya  : "Three hundred and three." Then he says, "Three thousand and three."

Śākalya         : "Is this the answer that you give me to my question, how many gods     are there? Three thousand and three; three hundred and three! Have you no other answer to this question?"
Yājñavalkya  : There are thirty-three gods.

Śākalya         : "All right!" (not satisfied with answer) ...Tell me again properly; how many gods are there?"
Yājñavalkya   : "Six are there."

Śākalya         : "How many gods are there. Tell me again. Think properly."
Yājñavalkya   : "Only three gods are there."

Śākalya         : "How many gods are there? Tell again.
Yājñavalkya   : "Two gods are there."

Śākalya         :  "Tell again; how many gods are there?"
Yājñavalkya   :  "One and a half gods"

(Then he was very much upset)

Śākalya         :  "What is this you say, one and a half gods. Tell again properly; how many gods are there?"
Yājñavalkya  :  "One god is there,"

Śākalya         : "All these numbers that you have mentioned – three thousand and three, three hundred and  three – what are these gods? Give the names of these gods, the deities."
Yājñavalkya  :   "All these three thousand and all that I mentioned – they are not really gods. They are only   manifestations of the thirty-three. The thirty-three are the principal manifestations, and others are only their glories, radiances, manifestations, magnificences or forces, energies,  powers."

Śākalya         : "But what are these thirty-three?"
Yājñavalkya   : "The thirty-three gods are eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Ādityas, then Indra and Prajāpati – these make thirty-three gods."

Śākalya         : "What are these Vasus which are eight in number?"
Yājñavalkya   : "Fire is one deity; earth is one deity; air is another; the atmosphere is one deity; the sun is one deity; the heaven is one deity; moon is one deity; the stars are one deity. These constitute eight groups"

Śākalya         : "Why do you call them Vasus?"
Yājñavalkya   : "Everything is deposited as it were in these constituent principles. Therefore, they are called Vasus."

Śākalya         : "Who are the Rudras?"
Yājñavalkya  : "The ten senses and the mind make eleven. These are the Rudras."
       
Śākalya         : "What are the twelve Ādityas, the suns?"
Yājñavalkya   : "They are twelve forces of the sun, takes away the vitality of people."

Śākalya         : "Who is Indra? Who is Prajāpati?"
Yājñavalkya   : "The rain cloud can be called Indra. Sacrifice can be called Prajāpati."

Śākalya         : "What do you mean by rain cloud?"
Yājñavalkya   : "By rain cloud I do not actually mean the cloud, but the lightning which is the embodiment of energy."

Source
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Chapter 3

http://freeglobaluniversity.blogspot.com/2014/08/33-crore-gods.html