Upadesha sahasri

ken knight hilken_98 at YAHOO.COM
Fri Sep 13 03:19:04 CDT 2002


Namaste all,

Help. You are getting under way before I have posted
anything.

Thank you Olivia for dealing with the 'chicken and
egg' question as to whether the prose part or the
verse part comes first. I was hoping to leave that
debate aside ....and the debate as to whether the work
is just a collection of varied parts.  Such debates
arise naturally within the scientific age still
dominated by particle physics etc.  It has its place
but the substratum that pervades every particle can be
lost and it is the substratum of the text that we wish
to 'sit beside' as Shishya  (pupils).
I will post the first 17 verses of the prose Part
later tonight or tomorrow morning.  I have chosen this
to build on the 'Prelude' that I posted the other day
which no-one seemed to pick up. That is, the 'dhatu'
study of j~nAna and vid.
I feel that this sets the scene for the process to be
undergone as the pupil approaches the teacher which is
demonstrated by the 'Prose Part.'  Because I think
that it is important I will add a summary of that
posting below:

'Let us now consider adhyAtmavidyA (‘Science of
Self-Knowledge’). Vedanta teaches that True Knowledge
is 'Knowledge of Self'. Following the above step by
step we have the following:

For this knowledge to arise, all that relates to
non-Self, ignorance, separation and all forms of
limitation must be given up, rooted out and destroyed
— mArana

This process proceeds step by step, each step leading
to greater fulfilment and satisfaction — toshaNa

The steps on the way are measured by the repetition of
recourse to the experience of the bliss of the Self,
known deep within — niShamaneshu

A teaching is also necessary so the student “sits at
the feet of the master”, and the discourse gives rise
to knowledge — avabodhana

Such knowledge arises in niyoga, an inner union
arising from the natural application of the knowledge.
Now we can carry out a similar exercise on  dhAtu  vid
which is clearly related to the above.

The dhAtupATha informs us that use of dhAtu  vid is
found in knowledge — j~nAne.

This knowledge is found in one’s own Being— sattAyAm,
for truly ‘to Be’ is ‘to Know’: satyam j~nAnamanantam
Brahma, meaning ‘The Self is Truth, Knowledge.
Infinite’ (Taittiriya
Upanishad, 2.1).

Thus, veda is attained and a man discovers the
knowledge — lAbha
But this true knowledge must be differentiated from
all that is false and ignorant within us, by the
process of discrimination — vicAraNa.

The process of discrimination by which one comes to
the true knowledge of all the forms of Creation is
given in the compound dhAtvartha:
cetana-AkhyAna-nivAsa:

NivAsa means ‘to inhabit’, ‘to dwell within’, with ni-
having the sense of ‘deep within’. A man must not stop
at the outer form, for the knowledge of the Universal
Self is the innermost essence; this inward direction
enables a man to cognize the forms through and
through, thus knowing the essence in unity as well as
in the harmony of all its parts.

The accurate enumeration of all aspects of a form in
all its relationships is AkhyAna  .

And the whole process is dependent on consciousness;
it is pervaded by consciousness and it is the
conscious being which is revealed cetana.'

Peace


ken Knight





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