[Advaita-l] 'United, we stand, divided, we fall' - Message of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

[Divya Meedin]

Namaste Raghavji,

Thanks for sharing this profound anecdote.

Regards,
Divya

On Sat, Jun 13, 2020 at 9:32 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Subbu ji
>
> Regarding the beautiful and profound mantra quoted by you - ब्रह्म तं
> परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो ब्रह्म वेद क्षत्त्रं तं
> परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनः क्षत्त्रं वेद लोकास्तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो
> लोकान्वेद देवास्तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो देवान्वेद भूतानि तं
> परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो भूतानि वेद सर्वं तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनः सर्वं
> वेदेदं ब्रह्मेदं क्षत्त्रमिमे लोका इमे देवा इमानि भूतानीदं सर्वं यदयमात्मा
> ॥ ६ ॥
> (brahma tam paradaadyo anyatrAtmano Brahma Veda ....)
> The central theme of the mantra is: All this is Atma (Brahman), there is
> nothing other than Brahman.
>
> There is an interesting anecdote about how bheda buddhi ( looking upon some
> people as the "other" in an absolute sense and that they are separate from
> the Self) leads to 'defeat' or being conquered by those very 'others',
> presumably through creating attachments and hatred  or rAga-dveSha (which
> is inherent in all dvaita buddhi) and bhaya (fear also is from recognising
> a second entity independent of the Self) and all the other ramifications of
> such an attitude of "othering".
>
> When Swami Vivekananda was
> "passing through the (Kashmir) valley of the Jhelum, the Swami was in a
> reminiscent mood. Speaking of Brahmavidya, the path of realisation
> of the One Absolute, and of how love conquers all evil, he related the
> story of one of his classmates, who subsequently became a rich man. He was
> suffering from an obscure disease which baffled the skill of the doctors.
> Naturally, he lost hope of recovery
> and interest in life in general, and turned to religion and thoughts of
> Vairagyam, as men do in such a case. Hearing that the Swami had become a
> religious man
> and an adept in Yoga he sent for him, begging him to come if only for once,
> which he did. As the Swami sat at his bedside, there came to his mind the
> Upanishadic Shloka—“Him the Brahmana conquers, who thinks that he is
> separate from the Brahmana. Him the Kshatriya conquers, who thinks that he
> is separate from the Kshatriya and him the universe conquers, who thinks
> that he is separate from the universe." (Paraphrased translation)
>
> Curiously, this acted like a charm on the sick man and the effect was
> miraculous. He grasped the theme even with the repeating of the Sloka, felt
> strength in
> the body as he had not done for a long time, and made a quick recovery ! "
>
> (Presumably some deep inner conflict caused the stress and a psychosomatic
> ailment.)
>
> Om
> Raghav
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 11 Jun, 2020, 2:00 PM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > This slogan 'United we stand, divided we fall' is one shouted by workers
> in
> > their protest demonstrations. However, the heart of this slogan is the
> > central teaching of the Vedanta. In the  Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.6
> we
> > have this mantra:
> >
> > ब्रह्म तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो ब्रह्म वेद क्षत्त्रं तं
> > परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनः क्षत्त्रं वेद लोकास्तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो
> > लोकान्वेद देवास्तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो देवान्वेद भूतानि तं
> > परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो भूतानि वेद सर्वं तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनः सर्वं
> > वेदेदं ब्रह्मेदं क्षत्त्रमिमे लोका इमे देवा इमानि भूतानीदं सर्वं
> यदयमात्मा
> > ॥ ६ ॥
> >
> > The central theme of the mantra is: All this is Atma (Brahman), there is
> > nothing other than Brahman.
> >
> > Translation: (Swami Madhavananda)  The Brahmana (Jati) ousts one who
> knows
> > it as different from the Self. The Kshatriya ousts one who knows him as
> > different from the Self. The worlds oust one who knows them as
> > different from the Self. The gods oust one who knows them as different
> from
> > the Self. The beings oust one who knows them as different from the
> > Self. All ousts one who knows it as different from the Self. This Brahma,
> > this Kshatriya, these worlds, these gods, these beings, and this all
> > are the Self.
> >
> > Shankara's Bhashya: ननु कथम् अन्यस्मिन्विदिते अन्यद्विदितं भवति ? नैष
> दोषः
> > ; न हि आत्मव्यतिरेकेण अन्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति ; यद्यस्ति, न तद्विदितं स्यात् ;
> न
> > त्वन्यदस्ति ; आत्मैव तु सर्वम् ; तस्मात् सर्वम् आत्मनि विदिते विदितं
> > स्यात् । कथं पुनरात्मैव सर्वमित्येतत् श्रावयति — ब्रह्म ब्राह्मणजातिः तं
> > पुरुषं परादात् परादध्यात् पराकुर्यात् ; कम् ? यः अन्यत्रात्मनः
> > आत्मस्वरूपव्यतिरेकेण — आत्मैव न भवतीयं ब्राह्मणजातिरिति — तां यो वेद, तं
> > परादध्यात् सा ब्राह्मणजातिः अनात्मस्वरूपेण मां पश्यतीति ; परमात्मा हि
> > सर्वेषामात्मा । तथा क्षत्रं क्षत्रियजातिः, तथा लोकाः, देवाः, भूतानि,
> > सर्वम् । इदं ब्रह्मेति — यान्यनुक्रान्तानि तानि सर्वाणि, आत्मैव,
> यदयमात्मा
> > — योऽयमात्मा द्रष्टव्यः श्रोतव्य इति प्रकृतः — यस्मात् आत्मनो जायते
> > आत्मन्येव लीयत आत्ममयं च स्थितिकाले, आत्मव्यतिरेकेणाग्रहणात् , आत्मैव
> > सर्वम् ॥
> >
> > The gist of the Bhashyam: If one were to consider/know the Brahmana jati
> as
> > different from the Atman, that Brahmana jati would 'oust' such a knower.
> > What does this mean? The perceiver considers the Brahmana jati as
> different
> > from himself, as anatma. So, that 'anatma' retaliates by punishing him by
> > letting him to be finite, paricchinna, limited, and therefore, to
> continue
> > in samsara, in ignorance.  Everything in creation, if viewed as anatma,
> > that is something having an existence of/by itself, independently, will
> in
> > turn show this perceiver also to be finite, a mithya vastu. The idea is:
> > when we see a serpent, owing to error, in a rope, till such time the
> > rope-knowledge has not arisen, we continue to view that serpent as
> 'real',
> > having an independent existence. But, as is well known, such is not the
> > case. The superimposed snake is appearing to be real only on the borrowed
> > existence of the rope. In the same way while everything in creation
> exists
> > only due to the Atma, the grand substratum, if anyone were to see it as
> > existing independently without the supporting, sustaining, Atman, that
> is,
> > bereft of Atman, then such a view itself will continue to keep the
> > perceiver in bondage, ignorance.
> >
> > This idea is deftly conveyed by Shankara Bhagavatpada in this commentary
> to
> > the Brahmasutra 1.4.19 'vaakyaanvayaat', a very important adhikaranam:
> > Shankara encapsulates the central teaching of Vedanta in these powerful
> > words. Those requiring the translation may look up the book by Swami
> > Gambhirananda.
> >
> > यत्कारणमात्मविज्ञानेन सर्वविज्ञानं प्रतिज्ञायानन्तरेण ग्रन्थेन
> तदेवोपपादयति
> > — ‘ब्रह्म तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो ब्रह्म वेद’ इत्यादिना ; यो हि
> > ब्रह्मक्षत्रादिकं जगदात्मनोऽन्यत्र स्वातन्त्र्येण लब्धसद्भावं पश्यति, तं
> > मिथ्यादर्शिनं तदेव मिथ्यादृष्टं ब्रह्मक्षत्रादिकं जगत्पराकरोतीति
> > भेददृष्टिमपोद्य, ‘इदꣳ सर्वं यदयमात्मा’ इति सर्वस्य
> > वस्तुजातस्यात्माव्यतिरेकमवतारयति ; ‘दुन्दुभ्यादिदृष्टान्तैश्च’ (बृ. उ. ४
> ।
> > ५ । ८)
> > <
> >
> https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Brha?page=4&id=BR_C04_S05_V08&hl=%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%B7%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9F%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9A
> > >
> > तमेवाव्यतिरेकं
> > द्रढयति ; ‘अस्य महतो भूतस्य निःश्वसितमेतद्यदृग्वेदः’ (बृ. उ. ४ । ५ । ११)
> > <
> >
> https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Brha?page=4&id=BR_C04_S05_V11&hl=%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%83%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%83
> > >
> > इत्यादिना
> > च प्रकृतस्यात्मनो नामरूपकर्मप्रपञ्चकारणतां व्याचक्षाणः परमात्मानमेवैनं
> > गमयति ; ‘तथैवैकायनप्रक्रियायामपि’ सविषयस्य सेन्द्रियस्य सान्तःकरणस्य
> > प्रपञ्चस्यैकायनमनन्तरमबाह्यं कृत्स्नं प्रज्ञानघनं व्याचक्षाणः
> > परमात्मानमेवैनं गमयति । तस्मात्परमात्मन एवायं दर्शनाद्युपदेश इति गम्यते ॥
> > १९ ॥
> >
> > Thus, the Vedanta teaches:
> >
> > 1. If we are divided, that is, hold the view that I am different and the
> > rest of the creation is different, then we 'fall', that is, we remain in
> > ignorance.
> > 2. On the other hand, if we gain the 'total view', akhanDa darshanam, we
> > stand firm as the Atman, Brahman, with nothing in the universe to limit
> us
> > and bind us.
> >
> > Om Tat Sat
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