[Advaita-l] Paingala Upanishad

[Jaishankar Narayanan]

Namaste,

In the recently completed Vedanta Retreat at Rishikesh I had classes on the
Paingala Upanishad. Some highlights of this Upanishad

1. One of the 108 Upanishads listed in the Muktikopanishad (59th) and one
of the 22 SAmAnya Upanishads. Part of Shukla Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda.

2. It is in the form of a SamvAda between Paingala (student) and
YAjnavalkya (Guru).

3. Covers all the Prakriyas like kArana-kArya, avasthA-traya, panchakosha
etc. Explicitly talks about Pancheekaranam. Equates Anandmayakosha to
svarupa-ajnAna and kArana-Shareera - स्वरूपाज्ञानमानन्दमयकोशः ।
तत्कारणशरीरम् ॥ Mentions ajAna as avyakta-lesha thereby equating maya and
ajnAna and mentions jIva is covered by ajAna -
अव्यक्तलेशाज्ञानाच्छादितपारमार्थिकजीवस्य

4. Scholars say Adi Shankara refers to it in his bhasya on Brahma Sutras
but I am not able to locate the exact quote in the Bhashya

5. Defines Shravana, Manana, NididhyAsanam and Samadhi. Mentions Jivanmukti
and Videhamukti

6. Describes the JnAni as a Jivanmukta who continues in the body till
prarabdha ends and talks about the lakshanas of a jnAni .Even talks about
the absence of any aparakarma for a jnAni after the fall of the body

7. Explicitly mentions AdhyAropa-ApavAda as the method to know the
atma-svarupa अध्यारोपापवादतः स्वरूपं निश्चयीकर्तुं शक्यते ।

8. Vidyaranya's Panchadashi Chapter 1 seems like a summary of this
Upanishad. Vidyaranya has quoted many vakyas from this Upanishad in this
Chapter called Tattvavivekaprakarana

Those who are interested can listen to the below Playlist in YouTubehttps://
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnZ7wsx5fCtVJcsImC8_m-RnGF-fXZV5w

with love and prayers,
Jaishankar