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Meditation According to the Upanishads-8. ( upanishad Ends) : Swami Krishnananda.

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========================================================================= Friday, February 17,  2023. 11:30. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-8. ========================================================================= Thus, taking a bird's-eye view of the techniques of meditation in the Upanishads, we finally get from them not only a philosophical analysis and exposition of the structure of the cosmos and individuals, but also a way the individual can approach the Supreme Being. Hence, the Upanishads are both a philosophy and a method of approach. They are full of philosophical reasoning, psychological analysis, and practical suggestions. These methods of meditation according to the Upanishads are not suited to common minds because they require of the student a high standard of discriminative power and dispassion. The condition, the prerequisite of such a meditation, is also laid down in the Upanishads themselves—though not in the Mandukya, but in certain other Upanishads. We h

Meditation According to the Upanishads-7. Swami Krishnananda.

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========================================================================= Thursday, February 02,  2023. 06:30. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-7. ========================================================================= While that is the stunning super-cosmic meditation of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chhandogya Upanishad gives us a more sympathetic view suited to our own weaknesses because we cannot get rid of the idea that there is a world in front of us. Therefore, the Chhandogya Upanishad tells us to contemplate the universe as unified in the Supreme Being. Both lead to the same goal. The study of the Upanishads is a very difficult thing. It requires a good philosophical background because they tell everything, for the matter of that. There is no school of thought which is not touched upon in some Upanishad. In connection with the meditations of the Mandukya Upanishad, special mention has to be made of a beautiful blend that it has brought about between meditation and the

Meditation According to the Upanishads-6. Swami Krishnananda.

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Glimpses of First Anniversary Celebration of 18th Vedanta Course : First Anniversary Celebration of 18th Vedanta Course was celebrated on 5 February 2022 on the occasion of Vasant Panchami, in the holy presence of Pujya Swami Tejomayananda and Pujya Swami Swaroopananda at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai. ========================================================================= Wednesday, January 18, 2023. 07:00. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-6. ======================================================================== The Vaishvanara aspect of this analysis receives a detailed and elaborate treatment in the fifth chapter of the Chhandogya Upanishad, known as the Vaishvanara Vidya, wherein the glory of the Supreme Being is described, the meditation upon which is said to burn up all sins. In an analogy of this Upanishad, as fire burns cotton into ashes leaving no residue whatsoever, meditation on the Vaishvanara burns up all samskaras, all impressions of the mind, all sins and

Meditation According to the Upanishads-5.Swami Krishnananda

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========================================================================= Tuesday, January 03, 2022. 07:00. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-5. ========================================================================= Super-consciousness, sometimes called the supramental state, turiya, is inclusive of all that is in the other three states of consciousness. Whatever was there of worth and meaning in the condition of waking, dream or sleep is also to be found in the turiya state, only freed from the tension of it. The turiya state of consciousness is the goal of life. It is described as nāntaḥ-prajñam, na bahiṣ prajñam, nobhayataḥ-prajñam, na prajnañā-ghanam, na prajñam, nāprajñam, adṛṣtam, avyavahārayam, agrāhyam, alakṣaṇam, acintyam, avyapadeśyam, ekātma-pratyaya-sāram, prapañcopaśamam, śāntam, śivam, advaitam, caturtham manyante, sa ātmā, sa vijñeyaḥ (Ma.U. 7).  This is how the Mandukya describes the fourth state of consciousness. In the turiya state we are not aware of anything ou

Meditation According to the Upanishads-4.Swami Krishnananda.

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 ======================================================================== ======================================================================= Friday, December 16, 2022. 08:00. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-4. ======================================================================== But the purpose of consciousness is to cease, to put an end to, all tension with objects. In this effort it has not succeeded in the waking condition, and it is not going to succeed in the dreaming condition either. Merely because we only contemplate objects in the mind instead of actually confronting them physically, it does not mean that the mind has ceased from its effort. What gives pain, inconvenience and discomfort is struggle of every kind. In sleep, consciousness falls back into a condition of inactivity where, though it is not in a state of harmony with its objects, at least it is unconscious of the disharmony that is there. See the difference between samadhi and sleep. While in samadhi we

Meditation According to the Upanishads-3.Swami Krishnananda.

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 ========================================================================= ========================================================================= Sunday, November 27, 2022. 07:00. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-3. ========================================================================= The Mandukya Upanishad is an analysis of the states of consciousness, as the Vedantic meditation of the Upanishads is mainly a meditation on Consciousness. Consciousness is the Supreme Being, prajñānam brahma; therefore, a study of Consciousness is imperative for meditation on Consciousness. The bound soul is a state of consciousness, the liberated soul is also a state of consciousness, and meditation is a condition of consciousness. The whole of the Upanishadic teaching is, therefore, a huge essay on consciousness. Thus, entering into a study of the states of consciousness, the Mandukya Upanishad gives us a beautiful exposition of at least three of the strata of consciousness, which we generall

Meditation According to the Upanishads-2.Swami Krishnananda.

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 ======================================================================== ======================================================================== Wednesday, November 09, 2022. 08:00. (Spoken on January 14th, 1973) Post-2. ======================================================================== The objective analysis given to us in the Aitareya Upanishad tells us that the individual seeking freedom and salvation has come out from the Supreme Being itself; therefore, its blessedness, its final destiny, lies in the realisation of its original identity with the Supreme Being. The Atman is Consciousness, Brahman is Consciousness. Prajñā pratiṣṭhā prajñānam brahma (A.U. 3.1.3) says the Upanishad. This prajnana is also the essence of the individual soul. By the saman adhikarana method, or the bhauda saman adhikarana, as they call it, the recognition of a common substratum being there between two entities establishes the existence of a common factor between them. The objective side as the cre