The Mandukya Upanishad 2.9 : Swami Krishnananda
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29/11/2019.
Section 2 : The Individual and the Absolute 9.
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This Brahman, which is the Universal Atman, is attainable by a process of personal experience. This process of experience by which we can attain the Atman which is Brahman, designated by Om, with a definition of which the Mandukya Upanishad commences, is a process of analysis and synthesis – Anvaya and Vyatireka – of the Self, the Subject. As was pointed out earlier, we are not concerned with objects here, but with the Subject, because the Subject is the means of the attainment of Brahman. Why?
Because Brahman is the Supreme Subject; it is not an object. We cannot reach Brahman through objects; we attain It through the Subject alone. So, the analytical and synthetic processes of experience, of which we are making a study in the following verses of the Upanishad, are of the Subject, the Self, and not of objects with which we are not concerned in this endeavour here, because objects are not, when we consider the nature of the Universal Subject.
This Subject, this Atman, whose investigation we are to make now, is regarded as fourfold for the purpose of this analysis – So'yamatma chatushpat. Four-footed, as it were, is this Atman. What is this four-footed Atman? Is it like a cow, with four feet? The four feet of a cow are different from one another by a spatial distinction among them. One foot of the cow is different from another foot. We can see the four feet of a cow separately. Has the Atman four feet in the same way? What does the Upanishad mean by saying, So'yamatma chatushpat, four-legged, four-footed is the Atman?
It is not true that the four quarters of the Atman are like the four feet of a cow, but rather these are like the four quarters contained in a Rupee coin. You may say that the four quarters are contained in a coin, a Rupee, which you cannot see distinctly. The four quarters are in the coin, and yet they are not distinguishable. You recognise their presence, but you cannot behold them with the eyes. In this sense, we may say that the Atman has four feet, and not in the sense of the four feet of a cow.
The four quarters of the Atman described in the Mandukya Upanishad are the four aspects in the study of the Atman, and not four distinguishable, partitioned quarters of the Atman. These quarters, these four aspects in the study of the nature of the Atman, which are the main subject of the Mandukya Upanishad, are also a process of self-transcendence. The whole scheme is one of analysis and synthesis and also transcendence of the lower by the higher.
This Mandukya Upanishad itself is an exhaustive study of the Vedanta, because, in a few words, phrases or sentences, it states what our primary duty in life is. A transcendence of the lower by the higher by way of analysis, excluding nothing, but including everything, is the way to synthesis. We enter into an analytical process by self-transcendeace, because synthesis, by itself alone, is not sufficient.
If you total up all particulars into a synthesis of unity, you may get the vast physical cosmos. You may think: this is Brahman. To remove this misconception, the Upanishad introduces the subject of self-transcendence. You have not only to total up the entire visible universe into a single unity and take it as one substance, but also transcend the nature of this total unity, because the physical character of the universe is not the essential nature of Brahman. Brahman is not physical, not even the universal physical which is the cosmos.
So, we have to transcend it, step by step. Four steps are stated. These are the four feet referred to in the Upanishad, the four stages of self-transcendence.
To be continued ....
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======================================================================
29/11/2019.
Section 2 : The Individual and the Absolute 9.
=======================================================================
This Brahman, which is the Universal Atman, is attainable by a process of personal experience. This process of experience by which we can attain the Atman which is Brahman, designated by Om, with a definition of which the Mandukya Upanishad commences, is a process of analysis and synthesis – Anvaya and Vyatireka – of the Self, the Subject. As was pointed out earlier, we are not concerned with objects here, but with the Subject, because the Subject is the means of the attainment of Brahman. Why?
Because Brahman is the Supreme Subject; it is not an object. We cannot reach Brahman through objects; we attain It through the Subject alone. So, the analytical and synthetic processes of experience, of which we are making a study in the following verses of the Upanishad, are of the Subject, the Self, and not of objects with which we are not concerned in this endeavour here, because objects are not, when we consider the nature of the Universal Subject.
This Subject, this Atman, whose investigation we are to make now, is regarded as fourfold for the purpose of this analysis – So'yamatma chatushpat. Four-footed, as it were, is this Atman. What is this four-footed Atman? Is it like a cow, with four feet? The four feet of a cow are different from one another by a spatial distinction among them. One foot of the cow is different from another foot. We can see the four feet of a cow separately. Has the Atman four feet in the same way? What does the Upanishad mean by saying, So'yamatma chatushpat, four-legged, four-footed is the Atman?
It is not true that the four quarters of the Atman are like the four feet of a cow, but rather these are like the four quarters contained in a Rupee coin. You may say that the four quarters are contained in a coin, a Rupee, which you cannot see distinctly. The four quarters are in the coin, and yet they are not distinguishable. You recognise their presence, but you cannot behold them with the eyes. In this sense, we may say that the Atman has four feet, and not in the sense of the four feet of a cow.
The four quarters of the Atman described in the Mandukya Upanishad are the four aspects in the study of the Atman, and not four distinguishable, partitioned quarters of the Atman. These quarters, these four aspects in the study of the nature of the Atman, which are the main subject of the Mandukya Upanishad, are also a process of self-transcendence. The whole scheme is one of analysis and synthesis and also transcendence of the lower by the higher.
This Mandukya Upanishad itself is an exhaustive study of the Vedanta, because, in a few words, phrases or sentences, it states what our primary duty in life is. A transcendence of the lower by the higher by way of analysis, excluding nothing, but including everything, is the way to synthesis. We enter into an analytical process by self-transcendeace, because synthesis, by itself alone, is not sufficient.
If you total up all particulars into a synthesis of unity, you may get the vast physical cosmos. You may think: this is Brahman. To remove this misconception, the Upanishad introduces the subject of self-transcendence. You have not only to total up the entire visible universe into a single unity and take it as one substance, but also transcend the nature of this total unity, because the physical character of the universe is not the essential nature of Brahman. Brahman is not physical, not even the universal physical which is the cosmos.
So, we have to transcend it, step by step. Four steps are stated. These are the four feet referred to in the Upanishad, the four stages of self-transcendence.
To be continued ....
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