The Mandukya Upanishad 7.3 Swami Krishnananda

 

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Thursday, January  14, 2021. 09:50. AM.
Section 7: The Transcendent Presence-3.

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'Salila Eko Drashta', says Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranayaka Upanishad. The Atman is like an oceanic flood without a surface or a limit. The Atman is the sole Seer, Knower, Beholder, Experiencer, without a counterpart objective to it. It knows itself, not 'others', for the 'others' are also a part of itself. Hence, knowledge of the Atman is the knowledge of the whole of existence. It is not knowledge of this Atman, that Atman, this Self, that self, this person, that person. It is the knowledge of The Atman, which can only be One. The Atman is single – Ekatmapratyayasaram. The One Atman is called the Paramatman as distinguished from the multitudinousness of the so-called Atmans, called Jivatmans. It is Paramatman, because it is the Supreme Self. 'Brahmeti Parnmatmeti Bhagavaniti Sabdyate', says the Srimad-Bhagavata. From the absolute, universal and personal standpoints, it is called Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan. In itself it is Brahman, the Absolute; and as the Supreme Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, it is the Paramatman; as the Beloved of devotees, it is Bhagavan. It is all this; -Dvaita, Visishtadvaita and Advaita points of view come together here in this Atman, and the conclusions of the schools of thought merge into the single truth of a blend of various standpoints. Quarrels cease, arguments come to a stop, philosophies are hushed, silence prevails. 

This Atman is Silence, said a great Master. When a devotee came, and asked the Guru, 'Tell me the Atman', the Guru kept quiet. When the disciple queried again, 'Master, tell me the Atman', the Guru kept quiet, again. A third time the question was raised, and the Guru kept quiet, once more. When for the fourth time the disciple put the same question, 'Tell me the Atman'; the Guru said, 'I am telling you, you are not hearing; because Silence is the Atman'. In that Great Silence, all the turmoil of the cosmos is calmed. All the clamour of the senses, all the noise of the universe is contained and absorbed in this Silence. The Silence here is better than all the sounds that one makes, and it explains things better than all the speeches that one utters. This Silence is a fuller explanation than all the logical arguments of the philosophers. This Silence of all silences connotes Reality in a more comprehensive manner, than anything else, because when we express it in words, we come down from its level to a lower grade, and begin to think of it as an external object. The Kena Upanishad warns us when it says, "It is not known to those who know it; it is known to those who do not know it". If you think you know it, you do not know it, and when you know it, you do not think, but you simply are. You have become That, and you are That; and that is real knowledge. Knowledge is not expression, but Being. It is not becoming or a process. 

It is called Satta-samanya, in the language of the Yoga Vasishtha, the General Existence of all things, as distinguished from the particular existences of bodies, minds and individuals. It is the Transcendent Being, which cannot be called either as this or that. It is neither Sat (existence) nor Asat (non-existence) in the ordinary sense of the term. It is not 'Sat' or existence in the sense of some object being there. It is not 'Asat' or non-existence, also. We say that something is, because we see it; we can think of it; we can hear it; we can catch it with our hands. And, Reality is not such a type of existence. But, thereby, you cannot say that it is non-existence. It is beyond Sat (existence) and Asat (non-existence). 'Anadimat param brahma na sat tan na-asad ucyate', says the Bhagavad Gita. This Brahman, the Origin of all things is non-temporal eternity. 'Na asad asit no sad asit', says the Rig Veda. What was there in the beginning? Not existence, not non-existence. Definitions are given by persons, and all persons who give a definition of Reality came afterwards as an effect. Who is to define that which was prior even to the cause of all things, antecedent even to the condition of Isvara? Who can describe it, and what can you say about it except only characterising it, tentatively, as Ekatmapratyayasaram? How do you grasp this Atman? By knowing it that 'It Is – 'Asti-iti-eva-upalabdhnvyah', as the Katha Upanishad puts it. Know it as 'That which is', said saint Augustine. What is the Reality of all realities? That which Is, the General Existence, Satta-samanya, Ekatmapratyayasaram. This is Brahman.

To be continued ....

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