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samadhi = nature of Self.
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https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/chandogya-upanishad-english/d/doc239404.html
CHANDOGYA UPANISAD | 7.24.1 | SRI ADI SANKARACARYA
Yatra nanyat pasyati nanyac-chrnoti nanyad-vijanati sa bhuma , atha yatranyat pasyati anyac-chrnoti anyadvijanati tad-alpam ; yo vai bhuma tad-amrtam , atha yadalpam tan-martyam , sa , bhagavah , kasmin pratisthita iti , sve mahimni , yadi va na mahimniti . || 7.24.1 ||
1 . Wherein one sees nothing else , hears nothing else and understands nothing else , — that is the Infinite ;
wherein one sees something else , hears something else , and understands something else , — that is Finite .
"Do you want to know what Completeness is?
And do you want to know what finitude is?
Here is the definition," says Sanatkumara.
"Where one sees nothing except one's own Self, where one hears
nothing except one's own Self, where one understands nothing
except one's own Self, that is Bhuma, the Absolute;
and where one sees something outside oneself, where one hears something outside oneself, where one understands or thinks something outside oneself, that is the finite."
So here is the whole matter clinched in a single sentence, describing what is Fullness and what is not-fullness.
What is immortal is the Bhuma alone, and what you call mortal or perishable, is the finite. "O great master, where is the Bhuma situated? Which place?" asks Narada. "You ask me where it is situated, this great eternal All-Presence!
It is situated in Its own Glory. Well, or perhaps, It has no situation at all," replies the master.
"It cannot be that It is located in something else, that It is dependent on something else, that It has something else as its support, just as we have some support or the other in this world. How can the All-Being be supported by something else! It is the support of all things. What is this strange question that you are putting to me?
Its support is Its own Self.
Rather I say It has no support, for It is the support of all. What do you mean by support? What is the meaning of this question, 'Where is it located, where is it situated?'
You have got some wrong notion in your mind, Narada, because you are thinking in terms of objects in this world."
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SECTION 26: THE PRIMACY OF THE SELF
- Tasya ha va etasyaivam pasyatah, evam manvanasya, evam vijanata atmatah pranah, atmata asa, atmatah smarah, atmata akasah, atmatas-tejah, atmata apah, atmata avirbhava-tirobhavau atmato'nnam atmato balam, atmato vijnanam, atmato dhyanam, atmatas-cittam, atmatah samkalpah, atmato manah, atmato vak, atmato nama, atmato mantrah, atmatah karmani, atmata evedam sarvam iti.
To such a blessed one everything comes, rises from his own Self.
He need not go hither and thither in search of things, because he has this knowledge.
He does not have to go to things, but things go to him.
The ocean does not go to the river, the river goes to the ocean.
Whoever is endowed with this great experience, this knowledge, the possession of this wisdom, for such a person everything that has been mentioned in the gradation of the categories earlier,
right from 'name' onwards up to the point we are discussing now, arises automatically from his own Self,
because the supreme cause contains within itself everything else mentioned as its own effects.
All these worlds, space, time and the five elements, all created beings, everything that we have been studying up to this time in the various stages of development of thought—all this need not be approached separately or individually for satisfaction.
They all come simultaneously rising from his own Self, the true Self, the Bhuma, because that Self being all, contains all, and therefore, all things come to that person who ceases to be an individual person any more.
He is only a lodgment, apparently looking like a person in this world.
He is a Jivanmukta, as they call him. He is really a repository of the absoluteness that he has realised. Everything comes to him, everything flows from his own being, because he himself is the all.
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- Tad-esa slokah: na pasyo mrtyum pasyati na rogam nota duhkhatam; sarvam ha pasyah pasyati sarvam apnoti sarvasah; iti.sa ekadha bhavati, tridha bhavati, pancadha saptadha navadha caiva punas-caikadasah smrtah, satam ca dasa caikas-ca sahasrani ca vimsatih ahara-suddhau sattva-suddhih, sattva-suddhau dhruva smritih, smrtilambhe sarva-granthinam vipra-moksah; tasmai mrdita-kasayaya tamuasah pararm darsayati bhagavan sanatkumarah; tam skanda ity-acaksate, tam skanda ity-acaksate.
The chapter is here concluded. The Bhuma-Vidya has been expounded.
One who has this realisation is free from every kind of affliction-physical, mental or otherwise. To him there is no death, no transmigration and no sorrow.
No grief, no adhibhautika, adhyatmika, adhidaivika sorrow can afflict this person.
Becoming all, this person sees the all.
Having known this, he knows the all, because he is the all.
Everything is attained at one stroke, not in succession as we hear of in this world.
In every manner everything comes to him.
Things come to us only in certain ways, not in every way. All things do not come to us at the same time. Certain things alone come to us, not all things. And even those certain things come to us at some times, not all times. And even at those times, they come not in every way but only in a certain manner.
But in his case, everything comes at all times, in every way.
This is the great result that follows from this realisation.
In every manner of manifestation, in every possible pattern of existence or being, things flow into this person, because this person is inclusive of every pattern of being, of every place of existence, of every realm conceivable.
That is the meaning of sarvam apnoti sarvasah.
The Upanishad reiterates this very same meaning by saying that he becomes all—one, two, three, four, a thousandfold, a millionfold—whatever you can think of.
All things are contained in this single experience, is the meaning which is made out by this exclamation of the Upanishad:
"It is onefold, it is twofold, it is threefold, it is fivefold, it is sevenfold, it is ninefold, it is hundredfold, it is thousandfold, it is millionfold, as wide as this creation itself."
Such is the glory of this creation. The sun has one ray or seven rays or a million rays.
Interpreters of the Upanishad try to find a specific intention behind these numbers. They say that It is onefold as the one, non-dual Being. It is threefold, being adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika or the three elements fire, water and earth. It is fivefold as the senses can catch, and sevenfold as the constituents of the body. It is ninefold as the five sense-organs and the four subdivisions of the mind. It is elevenfold as the ten organs and the mind. It is hundred and tenfold, and a thousand and twentyfold, when It includes many other categories. All these things are comprehended within this single Being. The manifoldness mentioned here is merely a categorising of this singleness of Being through the channels of perception and experience in various manifestations—human, celestial, subhuman, etc. As is the nature of the incarnation, so is the nature of perception and experience.
So all these categories are consumed by this single Being.
What you call the inanimate world or the vegetable kingdom or the animal world, what you call the human level and superior worlds of celestials right up to Brahma-loka—all these are comprehended within this single Reality in which there are no different levels of Being.
It has no inanimate or animate category there. It has no distinction of subject and object, and It is the seer as well as the seen.
This knowledge comes if your effort is properly directed.
It does not suddenly drop from the sky, like a fruit that falls from the branch of a tree.
Great effort is needed to acquire this knowledge.
Aharasuddhau sattvasuddhih-Purity of thought is a consequence of purity of diet. Here, some people are of the opinion that it means that we must take pure food-sattvik diet.
But other thinkers opine that if you think wrongly and see evil things, even if you eat good pure food as cow's milk, fruits, etc., it is not going to help you.
So Sankaracharya particularly is of the opinion that it is an exhortation to receive pure things through every sense-organ including the mind.
We must see purity, hear purity, touch purity, think purity, and sense purity.
And what is purity?
Purity is that which is compatible with the nature of the Absolute.
This alone is purity.
What is that which is compatible with the nature of the Absolute and what is not?
Whenever we cognise a thing, perceive a thing, that thing should, from the point of view of our cognition or perception, be capable of being harmonised with the Absolute.
We should not be incompatible with nature.
That thing alone is purity, and when that purity arises in the mind, there will be that capacity of concentration of mind which retains the consciousness of the Bhuma.
That is the perpetual retention of memory, the smriti which this mantra mentions. We can never forget the Being, the Absolute in our own Being.
Then all granthis, the knots of the heart, get broken
The knots of the heart are avidya, kama and karma-ignorance,
desireful movement of the mind, and activity towards the fulfilment of desire.
Sometimes they are called brahma-granthi, vishnu-granthi and rudra-granthi, all meaning one and the same thing, viz., the ties of the mind, the psychological knots by which we are tethered to earthly experience.
They break immediately, and we enter into the ocean of Being.
Thus, Bhagavan Sanatkumara, the great master, initiates Narada who is free from all impurity of every kind, a fit disciple to be instructed by an exceptionally great master, into this great mystery of the Supreme Being, and takes the disciple across the ocean of sorrow.
"This Sanatkumara," says the Upanishad, "is called Skanda-tam skanda ityacaksate." Sanatkumara is called Skanda,
because he has crossed or leaped over the phenomenal existence,
which is one interpretation of the word 'Skanda'.
There is also a story that Sanatkumara himself was born as Skanda or Kartikeya, the second son of Lord Siva, for the purpose of fulfilling a great purpose of the gods, as we read from the Puranas and epics.
Whatever it be, we take the great master either as that divinity that took birth as Skanda in the next incarnation,
or one who has crossed the ocean of sorrow,
jumped into the Absolute across the phenomenality of life.
To that divine person is our obeisance.
He is Skanda—he has reached the Absolute, and he takes us to the Absolute.
https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/chhand/ch_3f.html
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https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/maitreya-upanishad-of-samaveda/d/doc216988.html
maitreya Upanishad chp 1
A King named Bṛhadratha, thinking this body to be impermanent and having acquired indifference (to objects), retired to the forest, leaving his eldest son to rule over (his) kingdom.
With hands uplifted and eyes fixed on the sun, he performed a severe Tapas (or religious austerity). At the end of a thousand days, the Lord Śākāyanya Muni, a knower of Ātmā, who was like fire without smoke, and who was as a scorching fire with his Tejas (spiritual lustre) approached (him) and addressed the King thus: "Rise, rise and choose a boon."
The King prostrated before him and said: "O Lord, I am not an Ātmavit (or knower of Ātmā). Thou art a Tattvavit, we hear. Please enlighten me about Sattva (the state of Sat or Brahman)."
(To which) the Muni replied thus: "O thou that art born of the race of Ikṣvāku: To begin with, your question is difficult (of explanation): do not question me. Ask for any other thing you desire."
Thereupon the King touched the feet of Śākāyanya and recited the (following) verse:
"What is the use of these to me or any other? Oceans dry up. Mountains sink down. The positions of Dhruva (the Polar Star) and of trees change. Earth is drowned. The Suras (angels) run away, leaving their (respective) places. (While such is the case), I am He in reality. Therefore of what avail to me is the gratification of desires,
since one who clings to the gratification of desires is found to return again and again to this Saṃsāra (mundane existence)?
Thou art able to extricate me (out of this Saṃsāra). I am drowned like a frog in a dry well. Thou art my refuge.
"O Lord! this body was the result of sexual intercourse. It is without wisdom; it is hell (itself). It came out through the urinary orifice. It is linked together by bones. It is coated over with flesh. It is bound by skin. It is replete with fæces, urine, Vāyu (air), bile, phlegm, marrow, fat, serum and many other impurities. O Lord! to me in such a foul body (as this), thou art my refuge."
Thereupon Lord Śākāyanya was pleased and addressed the King thus: "O Mahārāja, Bṛhadratha, the flag of the Ikṣvāku race, thou art an Ātmajñānī. Thou art one that has done his duty. Thou art famous by the name of Marut." At which the King asked: "O Lord! in what way, can you describe Ātmā?"
To which he replied thus:
imp:
"Sound, touch, and others which seem to be Artha (wealth) are in fact Anartha (evil). The Bhūtātmā (the lower Self) clinging to these, never remembers the Supreme Seat.
Through Tapas, Sattva (quality) is acquired;
through Sattva, a (pure) mind is acquired;
and through mind, (Parama-) Ātmā, (the higher Self) is reached.
Through attaining Ātmā, one gets liberation.
Just as fire without fuel is absorbed into its own womb, so Citta (thought) through the destruction of its modifications is absorbed into its own womb (source).
To a mind that has attained quiescence and truth, and which is not affected by sense-objects,
the events that occur to it through the bondage of Karma are merely unreal.
It is Chitta alone that is Sansāra. It should be cleansed with effort.
Whatever his Citta (thinks), of that nature he becomes. This is an archaic mystery.
With the purifying of Citta, one makes both good and bad Karmas to perish.
One whose mind is thus cleansed attains the indestructible Bliss (through his own Self).
Just as Citta becomes united with an object that comes across it, so why should not one (be released) from bondage, when one is united with Brahman.
One should meditate in the middle of the lotus of the heart,
Parameśvara (the highest Lord) who is the witness to the play of Buddhi, who is the object of supreme love, who is beyond the reach of mind and speech, who has no beginning or end, who is Sat alone being of the nature of light only, who is beyond meditation, who can neither be given up nor grasped (by the mind), who is without equal or superior, who is the permanent, who is of unshaken depth, who is without light or darkness, who is all-pervading, changeless and vehicleless, and who is wisdom of the nature of Mokṣa (salvation). I am He—that Paramātmā who is the eternal, the pure, the liberated, of the nature of wisdom, the true, the subtle, the all-pervading, the secondless, the ocean of bliss, and one that is superior to Pratyagātmā (the lower Self).
There is no doubt about it. How will calamity (or bondage) approach me who am depending upon my own bliss in my heart, who have put to shame the ghost of desires, who look upon this universe as (but) a jugglery and who am not associated with anything. The ignorant with their observance of the castes and orders of life obtain their fruits according to their Karmas.
Men who have given up all duties of castes, etc., rest content in the bliss of their own Self.
The distinctions of caste and orders of life have divisions among them, have beginning and end, and are very painful.
Therefore having given up all identification with sons and as well as body, one should dwell in that endless and most supreme Bliss."
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chp 2
Then Lord Maitreya went to Kailas and having reached it asked Him thus: "O Lord! please initiate me into the mysteries of the highest Tattva."
To which Mahādeva replied: "The body is said to be a temple.
The Jīva in it is Śiva alone.
Having given up all the cast-off offerings of Ajñāna, one should worship Him with So’ham (I am He).
The cognition of everything as non-different from oneself is Jñāna (wisdom).
Abstracting the mind from sensual objects is Dhyāna (meditation).
Purifying the mind of its impurities is Snāna (bathing).
The subjugation of the Indriyas (sensual organs) is Śauca (purification).
One should drink the nectar of Brahman and beg food for maintaining the body. Having one (thought) alone, he should live in a solitary place without a second. The wise man should observe thus: then be obtains Absolution.
"This body is subject to birth and death. It is of the nature of the secretion of the father and mother. It is impure, being the seat of happiness and misery. (Therefore) bathing is prescribed for touching it. It is bound by the Dhātus (skin, blood, etc.), is liable to severe diseases, is a house of sins, is impermanent and is of changing appearance and size. (Therefore) bathing is prescribed for touching it. Foul matter is naturally oozing out always from the nine holes. It (body) contains bad odour and foul excrement. (Therefore) bathing is prescribed for touching it. It is connected (or tainted) with the child-birth impurity of the mother and is born with it. It is also tainted with death impurity. (Therefore) bathing is prescribed for touching it. (The conception of) "I and mine" is the odour arising from the besmeared dung and urine. The release from it is spoken of as the perfect purification. The (external) purification by means of water and earth is on account of the worldly.
The destruction of the threefold affinities (of Śāstras, world and body) generates the purity for cleansing Citta.
That is called the (real) purification which is done by means of the earth and water of Jñāna (wisdom) and Vairāgya (indifference to objects).
"The conception of Advaita (non-dualism) should be taken in as the Bhikṣa (alms-food); (but) the conception of Dvaita (dualism) should not be taken in. To a Sannyāsī (ascetic), Bhikṣa is ordained as dictated by the Śāstra and the Guru. After becoming a Sannyāsī, a learned man should himself abandon his native place and live at a distance, like a thief released from prison. When a person gives up Ahaṅkāra (I-am-ness) the son, wealth the brother, delusion the house, and desire the wife, there is no doubt that he is an emancipated person. Delusion, the mother is dead. Wisdom, the son is born. In this manner while tvo kinds of pollution have occurred, how shall we (the ascetics) observe the Sandhyās (conjunction periods)? The Chit (consciousness) of the sun is ever shining in the resplendent Ākāś of the heart. He neither sets nor rises; while so, how shall we perform the Sandhyās? Ekānta (solitude) is that state of one without second as determined by the words of a Guru. Monasteries or forests are not solitudes. Emancipation is only for those who do not doubt. To those who doubt, there is no salvation even after many births. Therefore one should attain faith. (Mere) abandoning of the Karmas or of the Mantras uttered at the initiation of a Sannyāsī (ascetic) will not constitute Sannyāsa. The union of Jīva (-Ātmā) (the lover Self) and Parama (-Ātmā) (the higher Self) at the two Sandhis (morning and evening) is termed Sannyāsa. Whoever has a nausea for all Īṣaṇa (desires) and the rest as for vomited food, and is devoid of all affection for the body, is qualified for Sannyāsa.
At the moment when indifference towards all objects arises in the mind, a learned person may take up Sannyāsa.
Otherwise, he is a fallen person.
Whoever becomes a Sannyāsī on account of wealth, food, clothes and fame, becomes fallen in both (as a Sannyāsī and as householder); (then) he is not worthy of salvation.
"The wisest think of Bramha alone, thats the supreme state,
that of the Śāstras, the middling,
and that of Mantras, the lowest.
The delusion of pilgrimages is the lowest of the lowest.
Like one, who, having seen in water, the reflection of fruits in the branches of trees, tastes and enjoys them, the ignorant without self-cognition are in vain overjoyed with (as if they reached) Brahman.
That ascetic is an emancipated person who does not abandon the internal alms-taking (viz., the meditation upon the non-dual),
generating Vairāgya as well as faith the wife, and wisdom the son.
Those men (termed) great through wealth, age, and knowledge, are only servants to those that are great through their wisdom as also to their disciples.
Those whose minds are deluded by My Māyā,
however learned they may be, do not attain Me, the
all-full Ātmā,
and roam about like crows, simply for the purpose of filling up their belly, well burnt up (by hunger, etc.).
For one that longs after salvation, the worship of images made of stone, metals, gem, or earth, is productive of rebirth and enjoyment.
Therefore the ascetic should perform his own heart-worship alone, and relinquish external worship in order that he may not be born again.
Then like a vessel full to its brim in an ocean, he is full within and full without. Like a vessel void in the ether, he is void within and void without.
Do not become (or differentiate between) the Ātmā that knows or the Ātmā that is known.
Do become of the form of that which remains, after having given up all thoughts. Relinquishing with their Vāsanās the seer, the seen and the visual, worship Ātmā alone, the resplendent supreme presence.
That is the real supreme State wherein all Saṅkalpas (thoughts) are at rest, which resembles the state of a stone, and which is neither waking nor sleeping."
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Kathopanishad 1.2.8
8. This âtman now explained cannot easily be known, of taught by a person of inferior intellect being variously regarded.
When it is taught by a preceptor, one with the Brahman, there is no further travel, his being subtler than the subtle and not arguable.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—Why so? Because, taught by a man of worldly understanding, the âtman which you ask me about, is not easily knowable, because he is variously discussed by disputants, whether he exists or not, whether he is a doer or not, whether he is pure or not and so forth. How then can he be well-known is explained. If the âtman is taught by a preceptor who is free from the notion of duality and who has become one with the Brahman, none of the various doubts exists, such as whether he is or not, etc., because the nature of the âtman absorbs all such doubtful alternatives; or, the text may be thus construed: when the âtman, which is none other than his own Self, is taught, there is no knowing any other thing; for, there is no other knowable; for, the knowledge of the oneness of the âtman is the highest state of knowledge.
Therefore, there being nothing else to be known, knowledge stops there; or, Gatiratra nâsti, may mean there is no travelling into Samsâra when the âtman, not distinct from the Self has been taught; because, emancipation, the fruit of such knowledge, is its necessary concomitant. Or, it may mean that when the âtman is explained by a preceptor who is become one with the Brahman to be taught, there is no failing to understand it. The meaning is that as in the case of the preceptor, the hearer’s knowledge of the Brahman will take the form, ‘I am not other than that.’
Thus the âtman can easily be known when explained by the preceptor versed in the âgamâs, to be no other than one’s self;
otherwise, the âtman will be subtler than even the subtle and cannot be known by dint of one’s mere intelligent reasoning
When the âtman is established by argument to be something subtle by one man, another argues it to be subtler than that and another infers it to be something yet subtler; for, there is no finality reached by mere argumentation.
7. Who cannot be attained even for hearing by many; whom, many though hearing, do not know; the expounder of him is a wonder; and able, the attainer of him; a wonder, the knower of him instructed by the able.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—Of thousands who seek good, it is some one like you who becomes the knower of the âtman; for, even for hearing, the âtman is not attainable by many; many others, though they hear of him, do not know the âtman, not being entitled, because their minds are not purified; again,
the expounder of the atman is, like a wonder, some one among many,
Similarly, even among many who have so heard, some one alone of many, that is able, attains the âtman; the knower of the âtman is a wonder—some me who is instructed by an able preceptor.
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Bhuya eva ma, bhagavan, vijnapayatv-iti:
"This is something very difficult to understand," says Svetaketu. "These are things that I have not heard of from my preceptors earlier, and I require further instruction in greater detail about this Being, regarding which you have instructed me just now. You have startled me by saying that I am one with Being. It is more difficult to understand when you say that this Being includes other beings also which you call different objects of creation. You have merged me with other objects, and taken me into this Being, as everything is put together in a menstrum, as it were, and melted into a pot where all beings have become one. I require further explanation. How is it that everything becomes one in Being, and what type of Being is this where we all go and become united? What is this process of unification? How do all beings get together and melt, as it were, into this Being when they reach It?" The following sections contain Uddalaka's further explanation.
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7 states of YV
150 & 151. To explain further:
1. To wean away unedifying associations and to desire knowledge of the Supreme is the first plane called Subheccha.
2. To associate with enlightened Sages, learn from them and reflect on the Truth, is called investigation.
3. To be free from desires by meditating on the Truth with faith, is the attenuation of the mind.
4. The shining forth of the highest knowledge in the mind owing to the development of the foregoing conditions, is Realization.
5. To be free from illusion by firm realization of Truth, is the detached outlook on the universe.
6. The bliss of the non-dual Self, devoid of triads is untainted awareness of Self.
7. Sublime Silence of the very nature of Self, is turiya.
The first plane itself is difficult to gain. This gained, Liberation is as good as gained.
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