Upanishads

The pursuit of Immortality is an essential part of the original religion, if not its primary aim.
The other day I heard a sage say (Sadhguru) that if one reaches to live 85 years or more, it is possible to overcome mortality and imprisonment in samsara; which for us does not mean that every elderly person automatically became wise or immortal, as it is necessary to have attained super-consciousness in due time (according to Sagy Yunna), which is therefore the foundation of the entire work.

A Bengali translation (and slight abbreviation) of my essay "Father, Son and Holy Text" originally published in Journal of Hindu Studies. This was done for inclusion in a volume honoring the career of Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri produced by the Bangiya Itihas Samiti (Society for Bengali History) in Kolkata. I was pleased to be able to attend the book release event at Calcutta University on January 19, 2017. My thanks to Professor Arun Bandyopadhyay for including me in the volume and the event!

Vedic cosmology which gives rational theories on creation that are found to concur with the findings of modern science, has some clues on what the Universe looked like before Big Bang. This article discusses whether this is the same as a research finding that a mirror image of our Universe existed before Big Bang.

Ronald de Sousa (University of Toronto) presented the chapter Love and Reasons of a planned book at a workshop in Budapest organized around his ideas and questions. The focus of the chapter was on the problem of the rationality of love. Are there reasons for love? Are those sometimes given true reasons? What would be a proper reason for love? In this paper some of the traditional Indian approaches and insights will be investigated.

Premesso che la dizione ‘Upaniṣad dello Yoga’ è un termine di comodo utilizzato solo in epoca recente e che: “I testi di riferimento per le Upaniṣad dello Yoga sono considerati non ortodossi, anzi eretici” mentre “L’ortodossia classica è invece rappresentata da Patañjali“ , si ritiene comunque importante vedere se e quando tali  opere, pur “lontane dal rigore dei Sūtra di Patañjali”  ed “in generale piuttosto grossolane, se paragonate a quelle più antiche” , facciano riferimento ai primi due ānga.


Given that the term 'Upaniṣad of Yoga' is a term of convenience used only in recent times and that: "The reference texts for the Upaniṣad of Yoga are considered unorthodox, indeed heretical" while "Classical orthodoxy is represented by Patañjali ", it is still considered important to see if and when such works, while" far from the rigor of the Sūtra of Patañjali "and" generally rather coarse, if compared to the older ones ", refer to the first two ānga.

Cikkem egy angol nyelvű dolgozatom magyar fordítása. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349253561_The_Teaching_of_the_Isopanisad) A feladatom az volt, hogy bemutassam az Īśopaniṣad általam legfontosabbnak vélt vallási tanítását. Mindezt úgy tettem meg, hogy közben indirekt módon megpróbáltam megválaszolni néhány olyan kérdést is, amely az upaniṣad olvasóiban rendszeresen felmerül (Pl.: Ki az upaniṣadban imádott istenség? Miért nem elég csak a lelki tudományt megismerni az üdvözüléshez, miért kell ismerni a tudatlanságot is? Hogyan jelenik meg a szövegben a bhakti, és mennyire hangsúlyos a szerepe?). A végkövetkeztetés levonása előtt bemutatom az upaniṣad felépítésének logikai vázát. Kijelentéseim alátámasztásához más írásokat is segítségül hívok, leginkább a Bhagavad-gītāt.

These are slides I used to teach students the Ishavasya Upanishad. One can easily understand the whole Upanishad with Shankara Bhashya after studying the slides thoroughly. Like my students, hope the readers will also understand this Upanishad clearly. Thank you.

The intellectual achievements of ancient India lay scattered across several fields of study texts ranging from the Vedas and the Upanishads to a whole range of scriptural scientific and artistic sources. In ancient India, the development of knowledge in scientific disciplines like Astronomy, arithmetic, algebra, medicine, chemistry, biology were the results of meticulously accurate observations of natural phenomena. The contribution of ancient India in this field was not well documented but it is known to many prominent astronomers and physicists in the world. India stood in the highest position in the Vedic period. The objective of the study is to search the enrichment in Astronomy in ancient India. This study is a descriptive type of research based on secondary data gathered from ancient books, epics like Upanishad, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, articles, websites and web-based journals.

The Origins of Sant Mat, The Five Names, and the Identity of Tulsi Sahib's Guru, by James Bean

Everyone in contemporary Sant Mat has a clear idea about their own recent history of masters, at least dating back a few generations. Most trace their lineage of gurus back to Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, India. Tulsi Sahib (1763–1843) is viewed as the adi-guru or founding guru, the “great grandfather” of modern-day Sant Mat. The identity of Sant Tulsi Sahib’s guru has understandably been of great interest to many students of Sant Mat history. It’s quite normal for followers of a spiritual path to be curious about “the family tree” of previous masters, wanting to know where their spiritual path comes from. So, who was the guru of Tulsi Sahib? And who was that individual’s guru? Who was the guru before that? And so on.

On the Usage of the Term "Sant Mat" and the Tulsi Sahib Connection;

Sants of Antiquity;

Who Was Tulsi Sahib's Guru? Our One-And-Only Solid Clue;

Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar;

About the Ratnagar Rao Doctrine;

Rare Quotes From Sat Saheb, Dariya's Guru;

The Origin of the Five Names;

The Panch Naam Words Traced Back to Kabir/Dharamdasi Texts;

The Five Names of the Nath Yogis?

This volume arises from deliberations at the first International Academic Conference in the United States to explore the life and legacy of the Hindu visionary, liberative theologian, and great modern exponent of Ādvaita Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda. The conference took place in Los Angeles on October 18th-19th, 2013, marking the 150 th centenary of the birth of Swami Vivekananda, an advocate of interreligious dialogue and foremost disciple of the modern era's most influential Hindu mystic, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. The conference was sponsored by the School of Religion of the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles. Over 150 years since his birth and some 120 years after his momentous plenary address at the World Parliament of Religion in Chicago (1893), numerous aspects of Swami Vivekananda's life and work have begun to attract renewed attention. Vivekananda's philosophical, religious and social ideas, especially the manner in which they were extended, applied, or appropriated in recent times have been widely discussed, critiqued, and presented. His legacy, however, is being re-appraised within these pages in terms of its continuity as well as its discontinuity from tradition, and from postcolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, and ethical perspectives. This volume offers a multi-layered exploration of the contributions of Swami Vivekananda to a range of discursive and practical engagements that cut evenly across the Hindu traditions of philosophy, theology, ethics, and social justice. There are historical questions as well as exegetical or scholastic questions about the connection Swami Vivekananda claimed or is perceived to have had with the deeper recesses of

The Upanishads are ancient Vedic spiritual/religious teachings. This short little paper provides some commentary on the pedagogy of the Upanishads, in particular, how they fit into a pedagogical strategy for teaching complex spiritual concepts to students in an efficient and effective manner.

To help an aspirant, the Upanishads prescribe certainly focused meditations known as Upasanas...This does not mean that there should be no movement in the mind at all and it should be fixed only on a given shape or sound. There are also Upasanas using a symbol, which is less difficult. There is gain in this thinking, just as the subordinate is treated as the chief...When one is standing or walking, the mind will have to pay attention to the body...For how many days should the Upasana be done?.... It causes the mental form corresponding to the Upasana to emerge at the moment of death.

Visit: https://bit.ly/3sYUqzs

The female characters in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad have generally been interpreted by scholars in two opposing fashions: as fictional characters whose historicity can be dismissed or as representative of actual women in ancient India. Both of these interpretations, however, overlook the literary elements of this text and the role that these female characters play within the larger philosophical debate. This paper is an analysis of the various women who appear in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and their role in this text. Close attention is paid to their characterizations, their relationship to the doctrine discussed, and their functions in the larger narrative structure. The paper concludes with a discussion about the relationship of narrative to history and fundamental problems with the “woman question” based on this text.

This translation of the Aitareya Upanishad allows readers with little knowledge of Sanskrit to explore the different possible meanings of the text. The format of this translation closely follows that of Winthrop Sargeant’s translation of the Bhagavad-Gita.

This chapter explores the way that some of the early Upanisads build up a picture of Brahman as the 'highest truth' that encompasses other theories about reality. It focuses on the way Yajnavalkya's debate in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad systematically assimilates other theories into a single overarching metaphysical insight. It then looks at the way the Chandogya Upanisad develops a theory of knowledge as something that gathers other views - and the world itself - within the grasp of the philosopher. Thus Upanisadic dialogues (or many-voiced 'plurilogues') about brahman are philosophically productive activities, assimilating existing theories into ever-more overarching truths.

The phenomenological question of consciousness usually associated with Husserl (although there are echoes of this in Augustine as in Marcus Aurelius, Kant and Schopenhauer), is the consciousness of the now, the present moment. I explore this consciousness for Erwin Schrödinger, which for him included reference to the Upanishads together with Nietzsche’s central teaching or “thinking” of the eternal recurrence of the same.

Published as

Babette Babich, “Schrödinger and Nietzsche and Life: Eternal Recurrence and the Conscious Now,” in: Christopher Key Chapple, ed., Antonio T. de Nicolas: Poet of Eternal Return (Ahmedabad, India: Ntyalanda International 2014), pp. 157-206,

ŚUDDHĀDVAITA – An Overview vis a vis KEVALĀDVAITA
Abstract
sarvaṁ khalvidaṁ brahma tajjalāniti śānta upāsīta – propounds the Cāndogya Upanishad, establishing the doctrine of Advaita, interpretations of which by the founder Acharyas of various philosophical traditions have differences varying in subtlety. This paper attempts an overview of Vāllabha Vedānta known as Śuddhādvaita, where Sri Vallabhācārya ji propounded Sākār Brahmavād, establishing the ekamevādvitiya Parabrahma as the Abhinnanimittopādāna Kāraṇa of the entire creation. His Avikṛtpariṇāmavāda differs from Sri Śankarācārya's vivartavāda in the sense that Brahma as well as Jīva and Jagat are Satya, as such the manifest reality is not simply an illusion. By the sankalpa “Ekohaṁ bahusyāṁ”, Brahman manifests in many names and forms simply to rejoice, not being subject to avidyā or māyā. While discussing various tenets of Vāllabha Philosophy such as satkāryavāda, āvirbhāva-tirobhāva vāda and more, this presentation highlights many common points as well as differences with respect to Kevalādvaita of Sri Śankarācārya. A major point of such disagreement being the nature of Ishwara. - While Sri Śankarācārya recognises various names and forms of the divine as the means to facilitate Upāsana before finally recognising oneself as Brahma , Sri Vallabhācārya  substantiates  on Parabrahma being Viruddhadharmāśrayi and hence Saguṇa, and Sākār Brahman being just as Supreme as Nirguṇa Nirākāra Brahman dwelling in the entire creation. Thus, in the realm of practice, in Vāllabha doctrine, Jñāna is a means to Bhakti and a limb thereof, rather than Bhakti or Upāsanā being a means to finally acquire Mokśa by jñānamārga. Here, Nirupādhika bhakti is not just means but the end in itself, uniting a Jīva to Kṛṣṇa.
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"George Derfer, Zhihe Wang and Michel Weber (eds.), The Roar of Awakening. A Whiteheadian Dialogue Between Western Psychotherapies and Eastern Worldviews, Frankfurt / Paris / Lancaster, ontos verlag, 2009. (251 p. ; ISBN: 978-3-86838-039-2 ; 89 €)
The primary goal of this volume is to describe the contemporary state of affairs in Western psychotherapy, and to do so in a Whiteheadian spirit: with genuine openness to the relative ways in which creativity, beauty, truth and peace manifest themselves in various cultural traditions. To do so, it chooses to explore afresh a cross-elucidatory path that was born with the field of history of religion (and Religionwissenschaft): what have we, and can we, learn from a dialogue with Eastern worldviews? In order to generate meaningful contrasts between these different systems of thought, all the papers address the following core issues. On the one hand, how does the given system understand the interaction of individuality, society, and nature (or cosmos)? Especially: what is its standpoint with regard to the nature of consciousness and with regard to the mind/body problem?; how far is it dualistic?; how are destiny and historicity assessed? On the other hand, what is the paradigm of all mal-adjustment (or pathology) and what is its typical tuning-in (or curative) pattern? What are furthermore the ins and outs of the diagnostic and therapeutic assessments involved? Wherever possible, some (meta)theoretical and clinical issues are addressed from the vantage point of selected material from abnormal psychology or psychiatry.
Table of contents
Contents
Contributors
Foreword — George Derfer, Zhihe Wang and Michel Weber
Introduction — Michel Weber
I. The View from the East
1. Consciousness: The Vedantic Approach to Life and Reality, Francis-Vincent Anthony
2. Dual-Aspect Framework for Consciousness, RamLakhan Pandey Vimal
3. The Paradoxes of Radical Asceticism: Jainism as a Therapeutic Paradigm, Jeffery D. Long
4. Yoga Therapeutics: Philosophical, Scientific and Humanistic Approaches, Ashok Kumar Malhotra
5. Can Indian spiritual practices be used in psychotherapy?, R L Kapur
II. Transcultural Dialogue
6. Ineradicable Frustration and Liberation in Tiantai Buddhism, Brook Ziporyn
7. An Exploration and Analysis into Chinese Traditional Psychotherapy Ideas—A Concurrent Comment on the Integrative point of view of Whitehead’s Organic Philosophy, Fengqiang Gao and Yingmin Chen
8. The Kyoto School and self-awareness in the field of the absolute nothingness —A comparison with Whitehead’s philosophy, Eiko Hanaoka
9. Jung and Hisamatsu Re-envisioning Religiosity: Jungian Psychotherapy and the Kyoto School, Tokiyuki Nobuhara
10. Reconstructing the Meaning of Being Human: A Postmodern Reinterpretation of Frankl in the Framework of Whitehead’s Philosophy, Yoshihiro Hayashi
11. The Development of Binswanger’s Daseinsanalysis, Shoji Muramoto
12. The Intercultural and Daseinsanalytical Psychiatry of Kimura Bin, Bernard Stevens
13. A Certain Form of Psychotherapy (Kenosis, Prajna, Jung, and Hillman), David T. Bradford
14. Vedanta, Process and Psychotherapy, Joseph Grange
15. On Zen Buddhism, Clive Sherlock
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This translation of the Isha Upanishad allows readers with little knowledge of Sanskrit to explore the different possible meanings of the text. The format of this translation closely follows that of Winthrop Sargeant’s translation of the Bhagavad-Gita.

"লেখক জাগা আর ঘুমনোর তফাত করতে না পেরে আতান্তরে পড়েছেন. মুস্কিলআসান করতে মান্ডুক্যোপনিষদ পড়তে বসলেন. এবং ব্যাক্তিগত অভিজ্ঞতা-র বর্ণনা দিতে গিয়ে কর্মের তত্ত্ব ব্যাখ্যা করলেন. শেষ করলেন লালন এর উদ্ধৃতি দিয়ে. এইভাবেই এক হয়ে গেল তথাকথিত  উঁচু আর নিচু-র দর্শন.

This paper discusses three types (excluding the fourth one introduced by Abhinavagupta) of sleeping as depicted in Mandyukoponisad in connection with the three states or gradations of falsehood. The author of the paper follows kalidas Bhattacharyay’s commentary in this regard.
What is to be mentioned here that there here are four types of “languages” in association with the sleeping/waking states: baikhari (speaking in waking-state[jagrat] with arbitrary ephemeral epi-phenomenal utilitarian sign-systems, falsest state), madhyama (speaking in falser dream-state or svapnavastha), pasyanti (unspeaking in a deepest sleeping-state or susupti; false-state) and paravak (‘para’ means ‘beyond’ and ‘vak’ is speaking); this transcendental unspoken and unspeakable zone is to be achieved by practicing certain formal or non-formal techniques to be found within the body. It is neither true nor false, but we cannot describe it by means of baikhari, madhyama etc. It is something “beyond” logos and not related to “God” per se. Supreme God is perceived in deep dreaming, i.e., a false state). At this level, silenceme would gulp down non-silenceme. What is to be mentioned here is that the different body-parts and channels within the corporeal are related to these four states of (non-/) speeches.
The ultimate goal is to achieve such paravak with the help of our own body without deploying any formal method. Cessation of desired labor is to be desired here—a typical non-contradictory contradiction or aporia. Subject-object-merger occurs with identity in difference as small i is (not) merged with the big I. However, we have to “return” to the practical world after achieving that (….) for the sake of “lokosamgraha” (roughly speaking, social commitment/engagement). We have to tell the stories of paravak, supposed meta-zone of silenceme, by means of subtle baikhari to other. Thus the problem of karma (work/labor and its subsequent divisions: pravritti, nivritti, sakam, niskam-- the work with desire and non-desire)is also discussed here.
Downloadable document is in Bengali.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 15

Keywords: three states or gradations of falsehood, baikhari (speaking in waking-state[jagrat] with arbitrary ephemeral epi-phenomenal utilitarian sign-systems, falsest state), madhyama (speaking in falser dream-state or svapnavastha), pasyanti (unspeaking in a deepest sleeping-state or susupti; false-state),

Tripura Upanishad is a minor Shakta or Tantra Upanishad explaining the structure of and meditation on Sri Chakra or Sri Yantra—a diagrammatic representation of the universe through nine interlocking triangles coming out of a central point.
To date, there are two English translations of this Upanishad. The first and the earliest, by A G Krishna Warrier done in 1967, is a verse translation and because of the obvious constraints of such translation, fails to explain the intricacies and implied meanings of this cryptic Upanishad. The second translation done many years later, is by Douglas Renfrew Brooks, who has also beautifully translated the commentary on this Upanishad by Bhaskararaya in the book 'The Secret of the Three Cities' published by the University of Chicago Press in 1990. While maintaining a high level of accuracy and bringing out the intricate nuances of this Upanishad, the emphasis of Brooks' translation seems to be more on the geometrical aspects of the Sri Chakra. The present translation emphasises the practice aspect of this Upanishad as derived from Bhaskararaya's commentary.

Abstract-Mundaka-Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads and also one of the classical Brahmanic texts dealing with the ultimate reality (Brahman) and its relation to the Universe. Its ontological approach considers the reality as unique, as substantial, the dynamic and multiple Universe being a mere emanation of the real. The cosmogonic scheme takes over some Vedic emanationist theories, accounting for the manifestation of the Universe through a mysterious " heating " (tapas) process undergone by reality. Traditionally, Mundaka-Upanisad is included in " Jnāna-Khanda " division of the Upanisads, namely it is considered a text which extols the liberation by knowledge (jñāna). Several scattered verses deal with the Karmic process stirred by desire (kāma) and deed (karman) and the second section of the first chapter engages in a fierce refutation of all human realizations. Human states and accomplishments are blamed for being transitory and for not providing a final realization of human beings. Further, the text extols the renunciation to all worldly affairs and the pursuit of the absolute knowledge as the sole desirable goal of humans. Knowledge of the unique reality is presented as being rather an ontological act, a total dissolution of the individual being into the uniform and universal absolute. It is rather an act of " becoming " than one of " knowing ". The high esteem of knowledge is to be found also as a kind of " cult " of the Veda, inherited from the pan-Indian religious tradition. The text starts with exposing the way Vedic texts are revealed by the divine to humankind and with the lineage of their transmission. Scattered throughout the text, there can be found elements of Pantheism, Idealistic ontology, meditation techniques.

This translation of the Mandukya Upanishad allows readers with little knowledge of Sanskrit to explore the different possible meanings of the text. The format of this translation closely follows that of Winthrop Sargeant’s translation of the Bhagavad-Gita.

How do we become pure? This question haunts every genuine spiritual aspirant. This small book addresses this vital question in great detail. This book is an English translation of the original Kannada booklet called 'Pavitrata svarupini Sri Sharada Maate' by Revered Swami Purushottamanandaji Maharaj