Hinduism: Key Themes in the Upanishads

Question 1

Brahman

Answer 1

Ultimate Reality

The All pervading reality in the upanishads. The totality of existence, The All that is.

The whole of the upanishads, attempts to answer this question. Who is Brahman. Is Brahman God or is it not God? Is Brahman personal, or impersonal?. The question is never really resolved in the Upanishads.

Question 2

Nirguna Brahman

Answer 2

Brahman without qualities

The unkowableness of Brahman

The last upanishad states three attributes of Brahman

1. Being -sat
2. Consciousness - chit
3. Bliss - ananda

The term Nirguna Brahman refers to the concept that Brahman is beyond time and space. It is the idea that Brahman has no particular form and is present within all living beings and everywhere.Nirguna Brahman allows Hindus to focus on Brahman’s eternal qualities rather than getting distracted by different names and forms.

Question 3

Saguna Brahman

Answer 3

Brahman with qualities (Isvara)

Brahman is … or Brahman has …

The communicable or incommunicable attributes of Brahman

Another way that Brahman is perceived is as Saguna Brahman. This means that Brahman has a form, identity and purpose, which may vary over time. Hindus who believe in Saguna Brahman see deities as a way for people to understand Brahman’s vast nature. These deities help Hindu worshippers to focus on images or statues, also known as murtis. This type of devotion is known as bhakti and is one of the ways identified by Lord Krishna in the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita to achieve union with Brahman.

Question 4

What is the difference between Atman and Soul?

Answer 4

Firstly in Vedanta we do not have a concept of a “soul” as per the Abrahamic concept. This is very important to note. The Soul is something spiritual which is created by God and given to human beings only. Other primates and life forms don’t have immortal souls according to the Abrahamic traditions.

SO PLEASE STOP USING THE TERM SOUL FOR THE ATMAN - THEY ARE NOT EQUIVALENT TERMS!!! THE PROPER TERM IS SELF.

To make it really really simple — check these two out.

On the left is the ocean and on the right a glass of water - taken from the same ocean. What is the difference between them? Think it through - the ocean is vast and glass limited. The water is exactly the same - i.e. by quality the same by quantity different.

Brahman (The Immensity) is the ocean and consists of sat - Being/Space, cit - Consciousness and ānandam - Bliss/Time. Brahman is the Unified Field. The Ground of Existence, the Totality of Being.

The ātman or jīvātman (properly translated as SELF and not soul) is the glass of water and it consists of the same three attributes - sat-cit-ānanda but in a CONTRACTED form. Due to our bodies (glasses) we are limited in Time and Space and our consciousness is contracted.

This ātman (the water of the glass) is limited by the vessel (body) in which it is contained. In the body of a lizard the three qualities are quite contracted, in the body of a mouse more expanded, in the body of a primate i.e. chimpanzee much more expanded and in a human primate much more. In the various human primates consciousness and bliss differ again according to so many circumstances and factors known as upādhis - limiting adjuncts due to karma.

The goal of our spiritual evolution is to continually expand our consciousness and bliss factors until we break free from our individual vessels and merge back with the ocean.

Some will ask - How did we ever separate from the ocean of Bliss (ānanda sāgara) in the first place? - This is known as ati-praśna a transcendental question which has no answer.

The only question worth asking at first is — Who am I? …….. answer — a glass of sea-water :-)

Question 5

The challenge brought by the Nirguna/Saguna distinction

Answer 5

Any time one speaks about a God that loves you, that send his only Son to die for you, that forgives sin. Then one is talking about Saguna, which is not ultimate reality, but illusory

Question 6

Atman and antaryamin

Answer 6

Atman and antaryamin - “one who dwells within” “internal controller”

antaryamin is the personification of the ultimate being of the universe (brahman) that allows brahman to act, or causes you to act in some way, unlike the atman, which is a personal essence the antaryamin becomes the point of contact through which brahman can direct a person

Question 7

Tat Twam Asi

Answer 7

Thou are that (Chandogya, 6.8.7)

Non-Dualism

There is no fundamental difference between atman and brahman, even though pehnomelogicaly things are different on the surface, in essence they are the same.

My essence, is identical to the essence of the entire universe

Question 8

Samsara

Answer 8

The word means “flow” like a river flowing by

The other idea is a wheel that turns round and round.

The wheel is a cosmical homology for life. Life is constantly recycled and so is the universe

your atman is embedded or trapped in the wheel of samsara, due to karma. It is the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth

When you die, your atman will migrate to a new place based on your karma (transmigration)

on the micro level: you are going through stages of birth and rebirth

on the macro level the entire universe is going through the same process (yuga of samsara)

Question 9

Four ages or Yuga or Samsara

Answer 9

4, 320, 000 years for the wheel of samsara to turn once

1. Krta Yuga (golden age) 1.7 million years
2. Tretra Yuga 1.2 million years
3. Dvapara Yuga 864,000 years
4. Kali Yuga (dark age) 432 000 years

Question 10

Moksha

Answer 10

Means: Release

The fundamental goal of hinduism, to escape the wheel of samsara.

your atman reunite with brahman

Tat twam asi (I am that)

Question 11

maya

Answer 11

only a few schools of hindu though defines it as Illusion or ignorance

The early vedas uses it as the ability of the gods to create the world and give it the appearance that they choose, and conceal the way things really are.

the sensory world cannot give us accurate information about nirguna Brahman. That is to say that we cannot rely on our senses to give us accurate information about God.

If we cannot speak with certainty about God, then how can we speak with certainty about anything that we see around us. like our bodies etc.

The world does not equal ultimate reality.

all the hindu gods,except nirguna brahman, are a part of maya, vishnu, shiva, brahma, ganesha. They are all maya

Question 12

How to escape the wheel of samsara

Answer 12

The escape the wheel of samsara, you have to be a brahman male

According to the Bhagavad Gita, You need to perform your dharma (duty) to be released from karma. Krishna councils Arjuna, to act like a warrior and kill his family, because he is a shudra (warrior).

Question 13

Avidya

Answer 13

Ignorance of the true nature of reality

Question 14

Adhyasa

Answer 14

Superimposition of a false view of reality of that which we encounter with our sense

Question 15

Lila

Answer 15

Sport or play

The reason why Ishvara created the world. There is no purpose for the creation of the world

ultimately, what underpins life is meaninglessness

This is why some would day that hinduism is life denying, because it it is undergirded by meaninglessness

Question 16

Karma

Answer 16

Means: Act or Deed

Immutable law of cause and effect

The hindu concept of Karma is individual, not corporate.

What you sow, you alone reap. This means that, if I am a drunk, I alone suffer for my drunkness, not my wife who I beat, nor my children who are destitute because I can’t hold down a job. The family members are simply suffering their own karma

This is different from the christian conception of sow and reap, which is corporate. We all suffer for Adams sin. Where other peoples sin, effects all of us.

Every cause has an effect, and every effect is once again a cause. Everything you do either enslaves or liberates you from samsara

Whatever you are doing right now, is because of previous karma, and also creates new karma

“Why are some people poor and others rich?, some good and others bad?, some happy and others sad?”

“it is because of seeds. a oak seed gives rise to an oak tree, a raspberry seed, to a raspberry bush, a lemon seed, to a lemon tree”

“your karma is your seed”

Some brahmans say that because they have satisfied all their karma up to this point, when they die, they will achieve moksha, because of this, they are not free to do whatever they want, like eat meat, have sex with whomever they want to have sex with

Even Krishna teaches this (Krishna at the river bank)

Question 17

different types of karma

Answer 17

prarabdha
sanchita
kriyamana
agami.

Question 18

Sanchita Karma

Answer 18

One is sanchita karma. This is the warehouse of karma which goes right back to a single-celled animal and even inanimate substances from where life evolved. All the information is there. If you close your eyes, become aware enough and look into yourself, you will know the nature of the universe – not because you are looking at it through your head, but simply because this information is present in the making of the body. There is a warehouse of information going back into creation. That is your sanchita karma. But you cannot take your warehouse and do retail business. You need to have a shop to do retail. That “retail shop,” which is for this life, is called prarabdha.

Question 19

Prarabdha Karma

Answer 19

Prarabdha karma is a certain amount of information allotted for this life. Depending upon the vibrancy of your life, life allots for itself how much information it can take on. The creation is very compassionate. If it gives you the whole lot of karma that you have, you will be dead. Right now, many people are tortured by the simple memories from the 30-40 years of this lifetime. If they are given a hundred times that memory, they would not survive it. Nature allots prarabdha, an allotted memory that you could handle.

Question 20

The problem with the doctrine of Karma and the suffering of Christ

Answer 20

The doctrine of karma, states that you and you alone will suffer the consequences of your own actions. It leaves no room for vicarious suffering. This makes it difficult to understand how Christ could have suffered for the sins of the world.

Question 21

monism

Answer 21

a. One ultimate principle of existence or being

b. Nirguna Brahman is the only ultimate reality

Question 22

Why is Karma unjust

Answer 22

Because you are being punished for something you cannot even remember doing.

Question 23

Why is Transmigration and improper view of Evil

Answer 23

Because it establishes a chain of being. With lower beings such as minerals, plants, insects, animals, and then humans as higher beings.

It views the lower levels as more evil,

This view of evil is false, as you cannot label a worm as evil because it cannot perform the duties of a tiger. Or chastise a tiger for not performing the duties of a worm. You cannot chastise tiger for doing what it was created to do. Doing what it was created to do carries with it a sense of goodness.

Question 24

Difference between the HIndu and the western view of life

Answer 24

Westerners view life, not as suffering, but as affirming, and therefore there is less of a need to escape it.

Question 25

Yoga

Answer 25

a pathway (marga) towards liberation (moksha)

It offers techniques for achieving liberation

Patanjali 8 steps: yama,niyama, asana, pranayama, mantra, etc.

The idea of cosmical homology is very important to yoga. By chanting Om, the Om mantra is flowing through your body, like it is the universe. The idea here is that if you can control your body you can control the universe

Question 26

6 schools of philosophy, in HInduism (darshans)

Answer 26

Nyaya Philosophy

Nyaya school follows a scientific and a rational approach. Sage Gautama is the founder of this school. Nyaya school banks upon various pramanas (mechanism of attaining knowledge). It believes that gaining knowledge through the five senses is the sole way of attaining liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Sankhya Philosophy

Sankhya is the oldest of all philosophies put forth by the sage Kapila. It is a dualistic philosophy with Purusha (soul) and Prakriti (nature) in it. Advaita Vedanta derives its base from Sankhya School. Sankhya also devolves philosophical basis for Yoga. It emphasizes the attainment of knowledge of self through meditation and concentration.

Yoga Philosophy

Yoga school introduces the methods of the discipline of body and mind. Sage Patanjali is the founder of Yoga. Emancipation of Purusha from Prakriti by self-awareness through the discipline of body and mind is conceptualized by Yoga. It is believed that practising Ashtanga Yoga is the way to relieve oneself from past sins in order to make way for liberation.

Vaisheshika

Vaisheshika school deals with metaphysics. It was founded by the sage Kanada. It is an objective and realistic philosophy of the Universe. According to the Vaisheshika school of philosophy, the universe is reducible to a finite number of atoms, Brahman being the fundamental force causing consciousness in these atoms.

Purva Mimamsa

Purva Mimamsa school believes in the complete authority of Vedas. It is based on sage Jaimini’s Mimamsa Sutras. It emphasizes the power of yajnas and mantras in sustaining the activities of the universe. It states that a human being can attain salvation only by acting in conformity with the principles of Vedas.

Uttara Mimamsa (Vedanta)

Vedanta school is a monistic school of philosophy that believes that the world is unreal and the only reality is Brahman. The three sub-branches of Vedanta are Advaita of Shankaracharya, Vishishta Advaita of Ramanujacharya and Dvaita of Madhwacharya. Uttara Mimamsa is based on Upanishads (the end portions of Vedas).

Question 27

Main difference between yoga and the other schools of philosophy

Answer 27

Yoga views brahman as not merely ultimate reality, but as God, and therefore is more theisticly orientated than the other schools

Question 28

Sat Cit Ananda

Answer 28

Sat-chit-ananda is a Sanskrit term that describes the nature of reality as it is conceptualized in Hindu and yogic philosophy. Some consider sat-chit-ananda to be the same as God or Brahman (Absolute Reality). Others use it as a term to describe the experience of realizing the unity and wholeness of all existence.

It is said that sat-chit-ananda is the source of all consciousness and all perfection. To experience sat-chit-ananda is to achieve the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey in Hinduism or yoga.

The meaning of the individual words of sat-chit-ananda are as follows:

Sat: truth, absolute being or existence– that which is enduring and unchanging
Chit: consciousness, understanding and comprehension
Ananda: bliss, a state of pure happiness, joy and sensual pleasure
A common translation of sat-chit-ananda is “truth-consciousness-bliss.” Sometimes sat-chit-ananda is considered to be a triple consciousness, where all three elements can be taken separately or considered as one because, in reality, each element is found in everything.

Some say that the experience of sat-chit-ananda is only accessible to a few advanced spiritual masters. Potentially, only 20 or 30 masters have ever been able to reach and remain in this state. It is easier for people to achieve an illuminated mind, but sat-chit-ananda is a higher state even than that.

In the philosophy of Vedanta, sat-chit-ananda is used as a synonym for the three qualities of Brahman. It is the supremely blissful experience of pure consciousness, unity and ultimate reality. Sri Aurobindo considers sat-chit-ananda to be the eternal and unified concept of the soul, which is beyond space, matter and time.

Though it is a lofty goal that may not be achieved in the practitioner’s lifetime, practicing yoga can help move the individual closer to sat-chit-ananda.

Question 29

Dualism and Samkhya, Patanjali, Advaita Vedanta, and Tantra

Answer 29

In Samkhya, the dualism (which Patanjali follows) is between Purusha (the self/Seer/Soul/Consciousness) and Prakriti (the World/Matter/Nature). This is also an expression of a duality between the physical body and a proposed non-physical soul, and so falls into what in Western philosophy is called Mind/Body dualism, although Samkhya (and Patanjali’s Sutra) go one step further in proclaiming that Purusha is indeed distinct even from the mind. We seek to become dis-identified with Prakriti and identified with Purusha. An interesting difference between Samkhya and Patanjali is that the former denies the existence of God, whereas Patanjali (as we shall see) says that purpose of Yoga is to come to an awareness of God.

Advaita Vedanta differs from this dualism in it’s assertion that there is only God (or Purusha) – that everything, including the world and the Self are in essence one with God, but that the world of appearances casts a veil of illusion, or Maya, over the ever-present, all-pervading Divine. So unlike the radical dualism that says God and The World are two completely different things – this position says it’s all God, but until we pierce the veil of illusion we cannot see this. The fault therefore is within us – not in the world of phenomena.

Tantra, on the other hand, sees Prakriti as evolving through the forms of the world while maintaining it’s pure nature as consciousness itself. Not only is it all God, a la Adveita Vedanta, but even the illusion is God – everything is indeed a perfect expression of the Divine. Tantra is a radical non-dualism in that it challenges conventional notions of sacred and profane and seeks to affirm everything that is – hence the breaking of taboos and embrace of sexuality for which it is mostly well known in the West.