As per the traditional belief, whatever truth one finds in the Upanishads is an attempt by the Upanishadic sages to explain their experience, that they had when they were in deep state of meditation. That is the realization they arrived at. It is a different matter whether they could describe their experience exactly as they went through it. But anyone who goes on their path, would surely experience the very same truth and it needs no further validation.
What is this realization as per the Upanishads?
I want to base my discussion on one of the shortest Upanishads, namely the Mandukya Upanishad. This is an Upanishad from Atharva Veda. The great 8th century philosopher Shankara says that this Upanishad is the essence of all the Upanishads.
Shankara’s grand Guru Gaudapada wrote the well known Mandukya Karika based on this Upanishad. In Madukya Karika, Gaudapada uses this Upanishad as a support for his philosophy. Shankara builds further on this, and what we have is the well known Advaita philosophy.
Though later philosophers like Madhva disagreed, Shankara’s Advaita is no doubt one of the greatest thoughts, which even today baffles many a great thinker, both in the east as well in the west. Whether you agree with this philosophy or not, the way Shankara puts forth his views in his commentaries is amazing and an intellectual feast!
I personally have strong inclination towards this Advaita philosophy, not because of Shankara’s intellectual rendering, nor because of what the Upanishads say, but because, that is what the experience one gets when one goes on the path of the Upanishadic sages.
What is this realization that I am talking about?
In just one verse or mantra, this Upanishad says it all. It talks about that state which one attains when one meditates, and goes into deep state of Samadhi. The Upanishad calls this state as Turiya. What is that state?
The Upanishad says that it is not describable!
How do you describe anything? There are various ways of describing something.
Either you give an example of something similar and say, “this is something similar to that”. For example, a donkey is similar to a horse. But the Upanishad says that there is nothing that is similar to Turiya among anything that you know. In that case, how do you describe it?
Maybe you can describe it by listing out its features. For example, you can say mango is a sweet fruit with attractive color and so on. But this state that you reach, has no attributes at all, that is known to our common knowledge. It is attribute less – alakshaNam.
The other way of describing something is by saying what you can do with it. For example, a pot is something using which you can cook. But this state Turiya is something which is quite unlike anything that you can use. It is avyavahaaryam – not something with which you can do something.
Well, can you just report it as it is, the way you experienced it? For example, that was a nice scenic spot. But in the case of Turiya, you cannot even do that, since there are no words in your vocabulary that can describe it. It is avyapadEsham – beyond words.
Can you at least understand it, if you cannot describe it? No. Even that is not possible since it is beyond mentation – achinthyam.
You can neither describe it, nor even think about it. In that case, how do you know such a state exists? The Upanishad says that it exists since it is a unifying experience – Ekaatma pratyata saaram. In that state there is no multiplicity at all. It is advaitam – it is a nondual experience.
Ok. Whatever it is, what is the use of attaining such an experience? What use is such a realization? Does it give me some special powers? Will I become immortal? Can I command over others, as a realized person?
No. You get none of these. Special powers, immortality, commanding over others etc. are the delusions that one goes through because of worldly lures. But this realization eliminates all those delusions. It is prapanchopashamanam – a cure for all worldly tangles.
Not just that, in the Turiya state you experience compete tranquillity – shaantam. You experience something most sacred – Shivam. And become free from all confusions caused due to duality – Advaitam.
Basically, you become one with the entire existence. There is nothing other than you. And everything is within you.
Does it mean that you really merge with the entire existence? No. You don’t merge with anything. You only experience as if you have lost your separate identity and become one with everything.
Here is where Advaitis like Shankara disagree. They say that Turiya is not a state. But it is the reality. It is not a state like being awake, or dreaming, or deep sleep which you often go through. They view those states as an illusion or Maya. The real one is this Turiya, which is one and only one.
Well, this is in tune with Shankara’s Advaita, where he considers the world as an illusion or Mithya. In fact, many Advaitis point to this Upanishad as a support for their concept of illusion.
But if you read the words of this Upanishad carefully, you see no suggestion of any illusion. It is indeed talking about the four states that one goes through. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the Upanishad saying that “one has to experience this state – sa vijnyEyah”? If you are already that Brahma, as Shankara Advaita says, then who has to experience what?
As usual, the Shankara Advaitis wriggle out from this question, by saying that the one who is under ignorance has to know this! But who is the one who is under ignorance in an Advaitic world? It cannot be anyone other than the all-knowing Brahma! Which leads to further contradictions.
For most purposes, I go by Shankara’s views, except when it comes to this strange notion of Maya. Elsewhere I have explained how this confusion can be mitigated by taking the words of the Upanishads as they appear, without interpretations.
Each one of us is not identical to Brahma, but a form taken by Brahma. This form has limitations and it can be ignorant too. This is the form that is going through the states that we are talking about. It is the form that is seeing the Brahma – its own true nature, bereft of the form. Once the form goes through that experience, it realizes that it is actually a form taken by Brahma. That is why “one has to experience this state – sa vijnyEyah”.
Having sorted out this minor confusion, let us clear some of the other misconceptions most people may have.
A person gets this experience at the culmination of meditation. But how is one sure that he is not imagining something?
To imagine something, first of all, you should be awake – Jaagrita. That is when you perceive external things and come up with something imaginary. But the Upanishad says that in the Turiya state you don’t perceive anything external – na bahir prajnya.
In that case, maybe you are dreaming such an experience. Dreams are based on memories of whatever you have perceived while you were awake. The dream world is almost similar to the wakeful world, except that it is a mentally created world. You still perceive things albeit internally. But the Upanishad negates even that by saying – na antah prajnya i.e. Turiya is not something dreamt.
Are you in deep sleep by any chance? But in deep sleep, you don’t perceive anything. It is as if your perceptive capabilities are frozen. You are neither awake, nor dreaming. Is Turiya some such state? The answer of the Upanishad is a big NO. It says – na prajnyaana ghanam i.e. in the Turiya state the perceptive capabilities are not frozen.
If it is none of these cases, then Turiya could be a zombie like state, where you neither perceive anything outside, nor inside your mind, nor you are in deep sleep bereft of the ability to perceive anything. The Upanishads rejects even that possibility by saying – na prajnyam, na aprajnyam – i.e. Turiya is beyond perception and non-perception!
Only way to know what it actually is, is by going through that experience, and there is no other way!
How does one go through this experience? The Upanishad says – “by meditating on the OM sound.” The OM sound represents the Brahma. And when one meditates on this sound, he experiences the Brahma by entering the Turiya state.
But you yourself are a form of that Brahma. So, you experience yourself, through yourself (i.e. your limited form) – aatmanaa aatmaanam samvishati. For a moment, you would know what really you are.
Let me conclude by putting together all the concepts of that one mantra or verse of the Madukya Upanishad that ‘describes’ this wonderful state of realization.
Naantah prajnyam, na bahihprajnyam, na ubhayatah prajnyam
Na prajnyaana ghanam, na prajnyam na aprajnyam
adrshyam, avyavahaaryam, agraahyam
alakShaNam, achintyam, avyapadEsham
Ekaatma pratyaya saaram
prapanchOpashamanam, shaantam, shivam, advaitam
chaturtham manyantE
sa aatmaa, sa vijnyEyah
Mandykya Upanishad 7
Mandukya Upanishad 2 | Pandit Jasraj | Shaarang Dev | Times Music Spiritual
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