Isa Upanishad and Some Commentaries

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om pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṁ

pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate,

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya

pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate.

om śāntiḥ! śāntiḥ!! śāntiḥ!!!

That is Whole, this is Whole; from the Whole, the Whole becomes manifest. From the Whole, when the Whole is negated, what remains is again the Whole.

~Isa Upanishad Invocation (tr-Chinmayananda)

"The supreme Reality is a homogeneous, one, entire ‘Whole’ and since the apparent appearances of multiple plurality are nothing but superimpositions upon the Truth, they also constitute nothing but the ‘Whole’. Certainly, ‘this Whole’ rises from ‘that Whole’.

...in the emergence of the finite, the Infinite has come to suffer no change. Therefore, when the appearance of the finite world of plurality has, at the realisation of the Infinite, rolled away, the Infinite that remains is the Whole."

~C

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anejadekaṁ manaso javīyo

The Self is the motionless one, swifter than the mind.

~from Isa Upanishad 4 (tr-Chinmayananda)

Anejat, unmoving. The root ejr, implies shaking. Shaking is motion, deviation from one's own condition. It is devoid of this, i.e. It is ever of the same form. And It is ekam, one, in all beings. It is javiyah, faster; manasah, than the mind...

~Shankara (tr-Gambhirananda)

Reality in the form of ‘existence’ is already there, before the mind could reach the spot of its contemplation.

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Since the Consciousness is all-pervading, It cannot move, and nothing that moves in the universe can ever move except in the medium of Consciousness.

~Chinmayananda

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tadejati tannaijati

taddūre tadvantike,

tadantarasya sarvasya

tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ.

That moves, That does not move;

That is far off, That is very near;

That is inside all this,

and That is also outside all this.

~Isa Upanisad 5 (tr-Gambhirananda)

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Kena 2.4 Pratibodha-viditam(Brahman is known through every cognition)

pratibodhaviditaṁ matam amṛtatvaṁ hi vindate, ātmanā vindate vīryaṁ vidyayā vindate’mṛtam. (2.4) 

pratibodha-viditam – known through every cognition; matam – known; amṛtatvam – immortality; hi – indeed; vindate – gains; ātmanā – by oneself; vindate – gains; vīryam – capacity; vidyayā – by knowledge; vindate – gains; amṛtam – immortality

~Kena 2.4 (tr-Dayananda

Brahman is known through every cognition. One, indeed, gains immortality (from that cognition). One gains the capacity (to know) by oneself. (Thereafter) one gains immortality by knowledge.

~Kena 2.4 (tr-Dayananda)

Indeed, he convincingly attains immortality, who intuits It in and through every modification of the mind. Through the Ᾱtman he obtains real strength, and through knowledge, immortality.

~Kena 2.4 (tr-Chinmayananda)

Pratibodha-viditam, known with reference to each state of intelligence. By the word bodha are meant the cognitions acquired through the intellect. The Self, that encompasses all ideas as Its objects, is known in relation to all these ideas. Being the witness of all cognitions, and by nature nothing but the power of Consciousness, the Self is indicated by the cognitions themselves, in the midst of cognitions, as pervading (all of) them. There is no other door to Its awareness. Therefore when Brahman is known as the innermost Self (i.e. witness) of cognitions, then is It matam, known, that is to say, then there is Its complete realization. Only by accepting Brahman as the witness of all cognitions can it be established that It is by nature a witness that is not subject to growth and decay, and is eternal, pure in essence, the Self, unconditioned, and one in all beings...

~Shankara's commentary on Kena 2.4 (tr-Gambhirananda)

How, again, is immortality attained through the aforesaid knowledge of the Self? This is being answered. Atmanā, through one's own Self; vindate, (one) attains; vīryam, strength, capacity. The strength got from wealth, friend, incantation, medicine, asuterity, or Yoga cannot conquer death, for it is produced by impermanent things. But the strength, consequent on the knowledge of the Self, is acquired through the Self alone and not through anything else. Thus, since the strength resulting from the knowledge of the Self is independent of any means of acquisition, that strength alone is able to conquer death. Since the strength produced by the knowledge of the Self is thus attained through the Self, therefore, vidyayā, through knowledge about the Self; (one) vindate, attains; amṛtam, immortality.

~Shankara's commentary on Kena 2.4 continued (tr-Gambhirananda)

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In other words, the witness (pure consciousness) is intuited within ordinary cognition, and it is that witness (aka atman) which alone provides the strength for knowledge (brahmavidya) and thus self-realization (immortality).

The Capital of Consciousness

The reflection of consciousness in the subtle body

of functional compounds and organic chemicals

is nothing but pure consciousness—as white water is

nothing but water disturbed by a bed of beliefs

(a belief is like a glacial boulder of thought).

Atman's Prayer

I am brahman.

Aham brahmasmi.

Christ, Krishna, Consciousness.

Materialism is another name for duality. Duality is the ground for all religion. Some kind of god is always on the other side of the great divide.

Some pray to the god of everything.

Some pray to the god of nothing.

Sometimes I get a great notion to pray to myself.

The Powers of Maya

The power, the sakti, of maya is binary. One power projects, creates. This is called viksepa sakti.

And the zero counterpart is veiling. This is called avarana sakti. Dayananda calls this duality the maya code.

But in maya, there's a third power: jnanam sakti. Jnanam is opposed to the veiling power of avarana.

Believing one is a person (I am a samsari) is the veiling of knowledge and projection of ignorance.

The ‘I am’ may be there, but ‘I am brahman’ is the mahavakya of jnanam, the true power of knowledge.

Dream Duet

The mind dreams at night. And consciousness, as the reflection of awareness benighted by conceptual avidya, is dreaming during the day.

But the dreams of consciousness feel real because of the real substrate (satcitananda) upon which they are projected.

Maya feels real and always will feel real. Seeing through avidya is another thing. It’s like waking after a bad dream. You’re still in a dream but no longer of a dream.

Song of Mithya

Vivarta is apparent change, illusory change. Vivarta-vada is the theory of apparent change. See snake and rope. See desert mirage. See maya. See avidya. See seer. See seen. See Vidyaranya.

There are two orders of creation (srsti): parinama and vivarta. Parinama is modification, becoming. In vivarta, there is no becoming. Brahman is immutable, changeless. There may be a golden namarupa, but the gold remains gold.

Satyam is real. Mithya is neither real nor unreal, square circles being unreal. Mithya is satyam but satyam is not mithya. Wave is water but water is not wave. The causal power is maya. Its effect is srsti. Isvara is creator. All of this is mithya. 

Ode to Satcitananda

I is another name for pure existence (sat). Revelation is another name for pure awareness (cit). Beyond is another name for holistic bliss infinity (ananda). Satcitananda is another name for brahman which is another name for the big beyond the bang.

Life is the manifestation of being. Evolution is the manifestation of intelligence. Self-awareness is the manifestation of holistic bliss infinity. With being and existence, presence is sat. With awareness and intelligence, consciousness is cit. With holistic bliss, infinity is ananda.

Satcitananda is brahman, nirguna brahman, the absolute. The manifestation of satcitananda is isvara, saguna brahman, universal consciousness. Isvara minus maya is brahman. Ego minus avidya is atman. Atman is brahman, the end.

Moby Samsara

The reflection of awareness in the subtle body spontaneously activates the intellect, ego, mind, and vital breath. This is called the immaculate conception.

In the beginning, the mind receives and organizes incoming data, the intellect reviews it and makes a decision, the inner-breath / outer-body executes.

But the more Aham identifies with the body-mind the less Aham identifies with consciousness. As body-mind usurps intelligent awareness absolutely—

Aham's body-mind becomes the absolute reality. Believing the true you will die has got to be a real bummer.

The Four Formulas

1. attention minus thought equals awareness.

2. awareness plus thought equals consciousness.

3. nirguna brahman plus maya equals saguna brahman.

4. the witness equals you, minus avidya.