“Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” This is a quote one often sees in the class rooms and other public places and attributed to many scholars like Ralph Waldo […]
Greetings All, Swamiji continued his talks on Prasna Upanishad. He summarized the first four chapters as follows: Chapter 1 dealt with Srishti Prakaranam and it addressed Shukla Gathi and Krishna Gathi. Chapters 2 and 3 dealt with Prana. Chapter 2 was about the superiority of Prana and this was described in a story […]
Swamiji as part of his closing remarks on Katho Upanishad reminded us of the essence of second chapter. Valli 1, Mantras 1 to 3: Yama discussed disciplines, one of them being control of senses. Sense organs are outward looking. It is not acquired. It is instinctive. So, we are fighting our own nature. It needs […]
Greetings All, Continuing his recap from last week of Mantra 13 in Part 2, Cantos 3, Swamiji reminded us that in this last and final section Yama is summarizing Brahma Vidya and enumerating some qualifications required for it, as well as, the benefits of this knowledge. With Verse # 13 the first two requirements of […]
Continuing his recap from last week of Mantra 9 in Part 2, Cantos 3, Swamiji reminded us of the prerequisites for realization. First, we need a human body and then we need to use it wisely towards the goal of realization. Second, the real meaning of I must be clear to us. In the statement […]
Continuing his recap from last week of Mantra 6 in Part 2, Cantos 3, Swamiji reminded us that we have to know Brahman as Aham Brahma Asmi. He reminded us that the human being present in Manusha loka provides the best opportunity for us to gain this knowledge. Animals, he says, have only a Bhoga […]
Continuing his recap from last week of mantras 1 and 2 in Part 2, Cantos 3, Swamiji reminded us that this third and final section of Katho Upanishad deals with Atmavidya, Brahmavidya Sadhanani and preparation for Brahmavidya. Describing the role of Brahman as the Creator, Swamiji says, Brahman is the keeper of law and order. […]
An Excellent summary by Ram Ramaswamy. Moving on to Part 2, Cantos 3, Mantra Swamiji says this third and final section of Katho Upanishad deals with Atmavidya, Brahmavidya Sadhanani and preparation for Brahmavidya. Mantra #1: This is an important mantra. It deals with nature of Brahman. Yama now compares Creation to the Ashwatha Vriksha or […]
In today’s class, Swamiji continued verses 11 to 15, of the third section of the second chapter of Kathopanishad. The subject of these verses are nature of paramatma, jivatma/paramtma aikyam and benefits of jivatma paramatma aikyam. Swamiji continued to mention the common features of surya prakasha (sun light) and chaithanyam or atma: They both […]
Continuing his overview of Part 2, Cantos 2, Swamiji says Yama promised to discuss “after death” of an Agyani as well as Brahmaswarupam a little more in mantra # 6. In Mantra 7, Yama describes the endless process of birth and rebirth or Samsara an Agyani has to go through. He describes Samsara as meaning […]