Why listen to the Upanishads? By: Swamini Atmaprajnananda Saraswati

If there is no reflecting medium, we may pass away without seeing our face, which is a very sad thing, because the face is considered to be the identity of a person. Our eyes are so placed that they can neither see the face, nor themselves. This situation is tackled when we have a reflecting medium. 

Tätparya is in seeing your face not in the mirror

When one goes to the market to buy a mirror, that is the only time one checks the mirror whether it is faithful, whether it has fidelity, whether it reflects one’s face truthfully, or it is concave or convex and distorts the person’s face while reflecting. This is a very significant thing. Subsequently, one’s commitment - tätparya is not to check the mirror, but to see one’s face alone. Every time one sees the mirror, one sees one’s face, not the mirror. So, once a person has chosen the mirror, the commitment is to see the face only. One’s look is extrovert, but one’s commitment is to oneself. ‘ätmani eva tätparyam, na tu ädarse’ – ‘the commitment is in seeing the Self not in the mirror. 

Tätparya is in knowing the Self, not in studying the Upanishads             

I know I am. But what is that ‘I’, I perhaps do not know. The self cannot be objectified. Since I cannot objectify myself, I choose the words of Upanishad to serve as the mirror. The subject matter of the Upanishad is Reality of everything. When one studies the Upanishads, one is not studying a text; one is looking into oneself. The handled words make me recognise myself. Therefore, until I choose to study i.e. to look into the mirror i.e. choose the pramäna, there is pramäna vicara -, i) whether words of the Upanishads are pramäna, ii) whether it can give me knowledge, iii) whether other means of knowledge can give me knowledge, iv) why should I not be Guru to myself, why should I depend upon the Upanishads, v) why should I not ask ‘Who am I’ and get the answer, vi) I can meditate and know myself vii) my life-experience is enough, all these enquiries – is like selecting the mirror. Once I choose thepramäna, my tätparya should be in what the handled words reveal about myself.  

This is important to understand, since general question is ‘You want to know yourself, why should you study the Upanishads?’ The relationship between Upanishads and knowledge is – pratipädaka-pratipädya-sambandha. 

The importance of this connection – ‘sambandha’ is one of the four essential factors in any treatise that is technically called ‘anubandha-catushtaya’: 

Anubandha-Catushtaya:

They are vishaya, prayojanam, adhikäri and sambandha. 

Vishaya: the subject matter. In the Upanishads, the subject matter is moksha - freedom, whereas in the Vedas, the subject matter is all the other three pursuits - dharma, artha, and käma. 

Prayojanam: the purpose. The karmakända portion of the Vedas describes varieties of rituals and sacrifices, as the means to fulfill various desires entertained by an equally large number of people. In contrast, the jnänakända that contains the Upanishads, the knowledge of identity between the jiva and Brahman is the only topic. The pursuit here is moksha - freedom from the sense of limitation. 

Adhikäri: the eligible person. A student of Vedänta is vastly different from a student of the Vedas. Sadänanda in his famous prakarana-grantha ‘Vedäntasära’ defines the adhikäri as -One who has completed studying the Vedas, and has performed immense charity - asmin janmani janmäntare vä,and is sädhana-catushtaya-sampannah. In fact, now he/she wants to know the vastu, and the relationship between him/her and the Lord if he is there, and the overwhelming  world around him/her -jiva, jagat and Isvara. This has been discussed in the previous two Article/Blog. 

Sambandha: the relation between the text and the purpose is that of a reveler and revealed. The Upanishads or the Vedäntic texts play the part of the revealer (pratipädaka), while the subject matter is the revealed (pratipädya). It is called pratipädaka-pratipädya-sambandha.

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Swamini Atmaprajnananda Saraswati's Profile

Also known as Swamini

Sannyäsini (Hindu Monk), Advaitin, Vedic and Sanskrit Scholar, Published Author, Researcher, Vedäntäcäryä and Vyäkaranäcaryä (Teacher of Vedänta and Sanskrit). Gurukula studies, Masters and PhD in Sanskrit, MBA (in previous Äshrama). Alumni of XIMB, Ärsha Vidyä Gurukulam, Utkal University, IGNOU. Swämini Ätmaprajnänanda Saraswati is a student-disciple of Swämi Dayänanda Saraswati (b.1930 -), founder of Ärsha Vidyä paramparä - tradition. She is a Dasanämi Sannyäsini of Shankara-Bhagavatpäda order, belonging to Niranjan Akhädä.

She is an Advaita Vedantin and Vedic and Sanskrit Scholar (holding a Ph. D. in Sanskrit). Her other areas of study and research are - Vedic Studies, Temple-Architecture, Buddhism, Bhakti and Sufi Movement in India. (Her other technical degrees are MBA (in Finance and Marketing), and PG Diploma in Journalism, Certificate in Human Rights, which she earned in per previous äshrama).

Her expertise lies in disseminating Advaita Vedanta, and presenting it to the students/readers without any entropy, demystifying it and presenting as a Pramana (a valid means of knowledge). Her decades of gurukula studies and University education (MA and Ph.D) and past coroparte work-experience makes her relate to her students/readers. Although a consummate Advaitin, she handles effortlessly other philosophies. She handles her contenders in Vishishtadvaita, Davita, Acintya Bhedabheda, Atheists, Iconoclast, Christians , Islamic scholars with ease and respect, and wins them over with her intellectual honesty without imposing her views on anyone, winning them overhand, gathering the additional knowledge to her corpus.. She waits for the other person to grow and be ready for Advaita.

 

 

 

 

Swämini Ätmaprajnänanda Saraswati is a Vedäntäcäryä and Vyäkaranäcäryä. She teaches Vedänta and Pänini in Ärsha Vidyä Vikäs Kendra at Bhubaneswar. She is the author of two published books -‘Nomenclature of the Vedas’ and ‘Rshikas of the Rgveda.