vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

Aitareya Upanishad  The series of 'jnA' - the 'to know' jnA is knowing pra-jnA means before knowing or the 'first' of knowing, the 'prominent' knowing etc.  prajnA is awareness. It is the stage before 'knowing'.  It is the 'first' of the series of knowings. A stage of just awareness.  prajnA is just the basic awareness with an entity of it being an entity.   Because it is the foremost, first of the knowing, it is called pra-jnA. jnAna is the physically/practically knowing. vi-jnAna is logically knowing. Here the prefix 'vi' adds stress to the knowing and takes to the next level of 'knowing' which is logically knowing. ajnAnana is not knowing. Sloka 5.1 ko 'yam atmeti vayam upasmahe sa atma yena va pasyati yena va srnoti yena va gandhan ajighrati yena va vacam vyakaroti yena va svadu casvadu ca vijanati. Meaning Who this atma worshiped by us..?  Is that one that sees, that hears, that smells

Background Atma tore apart Stri, established the 'Svah' (the heavens) which was just AkAsa (empty space or vacuum) and fills the AkAsa wtih Stri. On Stri, all production occurs in pairs.  Stri oscillates and has energy and information. But that energy is not usable or transferable. From mouth of the Yoni of Stri, Agni, usable/transferable energy comes out. Agni leads to Soma. Soma and Agni lead to best of Devas. Thus from just oscillations immortal devas are produced. Hence this super creation is called 'Brahman'. ati sRsti - Super Creation - Evolution What is ati sRsti..? The Brhadharanyaka Upanishad answers it very clearly.  atha yad martyaḥ sann amṛtān asṛjata  tasmād ati sṛṣṭiḥ;  ati sṛṣṭyaṃ ha asyai tasyāṃ bhavati ya evaṃ veda That which is mortal being so produces immortal beings, therefore it is ati sRsti. It means that which keeps creating higher and higher order beings.  That is ati sRsti. I called it Super creation. Modern sci

Summary till now Atma tore apart Purusha and Stri. It establishes the Sva (the heavens) which was Akasa the empty space or vaccum, so swiftly, like a pea split into half.  Stri becomes filled in vacuum or empty space.  Purusha does not manifest. Stri alone causes manifestation. All matter and beings are born from Stri. Manifestation from Stri occurs in pairs. Stri 'knows' or has oscillations (information) that becomes the blood of all manifestations. All creations are from Stri and through Stri.  Sloka 1.4.6.1 atha etyabhya manthat, sa mukhācca yoner hastābhyāṃ ca agnim asṛjata;  tasmād etad ubhayam alomakam antarataḥ, alomakā hi yonir antarataḥ |  Translation Then (atha) coming from these (etyabhya) oscillations (to and fro movement) (manthat) and (ca) sa (of the) mouth (mukhA) of the source (yoner) and with the hands (hastAbhyam) agni got produced (agnim asrjata). From that./Therefore (tasmAt) both these (etad ubhayam) have no soft-hair (alomakam)  insi

Summary till now Atma tore apart Purusha and Stri due to 'desire' or 'iccha' to enjoy (rame) and not due to fear. Of these purusha does not have desire to manifest. Stri becomes filled in vacuum or empty space. All matter and beings are born from Stri. Manifestation from Stri occurs in pairs. Let's stop and reflect back on what we learn in the previous slokas. Tearing apart, Inflation "sa imam eva Atmānaṃ dvedha āpātayat".  "That this Atma into two flies off/tore apart/expands fast". The word used for what I described as 'tore apart' is 'apAtayat'. apAtayat can be described as flying off, expanded greatly, inflation, falling off etc (essentially moving away fast). What happens due to this tearing apart or that fast expansion..? "tasmāt idam ardhabṛgalam iva svaḥ iti ha smāha yājñavalkyaḥ".  Thereafter (tasmAt) svar (iva svah) is like (iva) this (idam) half-piece (ardha brgalam) indeed (sma)

Summary till now Atma existed before any kinds of Purusa. Atma is the ‘manas’ as it ‘sees itself. It was all alone. It is also the ‘aham’ that exists before any expression. Now we use the word ‘aham’ to indicate ourself, as 'aham' is the 'Self' or 'Atma' in us. That which is the previous of all, in which everything is digested, that is Purusha. It does not have desire to manifest or evolve. Our manas develops a fear, which arises from being alone. Fear comes when there is more than one. So the manas has nothing to fear if it is all alone. Similarly Atma also does not have any fear in being all alone. When Atma is alone, there is no enjoyer and enjoyed. The 'desire' to enjoy and be enjoyed triggers manifestation from the unmanifest Atma. Thus manifestation happens out of desire and not out of fear. Atma has the feature of a male-female in close embrace. Atma tore them apart separating the male and female due to this desire to be the enjoyer

Sloka 1.4.2 sa abibhet tasmād ekākī bibheti;  sa ha ayam īkṣāṃ cakre,  yat mad anyan nāsti,  kaṣma annu bibhema īti,  tata evāsya bhayaṃ vīyāya,  kasma addhyabheṣyat dvitīyādvai bhayaṃ bhavati Translation That (sa) became very fearful (abibhet). That refers to the 'Atma', 'manas', 'aham'. From that (tasmAt) being alone (ekAki) got afraid (bibheti). That (sa) this (ayam) made (cakre) a glance (iksam) when (yat) myself (mad) nothing else exist (anyan na asti) what (kasma) indeed (addhya) causes fear (abheSyat) From being two (dvityAdvai) fear manifests (bhayam bhavati) Meaning The manas develops a fear, which arises from being alone. Then it glances itself and thinks itself. 'When none else other than me exists, what indeed causes fear..? Fear comes when there is more than one. Fear is always about others". What is fear..? When there is nothing else apart from the 'manas', there is no fear. Fear arises onl

Background Often the mahAvAkyas like 'aham Brahma asmi' 'tat tvam asi' are seen and interpreted in stand-alone manner. Here I attempt to read them as in the Upanishad. Let's go through Brhadharanyaka Upanishad 1.4.1 to 1.4.17 which has the mahAvAkya 'aham brahmAsmi'. A bit of more background Vedas, Upanishads, saMkhya et al are generally depicted as 'literatures' that got developed at different points of time. But that's not what my study of Rg Vedas, Upanishads and saMkhya kArika says. These, in my view, are various branches of cosmic science. There are various branches of science even in cosmic domain. Quantum physics is micro-physics in Quantum domain. Cosmology is physics across the Universe at gravitational scale. Thermodynamics is physics of matter and biological evolution. Rg Veda in my study are just plain quantum physics. Yajur Veda is more Cosmology. Upanishads are like books written by authors to explain quantum physics to