vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

Background Janaka asks Ashtavakra How do we obtain jnAna (Knowledge/wisdom)..?  How will we become muktir (free from desires/worries)..? How do we arrive at vairagyam (indifferent to pulls and pressures)..?  Ashtavakra explains in this way. Being patient and Candid/sincere are necessity for gaining more and more knowledge (jnAna).  Being kind and contended are needed to be free from desires (mukti).  Being Truthful is needed to be indifferent from pulls and pressures (vairagya). Hence the characteristics of Ksama (Patience), arjva (sincerity/candidness), dayA (kindness), toSa (Contentment) and Satyam (Truthfulness)  have to be accepted like ‘nectar'. All these characteristics arise from our thoughts. So it is our thoughts that we have to work on. 'You' are neither earth, fire, water, air or ether. To become free, realize/understand your 'thoughts' are the observers/witness of the Atman. As long as our thoughts are operating around o...

Image courtesy: Aruna Radhakrishnan - originally posted to Flickr as Dashaavathaaram...ദശാവതാരം..., CC BY 2.0,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5049537 Background purANa means a thing of past. Something belonging to very ancient times or more precisely the 'first of the times'. The ancient times of purANas are much before times of the human beings and even planet earth. They describe the 'what' of the cosmic events at the origins of Universe in form of Human stories. 'Iti-ha-asa' means, thus it was.  ItihAsas describe how it happened, in much more detail.  itihAsas could be detailed descriptions of any thing. purANas are top-level summary of events that happened. If purANas are description of cosmic events in human story forms, itihAsas are legendary tales mixed-up of purANic stories and what really happened with human beings. Let's say there is a person named 'proton' who lived with many exploits that are documente...

The meaning of cakSusa satyata As Brhadharanyaka Upanishad says 'cakSusa satyata'. Observation is Satyata/Existence. The satyata/existence is reality for the observer. This statement is an Universal statement across Quantum, Classical and biological worlds. In quantum world, this 'cakSusa satyata' manifests as wave-function collapse that gets triggered due to observation and a 'satyata' manifesting during the observation. The 'apratigrahah' (non-seizable) becomes pratigrahah (seizable) due to observation (CakSusa) and becomes a new existence or reality (satyata). In the Classical world, this 'cakSusa satyata' is the theory of relativity, where every observer has a frame of reference and speed of objects varies with observation from different frames of reference. In biological world, every being has its own inherited and acquired affinities (vAsanas), these vAsanas determine their observation, interaction and hence the satyata for them. Ev...

I made this as a comment in another blog.  This stanza is from the dakSinamUrti stotram  The stanza from dakSinamUrti stotram Vishvam Darpanna-Drshyamaana-Nagarii-Tulyam Nija-Antargatam Pashyann-Aatmani Maayayaa Bahir-Ivo[a-U]dbhuutam Yathaa Nidrayaa | Yah Saakssaat-Kurute Prabodha-Samaye Sva-[A]atmaanam-Eva-Advayam Tasmai Shrii-Guru-Muurtaye Nama Idam Shrii-Dakssinnaamuurtaye | Translation Vishvam (Universe) Darpanna-Drshyamaana-Nagarii-Tulyam (equivalent to city seen in mirror) Nija-Antargatam (within one’s own) Pashyann (seeing) Aatmani Maayayaa Bahir (Atman’s external mAya) -Ivo[a-U]dbhuutam Yathaa Nidrayaa (as if arising in sleep ) Yah Saakssaat (which with own eyes) Kurute (perform/does) Prabodha-Samaye (at the time of awakening) Sva-[A]atmaanam-Eva-Advayam ( self Atman like non-duality) Tasmai Shrii-Guru-Muurtaye Nama (salutations unto that guru-murti) Idam Shrii-Dakssinnaamuurtaye (this sri dakSinamurti) Summary of my translation Like an e...

Background Janaka asks Ashtavakra How do we obtain jnAna (Knowledge/wisdom)..?  How will we become muktir (free from desires/worries)..? How do we arrive at vairagyam (indifferent to pulls and pressures)..?  Ashtavakra explains in this way. Being patient and Candid/sincere are necessity for gaining more and more knowledge (jnAna).  Being kind and contended are needed to be free from desires (mukti).  Being Truthful is needed to be indifferent from pulls and pressures (vairagya). Hence the characteristics of Ksama (Patience), arjva (sincerity/candidness), dayA (kindness), toSa (Contentment) and Satyam (Truthfulness)  have to be accepted like ‘nectar'. These characteristics all arise from our thoughts.  How do we develop these characteristics then..? Sloka 1.3 na pṛthvī na jalaṁ nāgnirna vāyurdyaurna vā bhavān eṣāṁ sākṣiṇamātmānaṁ cidrūpaṁ viddhi muktaye You are neither prthvi nor jalam nor agni nor vayu nor dyaus.  F...

Background How the Universe expanded in Cosmic Inflation epoch and came into existence is explained here (1). In the 'expanded space' (Brahma) rudras (force-fields) manifest one by one. The force-fields are different ways in which energy is distributed with different properties. There are eleven force-fields and they are explained here (2). 'maruts' are 'quanta' of energy in different force-fields.There are 49 puStis (Fermions) and 14 Tustis (Bosons) making it totally 63 maruts (3). Rsis are symmetry breaking events that originate everything in the Universe  (4). Marici is the Higgs field acquiring Vacuum Expectation Value. Kashyapa is the Electroweak symmetry breaking event. Bhrgu is quantum tunneling. Angiras is the appearance of massless quark condensates due to gluons. Kavi is the formation of neutral atoms (4). Rsi Pulastya is excitation of Virtual and Real 'mesons' which are composite bosons. The excitation of virtual mesons is Agast...

Background Ashta-vakra gIta has been a source for advaita philosophies.  When I read ashta-vakra gIta, my reading was, more than philosophies, it was all about blunt truths.  At the core ashta-vakra gita talks about 'Cit-Atmana'.  That everything rises from 'Cit' of Atman. 'Iam' not the body. 'Iam' not the life in the body.  I am just a 'cit'. There are various explanations that derive from this,  philosophizing around this. I wanted to share my reading in this series. Given all that I am into it, it may not be continuous, but would try to share 2 or 3 stanzas every post, over a period of time. aSTa-vakra - The eight crooked senses There are several stories around aSTavakra.  I am not going to go into them. Suffice that aSTavakra propounded this 'gIta' and hence it is aSTavakra gIta. According to me, aSTa-vakra are the 'eight senses' with which we, the human beings,  interact with external environment.  Due to...

Background When events in the evolution of Universe and matter/energy forms of the early Universe are visualized as human beings, we end up in bizzare descriptions. The mythical characters in Puranas, when visualized as human beings, give rise to strange phenomena. We have people being sneezed out from nose, arising from perspiration, born from hands etc. We have characters whose father and mother seems to change with every purANa. We have situations of incest, group-sex etc. This visualization also gives rise to perception of 'sons', 'daughters', 'Kings', 'courtiers', 'dancing damsels', 'musicians' , 'singers' etc etc and stranger relationships between these. Subsequently this lead to variety of ideologies and philosophies as people struggle to reconcile the puranas with vedas and upanishads. See them as events, energies and matter forms in the early Universe. Then all the conundrums disappear. I believe we lost a...