Date:19/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/19/stories/2008081955581200.htm

Miscellaneous - Religion

Supreme wisdom

CHENNAI: It is apparent to anyone who reflects on human life that even if one were to be endowed with the sovereignty of this world it will not confer lasting peace of mind and bliss. This is an indicator that the eternal happiness that every individual seeks cannot be realised from material pursuits. The quest thus has to turn within to find out the source of permanent joy. As only that which is eternal can bequeath enduring happiness, the search has to discover the Self (Atman), which the Upanishads state is eternal and blissful in nature.

In his discourse, Sri R.Krishnamurthy Sastrigal said the Upanishads described the nature of the Absolute (Brahman) and the method of experiencing the bliss of the Self within. Though man’s essential nature (Atman) is blissful he is unable to experience this due to the turbulence of the mind. The state of the mind in sleep is the nearest experience of the Self that an individual can practically relate to because after waking up he says he had slept peacefully. One of the principal Upanishads, which expounds this profound, subtle knowledge, is the Mundaka Upanishad and this belongs to the Atharva Veda. The lineage of spiritual instruction is traced to the creator, Brahma, who imparted the knowledge of Brahman to his eldest son Atharva and from whom it came to be transmitted by a succession of sages.

The general method of teacher-disciple dialogue is adopted here wherein Saunaka approached Angiras and asked him, “Sir, (which is that thing) which having been known, all this becomes known?” This may seem paradoxical because from experience one knows that mastery of one subject will only enable the individual to know that and not another subject. This the Upanishad clarifies by dividing all knowledge into two: the higher (Para vidya) and the relative (Apara vidya).

Para vidya is spiritual knowledge knowing which one becomes enlightened (everything becomes known) as it is Brahman which is the cause of this entire creation. This liberates one from bondage. The four Vedas, its six auxiliaries and all other subjects are classified under Apara vidya as the knowledge they give is relative in nature.