Taittirīya Upaniṣad

[Gene Cryder]

Andthere ends the Brahma-vidyā. Now, tīio, with a view to teach what the means to Brahma-vidyā is, the śruti proceeds in the sequel to treat of devotion (tapas), as also of the upāsanas of the Annamaya and the like.

It is true that in the Sāṃhitī-upaniṣad (śikṣā-vallī) works and contemplation were spoken of as means to Brah-ma-vidyā; but they are comparatively remote and indirect means (bahiranga-sādhana) to Brahma-vidyā. As the vichāra or investigation of Brahman, which is the proximate means to Brahma-vidyā, was not treated of in the Śikṣā-vallī, the present section proceeds to treat of the subject. The process of investigation of Brahman being treated of, the subsidiary processes of manana (reflection), etc, will also have been treated of.

Do thou seek to know particularly that One, viz., Brahman. That is to say, do thou reach Brahman thus defined, through the gateways of food, etc. The śruti elsewhere says that these form the gateways to the knowledge of Brahman:

Now, O eminent sages, Śravaṇa is the mere determination of the main drift of all the Vedāntic texts as shewn by such marks as upakrama,[13] &c., under the guidance of a beloved teacher. Manana means the act of reflecting upon that teaching by applying to it such course of reasoning as will go to support the teaching. Nididhyāsana means one-pointedness of mind in Sravana and Manana. Sravana, O sages, is the direct cause of the rise of knowledge, whereas reflection and meditation, which are calculated to eliminate foreign elements, are indirect causes, while the control of the mind and the senses, and the like, constitute the necessary conditions of investigation.

As against the theory that ākāśa, time, etc., are eternal, we hold that, like pots and trays, they must have had a birth since they are conceived as distinct from other objects of our experience (and belong as such to the world of duality and phenomena).

Having learned from his father the gateways to the perception of Brahman as well as the definition of Brahman, Bhṛgu betook himself to devotion, tapas, as the means to the perception of Brahman.

And the particular mode of tapas here meant is the composure or concentration (samādhāna) of the external and internal organs of knowledge, inasmuch as that forms the doorway to the realisation of Brahman.

In the Vedānta-sūtras III. iv. 1-17, it is settled that Self-knowledge is the independent means to mokṣa. And this Self-knowledge is easy of acquisition in the case of him who belongs to the order of celibates. The next section of the Vedānta-sūtras establishes that celebates form a recognised āśrama or order of religious life.

It cannot be urged that the śruti prescribes a penance in the words, when a student of Veda has had intercourse with a woman let him sacrifice an ass for, this penance is prescribed in the case of an upakurvāna-brahinachārin, one who takes a temporary vow of chastity as a condition of the Vedic study. Wherefore in the case of the Naiṣṭhika-brahmachārin, i.e., in the case of him who strays from the vow of perpetual celibacy, there can be no penance.

I humbly request your help to keep doing what I do best: provide the world with unbiased sources, definitions and images. Your donation direclty influences the quality and quantity of knowledge, wisdom and spiritual insight the world is exposed to.

3a8082e126