Isha Upanishad in a New Light (Class 1 of 3) | Swami Medhananda

[@devotoderamakrishna]

Swami Medhananda's work is truly very important. And what is this job? Fundamentally bringing Sri Ramakrishna's teachings to the center of the expositions of the Ramakrishna Order and Mission, causing the other readings (Shankara included) to be illuminated by Thakur's unique position. It was Sri Ramakrishna who clarified: Shankara and Ramanuja are on an equal footing. No, the Bhakta does not have to "evolve" to become a Jnani. No, the Personal God need not be superseded by the Impersonal. There is room for the eternity of Bhakta and for immersion in the Ocean of Impersonal Brahman. Long live Swami Medhanandaji, and courage for his arduous task.

[@kumarmangalam67]

All philosophies are like a lamp post in the path of spiritual journey... let's walk through the light shown by them and not stop at any lamp post thinking it is the destination.

[@jyotidasgupta5439]

Thank you very much Swamiji. I had read Sri Aurobindo's English commentary on the Isopanishad and found it both poetic and elevating. Have been looking for an English discourse and am happy to see it now. Also thank you for the information on the App. Pranaam. 🙏

[@iamguwahati6797]

Plz share the link of the App Thank you

[@KnzoVortex]

@@iamguwahati6797 It’s called “Upanishads”, the description will say ‘In the light of Sri Audobindo’.

[@debasishpattanayak6358]

Pranams swamiji..nice to hear u and feeling blessed to know that u introduced the principles of SriAurobindo...and the vijnana term particularly which was fallen insignificantly ...for SriAurobindo interpretated it as the supramental plane which is the vijnanamaya kosha of the Upanishads...Mahat of the ancient mystics....even today most of the monk's interpretation of vijnanamaya kosha as the intellect which is not that actually it is the vijnana after jnana described by Sri Ramakrishna....i also suggest all of the listeners to go through the book the Life divine of SriAurobindo....where he beautiful explains the vijnanamaya jagat as the linking principle between the higher hemisphere (Sat, Chit , Anand) and the lower hemisphere (matter, life and mind ).

[@historicpassionate2908]

Requesting swami to give us an elaborate talk on the state of Jeevan mukti

[@jpmarques7]

Suprised and pleased with the quotes of Aurobindo and Vivekananda. Did not see that coming

[@johnbanach3875]

Swamiji Maharaj is also currently conducting Bhagavad Gita classes (extracurricular) at USC. Information can be found at USC website. I'm not sure if they're open to the general public or USC students only.

[@k1dstars]

Is it available in zoom. The website doesn’t say that

[@amartyapahari7497]

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Rishi Aurobindo's realisation of Vigyan Vedanta has long been the fundamental philosophy of our absolutely monistic Advaita Shaiva Darshan of Kashmir better known as Kashmir Shaivism. This life affirming beautiful Vedantic philosophy of 'prakasha vimarsha' principle of Shiva Shakti and negation of Shankara's Maya vaad was practised for thousands of years mainly in the agamic traditions and codified in the 9th century AD by spiritual giants like Vasugupta, Abhinavgupta, Kshemaraja, Somananda, Utpaladeva..and many others.

[@davlmt]

Sikhism also seems to be very similar : monistic and with the notion of Maya/ignorance being the cause of mistakenly taking the world as a multiplicity of separate things and anything other than God BUT Sikhism unlike Shankara advaita sees the world as Real and not just mere appearance, the world is God himself, so it prescribes detachement to worldly things WHILE logically approaching everything in the world as a worship of God.

[@vinodkumarjain3957]

Truly a delight to have been connected with the centre Fantastic explanation 🕉🌻🕉🌻🕉🌻🕉🌻

[@jamesjosheph3006]

The starting just amazing 🙏

[@anmolkohli]

Excellent talk, Swamiji. Would love to see you discuss more scriptures through the lens of Vijnana Vedanta in the future.

[@laika5757]

Music to my ears.. 🎼🎶🎸

[@nabanitamajumdar8848]

Will it be relevant of Sri Ramakrishna's example of woodapple(বেল) with it's cover & inside material? Just a thought!!! 🙏🙏⚘️

[@outcomeled]

Will the rest of the order start to follow swami Medhananda?

[@Vivek-sq5ux]

I wish there is some English translation of Amrutanubhav by Sant Dnyaneshwar. Amrutanubhav can be said to be philosophy of Bhavartha Deepika (or Dnyaneshwari) which Sant Dnyaneshwar has expanded deeper meanings of Bhagwad Gita and teach coexistence of Jnana and Bhakti. In Amrutanubhav he presents Advait philosophy but with the Jagat is not unreal but play of consciousness. (Chidvilas). I am not expert of getting nuances and understand differences between Bigyan Vedanta and Chidvilas but get a feeling of similarities in deeper meanings. Also I will also like to say Jeevan Mukti Vivek of Vidyaranya will not differ from Vigyan Vedanta view of enlightened. We can consider Vidyaranya as an extended teacher of Sankara school. When Sankara says neti neti, in what sense he says one need to understand. I think for Sankara there are no steps and no roof. He is not saying that roof is only there with no steps. When he dismisses world by neti neti, he dismisses the world what we know not what a Gyani knows. Once you understand that Brahman only is even Sankara will not have problem calling Jagat as real, but cannot call Jagat real until Brahaman is realized. Context is important. I see no contest. It is only method of teaching.

[@AbhishekKumar-sz9fl]

Sankara says world is an appearance, superimposed on Brahman. And jivanmuktas have trace of ignorance so world still seems real. Calling it "real" would deny the basis of their philosophy. Swamiji addresses this in the lecture.

[@Vivek-sq5ux]

@@AbhishekKumar-sz9fl appearance is incorrect tranlsation of Mithyatwa. Indeterminate - cannot be said as real or unreal. For jevan mukta I said Jagat as real in the sense that it is Brahman only (what is real - Brahman), Jagat is Brahman. You can call play of words to call mithya or Satya once jevan mukta. Take any tradition. But read carefully what I meant.

[@AbhishekKumar-sz9fl]

@@Vivek-sq5ux The same jagat which is false for an ignorant, becomes Brahman for a jnani. So everything is dependent on the knowledge of the jnani. What about the world in its names and forms. These were to be subtracted earlier. But the world remains as it is. The jnani goes through a paradigm shift. Just that. Nothing else. The world stands as it is. Vijnana Vedanta does not stop at the mere realisation of jnana. It goes a step further and I think tries to explain the second step of "deification" of the world in its actuality. It probably makes us grateful of all the names and forms which are God themselves. Even for a hardcore jnani such a step might lead him no doubt to appreciate the world even make him a imbued with bhakti, but will it justify the the tradition to which he belongs. Is it in congruence with the tradition to which he/she belongs ?

[@davlmt]

This is such an interesting and even crucial topic, I wish Sikhism were included in this discussion. Actually there is a compelling theory that Totapuri wasn't a Dasnami Monk but an Udasi, which would in fact make Ramakrishna an Udasi saint more than a Shankara advaitin. And indeed Sikhism seems to be (in practice, and disregarding the most prescriptive Khalsa stuff ) a synthesis of the yogas very similar to what Vivekananda tried to establish, only more suited to the householder (Vivekanand still said that enlightenment would be extremely difficult without taking sannyas). The biggest difference (besides the fact that they reject sannyas ) is that Sikhism has an apparent incoherence in that they say that they reject the saguna aspect of God - at least it cannot be worshipped as and represented by a personal deity with a limited form like an ishta devata. However Waheguru although formless is also of infinite auspicious qualities, and to them the world is real and is nothing but Waheguru with jivas behind a part of Him. In Sikhism Maya is the power of God that gives rise to the world of apparent multiplicity and separation, but the creation being nothing but Waheguru, it is as real as Him. Like in advaita the ignorance of oneness/attachment to multiplicity and especially the Ego (ahankar) IS the problem and the origin of bondage, but the concept of Maya here doesn't make the world unreal, it just means that attachment to ego and worldly things is a mistake, and that everything in the world should rightly and logically be approached as a worship of God.. So this seems very similar to the vishishtadvaita standpoint, BUT with a formless non-personal Ishvara AND the concept of Maya. To Sikhism it's like Waheguru is BOTH saguna (but not personal), immanent Ishwara AND nirguna, transcendent Brahman at the same time , which seems like an apparent contradiction, that they resolve with the concept of Maya like advaita vedanta, BUT unlike Shankara Sikhism consider the world as Real not just mere appearance, Maya is the power of God which makes the world real but attachment to Maya is seen as ignorance and vice. The sadhana of Sikhism is thus based on meditation, Karma yoga (as a form of Bhakti like 'worshipping the living God' in Vivekananda words), and Bhakti in every action of life (Naam), which ultimately lead to dispelling ignorance of Oneness / illusion of multiplicity and getting Jnana of oneness with God, thus Mukti. Isn't that what Vijnana vedanta is about ?

[@prathibananjundiah368]

Excellent talk 🙏🏽

[@prathibananjundiah368]

I disagree with the approach of criticism of Shankara though As master did not believe in criticism 🙏

[@dancraig9]

Can there be a better time for an Avatar than right now?

[@tzadik36]

Pronaams!🙏 Namaskaars to all.

[@madhurimasen2134]

But In the small handbook by swami brahmananda , it is said that as an answer to a certain question, Thakur said ব্রহ্ম সত্য জগৎ মিথ্যা এইটা ধারণা করো। so this is the path of jnana., Isn't it. On the other hand he talks about stairs and roof, peeling of onion skin etc. So how to reconcile thakur's jnana on one hand and bijnana on the other.

[@bhattacharya6774]

Again on 20th & 27th, on what of IST time ?? 8am ??

[@techtalk5869]

Swami Ji You explained isha upnishad comprehensively. But have you realised what is said in this. One thing is chanting mantra, another thing is understanding the meaning of mantra. and ultimate thing is realising those mantras. And how to realise it

[@jamesjosheph3006]

Swamigy, reduce the speed you speak, so that the listener can hear and think. It is not what we talk, more important is what listener get... 👍

[@toystory922]

You can slow down the speed of the video in settings. 🙏

[@SrikanthIyerTheMariner]

I speak very quickly too .. I also teach a class.... I totally see your point..because my students say the same thing

[@tzadik36]

Would it be possible to have a link to a pdf of the handout?

[@AbhishekKumar-sz9fl]

Yeah. It would be of much help.

[@VedantaOrg]

The handout is now available by link in the video description.

[@unified2002]

@@VedantaOrg Can we have regular classes by Swami Medhananda like this. Since we have Bhagavad Gita, Kena Upanishad etc of Sri Aurobindo.

[@prathibananjundiah368]

🙏

[@herjigyasa]

I might be wrong but it appears that Shankaracharya and Sri Ramkrishna are both saying the same thing about the world and Brahman. Just describing in different words.

[@chandrarangnath1043]

in the context of the existential threat that the Hindu Dharma faces both in India and elsewhere, this 'realistic' and 'world affirming' interpretation (like it was done in Kashmir Shaivam) is urgently needed. It needs to be committed to writing as the correct view of Vedanta for the modern world and taught widely. No more 'mayavaada' and 'mithyavaada' -- that belittle worldy existence. The ideal of moksha should be redefined and published widely, so that moksha is possible for everyone, not to a select few who can digest all the advaitic literature and disappear into nothingness. Who really would want such moksha, anyway ?

[@AB-rq7qr]

No mistake at all. Shankara's advaita vedanta accommodates one and all

[@dancraig9]

There is no clay, it is all stone dust.

[@radhikaschwartz3499]

We are supposed to take aurobindo three mystical experiences as evidence .? The same talk over and over. This is not knowledge it’s over reach.

[@EffortlessSleepandLife]

I'm not sure what you're referring to as 3 experiences. Sri Aurobindo claimed - I'll acknowledge it's a claim and not absolute truth - to be living in Brahma Nirvana for over 40 years of his life. This expanded into the dynamic realization of the all pervading Purushottama. Beyond that, the realizations at the level of what he called the spiritual mind, he rose to the Vijnana (which both Swami Medhananda and Sri Aurobindo refer to as the supra mental consciousness). Beyond that, he spoke of transformation, which he had been consciously "opening to" with the transformation of the mind, then the vital, then the physical consciousness. And in the transcendence of the spiritual realization in the ordinary mind, he spoke of rising to the higher mind, illumined, intuitive and Overmind. And the above is all a simplified summary, as there is also the realization of the psychic being and the subsequent transformation of the mind, life and body in this life, and the Self realization and subsequent transformation of mind life and body in that Light. So two final points; (1) that is more than 12 experience-realizations over more than 40 years, rather than "3 mystic experiences." (2) It appears you aren't familiar with any but 3 of these, and from what I've heard of in Swami's lectures, he refers only to a few of these, but in ways I haven't heard in nearly 50 years of hearing speakers on Sri Aurobindo. So in conclusion, it is not merely 3 experiences, and in virtually every video I've seen where Swamiji refers to Sri Aurobindo, even though I've written a book and a book chapter on Sri Aurobindo's yogic psychocosmology, i learn something new. You might be interested in reading Satprem's "Adventure of Consciousness" to learn more, and then to watch all 3 videos of Swami's on the Isha Upanishad, and his series on the Bhagavad Gita.

[@mkh2799]

🙏