The Mandukya Upanishad discusses the problem of the Ultimate Reality. From the Advaita point of view, the goal is the attainment of the knowledge of the non-dual Brahman and the Atman. The Upanishad does not ignore the belief of those in the external objects or in the manifested manifold. It shows that their belief is because of their perception through the senses, or through their attachment to their worldly concerns. The idea is that the Supreme Brahman is realised only by those in a state of renunciation, whose intuitive perception is backed by scriptural knowledge. But how is one has to transcend the limits of human cognition to realise the Supreme Brahman that remains ineffable and beyond human grasp?
This Reality is attainable to the mind which dismisses desire, anger and fear and is freed of delusions. Desire, fear and anger compound the state of ignorance in an individual. The individual who identifies with the world, imagining it to be some or many or all of the diverse things in it, is in the grip of the same illusion that arises when a rope is mistaken for a snake, or a stick or a streak of water. But in truth, one has to understand that the manifested world of creation is the very Brahma swaroopa and is to seen as a springboard for realising Brahman.
Even as one knows the true status of the ever changing scenes displayed on a TV screen, a realised soul understands the ephemeral nature of the manifested world. When Narayana Bhattathiri addresses the deity in the Guruvayur temple as the very Brahma Tatva, he shows that this is a manifestation of that elsuive Truth that the Upanishads painstakingly strive to explain. Devotion and selfless living are a means to God realisation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment