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Wk05 Wednesday, Oct 231

Today

Olivelle’s Upaniṣads– Chāndogya 6– Kaṭha

Supplemental readings:– Bodewitz (2001) “Uddālaka's Teaching in Chāndogya

Upanisad 6, 8–16.”– Helfer, James S. 1968. “The Initiatory Structure of the

Kaṭhopaniṣad”. History of Religions 7:348-367. (Read if interested in ritual significance of KaU).

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No Class Next MondayNext Wednesday:

Olivelle’s Upaniṣads– Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, Īśāvāsya

Supplemental readings:– Williams, Kyle Lee. 2008. "Understanding Oṃ (Aum),

Turīya, and the Three States of Consciousness in the Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad."

– Jones, Richard H. 1981. "Vidyā and Avidyā in the ĪśaUpaniṣad."

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Weekend Reflections Identify & discuss philosophical theme of

interest, e.g.:– Principle of Identification – Ritual – Om– ātman – Brahman – Death– Breath / Fire / Food – Senses– Worlds / Creation – Paradoxes, etc.– Something else? Run it by me!

Explore development, changes, variations, inconsistencies, etc.

Ground your writing in source materials Do draw on secondary literature as needed

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Chāndogya Up. 6Kaṭha Up.

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Chāndogya Upaniṣad

Sāma Veda, Udgātṛ Set in Kuru-Pāñcāla

region– BU in Videha

Rivalry with BU authors Emphasis on formal

teacher-student instruction

Traditional, orthodox

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Chāndogya Up. 6

Dialog between Uddālaka Āruṇi and son Śvetaketu

Both persons also occur in CU 5.3-24 Same Uddālaka Āruṇi in BU 4.7 Śvetaketu here a young, conceited man

in contrast to Uddālaka’s humility Contains ‘tat tvam asi’, stated 9 times

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CU 6.1: Rule of “Substitution” (ādeśa)

Śvetaketu – swell-headed & arrogant R. o. S.: That by which one hears/thinks/knows

what has not been heard/thought/known before– clod of clay → earth– copper ornament → copper– nail-cutter → iron

All transformations are verbal handles, modifications of the underlying reality.– name & form are just manifestations

Śve: My teachers must not have known it!8

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CU 6.2: Creation from Existent

Existent cannot be from Non-existent – counters RV 10.72.2, 10.129.4, TU 2.7, CU 3.19 (!)

In the beginning: one without a second Let me be many:

→ heat, can be felt → water (sweat, rain), can be felt & seen→ food, can be felt, seen & tasted = full materiality

– cf. BU 3.2: Death = fire, food of water

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CU 6.3: Three Sources of Creatures

1. Egg-born / Oviparous (heat incubated)2. Born of ‘living beings’ / Viviparous

(embryo in water)3. Sprout-born (from food / seed)

The three deities differentiated name & form– combining each with the other two (triads)

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CU 6.4: Red, white and black

Red = heat, white = water, black = food

All names & forms are modifications of these three realities (“deities”)– e.g. fire, sun, moon, lightning

“No one will be able to spring anything unheard/unthought/non-understood on us (5).”

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CU 6.5-6: Composition of Body Anything → dense, medium, finest Consumed food → excrement, flesh, mind (manas) Consumed water → urine, blood, breath (prāṇa) Consumed heat → bones, marrow, speech (vāc) 6.6: Analogy of churning curds → ghee

cf. BU 3.4: on death:– Speech → fire; breath → wind; mind → moon;

bodily fluids → water; hair → plants

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CU 6.7: 16 Parts of Man

Fasting for 15 days, only water Analogy of an ember left from blazing fire

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CU 6.8: Sleep, Hunger, Thirst, Death

Sleep: union with existent, sat / self (sva)– bird : string :: mind : breath– precursor to Yoga?

Hunger: water drives away food Thirst: heat drives away drink Bud ← root : food ← water ← heat ← existent, sat

– Existent is the root, resting place, foundation of all beings

On death: speech → mind → breath → heat →→ Existent /ātman

Tat tvam asi, you are that

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CU 6.9-16: True Nature of Self

Many → one– nectar from different trees → honey (9)– tiger … mosquito → Existent (9,10)– rivers → ocean (10)

What about individuality?

Pervaded by living essence (jīva-ātman), ex: tree– what is bereft of life dies, life does not die (11).

Subtle & immanent– Banyan fruit, seed (12)– Salt in water, invisible/visible (13)

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True Nature of Self, cont’d

Blindfolded, kidnapped man (14)– importance of teacher– inevitability of arriving at the destination

15: Reabsorption on death– voice → mind → breath → heat → highest deity– non-recognition of relatives

16: Heated axe test– covering oneself with truth, one turns into the truth– Truth keeps one from being burned, = ātman– one is released, √muc

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Kaṭha Upaniṣad

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KaU 1: Naciketas & Death Naciketas = son of Uśan

Vājaśravasa (Uddālaka Āruṇiper 1.11)– Name is a play on

One who does not know One who does not decay

Strong ties to ritual– Sarva-medha, sacrifice of

everything– giving barren, ‘dry’ cows?

Brahmin hospitality. – See p. 375, n. 1-4

Human sacrifice?

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KaU 1, cont’d

The human condition summarized (6)

Yama offering Naciketas water (7)– Kṣatriya → Brahmin

2nd boon = redefinition of sacrifice?– sacrifice internalized (14)

cave of the heart = ātman, prāṇa

– knowledge more important than deed? (14, 17-18)

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KaU 1, cont’d Three boons (cf. Helfer, p. 360)

1. to be reconciled with father (10-11)– presumption2. Knowledge of fire-altar (12-19)3. Knowledge of what happens to one after death (20)

Death balks, then counters on 3rd boon (21-25):– Sons, grandsons, longevity– Livestock, elephants, horses, wealth– Great domain– Prominence– Divine damsels

Naciketas holds firm (22, 26-29)20

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KaU 2: Death’s Answer 1: The good, śreyas vs. the gratifying, preyas 2: wise choose the beneficial, fools the gratifying 5: “blind leading the blind” 7: Rarity of access. (Cf. BG 2.29) 8-9: Need for a teacher,

– “beyond realm of reason/argumentation”

10: by fire altar → gain the eternal– 12: gained by inner contemplation

11: foundation of the world = desire– rejection of rituals

13:drawing ‘it’ out → Cf. KaU 6.17, ātman21

KaU 2: The Self

15-17: Om = brahman 18-19: Paradox, Cf. BG 2.19-20 20-22: Paradoxes 23: “This self cannot be grasped by intelligence

… Only by one he chooses (vṛṇute) / who is prayed to (vivṛṇute), whose body he chooses as his own.”

24: Don’ts 25: Devourer image: sauce sprinkled on rice!

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KaU 3: The Chariot Analogy ātman = rider body = chariot intellect = charioteer mind = reins senses = horses objects = paths

7: round of rebirth = saṃsāra– earliest mention

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KaU 3.8-9: Viṣṇu’s three steps

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KaU 3, cont’d

10-11: senses < sense objects < mind < intellect < immense self (ātman/mahat) < unmanifest (avyakta) < person (puruṣa)– nothing higher than puruṣa– avyakta = prakr̥ti (Saṅkhya creative principle)?

12-13: Meditation?– keen vision, sharp mind– curb speech & mind– tranquil self

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KaU 3, cont’d

14: The Razor’s Edge– Wake up! Pay attention! – A razor’s sharp edge is difficult to traverse.

15: no sound / touch / appearance / taste / smell, no beginning / end, undecaying, eternal– when ‘perceived,’ freed from the jaws of death– Buddhist Heart Sutra?

16-17: this chapter recited at death anniv. Ceremonies– Brahman’s world??! 26

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KaU 4: The Self

1: “Turning sight inwards” – introversion. “See”?! 2: “Do not seek the stable / permanent in the

unstable / impermanent.” 3: Experiencer of sense objects, understanding 4: Perceives waking & sleep states 6: Masc. creative principle 7: Fem. creative principle (cf. Aditi, RV 10.72.4-5) 8-9: Ritual equivalence 10-11: Perception of diversity = death, rebirth

– Cf. BU 4.4.1927

KaU 4, cont’d

6-7, 12-13: Meditation on the heart– puruṣa (person) within body (ātman)– Heat / water / breath– all divinity, all living beings– beyond time– “like fire free from smoke”

14-15: Vivid images– rain flowing hither/thither = one perceiving diversity– pure water into pure water

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KaU 5: What happens on death

1: 11-gated citadel– 2 eyes, 2 nostrils, mouth, 2 ears, 2 excretory, navel,

top of head– Alt: 5 sense organs, 5 organs of action (speech, hands,

feet, excretion, procreation), mind

2: = RV 4.40.5, Goose =sun, Vasu = wind, Hotṛ = fire, … born of cows earth = plants, born of rocksmountains = rivers

7: Karma, rebirth. Stationary things have ātman?! 8: Puruṣa = Brahman, support of all worlds,

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KaU 5, cont’d

9-11: fire / wind / sun within beings =digestive / breath / vision

– Single self, remains distinct ???

12-13: eternal happiness (sukha), bliss peace (śānti) 15: na tatra sūryo bhāti …

= MuU 2.2.10, ŚU 6.14

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KaU 6: Paradoxes 1: Upside down tree: cf.

BG 15.1 4: knowledge of Brahman → re-embodiment??

7-8: senses < mind < essence (sattva)

[intelligence in 3.10] < immense self (mahān

ātman) < unmanifest (avyakta) < puruṣa [cf. KaU 3.10-11]

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KaU 6: Paradoxes, cont’d

9-10,12: can’t be seen by 5 senses + mind + reason– 9: contemplated by heart (hr̥dā), insight (maṇīṣā),

thought (manas) 10-11: Yoga, definition of 14-15: free of desires / knots → immortal 16-17: 101 veins, one through the crown

– separate puruṣa like reed from sheath

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KaU Graphic Novel

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