Upanishad Stories

kaluputti · Jun 4, 2021

THE NEED FOR A GURU
Someone was living in a country called Gandhara, and was attacked by robbers on the way. He was tied up. His eyes were covered and he was taken to a long distance and left in a thick forest infested with tigers, wild beasts, etc. The person was crying, "I have lost my way. I do not know where I am. Will anybody come and help me? Does anybody hear my voice? Is there anyone near me?" That was all he could do.

Then, there came one good Samaritan passing by that way and he untied all the knots with which the person was bound. He removed the bandages from the eyes and said to him, "Oh, you have come to this place. Where are you coming from?" The poor man replied, "I come from Gandhara. Now I do not know where it is. Which is the way to that place?" Then the kind one said, "You proceed from this place in that direction and you will see a big tree there. Then you turn to the right and walk for about two miles. Then you will see a village. From there you move towards the east and there you will see a signpost. Now proceed slowly and you can safely reach your place."

This is an analogy to describe the condition of people in this world. We have been exiled from our 'home' and cast into the wilderness by the robbers of the senses and we cannot see things properly as they really are. We do not know from where we have come. We have lost our way. And the apparatus of our senses are not going to help us. The mind has been confounded.

The only way is to ask for help, and just as a person with sight can help a person without sight and can point out the way to the destination which he has to reach, so is the blindfolded soul in this wilderness of life to take the guidance of a person with spiritual eyesight, who can visualise the presence of the great Reality which is the destination of everyone. Such a person with eyes which can see the truth of things as they are is called an acharya, a spiritual master. He is the preceptor, he is the Guru. There is no way of escape from this muddle of life except through the guidance of a preceptor, because a preceptor, a Guru, is one who has undergone these experiences of life. He has seen the tortures of existence, the sufferings, the winding path and the dismal ways through which one has to go. He knows from where one has come and how one can revert to that place again. Through the indications given by the master, the disciple has to proceed gradually.

In the analogy, the good Samaritan told the blindfolded man how he could go back to his house step by step by the winding path with the help of various objects which served as signposts. Even so, are the scriptures signposts on the way. The instructions of the Guru are the indications on the path - Chandogyopanishad.
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Viswamitra · Jun 12, 2021

"Beats in the string" (maniganah) is what is said by Krishan In Sloka 7 of Chapter VII of Bhagavad Gita indicating how the absolute is running through everything in the real world. Beads on a string is compared with Absolute running through the cluster of realities which adhere together to form a compact unit in a world of its own. These units may touch the actual, or enter into consciousness through concepts or precepts, or may even rise to the purer world of the intelligibles. Whatever level they may belong to, earthy, human or celestial, when they are regarded as representing closed groups of human values, the bead analogy becomes understandable. There ia relation uniting all beads and running through them, and each bead, at whatever level it may be considered, has its value depending upon this relationship.

In the Mundaka Upanishad, instead of string, there is the analogy of a bridge which spans the gulf between the here and the beyond for the men to cross over to and fro. He on whom the sky, the earth, and the atmosphere are woven, and the mind, together will all vital energies, Him alone is known as the one atman (Self). Other words dismiss. He is the bridge to immortality. Again in Prasna Upanishad, all the components of prakriti (nature) are likened to birds resorting to the tree of the supreme self. In Genesis, there is a similar analogy where angels go up and down Jacob's ladder.

One of the ancient wisdom known as Kabbalah's wisdom talks about a vessel created to receive grace which resisted reception of grace due to its divine quality. Therefore, duality was created to receive grace from the Absolute. Many of them still remain in its orignal state that is described in the Hindu scriptures as satvic (at the subatomic level remain as Proton), a few received the grace separating from divinity described as tamosic (at the subatomic level remain as electron) and a few receive and emit grace binding more with divine described as rajasic (at the subatomic level as neutron binding more with Proton). But the vessels are not independent and each of them are embedded with divine elements and when they merge with divine, they lose their identity.

Human life is like a garland, with birth at one end and death at the other. Between the two ends are strung together flowers of all kinds - troubles, worries, joys, sorrows and dreams. Few are aware of the string that runs through all the flowers. Without the string there can be no garland. Only the person who recognizes the string can become a real human. This string is called Sutra or Brahma-Sutra (The Divine String). The Divine Atma principle is the string which is found in all human beings and which is the source of all the potencies in them.

kaluputti · Jul 5, 2021

'The Divine Atma principle is the string which is found in all human beings and which is the source of all the potencies in them.'
Excellent explanation..thank you. "First we should understandour own individual atma principle and when we can assimilate it the entire puzzle unfolds" is the message our scripture gives and we show it in temples during mahadeeparadhanai by first starting with multi lamps and finally finishing with one lamp.

kaluputti · Jun 4, 2023

IN THE FOREST OF THE WORLD
Once, a man was going through a forest, when three robbers fell upon him and robbed him of all his possessions. One of the robbers said,
"What's the use of keeping this man alive?"
So saying, he was about to kill him with his sword, when the second robber interrupted him, saying:
'Oh, no! What is the use of killing him? Tie his hand and
foot and leave him here."
The robbers bound his hands and feet and went away. After a while the third robber returned and said to the man: "Ah, I am sorry. Are you hurt? I will release you from your bonds." After setting the man free, the thief said: "Come with me. I will take you to the public high way."
After a long time they reached the road. At this the man said: "Sir, you have been very good to me. Come with me to my house." "Oh, no!" the robber replied. "I can't go there. The police will come to know of it."
This world itself is the forest. The three robbers prowling here are Satva, rajas, and lamas. It is they that rob a man of the Knowledge of Truth. Tamas wants to destroy him. „Rajas‟ binds him to the
world. But Satva rescues him from the clutches of rajas and tamas. Under the protection of Satva, man is rescued from anger, passion and other evil effects of tamas. Further, Satva loosens the bonds of the world. But Satva also is a robber. It cannot give man the
ultimate Knowledge of Truth, though it shows him the road leading to the Supreme Abode of God. Setting him on the path, Satva tells him: "Look yonder. There is your home."
Like the third ribber, there are wise people who know “Sat” (Brahman). Through their guidance we can be free from our ignorance. Following their directions, we can realize the “Sat” (Brahman) from which we had come.
From ChandogyaUpanishad. (as told by Sri Ramakrishna)