"On Understanding"

    Not all will understand what is said or written, however  clear! some people are intelligent enough to understand easily, but fail to understand the context in which the text is presented. Some misread and some are so perverted that they misunderstand what is said even in the Vedic Texts! This has given rise to a number of religions in India like the Buddhists, the Jain, and the Sikhs who read the same Texts differently! Even the Qur'on and the Bible say the same things differently and people understand differently! In fact all the spiritual Texts have the Vedic Texts at the substratum as the datum line. Hence, there is the need for understanding the very meaning and import of the term "Understanding". The term 'Understanding' has very broad meaning and connotation. It is age-specific and persons of different age groups understand the same thing differently! It also depends on one's ability and one can reach upto 'brahmn' here as the Vedic texts put it.

“ON UNDERSTANDING . . .”

   All said and done, everything depends on one’s intelligence level, ability to grasp, and capacity to ‘understand’, let alone experience and realize the truth. There is a beautiful explanation regarding this ‘Understanding’ in Chan. Upa. of Samaveda. Before going on a journey about our quest for ‘Truth’ let’s ponder over a few Upanishad doctrines in order to understand the deeper meaning of what we are searching for and what we may discover. The very term ‘understanding’ needs to be properly understood. Not everyone understands what understanding is! Each one understands what he can understand and nothing more, or beyond that. Much depends on the person’s sanskar (family background), opportunities, exposure, good teachers, personal effort, and a proper environment. Samaveda makes this point very clear when it speaks about Understanding….

“Understanding takes us as far as Brahman- the ‘sat’, the Eternal.”

   “Understanding is, verily, greater than meditation. Understanding makes one understand the Rks, the Rk Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, the Atharva Veda, the epics and the ancient lore as the fifth- the Upanishads- Veda of the Vedas, the rules of sacrifices by which the Manes are gratified, the science of numbers, the science of portents, the science of time, logic, ethics, etymology, Brahma-vidya, the science of elemental spirits, the science of weapons, astronomy, the science of serpents and the fine arts; heaven, earth, air, water, fire, gods, men, cattle, birds, herbs, trees; animals, together with worms, flies and ants; and also righteousness and unrighteousness, the true and the false, the good and the bad, the pleasant and the unpleasant, food and taste, this world and yonder world

   Narada said: Venerable Sir, is there anything greater than understanding?

  Of course, there is something greater than understanding.

  Please tell that to me, venerable Sir.”  

  “He who meditates on ‘Understanding as Brahman’ attains the worlds of understanding and knowledge and can, of his own free will, reach as far as understanding reaches- he who meditates on understanding as Brahman.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, VII –Understanding as Brahman 1-2].

   “Sanatkumara said: When one understands the True, only then does one declare the True. One who does not understand the True does not declare ‘It’, ‘the sat’. Only those who understand ‘It’ declare the ‘True’. One must desire to understand this understanding. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XVII - Truth depends upon Understanding, 1].

    “When one reflects, only then does one understand. Whoever does not reflect does not understand. Only one who reflects understands. One must desire to understand this reflection. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand reflection.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XVIII - Understanding depends upon Reflection, 1].

    “When one has faith, only then does one reflect. One who does not have faith does not reflect. Only one who has faith reflects. One must desire to understand faith. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand faith.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa, VII, XIX - Reflection depends upon Faith, 1].

  “When one is single-minded in one's devotion to the teacher, only then does one have faith. One who does not have single-mindedness does not have faith. Only one who has single-mindedness has faith. One must desire to understand single-mindedness. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand single-mindedness.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XX - Faith depends upon Single-Mindedness, 1].  

 “Memory is, verily, greater than the Space, akasha.” “Therefore even when many people assemble, if they had no memory they would not hear anyone at all, they would not think, they would not understand. But surely, if they had memory, they would hear, think and understand. Through memory one knows one's sons, through memory one's cattle. Meditate on memory.  “He who meditates on memory as Brahman can, of his own free will, reach as far as memory reaches-he who meditates on memory as Brahman.

Narada said: Venerable Sir is there anything greater than memory?

 Of course, there is something greater than memory. Please tell that to me, venerable Sir.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XIII - Memory as Brahman, 1-2].

     “Hope is, verily, greater than memory. Kindled by hope, a person endowed with memory reads the sacred hymns, performs sacrifices, desires sons and cattle; desires this world and the other. Meditate on hope.”

   “The akasha is, verily, greater than fire. For in the akasha exists the sun and moon, lightning, stars and fire. It is through the akasha that a person calls another (sound travels in space); it is through the akasha that the other hears; it is through the akasha that the person hears back. In the akasha we rejoice when we are together and in the akasha we rejoice not when we are separated. In the akasha everything is born and toward the akasha all things grow. Meditate upon the akasha. He who meditates on the akasha as Brahman obtains the worlds extending far and wide, luminous, free from pain and spacious; he can, of his own free will, reach as far as the akasha reaches-he who meditates on the akasha as Brahman.

   Narada said: Venerable Sir is there anything greater than the akasha?

   Of course there is something greater than the akasha. Please tell that to me, venerable Sir.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XII - The Akasha as Brahman, 1-2].

“When one performs one's duties (i.e. practices concentration, dharana), only then does one have single-mindedness. One who does not perform his duties does not have single-mindedness. Only one who performs his duties has single-mindedness. One must desire to understand the performance of duties. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand the performance of duties.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XXI - Single-Mindedness depends upon Concentration, 1].

   “When one obtains bliss, only then does one perform one's duties. One who does not obtain bliss does not perform his duties. Only one who obtains bliss performs his duties. One must desire to understand bliss. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand bliss.” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XXII - Concentration depends upon Bliss, 1].

   “The Infinite is Bliss. There is no bliss in anything finite. Only the Infinite is bliss. One must desire to understand the Infinite. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand the Infinite.” “Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else-that is the Infinite. Where one sees something else, hear something else, understands something else-that is the finite. The Infinite is immortal, the finite mortal. Venerable Sir, in what does the Infinite find its support? In Its own greatness- or not even in greatness does it lie? Here on earth people describe cows and horses, elephants and gold, slaves and wives, fields and houses, as 'greatness.' I do not mean this, he said, for in such cases one thing finds its support in another. But what I say is:” [Samaveda, Chan. Upa. VII, XXIV - The Infinite is Bliss and the Finite 1-2].

 On Joy and Happiness, it is said, the joy and happiness enjoyed by a youth, rich and famous, on the earth is one as compared to the joy and happiness of the pitrus or manes who have no physical body as such but do possess mind, intellect, and ego. If it is a hundred times in pitru-loka, it is a hundred times hundred more in the deva-loka, the realm of Gods, and a thousand times more than all these in the realms of tapo-lok of the Jnyanis. It is sheer eternal bliss in the Brahma-loka for which all Jnyanis aspire.

   “You have no knowledge of Him, who created these worlds; some other thing has interposed between you. The reciters of hymns who ravish life in their ritual proceed with their muttering, enwrapped in confusion and ignorance.” [Rk Veda X, 82, 7]

   The universe has reached a state of flux and the next stage is crucial for its survival. The survival of Mankind that is at crossroads is also doubtful. Only a spiritual advancement can save it. However, at the end of Kaliyuga, the world is bound to revert to Brahmn. The spiritually attained will again appear as the tapo-janah, devatas, and pitru/manes in the next satyayuga.

“The divine element in us is the deepest essence of our being. Mind and intellect have no access to it. We will have to go beyond thoughts. That is a very difficult problem. When we go beyond thoughts what will then remain is the Absolute alone, and it is one without the second. We shall reach that state when we have gone beyond all sensations, perceptions, concepts, mental conditions and ideas, and impressions and will see not only by intellectual light, but in divine light. Then we by Christ or Buddha- the state of enlighten ment Divine communion, the transfiguration of the divine ego, delve into the Atman.”  [Swamy Abhedananda: Mystery of Death, p.149].