Taittiriya Upanishad

========================================================================= Tuesday,  09 May,  2023. 06:20. Chapter 3: Ishvara and Jiva-4. ======================================================================== Thus, the god or the divinity came afterwards; the function came first, so that the controlling principle of even the divinities was co-extensive with the existence of the Universal Being Himself. The gods were not independent, but were dependent on the Total from which they were projected. The gods were not the controllers; rather, they were controlled by the forces that worked integrally behind them, which arose from the total being of the Universal Virat. But now, what has happened is that when the divinities entered the human body, there was a reversal of the whole process. The human functions correspond to the universal functions in the same way as the functions in a reflected image correspond to the functions in the original that is reflected. Or, to give another example, w

========================================================================= Thursday, April 27,  2023. 07:00. Chapter 3: Ishvara and Jiva-3. ========================================================================= Now the metaphor continues. The Great Being projected a bull before them and said, “Here is the abode for you. This is the body for you. You enter this body and satisfy your hunger and your thirst.” The divinities looked at the bull and said, “This is not suitable. This is not a proper abode for us.” Then He projected a horse. They looked at the body of the horse and concluded that the horse, too, was not a proper body for real satisfaction. Then He projected a human body. “This is correct,” they said. “We want this body only,” and they entered it. The Aitareya Upanishad is very precise. It does not go into long details of the evolutionary process of the individual body. But certain other Upanishads, such as the Maitrayani for instance, give us hints of there having been a gra

Chinmaya Mission : Chinmaya Mission Mattancherry in Cochin recently hosted a successful Balavihar Summer Camp for children from the Chinmaya Kindergarten School in Vedakkemadom. The program is ongoing and has received positive feedback from participants. The summer camp featured different themes each day, with the first day's theme being "Selfie with Success" for the older group, and "Forget Superman, Think Hanuman" for the younger children. Activities included understanding the Chinmaya Mission pledge, discussing family values, watching short films, playing games, and dancing. On the second day, children learnt about building strong relationships, courage, and discipline. They listened to a discourse on fighting against false values and low tendencies and participated in games and activities to build courage and discipline. The third day emphasized living a noble life of service and sacrifice, producing more than consuming, and giving more than taking. Children

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) : Happy Ram Navami. Greetings on the auspicious Ramanavami day! May Lord Shri Ramchandra bestow His grace and blessings on all of us. ========================================================================= Thursday, March 30,  2023. 07:30. Chapter 2: The Atman -4. Chapter 3: Ishvara and Jiva-1 ========================================================================= Chapter 2: The Atman -4. The universe was an effect of the Atman. It does not stand in the position of a cause, outside us, stimulating our senses to activity, as it happens to us today. The presence of an object stimulates our senses and the mind, and then we become conscious of the object. Then we establish a relationship with the world outside. The world is first, and we come afterwards here in this individual, empirical state. But there, it was not like that. The world was subsequent; and here, we become the consequents. Now, this is a very crucial point where we have to very ca

======================================================================== Friday, March 17,  2023. 07:00. Chapter 2: The Atman -3. ========================================================================= There was a very dramatic action of God, as it were—a real drama He enacted before Himself, because there was no audience before Him. He was the director, He was the dramatis personae, and He was the audience. It is very strange! He immediately visualised Himself as the all: “Aham idam sarvam asmi”—I am this all. This universe of manifested effects is myself—naturally, because the whole effect is constituted of the substance of this ultimate cause. “I am this all.” It is as if the clay is telling, “I am all the pots”; the wood is telling, “I am all the tables, I am all the chairs, I am all the furniture.” Quite true, and it is very interesting indeed! Every effect that has come out of a single cause is that cause only. So the cause is affirming itself in every effect: “I am this all.”

========================================================================= Saturday, March 04,  2023. 06:30. Chapter 2: The Atman -2. ====================================================================== The Atman alone was. “Atma va idam eka evagra asit, nanyat kin cana misat,” says the Aitareya Upanishad at the very commencement. The Atman existed as the unparalleled Being, and it became the cause of the manifested elements. We have the great division of the elements as ether, air, fire, water and earth, in all their densities or levels of expression. There is a causal condition, a subtle condition and a gross condition. This was manifested. But the Absolute is never disconnected from them at any time; it always maintains a lien over everything that it has created. It enters the great objects of a cosmical nature, and this is what we call the immanence of God. The Creator does not stand as an extra-cosmic substance unrelated to its creation. The Upanishad rules out totally any coming