Upanishad Meditation commentary in ENGLISH AND TAMIL

Welcome Dear Reader!

            Let me assume that you have gone through the article on ‘Creation of Cosmos’ and aware of the Basic facts about Hindu literature.

 

            As explained in that article, Three main deities, viz., Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma came into being. As ‘Shiva’ killed the unmanifest form of Brahmam and had it manifest into various forms and names, Shiva is said to be ‘Destroyer’

            Vishnu, as the name itself suggests, is the sustainer. Brahma is wisdom and wisdom alone is the base for creation. Hence, Brahma is the Creator.

            Now, ‘Jobs’ were assigned. They need power. That power was personified as their consort.

Shiva – for destruction, needs brevity and strength – had his consort ‘Sakthi’.

Vishnu – the sustainer, need wealth and charisma to lead – was given ‘Lakshmi’ the personification of wealth and charisma as his consort.

Brahma – The creator need artistic talents and his consort is ‘Saraswati’, the personification of arts and literature.

Hinduism didn’t stop here. Three couples are here. Then, it speaks naturally about the children. Child is nothing but an extension of the parent. As these couples are only personification, No child is physical and all are metaphysical or mentally born (Manasa putra – in Sanskrit).

Shiva gives birth to Karthikeya (One born in ‘Kartika’ star’) or Kumara (means more handsome than ‘Maran’ – the most handsome guy) who is personification of enlightenment or Gnana.

Sakthi, Shiva’s consort gave birth to ‘Ganapathi’ or Ganesh who is personification of ‘Union’ or Yoga.

Vishnu – as explained earlier, is the father of Brahma.

Brahma gave birth to Sapta Rishis - Seven great Seers to open up creation on earth and to spell out Vedas, the codes of conduct and literature of wisdom. Besides this, he fathered Prajapathi who is said to be the father of Mankind and Demons.

Saraswathi gave birth to ‘Naratha’ the wanderer, implying that arts and literature cannot be in one place and it is natural for it to wander.

 

Let us move back to ‘Shiva’ stage once again. When the great explosion took place, all the exploded particles and the main particle might have rotated in very high speed. This spin was personified as ‘Nataraja’ the dancing shiva. Due to rotation, darkness should have left and the spinning particle should have been ‘seen’ as in red colour. Hence, Hindu literature says ‘Kali’ means ‘Black’ left ‘Nataraja’ and He is reddish in colour.

 

When particles spin, it is natural that vibrations are created. The very first Vibration which, according to Hindu literature, is the base for such explosion itself, is the sound ‘Aum’. This sound is the greatest contribution of Hinduism to the entire world.

Besides this, various other vibrations or energy emerged. They are called ‘Vyahruthis’ in Hinduism (Taitriya Upanishad  -Siiksha Valli) . As per Hindu literature, they are four in number. The cited reference admits that only three were perceived earlier and the fourth one was perceived by Seer Mahasama.  Interestingly, modern science had discovered that only four energy factors viz Gravitation, Electro magnetic, strong and weak forces form the base of this cosmos.

 

Now, let us look into the structure of Gods Viz., Heads and hands.

 

Brahma has four heads: Four heads shows his unbiased nature. This nature is essential for a creator. Moreover, he is personification of wisdom. Wisdom cannot be onesided.

Vishnu has only one head: He is the sustainer and lead. Lead should have no confusion and be single minded. Hence, only one head for Vishnu. But,  as he is to lead, he is said to have many ‘Avatars’ which means ‘Reducing himself’. He reduces himself and be born in this world to give a role model.

Shiva has five heads: While four heads mean equanimity, fifth head symbolizes Bliss. This is further reiterated by showing ‘flowing ganga’ from his head. Actually, when one is in Bliss, a secretion from pituitary gland flows and kindle the feeling of joy. By showing a flowing river, the quantum of such secretion and in turn, Bliss is shown.

Ganesh has five heads: Ganesh is personification of Yoga or Union. His heads show the result or goal of such Yoga which is Bliss.

Ganesh is elephant headed: His entire structure needs to be analysed in detail. His big ears emphasizes the importance of perception. His long trunk shows us how to breath for a healthy long life. It is a fact that those which breath slowly live long. His large belly tells us that any situation should be digested. His vehicle is mouse. This shows that a yogi’s body is totally weightless (Elephant body is resting on a mouse).

Karthikeya has six faces: Sixth face symbolizes enlightenment. It is interesting to note that as he is enlightened, He guided his father to enlightenment which specifies that age, position, relationship etc are immaterial when it comes to enlightenment.

Readers should take this only as a Bird’s eye view and the intention is to kindle the interest of the reader to meditate upon the shapes and structures and thereby get deep into the state of Bliss.

 

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                                                                                      Be Blissful

                                                                                                                                                  Sri Sri Vedananda.