Krishna Dvaipyana Vyasa
HINDUISM
Reading 5.2
Krishna Dvaipyana Vyasa
The Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad - 8th century B.C.E.
“The Supreme Teaching”
According as a man acts and walks in the path of life, so he becomes. He that does good becomes good; he that does evil becomes evil. By pure actions he becomes pure; by evil actions he becomes evil.
And they say in truth that a man is made of desire. As his desire is, so is his faith. As his faith, so are his works. As his works are, so he becomes. It was said in this verse: A man comes with his actions to the end of the determination.
Reaching the end of the journey begun by his works on earth, from that world a man returns to this world of human action.
Thus far for the man who lives under his desire.
Reading 5.3
The Bhagavad Gita – from “The First Teaching”
Arjuna saw them standing there;
fathers, grandfathers, teachers,
uncles, brothers, sons,
grandsons, and friends.
He surveyed his elders
and companions in both armies,
all his kinsmen
assembled together.
Dejected, filled with strange pity,
He said this:
“Krishna, I see my kinsmen
Gathered here, wanting war
My limbs sink,
my mouth is parched,
my body trembles,
the hair bristles on my flesh,
The magic bow slips
from my hand, my skin burns,
I cannot stand still,
My mind reels.
I see omens of chaos,
Krishna: I see no good
In killing my kinsmen
In battle.
Krishna, I see no victory,
Or kingship or pleasures,
What use to us are kingship,
Delights or life itself?
. . .
They are teachers, fathers, sons,
and grandfathers, uncles, grandsons,
fathers and brothers of wives,
and other men of our family.
. . .
How can we ignore the wisdom
of turning from this evil
when we see the sin
of family destruction, Krishna?
From “The Second Teaching”
Lord Krishna Speaks
You [Arjuna] grieve for those beyond grief,
and you speak words of insight;
but learned men do not grieve
for the dead or the living.
never have I not existed,
nor you, nor these kings;
and never in the future
shall we cease to exist.
Just as the embodied self
enters childhood, youth, and old age,
so does it enter another body;
this does not confound a steadfast man.
Contacts with matter make us feel
Heat and cold, pleasure and pain,
Arjuna, you must learn to endure
fleeting things – they come and go!
. . .
Our bodies are known to end,
But the embodied self is enduring,
Indestructible, and immeasurable;
Therefore, Arjuna, fight the battle!
. . .
Look to your own duty (dharma);
Do not tremble before it;
Nothing is better for a warrior
Than a battle of sacred duty.
Reading 5.4
The RIG-VEDA
“In the beginning”
1. Then neither Being nor Not-Being was,
Nor atmosphere, not firmament, nor what is beyond
What did it encompass? Where? In whose protection?
What was the water, the deep, unfathomable?
2. Neither death nor immortality was there then,
no sign of night or day.
3. In the beginning was darkness swathed in darkness;
All this was but unmanifested water.
Whatever was, that One, coming into being,
Hidden by the void,
Was generated by the power of heat.
4. In the beginning this (One) evolved,
Became desire, first seed of mind,
Wise seers, searching within their hearts,
Found the bond of Being in Not-Being.
5. Their cord was extended athwart:
Was there a below? Was there an above?
Casters of seed there were, and powers;
Beneath was energy, above was impulse.
6. Who knows truly? Who can here declare it?
Whence it was born, whence this emanation,
By the emanation of this the gods
Only later [came to be’.
Who then knows whence it has arisen.
7. When this emanation hath arisen,
Whether [God] disposed it, or whether he did not, -
Only he who is its overseer in highest heaven knows.
[He only knows,] or perhaps even he knows not!
Reading 5.5
The RIG-VEDA
From “The Sacrifice of the Primal Man”
1. A thousand heads had [primal] man,
A thousand eyes, a thousand feet;
Encompassing the earth on every side,
He exceeded it by ten fingers’ [breadth]
2. [That] Man is this whole universe,
What was and what is yet to be,
The Lord of immortality
Which he outgrows by [eating] food.
. . .
4. With three-quarters man rose up on high.
A quarter of him came to be again [down] here.
From this he spread in all directions,
Into all that eats and does not eat.
. . .
6. When with man as their oblation
The gods performed their sacrifice,
Spring was the melted butter,
Summer the fuel, and autumn the oblation.
. . .
8. From this sacrifice completely offered
The clotted ghee was gathered up.
From this he fashioned beasts and birds,
Creatures of the woods and creatures of the village.
. . .
10. From this were horses born, all creatures
That have teeth in either jaw;
From this were cattle born,
From this sprang goats and sheep.
11. When they divided [primal] Man,
Into how many parts did they divide him?
What was his mouth? What his arms?
What are his thighs called? What his feet?
12. The Brahman was his mouth,
The arms were made the Prince,
His thighs the common people,
And from his feet the serf was born.
13. From his mind the moon was born,
And from his eye the sun,
And from his mouth Indra and the fire,
From his breath the wind was born.
14. From his navel arose the atmosphere,
From his head the sky evolved,
From his feet the earth, and from his ear
The cardinal points of the compass:
So did they fashion forth these worlds.
Reading 5.5 “Dreams”
The Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad (8th-7th Century B.C.E.) the Supreme Teaching
When the Spirit of man retires to rest, he takes with him materials from this all-containing world, and he creates and destroys in his own glory and radiance. Then the Spirit of man shines in his own light.
In that land there are no chariots, no teams of horses, nor roads; but he creates his own chariots, his teams of horses, and roads. There are no joys in that region, and no pleasures nor delights; but he creates his own joys, his own pleasures and delights. In that land there are no lakes, no pleasures and delights. In that land there are no lakes, no lotus ponds, nor streams, but he creates his own lakes, his lotus ponds, and streams. For the Spirit of man is Creator.
BUDDHISM
Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha (ca. 563-483 BCE)
From the First Sermon
Then the Exalted on (Buddha) thus spake unto the company of five monks. “Monks, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone forth as a wandered. What two?
“Devotion to the pleasures of sense, a low practice of villagers, a practice unworthy, unprofitable, the way of the world (on the one hand) and (on the other) devotion to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy and unprofitable.
“By avoiding these two extremes the Tathagata [another name for Buddha] has gained knowledge of that middle path which giveth vision, which giveth knowledge, which causeth calm, special knowledge, enlightenment. Nirvana.
“And what, monks, is that middle path which giveth vision…Nirvana?
“Verily, it is this Ariyan eightfold way, to wit: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This monks, is that middle path which giveth vision, which giveth knowledge, which causeth calm, special knowledge, enlightenment, Nirvana.”
“The Four Noble Truths”
Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born to wealth. His father, a king, sought to protect him from the miseries of the world and kept him cloistered. He married a beautiful woman and had a son. But then he came upon the world outside and witnessed suffering in the forms of poverty, hunger, violence, and disability.
Gautama left the chains of comfort to search for enlightenment as to why suffering existed and how it could be ended. He tried conventional forms of meditation and they accomplished nothing. He tried asceticism. He and five followers starved themselves on the banks of the Nairanjana River for six years, but then he discovered that austerity would not lead to wisdom. His followers were disgusted by this apparent failure and deserted him.
He moved toward the village of Senani, where he was offered milk by a Brahmin girl and a mat from a grass cutter. The Buddha-to-be seated himself beneath a pipal tree, where he resolved to remain until he found enlightenment from within. His body might shrivel, he declared. His skin, flesh, and bones might dissolve. But he would not move.
Myth would have it that Mara, the Lord Illusion, was threatened by Gautama’s imminent enlightenment and sought to distract him. Guatama touched the earth, calling upon it to bear witness to the countless cycles of death and rebirth – reincarnation – that had led him to this place. The earth shook to confirm his assertion, and Mara unleashed demons. An epic battle ensued, during which Gautama finally saw through illusion and perceived truth. The weapons of the demons were transformed into flowers and Mara fled.
There was no claim of revelation or diving inspiration as in Western religions. For Gautama, the Buddha (the Enlightened One), four noble truths had come from within.
The Four Truths:
ONE: Life is suffering (dukkha). We may feel happy for a while, but happiness is transitory. At some point we experience pain, decay, and all-pervasis suffering. Death is not a cure because of reincarnation: we will be born into a different body, but that body will also suffer.
TWO: The causes of suffering are attachment, anger, and ignorance. We are attached to sweets, to life itself. Harming others will recoil into harming ourselves. Ignorance? Reality is not as it seems, and realization of ultimate truth is difficult.
THREE: Suffering can end if we enter nirvana, a state beyond suffering. Suffering is dependent on the state of the mind; by changing the way one perceives the world and the self, one can end suffering.
FOUR: One can help others and end the suffering via the eightfold path:
By avoiding jealousy, the desire to harm others, and wrong views (right thought).
By avoiding lying, harsh speech, and gossip (right speech).
By avoiding killing, stealing, and sexual transgressions (right actions).
By making a living without hurting others, lying, or committing crimes (right livelihood).
By developing wisdom (right understanding).
By persevering in our endeavors (right effort).
By focusing on the “here and now,” not what was or what might be (right mindfulness), and
By maintaining a calm, attentive state of mind (right concentration).