Greetings All,

Swamiji continued his talks on Prasna Upanishad.

Shloka # 1: Refreshing our memory on Shloka 1, he says, this Upanishad begins with an introduction of Guru and Shishyas. It is similar to other Upanishads. The six qualified students are named and described. The way they were qualified is as follows:

1. They were committed to worship of Saguna Brahma Upasana.
2. They have gone through Karma Kanda and Upasana Kanda. They have Sadhana Chatushtiya Sampathi. (From Tatvabodha they are: Vivekaha – discrimination, Vairāgyam – dispassion, Mumukshutvam – desire and Shatka Sampattihi – discipline.)
3. They are established in Saguna Brahman.
4. They are Nishtaha or grounded. They are followers of Vaidic Margaha.

It takes some time to develop Shraddha in Vedanta. However, as one follows Karma Kanda and Upasana Kanda, by the time they reach Vedanta, the student develops strong Shraddha.

What is the purpose of their visit to the Guru?

They are seeking Param Brahman. They understand the limitations of Saguna Brahman. They are not satisfied with this knowledge.

Why was Pippiladaha chosen as the teacher?

He was Bhagwan Pippiladaha. Bhagwan is one who has knowledge of all Shastras. He also has superb communications skills.

How did they approach their teacher?

They approached with humility and respect to the teacher. Serving the teacher is not serving the person rather it is serving Shastram. Shastri puja is same as Shastram puja. They approached teacher with some offering as well. Swamiji says, usually fruits, nuts, fuel etc. are considered normal offerings. They approached the teacher as if he was the Lord in a temple.

What is their motive?

They wanted Pippiladaha to teach them everything. So they approached with respect and a proper attitude.

Shloka # 2:

Seeing them and their approach Pippiladaha knew their qualifications. He tells them: All of you must stay here for one year. Even after that there is no assurance that you will get an answer to your questions.

In ancient times teachers were hesitant to give answers. Teachers were not sure how casual the student was. Unless the student was sincere the teaching would not go in. Many tests were given to students. Also Teacher had to know if student was qualified or if they were lacking in any area such as intelligence, industry, shradha etc. The one-year was also important to develop rapport between teacher and student. Thus a loving relationship was developed.

Pippiladaha tells them “You should live in the ashram for a year. You should live a life of Tapas, Penance and Brahmacharya. Swamiji says comfort and knowledge do not go together. Brahmacharya meant giving up comfort while maintaining Shraddha. Sanyasa means detachment from everything.

Illustrating the concept of sanyasa, Swamiji narrated story of a student who was asked to leave the ashram suddenly in the middle of the night. The student did not know what to do. He was lost as to why he was thrown out. He wandered around from village to village seeking food and shelter. After a few days the Teacher sent some students to call him back. The student asked the teacher why he was thrown out to begin with. The teacher told him that he saw the student was getting attached to the Ashram. He wanted the student to maintain his detachment even in Ashram. To teach him this lesson, he was thrown out.

Shloka # 3:

After one year of tapas and brahmacharya Pippiladaha allowed the students to raise their questions. The first one to go was Kabandhi Katyayana. They were called in reverse order as named in shloka #1.

Kabandhi asked: Bhagwan, from what source are all these living beings coming up or originating? Or, how did creation occur?

The teacher Pippiladaha answered by introducing Hiranyagarbha. He says, Ishwara created Hiranyagarbha also known as Brahma. Brahma in turn created the creation. Vishnu taught Brahma how to create. Kama is the force behind creation. Thus, after Brahma performed tapas on Ishwara, Lord gave him knowledge. Tapas here meant he was given the ability to visualize the previous Srishti or Creation. The creatures are created based upon their respective Karmas. Thus came the creation

On November 8, 2015, the Vedantic Study Group of HTGC started to listen to Prasna Upanishad by Swami Paramarthananda.

Swamiji started the class with the meaning of Vedanta:

• Vedantaha: Because this comes at the end portion of vedas,
• brahma vidhya because this deals with the knowledge of Brahman
• gyana kandaha: In this part of vedas only knowledge is discussed and not karma

Then Swamiji discussed different meanings of the word Upanishad :

1. Destroyer of samsra or sorrow;
2. Upani means taking Jivatma near Brahman; Shath means destroys ignorance that causes division between jivatma and paramatma as well as anything born out of ignorance: samsara, (ahangakra, karthrutwam, kama, karma, karma palam punarjenma and suga dhukkam )
3. That which unites paramatma and jivatma and destroys samsara.
4. The word Upanishad or vedanata can refers to the book or the knowledge that born out of the book is also Upanishad. Upanishad as sabtha or sound is Pramanam (means); Upanishads as knowledge is praman (result); the literature or the sound is pramanam and praman the result is gyanam. The knowledge born out of the Upanishad is the primary meaning of the Upanishad.

Prasna upanishad belongs to Atharvana Veda and one of the upanishads commented by Sankarachariyar.

This upanishad is a commentary on Mundaka Upanishad. Apara Vidya and apara vidya is mentioned in Mundaka Upanishads will be elaborated in Prasna upanishad. Condensed version in Mundaka Upanisahds are manthro upanishad and elaborated versions in Prasna upanisahds are brahmano Upanishads.   Brahmno portions in Mundaka Upanishads are elaborated in Prasna upanishads. Chapters elobarated in Prasna Upanishad are:

1. Krishna and chukla Gathi
2. Upasana prana or hiranyagarba
3. Upasana
4. Brahama Vidya through susukthi
5. Om Kara upasana
6. Brahma Vidya through param Brahman

Prasnaha means question; each chapter begins with question and each chapter is answer to that question. Each question is asked by six different students.

Shanthi Pada: My sthula, shuksma sareeram should function in a fitting manner so that I can absorb the teaching. This shanthi pada is same as the one in Mundaka Upanishads and as a result, Swamiji did not elaborate the meaning.

Verse 1

The first two mantras are introductions by way of bringing the teacher and student together. In this mantra six students are introduced. Each student has two names. The first name is an original name and second is based on parampara. They are: Sukesa Bharadvaja, Satyakama Sibi, Surya Garga, Kausalya Asvalayana, Bhargava Vidharbha, and Kabandhin Katya. The names tell us of their great parentage. It informs us that they had good Samskara. Samskaras are there to create Shraddha in Vedas. All of them are well qualified. They are all Gyani’s. They have now come for higher knowledge. This mantra also teaches us:

• Upanishads should always be learned from a Guru
• Unlike Science where new or fresh information is constantly sought after, in the area of spirituality, the old and traditional knowledge is prized more. The teacher is thus following tradition. There is no new topic or new method. Thus the glory of Sampradaya is emphasized. While in most sciences, a scholar is recognized by their new contribution, in Vedanta it is important to follow the teachings of previous guru’s and teachers.