This is according to a rare book explaining the original Sanskrit texts written by Swami Krishnananda and only published in 1984 by The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India, website: www.swami-krishnananda.org. Some of the terms here are more exact than in the Robert Hume translation, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, 1921, pages 177-274.
In
the list below, which describes reality level by level – a towering achievement,
and a suggestion as a step-by-step meditation for the seeker Naranda – we can
see that mind is only on the third level, and is still quite “physical”
in nature, so anything this Mind can grasp does not have much to do with
any kind of “spiritual” or higher world. Look:
1.
Name, nama,
nomenclature, words, an idea of something in the mind, correct descriptive
knowledge. Every “name” has a form, rupa,
i.e., a reality, but we do not posses that reality, we only have “name”.
2.
Speech, that which causes the
expression of name is greater than name, language, or the
use of names.
3.
Mind, which controls the expression of language, is higher than Speech.
4.
Will, sankalpa, is
higher than mind, because it is the creative will operating as the directive
intelligence behind the mind.
5.
Memory, (called here chitta) or retention in the mind of whatever we have seen or heard
or thought.
6.
Concentration,
contemplation, dhyana, is the faculty which is superior to
memory, i.e., fixity of mind, capacity to concentrate the mind.
7.
Understanding, vijnana, is
superior even to the action of concentration, for without understanding, we may
concentrate on absurd things.
8.
Strength, bala, power, is superior to
understanding; if there is no strength behind it, there is no understanding.
9.
Food, anna, is what gives strength,
and as such is superior to strength (anything that feeds the other is called
food, so by “food” we mean contributory to the sustenance of something
else, which can be anything, even some psychological substance...) Today ecology teaches us that everything is
dependent upon something else for its sustenance, so anything can be food for
anything else (who or what feeds on you?)
10. Water is higher than food; because liquid is
superior to solid, water to earth. Water is prior to earth.
11. Heat or Fire, is higher still, as it
commands water, and is prior to water.
12. Space, akasa, ether, is
higher than fire.
13. Self-consciousness or I-hood, smara, is
superior to space. This is recognised as the power of consciousness which is
recognised as self-existence. All our activity in life, whatever be the nature
of that activity, is an offshoot of consciousness of our own existence. Minus
that, the whole world, as described above, is naught.
14. Hope, asa. The
existence of “smara”, above, is dependent upon an urge that is present prior to
it. This urge is Hope, or Aspiration.
15. Life, prana, is greater than the aspiration for self-transcendence, as
it is the inscrutable principle of life. But we cannot understand what Life is.
16. Truth, esa (sat),
is greater than Life.
17. Thought of Truth, (satya) is
greater still.
18. Understanding, or desiring to understand through
thought (mati) is greater still. Mati is the consciousness of
the tendency towards Reality.
19. Faith, sraddha, faith
in the existence of Reality, a tendency of movement of one's being towards
Reality, an irrepressible feeling in us that Reality is.
20. Steadfastness, nishtha. When one has steadfastness in Reality,
then this superior faith also comes.
21. Activity, self-control, kriti, self-control,
a withdrawal of consciousness from every kind of external perception, for
better attunement with the nature of Reality in contemplation.
22. Happiness. sukham.
Nothing can be done unless it is propelled by happiness,
the object of every kind of aspiration, activity, desire or enterprise. “You
will find, prior to everything conceivable, there is the presence of happiness.
Everyone, irrespective of the character of one's individuality, tries to be, to
act and to conduct oneself in different ways, because of this happiness.
happiness is the propelling force behind everything in creation. Happiness is
not anywhere and yet it is everywhere; it is in a completeness of Being that
you can find happiness.”
23. The Infinite, bhuma. Happiness
is plenum, happiness is completeness, fullness, happiness is the totality,
happiness is in the Absolute," declares the great master Sanatkumara. The
term 'Bhuma' used in this Upanishad is a novel word of its own kind which
cannot be easily translated.
24.
The
Absolute, Brahman, the misused term "God".
So
it is only as from the 13th level that this tower becomes quite disconnected
from the so-called “physical” and begins to be “spiritual”. Because we can
entertain a notion of sorts regarding the first 12: Even the fragmented ego can
conceive of “will” (although fleetingly), “memory”, “concentration”, “understanding”,
“strength”, and then things become quite literal as regards “food”, “water”, “fire”,
and even “space” – when we look up into the sky and just see “blue”! As from 13,
“I-hood or Consciousness of Self”, we cannot comprehend this in our logical minds,
although there is a reflection of this in the petty ego. From 13 on, things
become quite nebulous and spirited and etheric.
We don’t have to accept or believe this at all. It is just an example of how high the “spiritual” ladder can go. And this is why on this Self-Awareness blog we talk a lot about simple things that are easy to understand, such as the workings of the mind, and how to exercise a little more attention, notice things a little better, and feel an incipient kind of “happiness” when the mind becomes just a little bit calmer and easier to manage due to right thinking and right perspective.
I
was asked the other day, “Do you believe in… what Kant described as… (whatever)?”
And I answered, “Belief? Forget Kant. Go back to the early Europeans, Plato and
Socrates, if you want. They knew. Belief or “doxa” is inferior to knowledge or “episteme”.
Belief separates us as humans from one another. Intelligent ignorance is higher than belief."
Ignorance, intelligently applied, connects us more, because by confessing ignorance,
we can sit down to talk and do something about it. Never be afraid of not
knowing. It is extremely healthy!
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