yajvan
28 December 2008, 06:23 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~~
Namasté
My teacher has said many times, life is the expansion of happiness i.e. life (prāṇa) is the expansion (kham) of happiness (kam).
While reading the Chāndogyopaniṣad (Chāndogya Upaniṣad ) I saw this lesson called out, and thought to share it with you.
In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad 4.10.5 , there is a conversation between the brahmacārin Upakosala and the sacrifical fires he tends to. Upakosala said to the fires ' that prāṇa is brahman I do understand, but how kham and kham are brahman I do not know; The fires then said to him, 'What is kam, that is indeed kham; what is kham, that indeed is kam.'
So , what is being taught here? Lets take a look at the words and then the offered wisdom.
kam कम्- is ānanta or sukham i.e. happiness, joy
kham खम् from kha ख-vacuity , space i.e. ākāśa
And the fires are saying kam = kham. Happiness is expansion and expansion is happiness i.e. kham = kam.
prāṇa प्राण - is life force and equated to life.Another valuable point that allows this wisdom to rise is worth mentioning. Brahman is equated with kham, based upon it's expansiveness and all exists within Brahman, like space, which allows allows all things to exist. So it is not uncommon to connect the two.
And it is also very natural to connect ānanta or sukham with Brahman, hence with kam also.
Upakosala said to the fires ' that prāṇa is brahman I do understand ' as that was taught earlier in the chapter as was most likely
taught to him by his guru Satyakāma.
So how to connect the dots? The wisdom as I see it is prāṇa ( life) is most joyful (kam) when it is expanding (kham).
Brahman , which is rooted in bṛh means expansion, growth. It is Its natural condition to grow, expand , to become great. And since prāṇa is associated with Brahman, it too finds this expansion (kham) joyful (kam).
So, it tells us, if we as people have limited expansion, we have limited joy (kam); maximum expansion gives maximum joy.
Now how to get maximimun expansion? For humans then what brings svasthatā, or well being, health, joy, balance? The closest we can get to Brahman. To this expansion bṛh that brings kam. And what is that ? It is the realization that we ourselves at our core, are Brahman.
The wise have been saying this for some time i.e. sarvaṁ khalvidaṁ brahma or all this is indeed Brahman. 'All this' is total creation , and we're part of this creation, hence we too are this Brahman.
Hence when life ( people) have realized the SELF, pure unbounded awareness, then they are in sync with Brahman, and this natural expansion occurs without effort…because Brahman by its own nature expands and that brings joy. The desire to capture more then the most becomes realized in the experience of the SELF, the natural order of ones sattā or Being.
The above is way to view this śloka from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad .
praṇam
~~~~~~~
Namasté
My teacher has said many times, life is the expansion of happiness i.e. life (prāṇa) is the expansion (kham) of happiness (kam).
While reading the Chāndogyopaniṣad (Chāndogya Upaniṣad ) I saw this lesson called out, and thought to share it with you.
In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad 4.10.5 , there is a conversation between the brahmacārin Upakosala and the sacrifical fires he tends to. Upakosala said to the fires ' that prāṇa is brahman I do understand, but how kham and kham are brahman I do not know; The fires then said to him, 'What is kam, that is indeed kham; what is kham, that indeed is kam.'
So , what is being taught here? Lets take a look at the words and then the offered wisdom.
kam कम्- is ānanta or sukham i.e. happiness, joy
kham खम् from kha ख-vacuity , space i.e. ākāśa
And the fires are saying kam = kham. Happiness is expansion and expansion is happiness i.e. kham = kam.
prāṇa प्राण - is life force and equated to life.Another valuable point that allows this wisdom to rise is worth mentioning. Brahman is equated with kham, based upon it's expansiveness and all exists within Brahman, like space, which allows allows all things to exist. So it is not uncommon to connect the two.
And it is also very natural to connect ānanta or sukham with Brahman, hence with kam also.
Upakosala said to the fires ' that prāṇa is brahman I do understand ' as that was taught earlier in the chapter as was most likely
taught to him by his guru Satyakāma.
So how to connect the dots? The wisdom as I see it is prāṇa ( life) is most joyful (kam) when it is expanding (kham).
Brahman , which is rooted in bṛh means expansion, growth. It is Its natural condition to grow, expand , to become great. And since prāṇa is associated with Brahman, it too finds this expansion (kham) joyful (kam).
So, it tells us, if we as people have limited expansion, we have limited joy (kam); maximum expansion gives maximum joy.
Now how to get maximimun expansion? For humans then what brings svasthatā, or well being, health, joy, balance? The closest we can get to Brahman. To this expansion bṛh that brings kam. And what is that ? It is the realization that we ourselves at our core, are Brahman.
The wise have been saying this for some time i.e. sarvaṁ khalvidaṁ brahma or all this is indeed Brahman. 'All this' is total creation , and we're part of this creation, hence we too are this Brahman.
Hence when life ( people) have realized the SELF, pure unbounded awareness, then they are in sync with Brahman, and this natural expansion occurs without effort…because Brahman by its own nature expands and that brings joy. The desire to capture more then the most becomes realized in the experience of the SELF, the natural order of ones sattā or Being.
The above is way to view this śloka from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad .
praṇam