Hari Om
~~~~~
Namaste Kaos,
Yes, What you are suggesting is a reasonable view. Many also consider the 5 koshas, some write kosa, that surround the Self, the veils. I am sure you are aware of these but let me list them out for others not familiar with them as they will fit into the post discussion:
As you say the ancients went beyond the mind (manomaya), and then to continue also. the notion of transcending to finer levels, until there is that yoga, union with the Divine, with Brahman. Yet in the Chandogya Upanishad they talk of the knot in the heart that must be overcome, the ego, and I see that as this individual feeling of 'me'. That attachment to the 'me'.
- anamaya - or the physical level (ana from food that nourishes the body-mind)
- pranamaya - vital level fueled by prana
- manomya - that of the mind
- vijnanamaya - the intellect from jna = to know + vi or apart - this is to discern; this points to the intellect; I mention this as some say this kosa is 'consciousness' and is too broad a term for this conversation
- anandamaya - that of bliss
There is someone there to assist to break that knot when the time is ripe, so says the Upanishad in Chapt 7 that brings one to parama purusartha, or final liberation.
This is the teaching - Narada approaches Sanatkumara and asks him to take him from a mantra-vit (one who knows the shastra) to the atma-vit, one that knows his SELF, Brahman. It is my favorite part of this Upanishad because it is so insightful. The last sloka ( 7.26.2) talks of the release of all the knots, and that being Sanatkumara shows one this shore beyond darkness ( ignorance), and they call him [Sanatkumara] Skanda.
Now as you have mentioned the ancients practiced yoga, which was various sadhana. It was also ahara shuddhi or purity of food. Whats this? The religion of the kitchen and what one eats? The word of ahara in essence means what is brought near to us. What is near is food, yes , but what else?
It is also the sense contacts that we have - what we see, feel, think, entertain, smell, friends and social conditions, movies, like that. It's the purity of the environment we live and take in. This ahara shruddi + yoga brings us to purity of Being (the sattva shuddhi); Sattva is the finer levels of being. And this influences that voice (vak), prana (our vital energy) and manas (mind). It is this notion of purifying finer levels of our self, to get to SELF. To prepeare oneself to finally break the knot.
Other knots people talk of are passion, greed, anger, some call these shadripu or 6 enemies. Why are they the enemies? Because they pull the mind away from same-ness, sama, from even-ness of mind, of balance. They pull us back into 'me', the individual, not the Universal, that of being consumed with ones small self. These can be counteracted with yama&niyama.
Yet this final 'radical knot' as some call it is core to what it means to be an individual , this 'me'. This is the ego, this me. And for this final knot to be broken, and as pure as we can be, we still need help (so says the Upanishad and I believe also). And this help is Divine, it's Sanatkuma , born of Brahma, born of his thought.
We know Sanatkumara as the son of Brahma ( along with the 3 other kumaras); We know him as Skanda, son of Siva. In the Gita, Krsna says, of the Generals I am Skanda. So we know Him to be Krsna also.
And who is He to fight or overcome? The final knot, the 'me' the ego. This IMHO is His Grace, many talk of. Of reaizing the SELF by His Grace.
We only need to prepare the soil and we are in good hands
pranams,
Bookmarks