Re: Nara + Narayana
Namaste All,
I wish someone could collect and bring here the original Vedic references from Samhitas on Narayana.
As far as I know (and my knowing may be very inadequate) Purusha suktam of Rig Veda is known to have been from Narayana Rishi. Where else in Samhita Narayana is mentioned?
Any help would be welcome as this part of understanding eludes me largely. As on today, I understand Narayana as the Pragnya of the Atman. The following is the understanding of Advaita Asrama.
The name Narayana originates from two Sanskrit terms coming together - Nara which means water and ayana which means movement. This indicates the all-pervasive nature of Narayana as that of an Infinite Ocean (consciousness) in which the never-ending movement of birth, life and death of the cosmos occurs.
The book, Sri Ramanuja, His Life, Religion, and Philosophy, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India, states that the name "Narayana" means, "He who is the dwelling place, i.e., the source, support and dissolving ground of all Jivas or souls, including inert matter."
Mahanarayana
XIII-1-3: This universe is truly the Divine Person only. Therefore it subsists on Him – the self-effulgent Divine Being – who has many heads and many eyes, who is the producer of joy for the universe, who exists in the form of the universe, who is the master and the cause of humanity, whose forms are the various gods, who is imperishable, who is the all-surpassing ruler and saviour, who is superior to the world, who is endless and omniform, who is the goal of humanity, who is the destroyer of sin and ignorance, who is the protector of the universe and the ruler of individual souls, who is permanent, supremely auspicious and unchanging, who has embodied Himself in man as his support (being the indwelling Spirit), who is supremely worthy of being known by the creatures, who is embodied in the universe and who is the supreme goal.
XIII-4: Narayana is the Supreme Reality designated as Brahman. Narayana is the highest (Self). Narayana is the supreme Light (described in the Upanishads). Narayana is the infinite Self. [Narayana is the most excellent meditator and meditation.]
XIII-5: Whatsoever there is in this world known through perception (because of their proximity) or known through report (because of their distance), all that is pervaded by Narayana within and without.
Maho Upanishad
I-1-4. Then we shall expound the Mahopanishad. They say Narayana was alone. There were not Brahma, Ishana, Waters, Fire and Soma, Heaven and Earth, Stars, Sun and Moon. He could not be happy.
From the (desire of) the Paramatman, the Yajnastoma (hymn known as Avyakta) is said to have arisen.
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lakshyaalakshyamati.n tyaktvaa yastishhThetkevalaatmanaa .
shiva eva svaya.n saakshaadayaM brahmaviduttamaH .. 85..adhishhThaanamanaupamyamavaa~Nmanasagocharam.h .
nitya.n vibhu.n sarvagata.n susuukshma.n cha tadavyayam.h .. 86..
He who remains giving up what is implied and expressed is Shiva himself, the best of the Brahman-Knowers. That un-decaying being is the substratum (of all), without comparison beyond words and mind, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent and subtle.
sarva.n shaanta.n niraalamba.n vyomastha.n shaashvata.n shivam.h .anaamayamanaabhaasamanaamakamakaaraNam.h .. 45..
na sannasanna madhyaanta.n na sarva.n sarvameva cha .
manovachobhiragraahyaM puurNaatpuurNa.n sukhaatsukham.h .. 46..
V-45. All is calm (needing) no support, existing in the ether (of the heart), eternal, auspicious, devoid of ailment and illusion, name and cause.
V-46. Neither existent nor non-existent, nor in between, nor the negation of all; beyond the grasp of mind and words, fuller than the fullest, more joyful than joy.
From the definition given above from the Ramakrishna Math -- Nara is Narayana. Since Nara (Water-Consciousness) is the movement (ayana) also. In other words, there would be no movement had there been no Nara. From Mahanarayana Upanishad, it is gathered that whatever is known is pervaded by Narayana that would mean that Narayana is the manifest consciousness (manifest Brahman) and not the indescribable Turya.
From Maho Upanishad, which seems to term Narayana as Param Atman, however, also says that He was not happy alone. And in later passages describe Shiva as the one who is bliss, neding no support at all. Probably Sarabhanga and Me have same/similar understanding regarding this. Narayana is actually Brahma -- the unhappy creator father, whithin whom is hidden the bliss called Shiva.
Shiva is called Neither existent nor non-existent Self (unmanifest Turya) and Krishna himself says He is sat and asat (manifest Pragnya)
I would like to know of the exact verses in Veda Samhitas that are on Narayana.
(In Rudra Gita, Shiva says that all worship him alone as Narayana.)
Om
Last edited by atanu; 27 October 2007 at 02:06 PM.
That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.
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Re: Nara + Narayana
Originally Posted by sarabhanga
Re: Nara + Narayana
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