GAQ BP 101 - 4th March 2012 (Sunday)

• Upanishads - to sit down near (a teacher) to learn secret teachings (usually about atman and Brahman)
• Vedanta - ending books (additional books)
• Sruti - to listen / listen well
• Bahusaccan (well versed) ca sippan ca
• Vedas are by revelation
• When came to the Upanishads period, the people were hostile to the practice of rituals and rites and want to bring out new ideas about the world and soul
• Universal soul
• Mundaka Upanishads deal with the against of ritual practice
• Asuamedha
• People (upanishads) say do not need to do rituals and sacrifice, just think of it and it gets sacrificed to the gods
• They shifted to meditation practice - all in the thought
• Brahadranyaka -> offer the whole universe to the gods
• Thinking will do the job, need not doing
• Svetasvara -> accept soma and agni gods
• Brahmins have power over Vedas but when come to the Upanishads period, the kings gained power over them and have more authority
• Tapas means strict practices, also means heat
• Khanti paramam tapoti ti tikkha -> patience is the best discipline
• Sunaka Vata (dog practice) ; Go Vata (Bull practice)
• Silabbata Paramasa -> wrongful moral conduct
• Some people in the Upanishads went to the forest to comtemplate about life and what happens when we die and about communication with the divine
• Them they came out with the idea of atman (soul) A.k.a self
• Attha -> welfare
• Budi -> sleeping
• Question : was the Upanishads period people also tends to be sramanas ????
• Fire walking is a form of attakilamathanuyoga. This was first before the kamasukhalikanuyoga
• Purusa (great person) of which the whole world is of this and is not easily realized
• The poeple try to combine the internal self with the external self
• Karma + atta = moral law
• Jiva -> life
• When Jiva is free from karma, it is pure; karma stains jiva
• Prana -> life
• Samsaric life depends on prana and karma
• Pls chek Brahmajala Sutta
• 10 questoins Buddha avioded
• In the Upanishads, people placed more emphasis on meditation
• Tat tvam asi (you are you) -> the ultimate identity of the individual
• Brahman and soul is the main teachings of the Upanishads
• Upasana mediation is to identify the brahman; say to themselves "Aham Brahma Asi"
• External things identify with themselves and vice versa
• They stress that they must be morally pure are must study first from a teacher
• They must understand and realize that Karma is in the Jiva
• "Himself is the master" - they aim to realize this
• The mantras is aimed to achieve the immortality of the soul
• Rta -> the moral code is inchargeed by Varuna in the Vedic period
• Now, it is not everything god, but by oneself
• Rta is slowly replaced by Karma
• No more place for God teachings, but more for monotheism
• Salvation is their own form of nirvana which is the soul goes back to Brahma