PHI 2389 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Rigveda, Indriya, Brahmin
20 Aug 2016
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PHI 2389 lecture 6
September 28th 2015
-how to become a brahmin (page 54-55)
-by obtaining knowledge of the self
-nature of atman is the nature of brahman
-can introspection give true knowledge?
-we are all incarnations of brahman
-yoga: yoking, union, discipline
-secret knowledge of how to get to the afterlife; have to study the Vedas and study the rituals
-the afterlife; getting everything you want in abundance
-material goods pass away and what use are they when it ends in death
-Vedic heaven (the heaven people hope to achieve in the Rig Veda); your reward in the
afterlife is a better life for you
-rewarded for being a good person and fulfilling your duty
-immortality does not mean the survival of you as an individual
-in order to understand atman one has to withdraw from the world of desire, let go of all
material, to find the simple unity
•sense and objects — indriya
•mind — manas
•intellect — buddha
•self — atman
•unmanifest — auyalets
•person — parasa
•karma: action, work
-reincarnation across lifetimes as well as reincarnation in this life
-soul takes on different forms across different lifetimes
-an individual soul goes through various lifetimes
-the next life it builds for itself is the outcome of the life prior to it
-relies on where your thoughts are at the precise moment of death
-if an individual was really good they were reborn in heaven (the ultimate goal) (says the
Vedas)
-the Upanishads say ultimate liberation is not being reborn at all and realizing and achieving
the unification of atman and brahman (realizing what has always been the case)
-ultimate liberation is the cycle coming to an end
-samsara: the world of birth and death
-moksa: release or liberation from the cycles of birth and death
-if one values their own individual identity, one may want to be reincarnated
-the problem is that even though its you being reincarnated, its a new form which is subject
to death
-reincarnation is not the same as resurrection
-in resurrection the individual is preserved as immortal for all time (soul rejoins the body or
takes a new body)
-reincarnation does not have that awareness (you may have some vague recollection of the
past, but your identity is not preserved)
-reincarnation is a cycle of constant dying
-there are different interpretations of the final liberation and what it consists of
-do you realize at the time of final death that everything was just an illusion?
-yoga becomes a discipline of the mind
-turning away from dependency of the mind on sense
-turning inwards
-building a different version of yourself from moment to moment
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Document Summary
How to become a brahmin (page 54-55) Nature of atman is the nature of brahman. Secret knowledge of how to get to the afterlife; have to study the vedas and study the rituals. The afterlife; getting everything you want in abundance. Material goods pass away and what use are they when it ends in death. Vedic heaven (the heaven people hope to achieve in the rig veda); your reward in the afterlife is a better life for you. Rewarded for being a good person and ful lling your duty. Immortality does not mean the survival of you as an individual. Reincarnation across lifetimes as well as reincarnation in this life. Soul takes on different forms across different lifetimes. An individual soul goes through various lifetimes. The next life it builds for itself is the outcome of the life prior to it. Relies on where your thoughts are at the precise moment of death.
