Lit127: Mythology & Folk LiteratureJuly 16, 2012

Atman & Brahman

What can you tell us about Postcolonialism? Can you give an example of how a Filipino myth about the cow's skin on the neck contains postcolonialism?

What can you tell us about New Historicism? Can you give an example of how Lord of the Rings could be interpreted through how it interacts with history?

What can you tell us about Hinduism?

Is Hinduism monotheistic, polytheistic, or animistic?

Atman:

The individual self.The immortal perfect Spirit of any living thing, including trees.

Brahman:

The universal spirit.The fabric and core and destiny of all existence. Brahman is all that ever is, was or will be.

Is Hinduism monotheistic, polytheistic, or animistic?

What can you tell me about Rene Descartes?

Cogito ergo sum.I think, therefore I am.Because I exist, and I see this classroom, the classroom logically exists.Because I can talk to Andrea, she logically exists.Logic states that only something greater than myself could create me, therefore something exists greater than myself, therefore God exists.

What can you tell me about Spinoza?

Descartes is wrong. He’s starting with man, coming up with a logic to explain the universe. Philosophy and logic do not originate from man.

God is the be-all and end-all of all things, the alpha and the omega of existence. From God, all philosophy starts & ends.

How does this relate to the Upanishads?

The Upanishads rejects starting with man as the way to understand ultimate reality.It also rejects starting with God.The great point of the Upanishads…

the Atman and Brahman are one and the same thing!

So, what does this mean about reality?

What is the conclusion of the Upanishads about reality?

Two possible conclusions:

The non-dual Brahman-Atman is the all inclusive ground of the universe.

All reality in the universe is only an illusion.

Om, Shanti Shanti Shanti“Om” is the cosmic vibration, the silent sound, that is present in all things.

Translation: “The silent sound, Peace Peace Peace

Is Hinduism monotheistic, polytheistic, or animistic?

Erwin Schrödinger: "The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West."

Paul Deussen: criticizes the idea of unity in the Upanishads as it excludes all plurality, and therefore, all proximity in space, all succession in time, all interdependence as cause and effect, and all opposition as subject and object.

The Zend-Avesta

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Bible

The Upanishads

Excerpt from The Upanishadsfrom Sacred Books of the East (various, 1900)

Kitra Gângyâyani, wishing to perform a sacrifice, chose Âruni Uddâlaka, to be his chief priest. ButÂruni sent his son, Svetaketu, and said: "Perform the sacrifice for him." When Svetaketu had arrived, Kitra asked him: "Son of Gautama, is there a hidden place in the world where you are able to place me, or is it the other way, and are you going to place me in the world to which that other way leads?"

“Brahman, the knower of Brahman moves towards Brahman. He comes to the lake Âra, and he crosses it by the mind, while those who come to it without knowing the truth, are drowned.”

“He comes to the river Vigarâ, and crosses it by the mind alone, and there shakes off his good and evil deeds. His beloved relatives obtain the good, his unbeloved relatives the evil he has done.”

The moon is the door of the Svarga, i.e., the heavenly world. Now, if a man objects to the moon and is not satisfied with life there, the moon sets him free. But if a man does not object, then the moon sends him down as rain upon this earth.

“…according to his deeds and according to his knowledge he is born again here as a worm, or as an insect, or as a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a boar, or as a serpent, or as atiger, or as a man, or as something else in different places.”

“That throne is Pragñâ, knowledge, for by knowledge, self-knowledge, he sees clearly.”

Then Brahman says to him: 'Who art thou?' and he shall answer: 'I am like a season, and the child of the seasons, sprung from the womb of endless space, from the light, from the luminous Brahman. The light, the origin of the year, which is the past, which is the present, which is all living things, and all elements, is the Self. Thou art the Self. What thou art, that am I.'

In the style of The Upanishads, apply the concept of reincarnation to your own life. You don't have to believe in it. It's just an intellectual exercise. Examine your life and your deeds so far, in your current existence. You are a human in this life. Based on your personality, what do you think you will be reincarnated as in your next life, and where? Why? Next, extrapolate. What and where do you think you were in a previous life or lives?