What The Upanisads Teach.pdf - Suhotra Maharaja Archives

In the same upanisad, VIII. 12. 1, it is said:In truth, this body is mortal. It is held by death. It is the abode of the self, which isimmortal and incorporeal. This self is the victim of pleasure and pain. There is nocessation of pleasure and pain as long as the self is associated with the body. Butwhen the self is totally dissociated from the body caused by karma, it is not touchedby pleasure and pain.Concerning the eternal, conscious nature of the jiva, Srila Prabhupada writes in hispurport to Bhagavad-gita As it Is 2. 20:In the Katha Upanisad (1. 2. 18) we also find a similar passage, which reads:na jayate mriyate va vipascinnayam kutascin na babhuva kascitajo nityah sasvato 'yam puranona hanyate hanyamane sarireThe meaning and purport of this verse is the same as in the Bhagavad-gita, but herein this verse there is one special word, vipascit, which means learned or withknowledge.The soul is full of knowledge, or full always with consciousness. Therefore,consciousness is the symptom of the soul.Sage Yajnavalkya, speaking in Brhadaranyaka Upanisad IV. 3. 7, says yo 'yamvijnanamayah pranesu hrdy antarjyotih purusah: "The purusa (individual souldwelling in the heart) consists of knowledge. He is in the midst of the subtle senses(pranas). He is the light within the heart. "The existence of the jiva is rooted in Brahman. Mundakopanisad II. 1. 1:yatha sudiptat pavakad visphulingah sahasrasah prabhavante sarupahtatha aksarat vividhah soumya bhavah prajayante tatra caivapi yantiAs from a blazing fire sparks similar to it arise in thousands, even so many kinds ofbeings are born from the aksara (the infallible Brahman). They return to it again.Srila Prabhupada's purport to Bhagavatad-gita As it Is 2. 17 offers two quotationsfrom Svetasvatara Upanisad concerning the size of the jiva:balagra-sata-bhagasyasatadha kalpitasya cabhago jivah sa vijneyahsa canantyaya kalpate"When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each ofsuch parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is themeasurement of the dimension of the spirit soul. "19