What The Upanisads Teach.pdf - Suhotra Maharaja Archives

ta (truth) is defined by Katha Upanisad I. 3. 1 in this way: rtam pibantau sukrtasyaloke--"the fruits of pious deeds. " Sankaracarya has confirmed this in his Sarirakabhasyawith the words rtam karma phalam. Bringing this gloss back to theChandogya verse, we see that anrta is a synonym for papa or sin. In a previousinstallment it was noted that Chandogya Upanisad VIII. 4. 1 clubs together bothsukrta (pious deeds) and duskrta (impious deeds) under the heading of papmana,sinfulness. Why? Because the transcendental nature of atma and Paramatma hasnothing to do with the material dualities of good and evil.The engagement of Brahman, the Mayina, with His prakrti bewilders those who aresinful--which means those who pursue the good and bad fruits of karma. Attachmentto these fruits is anrta, not the true purpose of the creation. Neither is the truepurpose of creation to be found in artificial renunciation, by which one tries toliberate himself from fruitive reactions. Both bhoga (enjoyment) and tyaga(renunciation) of karma phala are symptomatic of a fallen soul's obsession for thetemporary sense objects. This obsession, or ignorance, covers the living entity'sknowledge of Brahman. That covered state is what is meant by "being in maya. "This is all wonderfully summed up by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 1. 3. 37.There are two classes of materialists, namely the fruitive workers and the empiricphilosophers. The fruitive workers have practically no information of the AbsoluteTruth, and the mental speculators, after being frustrated in fruitive activities, turntheir faces towards the Absolute Truth and try to know Him by mental speculation.And for all these men, the Absolute Truth is a mystery, as the jugglery of themagician is a mystery to children. Being deceived by the jugglery of the SupremeBeing, the nondevotees, who may be very dexterous in fruitive work and mentalspeculation, are always in ignorance. With such limited knowledge, they are unableto penetrate into the mysterious region of transcendence. The mental speculatorsare a little more progressive than the gross materialists or the fruitive workers, butbecause they are also within the grip of illusion, they take it for granted thatanything which has form, a name and activities is but a product of material energy.For them the Supreme Spirit is formless, nameless and inactive. And because suchmental speculators equalize the transcendental name and form of the Lord withmundane names and form, they are in fact in ignorance. With such a poor fund ofknowledge, there is no access to the real nature of the Supreme Being.On that note, we return to the Mayavadi explanation of maya. In his purport toSrimad-Bhagavatam 4. 24. 17, Srila Prabhupada writes as follows.. . . it is stated in the Padma Purana that Lord Siva appeared as a brahmana in theage of Kali to preach the Mayavada philosophy, which is nothing but a type ofBuddhist philosophy. It is stated in Padma Purana:mayavadam asac-chastrampracchannam bauddham ucyatemayaiva vihitam devikalau brahmana-murtinaLord Siva, speaking to Parvati-devi, foretold that he would spread the Mayavadaphilosophy in the guise of a sannyasi brahmana just to eradicate Buddhist37