Guest guest Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Namaste everyone! Thankyou Moderator for accepting me as a member. i look forward to discussions on this forum. recently i started reading the upanishads (unfortunately, only a translation). The opening lines of the Brihad Aranyaka talks of Ashwa Medha. The imagery is very powerful. " Om! Verily, the dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse; the sun, his eye; the wind his breath; universal fire, his open mouth. The year is the body; the sky, his back; the atmosphere his belly; the earth, the underpart of his belly; the quarters his flanks; the intermediate quarters, his ribs; the seasons his limbs; the months and half months his joints; the days and night his fee; the stars his bones; the clouds his flesh. Sand is the food inhis stomach; rivers are his entrails. His liver and lungs are the mountains; plants and trees his hair. The orient is his fore part; the occident his hind part. When he yawns then it lightens. Whe he shakes himself it thunders. When he urinates then it rains. Voice indeed is his voice " If one lets the imagination go wild then the concept of birth (dawn) / rising ascendant, (and therefore also death of the sacrificial horse?); the atman; the elements; the space; the time; the energies; the physical; the five senses; everything appears to be there. in the very first shloka. The theme of sacrifice / sacrificial oblations, etc. occur again and agian throughout the text of this Upanishad. My questions are: why, is it essential to use imagination to understand what is written? Does that mean that each person has to experience the meaning on his or her own depending on his or her awareness? Then the question is how real is imagination? Can we depend on it to understand things? correctly? The shlokas appear to be so multi-layered /multi- dimensional that there is no " logical " way to understand them (assuming of course, that imagination does not relate to logic)! But most important of all: WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SACRIFICE IN EXISTENCE??? WHY THE SYMBOL OF ASHWA MEDHA? Does it have something to do with movement from gross to the subtle? Self purification? Would love to hear the views of others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Thank You Moderator, for allowing me here. Pranam Narasimha ji. Namaste everyone! Dear Vinita ji, I think (again, it is a personal variation of interpretation) that one of the subtle meanings of ASHWA MEDHA is intended to move our tendencies from gross to subtle, from Moon to Jupiter, from memory of this lifetime to memory-bank of the complete cycle of incarnations, and the same is hinted at in Ashwa-like-Mann (Heart or Mann) to Medha or DHI. I think it is also implied that only after ASHWA-MEDHA, the CHAKRAVARTY RAJYA is established i.e. in the gross sense, all the small kingdoms accept one's being a superpower and in the subtle meaning after one evolves from a being governed by DESIRES of Mann to a higher being who is MEDHA (DHI-BUDDHI) oriented, one can aspire to bear with the Kalchakra - the moving wheel of Time and thus be able to live and adjust with the changing CHAKRA of TIME, acquiring the higher levl of knowledge of Brahman. ||OM SHRI KRISHNARPANAMASTU|| Himanshu MOHAN vinita kumar <vinitakuma wrote: Namaste everyone!Thankyou Moderator for accepting me as a member. i look forward to discussions on this forum.recently i started reading the upanishads (unfortunately, only a translation).The opening lines of the Brihad Aranyaka talks of Ashwa Medha. The imagery is very powerful."Om! Verily, the dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse; the sun, his eye; the wind his breath; universal fire, his open mouth. The year is the body; the sky, his back; the atmosphere his belly; the earth, the underpart of his belly; the quarters his flanks; the intermediate quarters, his ribs; the seasons his limbs; the months and half months his joints; the days and night his fee; the stars his bones; the clouds his flesh. Sand is the food inhis stomach; rivers are his entrails. His liver and lungs are the mountains; plants and trees his hair. The orient is his fore part; the occident his hind part. When he yawns then it lightens. Whe he shakes himself it thunders. When he urinates then it rains. Voice indeed is his voice"If one lets the imagination go wild then the concept of birth (dawn) / rising ascendant, (and therefore also death of the sacrificial horse?); the atman; the elements; the space; the time; the energies; the physical; the five senses; everything appears to be there. in the very first shloka.The theme of sacrifice / sacrificial oblations, etc. occur again and agian throughout the text of this Upanishad.My questions are:why, is it essential to use imagination to understand what is written? Does that mean that each person has to experience the meaning on his or her own depending on his or her awareness? Then the question is how real is imagination? Can we depend on it to understand things? correctly? The shlokas appear to be so multi-layered /multi-dimensional that there is no "logical" way to understand them (assuming of course, that imagination does not relate to logic)!But most important of all: WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SACRIFICE IN EXISTENCE??? WHY THE SYMBOL OF ASHWA MEDHA?Does it have something to do with movement from gross to the subtle? Self purification?Would love to hear the views of others. ! Om Shri Krishnarpanamastu !Himanshu Mohanhimanshu_mohan Any questions? Get answers on any topic at Answers. Try it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Namaste! I can only say WOW, Himanshuji. This is yet another layer opening up....medha and its connection with dhi...The word ashwa is nested in sashwat too... , Himanshu Mohan <himanshu_mohan wrote: > > Thank You Moderator, for allowing me here. > Pranam Narasimha ji. > Namaste everyone! > Dear Vinita ji, > I think (again, it is a personal variation of interpretation) that one of the subtle meanings of ASHWA MEDHA is intended to move our tendencies from gross to subtle, > from Moon to Jupiter, > from memory of this lifetime to memory-bank of the complete cycle of incarnations, > and the same is hinted at in Ashwa-like-Mann (Heart or Mann) to Medha or DHI. > I think it is also implied that only after ASHWA-MEDHA, the CHAKRAVARTY RAJYA is established i.e. in the gross sense, all the small kingdoms accept one's being a superpower and in the subtle meaning after one evolves from a being governed by DESIRES of Mann to a higher being who is MEDHA (DHI-BUDDHI) oriented, one can aspire to bear with the Kalchakra - the moving wheel of Time and thus be able to live and adjust with the changing CHAKRA of TIME, acquiring the higher levl of knowledge of Brahman. > ||OM SHRI KRISHNARPANAMASTU|| > Himanshu MOHAN > > > vinita kumar <vinitakuma wrote: > Namaste everyone! > > Thankyou Moderator for accepting me as a member. i look forward to > discussions on this forum. > > recently i started reading the upanishads (unfortunately, only a > translation). > > The opening lines of the Brihad Aranyaka talks of Ashwa Medha. The > imagery is very powerful. > > " Om! Verily, the dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse; the sun, > his eye; the wind his breath; universal fire, his open mouth. The year > is the body; the sky, his back; the atmosphere his belly; the earth, > the underpart of his belly; the quarters his flanks; the intermediate > quarters, his ribs; the seasons his limbs; the months and half months > his joints; the days and night his fee; the stars his bones; the clouds > his flesh. Sand is the food inhis stomach; rivers are his entrails. His > liver and lungs are the mountains; plants and trees his hair. The > orient is his fore part; the occident his hind part. When he yawns then > it lightens. Whe he shakes himself it thunders. When he urinates then > it rains. Voice indeed is his voice " > > If one lets the imagination go wild then the concept of birth (dawn) / > rising ascendant, (and therefore also death of the sacrificial horse?); > the atman; the elements; the space; the time; the energies; the > physical; the five senses; everything appears to be there. in the very > first shloka. > > The theme of sacrifice / sacrificial oblations, etc. occur again and > agian throughout the text of this Upanishad. > > My questions are: > > why, is it essential to use imagination to understand what is written? > Does that mean that each person has to experience the meaning on his or > her own depending on his or her awareness? Then the question is how > real is imagination? Can we depend on it to understand things? > correctly? The shlokas appear to be so multi-layered /multi- > dimensional that there is no " logical " way to understand them (assuming > of course, that imagination does not relate to logic)! > > But most important of all: WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SACRIFICE IN > EXISTENCE??? WHY THE SYMBOL OF ASHWA MEDHA? > > Does it have something to do with movement from gross to the subtle? > Self purification? > > Would love to hear the views of others. ! Om Shri Krishnarpanamastu ! > Himanshu Mohan > himanshu_mohan > > > > > Any questions? Get answers on any topic at Answers. Try it now. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Om Gurave Namah Vinita ji, I think " Sacrifice " is related to Shukra (Parasurama Avathar) and Shukra is related to Ashwa (Horse). Srinivasa , " vinita kumar " <vinitakuma wrote: > > Namaste everyone! > > Thankyou Moderator for accepting me as a member. i look forward to > discussions on this forum. > > recently i started reading the upanishads (unfortunately, only a > translation). > > The opening lines of the Brihad Aranyaka talks of Ashwa Medha. The > imagery is very powerful. > > " Om! Verily, the dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse; the sun, > his eye; the wind his breath; universal fire, his open mouth. The year > is the body; the sky, his back; the atmosphere his belly; the earth, > the underpart of his belly; the quarters his flanks; the intermediate > quarters, his ribs; the seasons his limbs; the months and half months > his joints; the days and night his fee; the stars his bones; the clouds > his flesh. Sand is the food inhis stomach; rivers are his entrails. His > liver and lungs are the mountains; plants and trees his hair. The > orient is his fore part; the occident his hind part. When he yawns then > it lightens. Whe he shakes himself it thunders. When he urinates then > it rains. Voice indeed is his voice " > > If one lets the imagination go wild then the concept of birth (dawn) / > rising ascendant, (and therefore also death of the sacrificial horse?); > the atman; the elements; the space; the time; the energies; the > physical; the five senses; everything appears to be there. in the very > first shloka. > > The theme of sacrifice / sacrificial oblations, etc. occur again and > agian throughout the text of this Upanishad. > > My questions are: > > why, is it essential to use imagination to understand what is written? > Does that mean that each person has to experience the meaning on his or > her own depending on his or her awareness? Then the question is how > real is imagination? Can we depend on it to understand things? > correctly? The shlokas appear to be so multi-layered /multi- > dimensional that there is no " logical " way to understand them (assuming > of course, that imagination does not relate to logic)! > > But most important of all: WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SACRIFICE IN > EXISTENCE??? WHY THE SYMBOL OF ASHWA MEDHA? > > Does it have something to do with movement from gross to the subtle? > Self purification? > > Would love to hear the views of others. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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