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Contemplating Brahman at Dawn

atanu

Member
Premium Member
Shri Shankaracharya has made the tasks of advaita seekers easy. He gave us Pratah Smaranam - a Prayer of mere three verses, a tool to remember, meditate and offer worship to the Supreme Spirit, first thing in the morning.

प्रातः स्मरामि हृदि संस्फुरदात्मतत्त्वं
सच्चित्सुखं परमहंसगतिं तुरीयम् ।
यत्स्वप्नजागरसुषुप्तिमवैति नित्यं
तद्ब्रह्म निष्कलमहं न च भूतसङ्घः ॥१॥

Prátah smarámi hrudi samsphuradátmatattvam
saccitsukham paramahamsagatim turèyam
yatsvapna jágarasussuptamavaiti nityam
tadbrahma niskalamaham na cha bhutasañgha.


At dawn I remember the Reality which is the Self, shining brilliantly in the heart, existence-consciousness-happiness, the goal of Paramahamsasannyasins (sages), the Fourth; That which knows always the states of dream, waking and deep-sleep, that Brahman which is partless I am, not the cluster of elements.

प्रातर्भजामि मनसा वचसामगम्यं
वाचो विभान्ति निखिला यदनुग्रहेण ।
यन्नेतिनेतिवचनैर्निगमा अवोचं_
स्तं देवदेवमजमच्युतमाहुरग्र्यम् ॥२॥

Pratarbhajámi manasá vacasámagamyam
vacho vibhánti nikhilá yadanugrahena
yanneti neti vacanair nigamá avocam-
stam devadevamajam achyutam áhur agryam.


At dawn I sing the praise of That which is unattainable by mind and speech, but by the grace of which all words shine. That which the scriptures declares through the words `not this', `not this'- That God of gods, they say, is unborn and un-changing.

प्रातर्नमामि तमसः परमर्कवर्णं
पूर्णं सनातनपदं पुरुषोत्तमाख्यम् ।
यस्मिन्निदं जगदशेषमशेषमूर्तौ
रज्ज्वां भुजङ्गम इव प्रतिभासितं वै ॥३॥

Prátarnamami tamasah paramarkavarnam
pürnam sanátanapadam purushottamaakhyam
yasminnidam jagadaseshamaseshamurtau
rajjvaam bhujamgama iva pratibhasitam vai.


At dawn I bow to that which is called the Highest Self which is beyond darkness, of the hue of the Sun the ancient goal which is the plenum - That, the residuless form (i.e. the whole) in which the entire universe is made manifest like a serpent in a rope.

श्लोकत्रयमिदं पुण्यं लोकत्रयविभूषणम् ।
प्रातःकाले पठेद्यस्तु स गच्छेत्परमं पदम् ॥४॥

Slokatrayamidam punyam lokatrayavibhusanam
pratahkale pathedyastu sa gacchetparamam padam.


This meritorious triad of verses, the ornament of the three words - he who reads at the time of dawn goes to the supreme goals.

Pratah Samarana Stotram

...
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Getting copied onto one of my famous 4x6" index cards. :)
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
But...but the good Shri Shankaracharya said quite the opposite:

that Brahman which is partless I am, not the cluster of elements.

Yes. Upanishads define Brahman as part less; being free of duality in three ways: there is no second to brahman, there is no second Brahman, and Brahman is internally homogeneous.

The elements are elements of prakriti — of mind, which Brahman sees in waking, dreaming, or sleeping.

My dream mind many bring up a dream elephant. That does not mean that the mind has become an elephant. It means that mind is appearing as an elephant (among other things).

So, as per Shankara’s advaita, cluster of elements as such are not Brahman, but are dream partial-conditioned appearances in brahman. In advaita, brahman is part-less and distinction-less.

...
 
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Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
But...but the good Shri Shankaracharya said quite the opposite:
that Brahman which is partless I am, not the cluster of elements.
That we take atoms as particles is 'maya'. Science has proved their dual nature. Depends on the perspective of the observer. Oh, how true! ;)
 

George-ananda

Advaita Vedanta, Theosophy, Spiritualism
Premium Member
That we take atoms as particles is 'maya'. Science has proved their dual nature. Depends on the perspective of the observer. Oh, how true! ;)
I guess that Aupvaita is its own philosophy and force of nature! I don't subscribe to it, but carry on. I hold Brahman to be non-physical sat-cit-Ananda consciousness myself.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
George, what is physical and what is non-physical has never been established. What is physical can turn into non-physical and vice-versa. Atom bomb is an example.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Fwiw (my opinion, that is)... Einstein's energy equivalence equation, otherwise affectionately known as E=mc2 goes both ways. We tend to think of it only as energy created from something like an atomic bomb, or a log burning, but matter can also be created from energy. That is what the Big Bang was all about. All the matter in the universe came from that primordial energy. Converting energy into matter takes an enormous amount of energy. Such as you'd find in a particle accelerator or the Big Bang. I'm not even sure about super- and hyper-novae (though they do create elements heavier than iron). So let's say Brahman is just energy. Its own energy or force (will?) can manifest as matter. Hey, it works for me! :)
 
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