A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India: 2.5 - Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Chinmaya Mahasamadhi Aradhana Camp 2025 – San Jose
Theme: Gopika Geet – The Heart’s Song of Devotion

A week of divine immersion came to a blissful close from July 29th to August 3rd, 2025 at Signia by Hilton, San Jose, as over 1000 delegates from across North America gathered in San Jose to celebrate the 32nd Chinmaya Mahasamadhi Camp. This year’s theme, Gopika Geet, was brought alive through soulful musical presentations by talented artists and the profound commentary of Pujya Swami Swaroopananda.

Each session revealed the depth of the Gopis’ devotion and longing, inspiring every participant to reflect on their own relationship with the Divine. Children, youth, and adults engaged fully in satsangs, seva, sadhana, and celebration, experiencing the joy of spiritual community.

The concluding Guru Paduka Puja on the Chinmaya Mahasamadhi Aradhana Day (3 August) was a deeply touching tribute to Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, reminding everyone that His presence continues to guide and bless us.

Heartfelt congratulations to the entire Chinmaya Mission San Jose team for their meticulous planning, loving execution, and commendable dedication in hosting this unforgettable family camp.

May the devotion of the Gopis inspire us to live in constant remembrance of the Lord, and to serve with love and sincerity in the spirit of our Guru.

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Thursday 07, Aug 2025, 06:00.
Books
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India: 2-4.
Chapter 2: The Upanishads:
Personal God:
Swami Krishnananda.
Post-5.

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5.Personal God:

Though the Upanishads are absolutistic in their approach, they are not lopsided in any sense of the term. Together with their lofty proclamations of Brahman beyond the range of understanding, they provide for the emotional aspiration of man by their concept of God, who creates, preserves and destroys the Universe as a divine play. At this stage we should not try to introduce the later logical formulations of Vedanta worked out by teachers like Sankara and Ramanuja, for the Upanishads belong to a time and period of thinking when such logical deductions were unnecessary, and it was enough for the sages to fly into an ecstasy of divine perception in all creation, a tendency of the Rishis of the Vedic hymns, and there was no need to argue out an intellectualistic difference between the concepts of Brahman and Ishvara. If Brahman is everything, it is also the creation, and its might can be seen in the processes of the Universe. The stages which the logical system of Vedanta would call Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Ishvara are comprehended within Brahman, and to the Upanishads it would be immaterial whether Reality is addressed and envisaged as the indeterminable Be-ness, or the powerful Creator, Sustainer and Transformer of all things.

The Brihadaranyaka and the Mandukya Upanishads regard Reality also as the Indwelling Presence (antaryamin), the Ruler of all (srveshvara), the Lord of all (sarvadhipati), the King of all (bhutadhipati), the Protector of all beings (bhutapala). He is described as Omnipotent, Omniscient, All-pervading, the Source, Beginning and End of all things. This is the incipient stage of the concept of Ishvara in the Vedanta. The Svetasvatara Upanishad refers to God as the Supreme Lord of all lords, the God of all gods, the Ruler of all rulers, who is neither cause nor effect, and who has no equal. He is endowed with an eternal Power (parasakti) which works in creation as Knowledge (ichha), Energy (bala) and Action (kriya). He is the great God who has no defining marks of identification, is not affected by the vicissitudes of the world, as the sun is not sullied by the defects of the eye. He grasps without hands, is fast in movement without feet, sees without eyes and hears without ears. He knows everything, but there is none who can know Him. He is the great Purusha shining like the sun beyond the darkness of the separatist consciousness. By knowing Him alone does one overcome death, there is no other way of attaining Him.

6.Ethics: 

The ethics of the Upanishads is metaphysical and spiritual. They affirm that human life, which can be graded into a period of studentship, householdership (in which can be included one's social and political career), and retirement from active participation in world-life, is a preparation for the realisation of Brahman. In this realisation every aim of life gets fulfilled and it is the culmination and purpose of all desires and aspirations. Those heroes who have such realisation rise above the desire for sex, wealth and worldly gain, whether here or hereafter, for to them, Brahman, the Absolute, is itself the world and the Self, all in One. Knowing this Truth, these heroes want nothing from anyone or anywhere, and live in the joy of Brahman, which is their Atman.

But such lofty spiritual experiences are open only to those who are endowed with tranquillity of mind (sama), self-control (dama), freedom from compulsive activity (uparati), fortitude (Titiksha), faith in the Ideal (sraddha) and power of concentration of mind (samadhana). The Upanishad affirms that when all the desires lodged in the heart are liberated for ever, then the mortal becomes immortal and herein does he attain to Brahman. When the knots of the heart are all rent asunder, then does the mortal become immortal. This is the supreme teaching, says the Upanishad. But it is hard for all to keep this lofty goal as their ideal in life, because the world has also the pleasant, in addition to the good, and mostly people go after the pleasant rather than the good, choosing rather the delights of sense than the good of the soul. It is only the highly refined spirit that chooses the higher blessedness after rejecting the temptation of the sense-world. Sreyas which is good is unfortunately not as easily available as Preyas which is the pleasant to sensation. It is the dictum of the Upanishad that unless one ceases from evil conduct and has reached composure of mind, control of senses, acuteness of concentration and is settled in true tranquillity of thought, emotion and will, one cannot realise the Absolute merely with the help of intellectual understanding.

The concise teaching compressed into the words, 'Damyata' (be self-controlled), 'Datta' (be charitable) and 'Dayadhvam' (be compassionate), in the Chhandogya Upanishad, supposed to have been addressed respectively to the gods, human beings and the demoniacal natures, sums up the ancient ethical concept of an all-round necessity for restraint of the senses, self-sacrifice and love for creation as the moral prerequisites for the higher reaches of the soul towards spiritual perfection.

The convocational address of the teacher to the students says: "Speak the truth, practise righteousness. Do not neglect sacred study. Do not neglect worship of the gods and the Pitris. Let the mother be your god. Let the father be your god. Let the teacher be your god. Let the guest be your god. Practise only noble deeds; not others. Give with faith. Give in plenty. Give with modesty. Give with respect. Give with sympathy." This is, indeed, the height that any ethical principle can reach.

Universal love is declared not merely as a possibility but a real achievement. When one sees himself in all beings and all beings in himself, he does not shrink away from anything. As children sit round their mother with affection, so do all beings crave for him who sees all beings in his absolute Self. He who loves all, is loved by all. The woman and the man, the boy and the girl are He; He it is that, as an old man, totters with a stick, thus deceiving the human eye; for He is in all things.

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Next
7.Psychology: 
Continued

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