Upanishad Ganga – Episode 1 – Points to Ponder

Points to Ponder from this episode:

• You must know yourself (Your Self) before knowing anything else – This statement was reiterated twice in the episode. Why is it stressed upon so much?

One of the many reasons is…does it make any sense when one goes out to discover everything else in this world, but is unable to realize who he really is? Is he the body, is he the mind, is he the intellect, or is he beyond all that? If HE is beyond all that, i.e. if HE is not the body, mind or intellect, then why does HE get affected by factors affecting HIS body, HIS mind and HIS intellect?
 

• Son: Why should we learn the Upanishads? They are irrelevant in today’s times.Father: Do you know the relevance of what you are doing…you tell me? If you come to know your own relevance, then you me know:

A very powerful question raised by the father. The son even though having studied Sanskrit (and probably a bit of the scriptures) does not Why and How it is useful in today’s times. Since he cannot find any logical reason to this question, he comes to a conclusion that it is useless.

The father, a wise man well-versed with the scriptures, instead of shouting at him put across a couple of questions for him to think.

Do you know the relevance of what you are doing…you tell me? This question is not just for the son, but for all of us. Have we every thought of the relevance of the things that we are doing in our lives? How are we leading our lives? Where are we heading to, if we continue to live a life like this? What are the relevance / importance of the things that we do daily? How of them are unimportant and how much time do we waste on them thus wasting our lives?
If you come to know your own relevance, then you me know. Are our lives relevant/significant/important? Are we just another one or The One? Have we discovered The purpose of our lives? Have we discovered our relevance in the society? Think!
 

• Changing clothes will not bring a change in the Atma (Soul) of the character – This is what Narendra, the son, tells his star cast of the theatre group when he wishes to do Shakespeare’s play in traditional Indian theme & dress. His friends argue that it will change the whole character if the outfit is changed.

The Script writer has put many messages in this dialogue of Narendra. If we take the literal meaning as ‘dress’, then we can analyse something like this: In the course of time, the way of living, dressing, eating, everything has changed. But that has not changed the Atma of Indians. Even though we might dress in the western way, the heart is still Indian.

There’s another meaning to dress and that is ‘our body’. Birth and death are changing bodies like changing clothes. The Self (the Soul) remains unaffected by whichever birth or body it takes. Changing bodies cannot bring a change in the Soul. The Soul in a dog is the same as the Soul in man.

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