VIDYA and AVIDYA
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति ये विद्यामुपासते।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्याया रताः ॥9॥
Andham tamah pravisanti ye vidyam-upaste,
tatobhuyaiva tetamoyauvidyayagmratah(9)
"They who worship Avidya(rites) alone enter blindening darkness,and they,who are engaged in Vidya(meditation)veily fall, as though,into an even greater darkness."
' Knowlege versus Action' has been the eternal problem with every generation of thinkersThere is an eternal lingering doubt as to whether a life of action or a life of meditation is the ideal way of living. In this stanza,the Rsi has opened up the problem,by defining this problem of outward activity vs.inward contemplation are avidya and vidya , which also connote karma(avidya) and upasana(vidya). Generally speaking, those who are keeping themselves engaged exclusively in a field of ritualistic activities certainly find themselves reaching thicker delusions.
According to Swami Chinmayananda," Ritualism(karma)can be undertaken only when one is whipped by desire for the fruits thereof.When the yajnas and yagas, the ritualistic portion of the Vedas, are performed with an ardent desire for supremacy or for ampler sensuousness,from the Rsi's standpoint, the individual is spiritually falling into the'blinding darkness'. Again,those who are following the path of upasana or leading an introvert life,mediating deeply, seeking nothing but the all-pervading Reality,they seem to fall as though into a still greater darkness, because such of the hasty and unprepared mediators may overdo the negation aspect of the technique of meditation and reach a destination of blind non-existence ! Here, the term'as though a greater darkness' is very significant; it is not really darkness." However, according to Sri Sankara,vidya means jevata-jnana,leading to the abode of the devata,and avidya is ritualistic karma, leading to the joys of heaven(pitrloka).Probably,the context here demand that we should take vidya to be 'higher meditation' and avidya to be 'all sadhanas' that prepare one,by exhausting one's existing vasanas, to have a peaceful mind that can readily be brought to the seat of meditation.
Vedprakash
http://www.ethicalvaluesinishopanisad.blogspot.com/
(To be contnd.)
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति ये विद्यामुपासते।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्याया रताः ॥9॥
Andham tamah pravisanti ye vidyam-upaste,
tatobhuyaiva tetamoyauvidyayagmratah(9)
"They who worship Avidya(rites) alone enter blindening darkness,and they,who are engaged in Vidya(meditation)veily fall, as though,into an even greater darkness."
' Knowlege versus Action' has been the eternal problem with every generation of thinkersThere is an eternal lingering doubt as to whether a life of action or a life of meditation is the ideal way of living. In this stanza,the Rsi has opened up the problem,by defining this problem of outward activity vs.inward contemplation are avidya and vidya , which also connote karma(avidya) and upasana(vidya). Generally speaking, those who are keeping themselves engaged exclusively in a field of ritualistic activities certainly find themselves reaching thicker delusions.
According to Swami Chinmayananda," Ritualism(karma)can be undertaken only when one is whipped by desire for the fruits thereof.When the yajnas and yagas, the ritualistic portion of the Vedas, are performed with an ardent desire for supremacy or for ampler sensuousness,from the Rsi's standpoint, the individual is spiritually falling into the'blinding darkness'. Again,those who are following the path of upasana or leading an introvert life,mediating deeply, seeking nothing but the all-pervading Reality,they seem to fall as though into a still greater darkness, because such of the hasty and unprepared mediators may overdo the negation aspect of the technique of meditation and reach a destination of blind non-existence ! Here, the term'as though a greater darkness' is very significant; it is not really darkness." However, according to Sri Sankara,vidya means jevata-jnana,leading to the abode of the devata,and avidya is ritualistic karma, leading to the joys of heaven(pitrloka).Probably,the context here demand that we should take vidya to be 'higher meditation' and avidya to be 'all sadhanas' that prepare one,by exhausting one's existing vasanas, to have a peaceful mind that can readily be brought to the seat of meditation.
Vedprakash
http://www.ethicalvaluesinishopanisad.blogspot.com/
(To be contnd.)
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