Dreams and Sleep explained in Prasnopanishad

sleep dreams mind explained in Prasnopanishad

Prasna Upanishad consists of six questions (prasnas) and their answers. It is also associated with the Atharva Veda
Six students (Sukesha, Satyakama, Sauryayanee, Bhargava, Kabandhi) interested in knowing divinity or Brahman come to sage Pippalada and request him to clarify their spiritual doubts.
The fourth question asked by Souryayanee Gargya is concerned with dream world of human beings.

Sauryayanee Gargya asks

“atha hEnam souryayanee gargya papraccha |
bhagavannEtasmin purushE kaani svapanti kaanyasmin jaagrati katar yEsha dEva |
swapnaan pashyati kasyaitata sukham bhavati kasminnu sarvE sampratishTitaa bhavanteeti |”

Translation : Sauryayani, belonging to the family of Garga, asked: “Sir, what are they that sleep in man and what are they that remain awake in him ? Which deity is it that sees dreams ? Whose is the happiness ? In whom, again, are all these gathered together ?”

Sage Pippalada replied “O Gargya, As all the rays of the sun, when it sets, are gathered up in that disc of light, and as they, when the sun rises again and again, come forth, so is all this (all the senses) gathered up in the highest faculty (deva), the mind. Therefore at that time that man does not hear, see, smell, taste, touch, he does not speak, he does not take, does not enjoy, does not evacuate, does not move about. He sleeps, that is what People say.

The prana fires remain awake in this city (body) during sleep/dream. Apana is the Garhapatya Fire and vyana, the Anvaharyapachana Fire. And prana is the Ahavaniya Fire, so called from being taken—since it is taken from the Garhapatya Fire.

Samana is so called because it distributes equally the two oblations, namely, the out—breathing and the in—breathing; it is the priest. The mind, verily, is the sacrificer. Udana is the fruit of the sacrifice, because it leads the sacrificer every day, in deep sleep, to Brahman.

There, in dreams, that god, the mind, experiences glory. Whatever has been seen he sees again; whatever has been heard he hears again; whatever has been experienced in different countries and quarters, he experiences again. Whatever has been seen or not seen, heard or not heard and whatever is real or not real—he sees it all. He sees all, himself being all.

When the jiva is overcome by light he sees no dreams; at that time, in this body, arises this happiness.

As a bird goes to a tree to roost, even so, O friend, all this rests in the Supreme Atman : Earth and its subtle counterpart, water and its subtle counterpart, fire and its subtle counterpart, air and its subtle counterpart, akasa and its subtle counterpart, the eye and what can be seen, the ear and what can be heard, the nose and what can be smelt, the taste and what can be tasted, the skin and what can be touched, the organ of speech and what can be spoken, the hands and what can be grasped, the organ of generation and what can be enjoyed, the organ of excretion and what can be excreted, the feet and what is their destination, the mind (manas) and what can be thought, the intellect (buddhi) and what can be comprehended, the ego (ahamkara) and the object of egoism, the memory (chitta) and its object, knowledge (tejah) and its object, prana and what is to be supported.

He, verily, it is who sees, feels, hears, smells, tastes, thinks and knows. He is the doer, the intelligent self, the purusha. He is established in the Highest, the imperishable Atman.
He who knows that indestructible being, obtains (what is) the highest and indestructible, he without a shadow, without a body, without colour, bright,yes, O friend, he who knows it, becomes all-knowing, becomes all.

He, who knows that indestructible being wherein the true knower, the vital spirits (pranas), together with all the powers (deva), and the elements rest, he, being all-knowing, has penetrated all.”

Thus, it can be understood that humans and other living beings live like Brahma, the creator.
They absorb everything into themselves during sleep and when they wakeup, they re-create everything including themselves.
The supreme god exists in all of us, making us go through the process of creation and absorption everyday.

source-booksfact.com 

Gravitational force, Apana Vayu in Prasnopanishad, Ancient Indian Scriptures

Issac Newton discovered universal gravitation in 16th century when he observed an apple fall from a tree.
But Prasnopanishad(6000 BC) described the force that pulls objects down and keeps us grounded on earth without floating.

In Prashnopanishad chapter 3 while describing the panchapranas, the apana vayu is said to be residing in the anus and genitals – paayoopasthepaanam.

It is responsible for throwing out from the body faeces, urine, semen, menstrual blood and foetus. Further, the upanishad says : prithivyaam yaa devataa saisha purushasya apaanamavashatabhyaantaraa

The devata that is in earth she supports this apana. She helps apana for throwing out from the body. Space travellers face difficulty in excretion due to absence of gravitational force there. The link between apana and the earth aiding it is quite clear in this upanishad.

Further in his commentary to this upanishad, Adi Shankara ( 8th century AD ) says

‘tathaa prithivyaam abhimaaninee yaa devataa prasiddhaa saishaa purushasya apaanavrithimavashtabhyaakrishya vasheekrityaadha evapakarshanenanugraham kurvati vartata ityarthaha. anyathaa hi shareeram gurutvat patetsavakashe vaa udagacheta’.

This devata blesses by supporting apana by pulling in the downward direction. Or else, the body would have floated up.

citation-booksfact.com

Genesis and Adam,Eve decoded

Adam Eve story from Upanishads

Many are aware of the story of Adam and Eve which belongs to the Hebrew tradition.
According to the Old Testament, is the first man, created by God on the sixth day of creation. Eve is the first woman not born but created by God to be the wife of Adam.
Adam actually is derived from Adamah meaning earth (They call him Aadmi in hindi)
Few scholars say that Adam is associated with the Assyrian ‘Adaman’ meaning ‘make‘ or ‘produce‘ and so ‘Adam‘ means maker or producer.
Eve in Hebrew is ‘Havah‘ and is associated with the root ‘hayah‘ or ‘hay‘ meaning life.

Adam and Eve lived with child like innocence in the Garden of Eden enjoying, God’s bliss. They were told that they could eat freely the fruit of every tree in the garden except that of the true knowledge of good and evil.
However, tempted by the serpent, Eve ate the fruit of knowledge tree and gave it to Adam.
As a result, they became conscious of their nakedness and sin, covered themselves with aprons of fig leaves.
To prevent from eating the fruit of tree of life, God banished them from Eden; and they were obliged to till the ground to obtain food. Eve’s further punishment was decreed in the following words-“I will multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow, shalt thou bring forth children..”

In this story, it is said that ‘the God prepared man on the 6th day’ etc., it is evident that the writer of the story did not have the real knowledge of the Genesis of the world.
It is not told in the story who prepared the serpent and how the serpent became equal and opposite to the God.
Even the ‘GOD‘ who created man and woman was not described clearly how he got the power to create and why did he create ?

The original story of Adam & Eve is however described as story of two birds in Mundakopanishad.
The initial process of creation from two forces was explained inPrasnopanishad 1/4, written around 6000 BCE.

Story of Rayi and Prana in Prasnopanishad : Kabandhi, a student asked the sage named as Pippalada, “From where all these things and animals come into existence?” .
Sage Pippalada replied, “The originator(creator) thought of producing different things and he performed Tapa and produced a couple, Rayi and Prana; and said that these two will produce variety of things and animals.”

Ignorants may think Rayi is female because it sounds feminine and Prana is male because it sounds masculine.
But sage pippalada used the word Rayi to depict matter, and Prana to depict energy.
This is clear from the very next statement of the sage that the Sun is Prana and the Moon is Rayi, not only the Moon but any form is Rayi.(1/5).
Further he states that the Sun supports and maintains all the life by his rays. (1/6)

Excerpts from Prasnopanishad : Prana acts on Rayi. Various forms are manifested.
It is the intermingling of these two that gives rise to the world of diverse forms.
The one is active, positive and is the male principle; the other is passive, negative and is the female principle.
Prana belongs to the conscious side of creation, while Rayi or matter belongs to the form side of creation.
Matter is the universal form. Prana is life or consumer.
The body is upheld by the Prana or life principle.
Prajapati was desirous of offspring. From this desire a pair sprang forth, viz., matter or the universal form and Prana, life, or consumer.
As life and matter, Prajapati is, gradually, the sun and the moon, the year in its two halves, day and night.
Prana, Aditya (sun), day, Amurta (formless), life, spirit, northern path, invisibility, belong to the life side.
Rayi, the moon, the night, Murta (with form), matter, southern path, visibility, belong to the matter side.

Everyone who believes in modern science will agree that sun maintains life on earth.
So, sage pippalada disclosed this information thousands of years ago.

Now, the question about eating of the fruit and falling in trouble…

This is explained with story of two birds in Mundakopanishad 3-1-1 .
Excerpts from Mundakopanishad :
Two birds, inseparable companions, dwell upon one and the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other one looks on without eating.
The two birds are Jiva (the individual soul) and Isvara (the Lord).
Having known Truth thus, one goes beyond death. There is no other road to salvation.
The Jivatman is limited by Avidya or ignorance. Therefore, he is bound by body, mind and work.
The Lord is conditioned by Maaya, but Maaya is under His control. Therefore, He is free, omnipotent and omniscient.
Tree here means the body. A tree can be cut or destroyed. The body also can be cut or destroyed. So the body is compared to a tree.
The reflection of the Parmatman in the mind-mirror is the Jivatman or the individual soul.
The Jiva tastes, from ignorance, the fruits of his Karmas, viz. happiness and misery.
The Atman is always the silent witness. It is non-doer or non-enjoyer. Enjoyment and agentship are superimposed on the Jiva by the mind.
When ignorance is destroyed, when the heart is purified, when knowledge of the Self dawns, the knots of the heart are rent asunder, all Karmas perish, the ideas of doer and enjoyer are annihilated. One becomes identified with the supreme Self and attains liberation.
Being seated on the same tree, the Jiva immersed in ignorance, and deluded, grieves, on account of helplessness. But when he sees the other, the Lord who is adored by all, and His glory, then he becomes free from grief.

Someone who was not conversant with the high philosophy, just took the stories from these upanishads and rewrote them in his own way.
‘Adim’ means the first, primitive, or original, which may have turned into Adam. Shakti is called as ‘E‘. This ‘E‘ may have converted into Eve.

Both the Prasna and Mundaka are the Upanishads of Atharva Veda, which is believed to have been spread in the west by travellers.

Citation-booksfact.com