Upāsana – The spiritual Learning Method

In true Spiritual pursuit, the boundaries between learning, practicing, knowing and living completely vanishes. And this happens thanks to adopting a special spiritual learning method that is generally referred to as Sādhana or Upāsana. The Sanskrit word Sādhana can be fairly accurately translated as 'spiritual pursuit' while the word Upāsana defies an easy translation. It is formed from the Sanskrit words ‘Upa’ meaning near and ‘āsana’ meaning to sit. Joined together the word translates literally as ‘sit next to’ The closest this be compared to is the process of hatching an egg!  Because, it implies is that once the mind has received the seed of the knowledge, it needs to continue to contimnue to think about it, keep it 'warm' through contemplation thus allowing for the knowledge to fully blossom.  There is also an implied sense of purpose, dedication, love and continuous attention that is paid to the subject of contemplation. As we have discussed (in previous posts),  the true spiritual knowledge is considered to be beyond the ability of words to convey. Hence many a times what is delivered as spiritual knowledge in words are only pointers or seeds of knowledge  that need to be subjected to the process of Upāsana or Tapas.

The Chandogya Upanishad which is considered to be one of the most profound texts of Vedānta devotes a good part of its content to elaborate on different Upāsana, each of which are meant to prepare the spiritual seeker to receive different levels of knowledge about Brahman. A generic structure of the various Upāsana mentioned is: 1. Elaboration of a spiritual concept 2. Super imposition of that concept on to an everyday practice and 3. A statement on expected benefits of the practice once the practitioner has mastered it. The goal of each of this Upāsana are not necessarily the benefits narrated, but to prepare the seeker's mind to receive the next level of knowledge. And, finally when it comes to discussing the knowledge about Brahman, the Upanishad uses the beautiful metaphorical story of Satyakāma Jābāla to demonstrate what the Upāsana method of learning is.

Satyakāma is introduced as a young boy brought up by, what we today may refer to as, a single mother. Desiring to gain spiritual knowledge, he decides to enlist with a Guru of repute. And, based on trhe practices of the time, he was aware that the Guru would inquire on his family lineage, specifically on the side of the father, before accepting him to the studentship. Satyakāma approaches his mother Jabāla asking who his father was and Jabāla answers honestly that she had been a maid servant to many masters and had no idea who he was born to. She encourages him to go and find his Guru and if enquired, just let the Guru that he is her son. Satyakāma follows her advice and goes to a renowned saint named Uddālaka. As expected, Uddālaka asks Satyakāma about his lineage and Satyakāma, not holding back anything, describes what his mother had told him. Uddālaka is extremely impressed by the honesty of Satyakāma and tells him he would accept him as a student because as honest as he is, Satyakāma couldn't but be a Brāhmin. The Upanishad thus reinforces that the key pre-requisites of a spitual seeker are truth, honesty and integrity.

The Upanishad at this point, makes a very interesting statement. It says that Uddālaka, instead of instructing Satyakāma on Brahman, hands over 400 under nourished cattle and tells him to take the cattle to the forest for grazing, take care of them and come back for instructions when Satyakāma has managed to grow the cattle to a thousand! Obviosly this statement cannot be taken literally. What the Upanishad is intending to say here is that Uddālaka instructed  Satyakāma with textual knowledge about Brahman but these textual knowledge were like undernourished cattle, those that have a potential to grow and multiply if nurtured properly or die in him otherwise. The Upanishad continues the story to say that Satyakāma managed to grow the cattle into a healthy herd of one thousand, meaning that Satyakāma spend time reflecting and meditating, doing the Upāsanā on the instructions he received. Thus he manages to develop the knowledge they intended to deliver, and solidify those ideas within him. A great Bull among the cattle then approaches Satyakāma and tells him that it was time to return to the Gurukula since the herd had reached the size that the Guru wanted. Satyakāma agrees and plans to start his journey back. The great Bull then offers to teach him about one part of Brahman.

A great bull among cattle in this context stands for the gist of the knowledge that Satyakāma managed to arrive at himself through his Upāsana. And, even this gist of an idea could only deliver knowledge about one part of the Brahman. Satyakāma then receives knowledge about other parts of the Brahman from three more teachers. The second teacher was the sacrificial fire which is symbolic of the knowledge contained in the karma kānda part of the Vedas. The third teacher was a migrating swan that stopped by,  again symbolic of the knowledge carried by the wandering saints of the time who had seen the world and could differentiate the real from unreal. The final teacher was a Kingfisher bird, symbolic of the final instruction he received to look very much inside him to find Brhaman. With these four teachings, Satyakāma comes to realize the total nature of Brahman. Overall, Satyakāma's return journey to the Gurukula is the metaphor that the Upanishad weaves to describe the experiential knowledge that a spiritual seeker has to develop but needs to take back to the Guru for validation.

At the end of the story, Satyakāma arrives at Uddālaka's ashrama, and Uddālaka tells him that his Satyakāma's face is glowing like one who has come to realize Brahman and asks who had taught him. Satyakāma's answer to Uddālaka was how could he fully come to know Brahman unless he was instructed by someone like Uddālaka who is established in Brahman. This answer makes Uddālaka very happy as that was a final test to see if the wonderful knowledge gained had made him egoistic. From a seeker's perspective this validation with a Guru who is established in Bahman is the final step of his Upāsanā. And, this is when the words end and true knowledge blossoms!