[INDOLOGY] From Vedas to the Upanishads

[Lauren Bausch]

Dear Harsha,

The Brāhmaṇa texts describe the primordial being, often Prajāpati, as
working hard to create a mechanism by which he could enjoy relative
experience. The humans he created had confidence that life in this sphere
of experience could be enjoyed while at the same time reintegrating that
part of their self that was unmanifest. There are indications that living a
hundred years on earth was desirable, after which those who directly knew
their ultimate identity with the unmanifest part of themselves would not
suffer *punarmṛtyu*. The situation seems to have shifted, however, because
the two path theory--already present in late Brāhmaṇas--and rebirth signal
that some sacrificers were no longer successful in knowing themselves by
the time of the Upaniṣads. This prompted another approach to enjoyment and
religious practice.

I will give a talk that somewhat touches on this question in the upcoming
Decolonizing Travel(ing) Theory conference (July 15-17), which may be of
interest to you and others on this list:
https://sites.google.com/view/traveltheory/homecfp?authuser=0

maitrīcittā,
Lauren

Lauren Bausch
Assistant Professor
Dharma Realm Buddhist University

"Concepts are really monsters that are reborn from their fragments."
--Deleuze and Guattari, *What is Philosophy, *p. 140.


On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 5:01 AM Harsha Dehejia via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Friends:
>
> I have often wondered what caused the shift from the beauty seeking Vedic
> kavis to the inward looking Upanishadic rishis?
> Why was there a denial of the bonafides of sensuality in the Upanishads?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Harsha
> Prof. Harsha V. Dehejia
> Ottawa, ON.,Canada
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20210702/69fbea76/attachment.htm>