ESSAYS

A comparative reflection on Buddhism and Vedanta—how Vipassana prepared the ground through dissolution, and how Vedānta completes the journey through revelation of the Self.

Pranas are the vital energies that sustain life, divided into five functions — respiration, elimination, circulation, digestion, and speech/upward flow.

Karmendriyas are the five faculties of action — speech, hands, feet, reproduction, and elimination — subtle instruments in the subtle body through which the mind expresses itself.

Jñanendriyas are the five sense faculties — hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell — subtle instruments within the subtle body that allow perception.

Tat tvam asi — “That thou art” — is the Upanishadic revelation that the essence of the individual is none other than Brahman, pure consciousness.

Atma-vichara is the central inquiry of Vedanta — reasoning guided by scripture to reveal the Self as pure awareness, already free.