DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Tat Twam Asi. Really? Then be prepared for the fire test!

**PhillipHer** · 08-06-2012, 12:04 AM

9. Now comes the climax of an answer, convincing finally for Svetaketu (but not for me as a lay man; I feel it would have been better with the remaining 8 assertions).

Uddalaka Aruni says, “If a person, allegedly accused of committing a theft, is brought to the king’s court and asked to grasp a heated red hot iron piece, his hand will be burnt if he is guilty and he will be punished. If he is innocent his hand will not be burnt and he will be released. Though both the men merge in the supreme reality, the innocent man is liberated while the other is re-born again. Realize “Tat Twam Asi” (Chaandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6, 6.2.1 to 6.16.3).

Svetaketu understood this. Probably he was afraid of the hot-rod treatment! But I am not. Is this Upanashidic doctrine the reason why, in villages, such cruel tests are conducted even today to prove thefts, witch craft, adultery etc. and then they are punished? It is inconceivable for me for, a person who undergoes the test, innocent or not, will have his hand only burnt. Or, is it an expression of absolute faith as in fire walking in many temples? I agree with you. I do not accept this assertion. There must be a different explanation.
Detecting a false statement in an otherwise, a factual episode, discredits the who story.

08-06-2012, 12:04 AM	#2
PhillipHer Join Date Jun 2008 Age 58 Posts 4,481 Senior Member	9. Now comes the climax of an answer, convincing finally for Svetaketu (but not for me as a lay man; I feel it would have been better with the remaining 8 assertions). Uddalaka Aruni says, “If a person, allegedly accused of committing a theft, is brought to the king’s court and asked to grasp a heated red hot iron piece, his hand will be burnt if he is guilty and he will be punished. If he is innocent his hand will not be burnt and he will be released. Though both the men merge in the supreme reality, the innocent man is liberated while the other is re-born again. Realize “Tat Twam Asi” (Chaandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6, 6.2.1 to 6.16.3). Svetaketu understood this. Probably he was afraid of the hot-rod treatment! But I am not. Is this Upanashidic doctrine the reason why, in villages, such cruel tests are conducted even today to prove thefts, witch craft, adultery etc. and then they are punished? It is inconceivable for me for, a person who undergoes the test, innocent or not, will have his hand only burnt. Or, is it an expression of absolute faith as in fire walking in many temples? I agree with you. I do not accept this assertion. There must be a different explanation. Detecting a false statement in an otherwise, a factual episode, discredits the who story.
	Quote