devapatha
m. `" gods'path "' , heaven ChUp. MBh. ; the Milky Way L. ; N. of
place of pilgrimage (cf. Pa1n2. 5-3 , 100) MBh. iii , 8187 (also %{-
tIrtha} n. S3ivaP.) ; %{-thIya} mfn. being on the celestial path
Ka1t2h. ; relating to or coming from Deva-patha (above) MW.
uttarA [paTha]
ind. north , northerly ; northward (with gen. or abl.) Pa1n2. Vop. ;
(%{uttarA-patha} , &c. see p. 178 , col. 3.)
dakSiNApaTha
m. path of the Dakshin2a1 cow , (between the S3a1la1 and the Sadas)
S3a1n3khS3r. As3vS3r. Ka1tyS3r. La1t2y. ; (%{-Na-saMcara} Vait.) the
southern region , Deccan MBh. Hariv. 5289 VarBr2S. Sus3r. BhP.
Katha1s. Vet.: Hit. ; see %{-NA7bdhi}.
To me this is blatantly giving a coded yogic instruction in the
karmic channels and the end separation of lunar and solar potencies
of soma and agni where karmic-consciousness transforms into jnanic-
consciousness. It is the fast road to Brahman. The world of the
father is most likely referring to pitr-loka, world of the ancestors,
referred to in Brihadaranyaka 6..2.16 which describes the sacrifice
of soma in the yogin which is offered up to the gods. One path leads
to worldly existence and another to a heaven-dimension. In the
Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka it refers to the technique of the
sacrifice, the creation of man in five stages and the path of the
gods. These northern and southerly courses have direct correspondence
to yogic-anatomy and the Sanskrit alphabet. Initiates of the inner
tantra will be familiar with them. It's also interesting because the
symbolism of the funeral pyre and death/transformation.
You take the low road
and I'll take the high road
and I'll be to Brahman before ye! ;-)
On Aug 23, 2007, at 11:43 AM, do.rflex wrote:
Is anyone on this forum qualified to explain the following in
practical terms?
271:5 ... That future life is reached by two roads; p. 272 one, the
Devapatha, leading to the world of Brahman (the conditioned), beyond
which there lies one other stage only, represented by knowledge of and
identity with the unconditioned Brahman;
the other leading to the world of the fathers, and from thence, after
the reward of good works has been consumed, back to a new round of
mundane existence.
There is a third road for creatures which live and die, worms,
insects, and creeping things, but they are of little consequence.
Now it is quite clear that the knowledge which king Kitra possesses,
and which Svetaketu does not possess, is that of the two roads after
death, sometimes called the right and the left, or the southern and
northern roads. These roads are fully described in the
Khândogya-upanishad and in the Brihad-âranyaka, with certain
variations, yet on the whole with the same purpose.
The northern or left road, called also the path of the Devas, passes
on from light and day to the bright half of the moon; the southern or
right road, called also the path of the fathers, passes on from smoke
and night to the dark half of the moon.
Both roads therefore meet in the moon, but diverge afterwards. While
the northern road passes by the six months when the sun moves towards
the north, through the sun, (moon,) and the lightning to the world of
Brahman, the southern passes by the six months when the sun moves
towards the south, to the world of the fathers, the ether, and the
moon.
The great difference, however, between the two roads is, that while
those who travel on the former do not return again to a new life on
earth, but reach in the end a true knowledge of the unconditioned
Brahman, those who pass on to the world of the fathers and the moon
return to earth to be born again and again.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01239.htm
