Introduction to Upanishads

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Man is essentially Divine. However, he believes himself to be an

individual, limited and temporary, because he is entangled in the

characteristics of the Five Elements, namely, Sound, Touch, Form,

Taste and Smell. This error brings about joy and grief, good and bad,

birth and death. To escape from this association with the Elements,

to rid oneself of the pulls of their characteristics, is the sign of

Liberation, called in Sanskrit as Kaivalya, Moksha or Mukthi. Names

may change; but the achievement is the same.

 

While entangled in the Five Elements, man is attracted, distracted or

disappointed by them; all this causes distress. Wealth, possessions -

vehicles, buildings - all these re transmutations of the elements.

Man craves for them; when he loses them or fails to get them, he

spurns them.

 

Let us take the Five Elements, one by one. The living being has the

first one, the Earth, as its base. Water, the second, is the basis

for the earth. Water is produced from Fire, the third element, Fire

itself emanating from Wind, the fourth. Wind or Vayu arises from

Ether, or Akasa. Akasa emerges from the Primal Nature and the Primal

Nature is but the manifestation of one aspect of the majesty of God,

or the Supreme Sovereign Atma, the Param-atma.

 

Seeking to reach that Param-atma, the source and core of the

Universe, the Individual or Jivi, who has entangled himself in the

elements, has to overcome, by discrimination and steady practice of

detachment, the bonds one by one; such a person is a Sadhaka; he who

wins in this struggle is the Jivan-muktha, 'Liberated even while

alive.'

 

For the exercise of such discrimination and for the visualisation of

one's innate reality, one has to study the Upanishads. They are

collectively called Vedanta. They form the Jnana kanda of the Vedas,

the section that deals with the Higher Wisdom. Liberation from the

consequences of Ignorance can be secured only by Knowledge or Jnana.

The Upanishads themselves declare, "Jnaanaad eva thu kaivalyam": "By

Knowledge alone can freedom be won."

 

The Vedas are reputed to be "three sectioned", "Kaanda-

thrayaathmakam" - the three sections being Jnana, Upasana and Karma.

These three are found in the Upanishads too; they provided the basis

for the Adwaitha, Visishtadvaitha and the Dwaitha systems of

Philosophy also.

 

The term Upanishad denotes the study and practice of the innate

truth: the term, Brahmavidya, denotes the supremacy of spiritual

contemplation; the term, Yogasastra denotes the mental churning that

brings success. What is the fundamental activity which is required of

man? What is the basic thing to be known? It is only one's basic

reality. The Upanishads describe the various stages and the various

modes of this search for realising this.

 

The name is full of significance. 'Upa' means the process of studying

with 'Nishta' or steadfastness; 'shad' means the attainment of the

Ultimate Reality. The name Upa-ni-shad arose for these reasons. The

Upanishads teach not only the principles of Atmavidya; they indicate

also the practical means of realisation. They point out not only the

duties and obligations one has to bear, but also the actions to be

done and those to be avoided.

 

The Gita is but the essence of the Upanishads. Arjuna acquired

through the lessons of the Gita the fruit of listening to the

Upanishads. In the Upanishads, the statement, "Thath-thwam-

asi", "That thou art", is found. In the Gita, Krishna says to

Arjuna, "I am Arjuna among the Pandavas", that is to say, "I and You

are the same". This is the same as saying "Thou art That", that Jiva

and Iswara are the same.

 

So, whether it is the Gita or the Upanishads, the teaching is Non-

duality, not Duality, or qualified Monism. The human eye cannot delve

into the minute or the magnitudinous. It cannot read the mystery of

the virus or the atom or the stellar universe. Therefore, scientists

supplement the eye with the telescope and the microscope. Similarly,

sages are able to experience Divinity through the eye of knowledge,

gained by following the Dharma of moral conduct and spiritual

discipline. When the human eye stands in need of an extraneous

instrument to observe even the insignificant worm and virus, how can

one refuse to go through the process of manthra if he desires to see

the omnipresent transcendent Principle? It is very hard to acquire

the eye of wisdom. Concentration is essential for this. And, for

concentration to develop and stabilise itself, three things are very

important: purity of consciousness, moral awareness and spiritual

discrimination. These qualifications are difficult of attainment by

ordinary folk.

 

Man is endowed with the special instrument of discrimination, of

judgement, of analysis and synthesis, which among all animals, he

alone possesses. He has to develop this and utilise it to the best

purpose. Through this instrument, he can realise the Immanent

Divinity.

 

Instead, man pesters himself and others with the question: Where does

God reside? If He is real, why is He not seen? Hearing such queries,

one feels like pitying the poor questioners. For, they are announcing

their own foolishness. They are like the dullards who aspire for

university degrees without taking pains even to learn the alphabet.

They aspire to realise God without putting themselves to the trouble

of practising the Sadhana required. People who have no moral strength

and purity talk of God and His existence and decry efforts to see

Him. Such people have no right to be heard.

 

Spiritual Sadhana is based on the holy Sastras. They cannot be

mastered in a trice. They cannot be followed through talk. Their

message is summed up in the Upanishads; hence, they are revered as

authoritative. They are not the products of human intelligence; they

are the whisperings of God to man. They are parts of the eternal

Vedas. The Vedas shine gloriously through all their parts.

 

The Upanishads are authentic and authoritative, as they share the

glory of the Vedas. They are 1180 in number, but, through the

centuries, many of them disappeared from human memory and only 108

have now survived. Of these, 13 have attained great popularity, as a

result of the depth and value of their contents.

 

The sage Vyasa classified the Upanishads and allotted them among the

four Vedas; The Rigveda has 21 branches and each branch has one

Upanishad allotted to it. The Yajurveda has 109 branches and 109

Upanishads. The Atharvanaveda has 50 branches and 50 Upanishads were

its share. The Samaveda has a thousand branches and the balance,

namely, 1000 Upanishads were its share. Thus, the 1180 Upanishads

were assigned by Vyasa to the Four Vedas.

 

Sankaracharya raised the status of ten among the Upanishads by

selecting them for writing his commentaries and so they became

especially important. Humanity stands to gain or fall by these ten.

All who are seeking human welfare and progress are now apprehending

whether even these ten will be forgotten, for, neglecting them will

usher in moral and spiritual disaster. There is no reason, however,

for such fears. The Vedas can never be harmed. Pundits and those with

faith should resolve to present before humanity these ten Upanishads

at least. They are Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya,

Thaithiriya, Aithareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka.

 

The remaining 98 are: Brahma, Kaivalya, Svethasva, Jabali, Hamsa,

Garbha, Aruni, Paramahamsa, Amrithanada, Narayani, Amrithabindu,

Atharvasikha, Atharvasira, Kasithara, Mathrayani, Nrisimhatapani,

Brahmajabala, Maithreya, Kalagnirudra, Sulabha, Manthrika, Kshithi,

Niraalamba, Sarvahara, Vajrasuchika, Subharahasya, Thejobindu,

Nadabindu, Dhyanabindu, Brahmavidya, Atmabodhaka, Yoga, Thathwa,

Naradaparivrajaka, Brahmana, Sita, Yogachudamani, Nirvana, Mandala,

Dakshinamurthi, Skandaa, Sarabha, Adwaitha, Thaaraka, Mahanarayana,

Sowbhagyalakshmi, Saraswathirahasya, Mukthika, Bhavaricha,

Ramathapana, Ramarahasya, Mudgali, Vasudeva, Pingala, Sandilya,

Mahabhikshuka, Yogasiksha, Sanyasa, Thuriyathitha, Parmaparivrajaka,

Narasimha, Akshamalika, Annapoorna, Ekakshara, Akshika, Adhathya,

Surya, Kundisakhya, Aatma, Savithri, Parabrahma, Pasupatha,

Thripurathapana, Avadhootha, Thripura, Devi, Bhavana, Katha,

Yogakundali, Rudrahrdaya, Rudraksha, Bhasma, Darsana, Ganapathi,

Thahasata, Mahavakya, Panchabrahma, Gopalathapani, Pranagnihothra,

Garuda, Krishna, Datthatreya, Varaaha, Yajnavalkya, Sathyaayana,

Avyektha, Hayagriva, and Kalisantharna.

 

The Upanishads have also inspired other works on Geography,

Astronomy, Astrology, Economics and Political Theory, as well as the

18 Puranas comprising Skanda, Siva, Garuda and others. The Vedas and

the Upanishads are the very foundation for Sanathana Dharma.

 

There is one interesting feature to be noted. This religion has no

one Founder as the others have. That invisible unknown founder is

God, the source of all wisdom. He is the Prophet of this Sanathana

Dharma. He is the Founder; His Grace and His Inspiration manifested

through the pure Sages and they became the spokesmen of this Dharma.

When the moral purity of men degenerates, God takes form as grace and

inspiration in sages and teachers. He has also given through the

Upanishads the Sathya-Jnana, the Wisdom concerning the Reality.

 

-- Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

Hari Aum !!!