Lesson 6 - The Upanishads

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Lesson - 6 Upanishads

The word Upanishad means to "sit near". That means the disciple or
shishya sits near the guru, near his feet, and listens to an intimate
session of spiritual instructions. This was the system of learning in
the Vedic culture. It still exists in many places. Upanishads are also
called Vedanta - the ultimate knowledge.

The Upanishads are not having chapters but each Upanishad is full in
itself. There are 108 of them but someone says that there are 10, 11 or
12 main Upanishads depending on which branch or sampradaya you refer
to.

Upanishads are commentary on Vedas but in one sense they are not
philosophy. They are considered as Darshana "something seen" and
the student has not only to listen but to realize them. These sessions
were not casual like some seminar or workshop but the dedication of
almost the whole life time. Generally a session would last for twelve
years and the student would be grasping and digesting the subject
matter.

Just to quote from one of the Upanishads (Katha Upanishad) it says,
only a few hear these truths, of those who hear only a few understand,
and of those only a handful attain the goal. Lord Krishna also says in
Bhagavad Gita like this to Arjuna.

A desire to know something is the motivation behind all science, and in
Vedic India this scientific tradition was started long time ago and the
roots of this scientific spirit are in Vedas and other scriptures
emanating from them.

The main Upanishads are

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Mandykya Upanishad
Kena Upanishad
Katha Upanishad
Mundaka Upanishad
Aitareya Upanishad
Taittiriya Upanishad
Prashna Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad
Isha Upanishad
Shevtashvatara Upanishad
Kali Santarana Upanishad

I will try to explain each one of them in short. For those of you who
are interested to know more they can read them in details by buying
some books. But before you get fascinated and jump into that I would
like to caution that you have very limited free time and each one of
these scriptures is attractive and wonderful. I will try to give you
the guideline for reading the essences of these scriptures at the end
of our sessions. Till then please go along and try to absorb the
basics.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

This is the longest and one of the oldest Upanishads. It touches upon
themes of almost every Upanishad and it covers the style and range from
the texts of Vedas to personal realization.

The text is organized into three sections: The exposition of Vedanta, a
logical defense of it, and some techniques of meditation. In other
words it is an encyclopedia of Vedic literature. It has verses from
Vedas and also from other Upanishads , including the whole text of
Ishopanishad. It has Vedic mantras, anecdotes, conversations and
exposition of some mystical realities.

One of the famous mantras is

Lead me from unreal to real
Lead me from darkness to light,
Lead me from death to immortality.

The famous author T.S. Eliot used it in his story called "What the
thunder said".

It also tells us about the parampara (guru-shishya chain) in which this
was handed down.

One writer says that this Upanishad has mingled love with knowledge,
forests with cities and practicality of daily life with the hope of
attaining immortality.

Some excerpts:

Maitreyi : My Lord, if I could get all the wealth in the world, would
it help me to go beyond death?

Yajnavalkya: Not at all. You would live and die like any other rich
person. No one can buy immortality with money.

**************
Janaka: What is the light of man?

Yajnavalkya : The Sun: In the light we sit, work, go out and come back.

Janaka: Whane the sun sets, what is the light?

Yajnavalkya: The moon: By that light we sit, work, go and come back.

Janaka: When the sun and moon sets then what is the light?

Yajnavalkya: The Fire.

Janaka: When all go out what is the light?

Yajnavalkya: The Speech. Even if we cant see in darkness we can reach
out by sound of speech.

Janaka: When no one speaks then what is the light?

Yajnavalkya: The Self.

Janaka: Who is that self?

Yajnavalkya: Self is pure awareness. It shines as the light within the
heart, surrounded by senses. The Self never sleeps or wakes or dreams.

And the dialogue goes on........

(Next Lesson Mandukya Upanishad and Kena Upanishad)