"I've never
thought of God in the 'old man concept'... Over 20 years ago, I chose
the spiritual path ... and now teach from the Vedas and the Upanishads":
ANNAPURNA
The
Upanishads form the core of Indian philosophy. They are an amazing collection
of writings from original oral transmissions, which have been aptly described
by Shri Aurobindo as "the supreme work of
the Indian mind". It is here that we find all the fundamental teachings
that are central to Hinduism — the concepts of "karma" (action),
"punarjanma" (reincarnation), "moksha" (nirvana), the "atman"
(soul), and the "Brahman" (Absolute). They also set forth the prime
Vedic doctrines of self-realization, yoga
and meditation. The Upanishads are summits of thought on man and the universe,
designed to push human ideas to their very limit and beyond. They give us both
spiritual vision and philosophical argument, and it is by a strictly personal
effort that one can reach the truth.
Meaning
of "Upanishad"
The term "Upanishad" literally means, "sitting down near"
or "sitting close to", and implies listening closely to the mystic
doctrines of a guru or a spiritual teacher, who has
cognized the fundamental truths of the universe. It points to a period in time
when groups of pupils sat near the teacher and learnt from him the secret teachings
in the quietude of forest "ashrams" or hermitages. In another sense
of the term, "Upanishad" means "brahma-knowledge" by which
ignorance is annihilated. Some other possible meanings of the compound word
"Upanishad" are "placing side by side" (equivalence or correlation),
a "near approach" (to the Absolute Being), "secret wisdom"
or even "sitting near the enlightened".
Time
of Composition
Historians and Indologists have put the date of composition of the Upanishads
from around 800 - 400 B.C., though many of the verse versions may have been
written much later. In fact, they were written over a very long period of time
and do not represent a coherent body of information or one particular system
of belief. However, there is a commonality of thought and approach.
The
Main Books
Although there are more than 200 Upanishads, only thirteen have been singled
out as presenting the core teachings. They are the Chandogya, Kena, Aitareya,
Kaushitaki, Katha, Mundaka, Taittriyaka, Brihadaranyaka, Svetasvatara, Isa,
Prasna, Mandukya and the Maitri Upanishads. One of the oldest and
longest of the Upanishads, the Brihadaranyaka says:
"From the
unreal lead me to the real!
From darkness lead me to light!
From death lead me to immortality!"
The crux of the
Upanishads is that this can be achieved by meditating with the awareness that
one's soul ("atman") is one with all things, and that "one"
is the Absolute ("Brahman"), which becomes the "all".
Who
wrote the Upanishads?
The authors of the Upanishads were many, but they were not solely from the priestly
caste. They were poets prone to flashes of spiritual wisdom, and their aim was
to guide a few chosen pupils to the point of liberation, which they themselves
had attained. According to some scholars, the main figure in the Upanishads
is Yajnavalkya, the great sage who propounded the doctrine of "neti-neti",
the view that "truth can be found only through the negation of all thoughts
about it". Other important Upanishadic sages are Uddalaka Aruni, Shwetaketu,
Shandilya, Aitareya, Pippalada, Sanat Kumara. Many earlier Vedic teachers like
Manu, Brihaspati, Ayasya and Narada are also found in the Upanishads.
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