the 10 great upanishads fb 2016 10 great...108 upanishads, 10 upanishads are extensively studied,...

CONTENTS

Introduction .................................................................. v

The Ishavasya Upanishat .............................................. 1

The Kena Upanishat .................................................... 11

The Katha Upanishat ................................................... 21

The Shatprashna Upanishat ........................................ 37

The Mundaka Upanishat ............................................. 55

The Mandukya Upanishat............................................ 67

The Taittiriya Upanishat .............................................. 77

The Aitareya Upanishat ................................................ 89

The Chandogya Upanishat........................................... 103

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishat .................................... 117

Epilogue ........................................................................ 131

About the Author ........................................................... 133

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The 10 Great Upanishads

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INTRODUCTION

As civilisations evolve over time, progress is increasingly measured in terms of material comforts with very little attention being paid to the overall quality of life. Modern medicine is singularly focussed on extending one’s life without much regard to the maintenance or extension of inner happiness. In their eternal and unending quests for material riches, human beings have usurped the natural habitats of other species and destroyed the ecological balance resulting in catastrophic natural disasters with increased frequency. Accompanying these natural disasters are the battles within, where humans are increasingly resorting to substance abuse and similar self-destructive behaviour, as their search for a perfect life, full of unending material comforts and eternal youth, leads to emptiness.

Great civilisations before our times have not had the same levels of material comforts as we have access to, but have confronted issues such as the purpose of life, moral decline, etc. Their trials and travails have been well chronicled in scriptures such as the Upanishads. Humans have a tendency to look at history and classify time epochs as pre-historic, medieval, etc., which often are code

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words for periods dominated by subhuman behaviour among races.

There is a growing movement among modern-day intellectuals who proclaim that the advances in science and technology have resulted in faster means of communication and this, in turn, has resulted in a better and more intelligent world. This belief confuses information for knowledge. Even a cursory review of great scriptures such as the Vedas reveal the evolved thought processes and arguments that only a highly evolved race can put forth. Yet, all these occurred over thousands of years ago where sharing of information among people was limited. In fact, the Vedas predate invention of script and the concept of writing, and were orally transmitted by a teacher to a pupil. The Vedas and their components such as the Upanishads represent millions of years of evolved thought processes carried through generations, and are as relevant and fresh today as they have ever been.

‘Upanishat’, a Sanskrit word, means ‘higher knowledge’. The Upanishads are a part of the Vedas, the ancient scriptures that shape the Hindu school of thought. It is believed that the Vedas always existed and are not authored by anyone, human or divine. However, by divine arrangement, specific aspects of the Vedas were revealed to the sages. As the Upanishads are ‘seen’ by sages, they are called ‘seers’. This then gets passed on to succeeding generations verbally by a teacher to a student and so on.

The Vedas, which literally mean ‘knowledge’, are infinite and eternal, and thus it stands to reason that the Upanishads, that are a part of the Vedas, are also infinite. They are revealed to deserving individuals at different times. However, about 108 Upanishads are recognised by scholars and among these

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Introduction

108 Upanishads, 10 Upanishads are extensively studied, interpreted, and commented upon by leading Hindu theologians. The greatness of the Upanishads is reiterated by the fact that many of the passages appearing in them find mention in the Bhagavad Gita, which forms a part of the great epic Mahabharata. While excellent commentaries and translations of these Upanishads exist in many Indian languages, very few are available in English. Many of the works in English on the Upanishads are scholarly writings that are beyond the understanding of most people. This book attempts to bring out the essential concepts of the Upanishads in simple English, and therefore avoids the use of too many Sanskrit terms in order to make it more accessible.

The content of these Upanishads is often a lecture by a teacher to a student, and hence ideally lends itself to a Question and Answer (Q&A) format. Some questions are directly taken from the Upanishads, while others have been framed in such a way that the answers are the teachings from that particular Upanishat.

The book contains 10 chapters, each devoted to one of the 10 Upanishads. The subtitles of the chapters are chosen to convey the core theme in each Upanishat. For the purpose of keeping the writing simple, I have used the pronoun ‘him’ throughout, whereas of course ‘him’ or ‘her’ is meant and may be read interchangeably.

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Chapter 1

THE ISHAVASYA UPANISHATAn Ode to Trusteeship

One should aspire to live for a hundred years discharging one’s assigned responsibilities. Such a person will never be tainted

by the consequences of his deeds.

– Ishavasya Upanishat, Verse 2

Presented here is a summary of teachings enumerated in Ishavasya Upanishat, a short scripture comprising 20 hymns. The central concept of this Upanishat is ‘trusteeship’. This is clear from the context in which this Upanishat was revealed to the sage Swayambhuva Manu who is entrusted with the affairs of the universe for a specified sub-cycle called the Manvantara. While time is infinite, creation, existence and destruction of the universe occurs in cycles called kalpa which has a duration of 311.04 trillion years. A sub-cycle of a kalpa lasts for about 306.72 million years.

It is said that Manu was attacked by demons with the intention to disrupt the functioning of the universe. So, Manu began praying to the Lord Almighty to help him discharge his responsibilities of conducting the affairs of the universe. It is at this time that this Upanishat was revealed to

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Manu. Consequently, the issues covered in it deal with the concept and various facets of trusteeship. It must be noted that the teachings of this Upanishat apply to all trustees, with Manu setting an example. The context of demons attacking Manu is akin to worldly challenges faced by trustees in the real world – to help overcome them and enable the trustees to discharge their responsibilities.

Concept of trusteeship

Q: What is meant by trusteeship, and who is called a trustee?

A: Anyone who has been entrusted with the responsibility of managing the affairs of an entity (trusteeship) is a ‘trustee’. The emphasis is on the word ‘trust’. The world is based on trust. If people do not trust each other, then life cannot progress. A trustee could be the head of a family, an organisation, or even a country. Trustees typically have control of and access to resources to discharge their duties. For example, the president of a country has vast powers to levy and collect taxes. At the same time, trustees have to be cautious in utilising the resources at their command in faithful discharge of their duties. History is full of examples of failed leaders who did not live up to the trust reposed in them. In this Upanishat, Manu is a trustee since he was entrusted with the responsibility of running the affairs of the universe during the stipulated period.

Q: What are the challenges faced by a trustee and how do these originate?

A: Trustees, whether they are heads of corporations or heads of governments, inherently face challenges in ensuring that

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The Ishavasya Upanishat

they do not fall prey to worldly temptations. They typically have access to vast resources and have broad freedom in utilising these resources. They have to exercise the same care in using these resources as they would with their personal funds. While society has devised checks and balances in the form of audits, etc., by definition a certain amount of freedom has to be accorded to trustees to enable them to discharge their duties. It is a question of how well – or how poorly – they use this freedom.

Q: How can a trustee meet these challenges?

A: Ishavasya Upanishat addresses the issue of challenges faced by trustees by exhorting them (and the rest of us) to realise that every resource in the universe is a property of the Lord Almighty, and trustees have temporary custody of these resources only to enable them to perform their duties. The Lord Almighty is present in the entire universe and is a witness to any and all acts performed by everyone. When a trustee realises this truth, a sense of responsibility and urgency is instilled in him, which enables the trustee to manage the resources with caution. Once he knows that the true owner of all resources is the Lord Almighty, a trustee can sever any attachment to the resources he commands. He then develops the conviction that he has to dispense and be accountable for what the Lord Almighty provides. He does not actively seek wealth or power from others.

Q: If the Lord Almighty is omnipresent, why can’t we see Him?

A: It is not necessary for one to see something to realise its presence. For example, if we look at a glass of water, we cannot determine whether the water inside is fresh water or salt

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water simply by viewing it. However, when one tastes the water, one can arrive at a definite conclusion. By this analogy, the Lord has to be experienced and need not be seen to acknowledge His presence.

Qualifications and responsibilities of a trustee

Q: What are the pre-requisites to qualify as a trustee?

A: The essential qualifications of a trustee are:

• Work ethics.

• Detachment from rewards of labour.

• Enthusiasm in discharging responsibilities.

• Trust and faith in the Lord Almighty.

• Desire to live a full life devoted to discharging responsibilities.

• Effective knowledge management.

Concept of a ‘full life’: It is said that a trustee should aspire to lead a full life (nominally indicated as 100 years) while discharging his responsibilities, without any expectations of the outcome. It is interesting to note that according to scriptures, the life span of human beings is calibrated in terms of the total number of breathing cycles, with 777.6 million as the maximum number of breaths. Based on an optimum duration of 4 seconds for a cycle of one breath (inhalation + exhalation), the maximum of 777.6 million breaths correspond to a duration of 100 years (at the rate of 4 seconds for a cycle of breathing, there will be 15 cycles in a minute, 900 cycles in an hour, 21,600 cycles in a day, 6,48,000 in a month and 7.776 million cycles in a year).

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This leads to some interesting observations. Anyone breathing much faster than the 4-second cycle is susceptible to a reduced life span, which is readily observed with those leading highly stressful lives which manifests as faster breathing most of the times. As a corollary, it is noted that those who make it a habit to take much longer breathing cycles, can actually increase their life span beyond 100 years! Such is the case with accomplished yogis who have perfected the art of breath control and manage a more relaxed and contented life.

Q: How does a trustee deal with the issue of knowledge management?

A: Knowledge is a very important tool required of a trustee to enable successful implementation of responsibilities. A trustee has an obligation to acquire the right type of knowledge to help him conduct day-to-day affairs. It is equally important for a trustee to recognise wrong knowledge and prevent the spread of such knowledge that can cause damage to society. Scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita provide a detailed account of the types of knowledge and knowledge management. It is important for a trustee to acquire true knowledge about the Lord.

Knowledge itself is of three kinds. The ‘right knowledge’ about the Lord and the universe leads to salvation, ‘wrong knowledge’ leads to eternal damnation, and ‘absence of knowledge’ leads nowhere. Right knowledge includes knowledge about the infinite, auspicious attributes of the Lord, reality of the universe, and the five-fold differences among the triumvirate that make up the universe – the Lord, individual souls, and inert objects.

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Q: How does a trustee describe the Lord?

A: No one can fully describe the Lord who has infinite auspicious attributes. Hence, the Upanishads resort to three categories of descriptions to convey the Lord’s nature in a way that can be comprehended by humans:

1. Positively – by pointing to the Lord’s limitless attrib-utes such as compassion.

2. Absence of negative attributes (defects).

3. Possessing seemingly contradictory attributes:

• He is smaller than smallest imaginable object and larger than largest imaginable object.

• The Lord is near, yet He is far.

• He is inside every object and at the same time outside the universe.

• He is everywhere, yet He travels with infinite speed (for the purposes of comprehension, the Upanishat indicates that He travels faster than the speed of thought).

• All beings are in Him, and He is inside all beings.

A trustee’s prayer

Q: How does a trustee pray to the Lord?

A: In the present Upanishat, Manu – who is the trustee – offers a very thoughtful, sincere prayer to the Lord by submitting himself completely to His mercy. Manu indicates that the Lord, who is an embodiment of Truth, has His face

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hidden behind an extremely bright ‘golden vessel’ (sun), and that one cannot see the Lord’s face as the powerful rays of the sun pervade the entire space and blind the seeker. The prayer also indicates a qualified seeker as one who accepts the Lord as the very embodiment of Truth, and who always leads a righteous life.

The trustee also prays to the Lord to grant him both outer (worldly) knowledge, and inner (spiritual) knowledge.

Q: What is the significance of the golden vessel in the prayer?

A: The glittering pot of gold that prevents a seeker from seeing (or sensing) the Lord is a reference to the sensual pleasures that we pursue throughout the course of our lives. Only the Lord can help move our minds away from these temporary pleasures which then make it possible for us to focus on the Lord. Just as a bright, glowing sun covers everything in the sky, similarly mindless indulgence in sensual pleasures blinds our thoughts, words, and actions. Only the Lord can help us break this barrier and lead us towards truth and salvation.

It is also interesting to note that of all material objects available in the universe, the analogy of a golden vessel is used to convey the power of sensual pursuits. From time immemorial, gold has come to symbolise material wealth. Even today, currencies of many nations are tied to the value of gold. Unlike other hard assets (such as real estate), gold is portable and can be traded anywhere in the world. It is no wonder that humans have a tremendous attachment to gold. Similar is the attachment to sensual pleasures.

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Q: Why is there a reference to Vayu, the lord of air and life, in this Upanishat?

A: Various organs in the human body are controlled by various deities, all of them acting under the direction of the supreme Lord. Of all these deities, Vayu is supreme among the individual souls and is worshipped as the ‘immortal one’. An individual soul, Vayu is also subject to loss of physical body but his knowledge is never sublated and hence he is termed the ‘immortal one’. A trustee has to recognise that Vayu is witness to all activities performed by a trustee and his grace is required to gain the right knowledge about the Lord, in the quest for eternal salvation.

Q: How does a trustee thank the Lord for the blessings received?

A: It is impossible to thank the Lord fully for all the blessings He has showered on humanity. In this Upanishat, the trustee mentions that all he can do is to ‘say that he can only bow before the Lord with utmost sincerity and devotion’ to thank Him as no one can offer anything of value to the Lord who owns everything in the universe. It is interesting that the trustee does not say that he will bow to the Lord with utmost sincerity and devotion. He only mentions that he can only say that he will do this. There is a difference. The trustee is indicating with utmost humility that we are not even capable of sincerity and devotion, so we cannot indicate that we will offer sincere prayers to the Lord. Rather, we are only capable of saying that we can do this. Such humility is indeed the hallmark of a trustee.

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The essence of this Upanishat

9 The Lord is all-pervasive and regulates all activities in the universe.

9 The Lord is the only independent entity in the universe and all other souls and entities in the universe are always dependent on Him.

9 Elimination of greed is the most important requirement for spiritual pursuits.

9 No one should avoid performing prescribed duties since work performed as dedication to the Lord does not bind one in worldly bondage.

9 A trustee sees the blessing from Vayu as a means to attain ‘right knowledge’ about the Lord Almighty.

9 A trustee should know that the Lord who is the creator, regulator and destroyer of the universe is all-powerful, independent, omnipresent, omniscient, and possesses uncountable, unimaginable, infinite auspicious attributes.

9 The only way someone can thank the Lord for all He has showered on humanity is by offering sincere thanks.

the 10 great upanishads fb 2016 10 great...108 upanishads, 10 upanishads are extensively studied,...

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