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..:: The Upanishads ::..
By
Alan Schneider
The term “Upanishad” is derived from a
composite of three additional terms; upa (near), ni
(down), and s(h)ad (to sit) – to sit down near. Groups of
devotees would sit near the Master or Guru and receive the sublime
doctrines and teachings of spiritual belief and consciousness. The great
thinkers and communicators of the Upanishads tended to live in hermitage
dwellings deep in the forests, in a serene environment which facilitated
both meditation and contemplation. As they attained realization
regarding such basic human issues as the nature of God and man, the Soul
and God, man’s highest role in the world, the ultimate purpose of
existence, and the nature and requirements of salvation, they
disseminated these insights to their local communities through
Darshan – the discourses of the Master given to disciples. These
more relatively subordinate individuals then passed the information from
there into the general society of India.
The consensus of opinion
among scholars is that the Upanishads developed from a need to define
specific methods whereby people could attain moksa, or
liberation, from worldly bondage to the physical senses, needs that
were not satisfied by the original Vedic sacrificial rituals to such
Beings as Indra or Agni. The simple sacrifices by themselves did not
convey enough spiritual knowledge and insight to the practitioner.
These texts were written after the Vedas, between nine hundred and two
hundred BCE, and frequently (although not always), involve the teachings
of the Sage Yajnavalkya, generally regarded as the Father of
subsequent Hindu and, eventually, Buddhist philosophy. The body of
discourse expressed in the Upanishads contains specific directions
for the attainment of certainty of spiritual perception through
correct living, stressing the necessity of personal effort and
involvement in the search for truth and liberation. The various
texts of the Upanishads elaborate on this central set of themes,
providing details on the meaning of correct living and personalized
seeking, self realization, yoga and meditation, and karma and
reincarnation, all originally veiled behind the Vedic symbolism of that
earlier, more mystical religious tradition.
The first Upanishads were
frequently affiliated with a particular Veda, through the agency of a
Brahmana (Priest) or Aranyaka (Scribe), although this practice was
abandoned in the later texts. There are nineteen generally recognized
Upanishads composed during this phase of Hindu religious development,
including the Brhad-Aranyaka, Chandogya, Isa, Aitareya, Taittiriya,
Katha, Prasna, Kena, Mundaka, Mandukya, Kausitaki-Brahmana, Maitri,
Subala, Jabala, Paingala, Kaivala, Svetasvatara, and Vajrasucika. Some
of the Upanishads are generally felt to be of greater central
significance in Hindu religious thought than others, but they are all
important to the subsequent development of Vedanta, which
became the defining philosophy of modern Hinduism. The Upanishads bring
forth and emphasize the deep spiritual meanings of the Vedas.
The concept of Brahman
assumes new, even more powerful significance in the philosophy of
the Upanishads, becoming a central theme in the attainment of
Enlightenment. Brahman here comes to mean the fundamental unity
underlying all conditions and concepts perceptible at any level
in the sequence of the reincarnated lives of illusion in the physical
senses, or samsaras. To attain the experience of Brahman is to
attain the direct knowledge of God, and be released from the cycle of
regeneration and suffering in our material form. All of the Upanishads
have this attainment either explicitly or implicitly expressed as their
primary goal.
Probably the most significant
Upanishad is the Brhad-Aranyaka, although this can be argued,
particularly in the case of the Chandogya Upanishad. The
Brhad-Aranyaka is concerned with three subdoctrines, or Kandas;
the Madhu Kanda, which describes the relationship between the
individual and the Universal Self (i.e. God), the Muni Kanda,
which provides the detailed philosophical foundation for the final
Kanda, the Khila Kanda, and the Khila Kanda itself,
concerned with the modes of worship and meditation best suited to the
three basic types of religious life – sravana, or listening to
the sacred teachings, manana, logical reflection, and upapatti,
contemplative meditation. It can be said that the three Kandas of the
Brhad-Aranyaka Upanishad embrace all of the essential elements of modern
Hindu religious thought in one single volume.
The Chandogya
Upanishad, on the other hand, is an affiliated element of the Sama Veda,
one of the four Vedic texts. It should be noted here that the verses of
the Vedas and Upanishads are just that – verses, written with
the intention of being sung or recited in metered format to
others. This was the primary method of conveying spiritual information
in the Hindu tradition, and has continued up to the present day.
Chandoga was the (probably mythological) singer of the Saman, one
of the verses of the Sama Veda. The Chandogya Upanishad is part of
another body of instruction called the Chandogya Brahmana, or divine
revelation, which is divided into ten chapters. The first two
chapters deal with sacrifice and other modes of worship, while the last
eight comprise the Chandogya Upanishad proper. Included under the
headings of “sacrifice and other modes of worship” are an extended
discussion of the derivation and liturgy of AUM (Om, in Sanskrit), and
the meaning and names of the Saman.
The development of the
Upanishads also paralleled the development of renunciation in the
Hindu tradition. This is particularly evident in the view taken of the
relationship between the Brahman and the individual personal
consciousness. The undisciplined mind will tend to automatically seek
out sensory gratification of various kinds, but this gratification will
tend to obscure the manifestation of the Brahman, whether or not it is
successfully attained. This realization of the ancient Hindu Seers was
the root of the development of the aesthetic or renunciation tradition.
Yoga, (literally an ox yoke) for example, is one
set of techniques for developing spiritual union with the
Brahman, and is heavily involved with the concept of discipline
and focusing of the senses seen in a predominantly aesthetic life
style. The general concept of attainment of Enlightenment through
austere living is a recurrent theme in the Upanishads, which contain
numerous examples of how this may be accomplished.
The writing of the sequence
of Upanishads was almost certainly complete by the time of the Life of
Christ in Galilee. This series of elucidations of Hindu religious
thought and practices represents a new level of sophistication in
Hindu spiritual history, one characterized by a transition from the
ritualized forms of the Vedas to the deeper, detailed description of
what individuals can (and must) do within the concept of the
religious life style to demonstrate belief and achieve liberation
from Karmic bondage to the senses and samsaras.
It can be argued that the
ancient origin of the insights contained in the Upanishads, coupled with
their sometimes awkward terminology and esoteric conceptualism, makes
them of questionable value in the modern industrial world of machines,
digital technology, and the Internet. However, the moral and spiritual
lessons embodied in these doctrines remain as relevant to human life and
consciousness today as they were when first Realized by the Hindu
Masters millennia ago. Although the external circumstances of living
have changed, the internal coefficients of human awareness have remained
essentially as they were then – we are still driven by hedonism and
sensory gratification, and these still obscure the recognition of the
Truth of Consciousness and the attainment of Enlightenment in our human
perception. Austerity and discipline of the senses remain every bit as
necessary and effective as spiritual provisions for the attainment of
higher consciousness, perhaps even more so now, as they were
then. As soon as the individual realizes the futility of hedonism as
means of attaining lasting happiness, the ancient wisdom of the
Upanishads becomes instantly relevant as a set of alternative
prescriptions and techniques for pursuing the meaningful
existence that really will lead to lasting Peace and spiritual
fulfillment.
In this time of Kali Yuga,
the modern period of history, and the Dark Time of spiritual blindness
for all humanity, the sensory focus of the physical body has all but
completely obscured spiritual Truth. Postural Yoga, and the associated
Yoga lifestyle, has developed in this time as the medication for Kali
Yuga, enabling the human consciousness to reconnect with God and the
Truth. Through the practice of the Yamas, Niyamas, and Yogas, we can
once again live in peace and harmony with God and nature. For the sake
of completeness, these provisions are enumerated here:
Yama – A “restraint” or moral
injunction. These include:
Satyama Truthfulness – Honesty to self and
others.
Brahmacharya
Moderation – Self control / self denial.
Aparigraha
Detachment – Negation of desire.
Asteya Observance of Laws – Particularly
against theft.
Ahimsa
The Taking of No Life – Nonviolence
Niyama – An
observance or provision of living, including:
Tapa Austerity – The avoidance glamour
and excess.
Saucha Cleanliness – Mental and physical
health.
Santosha Repose – Seeking contentment in
simplicity.
Swadhaya Study – Specifically of sacred
(Hindu) literature.
Ishwara Awareness of God – Guidance by Divine
Will.
Asana – The Yoga postures. Directly release Karma through
physical Dharma.
Pranayama – Control and awareness of the breath. Complements the
postures.
Dharana – The intentional focusing of awareness through
concentratio
Dhyana – The practice of meditation.
Pratyahara – The negation or calming of the senses to relax the
ego.
Samadhi – The complete experience of Divine Union.
Taken together as an
integrated, comprehensive lifestyle, these stipulations and practices
will reconstitute human awareness of and in the full
continuum of expanded consciousness of the Cosmos known as the Psyche.
Without this awareness, we remain blind, woefully inadequate creatures
hopelessly struggling in the darkness. Let us choose instead to stand in
the Light!
- With Love, Alan -
(CR2008, Alan Schneider)
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