VEDAS AND UPANISHADS

“The Vedic philosophy encompasses the oldest spiritual texts of any religion in the world, and its subjects are broad and numerous. Its more advanced concepts can be difficult for even the greatest scholars to fathom. The Vedic literature discusses many types of philosophical viewpoints, and studying some of them will let us see that many of the concepts that we accept as new today are nothing more than parts of the ancient Vedic knowledge that had been dealt with and thoroughly understood thousands of years ago. Thus, there are not many ideas that are really new at all. The main purpose of the Vedic literature is to establish knowledge of the Absolute Truth and the process for attaining the highest levels of self-realization”. – Stephen Knapp

Thus a study of the Vedas is nothing but a search for the Truth, nothing but understanding ourselves, nothing but to know why we are born in this world and where we will be going when we drop this physical body.  The purpose of the study is to discover and understand the truth behind the phenomenal universe and human existence. This study is to find out an answer to the fundamental question of the purpose of our existence.

The word ‘Veda’ means to know implying that the subject of the Vedas is Knowledge. Here knowledge does not mean facts about the external world like physics or chemistry. It means the knowledge of the eternal, sacred, spiritual wisdom. It is about the nature of man himself. It tells him who he really is. It is the knowledge of the changeless and Supreme Reality behind the ever changing objective world of men and matter.

The texts containing this knowledge have no authorship, no time frame within which they had been authored. They are called ‘Apaurusheya’ meaning that they are not authored by any Purusha or human mind. They were revealed to the Rishis or Seers - the Drashtas, men of wisdom, during the depths of their meditation. These sages were merely the instruments of God to spread His words.

Their utterances were called ‘Mantras’ which were not the result of any intuition but were the result of Divine Vision which is called ‘Mantra Drishti’. The word Mantra means ‘that which protects when repeated and reflected upon’. Their inner and outer meanings were really known only to those to whom they were revealed. Hence none can challenge them on grounds of reason or logic. There is no final authority beyond the Vedas; in today’s management jargon the buck stops at the table of the Vedas.

The Vedas consist of four divisions or categories suitable to the four stages of human life viz., 1. Samhita 2. Brahmana 3.Aranyaka and 4. Upanishad. The Upanishads form perhaps the most important part of the Vedas on which the edifice of the ‘Shad Darshanas’ or the six systems of the Hindu Philosophy have been built up.

The mystical teachings of the Upanishads are the essence of the Vedic Hindu Religion and Philosophy. The Upanishads are the crest jewels - choodamani – of the Vedas. The Upanishads are the concluding portions of the Vedas which discuss philosophical issues. They are the essence of the Vedas containing their knowledge aspects. The philosophy of the Upanishads occupies the highest pedestal in the spiritual knowledge. They speak about the identity of the Supreme Eternal Soul, the Brahman, the individual soul, the Atman, their mutual relationship, the Universe (jagat) and man’s place in it. In short they deal with Jiva, Jagat and Jagadishwara.

Dr. Radhakrishnan puts it like this. “While the hymns or Samhitas are the creation of the poets, the Brahmanas are the work of the priests; the Upanishads are the meditations of the philosophers. The flow of thought from the Samhitas to Brahmanas to Aranyakas to Upanishads is the indication of the process of evolution of Hindu religion over the centuries”.

Thus we have in the Vedas portions dealing with the action or performance of rituals -. Karma Kanda, portions dealing with the method of worship and meditation - Upasana Kanda and lastly the portion dealing with the Highest knowledge, the knowledge of Brahman - Jnana Kanda. Roughly speaking, the Samhitas and Brahmanas constitute Karma Kanda, the Aranyakas the Upasana Kanda and the Upanishads the Jnana Kanda.

If there is one mass of scriptures in the world that has sustained the spiritual thinking over the millennia, it is the Upanishads. All the schools of thought, religious movements that flourished in the later periods in Indian history have been a byproduct of the Upanishadic thinking. They gained respectability and acceptance only because they followed the footprints of the Upanishads.

MEANING OF THE WORD ‘UPANISHAD’

Several meanings of the word Upanishad have been given by the scholars. Sankara interprets this word to mean ‘knowledge of God implying that the central theme of the Upanishads is that knowledge which destroys ignorance of man and leads him to Brahman’. This definition conveys three aspects of divine knowledge or wisdom which

1.  loosens the bond of Samsara of a being
2.  destroys his inborn ignorance (Ajnana) of his real nature and
3.  leads him to Brahman or God, the Absolute.

Etymologically the word ‘Upanishad’ means that which is taught to the pupils sitting at the feet of their teachers. Thus, Upanishads are books of wisdom taught by the accomplished teachers to the deserving students.

Actually the philosophy of the Upanishads was treated as Rahasya or Guhya or confidential not meant as a popular philosophy for an average person. The reason is the common saying that half-knowledge is dangerous meaning thereby that the highest wisdom could he misunderstood by those who are not mature enough to absorb its deeper significance.

The initial hesitation of Yama, the Lord of Death, to part with the highest knowledge to Nachiketa till he proved his worthiness illustrates this point He offered the young Nachiketa all kinds of temptations to divert his attention. But Nachiketa stood the test successfully concentrating on his goal of obtaining the secret knowledge. Ultimately, Lord Yama had to relent and began His exposition which is the subject matter of the Kathopanishad.

Since the Upanishads form the concluding portion of each of the Vedas they are often spoken of as Vedanta i.e. the end or Anta of the Vedas, The Upanishads are the primary texts of Vedanta and in the common parlance, the word Upanishad itself came to mean Vedanta Philosophy.

NUMBER AND CLASSIFICATION

The number of works that go by the name Upanishad and available today in print exceeds 200. The Muktikopanishad gives a list of 108 Upanishads. However, the principal Upanishads are accepted to be those which Adi Sankaracharya who lived between 788 and 820 A.D. chose to comment upon.

Sankara was the earliest commentator on the Upanishads. He chose only 10 Upanishads for his commentaries. According to some scholars he commented upon 11 Upanishads. He refers to 4 more Upanishads in his commentary on Brahma Sutra.

Considering the ones chosen by him for commenting and as reference material as the most ancient and authentic, they are termed as major or principal Upanishads. They are:

1. Isavasya or Isopanishad
2. Kena Upanishad
3. KathaUpanishad
4. Prasna Upanishad
5. Mundaka Upanishad
6. Mandukya Upanishad
7. Taittiriya Upanishad
8. AitareyaUpanishad
9. Chandogya Upanishad
10. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad
11. Svetasvatara Upanishad
12. Kousitaki Upanishad
13. Jaabaala Upanishad
14. MahanarayanaUpanishad
15. Paingala Upanishad.

Chronologically speaking, some scholars classify the Upanishads into three groups belonging to the three periods to which they are attributed.

The first and the oldest group consists of 6 Upanishads headed by the Brhadaranyaka followed by the Chandogya. Both these Upanishads are written in prose and both are acknowledged as the most authoritative presentation of the central doctrines of the Upanishads. The other four in this group are the Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kaushitaki and Kena Upanishads.

The second group, mostly in verse form set to standard metres, comprises 5 Upanishads viz, the Katha, Isa, Shvetasvatara, Mundaka and Mahanarayana.

In the third group we return to prose which consists of 3 texts viz. Prasna, Mandukya and Maitri or Maitrayani Upanishads.

Most of the Upanishads outside the above list belong to a later era of Indian culture, written mainly to propagate specific cults or sects. Even then, they made a considerable contribution to the religion and ethics of the times and developed Vedantic spirit among the people. They are called minor Upanishads and grouped together in six categories Viz.

1. Vedanta Upanishads
2. Siva Upanishads
3. Sakta Upanishads
4. Vaishnava Upanishads
5. Yoga Upanishads
6. Sanyasa Upanishads

The Vedanta Upanishads follow the lines of major Upanishads in their principles. Siva, Sakta and Vaishnava Upanishads propagate the cults of Siva, Sakti and Vishnu respectively. The Yoga Upanishads deal with Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga based on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and other works. Sanyasa Upanishads deal exclusively with Monasticism, its ideals, practices, rules and regulations.