Choice Upanishads

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The Vedas are known to be the primeval source of the scriptures. Sage Badarayana Vyasa classified them as Rk, Sama, Yajuh and Atharvana Vedas. The Upanisads form the final portion of the Vedas. They contain the sublime philosophy of Vedanta. Vedanta is composed of two words, veda and anta. Veda means knowledge. Anta means end. Thus Vedanta is acclaimed as the uncreated knowledge, the culmination of spiritual wisdom. Indoctrinated by Self-realised sages in ancient India.

The sages instilled the knowledge of the supreme Self through four aphorisms. The great statements known as mahavakyas. Appearing one in each of the four Vedas.

1. Prajnanam Brahma Consciousness is Brahman:

This aphorism appears in Aitareya Upanisad in the Rgveda. It declares that Consciousness in the microcosm is the same Consciousness pervading the macrocosm. The all-pervading Consciousness is the supreme Reality, Brahman.

2. Tat tvam asi That thou art:

Appears in Chandogya Upanisad in the Samaveda. Tat That refers to the supreme God. Tvam thou to the Self within, the Core of your being. Asi art indicates that God and your Self are one and the same.

3. Ayam Atma Brahma This Self is Brahman:

Is in Mandukya Upanisad in the Atharvanaveda. Ayam Atma means this Self. It refers to the Consciousness within. Atman, the Self within which activates your body to perceive and act, mind to feel, intellect to think. Atman is the same as the all-pervading Consciousness, Brahman.

4. Aham Brahma asmi I am Brahman:

Appears in Brhadaranyaka Upanisad in the Yajurveda. This aphorism is the ultimate pronouncement of the spiritually Enlightened. Aham means I, the Self within. Brahman is the Reality, supreme God. The Enlightened declares his Self to be God.

The Vedas thus declare that there is but one Reality. That is your supreme Self. You are that Reality. The world is just a passing phenomenon. Being ignorant of your real Self you are caught up in this world of perception, emotion and thought. You have lost your identity. The mission in life is to liberate yourself from this bondage and regain your supreme Being.

The Vedas fall under four broad divisions:

1. Mantra Comprises prayer and hymn eulogising the gods.

2. Brahmana Contains directories with rule and regulation for observing ritual and sacrifice. Deals with their accessories. Reveals the meaning of the mantras.

3. Aranyaka Forest-treatise prescribing symbolic worship and contemplation as substitute for sacrifice. Meant for those who took to the life of a recluse.

4. Upanisad Scriptural treatise containing the philosophy of Vedanta.

The above distinction, however, is not exclusive since the brahmana, aranyaka and upanisad are closely interwoven.

The knowledge of the Vedas was transmitted orally from preceptor to disciple. A tradition maintained through generations. Hence came to be known as Sruti, derived from the root sru 'to hear'. The four divisions of the Sruti may be categorised as utterances successively of poet, priest, philosopher and the Enlightened.

The life of an Indo-Aryan in ancient India was divided into four stages known as asramas: brahmacari celibate, grhastha householder, vanaprasthi recluse and sannyasi ascetic. Seers attributed reclusion and asceticism to the last two stages of life. Nevertheless, the dispassion for materialism and sensuality arising from an inner compulsion to merge with the supreme Self may appear at any phase in life.

Eminent philosophers and thinkers of the past have regarded the Upaniads as a world scripture. A scripture appealing to lovers of Truth in all races at all times without distinction. Some of their observations below bear testimony to it.

Arthur Schopenhauer 1788 - 1860. A great German philosopher. His philosophy is unmistakably transfixed with the doctrines expounded in the Upaniads. On Vedanta he says: In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanisads. It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death.

Max Muller 1823 -1900. A renowned German orientalist. Comments upon this assertion of Schopenhauer: If the words of such an independent philosopher require any endorsement, with my lifelong study of all the religions in the world and all the systems of philosophy in Europe, I humbly endorse this experience of Schopenhauer. If philosophy or religion is meant to be preparation for the afterlife, a happy life and happy death, I know of no better preparation for it than Vedanta.

Paul Jakob Deussen 1845 -1919. A Sanskrit scholar of the University of Kiel, Germany: I find the philosophy of Parmenides, Plato and Kant in a nutshell in Vedanta and advise the Indians — Vedanta in its unfalsified form, is the strongest support of pure morality, is the greatest consolation on the sufferings of life and death. Indians, keep to it.

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