Upanishads, the Source of Indian Spiritual Manifestations

Journal of Art and Civilization of Orient (JACO)

Upanishads, the Source of Indian Spiritual Manifestations

Journal of Art and Civilization of Orient (JACO)

2013, Journal of Art and Civilization of the orient (JACO)

Abstract

"Upanishads", also called "Vedanta" or "end of Veda", refers to the end of "Vedas". According to the classification of Hindu sacred works, Upanishads are supplementary writings attached to "Aranyaka". Based on Hindu traditions, the wise people and receivers of the Divine Commandments were the creators of Upanishads. These people, who were called "Caviya Satiya Sarvata", used to live deep in untouched and dark jungles of India where they meditated and studied their own self. They expressed the spiritual experiences inspired to them (by the Divine Source) and flowed within their souls, in the form of Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Existence), decorated them with the dressing of mysterious words, and formed them as compressed synthetic ideas. The era of jungle-life was started with the theses of "Aranyaka" and ended with Upanishads, a period which can metaphorically be called the education period in the depth of jungle. According to Max Muller's theory, Upanishads are the oral teachings of masters (morshids) to their close followers. It must be noted that most of the prominent theoretical schools in India and even in Buddhism have originated from Upanishads. With regard to the main subject in "Upanishads", the present paper tries to establish the specific spirituality, self-purification and the unique truth of the ancient India.

Key takeaways

Upanishad says the truth lies within us.
The teachings of Upanishads were taught by wise Brahmans and those who had understood the philosophy of self knowledge secretly and after passing hard tests for they feared that unauthorized people might get access to those teachings, which is like giving a sharp sword to a drunken Barbarian.The origin and essence of Upanishad is the absolute truth and noble existence, which is interpreted as "Brahman" or "Brahma" 10 .
Despite diversity of goals and differences in the resource, in all Upanishads there is a tendency toward originality of unity (monism).
Aranyakas are closely related to Upanishads, and sometimes the names Upanishad and Aranyaka are used interchangeably.
Brahman or Brahma: God of creation, the first of the three Hindu gods, and the elevated spirit who has appeared in the form of the creator of the Universe.

In the context of Indian classical literature, the Upanishads (Upanisads) hold a particularly important place for both those within the Hindu tradition and for scholars of early Indian religious history and literature. For many Hindus, the Upanishads are viewed as the intellectual culmination of the Vedic sacrificial tradition that preceded them and become known as veda ̄nta (lit. “end of the Veda”), texts that serve as root texts for some of the classi-cal Indian philosophical schools (darshana [dars ́ana]) that developed several centuries later. From a historical perspective, the Upanishads mark a shift away from the ritual tradition of the Vedas when newly developed notions of karma, asceticism, mental training or yoga,and moksha (moksa, “liberation”) begin to coexist and then – along with devotional (bhakti) trends – supplant the previously dominant sacrificial worldview. While many Hindus see a fundamental continuity in Vedic and Upanishadic thinking, religious and literary historians tend to see the Upanishads as having greater affinity with later Hinduism than with the earlier elite and technical ritual milieu. But even if we assume the position of the latter, it should always be remembered that the composers of the earliest Upanishads were of the same priestly families enacting and producing the Vedas; they assume its framework and validity. Along with an ideological shift, the emergence of the Upanishads also marks a significant material shift, reflecting the settling of formerly nomadic peoples in towns and cities along the Gangetic plain, where changes in material conditions can be seen in the texts themselves. In the context of “world literature,” however, the Upanishads might – at least initially – seem to be something of an uncomfortable fit. Setting aside the fact that such designations often carry preconceived notions of ethnic origin and/or modern understandings of the nation-state, the Upanishads as literature – both individually and collectively as a genre – are an amalgam rather than a unity. This is not to say that there are not certain stylistic, linguistic, and especially thematic continuities across the Upanishads which give the broader contours of a genre. There are, as I will discuss below. But it is to say that there is no single style, character, author, theme, or narrative that any single text, let alone the genre, adheres to. Rather it is a series of overlapping concerns about the nature of the cosmos, the role of the human being both within and beyond that cosmos (i.e. transcendence or liberation), and especially various conceptual strategies through which to explore these concerns that can be seen as loosely constituting a genre. If we take “world literature” as primarily designating a type of literary production that is both novel in form and content and enduring in impact and importance (whether literary, social, or religious), then the Upanishads most certainly qualify as one of the most significant contributions from the ancient subcontinent.

Veda means Knowledge. Any knowledge we accept is Veda. Vedic knowledge is divided into two folds in accordance with the text of the Ishu-Upanishad. One is knowledge for material world and other is knowledge that contains the Brahmavidya. Meterial knowledge is always in defects or falls. But real knowledge or Brahmavidya is always in perfect mode; it brings happiness for all. The Upanishad represents the sublime thought and highest philosophy found in Hinduism. Upanishads which form part of the Vedas are the real foundations of Hinduism. The Upanishads are the concluding portions of the Vedas. Hence, they are called Vedanta or the End of the Vedas. They represent the essence of the wisdom that is embedded. They are the gist and the gold of the Vedas. They are the finest flower of the Vedic thought. The relationship between the Vedas and the Upanishads is like the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The influence of the Upanishads on Indian thought, philosophy and way of life can't be exaggerated. The teaching of Upanishads has a great relevance to the modern world. Prof. Hume asserts that the Upanishads of great present day importance. The teaching of Upanishad's is required to counter the influence of materiality which is the common enemy of the modern world. The Vedantic concept is that all human beings because of their shared spirituality are members of a single extended family. The Upanishad phrase "Amritasya putrah" refers to human beings "Children of immortality". This has given rise to the much praised concept of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" one extended family of humanity". The Upanishadic test refers as "Ayamatma Brahma", this self is as Brahma, Manduyka Upanishad. The famous Rig-Vedic pronouncement "Ekam sat viprah bahuva vadanti, the truth is one, the wise called it by many names". The Mundaka Upanishad has a mantra which states that-Akashat Patitam tuiam, Jatha Gachati Sagaram, Sarva Deva Namaskaram, Keshavam Pratigachati-meaning-all streams and rivers arise in different parts of the world but flow into the same ocean, So all creeds, castes and religions that arise in different times and areas, if they have a true aspiration ultimately reach the same goal. All these texts of the Vedas are related to the modern concepts of humanity, secularism education, political concepts, human rights, multiculturalism, globalization, fraternity nonviolence, social equality, tolerance liberty, economic austerity etc. so these papers would discuss about the relevance of the teaching of Vedas and Upanishad in modern society.

For the first time since the Mundaka Vedanta text was created around the 3rd century BCE, this book reveals to the readers its true purpose, namely to neutralize the existential threat the true Mundaka Upanishad posed to decadent Vedism. In this text, the Vedic poets replaced Brahman, the central deity of the Upanishads, with Purusha, the central deity of the Vedanta, and replaced Yoga, the Upanishads' mode of worship, with Vedanta's mode of worship, namely, Karma (Yajnas tainted with animal sacrifices), Tapas, Shraddha, Vedic studies (Mun:2:1:6). Thus, the main goal of the Mundaka was to preserve corrupt Karma known as Sukrita (good deeds) by which thousands of Brahmins made their lucrative living. After neutralizing the true Mundaka Upanishad, the Vedic poets sequestered it in the Brahmanic domain as Shruti, attached this text to the Atharva Veda, declared it as the Vedanta -the culmination of the Vedic wisdom. However, they still retained the name the Upanishad to this highly corrupted text. I have presented ample evidence to the reader from the text as well as other sources to substantiate these claims. However, I realize that to believers no amount of facts is enough to accept reality. Therefore, this book is for those readers whose minds are not closed by the force of indoctrination by the vested interests. I recommend that the believers read what Swami Vivekananda said about this in the first two pages of this book: "Is religion to justify itself by the discoveries of reason, through which every other science justifies itself? Are the same methods of investigation, which we apply to sciences and knowledge outside, to be applied to the science of Religion? In my opinion, this must be so, and I am also of opinion that the sooner it is done the better. If a religion is destroyed by such investigations, it was then all the time useless, unworthy superstition; and the sooner it goes the better. I am thoroughly convinced that its destruction would be the best thing that could happen. All that is dross will be taken off, no doubt, but the essential parts of religion will emerge triumphant out of this investigation. Not only will it be made scientific — as scientific, at least, as any of the conclusions of physics or chemistry — but will have greater strength, because physics or chemistry has no internal mandate to vouch for its truth, which religion has."

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