vedanta kesari december

A CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL MONTHLY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER

Started at the instance of Swami Vivekananda in the year 1895 as Brahmavâdin,it assumed the name The Vedanta Kesari in 1914.

For free edition on the Web, please visit: www.sriramakrishnamath.org

VOL. 94, No. 12 ISSN 0042-2983

Vedic Prayer 445

Editorial

Upanishads and We 446

Articles

Peace Chant in Upanishads—Swami Sridharananda 466

Sri Ramakrishna:Upanishads Revitalised—Swami Adiswarananda 471

Sri Sarada Devi in the Light of the Upanishads—Pravrajika Atmadevaprana 476

Swami Vivekananda’s Love of Upanishads—Swami Gautamananda 482

Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna:the Living Upanishads—Sudesh 494

An Overview of the Upanishads in the West—Swami Tathagatananda 500

Upanishads and the Science of Yoga—N.V.C. Swamy 506

The Story of Prajapati and Its Meaning—Swami Dayatmananda 510

So Began the Story—Prema Nandakumar 515

Upanishadic Guidelines for the Practice of Medicine—Swami Brahmeshananda 537

Upanishads and the Ideal of Service—M. Lakshmi Kumari 546

Upanishads—the Basis of All World Religions—Swami Abhiramananda 550

Modern Science and Upanishads—Jay Lakhani 555

The Bhagavad Gita: Quintessence of the Upanishads—Swami Sandarshanananda 559

Youth and the Upanishads—Swami Bodhamayananda 565

Sages of the Upanishads—Swami Satyamayananda 571

The Upanishads and the Corporate World—S K Chakraborty 577

Upanishads: the Bedrock of Indian Culture—Pramod Kumar 583

Compilations

‘I Have Never Quoted Anything But the Upanishads’—Swami Vivekananda 451

The Upanishads and Their Origin—Swami Ashokananda 456

The Message of the Upanishads—Swami Ranganathananda 460

Call of the Upanishads (Some Practical Guidelines) 521

Vivekananda Tells Stories 543

The Power of the Upanishads 570

Upanishadic Ideas in Popular Culture 576

Ten Commandments for Students From Taittiriya Upanishad 588

Question & Answer

Frequently Asked Questions About Upanishads—Swami Harshananda 488

Mahasamadhi of Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj - p.605

DecemberDecemberDecemberDecemberDecember 20072007200720072007

Upanishads in Daily Life

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Cover StoryCover StoryCover StoryCover StoryCover Story


We invite our readers to join as patrons of the magazine. They cando so by sending Rs.1500/- or more. Names of the patrons will beannounced in the journal under the Patrons' Scheme and they willreceive the magazine for 20 years. Please send your contribution toThe Manager, The Vedanta Kesari by DD/MO drawn in favour ofSri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai with a note that it is for thePatrons' Scheme.

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Though the Upanishads were revealed in a different age, theirpower and influence is ageless and enduring. 'Time' cannot con-tain or exhaust the perpetuity of the Upanishadic truths. Theirpower and relevance, however, needs reaffirmation and restate-ment to suit changed and the ever-changing circumstances. This iswhat is conveyed in this issue's cover design. In the midst ofchanged circumstances, represented by pictures of various humanactivities, lie the eternal teachings of the ancient rishis, the discov-erers of the Upanishads. The design also tries to convey the factthat Upanishads form the basis of Indian culture. The central mes-sage of the Upanishads is conveyed through Swami Vivekananda'swords.

Photo Courtesies: T. Srinivas (Mysore), Shankar Basu (Haridwar), Lingaraj G.J.(Bangalore), Krishnan (Chennai) and images from the Internet.

Cover design credits: Ravi and Sekar D.

Continued on page 153

SL.NO. NAMES OF SPONSORS AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS

3117. A Devotee of Ramakrishna, Bulgaria D.A.V. Centenary Public School, Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi - 110 0093118. -do- D.A.V. Centenary Public School, Model Town, Delhi - 110 0093119. -do- D.A.V. Centenary Public School, Mandir Narela, Delhi - 110 0403120. Mr. S.T. Muralitharan, Chennai Bai Ruttonbai F.D. Pandey Girls High School, Mumbai - 400 0083121. -do- Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering & Tech., Pollachi - 642 0033122. Mr. & Mrs. Ch. Narasimha Rao, A.P. Rajendran Dharmapuri Foundation School, A.P. - 506 007

DONORS

Mr. R.S. Pai, Bangalore, Rs.1000 M/s. Hare Rama Hare Krishna Print Rs.1000

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525. Mrs. Hema Malini, Mysore526. N. Narayanan, Chennai

EACH SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE. THE GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THE DIVINITY WITHIN.

VOL. 94, No. 12, DECEMBER 2007 ISSN 0042-2983

Vedic Prayers

`mo XodmZm§ à^dümoØdü {dœm{Ynmo éÐmo _h{f©…Ÿ&{haÊ`J ª ní`V Om`_mZ§ g Zmo ~wÕçm ew `m g§ wZºw$Ÿ&&

May He, who created the gods and supports them; who witnessed thebirth of the cosmic soul; who confers bliss and wisdom on the devoted, des-troying their sins and sorrows, and punishing all breaches of law;—may He,the great seer and the lord of all, endow us with good thoughts!

—Shvetashvatara Upanishad, IV.12

`mo ~«÷mU§ {dXYm{V nydª mo d¡ doXm§ü à{hUmo{V Vñ_¡Ÿ&V§ h Xod§ AmË_~w{ÕàH$me§ _w_wjwd£ eaU_h§ ànÚoŸ&&

{ZîH$b§ {Z{îH«$ § emÝV§ {ZadÚ§ {ZaÄOZ_²Ÿ&A_¥Vñ` na§ goVw§ X½YoÝYZ{_dmZb_²Ÿ&&

He who at the beginning of creation projected Brahma (Universal Con-sciousness), who delivered the Vedas unto him, who constitutes the supremebridge of immortality, who is partless, free from actions, tranquil, faultless,taintless, and resembles the fire that has consumed its fuel,—seeking liberationI go for refuge to that Effulgent One, whose light turns the understandingtowards the Atman.

—Shvetashvatara Upanishad, VI.18-19

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446 V e d a n t a K e s a r i D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 7~ ~

Upanishads and We

They and WeThere is a sharp contrast in these two

terms: Upanishads and we, the moderns.Upanishads were composed (strictly

speaking, ‘revealed’) at least 5000 years ago(though there are differences in opinion aboutthis). ‘We’ live in twenty-first century.

The rishis or sages to whom these ‘books’(as the Upanishads are sometimes referred to)were revealed lived in forests, ate simplest offood, meditated for long hours, and had nodistractions such as Internet and multi-channel-television. We live in a modern setting,having a sophisticated life-style (despite a largenumber of people living in miserableconditions right under the nose of the morefortunate ones), eat varieties of instantdelicious food, and have made Internet andTV viewing as part of our life.

They lived in hermitages or in smallcottages, in tune with nature, with an abun-dance of trees, creepers, rivers, birds and evenwild animals freely roaming around theirplace. We, on the other hand, live in an age ofurbanization, deforestation, polluted rivers anda dwindling number of bird and animalspecies.

The rishis did not have any threats fromterrorists or unscrupulous politicians or black-marketers. We, the member of modern society,have to be always on guard and have a largenetwork of security and intelligence agenciesto do it.

The rishes did not have to travel toparticipate in national or internationalconferences. They were mainly confined to

their world of contemplation and quietitude.We, on the other hand, have plenty ofopportunities to become busybodies. What tospeak of professionals and officials, even highschool students have many such events toattend to.

They and we, rishis and modern men,are therefore placed in radically differentsituations and contexts.

Should it mean, (oh, this childishsuggestion!) that the rishis represented aprimitive, yet-to-evolve human beings livingat the dawn of the civilization? And we, themodern ones, represent progress andprosperity? This needs an objective and honestdeliberation.

Though rishis and we differ much in ourvisible or palpable life-styles, there is much incommon. Like the great rishis, we too seekthe answer to ultimate questions of life; wetoo want to discover the ultimate purpose oflife and unravel the mystery of creation. Theylonged to know what a human being is in hisor her deepest core; why is a man born andwhy he suffers and where does he go afterdeath. We, too, have been grappling with theseissues in our own ways for centuries, ourmodernity notwithstanding. While we try toanswer these questions by observing ‘life’ withour microscopes or telescopes, the rishis justclosed their eyes, disconnected from the worldof senses and entered into a world not seenby the senses. The rishis seemed to havesucceeded and we are still struggling, rarelywanting to question our instruments andmethods of investigation. All our ‘answers’ are


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temporary presumptions and the rishis throwquiet challenges to contradict their conclusions.So sure are they of what they have understoodof life that the expression ‘There is no otherway’ appears in many Upanishads.

Despite our ‘progress and scientificadvancements’ we have not been able to solvethe problems of life. Violence, in various forms,has not been rooted out. Nor has been cruelty,lust, jealousy and meaninglessness of life.Increase in the number of TV channels has inno way solved the problem of boredom. Norhave the signing of a number treaties solvedthe problem of hunger, homelessness andpoverty. We are in need of many moral andspiritual correctives while the rishis were theliving embodiments of moral and spiritualperfection. We differ from the rishis on thesurface; at the deeper level of seeking andwanting to solve the challenge of life anddeath, we share a common heritage. The onlydifference that is apparent is this: while theystand etched in our collective memory as theshining images of moral and spiritualperfection and lived exemplary lives, we, themodern men, are struggling and evolving toreach that state.

Another fact about rishis that we mustnot forget is that not all rishis werecontemplatives living in forests. Upanishadsharmonise all contradictions of life. This theydo by making every act of life, apparentlysacred or secular, as an act of worship of theDivine. We, thus, find among the Upanishadicrishis contemplatives, kings, housewives, andeven a cart-puller. Says Swami Vivekananda:

‘In various Upanishads we find that this Vedantaphilosophy is not the outcome of meditation inthe forests only, but that the very best parts of itwere thought out and expressed by brains whichwere busiest in the everyday affairs of life. Wecannot conceive any man busier than an absolute

monarch, a man who is ruling over millions ofpeople, and yet, some of these rulers were deepthinkers.’1

Now to sum up this pretendedcomparison between us and the givers of theUpanishads. There is much to learn from thesages of Upanishads. Despite the fact that wehave come a long way from those wonderfultimes to the present state, we are yet to learnour lessons—many of them.

Discovering the Eternal Behind the FleetingLet us, however, be clear about one thing:

the Upanishads are not old, in the conventionalsense of the term. The word ‘old’ is associatedwith something outdated, worn-out, ineffec-tive, and fit to be discarded. The Upanishads,however, are young with a timeless wisdom.How could something so old as the Upani-shads be still effective and youthful, one mightwonder? Suppose you go to a Himalayan riverflowing for centuries. You stand on its banks,bend down and take a handful of its water.What have you done? You have touched anancient river. The water of that river has beenflowing like this for centuries. Though ‘old’, itis ever new. The river is always renewing itself.Though ancient, it is modern at the same time.

Nor does the term ‘modern’ have anabsolute meaning. Its meaning keeps changing.A century ago also people called themselvesmodern just as we call ourselves moderntoday. What is modern today will becomeancient or old tomorrow. The wisdom ofUpanishads, however, is eternal. They are abody of ‘eternal values for a changing society’.

Certain things, though they become old,never become outdated. Sun and moon arequite, quite old. Just because they are old, theydo not stop dispelling darkness. The same canbe said of the wisdom of the Upanishads.Though ‘old’, it is ever relevant. It is ageless.


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Its enduring value lies in the timeless messageof the divinity and eternity of soul it preaches.The message of the Upanishads is long lastingbecause it deals with certain everlasting truths.They sing, as it were, the song of eternity.

The Upanishads are a book of dis-coveries—most of it about human personality,its structure and uniqueness, and also aboutthe ultimate nature of Godhead and theuniverse we live in. One reads in the Upani-shads, a sage lost in intense meditation, comingface to face with the Immortal Core of humanbeings, rising and addressing the wholecreation, as it were,

‘Hear, ye children of immortal bliss! Even yethat dwell in higher spheres! For I have foundthat Ancient One who is beyond all darkness,all delusion. And knowing Him, ye also shall besaved from death.’2

A Great Spiritual EventThis event, like the discovery of fire and

then of wheel, must have happened in timethough no records are available as to its date,place and the name of the person who firsthad it. (Countless men and women down themillennia have reaffirmed the validity of thatexperience.) What matters is not its historicityor how old it is but the genuineness andindisputable nature of this discovery. What themodern world needs is this Upanishadic ideaof immortality of the soul and the oneness ofexistence.

How does this idea of immortality helpus? The simplest value of this idea is that bythinking of this we get a great relief that weare not matter, we are not sinners or ‘bad’.Essentially we are good, nay, divine. All thatwe call evil is not a part of our real Core whomthe Upanishads call as atman. We are deathlessand changeless and are children ofimmortality. Once we get convinced of this

grand truth, our approach to life becomespositive and affirmative.

Besides this, the Upanishads also laymuch emphasis on living a pure life as anatural corollary to realise this idea of atman.The Kathopanishad states:

‘One who has not desisted from bad conduct,whose senses are not under control, whose mindis not concentrated, whose mind is not free fromanxiety (about the result of concentration),cannot attain this Self.’3

In other words, the ideal of theimmortality of the Self will take roots only if aperson is morally strong and has disciplinedhis senses and mind. If this is not kept in mind,there is a possibility of mistaking the body orego to be the Self and make us pleasure-seekersand arrogant.

The Upanishads illustrate this throughthe story of Prajapati’s teachings to Indra, therepresentative of gods, and Virochana, therepresentative of demons. Both Indra andVirochana approached Prajapati requestinghim to impart Self-knowledge to them. Theywere asked to undergo self-control for a setperiod and then both were given the sameteaching: the image you see when you lookinto a mirror, you are That. While Virochana,not yet fully pure and hence less-qualified, gotsatisfied with it, Indra went deeper. Heapproached Prajapati, and after a prolongedperiod of self-discipline and self-purification,finally learnt the Truth his teacher had beentrying to drive home.

Likewise, if we seek the truth of atman,we must be patient and persistent, and purifythe mind in order to experience It.

The ChallengeThe Upanishads are in no way afraid of

the new frontiers of objective knowledge,


which modern day science and technology areopening out. They never felt any contradictionbetween the two. Science of discovery of theSelf (atmavidya) is not opposed to theknowledge of objective world. The knowledgeof physics and chemistry and computers dealswith the perceivable or palpable sensory data.The Upanishads deal with the seer, the Knowerof all activities and objects. Physical Sciencesare quite acceptable in their search for Truthand are welcome to come out with freshtechnology and advancement. But to say thatman’s happiness or fulfilment will emerge outof it is underestimating man’s hunger forhappiness. ‘Man wants the infinite’, says theChandogya Upanishad. The finite cannotsatisfy him. And then comes a surprise. TheUpanishads throw a challenge to the modernworld:

‘Only when men shall roll up the sky like a skin,will there be an end to misery for them withoutrealizing God.’4

In other words, just as sky, which isformless and intangible, cannot be rolled uplike a piece of paper or sheet of cloth (or animalskin), so also it is vain to claim that man canbecome happy and fulfilled without knowingGod (or the Divine Self within us). Upanishadsdo not mince words in saying that only bySelf-knowledge can a person become trulyhappy in life. No achievement, whetherscientific or secular, can replace it.

Restating the Eternal TruthsUpanishads are a mine of Knowledge.

But like many other important things in life,we tend to overlook them. One of the reasonsfor this is their language. There is always aneed to restate and rephrase the eternal truthsof the Upanishads. India has had a glorioushistory of many great spiritual giants like Sri

Shankaracharya and the likes, who tried todraw our attention to the eternal relevance ofthe message of Upanishads. They had to restatethe message in a language which the peoplecould understand. In our own times, we havethe similar effort being made in the life andteachings of Swami Vivekananda and SriRamakrishna. Swamiji said that he ‘neverquoted anything except the Upanishads’. Allhis teachings are a contemporary restatementof the eternal Upanishadic truths. Take forexample Swamiji’s well-known statement thateach soul is potentially divine. Though apowerful statement, it is not new. In theChandogya Upanishad, the rishi UddalakaAruni tells his son Shvetaketu, ‘You are That.’By the word ‘That’, the sage Uddalaka meantDivinity or atman. So, the meaning is, ‘Youare atman.’ Now look at Swamiji’s words:‘Each soul is potentially divine’. They implythe same thing in a much more appealing way.Though atman, we are not aware of it. Thisignorance makes the truth of atman unsure or‘potential’. This adds a whiff of freshness andoriginality to it.

Paying tributes to Swami Vivekananda’scontribution to the restatement of the Upani-shads in the modern idiom, Sister Niveditasays,

‘The truths he [Swami Vivekananda] preacheswould have been as true, had he never beenborn. Nay more, they would have been equallyauthentic. The difference would have lain in theirdifficulty of access, in their want of modernclearness and incisiveness of statement, and theirloss of mutual coherence and unity.’5

Swamiji made Upanishads available toall. Before Swamiji came to scene, the study ofUpanishads was restricted and reserved toonly a section of people. Not everyone wassupposed to read them. But by restating themin modern idiom, Swamiji made them

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available to all. Not only that he restated them,he also gave, through reinterpreting them,befitting answers to numerous knottyproblems modern man faces. He felt theproblem of increasing violence and religiousintolerance, for instance, can only be solvedby adopting the Upanishadic view that all menand women are divine and each one is at onestage of evolution in perceiving this inherentdivinity. He said,

‘Man is not travelling from error to truth, butclimbing up from truth to truth, from truth thatis lower to truth that is higher.’6

This idea of solidarity of existence is alsothe real basis for love and service. To loveothers, in fact, is to love one-Self.

How to make the teachings of theUpanishads practical? Indeed Swamiji believedthis to be the mission of his life. He said:

‘The dry Advaita must become living—poetic—in everyday life; out of hopelessly intricatemythology must come concrete moral forms; andout of bewildering Yogi-ism must come the mostscientific and practical psychology—and all thismust be put in a form that a child may grasp it.That is my life’s work.’7

In ConclusionStrength and fearlessness is what the

Upanishads preach. Strength comes from thatwhich is enduring. And fearlessness comesfrom knowing our indestructible and immortalnature. When Janaka, the celebrated kingmentioned in the Upanishads, ‘realised’ thetruth of atman, it was said that he became

fearless. Swamiji held the Upanishads as atreasure house of strength and fearlessness.Here, again, he restated the ancient truths inthe modern idiom:

‘This is the one question I put to every man. . .Are you strong? Do you feel strength?—for Iknow it is truth alone that gives strength.’8

Upanishads are the very basis of Indianculture and spiritual heritage. No one can everunderstand or appreciate the essence of Indianculture without making a study of theUpanishads. They are like the forefathers ofthe Indian culture and civilisation. All Hindubeliefs, rituals and festivals, all systems oforthodox philosophical systems in India andalso the lives and teachings of all the mysticsand saints India has seen over the centuriesare rooted in the mystic realisations ofUpanishadic rishis.

This year’s spotlight issue focuses onhow and why the message of Upanishads isapplicable to life in today’s context. Variousaspects of this subject have been explored. Theapproach is to relate the Upanishads to lifeand not just leave it to dry academicdiscussions. Eminent monastic and lay writershave contributed thoughtful articles. Ourthanks to each one of them. We hope ourreaders will find this volume useful in theirjourney to appreciate the pressing need tomake the message of the Upanishads practical.We wish all our readers, in the language ofthe Upanishads, ‘Godspeed you in yourjourney beyond the darkness of ignorance,(svasti vah paraya tamasah parastat!).

1. CW, 2: 293 2. Shvetashvatra, 3.8 3. Kathopanishad, I.ii.24 4. Shvetashvatara, 6.205. CW, 1: xiv 6. CW, 1:xii 7. CW, 5: 104-105 8. CW, 2:201

References

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

‘I Have Never Quoted AnythingBut the Upanishads’

The Message of StrengthStrength, strength is what the

Upanishads speak to me from every page. Thisis the one great thing to remember, it has beenthe one great lesson I have been taught in mylife; strength, it says, strength, O man, be notweak. Are there no human weaknesses?—saysman. There are, say the Upanishads, but willmore weakness heal them, would you try towash dirt with dirt? Will sin cure sin, weaknesscure weakness? Strength, O man, strength, saythe Upanishads, stand up and be strong. Ay,it is the only literature in the world whereyou find the word ‘Abhih’, ‘fearless’, usedagain and again; in no other scripture in theworld is this adjective applied either to Godor to man.1

And the more I read the Upanishads, myfriends, my countrymen, the more I weep foryou, for therein is the great practicalapplication. Strength, strength for us. What weneed is strength, but who will give us strength?There are thousands to weaken us, and ofstories we have had enough. Every one of ourPuranas, if you press it, gives out storiesenough to fill three-fourths of the libraries ofthe world. Everything that can weaken us as arace we have had for the last thousand years.It seems as if during that period the nationallife had this one end in view, viz., how tomake us weaker and weaker till we havebecome real earthworms, crawling at the feetof every one who dares to put his foot on us.Therefore, my friends, as one of your blood,

as one that lives and dies with you, let me tellyou that we want strength, strength, andevery time strength.And the Upanishadsare the great mineof strength. Thereinlies strength enou-gh to invigoratethe whole world;the whole worldcan be vivified,made strong, ener-gised throught h e m .They willcall witht r u m p e tvoice uponthe weak, themiserable, and thedowntrodden of all races, all creeds,and all sects to stand on their feet and befree. Freedom, physical freedom, mentalfreedom, and spiritual freedom are thewatchwords of the Upanishads.2

For centuries we have been stuffed withthe mysterious; the result is that ourintellectual and spiritual digestion is almosthopelessly impaired, and the race has beendragged down to the depths of hopelessimbecility—never before or since experiencedby any other civilised community. There mustbe freshness and vigour of thought behind tomake a virile race. More than enough to


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strengthen the whole world exists in theUpanishads. The Advaita is the eternal mineof strength. But it requires to be applied.3

Ay, this is the one scripture in the world,of all others, that does not talk of salvation,but of freedom. Be free from the bonds ofnature, be free from weakness! And it showsto you that you have this freedom already inyou. . .4

What makes a man stand up and work?Strength. Strength is goodness, weakness issin. If there is one word that you find comingout like a bomb from the Upanishads, burstinglike a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, itis the word fearlessness. And the only religionthat ought to be taught is the religion offearlessness. Either in this world or in theworld of religion, it is true that fear is the surecause of degradation and sin. It is fear thatbrings misery, fear that brings death, fear thatbreeds evil.

And what causes fear? Ignorance of ourown nature. Each of us is heir-apparent to theEmperor of emperors; we are of the substanceof God Himself. Nay, according to the Advaita,we are God Himself though we have forgottenour own nature in thinking of ourselves aslittle men.5

We speak of many things parrot-like, butnever do them; speaking and not doing hasbecome a habit with us. What is the cause ofthat? Physical weakness. This sort of weakbrain is not able to do anything; we muststrengthen it. First of all, our young men mustbe strong. Religion will come afterwards. Bestrong, my young friends; that is my advice toyou. You will be nearer to Heaven throughfootball than through the study of the Gita. . .You will understand the Upanishads betterand the glory of the Atman when your bodystands firm upon your feet, and you feelyourselves as men.6

The Ideal of FreedomWhether you are an Advaitist or a

dualist, whether you are a believer in thesystem of Yoga or a believer in Shankara-charya, whether you are a follower of Vyasaor Vishvamitra, it does not matter much. Butthe thing is that on this point Indian thoughtdiffers from that of all the rest of the world.Let us remember for a moment that, whereasin every other religion and in every othercountry, the power of the soul is entirelyignored—the soul is thought of as almostpowerless, weak, and inert—we in Indiaconsider the soul to be eternal and hold that itwill remain perfect through all eternity. Weshould always bear in mind the teachings ofthe Upanishads.7

It was given to me to live with a man[Sri Ramakrishna] who was as ardent a dualist,as ardent an Advaitist, as ardent a Bhakta, asa Jnani. And living with this man first put itinto my head to understand the Upanishadsand the texts of the scriptures from anindependent and better basis than by blindlyfollowing the commentators; and in myopinion and in my researches, I came to theconclusion that these texts are not at allcontradictory. So we need have no fear of text-torturing at all! . . . Therefore I now find in thelight of this man’s life that the dualist and theAdvaitist need not fight each other. Each hasa place, and a great place in the national life...Therefore any attempt to torture the texts ofthe Upanishads appears to me very ridiculous.8

Let me draw your attention to one thingwhich unfortunately we always forget: thatis—‘O man, have faith in yourself.’ That is theway by which we can have faith in God.9

Learning to Solve the Mystery of LifeOur Upanishads say that the cause of all

misery is ignorance; and that is perfectly true


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when applied to every state of life, either socialor spiritual. It is ignorance that makes us hateeach other, it is through ignorance that we donot know and do not love each other. As soonas we come to know each other, love comes,must come, for are we not one? Thus we findsolidarity coming in spite of itself.

Even in politics and sociology, problemsthat were only national twenty years ago canno more be solved on national grounds only.They are assuming huge proportions, giganticshapes. They can only be solved when lookedat in the broader light of international grounds.International organisations, internationalcombinations, international laws are the cryof the day. That shows the solidarity. Inscience, every day they are coming to a similarbroad view of matter. You speak of matter,the whole universe as one mass, one ocean ofmatter, in which you and I, the sun and themoon, and everything else are but the namesof different little whirlpools and nothing more.Mentally speaking, it is one universal oceanof thought in which you and I are similar littlewhirlpools; and as spirit it moveth not, itchangeth not. It is the One Unchangeable,Unbroken, Homogeneous Atman. The cry formorality is coming also, and that is to be foundin our books. The explanation of morality, thefountain of ethics, that also the world wants;and that it will get here.10

The Upanishads told 5,000 years ago thatthe realisation of God could never be hadthrough the senses. So far, modern agnosticismagrees, but the Vedas go further than thenegative side and assert in the plainest termsthat man can and does transcend this sense-bound, frozen universe. He can, as it were, finda hole in the ice, through which he can passand reach the whole ocean of life. Only by sotranscending the world of sense, can he reachhis true Self and realise what he really is.11

The Upanishads say, renounce. That isthe test of everything. Renounce everything.It is the creative faculty that brings us into allthis entanglement. The mind is in its ownnature when it is calm. The moment you cancalm it, that [very] moment you will know thetruth. What is it that is whirling the mind?Imagination, creative activity. Stop creationand you know the truth. All power of creationmust stop, and then you know the truth atonce.12

Here I can only lay before you what theVedanta seeks to teach, and that is thedeification of the world. The Vedanta does notin reality denounce the world. The ideal ofrenunciation nowhere attains such a height asin the teachings of the Vedanta. But, at thesame time, dry suicidal advice is not intended;it really means deification of the world —giving up the world as we think of it, as weknow it, as it appears to us—and to know whatit really is. Deify it; it is God alone. We read atthe commencement of one of the oldest of theUpanishads, ‘Whatever exists in this universeis to be covered with the Lord.’13

Ay, a glorious destiny, my brethren, foras far back as the days of the Upanishads wehave thrown the challenge to the world: ‘Notby progeny, not by wealth, but by renunciationalone immortality is reached.’ Race after racehas taken the challenge up and tried theirutmost to solve the world-riddle on the planeof desires.14

The whole idea of ethics is that it doesnot depend on anything unknowable, it doesnot teach anything unknown, but in thelanguage of the Upanishad, ‘The God whomyou worship as an unknown God, the same Ipreach unto thee.’ It is through the Self thatyou know anything. I see the chair; but to seethe chair, I have first to perceive myself andthen the chair. It is in and through the Self


that the chair is perceived. It is in and throughthe Self that you are known to me, that thewhole world is known to me; and therefore tosay this Self is unknown is sheer nonsense.Take off the Self and the whole universevanishes. In and through the Self allknowledge comes.15

Upanishads and Their ComposersThere are [more than] a hundred books

comprising the Upanishads, some very smalland some big, each a separate treatise. TheUpanishads do not reveal the life of anyteacher, but simply teach principles. They are[as it were] shorthand notes taken down ofdiscussion in [learned assemblies], generallyin the courts of kings. The word Upanishadmay mean ‘sittings’ [or ‘sitting near a teacher’].Those of you who may have studied some ofthe Upanishads can understand how they arecondensed shorthand sketches. After longdiscussions had been held, they were takendown, possibly from memory. The difficultyis that you get very little of the background.Only the luminous points are mentionedthere.16

The origin of ancient Sanskrit is 5000 B.C.;the Upanishads [are at least] two thousandyears before that. Nobody knows [exactly] howold they are. The Gita takes the ideas of theUpanishads and in [some] cases the verywords. They are strung together with the ideaof bringing out, in a compact, condensed, andsystematic form, the whole subject theUpanishads deal with.17

Fanatics little understand the infinitepower of love in the hearts of these great sageswho looked upon the inhabitants of this worldas their children. They were the real fathers,the real gods, filled with infinite sympathy andpatience for everyone; they were ready to bearand forbear. They knew how human society

should grow, and patiently, slowly, surely,went on applying their remedies, not bydenouncing and frightening people, but bygently and kindly leading them upwards stepby step.

Such were the writers of the Upanishads.They knew full well how the old ideas of Godwere not reconcilable with the advancedethical ideas of the time; they knew full wellthat what the atheists were preachingcontained a good deal of truth, nay, greatnuggets of truth; but at the same time, theyunderstood that those who wished to severthe thread that bound the beads, who wantedto build a new society in the air, would entirelyfail.18

In the Vedic or Upanishad age Maitreyi,Gargi, and other ladies of revered memoryhave taken the places of Rishis through theirskill in discussing about Brahman. In anassembly of a thousand Brahmanas who wereall erudite in the Vedas, Gargi boldlychallenged Yajnavalkya in a discussion aboutBrahman.19

The Upanishads contain very littlehistory of the doings of any man, but nearlyall other scriptures are largely personalhistories. The Vedas deal almost entirely withphilosophy. Religion without philosophy runsinto superstition; philosophy without religionbecomes dry atheism.20

Children of Immortal Bliss!‘Hear ye children of Immortality! Hear

ye Devas who live in higher spheres!’ ‘I havefound out a ray beyond all darkness, beyondall doubt. I have found the Ancient One’. Theway to this is contained in the Upanishads.21

Go into your own room and get theUpanishads out of your own Self. You are thegreatest book that ever was or ever will be,the infinite depository of all that is. Until the

14


inner teacher opens, all outside teaching is invain. It must lead to the opening of the bookof the heart to have any value.22

That is what the Vedanta teaches. It doesnot propose any slipshod remedy by coveringwounds with gold leaf and the more thewound festers, putting on more gold leaf. Thislife is a hard fact; work your way through itboldly, though it may be adamantine; nomatter, the soul is stronger. It lays noresponsibility on little gods; for you are themakers of your own fortunes. You makeyourselves suffer, you make good and evil,and it is you who put your hands before youreyes and say it is dark. Take your hands awayand see the light; you are effulgent, you areperfect already, from the very beginning. . . .23

Go back to UpanishadsGo back to your Upanishads—the shin-

ing, the strengthening, the bright philosophy—and part from all these mysterious things,all these weakening things. Take up thisphilosophy; the greatest truths are the simplestthings in the world, simple as your ownexistence. The truths of the Upanishads are

before you. Take them up, live up to them,and the salvation of India will be at hand.24

Read my lectures. . . . It is only the pureUpanishadic religion that I have gone aboutpreaching in the world.25

So I preach only the Upanishads. If youlook, you will find that I have never quotedanything but the Upanishads. And of theUpanishads, it is only that One idea, strength.The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedantaand all lies in that one word.26

Sharp as the blade of a razor, long anddifficult and hard to cross, is the way tofreedom. The sages have declared this againand again. Yet do not let these weaknessesand failures bind you. The Upanishads havedeclared, ‘Arise! Awake! and stop not untilthe goal is reached.’ We will then certainlycross the path, sharp as it is like the razor,and long and distant and difficult though itbe. Man becomes the master of gods anddemons. No one is to blame for our miseriesbut ourselves. Do you think there is only adark cup of poison if man goes to look fornectar? The nectar is there and is for everyman who strives to reach it.27

15

References

1. CW, 3: 237 2. CW, 3: 238-239 3. CW, 9: 76-77 4. CW, 3: 238-239 5. CW, 3: 160 6. CW, 3: 2427. CW, 3: 443 8. CW, 3: 233-234 9. CW, 4: 107 10. CW,3: 240-241 11. CW, 8: 21 12. CW, 1: 45313. CW, 2: 146 14. CW, 4: 314 15. CW, 2: 305 16. CW, 1: 446 17. CW, 1: 446 18. CW, 2: 11719. CW, 7: 214-215 20. CW, 7: 36 21. CW, 6: 87-88 22. CW, 7: 71 23. CW, 2: 184 24. CW, 3: 22525. CW, 6: 469-471 26. CW, 8: 266-67 27. CW, 1: 342

‘He who knows the Self as such becomes self-controlled, calm, withdrawn intohimself, enduring and concentrated, and sees the Self in his own body; hesees all as the Self. Evil does not overtake him, but he transcends allevil. Evil does not trouble him, but he consumes all evil. He becomessinless, taintless, free from doubts and a knower of Brahman (theInfinite).’

—Brihadaranyakopanishad, IV, iv. 23


SWAMI ASHOKANANDA

The Upanishads and Their Origin

Upanishads Means VedantaHere we are concerned with the very last

part of Vedantic literature, which is calledVedanta—veda anta, ‘the end of the Vedas’.Many have thought that these portions camelast of all in the Vedic age: at first the ancientAryans practiced rituals; then afterwards,being dissatisfied with rituals, they began tobecome philosophical and to find philo-sophical truths, which they embodied in thebooks generally called the Upanishads, or, inaggregate, the Vedanta. Others have said thatthis chronological explanation is not right.What anta really means is ‘the highest’ or ‘theculmination’. Veda means ‘knowledge’, ‘thehighest knowledge’.

Orthodox Hindus believe that the secondexplanation is more appropriate, because thephilosophy contained in the Vedanta portionis also found in the hymnal portion. Forexample, some hymns in the Íg-Veda and theAtharva-Veda cannot be surpassed in theirphilosophical and mystical depths even by theUpanishads. Of course, Western scholars havesaid such hymns were afterwards interpolated.Well, orthodox Hindus do not agree with that.They say that from very ancient times boththe ritualistic portions and the philosophicalportions existed simultaneously.

The Upanishads, in which those truthswere expressed, are sometimes called ‘secretteachings’, and no doubt the word upaniäadhas some such implication—not secret in thesense of mysterious, but in the sense that thesetruths are not found on the surface by theaverage mind; they are buried deep down andhave to be discovered by everyone in hisinmost being. Further, when these teachingswere given to a pupil, the pupil approachedthe teacher and sat near him, and the teachergave this teaching to him alone, not in thepresence of others. Even now, these teachingsare given in private. Others are not allowed tobe present, because it is considered thatanything given out publicly can never takeroot in the deep life of a person. Just as theroots of a plant generally die when they areexposed to the sun or the outside atmosphere,in the same way whenever you expresssomething it fails to go deep into your life,and you hate therefore to speak in public ofthe deepest things; they should be kept hiddenwithin. On this psychological fact the traditionof privacy was built.

Now, as I said, it probably took twothousand years to develop and consolidatethese teachings; that is the orthodox Hindubelief. Many would not agree with it, but when

Swami Ashokananda (1893-1969) was a much-venerated monk of the Ramakrishna Order. Hewas ordained into sannyasa by Swami Shivananda, and was the editor of Prabuddha Bharata, anEnglish monthly of the Ramakrishna Order brought out from the Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati inUttaranchal. The following is an excerpt from his book Meditation Ecstasy and Illumination(Pp.12-22) published by the Advaita Ashrama.


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I consider how long it takes to find one singletruth, and when I remember that the truthsexpressed in the Upanishads were notinherited by these people but had to bediscovered by them—when I consider thesefacts, I cannot but think that the orthodoxHindu belief is correct.

The Origin of UpanishadsIt is said that there are altogether a

hundred and eight Upanishads. It is quiteobvious that most of these are not trueUpanishads at all; that is to say, they did notform a part of the original Vedas but werewritten afterwards. From that you should notconclude that they are worthless; as a matterof fact, some are highly illuminating andexplain many things not found in the originalUpanishads, which some scholars have saidnumber twenty-eight.

Of these twenty-eight, some say twelveand others say ten are the principal ones.Shankaracharya, to whom we owe the revivalof Vedanta after Buddhism degenerated,commented upon ten Upanishads, andtherefore many think that these ten must havebeen the most authoritative. Two of them—the Chàndogya and the Bíhadàraëyaka—are verylarge and in many places very abstruse. Infact, one is compelled to confess that somepassages cannot today be explained at all.Other Upanishads are smaller; some arecomposed of just a few verses. But all of themhave been considered of exceeding value, andas century has followed century very greatauthority has been ascribed to them.

Some Upanishads are written in verse,and others in prose and some are mixed proseand verse. The language, which is the Vedicrather than the classical style of Sanskrit, issometimes obscure, but more often it is verystraight and direct. As you read the texts you

feel an atmosphere of sunlight, of open spaces,of the frankness, the innocence, and the purityof childhood. You feel that the people whodwelt upon these thoughts and experiencesand gave expression to them were sturdy men,strong men, but not violent. (Violent peopleare weak; truly strong people are gentle, pure,and innocent, and their gentleness is notassociated with any kind of weakness.) Youalso feel that there was not much restrictionin their life. By that I do not mean there waslicence, but that there was no rigidity aboutthem, and you feel that you would rather liketo go back to those people; you cannot escapethe feeling that they represented the highestexpression of life on earth; that they werehighly civilized and highly cultured.

How the Íäis LivedThe life they lived, these people who

taught the Upanishads, was a very simple life,mostly. But sometimes these teachings wereoriginally given by kings who lived in theluxury of a palace. There is a theory, whichSwami Vivekananda himself held to someextent, that the Vedanta, or the Upanishads,really originated among the käatriyas, thewarrior caste, rather than among the bràhmins.And in support of this we often find in thehistory of India that the most liberalizingthoughts in religion or philosophy came notfrom the first caste, not from the bràhmins, butfrom the second caste, the käatriyas. Forexample, Sri Krishna was not a bràhmin; hewas the son of a käatriya, and Buddha, whodemocratised the teachings of the Vedanta andspread them broadcast, was the son of akäatriya king. We do not consider this to be areflection on the bràhmins; we say that just astwo opposite forces create a balance, so inevery community or every system ofknowledge there have to be two forces


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working—one conservative and the otherliberal. If liberalism has complete freedom inits own experimentation, it is apt to kill itself;therefore, there has to be a conservative forcethat will challenge it. When liberalism canstand that challenge it is gradually embodiedinto the accepted authority. In India thebràhmins have represented that conservativeforce, and in the matter of Vedanta we findthat some of the teachers were bràhmins, otherswere käatriyas. So we sometimes find bràhminsgoing to käatriyas to learn this most excellenttruth, the truth about the Atman and Brahman.

Well, whatever that might be, most ofthese teachers lived a simple life in an aárama,which can be translated as ‘retreat’. Just asmodern retreats are located outside the citiesin a solitary place in the midst of nature, so inthose olden days there were many suchretreats or hermitages all over the country,particularly in the Himalayan region. Andmany of these teachers—who were generallycalled íäis, which literally means ‘seers’,because they directly perceived supernaturaltruths—were established in these aáramas andwere supported by the rich or by kings, whoconsidered it their duty to protect them andto supply their needs.

Those needs were very simple. Theylived in huts; they would get up at what theycalled the brahma-muhùrta, the ‘hour of God’,an hour before dawn, and would go in thedark or semidark to a nearby stream and bathe;then they would sit around a fire, which wasalways burning, but which at that time wasburning brighter because the disciples had putmore logs on it, and they would plunge intomeditation. After long mediation someteachings would be given, and then theywould all go to their respective duties. Later,classes would be held in the different branchesof learning, particularly in the Vedas and the

Upanishads; the ísis would teach their pupilsthe art of meditation; they would teach themwhat is called brahma-vidyà—the ‘science ofBrahman’, or the ‘science of God-realization’,and they would teach them philosophy, so thattheir intellect would be trained in accordancewith their spiritual findings. There were alsoother teachings, sometimes called vedàîgas,which were essentially secular subjects likeastronomy, prosody, grammar, and so on.

The pupils themselves had to live a lifeof utmost asceticism, of which the mostessential condition was the practice of celibacy.Many rules are given in the old books for thisrigorous life. The pupils would live manyyears with the teachers, whose examples wereconsidered very important as a part of theirtraining. Then some of them would return tothe world, get married, and live as idealcitizens. They would not give up their spiritualpractices; rather, they would carry them on,and when they were fifty years old they weresupposed to retire from the world and plungeagain into a life of contemplation andmeditation. And then, after some time, theywould embrace the life of utter renunciationand become sannyasins, or wandering monks.That was the general picture.

It goes without saying that althoughthere might have been hundreds and hundredsof such hermitages, not all the íäis were equallyproficient. It is but natural that there weredifferences among them, and you find thatsome became very well-known as greatspiritual teachers and as great scholars of theVedas or Vedanta. Of course, more peoplewould come to them than to others, and oneto whom thousands and thousands of peoplewould flock used to be called kula-pati, the‘chief of the clan’, the clan of spiritualaspirants. Such ‘chiefs’ were very highlyregarded, and necessarily used to receive great


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respect from all. And of course the kings andthe nobles of a kingdom considered it theirspecial duty to support them.

Discovering Inner TruthsYou can understand why the people

amongst whom Vedanta originated lived in avery quiet place where their meditation wouldnot be disrupted or interrupted, where therewould not be even the slightest noise, for onlyin that silence, external and internal, were theyable to discover inner truths unknown before.They practised hard austerities; you can seewhy that had to be so: how would they knowthere were deeper states of mind to beginwith? Only the other day in the West youbegan to talk about the subconscious mind andto recognize that there are many things hiddenin the mind which have great meaning for our

conscious life. You see, even the science of themind seems to be a modern thing with us. Soin order to find ultimate truths, these íäis hadto work very hard. No doubt many of themcame up with wrong knowledge. They thoughtthey had found something extraordinary, butthe mind is a very subtle and complicatedthing. When you think you have foundsomething new and begin to talk about it,others find that it was not new or anyhow notvalid.

So while there must have been manyexperimenters who found something true,there were also many who became deluded.You can well see that it must have takencenturies and centuries before enoughauthoritative knowledge was gleaned, out ofwhich a system of mysticism and a system ofphilosophy took birth.

‘I should point to India’

If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of itschoicest gifts, has most deeply pondered over the greatest problems of life, and hasfound solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of thosewho have studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India.” And if I were to askmyself from what literature we who have been nurtured almost exclusivelyon the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of the Semitic race, theJewish, may draw the corrective which is most wanted in order to makeour inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, moreuniversal, in fact more truly human a life...again I shouldpoint to India.

—Maximilian Müeller (1823-1900) GermanOrientalist. (quoted in The World’s Religions ByHuston Smith. Harper, San Francisco. 1991 p 12).

�‘All the books contained in the Upanishads have one subject, one task before them—

to prove the following theme: “Just as by the knowledge of one lump of clay we havethe knowledge of all the clay in the universe, so what is that, knowing which we knoweverything in the universe?”’ —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 1: 362


SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA

Swami Ranganathanandaji (1908-2005) was the 13th President of the Ramakrishna Order. He was a prolificwriter and a speaker of international acclaim. The article is based on excerpts taken from his book The Messageof the Upanishads (pp. 4-21 and 57-61), published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai.

The Message of the Upanisads

Swami Vivekananda says:

‘Religion deals with the truths of themetaphysical world just as chemistry and theother natural sciences deal with truth of thephysical world. The book one must read to learnchemistry is the book of (external) nature. Thebook from which to learn religion is your ownmind and heart. The sage is often ignorant ofphysical science because he reads the wrongbook—the book within; and the scientist is toooften ignorant of religion, because he, too, readsthe wrong book—the book without.’1

Áruti versus SmítiThe Upaniäads are an impressive record

of this ‘reading of the book within’. Thescriptures of every religion are such records.But all of them, except the Upaniäads, containalso a good bit of extraneous matter, not onlymyths and legends and cosmological theories,which the Upaniäads also contain, but also alarge number of rules and regulations, withtheir do’s and don’ts, to guide the individualand collective conduct and behaviour of theirrespective followers. The significance of theselatter being merely local and temporary, theyare not capable of universal application andare not relevant for all time; the fundamentalmessage of all religions, however, derive fromtheir central core of essential spiritual truthswhich are universal and for all time. TheUpaniäads are the only sacred books which

addressed themselves exclusively to thediscovery of these essential spiritual truths andto leading man, irrespective of creed and race,to their realization in his own life.

The Sanàtana Dharma: Its UniquenessThis explains the very high authority and

prestige of the Áruti in the Indian tradition; itderives from the verified and verifiablecharacter of its truths and their universality.Accordingly, the Smítis is always subordinateto the Áruti in spiritual matters. Smítis comeand go; they change age after age; but the Áruti,according to the penetrating analysis ofÁaîkara2, contains vastutantrajñàna, ‘knowledgeof reality as it is’, whereas Smíti containspuruäatantrajñàna, ‘knowledge depending onthe person’, which ‘can be modified or alteredby human effort’: kartum akartum anyathàkartuÉáakyate. A Smíti that sustained society in oneage may choke it in another age.

Regarding all Smítis in general, Rama-krishna’s pithy utterance correctly conveys theIndian idea: ‘Mughal coins have no currencyunder the (East India) Company’s rule.’

Referring to this, the mathematician-philosopher, A.N. Whitehead says:3

‘Religion will not regain its old power until itcan face change in the same spirit as does science.Its principles may be eternal, but the expressionof those principles requires continualdevelopment.’

.


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Historian Arnold Toynbee also stressesthis point:4

‘In the life of all higher religions, the task ofwinnowing is a perennial one because theirhistoric harvest is not pure grain. In the heritageof each of the higher religions, we are aware ofthe presence of two kinds of ingredients. Thereare essential counsels and truths, and there arenon-essential practices and propositions.

‘The essential counsels and truths are valid atall times and places, as far as we can see throughthe dark glass of mankind’s experience up todate. . .’

The philosophy and religion that Indiadeveloped out of the Áruti bears, therefore, asignificant title, namely, sanàtana dharma,‘Eternal Religion’. It derives its authority fromits truth-character and not from any person,be he a saint or even an incarnation; and thetruth-character of a teaching demands that itbe verifiable by all irrespective of dogma,creed, and race, and at all times.

Throwing light on this unique character-istic of the Sanàtana Dharma as derived fromthe Upaniäads, Swami Vivekananda says:5

‘Two ideals of truth are in our scriptures; theone is what we call the eternal, and the other isnot so authoritative, yet binding under particularcircumstances, times, and places. The eternalrelations between souls and God are embodiedin what we call the Árutis, the Vedas. The nextset of truths is what we call the Smítis, asembodied in the words of Manu, Yàjñavalkya,and other writers, and also in the Puràëas, downto the Tantras. . .

‘Another peculiarity is that these Árutis havemany sages [íäis] as the recorders of the truthsin them, mostly men, even some women. Verylittle is known of their personalities, the dates oftheir birth and so forth, but their best thoughts,their best discoveries, I should say, are preservedthere, embodied in the sacred literature of our

country, the Vedas. In the Smítis, on the otherhand, personalities are more in evidence.Startling, gigantic, impressive, world-movingpersons stand before us, as it were, for the firsttime, sometimes of more magnitude even thantheir teachings.’

By Áruti is generally meant the Vedas;specifically, it means the Upaniäads, they beingthe Vedànta, the anta, literally the end orconcluding portion, but in a deeper sense, thevery gist or essence, of the Vedas. Clarifyingthis idea in his address at the Parliament ofReligions, Chicago, Swami Vivekananda says6

‘By the Vedas no books are meant. They meanthe accumulated treasury of spiritual lawsdiscovered by different persons in differenttimes. Just as the law of gravitation existed beforeits discovery, and would exist if all humanityforgot it, so is it with the laws that govern thespiritual world. The moral, ethical, and spiritualrelations between soul and soul, and betweenindividual spirits and the father of all spirits,were there before their discovery, and wouldremain even if we forgot them.’

Meaning of the Term ‘Upaniäad’That this is the traditional view is evident

from what Áaîkara says on the etymology ofthe term ‘Upaniäad’. The term means know-ledge received by the student ‘sitting close to’the teacher. Explaining the derivation of theterm in the introduction to his commentaryon the Kaêha Upaniäad, Áaîkara says:

‘By what etymological process does the termupaniäad denote knowledge? This is nowexplained. Those who seek liberation, beingendowed with the spirit of dispassion towardsall sense objects, seen or heard of, and approachingthis knowledge indicated by the term upaniäadpresently to be explained, devote themselves toit with one-pointed determination—of suchpeople, this knowledge removes, shatters, or


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destroys the avidyà (ignorance or spiritualblindness), which is the seed of all relativeexistence or worldliness. By these etymologicalconnections, upaniäad is said to meanknowledge.’

Education involving the student ‘sittingclose to’ the teacher means the most intimatestudent-teacher communion. The higher theknowledge sought, greater is this communionand greater the silence accompanying theknowledge-communication. These valuesreach their maximum when the knowledgethat is sought and imparted is of the highestkind, namely, àtmajñàna or brahmajñànaknowledge of the Àtman or Brahman.

Truth versus OpinionThe Upaniäads discovered very early in

history what Thomas Huxley refers to as thedifference between opinion and truth, between‘I believe such and such’ and ‘I believe suchand such to be true.’ Says Huxley:7

‘The longer I live, the more obvious it is to methat the most sacred act of a man’s life is to sayand feel, “I believe such and such to be true”.All the greatest rewards and all the heaviestpenalties of existence cling about that act.’

Such truths are far different from theprivate beliefs of an individual or a group, asect or a church, held with all emotionalintensity and projected for other people’sacceptance with equal fervour. Such beliefscannot claim ‘the greatest reward’ because theyhave not paid ‘the heaviest penalty’ involvedin being subjected to the rigorous scrutiny ofreason and being thrown open to universalverification. Referring to this unique charac-teristic of Vedànta, Romain Rolland says:8

‘The true Vedàntic spirit does not start out witha system of preconceived ideas. It possessesabsolute liberty and unrivalled courage amongreligions with regard to the facts to be observed

and the diverse hypotheses it has laid down fortheir co-ordination. Never having been hamp-ered by a priestly order, each man has beenentirely free to search wherever he pleased forthe spiritual explanation of the spectacle of theuniverse.’

The Mental Climate of the UpaniäadsI have referred before to the fearless quest

of truth characteristic of these Upaniäads. Anyreader of this literature cannot also escapebeing struck by the rational bent and specu-lative daring of these sages of ancient India.

The spirit of inquiry which possessedthem led them to question experience, toquestion the environing world; it also led themto fearlessly question their gods and tenets oftheir traditional faiths.

The Upaniäads do not disclose anydetails as to the personal histories of theirthinkers; but they provide us with a glimpseof the working of their minds; we can studyin this literature the graceful conflict of thoughtwith thought, the emergence of newer andnewer thought more satisfactory to reason andmore in accord with experience at deeperlevels, and the rejection of the less adequateones without a tear. Hypotheses are advancedand rejected on the touchstone of experienceand reason, and not at the dictate of a creed.Thus thought forges ahead to unravel themystery of man and the universe in which hefinds himself; and we can watch this develop-mental movement of thought and, if we aresensitive enough, also experience, in the wordsof the Munåaka Upaniäad,9 this onward marchof being carried along in its current to the oneocean of truth and beauty and delight, andrealize our oneness with the One behind themany:

‘Just as rivers, as they flow, merge in the oceangiving up their (separate) names and forms, so


the knowing one, freed from (separatenessarising from) name and form, attains theluminous supreme Self, which is beyond (even)the (other) supreme (namely, nature in itsundifferentiated state).’

The Upaniäads reveal an age chara-cterised by a remarkable ferment, intellectualand spiritual. It is one of those rare ages inhuman history which have registered distinctbreak-throughs in man’s quest for truth andmeaning and which have held far-reachingconsequences for all subsequent ages. Themental climate of the Upaniäads is saturatedwith a passion for truth and a similar passionfor human happiness and welfare. Theirthinkers were ‘undisturbed by the thought ofthere being a public to please or critics toappease’, as Max Müller puts it.10 They con-sidered no sacrifice too heavy in their questfor truth, including not only earthly pleasuresand heavenly delights, but also what is mostdifficult to achieve and what every truth-seeker is called upon to achieve, namely, thesacrificing of pet opinions and pleasingprejudices. Referring to this characteristic ofthe Upaniäads in his book Six Systems of IndianPhilosophy, Max Müller says:11

‘It is surely astounding that such a system asthe Vedànta should have been slowly elaboratedby the indefatigable and intrepid thinkers ofIndia thousands of years ago, a system that evennow makes us feel giddy, as in mounting thelast steps of the swaying spire of a Gothiccathedral. None of our philosophers, notexcepting Heraclitus, Plato, Kant, or Hegel, hasventured to erect such a spire, never frightenedby storms or lightnings. Stone follows on stoneafter regular succession after once the first stephas been made, after once it has been clearlyseen that in the beginning there can have beenbut one, as there will be but one in the end,whether we call it Àtman or Brahman.’

An impressive procession of studentsand teachers, earnest and sincere; a movingrecord of their animated discussions andgraceful thought conflicts here in small groupsand there in large assemblies; a flight ofthought now and then into sublime heights ofexperience recorded in songs of freedom anddelight, graceful and direct; an effective useof beautiful metaphors and telling imageriesserving as feathers to its arrows of thought inflight; a singular absence of an atmosphere ofcoercion, open or veiled, secular or sacred,inhibiting the free pursuit of truth or itscommunication; the constant summons to manto verify for himself the truths placed beforehim for his acceptance; and the treatment ofman as man and not as cut up into creeds,races, and sex—these and other varied featuresinvest the Upaniäads with the enduringgreatness and strength of a perennialphilosophy and the beauty and charm of animmortal literature.

Unlike philosophies elsewhere and othersystems here, Vedànta is a living philosophy;and from the time it was first expoundedin that dim antiquity down to our owntimes, it has been the spiritual inspirationbehind the vast and varied Indian culturalexperiment.

The Upaniäads and Indian CultureWithout understanding the Upaniäads,

it is impossible to get an insight into Indianhistory and culture. Every subsequentdevelopment of philosophy and religion inIndia has drawn heavily on the Upaniäads.The path of bhakti or devotion to a personalGod, the path of karma or detached action, andthe synthesis of all spiritual paths in acomprehensive spirituality, expounded by theGìtà, are all derived from the Upaniäads.Emphasizing this pervasive influence of the

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Upaniäads of Indian religions, SwamiVivekananda says:12

‘In the Upaniäads, also, we find all thesubsequent development of Indian religiousthought. Sometimes it has been urged withoutany grounds whatsoever that there is no idealof bhakti in every Upaniäad. Those that have beenstudents of the Upaniäads know that that is nottrue. There is enough bhakti in every Upaniäad,if you will only seek for it; but many of theseideas which are found so fully developed in latertimes in the Puràëas and other Smítis are onlyin the germ in the Upaniäads. The sketch, theskeleton, was there, as it were. It was filled insome of the Puràëas. But there is not one full-grown Indian ideal that cannot be traced backto the same source—the Upaniäads.’

In the words of Bloomfield:13

‘There is no important form of Hindu thought,heterodox Buddhism included, which is notrooted in the Upaniäads.’

Every creative period in India’s longhistory has behind it the impact of thisVedàntic inspiration in a concentratedmeasure. The drying up of this fount ofinspiration, similarly, has always seen thesetting in of the low tide of her culture andlife. The ages of the Gìtà, Buddha, and Áaîkarain the past, and of Sri Ramakrishna and SwamiVivekananda in the present, are such land-marks in India’s ancient and modern history.

Hence their constant summons to man isto wake up and march on: ‘Arise! Awake! Andstop not till the goal is reached!’, as conveyedby Swami Vivekananda, adapting thepowerful words of the Kaêha Upaniäad:Uttiäêhata jàgrata pràpya varàn nibodhata.

A Message of FearlessnessBefore Swami Vivekananda’s time, very

few people knew about the Vedànta, aboutthe philosophy of the Upaniäads. He took it

upon himself to proclaim these truths fromthe housetops, both in the East and in theWest:14

‘Let me tell you that we want strength, strength,and every time strength. And the Upaniäads arethe great mine of strength. Therein lies strengthenough to invigorate the whole world; the wholeworld can be vivified, made strong, energizedthrough them. They will call with trumpet voiceupon the weak, the miserable, and thedowntrodden of all races, all creeds, and all sects,to stand on their own feet and be free. Freedom,physical freedom, mental freedom, and spiritualfreedom are the watchwords of the Upaniäads.’

Saîkaràcàrya (A.D. 788-820) was the firstteacher in historic times to make the Upaniäadspopular in this country. Before that, only afew select people, largely of the monasticcommunity, knew the glory of the Upaniäads.But Saîkaràcàrya opened up these treasuresto householders and to all citizens. It will dothem good, he said. But still the Upaniäadsreached only a small minority. Today, how-ever, thanks largely to the work of SwamiVivekananda, they are the property of one andall.

The Upaniäads, however, require closestudy. A newspaper is also a kind of literature;but it is read in the morning and thrown awayin the evening, and thus stands at the lowestlevel of the literary spectrum. The Upaniäadsare not like that; they stand at the highest endof that spectrum. They must be read againand again; every step in growth of mentalmaturity and clearness brings us closer andcloser to the heart of this great literature. Themore we read them, the more we get out ofthem, because their words come from thedepths of the heart. ‘Where words come outfrom the depth of truth’, says Tagore in hisGitàñjali. The words of the Upaniäads comeout from the depth of truth. The sages

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experienced Truth; they saw somethingprofound in man and nature, and they triedto capture and communicate this vision insnatches of poetry. The sublime poetry of theUpaniäads has moved the hearts of thinkersand poets from ancient times to the present.[Take for instance this verse]:

‘The wise ones [dhìra] realize Him everywhere,inside as well as outside, Him whose form isbliss and immortality and whose glory overflowsas the visible universe.’

The word dhìra in the text means ‘thewise one’ and indicates a combination ofintelligence and courage. The Upaniäads speakof man’s greatness in two forms: first, hisintelligence by which he understands the factsof the outer and inner worlds; second, hiscourage, heroism, by which he not merelyknows but also achieves truth and excellence.Mere intelligence is not enough; courage is alsonecessary. Their combination makes for thehighest character where the power ofknowledge becomes transmuted into theenergy of vision.

The capacity to scale the Everest ofexperience, to scale the highest peak of truth,comes to intelligence only when it blazonsforth as courage. He is the dhìra, the wise one;he alone is entitled to realize the Àtman. Whatis the form of that realization? Paripaáyanti,‘he realizes Him everywhere’, inside as wellas outside, in man as well as in nature. The

whole of nature becomes ablaze with divinityto his purified vision. He realizes Him asànandarùpam amítaÉ yadvibhàti, ‘of the form ofbliss and immortality which has overflown asnature, as the visible universe’. The universebecomes transformed into waves of bliss,ànandalaharì, and waves of beauty, saundarya-laharì, as expressed by Saîkaràcàrya. TheÀtman shines in man and nature, in the sunand moon and stars, in every particle of dust.Now here is a vision captured in a snatch ofpoetry. This is just a sample; there are scoresof such in the Upaniäads.

So there is great need for us to studythis legacy, to understand it. The wholecountry will become galvanized with a newenergy, a new resolve, a new discipline, evenif only a little of the wisdom of the Upaniäadscan come into our lives. We read in theBhagavad-Gìtà (II. 40): Svalpamapyasya dharmasyatràyate mahato bhayàt—‘Even a little of thisdharma will save us from great fear.’ Here isthe message of fearlessness, of strength, ofgrowth, development, and realization. Manmust rise higher and higher and reach outtowards perfection which is the unity of all-encompassing love and knowledge. This is themessage, the clarion call, of the Upaniäads—acall to dynamic action in the pursuit of Truthand total excellence, a call to carry forwardevolution to the level of total life fulfilmentthrough spiritual realization. What a hopefulmessage it is!

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1. CW, 6: 812. Commentary on the Brahma Sùtra, I. 1. 23. Science in the Modern World, p. 2344. An Historian’s Approach to Religion, pp. 262-645. CW, 3: 248-516. CW, 1: 6-77. Quoted by J.Arthur Thomson in his Introduction to

Science, p.22

8. The Life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel,Third Impression, 1947, p. 196

9. Munåaka Upaniäad, III. 2. 810. Three Lectures on Vedànta Philosophy, p. 3911. Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, Max Müller, p.18212. CW, 3: 230-3113. The Religion of the Veda, p. 5114. CW, 3: 238

References


SWAMI SRIDHARANANDA

A senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author is the Minister-in-charge of Vedanta Centre of Sydney,Australia.

Peace Chant in Upanishads

IntroductionAll Upanishads begin with peace

invocations called shanti patha. The MundakaUpanishad, for instance, opens with two peaceinvocations. The significance is that, knowingfull well that nothing happens in the worldwithout the sanction of the Divine the Vedicrishis humbly seek guidance and blessingsfrom the Divine so that their efforts may befruitful. In all the Upanishads the first wordsinvoke peace, not only for oneself but also formaintaining balance in the whole universe.Brahman, which is denoted by Aum, the satyam(the Real), the ritam (the cosmic order) is inequilibrium and in peace. The Vedic rishisexperienced the fact that an individual is atpeace with himself when he is at peace withhis surroundings, when the jivatma (individualsoul) has established an inseparable bond withthe Vishvatma (Universal Soul). We are onewith the universe and the universe is one withus; as long as this Oneness is not realised, therewill be lack of balance and peace. The Brahmanis in continuous communion with Itself to beat peace with Itself and with the wholeuniverse. Let us consider this Shanti patha:

› ^Ð§ H$U}{^… e¥>Uw m_ Xodm ^Ð§ ní o_mj{^ ©OÌm… &pñWa¡a“¡ñVwïw>dm§gñVZy{^… ì`eo_ Xod{hV§ `Xm w… &&

Aum! O gods, the effulgent ones, may we withour ears hear what is propitious! While engagedin sacrifices, may we behold with our eyes whatis propitious! May we, with firm and strong body

and mind, lead a life full of worship workingfor the Divine. Aum! Peace Peace Peace!

Understanding AumThis is the first part of the Shanti patha.

Everything starts with Aum. It consists of threeletters – ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘m’ and the bindu. When ‘m’ isuttered with the mouth closed then there is aninner vibration known as the nada-bindu. Thisvibration is due to the short vowel (à) whichis a nasal sound similar to the resonance whichfollows the striking of a gong or bell. The mainpurpose here is to make the study fruitful tous. Aum has been defined in the Vedas invarious ways because it symbolizes the wholegamut of spiritual wisdom relating man andthe universe.

Aum can be subjectively interpreted interms of the individual self. Corresponding tothe four ‘parts’ of Aum, there are four states ofthe individual soul or jivatma. The aham, or ‘I’,fluctuates between these four states ofawareness. In the waking state we are awakeand alert. After some hours of hard work weare tired and go to sleep in which there aredreams. This state is called the dream state.While dreaming we are not aware that we aredreaming; for us the dream is as real as thewaking experience. We know we weredreaming only when we wake up and compareour surroundings with the dream experience.Then we realize that the latter was not real.


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The third state is deep, dreamless,undisturbed sleep. On waking from this ittakes a few moments to remember where oneis and what the circumstances are, for in deepsleep one is not aware of the space, time andcausation; only gradually do they soak intoour consciousness again on waking. Then onesays of his experience: ‘Oh, I had such a joyousdeep sleep. I was not aware of anything.’Unlike the dream state, in deep sleep theperson experiences immense joy which isremembered after returning to waking state.We are ignorant about the source of the joy,so we say ‘I knew nothing’ though weexperience the joy during that state. The veilof avidya or ignorance covers our real nature;still the bliss percolates through.

There is a fourth stage of awarenesscalled turiya-avastha (turiya means transcen-dental). Going into nirvikalpa samadhi, (absoluteconcentration free of any differentiation), theindividuality merges with Brahman, and theexperience is—‘This Self is Brahman, I amBrahman’ (Ayam atma brahma, Aham brahmaasmi). The aspirant experiences immense blissin the glory of the Self. This occurs onlythrough one’s continued disciplined effortunder the guidance of the guru, and with thegrace of the Divine. It cannot be described asit is beyond the realm of relativity where alonewords can be used. In this state the pheno-menal world totally disappears and one isidentified with the Essence of the universe,which is symbolized by the dot (nada-bindu)of the Aum.

Aum can also be seen as suggesting theforty-nine letters of the Sanskrit alphabet intheir various permutations and combinationsas ‘a’ is the starting point which ends with ‘m’and ‘u’ rolls over representing the otheralphabets. Then the dot stands for the ultimatepurpose of language, which lies beyond

language itself: ‘failing to reach which i.e.,Brahman, speech falls back together with themind.’ Language is a vehicle through whichman can attain to a level which is beyondlanguage—this is how one can look at Aum.

Another Meaning of AumAum can also be objectively interpreted,

as the foundation on which the concept of theOneness of the creation or universe is based.The universe can be classified into threecategories. The first letter ‘a’ symbolizes thegross, physical, material aspect of universewhich is perceived by the senses. It is calledjagat because it changes constantly (gaccati itijagat). Like the water of a fast flowing riverthe jagat or physical universe is never the same;it flows as a continuous stream in time-space-causation (desha-kala-nimitta) which is itsunderlying strata.

The second letter ‘u’, stands for the subtleaspect of the universe, which exists behind thethings of the gross world. The senses have anupper and lower range beyond which theycannot perceive, though we can find ways toincrease this range. For example, we have beenable to increase or decrease the wavelength ofsound to bring it within hearing level. Still,sounds exist which we do not hear with ourears. So it is with these subtle objects beyondthe gross form. The subtle world, which isbehind the manifested gross world, is notreadily perceivable unless one’s faculties orinstruments are developed to bring it withinthe boundaries of our experience. Theprinciples of time-space-causation, on whichthe gross world functions, are also part of thesubtle world.

The third letter ‘m’, denotes the causalprinciple, the cause of both gross and subtleaspects of this universe. Why does one see theworld as tangible when in fact it is not? Why


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does one seek permanency in this transientworld? Everyone knows that being born theywill die but none is prepared to accept it andface the truth. It is because of the non-perception of the Real Substratum that we takethe appearance as true. We are unable to graspthe Truth underlying the world. However, weimport and impose the permanence of theReality onto the objects of this impermanentworld. This ignorance is the fundamental causeof all misery. Everything in this universedepends on this divine Cause, or Source. Thusour inability to analyse this world correctlyand to thoroughly grasp the truth behind thewhole play of the universe is the cause of allsuffering. Ultimately, not understanding thetruth of the Oneness of jivatma and paramatmais known as primal cause or primal ignorance.

But by explaining the gross, subtle andcausal aspects of the universe nothing positivehas been suggested about their source theAbsolute. The Ultimate Reality exists. It is bothimmanent and transcendent. When one seessomeone as a human, it is partial seeing. Whenseen as a manifestation of the Divine, thatperception is a little more complete. And whenAbsolute Knowledge dawns then oneexperiences the oneness of the seer, the seenand all the aspects of the universe. TheAbsolute, which is manifested in so manynames and forms, is in its absoluteness beyondall diversity. This is suggested by the nada-dhvani, the concluding nasal sound of the Aum.It suggests that there is only One Reality inthe universe, and that It is manifesting aseverything. The causal principle is whatprevents one from seeing the Absolute in itstotality as the immutable, without alternatives,formless Self, which is Absolute Existence (sat),Consciousness (chit) and Bliss (ananda).

The significance of the symbol ‘Aum’ isnot confined to the scriptures alone, but applies

to all knowledge, science and technology,called the apara-vidya or lesser knowledge. Allbranches of knowledge, both scientific andphilosophical, take into consideration thegross, subtle and causal aspects but thesubstratum of everything is the Spirit or Self.Thus, the purpose of the study of the Upani-shads is to experience the Truth denoted byAum in the shanti-patha, the prayer for innerpeace, and not simply to recite it. The Upani-shads ask for nothing apart from peace—neither success, nor wealth, nor victory norany other-worldly object, because it is thepeaceful mind alone which can fathom thesecrets of Nature.

Understanding the Way to PeaceThe invocation is addressed to devas, or

lords of the universe. The concept of devas inthe Upanishads should be harmonized withthe concept of the universe we have today. Toour ancestors at the Upanishadic time devisand devatas were not glorified human formsbut were addressed as the principles controll-ing Nature. The word Deva here is derivedfrom the verb dyu dyotane meaning ‘to shine’.It refers to the ‘effulgent ones’, implying notonly bright light but also that which removeslack of understanding. Each branch of learningfollows a certain principle; get hold of it andthat whole branch is within your grasp. In theinvocation the principles of the universegoverning sound, etc., are being addressed:

‘O Principles of the universe! You who guideand conduct the cosmic affairs in a rhythmicmanner, we pray to you to help us to use thehearing organ to hear only that which isinspiring, so that we may become worthy andadequately qualified to know the meaning ofthe sacred word Aum, the Truth.’

1. The prayer to the devas is a requestthat we may hear only the bhadra, the good.


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Bhadra also means grace. It means hearing, bythe grace and guidance of the devas, all thetruths in the world that are gracious, upliftingand ennobling. For only this will help us toexperience the total meaning of the symbolAum. Therefore worship starts with this prayerthat we may be granted the blessing of hearingthe good. We are endowed with five senses,and we beg the devatas to help us put thosesenses to use only in order to attain to Oneness,through the experience of the meaning of Aum.

2. Then follows the second part of theprayer:

‘Let our eyes develop the power of seeingeverything in the world that ennobles us, inspiresus, and makes us full of grace.’

The eyes, which now only see thevarious ordinary forms, should be enabled tosee the unified essence of these forms. TheDivine is to be seen everywhere by discipliningthe organ of vision. The sages say that whenthe body-consciousness of an individual isabsolutely melted away, he then experiencesnon-difference between himself andParamatman, the Supreme Self, wherever hismind may roam.1

The performance of offerings or sacrifice,yajna, was an obligatory duty of life. It wasmore than merely the performance of asacrifice with fire and other materials. Itsymbolized our obligation to parents, teachers,friends, society, spouse, children, othercreatures, natural resources—to all the thingsthat enable us to live and be comfortable.Above all, it symbolizes our obligation toourselves, to be the knower of the Self. Suchan obligation is yajna, and its application isuniversal. Seeing and hearing the good whileperforming the duties of life, does not hinderor stop the flow of our lives. The mistake wemake is to equate spirituality with other-worldliness. But nowhere in the Upanishads

is one asked to run away from the realities oflife. In fact, the command is to perform yajña,sacrifice, as a daily duty in the world. Thiswas relevant in the past and it is more sotoday.

3. Now we come to the third part of theprayer:

‘May we, with firm and strong body and mind,lead a life full of worship doing work for theDivine.’

Most psychologists say that the move-ments of the body are controlled, motivatedor guided by the movements of the mind. TheUpanishad highlights the same in a differentmanner. Until you are physically stable andhave got rid of your bodily restlessness, yourmind too will jump around like a monkey thathas been given wine and then been attackedby a swarm of bees. Thus the purpose here isto control all the limbs of the body and therebygain control of the mind. For example sittingrelaxed and still in padmasana, a yoga posturesuitable for meditation, helps one to controlthe erratic movements of the mind. So theprayer is that the body and mind may bestrong and calm. This will let us enjoy a longlife for devahita, that is to say for the good ofthe many through the devas, the effulgentprinciples of the universe.

Vyashema means to enjoy, not selfishlybut by dedicating oneself to the welfare ofsociety under the guidance of the Divine.

The ancient philosophers were greatlyintrospective, no doubt, but they also gaveimportance to the world in which they lived.There was no question of living in disharmonyor in isolation, or for one’s own self-interest.So they prayed for a life beneficial to one andall, and also in harmony with the principles ofthe universe, so as to be able to contribute tothem and not to clash with them. They desiredto be part and parcel of the symphony and


equilibrium of nature and thus attain EternalBliss which is the purpose of human life. Thiscomes only when one has grown beyond thedemands of the body and mind and is nolonger bound by them. Now let us considerthe second part of the Shanti patha:

ñdpñV Z BÝÐmo d¥Õldm… & ñdpñV Z… nyfm {dœdoXm… &ñdpñV ZñVmú`m}@[aï>Zo{_… ñdpñV Zmo ~¥hñn{VX©YmVw &&› empÝV… empÝV… empÝV… &&‘May Indra confer undisturbed prosperity on us.May Vriddhashrava (the ancient), Pushan,Vishvaveda (sustainer of the world and all-knowing one), Tarkshya (celestial bird),Arishtanemi (protector from harm), Brihaspati(preceptor of devas), bestow on us undisturbedsustenance to grow in our endeavour. Aum!Peace Peace Peace!’

This is the second part of the peace-chant.In the earlier prayer the word shanti was used.In this verse the key word is svasti. The nearestmeaning of svasti is ‘absence of disturbance.’

Further, in this verse Indra, Pusan andBrihaspati are mentioned by name, whereasin the earlier verse only principles of naturewere spoken of. Those principles are nowpersonalized, so as to make communicationwith them easy. The sages must have thoughtthat the principles by which rain, thunder, andlightning occurred needed to be identified andgiven names, so that prayers could be offeredto them. Indra is thought of as the mastermindbehind all the natural forces which either helpor trouble the insignificant human being. Heis the master-controller of all the forces ofnature that can make life enjoyable and freefrom danger.

Vriddhashrava means the most ancient,the most powerful and revered. So the prayeris to Indra, the master of all the gods, to let uslive free in svasti, from any disturbance.

Pushan is the deva or god who managesthe affairs of Mother Earth—the fertility of theland, the flow of the rivers, the atmosphere onwhich our existence depends, and so on. Let itbe auspicious and propitious so that life isundisturbed.

Arishtanemi is the deva who protects usfrom the evil influences that come between usand attainment of the Divine, and who helpsus understand the secret of the Upani-shads, which is our goal.

Brihaspati is the god of wisdom and wepray to him to prevent us from losing ourbalance and wisdom, to help us control our-selves, and thus to allow us to live undis-turbed. In this way the prayer is that the forcesof the universe may give us peace and theopportunity to manifest fully our creativetalents.

ConclusionThis two-part shanti-patha, though

ancient, is very modern and relevant to ourtimes, for it is a prayer for peace. And it makesit clear that this human life has not been givento us to be lived as if we were simply abiological creature, but as a manava, a humanbeing, who has the capacity to control themovement of the manas or mind. In this waywe are differentiated from the animal world.

The purpose of our being born is torealise our true nature as well as the origin ofNature and the relation or equation of the two.This is clearly the purpose of the first part ofthe shanti patha. And the second part tells usof the struggle necessary to emancipateourselves from the bondage created throughinnumerable births. Thus we pray for help tothe devas of the universe who are stronger andwiser than us.

References : 1. cf. Drigdrishya-viveka, 30, Sarasvatirahasyopanishad, 55

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Spiritual Experiences of Sri Ramakrishna:Upanishads Revitalised

Central Theme of the UpanishadsThe Upanishads present a vision of truth

that is profound, universal and limitless likethe sky. Saints and savants are enchanted bythis grand vision of truth, and sincere spiritualseekers draw inspiration from this vision.Schopenhauer wrote,

‘In the whole world there is no study sobeneficial and so elevating as that of theUpanishads. It has been the solace of my life; itwill be the solace of my death.’1

All the philosophical systems of Hindu-ism invoke the teachings of the Upanishadsas their authority and support. According tothe seers of the Upanishads, truth is onewithout a second. It is immutable, incorporeal,all-pervading pure consciousness, known asBrahman or the Supreme Self. This Self hasno name, no form, no epithet, and nolimitations whatsoever. The various namesand forms of the Supreme Self are feebleattempts by the human mind to name thenameless and attribute form to the formless.The Self is Knowledge-Existence-Bliss abso-lute. Realization of the Self is more than blindbelief, intellectual conviction or emotionalexaltation. It is the result of direct perceptionthat is vivid, purifying, transforming, andconducive to the welfare of all beings. Self-

knowledge is bliss. Tasting the intoxicatingbliss of the Self, a person achieves infiniteexpansion of the soul that embraces all beingsand things of the universe as one with itself.Only knowers of the Self, not philosophers ortheologians, demonstrate the reality of Godand the validity of the scriptures.

Self-knowledge is the central message ofthe Upanishads. Seers of the Upanishadsmaintain that the Self is the Reality of allrealities, Truth of all truths, and Consciousnessof all consciousness. Anything in the universethat does not reflect the light of the Self isshadowed by death and destruction. Self-knowledge is realizing that our individual soulis the focus of the all-pervading Supreme Self.Pursuit of Self-knowledge is the highest formof worship. All our prayer, meditation, self-control, vows, charity and austerities culminatein Self-knowledge.

The seers of the Upanishads exhort us tosacrifice everything for the realization of theSelf. Self-knowledge is the goal of all goals oflife. It is the essence of liberation. Only byrealizing the deathless Self within can oneovercome death and attain true immortality.Those who leave this world without attainingSelf-knowledge go from death to death.Whenever the Upanishadic teachings wereneglected, Hinduism experienced the

SWAMI ADISWARANANDA

Swami Adiswarananda was the Minister-in-charge, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Centre, New York. His booksinclude Meditation & Its Practices and The Vedanta Way to Peace and Happiness, among others. This is the lastarticle he wrote (in July 2007) for The Vedanta Kesari before his untimely demise in October 2007.


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proliferation of dogmas and the rise ofsectarianism and bigotry.

Decline in ReligionNineteenth century Hinduism experien-

ced a severe crisis that brought about aspiritual eclipse of its soul. The message ofthe Upanishads lost its fire and vigour andceased to be a practical reality. That which isthe teaching for the strong-minded became arefuge for the weak, escapists, fatalists, andmiracle-mongers. Hinduism ignored the grandvision of the Upanishadic seers and driftedtoward anthropomorphism and polytheism.There arose diverse schools of thought, eachclaiming its superiority over the others.Glorification of local myths and beliefs,adherence to outdated customs and traditions,and mechanical observance of rituals andceremonies became the order of popularHindu spirituality. The Upanishadic virtuesof renunciation, dispassion, self-control, andlonging for the divine were looked upon asextreme practices meant only for monks andascetics living in the forests and mountains.Upanishadic verses were memorized andchanted with perfect accent and intonation inthe seminaries but were rarely practiced ineveryday life.

Hinduism of the time encouraged amorbid inwardness, a flight from the world indespair over life and its problems. Passivitybecame its keynote and self-withdrawal itsprime virtue. Inertia passed for tranquillity andhopelessness for dispassion. Once a teachingof hope and strength, Hinduism exaggeratedhuman weakness, unworthiness, andsinfulness, focusing only on human limitationsand not on human possibilities. It tilted toomuch toward a form of pseudo-mysticism thatsaw God only in the temple and prayer room,and not outside. Hinduism became a hollow

philosophy of life that produced fakereformers, dreamy idealists, idle philosophers,and so-called knowers of truth who soughttranscendental solutions for earthly problems.It created pessimists who proved life in-tolerable yet continued to tolerate it. Devotionbecame cheap sentiment and knowledgebecame mere rationalization. Devout Hindusprayed for personal gain and personalliberation but looked upon the sufferings ofothers as the deserved result of their pastkarma. The message of the Upanishads waslost in the wilderness of superstition, falsepiety, eroticism, and occultism.

Sri Ramakrishna and His ExperiencesAt this moment of crisis Sri Ramakrishna

(1836-1886) was born. His life, his epoch-making spiritual adventure, his daring anddetermined search for truth, his blazingspiritual experiences stemmed the tide ofdegeneration and changed the thought currentof the time. In his spiritual search SriRamakrishna walked alone. Very few wereable to understand that his spiritualrealizations would set in motion a tidal waveof spiritual regeneration and revival. SriRamakrishna’s life was one of uninterruptedcontemplation of the divine. To a world thatindulged in distraction and chatter SriRamakrishna brought news from a world inwhich communion with the Self imparted thehighest bliss. What he saw, others could notsee; what he understood, others failed tocomprehend.

The nineteenth century, taken over bythe delirium of dry philosophy and coldreason, was challenged by this unknowntemple priest who rose to superhumangreatness by his direct perception of the divine.His spiritual realizations gave him power tovisualize the invisible, and the keenness of his


33

observation enabled him to describe theindescribable truth with extreme precision. Theuniverse of beings and things appeared to himnot as a framework of illusion but as themanifestation of Brahman in time and space.The gulf between heaven and earth wasbridged. Psychologists describe only two levelsof the human mind, conscious and sub-conscious. But Sri Ramakrishna directs ourattention to another level, the superconsciousthat transcends belief and reason. Forpsychologists, the master urge in a humanindividual is the sex-drive or the pursuit ofpower or pleasure. For Sri Ramakrishna, themaster urge is the desire for everlasting life,unlimited bliss, and absolute knowledge.Purity was Sri Ramakrishna’s life-breath. Hishigh spiritual states were observed with awenot only by believers but also by sceptics,agnostics, and atheists, and his samadhis weretested for genuineness by medical doctors.After reaching Brahman, Sri Ramakrishnaremained in samadhi for six months. He said:

For six months at a stretch I remained in thatstate from which ordinary men can never return;generally the body falls off, after three weeks,like a sere leaf. I was not conscious of day andnight. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrilsjust as they do a dead body’s, but I did not feelthem. My hair became matted with dust.2

The Upanishads declare that by realizingBrahman one goes beyond all sorrow andsuffering. The chronicler of The Gospel of SriRamakrishna records how even when sufferingfrom the excruciating pain of cancer in his lastdays, his mind would soar into ecstasy:

Sunday, March 14, 1886… That day Sri Rama-krishna was feeling very ill. At midnight themoonlight flooded the garden, but it could wakeno response in the devotees’ hearts. They weredrowned in a sea of grief. They felt that theywere living in a beautiful city besieged by a

hostile army…. In a very soft voice and withgreat difficulty he said to M: ‘I have gone onsuffering so much for fear of making you allweep. But if you all say: “Oh, there is so muchsuffering! Let the body die”, then I may give upthe body.’ These words pierced the devotees’hearts. And he who was their father, mother,and protector had uttered these words! Whatcould they say? All sat in silence. Some thought,‘Is this another crucifixion—the sacrifice of thebody for the sake of the devotees?’

Monday, March 15, 1886... [The devotees] satspeechless and looked grave, thinking of theMaster’s suffering of the previous night.

Master (to the devotees): ‘Do you know what Isee right now? I see that it is God Himself whohas become all this. It seems to me that men andother living beings are made of leather, and thatit is God Himself who, dwelling inside theseleather cases, moves the hands, the feet, theheads. I had a similar vision once before, when Isaw houses, gardens, roads, men, cattle—allmade of One Substance; it was as if they wereall made of wax. I see that it is God Himselfwho has become the block, the executioner, andthe victim for the sacrifice.’ As he describes thisstaggering experience, in which he realizes infull the identity of all within the One Being, heis overwhelmed with emotion and exclaims, ‘Ah!What a vision!’ Immediately Sri Ramakrishnagoes into samadhi. He completely forgets hisbody and the outer world. The devotees arebewildered. Not knowing what to do, they sitstill. Presently the Master regains partialconsciousness of the world and says: ‘Now Ihave no pain at all. I am my old self again.’ Thedevotees are amazed to watch this state of theMaster, beyond pleasure and pain, weal andwoe.3

The Upanishadic verse, ‘His hands andfeet are everywhere; His eyes, heads, and facesare everywhere; His ears are everywhere; Heexists compassing all’4 was often thought to


34

be a poetic imagination of the Upanishadicseers until it was exemplified in the life of SriRamakrishna.

Pundit Shashadhar [a renowned religious leaderof the time] one day suggested to Sri Rama-krishna that the latter could remove the illnessby concentrating his mind on the throat, thescriptures having declared that yogis had powerto cure themselves in that way. The Masterrebuked the pundit. ‘For a scholar like you tomake such a proposal!’ he said. ‘How can Iwithdraw the mind from the Lotus Feet of Godand turn it to this worthless cage of flesh andblood?’

‘For our sake at least,’ begged Narendra and theother disciples.

‘But,’ replied Sri Ramakrishna, ‘do you think Ienjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but thatdepends on the Mother.’

Narendra: ‘Then please pray to Her. She mustlisten to you.’

Master: ‘But I cannot pray for my body.’

Narendra: ‘You must do it, for our sake at least.’

Master: ‘Very well, I shall try.’

A few hours later the Master said to Narendra:‘I said to Her: “Mother, I cannot swallow foodbecause of my pain. Make it possible for me toeat a little.” She pointed you all out to me andsaid: “What? You are eating through all thesemouths. Isn’t that so?” I was ashamed and couldnot utter another word.’5

Sri Ramakrishna perceived Brahman insamadhi with eyes closed, and he perceivedthe same Brahman with eyes open. For himthe image of Mother Kali was not stone but atransfiguration of Brahman. He said, ‘Kali isverily Brahman, and Brahman is verily Kali.’6

He saw the manifestation of Brahman in theDivine Mother worshipped in the temple andthe same manifestation in a fallen woman onthe street. Seeing drunkards in a grog shop,

he would be overwhelmed with divineinebriation.

Samadhi was so intense in Sri Rama-krishna that he saw the presence of Brahmanin everything and everywhere. Coming downfrom the superconscious level of samadhi, hewould often be unaware of his surroundings.In his exalted spiritual state he would feelidentified with all beings and things andexperience intense pain at the suffering ofothers. During his worship in the temple, hewould often put the flowers on his own headinstead of offering them at the feet of the imageof the Mother. The distinction between theMother in his heart and the Mother in theimage had disappeared for him. Sri Rama-krishna’s God-consciousness transcended thelimits of all sects, denominations, traditionsand conventions. Everyone who came to himfelt uplifted by his profound God-conscious-ness and boundless love. It was as if everyparticle of Sri Ramakrishna’s body was filledwith God-consciousness. Greatly amazed tosee Sri Ramakrishna’s continual God-intoxication, Mathur, the proprietor of the Kalitemple, lovingly told Sri Ramakrishna, ‘Father,there is nothing inside you but God.’7

Revitalizing the UpanishadsThrough his life and realizations, Sri

Ramakrishna revitalised the Upanishads. Thegreat teachings of the Upanishads againbecame practical and life giving. For SriRamakrishna the real temple is the humanheart where the great Self shines. The realingredients for worship are the virtues ofpurity, self-control, physical and mentalausterities. The essence of all austerity is theconquest of lust and greed. True pilgrimage iscommunion with this inmost Self throughconcentration and meditation. Bathing inordinary waters does not purify our soul


unless we bathe in the waters of the divineSelf.

Truth is to be known by realizing thedivine Self within through prayer andmeditation and also through action andexpression in daily life. Being good and doinggood go together. Self-knowledge becomescomplete when it expresses itself as the spiritof service to all living beings. Selfless serviceto all beings is the true worship of God.Oneness of existence is the basis of all loveand charitable feelings. For Sri Ramakrishnadifferent religions are different naturalpathways to reach the same truth.

ConclusionThe great Master of nineteenth century

India did not found a new religious system orphilosophy. He liberated spirituality from reli-giosity. His luminous life attracted hundredsof pure souls who dedicated their lives tospread the message of the living God in thehuman heart. Temples of lifeless ceremoniesand rituals became temples of concentration,

References

meditation and selfless service to all. The Godin every human heart that had been trampledunderfoot was re-established in its full glory.

Sri Ramakrishna reminds us that every-thing becomes dark when we become cut offfrom our true Self, the centre of our being.The maladies of life are primarily spiritual.Wealth and prosperity when not used for theattainment of Self-knowledge breed delusion.Art and aesthetics that do not reflect thegreatness of the Self lapse into sensuality.Intellectual knowledge when it does notconsummate in Self-knowledge creates ego-tism. Achievements of science and technologywhen they are not for the attainment ofknowledge of the Self prove to be dangerousweapons of self-destruction. The quest for theSelf is not a choice but a vital necessity. Whenwe neglect this Self we become lost in theworld of delusion and distraction and face thesame Self as the unforgiving realities of sorrowand suffering. Only Self-knowledge can saveus from the great terrors of life and guaranteeeverlasting peace and happiness.

1. Quoted in Swami Nikhilananda, The Upanishads,vol. 1 (New York: Ramakrishna-VivekanandaCenter, 1990), p. 11.

2. Introduction to The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,trans. Swami Nikhilananda (New York:Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 2000), p. 32.

3. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Pp. 941-942.

4. Svetasvatara Upanishad 3.16, in The Upanishads, vol.2, trans., Swami Nikhilananda (New York:Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1990), p. 103.

5. Introduction to The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, pp.69-70.

6. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 134.7. ibid., p. 359.

‘Indeed, Sri Ramakrishna's life was a significant spiritual event of the ninteenthcentury. His chief disciple, Swami Vivekananda, declared, "His (Ramakrishna's) life wasa thousandfold more than his teaching, a living commentary on the texts of theUpanishads, nay, he was the spirit of the Upanishads living in human form. Nowhereelse in this world exists that unique perfection, that wonderful kindness for all that doesnot stop to justify itself, that intense sympathy for man in bondage.”’

—Swami Saradananada in Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master,Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, P-1030

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PRAVRAJIKA ATMADEVAPRANA

Pravrajika Atmadevaprana is the Secretary, Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Sri Sarada Devi in the Light of the Upanishads

There is an interesting incident abouthow we perceive things. Lord Buddha oncepointed to a flower and asked each one of hisdisciples present to say something about it.One of them pronounced a lecture, another apoem, yet another a parable. Each outdid theother in depth and erudition. Mahakashyap,an eminent disciple, however, only smiled andkept quiet. It is said that only he had seen theflower. Others were mere ‘label makers.’

Indeed, in our quest for experiencingGod, we think too much, reflect too much,talk too much. As Swami Vivekananda said,

‘Our great defect in life is that we are so muchdrawn to the ideal, the goal is so much moreenchanting, so much more alluring, so muchbigger in our mental horizon, that we lose sightof the details altogether.’1

Engrossed in feverish action, we are aptto overlook the real significance of simplethings in life—whether it is a flower or aflower-like simple pure life. One such exampleis Sri Sarada Devi’s life. It is a simple life, naysimplicity itself. But as Sister Nivedita wrotein a letter to Holy Mother once,

‘Surely the wonderful things of God are allquiet—stealing unnoticed into our lives—the airand the sunlight and the sweetness of gardensand of the Ganges, these are the silent thingsthat are like you!’2

Let us ponder on how this simple lifedemonstrated the teachings of the Upanishads.

Upanishads in PracticeThough Holy Mother’s life looks so

simple and commonplace, to understand it isnot easy. One needs to make a good deal ofspiritual evolution to appreciate the Mother’sextraordinary life. One might draw a parallelto what Swamiji said of Sri Ramakrishna:

‘The life of Sri Ramakrishna was an extra-ordinary searchlight under whose illuminationone is able to really understand the whole scopeof Hindu religion. He was the object-lesson ofall the theoretical knowledge given in theShastras (scriptures). He showed by his life whatthe Rishis and Avataras really wanted to teach.The books were theories, he was the realisation.This man had in fifty-one years lived the fivethousand years of national spiritual life and soraised himself to be an object-lesson for futuregenerations.’3

No wonder Chakravarthy Rajagopala-chari aptly named Sri Ramakrishna’s teachingsas ‘Ramakrishna Upanishad.’ But if Sri Rama-krishna was the living embodiment of theancient principles of the Upanishads, thenHoly Mother’s life practically presents therecent reliable commentary on them.

Cosmic Sweep of Divine VisionOne common feature of sages of the

Upanishads as well as Mother’s life is that theyboth are shining examples of how to pursuethe path of attaining the vision of the Onebehind the many, consummating it with the


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vision of the One in the many, and finally withthe One as the many. Mother’s life is a simplestory which explains this profound truth indetail. Her life is an enduring image offulfilment and joy.

Once a small ocean fish went to an olderfish and asked, ‘Excuse me, you are older thanI, so can you tell me where to find this thingthey call the ocean?’ ‘The ocean,’ said the olderfish, ‘is the thing you are in now.’ ‘Oh! This?But this is just water. What I am seeking is theocean,’ said the disappointed fish as it swamaway to reach elsewhere. The older fishexclaimed, ‘Oh little fish! What are you lookingfor? Just look!’ Living in the very ocean andsearching for it! That is the irony of humansituation—searching for the Infinite whileinfinite is all around us.

Once a lady went to Holy Mother. Sheexpressed her desire to have some spiritualguidelines from her. But the Mother went ondoing her household duties. She did puja,cooking, distributed food and so on. All thewhile, the lady was following Mother. Whiletaking leave of her, she expressed herdisappointment, ‘Mother! I thought of gettingsome instruction from you.’ Mother answered,‘Yes my child! I have been instructing you allthe while.’ That is Holy Mother’s message tous—live the life. Her own life demonstratesthe glorious fact that right from the humblesthousehold duties to that of guiding the affairsof a spiritual organization, any responsibilitycould be performed without losing the cosmicsweep of Divine vision. She made nodistinction between the sacred and secular norcompartmentalised life in any other way.

A Pitcher of BlissHoly Mother used to say that during her

days in Dakshineswar, she felt as if a pitcherof bliss was placed in her heart. To us it seems

as if Sri Ramakrishna established Her as apitcher of bliss, in the very heart of our worldto guide and provide us succour in this dismalstate of affairs. In Sister Devamata’s words,

‘Those who had the rare blessing of living withHoly Mother learned that religion was a sweet,natural joyous thing; that purity and holinesswere tangible realities.’4

How to live in this world? By possessingGod, by renouncing whatever is not real. For,says the Isha Upanishad, ‘The whole universeis filled with God.’5 Holy Mother showed ushow we are to do this. Small, little acts of herlife show us how to live in this clumsy,consuming world of hundred little exactingproblems, without being affected by them. Hercentral message is that one can remainunaffected by the worldly cares only bykeeping God, and God alone, as the light,solace and goal of life.

The Upanishadic SolutionTo perceive the presence of all-pervading

God is the highest achievement of all humangenius. To strive for this realisation is whatthe Upanishads guide us to do. Kena Upani-shad declares that ‘Man achieves great energythrough the atman and immortality throughits realization,’ (atmana vindate viryam). Echoingthis important truth, Swami Vivekanandasaid,

‘Call upon the sleeping soul and see how itawakens! Power will come, glory will come, andeverything that is excellent will come, when thesleeping soul is aroused to self-consciousactivity.’6

Awakening this inner core of our beingand aligning our lives to It, is the ultimatesolution to present day problems. One mayrecall here what Arnold Toynbee, the greathistorian and the Nobel laureate observed


38

some 50 years ago. He said that ‘a chapterwhich had a western beginning will have tohave an Indian ending if it is not to end in theself-destruction of the human race.’ He furtherexplained,

‘In the present age, western technology has notonly annihilated the distance, but it has armedthe people of the world with weapons ofdevastating power at a time when they havebeen brought to point blank range of each otherwithout yet having learnt to know and love eachother. At this supremely dangerous moment inhuman history, the only way of salvation formankind is an Indian way. The primary reasonis that this teaching is right and . . . is rightbecause it flows from a true vision of spiritualreality. That true vision is to be found in thetruth of the Upanishads.’7

The Upanishadic vision of life is a holisticvision of life. Says the Mundaka Upanishad

O adorable Sir, what is by knowing which allthis becomes known?’ 8

This search for the common denominatorof life, in truth, is what life is forcing us toseek. Generally we keep struggling to keepour individuality, our separateness, and thatis the cause for unhappiness. If we keepourselves away from total life, it generates afeeling of insufficiency and emptiness.Separation and differentiation only add to ourmisery. The solution, therefore, lies in breakingthe false barriers and seeking unity andoneness. This is where the absolutecontentment and fullness can be found. It isthis all-inclusive vision of spiritual realitywhich Toynbee termed as the ‘Indian Way.’

Holy Mother practised this vision ofinclusiveness and love in her life. Her oft-quoted words ‘Learn to make the whole worldyour own. No one is a stranger, my child. Thewhole world is your own,’ sum up not only

her central message but the message of theUpanishads as well.

Overcoming Inner ObstaclesThough we, the heirs of such immortal

wisdom, hear this, it does not stir us; we findthese spiritual truths dry and insipid. Why?The problem lies with our attitude towardslife. It is only when the field is fertile that theseeds sprout. A handful of wheat, fivethousand years old, was found in the tomb ofone of the kings of ancient Egypt. Someoneplanted the grains and to every one’s amaze-ment they came to life. Therein lies the secret.

The wisdom of Upanishad can be likenedto those seeds. They contain much life andenergy. Though they can remain in the formof seeds for centuries, when they are sown inthe fertile soil of a receptive heart, theirpotential is revealed. If our hearts are dry anddead, how could anything take root there? Wemust introspect and find out how to make ourminds spiritually fertile. Holy Mother’s God-centred life can be a source of great inspirationin this context. Looking at her life strengthensour faith that this ideal is practical.

Practice of Universal LoveTrue love is universal. This is what Isa

Upanishad (verse7) proclaims, ‘One who seesthe same self in others, where is sorrow ordelusion for him?’ The wise man is he whorealizes all beings as not distinct from his ownself and his own self as the self of all beings.Such a person cannot hate anyone; he can onlylove. Holy Mother was an embodiment of thistruth. Her love was as universal as air, as un-polarized as space, as same-sighted as sunlight.

Be it at her little cottage at Jayrambati orthe Udbodhan House in Calcutta, whereverMother lived, it was a Rishi Ashrama. Who-ever came there—no matter if one was a


39

labourer or a cart driver, a hawker or apalanquin bearer, a fisherman or a fish monger—that person was Mother’s son or daughter.They all received the same welcome, love andattention from Mother as her own devotees.Hence wherever Mother lived, there came intoexistence a unique institution which formedin itself a Math, a veritable temple, as well asa householder’s home—all rolled into one.

If we study Mother’s life in depth, wecome to understand that true spiritual outlookmeans to seek the welfare of all. Love shouldbe universal, directed towards all people. Sucha universal attitude comes only throughexpansion of heart, through sharing in largerlife.

Before leaving for America, at MountAbu, Swami Vivekananda said to SwamiTuriyananda, his brother disciple,

‘Hari bhai, I don’t know what I got through allthese spiritual practices, but this much I am sure,my heart has expanded. I feel for all.’ 9

This is real compassion or true spiritualoutlook.

An illustration from Mother’s lifeexplains this further. Once someone broughttwo choice mangoes to the Holy Mother.Mother wanted to give them to Sister Deva-mata, an American nun, who was on a visit toher. But Sister Devamata refused to acceptthem saying that it would make her happier ifthe Holy Mother had them. To this HolyMother responded with a beautiful meaningfulquestion, ‘Do you think it will give you greaterpleasure to have me keep them or give megreater pleasure to have you take them?’

Devamata, the wise lady understood theinner meaning of this question and answered,‘Yes, it will give you greater pleasure becauseyou have a larger heart to feel it.’ She realizedthe fact that Holy Mother’s love and compa-

ssion were not based on ordinary humaninstincts. They were based on largerawareness.

Later Sister Devamata made thiscomment: ‘Unbounded was Mother’s concernfor every living being. No human measurecould contain it.’10 Swami Virajananda (later6th President of the Ramakrishna Order), whilecommenting about the uniqueness of Mother’sdivine love says,

‘While at home I had loved my mother intenselyand she too had abundant affection for me. Butcould that love stand in comparison to that ofHoly Mother’s? Nay, she is the mother of myinnumerable past incarnations—the mother ofeternal time the mother of my very being. Earthlylove however pure and noble, still binds butMother’s affection had a liberating effect on thebonds of ignorance.’11

A Tower of ToleranceOne reads in the Chandogya Upanishad:

‘Where one sees another, one hears another, solong as there are two, there must be fear, andfear is the mother of all misery. Where nonesees another, where it is all one, there is none tobe miserable, none to be unhappy.’12

Holy Mother, throughout her life, neitherexcluded nor hated anyone. She included allin the breadth of her love. She accepted all,even criminals, drunkards and thieves, if theybut called her ‘Mother.’ Her boundlesstolerance was based on the fact that shethought of the world as ignorant rather thanwicked, as unsatisfactory rather thanrebellious.

A small incident beautifully expressesthis. A young student used to visit Motherquite often to receive her blessings. But incollege he had to keep company with all sortsof boys and went astray and gradually cameto feel that he was no good. So, one day he


went to Mother and said, ‘Mother, I will notcome here again. I am a misfit here. I am notworthy of this place.’ So saying, he tried torun away but Mother ran after him, took himby the shoulders and shaking him said,

‘Whenever bad thoughts disturb your mind,think of me.’

Then she let go of him. On his way home,the young man kept repeating, ‘Think of me,and remember me.’ He could not forgetMother’s wonderfully compassionate eyes.Eventually he became a monk.13

Thus lived this modern brahmavadini ofthe ancient Upanishads. Conscious of hercosmic divine nature and power, she boldlyproclaimed, ‘If my child gets covered withmud or dirt, is it not my duty to cleanse himand take him on my lap? . . .I am the motherof the virtuous and also the mother of thewicked.’ The fact that Mother’s affection hada liberating effect on the bonds of ignorancewas literally proved in the case of Radhu, herbrother’s daughter.

Unlimited Power, Yet No Trace of It!Though a spiritual giant of great excep-

tion, Holy Mother lived like a commoner.There is a moving incident depicting her asan unassuming, simple mother. After visitingMother at Jayarambati, Swami Nikhilanandathen a college student, along with Gowri-maand two other devotees were starting forCalcutta. The Holy Mother asked him againand again to look after Gowri-ma during thejourney and with tearful eyes prayedrepeatedly to Master for their safety. Gowri-ma in order to assure her asked hervehemently not to worry about them. SwamiNikhilananda later recalled:

‘The louder Gowri-ma roared not to worry aboutthem, the more humbly the Mother prayed to

God for us. I watched the scene and said tomyself: “Here is a woman who has not amillionth part of Mother’s power and is bubblingover. And there is the Holy Mother, a veritabledynamo of power acting like a ordinary motherand restraining it all.”’14

Writes Swami Budhananda,

‘Such was the tremendous power of herunassuming renunciation that though she wentabout attending to daily duties like an ordinarywoman in white sheet, great sannyasins andBrahmajnanis felt blessed prostrating before her.She looked upon those self-realized souls as amother would on the little ones. MightyVivekananda was at best a robust child beforeher. Such was the quiet authority of herrenunciation; such was her absolute assimilationof the purest content of sannyasa.’15

The Upanishad PersonifiedHoly Mother was the embodiment of

many ideals mentioned in the Indian spiritualtradition. One may recall here the greatbrahmavadinis (knowers of Brahman) likeGargi who challenged sage Yajnavalkya in thelearned assembly at the court of King Janaka.There have been many great women seers likeVak, who gave the famous Devi Suktam of theRig Veda. The Upanishads also speak of greatwives like Maitreyi, who rejected worldlyriches and preferred immortal wisdom. ThePuranas describe great mothers like QueenMadalasa who imparted spiritual knowledgeto her sons from their very birth. There havebeen great nuns and great womenadministrators. But think of any one who hasbeen all these at the same time, and yet muchmore? The name of Holy Mother naturallycomes to mind.

Sri Sarada Devi is like the space whichcontains both atoms and galaxies. That is whyeven some of the direct disciples of Sri

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Ramakrishna could not realize her greatnessin the beginning. It was comprehended bySwami Vivekananda alone. He was the firstone to point out to his brother disciples saying,‘You have not yet understood the wonderfulsignificance of Mother’s life. None of you. Butgradually you will know.

‘Without Shakti there is no regeneration for theworld. Mother has been born to revive. . . once

1. CW, 2:12. Sri Srarada Devi, the Great Wonder, Advaita

Ashrama, Kolkata, Pp. 484-53. CW, 5.534. Days in an Indian Monastery, p.2285. Isha Upanishad, 16. CW, 3: 1937. Arnold Toynbee, Vedanta Kesari, 2004, p. 4518. Mundaka Upanishad, verse 3

References

9. cf. The Life of Swami Vivekananda By His Eastern andWestern Disciples, 1: 388

10. Days in an Indian Monastery, p. 21511. Sri Srarada Devi, the Great Wonder, p. 12412. Chandogya Upanishad, VII, xxxiii - xxiv13. cf. Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi The Holy Mother,

p. 165-16614. Sri Srarada Devi, the Great Wonder, p. 18715. Ibid, p. 449

more will Gargis and Maitreyis be born into theworld.’

To read Holy Mother’s life and teachingsis to know the Upanishads in practice. Let usconclude with Sri Ramakrishna’s glowingeulogy,

‘Look, this Sarada is Saraswati herself. She hascome down to the world to give knowledge. . .She is no ordinary woman.’

��

Sri Ramakrishna’s Final Word

To me it has always appeared that she is Sri Ramakrishna’s final word asto the ideal of Indian womanhood. But is she the last of an oldorder, or the beginning of a new? In her, one sees realized thatwisdom and sweetness to which the simplest of women mayattain. And yet, to myself the stateliness of her courtesy andher great open mind are almost as wonderful as her sainthood.I have never known her hesitate, in giving utterance to large andgenerous judgement, however new or complex might be the questionput before her. Her life is one long stillness of prayer. Her whole experienceis of theocratic civilization. Yet she rises to the height of every situation. Isshe tortured by the perversity of any about her? The only sign is a strangequiet and intensity that comes upon her. . .

And yet is she, as one of her spiritual children said of her, speaking literallyof her gift of song, “full of music,” all gentleness, all playfulness. And the roomwherein she worships, withal, is filled with sweetness.

—Sister Nivedita, The Master As I Saw Him, Pp.122-123

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SWAMI GAUTAMANANDA

Swami Vivekananda’s Love of Upanishads

Swamiji and UpanishadsSwami Vivekananda was an ardent lover

of Upanishads. He said that he quoted nothingbut the Upanishads in his message. He lovedthe Upanishads because they contain theessence of Vedas (vedanta, or the quintessenceof Vedas). The Upanishads are the repositoryof the direct experiences of innumerable rishisabout the eternal truth about God, creation,soul, the nature of soul’s bondage and the wayto its freedom.

Upanishads declare that the goal ofhuman life is neither happiness of the sensesnor mind nor seeking money, comforts, nameor fame but Absolute Freedom. This Freedommakes one fearless which is the direct outcomeof experiencing our own spiritual Self, theAtman, as infinite Life, infinite Knowledge andinfinite Bliss (sat-chit-ananda).

In reality, everyone of us is eternal. Weare ever-free souls, the atman. Since we areignorant of this central truth of our being, wesuffer. Man should strive to experiencespiritual truth that he is the eternal and freeAtman, the source of infinite bliss, infinite love,infinite knowledge, power and fearlessness.

Swami Vivekananda’s teachings to thehumanity as a whole centre round this ‘Freeingthe soul from its fetters of worldliness andbondage born of ignorance.’ He placed beforeeveryone atmano mokshartham jagat hitaya cha,(‘For Self-realization and to live for the welfare

of others’) as the ideal of life. In order to attainSelf-realisation, one should practise renun-ciation and service which ultimately lead oneto self-fulfilment. Through renunciation andservice alone can one make the society grownobler and better.

Therefore Swamiji wanted everyone,specially the youth, to read Upanishads.Swamiji’s Complete Works record the followingconversation with his beloved disciple SaratChandra Chakravarty:

In the evening Swamiji called the disciple andasked him, ‘Have you got the Katha Upanishadby heart?’

Disciple: ‘No, sir, I have only read it withShankara’s commentary.’

Swamiji: ‘Among the Upanishads, one finds noother book so beautiful as this. I wish you wouldall get it by heart. What will it do only to readit? Rather try to bring into your life the faith, thecourage, the discrimination, and the renunciationof Nachiketa.’1

Swami Vivekananda’s love for theUpanishads was born of his innate love fordirect knowledge of everything—both secularand spiritual. As a young man, fired withintense desire to know Truth, he went to SriRamakrishna. He wanted direct experience ofGod, and in his very first meeting with SriRamakrishna, he asked Sri Ramakrishna,‘Have you seen God?’ This incident reminds

A senior trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and a member of the governing body of the Ramakrishna Mission, theauthor is the President of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.


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us of the Upanishads where it is said, ‘ThisAtman is to be directly experienced(drashtavyaha) through hearing from theenlightened Guru and then throughcontemplation and meditation on the same.’2

Sri Ramakrishna’s reply was exactly likethat of an Upanishadic Rishi. He said ‘Yes, Ihave seen God. Others also can see Him, ifthey earnestly desire to. He who wants him,gets him.’ On hearing this, the young SwamiVivekananda at once observed that by sayingthat ‘I have seen, others also can verify it, andthe way to do is to intensely long for Him,’ SriRamakrishna had made religion into a science.This is what a scientist would say: ‘I have doneit, you also can do it and this is the method.’And this is what Sri Ramakrishna too said.

Swami Vivekananda declared:

‘The Upanishads are the great mine of strength.Therein lies strength enough to invigorate thewhole world; the whole world can be vivified,made strong, energised through them.’3

Let us now try to understand why SwamiVivekananda loved Upanishads so much andwhat makes them so universally relevant andappealing.

Divinity of ManThe first reason why Swamiji admired

the Upanishads so much is because theUpanishads teach divinity of man, (Tatvamasi,‘You are That Brahman’) and the solidarity ofall creation in Brahman (‘Sarvam khalu idambrahma, ‘All this creation is Brahman’). Swamijiexplains how this knowledge helps one inpractical terms. This knowledge confersAbsolute Fearlessness, Freedom and Joy. As itmakes one realise the unity of the individualwith all creation, one loses all fear and hencedevelops unqualified love towards all. In short,it makes every man or woman a living god—one who loves all and is loved by all.

Paraphrasing what the Upanishadstaught, Swamiji said:

‘Ye are the Children of God, the sharers ofimmortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Yedivinities on earth—sinners? It is a sin to call aman so; it is a standing libel on human nature.Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusionthat you are sheep; you are souls immortal,spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter,ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, notyou the servant of matter.’4

That is why Swami Vivekanandadeclared Upanishads as a mine of strength—for they preach strength by arousing theinherent divinity. He always stressed theUpanishads’ declaration of man as one withGod Himself. This idea, that it is ‘The one’that appears as ‘many’ which makes this worlda playground where the Lord plays like a childand we are His playmates, however terrible,hideous and dangerous it may appear. SwamiVivekananda saw in the teachings of theUpanishads manliness. The Upanishads taughtthat

‘You make your own destiny. . . “What you havedone you can also undo.”’5

Religion is RealisationWhen Swami Vivekananda lectured in

the United States and Europe, people wereastonished to hear that God can be seen, thatsoul can be seen. He emphasised the fact thatreligion was a matter of experience. Religionwas realization, not merely believing indogmas. When he spoke (in California in 1900)that ‘It is no good simply to pray to Jesus, butyou should yourselves become Jesus,’ he wasactually speaking the language of the messageof Upanishads which says: ‘It is good to knowBrahman even in this very life.’ (Ihachedavedidatha satyamasti).6


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In the Western concept of religion, the‘dogmas’ of theologians are the bugbear of thescientists. Reasoning of the scientists is a terrorfor the theologians. Thus, scientists andreligionists have been in constant friction andfight. Swami Vivekananda placed before themthe message of Upanishads as ‘Realize theTruth directly for yourself; why depend onlyon reason or belief?’ The Upanishads say,‘Atman cannot be realized by reasoning,reading or hearing’ (nayamatma pravachanenalabhyo na medhaya na bahuna shrutena).7 Theydeclared that ‘This atman is really Brahman(ayam atma brahma). Therefore the search forGod starts with the search of one’s own ‘soul’.No one can deny the existence of one’s ownself, the ‘I’ behind one’s ego. By graduallydeveloping purity, dispassion, concentration,this small individual ‘I’ will itself beexperienced as the Infinite ‘I’ or GOD. That iswhy Swami Vivekananda said, ‘The oldreligions said he is an atheist who did notbelieve in God, but the new religion says thathe is an atheist who does not believe inhimself.’8 This ‘self’ refers to our inherent ‘Self’,the Divine Core of our being.

This Self (the pure ‘I’) is beyond genderbecause it is behind and beyond the body-mind complex. Hence, the teachings ofUpanishads are addressed to the souls of allmen or women of all castes and races and eachcan practice their teachings in order to realizethe highest truth.

Universality of UpanishadsUpanishads declare that God, soul,

heaven, immortality, eternal moral laws, andso on are all true because one can ‘experience’these through a purified, concentrated mind.This is called the ‘Yoga of Atman’. As is said:’One realizes this Atman through the Yoga ofAtman (adhyatma-yogaadhigamena devam

matwa). In other words, one can realise theatman through following a certain method.Everyone is eligible for it provided he iswilling to undergo all the discipline involvedin attaining it. Hence the Upanishads arerelevant to all—Hindus, Muslims, Christians,and all others. In this, there is no bar of genderor caste either. Indeed the Upanishads can becalled a Universal Book of Eternal Religion.

He called the religion of Upanishads asa Universal Religion of the future humanityfor the future humanity will be full ofknowledge, both scientific and spiritual.Upanishads have no fear of any truth whetherof external world (science) or of internal world(spirituality).

Swami Vivekananda wanted thisuniversality of the Upanishads to be taught toall so that all people of the earth can cometogether through a spiritual fraternity. Evenas the scientific principles discovered by aperson of any nationality are accepted and putinto application by the people of any othercountry, so also the Truth of Divinity as theCore of every human being can be applied byany person of any country and religion. SwamiVivekananda loved Upanishads for thisuniversality and all-inclusiveness.

Upanishads as the Remover of SuperstitionsWhen we add manure for nourishing

plants, this often results in lot of wild weedsalso sprouting up! So is the case with religion.Soon after a few centuries of the departure ofthe founding prophet of a religion, manycharlatans who fake the original message oftheir prophet come to the scene. They givefalse promises and indulge in miracle-mongering. They form secret societies and giveesoteric teachings. All these weaken the peopleunlike the true religion, which always makesone strong, free and fearless.


If one looks at the teachings of theUpanishad in this context, one finds them sofree from all such superstitious elements. Theyare a mine of life giving, transparent andrational ideas. They kill all superstitions evenbefore they come anywhere near them. It islike sunrays that dispel all darkness and giveall nourishment and energy to everything onearth. Swami Vivekananda loved Upanishadsfor this aspect. He told his brother disciple,Swami Premananda, on the last day of his life(4 July 1904) in Belur Math, that a Vedic schoolwhere all the Vedas would be taught shouldbe started. Swami Premananda asked, ‘WhyVedas?’ ‘It will kill all superstitions,’ repliedSwamiji.9

Self-experience as the Source of StrengthSince the Upanishads deal with spiritual

truths with the authority of ‘sva-anubhava’, ordirect (self) experience, they are a terror to allthe weakening, mystery-mongering super-stitions which thrive on ignorance and humanfailings. We see that in the science there areno serious disputations because it is based onverifiable truths. Similarly Swamiji held theUpanishad in high esteem as they are basedon experiential or verifiable truth.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, it ismentioned how sage Yajnavalkya encountereda number of people who disputed his viewsabout spiritual truths. But as Yajnavalkya hadrealised what he was preaching, he could bringall of them round without much difficulty.Says Swamiji:

Strength, O man, strength, say the Upanishads,stand up and be strong. Ay, it is the onlyliterature in the world where you find theword “Abhih”, “fearless”, used again andagain; in no other scripture in the world is thisadjective applied either to God or to man. Abhih,fearless!’10

Swami Vivekananda wanted all religionsto adopt this method of self-experience inpreference to holding on to some dogmas ormythologies and fighting over them. Swamijithought that these Upanishads would pave theway for healthy inter-religious dialogues andevolution of a universal morality and religionin the near future.

Eternal Principles amidst ChangeSwami Vivekananda admired Upani-

shads for they contain the eternal principlesof spiritual life of all religions of the world.These principles remain unchanged despite allsocial or economic changes. The nature of Godand soul remains unchanged amidst changingtimes but, the external details like socialcustoms, rituals, forms, dress, food or drinkdo change. Swamiji says that the latter shouldbe allowed to change with times but alwayskeeping the ‘eternal principles’ intact. Hebelieved that these changes would be effectedby men and women of Self-realization whocome at the right time. They come, as if with abadge of authority, and the society also acceptsthem gladly.

Hence, Swami Vivekananda felt the needof newer and newer prophets, giving freshinterpretation to eternal principles for thechanging scenario. Upanishads teach theseeternal principles and this has endeared themto Swami Vivekananda.

Real social reformation will come whenthis Atman is made to manifest in everyone.11

That is done when selfishness is given upthrough renunciation and loving service. Incarrying out reforms, Swamiji advised:

‘Carry the light and hope of Vedanta to everydoor and rouse up the divinity that is hiddenwithin every soul. In this is centred the salvationof humanity here and hereafter.’12

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Swamiji saw Upanishads as the unifierof all the philosophies—dualism, qualifiednon-dualism and non-dualism. He said, ‘Thebelief in Atman, common to all sects, which isthe repository of all power, purity andperfection, is your birthright, it is inside youalways.’13 This doctrine of Upanishad he calledas ‘The science of the soul.’14

Hence, Schopenhauer, the great Germanphilosopher of 19th century remarked afterreading a rough translation of Upanishads,

‘In the whole world there is no study sobeneficial and so elevating as that of theUpanishads. It has been the solace of my life, itwill be the solace of my death.’

Renunciation or Materialism?Today many people believe that it is

consumerism which is ‘good’ for humanprogress. But the Upanishads point out thatthough it is good to have the least number ofworldly things, the real joy in life comes frominculcating control over ourselves. Referringto this, says Swamiji, ‘The world-weariness hascome upon the West, whereas the followers ofrenunciation and self-control in India are freshand young.’ In the Upanishads, there is a cleardemarcation of the changing rituals and rulesfrom the eternal principles of religion. Hence,Vedanta is beyond ‘changes.’ And conse-quently it is Eternal.

Upanishads have made India a land oftolerance, acceptance, peace and spiritualitybecause of their glorious teachings of unity indiversity (ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti, ‘Truthis one, sages call it by many names’). Howimmensely relevant and great this teaching ishas been highlighted by the events of 9/11and after. Vedanta gives to every individualfreedom in religion through its principle ofIshta Devata (chosen form of God), and in socialmatters, it offers a rich mix of culture or

personal refinement—a sure antidote toheartless competition we are caught in, insteadof the present caste based on money.

Here is the underlying oneness of allreligions, their Gods and angels, sages andseers, prophets and divine incarnations. Theyare all one God, appearing as many, accordingto time, place, customs and circumstances. Itis like one actor in different dresses coming inmany roles in a drama on stage.

Steadfastly holding on to any one realprophet, one can reach the highest divineperfection being called variously as Brahman,God or Allah.

Swami Vivekananda pointed to theurgent need of a rational religion for today’sworld. He declared that Upanishads fulfilledthis need. He prophesied that if the West didnot orient its materialistic society to thesespiritual precepts, it would crumble into piecesbefore long.

He often repeated MaharnarayanaUpanishad’s words, ‘neither through work northrough progeny but through renunciationalone is immortality to be reached (na karmanana prajaya dhanena tyagenaike amritatvamanashuh).15 The infinite God cannot be gotthrough clinging to finite sense-pleasures ofthe world. Hence, renunciation is taught inUpanishads.

Swami Vivekananda notes thatUpanishads give us the rational sanction foruniversal ethics—‘Do unto others which youwould like others do unto you.’ This is basedon oneness underlying all creations. Let usremember that ‘You hurt another at the riskof hurting yourself because you are the otheralso’.16

This is the message of strength given bythe Upanishads. The world needs strength andfearlessness and this comes from realising ouroneness with each other in and through God.

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ConclusionThough there is much progress in science

and technology today, people in general arenot happy both in their social and individuallife. Wealth has accumulated but men aredecaying. The values like simple living andhigh thinking, inter-personal love, cooperation,appreciation, service, sacrifice for poor, needy,and weaker sections of society, respect for pureknowledge, and interest in learning spiritualtruths are fast vanishing.

The result is the proliferating restlessness,threat of war and violence, terrorism andsuicide squads. Correspondingly there isincrease in alcoholism, drug addiction,divorces, suicides, violence against women andchildren and reckless bloodshed in the nameof religion. What is the way out?

Swami Vivekananda sounded the ‘death-knell’ of all fanaticism and bigotry on Sep 11,1897 at Chicago Parliament of Religions. Theworld did not listen to him and the result isthe devastation of 9/11 of 2001 at New York!

May we listen to Swami Vivekananda’sfervent call to follow the Upanishads: uttishtatajagrata, praapya varan nibodhatha (Arise, awake,go to the teacher and be enlightened).17 SwamiVivekananda made it more direct and dynamicas follows: ‘Arise, Awake and stop not till thegoal is reached.’

Assures Swami Vivekananda,

‘Teach yourselves, teach every one his realnature. Power will come, glory will come,goodness will come, purity will come and allthat is excellent will come when this sleepingsoul is roused to self-conscious activity.’18

1. CW, 6: 4562. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad3. CW, 3: 2384. CW, 1: 115. CW, 1: 3206. Kena Upanishad, II. 5

References

Strength of Conviction‘Vedanta says that a knower of Brahman becomes fearless. Fear

originates from duality. Because an illumined soul experiences thenon-dual Brahman, he can never fear anyone. Once while in theHimalayan region in Tehiri-Garhwal, Swami Turiyananda [a Direct Discipleof Sri Ramakrishna] was living in a thatched hut that had a brokendoor. One night he heard the villages cry, “Tiger! Tiger!” heimmediately put some bricks behind the door to protect himself. Justthen he remembered a passage from the Taittiriya Upanishad that declaresthat even at the command of Brahman the god of death does his duty like aslave. His awareness of the Atman awakened, and defeated the body idea.He kicked the piles of brick away from the entrance, and sat for meditation.Fortunately, the tiger did not show up.’

—God Lived With Them, pp. 367-68

7. Mundaka Upanishad, III. ii. 38. CW, 2: 3019. Life of Swami Vivekananda, 2: 65410. CW, 3: 23711. cf. CW, 3: 19612. cf. CW, 3: 199

13. cf. CW, 3: 15914. CW, 3: 16015. CW, 4: 18316. cf. CW, 3: 18917. Kathopanishad,18. CW, 3: 193

��

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SWAMI HARSHANANDA

The author is a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order and is the President of Ramakrishna Math, Basavanagudi,Bangalore. He is a versatile speaker and a prolific writer having several publications in English, Kannada, andSanskrit to his credit.

Frequently Asked Questions About Upanishads

QUESTION: What does the term ‘Upaniäad’mean?

ANSWER: The word ‘Upaniäad’ is derivedfrom the verbal root sad which has severalmeanings: loosening, movement andannihilation. Putting all these three sensestogether, the word ‘Upaniäad’ refers to thatdivine knowledge or wisdom which loosensthe bonds of saÉsàra (transmigratoryexistence) of a being, annihilates his ajñàna orignorance of his real nature and leads him toBrahman or God, the Absolute. The book orthe scriptural work that teaches this wisdomis also called ‘Upaniäad’.

The word may also mean ‘sittingdevotedly near’. Hence it represents the ‘secretteaching, of spiritual wisdom’ imparted inprivate to worthy pupils, but zealouslyguarded from the unworthy ones.

QUESTION: How old are the Upaniäads?The orthodox view is that the Upaniäads

are Revealed Word. They are revealed by Godhimself at the commencement of each cycle ofcreation to the worthy few. Hence they areeternal. However, treating them as books ofspiritual wisdom, can we assign any date orperiod, in relation to human history as knowntill now? Attempts in this direction have ratherbeen frustrating, thanks to that peculiar traitof the Hindu mind which accords muchgreater importance to the principle than to theperson or the period.

The Upaniäads have been an integral partof the Vedas. Hence, a date assigned to themcan as well hold good for the Upaniäads also.The date of the Ígveda has varied from 4500B.C. (B.G. Tilak) and 2400 B.C. (Hang) to 1200B.C. (Max Muller). Modern European scholarsassign the period 700 B.C. – 600 B.C. to theUpaniäads assuming a gradual evolution tothe philosophical ideas from the period of theVedic hymns to that of the Àraëyakas and theUpaniäads. B.G. Tilak, on the basis of anastronomical data provided in the MaitràyaëìyaUpaniäad, has however, assigned 1900 B.C. asthe date of the Upaniäad. Hence, according tohim and the scholars that concur with him,the Upaniäads belong to the period 2500 B.C.– 2000 B.C.

QUESTION: Please specify the number ofUpaniäads.

ANSWER: From among the extantUpaniäads, only ten to fifteen are consideredto be the older ones. They are the basic sourcesof ancient Hindu philosophy.

The number of works that go by thename ‘Upaniäad’ and available in print todayexceeds 200. The Muktikopaniäad gives a list of108 Upaniäads. Áaîkara (A.D. 788-820), theearliest commentator, has chosen only tenUpaniäads to expound. He refers to a few morein his commentary on the Brahmasùtras.Ràmànuja (A.D. 1017-1137) has chosen, inaddition, two more. Considering the ones


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chosen by them as more ancient andauthoritative we can now list them (in thealphabetical order) as follows:

Aitareya UpaniäadBíhadàraëyaka UpaniäadChàndogya UpaniäadÌáàvàsya UpaniäadJàbàla UpaniäadKaivalya UpaniäadKaêha UpaniäadKauäìtaki UpaniäadKena UpaniäadMàëdùkya UpaniäadMahànàràyaëa UpaniäadMuëåaka UpaniäadPraána UpaniäadÁvetàávatara UpaniäadTaittirìya UpaniäadVajrasùcikà UpaniäadMost of the Upaniäads, outside the list

given above, belong to a much later period inour history and were written to propagatespecific cults and sects. The nomenclature‘Upaniäad’ was conveniently added to themto gain respectability, acceptance and authorityin the orthodox circles or among the followers.However, it must be conceded that theseUpaniäads also, though sectarian in character,have contributed quite a lot to the propagationof popular religion and ethics as also to themaintenance of the Vedàntic spirit among thepeople.

These minor Upaniäads are sometimesgrouped as follows:

a) Vedànta Upaniäadsb) Áaiva Upaniäadsc) Áàkta Upaniäadsd) Vaiäëava Upaniäadse) Yoga Upaniäadsf) Sannyàsa Upaniäads

The Vedànta Upaniäads follow the beatentrack of the major Upaniäads as far as thegeneral principles are concerned. The Áaiva,

the Áàkta and the Vaiäëava Upaniäads dealwith the respective cults of Áiva, Devì andViäëu. The Yoga Upaniäads supply a lot ofinformation about Haêhayoga and Ràjayogabased on the Yogasùtras of Patañjali and otherworks. The Sannyàsa Upaniäads deal exclu-sively with monasticism, its ideals andpractices.

QUESTION: Considering their vast diversity,do all these Upaniäads teach a single system ofphilosophy? Or, do they contain several, mutuallyconflicting, systems?

ANSWER: The orthodox Hindu traditionhas always considered the entire body of theUpaniäadic literature as one unit (‘Áruti’) andhence teaching one philosophy. Though thisphilosophy may contain several aspects, theyalways form a homogeneous unit. Hindureligious tradition has always accorded theUpaniäads the status of the highest authority.

A look at the different and divergentteachings of these Upaniäads does not easilyconvince us about the soundness of theorthodox standpoint. The traditionalcommentators have, however, solved thisproblem by sticking to one view as the teachingof the Upaniäads and explaining (explainingaway?) the others in a way that suits theirinterpretation.

Could it be that, over the centuries, manyvital links have been lost and what we nowhave, are only fragments of the original worksleading to this dichotomy of views? Thoughthis is a plausible explanation, there is noclinching evidence to prove it.

Or, can we say that the various sagesthat we come across in the Upaniäads—likeGautama Àruëi, Yàjñavalkya, Ávetaketu orRaikva—were great thinkers and mystics intheir own right, who have given independentviews, based on their own logic andexperience? The Truth, Brahman (the Infinite,


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the Absolute), is too great to be knownexhaustively by anyone. One can get only aglimpse of the same, like the six blind mentouching the same elephant. Hence, could itnot be that the views of these sages, thoughapparently different, reflect the several facetsof the same Brahman?

Question: Who is a íäi?ANSWER: Derived from the verbal root ‘íä

jñàne’, the word ‘íäi’ means any personpossessing knowledge and expertise in anyfield. Thus Caraka and Susruta of Àyurveda(Health Sciences), Bharata of Nàtyasàstra(Dramaturgy, including music and dancing)or Kauêilya of Arthasàstra (Political Scienceincluding Economics) are all íäis. However,the word is commonly used to indicate personsof spiritual eminence.

QUESTION: How many íäis Upaniäadsmention?

ANSWER: We come across a good numberof íäis or sages in the Upaniäads. Some likeYàjñavalkya are extraordinarily great geniuses.Others like Gautama Àruëi are excellentteachers. A few others like Ávetaketu are hardtask-masters. Sacrifices conducted by rich andpowerful—but noble—kings providedopportunities to these sages not only to exhibittheir skills but also earn wealth and fame.

A selected list of sages that occur in themajor Upaniäads may now be given just forthe sake of information:

Aîgiras, Bhígu, Gàrgì, Ghora Àîgirasa,Hàridrumata, Mahidàsa Aitareya, Nàrada,Pippalàda, Raikva, Sanatkumàra, Áàîåilya,Satyakàma Jàbàla, Uddàlaka Àruëi, Vàmadevaand Varuëa.

Yama, the god or death, Prajàpati, thecreator, great kings like Janaka, Ajatàátru andPravàhaëa Jaivali also appear in the role ofteachers. One thing that strikes us is that theseteachers were revered for their knowledge and

excellence, irrespective of their birth, caste orgender.

QUESTION: How have the Upaniäadsinfluenced Hinduism?

Answer: If there is one mass of scripturesthat has inspired and sustained the Hindusover the millennia, it is the Upaniäads. Byadvocating the ultimate triumph of the spiritover matter, of man over nature, the Upaniäadshave created, strengthened and preserved agreat tradition of spirituality. This they havedone, not only by a fearless spirit of inquiryto its logical conclusions, but also by intuitivemystical experiences beyond the ken of theintellect, these experiences almost alwaysconverging to a unitive principle.

No school of thought, no religiousmovement, of the subsequent periods in thehistory of India has remained untouched bytheir influence, if not pervaded by them. Infact, many of these schools and movementscould gain respectability or acceptance onlybecause they tread the path lighted up by theUpaniäads.

Scholars of Indian thought havediscovered the influence of the Upaniäads onthe religio-cultural life of other nations farbeyond the boundaries of India, whether it isJapan, China and Korea in the East or CentralAsia in the West.

QUESTION: What do the Upaniäads contain?ANSWER: The Upaniäads contain the

quintessence of Vedic religion and philosophy.The Äaådaráanas or the six systems of IndianPhilosophy derive their strength andinspiration from them. The Vedànta systemsare entirely an outcome of their study. Theidea of mokäa as the primary goal of life, whichhas permeated the Indian religions and cultureof the succeeding centuries, owes its originentirely to the Upaniäads. And, they are thebasis of the prasthànatraya (the three


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foundational scriptures), the other two beingthe Bhagavadgìta and the Brahmasùtras.

The depth as well as the catholicity oftheir thought has attracted the attention of thesavants of other religions and societies also,resulting in their being translated into otherlanguages too.

QUESTION: What is the basic teaching of theUpaniäads?

ANSWER: The Upaniäads say that the basiccause of the universe, the cause of all causes,is called as ‘Brahman’. Àtman, Sat, Akàáa andBhùmà are the other appellations used for thisBrahman. The world rises out of him, issupported by him and gets dissolved back intohim. He is omniscient, omnipotent andomnipresent. He is greater than the greatest,smaller than the smallest and is also the inmostSelf of all. He is immanent in this world evenas salt is, in saline water. He is beyond allwants and limitations. He is the lord as wellas the substratum of the whole creation. Hesees, hears and knows although none can seeor hear or know him. He is the verypersonification of all the great virtues to theirperfection. It is he who responds to the prayersof his votaries and grants them whatever theyseek. He is the ultimate goal of all.

QUESTION: What is atman?ANSWER: The atman is the core of all

living being. He is neither born nor does hedie with the birth and the death of the body.He is unborn and eternal. He is different fromthe body, the senses, the vital airs, the mindand the ego-sense and is ever free. All of themare enlivened by Him, made to work by Him,for Him. The defects and the infirmities inthem, or even their loss, can never affect Him.

QUESTION: Why are we born?Answer: Though ever-free as atman, it

is also a fact of experience that we are bornand we die. This atman has been, as it were,

encased and bound in this corporeal frame andhas lost much of his freedom. In this state, heis called as ‘jìvàtman’ or simply as the ‘jìva’.The answer to the question as to why andhow he has come to such a pass is ‘karma,’the inexorable consequence of his past actions.For the question, how and when the very firstkarma started this chain of bondage, there isno answer, since the Upaniäads accept creationas an eternal process, without beginning orend.

QUESTION: What is saÉsàra or relativeexistence?

ANSWER: Atman’s involvement in thecycle of birth and death, and consequentsuffering, has been called ‘saÉsàra.’ Mokäa orliberation from this bondage of saÉsàra hasbeen presented before him as the goal of hislife. And, this can be achieved by jñàna, orknowledge and, bhakti or devotion, whichincludes upàsanà or meditation. Karma oraction as prescribed in the scriptures is an aidto this mokäa.

QUESTION: How to be free from saÉsàra?ANSWER: An aspirant seeking spiritual

freedom should first cultivate certain moraland ethical virtues as the first step. Throughdiscrimination he should understand that theVedic rituals can never lead him to the eternalTruth and hence renounce them. He must beever ready to reject the preyas (the pleasant)and choose the áreyas (the good). By eschewingevil conduct and by practicing self-control, heshould turn back his mind from outside, intohimself, the region of the heart, the seat of theatman, and meditate on it. He should showcompassion to all the living beings. He shouldtry to give them what they need and shouldnever be greedy. He must be vigilant foreverand should always speak the truth and actaccording to dharma or righteousness, byfollowing the scriptural injunctions. Study of


the Upaniäads, performing austerities andobserving brahmacarya or celibacy are alsoinvaluable aids in his inner struggle.

QUESTION: How to begin this inner journey?ANSWER: He should approach a

competent guru or spiritual teacher in allhumility and learn the truth about the atmanfrom him, through proper questioning andsevà or service to him. The Upaniäads make itincumbent on the guru to teach spiritualwisdom to a worthy disciple, after testing himif necessary.

The disciple should then practise manana(reflection) and nididhyàsana (meditation) onthe atman which will result in anubhùti orrealization.

QUESTION: What is the nature of the spiritualexperience that an aspirant gets when he realizesthe atman?

ANSWER: He sees all beings in himself andhimself in all. Hence he feels neither specialattraction nor repulsion for others. Behindevery thought of his, he is able to feel thepower of the atman, the pure consciousness.He clearly perceives that all the bonds of hisheart which had him tied down to thismundane existence, have broken down. Heexperiences great joy and bliss within himself.When he directs his attention outside, theretoo he sees the same spirit, the atman or theBrahman. Spiritual experience, thus, leads tosame-sightedness and resultant love for all.

QUESTION: In practical terms, what kind ofhappiness does an aspirant experience when herealizes atman?

ANSWER: The bliss he experiences isincomparably superior to any other happinessone can get in this world. And he will neverhave any type of regret for anything in life.He may even roam about the world in a joyousstate, declaring his experiences for the benefitof others.

QUESTION: When such a one, the jìvanmukta(one who is liberated even while living here in thisbody), gives up his body, what happens to him?

ANSWER: According to one view, hisphysical body and the subtle body disintegrateat death and get absorbed into the fiveelements. And, he gets merged in Brahman,like a river entering into the ocean. Losing hisseparate identity, he attains complete andperfect unity with Brahman.

However, a large body of the Upaniäadiclore propounds the theory of the liberated soultravelling by the Arciràdimàrga or the BrightPath (also called Devayàna and Uttaràyaëa)to the Brahmaloka (also known as Satyaloka)and reside there permanently in infinite peaceand bliss. The various stations on the path arefire, day, bright fortnight, the six months ofthe northern solstice, the year, the sun, themoon and the lightning. All these actuallyrepresent the guardian deities of these stations.From the last station, the vidyut or lightning,an ‘amànava puruäa,’ a non-human (divine)being, leads the liberated soul to theBrahmaloka.

Anyone reaching Brahmaloka will notreturn to mundane existence.

QUESTION: What kind of society existedduring the time of Upaniäads?

ANSWER: Gleaning through the variousUpaniäads it is possible to have a fairly goodidea of the type of society that existed duringthe period of the Upaniäads.

The country extended up to Gàndhàra(Afghanistan) in the northwest, and includedseveral kingdoms like Madra (Sailkot), Kuru(Delhi), Kekaya (Punjab), Pàñcàla (Bareilly,Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh), Kosala (Ayodhya inUttar Pradesh), Videha (Tirhut in Bihar),Kauáàmbi (Kosam, in Uttar Pradesh) and Kàáì.The kings who ruled over these countries wereall käatriyas who were experts in warfare and

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administration, as also in the Vedic lore. Infact, they were the traditional custodians ofsome types of esoteric sciences. They not onlysheltered learned bràhmaëas and sages butalso strove to propagate the Vedic dharma.They were ruthless in enforcing the higheststandards of satya (truth) and dharma(righteousness). The varëa system was verymuch in vogue. As for the àárama system,brahmacarya, gàrhasthya and vànaprasthawere more common though there is enoughreason to believe that sannyàsa was also beingpracticed. Great stress was laid on the purityand integrity of personal life, irrespective of aperson’s station in life.

QUESTION: Some more details about the Vedicsociety?

ANSWER: Apart from religion, ethics andphilosophy, a number of secular sciences likegrammar, music, dance, archery, astrology,exorcising the evil spirits, preparing ofperfumes, toxicology and so on, were alsowell-known.

Vedic sacrifices were very common. Ifthey provided an occasion for the kings to earnmerit and show their generosity, it was alsoan opportunity to the scholars to display theirknowledge and earn name and fame, as alsosome wealth.

On the whole, people seemed to becontended with whatever they could earn byright means. They believed that their sorrowsand misfortunes were caused by their ownkarma in their previous lives and hence didnot hold others responsible for the same.

QUESTION: It is said that the Upaniäads arefull of stories. Please tell us something about them.

ANSWER: Strangely enough, the Upani-äads, though teaching abstruse philosophy,also give us some interesting stories.

The Kena describes how the gods inheaven, under the leadership of Indra, weretaught a lesson by Brahman in the guise of ayakäa or demigod (3.1 to 11).

Major part of the Kaêha is devoted to thestory of Naciketas and Yama.

The Chàndogya contains the followingstories: Dogs singing the udgìtha (1.12); theking Jànaáruti learning from the sage Raikva(4.1 to 3); the story of Satyakàma Jàbàlaapproaching Hàridrumata for knowledge (4.4to 9); the story of Satyakàma and his discipleUpakosala (4.10 to 15); Ávetaketu the proudboy, his humble father Gautama and the kingPravàhaëa Jaivali (5.3 to 10); Sanatkumàrateaching Nàrada (7.1 to 26); Indra and Virocanaapproaching Prajàpati for the knowledge ofthe atman (8.7 to 12).

QUESTION: How are the Upanishads relevantin today's context? How to practise thier teachingin our day-to-day life?

ANSWER: The greatest problem of themodern man is lack of inner peace andconstant conflict with the outside world. Bystressing meditation on the inner incorporealself (called Àtman or God) and harmoniousrelationship with others—in whom too thesame God dwells—in the outside world, theUpaniäads are very relevant even today. Thissolution which has worked for five millennia(or more)—as indicated by the men who livedsuch a life—can work even today if takenseriously and implemented sincerely.

An earnest study of the Upaniäads, withoutpreconceived notions and prejudices, is bound toinspire one to aspire for the life of the spirit. SwamiVivekananda said that Upaniäads are a mine ofstrength, and anyone who reads them will derivestrength and succour. Unlike earlier times, nowthey are available to all.

�

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SUDESH

Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna:the Living Upanishads

IntroductionUpanishads! An ocean of precious gems

of our ancient spiritual Wisdom, profound andinexhaustible! The aim of all Upanishads is toimpart the Knowledge of Self, which whenrealized, leads man from death to immortality.Seeing the One Self in all, the aspirant canneither hate nor be attached to anyone in finitehuman relationship. He loves all—the saintand the sinner, the virtuous and the wickedwith same impartial love. If one could look atSri Ramakrishna from this perspective, SriRamakrishna was like a huge tree with its rootfixed in transcendental heights of nirvikalpasamadhi. His young pure-souled devotees, thedirect disciples, were the sweet and ripe fruitsof this miraculous tree—sweetened throughpure bhakti and ripened into the Knowledgeof Self. This divine tree has been the shelter ofthe numerous men and women seeking solace,succour and peace in life.

Once when someone said that he willteach Upanishads to the novices, SwamiPremananda, a direct disciple of Sri Rama-krishna, said,

‘What other Upanishads would you teach themwhen there is the living Upanishad? The life ofthe Master is the living, flaming Upanishad.None could have understood the meaning of theRadha-Krishna cult if Sri Chaitanya had not beenborn and demonstrated it in his life. Even so,

the Master is the living demonstration of thetruths of the Upanishads. The Upanishads havebeen current for many centuries and people alsohave been reading them. And yet they bowdown to our illiterate Master and accept hiswords as gospel truths. He never read theUpanishads or any other book. Yet how is itthat he could explain those subtle and complextruths in so simple and straight a manner? Ifyou want to read the Vedas, you have to committhe grammar to memory and read variouscommentaries, in which every commentator hassought to explain the texts in his own way.Innumerable scholars have been arguing overthe texts without coming to any conclusion. OurMaster, however, has in very simple languageexplained all those truths, and his words areextant. When you have such a living fountainbefore you, why dig a well for water?’1

Cast in the same mould as their Guru,all the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna werealso living embodiments of the Upanishads.They were men of intense renunciation, self-control and filled with love and compassion.In their early twenties, when the grip of mayais strongest, drive to enjoy sense pleasuresintense, ambition to improve worldlyprospects high, they renounced their hearthsand homes and went out in quest of theDivine. Almost starving and barely having apiece of cloth each, they plunged head-long inpractising austerities, meditation, reading

A devotee from Ambala, Sudesh regularly contributes inspiring articles to The Vedanta Kesari and PrabuddhaBharata.


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scriptures, and singing devotional songs.Embracing monasticism, they set up amonastery in a dilapidated house (because ofits low rent) at Baranagore, reputed to behaunted by ghosts and infested with snakes.In their later lives they brought succour to theafflicted and illuminated the hearts of many.

The natural inclination of most mysticsis to remain in uninterrupted communion withSelf, hidden from the world. Yet their livescan tell more about the joy of communion withSelf, than all the discourses we may hear orany number of scriptures we may read. Oneday a monk told Shivananda, ‘I want to studythe Upanishads with you.’ Shivananda replied:

‘Can you study our lives? Our lives are verilyUpanishads. Here you will find the quintessenceof the scriptures.’2

Let us consider a few instances from thelives and teachings of some of the directdisciples, which demonstrate how they wereingrained into this Upanishadic ideal ofoneness and love.

Earnestness Alone MattersSays Mundakopanishad,

‘This Atman cannot be attained by the study ofscriptures or by intelligence or by much hearingof scared books. It is attained by him whoearnestly seeks it. To him the Atman reveals itstrue form.3

The life of Swami Adbhutananda, LatuMaharaj, is a demonstration of this verse tothe scholars and pundits who take pride intheir scriptural knowledge without imbibingtheir spirit in their lives. Latu Maharaj, anunlettered, unsophisticated village boythrough intense yearning of the soul and thedivine touch of his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna,attained the highest state of illumination.Guileless and simple, his mind wasuncluttered by intellectualism and not trained

to doubt. He absorbed the teachings of hisGuru unquestioningly and in toto. In later lifehighest wisdom of Vedas and Vedanta pouredfrom his lips. Swami Turiyananda said,

‘Many of us had to go through the muddy watersof intellectual knowledge before we attainedGod, but Latu jumped over that like Hanuman.. . . His life teaches us how to live in God withouttouching the dirt of the world.’4

Swami Adbhutananda was the greatestmiracle of Sri Ramakrishna. Without everstudying Vedanta philosophy, he answeredabstruse questions about Vedanta. One dayShashadhar Ganguly, a teacher from Malda,asked him, ‘Can the Atman be an object ofknowledge?’

Latu Maharaj: ‘An object is something thatcannot be known without the help of somethingelse, but the Atman is self revealing.’

Shashadhar: ‘Then why should we want to knowthe Atman?’

Latu Maharaj: ‘Because the Atman is our realnature.’

Shashadhar: ‘If the Atman is our real nature,then why are we not aware of it?’

Latu Maharaj: ‘Man’s real nature is covered bya dense cloud of ignorance. . . Dip your mind inthe jar of Lord’s name, and all the unclean stuffwill be washed away. Then dip it in the jar ofLord’s grace. You will see how beautifully yourreal nature will shine forth.’5

Though he had no book-learning, LatuMaharaj could instinctively see the innersignificance of scriptures because of hisspiritual realizations. Once a pundit wasreading the Kathopanishad. He read thefollowing verse:

‘The Purusha of the size of a thumb, the innersoul, dwells always in the heart of beings. Oneshould separate Him from the body withpatience as the stalk from a grass.’


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Latu Maharaj was overjoyed andexclaimed, ‘Just the thing’, as if he was givingout his own inner experience of life.6

Going Beyond All SorrowSays the Upanishad,

‘Whoever knows the Supreme Brahman… hegoes beyond sorrow and sin and attainsimmortality.’7

In January 1926 Swami Shivananda, adirect disciple and second President of theRamakrishna Order, visited the RamakrishnaMission Vidyapith, at Deoghar. There hecaught a chill that developed into a bad coldaccompanied by asthmatic spells.

One night it was so bad that he couldnot sleep. Next morning, he cheerfully greetedeveryone as usual. He told them hisexperience:

‘I suffered a great deal last night. I felt almostsuffocated. . . Being at a loss what to do, I startedmeditating. . . my mind soon became absorbedwithin. I noticed then that there was no pain orsuffering and the mind became quiet and placid.. . . After remaining in that state awhile my mindcame down to the external world.’

Curious, a monk asked: ‘What is thatMaharaj?’ The Swami replied: ‘That is theAtman.’ Swami Shivananda’s experience sub-stantiates this verse of the Katha Upanishad:

‘The Purusha, not larger than a thumb, the innerSelf, always dwells in the hearts of men.’8

As to his own realization, SwamiShivananda once exclaimed: ‘I am happy. Ihave realized the purnam (the Infinite) by thegrace of the Master.’ He then joyously chantedthe peace mantram of the BrihadaranyakaUpanishad:

‘All that is invisible is verily the Infinite. Allthat is visible is also the Infinite. The whole

universe has come out of the Infinite, which isstill the Infinite.’9

No Hatred, Only LoveIn Isha Upanishad we read:

He who sees all beings in the very Self, and theSelf in all beings, feels no hatred by virtue ofthat (realization).10

Here is an incident describing howSwami Shivananda, embodied this principlein practice. One morning, solemn andindrawn, Swami Shivananda asked hisattendant to see if there was someone whowanted initiation. The attendant wentdownstairs and found that a woman waswaiting, keen to get initiation. He was startledwhen he learnt that though born in a brahminfamily, she had kept bad company and falleninto sinful ways. She implored him to beallowed to see Mahapurshji.

The attendant told the Swami that it wasa lady who wanted to be initiated. But beforehe could say anything, the Swami was readyto shower his blessings upon her after she hadbathed in the Ganges and visited the shrine.When she came for initiation he said, as if heknew everything about her: ‘What is there tofear, my daughter? You will certainly beblessed, since you have taken refuge in SriRamakrishna, our Master and Saviour…’11

After initiation, the woman appeared to be analtogether new woman.

Tara, an actress in Girish Ghosh’s theatredescribed in her memoirs of Swami Brahma-nanda how one day, depressed and dejectedin mind she went to Belur Math along withBinodini, another actress whom Sri Rama-krishna had blessed. She touched the holy feetof Swami Brahmananada in great hesitancy,afraid that she might offend him. It was pastnoon and lunch was over in the Math. ButMaharaj immediately ordered fruit prasad, and


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arrangements were made to fry luchis forthem. She said later,

Maharaj asked me, ‘Why don’t you come hereoften?’ I replied, ‘I was afraid to come to theMath.’ Maharaj said with great earnestness,‘Fear? What fear can there be? Whenever youwish you come here. Daughter, the Lord doesnot care about the externals. He sees our inmostheart.’I could not hold back my tears. My lifelongsorrow melted…and I realized: Here is myrefuge. Here is someone to whom I am not asinner, I am not an outcast.12

The above incidents show that theconsciousness of men of realization becomesuniversal. Having realized that Atman is ever-pure and all-pervasive, that sin and virtue arethings of mind and body, they become thechannels of divine love and mercy. All hatredand repulsion comes to one who sees othersas bad and different from oneself. But for onewho sees only the absolutely pure Self in all,how can he despise or criticize anybody?

Once Sarat (later, Swami Saradananada,another direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna andthe first General Secretary of the RamakrishnaMath and Mission) discovered that one of hisneighbour’s maid-servant had been strickenwith cholera and that her master, fearingcontagion, had moved her up to the roof andleft her to her fate. Sarat rushed to the dyingwoman and did what he could for her. Whenshe died, he made all the necessaryarrangements for her last rites.

Swami Saradananda’s concern for othersknew no limits. He offered his services withoutreserve. In 1893, he nursed Swami Abheda-nanda who was seriously ill from a severeinfection in his feet. Abhedananda recuperatedafter three months under Swami Sarada-nanda’s care. Saradananda also took care ofYajneswar Bhattacharya, a householder

devotee of the Master, who was dying oftuberculosis. When he went to Gangotri, whilewalking down a one-mile slope, SwamiSaradananda saw an old woman who waslosing her balance because she did not have awalking stick; he gave his own stick to herrisking his life.13

Swami Vivekananda says:‘All this universe is the reflection of the OneEternal Being, the Atman and as the reflectionfalls upon good or bad reflectors, so good andbad images are cast up. . . It is the same, the oneExistence of the universe that is reflecting itselffrom the lowest worm to the highest being.’14

One finds an expression of this timelessvision of the Upanishads reflected in the livesof all direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna.

Unshakable Under All SituationsSwami Turiyananda, a direct disciple,

was a deep student of the Upanishads. Hismind was bent towards the Advaita Vedanta,and he strove sincerely to live up to that ideal.The story goes that once when he was bathingin the Ganga, something looking like acrocodile popped up in the river, and a shoutwas raised around asking the bathers to runup. His first reaction was to leave the waterand come to the bank for the safety of his life.At once the thought occurred to him: ‘If I amone with Brahman, why should I fear? I amnot a body. And if I am Spirit, what fear haveI from anything in the whole world, much lessfrom a crocodile?’

This idea so much stirred his mind thathe did not leave the spot. Bystanders thoughthe was foolishly courting death. But they didnot know that he was testing his faith.15

In Varanasi, a doctor operated on SwamiTuriyananda. Referring to the finger that wasoperated, his attendant asked, ‘Don’t you feelany pain?’ The Swami replied:


‘Look, the mind is like a child; we must hold ittight. But like a youngster it will go on crying“Let me go! Let me Go!” Once in the midst ofsurgery I let my mind loose. Immediately I feltpain…so I had to catch hold of the mind oncemore.’… ‘Do you know how it is? In theBhagavad Gita we read: “Where in establishedin the bliss of his inmost being he is not shakeneven by the heaviest sorrow.”(6.22) This verse isexplained by Shankara, “A man of realization isnot shaken even by the pain caused by theapplication of a sharp weapon.”’

The doctors who came in contact withSwami Turiyananda became his devotees.16

Swami Vivekananda returned to Beluron 9 December 1900, after his second visit tothe West. He was not well. Owing partly tothis and partly to the fact that he wanted tosee the work progress as quickly as possibleduring his lifetime, he was now and then verysevere in his dealings with brother disciples.During this time no one dared go near Swamijiexcept Saradananda, whose steadiness andmental poise could freeze anybody’s hottemper. Once Swamiji sent Saradananda toCalcutta on an errand. When he learned thatit had not been done, he rebuked him withharsh language. Saradananda remained asmotionless as a statue. When tea was served,he began to drink it as if nothing hadhappened. Swamiji commented in a lightervein: ‘Sarat’s veins carry the blood of fish, itwill never warm up.’17

Once when Swami Brahmananda wasliving in Belur Math he was suffering from anabscess and needed minor surgery. SwamiSaradananda accompanied Dr. Kanjilal (adevotee of Holy Mother) from Calcutta, andthey left for the monastery by boat. In themiddle of the Ganges, a heavy storm aroseand the boat began tossing violently. SwamiSaradananda was calmly smoking his hubble-

bubble, but panicky doctor could not controlhimself. Angrily he threw the hubble-bubbleinto the Ganges, and told Saradananda: ‘Youare a strange man! The boat is about to sink,and you are enjoying your smoke!’ The Swamicalmly said: ‘Is it wise to jump into the waterbefore the boat sinks?’ Gradually the stormsubsided and the boat safely reached the Belurghat.18

We come across in Mundakopanishad:‘The Self is not gained by men of weak spirit.’19

Knowing that the Self does not suffer norperish, the other disciples also remainedtranquil and undaunted in spirit duringextreme suffering. After returning frompilgrimage is 1895, Swami Trigunatitananda,another direct disciple, stayed at Calcutta andgave classes at various places on the Gita andthe Upanishads. There he developed a fistulawhich needed surgery. Swami Trigunatita toldthe doctor to do the surgery withoutchloroform. The doctor spent half an hourremoving the fistula cutting nearly six inches.The doctor and the nurses did not see anychange in Trigunatita’s face. He was as calmas if he were in deep meditation.20

This state of attaining fearlessness andimmortality of Self is expressed in Brihada-ranyanka Upanishad:

That infinite, birthless, undecaying, indestruc-tible, immortal and fearless Self is Brahman. Hewho knows (the Self) indeed becomes fearlessBrahman.21

The night before his passing away,Swami Turiyananda said to his attendants,‘Tomorrow is the last day.’ Towards the endhe chanted, ‘Om Ramakrishna, Om Rama-krishna’, and then asked his attendant to makehim sit up. Then he folded his hands insalutation, drank a little holy water andsummed up his life’s experience: ‘Everythingis real. Brahman is real. The world is real. The

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world is Brahman. The life force is establishedin Truth. Hail Ramakrishna! Hail Rama-krishna! Say that he is the embodiment ofTruth, and embodiment of Knowledge.’ Hethen recited an Upanishadic mantram alongwith Swami Akhanadananda:

‘Satyam jnanam anantam Brahma’ (Brahman isTruth, Knowledge, and Infinity).

Slowly he closed his eyes, as if merginginto Brahman.22

In ConclusionAll the monastic disciples of Sri Rama-

krishna through their lives and teachings haveenjoined upon us the importance ofrenunciation. Let this not frighten us, the laydevotees. Let us not think that it is for thesannyasins alone. For, they do not ask thehouseholders to renounce their homes andfamilies, their work and worldly duties. Theyonly ask us to renounce the false and adorethe Real; renounce our false individuality withall our anger, hatred, jealousy, lust and greed;our unripe ego which says ‘my’ and ‘mine’, ‘Iact’, ‘I am wealthy’, ‘I am a scholar’; ournarrow conventionality which makes us pray

for power and wealth, name and fame, sonsand comrades. They ask us to renounce thedesire for fleeting pleasures of the world whichmakes us forget our true nature and becomesthe cause of repeated births and deaths in thissamsara of maya. They ask us to pray insteadto root out all desires. If a tree is pulled outwith its roots it does not spring again. Theyask us to love and look upon our husband,wife, son, friend, etc., as our own Self playingwith us and not in transitory, finite, humanrelationship.

Swami Ramakrishnananda, anotherdirect disciple, explained the mystery ofrenunciation:

‘Those who give up the world for spiritual lifeare giving up the uncertain for the certain, thepassing for the permanent. . . Only when wehave given up our lives do we begin to live. . .As soon as a man finds out. . . that these littlepleasures of the flesh are nothing compared withthe infinite pleasures of spirit, he wants torenounce; not for the sake of renunciation, butbecause he has found something better. . .Renunciation means giving up a lesser thing fora greater.’23

References

1. Spiritual Talks, Advaita Ashrama, Pp. 81-822. God Lived with Them, Swami Chetanananda,

Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, 1998, 169 Hereafter:God Lived With Them.

3. Mundakopanishad, 3.2.34. God Lived with Them, p.3935. ibid, 433-4346. Apostles of Ramakrishna, Pp. 288-897. Mundakopanishad 3.2.98. Katha Upanishad, 2.3.179. God Lived With Them, Pp.168-6910. Isha Upanishad, Verse 611. God Lived With Them, Pp. 170-171

12. ibid, 11713. ibid, Pp. 311,324,32214. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita

Ashrama: Calcutta, 1963, 2: 24915. Apostles of Ramakrishna, p. 30416. God Lived With Them, p. 16217. ibid, 331-33218. ibid, 343-34419. Mundakopanishad, 3.2.420. God lived With Them, p.50021. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.4.2522. God Lived With Them, p. 39223. ibid, Pp. 300-301

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‘The path of Brahman is very difficult. Pray to the Master and he will give you theknowledge of Brahman in proper time.’ —Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi


SWAMI TATHAGATANANDA

An Overview of the Upanishads in the West

India’s Antiquity‘It cannot be denied’, said Friedrich von

Schlegel1 ,

‘that the early Indians possessed a knowledgeof the true God; all their writings are repletewith sentiments and expressions, noble, clear,and severely grand, as deeply con-ceived and reverentially expressed as in anyhuman language in which men have spoken oftheir God. . . Even the loftiest philosophy of theEuropeans, the idealism of reason, as it is setforth by Greek philosophers, appears, incomparison with the abundant light and vigourof Oriental idealism, like a feeble Prometheanspark in the full flood of heavenly glory of thenoonday sun—faltering and feeble, and everready to be extinguished. . .’

Friedrich von Schlegel was not alone inpaying such glowing tributes to India’s pursuitafter the Ultimate Truth. More than onehundred western scholars devoted themselvesto the arduous pioneering work of bringingIndia’s eternal philosophy to the West. We canname the greatest of these savants and citethe achievements of very few in the brief spaceof this article. These include Max Müller, PaulDeussen, and Franz Bopp among those inGermany; Sir William Jones, Sir CharlesWilkins, Monier Monier-Williams, Sir EdwinArnold, and some others among those in GreatBritain; Louis Renou among those in France;Charles R. Lanman, Maurice Bloomfield and

Edward W. Hopkins in America; and CountNovarov and Pitirim A. Sorokin among thosein Russia.

During the early 1920s, many philo-sophers and thinkers drew inspiration fromgreat French savant Romain Rolland’sbiographies of Sri Ramakrishna and SwamiVivekananda, The Life of Ramakrishna and TheLife of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel(French, 1929; English, 1931).

In antiquity, India’scivilization and spiri-tual culture left itspowerful influencein many countries.Most Scholarsa c k n o w l e d g ethat Plato’s ideaswere shaped byHindu thought.Max Müller notedmany similaritiesbetween Indianideas and Platonicthought:

‘It cannot be denied that the similarity betweenPlato’s language and that of the Upanishads isvery startling. . . There must have been somekind of historical contact even at that early timebetween the religious thought of India and thephilosophical thought of Greece. We cannot denythe possibility of such a view.’2

The author is a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and Minister-in-charge of Vedanta Society, New York. Hisbooks include Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, The Journey of Upanishads to the West, and Light from theOrient, among others.

Max Müller


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In the first half of the seventeenth centuryAbraham Roger, a missionary from Holland,published the first translation of an Indian textinto a European language (Dutch).3 His workon the ‘religion of the Brahmins’ influencedGerman scholars later. Around the same time,Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of MogulEmperor Shah Jahan, first translated fiftyUpanishads into the Persian language in 1656.The Prince was assisted in this work, titledSirr-i Akbar, by pundits from Benares living inDelhi.

Early Indologists systematically masteredSanskrit, collected and interpreted data, andpreserved rare and valuable manuscripts forshelter in western museums and libraries.Asiatic, Oriental and Vedanta Societies,academic Sanskrit chairs, and comparativephilology, linguistics and religion—alldisseminated India’s spiritual knowledge inthe West, where it is now firmly established.

Sir Monier Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English and English-Sanskrit dictionaries asalso Sanskrit grammar books by many eminentscholars helped in creating a new interest inthe great spiritual classics of Upanishads. Letus have a look at the brief history of Upani-shads, influence on the West and how theyhave influenced some of the best minds overthe last few centuries.

France’s Significant RoleIn the eighteenth century, some broad-

minded European scholars learned of theSanskrit language and the wisdom of theUpanishads. Inspired, they wholeheartedlydedicated themselves to the daunting studyof eastern languages, literature, religion andculture. In 1760, Voltaire received the Ezour-Vedam (Yajur-Veda) from a knight returningfrom India. In The Hinduism of the Upanishads(1950), J. V. Nayadu writes that Voltaire saw

in it ‘the most precious [gift] for which theWest was ever indebted to the East.’ Voltairerecognized Europe’s need for ideas from India.Desiring to awaken western minds to the vastperspective of Indian thought he broughtattention to historical Indian accounts, parti-cularly Major Alexander Dow’s The History ofHindostan, which was translated into manylanguages and reached a broad audience.

In 1754, the spirited Frenchman and mosteminent linguist of his century, AbrahamHyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, traveled toIndia in search of her spiritual knowledge. Histranslation of the Upanishads into French andLatin (1801-02) immensely inspired a steadystream of western scholars, poets, writers andothers seeking to understand the soul of India.They included German philosophers FriedrichW. Joseph von Schelling and Arthur Schopen-hauer. Although Anquetil’s Oupnek’hat (TheUpanishads) was partially translated intoGerman in 1808, his Latin translation highlyinfluenced Schopenhauer and Paul Deussenlater in Germany.

In 1821, Paris became the first Europeancity to officially teach Sanskrit, following theexample laid down by the Asiatic Society inCalcutta. Eugène Burnouf, an expert in Vediclanguage and literature, was a fountainheadof Sanskrit and Indological studies. A veryenthusiastic member of the Société Asiatique,he contributed many articles to its JournalAsiatique which began in 1823. It evolved intoa series of expository works, to fulfil ‘thescientific and literary concerns’ of Europeanscholars.4 Slowly Paris became ‘the capital ofnascent Indology.’

There were many French translations ofsignificant Sanskrit works by late eighteen-th century: Of the many texts published then,Burnouf’s Bhagavata-Purana and extracts fromthe Brihadaranyaka Upanishad remains an


important resource. Baron Ferdinand Ecksteintranslated the Aitareya and Katha Upanishadsinto French. Other French translations includeCharles d’Harlez’s Kaushitaki Upanishad,Herold’s Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, F.Marcault’s translation of Mead’s Englishrendering of nine Upanishads, and someexpository treatises on the Upanishads bysome notable writers.

England’s ContributionAlexander Dow’s essay, On the History

and Culture of India (1768) introduced England’snoteworthy study of abundant Sanskrit workswaiting to be revealed to the world. Twosignificant events followed. First, the AsiaticSociety of Calcutta was founded by Sir WilliamJones in 1784. Second, Sir Charles Wilkinspublished his English translations of theBhagavad Gita and Hitopadesa in London andhis authoritative Sanskrit grammar soon afterin 1785 and 1787, which became the basis forall later Indological work.5

Sir William Jones invited thirty eminentEuropeans to become members of the AsiaticSociety.6 From the outset, this epoch-makingevent brought about the intellectual and

spiritual meeting ofminds, east and

west. The Societypublished twentyvolumes of pro-ceedings andresearch in its

reputed journal,Asiatic Researches. The

first generation ofIndic scholarswas vigorouslyinterested in thework of theAsiatic Society.

Upanishads and the Bhagavad GitaThe Upanishads made their greatest

impact in the West through the Bhagavad Gita.Sir Charles Wilkins was the first employee ofthe East India Company to learn Sanskrit.7

Wilkins’ Bhagavat-Geeta was published inLondon (1785).8 In 1787, Abbe Parraud re-translated Wilkins’ version into French. Alsoin 1787, the first Russian translation of Wilkins’English version of the Bhagavad Gita by N. I.Norikov9 was introduced in Russia. TheUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gitaprofoundly influenced Leo Tolstoy. LaterIndologists liberally referred to Wilkins’translation of the Bhagavad Gita.10

A Greek translation of the Bhagavad Gitaby Demetrios Galanos was publishedposthumously in 1848.

One hundred years after the publicationof Sir Wilkins’ English translation of theBhagavad Gita, Sir Edwin Arnold publishedhis blank verse translation, The Song Celestial(1885). Mahatma Gandhi considered it the besttranslation and wrote in his autobiography thatit inspired his lifelong study of the Gita in hissearch for truth.11 Arnold also rendered a partof the Katha Upanishad in a free metrical style.

George Augustus Jacob added animportant resource to the serious study of theBhagavad Gita. He edited the MahanarayanaUpanishad (1888) and translated some of theUpanishads in Eleven Atharvan Upanishads(1891). He published an alphabetical index ofthe main words of sixty-six principalUpanishads and also the Bhagavad Gita in hisConcordance to the Principal Upanishads andBhagavadgita.

In 1908, a retired English civil servant inBengal and Sanskrit scholar, Charles Johnston,published from New York, his translation ofthe Bhagavad Gita titled ‘The Songs of theMaster, with a lengthy tribute in the GeneralSir William Jones

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Introduction to the historical and eternalsignificance of the scripture.

England’s novelist and critic AldousHuxley was transformed by his associationwith Vedanta. His novels, The Near and the Farand Island, respectively explored the conceptsof moksha and nirvana. He wrote the intro-duction to Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God (1944),translated by Swami Prabhavananda andChristopher Isherwood.

The poems of American-born Britishcitizen T. S. Eliot reflect his knowledge andregard for the Upanishads. In his monographon Dante (1974) he wrote, ‘The Bhagavad Gita.. . is the next greatest philosophical poem tothe Divine Comedy, within my experience.’ TheGita’s revelations about the function of the egoin human affairs are reflected in his drama,Murder in the Cathedral. Becket’s speech at theheight of his spiritual crisis, ‘To do the rightdeed for the wrong reason. Ambition comesbehind and unobservable. Sin grows withdoing good,’ indicates Eliot’s understandingof niskama karma as Sri Ramakrishna explainedit:

‘For those who serve the greater cause may makethe cause serve them, still doing right; andstriving with political men may make that causepolitical, not by what they do but by what theyare.’12

Robert Ernest Hume, the only AmericanSanskritist born in India, taught there and atOxford. Recognizing the Upanishads as the firstwritten evidence of India’s philosophicalsystem, he published his remarkably clearEnglish translation, Thirteen Principal Upani-shads (1921), which has had many reprints.

Role of GermanyThe Bhagavad Gita played a vital role in

Germany’s spiritual life. The modern GermanIndologist Jacob Hauer described it as

‘a work of imperishable significance’ thatcontains ‘the classical presentation of one of themost significant phases of Indo-German religioushistory. . . It shows us the way as regards theessential nature and basal characteristics of Indo-Germanic religion. Here Spirit is at work thatbelongs to our spirit.’13

August Schlegel, founder of Sanskritphilology in Germany, first occupied the chairof Sanskrit and Indology at the University ofBonn14 and first published standardized Latintext editions of the Bhagavad Gita with theoriginal Sanskrit text (1823).15

One of the earliest treatises (1827-1833)on the Upanishads investigated the antiquityof the Upanishads based on the use ofgrammar by Karl Windischmann and his sonFriedrich Windischmann. In 1844 LudwigPoley produced translations of five Upani-shads.16 Then in 1847 he translated the KathaUpanishad into German. Max Müller’s land-mark work in the history of Sanskrit studies ishis English edition of the Rig-Veda withSayana’s Commentary (Oxford, 1849-1875).17 Hisepoch-making series, The Sacred Books of theEast (Oxford, 1879) was the first authoritativeand comprehensive translation of twelveprincipal Upanishads.

Paul Deussen contributed monumentalworks, including Sixty Upanishads, anannotated and cross-referenced Germantranslation (1897),18 a German translation ofthe Oupnek’hat (The Upanishads, 1897), ThePhilosophy of the Upanishads, which formed thesecond of six volumes of his General History ofPhilosophy (1899). It is a systematic andscholarly work that still enjoys singularprestige today. The Sanskrit professorships inuniversities throughout Germany also hadgreat significance. Many of these devotedSanskrit scholars travelled to other countriesand shared their expertise.

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The Transcendental Movement in AmericaIn the nineteenth century, Germany’s

English translations of India’s sacred texts andthe works of Charles Wilkins and WilliamJones inspired the leaders of the AmericanTranscendental Movement. Ralph WaldoEmerson, an eminent leader of the Movement,recorded in his Journal that he was readingthe Bhagavad Gita and Colebrooke’s Essayson the Vedas.19

Accordingto SwamiVivekananda,E m e r s o n ’ sgreatest sourceof inspirationwas ‘this book,the [Bhagavad]Gita. He went tosee Carlyle, andCarlyle madehim a present ofthe Gita; andthat little book isresponsible forthe Concord [Transcendental] Movement. Allthe broad movements in America, in one wayor other, are indebted to the Concord party.’20

The only book Carlyle showed to Emersonduring their first visit together, was an Englishtranslation of The Bhagvat-Geeta by CharlesWilkins. He told Emerson,

‘This is a most inspiring book; it has broughtcomfort and consolation in my life—I hope itwill do the same to you. Read it.’21

Thanks largely to Emerson and Thoreau,Indian studies advanced in New Englandthrough Harvard University. Henry DavidThoreau lived in Emerson’s household during

his early twenties and absorbed himself withIndian literature from Emerson’s study. Hislifelong inspiration from the Bhagavad Gitabegan when he read Charles Wilkins’ Englishtranslation. Thoreau’s gift collection of forty-four Oriental books that included a copy ofthe Gita and the Upanishads22 became one ofthe first Oriental libraries in America. In hiswell-known book, Walden, Thoreau wrote,

‘How much moreadmirable theBhagavat Gitathan all the ruinsof the East.’

In fine, wecan safely con-clude that Upan-ishads, alongwith Gita, havemade a signi-ficant change inthe westernthoughts andphilosophy. And

this is a continuing process. As the days go bymore and more people are appreciating thetimeless wisdom of the Upanishads. Thisrediscovering the ‘Perennial Philosophy’ is thesource of all. Considering the increasingviolence and restlessness the world over, inthe west in particular, one is reminded ofSwami Vivekananda’s words,

‘Europe, the centre of the manifestation ofmaterial energy, will crumble into dust withinfifty years if she is not mindful to change herposition, to shift her ground and make spiri-tuality the basis of her life. And what will saveEurope is the religion of the Upanishads.’23

Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau

�

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1. Müller quoted from Friedrich von Schlegel’s work(p. 471) in his lecture, “Origin of the VedantaPhilosophy,” Three Lectures, pp. 10-11.

2. Swami Ashokananda, The Influence of IndianThought on the Thought of the West (Mayavati,1931), pp. 37-8. [Hereafter Influence]

3. Influence, p. 18.4. Raymond Schwab, The Oriental Renaissance:

Europe’s Discovery of India and the East, 1680-1880(N.Y, 1984), pp. 82-4, [Hereafter Oriental Renaissance]

5. Klaus K. Klostermaier, A Survey of Hinduism (NewYork, 1994), p. 21. [Hereafter Survey]

6. Gauranga Gopal Sengupta, Indology and ItsEminent Western Savants (Calcutta, 1996), p. 15.[Hereafter Indology]

7. Indology, p. 29.8. Oriental Renaissance, p. 51.9. Indology, p. 163.10. Survey, p. 21.11. Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with

Truth, Mahadev Desai, trans. (Washington, D.C.,1948), Part I, XX: 90.

12. Studies on Sri Ramakrishna, Commemorative Volume,Swami Lokeswarananda, ed. (Gol Park, Calcutta,1988), pp. 269-70.

13. Cit. from S. Radhakrishnan’s Introductory Essayin The Bhagavadgita, 1997 (New Delhi, 1993). SeePrabuddha Bharata, August 2001, p. 25.

14. Survey, p. 22.15. Influence, p. 20.16. Oriental Renaissance, p. 93.17. Prabuddha Bharata, Oct. 2000, p. 41. See Indology, p.

108; p. 119, n. 6.18. Art, Culture and Spirituality: A Prabuddha Bharata

Centenary Perspective, (Calcutta, 1997), p. 363.19. Sachin N. Pradhan, India in the United States,

Contributions of India & Indians in the United Statesof America (Bethesda, MD, 1996), p. 12.

20. CW, 4: 9521. Swami Abhedananda, Thoughts on Sankhya

Buddhism and Vedanta (Calcutta: RamakrishnaVedanta Math, 1989), Appendix I, p. 118.

22. Oriental Religions, p. 69.23. CW, 3: 159

References

A Glowing Tribute

‘In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy ofthe Bhagavat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and incomparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and Idoubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remoteis its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to mywell for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Brahmin,priest of Brahma, and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in histemple on the River Ganga reading the Vedas, or dwellsat the root of a tree with his crust and water-jug. Imeet his servant come to draw water for hismaster, and our buckets as it were gratetogether in the same well. The pureWalden water is mingled with the sacredwater of the Ganga (Ganges).’

—Henry D. Thoreau, The Writings ofHenry D. Thoreau, Walden 1989. Princeton

Univiversity Press. p 298

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N.V.C. SWAMY

Prof. N.V.C. Swamy, a former Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, is currently the Dean ofAcademic Courses at the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, a Deemed University inBangalore.

Upanishads and the Science of Yoga

Indian Philosophical SystemsIndian Philosophy is generally studied

through its six systems, called Shat Darshana.These are: Nyaya of Gautama, Vaiseshika ofKanada, Sankhya of Kapila, Yoga of Patanjali,Purvamimamsa of Jaimini and Uttaramimamsaof Badarayana Vyasa. They deal respectivelywith Logic, Atomism, Evolution, Involution,Ritualism and Supreme Consciousness.

Our interest in this article is focused onthe fourth and the last of these systems, viz.,Yoga and Uttaramimamsa (or Vedanta). Thestandard texts of these two are, respectively,Yogasutras and Brahmasutras. The first text isattributed to Sage Patanjali, who is surmisedto have flourished between the 2nd century BCEand the 2nd century CE. He is not the inventorof this science. Rather, he is the compiler ofthis experiential knowledge in the form of atextbook (known as Patanjali Yogasutras or theYoga Aphorisms of Patanjali).

The second text is attributed to Bada-rayana Vyasa and its date of compilation isstill a matter of speculation. It was writtendown to summarize all extant knowledgeabout Superconsciousness or Brahman. Thescriptures that deal with this subject are theUpanishads, forming the knowledge portionof the Vedas.

When one goes through the Upanishadictexts in detail, especially the major Upanishads,one is sometimes struck by dichotomous

statements made by them. This is because therevelations constituting the Upanishadsoccurred to different sages at different periodsof history and have been expressed in wordsconsonant with the era in which they lived.Hence, there was a need to reconcile theseapparent contradictions to show the innerconsistency of Upanishadic knowledge. Thisis the purpose served by the Brahmasutras.

A study of the Brahmasutras needs aprior acquaintance with the Upanishads, theGita and some rudiments of Jaina andBauddha philosophies. On the other hand, theonly prerequisite for a study of Yogasutras isan understanding of Sankhya. In this sense, itis a much easier subject to approach. Sankhyaprovides the theoretical foundation for themuch more practice-oriented Yoga.

Theoretically, Yoga and Vedanta (thetopic of the Upanishads and the Brahmasutras)are treated as two entirely different systemsof philosophy. This is only a matter ofconvenience from the point of view of study.But in essence they have a common goal viz.,Svanubhuti, realization of one’s own truenature. The paths may appear to be different,but in practice they tend to feed upon eachother.

It is said that there are about 220Upanishads which have been identified. Mostof them are now considered to be either ofrecent origin or spurious. The texts of 108 of


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them have been published by severalpublishing houses. Of these, at least 21Upanishads deal with topics related toPatanjali’s Yoga. Even though they claim tobelong to the Vedic literature, a cursory glancethrough them shows that they just paraphrasesome of the important sutras of Patanjali.Scholars dealing with the dating of theUpanishads have relegated them to a lowerorder of importance. Hence, we focus ourattention here on only what are called majorUpanishads.

Are Yoga and Upanishads Contemporaneous?Before attempting a comparative study

of the Upanishads with Patanjali’s Yoga, animportant question needs to be addressed. Arethese two branches of knowledge contempo-rary in time? Till recently, there had been afeeling that the Vedic people had no know-ledge of Yoga at all and that the latter is alater invention.

However, a closer examination of someof the seals and tablets found in excavationsin the Saraswati Valley indicate that some ofthese tablets show postures like yogic asanas.The most famous of them shows a yogi,identified with Pashupati or Siva, sitting inthe posture of Mulabandhasana, which is anadvanced asana recommended in textbooks ofHathayoga as a means of closing Ida andPingala and opening the Sushumna for thesmooth movement of Kundalini. These sealshave been dated to circa 3000 BCE, thus givingrise to a speculation that the Vedic sages didknow about this art of entering the super-conscious stage and that most of theirrevelations recorded in the Vedas andUpanishads occurred to them in this state ofConsciousness. This is, to a certain extent,substantiated by modern sages, commencingwith Sri Ramakrishna himself.

Two more instances can be cited for thecontemporaniety of the Vedic literature andYoga. Every Mantra of the Rigveda isassociated with a Rishi, a Devata, a Chandasand a Viniyoga. The first is the composer, thesecond is the deity addressed, the third is themetre and the last one is the objective to beachieved. One of the most famous and popularVedic Mantras is the Gayatri or SavitruMantra. The composer is Sage Vishwamitra,the deity is Savitru or Surya, the metre isGayatri and the objective is Pranayama. TheRigveda is itself now dated to circa 3500 BCE.This is a clear indication that Pranayama wasknown and practised even at the time ofRigveda.

Swami Vivekananda was as active on the4th of July 1902, the day of his Mahasamadhi,as on any other day. During the course of theday he instructed his disciple, SwamiShuddhananda, to fetch the Shukla Yajurveda.Swamiji then asked him to read the fortiethverse of the eighteenth chapter of theMadhyandina recension of the VajasaneyiSamhita beginning with the words ‘Sushumnahsuryarashmih’, along with the commentary ofMahidhara. Swamiji then remarked,

‘This interpretation of the passage does notappeal to my mind. Whatever may be thecommentator’s interpretation of the wordSushumna, the seed or the basis of what theTantras, in the later ages, speak of as theSushumna nerve-channel in the body, iscontained here, in this Vedic Mantra. You, mydisciples, should try to discover the true importof these Mantras and make original reflectionsand commentaries of the Shastras.’1

Mahidhara had interpreted the word asanother name of Chandra, the Moon God, butSwamiji had felt that the word actually refersto the canal through which the Kundalinimoves.


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It is thus seen that there is ampleevidence to show that Yogic practices are asold as the Vedic era. Hence, it is no wonderthat we encounter the word Yoga explicitly insome of the major Upanishads.

Upanishadic Texts and YogaEven though the Vedic and Yogic

knowledge systems are contemporaneous, itis not true of the texts, viz., the Upanishadsand the Yogasutras. The Upanishads havecome down to us through an oral traditionthat strived to maintain its original andauthentic form. The Yogasutras of Patanjali,on the other hand, were compiled only about2000 years ago. The system itself might haveundergone quite a few changes since the Vedictimes, since it emphasizes practice over theory.Hence, it becomes difficult to make a guess asto what kind of Yoga might have beenpractised by the Vedic people. Thus, ourcomparison between these two systems has todepend heavily upon the brief references toYoga in the Upanishadic literature.

The theoretical basis for Yoga isconsidered to be Kapila’s Sankhya. The latteris supposed to be the oldest philosophicalsystem, but is silent on the question ofBrahman, either Nirguna or Saguna. But,Patanjali, in his yoga text, appears to make aconcession by introducing the concept ofIswara as a Purusavisesha (a special type ofpurusha or person). The symbol or Pratika forthis is Pranava or Omkara. Even though thereis no elaboration of this point in the text,practising yogis consider Om as the mostimportant symbol to meditate upon. For Yogapractitioners, Om represents that whichVedantins call Brahman.

Upanishads also give equal importanceto Pranava. There are many major Upanishadswhere this word is mentioned explicitly such

as Katha Upanishad and Mundaka Upanishad.According to the Kathopanishad, Om is thatwhich is praised by all the Vedas, it is thatwhich is uttered by all spiritual aspirants andit is that desiring to reach which peoplepractice Brahmacharya. Om stands for boththe Saguna Brahman and the NirgunaBrahman, serving as a bridge spanning thetwo. It is the best support one can have in lifeto reach one’s goal.

The Mundakopanishad describes Om-kara through an allegory. In the secondMundaka, Section 2, the Upanishad says inMantras 3 and 4,

‘Taking hold of the bow, the great weaponfamiliar in the Upanishads, one should fix on itan arrow sharpened with meditation. Drawingthe string, O Sowmya, hit that very target that isthe Imperishable, with the mind absorbed in Itsthought. Om is the bow, the soul is the arrowand Brahman is called its target. It is to be hit byan unerring man. One should become one withIt just like an arrow.’

In his commentary, Adi Sankara says thatOm is the bow that brings about the soul’sentry into the Imperishable. Thus, Omkara isa means for self-realization.

The shortest Upanishad, the Mandukya,with only 12 Mantras, is all about Omkara.The letter ‘A’ represents the waking state, theletter ‘U’ stands for the dreaming state, theletter ‘M’ represents the dreamless sleepingstate, and the combination of these three, Om,is the Fourth or Turiya, the state of Samadhi.

But, it is in a later Upanishad, the Shveta-shvatara, that one comes across an explicitdescription of Rajayoga. Perhaps nowhere elsein the Upanishads can one find such a detaileddescription. This could be because it is a laterUpanishad and by that time the oral traditionof yogic practices gradually came to be writtendown to become a part of literature.


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The Upanishad says in its second chapter:

In order to attain ecstasy, one who is practisingyoga will raise high the three parts of his body –the head, the neck and the chest. They shouldalso be in a straight line. With the help of hismind, he should focus all his senses in his heartand then use Brahman (i.e. Pranava, the symbolOm) as a raft to cross the frightful currents of theriver of life.2

(Now some hints are being given on how to practicePranayama.) Anyone practising yoga has to bemeticulous about what he should and should notdo. (That is, he should follow the rules laid downby the yoga scriptures regarding food and otherthings,) He should also control his breath withgreat care. He may release his breath only whenhe feels exhausted. The mind is like restless horsesharnessed to a chariot. Like a charioteer, the wiseperson has to control his mind and fix it (on somedeity)3.

(But what sort of place is congenial for the practice ofyoga? Here is the answer to this question.) The placeshould be even, holy, without pebbles, fire andsand, without noise, such as coming from acrowd, and not too close to lakes and othersources of water. It should be pleasing to themind and not repulsive to the sight. It should bea place such as a cave where there are no strongwinds. Practise yoga in such a place.4

(Some signs of progress in yoga.) Shortly before ayogi has his experience of Brahman, he will beginto see the following signs, all suggestive of thatexperience: snow, smoke, the sun, air, fire,fireflies, sparks, crystal and the moon.5

The gross elements—earth, water, fire, air andspace—are no longer gross to the yogi. They areonly their qualities (i.e. smell, taste, form, touchand sound). His body is transformed in that itloses its grossness, and he is no longer susceptible

to disease, old age or death. His death is at hiswill.6

Lightness of the body, absence of any ailment,no craving for enjoyment, a bright complexion, asweet voice, a pleasant body odour, and urineand faeces in small quantities – these are the firstsigns of a successful yogi.7

The rest of the Mantras in this chapterdeal with the final stage of Samadhi, which isthe constant refrain of all Upanishads.

One can already see here the seeds ofthe thought process that later blossomed outinto their fullest form in the 6th Chapter of theGita and some chapters of texts on Hathayoga.

Apart from this Upanishad there areseveral other Upanishads also which deal withthis subject. But they are more recent in originand need not be taken too seriously becausethey essentially repeat whatever is found inSivasamhita and Gherandasamhita.

SummaryThe points that emerge from this study

can be summarized as follows. The Upani-shads and Rajayoga are contemporary deve-lopments. Both were originally propagatedthrough an oral tradition, but the Upanishadscame to be gradually written down. Yoga, onthe other hand, still retained its oral tradition,because it is a highly practice-oriented science.Only later, when oral traditions becamedifficult to maintain, was this knowledge putinto writing, whose earliest expression is inthe Shvetashvatara Upanishad.

Even though it has become customary toconsider Rajayoga as a separate philosophy, itis always advisable to remember its closeconnection to the Upanishadic literature.

References1. Life of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and Western Disciples, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Vol. 2. p.6532. Shvetashvatara Upanishad translated by Swami Lokeshwarananda, RMIC, Kolkatta, Verse 83. ibid, verse 9 4. ibid, verse 10 5. ibid, verse 11 6. ibid, verse12 7. ibid, verse13


SWAMI DAYATMANANDA

Swami Dayatmananda is the Minister-in-charge of Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Buckinghamshire, UK.

The Story of Prajapati and Its Meaning

The Upanishads are called Vedanta. Thepurpose of the Upanishads is to teach manhis real nature and the way to know it. Aman is what his core is and the Upanishadssay that man’s core is divine and knowledgeof this core—Self—is the purpose of humanlife. Not only is man’s core divine, the wholecreation is, in essence, divine. Says SwamiVivekananda, the modern rishi, ‘We believethat every being is divine, is God.’1

Explaining this, Swamiji further said:

‘The whole universe is one. There is only OneSelf in the universe, only One Existence, andthat One Existence, when it passes through theforms of time, space, and causation, is called bydifferent names.

‘Everything in the universe is that One,appearing in various forms. Therefore the wholeuniverse is all one in the Self, which is calledBrahman. That Self when it appears behind theuniverse is called God. The same Self when itappears behind this little universe, the body, isthe soul.’2

The Use of StoriesIn order to simplify this highest

knowledge and make it available to acommoner, the Upanishads often clothed it instories and similes. The stories of Nachiketain Katha Upanishad, Uma Haimavati in KenaUpanishad, Bhrigu’s quest for Brahman in theTaittiriya Upanishad, and Prajapati’s

instructions to Indra in Chandogya Upanishadare some the best known examples.

Here is a charming and highly inspiringstory from the Chandogya Upanishad.3

Once Prajapati, a knower of Brahman,declared:

‘The Atman which is free from evil, free fromold age, free from death, free from sorrow, freefrom hunger and thirst, whose desire is of thetruth, whose resolve is of the truth, he shouldbe sought, him one should desire to understand.He who has found out and who understandsthat Atman attains all the worlds and all thedesires.’

Both gods and demons heard thisproclamation. Indra among the gods andVirochana among the Asuras, then approachedPrajapati and said :

‘We have heard that the Atman has to be known,the Atman that is not touched by sin, or old ageor death or sorrow or thirst or hunger, the Atmanwhose desires are always true (satyakama), whoseresolutions are always firm. Please instruct usabout this Atman’.

Prajapati asked them to practiseausterities and celibacy for thirty-two years,and then instructed them thus: ‘The Purusha(the Self) visible in the eyes, reflected in thewater or in the mirror is the Atman. Look atyourselves in water and let me know whatyou see.’

When they did this Prajapati asked them,‘What did you see ?’ ‘We saw the whole body’,


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they said. Prajapati asked them to dress welland again look at the image and they said thatthe images also looked well-dressed. Prajapatisaid, ‘This is the Atman that you seek’, andthey went away satisfied.

Virochana went back to the Asuras andproclaimed, ‘The body is the Atman, serve itwell and you will obtain all your desires hereand hereafter’. To this day people generallysay, ‘He is a demon’ when a person has nocharitable nature, no faith in the supernaturalrealms, who never worships gods, who doesnot perform sacrifices, who is selfish, andbody-centred. Those who are identified withthe body and think that the body is veryvaluable, and cater to its whims, falselythinking that it is the true self of man—in otherwords, those who identify themselves with thebody and worship it are called Asuras, thechildren of Virochana.

Now let us follow Indra. As a result ofliving a right type of austere life, Indra becameendowed with intelligence, the power ofdiscernment. On his way back he reflected, ‘Ifthe Atman becomes lame if the body is lame,and blind if the body is blind, and is well-dressed if the body is well-dressed, and isdestroyed if the body is destroyed—I see nogood in this teaching.’

So he went back to Prajapati who askedhim to live a life of celibacy for another thirty-two years. Then he said: ‘He who moves aboutas the Lord in the state of dream, is the Self,the Atman.’ Indra, again reflected on the wayback:

‘Though this dream Purusha is not affected byany damage to the body, yet at times he is beingchased or hurt or that Purusha feels pain orweeps. This certainly cannot be the Self.’

Again he went back to Prajapati. Afterthirty-two years more of celibacy, Indra wastold, ‘The Self in the state of deep sleep is the

Atman, immortal, fearless, he is Brahman’.Indra again expressed doubt: ‘The Self is notaffected by dream, or damage to or destructionof the body, but it seems not to know itself,and is, as it were, dead in this state of deepsleep (sushupti). I do not see any real good inthis.’

He again went to Prajapati and was toldto practise celibacy for five more years. Thushe lived a spiritual life for a total of onehundred and one years. This indicates oneshould devote, if necessary, one’s whole lifefor spiritual practice.

At last Prajapati found Indra fit to receivethe true teaching and instructed him:

‘O Indra, mortal indeed is this body, held bydeath. But it is the support of this deathless,bodiless Atman. Verily, the embodied self is heldby pleasure and pain. Surely, there is nocessation of pleasure and pain for one who isembodied. But pleasure and pain do not indeedtouch one who is bodiless.‘Bodiless is air; and white cloud, lightning,thunder, these also are bodiless. Now as thesearise out of the yonder sky, reach the highestlight and appear each with its own form, evenso this serene one rises out of this body, reachesthe highest light and appears in his own form.He is the Highest Person. There he moves about,laughing, playing, rejoicing with women,vehicles or relations, not remembering this bodyin which he was born. As an animal is attachedto a chariot, even so is the life attached to thisbody.

Now, where the sight merges in space (insidethe eye, i.e., the black pupil of the eye), thereexists that which is the person in the eye; andthe eye is only for seeing. And he who knows ‘Ismell this’ is the Atman; the nose is for smelling.And he who knows ‘I speak this’, is the Atman,the organ of speech is for speaking. And he whoknows ‘I hear this’ is the Atman; the ear is forhearing.


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And he who knows ‘I think this’, is the Atman,the mind is his divine eye. Through this divineeye of the mind he verily sees these desiredobjects which are in the Brahman-world, andrejoices.

Verily, this is the Atman whom the godsworship. Therefore all the worlds and all thedesired objects are held by them. He obtains allthe worlds all the desired objects, who havingknown that Atman (from the teacher and thescriptures) understands it.’

The Moral of the StoryThe story above is instructive in many

ways.Some people criticise Prajapati saying

that deliberately he misled his students by notspeaking of the Atman outright. This view isnot correct. He was leading his studentsgradually from a lower to a higher state ofunderstanding. A good teacher always suitshis teaching to the receptivity of his student.Had he given the highest truth at the veryoutset, they would not have understood it.

This becomes clear if we reflect on thelife of Sri Ramakrishna. He used to say thatno one could achieve anything until the righttime comes. A mother-bird will not break openthe shell until the chick is fully formedand is ready to come out. Here ‘right time’means acquisition of fitness to receive what isgiven.

We may recollect that Sri Ramakrishnaawakened the spiritual consciousness of manyof his devotees on first January 1886 by hisdivine touch. But on that day he did not blesstwo devotees saying they will have to waitbut will receive his grace later on. We mayalso recollect that the great Swami Viveka-nanda was also not able to withstand SriRamakrishna’s touch on his first visit toDakshineswar. So also Mathur could not

sustain the ecstatic state granted to him by SriRamakrishna.

Likewise, the same teaching was givento both Indra and Virochana. While Indra’seducation continued, Virochana’s progressstopped because he did not reflect on theteaching properly but was satisfied with whathe (mis)understood. This shows us that muchdepends on our aspiration, sincerity andreceptivity. Austerities purify the mind andthat is the only way to develop our receptivity.

Both Indra and Virochana were asked byPrajapati to live the life of celibacy (brahma-charya) for thirty-two years. Both of them didas they were instructed. Yet Virochana wasunable to grasp the teaching clearly. Just aswe can infer the cause by observing the effect,we can guess that though Virochana didperform austerity, it did not serve the purposefor he could not grasp his teacher’s wordsrightly.

In Hindu mythology we come acrossmany instances of demons like Ravana,Narakasura or Bana who performed rigorousausterities. Instead of making their minds pure,their austerities only intensified their worldlydesires like lust, greed, jealousy and anger.As a result, they did immense harm to othersand in the end had to be vanquished. SwamiYatiswarananda (1889-1966), Vice President ofthe Ramakrishna Order, used to say that thedevelopment of concentration without someamount of mental purity can only harm usand others.

What is True Tapasya?We find in the Upanishads the idea of

tapas acquired a variety of meanings such asknowledge, meditation or concentration of themind and the control of the senses.Sri Ramakrishna used to say that ‘Truthfulnessis the greatest austerity for this age’,


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because Truthfulness leads to the realisationof Truth.

Once Swami Brahmananda was askedabout austerity. He replied:

‘It is to direct the mind towards God in order totaste divine bliss. Sri Ramakrishna’s message inthis age is renunciation of lust and gold. Realausterity consists in the control of the passions.It is very difficult to renounce lust and greed, togive up the desire for name and fame. Realausterity is based upon these three principles:First, take refuge in the truth. Truth is the pillarto which you must always hold whileperforming any action. Second, conquer lust.Third, renounce all cravings. Observe these threeprinciples. That is real austerity, and the greatestof these is to conquer lust.’4

Clearly, the purpose of Tapasya orausterity is to purify the mind and direct ittowards God.

If after performing austerity one becomesa slave to passions that cannot be calledausterity. Apparently Virochana did live a lifeof brahmacharya but obviously it did not bringabout the right result. Had he lived a righttype of life, his mind would have become pureand he would have been able to reflect on theinstruction of his teacher correctly. He wouldhave come to the same conclusion as Indrathat the body could not be the Atman, for thebody is subject to the six-fold changes likegrowth, old age, disease, death and so on. Hadhe understood the teaching properly, likeIndra, he too would not have stopped until herealised Brahman.

Vedanta, however, assures that no oneis lost forever. Everyone will, in due course,turn towards higher life. Many spiritualaspirants fall into the same trap as Virochana.While we find them doing so much japa,pilgrimage, study of scriptures and charities,we do not find them much changed. In fact,

sometimes, we find them even more self-centred, uncaring, and blissfully unaware oftheir behaviour.

Understanding the ‘Three States’One of the favourite themes of the

Upanishads is the analysis of three states(avastha traya) of our normal life. Prajapati’sinstructions also mention these three states ofthe self: the waking state (jagrata), the dreamstate (svapna) and the state of deep-sleep(sushupti). By mentioning them, he graduallyleads his pupils to Turiya, the stateless state.

Every being experiences these threestates. The Atman as the lower self functionsin these three different states : the waking state,which experiences gross objects; the dreamstate, which experiences subtle objects; and thestate of deep sleep, in which it experiencesrest and relaxation. Brahman as chit orAbsolute Consciousness illumines the activitiesof the senses and mind during their states ofwaking and dreaming, as well as theirinactivity in dreamless sleep.

Through proper analysis we canconclude that deep sleep, dream and wakingare three distinct and independent states, eachwith its peculiar characteristics and eachimplying the absence of the other two, thoughPure Consciousness is present in all the threestates all the time. We infer Pure Conscious-ness because conscious beings can neverconceive of unconsciousness. Some circum-stances, which are present in one of the states,are absent in other states. Naturally, what ispresent in one state but is absent in another isinessential and does not form part of the realSelf. Each state clearly contradicts the othertwo states.

All the time we are changing from onestate to another state. Whatever is changeablecannot be real. What then is real? The


unchangeable alone is real. There must be anentity which remains unchangeable which atthe same time is the knower, the cogniser, thewitness of these states. It is to this unchangingbeing which is the Self or Atman to whichPrajapati leads Indra.

This is how the process of self-analysistakes an aspirant to the Knowledge of the Self.Sri Ramakrishna summarises the essence ofthis story so succinctly through a beautifulparable:

‘Yes, all one’s confusion comes to an end if oneonly realizes that it is God who manifests Himselfas the atheist and the believer, the good and thebad, the real and the unreal; that it is He who ispresent in waking and in sleep; and that He isbeyond all these.

‘There was a farmer to whom an only son wasborn when he was rather advanced in age. Asthe child grew up, his parents became very fondof him. One day the farmer was out working in

the fields, when a neighbour told him that hisson was dangerously ill—indeed, at the point ofdeath. Returning home he found the boy dead.His wife wept bitterly, but his own eyes remaineddry. Sadly the wife said to her neighbours, “Sucha son has passed away, and he hasn’t even onetear to shed!” After a long while the farmer saidto his wife: “Do you know why I am not crying?Last night I dreamt I had become a king, and thefather of seven princes. These princes werebeautiful as well as virtuous. They grew in statureand acquired wisdom and knowledge in thevarious arts. Suddenly I woke up. Now I havebeen wondering whether I should weep for thoseseven children or this one boy.” To the followersof Jnana Marga the waking state is no more realthan the dream state.’5

When one reaches the state of Turiyathen one becomes free; only then does onetruly understand Prajapati’s declaration. Hethen reaches a state of blessedness and remainsimmersed in Eternal Bliss.

1. CW, 4: 357 2. CW, 2: 461 3. cf. Chandogya Upanishad, VIII. vii - xii4.cf. The Eternal Companian, p. 205 5. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 236

References

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Not Book Learning, but Sincere Seeking‘As Yama Dharmaraja taught Nachiketas, the vision of the Supreme cannot be attained

by the mere study of Sastras; nor could knowledge of the Self come through subtlety ofintellect or much learning or argument. The grace of God is the one thing necessary andfor that the heart should melt in Bhakti. Bhakti is different from Sastric learning. One

may get by heart and recite without cessation the Sanskrit scriptures; onemay know and repeat upside down the commentaries of the Acharyas.But righteous conduct and equanimity of mind are different and morenecessary gifts. When the heart has not mellowed, study and

exposition of Sastras are a mere monkey game. Without wisdomin the heart, all learning is useless. When that which is withinand that which is without are one and the same, we havewisdom. When they are not, our learning is no better than the

tricks of a trained monkey. The teaching of Sri Ramakrishnagives us, not mere learning, but true wisdom. ’

—C. Rajagopalachari, in his introduction to Ramakrishna Upanishad


PREMA NANDAKUMAR

Prema Nandakumar is a devotee of from Srirangam. The author has several publications to her credit, andregularly reviews books for The Vedanta Kesari.

So Began the Story

Uniqueness of Indian CultureThere is something unique about Indian

culture which can be identified with a singleword: Integration. Sanatana Dharma has neverseen life as a compartmentalized experience.Here life, religion, society, the material, thespiritual, youth, old age, the past, the presentand even the future are seen as an integralisedwhole. This was also true of the ancient Indianeducational system.

We are struck with amazement at theachievements of ancient India. The highestheights were scaled with ease whether it wasarts or sciences. Surely the reason lay in themanner in which the young mind waseducated and moulded helping the youth tobecome achievers. But this was never doneconsciously. The inspiration was there and theaim pointed out from a distance. Highimportance was given to the building up ofcharacter. The rest would follow, the eldersthought. And they were not disappointed.

From all this it becomes clear that theancient Indians had certainly mastered the artof education. What was their education like?How did they build strong foundations in thepsyche of the young student? Surely not bymasses of books, instruments or computers!Nolini Kanta Gupta, a great thinker andeducationist says:

‘The basic point is that education begins withthe student and not with the subjects. Education

must be allowed to blossom from within thestudent, from the heart of the student—everything lies only there, the externalingredients have to be provided as and whenneeded as props and guides. For this, it is notenough to know the general nature of thestudent, the general psychology of the child—this is a truth which some people have begun torealise only recently. But every student has tobe dealt with individually: the nature of theperson, the force, the inspiration, the yearningthat lies hidden in him, the specific quality withwhich he has come into this world—all thesehave to be observed and thoroughlycomprehended. He has to be awakened to hissoul, and, this is termed as initiation. He whohas got initiation and has found his ownstrength, his own individuality, the divine beingwithin him, will be able to discover easily hisown wealth of knowledge.’1

The Upanishads give us a clue to howthis was managed by the teachers residing intheir forest dwellings long, long ago. TheUpanishads, coming after the ritualistic partof the Vedas, are among the most ancient textsthat we possess. Known as Vedanta, they havebeen the starting point of all our Darsanas.The highest reaches of Vedantic thoughtreaching out to the knowledge of the Brahmanare to be found in these works. Often referredto as ‘the Himalayas of the soul’, they teachus all we need to know about our consciouslife and the layers of consciousness within, the


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various upasanas which help us master thetechnique of meditation to gain personalexperience of the received knowledge. Sincethere is always the teacher with his studentsclose by listening to him, one gains the ‘feel’of education all the time. But this is educationwithout tears. Nay, this is education withpositive joy. For the Upanishads are never dryargumentation and the meaningful storiescarefully imbedded in them light up ourpathways to self-discovery in a big way.

As we progress with the Upanishad, theteacher and the taught appear to merge, thestory and philosophy become integrated whileintellect is subsumed by poetry. Unrivalledimages are scattered by the seers through theseteachings which flash brilliances:

‘The face of Truth is covered with a golden lid.’(Isa Upanishad)

‘This earth is like honey for all beings, and allbeings are like honey for this earth.’

(Brihadaranyakopanishad)

‘In this Brahmapuri there is a lotus-house; andwithin it there is a little space.’

(Chandogya Upanishad)

And unforgettable are the stories. Noneof them forces knowledge down the throats ofthe disciples, but the message comes overclearly, with silken gentleness. At a time whenwe are making confused noises overreservation comes the story of Raikwa the Cart-puller from the Chandogya Upanishad, andnever have I come across a tale so powerfulthat chases away pride in one’s attainmentsby birth, by endowment and by education.Here is the story.

The Story of King JanasrutiOnce upon a time a king called Janasruti

was ruling over the kingdom of Mahavrisha.The Upanishad says that he was

knowledgeable, pious, charitable, one whoprepared plenty of food to feed people. Hehad also mastered the languages of birds andbeasts. It is in the nature of things that fromthe obscure spaces of the soul rises the plantof pride and soon overwhelms the person withits evil fruits. Such a plant rose within Janasrutiand he told himself: ‘Ah, this is good.Everywhere people are eating my food’. Myfood! This is the very height of pride for whois the ‘I’ that says ‘my’?

One night he lay in the upper storey ofhis palace, enjoying the beauty of the eveningtwilight. He found two swans flying fast, allthe time conversing with each other. One ofthem said: ‘Are you so myopic that you donot see the brilliant light of Janasruti, the greatgrandson of Janasruta spread across? Don’tyou dare touch it lest it scorch you. Skirt fromit carefully!’

Swift came a reaction from the otherswan. ‘Goodness gracious! You speak as if thisJanasruti was greater than Raikwa the cart-puller!’

The first swan was taken aback andasked: ‘Who is this Raikwa who is just a cart-puller yet is apparently greater than the greatJanasruti?’

The second swan replied: ‘As the lowerthrows of dice all go to the highest throw, tothe winner, so whatever good things creaturesdo, all goes to him. I say the same thing ofwhoever knows what he knows.’2

The king Janasruti lay there musing onthe conversation while the swans flew out ofsight and night closed in on the city. Themessage had been delivered to him in nouncertain terms. He was eager to gain fameand had become proud of his generosity. Nowthe swan had said that he may be a rich kingperforming lots of anna dana (food offerings),but in effect, his achievement was insignificant


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compared to that of a mere cart-puller.Obviously this Raikwa is a poor fellow. Andyet he has gained the respect of even swans.Swans are said to be symbols of spiritualattainment and what they say must be true.3

They would speak highly of a person onlywhen he was worthy, noble and above all atpeace with himself. Swans could separatewater from milk; surely they would know thenature of good and evil very well.

The more he mused on it, the greaterbecame Janusruti’s desire to find out thisRaikwa and learn from him the secret of hisspiritual attainment which had drawn praisefrom the swans. For, by nature Janasruti wasfull of humility and was a very good man.His character is placed before us by theUpanishadic seer to let us know how easilythe best of us can go astray and become proudif we do not care to be conscious of our placein this wide creation. And how easily we canbe flattered and come to think very highly ofourselves. On the following day, Janasruti’sfirst action was to stop his attendant frompraising him, saying there was one better thanhim, the cart-puller Raikwa. He thendispatched the servant to find the great-souledcart-puller.

It was not an easy task for the servant.We tend to associate high thinking, knowledge,spirituality and other attainments of this kindwith persons in ashrams, who are in highpositions. After sometime, the servant did findRaikwa who sat scratching himself under acart. The servant asked him whether he wasRaikwa. ‘Yes, I am,’ was the quiet anddignified reply. The servant went back to thepalace and reported to Janasruti.

Janasruti was not fazed when he cameto know that Raikwa was no more than anordinary cart-puller whom everybody ignoresexcept when they wish to have something

hauled from one place to another. He madeelaborate preparations and went to Raikwawith six hundred cows, a chain of gold and amule-driven carriage. He offered them all atthe feet of Raikwa and said: ‘Sir, be pleased toaccept all this and teach me spiritualknowledge.’

Raikwa’s reaction was short and snappy.‘Take back the chain and the carriage and thecows! Knowledge of the Self is not for sale!’

Janasruti went back and returned after awhile, this time with a thousand cows, a chainof gold, a mule-driven carriage and hisdaughter. He offered all this and prayed thathe may be taught the higher truths of existence.Raikwa was not moved by the gifts. But hewas moved by Janasruti’s persistence andcomplete sincerity. One who has these twovirtues is eminently suited to be a perfectdisciple. Raikwa then gave the desiredinstruction to the king:

In this creation there are many elements whichare worshipped as gods. There is the wind thatsweeps everything. The fire burns up whatevercomes in contact with it. There is also the vitalbreath which activates a living being. But allthese are moved by the Spirit within. This Spiritis not created by anyone. It exists by itself. Andyet it creates and sustains the creation. Thus theentire creation is a complex instrument that iscarrying out the behests of the Spirit.

When this is so, how can Janasruti thinkthat it is he who has fed the people or he isthe one who has brought gifts to his instructor?When it is the Spirit which does all, how canan individual have the pride to say, I amdoing? When Janasruti feeds a person, he mustrealise that it is the Spirit within him andwhich pervades the entire creation that isgiving food. By thinking in these terms andmeditating on the Indwelling Universal, he


will not be stained with pride. One who hasthis realization will not sorrow. He will remainever content, self-fulfilled, happy.

With this true knowledge of the Spirit,Janasruti shone with a deep joy. When he nowoffered the thousand cows, the mule-drawncarriage, the golden chain and his owndaughter in a totally self-less manner, Raikwaaccepted. For all future time, the cluster ofvillages in this blessed area came to be knownas Raikwaparna.

Speaking of this Brahman-knowledge,the Upanishadic teacher thinks that not evenhuman beings but the gods themselves areoccasionally veiled by pride in their ownpower. This is how another charming storyunderlines the conclusion arrived at by theJanasruti-Raikwa legend.

The Kena Upanishad as its name implies,opens with a series of questions (Kena inSanskrit means how or why).

‘By whom missioned falls the mind shot to itsmark? By whom yoked moves the first life-breathforward on its paths? By whom impelled is thisword that men speak? What god set eyes andears to their workings?’4

The young mind should ask such ques-tions. The desire to know is the foundationfor a future of achievement. But questionsshould not be flung idly to frustrate a speakeror to score a point. When a student putsquestions, it should be obvious that he desiresto know sincerely about man, nature andBrahman. With equal anxiety the teachershould try to give clear answers and notbefuddle the young mind with big words. Theteacher in the Kena Upanishad first tries toanswer but then how can one define theindefinable?

‘That which breathes not with the breath, thatby which the ear’s hearing is heard, know That

to be the Brahman and not this which men followafter here.’

The teacher says that this Spirit that isinexpressible is in a place that cannot beknown to us for our sight or speech or mindcan never travel to it. All that we know aboutit is what we have heard from our elders (itisusrooma purveshaam). Did the teacher see hisdisciples nod as if he had made it all clear?Swift comes a warning:

‘If thou thinkest that thou knowest It well, littleindeed dost thou know the form of the Brahman.That of It which is thou, that of It which is in thegods, this thou hast to think out.’

Easily said! The fact is that not all lecturesand classroom teachings can give us Brahmanknowledge. But shall we never know the Spiritand how it functions? The teacher suggeststhat the Brahman can be known by one’s ownexperience. The Parajnana is an experientialknowledge. One experiences the truth of it.Towards explaining this idea, the teacher tellsa graceful story.

The Story of Uma HaimavatiThe gods and demons had fought one of

their many wars and the former had emergedvictorious. The Brahman had battled andconquered the day for the gods but the godsthought it was they who had achieved thevictory. Brahman decided to humble theirpride and appeared before them but they couldnot recognize the Spirit. Who is this Yaksha,they wondered. The gods then called uponAgni to find out for he is the knower, the priestof the sacrifice, the prime witness. Agniimmediately rushed towards the Brahmanwhich asked him who he was that he shouldrush so fast. ‘I am Agni’ was the answer: ‘I amhe that knows all things born.’ Asked about

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the force which was in him which seemed tomake him so very proud, Agni said that hehad the power to burn everything that cameinto contact with him. Is that so? Everything?The Spirit wondered and placed a blade ofgrass before him. ‘Burn this up!’ But Agnicould not. The fire in him was too cool to burnthe blade of grass which had been placed thereby the Brahman. Agni turned away and simplysaid he could not make out who this Spiritwas that was able to help a mere blade ofgrass withstand his heat.

Vayu was then asked to go, and he toldthe Spirit that he can take everything by hisforce. The Spirit asked him to take the bladeof grass but he could not even move it. A mereblade of glass to defy him! So it was a superiorpower that they had encountered, he thoughtand came back and told the gods that he couldnot make out who this Yaksha was. FinallyIndra, the chief of gods was deputed to findout the name and nature of the Spirit. Even asIndra moved towards the Yaksha, the imagevanished. Instead there was a beautifulwoman, Uma Haimavati. Indra asked Umaabout the Spirit that had now disappeared.She identified it as Brahman:

‘It is the Eternal. Of the Eternal is this victory inwhich ye shall grow to greatness.’

Mark the words of the golden goddess.She does not chide the gods for thinking theyare the powerful ones who defeated the asuras.She gently teaches them the humility neededto free oneself of the delusion that this body isall. By recognizing that it is the Brahmanwithin which moves them all, the gods andmen are freed of all delusion. While theexperience of the Brahman is like a flash oflightning or the winking of the eye, one whorealizes the truth about the Eternal would beblessed with a settled Ananda. The teacher

concludes that this holding on to theexperience of Brahman is possible throughtapasya and lists the limbs of such askesis:

‘Of this knowledge austerity and self-conquestand works are the foundation, the Vedas are allits limbs, truth is its dwelling place (satya-maayatanam). He who knows this knowledge,smites evil away from him and in that vasterworld and infinite heaven finds his foundation,yea, he finds his foundation.’

If truth is the dwelling place of Brahman,what is truth? Again the Upanishads placebefore us an enduring tale in the ChandogyaUpanishad. Considered the most ancient of theavailable Upanishads, the Chandogya openswith a description on the right way to chantthe Pranava, OM, referred to as Udgita.

The Story of SatyakamaThere was a young boy called Satyakama

who wished to join the ashram of a teacherand learn the sacred knowledge. Knowing wellthat the teacher would ask him for hisantecedents, Satyakama asked his motherabout his gotra. The mother, an honest, hard-working lady who had experienced the sorrowand struggle of earthly life, told him simply:

‘This I know not, my son, of what gotra thou art;resorting to many as a serving-woman in myyouth, I got thee, therefore I know not of whatgotra thou art. But Jabala is my name andSatyakama is thine, Satyakama Jabala thereforecall thyself.’5

Satyakama chose Haridrumata Gautamaas his teacher. He went to Gautama andsaluted. Then he expressed a desire to gainBrahman-knowledge from him. The teacherasked the expected question about Satya-kama’s family. Satyakama spoke the simpletruth:

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‘This alas, I know not, of what gotra I am; I askedmy mother and she answered me, “Resorting tomany in my youth as a serving-woman, I gotthee, therefore I know not of what gotra thouart; but Jabala is my name and Satyakama isthine”, Satyakama Jabala therefore am I’.

The teacher realised at once that this wasno ordinary boy. One who could stand on hisown base of truth with such poise and self-confidence must needs have a nobleinheritance. He said: ‘None who is a not aBrahmin can be strong enough to say this;gather the firewood, my son, I will take theeunder me, for thou didst not depart from thetruth.’

Under Haridrumata Gautama’s tutelage,Satyakama became one of the finest teachersof his times. Sri Aurobindo has expertly drawnout the significance of this exceptional tale toprove that casteist touch-me-not-ism (SwamiVivekananda’s phrase) has no place in India’sSanatana Dharma:

‘Satyakama, as we gather from other passageswas one of the great Vedantic teachers of thetime immediately previous to the compositionof the Chhandogya Upanishad. But his birth isthe meanest possible. . . It appears from thisstory as from others that, although the systemof the four castes was firmly established, itcounted as no obstacle in the pursuit ofknowledge and spiritual advancement. TheKshatriya could teach the Brahmin, theillegitimate and fatherless son of the serving-girl could be guru to the purest and highest bloodin the land. This is nothing new or improbable,for it has been so throughout the history ofHinduism and the shutting out of anyone fromspiritual truth and culture on the ground of casteis an invention of later times.’6

Raikwa the cart-puller, Uma Haimavatiand Satyakama Jabala do not exhaust the richtreasure-chest of the Upanishads. Blessed isour motherland that has always gifted suchbrilliances for us to shape our lives and walkthe sunlit path.

1. Translated by Amarnath Dutta, Education andInitiation (2003), p. 6.

2. Translated by H.O. Hume3. This is why spiritual luminaries are referred to

with the sobriquet, Paramahamsa. Sri Rama-krishna is known as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

References

4. Translations from the Kena Upanishad are by SriAurobindo

5. All translations from the Chandogya Upanishad areby Sri Aurobindo

6. The Upanishads (2000), p. 365

��

‘Each soul is a star, and all stars are setin that infinite azure, that eternal sky, theLord. There is the root, the reality, the realindividuality of each and all. Religion beganwith the search after some of these starsthat had passed beyond our horizon, andended in finding them all in God, andourselves in the same place.’

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 2: 69

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Upanishadic Guidelines forthe Practice of Medicine

Divinity of ManOne of the fundamental teachings of the

Upanishads is that all beings are divine.Upanishads advice everyone to look upononeself and others as divine. This integralvision of oneness of whole creation isbeautifully expressed in the mantra from theShvetashvatara Upanishad.1

‘Thou art woman, thou art man. Thou art theyoung man as well as young woman. Thou againart the old man tottering on the staff. Indeed,thou hast taken innumerable forms.’

If, therefore, every form before us is God(Divine), a patient, too, is God. While theUpanishad speaks only this much, Sri Rama-krishna further tells us how this idea can beapplied in practice. Let us recall here the well-known incident which took place when SriRamakrishna was living at Dakshineshwar.While explaining the Vaishnava concept of ‘Jivedaya’ (compassion on creatures), he got mergedinto Samadhi. Then a little later, coming tonormal consciousness, he exclaimed thatfamous dictum: Shiv Jnane, Jiva Seva—serviceof beings (jiva) considering them God (Shiva).

Sri Ramakrishna was the embodiment ofthe truths enshrined in the Upanishads.Through his extra-ordinary spiritualexperiences, he realized the essence of theUpanishads. His utterances, having their originin that state of oneness with the supreme spirit,are thus living Upanishads. This utterance of

‘service of God in man’ has, thus, become awatchword for interpersonal relationships ingeneral and for practicing the idea of serviceto others in particular. Let us discuss this ideaof ‘service of God in man’ in the context ofpractice of medicine, with particular referenceto doctor-patient interactions.

Conditions for ‘Worshiping’ the SickThe practice of medicine can become one

of the best forms of practical religion. But thisrequires certain changes in our outlooktowards the whole issue or else it wouldbecome the case of one of the many ways ofearning money—as it has, unfortunately,become today. What are the conditions forpractising this ideal of looking at others asspiritual entities and ‘worshiping’ them?

Swami Vivekananda, drawing hisinspiration from the Upanishads as also fromhis own spiritual realizations, said that ahuman being is like a living residence of God,the highest ‘temple’ of God. The first conditionfor serving the sick and suffering as veritableembodiments of God as God, therefore, is tohave this faith. Only when we hold others asdivine beings can we transform our medicalpractice into a spiritual practice.

If we look at the commonest form ofworship prevalent among many religions wefind it consists of a ritualistic adoration of God.This is done through worshiping a symbol of

SWAMI BRAHMESHANANDA

A former editor of THE VEDANTA KESARI, the author is the Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Chandigarh.


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God such as an image, a picture, or a pitcher,or any other form. Before starting the worship,the image or symbol is ritualistically invoked;‘life’ is infused into the otherwise lifelesssymbol. This is followed by purification of thearticles of worship. After such preliminaries,the worshipper offers five, ten or sixteen itemsto the deity with the help of ritual acts andthe chanting of verbal formulae or mantras.

In the same way, while treating a patient,one can worship him by looking upon him asan embodiment of divinity. Then, instead offlowers and incense, tablets and syrups areadministered to him; instead of water forbathing an image, a patient is sponged orbathed with medicated lotion, as per the need.Application of ointments or dressing a woundmay be compared to offering sandal paste tothe Deity. Treating him in an amicable manner,and speaking to him reassuring words of hope,are like mantras in the worship of God.

When we look at the details of theritualistic worship, we find that while thegeneral outline of the process of worship isthe same in all modes of worship, the itemsoffered and the mantras chanted vary fromdeity to deity. The mantras and itemsemployed in the worship of Kali, for instance,are not the same as in those used in theworship of Shiva. Drawing a parallel to thisvariety in mantras and items used in worship,there are differences in the form of medicalservice given to patients suffering fromtyphoid, meningitis or intestinal obstruction.Further, a surgery can be compared to anelaborate Durga Puja, one of the most elaborateritualistic worships prevalent today. Onemight look at the operation theatre as the Pujamandapam, the worship hall; with chief surgeonas chief priest conducting the solemn‘ceremony’ of the operation with the help ofhis team of assistants. The elaborate

preparations, the perfect solemnity and carefulmethod and procedure–all are comparable tothose of making preparations and conductingthe Durga Puja.

Guidelines from the UpanishadsService to a suffering human being as

God as indicated by the Upanishads is evensuperior to a ritualistic worship. While onehas to imagine or ritualistically infuse life intoa stone image, nothing of the sort is requiredin serving a man as God, for he is already‘alive’—a living symbol of divinity. Besides,serving God in man helps both the server andthe served, while the traditional worship helpsonly the worshipper. Finally, serving a humanbeing as God requires greater intellectual,moral and spiritual training than is requiredfor ritualistic worship.

But seeing or feeling the presence of Godin a miserable, poor, ignorant, suffering patientis not easy. A physician is apt to see in hispatient only man or woman, rich or poor, saintor sinner, or a fellow being of high or lowcaste. The human God may grunt or complain,and unlike the mute ever-smiling stone image,may weep, shout or at times become irritableor violent. On such occasions one is apt towonder whether one is serving God or devil.

The service of a living God, therefore,demands greater patience, forbearance, andperseverance. It requires preparation. Thephysician will have to remind himself orherself that the being before him is not a manor a woman but God Himself. The physicianwill have to constantly chant and meditate onthe Upanishadic Mantra referred to above,‘Thou art woman, Thou art man . .’ (tvam streetvam puman asi). He will have to overcome hisown reactions such as lack of motivation,irritation, annoyance and repulsion. This lackof motivation may come because treating the


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patient may not present any fascinating clinicalproblem; one might feel irritated by thepatient’s verbal reactions or inability toprovide a clear account of the history of hiscondition; he may become annoyed becausethe patient does not follow his instructions orbecause the disease does not respond totreatment as expected, and feel repulsed at thepatient’s lack of cleanliness, self-control, orabsence of a sense of cooperation.

Seeing God in man as preached by theUpanishads and to serve him thus, therefore,requires training. It demands an intelligentcombination of technical skill, understandingand a spiritual outlook towards life itself.

One can derive many lessons from theUpanishads for enriching the doctor-patientrelationship. Let us look at the well knownand oft-repeated shanti mantra: sahanavavatu,sahanau bhunaktu, sahaviryam karavavahai . . .’The English meaning of the mantra is,

‘May the supreme Being protect us both. MayHe nourish both of us. May we be vigoroustogether. May what we study become fruitfuland may we do not hate each other.’

Usually this mantra is held to be a prayerfor healthy teacher-disciple (guru-shishya)relationship. As it is chanted before and afterthe study of the Upanishads, it indicates thetype of attitude the student and the teachermust have while studying. It is also a prayerfor healthy relationship. Thus, it can, in mostpart, serve as excellent guiding principle fordoctor-patient relationship. The expression‘May what we study become fruitful’ (tejasvinaadhitam astu) would then mean: ‘May thetreatment which is being given be successfulwith our mutual co-operation.’

The mantra also points to inter-doctorrelationship.

‘The physician should never harbour ill-willtowards fellow physicians or get into

confrontations with them. If need be, he mayjoin them in treating a case and should nothesitate to consult them in deciding the diagnosisand treatment of a case. He must pardon theunethical conduct of his colleague, or politelytry to set him right. But if the envious opponentcontinues to criticize his procedure, he mustdefeat him by his knowledge and experience.Even while defending himself the physician mustavoid harsh words and use ethical language. Hemust always be suggestive and never direct.’2

Another way of having healthy inter-personal relationship in the practice ofmedicine can be learnt from the teacher-disciple relationship mentioned in the fivesamhitis (meditation on five juxtapositions)mentioned in the Taittiriyopanishad.3 In one ofthese samhitis, the teacher (acharya) is consi-dered the first part, the disciple the secondpart, and knowledge as the meeting place withinstruction as the link. One may consider thedoctor-patient relationship too from this angle.In that case, the sentence (samhiti) may berephrased for meditation thus:

‘This is the meditation with regard to healing.The physician is the first letter. The patient isthe last letter. Treatment is the meeting point.Medicine is the link. This is the meditation withregard to healing.’ (athaahdivaidyam. chikitsakahpurvarupam, rogih uttararupam, chikitsa sandhih,aushadhi sandhanam, ityadhivaidyam)

The purpose of this attempt is only totransform our outlook. If one truly sees God,or one’s own Atman in every being, it is boundto transform one’s life and action. Says theIshavasyopanishad:4

‘A person who sees all beings in the self itselfand the Self in all beings, feels no hatred byvirtue of that (realization). When to a man ofrealization all beings become the very self, thenhow can there be sorrow or delusion for thatseer of oneness?’


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Indeed no ulterior motives or ill-feelingscan affect a doctor or patient who experiencessuch a unity.

While this is a state of highest realization,it is an indication as to how one should act.As Acharya Shankara, in his commentary onthe Bhagavad Gita points out that the marksof a man of realization are the practices of anunenlightened person, so, a doctor and apatient, according to this axiom, must try toact without hate, fear, envy, delusion and ill-will. A doctor can repeat these mantras as dailyreminders while meditating on their meaning.

Upanishads are a storehouse of the loftyknowledge of oneness of existence. In orderto put this idea of oneness into practice, oneneeds a rigorous moral and ethical discipline.Declares Upanishad: ‘Speak the Truth, practicerighteousness…There should not be inadver-tence about truth, there should be no deviationfrom righteous activity…’5 Every medicalpractitioner must remember this and avoidevery form of dubious or dishonest practice.

The Practice of Right ConductIn ancient Indian literature the word used

for ethics was sadvritta6 which etymologicallymeans, ‘the right physical, mental and vocalconduct expected of the pious.’ Charaka, thefather of Indian medicine, advises everyonedesiring peace and happiness in life to observethe rules of right conduct diligently. He whofollows the ethical code gains mastery overthe senses and obtains a healthy body.7 Heauthoritatively advocates ethics as a part ofpersonal hygiene. Vagbhatta, too, claims thatman can attain long and healthy life, wealthand fame in this existence, and glory andhigher spheres after death by following theethical code.8

The ancient sages framed these rules ofethics and built up early Indian society in such

a way that character could be moulded fromthe very childhood and the individual couldgrow into a responsible citizen. The ethicaltraining that began at home, with the parents,was continued at the schools through theteachers, and continued in one’s professionallife later with the help of the wise and leadersof society.

The Kathopanishad, for instance, states:‘One who has not abstained from bad conduct,whose senses are not under control, whose mindis not concentrated, whose mind is not free fromanxiety, cannot attain the Self throughknowledge.’9

These are watchwords, not only for thephysicians but also for the patients. Self-controland noble character are sine-quo-non forsuccess, health and prosperity.

Upanishads also warn all, including thephysicians, that none can be satisfied withmoney: ‘No man can be fully satisfied bymoney alone’ (na vittena tarpaniyo manushya-ha)10 —a statement which has great relevancefor the present times. Although as a professionthe medical practice provides a livelihood forthe physician, the wise have condemned thisattitude. Restating the Upanishadic declara-tion, the Charaka Samhita says that those whowould sell their skill to make a business outof the practice of medicine are like personswho would pursue a heap of dust, as it were,letting go a mass of gold.11 Hence medicinemust be practised neither for wealth nor forfulfilment of worldly desires, but only out ofcompassion for creatures.12 When it is done asa spiritual discipline, it becomes a source ofinner and outer well-being. There is noausterity higher than treating the sick.

The physician must not undertaketreatment of a patient motivated by attachmentor lust or greed. Nor even friendship, enmityor affection for a kinsman should be a reason


for giving his treatment. The expectation ofearning a reward, or the acquisition of fameshould not tempt the physician. Only one urgeand aim—that is, kindness and mercy, shouldprompt the physician to practice the art ofhealing.13 This is how the Upanishadicteachings of sameness become a part of thepractice of medicine.

Cultivating the Right AttitudeWhat should be our attitude towards the

body? The Upanishads are very clear aboutthis question. They clearly state that the soulis separate from the physical body and evenfrom the prana or vital force, and is notaffected by the birth, growth, decay and deathof the physical body. But this does not meanone should neglect one’s physical well-being.The body must be kept healthy and strong.The Upanishidic rishi prays:

‘May my limbs, speech, vital force, eyes, ears, asalso strength and all the organs become welldeveloped…’14

In Ananda Valli of Taittiriyopanishad alsowe get an indication of the need to have ahealthy body and mind. While describing oneunit of perfect human happiness, it has beenstated that ‘a young man, in the prime of life,good, most expeditious, most strongly built,and most energetic,’15 i.e., physically andmentally strong and disciplined person alonecan be the enjoyer of true happiness.

Not only should one be physically strongbut also mentally strong. Ideal mental healthcould be obtained by practice of discrimi-nation, detachment, devotion and discipline.We might call them as 4-Ds. When onepractises them one becomes strong andintegrated. Then one’s thinking, willing,emotions, and senses work in unison. Let ustake them up one by one.

Discrimination includes reasoning,observation, critical assessment of an event orobject, and an analytical study of any specificthing. Upanishad specifically recommendsdiscrimination between shreya and preya i.e.,between the beneficial and the pleasurable.16

Though the Upanishads advocate the practiceof philosophical discrimination between thereal and the unreal, practice of discriminationin daily life means learning to follow thebeneficial. If we carefully and critically analyseour own real nature and that of the worldaround, we may obtain direct insight into thetrue nature of our own Self (atman) and canget fully established in the Self. We will thenbe svastha, which is the real meaning of theterm ‘health’. Even short of this highest state,we can make good use of our discriminatingfaculty and get to the depth of the events oflife, and this is a great gain so far as mentalhealth and stability are concerned.

Next comes detachment. Upanishads statethat we must aspire to live for a hundredyears.17 This involves absence of anxiety andmeaningless stress. This can be done onlywhen we offer our actions to God.18 One ofthe major causes of mental instability andsuffering is attachment to persons, places,things and specific type of activity. We seekfruits of actions, and when our expectationsare frustrated, we get upset and lose ourmental poise. This means we need to practicedetachment. If we are more objective in ourapproach, not only towards the events of theexternal world, but also towards eventsoccurring in our mental world, we will bemore peaceful and mentally strong.

Devotion integrates, strengthens anddevelops our emotions. We have hundreds ofemotions which drive us in differentdirections. Devotion to God, to one’s guru, orto a scripture, even to an ideal, is a great

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stabilizing force. One of the causes of failingmental health among people is the gradualdecline and weakening of faith. Faith is atremendous sustaining force against varioustypes of challenges. Although there is greateremphasis on knowledge and discrimination inUpanishads, they repeatedly emphasize theneed for faith.19 The Upanishads also aboundin prayers to God and stress the need for God’sgrace in no uncertain terms.20

ConclusionFinally, there must be discipline in all

aspects. The body must be disciplined; thesenses must be controlled, and must obey thecommands of the mind. The mind too mustbe disciplined. Just as a chariot with disci-plined and controlled horses, with tight reinsin the hands of an expert driver reaches thedestination safely, without any accidents, soalso a disciplined body with disciplined senses,mind and intellect conduces to the overallwell-being of the individual.21 The eight-foldpath of yoga with meditation as the centraltheme is an essential part of a scheme of all-round discipline. The Shvetashvatara Upanishadgives ample hints for the practice ofmeditation.22

Regular practice of rhythmic breathingtoo helps in achieving physical and mentalhealth. According to the Upanishads, the realcore of our being, the atman, is encased in

five sheaths. The Upanishadic psychology saysthat the Pranamaya-kosha (energy sheath) issituated between the annamaya-kosha (foodsheath) and the manomaya-kosha (mind sheath)and is therefore affected by, and in turninfluences, both the koshas. In other words,breathing is influenced by mental and physicalstates, and it influences both mind and body.Hence its regulation by practice of rhythmicbreathing, Pranayama, conduces to physicaland mental health.23

The Upanishads have also at many placesdiscussed the problem of death and how toface it. The Upanishadic rishi advises us topray to the Sun God, as one approaches deaththat he may withdraw his blinding rays andallow one to see the truth. He should alsoremember his noble deeds and pray to thedivine fire to carry him through bright path toglorious spheres.24

When one follows the Upanishads in thepractice of medicine, one is sure to developright attitude towards oneself, towards othersand towards the work one is doing. Whatshould be the motto of a man wanting topractice the Upanishads in daily life? Thefollowing prayer aptly summarizes this:

‘Om. O gods, may we hear auspicious wordswith our ears; while engaged in sacrifices maywe see auspicious things with the eyes. Whilepraising the gods with steady limbs may weenjoy a life that is beneficial to gods.’

1. Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 4-3 2. Kasyapa Samhita vimana sthanam, 1.9 3. Taittiriyopanishad, II.iii.14. Ishavasyopanishad, 6-7 5. Taittiriyopanishad, 1, xi, 1 6. Commentary of Chakrapani on Charaka Samhita, Sutra Sthana, 8:17. Choukhamba Sanskrit Samsthana, Varanasi, U. P. 19847. Charaka Samhita, 8:17 - 18 8. Vagbhatta, Astanga Hridaya, Sutra 2:48. New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass9. Katha Upanishad, 1, ii, 24 10. ibid, 1, I, 27 11. Charaka, op. cit., 1.5612. Ibid., 1.58 13. ibid, 7:33-34 14. Shanti Mantra, Kena Upanishad15. Taittiriyopanishad, II, viii, 1 16. Katha Upanishad, 1, ii, 1,2 17. Ishavasya Upanishad, 218. Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6, 4 19. cf. Katha Upanishad, 1, i, 2 20. cf. Shvetashvatara , 4-1, 10, 1221. Katha Upanishad, 1, iii, 3-9 22. The Shvetashvatara 2, 8-15 23. ibid, 2, 9 24. Isha, 16, 17, 18

References

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Swami Vivekananda was a great storyteller. His talks and writings are interspersed with numer-ous anecdotes, examples, similes, and illustrations mirroring his vast knowledge of human nature—itspotential and its relative limitations. Some of these stories are well known, many others are littleknown. We present here some more of these insightful stories, selected from his Complete Works.

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This [issue of Self] the Katha Upanishadspeaks in very figurative language. There was,in ancient times, a very rich man, who made acertain sacrifice which required that he shouldgive away everything that he had. Now, thisman was not sincere. He wanted to get thefame and glory of having made the sacrifice,but he was only giving things which were ofno further use to him—old cows, barren, blind,and lame. He had a boy called Nachiketas.This boy saw that his father was not doingwhat was right, that he was breaking his vow;but he did not know what to say to him. InIndia, father and mother are living gods totheir children.

And so the boy approached the fatherwith the greatest respect and humbly inquiredof him, ‘Father, to whom are you going togive me? For your sacrifice requires thateverything shall be given away.’ The fatherwas very much vexed at this question andreplied, ‘What do you mean, boy? A fathergiving away his own son?’ The boy asked thequestion a second and a third time, and thenthe angry father answered, ‘Thee I give untoDeath (Yama).’

And the story goes on to say that theboy went to Yama, the god of death. Yama

was the first man who died. He went to heavenand became the governor of all the Pitris; allthe good people who die, go, and live withhim for a long time. He is very holy person,chaste and good, as his name (Yama) implies.

So the boy went to Yama’s world. Buteven gods are sometimes not at home, andthree days this boy had to wait there. Afterthe third day Yama returned. ‘O learned one,’said Yama, ‘you have been waiting here forthree days without food, and you are a guestworthy of respect. Salutation to thee, OBrahmin, and welfare to me! I am very sorry Iwas not at home. But for that I will makeamends. Ask three boons, one for each day.’And the boy asked, ‘My first boon is that myfather’s anger against me may pass away; thathe will be kind to me and recognise me whenyou allow me to depart.’ Yama granted thisfully. The next boon was that he wanted toknow about a certain sacrifice which tookpeople to heaven.

Now we have seen that the oldest ideawhich we got in the Samhita portion of theVedas was only about heaven where they hadbright bodies and lived with the fathers. . .Living in heaven would not be very differentfrom life in this world. At best, it would only

The Story of Nachiketa


be a very healthy rich man’s life, with plentyof sense-enjoyments and a sound body whichknows no disease. It would be this materialworld, only a little more refined; and we haveseen the difficulty that the external materialworld can never solve the problem. So noheaven can solve the problem. . . Yet Nachi-ketas asks, as the second boon, about somesacrifice through which people might attainto this heaven. There was an idea in the Vedasthat these sacrifices pleased the gods and tookhuman beings to heaven. . . So Nachiketas asksby what form of sacrifice a man can go toheaven. The second boon was also readilygranted by Yama who promised that thissacrifice should henceforth be named afterNachiketas.

Then the third boon comes, and with thatthe Upanishad proper begins. The boy said,‘There is this difficulty: when a man dies somesay he is, others that he is not. Instructed byyou I desire to understand this.’ But Yamawas frightened. He had been very glad to grantthe other two boons. Now he said, ‘The godsin ancient times were puzzled on this point.This subtle law is not easy to understand.Choose some other boon, O Nachiketas, donot press me on this point, release me.’

The boy was determined, and said, ‘Whatyou have said is true, O Death, that even thegods had doubts on this point, and it is noeasy matter to understand. But I cannot obtainanother exponent like you and there is no otherboon equal to this.’

Death said, ‘Ask for sons and grandsonswho will live one hundred years, many cattle,elephants, gold, and horses. Ask for empireon this earth and live as many years as youlike. Or choose any other boon which youthink equal to these—wealth and long life. Orbe thou a king, O Nachiketas, on the wideearth. I will make thee the enjoyer of all

desires. Ask for all those desires which aredifficult to obtain in the world. These heavenlymaidens with chariots and music, which arenot to be obtained by man, are yours. Let themserve you, O Nachiketas, but do not questionme as to what comes after death.’

Nachiketas said, ‘These are merely thingsof a day, O Death, they wear away the energyof all the sense-organs. Even the longest life isvery short. These horses and chariots, dancesand songs, may remain with Thee. Man cannotbe satisfied by wealth. Can we retain wealthwhen we behold Thee? We shall live only solong as Thou desirest. Only the boon which Ihave asked is chosen by me.’

Yama was pleased with this answer andsaid, ‘Perfection is one thing and enjoymentanother; these two having different ends,engage men differently. He who choosesperfection becomes pure. He who choosesenjoyment misses his true end. Both perfectionand enjoyment present themselves to man; thewise man having examined both distinguishesone from the other. He chooses perfection asbeing superior to enjoyment, but the foolishman chooses enjoyment for the pleasure of hisbody. O Nachiketas, having thought upon thethings which are only apparently desirable,thou hast wisely abandoned them.’ Death thenproceeded to teach Nachiketas. . . .

Yama said, ‘That which is beyond neverrises before the mind of a thoughtless childdeluded by the folly of riches. “This worldexists, the other does not,” thinking thus theycome again and again under my power. Tounderstand this truth is very difficult. Many,even hearing it continually, do not understandit, for the speaker must be wonderful, so mustthe hearer. The teacher must be wonderful, somust be the taught. Neither is the mind to bedisturbed by vain arguments, for it is no morea question of argument, it is a question of fact.’

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. . .Here is a beautiful figure. Picture theSelf to be the rider and this body the chariot,the intellect to be the charioteer, mind the reins,and the senses the horses. He whose horsesare well broken, and whose reins are strongand kept well in the hands of the charioteer(the intellect) reaches the goal which is thestate of Him, the Omnipresent. But the manwhose horses (the senses) are not controlled,nor the reins (the mind) well managed, goesto destruction. This Atman in all beings doesnot manifest Himself to the eyes or the senses,but those whose minds have become purifiedand refined realise Him. Beyond all sound, allsight, beyond form, absolute, beyond all tasteand touch, infinite, without beginning andwithout end, even beyond nature, theUnchangeable; he who realises Him, freeshimself from the jaws of death. But it is verydifficult. It is, as it were, walking on the edgeof a razor; the way is long and perilous, butstruggle on, do not despair. Awake, arise, andstop not till the goal is reached. (2: 157-174)


‘These conceptions of the Vedanta must come out, mustremain not only in the forest, not only in the cave, but theymust come out to work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit,and in the cottage of the poor man, with the fishermen that arecatching fish, and with the students that are studying. Theycall to every man, woman, and child whatever be theiroccupation, wherever they may be. And what is there tofear! How can the fishermen and all these carry out theideals of the Upanishads? The way has been shown. . .Even the least thing well done brings marvellous results;therefore let everyone do what little he can. If thefisherman thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be abetter fisherman; if the student thinks he is the Spirit,he will be a better student. If the lawyer thinks that heis the Spirit, he will be a better lawyer, and so on . . .’

—Swami Vivekananda. CW, 3: 245

This is the watchword of Vedanta—realise religion, no talking will do. But it isdone with great difficulty. He has hiddenHimself inside the atom, this Ancient One whoresides in the inmost recess of every humanheart. The sages realised Him through thepower of introspection, and got beyond bothjoy and misery, beyond what we call virtueand vice, beyond good and bad deeds, beyondbeing and non-being; he who has seen Himhas seen the Reality.

Now Yama answers the question: ‘Whatbecomes of a man when the body dies?’ ‘ThisWise One never dies, is never born, It arisesfrom nothing, and nothing arises from It.Unborn, Eternal, Everlasting, this Ancient Onecan never be destroyed with the destructionof the body. If the slayer thinks he can slay, orif the slain thinks he is slain, they both do notknow the truth, for the Self neither slays noris slain.’ A most tremendous position. I shouldlike to draw your attention to the adjective inthe first line, which is ‘wise’.

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M. LAKSHMI KUMARI

M. Lakshmi Kumari is the Director, Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation, Kodungallur, Kerala.....

Upanishads and the Ideal of Service

The Upanishadic Ideal of service is basedon the concepts of Truth, Dharma and Yajna.Without comprehending these three conceptswe cannot understand what we have cometo recognise as service today—the mostappealing and popular component of modernreligions. Let us, therefore, first understandthem.

Discovering the SatyamThousands of years ago, when humanity

was still in a state of slumber, the super-scientists of India, the Vedic rishis, wereengaged in the knotty task of uncovering theUltimate Reality of life. This Reality of allrealties, they soon found out, was beyond theworld of pluralities, beyond whatever thesenses could perceive. Through a step-by-stepapproach, breaking through the world ofplurality, they looked into the very core oftheir inner being and discovered the UltimateTruth as the Self (atman) within. This theycalled as Satyam, the Truth.

When they woke up from this super-conscious experience of Oneness, they alsofound that Truth is One but its expressionsare diverse. It is this truth in which every-thing in the universe remains interconnected,interrelated and interdependent. This is thegreatest discovery ever made by man, and thisTruth of Self-realization is the greatestblessings that the rishis have conferred on theworld.

For us, in India, this discovery usheredin the dawn of life of enlightenment andintroduced us to the splendid idea of LifeEternal. Since then, this Ganga of integralvision of the rishis has been cascading downthe centuries, enriching every field of humanactivity and giving birth to a unique andspiritually oriented civilisation and culture.That this Satyam, the Eternal Truth, is the basisof Indian culture and civilisation is reflectedin India’s national emblem, Satyameva Jayate(‘Truth Alone Triumphs’)—a phrase takenfrom the Mundaka Upanishad.

The Way of DharmaWhat is the ideal the Upanishads hold

before us? To realise that Eternal Truth withinoneself, and feel its presence in the entireuniverse and adjust all our activities in such away as to reflect that principle of Oneness inlife. This is the dharma kept before everyhuman being. The final aim of dharma is Selfrealisation. This is what constitutes the essenceof Upanishadic knowledge. This was theancient truth that the rishis presented beforeus. To know the Self, again, the dharma is theway. This vision has been summarised in theeloquent words from the Taittiriya Upanishad,satyam vada, dharmam chara (‘speak the truth,follow the dharma’).

To the rishis, the Nature outside was anexternal expression of the Truth within. Thiswas truly a quantum leap in knowledge—from


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unity to universality. This vision of the Wholeand the awareness of man’s interrelatednesswith and interdependence on all that exists iswhat has made the Indian culture so singularlyspiritual and, at once, in modern terms, highlyscientific and holistic.

A profound respect for nature and thewisdom inherent in it is the hallmark ofUpanishadic vision. To the Upanishadic mind,tolerance is a byword. When one gets trulyestablished in it, genuine hospitality and warmfriendship replace feelings of resentment andstrangeness. Ecological balance and socialjustice are the natural outcome of such awholesome living centred round the vision ofa Universal Reality—where the individual feelshimself bound to the cosmos as a whole. Thisbecame the Dharma of the individual.

Yajna, the Perennial SacrificeThe Vedic ideal of Yajna is far more

comprehensive, enriching and universal thanwhat is conveyed by the word service. Rishisrecognised man as an indivisible part of theWhole. Within him is a spark of the divinity,which is only quantitatively, (not qualitatively,as Swami Vivekananda used to stress) differentfrom the Totality. Therefore, all human effortsshould be directed towards the realisation ofthis Truth. This extraordinary unity of theindividual, the world he lives in and theReality or God is what Sanatana Dharma, theReligion Eternal, emphasised from timeimmemorial. Yajna, hence, is a symbol of thepractical relationship between human beings,world and God or the Ultimate Reality (jiva,jagat and ishwara). That Yajna is an act ofunification and expansion of the human spiritand is made clear by its basic tenets.

Let us try to understand various aspectsof the spirit of yajna and its dynamics inpromoting individual and social well-being.

The following discussion focuses on variousaspects of the Vedic idea of a holistic life andtries to point out how the Upanishads are arepository of this wisdom.

1. Idam na mama (‘It is not mine’)These words are spoken when offerings

are poured into the fire during Yajnas. Theyemphasises the fact that the benefits that accruefrom it are not for the doer but are meant forthe welfare of all. Such an attitude made theindividual dedicate his life for the welfare ofall and thus free oneself of the temptations ofjealousy, avarice, arrogance, violence, selfishmotivation, and so on. This ideal of yajna latertook a more practical form when Sri Krishnaintroduced it in Gita as nishkama karma (workwithout selfish motive)—an indispensableprinciple for anyone interested in achievingexcellence in life and for one’s inwardevolution. Swami Vivekananda called this ideaas the core of his ideal of Karma yoga andadvocated it as the best means for ‘man-making and nation building’ programmes forIndia’s regeneration.

2. Swahah (the Sanskrit word used as excla-mation while doing a yajna)

Here again the idea is the surrender ofego. Truth, patience, non-stealing, forgiveness,discipline, and so on are all implied in thisutterance with which the deities are worshipedthrough offerings. In the above two practices,renunciation (tyaga) of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ isemphasised. Though tyaga is a difficult ideato a purely materialistic mind to grasp, it isthe best way to make oneself free from thebondage of work. When tyaga is backed by aspirit of unselfishness (nishkama bhava), it thenleads to skilfulness in action which is thesource of all prosperity and social security.This skilfulness is tyaga in another form. The


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Upanishads thus bridged the gap between thesacred and the secular and looked upon lifeas single whole.

3. Sham dvipade chatushpade (‘peace be to two-legged as well as four-legged beings’)

As said earlier, the Upanishads are all-inclusive in their approach to life. They haddeep concern for all life which was born ofperception of the One Truth present every-where. In their prayers, they sought well-beingof all beings—human beings or birds (‘two-legged’) as well as animals or insects. Theyinvoked benedictions for peace and good foreveryone. This is how they upheld the unityof life and emphasised the interrelatedness andinterdependence of existence. They understoodthat as man evolves, he begins to recognizehis own higher self present in everything andstarts treating them as his own. He feelscompelled to contribute to the well-being andprosperity of all. Such a wholesome idea ofinter-dependence is dawning in the modernscientific community now. Though late, it isbetter late than never.

Yajna is not just confined to a fire ritualbut has wider implications as well. Theseimplications are a key to understanding theideal of service mentioned in the Upanishads.This is how the benefits of yajna be understoodin a broader perspective as service. Doing aYajna has the following connotations:

1. Deva Puja: Yajna was a tangible,concrete action in the early part of the Vedictradition. Later the Vedic rishis discovered itsdeeper meaning of worship of God byrespecting parents, teachers, seniors, guests,as also the mighty powers of the five elements.One may recall here the famous Upanishadicteachings: ‘Worship your mother as Divine.Worship you father as Divine.’ (matri devobhava, pitri devo bhava). Worship is not just

offering some flowers, incense and fruit. Tosupply others’ needs, in a spirit of service anddetachment is also a form of worship. As SriRamakrishna once remarked, ‘Does Godmanifest only through a stone or wood image?’He can manifest in human forms also. So theidea of worship of God in man throughattending to their needs is also a compellingform of yajna.

2. Sanghatikaranam (Forging a group-unity): As stated earlier, Yajna meansestablishing a relationship between man, worldand God. The practical implication ofestablishing this sense of connectivity lies inmaintaining unity and integrity within a homeor organisation. This is done by being in tunewith the ideals and thoughts of the place orgroup. The following hymn expresses thisideal of harmony succinctly:

‘Common be your prayer;Common be your end;Common be your purpose;Common be your deliberation.Common be your desire;Unified be your hearts;United be your intentions;Perfect be the union amongst you.’

(Rig Veda, X, 1919-3,4.)

When one keeps this idea of yajna inmind and does his work, he fosters unity ofminds which is essential to create healthy andpowerful organisations and promote a fellowfeeling and righteousness.

3. Dana or donation: Dana or ‘giving’can be in any form—giving monetary help orrespect or knowledge or service and so on.The underlying idea is that it is by giving thata man receives back and that is what leads toreal happiness. In this magnificent, all-comprehensive Upanishadic vision, in whichevery individual life is a part of a cosmic yajna,where does the idea of modern life style fit


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in? We must understand that living a grossphysical and materialistic life, spending all ourenergies on our food, clothes and shelter,cannot make us happy and strong. We needto rise above this littleness of vision to learnthe secrets of life. Elaborating what is meantby help, Swami Vivekananda says:

‘Helping others physically, by removing theirphysical needs is indeed great; but the help isgreater according as the need is greater andaccording as the help is far reaching. If a man’swants can removed for an hour, it is helpinghim indeed; if his wants can be removed for ayear it will be more help to him; but if his wantscan be removed for ever, it is surely the greatesthelp that can be given him. Spiritual knowledgeis the only thing that can destroy our miseriesforever; any other knowledge satisfies wantsonly for a time. It is only with the knowledge ofthe spirit that the faculty of want is annihilatedforever; so helping man spiritually is the highesthelp that can be given him.’ (CW, 1: 52)

Let us restate the last sentence of Swamiji.Life, Upanishads believe, becomes completeonly when one realises the truth of atman.Hence, the most valuable service that can berendered is to kindle a desire to realise thattruth. Swamiji called this process of Self-experience as an act of de-hypnotisation. Whenone thinks he is just body and mind, he ishypnotised. When one realises one’s limitlessdimension within, the atman, he getsdehypnotised.

The Ideal of Service and Social RegenerationHow to practise this idea of yajna in life?

For this, let us look at the lives of great menlike Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna.In them we find how these ideals of Satya,Dharma and Yajna can be lived. We can drawmany lessons from their lives and teachings.

There are numerous incidents in their livesfrom which we learn how to practise thisprofound teaching of the Upanishads in dailylife. Let us consider one incident here.

Once Sri Ramakrishna was conversing withdevotees in his room in Dakshineshwar TempleComplex. He was quoting the well-known wordsfrom a Vaishanava scripture where it is said thatin order to be a true devotee, one should developlove for repeating God’s name, serve the holymen and have mercy on others. While he utteredthe last of the three pre-requisites, he suddenlystopped and burst into a monologue, ‘Mercy!Who are you to show mercy on others?! Youcan only serve others in a spirit of worship.’Swami Vivekananda, then known as Narendra-nath, witnessed the whole episode and after hecame out of the room, remarked that if God wills,he will broadcast this revolutionary ideaeverywhere. And indeed he did broadcast thisidea in the form of giving a new motto forservice. He called it shivajnane jiva seva or serviceof man as God.

This is the practical message of theUpanishads. If we have to bring change in thecruel and brutal world scene, it can be doneonly by serving others in a spirit of worship.It is only service based on this Upanishadicideals that can bring needed change in ourindividual and collective lives. Swamiji furtherreiterated these teachings in his immortalphrase: ‘atmano mokshartham jagaddhitaya cha’—‘for one’s own spiritual liberation and for thegood of others.’ When we keep this as theideal of our life, we are then in tune with theUpanishads. In other words, divinisation oflife is the ideal way to serve others. Let uskeep this modern mahavakya of Swamiji inmind ‘Serve Man, Serve God’. To serve is todevelop a sense of oneness with others andthat is the message of the Upanishads.


Swami Abhiramananda is the Manager of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. His thoughtfully written articlesappear in The Vedanta Kesari occasionally.

Upanishads—The Basis of AllWorld Religions

Swami Vivekananda’s talk on ‘TheVedanta’ delivered at Lahore on 12 November1897 created an electric atmosphere. Swamijihimself expressed satisfaction over the talkwhile his scribe Goodwin remarked that it wasa masterly exposition on the subject. Thelecture lasted nearly two and half hours andtransformed the minds of many people, themost notable among them being Tirtha RamGoswami who later on became famous asSwami Rama Tirtha.1

During the course of this talk, which wasstudded with several original and brilliantideas, Swamiji stated: ‘Nearly every chapter(of every Upanishad) begins with dualisticteaching, Upasana. God is first taught assomeone who is the creator of the universe,its preserver and unto whom everything goesat last. He is one to be worshipped, the Ruler,the Guide of nature, external and internal, yetappearing as if He were outside of nature andexternal. One step further, and we find thesame teacher teaching that this God is notoutside of nature, but immanent in nature.And at last both ideas are discarded, andwhatever real is He; there is no difference...that immanent One is at last declared to bethe same that is in the human soul.’2

According to the above statement ofSwamiji, not only every Upanishad but eachchapter of every Upanishad describes God in

three phases—as external, immanent, andunited with Jiva.

When we carefully study the Upanishadsfrom this perspective, they throw a new light.The following are some illustrations:

Example 1: Taittiriya Upanishad, Part-IIn the first stage, the Upanishad re-

commends meditation on the various deitiesof the Bhuh, Bhuvah and Suvah lokas assymbols of Brahman, just as a Salagrama isworshipped externally as a stone symbol ofLord Vishnu.3

In the second stage, God is described asbeing present in the cavity of the heart of theJiva denoting the immanent aspect of God.4

In the third and final stage, the Jiva isfully identified with Brahman in suchstatements as

‘My source is the Pure Brahman. I am the pureSelf which is in the Sun. I am the immortal andundecaying.’5

Example 2: Taittiriya Upanishad, Part-II, IIIIn the first stage, Brahman is considered

external to nature in passages as,

‘From Brahman indeed was produced space, air,fire, water, earth, herbs, food, man, etc.’6

In the second stage, the immanent aspectof Brahman is described in passages such as

SWAMI ABHIRAMANANDA


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‘That Brahman having created all that exists,entered into that very thing. And having enteredthere, It became the form and the formless,defined and undefined, the sustained and non-sustaining, the sentient and the insentient andthe true and the untrue.’7

In the final stage, the identity of Jiva withBrahman is stated in the exclamatory passage,

‘Oho! Oho! Oho, I am the food, I am the eater, Iam the unifier, I am the first born of this world,etc.’8

Example 3: Mundaka Upanishad, Chapter IIIThis Upanishad brings out the identity

of Jiva-Brahman through the beautiful imageryof two birds upon the self same tree, one onthe top branch and other on a lower branch.The bird on the top is calm, silent and majestic,immersed in its own glory. The bird on thelower branch eats sweet and bitter fruits byturns, hops from branch to branch, andbecomes alternately happy and miserable.After a time he eats an exceptionally bitterfruit, gets disgusted and looks up. There hesees the other bird eating neither sweet fruitsnor bitter ones. Being devoid of desires, he isalways calm and sees nothing beyond his Self.

The lower bird longs for that conditionand hops a little towards him. But soon heforgets all about it. Filled with desires, hebegins to eat the fruits once again. After alittle while he eats another exceptionally bitterfruit which makes him miserable. He looksup again and tries to get nearer to the upperbird. This journey continues until he gets verynear the upper bird. At this stage, the lowerbird realizes that he is only a shadow, areflection of the upper bird. When he goesstill nearer to the upper bird, he merges inhim.

This imagery is symbolic of a man’sstruggle to attain God. The lower bird

represents the Jiva while the upper one, theBrahman. In the first stages, the Jiva experi-ences worldly joys and miseries by turns. Inthe second stage, the Jiva understands that heis only a reflection or shadow of Brahman.The final stage indicates the merging of theJivatman with the Paramatman.9

Example 4: The Brihadaranyaka UpanishadIn the first stage, the following famous

dualistic prayer to God is mentioned,

‘O, Lord, Lead me from the evil to good. Leadme from darkness to light. Lead me from deathto immortality.’10

In the second stage, God is described aspervading the entire universe:

‘Causal universe developed of itself into nameand form. . . That Supreme Self has entered intoall these bodies from Hiranyagarbha down to acrump of grass, up to the very end of the nails.’11

In the third and final stage, the Jiva isfully identified with Brahman as stated in thefollowing declaration: The sage Vamadevaunderstood the real nature of his Self as ‘I amBrahman.’12

Example 5: The Chandogya UpanishadIn the first stage, the Upanishad teaches

dualistic meditation:‘All these creatures, dear boy, have Being as theirroot, have Being as their abode, and have Beingas their support’.13

In the second stage, the immanent aspectof God is described:

‘That Being which is this subtle essence, eventhat has this world for its Self.’14

In the third and final stage, the Jiva isfully identified with Brahman in suchstatements as

‘That is the Truth. That is the Atman. ThatThou Art, O Svetaketu’15


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The five examples mentioned above areonly illustrative of this recurring theme of allthe Upanishads.

The first stage marks the externalisationof Jiva from Brahman and is expounded inthe Dvaita philosophy of Madhvacharya.

The second stage of the immanence ofBrahman pervading the universe in andthrough is detailed in the Vishishtadvaitaphilosophy of Ramanujacharya according towhich the Jiva and Brahman are inseparablyrelated to each other like a body to its limbsor a tree to its branches.

The final stage of identity of the jivatmanwith paramatman is elaborated in the Advaiticphilosophy whose chief exponent is Shankara-charya.

Swami Vivekananda’s Great DiscoverySwami Vivekananda discovered that the

above three schools are mutually comple-mentary and together, systematically enablethe aspirant to rise to higher levels of spiritualconsciousness. It was on his return to India in1897 that Swamiji made this importantcontribution to the thought-world. BeforeSwamiji, the followers of the different schoolsargued that only their own school of inter-pretation was the correct one and even wentto the extent of twisting the original texts tosuit their line of thinking. They regarded thethree philosophical systems as three distinctand different ideals for the liberation of thesoul. No attempt was made to reconcile them.Swamiji boldly declared that even the highestrealizations of Dvaita and Vishishtadvaitawere only stages on the way to the ultimateAdvaitic experience. When some one askedSwamiji that if this were the truth, why was itthat none of the Masters who preceded himhad mentioned it, Swamiji replied with hischaracteristic nonchalance,

‘Because I was born for this, and it was left forme to do!’ 16

In his lectures on the Jnana Yoga, Swamijisummarizes this thought in his inimitable style:

‘The idea that the goal is far off, far beyondnature, attracting us all towards it, has to bebrought nearer and nearer, without degradingor degenerating it. The God of heaven becomesthe God in nature, and the God in naturebecomes the God who is nature, and the Godwho is nature becomes the God within thetemple of this body, at last becomes the templeitself, becomes the soul and man—and there itreaches the last words it can teach.’17

World-Religions and the Three Schools ofIndian Philosophy:

Swamiji makes another equally startlingrevelation that all the major world religionsare contained in the above three schools ofVedanta. He points out that when Vedanta isapplied to the various ethnic customs andcreeds of India, the outcome is the birth ofHindu religion. And the application of thisphilosophy to specific Indian cults and formsgives rise to different branches of Hinduismsuch as Shaktism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism,Ganapatya, Kaumara and Saura sects. Thephilosophy of Dvaita when applied to theideas of the ethnic groups of Europe results inbirth of Christianity with its various ramifi-cations; when the same Dvaita philo-sophy is applied to Semitic groups the resultis the birth of Islam. Further he also pointsout that the application of the philosophy ofAdvaita in its yoga-perception form is thecause of origin of Buddhism.

Through this two-step formula providedby Swamiji, we can reinstate:

Step 1: All the Upanishads show us theway to Brahman by leading us through thestages of Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita and Advaita.


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Step 2: All the major world religions canbe traced to their origin, viz., to the threeschools of Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita and Advaita

Hence comes the conclusion: The Upanishadsare the basis of all the major world-religions.

The same can be deduced even by simplelogical reasoning. The watchword of Upani-shads is unity—unity behind the entireuniverse. All the world religions advocateunity, although in a limited sense, at leastamong their own followers. The Upanishadsthus naturally encompass all the major worldreligions and hence form their basis.

It was Swamiji’s firm conviction that ifat all there is going to be a universal religionfor the entire world, it would be the religionof the Upanishads and Upanishads alone.Whereas all other religions are founded upona Book, a Prophet and a Personal God, thereligion of the Upanishads stands on its ownglory, independent of these three. At the sametime, it allows for any number of Books,Prophets and Personal Gods. Vast as the skyand deep as the ocean, the philosophy of theUpanishads, though the oldest in the world,has always remained young and wouldcontinue to do so by virtue of its unifying andinclusive features.

Application of This Thought in the NationalContext

India is an ancient nation known for itsrich cultural, linguistic and regional diversities.She has survived a thousand years ofonslaught of foreign invasions by virtue of herdeep spiritual resilience. The secret of hersurvival has been the intuitive perception ofunity in diversity nurtured through ages ofsustained spiritual realizations.

Swamiji was firm in his conviction thatreligion alone can unite India. He placed it asthe first condition for the development and

progress of a future India. There must be onereligion throughout the length and breadth ofthe land, he said.18 Evidently, the Upani-shadic religion alone can satisfy such criteria.

Unfortunately some bigoted elementshave lost sight of this fact and have laidemphasis on the diversity. They have usurpedwealth and power by dividing the people ofIndia along the lines of caste, region, language,culture, etc. The corrective antidote for thisdangerous trend pervading the present societyis recognizing the religion of the Upanishadsas the mother of all the religious sects, andputting their precepts into practice by livingin unison with each other.

Application of This Thought in the GlobalContext

Although the nations of the world havecombined together and put up organizationslike the United Nations Organization (UNO)to prevent wars on a full-fledged scale, theyhave not been able to stop wars. At any giventime, war is going on in some part of the worldor the other. It is also taking indirect and subtleforms like the cold wars and guerrilla tactics.Terrorism is raising its head like never before.The general reasons for all these are analysedto be economic, political, social and similarcauses. But in every case, we find invariablyreligion plays a major part—the parties in-volved belong to either two different religionsor sects of the same religion. Instead ofunifying, these religions are dividing human-kind. The only solution to these serious andapparently interminable global problems is toaccept and follow the message of the Upani-shads which has discovered unity not onlybetween different races and religions, but theunifying force behind the whole universe.Hence the message of the Upanishads is the onlyviable solution to enduring world peace.


1. Vivekananda, His Gospel of Man Making Ed., andpub. by Swami Jyotirmayananda, Madras, p.572

2. CW, 3: 3983. Taittiriya Upanishad, 1-v4. ibid., 1.vi5. ibid., 1.x6. ibid, II-i-17. ibid., II-vi-18. ibid., III-x-5-69. Based on Swami Vivekananda’s commentary on

Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.2

References10. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, I-3- xxviii11. ibid., I-4-vii12. ibid., I-4-x13. Chandogya Upanishad, VI-8-vi14. ibid., VI-8-vii15. ibid., VI-8-vii. This statement is repeated nine

times in the text.16. The Master as I saw Him by Sister Nivedita, pub. by

Udbodhan Off., Kolkata, p-200-0117. CW, 2: 12818. ibid., 3: 287

The Golden Face of TruthThe Isa Upanishad is one of the very ancient books, very short. Towards the end, the

teacher, says: Hiranmayena patrena satyasyapihitam mukham Tat tvam pusann apavrinu satyadharmaya dristaye‘The face of Truth is covered by a golden disk.’ A golden disk has hidden the face of the

Truth. Then he prays, Tat tvam pusann apavrinu—‘O Pushan, you who cherish and protectus, do remove this covering from your face.’ Why? ‘So that I, whose religion is Truth, maysee the Truth.’

Isn’t it true that this world is covered with a golden disk? Everybody wants the goldendisk. Who doesn’t want gold? It was only the other day that there was so much hurry andbustle about gold. All the idiots of this idiotic world have run after gold. But this wasn’t themeaning really; the word golden wasn’t meant here to symbolize wealth. Why, then, is thedisk that hides the face of Truth called golden? I think you know the answer. If the moonwere to see the earth, it would find it golden—certainly alluring—just as we find the moongolden and alluring when we look at it from our side. Everything looks golden and alluringfrom a distance. So this sage prayed, ‘Your face is covered with a golden disk. Do youremove it so that I may see the Truth.’ That is the fact: everything is alluring here;everybody is eager for the things of this world; but that is not seeing the Truth. You haveto ask Him who is protecting you and the world to remove the golden disk which covers Hisface. And, you know, that is what we have been praying for; we may not recognize it, butthat is always our prayer. . . What do you have to do? You have to remove those thingswithin you that make you see the golden disk over the face of everything. Why do we findthis world so alluring and so charming? Because we are fools, and we want those things.The world looks so beautiful. As you outgrow childhood everything seems to tempt you,everything looks beautiful. That is what is called youth. Your body has matured, yoursenses have become stronger; the inner senses, look upon through the outer senses, andeverything looks tempting. So if you can remove this inner sense of glamour and do notpursue these temptations, the world will not look alluring. You might say, ‘Better to seesomething than not to see anything at all.’ Well, you will see something. You will catch aglimpse of the real golden colour of the face of Truth.

—Swami Ashokananda, When the Many Become One, Advaita Ashrama, Pp. 87-90

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JAY LAKHANI

Modern Science and Upanishads

Science and ReligionIn the sixties and seventies I studied

Physics at Imperial College London, and didsome postgraduate work in QuantumMechanics with Roger Penrose, a famousEnglish Physicist. Physics was, and is still,considered to be the most pretentious of allsciences. In the final instance everyother scientific discipline like Chemistry orBiology or Cosmology has to fall backon Physics to gain a deeper insight in theirown field.

The links between science and religionhave never been fully explored. Some over-enthusiastic religions insist that all scientificknowledge is contained in their scriptures.When we examine these claims in detail, wediscover that almost all such claims aremostly text-torturing. It is understandable thatthe science lobby is not amused by suchintrusive comments about their field. Icontinue to come across educated Hinduyouth who cannot tell the difference betweenallegorical and literal truths. One claimedthat the story of Ganesh acquiring anelephant head is a clear proof that in ancienttimes we were able to carry out head-transplants! I continue to come across Hindustudents at British Universities who claim thatthe depiction of the Pushpak Viman in the

Ramayan is a clear proof that we haddeveloped aircraft technology in ancient times.I tell them, ‘Find me one piece of demons-trable evidence and I will stand corrected.’

Science has been one of the most durable,endearing and successful enterprises mankindembarked on. To infringe on its integrity orundermine its discipline in the name of religioncannot be allowed. Science continues toevolve and offer us deeper and better insightinto the nature of reality. Not only does it giveus a good grasp of what nature is all about, italso empowers us to harness nature for ourbenefit.

One of the unique features of science hasbeen its ability to offer us the mosteconomical explanation relating to theworld. In order for science to continue toprogress, it must continue to converge(discovering a central principle or source). Afew years back Stephen Hawking, the wellknown physicist, made a bold claim thatPhysics is converging so fast that in hislifetime it will come up with the Theory ofEverything (TOE for short). Alas, Physicshas not reached anywhere near omniscienceand Stephen Hawking has turned into a morehumble scientist who has stopped makingexaggerated claims about the scope ofPhysics.

Jay Dilip Lakhani, MSc., is the chairman of Vivekananda Centre, London, a non-profit organisation workingtowards improving the quality of religious education in UK and other places. Their activities include reaching outto various youth groups, holding lectures/presentations about Hinduism and ideals of RamakrishnaVivekananda. For more information visit their website at http://www.vivekananda.co.uk.


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Materialism Supported by LogicalPositivism

In the middle of the last century we sawthe emergence of the Vienna Circle, a groupof European thinkers who wanted to protecthard science from being swamped by subjectiveor metaphysical involvement. They calledthemselves logical positivists. They defined hardsciences as those sciences that were based onempirical evidence (meaning evidence that canbe reduced to sense data), supported by alogical (or self-consistent) explanation. On theplus side this stringent requirement kept theinterpretational and subjective elements frominterfering in the progress of science. On thedownside the imposition of empirical evidencemeant that only a strictly materialistic world-view was acceptable. This self-imposed barrierset up by the logical positivists to protectscience from unwanted interference has, oflate, become its greatest stumbling blockbecause it imposes a materialistic world-view,which is becoming untenable. This state ofaffairs came to a head with the discovery ofsomething very dramatic at the heart ofmodern Physics.

Entry of the Magical QuantumThe problem with a materialistic

interpretation of the universe became visiblein the mid 1920s with the invocation ofquantum theory. At the heart of physics wecome across a most marvellous discovery thatoutshone all other discoveries of physics puttogether. This single discovery is far morepotent than everything science had discoveredover the past few thousand years. This is thediscovery of the magical quantum. Quantumis the substratum of the universe. As such itcan be classed as the primary building blockof the universe. Quantum is the mostsuccessful discovery of modern science; it

offers the formalism that gives the bestanswers on the workings of everything fromthe DNA to the computer chip. Despite itssuccess the quantum poses a seriousconceptual quandary. We ask the physicists,‘What is quantum?’ The only response theyoffer is to say that it is a mathematicalconstruct. The truly unique feature about thequantum is that it is guaranteed not to bematerial.

To make this idea accessible to the layperson, the father of quantum mechanics,Werner Heisenberg, said,

‘If we think we can explain the universe in termsof sticks and stones or smaller versions of sticksand stones (meaning little lumps of matter calledatoms) then we are certain to be disappointed.The only thing we can say with certainty is thatthe building block of the universe is non-material.’

This simple statement spelt the death-knell for materialism. Matter has to be viewedas a secondary phenomenon and, so trying toexplain the universe in terms of matter and itsattributes is certain to lead to a limited ordownright faulty insight into reality. With thediscovery of the quantum in physics,materialism has received a fatal blow.

The Reductionist Approach Under FireReducing every phenomenon to the

primary building blocks of matter (theelementary particles) with their attributes(mass, charge and spin) has been a verysuccessful methodology adopted by science.The discovery of quantum as the primaryphenomenon underpinning the universemeans that this reductionist approach is nolonger adequate. A paradigm shift is in themaking; a paradigm shift that will eventuallypush science into the realm of spirituality.


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Divergence or Infinite Possibilities?The reluctance of modern physicists to

acknowledge or accept the non-materialfoundation to the universe, and its impli-cations, has meant that physics of late has lostits drive and direction. It has turned into autilitarian enterprise. Modern physicists aretrained to use very elaborate mathematicaltools that produce the right answers withamazing accuracy but offer them noconceptual insights. The conceptual leapnecessary for physics to move forward hasbeen stifled in favour of a mathematical jumblethat gives the right answers. The work ofmodern physics in the last three decades hasbeen dominated by super-string theories. Theonly thing these superstring theories haveachieved is to confound and frustrate thephysicists and leave them struggling in a 10or 11 dimensional universe! The variations orpossibilities within the theory are more thanall the elementary particles in the universe!This is hardly an economical model of theuniverse. Though modern physics in pursuitof convergence has arrived at a divergence,one cannot deny that science is a continuingpursuit after knowledge, making newerdiscoveries, revising the old ones and, in duecourse, even replacing the ‘new’ with the‘newest’!

The End of Progress?Physics lost in a maze of highly divergent

suppositions is losing its impetus. This is analarming state of affairs because this mostdurable enterprise is getting seriously boggeddown. Some pragmatists have shrugged offthis state of affairs and adopted anattitude of, ’Why should science alwaysconverge? Maybe it is not meant to converge.Science just gives us a handle on the worldallowing us some degree of control over our

immediate surroundings to help us becomebetter survivors. We should be happy withthat and live with it rather than get workedup about looking for an ultimate economicexplanation.’ Let us turn to the teachings ofthe Upanishads to see if we can find a wayout of this pretty pessimistic scenario.

Upanishadic TeachingsThe Upanishadic teachings have always

supported the idea of unity in diversity. Wecome across the ancient enquiry: ‘What is that,by knowing which we know everything?’ Andin the Upanishadic literature we come acrossa very bold response, ‘We have found theanswer, we know that by knowing whicheverything else is known.’

What is this unity the Upanishads areexcited about? It is Brahman, something that isboth transcendent and immanent (forming thesubstratum of everything). We search theUpanishadic literature to see if we can get abetter grasp of Brahman. The Upanishads talkof it as of the nature of existence-conscious-ness-bliss (asti-bhati-priyam). The term ‘it is ofthe nature of’ in this definition is a cop-outbecause it does not define Brahman. These threeterms are mere signposts used for getting ourminds round this subtle principle. Strangelyenough, the findings at the heart of modernphysics resonate strongly with what we findencapsulated in this simple term existence-consciousness-bliss (asti-bhati-priyam).

When examined with the fabric of reality,modern physics has been forced to abandon amaterialistic stance but it does not know whatto replace it with. If we press the physics lobbyhard to give us more information about thequantum phenomenon, they tell us two things:

❖ The only physical interpretation wecan offer to the mathematical formalism of thequantum phenomenon is that it describes the


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probability of existence. Or putting it moredramatically—Everything we experience is justwiggles in existence. It is interesting tocompare this statement with what SwamiVivekananda said in his talk on Rajayoga. Hesaid that this world is made out of just twothings. Akash, all penetrating existence and,Prana, that which is able to disturb existence.Separately both Akash and Prana remain outof the realm of our experience but theirinteraction produces everything we experience(cf. CW , 1.147).

❖ The second unique feature of thequantum phenomenon is that it underminesthe materialistic stance that there is an objectivereality out there. It insists that the universewe experience is a participatory process whereconsciousness plays a crucial role for theuniverse to come into existence. Such dramaticideas continue to be resisted by a strongmaterialistic lobby. Very reputable neuroscientists continue to affirm that it is notpossible to pinpoint the source of conscious-ness to any slice of the brain. Consciousnessremains an enigma for modern neuroscience.The question remains, ‘What is this powerfultool we possess that gives us access to realityand yet cannot be traced to a material origin?’Quantum theory is suggesting that withoutconsciousness the material world cannot comeinto being. Modern physics shudders at theimplications of such suggestions. This is whatthe theory suggests: Matter does not produceconsciousness; the contrary consciousness isnecessary for matter to come into being.

Brahman as the Foundation of the Universe❖ Isa vasyam idam sarvam, declares Isa

Upanishad. ‘View the universe as appearanceof Brahman.’ Brahman is defined as that whichunderpins everything and yet is no-thing.Compare this with the definition of quantum:Quantum is the underpinning to the materialuniverse though it is guaranteed not to bematerial.

❖ Prajnanam Brahman declares theAitarieya Upanishad. What appears asconsciousness in living things is Brahman orspirit showing itself in the material universe.Consciousness is essential for the universe tocome into existence. Existence and conscious-ness are intricately intertwined.

Paradigm Shift in ScienceScience can get back on track and pursue

its agenda of convergence if it overcomes itsinfatuation of reducing everything to matterand its attributes. There are very clear findingsat the heart of physics and neuroscience whichboth point to a spiritual foundation toeverything we experience including ourselves.Only when science appreciates this non-material or spiritual basis to everything canwe hope to have a major conceptualbreakthrough that will land science firmly inthe lap of spirituality.

Often, I tell university students, ‘Thoughwe owe much to the prophets of the past, it isthe science of today that holds the key toreviving and refreshing the message ofUpanishads.’

‘Vedanta teaches that consciousness is singular, all happenings are played out in oneuniversal consciousness and there is no multiplicity of selves.’

—Erwin Schrodinger, What is life? p. 87


The author is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He is presently at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Deoghar,Jharkhand.

The Bhagavad Gita—Quintessence ofthe Upanishads

A Manual of Upanishads in PracticeThe Bhagavad Gita is a unique scripture.

Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is universaland all-encompassing in its appeal. The Gitais actually a practical manual of how topractice Upanishadic ideals in life. It is a recordof the dialogue between Sri Krishna, theGodhead personified, and Arjuna, a greatwarrior and an intimate friend of Sri Krishna.In the process, the Gita unfolds the truth thatto be able to realize its message, which isessentially the message of the Upanishads,Shiksha, Diksha and Pariksha must go together.These three complete the course of Sadhana(spiritual struggle) to attain the highestspiritual knowledge that bestows on a personthe highest good or Nishreyasa in the end.

Shiksha deals with the technical aspect ofeducation. Diksha means spiritual initiation,comprising Shraddha or an attitude of humilityand respectfulness, as is depicted in Nachiketa’scharacter in Katha Upanishad. Shikshabecomes effective when it is done with duediksha for education is not a mere process ofsitting near the teacher and listening to him.True education involves active participationin the process of evolution of ideas. Pariksha,on the other hand, is the test of spiritual insightone earns through the other two. Its meanstesting our theories in practice. Pariksha is welldescribed in the Upanishads through

numerous stories and anecdotes. SinceBhagavad Gita deals with the principles taughtin the Upanishads in all their details andsimplicity, it is a complete manual of spiritualpractices mentioned in the Upanishads.

Sri Krishna, the teacher of the Gita is ateacher par excellence. Arjuna, the disciple, ismost competent, since he absorbs shiksha aswell as diksha with due respect and skill, andthen qualifies himself in pariksha, as it were,grappling with adversities of delusion, sadnessand disappointment that come his way. Theteacher-student relationship between the twois simply exemplary.

Adi Shankaracharya says in his com-mentary on the Bhagavad Gita that this loftyrelationship between the teacher and thetaught is necessary for grasping the abstractideas of the perennial philosophy (‘Vedicdharma’) in a practical way. When a perfectteacher-student combination such as this, takesup the difficult issue of understanding theessence of the Vedas, it gives rise to greatclarity of thoughts and reaches a large numberof people. Sri Krishna-Arjuna relationship isan apt illustration of this condition. The KathaUpanishad too stresses this blending of acompetent teacher and student (ascharya vaktakushalasya labdha) for effective communicationof the highest spiritual knowledge. ManyUpanishads are in a dialogue form.

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We must remember that Upanishads andGita do not deal with different themes.Explaining their intimate relationships, SwamiVivekananda says:

‘To understand the Gita requires its historicalbackground. The Gita is a commentary on theUpanishads. The Upanishads are the Bible ofIndia. They occupy the same place as the NewTestament does. There are [more than] ahundred books comprising the Upanishads,some very small and some big, each a separatetreatise. The Upanishads do not reveal the lifeof any teacher, but simply teach principles. Theyare [as it were] shorthand notes taken down ofdiscussion in [learned assemblies], generally inthe courts of kings. The word Upanishad maymean “sittings” [or “sitting near a teacher”].Those of you who may have studied some ofthe Upanishads can understand how they arecondensed shorthand sketches. After longdiscussions had been held, they were takendown, possibly from memory. The difficulty isthat you get very little of the background. Onlythe luminous points are mentioned there. Theorigin of ancient Sanskrit is 5000 B.C.; theUpanishads [are at least] two thousand yearsbefore that. Nobody knows [exactly] how oldthey are. The Gita takes the ideas of theUpanishads and in [some] cases the very words.They are strung together with the idea ofbringing out, in a compact, condensed, andsystematic form, the whole subject theUpanishads deal with.’1

Swamiji further says:‘He who wrote that wonderful poem was one ofthose rare souls whose lives sent a wave ofregeneration through the world.’2

Indeed, Gita has been bringing solace tocountless men and women down the ages.Ever since it was first translated from Sanskritto English by Charles Wilkins of Asiatic Societyin 1785, it readership is ever on increase. TheBhagavad Gita, undoubtedly, fulfils the

purpose of the Upanishads, which would havebeen otherwise difficult, considering theintellectual as well as spiritual preparednessrequired for entering into the teachings ofUpanishads which are often clothed incomplex language.

A Melting Pot of Upanishadic IdealsAs noted earlier, the Bhagavad Gita is

very comprehensive in its teachings. Itscomprehensiveness can be seen by use of thecolophon at the end of its each chapter (omtatsat iti shrimad bhagavad gitasu upanishadsu).Drawing on abundant similarities, thiscolophon gives it the status of an Upanishad.The Gita is also called a Yoga scripture (yogashastre. . .) also since each of its chapters istermed as Yoga. The term Yoga means unionof the individual soul with the cosmic Self.Every chapter of the Gita speaks about a wayfor its achievement. And all these are clearlyconcerned with how to reach spiritualliberation or obtain the knowledge of theAbsolute Reality (brahmavidya).

The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishadsboth have attached due importance tosagunabrahma (God with attributes) andnirgunabrahma (God without attributes). TheBhagavad Gita, however, goes ahead andharmonizes worship of the two. Gita alsointroduces the idea of the Incarnation of God(avataratattwa). It is thus is a melting pot ofideals, ideas and concepts, so to say, in whichmetaphysics as well as spiritual practices ofall types and their synthesis find a place. It isa handy encyclopedia of the subtlestUpanishadic thoughts in simple language.

Bhagavad Gita is a part of the traditionalthree texts of path to the highest(prasthanatraya), the other being the Upanishadsand the Brahmasutras. There are numerouscommentaries on the Gita, written by great


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minds over the millennia. In fact any onewanting to establish a school of spiritualtradition (sampradaya) in Hinduism begins bygiving his interpretation of the Gita. Withoutthis, his school of thought is consideredunauthentic and casual.

There is a verse in the Gita-dhyanam(mediation on the Gita) which compares theUpanishads with a milch cow and her nectar-like-milk with the Gita. This ‘milk’ is milkedby Sri Krishna, with Arjuna as Upanishads’calf placed before her (as is the practice tomilk a cow). The ‘milk’ is for the enjoyment ofthe wise people. The Gita is pervaded by theUpanishads. This is reinforced by the similarityof their verses.3 When one goes through them,one feels as if one is reading the Upanishadsthemselves or, even, for that matter, the bestcommentary on them.

Some thinkers believe that the Gita is theculmination of a prolonged struggle betweenthe jnanakanda and the karmakanda of theVedas, led by the sannyasins on the one hand,and the priestly class on the other respectively.When the idea of renunciation gathered morepopularity, the sannyasins gained muchrespect and acceptance in the society. Thiscame as a blessing to the sincere spiritualaspirants who were eager to learn from thesannayasins the transcendental science ofbrahmavidya. They thus began to ‘sit near’—as in the case of the Upanishad—proficientteachers who led a life of self-control andspiritual practices. This is how a spiritualregeneration took place and Gita became allthe more popular.

Gita’s Practical AppealThe Gita is set in a typical circumstance

of a fratricidal war, arising out of family feuds.It was delivered on the eve of this battle, on achariot, in the midst of the battle field, where

the teacher occupies the driver’s seat and thetaught ‘sits near’ him ready to fight but onseeing his near and dear ones, breaks down inan inconsolable grief.

Arjuna then becomes downcast (santaptamanasa). It happens because of fear andweakness of mind—hridaya-daurbalyam—andhe becomes overwhelmed by a sense of dif-fidence, fear and confusion. He then requestsKrishna to help him out of this confusion.Krishna rightly gauges his state of being andbegins by dealing out a shock. He calls Arjunaan imbecile. What could be a greater shock toa great warrior such as Arjuna known for hisexceptional valour and heroism? Sri Krishnacalls upon him to give up his unmanliness—klaibyam—and face life. He does not ask himto renounce and retreat to a forest. He rathertells him to fight.

Krishna thus begins the process ofpsychological and spiritual rescue. In order tosave Arjuna from the dense cloud of self-deception Krishna tells him to understand theeternity of atman and the utter fleeting natureof life. He thus teaches detachment—anasakti.This message of detachment can be foundeverywhere in the Gita. Sri Krishna, however,makes it very clear that without perfectrenunciation there is no detachment and viceversa. They are practically non-different andvital for spiritual freedom which is the way toeverlasting peace.

Hence, one finds the whole of the Gitasaturated and vibrant with the idea ofrenunciation. Sri Ramakrishna remarked thatthe fundamental teaching of the Gita can behad by repeating the word Gita a couple oftimes. As one repeats the word Gita severaltimes, one gets its reverse word tagi, which isa derivative of the root taj, meaning tyaga—torenounce. So renunciation is the central themeof the Gita. Renunciation makes one fearless.


In Upanishads, too, points out SwamiVivekananda, fearlessness is the central theme.It is fear that binds microcosm and macrocosmalike. When the king becomes established inSelf-knowledge, the Upanishads describe, hebecomes fearless. Fearlessness and Self-knowledge are synonyms. Likewise SriKrishna reveals the glory of Self-knowledgeand removes all fear from Arjuna’s mind forgood.

More Parallels Between the Gita and theUpanishads

Arjuna is honest and sincere. He under-stand his weakness. He thus expresses himselfand surrenders to Krishna. He says he isoverwhelmed by the guilt of a kripanah—aterm which also appears in the BrihadaranyakaUpanishad. Kripanah literally means miser. Butthe Upanishad extends its meaning:

‘O Gargi, who departs from this world withoutknowing this immutable, is miserable (kripana).’4

Having been born as human being, thegreatest advantage is that one can experiencethe Self. And if one does not do this, he isindeed a miser, not having used his resourcesthough he had many.

Sri Krishna upholds to Arjuna the gloryof the Self and its ever existent, blissful andconscious state. Atman is Brahman; they arenot different. Man is not different from God.To be established in our real nature is to beestablished in God (Brahmisthiti). This is theremedy for fear and weakness. A manestablished in God, as opposed to senses andego, becomes a man of steady wisdom—sthitaprajna. Explaining what is steady wisdom,he says that one is a person of steady wisdomwhen one casts off all desires and findssatisfaction in the Self alone (atmani-eva-atmanatustah).5 In a similar tone, we find Yama saying

to Nachiketa in the Katha Upanishad: ‘Whena person has all his heart’s desires destroyed,he attains immortality and becomes one withBrahman in this very life.’6

World is always on the move. Thisconstant activity of the phenomenal world iscompared in the Gita with a perennialsacrifice—yajna. It is yajna which sustains life.But how does yajna go on? On account ofBrahman, the Unchangeable. The MundakaUpanishad proclaims:

‘From Brahman comes all the mountains andvast oceans. From Brahman issues all the rivers,big or small, and again from Brahman arises allthe vegetables and the essences, sweet orotherwise. By virtue of its existence all thesethings exist. It holds all things together. Theessences sustain the inner self in the form of asubtle sheath.’7

Gita too explains the whole process ofyajna thus:

‘From food come forth beings: from rain food isproduced: from Yajna arises rain; and Yajna isborn of Karma. Know Karma to have risen fromthe Veda, and the Veda from the Imperishable.Therefore the all-pervading Veda is ever centredin Yajna.’8

Sri Krishna further makes clear that as itis happening in the external world so also inthe internal world—all the organs and senses-are, as if, relentlessly performing a yajna, inorder to propitiate the deity, the Self within.

Sri Krishna, however, never forgets toremind Arjuna that yajna is within the realmof karma. Unless it is done without motive,there can be hardly any spiritual progress, forkarma alone is the cause of bondage as wellas release. And it is absurd to remain alooffrom karma, even for a single moment. Hencethere is a need to be especially knowledgeableregarding its nature and make use of its good

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contributions. Anasakta karma—work withoutattachment—he says, paves a way to Self-realization, purging the mind of its dross—chittashuddhi—accumulated from the past inthe form of subtle impressions (samskaras).Working, not running from it, is the way togo beyond work and its bondage.

Now Sri Krishna proceeds to describe theart of doing work skillfully. He tells Arjuna toperform all his duties dispassionately. (Action,according to the Hindu tradition, can becategorized into three: nitya karma—obligatoryactions, nishiddha karma—actions forbidden bythe scriptures and, kamya karma—actions withdesires.) Sri Krishna counsels Arjuna, to dothe nitya karma—actions according to theinstructions of the scriptures and avoid by allmeans kamya karma—actions with desires andnishiddha karma—the forbidden actions. If oneworks with attachment or expectation ofmaterial gains, it makes one attached to them.This attachment gives rise to the pair ofopposites—raga and dvesha, possessiveness andhatred. This makes a slave of a man. It createsconfusion in him as to what is morally correctand thus makes his mind full of doubts andindecisions (samsaya-atma). To work skilfullymeans to keep one’s mind clear and rightlyfocused.

The only purpose of Sri Krishna’s adviceis to make Arjuna free from these pairs ofopposites. This alone could resolve allcontradictions in life and make one rise aboveall conflicts. This is possible only when onebecomes established in one’s real nature, theatman. Even before one becomes establishedin it, when one keeps this as the ideal of life,one begins to experience purity of mind andthat is the goal of all work. One may recallwhat Sri Ramakrishna says in this context: ‘

‘Yes, God is directly perceived by the mind, butnot by this ordinary mind. It is the pure mind

that perceives God, and at that time this ordinarymind does not function. A mind that has theslightest trace of attachment to the world cannotbe called pure. When all the impurities of themind are removed, you can call that mind PureMind or Pure Atman.’9

This reminds one of what the Chan-dogya Upanishads says:

‘Through purity of food comes purity of mind.From purity of mind comes a steady memory ofTruth, and when one gets this memory onebecomes free from all knots of the heart.’10

Same idea is conveyed in the MundakaUpanishad:

‘If a person can realize Brahman the cause andBrahman the effect as his own Self, all thepeculiarities of his character disappear and allhis doubts are dispelled. The fruits of his workalso get destroyed.’11

ConclusionGita is a restatement of the truths of the

Upanishads. The Gita marks an importantevent in the spiritual history of mankind. Sinceit is a part of the Mahabharata where a fiercebattle between forces of materialism andspirituality is symbolically depicted, the Gitabecomes all the more appealing and friendlyin its influence. The profound spiritual cultureof the Vedas finds its expression in the sublimepoetry the Upanishads.

The last chapter of the Gita is namedMokshayoga—Yoga of Liberation. Here SriKrishna concludes by asking Arjuna,

‘Has your delusion, born of ignorance, beendestroyed?’ Arjuna replies with due assurance,‘My delusion (moha) is gone. I have regainedmy memory (smriti) through Your grace(tatprasadat), O Krishna. I am firm (sthitah); I am

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free from doubt (gata-sandeha). I will actaccording to Your word.’

This is what the Gita promises us—learning to surrender to God and havingspiritual growth as the purpose of all actions.He tells Arjuna to look upon victory and defeatin the fight with equanimity. All is play. Onlyspiritual growth matters; nothing else.

In fine, the Bhagavad Gita is a ready-reckoner of the Upanishads. If one understandsthe Gita, one understands the Upanishads, andif one understands the Upanishads, oneunderstands the timeless wisdom of spiritua-

lity that India stands for. And as Swamijisays,

‘If we study the Upanishads we notice, inwandering through the mazes of many irrelevantsubjects, the sudden introduction of thediscussion of a great truth, just as in the midstof a huge wilderness a traveller unexpectedlycomes across here and there an exquisitelybeautiful rose, with its leaves, thorns, roots, allentangled. Compared with that, the Gita is likethese truths beautifully arranged together in theirproper places—like a fine garland or a bouquetof the choicest flowers.12. . . The Bhagavad Gitais the best authority on Vedanta.’13

References

1. CW, 1: 4462. CW, 1: 223. To cite a few of them, the 5th verse of Isha

Upanishad is close to the verses 16th and 29th ofchapters 13 and 6 of the Gita respectively. Fourverses of chapter two, namely 7th, 15th, 18th and19th, are same as the verses 11th, 20th and 19th ofchapters 18, 2 and 2 respectively.

4. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.8.10

5. Bhagavad Gita, 2.556. Katha Upanishad, 2.3.147. Mundaka Upanishad, 2.1.98. Bhagavad Gita, 3.14-159. Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 68710. Chhandogya Upanishads, 7.26.211. Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.812. CW, 4:10613. CW, 7: 57

The Best Attitude for Work

Everything goes to show that this philosophy must be very practical; and later on,when we come to the Bhagavad Gita—it is the best commentary we have on theVedanta philosophy—curiously enough the scene is laid on the battlefield,where Krishna teaches this philosophy to Arjuna; and the doctrinewhich stands out luminously in every page of the Gita is intenseactivity, but in the midst of it, eternal calmness. This is the secretof work, to attain which is the goal of the Vedanta. . . Realactivity, which is the goal of Vedanta, is combined with eternalcalmness, the calmness which cannot be ruffled, the balanceof mind which is never disturbed, whatever happens. Andwe all know from our experience in life that that is thebest attitude for work.’

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 2: 293

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SWAMI BODHAMAYANANDA

Youth and the Upanishads

The Present ScenarioYouth is a period of change. A child

becomes an adult. This is the time when aperson’s thoughts play a major role in shapinghis or her personality and life. As youthemerges from his dream world, he has to facemany unpleasant facts about life. He has toencounter the hard facts of selfishness andcruelty, violence and hypocrisy, negative andnarrow ideologies. He has to face all this andabove all, he has to face himself.

In this context of personal growth, theyouth requires much encouragement and rightguidance in order to become a responsiblemember of society.

If one looks at today’s youth, one findsthat they have more access to facilities andexposure than what their counterparts had afew decades back, nay a few years ago. Thanksto Internet, they are now widely (at timeswildly) connected and are well informed aboutthe events and changes in different fields oflife. They have more money, more opportu-nities and more problems too. In spite of largeincome, due to the present economic boom,cases of depression, suicides and violence areon the rise. There is unrest in their heart. Attimes they approach the elders in search ofsolution to life’s problems or turn to popularliterature to find instant solutions. Despitemany uncharitable remarks made about them,experience shows that it is the youth, not the

elders, who respond to the ideal of self-improvement enthusiastically. This is quiteunderstandable. Elders have maturity of yearsbut they lack the flexibility or adaptabilitywhich is natural to youth.

No doubt, the present situation is grim.On one side is the need to guide the youth, toprovide them proper care and encouragement,and on the other, there is lack of propercommunication. Like all people, the youthwant their problems addressed in theirlanguage, in their idiom, in the way they canunderstand it. The present day media flouri-shes on the weaknesses of youthfulness. Theypaint a sensual image of life. Youth too areoften taken for a ride. They begin to ridiculetheir own heritage and their own ‘river ofperennial wisdom.’ It is high time we under-stand the youth and then make them under-stand the eternal message of the Upanishads.Youth are hungry for guidance and inspiration.They are interested in the timeless wisdom ofUpanishad if presented in their language.

What the Youth WantIn no other period of life does a man

have more choices to make than in youth.Youth, as a stage of life, demands it. For manyyouths the issue is not whether to choose tolive in accordance with the eternal truthexpressed in the Upanishads but when will heor she live according to them.

The author is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, T. Nagar, Chennai. He hasbeen actively engaged in conducting workshops, lectures and seminars on Personality Development for theyouth.


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Here is a small story from the Reader’sDigest to illustrate what we mean. One foggynight at sea, the captain of a ship saw whatlooked like the lights of another ship headingtoward him. He had his signalman contact theother ship by light. The message was: ‘Changeyour course ten degrees to the south.’ Thereply came back: ‘Change your course tendegrees to the north.’ Then the captainanswered: ‘I am the captain, so you changeyour course ten degrees to the south.’ Thereply came: ‘I am a seaman first class—changeyour course ten degrees to the north.’

This last exchange annoyed the captain.So he signalled back: ‘We are a battleship—change your course ten degrees to the south.’The reply: ‘And I am a lighthouse. Changeyour course ten degrees to the north!’

The moral of the story is clear: followthe Upanishads or perish. The lighthouserepresents the eternal principles and universalvalues of the Upanishads. The Upanishads area mine of knowledge—universal, timeless andalways relevant. They are not the property ofany particular sect or creed. Nor is there anygender or status bar in knowing and followingthem.

A good number of the seers (rishis) ofthe Upanishads were women. These rishiswere both householders and monks. Some ofthe rishis were actually kings or statesmen ofgreat power and responsibilities.

Faith in Oneself and FearlessnessWhat do the Upanishads have to say to

the youth of today? Today’s youth, like theyouth of yester years, want success and power.They want to be confident and successful inlife. They are in search of right meaning oflife. They are looking for the right solution.They want strength and they want concen-tration of mind.

Seen in this context, if one looks at theUpanishads, one finds a profound truth forthe youth: the truth of the immortality andeternity of the Self. Every youth wants personaleffectiveness. He wants to leave a mark behind.Swami Vivekananda believed that this is theone message of the Upanishads that canrevolutionize a youth’s life. Let us try tounderstand it.

Behind personal effectiveness or successlies a right self-image. A successful man orwoman must have, somewhere in his mindan ‘I can-succeed’ image. The Upanishadsexhort that one should try to base one’s self-image on one’s deepest core of the personality,the Divine Self. The Upanishads go intoraptures while describing the glory of thisinner truth of man. Echoing this message ofthe Upanishads, Swami Vivekananda said,

‘Teach yourselves, teach every one, his realnature. Call upon the sleeping soul and see howit awakes. Power will come, glory will come,goodness will come, purity will come andeverything that is excellent will come, when thissleeping-soul is roused to self-conscious activity.’1

This is the powerful message of theUpanishads: have faith in yourself, in theDivine present in every human being. Let usnot think of ourselves as low and uselessbeings. We are not sinners. We are not bad,essentially. We make mistakes, no doubt, butwe should not hold our mistakes as theultimate fact about us. The ultimate fact aboutus is this Divinity within us. The Upanishadssay that this Divinity is an eternal truth,unchanging reality about us. If a youth hasfaith in himself, he can face any situation andcan overcome any difficulty in life.

Fearlessness is the other great value theUpanishads teach. They always advocatefearlessness and a spirit of inquiry. This is thebasis of positive thinking. We often develop


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fear because we have not properly inquiredinto a matter. We imagine many things aboutus, about others and about life. Upanishadsadvice us to stop doing that, and develop aspirit of inquiry instead. Let us expose ourmind to healthy ideas. If we make properinquiry, without any bias, we will find thatour fear is imaginary and baseless. To thinkpositive is what the Upanishads advocate.

Swami Vivekananda said that fearless-ness is the one message of the Upanishads.‘Abhihi ! Be fearless,’ is a constant refrain ofthe Upanishads. The Isha Upanishad says, ‘Allthis is filled by divinity.’ If one keeps this inmind, how can fear remain in the mind? Fearcomes from matter, not from the divine. Andthat divine is our deepest core. When onethinks thus, one’s mind expands. He begins toexpand his concept of himself or herself. Hebegins to see that the same God is presenteverywhere. And this is what refreshes andstrengthens the mind.

The Ideal of ShraddhaSwamiji used to often quote the story of

Nachiketa from the Katha Upanishad. Nachi-keta was a young boy. He was told by hisfather in a fit of rage to ‘go to Yama’, the godof death. And he does go. How did he becomeso fearless? To face death? The Upanishad saysthat it was because of Shraddha or faith.‘Shraddha or Faith entered into him,’ it says.Shraddha is the aggregate of all positiveattitudes. Shankaracharya termed it as astikyabuddhi. Indeed when one gets this positiveframe of mind, he discovers the great potentialof strength and enormous possibilities in him.Swami Vivekananda remarked,

‘Unfortunately it (Shraddha) has nearly vanishedfrom India and this is why we are in our presentstate. What makes the difference between manand man is this Shraddha and nothing else. What

makes one man great and another low is thisShraddha.’2

Cultivating faith in oneself is the bestway to overcome emotional problems thatmany youth face.

Whether in school or in college or inprofessional life, we seem to lose this faith inourselves. One should not run away from liferather learn to face it with courage andheroism. The Katha Upanishad rouses thisinner potential by its well-known statement,‘Uttishtata jagarata praapya varaan nibodhata.’Swami Vivekananda freely translated it as‘Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal isreached.’

Swami Vivekananda used to recommendreading of Upanishads. He believed that if onecould read these great scriptures, one wouldgain all the basic values and virtues in life.During his wandering days in 1892 Swamijispent nine days with Sri Sundararama Iyer inTrivandrum. Sri Iyer’s 14-year-old son Rama-swami Sastri was deeply impressed bySwamiji’s personality. Swamiji told him,

‘You are still a young boy, I hope and wish thatyou will reverentially study the Upanishads, theBrahma Sutras, and the Bhagavadgita. . . as alsothe Itihasas, the Puranas and the Agamas. Youwill not find the like of these anywhere in theworld. Man alone, of all living creatures, has ahunger in his heart to know the whence andwhither, the whys and wherefores of things.There are four key words you must remember:abhaya (fearlessness), ahimsa (non-injury), asanga(non-attachment) and ananda (bliss). These wordsreally sum up the essence of all our sacred books.Remember them. Their implication will becomeclear to you later on.’3

The Need for TapasThere is one more great teaching of the

Upanishads which could be of great help to


youth: self-discipline. Anyone interested indiscovering his inner potential must learn todiscipline his energies and time. The Sanskritterm for self-discipline is tapas. Tapas is oftentaken in its negative sense. But tapas or tapasyais not just denial. It means undergoing somehardship and difficulty voluntarily. It is tapaswhich taps our inner potential. An athleteundergoing intense training in increasing hisstamina is an example of tapas. A studentspending long hours in concentrated readingand writing is another example of tapas.Anything that is done voluntarily, with a greatend in mind, is a form of tapas.

Self-discipline or tapas helps a youth

1. to organize his energies and focus his ideas.2. to help him have greater self-knowledge and self-control.3. to develop a higher level of thinking.

As someone has rightly said, ‘We cannotprepare the future for the youth, but we cancertainly prepare the youth for the future.’What could be a better way to prepare a youthfor the future than help him or her build hisor her personality on the solid principle oftapas? A person of tapas is a strong person byany standard. Tapas revitalize and rejuvenatethe personality. Let us have a look at some ofthe Upanishadic teachings about tapas.

1. Tapasa brahma vijijnasasva; tapo brahmeti—‘Seek to know Brahman through tapas; Tapasis Brahman (the ultimate reality).’4

2. Tasya Jnanamayam tapah—‘Whosetapas consists of knowledge of thought.’5

3. Tapamsi sarvani cha yat vadanti—‘Tapasitself proclaims the glory of That which is thevalue of all values, the supreme end value,namely Atman or Brahman.’6

One curious fact about Upanishads is thatmany of their teachers or rishis were youth.This means that anyone who has faith inoneself, practices right type of tapas and keeps

before him the great goal of self-transformationcan be a rishi. Be it the field of science andtechnology, or music or arts or sports or anyother fields, the secret lies in faith and self-discipline.

However hopeless may be the situation,one can surely overcome all challengesthrough tapas and Shraddha. Echoing thisidea, asked Swami Vivekananda,

‘Do you know how much energy, how manypowers, how many forces, are still lurkingbehind that frame of yours? What scientist hasknown all that is in man? Millions of years havepassed since man first came here, and yet butone infinitesimal part of his powers has beenmanifested. Therefore, you must not say that youare weak. How do you know what possibilitieslie behind that degradation on the surface? Youknow but little of that which is within you. Forbehind you is the ocean of infinite power andblessedness.’7

ConclusionOne of the Upanishads, Prashna Upani-

shad, has a story. Six young earnest seekers oftruth approach the venerable and enlightenedsage Pippalada. They request him to answertheir unanswered questions on cosmology,vital energy and consciousness. The sageobliges. Indeed, if the youth could approachin the same spirit of inquiry and respect, theUpanishads will reveal the secrets theycontain. Let them recall the well known prayerfrom the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, ‘asato masadgamaya’ and earnestly seek the Truth of theSelf. The Upanishads call upon the youth toseek their Eternal Core, and not just hide infear behind the false self. Man is not matter;he is not subject to death. He is not a finitebeing but the infinite Consciousness Itself.

After imparting instructions to Janakaabout Brahman in the BrihadaranyakaUpanishad, Yajnavalkya assured him, ‘You

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have attained That which is free from fear.’This is what the Upanishads reassures everyyouth. The knowledge of the Self, that of our

References

1. CW, 3: 1932. CW, 3: 3193. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda Calcutta,

Advaita Ashrama, 1994, p.101

4. Taittariya Upanishad, III.25. Mundaka Upanishad, I.1.96. Katha Upanishad, 2.157. CW, 2: 302

How Vedanta Strengthens the Personality

I do not believe at all that monistic ideas preached to the world would produce immoralityand weakness. On the contrary, I have reason to believe that it is the only remedy thereis. If this be the truth, why let people drink ditch water when the stream of life is flowingby? If this be the truth, that they are all pure, why not atthis moment teach it to the whole world? Why not teach itwith the voice of thunder to every man that is born, to saintsand sinners, men, women, and children, to the man on thethrone and to the man sweeping the streets?

By eating all sorts of bad and indigestible food, or bystarving ourselves, we are incompetent to eat a good meal.We have listened to words of weakness from our childhood.You hear people say that they do not believe in ghosts, butat the same time, there are very few who do not get a littlecreepy sensation in the dark. It is simply superstition. Sowith all religious superstitions. There are people in this countrywho, if I told them there was no such being as the devil, willthink all religion is gone. Many people have said to me, howcan there be religion without a devil? How can there be religion without someone to directus? How can we live without being ruled by somebody? We like to be so treated, becausewe have become used to it. We are not happy until we feel we have been reprimanded bysomebody every day. The same superstition! But however terrible it may seem now, thetime will come when we shall look back, each one of us, and smile at every one of thosesuperstitions which covered the pure and eternal soul, and repeat with gladness, withtruth, and with strength, I am free, and was free, and always will be free. . . Whether thisidea first flashed in the brains of Hebrews or of people living in the Arctic regions, nobodycares. For this is the truth and truth is eternal; and truth itself teaches that it is not thespecial property of any individual or nation. Men, animals, and gods are all commonrecipients of this one truth. Let them all receive it. Why make life miserable? Why letpeople fall into all sorts of superstitions? I will give ten thousand lives, if twenty of themwill give up their superstition. —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 2: 199-200

real core, surely leads to boundless courageand confidence and this is what the youth canget in the Upanishads in abundance.

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The Power of the Upanishads

Can you find peace if you are separatefrom everything? There is a beautiful passagein one of the old Upanishads—the Brihada-ranyaka Upanishad (2.4.6):

[~«÷ V§ namXmÚmo@Ý`ÌmË_Zmo ~«÷ doX, jÌ§ V§namXmÚmo@Ý`ÌmË_Z… jÌ§ doX, bmoH$mñV§ namXw m}@Ý`ÌmË_ZmobmoH$mÝdoX, XodmñV§ namXw m}@Ý`ÌmË_Zmo XodmÝdoX, yVm{Z V§ ...]

[Swami] Madhavananda has given thistranslation: ‘The Brahmin ousts one whoknows him as different from the Self. The Kshatriya[the warrior] ousts one who knows him asdifferent from the Self. The worlds oust onewho knows them as different from the Self.’

It goes through a whole list: ‘The godsoust one who knows them as different fromthe Self. The beings oust one. . .’ and so on.That is a tremendous statement. What is themeaning—if you think the Brahmin is differentfrom the Self, that Brahmin will oust you. It isa fact that if you think yourself separate fromany person, that person will make you small.Whatever you think is outside of you has theeffect of making you small and limited. Isn’t ittrue? If I meet some people and I fear themand I think that they are outside me and soon, what will be the effect of that thought onme? I certainly would be affected by thislimitation that I impose upon myself.

There is a wonderful story in connectionwith this. Shortly after Swami Vivekanandahad returned from the West in 1897 and hadgone to Calcutta, he received a message froma friend of his, saying, ‘I have a peculiar

disease. I am just wearing out. I am all thetime in bed and cannot get up. Would youkindly come and see me? Not because I wantany cure, but because I have known you, andI have heard you have returned from the Westand I should be very glad to see you.’ SoSwami Vivekananda at once sent a message,yes, he would go. The moment he entered theman’s room he began to recite that passagefrom the Upanishad. He did not explain it,but such was the effect of this recitation thatthe man began to feel a new energy cominginto his body and his mind, and he sat up andsaid, ‘Swamiji, I feel stronger than ever.’ And,as it happened, he was cured. He became likea new person.

Of course, Swami Vivekananda had greatpower; the real meaning of the verse went intothe heart of the man, and he lost the idea thathe was separate from this one and from thatone; he become all alive. That is whathappened to him.

Sometimes similar things happen topeople. If you are afraid of the world, if theworld has limited you, circumscribed you, ifyou feel bound by the world or anything inthis world, then consciously try to think thateverything is Brahman, everything is divine,that nothing is outside you and nothing canaffect you; you also are Brahman, you also aredivine. Keep that consciousness, and you willfind you have become a changed person. Thatis what you have to practice.

Courtesy: When the Many Become One, Swami Ashokananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Pp. 99 - 101.


SWAMI SATYAMAYANANDA

Sages of the Upanishads

Who is a SageIn Indian religious context a sage (rishi),

is not merely a wise person with a lot ofexperience but one who has directly seenReality. This sage or ‘seer’ (also called muniand vipra), is a spiritually inspired poet (kavi),a sanctified person. Says Swami Vivekananda,

‘The Rishi as he is called in the Upanishads isnot an ordinary man, but a mantra-drastha [see-er of mantras]. He is a man who sees religion, towhom religion is not merely book-learning, notargumentation, nor speculation, nor muchtalking, but actual realization, a coming face toface with truths which transcend the senses. Thisis Rishihood.’1

Upanishads mean Self-KnowledgeThe Upanishads form the jnana kanda

(knowledge section) of the Vedas. This pre-Buddhist mass of thoughts called Brahma-vidya,knowledge of Brahman, was realized andtaught by a succession of sages as early as1000 BCE. The Upanishads are free fromcumbersome ritualism and speak of the realityin a highly symbolical and mystical language.They are also called: Aranyaka, forestphilosophy, and Rahasya, secret. The KenaUpanishad (IV.2) speaks of ‘Upanishad’ as:secret knowledge; the Brihadaranyaka Upanishadas: ‘Truth of truths’ (II.I.20). The wordUpanishad implies: ‘The knowledge of theknowable entity (Brahman) presented in thescriptures. The significance of this knowledge

is that it destroys, splits up, the seeds ofworldly existence such as ignorance.’2 It alsoconnotes the humility with which the studentshould approach the teacher. The Upanishadsform the basis of almost all latter philosophicalschools and religions in India, and has in itsvarious forms, been influencing worldphilosophical thought. 3

Getting Connected with ThemGenerally one views history as something

unrelated to oneself, though one habituallyhears of history repeating itself. In India, withits living traditions, culture, and religionoriginating from the Vedas, a multi-layeredbonding with the past is inevitable. The layersare intellectual, emotional and moral. A geneticlineage consolidates these bonds. This apart,every being is connected psychically andspiritually to the sages and the Upanishads,for within everything is the reality calledAtman-Brahman seen by the sages, and whichcan be ‘seen’ even today and to do this is thereal, ever-lasting goal of human life.

Every one, it is believed, is born withfive debts: to the gods, rishis, manes, humans,and beings. Studying the scriptures repays thedebt to the rishis. There are also ritualsconnected with their worship and remem-brance. Thus this connectedness has producedrishis uninterruptedly and in abundance overthe centuries and this is the real history ofIndia.

Swami Satyamayananda of Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, contributes thoughtful articles to The Vedanta Kesari.


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Upanishads TodayScientists, psychologists, neurologists and

philosophers believe that they are stormingthe last citadel of mystery, viz., consciousness,but what they refer is just a shoreline of a vastocean of Consciousness (Chit in Sanskrit). Thisvast ocean was charted and plumbed minutelyby the brave rishis. They were, ‘Bold thinkersin all their ideas; so bold that one spark oftheir thought frightens the so-called boldthinkers of the West.’4

Knowing that human nature is the resultof many metaphysical forces, the Upanishadicsociety was geared to inexorably raise evenits lowest member of society to spiritualfreedom. Today, people acknowledge that theneglect and blindness about the spiritualdimension of the personality has well nighdestroyed humanity. Thoughtful people arethus veering towards the Upanishads. Thusthe sages and the Upanishads standvindicated.

Rishis in Ancient IndiaMost people picture the rishis as ascetics

who lived in forest hermitages, wore loinclothof skins or coarse cloth, lived on what forestsprovided, tied a topknot and wore rudrakshabeads and beards. Some of them were marriedwhile others were celibate recluses. Thisinvariable mental picture is partial. Most ofthe rishis lived in communities, large andsmall. Then there were women sages somewere sadyovahas, who studied till marriage, andthe brahmavadinis, who deliberated onBrahman and stayed unmarried. One alsocomes across lots of pure and spirited youthin the Vedic literature. Moreover, not a fewkings abdicated and became ascetics but manyof them continued living in royal ambience,ruled kingdoms yet lived and taughtUpanishads.

The Rishi Model for TodayA major social, intellectual, moral, and

spiritual upheaval occurred during theUpanishadic age making it broad and freeingit from the old emphasis on ritualism. Manyof the warrior class, kshatriyas, were at theforefront and exerted a powerful influence onthe teachings and teachers of the Upanishads.5

Swamiji says, many of the Upanishads, ‘havebeen the outcome, not of retirement intoforests, but have emanated from personswhom we expect to lead the busiest lives—from ruling monarchs.’6 That paradigm shiftmade India really great for all time to come.

India, today, with its new dynamism isalso going through another mighty transition.Swamiji had told Sister Nivedita to visitGopaler Maa (one of Sri Ramakrishna’sdevotees), and witness, ‘the old India…theIndia of prayers and tears, of vigils and fasts,that is passing away, never to return!’7 Swamijihad also predicted that the present transitionwould take India to even more glorious heightsthan she had ever attained. Swamiji, born in akshatriya family, was a rishi, and he preachedPractical Vedanta. His genius and visioncombined the dynamism of the Upanishadswith the dynamism of the present age as apanacea for all-round development. Thisnaturally calls for a model that is in consonancewith the past, present, and the future and wefind the spirit of enquiry of those old warrior/king-sages yet standing as a glorious exampleto emulate.

Sage-kings in the Upanishad Literature

1. Janaka Emperor or ‘Videha’This towering personality was a master

of the Vedas, endowed with keen intelligenceand, familiar with the esoteric teachings of theUpanishads. He once ‘performed a yajna, Vedic


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sacrifice, in which gifts were freely distributedto Vedic scholars from the countries of Kuruand Panchalas.’ Janaka wanted to know whichwas the, ‘most erudite of the Vedic scholars’and he had a thousand cows confined to apen and on the horns of each cow were fixed10 padas of gold. Janaka said, ‘Let him who isthe best Vedic scholar drive the cows home.’None dared, except the sage Yajnavalkya. Thechief priest and other great rishis proceededto test his knowledge. A learned debate ensuedwhich is considered the greatest and thehighest metaphysics ever produced by thehuman mind. Janaka presided over this debateproving his own stature among the scholars.8

Janaka also appears as a disciple ofYajnavalkya, whose powerful discourse on theidentity of the jiva, soul, and Brahman throughthe three states of waking, dream and deepsleep and the processes of death and rebirth isgrand. At one point Yajnavalkya becameapprehensive that the intelligent emperor wasdriving him by his pointed questions todisclose all the secret teachings. Theculmination comes when Yajnavalkya tells theEmperor that he, Janaka, had attained ‘theworld of Brahman which is sinless, taintless,free from doubts.’9

At the end of the fifth section of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad (V.11.8), Janakainstructs Budila, son of Asvatarasva,concerning the mystic Gayatri mantra, onknowing which one becomes pure, clean, freefrom decay and death. Swami Vivekanandasays that though a ruler, he was entirely bereftof the body idea. Even the great sage Vyasasent his perfect son Suka to be tested by Janakain Brahma-vidya.

2. Pravahana Jaivali of the PanchalasIn the Chandogya Upanishad (I.9.1),

Pravahana Jaivali is shown discussing with

two rishis Silaka Salavatya and ChaikitayanaDalbhya, who were adepts on the secret ofthe Udgitha as taught in the Sama Veda. Soconfidant was Pravahana Jaivali that he saidto them, ‘You two please discuss first, I shallhear you two brahmins talk (meaninglesssentences).’ As their discussion was withoutany conclusion, Pravahana Jaivali showedthem that their knowledge of the Udgitha waslimited and inferior. The king then taught thetwo rishis the subtle and supreme aspects ofthe Udgitha.

In an important section (chapter V. 3) inthe same Upanishad, Shvetaketu, grandson ofAruna, goes to the assembly of the Panchalasand Pravahana Jaivali asked him, ‘My boy,did your father instruct you?’ WhenShvetaketu answered in the affirmative, theking proceeded to question him: ‘Do you knowwhere the creatures go upto from here? Doyou know how they return? Do you knowwhere the path of the gods and the path of themanes part? Do you know how that worlddoes not become filled? Do you know howwater comes to be known by the word ‘Person’after the fifth oblation?’ Shvetaketu couldn’tanswer even one question. Pravaha Jaivalireprimanded him by saying that if he knewnothing, then why did he say he wasinstructed?

Shvetaketu returned home humiliatedand related what had happened to his fatherGautama. His father confessed that he too wasignorant of this knowledge. Gautama hurriedto Pravahana Jaivali and asked the king forthe instruction, settling for nothing less. Theking requested the sage to stay for a long timeand told him that, ‘this knowledge did not goto the Brahmanas. Therefore, in the past, in allthe worlds teacher-ship was of the Kshatriyas.’Pravahana Jaivali then taught Gautama theknowledge of the Pancha-agni vidya, knowledge


of five fires, which deals with the soul’s rebirthfollowing death, the soul’s connection with thecosmos and two paths of the gods and themanes and the lower third that gives repeatedbirths as low creatures.

This same teaching is repeated in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad (VI-ii-1), wherePravahana is shown teaching the sage Aruni.Similarly in the Kausitaki Upanishad (Chp I), aking named Chitra of the Garga line impartedthis same knowledge to Gautama.

3. Janasrutih Pautrayana (the grandson ofJanasruta’s son)

King Janasrutih Pautrayana offered giftswith due respect, gave plentifully, and cookedfor many. He had rest houses constructed inall places with the idea, ‘They (his subjects)will indeed eat my food everywhere.’ Hisbelief of being the most meritorious personwas shattered when he heard two swans saythat the lustre of the king was insignificant tothat of Raikva with a cart, because all virtuousdeeds performed by people everywhere getincluded in the person of the Raikva becauseof his knowledge.’

The king despatched his attendants tosearch for the sage Raikva and they finallylocated him sitting under a cart, scratching hisitches, Janasrutih Pautrayana approached himhumbly with gifts consisting of six hundredcattle, a priceless necklace and a chariot drawnby she-mules. Raikva was not impressed withthe king’s gifts. Janasrutih Pautrayana returnedwith thousand cattle, the necklace, a chariotdrawn by she-mules and his own daughter tobe offered as wife. Raikva now accepted thegift and commenced instructing the king onthe Samvarga Vidya. This is the knowledge ofthe ten ‘places of merger’ in the human anddivine planes that constitute the krita, whichexist as Virat Purusha, Cosmic Person.10

4. Ashvapati, son of KekayaFive great married rishis, ‘adepts in the

Vedas conducted a discussion: Which is ourAtman, Who is Brahman?’ Failing to reach aconsensus they decided to visit Uddhalaka,son of Aruna, for clarification. Uddhalakaunsure of his own knowledge, requested thefive sages that they all should proceed toAshvapati, son of Kekaya. On reaching theking’s palace they were individually honoured.The king informed them that a sacrifice wasgoing to be performed and promised each onewealth equivalent to that of the officiatingpriest’s remuneration. The king then declaredthat in his kingdom there were no thieves,misers, drunks, none who did not performsacrifices, none illiterate, no lewd persons, oradulteress (the king was establishing his goodconduct for, persons of high standing—likethese rishis—do not accept gifts from badpeople).

The six rishis rejected the king’s offer forwealth saying that they had come forknowledge of the Vaisvanara that he possessed.Ashvapati agreed to teach them and on thenext day the rishis approached the king aspupils. He instructed them in the secret andcomplete knowledge of the Vaisvanara Atman.This is the reality that connects the individualwith the universal through sacrifice andmeditation.11

5. Ajatashatru, King of BenarasA vainglorious brahmin of the Garga clan

called Balaki approached Ajatashatru, the kingof Benaras with the intention: ‘I will teach youabout Brahman.’ Ajatashatru offered him athousand cows for this and likened himself toJanaka (known for his magnanimity). ProudBalaki began describing the attributes ofBrahman as reflected in objects like the sun,moon, lightning, space, mirror, the sound of

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walking and shade. The king interrupted himevery time and showed that he alreadypossessed a higher aspect of that knowledge.Twelve times did Balaki try to teach the Saguna(Conditioned) Brahman, and twelve times didAjatashatru show that Balaki’s knowledge wasimmature.

After this humiliation the king enquired,‘Is this all?’ Balaki now thoroughly chastenedbegged to be the king’s pupil. Ajatashatru thentook him by his hand and taught him throughinsight and example the three states ofconsciousness and then led Balaki’sunderstanding gradually to the secret Truth oftruths, from where emanate all organs, worlds,gods and beings.12

ConclusionThe Upanishadic sages mentioned above

were representative of a larger number of

warrior class who were deep thinkers andsincere seekers of truth. A story is told of aprince Hiranyanabha who approached Sukesa,son of Bharadvaja, and asked him, ‘Bharadvaja,do you know the Purusha (Supreme Person)of sixteen parts?’ Sukesha didn’t and the princestood disbelieving. Sukesha insisted that hereally was ignorant about this reality but knewthe price of speaking falsehood, he would dryup like a tree. Hiranyanabha silently climbedhis chariot and left. This question rankledSukesa who later received the answer fromthe sage Pippalada.13

We need to be daring and dynamicseekers of truth like those old warrior sages,for as Swamiji says,

‘You, and I, and everyone of us will be calledupon to become Rishis. . . and then standing upin that glorious light of Rishihood each one ofus will be a giant.’ 14

1. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9 vols(Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8 1989; 9 1997) 3:175 (hereafter CW)

2. Shankaracharya introduction to the KathaUpanishad.

3. Swami Tathagathananda, The Journey of theUpanishads to the West (Kolkata, AdvaitaAshrama, 2004)

4. CW, 1: 3565. ‘Modern India’, in CW, Vol 4

Notes

6. CW, 2: 2917. ibid, 2: 415-88. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chapter-III9. ibid, Chapter-IV10. Chandogya Upanishad, IV. 311. ibid, V. 1112. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, II; Kaushitaki

Upanishad, VI13. Prashna Upanishad, 4th chapter14. CW, 3: 175

Once a young woman came to Shanti Ashrama [in USA]. She had heard that in theforest retreats in India, the students serve the teacher: ‘Let the student, fuel in hand,approach a guru who is well versed in the Vedas and always devoted to Brahman’(Mundaka Upanishad, 1.2.112). She therefore went into the forest, gathered a fewsticks of dry wood, and went to Swami Turiyananda’s tent. The swami heard herapproach, and said, ‘Yes, come in.’ She entered, laid the wood before him, and satdown. Swami Turiyananda understood the meaning at once, and was touched at thesimplicity and humility of this highly cultured young woman.

—God Lived With Them, p. 375

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SWAMI SATYAMAYANANDA

Sages of the Upanishads

Who is a SageIn Indian religious context a sage (rishi),

is not merely a wise person with a lot ofexperience but one who has directly seenReality. This sage or ‘seer’ (also called muniand vipra), is a spiritually inspired poet (kavi),a sanctified person. Says Swami Vivekananda,

‘The Rishi as he is called in the Upanishads isnot an ordinary man, but a mantra-drastha [see-er of mantras]. He is a man who sees religion, towhom religion is not merely book-learning, notargumentation, nor speculation, nor muchtalking, but actual realization, a coming face toface with truths which transcend the senses. Thisis Rishihood.’1

Upanishads mean Self-KnowledgeThe Upanishads form the jnana kanda

(knowledge section) of the Vedas. This pre-Buddhist mass of thoughts called Brahma-vidya,knowledge of Brahman, was realized andtaught by a succession of sages as early as1000 BCE. The Upanishads are free fromcumbersome ritualism and speak of the realityin a highly symbolical and mystical language.They are also called: Aranyaka, forestphilosophy, and Rahasya, secret. The KenaUpanishad (IV.2) speaks of ‘Upanishad’ as:secret knowledge; the Brihadaranyaka Upanishadas: ‘Truth of truths’ (II.I.20). The wordUpanishad implies: ‘The knowledge of theknowable entity (Brahman) presented in thescriptures. The significance of this knowledge

is that it destroys, splits up, the seeds ofworldly existence such as ignorance.’2 It alsoconnotes the humility with which the studentshould approach the teacher. The Upanishadsform the basis of almost all latter philosophicalschools and religions in India, and has in itsvarious forms, been influencing worldphilosophical thought. 3

Getting Connected with ThemGenerally one views history as something

unrelated to oneself, though one habituallyhears of history repeating itself. In India, withits living traditions, culture, and religionoriginating from the Vedas, a multi-layeredbonding with the past is inevitable. The layersare intellectual, emotional and moral. A geneticlineage consolidates these bonds. This apart,every being is connected psychically andspiritually to the sages and the Upanishads,for within everything is the reality calledAtman-Brahman seen by the sages, and whichcan be ‘seen’ even today and to do this is thereal, ever-lasting goal of human life.

Every one, it is believed, is born withfive debts: to the gods, rishis, manes, humans,and beings. Studying the scriptures repays thedebt to the rishis. There are also ritualsconnected with their worship and remem-brance. Thus this connectedness has producedrishis uninterruptedly and in abundance overthe centuries and this is the real history ofIndia.

Swami Satyamayananda of Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, contributes thoughtful articles to The Vedanta Kesari.


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Upanishads TodayScientists, psychologists, neurologists and

philosophers believe that they are stormingthe last citadel of mystery, viz., consciousness,but what they refer is just a shoreline of a vastocean of Consciousness (Chit in Sanskrit). Thisvast ocean was charted and plumbed minutelyby the brave rishis. They were, ‘Bold thinkersin all their ideas; so bold that one spark oftheir thought frightens the so-called boldthinkers of the West.’4

Knowing that human nature is the resultof many metaphysical forces, the Upanishadicsociety was geared to inexorably raise evenits lowest member of society to spiritualfreedom. Today, people acknowledge that theneglect and blindness about the spiritualdimension of the personality has well nighdestroyed humanity. Thoughtful people arethus veering towards the Upanishads. Thusthe sages and the Upanishads standvindicated.

Rishis in Ancient IndiaMost people picture the rishis as ascetics

who lived in forest hermitages, wore loinclothof skins or coarse cloth, lived on what forestsprovided, tied a topknot and wore rudrakshabeads and beards. Some of them were marriedwhile others were celibate recluses. Thisinvariable mental picture is partial. Most ofthe rishis lived in communities, large andsmall. Then there were women sages somewere sadyovahas, who studied till marriage, andthe brahmavadinis, who deliberated onBrahman and stayed unmarried. One alsocomes across lots of pure and spirited youthin the Vedic literature. Moreover, not a fewkings abdicated and became ascetics but manyof them continued living in royal ambience,ruled kingdoms yet lived and taughtUpanishads.

The Rishi Model for TodayA major social, intellectual, moral, and

spiritual upheaval occurred during theUpanishadic age making it broad and freeingit from the old emphasis on ritualism. Manyof the warrior class, kshatriyas, were at theforefront and exerted a powerful influence onthe teachings and teachers of the Upanishads.5

Swamiji says, many of the Upanishads, ‘havebeen the outcome, not of retirement intoforests, but have emanated from personswhom we expect to lead the busiest lives—from ruling monarchs.’6 That paradigm shiftmade India really great for all time to come.

India, today, with its new dynamism isalso going through another mighty transition.Swamiji had told Sister Nivedita to visitGopaler Maa (one of Sri Ramakrishna’sdevotees), and witness, ‘the old India…theIndia of prayers and tears, of vigils and fasts,that is passing away, never to return!’7 Swamijihad also predicted that the present transitionwould take India to even more glorious heightsthan she had ever attained. Swamiji, born in akshatriya family, was a rishi, and he preachedPractical Vedanta. His genius and visioncombined the dynamism of the Upanishadswith the dynamism of the present age as apanacea for all-round development. Thisnaturally calls for a model that is in consonancewith the past, present, and the future and wefind the spirit of enquiry of those old warrior/king-sages yet standing as a glorious exampleto emulate.

Sage-kings in the Upanishad Literature

1. Janaka Emperor or ‘Videha’This towering personality was a master

of the Vedas, endowed with keen intelligenceand, familiar with the esoteric teachings of theUpanishads. He once ‘performed a yajna, Vedic


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sacrifice, in which gifts were freely distributedto Vedic scholars from the countries of Kuruand Panchalas.’ Janaka wanted to know whichwas the, ‘most erudite of the Vedic scholars’and he had a thousand cows confined to apen and on the horns of each cow were fixed10 padas of gold. Janaka said, ‘Let him who isthe best Vedic scholar drive the cows home.’None dared, except the sage Yajnavalkya. Thechief priest and other great rishis proceededto test his knowledge. A learned debate ensuedwhich is considered the greatest and thehighest metaphysics ever produced by thehuman mind. Janaka presided over this debateproving his own stature among the scholars.8

Janaka also appears as a disciple ofYajnavalkya, whose powerful discourse on theidentity of the jiva, soul, and Brahman throughthe three states of waking, dream and deepsleep and the processes of death and rebirth isgrand. At one point Yajnavalkya becameapprehensive that the intelligent emperor wasdriving him by his pointed questions todisclose all the secret teachings. Theculmination comes when Yajnavalkya tells theEmperor that he, Janaka, had attained ‘theworld of Brahman which is sinless, taintless,free from doubts.’9

At the end of the fifth section of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad (V.11.8), Janakainstructs Budila, son of Asvatarasva,concerning the mystic Gayatri mantra, onknowing which one becomes pure, clean, freefrom decay and death. Swami Vivekanandasays that though a ruler, he was entirely bereftof the body idea. Even the great sage Vyasasent his perfect son Suka to be tested by Janakain Brahma-vidya.

2. Pravahana Jaivali of the PanchalasIn the Chandogya Upanishad (I.9.1),

Pravahana Jaivali is shown discussing with

two rishis Silaka Salavatya and ChaikitayanaDalbhya, who were adepts on the secret ofthe Udgitha as taught in the Sama Veda. Soconfidant was Pravahana Jaivali that he saidto them, ‘You two please discuss first, I shallhear you two brahmins talk (meaninglesssentences).’ As their discussion was withoutany conclusion, Pravahana Jaivali showedthem that their knowledge of the Udgitha waslimited and inferior. The king then taught thetwo rishis the subtle and supreme aspects ofthe Udgitha.

In an important section (chapter V. 3) inthe same Upanishad, Shvetaketu, grandson ofAruna, goes to the assembly of the Panchalasand Pravahana Jaivali asked him, ‘My boy,did your father instruct you?’ WhenShvetaketu answered in the affirmative, theking proceeded to question him: ‘Do you knowwhere the creatures go upto from here? Doyou know how they return? Do you knowwhere the path of the gods and the path of themanes part? Do you know how that worlddoes not become filled? Do you know howwater comes to be known by the word ‘Person’after the fifth oblation?’ Shvetaketu couldn’tanswer even one question. Pravaha Jaivalireprimanded him by saying that if he knewnothing, then why did he say he wasinstructed?

Shvetaketu returned home humiliatedand related what had happened to his fatherGautama. His father confessed that he too wasignorant of this knowledge. Gautama hurriedto Pravahana Jaivali and asked the king forthe instruction, settling for nothing less. Theking requested the sage to stay for a long timeand told him that, ‘this knowledge did not goto the Brahmanas. Therefore, in the past, in allthe worlds teacher-ship was of the Kshatriyas.’Pravahana Jaivali then taught Gautama theknowledge of the Pancha-agni vidya, knowledge


of five fires, which deals with the soul’s rebirthfollowing death, the soul’s connection with thecosmos and two paths of the gods and themanes and the lower third that gives repeatedbirths as low creatures.

This same teaching is repeated in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad (VI-ii-1), wherePravahana is shown teaching the sage Aruni.Similarly in the Kausitaki Upanishad (Chp I), aking named Chitra of the Garga line impartedthis same knowledge to Gautama.

3. Janasrutih Pautrayana (the grandson ofJanasruta’s son)

King Janasrutih Pautrayana offered giftswith due respect, gave plentifully, and cookedfor many. He had rest houses constructed inall places with the idea, ‘They (his subjects)will indeed eat my food everywhere.’ Hisbelief of being the most meritorious personwas shattered when he heard two swans saythat the lustre of the king was insignificant tothat of Raikva with a cart, because all virtuousdeeds performed by people everywhere getincluded in the person of the Raikva becauseof his knowledge.’

The king despatched his attendants tosearch for the sage Raikva and they finallylocated him sitting under a cart, scratching hisitches, Janasrutih Pautrayana approached himhumbly with gifts consisting of six hundredcattle, a priceless necklace and a chariot drawnby she-mules. Raikva was not impressed withthe king’s gifts. Janasrutih Pautrayana returnedwith thousand cattle, the necklace, a chariotdrawn by she-mules and his own daughter tobe offered as wife. Raikva now accepted thegift and commenced instructing the king onthe Samvarga Vidya. This is the knowledge ofthe ten ‘places of merger’ in the human anddivine planes that constitute the krita, whichexist as Virat Purusha, Cosmic Person.10

4. Ashvapati, son of KekayaFive great married rishis, ‘adepts in the

Vedas conducted a discussion: Which is ourAtman, Who is Brahman?’ Failing to reach aconsensus they decided to visit Uddhalaka,son of Aruna, for clarification. Uddhalakaunsure of his own knowledge, requested thefive sages that they all should proceed toAshvapati, son of Kekaya. On reaching theking’s palace they were individually honoured.The king informed them that a sacrifice wasgoing to be performed and promised each onewealth equivalent to that of the officiatingpriest’s remuneration. The king then declaredthat in his kingdom there were no thieves,misers, drunks, none who did not performsacrifices, none illiterate, no lewd persons, oradulteress (the king was establishing his goodconduct for, persons of high standing—likethese rishis—do not accept gifts from badpeople).

The six rishis rejected the king’s offer forwealth saying that they had come forknowledge of the Vaisvanara that he possessed.Ashvapati agreed to teach them and on thenext day the rishis approached the king aspupils. He instructed them in the secret andcomplete knowledge of the Vaisvanara Atman.This is the reality that connects the individualwith the universal through sacrifice andmeditation.11

5. Ajatashatru, King of BenarasA vainglorious brahmin of the Garga clan

called Balaki approached Ajatashatru, the kingof Benaras with the intention: ‘I will teach youabout Brahman.’ Ajatashatru offered him athousand cows for this and likened himself toJanaka (known for his magnanimity). ProudBalaki began describing the attributes ofBrahman as reflected in objects like the sun,moon, lightning, space, mirror, the sound of

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walking and shade. The king interrupted himevery time and showed that he alreadypossessed a higher aspect of that knowledge.Twelve times did Balaki try to teach the Saguna(Conditioned) Brahman, and twelve times didAjatashatru show that Balaki’s knowledge wasimmature.

After this humiliation the king enquired,‘Is this all?’ Balaki now thoroughly chastenedbegged to be the king’s pupil. Ajatashatru thentook him by his hand and taught him throughinsight and example the three states ofconsciousness and then led Balaki’sunderstanding gradually to the secret Truth oftruths, from where emanate all organs, worlds,gods and beings.12

ConclusionThe Upanishadic sages mentioned above

were representative of a larger number of

warrior class who were deep thinkers andsincere seekers of truth. A story is told of aprince Hiranyanabha who approached Sukesa,son of Bharadvaja, and asked him, ‘Bharadvaja,do you know the Purusha (Supreme Person)of sixteen parts?’ Sukesha didn’t and the princestood disbelieving. Sukesha insisted that hereally was ignorant about this reality but knewthe price of speaking falsehood, he would dryup like a tree. Hiranyanabha silently climbedhis chariot and left. This question rankledSukesa who later received the answer fromthe sage Pippalada.13

We need to be daring and dynamicseekers of truth like those old warrior sages,for as Swamiji says,

‘You, and I, and everyone of us will be calledupon to become Rishis. . . and then standing upin that glorious light of Rishihood each one ofus will be a giant.’ 14

1. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9 vols(Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8 1989; 9 1997) 3:175 (hereafter CW)

2. Shankaracharya introduction to the KathaUpanishad.

3. Swami Tathagathananda, The Journey of theUpanishads to the West (Kolkata, AdvaitaAshrama, 2004)

4. CW, 1: 3565. ‘Modern India’, in CW, Vol 4

Notes

6. CW, 2: 2917. ibid, 2: 415-88. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chapter-III9. ibid, Chapter-IV10. Chandogya Upanishad, IV. 311. ibid, V. 1112. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, II; Kaushitaki

Upanishad, VI13. Prashna Upanishad, 4th chapter14. CW, 3: 175

Once a young woman came to Shanti Ashrama [in USA]. She had heard that in theforest retreats in India, the students serve the teacher: ‘Let the student, fuel in hand,approach a guru who is well versed in the Vedas and always devoted to Brahman’(Mundaka Upanishad, 1.2.112). She therefore went into the forest, gathered a fewsticks of dry wood, and went to Swami Turiyananda’s tent. The swami heard herapproach, and said, ‘Yes, come in.’ She entered, laid the wood before him, and satdown. Swami Turiyananda understood the meaning at once, and was touched at thesimplicity and humility of this highly cultured young woman.

—God Lived With Them, p. 375

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Upanishadic Ideas in Popular Culture

1. Satyameva Jayate (Mundaka Upanishad, III.i.6): India’s National Emblem2. Sham No Varunaha (Shanti Mantra, Taittiriya Upanishad): Motto of the Indian Navy3. Asato Ma Sad Gamaya (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, I.iii.28): Motto of Central Board

of Secondary Education, New Delhi4. Vidyaya Amritamashnute (Isha Upanishad 11): Motto of National Council for

Research and Training in Education (NCRTE)5. Tejasavi Navadhitamastu (Shanti Mantra, Katha Uanishad): Motto of University

of Andhra, and IIM, Bangalore6. Uttishthata Jagrata Prapya Varanni Bodhata (Katha Uanishad, I.iii.14): Motto of Bengal

Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, near Kolkata.7. Tatvam Pushan Apavrunu (Isha Upanishad, 15): Motto of Kendriya Vidyalayas8. Satyam Vada Dharmam Chara (Taittiriya Upanishad, I.xi.1): Motto of Sri Satya Sai

University9. Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, I.iii.28): Motto of IIT, Kanpur10. Yoga Karmasu Kaushalam (Bhagavad Gita, 2. 50): Motto of IIT, Kharagpur11. Siddhir Bhavati Karmaja (Bhagavad Gita, 4. 12): Motto of IIT, Madras12. Yoga Keshman Vahamyaham (Bhagavad Gita, 9. 22): Motto of Life Insurance Company

Four maha-vakyas (great sentences about the Ultimate Reality)

1. Tatavamasi (‘You are That’) - Chandogya Upanishad VI.viii.72. Aham Brahma asmi (‘I am That’) - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I.iv.103. Prajnanam Brahma (Consciousness is the Ultimate Reality) - Aitareya Upanishad III.i.34. Ayamatma Brahma (This Atman is Brahman) - Mandukya Upanishad, I. 2

Upanishads are a treasure house of wisdom. They provide an insight into what human beingsseek and can attain ultimately. Many of the well-known verses, prayers and statements found inUpanishads are used in India as popular slogans. Numerous educational and professional institutionsin India have drawn from Upanishads their emblems and mottos. Following is a random collectionof some of these mottos. Besides enlisting Upanishadic phrases, we have also included a few otherswhich are from the Bhagavad Gita, for Swami Vivekananda always called the Gita as ‘a banquet offinest flowers from the Upanishads’.

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The Upanishads and the Corporate World:Can the Twain Shake Hands?

The Present ScenarioThis short critical essay proceeds on the

supposition that the corporate or businessworld is willing to question its present profaneleanings, and to emotionally incline towardsthe Sacred. For, Bharat’s Veda-Vedanta havealways upheld the Sacred as the hub of all—secular as well as transcendental1. It may notbe an exaggeration to say that the corporateworld is today mostly obsessed with:

❖ Rank order status in the corporate league

❖ Share market valuation

❖ Competitive supremacy

❖ Treating human beings as ‘resources’

❖ Humans as compulsive money-makers andconsumers

❖ Nature as impersonal and non-conscious, andhence subject to reckless exploitation.

A genuine interaction with the Upani-shads cannot even commence with the abovegoals receiving top priority, all else beingtreated as inferior to it. Except occasional orcasual lip-service, there are no signs that theglobalization-modernization-developmentalagenda is willing to take a pause andintrospect. It is mostly full of guilefuldeception, animated by greed. Such abackdrop is hardly inspiring for connectingbusiness-as-it-is with Vedanta. Paradoxically,

however, this may also be a true need of thehour.

This is the present corporate scenario—downright materialistic. But considering thegrowing unhappiness and lack of meaning(expressed through rising instances of violence,depression and even suicides), there is a needto examine the issue of what remedies can beconsidered to solve the paradox.

Then and NowIn the opening section of the Katha

Upanishad (I.i.23-25), Yama, the god of Death,presents to the young Nachiketa a veritablesecular Heaven (?!) of artha (money) and kama(desires).2 Almost nothing we increasinglyhanker after today had been left out in the listof gifts announced by Death. Only a fewancient words may be replaced by modernones, for example, women in chariots bymodels in cars, vast expanse of earth by globalmarket, sons and grandsons by humanresources and so on. The corporate businesssector today seems to follow, essentially, thesame mode of temptation that Death hadadopted. A telling symbolism indeed!

How did the young boy, Nachiketa,respond to the seductive tactics of Death? Thisyoung spiritual genius’ replies are (I.i.26-9) arethe most powerful defense of the sacred,

S K CHAKRABORTY

Prof. S. K. Chakraborty is the former convenor of the Management Centre for Human Values Group, IndianInstitute of Management, Kolkata. He is well-known for his writings and talks on inculcating Indian ethos inmanagement studies and practices. His books include Management by Values, Ethics in Management, andValues and Ethics for Organizations, among others.


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saving the wisdom of Vedanta forever. Hesays:

‘Na vittena tarpaniyo manushyo’ (wealthdoes not yield satisfaction),

‘Sarveindriyanam jarayanti tejah’ (vigour ofall the senses is dissipated),

‘Abhidhyayan varnaratipramoda’ (deliberat-ing on the real nature of music, disport anddelight?).

Indeed, these are some of the eternalprinciples of true psychology which pour outfrom the lips of youthful Nachiketa.

It is evident to us that if this variety ofNachiketa-psychology3 were to be publicisedand propagated, with the same vigour and onthe same scale as the vulgar artha-kama oftoday, the present type of Corporate orbusiness heaven (!) would just collapse. Butthis will save today’s potential Nachiketasfrom destruction—as is happening now.Mother Earth could also be saved fromdesecration of her resources and molestationof her ecological purity. But with sex relationsand stock market operations becoming subjectsof study at school, kama-kanchana (lust andgreed) are now being enthroned as the ‘masterurge’ in education. So, future Nachiketas arebeing nipped in the bud.

Can amritasya putrah (‘the children ofimmortal bliss’) and ‘human resources’ co-exist? How long can we strike at our own rootsof happiness and true well-being?

Another verse (I.iii.3) from the KathaUpanishad is sometimes mentioned withreference to the ‘charioteer’ role of intellect(buddhim tu sarathi). (The Upanishad comparesthe human personality with a chariot; thesenses with horses, mind with reins, intellectwith the driver, and the human soul with itsrider). This metaphor is often cited to supportthe position that reason or intellect is thehighest human faculty. But what is not

understood or admitted is that unless theemotions or feelings are noble and pure andthe senses well-disciplined (chitta-shuddhi),sharp intellect drives man and society to thebrink of destruction.

Nachiketa’s earlier responses show thatonly because his heart was pure of ignoble,sensual cravings and emotions, his intellectcould keep him steady on his quest for theSelf. In the present verse too the mind islikened to ‘reins’, and senses to ‘horses’. These‘reins’ could often be unruly emotions. The‘horses’ too might be the wild senses of ourprana or the vital energy. Their alliance thennaturally turns corrupt and vicious. Thecharioteer-role of the intellect is therebyjeopardized. In fact, the intellect or reason thensubmits to and executes the dictates of thisimpure nexus, producing the massivecorporate scams and scandals. The leaderbecomes the led.

Here are two instances of how corporateemphasis of the Yayati-psychology (themindset of the king Yayati, who was aslave to sensual pleasures and wanted tocontinue his youth to fulfill this) of theMahabharata (or Vishnu Purana) is out toobliterate the Nachiketa-psychology of theUpanishad.

❖ Earlier this year the editor of a widelycirculated English daily had written a specialarticle on the edit page of his newspaper. Itcontained an open espousal of the car-buyingspree in India. What is wrong, the articleasked, if a person were to want to go for aspecific foreign brand (which was named)from the present cheaper make (again thebrand was named). Automobile manufac-turers, banks, insurance companies—allpowerful players in the corporate world—areworking together in this game of temptation.The GNP is rising. Statistics matter, not social


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health. Forget about pollution, congestion,etc.—all silly sentiments!

❖ A survey report in August 2007disclosed that divorce rates in Bangalore haveincreased manifold during the last few years.The chief culprit is the IT industry. It offers, ofcourse, a lot of money and cars and bankdeposits, and so on. But it extracts much moreand makes one pay heavily in other ways.Family life hits the rocks. Financial securityand stress move hand in hand!4 So glory untoYayati-psychology, and down with Nachiketapsychology!

The RemedySo far so good. Though one can say glory

to Yayati, one must remember that even Yayatihad to learn his lessons. After having enjoyedthe senses, even the ‘borrowed youth’ of hisson, he exclaimed that as pouring ghee intofire only makes it burn faster, so also indulgingin sense-pleasures only adds to our suffering.

Now, therefore, let us consider what theUpanishads counsel in this matter. The firstverse of Isha Upanishad strikes two key-notes5:

❖ Protect yourself through renunciation(tyaktena bhunjitah);

❖ Do not covet any wealth—either yourown or of others (ma gridhah kasyasviddhanam).

How contradictory, the corporate worldmight react, ‘to say renunciation protects!’India is materially a poor country. So theconsumption race has to be run. Otherwisewe shall fall behind. This whole idea ofrenunciation is shameful!

But the message of this prescription isnot meant for the nearly thirty per cent of ourpeople who still live below the poverty line. Itis squarely directed to the uppermost ten percent of our citizens who are skimming off anindecently greater proportion of incrementalnational wealth than is morally due to them.

The rich-poor gap is widening. There are‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and they do not seeeye to eye with each other. For the ‘haves’,‘protection through renunciation’ meansincreasing the opportunity for looking at andcontacting the Self within. Renunciationwithout has to precede, by degrees, for theprotection and discovery of Self within whichis unconditioned Bliss. This signifies a change,a spiritual awakening.

Besides, ‘not coveting wealth’ is theantidote, in principle, to both the personallyfoolish Yayati-syndrome and the globallydangerous phenomenon of chaos anddirection-less life. Booming material greed allover the world, sparked by the ‘I need yourgreed for my greed’ attitude, is the cause ofthis state of affairs. The most apparent resultof this trend is the irreversible depletion ofthe non-renewable material basis of the earth.In other words, the Upanishadic message is:even for our future and long-term materialinterest itself, the current fury of instantmaterialism must be tamed. The corporateworld must become conscious that the worlddoes not fold up with the few overlappingpresent generations only. The corporateinterests are not the only interests in the world.

The Upanishadic Vision of LifeThe seer of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad

has had the vision of two kindred birds atop atree. One of them is restlessly tasting diversefruits on the tree—one sweet, next bitter, yetanother sour, and so on. But the other birdkeeps gazing steadily without eating (verse4.6).6

The verse transfers this analogy to thehuman person, the tree here being the body.The restless bird is now the individual soul(jivatma) which is mad with endless desires,actions, results and stays drowned in them.


Conceptually, therefore, the corporate worldtoday is cashing in upon this ‘lower or restlessbird-self’ in the human. It believes innourishing the lower self. Fuelling its Yayati-appetites, the corporate world achieves itsmeasurable results. But the non-measurable,yet real, Self, remains still-born in the wombof human consciousness. Man just lives on thesurface. Complex living then excites lowthinking (for high thinking has perenniallybeen associated with simple living).

The Kathopanishad speaks of two typesof human tendencies: preyas (the pleasurable)and shreyas (the beneficial). The lower bird ofthe Shvetashvatra Upanishad and the preyasof Kathopanishad are twin-in-arms. The Ishaseer warns this pair by the counsels of ‘Protectyourself through renunciation’ and ‘Do notcovet any wealth’. The ‘lower self’ or thedown-to earth-approach to life (vyavaharikvyaktitva) is deficit-driven, ever-hungry,restless. The corporate world’s stock-in-tradeis this deficit-driven (Buddhist tanha), lowerself. If business is for man, and not man forbusiness, then the Upanishadic ‘higher Self’or man’s Divine Self (paramarthik vyaktitva)must be the ultimate polestar to guide itscourse. Man’s higher or Divine Self is purna(self-fulfilled). Should not the corporate worldreduce, if not immediately stop, its designsfor dragging man out and away evermorefrom his real ‘human right’? Upanishadsdeclared long, long ago that seeking the innerself is the real goal of life. It is the nourishmentof this shreya, this ‘higher bird’, this purna Selfwhich has to be the goal of every humanendeavour, including that of secular science-technology-commerce.

The Five-sheath Model of Human PersonalityLet us now turn to the Upanishadic

concept of human personality. The Taittiriya

Upanishad offers us the pancha-kosha or five-sheath model of human personality. Onewonders again if this model gets its pride ofplace in the prevailing personality develop-ment programmes launched by many outfits.The three outer layers or sheaths are material,vital and mental (annamaya, pranamaya andmanomaya respectively). They envelop andshroud the two innermost layers, those ofrealization* and bliss (vijnanamaya and ananda-maya) respectively (verses II. i-v). In SwamiGambhirananda’s English translation of theShankara bhasya of this Upanished thefollowing sentences occur7:

❖ ‘All sins are verily caused by theidentification of oneself with the body’.

❖ ‘In reality, bliss becomes higher inproportion as the heart becomes purer, calmer,and more freed from objects, whereby itbecomes abler to reflect the bliss that isBrahman’.

In other words, growing moral dis-soluteness and psychological stress are bothstrongly correlated, nay confined, to the threeoutermost sheaths. A vital curative andpreventive remedy lies in learning to dis-identify with these outer layers.

Preventive remedy lies in learning to dis-identify with these outer layers and re-identifyoneself with the two innermost ones. Oncemore we confront the obstacles to this processposed by the corporate world which is now inthe driver’s seat for managing society. Thebusiness world, through aggressive andbaneful advertising, preys relentlessly uponthese extrovert (bahirmukhi) outer sheaths,

* The author is grateful to MahamahopadhyayDr. Gobinda Gopal Mukhopadhyaya forsuggesting this rendering of vijnana. ‘Realization’seems to convey better the essence of vijnana thanintellect, knowledge etc. do.

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giving little chance or incentive to us to revertto the antarmukhi inner sheaths. Without thiscapability, we cannot incubate the self-existentBliss sheath deep within.

Swami Vivekananda’s CounselSwami Vivekananda hit the bull’s eye

more than a century ago, when not even afaint glimmer of the voracious corporate worldof today had peered over the horizon. To aquestion put to him on the Vedantic idea ofcivilization at Harvard, he had replied:8

‘You are philosophers, and you do not think thata bag of gold makes the difference between manand man. What is the value of all these machinesand sciences? They have only one result: theyspread knowledge. You have not solved theproblem of want, but made it only keener.Machines do not solve the poverty question; theysimply make men struggle the more.Competition gets keener.’

One might compress Swamiji’s analysisinto this aphorism: ‘less is more versus moreis less’. A sustainable culture like Bharatvarshais being forcefully uprooted from its sattvic‘less is more’ ethos, and flung on to theunsustainable rajasic ‘more is less’ mode. Butthis is covered by the sweet rhetoric of povertyalleviation, development, etc. The corporateworld, its emperors and lords, are engaged ina competitive race to annex rural India too inthe name of ‘rural marketing’. Sure, the poorneed basics like housing, health, clothing andsome education. The satisfaction of thesehumane needs stabilizes and strengthenssociety. But when dissipative, disruptive andeven destructive wants (e.g. cell phones) arecraftily projected as needs, the cause of thepoor is undermined. This is inhumane. Forinstance, we fail to perceive any true benefitto rural India from the much-touted IT

revolution. The corporate world, in leaguewith science-technology-politics, is in factswiftly dis-empowering the self-sustaininglocal economic systems. The rural populationis being enslaved anew in subtle ways (e.g.recent events in Singur and Nandigram inBengal). Globalization too is really a mask forpromoting the national interests of richcountries. The corporate lords are the rulersin this new brand of expansionism.9

The Chhandogya Upanishad (7.23.1)beckons human beings towards the bhuma, theInfinite, the Whole10. The corporate world failsmiserably to measure up to this savingprinciple. The bhuma cannot even beapproached if our lives are crushinglyburdened with finites (alpa). Can we, afterSwamiji, therefore hope that the corporateworld will re-invent itself, even lose itself, torestore the usurped human right—to seek thebhuma and its ananda? Vedanta as a transmitteris peerless. But will the corporate world receivethe signals and respond?

Sri Aurobindo had given us the strengthto do so exactly a century ago:11

‘We should be absolutely unsparing in our attackon whatever obstructs the growth of the nation,and never be afraid to call a spade a spade. . .We have strong things to say; let us say themstrongly; we have stern things to do; let us dothem sternly’ (April 13, 1907).

The only difference between then andnow is the change in the political configurationof the world and that of India in it. But theessential spirit of Sri Aurobindo’s call remainsfully valid across the century. Shall we see theinfinite, the purna, or remain satisfied withthe illusive finite, the alpa? The choice lies inour hands, in our capacity to practise whatthe Upanishad prod us to follow.

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References

1. Chakraborty, SK; Management By Values, NewDelhi: Oxford University Press, 1991, Chapter 8.

2. Gambhirananda, Swami; Katha Upanishad,Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1980.

3. Chakraborty, SK; Values and Ethics For Organiza-tions, New Delhi: Oxford Press, 1998, p. 76.

4. From the website: www.rediffmail.com, August3, 2007.

5. Gambhirananda, Swami; Isha Upanishad, Calcutta:Advaita Ashrama, 1983.

6. Gambhirananda, Swami; ShventashvataraUpanishad, Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1986.

7. Gambhirananda, Swami; Taittiriya Upanishad,Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1980, p.104, p.108fn.

8. Vivekananda, Swami; Selections From CompleteWorks, Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1993, p.99.

9. Chakraborty, SK; Against The Tide, New Delhi:Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 101-20, pp.141-56.

10. Swahananda, Swami; Chhandyoga Upanishad,Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1980, p.534.

11. Aurobindo, Sri; India’s Rebirth, ed. Sujata Nahar,Mysore: Institute For Evolutionary Research,2000, pp.20-1.

The Signs of a Spiritually Liberated PersonHow does a jivanmukta, a liberated soul, act? How does he move? How does he

live? Ordinary minds cannot understand his actions, life, or movements, any more thana dreaming man can see the world of the awakened. The rishis of the Upanishadsdeclare that a jivanmukta is free from desires.

A jivanmukta is no longer vexed by fear: ‘For what was there to fear? It is from asecond entity that fear comes.’ As he himself is without fear, he does not become acause of fear to anyone; he regards all beings as projections of himself.

A jivanmukta is free from the illusion of individuality and therefore from thepossibility of pain. ‘He who knows Atman overcomes grief.’ ‘When in the body [thinkingthis body is I, and I am the body] the Self is held by pleasure and pain; but when He isfree from the body [when He knows Himself to be different from the body], neitherpleasure nor pain touches Him.’

A liberated man is not given to inactivity, which is a characteristic of tamas. Hesees action in non-action and non-action in action. Actions do not cling to him. Evenwhile performing actions through his body and senses, he knows his inner Self to beactionless and detached. He knows that the Self is not the doer, but the Witness; It isnot the actor, but the Spectator. He can never perform an evil action. All his evilinstincts were destroyed when he practiced spiritual discipline. Only good comes out ofhim—and that, too, without any effort.

A liberated soul has attained the blessed state of being freefrom doubt. ‘All doubts are resolved.’ His knowledge of Atmanis not based upon intellect but is the result of direct experience.And the illusion, once destroyed, does not come back.

—Swami Nikhilananda, The Upanishads,A New Translation, Ramakrishna Vivekananda Centre,

New York, 1: 105-106

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PRAMOD KUMAR

Upanishads—the Bedrock of Indian Culture

A curious phenomenon occurred in theyear 2000. Known as the Y2K Bug, it causedwidespread panic that industries andgovernment services worldwide supported bycomputer systems would cease operating atthe stroke of midnight on December 31, 1999,when the ‘97, 98, 99, ??’ numbering ordersuddenly became invalid. Companies andorganizations world-wide checked andupgraded their computer systems. Thepreparation for Y2K had a significant effecton the computer industry. However, nosignificant computer failures occurred whenthe clocks rolled over into 2000. The debatecontinues on whether the problem had beenoverstated, thanks to the media hype anddoomsday predictions which filled the air asthe deadline drew closer.1

In this context, let us consider thereligious and theological groundwork of thisapparently technical bug. Christians world-wide had been oppressed and terrorised bytheir belief in apocalypse (an event resultingin great destruction and change) by manymissionaries who predicted the return of JesusChrist in year 2000. A part of the pain, if notthe whole of it, had its origin in thisunfounded belief. In other words, a religiousbelief and a modern computer program designare not found to be living in two differentworlds!

We often forget that every culture hasan underlying vision or philosophy whichstrongly influences its value systems, customsand practice—from attitudes, beliefs andcultural sensitivities at the psychological levelto the gross physical expressions such as dresscodes, food habits and body language.

Many young Indians ask: ‘Why do wesay “namaste” when we greet someone? Whyis vegetarianism such an important culturalvalue for a large majority of Indians? Why dowe cremate a dead body while people of otherreligions prefer a burial? Is idol worshipsanctioned by the scriptures or is it a lateraberration which crept into Hindu religion?’

Indeed, the modern Indian finds himselfin a dilemma while trying to answer suchquestions because the underlying Vedanticvision is not clearly understood. Let usexamine some key concepts which we comeacross in the Upanishads and how these ideashave influenced the fabric of Indian culture.

Upanishads and Indian Value SystemsLet us begin by referring to the well-

known first verse from the Isha Upanishad:

‘All this is for habitation by the Lord, whatsoeveris individual universe of movement in theuniversal motion. By that renounced thoushouldst enjoy; lust not after any man’spossession.’2

The author is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Cultural Education Programme at Amrita University inCoimbatore, Tamilnadu. He is a Trustee of the International Forum for India’s Heritage and Resource Person forthe Human Excellence Project of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Coimbatore Kendra. He writes a weekly Vedantacolumn for the OneIndia webportal.


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This verse is the quintessence of theVedantic vision of the all-pervasive divinityhidden behind the apparent world of namesand forms, out of which spring all culturalvalues such as the ones discussed above. Thisidea leads to treating everyone with a sense ofrespect. This explains the Hindu’s respectfulattitude for all life forms including plants andanimals. This is a recognition of the divinespark hidden in everyone. Not only thisrespect for life but also all the values that haveshaped the Hindu worldview like ahimsa (non-injury), satyam (truthfulness), brahmacharya(continence), aparigraha (non-possessiveness)and asteya (non-stealing) can be seen tooriginate from this vision.

Indeed, one cannot injure any other livingbeing if one feels the spark of divinity tryingto express itself through that life form. This istrue basis of ahimsa or non-violence. Onecannot utter a falsehood if one understandsthe very nature of the Divine as Sat (Truth-Existence). Hence the insistence on satya ortruthfulness. One cannot steal because itviolates the law of dharma or mutual well-being and infringes on the rights of other livingbeings who also aspire for happiness.

In fact this verse from Isha Upanishadquoted above makes a special reference to thisvalue—‘lust not after any man’s possession’.Similarly, since the Self transcends all duality,any distinction of sex is irrelevant, and therecan be no carnal desire for one who moves inBrahman. A man of chastity or self-control issaid to be following brahmacharya (‘one wholives in Brahman’).

The rishis perceived this all-pervadingdivinity as ritam (cosmic order) and dharma(social order). Ritam or cosmic order refers tothe existence of certain laws and principleswhich govern the whole universe. Anddharma is the recognition of an eternal and

divine law for the individual and social well-being.

Thus, the Upanishadic vision of theUltimate Reality, and how it underlies allspiritual and moral values, forms thefoundation of all value systems. These valuesystems permeate all the cultural forms andattitudes prevalent in India today. Indianculture and Upanishads are inseparable.

The recent debate in London centredaround the temple bull Shambo infected withbovine tuberculosis3 is an interesting exampleof the Indian worldview born of theUpanishadic vision. Though there were manyarguments against putting it to death, it hadto be done after considering many medicalreasons. It only highlights the Indiancommunity’s inherent piety for sacred animalswhich is a natural corollary of the valuesystems mentioned above. It is unfortunatethat some of the narrow evangelical andpseudo-scientific elements fail to appreciatethis cross-cultural difference. While theChristian evangelists continue to trivialisethese Indian attitudes, a section of theAmerican scientific community levelled ashocking allegation attributing the origin andspread of mad-cow disease to the immersionof dead bodies in the Ganges!4 Indians neednot feel apologetic or intimidated by suchattempts for the Upanishads are an infalliblesource of support for our belief systems.Recognising the Upanishadic idea of onenessof existence makes one truly considerate andkind.

It would not be an exaggeration to addthat even many of the social and politicalinstitutions too have been influenced by thelofty thoughts of the Upanishads. Opennessand acceptance is the hallmark of theUpanishads. This one sees reflected in manyspheres of activities in India. Despite its many


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ups and downs, India owes its 60 years ofdemocracy and free elections to the culturalethos of debate and consensus born again ofthe Upanishads.

Upanishads and Indian ScienceNow let us consider how the Upanishads

have shaped the Indian approach to scientifictemper. Here is a verse from the KenaUpanishad (I,1-2)

The Pupil asks: ‘At whose wish does the mindsent forth proceed on its errand? At whosecommand does the first breath go forth? Atwhose wish do we utter this speech? What goddirects the eye, or the ear?’

The Teacher replies: ‘It is the ear of the ear, themind of the mind, the speech of speech, thebreath of breath, and the eye of the eye.’

This is an apt example of how the Indianmind has been imbued with a spirit of inquiryright from its early days. India’s approachand methodology in scientific research hasbeen deeply influenced by the spirit of inquirywhich pervades the Upanishads. The Rishiswhose inquisitive minds set out to know theUnknowable were able to break the secrets ofmatter. While science is an unending questfor knowledge, the Vedic mind searched forthe Ultimate Source of all matter and energy.Many of the modern day scientists have foundseveral parallels between the Upanishadictruths and the scientific discoveries.

The ancient text of Sulbasutras, containingmany geometrical theorems and Ayurveda,were also contributions of the same Vedicculture of which the Upanishads form anintegral part. Unlike modern science whichlimits itself to perceivable phenomena anddismisses subtle phenomena as unscientific,the quest of the Vedic seers encompassed eventhe non-physical worlds.

Upanishads and Indian EducationThe Upanishads are mostly a record of

teacher-student dialogue. The following prayerfrom the Upanishads sums up the excellentrelationship that existed between them.

‘May both of us together be protected. May bothof us together be nourished. May we worktogether with great energy. May our studytogether be brilliant and effective. May we nothate or dispute with each other. Om Peace,Peace, Peace.

The Upanishads laid the foundation forthe loving and respectful relationship betweenthe teachers and students which prevailed inIndia till the modern education system ruinedit with money, competition, hatred anddisharmony. The Upanishads contain touchingstories of exemplary students like Uddalaka,Upamanyu, Satyakama Jabali, Shvetaketu andNachiketas and also great teachers likeYajnavalkya. While the modern systememphasises mainly developing one’s intellec-tual capacities, the Upanishads emphasised thedevelopment of character as the mostimportant part of education. The Upanishadicteachers themselves led ideal lives and henceinspired their students to live lofty lives.Swami Vivekananda considered the Upani-shadic method of living together with idealteachers as the best form of education.

Institutions like Sannyasa, which later oncame to occupy central place in classicalHinduism, also have their basis in theUpanishads. The Upanishads glorify renun-ciation but they do not impose it on all. Theywell recognise the evolutionary needs ofdifferent people.

Upanishads and Indian CustomsThe core philosophy of a civilization

shapes its value systems; these value systems


turn into cultural attitudes which in turn shapethe customs, rituals and everyday life of thecommunity. It is fascinating to study how thevision and philosophy of the Upanishads haspercolated into the customs and practices ofIndian cultural life.

Consider the funeral rites in India, forexample. The Kathopanishad (2.18) declares:

‘The knowing (Self) is not born, it dies not; itsprang from nothing, nothing sprang from it.The Ancient is unborn, eternal, and everlasting;he is not killed, though the body is killed.’

This realisation of the Immortal Self gaveour ancestors the strength to conquer even thefear of Death. The intense attachment to theperishable body was subdued with devotionto the imperishable self. Therefore, the Hindupractice of cremating the dead. Andappropriate mantras from the Upanishads orthe Bhagavad Gita, dealing with theimpermanence of the physical body and theimmortal nature of the Self are chanted duringthe cremation.

Islam and Christianity consider it asacrilege to burn their dead. The concept ofLife after Death in these religions is verydifferent from our understanding of lifebeyond death. Swami Vivekananda points thisout in his interview given in England:

‘In trying to sum up India’s contribution to theworld, I am reminded of a Sanskrit and anEnglish idiom. When you say a man dies, yourphrase is, “He gave up the ghost”, whereas wesay, “He gave up the body”. Similarly, you morethan imply that the body is the chief part ofman by saying it possesses a soul. Whereas wesay a man is a soul and possesses a body. Theseare but small ripples on the surface, yet theyshow the current of your national thought.’5

This idea of ‘giving up the body’ isderived from the Upanishadic idea of

immortality of the atman. Contrast this withthe impact of the belief in an impendingapocalypse which has driven the Christianworld to frenzy time and again, as pointedabove. This belief overflows very often eveninto Hollywood movies which often end inapocalyptic destruction and disorder!

Many other cultural practices such asrespect for the elders, teacher and guests alsohave their origin in the Upanishads. TheTaittiriya Upanishad, for instance, tells ‘Respectyour mother as God, respect your father’ andso on. All these cultural beliefs, and manymore, are based on the teachings of theUpanishads.

Upanishads and Indian SymbolsSymbols have a history, too. One does

not invent them overnight. In the Indiancontext, one can trace most of our religioussymbols to the Upanishads. The greatest ofsymbols that permeates the Indian literatureand thinking is OM. Says the MandukyaUpanishads (verse 1)

OM is this imperishable Word. OM is theUniverse, and this is the exposition of OM. Thepast, the present and the future, all that was, allthat is, all that will be, is OM. Likewise all elsethat may exist beyond the bounds of Time, thattoo is OM.

OM represents the Ultimate Truth. As isclear from this verse, it is God which assumesall forms. There is a popular belief in the‘educated’ Indian mind today that ‘idol’worship or worship of forms has no sanctionin the Vedas or the Upanishads and that thisis a later contribution which crept into classicalHinduism through the influence of Buddhismor Puranic literature. On the contrary, theUpanishadic vision of Oneness of the UltimateReality and its manifestation in infinitely

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different forms is the very basis of imageworship in India. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi,Ganesha and Kartikeya are all different formsof the same Reality. The proverbial Indiantolerance of differing worldviews is also adirect offshoot of this perception of unity indiversity.

The Omkara is the central Indian symbolwhich has its origin in the Vedas and theUpanishads and which has been accepted as aprimary symbol in other Indian religions alsolike Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

In fine, the imprint of the Upanishadson Indian culture is all-pervasive. If onecarefully studies, one can easily see how theIndian culture has its roots in the Upanishads.Indian culture and the Upanishads areinseparable. The more we study thesewonderful texts, the better will be ourunderstanding of Indian culture and society.

The role of Indian Civilization in thefuture world will be determined by howclosely our polity is guided by the philosophyof the Upanishads.

References

1. Year 2000 problem, Wikipedia entry, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y2K

2. Free translation adapted from Sri Aurobindo’sThe Upanishads and other sources.

3. ‘Holy cow issue divides Hindus,’ BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/04/shambo_video_feature.shtml

4. The Anti-Hindu “Mis-Steak” in CJD Research,Hindu Human Rights, http://www.hinduhumanrights.org/articles/CJDMis_steak.html

5. ‘India and England’ The Complete Works ofSwami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata,5: 195

There is an illuminating story told of the deity Krishna, who, in the form of a humanchild, was raised among a little company or tribe of herdsmen. One day he said to them,when he saw them preparing to worship one of the great Gods of the Brahminicalpantheon: ‘But why do you worship a deity in the sky? The support of your life is here, inyour cattle. Worship these!’ Whereupon, they hung garlands around the necks of theircattle and paid them worship. This wonderful art of recognizing the divine presence in allthings, as a ubiquitous presence, is one of the most striking features of Oriental life, and isparticularly prominent in Hinduism.

I have seen very simple people out in the country, climbing a hill, who, when theybecame tired and paused to rest and eat, set up a stone, poured red paint around it, andthen reverently placed flowers before it. The pouring of the red paint set that stone apart.The idea was simply that those people were now going to regard it, not as a stone, but asa manifestation of the divine principle that it is immanent in all things. The pouring of thered paint and placing of the flowers were typical acts of Bhakti, Devotional Yoga: simpledevices, readily available to anyone, to shift the focus of the mind from the phenomenalaspect of the object as a mere stone to its mystery of a miracle of being. And this popularform of yoga. . . is a technique to link consciousness to the ultimate truth: the mystery ofbeing. The sense of the whole universe as a manifestation of the radiance of God and ofyourself as likewise of that radiance, and the assurance that this is so, no matter whatthings may look like, round about, is the key to the wisdom of India. . .

—Joseph John Campbell (1904 –1987), an American mythology professor and writer

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Ten Commandments for StudentsFrom Taittiriya Upanishad

The Vedic seers (rishis) were greateducationists. They were interested not just inimproving the grades and performance of theirstudents but in their total personality-develop-ment. They treated their students with respectand affection and were keen that they turnout to be ideal citizens, ideal human beings.Their educational vision included the wholegamut of human life and the ultimate well-being of the individual and the society. Theyencouraged a spirit of inquiry coupled withrespect and devotion. Intense love to gainknowledge and a zeal for constant self-improvement were embedded in theirapproach to education. The well-known shantimantra (peace chant), sahana vavatu, is anexample of this. The mantra says, ‘May theteacher and the student help each other fortheir mutual benefit.’

Taittiriya Upanishad contains a sectiondealing with what a student should do afterhe completes formal education. Called shishya-anushasanam (‘rules for a student’), this sectionconsists of timeless wisdom which the rishishad derived from their experience and awholesome understanding of life. These rulesfor student hold good even now, despitechanged circumstances and a different systemof education. One may liken these guidelinesto a convocation address given to the final yearstudents who are about to leave the portals ofan educational institution to pursue a careeror get into an active life of earning andproducing wealth, doing their family dutiesand contributing to the society. Following are

the Ten Commandments drawn from thatsection. It may well be a source of inspirationand guidance for the present-day students andeducationists.

1. gË`mÞ à_{XVì`_²Satya na pramaditavyam(Hold on to Truth)

2. Y_m©Þ à_{XVì`_²Dharman na pramaditavyam(Hold on to Righteousness)

3. Hw$ebmÞ à_{XVì`_²Kushalan na pramaditavyam(Hold on to welfare activities)

4. yË ¡ Z à_{XVì`_²Bhootyei na pramaditavyam(Hold on to acquisition of wealth)

5. Xod {nV¥H$m`m©ä`m§ Z à_{XVì`_²Deva pitru karyabhyam na pramaditavyam(Hold on to worship of gods & manes)

6. ñdmÜ`m`àdMZmä`m§ Z à_{XVì`_²Swadhyaya pravachanabhyam na pramaditavyam(Hold on to self-study and teaching)

7. _mV¥Xodmo ^dŸ& {nV¥Xodmo ^dŸ&Matru devo bhava, pitru devo bhava(Take care of father and mother)

8. `mÝ`ZdÚm{Z H$_m©{UŸ& Vm{Z go{dVì`m{ZŸ&Anavadyani karmani tani sevitavyani(Do only good deeds, avoid bad deeds)

9. lÕ`m Xo _²Shraddhaya deyam(Give liberally gifts with faith and humility)

10. AmMm`m© {à § YZ_möË`Acharyayapriyam dhanam aahritya

.


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(Bring wealth to your teacher to help himcontinue his educational work).1

This is a total vision of education,containing enduring values for living apurposeful life. Only when one follows thesevalues in life one gets true happiness,prosperity and peace. Mere obtaining acertificate or degree can help one get some jobto earn money but life is not just doing a jobor generating wealth. Life is a process ofindividual and collective growth. ‘Man doesnot live by bread alone’ says the Bible. Man’sneeds are not just physical. He has culturaland spiritual needs as well. In the light of thisfact, let us try to understand these command-ments.

1. Hold on to the Truth (satya na pramaditavyam)In order to have true stability in one’s

social, economic and family life, one shouldbe truthful. Without truthfulness and honesty,life is full of fear and suspicion. Even in theeconomic field, honesty is a must; otherwiseeven the most booming economy will getruined. Truthfulness is also required in orderto cultivate love between members of thefamily. Satyameva Jayate, says the MundakaUpanishad. Sri Ramakrishna said that to betruthful in one’s speech and actions is trueausterity and the sure way to experience God.It is even said that Chambal Valley dacoitsswear by truth before they distribute theirbooties among themselves! They swear ‘Letus be honest in dividing these booties amongourselves’. So truth is the one thing thatcontributes to the stability in every field ofhuman activity. It is the very basis of true life.

Truthfulness needs no ‘maintenance’. Alie or falsehood, on the other hand, needsconstant effort to protect it from being exposed.A truthful person naturally has more strengthand opportunity to make his life strong and

easy. Therefore the teacher rightly says ‘Holdon to Truth’.

2. Hold on to Righteousness (dharman napramaditavyam)

This means being just and compassionatein everything one plans or does. This involvespaying attention to what is righteous and beingever ready to do what is right. One shouldnot be indifferent in this matter. As a well-known saying has it, ‘The most worrying thingin keeping a family or society free fromtroubles is not the activity of evil people butthe inactivity of good people.’ So one must beactive and subdue one’s desire for immediategain in favour of the ultimate and larger good.Swami Vivekananda said,

For the world can be good and pure, only if ourlives are good and pure. It is an effect, and weare the means. Therefore, let us purify ourselves.Let us make ourselves perfect.2

3. Hold on to Welfare Activities (kushalan napramaditavyam)

One should come forward to help thepoor, the distressed, the old people, thechildren and other weaker sections of society.A society becomes strong when there are sensi-tive people willing to extend help to others.This is what makes life secure and enjoyable.If one does not develop an attitude of helpand kindness, he becomes a stinking pool ofself-centredness and insensitivity. What if acountry or society has wealth but noinclination and method of doing good to itscitizens? Welfare of others must be, thus, keptas the goal of all progress and advancement.

4. Acquire Wealth Legitimately (bhootyei napramaditavyam)

Upanishads did not preach poverty. Theyspoke of a healthy and prosperous life. The


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ideal of renunciation is not the ideal of povertyand agony but learning to help others withwhatever we acquire. The Upanishadic societywas a prosperous society. It was not aconsumerist society but it was full of wealthand means to meet one’s needs. That is whythe rishi advices that one should not give upacquisition of wealth but, he also cautions, oneshould do so through legitimate means. Whena person earns through illegitimate means, hegets wealth but along with wealth, he also getsfear, suspicion and restlessness of mind.Despite so much of wealth, how many peoplecomplain of lack of peace of mind or of evennormal sleep and joy in life! Sri Ramakrishnaused to advice people to earn well but not toconsider earning as an end by itself. Whenone earns honestly one may not get all theincome to fulfil greed and imagined require-ments, but one can surely meet one’s needsand have peace and joy in life.

5. Hold on to the Worship of Gods and Manes(deva pitru karyabhyam na pramaditavyam)

This means do not neglect your spiritualpractices such as doing japa or prayers andmeditation. If one is spiritually strong, one canbe always sure of never losing one’s calmnessof mind which is so essential to face thechallenges of life. This means having faith ina Transcendental Truth, in the eternity of theSelf. This brings an element of infinity andvastness to life. Or else, what is the fun inbeing born like any other living being and thendying a ‘dog’s death’? The great saint Kabirremarked with a tinge of humour,

‘When you were born, you cried and othersrejoiced. Live your life in such a way that whenyou die, you rejoice and others cry.’

This means living a life of meaning andgreatness. Why would otherwise people weepfor one at death?

Another aspect of this commandment isthat we should be respectful to our culturaland spiritual heritage. We should ‘progress’in life but not by neglecting or denouncingthe time-honoured wisdom our forefathershave left for us in the form our cultural andspiritual tradition. This is what is meant bypitru karyabhyam.

6. Hold on to Self-study and Teaching(swadhyaya pravachanabhyam napramaditavyam)

These days one speaks of ‘KnowledgeSociety’ being managed or governed by‘Knowledge Workers.’ It is interesting to notehow the Upanishads, in that remote past ofworld history, gave so much importance tocultivation of love of knowledge and spreadof knowledge to others. Self-study meansalways keeping ourselves abreast of what ishappening not only in our field of work orinterest but also studying our motives anddeveloping the habit of self-introspection. Howmany evils in our life owe their existence toour being unaware of them! If only we areaware of our motives and the ideas that aredirecting or affecting our action, living a rightlife will become a rewarding experience. Self-study therefore includes self-introspection.

Not only should we acquire knowledgethrough reading books or articles or a judicioususe of Internet, we should be willing to shareour knowledge with others. This ‘teaching’ ofwhat we know ultimately helps us to clarifyour ideas and make them grow. As someonesaid once, ‘If I have a dollar and you have adollar and we both exchange, we both stillhave one dollar each. But if I have an idea andyou have an idea and if we exchange, we bothexchange our ideas, we both will have twoideas each.’ Swami Vivekananda’s words canbe recalled here: ‘Doing is good but that comes


from thinking. Fill yourself therefore withgood thoughts.’ This is possible only whenone practises self-study and shares one’sknowledge with others.

7. Look Upon Your Mother, Father, Teacherand Guest as Living Gods (matru devo bhava,pirtu devo bhava, acharya devo bhava, atithi devobhava)

In today’s fast world, we seem to becometoo much money-centred. Our respect is basedon the money or position they have. Thismeans we have reduced others and ourselvesto mere economic or biological units. That iswhy there is an ever-growing problem ofparents being ill-treated by their children,teachers being neglected by their students andfriendship with good people being at stake.The rishi rightly says that as an antidote tothis, we should cultivate respectfulnesstowards others.

These days many young people do nothesitate to leave their parents when the parentsneed them most. This is because of selfishmotive of keeping money above everything.What these young people fail to see is thatthey too would turn old, sooner or later, andwill have to face a similar disloyalty andunpleasant experience. Youth is not eternal.Wake up! Be grateful and be willing toacknowledge what you receive from others orelse our social and personal life will be a hell—that is the insightful message of the Vedicrishis.

Respect for one’s family members andfor teachers and good people (who come asguests to our house) goes a long way inkeeping a healthy social life. This is the best‘social insurance’ one can think of. Thisrespect for others is the foundation of strongfamily bonds, which is the basis of a healthysociety.

8. Do Only Good Deeds, Avoid Bad Deeds(anavadyani karmani tani sevitavyani)

This is a caution: ‘Do only things andactions which are free from blemish.’ The rishiswere very pragmatic in their approach to life.They advised that one must be always activeand healthily engaged. ‘An idle mind is devil’sworkshop,’ was well-known to them. So onemust be busy, but busy in doing good toothers.

There are many aspects of doing good toothers. First thing is we get what we give.Swami Vivekananda used to say,

‘Unselfishness is more paying only people donot have patience to practice it.’3

In the long run, doing good to others isdoing good to ourselves. For, ultimately, in aspiritual sense, we are not different fromothers. The Mahabharata declares that doinggood to others is what religion is all about.Faith in this simple truth can do immense goodto us individually and collectively.

Moreover sometimes teachers them-selves, under some very pressing circum-stances, may do some wrong action. Thataction should not be taken as the ideal. Eventheir actions should be scrutinized and onlythose actions, which are for the good in a largerperspective alone, should be done.

9. Give Gifts with Respect (shraddhaya deyam)Says Swami Vivekananda,

‘ Do not stand on a high pedestal and take fivecents in your hands and say, “Here my poorman”; but be grateful that the poor man is there,so that by making a gift to him you are able tohelp yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed,but it is the giver. Be thankful that you areallowed to exercise your power of benevolenceand mercy in the world, and thus become pureand perfect.’4

151


In other words, we should give help—monetary, physical or intellectual, or in anyother form—with a sense of respect. Shraddhameans faith plus respect. If we do anythingwith shraddha, its fruits become manifold.Moreover, this attitude of giving help removesour undue attachment to money, which is agreat hindrance in developing a true per-sonality. Money can only be a means and neveran end in itself. So, when we gift money notwith a sense of pride and arrogance, such agiving makes us pure, holy and compassion-ate. It makes us great.

A lot of social or personal evils can betraced to people unwilling to help, which inturn leads to miserliness and cruelty. Thisunwillingness comes out of our attachment tomoney. Now-a-days, thanks to the IT boom,many young people suddenly becomerecipients of huge wealth, and then they donot know what to do with it. It often degradesthem into sub-human levels of drinking, drugaddictions, violence and so on. No wonderthe instances of suicides and depressions arealso increasing. If only people understand themeaning of learning to give! Learning tomake judicious use of money, at right placeand time and to right person is an essentialpart of the total educational vision of theancient rishis.

10. Bring Wealth to Your Teacher to ContinueHis Educational Work (acharyayapriyamdhanam aaharitya)

To run an educational institution oneneeds funds and support in many other ways.If students do not give back what they havereceived from their teachers in the form ofmoney or other type of help, it only proves

that they have not understood the truemeaning of education. An educated person isone who has a spirit of gratefulness. Thisgratefulness can be expressed in many wayssuch as offering monetary support orprotecting the interests of the institution at thepolitical or administrative level and so on. Thebest way to express one’s sense of gratitude isto follow the principles of truthfulness andkindness and other higher principles onelearns from one’s teacher.

ConclusionIf one wants to overcome the problems

of youth (such as restlessness, lack of self-control, being too soft or being too rash andso on), one must learn to practise these values.

Life means change. Often it is said thatwe are living in changing times. Indeed, thevery word used in Sanskrit for ‘world’ issamsara, which means ‘that which is changing’.The rich becomes poor and the poor becomesrich. The young becomes old and old ones passout. The healthy becomes sick and sickbecomes healthy. Governments change.Policies change. Fashions change. There isconstant change in this world. But in the midstof this change and new situations, new peopleand new challenges at different levels of ourlife, one needs certain changeless values. TheseTen Commandments from the Upanishad aretruly eternal values which can make lifemeaningful and rewarding.

Students often search for lasting solutionsto the problems they face. The values discussedabove contain hints and suggestion to face lifefrom a deeper level. In order to grasp theirtrue meaning, one must meditate on them andpractise them in life.

152

1. Taittiriyopanishad, I. xi 2. CW, 2: 9 3. CW, 1: 32 4. CW, 1: 76

References

153

The Vedanta Kesari Library Scheme Continued from page 4

3123. A Devotee of Sri Ramakrishna The B. S.T. Eng. School, Mumbai - 400 0203124. -do- The B.J. Parsee Charitable Institution and Jr. College, Mumbai - 43125. -do- The Modern School, V.P. Road, Mumbai - 400 0043126. -do- Vivekananda English School, Trombay Road, Mumbai - 400 0883127. -do- Adarsh Vidyalaya Sahakarnagar, Chembur, Mumbai - 400 0713128. -do- Balmohan Vidya Mandir, Mumbai - 400 0283129. -do- Chembur Karnatak High School, Chembur, Mumabi - 400 0713130. -do- Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School, Mumbai - 400 0143131. -do- I.E.S. Modern English School, Dadar, Mumbai - 400 0263132. -do- I.E.S. V.N. Sule Guruji English Medium Sec. School, Mumbai - 143133. -do- I.G. Bhatia High School, Mumbai - 400 0193134. -do- J.B. Wachha High School for Girls, Mumbai - 400 0143135. -do- People’s Welfare Society's High School, Mumbai - 400 0223136. -do- Padua High School, Mumbai - 400 0883137. -do- Sanatan Dharam High School, Chembur, Mumbai - 400 0713138. -do- Sadhu Vaswani High School, Chembur, Mumbai - 400 0713139. -do- Saraswati Vidyalaya, Chembur, Mumbai - 400 0713140. -do- Shree Vallabhashram School, Mumbai - 400 0223141. -do- South Indian Education Society's High School, Mumbai - 400 0193142. -do- South Indian Education Welfare Society's High School, Mumbai - 313143. -do- The Andhra Education Society's High School, Mumbai - 400 0313144. -do- The Bengali Education Society's High School, Mumbai - 400 0143145. -do- Vivek English School Qureshi Nagar, Kurla, Mumbai - 400 070.3146. -do- Swami Vivekanand School Sindhi Soc., Mumbai - 400 0713147. -do- Vivekananda English School, Mumbai - 400 0883148. -do- Kartika High School New Hall Road, Mumbai - 400 0703149. -do- Kedarnath Vidya Prasaran's English High School, Mumbai - 703150. -do- Matunga Premier School, Matunga, Mumbai - 400 0193151. -do- Matunga Lions Pioneer English School, Mumbai - 400 0193152. -do- Modern English School Chadda Nagar, Mumbai - 400 0893153. -do- Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Libaspur, Delhi - 110 0423154. -do- Arvind Gupta Dav Centenary Public School, Delhi - 110 0093155. -do- Arya Model School, Delhi - 110 0543156. -do- B.M. Gange Girls Senior Secondary School, Delhi - 110 0543157. -do- BP Jaipuria Girls Senior Secondary School, Delhi - 110 0543158. -do- Bharti Model School, Delhi - 110 0343159. -do- Bharti Model School, Delhi - 110 0343160. -do- Bal Bharti Public School, Delhi - 110 0343161. -do- Bal Bharti Public School, Delhi - 110 0853162. -do- Bengali Boys Senior Secondary School, Delhi - 110 0543163. -do- Beni Prasad Jaipuria Public School, Delhi - 110 0093164. -do- Bhartiya (Co-Ed.,) School, Delhi - 110 0523165. -do- Birla Arya Girls Senior Secondary School, Delhi - 110 0073166. -do- Darbari Lal Dav Model School, Delhi - 110 0343167. -do- Dayanand Public School, Model Town, Delhi - 110 0093168. -do- Deen Bandhu Public School, Delhi - 110 081

154

To be Continued . . .

3169. -do- Deepayan Vidya Niketan, Pitampura, Delhi - 110 0343170. -do- Delhi University Social Centre School, Delhi - 110 0073171. -do- Gita Rattan Jindal Public School, Delhi - 110 0853172. -do- Geeta Senior Secondary School, Sultanpuri, Delhi - 110 0413173 -do- Ganga Public School, Rohtak Road, Delhi - 110 0413174. -do- Gita Bharati Public School, Delhi - 110 0523175. -do- Govind Ram Gurukul Senior Scondary School, Delhi - 110 0073176. -do- Jyoti Model Secondary School, Adarsh Nagar, Delhi - 110 0333177. -do- Kulachi Hansraj Model School, Delhi - 110 0523178. -do- Lilawati Vidya Mandir, Delhi - 110 0073179. -do- Mahavir Senior Model School, Delhi - 110 0333180. -do- Manava Bhavana Public School, Delhi - 110 0093181. -do- Manendra Shakti Senor Secondary Vidyalaya, Delhi - 110 0353182. -do- Mata Jai Kaur Public School, Delhi - 110 0823183. Mr. Sandeep Choudhury, Bangalore Ramakrishna Mission High. Sec. School, Chennai - 600 0173184. -do- Bhartiya Tattvagyan Mandir, Gujarat - 383 3153185. Dr. M.K. Soni, Indore Sri Madhusudan Vyas Nuclear Medicine Department, Indore - 14

3186. -do- R.K.M. Sarada Vidyalaya Model High. Sec. School, Chennai - 173187. -do- Valiram Bherumal Melwani High. School, Mumbai - 400 0073188. -do- Sri Raghavendra Residential School, A.P. - 516 3293189. -do- D.A.V. Centenary Public School, Delhi - 110 0343190. M/s. P.R. Counsel of India, Chennai R.K.M. Sarada Vidyalaya High. School for Girls, Chennai - 173191. -do- A.V.K. Junior College, Visakhapatnam - 530 0263192. A Devotee of Sri Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, W.N. - 723 1473192. -do- Ramakrishna Mission School, Medinipur, W.B. - 721 101

The inclusion of the four-colour feature, Call of the Upanishads, andother additional pages in this Issue, has been made possible by the gener-ous financial help received from some of our well-wishers and devotees.The Vedanta Kesari gratefully acknowledges their kind help.

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‘That gift which is made out of a sheer sense of duty, without expectation ofany kind of return, at the proper time and place, to a fit recipient, is said to beof the nature of Sattva.’

—Bhagavad Gita, 17.20

‘Let the Lion of Vedanta roar, the foxeswill fly to their holes.’

—Swami Vivekananda

Managing Editor: SWAMI GAUTAMANANDA Editor: SWAMI ATMASHRADDHANANDA

Printed and Published by SWAMI ABHIRAMANANDA for

SSSSSRIRIRIRIRI RRRRRAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNA MMMMMATHATHATHATHATHMYLAPORE, CHENNAI 600 004

V o l u m e 94J a n u a r y – D e c e m b e r 2007

❆


�Title Page NoA‘Address’ of God, The—Gauri Shankar Bhattacharya 398

BBhagavad Gita—Quintessence of the Upanishads, The—Swami Sandarshanananda 559Blossoming Forth—Review Article 321Blossoming of Consciousness As Seen in Sri Ramakrishna—Swami Brahmeshananda 57Book Reviews 41, 81, 121, 161, 201, 241, 281, 323, 361, 403, 442

CCall of the Upanishads 521Cultivating Fearlessness—Swami Sudarshanananda 226

DDirect Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna:the Living Upanishads—Sudesh 494Don’t Worry, Be Happy—C. S. Ramakrishnan 375

EEditorials—Swami Atmashraddhananda

‘As Long As I Live,. . .’ 2‘Breaking of Bars’ 86Celebrating Festivals—Why and How 366Lessons from a Honeybee,The 406‘Love Suffereth Long’ 126Inner Guard, The 166Invisible Path, The 206Mystery of the Moment, The 46Place to Start From, The 286Routine Issue, A 246Unmasking Our Identity 326Upanishads and We 446

FFace of Infinity, The—Swami Satyamayananda 231Facets of Friendship—Swami Kripamayananda 186

Annual Index 2007�


Frequently Asked Questions About Upanishads—Swami Harshananda—Q&A 488

GGandhiji and a Family of Physicians—Swami Tathagatananda 143God and Man—a Vedantic View—Swami Siddheswarananda 252, 332

HHindu Ethos, The—Umesh C. Gulati 430Holy Mother and the Ideal of Yoga—Pravrajika Bodhamayaprana 152How to Meditate on the Form of Ramakrishna—Swami Chetanananda 297

I‘I Have Never Quoted Anything But the Upanishads’—Swami Vivekananda 451In Tune with the Infinite—C.S. Ramakrishnan 262

MMahasamadhi of Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj 605Making God the Centre of Our Life—Swami Gananathananda 21Meditating on Inherent Divinity—C.A. Reddy 175Message of the Upanisads, The—Swami Ranganathananda 460Mind and Its Functioning—Dr. K.V. Raghupathi 17Modern Science and Upanishads—Jay Lakhani 555Myth and Reality of Life: The Challenge before the Youth—A Devotee 254

NNew FindForgotten Jaipur Visit of Swami Abhedananda, The—Swami Videhatmananda 351Unpublished Letter of Swami Saradananda, An 73, 116, 157, 179, 234, 277, 315, 384, 437

OOrder on the March, The 37, 77, 117, 158, 197, 237, 279, 318, 357, 401, 438Overview of the Upanishads in the West, An—Swami Tathagatananda 500

PPoem

When I Met God—Cyberspace, C. Vignesh 224Peace Chant in Upanishads—Swami Sridharananda 466Portrait of Swami Vivekananda’s Parents, A—Chirasree Bandopadhyay 421Preparing to Serve—M.M. Barik 271Principles of Jainism and Practical Vedanta—Swami Brahmeshananda 257

QQuestions & Answers—Swami Brahmeshananda

Basics of Meditation 111

157


Law of Karma and Rebirth 235Learning to Live Meaningfully 428Manifestation of Divinity 395Mind and Meditation 141Nature of Mind and Ego 307Soul and God 356Understanding the Law of Karma 195

RReal and Unreal—a Vedantic Study—Swami Siddheswarananda 8Real Life Experience: The Blessings of Prison—Willie B. Blackmon 346Religion is Realisation—Angelo Perera 112Reminiscences

Divine Providence at Work 435‘Nothing is Impossible’—Sister Nivedita 156Holy Mother in Daily Life—Swami Aseshananda 313Power of the Upanishads, The 570Spiritual Practice 225Swami Brahmananda, A Portrait—Sister Devamata 33, 62Swami Brahmananda’s Love for Plants and Trees—Brahmachari Akshayachaitanya 385

SSaga of Spiritual Service, A—Swami Abhiramananda 301, 342Sages of the Upanishads—Swami Satyamayananda 571Sarada Devi in the Light of the Upanishads, Sri—Pravrajika Atmadevaprana 476Samaveda—an Introductory Note—Swami Harshananda 337So Began the Story—Prema Nandakumar 515Spiritual Experiences of Sri Ramakrishna:Upanishads Revitalised—Swami Adiswarananda 471Story of Prajapati and Its Meaning, The—Swami Dayatmananda 510Simhâvalokanam 7, 50, 90, 131, 170, 210, 251, 289, 330, 370, 409Sources of Inspiration—Swami Chetanananda 12, 51, 94, 136Special Column

Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda onContemporary Marathi Literature—Swami Videhatmananda 171, 218

Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on Contemporary Telugu Literature—M Sivaramkrishna 388, 414Special Report

A New Centre in South Africa 229Philip Glass’ Musical Presentation of The Passion of Sri Ramakrishna—Dr. Gordon Stavig 65

Spiritual Practices—A Holistic View—Swami Satyapriyananda 106Synopsis of the Governing Body’s Report for 2005-06—Swami Smaranananda 75

TTen Commandments for Students From Taittiriya Upanishad 588

158


Three Great Saints of Kadapa—R.L. Narasimha Raju 180Three States of Consciousness—Swami Siddheswarananda 214Two Wings of a Yogi—Dr. K. V. Raghupathi 396

UUnderstanding Nirvikalpa Samadhi—Swami Siddheswarananda 371, 410Understanding Reality as Sat-Chit-Ananda—Swami Siddheswarananda 132Understanding the Inherent Divinity—Swami Vireshananda 67Upanishads and the Science of Yoga—N.V.C. Swamy 506Upanishadic Guidelines for the Practice of Medicine—Swami Brahmeshananda 537Upanishads and the Ideal of Service—M. Lakshmi Kumari 546Upanishads—the Basis of All World Religions—Swami Abhiramananda 550Upanishads and the Corporate World: Can the Twain Shake Hands?, The—S K Chakraborty 577Upanishads—the Bedrock of Indian Culture—Pramod Kumar 583Upanishads and Their Origin, The—Swami Ashokananda 456Upanishadic Ideas in Popular Culture 576VVedanta And Human Personality—Jitendra Nath Kar 272Vedic Prayers 1, 45, 85, 125, 165, 205, 245, 285, 325, 365, 405, 445Vivekananda and the Worship of Shakti, Swami—Sudesh 263Vivekananda in China, Swami—Alan Hunter 378Vivekananda In Ridgely Manor, Swami—Prema Nandakumar 26Vivekananda Tells Stories 25, 74, 115, 155, 196, 236, 278, 316, 349, 400, 419, 543Vivekananda’s Influence on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Swami—Lt. Col. (Retd.) N.C. Guha 308Vivekananda’s Poems, An Introduction, Swami—Sulochana Nair 189Vivekananda’s Love of Upanishads, Swami—Swami Gautamananda 482

WWhat is Suffering—A Yoga View—Dr. K.V. Raghupathi. 103

YYogananda, Swami—the Heir of a Spiritual Tradition—Probal Roy Choudhury 145Youth and the Upanishads—Swami Bodhamayananda 565

Author IndexAAbhiramananda, Swami—A Saga of Spiritual Service 301, 342 —Upanishads—The Basis of All World Religions 550Adiswarananda, Swami—Spiritual Experiences of Sri Ramakrishna:Upanishads Revitalised 471Akshayachaitanya, Brahmachari—Swami Brahmananda’s Love for Plants and Trees 385Alan Hunter—Swami Vivekananda in China 378Angelo Perera—Religion is Realisation 112

159


Aseshananda, Swami—Holy Mother in Daily Life 313Ashokananda, Swami—The Upanishads and Their Origin 456Atmadevaprana, Pravrajika—Sri Sarada Devi in the Light of the Upanishads 476Atmashraddhananda, Swami—Editorials

‘As Long As I Live,. . .’ 2‘Breaking of Bars’ 86Celebrating Festivals—Why and How 366Lessons from a Honeybee,The 406‘Love Suffereth Long’ 126Inner Guard, The 166Invisible Path, The 206Mystery of the Moment, The 46Place to Start from, The 286Routine Issue, A 246Unmasking Our Identity 326Upanishads and We 446

BBarik, M.M.,—Preparing to Serve 271Bodhamayaprana, Pravrajika—Holy Mother and the Ideal of Yoga 152Bodhamayananda, Swami—Youth and the Upanishads 565Brahmeshananda, Swami—Questions & Answers

Basics of Meditation 111Law of Karma and Rebirth 235Learning to Live Meaningfully 428Manifestation of Divinity 395Mind and Meditation 141Nature of Mind and Ego 307Soul and God 356Understanding the Law of Karma 195

Brahmeshananda, Swami—Blossoming of Consciousness As Seen in Sri Ramakrishna 57—Principles of Jainism and Practical Vedanta 257—Upanishadic Guidelines for the Practice of Medicine 537

CChetanananda, Swami—Sources of Inspiration 12, 51, 94, 136

—How to Meditate on the Form of Ramakrishna 297Chirasree Bandopadhyay—A Portrait of Swami Vivekananda’s Parents 421Chakraborty, S.K.—The Upanishads and the Corporate World: Can the Twain Shake Hands? 577

DDayatmananda, Swami—The Story of Prajapati and Its Meaning 510Devamata, Sister—A Portrait Swami Brahmananda 33, 62Devotee, A—Myth and Reality of Life: The Challenge before the Youth 254

160


GGauri Shankar Bhattacharya—The ‘Address’ of God 398Gautamananda, Swami—Swami Vivekananda’s Love of Upanishads 482Gananathananda, Swami—Making God the Centre of Our Life 21Guha, N.C., Lt. Col. (Retd.)—Swami Vivekananda’s Influence on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose 308

HHarshananda, Swami—Samaveda—an Introductory Note 337 —Frequently Asked Questions About Upanishads—Q&A 488

JJay Lakhani—Modern Science and Upanishads 555Jitendra Nath Kar—Vedanta And Human Personality 272

KKripamayananda, Swami—Facets of Friendship 186

LLakshmi Kumari, M.—Upanishads and the Ideal of Service 546

NNarasimha Raju, R.L.,—Three Great Saints of Kadapa 180Nivedita, Sister—‘Nothing is Impossible’ 156

PPrema Nandakumar—Swami Vivekananda In Ridgely Manor 26 —So Began the Story 515Probal Roy Choudhury—Swami Yogananda—The Heir of a Spiritual Tradition 145Pramod Kumar—Upanishads—the Bedrock of Indian Culture 583

RRanganathananda, Swami—The Message of the Upanisads 460Raghupathi, K.V., Dr.,—Mind and Its Functioning 17

—What is Suffering—A Yoga View 103—Two Wings of a Yogi 396

Ramakrishnan, C. S., —In Tune with the Infinite 262 —Don’t Worry, Be Happy 375Reddy, C. A.—Meditating on Inherent Divinity 175

SSandarshanananda, Swami—The Bhagavad Gita—Quintessence of the Upanishads 559Satyamayananda, Swami—The Face of Infinity 231 —Sages of the Upanishads 571Satyapriyananda, Swami—Spiritual Practices—A Holistic View 106

161


Smaranananda, Swami—Synopsis of the Governing Body’s Report for 2005-06 75Siddheswarananda, Swami—God and Man—a Vedantic View 252, 332

—Three States of Consciousness 214—Understanding Nirvikalpa Samadhi 371, 410—Understanding Reality as Sat-Chit-Ananda 132—Real and Unreal—a Vedantic Study 8

Sivaramkrishna, M.,—Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on Contemporary Telugu Literature388, 414Sridharananda, Swami—Peace Chant in Upanishads 466Stavig, Gordon, Dr. ,—Philip Glass’ Musical Presentation of The Passion of Sri Ramakrishna 65Sudesh—Swami Vivekananda and the Worship of Shakti 263Sudesh—Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna: The Living Upanishads 494Sudarshanananda, Swami—Cultivating Fearlessness 226Sulochana Nair—Swami Vivekananda’s Poems, An Introduction 189Swamy, N.V.C.—Upanishads and the Science of Yoga 506

TTathagatananda, Swami—Gandhiji and a Family of Physicians 143

—An Overview of the Upanishads in the West 500

UUmesh C. Gulati—The Hindu Ethos 430

VVidehatmananda, Swami—The Forgotten Jaipur Visit of Swami Abhedananda 351 —Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on

Contemporary Marathi Literature 171, 218Vireshananda, Swami—Understanding the Inherent Divinity 67Vivekananda, Swami—‘I Have Never Quoted Anything But the Upanishads’ 451Vivekananda, Swami—Vivekananda Tells Stories 25, 74, 115, 155, 196, 236, 278, 316, 349, 400, 419, 543

WWillie B. Blackmon—Real Life Experience: The Blessings of Prison 346

Book ReviewsAkhandananda As We Saw Him—Compiled (in Bengali) by Swami Chetanananda and

Translated by Swami Swahananda & Prasun De. 41Aryabhata – 1 and His Astronomy—Prof. S. Balachandra Rao 84Bhaskara – 1 and His Astronomy—Prof. S. Balachandra Rao 84Brahma Sutras (Fourth Chapter) With Sri Madhwacharya’s Bhashya—Sri Madhwacharya Seva Sangha 43Chandogya Upanishad, The—Transcreated from Sanskrit By P. Lal 121Collection of Spiritual Discourses, A—Swami Dayanand Giri Vol-1 (A) and Vol-1 (B)

translated in English by Dr. A.C. Moudgil 283Concept of Equality, The—Susmita Bhattacharya 203

162


Concise Introduction to Indian Medicine, A—Guy Mazars Translated by T.K. Gopalan 201Darsanopanisat—Dr. K.S. Balasubramanian, and Dr. T.V. Vasudeva 281Devimahatmyam—Translator and Commentator Devadatta Kali 41Essence of Srimad Bhagavad Gita—Dr.K.N. Srinivasan 282Experiencing The Soul Before Birth, During Life, After Death—Eliot J. Rosan 82Face to Face With Sri Ramana Maharshi—Compiled and Edited by Prof. Laxmi Narain 242Fifty One Saints of India—Bimal Kumar Banerjee 444Handbook on Value Education Volume I and II, A

—Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata 241Happiness and Peace in Everyday Life—Swami Nikhileswarananda 163Hindu Mind, The—Bansi Pandit 161Indian Mathematics and Astronomy, Some Landmarks—By Prof. S. Balachandra Rao 363Investigation into the Nature of Consciousness and Form, An—Richard L. Thompson 443Isa Upanishad. Second Edition, The—Transcreated from Sanskrit. By P. Lal 121Kailash Manasarovar—Nilesh D. Nathwani 281Karma and Chaos—Paul R. Fleishman Schiffman 204Krishnayoga—Swami Sarvagatananda 121Light From the Orient—Swami Tathagatananda 241Mathnawi, The—E.H. Whinfield 163Mother of All—Richard Schiffman 83Mother of the Universe—Lex Hixon 324Philosophical Verses of Yogavasishtha, The—Swami Bhaskarananda 403Philosophy and Science of Value Education in the Context of Modern India.

—Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata 283Pilgrimage into the Poem Divine—N.Hariharan 323Quest for Arjunavisadayoga—Swami Ramanujananda 42Quest For Karma Yoga—Swami Ramanujananda 42Quest For Sankhya-Yoga—Swami Ramanujananda 42Ramakrishna, Our Refuge, Sri—Swami Ramakrishnananda 201Seven Commandments of the Bhagavad Gita, The—J.P. Vaswani 82Social Philosophy of Vivekananda—Santwana Dasgupta 162Spiritual Quest and the Way of Yoga: The Goal, Journey and the Milestones —Swami Adiswarananda 81Strength in the Storm—Eknath Eswaran 44Sureswara’s Vartika on Sariraka Brahmana—Edited, Translated and Annotated

By Shoun Hino and K.P. Jog 361Taittiriya Upanishad, The—Transcreated from Sanskrit. By P. Lal 121Teacher, A Torch Bearer of Change—Swami Nikhileswarananda 163Truth and Cosmic Rhythm in the Vedas vis-à-vis Physical Sciences of Today —Dinendra Marik 203Thousand Teachings, The Upadeshasahasri of Shankara, A—Trans. and Edited by Sengaku Mayeda 443Vedanta and its Philosophical Development—A. Ramamurty 161Vedic Mathematics Teacher’s Manual, Advanced Level—Kenneth R. Williams 243Vedic Mathematics Teacher’s Manual, Elementary Level—Kenneth R. Williams 243Vedic Mathematics Teacher’s Manual, Intermediate Level—Kenneth R. Williams 243Vimala Amritham—Smt. S. Nithiya 244

163


Vivekananda in England, A Pictorial Guide, Swami—Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre,UK 403Vivekananda’s Economic Thoughts in modern international perspective:

India as a case study, Swami—Dr.Sarup Prasad Ghosh 404Vivekananda World Teacher—Swami Adiswarananda 442Words to Live By—A Daily Guide to Leading an Exceptional Life—Eknath Eswaran 362Yoga and the Sacred Fire—Dr.David Frawley 323Yoga of Knowledge, The—M.P. Pandit based on Sri Aurobindo’s The Synthesis of Yoga 123Yoga of Self-perfection, The—M.P. Pandit based on Sri Aurobindo’s The Synthesis of Yoga 123Yoga of Works, The—M.P. Pandit based on Sri Aurobindo’s The Synthesis of Yoga 123

List of ReviewersAkhila Sundar, Mrs. 83Amartya Kumar Dutta 363Arupa Chaitanya, Br. 284Bhanudas 201Brahmeshananda, Swami 201C.S.R. 41Chetana Mandavia, Dr. 41, 84, 163, 244, 403, 444Godavarisha Mishra, Prof. 43, 361Nilakanthananda, Swami 242Panchapagesan, K., Prof. 161, 281Pramod Kumar, M. 203, 241Prema Nandakumar 82, 123, 161, 324Prema Raghunath 362Sanmatrananda, Swami 162Satyamayananda, Swami 121, 281, 403, 443Satyeshananda, Swami 121Subramanian, H., Major 204Sundaram, P.S. 42, 163, 203, 283, 323Swamy, N.V.C. 241, 323, 442Tejomayananda, Swami 282Tyagarupananda, Swami 404Urukramananda, Swami 82Vireshananda, Swami 44, 443Vittal, P.R., Prof. 243Yuktatmananda, Swami 81

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Month Page No.

January 1-44February 45-84March 85-124April 125-164May 165-204June 205-244

Month Page No.

July 245-284August 285-324September 325-364October 365-404November 405-444December 445-606


14th President

Ramakrishna Math and

Ramakrishna Mission

With deep sorrow we announce the

passing away of Swami Gahananandaji,

President of Ramakrishna Math and

Ramakrishna Mission, on 4 November 2007

at 5.35 p.m. at Ramakrishna Mission Seva

Pratishthan hospital, Kolkata. He was 91.

He had been admitted to Seva Pratishthan

hospital on 4 September for investigation

and treatment, after a sudden setback in his

health owing to several old-age problems,

like Parkinson’s disease, etc. In spite of the

best medical attention, his condition grew

worse and he passed away at 5.35 p.m. on

4th November. His last remains were

consigned to flames at Belur Math next day at about 12.30 p.m. The gates of

Belur Math remained open all through the night of the 4th and the morning

of the 5th till the last rites were completed.

Known as Naresh Ranjan Roy Choudhury in his pre-monastic days, he

was born in the village of Paharpur in Sylhet district (now in Bangladesh) in

October 1916. Swami Gahananandaji joined the Ramakrishna Order at its

centre in Bhubaneswar in January 1939 at the age of 22. He received mantra

diksha in 1939 from Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, the then President of the

Order. He took a vow of brahmacharya (celibacy) in 1944 with the name

‘Amrita-chaitanya’ and was intiated into Sannyasa in 1948. He served at

Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, from 1942 to 1952 and at Shillong centre from

1953 to 1958.

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Keenly interested in service to sick and suffering people, he was posted

to the Mission’s hospital centre, Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan,

Kolkata, in 1958. There he worked during the first 5 years as its Assistant

Secretary and then as its head for 22 years. He worked tirelessly to develop

the services of Seva Pratishthan to cater to the medical needs of more and

more people belonging to poor and low-income sections of the society and

converted the original small maternity hospital into a huge 550-bed, modern,

well-equipped hospital that it is today.

He was appointed a Trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and Member of

the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1965. In 1979, he was

elected an Assistant Secretary of the twin organizations. He became the

General Secretary of the Math and Mission in 1989 and continued in that

post for 3 years till 1992 when he became a Vice-President of the Order.

From that time he was also simultaneously the head of Ramakrishna Math

(Yogodyan) at Kankurgachhi, Kolkata.

In 1993, he represented the Ramakrishna Order at the commemorative

function organised in Chicago to celebrate the centenary of Swami

Vivekananda’s historic appearance at the World Parliament of Religions.

He was elected President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna

Mission on 25 May 2005.

Swami Gahananandaji travelled extensively in various parts of the

country and visited many branches of the Order. He also visited at different

times various places in USA, Canada, England, France, Switzerland, Holland,

Russia, Australia, Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore,

Malaysia and Mauritius. In all these places, he spread the message of

Vedanta and Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami

Vivekananda. �

��

vedanta kesari december

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