Upanishads

Disclaimer: I'm sure you understand that I know very little (about all the things I wrote, am writing and will write) and what ever I'm writing is only from what I could understand and summarize. You have keep that in mind.. when you read my analysis.

Upanishads are concluding portion of the Vedas (Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas & Upanishads) and along with Bhagavad Gita & Brahma Sutra (Prasthana Traya) form the basis for Vedanta philosophy.

Vedas were divided (by some) into 2 portions, Karma Kanda consisting of Samhitas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas and Jnana Kanda consisting of Upanishads.

Even if we want to consider this as a part of religion, Upanishads actually were a part of education more than religion. The word "Upanishad" means upa - near, ni - down, and sad - to sit. Groups of pupils sat devotedly near the teacher to learn from him the truth by which ignorance is destroyed.

The Dates of the Upanishads are difficult to determine. This is what a historian has to say... "Because of the Indians' lack of concern for chronology, many of the details of the chronological sequence of the writings either are lost or no record of them was kept" we can call it deeply philosophical attitude or lack of concern for history...what ever it is.... we know very little about the authors of these Upanishads... some of the Upanishads are named after the early exponents of the doctrines.... The people who elaborated on the doctrines named them after the early sages as a tribute to them. I guess the idea was to focus on the principles not on trivials... if they knew we were going to disintegrate both in language and political geography... I'm sure they would have thought of some way to preserve them through out.

There are over 200 Upanishads, although the traditional number is 108. Of these the principal are 14 but most referred to are 10.
1. Isa 2.Kena 3.Katha 4.Prasna 5.Mundaka 6.Mandukya 7.Taittiriya 8.Aitareya 9.Chandagoya 10.Brihadaranyaka 11.Svetasvatara
12.Kausitaki 13.MahaNarayana 14.Maitri

Some of the names of these Upanishads end with "Aranyaka" which means, the aranyaka of that particular Veda is merged with the Upanishad. As we know, there are four stages of life... Brahmacharya (Student), Grihastha (Householder), Vanaprastha (Forest Dweller), Sanyasa (wandering ascetic). While Aranyaka's were meant for the Vanaprastha.... Upanishads were meant for the sanyasa, by which time it was assumed he/she would have enough knowledge that he would start reflecting on them and may be contribute to them... This proposition was later on used by the Brits to brain wash the youth saying that Hindu literature is only meant for people aged 60Yrs and above... coupled with the rigidity of the caste system which didn't allow others to read religious texts....this lead to a strong belief that these texts are actually meant for the old and dying... all this... while the name Upanishad itself meant "that which is taught to the pupils... devotedly sitting near" I don't think they expected old guys sitting near an older guy learning Upanishads :-)

It is said that Upanishad's are vehicles more of spiritual illumination than of systematic reflection. Their aim is practical rather than speculative.
In the Upanishads, Hymns to god and goddesses of the early portion of the Vedas are replaced by a search for the reality underlying the flux of things. Which can be seen in the following statements.

""What is that, which being known, everything else is known?""
"" The real which is at the heart of the universe is reflected in the infinite depths of the self.""
""Brahman (the ultimate as discovered objectively) is atman (the ultimate as discovered introspectively)""
""Tat Tvam Asi - I am That - There are several interpretations of this but the one that most Indian philosophers believe is "Truth is within us""
""Aham Brahmasmin" - "I am Brahman, the Absolute""

Dr.Radhakrishnan(Dr.RK) writes, "The Upanishads subordinate Vedic ceremonialism and even caste duties to the supreme good of self-realization. They lay great stress on the distinction between the ignorant, narrow, selfish way which leads to transitory satisfaction and the way of wisdom which leads to eternal life". Later. various selfish interpretations were made on this subject, conjugated with the disdain for lower castes, this later lead to a strong contempt for manual labor.

Isha Upanishad (Actual name is Isavasyam - Yajur Veda):
This is the smallest of all the Upanishads, consisting of only eighteen short verses. The important doctrine of this Upanishad is that neither knowledge of supernatural nor knowledge of the natural alone can be sufficient for true wisdom, By implication then this Upanishad tends to deny the doctrine of the unreality of the empirical world which is emphasized in some phases of the later Indian Philosophy.

I'll give links to the actual translation of the verses later, I'm not going to write the translations here. If you want, I have some of the Vedas and Upanishads in Sanskrit (Devnagari lipi).

Kena Upanishad (Sama Veda):
As the name indicates, this Upanishad asks, "By whom?" - That is, who is the real power behind the functions of the universe, external in nature and internal in man. In reply the Upanishad gives an account of a single unitary reality, the "Atman - (Ultimate reality)", as the inspirer of the functions of both man and the universe, of the sense-functions in man and the functions of the elements in the world.

It also says that while knowledge of the qualified absolute (Brahma or Brahman)alone can result in emancipation, knowledge of the absolute as "God" prepares the way for such knowledge. This Upanishad is also famous for its saying, "It is not understood by those who say they understand it. It is understood by those who say they do not understand it." According to Dr.RK This statement is intended to indicate the paradoxical nature of the inscrutability of the Absolute, - The Brahman or Atman. A devotee who seeks Brahman, merges with Brahman, like a pinch of salt which tries to find the bottom of the ocean, becomes one with the ocean.

Lao Tse of the Taoist school says something similar in his Te-Tao Ching (considered one of the most sacred texts of Taoism) "He who knows never tells, He who tells never knew"

Katha Upanishad (Yajur Veda):
This is supposedly the most philosophical of Upanishads. It starts with a story. Once upon a time there was a brahmin named Vajasrabasa, who was sacrificing everything to get some divine favor, In the middle of his sacrifices, one of his sons, Nachiketa, implored his father to sacrifice him to the god of departed spirits (Yama - god of death). Finally the father sacrificed his son to Yama. When the boy reached the abode of Yama, Yama was perplexed by the boy's act and asks him to go back to his father. The theological conversation that takes place between Yama and Nachiketa is what comprises Katha Upanishad.Yama offers Nachiketa three boons,

His first wish is that he might return to his father on earth.

His second is for an understanding of the sacrificial fire that leads to heaven. To which Yama explains, Know this Fire to be the means of attaining Heaven. It is the support of the universe; it is hidden in the hearts of the wise. Which is the source of the worlds and what bricks were to be gathered for the altar and how many and how the sacrificial fire was to be lighted. Impressed with Nachiketa, he says the fire will be names after Nachiketa and explains the procedure for the sacrifice.

The third is was for an understanding of what happens to a deceased person. because some say he exists some say he doesn't...
To the third one, Yama says it is difficult to understand that... and offers him anything else instead. Nachiketa rejects this saying no amount of worldly pleasures are going to last long... and nobody can take them with him after death so he wants to understand what happens after death. Yama complements him for his choice and explains the superiority of good (Sreyas) over pleasant (Priyas).

And as Yama goes on elaborating the subtlety and nuances of means and methods to achieve that transcendental state, consciousness of Nachiketa also is getting established in that altered state to experience those Truths.

"The intelligent man gives up happiness and sorrow by developing concentration of mind on the SELF (Atman) and thereby meditating on the old Deity who is inscrutable, lodged inaccessibly, located in the intellect, and seated in the midst of misery."
"The intelligent SELF is neither born nor does It die. It did not originate from anything, nor did anything originate from It. It is birth less, eternal, undecaying, and ancient. It is not injured even when it is killed."
"The SELF that is subtler than the subtle, and greater than the great, is lodged in the heart of every creature. A desire less man sees that glory of the SELF through the serenity of the organs and thereby he becomes free from sorrow."

And on and on goes the dialogue between the two great knowers of the Truth...

Prasna Upanishad (Atharvana Veda)
As the name indicates this Upanishad has its origin in the questions (6 in all) which, philosophers ask sage pippalada.
1. How did the creatures come into being?
"The Creator (Prajapati) created a pair - Matter (Rayi) and Spirit (Prana - Energy). Matter is the Moon and Spirit is the Sun. Sun is Vishvanara (Belonging to all persons), assuming all forms when he illuminates all, he receives all spirits into his rays. Some call him father with 5 feet (5 Seasons) and 12 forms (12 months). Sun creates food and food creates seed from the seed are the creatures born"

2.What are the essential constituents of a living being?
The 5 elements - Ether, Air, Fire, Water, Earth and sense of speech, mind, eyes and ears are the spokes of a wheel called Prana. Prana with all these elements constitute the being.

3. From where is this Prana born
Prana (spirit) is born of the Self. Like the shadow thrown on a man, the prana is spread out over the Brahmana (Self). By the work of the mind it comes into this body. Prana divides itself into five parts, each of which takes responsibility for a separate category of bodily functions.
apana, which causes defecation, urination, and processes associated with the genitals;
udana, which carries the soul out of the body at death;
prana, which makes breathing happen (both inhalation and exhalation), and also animates the eyes and ears;
samana, which causes food to be digested; and
vyana, which causes most other life functions.

4. which are the organs that go to sleep in a being

As all the rays of the sun, when it sets, are gathered up in that disc of light, and as they, when the sun rises again and again, come forth, so is all this (all the senses) gathered up in the highest faculty (deva), the mind. Therefore at that time that man does not hear, see, smell, taste, touch, he does not speak, he does not take, does not enjoy, does not evacuate, does not move about. But the Prana is awake.
The sage talks about dreams and consciousness here.

5. If one meditates on OM what does he win?
AUM or OM stands for the absolute (The Brahmana). OM consists of 3 matras (Syllables), if one meditates on one matra, then, being enlightened by that alone, he quickly comes back to earth after death.

If one meditates on the second matra, he arrives at the manas (mind) and is led to the intermediate space, to the Plane of the Moon. Having enjoyed greatness in the Plane of the Moon, he returns here again.
Again, he who meditates on all the 3 matras, becomes united with the radiant Sun and is freed from sin.

The three letters of AUM, if employed separately, are mortal; but when joined together in meditation on the total Reality and used properly on the activities of the external, internal and intermediate states, the wise arrives free from decay, from death, from fear, -the Highest.

6. What are the sixteen divisions of Supreme source (Purusha or Brahmana) & where does he reside?
Purusha is within the body. Its sixteen parts are the Kalos (sixteen forms of knowledge).

"He created Prana and from Prana came faith, ether (space), air, fire, water, earth, the senses, mind, food, penance, the Vedas, the Yajna the Sun and the Moon. He gives and he also takes. As the rivers flowing into the ocean lose name and form so do the sixteen Kalos inherent in the Purusha rest in Atma, losing identity but forever immortal. The Purusha are the spokes in the endless wheel of which Atma is the hub.

Mundaka Upanishad - Atharvana Veda
The name Mundaka suggests "Shaven - not literally" emphasizing austerity in the life of "sanyasa" contrasted with the life of sacrifice and work during the earlier stages of life. According to this upanishad there are two kinds of knowledge, para (Higher) and apara (Lower)

The 4 Vedas, Siksha (phonetics), Kalpa (rituals), vyakarna (grammar), Nirukta (etymology), Chandas (prosody), Jyotisha (astronomy) etc. form the lower knowledge (apara) while the higher knowledge (para) is that whereby the imperishable, that which is invisible, ungraspable, without family, without caste, without sight or hearing..... is apprehended. Goes on to explain the doctrine of Brahman-Atman, The All inclusive Brahman, The way to Brahman etc..

Mandukya Upanishad - Atharvana Veda
Named after the original proponent, this upanishad is the one which gave the famous theory of the four states of consciousness, -

a. Waking (Jagrita sthana), - The consciousness is outward-turned.
b. dreaming (Swapna sthana), - The consciousness is inward-turned.
c. Profound sleep (Shushupta sthana) - an undifferentiated mass of consciousness, consisting of bliss and feeding on bliss.
d. and the REAL state (Turiya sthana) - Consciousness of own Self. The fourth state is where neither inward-turned nor outward-turned consciousness, nor the two together; not an indifferentiated mass of consciousness; neither knowing, nor unknowing; invisible,ineffable, intangible, devoid of characteristics, inconceivable, indefinable, its sole essence being the consciousness of its own Self; the coming to rest of all relative existence; utterly quiet; peaceful; blissful; without a second: this is the Atman, the Self; this is to be realised.

Explains the Omkara, OM or AUM in terms of consciousness - the first three 3 states are the 3 syllables of AUM and fourth is the AUM itself.

Taittiriya Upanishad - Yajur Veda
This upanishad explains the universe in terms of five elements. ‘Tasmadva etasmad Atmanah akasah sambhutah, akasat vayuh, vayor agnih, agneh apah, adbhyah prithivi’ ever since Max Mueller translated akasa as Ether almost all the english translations of Akasha refer to it as ether.
some recent books refer to this as space, which I think makes more sense because in al the languages that are derived from Sanskrit, the word Akasha means space.

According to this upanishad, matter (Universe) is made of five elements, Panch Bhootas or Pancha Tattwas, which originated from one another. Space or ether (Akasha) is born out of atman, Air (Vayu) is born out of space, Fire (Agni) out of air, Water (Apah) out of fire and Earth (Prithvi) out of water.

The other distictive features of this upanishad
Description of the ethical teachings of the time as a discourse between teacher and disciples - some times called "Convocation Address"
The five sheaths of self - Personality traits of a person called koshas - Anna maya (based on food) , Prana maya (Based on breath), Mano maya (Based on mind), Vijnana maya (Based on intellect) and Ananta maya (Bliss) Koshas.
Aitareya Upanishad - RigVeda
This upanishad explains the creation of life, universe and life after death. The story of creation of life goes like this:
First there was atman. It was alone. The it created waters, then it wanted to create gods, so then it created a man. For that man a mouth was given. out of that mouth, speech and the god of fire came out. The it gave man the nostrils and out the nostrils came breatah and the god of air. The it gave the man eyes, out of the eyes came the sight and the Sun god. Then it gave the man different limbs and out of them came many other gods. Finally atman entered the man at the parting of the head (fontanels) and became the "I".

Chandogya Upanishad - Sama Veda
This is considered one of the best known and very important upanishads. This upanishad explains the identity of Atman, Brahman and the signifiance of the mystic syllable 'OM". The story of Satyakama Jabala in this upanishad is supposed to teach us many things about life, caste etc.

The story goes like this:
Satyakama Jabala went to his mother Jabala and asked her, Mother, I want to live the life of a student of sacred knowledge, So please tell me, to what family do I belong?. His mother replies, I donot know to what family you belong, in my youth, I worked a great deal serving as a maid and I got you, So I do not know to what family you belong. However, I am Jabala by name and you are satyakama by name so, you may speak for yourself as Satyakama Jabala.

Satyakama goes to Haridrumata Gautama a great sage and asks him "I want to be your pupil and a student of sacred knowledge". Gautama asks him to which family (Gotra) he belongs.

"I donot know to which family I belong, My mother Jabala does not know, since she worked as a maid in many houses and cannot precisely say who my father is. She said to tell you that I am Satyakama Jabala, the son of Jabala", replied the boy unflinchingly.

Your courage in stating the truth makes you a worthy pupil,said the rishi and the teacher taught him.... nothing was omitted, says Chandogya Upanishad.

Apparently in those days your family name comes from your mother, Gautama was the son Haridrumata and Satyakama was the son of Jabala (Only Kerala follows this tradition now). secondly, caste and other considerations were not preferred over truth.

The importance of gotra in those days was not to find which caste you belong to, it was to determine which school of thought should you be learning. Gotra determines the sage of whom you are a direct descendant, and each of these sages had their own interpretations of the truth and everybody's opinion was respected so you learn your own stuff first and learn the other stuff later.

though a little out-of-place, but in the context, let me also quote Bhagavad-Gita which is widely used to support caste theory based on birth. Bhagavad Gita never mentions the birth based caste system, it says Chatur-varnyam maya-srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah "These four orders of brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas, and sudras were created by Me according to quality and work (Guna Karma Vibhagasah)." There is no mention of birth.

There are several such instances in puranas and other scriptures... I don't want to quote all of them, it would take a long time... if you are interested in that, we can take it up later. Just one thing before I move on... no where is it mentioned in all these texts that shudra is a lowly form. They were all equal with different duties to perform. everybody (interested parties) started assuming that since shudra is said to have come from the feet it is considered lowly... If the same thing applies to vaisyas born out of thighs... I don't know what to make of it...
but what they actually meant was that for mankind these four varnas were four limbs...

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Yajur Veda
This is one of the oldest, longest and most famous upanishads. This is known in the western world as the "great forest book"
It is said that no where else is the notion of the transcendental atman as universal and undifferentiated consciousness better portrayed.
It is this upanishad that made famous the doctrine of "Neti, Neti" (Not this, Not this) the mystical doctrine of the indescribability of the absolute (Brahman)

The famous discourse between Yajnavalkya and his wife maitreyi about different aspects of god is supposedly the best of all upanishads.. but its interesting to follow how he discusses several gods at the start moving on to a single god - Breath.
It explains god as the Brahman (Absolute ) and Atman (Individual) is only a reflection of the brahman. Yajnavalkya says, "You cannot see the seer of all things, You cannot hear the hearer of all things, You cannot think the thinker of all things, You cannot understand the knower of all things, THAT WHICH IS BEYOND ALL COMPREHENSION IS THE SELF WITHIN YOU".

Svetasvatara Upanishad - Yajur Veda
This Upanishad consists of teachings by sage Svetasvatara. Unlike other Upanishads, this upanishad teaches "theism", rather than Absolutism. There is only one god. It says, by meditation one can see God.This Upanishad is dedicated to Rudra, the storm god and is later on associated with Saivism and now considered the holiest text of saivites.

Kausitaki Upanishad - Rig Veda
This upanishad excels in the delineation of "prana" as the prime mover of the universe.
The core of the text is dedicated to illustrating the fact that the path to release is through knowledge. Talks about the ten existential elements -
Speech, Smell, Form, Sound, Taste, Deed, Pleasure & Pain, Bliss-Delight & Procreation, Going, Mind. with reference to intelligence and Ten intelligential elements - Speaker, Smeller, Seer, Hearer, Discerner of taste, Doer, Discerner of pleasure & pain, Discerner of Bliss-Delight & Procreation, Goer, Thinker.

MahaNarayana Upanishad - Atharvana Veda
Explains the creation of the universe, explains all the other deities as forms of Narayana and the Importance of Narayana mantra - "OM Namo Narayana"

Maitri Upanishad - Yajur Veda
This Upanishad is important for its very clear account of the two forms of Atman, the real (Noumenal) and the phenomenal, or the Atman and the Bhutatman (The changing self or the elemental self). The later reaps the fruits of good and bad actions while the former abides "In its own greatness" This is a comparatively later Upanishad as it has references to the Trinity of Hindu Gods (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) which is a later development, and plus references to the world being illusory in character reflects Buddhist influence.

In one sentence, I think I would say, Upanishads say that "The Truth lies with in you"

Books, Sources and Links
The Principal Upanishads - Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
Source book on Indian Philosophy, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
Am I a Hindu - Ed Vishwanathan
Upanishads - Juan Macero
Principal Upanishads - Eknath Eswaran
Upanishads by Swami Vivekananda

eBooks & Html stuff in Devnagari
http://sanskrit.bhaarat.com/The_Document_Project/TextsElsewhere.html

Upanishads
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org
http://www.geocities.com/absolut_ism/index.htm
http://www.dhyansanjivani.org/
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org
http://www.hindunet.org/upanishads
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/upan
http://www.san.beck.org/EC7-Vedas.html
http://sanatan.intnet.mu