Upanishads

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The word Upanishad comes from the Sanskrit verb sad (to sit) and the two prepositions upa and ni (under and at). They are sacred tests of spiritual and philosophical nature.

• Vedic literature is divided into karmakanda containing Samhitas (hymns) and Brahmanas (commentaries), and gyanakanda containing knowledge in the form of the Aranyakas and Upanishads. Thus each Upanishad is associated with a Veda, Isha-upanishad with Shukla Yajurveda, Kena-upanishad with Samaveda, and so on.

The earliest Upanishads may have been composed between B.C. 800 and 400.There have been several later additions, leading to 112 Upanishads being available today.

• But the major Upanishads are ten, Isha, Kena, Kattha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Shwetashwatara, Chhandogya and Brihadaryanyaka. The teachings of the Upanishads, and those of the Bhagavat Gita, form the basis of the Vedanta philosophy. The Isha-upanishad emphasizes the identity of the human soul with the divine soul. The Kena-upanishad discusses the qualities of the divine essence (Brahman) and the relationship of the gods to the divine essence. The Katha-upanishad, through the story of Nachiketa, discussed death and the permanence of the soul (Atman). The fairly long Chhandogya-upanishad develops the idea of transmigration of souls. The rihadaryanaka -upanishad, the longest of the Upanishads, bears the message of the completeness of the divine essence, and the associated peace. As literary remnants of the ancient past, the Upanishads – both lucid and elegant - have great literary value.

[edit] The teaching of the Great Sage

1. This is the teaching of (a great) sage:

Purusha (highest Spirit) manifests itself in three ways: As outer, inner, and supreme Self. Skin, flesh, vertebral column, hair, fingers, Toes, nails, ankles, stomach, navel, hips, thighs, Cheeks, eyebrows, forehead, head, eyes, outer self. The body, subject to birth and death.

2. The inner self perceives the outside world. Made up of earth, water, fire, air and space (akasha). It is the victim of likes and dislikes, Pleasure and pain, and delusion and doubt. It knows all the subtleties of language, Enjoys dance, music, and all the fine arts; Delights in the senses, recalls the past, Reads the Scriptures, and is able to act. This is the mind, the inner person.

3. The supreme Self, adored in the Scriptures, Can be realized through the path of yoga. Subtler than the banyan seed, subtler Than the hundred-thousandth part of a hair, This Self cannot be grasped, cannot be seen.

4.The supreme Self is neither born nor dies. He cannot be burned, moved, pierced, cut, nor dried. Beyond all attributes, the supreme Self Is the eternal witness (shanta atman), ever pure, Indivisible, and uncompounded, Far beyond the senses and the ego. In him conflicts and expectations cease. He is omnipresent, beyond all thought, Without action in the external world. Detached from the outer and the inner, This supreme Self purifies the impure.

O M shanti shanti shanti