2 The central doctrines of the upanişads

K Srinivas

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Introduction

 

Upanişads are considered to be the end portions of the Veda (Vedānta). They represent the philosophical wisdom of the classical Indian tradition. Some hold that there are more than two hundred of them and for some only hundred eight. However some of the Upanişads are considered to be very important for any philosophical discussion as the great acāryas wrote commentaries on them. They are: Ĭśa, Kena, Katha, Praśana, Muņḑaka, Māndūkya, Taittirīya, Chāndogya, Bŗhadāraņyaka, and Śvetāsvatara. These Upanişads represent all the four Vedas as they do not belong to any single Veda. Many are omitted for the contents of those lesser known Upanişads are already found in the above mentioned major Upanişads. Let us discuss in detail the philosophical significance of each of them.

 

2. What are the Upanişads?

 

The term ‘upanişad’ means to sit nearby or close by. The deserving disciples used to sit close to the teacher (guru) in order to have knowledge of them. It is difficult to state anything about the great Upanişadic teachers and inquirers of truth. Sometimes their names are mixed up with the gods or mythological or historical persons. The philosophy of Upanişads is not a system of philosophy but several philosophical doctrines are brought together in these texts. Upanişads do not belong to the same time or place. They are also not composed by the same authors. Hence one finds different views and interpretations on the same texts. There is no uniform method followed in explaining the contents of the Upanişads and sometimes the methods do not adhere to any logic. Myths, etymologies, analogies, dialogues are used to explain philosophical purport of the Upanişads. They are the only logical proof.

 

2.1. The Upanişadic Personages

 

There is a tendency to mix up mythological persons, deities and historical persons in the Upanişads. We come across these names in the form of dialogues and narratives. For instance we often come across the names such as Yājňvalkya, the spiritual guru of Janaka, It is believed that both lived around 9th century B.C. It appears that the former appeared in many controversies with many philosophers. The names of Maitreyi and Gārgi, the two wives of Yājňavalkya, also found in the Upanişadic literature. The other prominent names that one comes across in this literature include Śanatkumāra, Nārada, Sāndilya, Ajātaśatru, Gārgya, Bhrugu, Aupamānyava, Aśvapati, Buḑila, Gautama, Kausitaki, Raikva, Naciketa. The discussions, dialogues, and analogies are interrelated, overlapping and repetitious. It is very difficult to say very definitely who is earlier and who is later. Those names appeared in the earlier Upanişads are likely to be earlier than those appeared in the later Upanişads.

 

3. Central Teachings of the Upanişads

 

By and large, the central doctrines of the Upanişads focus mainly on the ultimate Reality Brahman/Ātman. Several illustrations are found in different Upanişads about the nature of Brahman/Ātman and how it can be realized. Let us see how the following Upanişads discuss the ultimate philosophical truths. ‘

 

3.1. Ĭśa Upanişad

 

This Upanişad is the part of Sukla-Yajurveda. It starts with a prayer which states that this and the other world are full. Even if something is taken out or something is added to the full, the full remains as it is. This is the doctrine of the infinite to which the addition or subtraction make no difference. Regarding Brahman this Upanişad says that it is One and does not move, yet it is faster than mind. It is far yet it is nearer. It is outwards, yet inwards to us. Those who take to the life of action (karma) are ignorant and go to the darker worlds. Through action we can only purify our minds. It is only through meditation we attain immortality. Everything in this world is pervaded by the Lord.

 

3.2. Kena Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Sāmaveda. It raises the question: What is it that impels the senses and mind to perceive and understand? What is it that sustains all, but which nothing sustains? He who says that he knows it does not really know it, and he who says that does not know it indeed knows it. That is the Ātman, the Brahman. Without it the sense, mind, and even the gods can do nothing. In this Upanişad we come across the idea that Vidyā (Logos or the Higher Reason) is the same as Uma, the wife of Lord Śiva by knowing which alone one can know the Brahman. Of the gods, Indra (the deity of our intelligence, buddhi, according to some commentators) also was able to see Vidyā and recognise her as such.

 

3.3. Katha Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Sāmaveda. This is one of the philosophically important Upanişads. It teaches about the knowledge of what happens to man after death. Such knowledge is more valuable than any other knowledge in the world for it is none other than the knowledge of the Ātman, which is the smaller than the smallest, and the greater than the greatest. The objects are the higher than the senses, and the mind higher than the objects, the individual’s reason (buddhi) higher than mind, the Cosmic reason (Mahat) higher than the individual reason, the Unmanifest (Avyakta), the same as the goddess Aditi of the Vedas, higher than the Cosmic Reason, and the Puruşa (Ātman) is the higher than the Unmanifest. There is nothing higher than the Puruşa.

 

The Atman cannot be understood by reason. It has to be grasped only as ‘Is’. It can be realized by withdrawing speech (senses) into mind, mind into reason (jňãna ātman), the reason into the Cosmic Reason (Mahān Ātman), and that into Atman of Peace (Śānta Ātma). Everything else is a branch of the Ātman, and the Ātman is their root. The whole is an Aśvattha tree, whose roots are above and branches are below. That is the Ātman is above everything yet it is the main root of everything.

 

3.4. Praśna Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Atharvaveda. In this Upanişad the sage Pippalāda answers six very important questions asked by six different enquirers. The questions and their answers are mixed up with some mythological stuff. The first question is: How were creatures created? Prajāpati, the creator God did penance and through it created couples (polar opposites), which in turn created the world of beings. The couples were Rayi (material stuff) and Prāņa (the life principle). The life principle is the Cosmic Person (Vaiśvānara)). This life principle is one’s Ātman. The second question is: Who are gods? And who among them is the greatest? The gods are Ether (ākāśa), Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Speech, Mind, Eye and Ear. Greater than all of them is Prāņa, the life principle. All other gods for their function are dependent on it. The third question is: What is the origin of Prāņa? How does it divide itself into senses, etc., of man? It is the reflection of Ātman and employs its divisions for performing different functions in the body. The fourth question is: What happens to the gods in sleep and who is it that sleeps? In sleep all the senses become one with the god of mind.

 

Only Prāņa, the life principle, and its involuntary activities continue to work. They do not sleep at all. In dream the agent experiences whatever is experienced during the waking state again and even what is not then experienced. In dreamless sleep the agent is overpowered by a psyche force (tejas) the fire of his conscious being or its intense light and does not see dreams. Like birds resting on a tree everything rests in Ātman. The fifth question is: What does the word ‘Aum’ represents? It is same as the Brahman, both manifest and unmanifest together. The sixth question is about Puruşa (Ātman). There are sixteen phases of it. They are: Prāņa, Faith, the five elements, all the senses taken together, mind, food, semen, penance, sacred word, ethical action, the worlds, and name. All of them are fixed to the Atman like spokes in the axle. Ātman is the centre and circumference of the Universe.

 

3.5. Muṅḑaka Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Atharvaveda. It distinguishes higher knowledge from lower one. The former is the knowledge of Brahman/Atman and the latter is the knowledge of empirical sciences, Vedas and their subsidiaries. Just as spider throws out its web and withdraws it into itself again, Ātman throws the world out of itself and withdraws itself into itself. The life of action and sacrifices are simply unstable, they belong to the world of ignorance. The lower spirit in man looks for worldly benefits and the higher simply remains as a witness. It is often compared with two birds, one as a witness and the other as the bhokta. The former is the higher spirit and the latter is the lower one. It is the lower spirit which is subject to the rewards and punishments depending upon its merits and demerits. But it can overcome its bondage by realizing the higher spirit. Atman cannot be known through intellect or by study. One can know it only when one is chosen by it.

 

3.6. Māņdūkya Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Atharvaveda. In fact this Upanişad contains the gist of the rest. It teaches us that Ātman has four states. They are: waking (jāgrt), dream (śvapna), deep-sleep (suşupti) and it original pure state (tūriyā). In the first state the consciousness of the Ātman is directed towards external material objects. In this state it has seven parts and nineteen gateways. The seven parts are: forehead, eyes, the life principle (prāņa), bodily centre, abdomen, feet, and face. The nineteen gateways are: the five senses (ear, eye, taste, touch, and smell), the five organs of action (hands, feet, the generative organ, the excretory organ), the five vital principles (prāņa, apāna, udāna, vyāna, and samāna), the four inner and internal instruments (manas, ahamkāra, buddhi and citta). The Ātman in this state is worldly or mundane person (Vaiśvānara). In dream state it has all the seven parts and nineteen gates, but its consciousness is turned towards the dream objects. These objects are not made up of gross matter. In this state the Ātman is called psyche (Taijasa) for its experience is constituted by psychic force. In the state of deep-sleep the Ātman sees no dreams and desires nothing. Its consciousness is its only gate and all plurality becomes one with it.

 

This state of Atman is called Prājňa, for it is pure and undifferentiated. The fourth state is the pure state of Ātman. In this state it is beyond thought and speech. It knows itself without any medium. It is free from the Unconscious.

 

3.7. Taittrīya Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Sāmaveda. It talks about five types of union. They are: the union of physical elements like earth, water, air etc., the union of shining objects such as sun, fire, lightening; the union of knowledge like that in the teacher, student, and lectures; the union of creative beings like father, mother, and creation; and the union of physiological parts like upper jaw, lower jaw, and speech. The Brahman is the Truth, the Consciousness and the Infinite. From it born is ether, from ether air, from air fire, from fire water, and from water earth. And from earth are born plants, from plans food, from food Puruşa (Ātman) or man as ‘I’. Since he eats, swallows, absorbs the different elements he is called Ātman. It is enveloped by annamayakośa, prāņamayakośa, manomayakośa, vijňānamayakośa and ānandamayakośa. The first two kośas belong to gross body (sthūlaśarīra) and the rest to belong to subtle body (sūkşmaśarīra) and the last kośa belong to causal body (kāraņaśarīra). Each latter stage is the ātman of the former. According to this Upanişad everything originated from Non-being in the sense that the Reality in the beginning is indeterminate, and it was the Unmanifest (avyakta). The bliss of the Ātman is greater than everything else.

 

3.8. Aitareya Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Ṛgveda. It gives a semi-mythological account of creation. Atman correlates the microcosm and macrocosm and the gods become the psycho-physical principles. This Upanişad ends with a saying that all the mental functions are only names of our rational consciousness (prajňānam) and that our rational consciousness is the Brahman.

 

3.9. Chāndogya Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Ṛgveda. It is second largest of the Upanişads. After liberation man’s spirit rests with the gods and the Brahman in the highest world, according to this Upanişad. This conception is theistic. However, the Upanişad says that ‘everything is verily the Brahman’. It is the innermost to us. Brahman is the smallest yet the largest. Uddālaka Aruņi teaches his son Śvetaketu that in deep sleep speech enters mind, mind the life principle (prāņa), the life principle the psychic force (tejas), the psychic force the supreme Deity. All these belong to Ātman and “That art thou (tattvamasi). Just as different rives merge into the same ocean and lose their self-identity, so everything ultimately enters the Ātman and becomes one with it. The idea of the person in the eye is elaborated in this Upanişad. Vairocana, the king of the Demons, and Indra, the king of the gods, approached Prajāpati, the creator god, to be taught about the Ātman which is without disease and death. As the story goes, Prajāpati told them that the person seen in the eye was Ātman. He asked both of them to adorn themselves and look at their reflections in a pot of water, and what they would see was the Ātman. Following the advice of Prajāpati, Vairocana saw the reflection of his own body in the water-pot, and began to worship himself as the Ātman, indulging himself in all the pleasures of his body. Similarly, Indra also followed the advice of Prajāpati and saw his perishable body in the water-pot, and doubted how his perishable body could be the Ātman which is imperishable. So he came back to Prajāpati for further instruction. Prajāpati told him that the person in the deep-sleep and dreamless sleep is Ātman. It is the seer and is beyond deep-sleep and bodiless. It is unfettered and suffers no pain and pleasure. Therefore, “I am all this (ahameva idam sarvam).

 

3.10. Bŗhadāŗaņyaka Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Şukla Yajurveda. This is the largest of the Upanişads. One finds lots of discussion on philosophical matters in this Upanişad. According to it, the sacrificial horse, the horse sacrificed in the Aśvamedha is the cosmos. One who sacrifices the cosmos alone can realize Ātman. In the beginning the was only Ātman and it asserted ‘I am’ and became the ‘I’. This ‘I’ felt lonely and afraid. But one can afraid of someone else.

 

There was nothing other than the ‘I’. However, it could not rejoice and wanted another. Then it became two, man and woman. All humans are born out of them. The state of love and embrace is the Unmanifest (Avyakta). The Unmanifest becomes the manifest world. The Ātman is the same as the Brahman. One who realizes one’s Ātman realizes Brahman. The king Ajātaśatru teaches Bālāki that the Ātman is found in the deep-sleep. In the similar fashion, Yājňavalkya teaches his wife Maitreyi that nobody wants an object of pleasure for the object’s sake, but for the sake of the Ātman. By knowing it everything else is known. Once the Ātman is known then there is no difference between the knower and the known. How can one know the knower? This Ātman is the Brahman (ayam ātma brahma). There is also a debate between Yājňavalkya and a number of enquirers after truth. Yājňavalkya tells Ārtabhāga that after death the senses and mind of man would become one with their respective deities, who are their sources, but his karma, positive and negative, would accompany him to the next life. To Cākrāyana he tells that Ātman lives through the life principles and works through all life functions. None can see the seer, none can hear the hearer, and none can know the knower. It is not an object of any form of conspicuousness.

 

To Uddālaka he explains that Ātman is in everything and is inward (antaryāmin). Yājňavalkya teaches Gārgi, a woman enquirer, that the Ātman neither subtle nor gross, it is neither senses nor the life-principle and is neither inwards nor outwards. It is something imperishable. It is the same as Brahman. The king Janaka receives the instruction from Yājňavalkya that the Ātman is the guiding principle of man. The Ātman being self-luminous one comes to see it through its own light.

 

3.11. Śvetāśvatara Upanişad

 

This Upanişad belongs to Sāmaveda and its contents represent theism. It speaks of Brahman as personal being. It highlights some contemporary doctrines of the origin of the world. The origin was time, nature, necessity, chance, elements, cosmic womb, the finite self. In fact, there are two Ātmans, the perishable and the imperishable. Man is the combination of both.

 

The perishable is the manifest which enjoys the fruits of actions, the imperishable is the Ātman as Cosmos. The perishable is the Pradhāna, the Prakŗti. It is Māyā. Everything that belongs to Māyā is perishable. We also come across in this Upanişad the passage about the two Ātmans representing two birds like in Muņḑaka Upanişad. This Upanişad names Śvetāśvatara who attained divine knowledge through penance and the grace of God. The divine truths can be known only by him one who devotes himself to God and to his teachers. The notions of grace and devotion are given importance in this Upanişad. Therefore, it is theistic.

 

4.Summary

 

The above account suggests us that the Upanişads discuss about the nature of the ultimate Reality and the origin of the world of objects. The ultimate reality is Brahman/Ātman and is Unmanifest (avyakta). It is devoid of all attributes and is imperishable. The world in which we live is the manifest form of Brahman/Ātman whose Being is shared by the world of existence. The perishable world appears to be real but behind its reality there is an eternal principle called Brahman/Ātman. Ultimately everything subsumes under this eternal principle.

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Web links

  • http://www.hindunet.org/upanishads/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads
  • http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/upan/

Bibliography

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  • Hiriyanna, M. The Essentials of Indian Philosophy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2015.
  • Radhakrishnan, S. The Principal Upanişads. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1953.
  • Raju, P.T. Structural Depths of Indian Thought. New Delhi: South Asia Publishers, 1985.
  • Sharma, C.D. A Critical survey of Indian Philosophy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979.