The Upanishads,
together with the Bhagavad Gita and
the Brahma Sutras are referred to as
the Prastanatraya, or three-fold Ultimate authority
on which the religio-philosophical canon
of Vedanta rests. They are also referred
as the "Sruti", or that which
was "heard", implying knowledge received
by inspiration or revelation directly from
God, first by Brahma at the dawn
of Creation, and later, by the many
seers of later ages. Higher Knowledge thus
intuited, was always considered heard directly
from God, and hence named "Sruti", in
contradistinction to "Smriti", or texts of
lower levels of Knowledge that originated,
as this name suggests, from man’s
own mind.. And when seers who were
deeply revered and seen to be in constant
communion with God, declared that certain
knowledge was heard, that is, received
direct from God, it was accepted to
be so by all people. Thus, over
the ages, "Sruti" came to be regarded
as the infallible, absolute and ultimate
authority for whatever knowledge they conveyed.
All later works had indeed to establish
their credentials only by drawing from
the authority of "Sruti".
If the overall
body of the Vedic texts today sometimes
show deviation from a clearcut structure,
or occasionally present mixed sequences or
even seeming contradictions of fact and
thought, it could well be because they
were built by additions to the knowledge
corpus from time to time, over long
periods of time, by different seers, based
on the unique intuitions or spiritual
experiences of each of them. The traditional
description of the Vedas as "anadi" or
without beginning, "ananta", or without end,
and "aupurusheya", or of divine origin, is
quite simply an affirmation that knowledge
itself is eternal, self-existent and ever
available to be discovered and articulated
from time to time by the seers.
If nothing is known of the personal
identities of these seers of remote
antiquity, it is because they considered
that their own identities was of no
consequence, and that they were no more
than conduits through whom the word
of God got articulated. How far have
we travelled, or should we say, how
much have we descended, in our values,
that we we make personal claims to
knowledge in terms of authorship, copyrights
and intellectual property ! !
Every human
being has to survive in an external
world of events. The individual experiences
the external world through his external sensory
organs of sight, smell, sound, taste
and touch, all of course, within a
constantly changing context of space and
time. He responds to external events in
the light of his internal understanding and
evaluations, and in this he is aided
and influenced, not only by his faculty
of reason, by a whole range of
other faculties like intellect, instinct, inspiration,
faith and even emotion. His inner faculties
suffer none of the physical limitations that
characterise his external faculties of perception
His internal faculties enable him to visualise
states of infinity, eternity and total bliss.
When his responses to the external
world are influenced by these inner perspectives
and values, his actions acquire deeper purpose
and value and his life becomes one
of greater harmony, joy and fulfillment.
Different cultures
and societies have pursued the goal
of human fulfillment in different ways. Inspired
by the Greeks, Western civilisation has sought
an objective materialistic destiny for man
through the path of Science, a path
determined by exclusively committing the capabilities
and potential of the mind to study
of what was strictly within the reach
of man’s external sense organs and what
was observable, demonstrable and replicable
in the external world. The explorations of
the external world within these self-imposed
parameters of scientific validity have certainly
given phenomenal results in pressing Nature
into the service of man. But today,
at the final frontiers of the physically
observable or measurable, these self-imposed
parameters are proving to be barriers
to further scientific exploration, and their
utility and validity are coming into serious
question. Traversing the world of matter
through successive discoveries, first of
the elements of
matter, then of
atoms and finally of sub-atomic particles,
science has reached a point where the
ultimate particle of matter has disapppeared
and has reappeared as a pulse
of energy. In science today, the principle
of certainty has yielded place to the
principle of uncertainty, and the reality
of matter contends with a new reality
called anti-matter. Turning our gaze into
outer space, we see today the light
of stars that have themselves perhaps
ceased to exist long ago And turning
the search into the internal world
of all living matter, science has reached
the cell as the ultimate unit of
living matter, but beyond it’s molecules,
atoms, sub-atomic particles, and content of
energy, no answer is in sight of
what it is that divides the living
from the lifeless.
Clearly science
has reached a point where its explorations
cannot proceed much further if consciously
confined to the reach of the external
physical senses, however much such reach
can be extended by the instruments and
methods of science. There is incidentally,
a curious self-contradiction in the operation
of science here. The phenomenal capabilities
of the mind have been single-mindedly (a
language usage reflecting restriction imposed
on the mind !) pressed into designing
instruments and methods to extend the
reach of the external senses. but not
to study the reach of the mind
itself. What studies have been made of
the mind is again within the same self-imposed
constraints of the instruments and methods
used to study matter. And within the
brain itself, there is no clue in
sight as to where matter ends and thought
begins or what joy and sorrow really
are, though these impact so deeply
on our lives. No effort has been made
to explore the virtually limitless reaches
of the mind, by using the mind itself,
to see beyond the reach of the
external senses. No effort has been made
to explore other inner faculties and capabilities
that add several dimensions to the
capabilities of the mind – things like
intellect, instinct, inspiration, faith or even
emotion, despite the obvious role these
have played in the extraordinary accomplishments
of scientists, saints.or even in the every
day heroism of thousands of common
people. On the other hand these faculties
have been consciously excluded
from the scope of science and relegated
as appropriate only to the field of
metaphysics and religion, simply because they
were not measurable.
Seers of ancient
India recognised that an integrated understanding
of our internal and external world
required an integrated understanding of our
internal and external faculties of perception.
And their very first direct and obvious
conclusion was that the external faculties,
could serve only to study the
external, not the internal world.
Even what these faculties recorded of the
external world restricted by their own
physical structure to narrow confines of
time and space, and hence could only
provide a partial view. Internal faculties,
however, could transcend all these limitations,
and could provide a fuller view of
the totality of experience, both internal
and external. Uncompromising observation and experience,
analysed and understoood in the light of
logic taken to it’s ultimate limits,
led the ancient seers to the conviction
that all existence, living or otherwise,
sprang ultimately from one single Reality
that they called Brahman; and that all
seemingly individual existences sprang from
the very same Reality, which was referred
to as the Atman in the individual context.
This finding found it’s loftiest expression
in the Vedas, often in what are called
the Mahavakyas or Great Aphorisms, like "Tat
Tvam Asi", or "That Art Thou", where
That refers to the Brahman and Thou
to the Atman, meaning that it is
the same Ultimate Reality that pervades our
internal and external worlds.
It is not
as if the ancient Indian seers paid
less attention to an understanding of the
external objective Universe. They studied it
with as much meticulous attention as
they did the internal world of man.
They were able to advance knowledge
in subjects like Astronomy, Mathematics and
Medicine, far in advance of other contemporary
human societies and also project facts and
concepts that Science is finding relevant
today.. But they realised that Knowledge
by itself was of little worth unless
it remained integrated with the highest
internal values and unless these values
were reflected in our responses to the
external world. And they insisted
that it was all of man's internal faculties
together with their potential, that raised
an edifice of worth and value within
man. It is this that could guide his
thoughts, words and actions in ways
that could contribute far more to personal
and social well-being than any one-sided
materialistic pursuit divorced from value. This
vision fortunately remains embedded to this
day, in the psyche of India’s millions,
despite the inroads over the centuries of
other faiths, cultures and races, and
also the inroads in contemporary times, of
the materialist culture, fostered by the
self-limiting outlook and methods of
science.
The Upanishads
tell us repeatedly that Brahman
or Atman are not just sterile intellectual
constructs of a theoretical philosophy but
are realities that can be experienced
by every individual. In simpler terms they
can be described as a destination of
perfection, a conscious and very real goal,
which the individual must constantly endeavour
to reach. Life provides the opportunities
and faculties, the means to reach that
destination. The Upanishads provide a ringing
reaffirmation of the inner strengths and
potentials of man and that it is through
them that man can elevate himself and
find fulfillment.
The Upanishadic
declaration of the identity of the
Atman of the individual and the Brahman
behind all existence is also a declaration
of the identity of all living beings
across the separating lines we have created
within mankind, between individuals, neighbours
and members of different areas, religions,
races and of the different social,
political and economic entities of the
world. A living commitment to this
higher identity alone can end the conflicts
between man and man, which is the source
of all human sorrow and suffering. This
commitment alone can lead mankind to
it’s true destiny.
Every Upanishad
starts and ends with an invocation,
which is generally in the form of a
prayer or affirmation of a philosphical truth.
The first Upanishad that we present
here is the Isavasya Upanishad. It would
be fitting to quote it’s invocation
at this point, because it virtually sums
up the central message of the Upanishads
:
`
p:ÜN:üm:dH p:ÜN:üem:dø
p:ÜN:aüt:Î p:ÜN:üm:Ødcy:t:ð
p:ÜN:üsy: p:ÜN:üm:aday:
p:ÜN:üm:ðv:av:eS:\y:t:ð
` S:a¡nt:H
S:a¡nt:H S:a¡nt:H
OM, Purnmadah purnamidam purnat purnamudacyate
Purnasya purnmadaya purnamevavasishyate
OM Shantih Shantih Shantih.
This translates
as follows : THAT is Infinite. THIS
too is Infinite.
And though it
is from THAT which THIS has manifested,
THAT alone remains unchanged. Peace ! Peace
! Peace !
The
meaning is as follows :THAT refers
to the one ultimate
eternal existence.
THIS refers to this transient existence
in which
subsist and
which manifests from THAT. Yet all
such transient
manifestation does
not alter THAT which remains infinite
and eternal.