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Principal Upanishads
The Upanishads are part of a very long tradition of knowledge, which has been developing over many thousands of years. This tradition is not just a dead relic from the past. It is very much alive today. It is a living tradition that has been passed down in an unbroken line from teacher to disciple, through all the social, cultural, scientific and technological upheavals that have taken place.
Our problem is whether this traditional knowledge is helpful to us at present. Our exclusive devotion to technical and economic interests in the contemporary age has obscured the concept of reality and value. Indeed, human nature is not altogether unchanging. It does change. However, it is also true that it does remain sufficiently constant to justify the study of ancient classics.
The stunning achievements of science, technology or commerce have not superseded the problems of human life and destiny. The solutions offered by the ancient classics, though conditioned in their modes of expression by their time, have not been seriously affected by the march of modern achievements. The Upanishads, though remote in time from us, are not remote in thought. Disclosing the workings of the human soul’s primal impulses, these classics rise above the differences of race and geographical location.
Indian philosophy – Vedanta
There is a view that Indian philosophy started with the Upanishads, otherwise known as Vedanta (end of the Veda or the concluding portion). Yet, there is a distinct difference between what is on offer in the Vedas and the Upanishads.
3 Gunas
Vedas deal with the three Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. They have the three Gunas as the motives to attain power, pleasure and heavenly residence.
Vedas tell stories about various Gods; they prescribe rituals for making use of the Gods’ divine powers to attain prosperity and other objectives. In other words, Vedas taught the attainment of inferior ends (Purusharthas) which are known to be closely connected with the three Gunas, rather than Moksha which it was the function of Upanishads to teach. Though they both are from one single Shastra, Vedas offer the means to attain transient good while the Upanishads teach means to attain the eternal good.
It is in this sense, perhaps, some scholars saw in the Upanishads germs of the pessimistic view since they discard the pursuit of social efficiency for the attainment of liberation from Avidya (which comprises of all technical knowledge and hedonistic pleasure ends) and Samsara for the transcendent condition of immortality which can only be won by Vidya.
Yet Upanishads have not discarded the earlier portions of the Veda or the gods praised therein. Indeed they have, on the other hand, tended to make clear the implications of the Veda in such a way as to help the understanding of the enquiring mind.
Having studied the about Vedas, the mantras and the rituals contained therein, we arrive at the concluding section- the Upanishads. And the Upanishads leave all the cosmology and applied knowledge behind. It is not the basic concern of the Upanishads to describe world or to achieve the various objects that people desire. Their basic objective is philosophy.
Briefly and uncompromisingly, they ask questions about knowledge itself. They are not interested in all the descriptions and the pictures that have been built on top of our knowledge. Beneath the pictures and descriptions, they want to find out just what we know. They repeatedly question what happiness is. The question is blunt – Is it permanently available once the objects that we pursue have been achieved?
Upanishads – Plain and Straightforward
The Upanishads are rather plain and straightforward. They do not construct any complex system of ideas and beliefs. Questioning such as this is not very common. For a resisting and closed mind, it appeared as a very complicated process not meant for an ordinary man. It progresses by asking questions – simple and straightforward. The search is for plain truth. Studying books such as Upanishads was not very common as they were reputed to be difficult to understand.
Upanishads are concerned with that knowledge which is common to all experience, anywhere. As they point out, this knowledge cannot be restricted to any names or forms or qualities. They cannot be bound to any books or words- certainly not to any social classes or cultural system or any geographical location. In the end, it can only be taught and learned in one place – in each individual’s direct experience.
It is for this reason a lot of emphasis is laid on direct learning from a teacher. Therein lays the universality of the approach. Times have changed. There is no longer any need to hide philosophical enquiry, from ordinary life and education. In recent times, Upanishads have begun to be translated and interpreted for ordinary people. Many commentaries are now available for the common man.
In the works of classical commentators, we find the great oral traditions of interpretation which have been current in their time. Centuries of careful thought lie behind these traditions as they finally took shape. It would be a great mistake to neglect the work of the commentators. Chiefly since there are words and passages in the Upanishads of which we could make little sense without the help of the commentators.
The Upanishads are the most important and are equally difficult to understand. The difficulty arises because of the subjects they treat. They are not telling us a story like what the Epics and the Puranas do. Also, the Upanishads are not prayers offered to some god that we can just chant every day as a routine of practice. They do not tell us how to perform rituals or gestures of worship as we do in temples or altars of adoration. They tell us something quite different from all these things. What is this difference that marks the Upanishads? They deal with our Self.
Upanishads – Not about Gods
The Upanishads are not telling us about any god. Then, what is it that the Upanishads talk about? It is speaking about God, but not about the God that we usually think of in our mind according to our upbringing, culture, language or tradition. It refers to God and it refers to nothing else. The ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ that fill the texture of every religion in the world do not appear in the Upanishads.
References to something that has to be done and something that should not be done will not be found in the Upanishads. The question of this dichotomy does not arise in the Upanishads.
Number of Upanishads
There are 108 traditional Upanishads. Of these 10 are regarded as principal Upanishads.
- (1) Isavasya
- (2) Kena
- (3) Katha
- (4) Prashana
- (5) Mundaka
- (6) Mandukya
- (7) Taittiriya
- (8) Aitereya
- (9) Chandogya
- (10) Brhadaranyaka.
Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada wrote commentaries on all these Upanishads as well as on Shvetashvatara, Kausitaki and Mahanarayana. These together with Maitri, constitute 14 Upanishads. Some scholars regard 10 as the principal Upanishads and some others regard these 14 as the principal ones. All these belong to the Shruti literature.
Some of the Upanishads are associated with renowned sages such as Aruni, Yajnavalkya, Balaki, Shvetaketu and Shandilya. They are thought to be exponents of the doctrines attributed to them.
The mode of transmittal of knowledge in Upanishads consists of a teacher and a taught because no Upanishadic study is complete without the presence of a Guru. As a result, in the Upanishads, the contents are explained through the words of the Guru.
In the Upanishads, we come across “Vidyas”. Essentially, the Vidyas lead one from the unreal to the Real, from mortality to Immortality. They lead the soul from the Moola-Ajnana to the highest Brahman. Sri Shankaracharya says in his Brahma-Sutra-Bhashya that even those who go to Saguna-Brahman (through Vidya-Upasanas) will ultimately go to Nirguna-Brahman. We come across about 28 Vidyas in the Upanishads
