The Upanishads, a part of the Vedas, are
ancient Sanskrit texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts
and ideas of Hinduism,
some of which are shared with religious traditions like Buddhism and Jainism. Among
the most important literature in the history of Indian religions and culture,
the Upanishads played an important role in the development of spiritual ideas
in ancient India, marking a transition from Vedic ritualism to new ideas and
institutions.Of all Vedic literature, the Upanishads alone are widely known,
and their central ideas are at the spiritual core of Hindus.
The Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedanta.
Vedanta has been interpreted as the "last chapters, parts of the Veda" and
alternatively as "object, the highest purpose of the Veda". The
concepts of Brahman
(ultimate reality) and Atman
(soul, self) are central ideas in all of the Upanishads, and "know that
you are the Ātman" is their thematic focus.Along with the Bhagavad Gita
and the Brahmasutra,
the mukhya Upanishads (known collectively as the Prasthanatrayi)
provide a foundation for the several later schools of Vedanta, among them, two influential monistic
schools of Hinduism.
More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first
dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the
principal or main (mukhya)
Upanishads. The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the concluding part
of the Brahmanas
and Aranyakas
and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation and passed down orally. The
early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, five of them in all likelihood
pre-Buddhist (6th century BCE), down to the Maurya period. Of the remainder, 95
Upanishads are part of the Muktika
canon, composed from about the last centuries of 1st-millennium BCE through
about 15th-century CE. New Upanishads, beyond the 108 in the Muktika canon,
continued to be composed through the early modern and modern era, though often
dealing with subjects which are unconnected to the Vedas.
With the translation of the Upanishads in the early 19th
century they also started to attract attention from a western audience. Arthur Schopenhauer
was deeply impressed by the Upanishads and called it "the production of
the highest human wisdom". Modern era Indologists have discussed the
similarities between the fundamental concepts in the Upanishads and major
western philosophers.
Etymology
The Sanskrit
term Upaniṣad (from upa "by" and ni-ṣad
"sit down") translates to "sitting down near", referring to
the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving spiritual knowledge.
Other dictionary meanings include "esoteric doctrine" and
"secret doctrine". Monier-Williams'
Sanskrit Dictionary notes – "According to native authorities,
Upanishad means setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the
supreme spirit."
Adi Shankaracharya explains in his commentary on the Kaṭha
and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad that the word means Ātmavidyā, that is,
"knowledge of the self",
or Brahmavidyā "knowledge of Brahma". The word appears in the
verses of many Upanishads, such as the fourth verse of the 13th volume in first
chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. Max Müller as well as Paul Deussen
translate the word Upanishad in these verses as "secret
doctrine", Robert Hume translates it as "mystic meaning", while
Patrick Olivelle translates it as "hidden connections".
Development
Authorship
The authorship of most Upanishads is uncertain and
unknown. Radhakrishnan states, "almost all the early literature of India
was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the
Upanishads".The ancient Upanishads are embedded in the Vedas, the oldest
of Hinduism's religious scriptures, which some traditionally consider to be apauruṣeya,
which means "not of a man, superhuman" and "impersonal,
authorless".The Vedic texts assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis
(sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.
The various philosophical theories in the early
Upanishads have been attributed to famous sages such as Yajnavalkya, Uddalaka Aruni,
Shvetaketu,
Shandilya,
Aitareya, Balaki, Pippalada,
and Sanatkumara.
Women, such as Maitreyi and Gargi participate in the dialogues and are also
credited in the early Upanishads. There are some exceptions to the anonymous
tradition of the Upanishads. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, for example,
includes closing credits to sage Shvetashvatara, and he is considered
the author of the Upanishad.
Many scholars believe that early Upanishads were
interpolated and expanded over time. There are differences within manuscripts
of the same Upanishad discovered in different parts of South Asia, differences
in non-Sanskrit version of the texts that have survived, and differences within
each text in terms of meter, style, grammar and structure. The existing texts
are believed to be the work of many authors.
Chronology
Scholars are uncertain about when the Upanishads were
composed. The chronology of the early Upanishads is difficult to resolve,
states philosopher and Sanskritist
Stephen Phillips, because all opinions rest on scanty evidence and analysis of
archaism, style and repetitions across texts, and are driven by assumptions
about likely evolution of ideas, and presumptions about which philosophy might
have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Indologist Patrick Olivelle
says that "in spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of
these documents [early Upanishads] that attempts a precision closer than a few
centuries is as stable as a house of cards". Some scholars have tried to
analyse similarities between Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist literature to
establish chronology for the Upanishads.
Patrick Olivelle gives the following chronology for the
early Upanishads, also called the Principal Upanishads:
·
The Brhadaranyaka and
the Chandogya
are the two earliest Upanishads. They are edited texts, some of whose sources
are much older than others. The two texts are pre-Buddhist; they may be placed
in the 7th to 6th centuries BCE, give or take a century or so.
·
The three other early
prose Upanisads—Taittiriya, Aitareya, and Kausitaki come next; all are probably
pre-Buddhist and can be assigned to the 6th to 5th centuries BCE.
·
The Kena is the oldest
of the verse Upanisads followed by probably the Katha, Isa, Svetasvatara, and
Mundaka. All these Upanisads were composed probably in the last few centuries
BCE.
·
The two late prose
Upanisads, the Prasna and the Mandukya, cannot be much older than the beginning
of the common era.
Stephen Phillips places the early Upanishads in the 800
to 300 BCE range. He summarizes the current Indological opinion to be that the
Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isha, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, and
Prasna Upanishads are all pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain, while Svetasvatara and
Mandukya overlap with the earliest Buddhist and Jain literature.
The later Upanishads, numbering about 95, also called
minor Upanishads, are dated from the late 1st-millennium BCE to mid
2nd-millennium CE. Gavin
Flood dates many of the twenty Yoga Upanishads to be probably from the
100 BCE to 300 CE period. Patrick
Olivelle and other scholars date seven of the twenty Sannyasa Upanishads
to likely have been complete sometime between the last centuries of the
1st-millennium BCE to 300 CE.About half of the Sannyasa Upanishads were likely
composed in 14th- to 15th-century CE.
Geography
The general area of the composition of the early
Upanishads is considered as northern India. The region is bounded on the west
by the upper Indus valley, on the east by lower Ganges region, on the north by
the Himalayan foothills, and on the south by the Vindhya mountain range.
Scholars are reasonably sure that the early Upanishads were produced at the
geographical center of ancient Brahmanism, comprising the regions of Kuru-Panchala and Kosala-Videha together
with the areas immediately to the south and west of these. This region covers
modern Bihar,
Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh,
Haryana,
eastern Rajasthan,
and northern Madhya
Pradesh.
While significant attempts have been made recently to
identify the exact locations of the individual Upanishads, the results are
tentative. Witzel identifies the center of activity in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad as the area of Videha, whose king, Janaka, features prominently in
the Upanishad. The Chandogya Upanishad was probably composed in a more western
than eastern location in the Indian subcontinent, possibly somewhere in the
western region of the Kuru-Panchala country.
Compared to the Principal Upanishads, the new Upanishads
recorded in the Muktikā belong to an entirely different region, probably
southern India, and are considerably relatively recent. In the fourth chapter
of the Kaushitaki Upanishad, a location named Kashi (modern Varanasi) is
mentioned.
Classification
Muktika canon: major and minor Upanishads
There are more than 200 known Upanishads, one of
which, the Muktika
Upanishad, predates 1656 CE and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads,
including itself as the last. These are further divided into Upanishads
associated with Shaktism
(goddess Shakti), Sannyasa
(renunciation, monastic life), Shaivism (god Shiva), Vaishnavism (god Vishnu), Yoga, and Sāmānya
(general, sometimes referred to as Samanya-Vedanta).
Some of the Upanishads are categorized as
"sectarian" since they present their ideas through a particular god
or goddess of a specific Hindu tradition such as Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, or a
combination of these such as the Skanda Upanishad. These traditions sought
to link their texts as Vedic, by asserting their texts to be an Upanishad,
thereby a Sruti.
Most of these sectarian Upanishads, for example the Rudrahridaya Upanishad and the Mahanarayana Upanishad,
assert that all the Hindu gods and goddesses are the same, all an aspect and
manifestation of Brahman,
the Vedic concept for metaphysical ultimate reality before and after the
creation of the Universe.
Mukhya Upanishads
The Mukhya Upanishads can be grouped into periods.
Of the early periods are the Brihadaranyaka and the Chandogya,
the oldest.
The Aitareya, Kauṣītaki and Taittirīya Upanishads may
date to as early as the mid-1st millennium BCE, while the remnant date from
between roughly the 4th to 1st centuries BCE, roughly contemporary with the
earliest portions of the Sanskrit
epics. One chronology assumes that the Aitareya, Taittiriya,
Kausitaki, Mundaka, Prasna, and Katha Upanishads has Buddha's
influence, and is consequently placed after the 5th century BCE, while another
proposal questions this assumption and dates it independent of Buddha's date of
birth. After these Principal Upanishads are typically placed the Kena,
Mandukya and Isa Upanishads, but other scholars date these
differently. Not much is known about the authors except for those, like Yajnavalkayva
and Uddalaka, mentioned in the texts. A few women discussants, such as Gargi
and Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkayva, also feature occasionally.
Each of the principal Upanishads can be associated
with one of the schools of exegesis of the four Vedas (shakhas).
Many Shakhas are said to have existed, of which only a few remain. The new Upanishads
often have little relation to the Vedic corpus and have not been cited or
commented upon by any great Vedanta philosopher: their language differs from
that of the classic Upanishads, being less subtle and more formalized.
As a result, they are not difficult to comprehend for the modern reader.
|
Veda-Shakha-Upanishad
association
|
|||
|
Veda
|
Recension
|
Shakha
|
Principal Upanishad
|
|
Rig Veda
|
Only one recension
|
Shakala
|
Aitareya
|
|
Sama Veda
|
Only one recension
|
Kauthuma
|
Chāndogya
|
|
Jaiminiya
|
Kena
|
||
|
Ranayaniya
|
|||
|
Yajur Veda
|
Krishna Yajur Veda
|
Katha
|
Kaṭha
|
|
Taittiriya
|
Taittirīya and Svetasvatara
|
||
|
Maitrayani
|
Maitrāyaṇi
|
||
|
Hiranyakeshi
(Kapishthala)
|
|||
|
Kathaka
|
|||
|
Shukla Yajur Veda
|
Vajasaneyi
Madhyandina
|
Isha and Bṛhadāraṇyaka
|
|
|
Kanva Shakha
|
|||
|
Atharva
|
Two recensions
|
Shaunaka
|
Māṇḍukya and Muṇḍaka
|
|
Paippalada
|
Prashna Upanishad
|
||
The Kausitaki and Maitrayani Upanishads are
sometimes added to the list of the mukhya Upanishads.
New Upanishads
There is no fixed list of the Upanishads as newer
ones, beyond the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads, have continued to be
discovered and composed. In 1908, for example, four previously unknown
Upanishads were discovered in newly found manuscripts, and these were named Bashkala,
Chhagaleya, Arsheya, and Saunaka, by Friedrich Schrader,
who attributed them to the first prose period of the Upanishads. The text of
three of them, namely the Chhagaleya, Arsheya, and Saunaka,
were incomplete and inconsistent, likely poorly maintained or corrupted.
Ancient Upanishads have long enjoyed a revered position
in Hindu traditions, and authors of numerous sectarian texts have tried to
benefit from this reputation by naming their texts as Upanishads. These
"new Upanishads" number in the hundreds, cover diverse range of
topics from physiology to renunciation to sectarian theories. They were
composed between the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE through the early
modern era (~1600 CE). While over two dozen of the minor Upanishads are dated
to pre-3rd century CE, many of these new texts under the title of
"Upanishads" originated in the first half of the 2nd millennium
CE,they are not Vedic texts, and some do not deal with themes found in the
Vedic Upanishads.
The main Shakta Upanishads, for example, mostly discuss
doctrinal and interpretative differences between the two principal sects of a
major Tantric
form of Shaktism called Shri
Vidyaupasana. The many extant lists of authentic Shakta
Upaniṣads vary, reflecting the sect of their compilers, so that they yield
no evidence of their "location" in Tantric tradition, impeding
correct interpretation. The Tantra content of these texts also weaken its
identity as an Upaniṣad for non-Tantrikas. Sectarian texts such as these do not
enjoy status as shruti
and thus the authority of the new Upanishads as scripture is not accepted in
Hinduism.
Association with
Vedas
All Upanishads are associated with one of the four Vedas
- Rigveda,
Samaveda,
Yajurveda
(there are two primary versions or Samhitas of the Yajurveda: Shukla Yajurveda,
Krishna Yajurveda),
and Atharvaveda.
During the modern era, the ancient Upanishads that were embedded texts in the
Vedas, were detached from the Brahmana
and Aranyaka
layers of Vedic text, compiled into separate texts and these were then gathered
into anthologies
of Upanishads. These lists associated each Upanishad with one of the four
Vedas, many such lists exist, and these lists are inconsistent across India in
terms of which Upanishads are included and how the newer Upanishads are
assigned to the ancient Vedas. In south India, the collected list based on
Muktika Upanishad, and published in Telugu language, became the most common
by the 19th-century and this is a list of 108 Upanishads. In north India, a
list of 52 Upanishads has been most common.
The Muktika Upanishad's list of 108 Upanishads
groups the first 13 as mukhya, 21 as Samanya Vedanta, 20 as Sannyasa, 14 as
Vaishnava,
12 as Shaiva,
8 as Shakta,
and 20 as Yoga.
The 108 Upanishads as recorded in the Muktika are shown in the table
below. The mukhya Upanishads are the most important and highlighted.
|
Veda-Upanishad
association
|
||||||||
|
Veda
|
Number
|
Mukhya
|
Samanya
|
Sannyasa
|
Sakta
|
Vaiṣṇava
|
Saiva
|
Yoga
|
|
Ṛigveda
|
10
|
Aitareya, Kauśītāki
|
Ātmabodha, Mudgala
|
Nirvāṇa
|
Tripura, Saubhāgya-lakshmi, Bahvṛca
|
-
|
Akṣamalika
|
Nadabindu
|
|
Samaveda
|
16
|
Chāndogya, Kena
|
Vajrasūchi, Maha, Sāvitrī
|
Āruṇi, Maitreya, Brhat-Sannyāsa, Kuṇḍika
(Laghu-Sannyāsa)
|
-
|
Vāsudeva, Avyakta
|
Rudrākṣa, Jābāli
|
Yogachūḍāmaṇi, Darśana
|
|
Krishna Yajurveda
|
32
|
Taittiriya, Katha, Śvetāśvatara, Maitrāyaṇi
|
Sarvasāra, Śukarahasya, Skanda, Garbha, Śārīraka, Ekākṣara, Akṣi
|
Brahma, (Laghu, Brhad) Avadhūta, Kaṭhasruti
|
Sarasvatī-rahasya
|
Nārāyaṇa, Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa
|
Kaivalya, Kālāgnirudra, Dakṣiṇāmūrti,
Rudrahṛdaya,
Pañcabrahma
|
Amṛtabindu, Tejobindu, Amṛtanāda, Kṣurika, Dhyānabindu, Brahmavidyā, Yogatattva, Yogaśikhā, Yogakuṇḍalini,
Varāha
|
|
Shukla Yajurveda
|
19
|
Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Īśa
|
Subala, Mantrika, Niralamba, Paingala, Adhyatma, Muktika
|
Jābāla, Paramahaṃsa, Bhikṣuka, Turīyātītavadhuta, Yājñavalkya, Śāṭyāyaniya
|
-
|
Tārasāra
|
-
|
Advayatāraka, Haṃsa, Triśikhi, Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇa
|
|
Atharvaveda
|
31
|
Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, Praśna
|
Ātmā, Sūrya,
Prāṇāgnihotra
|
Āśrama, Nārada-parivrājaka,
Paramahaṃsa
parivrājaka, Parabrahma
|
Sītā, Devī,
Tripurātapini,
Bhāvana
|
Nṛsiṃhatāpanī, Mahānārāyaṇa (Tripād vibhuti), Rāmarahasya, Rāmatāpaṇi, Gopālatāpani,
Kṛṣṇa, Hayagrīva, Dattātreya, Gāruḍa
|
Atharvasiras, Atharvaśikha, Bṛhajjābāla, Śarabha, Bhasma, Gaṇapati
|
Śāṇḍilya, Pāśupata, Mahāvākya
|
|
Total Upanishads
|
108
|
13
|
21
|
19
|
8
|
14
|
13
|
20
|
Philosophy
The Upanishadic age was characterized by a pluralism of
worldviews. While some Upanishads have been deemed 'monistic', others,
including the Katha
Upanishad, are dualistic.
The Maitri is one of the Upanishads that inclines more toward dualism, thus
grounding classical Samkhya
and Yoga
schools of Hinduism, in contrast to the non-dualistic Upanishads at the
foundation of its Vedanta school. They contain a plurality of ideas.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan states that the Upanishads have
dominated Indian philosophy, religion and life ever since their appearance. The
Upanishads are respected not because they are considered revealed (Shruti),
but because they present spiritual ideas that are inspiring. The Upanishads are
treatises on Brahman-knowledge, that is knowledge of Ultimate Hidden Reality,
and their presentation of philosophy presumes, "it is by a strictly
personal effort that one can reach the truth". In the Upanishads, states
Radhakrishnan, knowledge is a means to freedom, and philosophy is the pursuit
of wisdom by a way of life.
The Upanishads include sections on philosophical theories
that have been at the foundation of Indian traditions. For example, the Chandogya Upanishad
includes one of the earliest known declaration of Ahimsa (non-violence) as an ethical
precept. Discussion of other ethical premises such as Damah (temperance, self-restraint), Satya
(truthfulness), Dana
(charity), Arjava
(non-hypocrisy), Daya
(compassion) and others are found in the oldest Upanishads and many later
Upanishads. Similarly, the Karma doctrine is presented in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,
which is the oldest Upanishad.
Development of thought
While the hymns of the Vedas emphasize rituals and the
Brahmanas serve as a liturgical manual for those Vedic rituals, the spirit of
the Upanishads is inherently opposed to ritual. The older Upanishads launch
attacks of increasing intensity on the ritual. Anyone who worships a divinity
other than the self is called a domestic animal of the gods in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
The Chāndogya Upanishad parodies those who indulge in the acts of
sacrifice by comparing them with a procession of dogs chanting Om! Let's
eat. Om! Let's drink.
The Kaushitaki
Upanishad asserts that "external rituals such as Agnihotram
offered in the morning and in the evening, must be replaced with inner
Agnihotram, the ritual of introspection", and that "not rituals, but
knowledge should be one's pursuit". The Mundaka Upanishad declares how man has
been called upon, promised benefits for, scared unto and misled into performing
sacrifices, oblations and pious works. Mundaka thereafter asserts this is
foolish and frail, by those who encourage it and those who follow it, because
it makes no difference to man's current life and after-life, it is like blind
men leading the blind, it is a mark of conceit and vain knowledge, ignorant
inertia like that of children, a futile useless practice. The Maitri Upanishad
states.
The performance of all the sacrifices, described in the
Maitrayana-Brahmana, is to lead up in the end to a knowledge of Brahman, to
prepare a man for meditation. Therefore, let such man, after he has laid those
fires, meditate on the Self, to become complete and perfect.
— Maitri Upanishad
The opposition to the ritual is not explicit in the
oldest Upanishads. On occasions, the Upanishads extend the task of the
Aranyakas by making the ritual allegorical and giving it a philosophical
meaning. For example, the Brihadaranyaka interprets the practice of
horse-sacrifice or ashvamedha
allegorically. It states that the over-lordship of the earth may be acquired by
sacrificing a horse. It then goes on to say that spiritual autonomy can only be
achieved by renouncing the universe which is conceived in the image of a horse.
In similar fashion, Vedic gods such as the Agni, Aditya,
Indra, Rudra, Visnu, Brahma, and others become
equated in the Upanishads to the supreme, immortal, and incorporeal
Brahman-Atman of the Upanishads, god becomes synonymous with self, and is
declared to be everywhere, inmost being of each human being and within every
living creature. The one reality or ekam sat of the Vedas becomes the ekam
eva advitiyam or "the one and only and sans a second" in the
Upanishads. Brahman-Atman and self-realization develops, in the Upanishad, as
the means to moksha
(liberation; freedom in this life or after-life).
According to Jayatilleke, the thinkers of Upanishadic
texts can be grouped into two categories. One group, which includes early
Upanishads along with some middle and late Upanishads, were composed by
metaphysicians who used rational arguments and empirical experience to
formulate their speculations and philosophical premises. The second group
includes many middle and later Upanishads, where their authors professed
theories based on yoga and personal experiences. Yoga philosophy and practice,
adds Jayatilleke, is "not entirely absent in the Early Upanishads".
The development of thought in these Upanishadic theories contrasted with
Buddhism, since the Upanishadic inquiry assumed there is a soul (Atman), while
Buddhism assumed there is no soul (Anatta), states Jayatilleke.
Brahman and Atman
Two concepts that are of paramount importance in the
Upanishads are Brahman
and Atman.
The Brahman is the ultimate reality and the Atman is individual self (soul).
Brahman is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists. It is the
pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change,
yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman is "the infinite source, fabric,
core and destiny of all existence, both manifested and unmanifested, the
formless infinite substratum and from which the universe has grown".
Brahman in Hinduism, states Paul
Deussen, as the "creative principle which lies realized in
the whole world".
The word Atman means the inner self, the soul, the
immortal spirit in an individual, and all living beings including animals and
trees. Ātman is a central idea in all the Upanishads, and "Know your Atman"
their thematic focus. These texts state that the inmost core of every person is
not the body, nor the mind, nor the ego, but Atman – "soul" or
"self". Atman is the spiritual essence in all creatures, their real
innermost essential being. It is eternal, it is ageless. Atman is that which
one is at the deepest level of one's existence.
Atman is the predominantly discussed topic in the Upanishads,
but they express two distinct, somewhat divergent themes. Younger upanishads
state that Brahman (Highest Reality, Universal Principle,
Being-Consciousness-Bliss) is identical with Atman, while older
upanishads state Atman is part of Brahman but not identical. The Brahmasutra by
Badarayana (~ 100 BCE) synthesized and unified these somewhat conflicting theories.
According to Nakamura, the Brahman sutras see Atman and Brahman as both
different and not-different, a point of view which came to be called bhedabheda
in later times. According to Koller, the Brahman sutras state that Atman and
Brahman are different in some respects particularly during the state of
ignorance, but at the deepest level and in the state of self-realization, Atman
and Brahman are identical, non-different. This ancient debate flowered into
various dual, non-dual theories in Hinduism.
Reality and Maya
Two different types of the non-dual Brahman-Atman are
presented in the Upanishads, according to Mahadevan. The one in which the
non-dual Brahman-Atman is the all inclusive ground of the universe and another
in which empirical, changing reality is an appearance (Maya).
The Upanishads describe the universe, and the human
experience, as an interplay of Purusha (the eternal, unchanging principles,
consciousness) and Prakṛti
(the temporary, changing material world, nature). The former manifests itself
as Atman
(soul, self), and the latter as Maya. The Upanishads refer to the
knowledge of Atman as "true knowledge" (Vidya), and the
knowledge of Maya as "not true knowledge" (Avidya,
Nescience, lack of awareness, lack of true knowledge).
Hendrick Vroom explains, "the term Maya [in
the Upanishads] has been translated as 'illusion,' but then it does not concern
normal illusion. Here 'illusion' does not mean that the world is not real and
simply a figment of the human imagination. Maya means that the world is
not as it seems; the world that one experiences is misleading as far as its
true nature is concerned." According to Wendy Doniger, "to say that the
universe is an illusion (māyā) is not to say that it is unreal; it is to say,
instead, that it is not what it seems to be, that it is something constantly
being made. Māyā not only deceives people about the things they think they
know; more basically, it limits their knowledge."
In the Upanishads, Māyā is the perceived changing reality
and it co-exists with Brahman which is the hidden true reality. Maya, or
"illusion", is an important idea in the Upanishads, because the texts
assert that in the human pursuit of blissful and liberating self-knowledge, it
is Maya which obscures, confuses and distracts an individual.
Schools of
Vedanta
The Upanishads form one of the three main sources for all
schools of Vedanta, together with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutras.
Due to the wide variety of philosophical teachings contained in the Upanishads,
various interpretations could be grounded on the Upanishads. The schools of
Vedānta seek to answer questions about the relation between atman and
Brahman, and the relation between Brahman and the world. The schools of Vedanta
are named after the relation they see between atman and Brahman:
·
According to Advaita Vedanta,
there is no difference.
·
According to Vishishtadvaita
the jīvātman is a part of Brahman, and hence is similar, but not identical.
·
According to Dvaita, all
individual souls (jīvātmans) and matter as eternal and mutually separate
entities.
Other schools of Vedanta include Nimbarka's Dvaitadvaita,
Vallabha's Suddhadvaita and Chaitanya's Acintya Bhedabheda.
The philosopher Adi
Sankara has provided commentaries on 11 mukhya Upanishads.
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita literally means non-duality, and it is a monistic system
of thought. It deals with the non-dual nature of Brahman and Atman. Advaita is considered the most
influential sub-school of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.
Gaudapada was the first person to expound the basic principles of the Advaita
philosophy in a commentary on the conflicting statements of the Upanishads.
Gaudapada's Advaita ideas were further developed by Shankara (8th century CE). King states
that Gaudapada's main work, Māṇḍukya Kārikā, is infused with philosophical
terminology of Buddhism, and uses Buddhist arguments and analogies. King also
suggests that there are clear differences between Shankara's writings and the Brahmasutra,
and many ideas of Shankara are at odds with those in the Upanishads.
Radhakrishnan, on the other hand, suggests that Shankara's views of Advaita
were straightforward developments of the Upanishads and the Brahmasutra,
and many ideas of Shankara derive from the Upanishads.
Shankara in his discussions of the Advaita Vedanta
philosophy referred to the early Upanishads to explain the key difference
between Hinduism and Buddhism, stating that Hinduism asserts that Atman (soul,
self) exists, whereas Buddhism asserts that there is no soul, no self.
The Upanishads contain four sentences, the Mahāvākyas
(Great Sayings), which were used by Shankara to establish the identity of Atman
and Brahman as scriptural truth:
·
"Prajñānam brahma" - "Consciousness is Brahman" (Aitareya Upanishad)
·
"Aham
brahmāsmi" - "I am Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)
·
"Tat tvam asi" - "That Thou art" (Chandogya Upanishad)
·
"Ayamātmā
brahma" - "This Atman is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad)
Although there are a wide variety of philosophical
positions propounded in the Upanishads, commentators since Adi Shankara
have usually followed him in seeing idealistmonism as the dominant force.
Vishishtadvaita
The second school of Vedanta is the Vishishtadvaita,
which was founded by Sri Ramanuja (1017–1137 CE). Sri Ramanuja disagreed with
Adi Shankara and the Advaita school.Visistadvaita is a synthetic philosophy
bridging the monistic Advaita and theistic Dvaita systems of Vedanta. Sri
Ramanuja frequently cited the Upanishads, and stated that Vishishtadvaita is
grounded in the Upanishads.
Sri Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita interpretation of the
Upanishad is a qualified monism.
Sri Ramanuja interprets the Upanishadic literature to be teaching a body-soul
theory, states Jeaneane Fowler – a professor of Philosophy and Religious
Studies, where the Brahman is the dweller in all things, yet also distinct and
beyond all things, as the soul, the inner controller, the immortal. The
Upanishads, according to the Vishishtadvaita school, teach individual souls to
be of the same quality as the Brahman, but quantitatively they are distinct.
In the Vishishtadvaita school, the Upanishads are
interpreted to be teaching an Ishwar (Vishnu), which is the seat of all
auspicious qualities, with all of the empirically perceived world as the body
of God who dwells in everything. The school recommends a devotion to godliness
and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of personal god. This
ultimately leads one to the oneness with abstract Brahman.The Brahman in the
Upanishads is a living reality, states Fowler, and "the Atman of all
things and all beings" in Sri Ramanuja's interpretation.
Dvaita
The third school of Vedanta called the Dvaita school was
founded by Madhvacharya
(1199–1278 CE). It is regarded as a strongly theistic philosophic exposition of
Upanishads.Madhvacharya, much like Adi Shankara claims for Advaita, and Sri
Ramanuja claims for Vishishtadvaita, states that his theistic Dvaita Vedanta is
grounded in the Upanishads.
According to the Dvaita school, states Fowler, the
"Upanishads that speak of the soul as Brahman, speak of resemblance and
not identity". Madhvacharya interprets the Upanishadic teachings of the
self becoming one with Brahman, as "entering into Brahman", just like
a drop enters an ocean. This to the Dvaita school implies duality and
dependence, where Brahman and Atman are different realities. Brahman is a
separate, independent and supreme reality in the Upanishads, Atman only
resembles the Brahman in limited, inferior, dependent manner according to
Madhvacharya.
Sri Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's
Advaita school are both nondualism Vedanta schools, both are premised on the
assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful
liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya believed that some souls are eternally
doomed and damned.
Similarities with
Platonic thought
See also: Proto-Indo-European religion and Ṛta
Several scholars have recognised parallels between the
philosophy of Pythagoras
and Plato
and that of the Upanishads, including their ideas on sources of knowledge, concept of justice
and path to salvation, and Plato's allegory of the cave. Platonic psychology
with its divisions of reason, spirit and appetite, also bears resemblance to
the three gunas in the Indian philosophy of Samkhya.
Various mechanisms for such a transmission of knowledge
have been conjectured including Pythagoras traveling as far as India; Indian
philosophers visiting Athens and meeting Socrates; Plato encountering the ideas
when in exile in Syracuse; or, intermediated through Persia.
However, other scholars, such as Arthur Berriedale Keith,
J. Burnet
and A. R. Wadia,
believe that the two systems developed independently. They note that there is
no historical evidence of the philosophers of the two schools meeting, and
point out significant differences in the stage of development, orientation and
goals of the two philosophical systems. Wadia writes that Plato's metaphysics
were rooted in this life and his primary aim was to develop an ideal
state. In contrast, Upanishadic focus was the individual, the self (atman,
soul), self-knowledge, and the means of an individual's moksha
(freedom, liberation in this life or after-life).
Translations
The Upanishads have been translated into various
languages including Persian,
Italian, Urdu, French, Latin, German, English, Dutch, Polish, Japanese, Spanish and Russian.The Moghul Emperor Akbar's reign
(1556–1586) saw the first translations of the Upanishads into Persian. His
great-grandson, Sultan Mohammed Dara Shikoh, produced a collection
called Oupanekhat in 1656, wherein 50 Upanishads were translated from
Sanskrit into Persian.
Anquetil Duperron, a French Orientalist received a manuscript of the Oupanekhat
and translated the Persian version into French and Latin, publishing the Latin
translation in two volumes in 1801–1802 as Oupneck'hat. The French
translation was never published. The Latin version was the initial introduction
of Upanishadic thought to Western scholars.However, according to Deussen, the
Persian translators took great liberties in translating the text and at times
changed the meaning.
The first Sanskrit to English translation of the Aitareya Upanishad
was made by Colebrooke,
in 1805 and the first English translation of the Kena Upanishad was made by Rammohun Roy in
1816.
The first German translation appeared in 1832 and Roer's
English version appeared in 1853. However, Max Mueller's 1879 and 1884 editions
were the first systematic English treatment to include the 12 Principal
Upanishads. Other major translations of the Upanishads have been by Robert
Ernest Hume (13 Principal Upanishads), Paul Deussen (60 Upanishads), Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(18 Upanishads), and Patrick
Olivelle (32 Upanishads in two books). Olivelle's translation won
the 1998 A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation.
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1 comment:
Thank you for sharing.. keep update.
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