April 2019 The Vedanta Kesari
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fourth stage Turiya. Whatever may be the fact, this Upanishad is the smallest having only 12 mantras which are albeit very important in their content. Taittiriya Upanishad: This is a widely studied Upanishad; many of the mantras used in rituals are taken from this. This Upanishad is divided into three parts Shikshavalli that talks about education, Anandavalli that talks about the real bliss – Brahmananda, and Bhrigu Valli which Varuna taught his son Bhrigu. It is said that Bhrigu did penance and realised that beyond the different layers of the human body called Annamaya, Praanamaya, Manomaya and Vijnanamaya, lies sheer bliss called the anandamaya. But what is interesting is that after the ultimate realisation, the Upanishad proclaims, ‘Do not regard food with contempt; do not waste food’ – some practical wisdom! Aitareya: This Upanishad came through a Rishi called Itareya. The subject matter of this Upanishad concentrates on the birth of a human according to sins and merits earned by him. Chhandogya: It is one of the two big Upanishads, the other being the ‘These conceptions of the Vedanta must come out, must remain not only in the forest, not only in the cave, but they must come out to work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit, and in the cottage of the poor man, with the fishermen that are catching fish, and with the students that are studying... How can the fishermen and all these carry out the ideals of the Upanishads? The way has been shown. . . If the fisherman thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if the student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better student. If the lawyer thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better lawyer, and so on...’ —Swami Vivekananda
Brihadaranyaka. This Upanishad is a part of Sama Veda. Chhandoga means one who sings the Sama Gana. Just as the essence of the Kathopanishad can be found in the Bhagavad Gita, one can find the Brahma Sutra of Vyasa drawing upon the Chhandogya Upanishad mantras. The famous story of Satyakama Jabala is found here. Brihadaranyaka: As its name brihat indicates, this Upanishad is indeed big. The Upanishad starts with the famous mantra that is a school prayer for many today, असतो मा सद्गमय, तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय, मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ‘From evil lead me to good. From darkness lead me to light. From death lead me to immortality.’ This Upanishad also gives the definition of Atma as neti, neti meaning, ‘not this’, ‘not this.’ This is a very concise account of the subject matter of the Upanishads. However, the Upanishads and the Vedas as a whole not merely talk about abstract philosophy. Their hymns are addressed to various Gods. Who is the God described as the greatest by the Vedas? We will find out about this in the next episode. (To be continued. . .)
