daveh@tekcrl.UUCP (10/10/86)
The information presented here is taken from the introduction to the Penguin Classics "Upanishads". There is much, more in the introduction that because of space I cannot include. If any one is interested in what the contemporary religions are about and do not want to do alot of research, try the Penguin Classics. Besides being informative, there are all kinds of references for those who are interested in finding out more. The Upanishads are spiritual treatises of different length, the oldest of which were composed between 800 and 400 B.C. The Sanskrit word Upanishad, (Upa-ni-shad) would mean a sitting, an instruction, the sitting at the feet of a master. When we read in the Gospels that Jesus "went up into a mountain: and when he set, his disciples came unto him" we can imagine them sitting at the feet of their Master and the whole Sermon on the Mount might be considered an Upanishad. The spirit of the Upanishads can be compared with that of the New Testament summed up in the words "I and my Father are one" and "The Kingdom of God is within you", the seed of which is found in the words of the Psalms "I have said: Ye are gods; and all of you are the children of the most high". One of the messages of the Upanishads is that the Spirit can only be known through union with him, and not through mere learning. Can any amount of learning make us feel love, or see beauty, or hear the "unheard melodies? And so the Upanishads is summed up in the words "That thou art". Salvation is communion with Truth, says the Mundaka Upanishad, "Truth is victory", to find truth is to conquer. The joy of the Infinite is ever with us, but we do not know this truth. The spirit of the Upanishads is the Spirit of the Universe. Brahman, God himself is the underlying spirit. The Holy Spirit may be the nearest translation of Brahman in the Christian language. While God the Father and God the son are in the foreground of the mind of many Christians, the Holy Spirit seems to receive less aboration. And in India the Brahman of the Upanishads is not as popular as Siva, Vishnu, or Krishna. Even Brahma, the manifestation of Brahman as creator, and not to be confused with him, is not living in the daily devotions of the Hindu, as are the two other gods of the trinity, Siva and Vishnu. Brahman in the Universe, God in his transcendence and immanence is also the Spirit of man, the Self in every one and in all, Atman. Thus the momentous statement is made in the Upanishads that God must not be sought as something far away, separate from us, but rather as the very inmost of us, as the higher Self in us above the limitations of our little self. In rising to the best in us we rise to the Self in us, to Brahman, to God himself. Brahman is described as immanent and transcendent, within all and outside all. If the All is imagined as a triangle, the apex might be imagined as God transcendent, who in his expansion creates matter out of himself, not out of nothing, thus becomes immanent until the end of evolution when the immanent has all again become transcendent in an ascension of evolution towards him. Why? For the joy of creation. Why is there evil? For the joy of good arising from it. Why darkness? That the light may shine the more. Why suffering? For the instruction of the soul and joy of sacrifice. Why the infinite play of creation and evolution? For Anandam, pure joy. According to the Upanishads, the reality of God can only be apprehended in a consciousness of joy that is beyond ordinary consciousness. The silent voice of the Eternal is perpetually whispering in us his melodies everlasting. The radiance of the Infinite is everywhere, but our ears cannot gear and our eyes cannot see: The Eternal cannot be grasped by the transient mind. This is beautifully expressed in the Taittiriya Upanishad: "Words and mind go to him, but reach him not and return. But he who knows the joy of Brahman fears no more. The Isa Upanishad is rather short, 18 verses. There are 112 Upanishad in all, filling a text about the size of the Bible. Because the Isa Upanishad is short and is also one of the most important Upanishads, I am including it in this posting. Isa Upanishad Behold the universe in the glory of God: and all that lives and moves on the earth. Leaving the transient, find joy in the Eternal: set not your heart on anothers possession. Working thus, a man may wish for a life of a hundred years. Only actions done in God bind not the soul of man. There are demon-haunted worlds, regions of utter darkness. Whoever in life denies the Spirit falls into that darkness of death. The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the mind; the senses cannot reach him: He is ever beyond them. Standing still he overtakes those who run. To the ocean of his being, the spirit of life leads the stream of action. He moves, and he moves not. He is far, and he is near. He is within all, and he is outside all. Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. When a sage sees this great Unity and his Self has become all beings, what delusion and what sorrow can ever be near him? The Spirit filled all with his radiance. He is incorporeal and invulnerable, pure and untouched be evil. He is the supreme seer and thinker, immanent and transcendent. He placed all things in the path of Eternity. Into deep darkness fall those who follow action. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow knowledge. One is the outcome of knowledge, and another is the outcome of action. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us. He who knows both knowledge and action, with action overcomes death and with knowledge reaches immortality. Into deep darkness fall those who follow the immanent. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow the transcendent. One is the outcome of the transcendent, and another is the outcome of the immanent. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explain this truth to us. He who knows both the transcendent and the immanent, with the immanent overcomes death and with the transcendent reaches immortality. The face of truth remains hidden behind a circle of gold. Unveil it, O god of light, that I may behold thy radiant form: that Spirit far away within thee is my own inmost Spirit. May life go to immortal life, and the body go to ashes. om. O my soul, remember past strivings, remember! O my soul, remember past strivings, remember. By the path of good lead us to final bless, O fire divine thou god who knowest all ways. deliver us from wandering evil. Prayers and adoration we offer unto thee. Dave Hatcher