Upanishad - An investigation (1).

           An Investigation

Upanishads belongs to every individual and must not be labeled as a property of any cult, sect or preacher, region or religion. In fact when eyes of wisdom opens, the person feels their presence in the heart and from that angle Upanishads are present in everyone.  The essence of Vedic Literature is mentioned in them and numerous styles are adapted to suit the grasping power of an individual. If the meaning is taken as the  last chapter of Veda, one point must also be considered. It is the conclusion of whole text in which main purpose of the whole script is kept in short but brief. 

There is a peculiar tradition of dealing with this topic. First of all, it is divided in, Dualism or Dwaita and Non-dualism or Adwaita. Teaching and writing is done on the basis of the names of different scholars. In that also there are several heads which gives a severe blow to the literature. The cordial relation among scriptures is shattered and inner link is totally ignored. The founder of every cult was taken as incarnation of Almighty by the followers and the leader was busy in proving personal  superiority, for some, Puranas were the final thing. Things mentioned in them were taken as final verdict whereas other rejected them totally and few even rejected Gita. They don’t recognize, those Upanishads, who are against their ideology and illicit reasoning became prominent while teaching, writing and preaching. Their full time was devoted in that and  the society couldn’t receive any motivational, positive and practical approach towards the life. Teaching and preaching of Vedanta remained at information level. Every organization wants promotion of their personal books. It seems as if, there are varieties of Vedanta or natural nature. That is why; conversion of bookish information  into knowledge didn’t take place. Instead of becoming an actor or try to enlighten others, one must see personal progress. To move towards, essence of Vedic Literature, matching of scripture must be done which makes digestion  of values easy. On the one hand the -'teachers' were busy in describing or unfolding Upanishads and on the other hand most of them were promoting their lust for power, prestige and popularity. And for that balanced approach towards behavior and spiritualism was sidelined. The society's mind was diluted and the mass thought that just by attending discourses they'll grasp the essence without thinking of the change in the behavior. 
Now let us try to match and extract the juice for the proper understanding of Vedanta. The discussion will start with Upanishads. Due to sponsored intelligence, several questions are raised without thinking on them. Some of them are:--

 How many Upanishads are there? Who was the writer? Which is the first one? What is written in them? Just keep them aside. Read them, after following our views. Then only you’ll understand.

There are only 2-3 mantra of few Upanishad in Veda. Later on they were expanded by others. They must not be taken as a part of Veda. Mahavakayas are mere labels. What about other vakyas? Other religions do not talk about God as a separate entity, what about Upanishads? They're influenced by jainism? 

There is no clear cut answer about the number of Upanishads and normally it is said that every branch of expanded veda had one upanishad of its own. The word expansion denotes the part added by the devoted students which means Samveda had 1000 Upanishads because it had the same number of branches.  Instead of quarreling about the number, one must take the essence because most of the branches are no more visible. Regarding the authorship, sages of Vedic Age were writers. They were seers of the mantras or the information was revealed to them. A person may think why it was revealed to a small group by the Almighty and rest of the mass was left in the hands of those messengers who were also haunted by their own vested interest. Why the process of revealing has stopped? 
 To receive the signal properly the receiver of the electronic gadget must be switched on and stay in  working condition. If both things are absent signal can't be received. The same thing happened in the case of revealing where quality of the person concerned was of that level in which signal from the almighty were easily received. Currently the people aren't interested in improving their quality and there is a vast difference in mental and intellectual views. And even the body language comes with an opposite version.  One can also see the matter in another way which says that things happens according to the cosmic requirements and currently there is no need of that level of receiver. 
 Some Upanishads were written in the period of incarnation. Everybody knows about the first one; it is Ishavashya Upanishad, found in the 40^th chapter of Yajurveda. Regarding the rest, they are scattered in Aranyaka or Brahmana part. Many cults do not take most of them as a part of Veda because smell of history comes from them. HOW? There are names of sages and the rulers who were present in the history of this nation therefore they can't be taken as a part of Veda which is aporushiya (not created or written by human hands). If believers in the authenticity of Veda take it as a visible garment of the Almighty, they must allow the supreme power to teach as it thinks and stop dictating the terms. On the one hand they take Veda as God's message or manifested in verbal form and on the other hand start explaining the teaching style. The grasping power of each and every individual is different and the vedic knowledge is for all so it must be left in the hands of the God to decide the technique of imparting knowledge. 
They contain topics related with the behavioral and spiritual welfare of the mankind. In the order to  get a learned son or a daughter, detailed process is mentioned in Brhadaranyak Upanishad, for eyes, there are Chakshu and Suryo Upanishad. 
They are divided on the basis of topic and cults are busy in expressing monopoly. The division was done by unreliable scholars, who were supporter of division and sponsored by cults or academic institutions who supported the way of divide and rule.  All the Upanishads are linked and they support the essence of Vedic Literature. They denote the progress of the seeker and do not dictate terms. 

They are not as difficult, as being made famous. In fact, some of the things are presented in a simple manner. 
Every easy thing was kept hidden from the society. They were promoted as, those scriptures, who don’t have anything to do with the contemporary life or have an impact on day to day behavior.

 If anyone reads with an open heart, the person will be surprised with the treasure hidden in them. Even the special knowledge of Sanskrit is also not essential. When one reads them via commentaries, confusion will arise. Everyone is unique in its respect; grasping power of every individual is different, same thing is revealed in different ways like, some of them follow a story style and others do not. Instead of searching the links of, names present in them, one must extract the essence. When you do not follow this simple rule, one thought will come that - 'none of the Upanishad matches with one another. Everyone says different thing.' Actually , they are saying only one thing your mind is so much pre- occupied, it is unable to understand the reality. A student of class 10 won’t follow a book of university level. For learning swimming you do not jump in the English Channel directly, in starting,  a swimming pool is recommended for beginners. 

Regarding the mahavakayas, it can be said, they were promoted for discussing the essence of Vedic Literature. Other vakyas or lines don't have that thing and they are busy in  discussing a single aspect like creation of the universe or only jiva or twam (manifested form) or only unmanifested (tat) or consciousness who is omnipotent and omniscient . Directly, they do not help in discussing, the required topic and any sensible reader can understand this difference. There are three basic formulas to follow the topic of Vedic literature and they will be shown in the second part of this post. For the need of this post only one is mentioned which says about study, reasoning and experience. Though trio of three things is essential, the  pseudo scholars cleverly removed  the study part. It was done to maintain the mental slavery. None of them, openly said anything against fake books and manipulation of authentic scripture. The human civilization has tolerated these elements and the history has forgotten their names, they also won’t remember the pseudo scholars. It is simply an action of cosmic wheel which gives a chance to everyone. There is a planned uprising and downfall of dynasties and thoughts. 

In the case of mahavakyas, an interesting thing is noticed. One of them is tatwamasi. It is present in, Chandogya Upanishad chapter 6. In that Rishi Aruni, preaches to his son, Shwetketu. It is explained nine times – 6.8.7, 6.9.4, 6.10.3, 6.11.3, 6.12.3, 6.13.3, 6.14.3, 6.15.3 and 6.16.3. They’ve rejected superimposed adjective on soul. The cults have manipulated this by changing its scriptural sense. It has been changed to; tasyah twam asi (you belong to goddess – by followers of, female form of Almighty), tasya twam asi (you are his), tasmin twam asi (you are in him), tasmei twam asi (you are from him), tasmat twam asi (you have come from him). For personal devotion, it may be supported for a time or till the maturity comes or till the mind is able to stay in the unmaifestated stage.  It mustn’t be promoted in the name of scriptures or by labeling it as the essence of Vedic literature. The nine examples points towards something else and the manipulators knew, followers won’t read the whole scripture, they’ll believe their guru. Just imagine the level of lust, of scholars of different cults. For them proving own hollow outlook was more essential than anything else. This discussion isn't rejecting the manifested form because for a balance in behavior and spiritualism both are needed. Swami Ramkrishna Paramhansa supported both and clearly asked to follow them in the order to get success in the path of spiritualism. He himself use to demonstrate this by showing the love for manifested form and sometimes going to the samadhi for realizing or experiencing the unmaifestated stage. It is not the single example of the universe but a sign of ground reality. 

All the Upanishads were divided by various sects and cults and were promoted as their  personal property.  The  gurus busy in settling the scores in the name of intellectual terrorism made the matter worse by promoting personal ideology via commentaries on some  of them. If one says that the division was made for studying them in groups, it would have been correct if they were taught with an open mind which sees a link between all of them. They aren't taught in this manner and straightaway others are  rejected by giving funny reasons. The fanatic followers of rituals rejected the views of those Upanishads which are open - minded on Ashatang yoga or sacred thread or Agnihotra. According to them those Upanishads are not meant for the mass or common seekers. Nowhere this kind of thing is written in any of those Upanishads. This will be seen in the third part of this post. The books written on the use of ash or chandan aren't upanishad though they're marketed in the name of Upanishads (Gopichandanoupanishad and Bhasmoupanishad). There were few Upanishads written during or after the incarnation (Narshima, Rama, Krishna) but they go with the line of other Upanishads and don't claim any special status.
  The total focus was on the Bhashyas of Adi Shankaracharya  so all of them never cared about extracting the essence needed for balancing the behavior. Their total discussion was on the supernatural aspect which was beyond the grasping power of the society. None of them took the pain to present its useful aspect. When Akshay personally talked with a head monk of a Vaishnava cult about the implied meaning of Narayana Upanishad, since they had described in a fancy manner by proving Vishnu as supreme because the Upanishad uses the word NARAYAN again and again while describing the creation, maintenance and destruction of universe. It seems as if all other forms of almighty came from him, in fact he has himself came out from the same source. It is described in Bhagvata Mahapurana which says, when Rishi Atri was doing penance to get a child like 'Almighty', the trio -- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came before him and said that trio is known as almighty. The head monk supported but expressed his inability to accept the meaning because it will go against his guru's commentary. The Guru Gita openly asks a disciple to abandon that guru who plays with scriptures.

The story famous in the society is based on puranas but in the case of any contradiction, they are not taken as Pramana or proof. If someone thinks, there are various versions belonging to various kalpas or yugas, he's isn't doing justice to Vedic literature.
There are three formulas present to judge the authenticity of any scripture. 

From past few years the tendency of showing supremacy of Jainism or proving it to be as ancient as Hinduism is promoted. That's why it is said that Upanishads were influenced by the teaching of Tirthankara Parshwanath but none could show any proof in the support of their claim. When thought process of two or more people follow the same frequency the 'conclusion' can be same which does not mean that one is influenced by other. If this childish view becomes the parameter the holy scriptures of all the religions are influenced by one another which is absurd because there was no internet or exchange of views while the scriptures were prepared. 
Total Vedic literature is broadminded, it will be shown in further posts.