Upanishads - An investigation - 3

The readers may see the post 'Gayatri - In the eyes of Upanishads'  which gives the view of Chandogya and Brihadaranyak Upanishad. It is really irony where those precious views were never promoted nicely.

Mundaka Upanishad (1-1-5) has kept Rig-Veda, Yajur Veda, Sam Veda, Atharva Veda, and other fields of knowledge in the category of Apara Vidya. Their fruit depends on Karma. One has to do something. Without application they are unable to give any fruit. In positive or negative way that is separate issue and while doing, one experiences that every work has got some fault and the fruit is also not permanent. Only the time period is more. The gainer suffers from fear of losing. He/she starts the game of manipulation. The person may be in any uniform, any colour, any chair, anywhere.
 It must not be taken as a rejection of ritualistic part because this part is used as a sweet dish in order to motivate people towards the goal of the Vedic literature which is knowing, remaining in true identity and on the other hand performing the duty or swadharma given at any particular point and place. 

In Paingala Upanishad, it is clearly stated, one who has tasted the nectar, water won’t give any separate satisfaction to the person concern. In the same way; one who has known his self, Veda won’t have any further use. There is no need to jump in the ocean of the scriptures. The knowledge of self is more than enough. Here, it means enlightenment and the thing needed is nidhidhyasan 'निधिध्यासन' or atmabhyasa where a seeker goes on purifying the mind and intellect which is needed because one stays in the behavior after gaining the knowledge. It is only at the level of information and needs experience or reformation in behavior due to the essence received by the Upanishads. 

The rituals are not the final thing. This is the stand point of the Charvaka School. The phrase ‘person relates self with the body’, supports the idea of body is soul.

Other Upanishads sees this in positive, practical and spiritualistic way.

Taittiriya Upanishad 1.3.7: a person having uncontrolled mind is impure. It has nothing to do with the ritual of declaring a person impure (ashouch or sutak ) due to birth or death in the family. When somebody dies in the family other members are quite upset though they have seen this in other's family. It is totally ridiculous to stop them from not doing their daily puja or worshipping in their homes. There's a trend of proving every ritual in a spiritualistic way and this was also loaded with funny reasons. It will be a waste of time and effort on knowing them. 

In the society these two issues are taken as the symbol of impurity. There are numerous do’s and don’ts imposed via these issues.

Maître Upanishad, 2.13.14: Inability to discriminate or delusion or ignorance is taken as mother and knowledge as son. The death of former and birth of later resulted in double sutak (impurity). The death means removal of ignorance about real identity. In the state of impurity, how can one perform the ritual? It is also a tradition to stop good rituals during the period of impurity. Taking sun as consciousness, it is further said; this sun shines continuously. How can on perform the ritual? According to the rules, 3 different phases – dawn, mid day and evening sun are used for performing ritual (sandhya upasana). In this, few separate lines are added to denote timings. When the sun is as it is, ritual can’t be performed. And this became the symbol of creating hatred towards females and people of so called lower caste as if caste is by birth, by forbidding them to chant gayatri mantra. In the name of reform few cults emerged and they allowed everyone to chant and perform sandhya upasana as if they were giving something from their own pocket or have got divine permission to allow everyone to participate in this. None showed the courage to place the facts hidden in the scriptures which were unbiased from starting and Upanishads had their own view on this. 

The knowledge of self is above every ritual. The Bhagavatam, 11.19.4, supports this vision. It openly rejects undue importance given to, pilgrimage, chanting, penance, charity and other forms of noble actions. Other things are attached with nature. They’re related with the body level. The realization or enlightenment takes you above that. The general information regarding self is present in the human beings. The scripture is asking in firm belief and established in that. Before that, knowledge of self is body oriented. This angle is not a personal view but Adi Shankaracharya also said like this while writing the Bhashya on Brahmasutra. 

Shrijabaladarshan Upanishad :
  The one who stays away from the knowledge of self or one's own true identity which is truly holy place (in symbolic sense)  and runs after other holy places is just like holding a glass and throwing a jewel. All the holy places are full of mud, or water or forest or mountains  or their combination so their's nothing great. They may have worshipping symbols or provide peace due to their location but they aren't equal to the status of knowledge of self. 
The one who stays with the knowledge of self which is without attributes or superimposed identity is real Agnihotri because there's continuous  oblation of ignorance which arises due to day to day behavior or contact with the world . This purifies the person and the knowledge is that fire which is needed to do demolish the ignorance which builds its own castle in the due course of time if not checked regularly.

Paramhansa Upanishad warns monks also:

There are cults in which, monk carries a wooden stick wrapped in saffron cloth. In some, it is not wrapped. Without being established in self, which is the real stick, wooden one is meant to fill belly.

Parbrahma Upanishad: According to this, knowledge of self is purest zikhA or lock. It is like a flame in which ignorance finishes its existence. The one, who wears it like a thread, is a Brahmin. Here, wearing means, established in self. The one may have knowledge of self but it isn’t necessary, he’s also established in self. That is why; scripture points this level separately. Naradaparivrajaka Upanishad supports this view.

Even the Bhagavatam, 11.18.17, says: silence is the punishment or stick of speech, doing work without being too much attached with return, is the punishment or stick of the body and breathing exercises (pranayam) is the punishment or stick of the mind. A monk having these three sticks is dandi swami (of cult mentioned before). Without those and having only a wooden stick can’t be the parameter of a monk. 

Tejo Bindu Upanishad throws light throws light on, essence of Vedic Literature, in its own style. It throws light on the  terms of yoga philosophy. It is related with inner healing. A small introduction of first chapter is as follows:

Yama is that, in which one controls all his organs (of sense and actions), through the Vijnana that all is Brahman; this must be practiced again and again. In Niyama, a continuous flow of the same thought mentioned above, takes place and abandoning of thoughts  differing from one another is practiced. The worldly matters are not entertained. The person becomes cautious towards these feelings which take him away, from his goal. The scripture is not talking about the thoughts of worldly affairs because they also may flow in the same way. The difference will be in the topic. It will go on changing. In Tyaga (renunciation), one abandons the manifestation of the universe through knowledge acquired by study, reasoning and intuition. This is practiced by the great and is the giver of immediate liberation. In Mauna (silence), speech returns along with mind, is fit to be attained by the Yogins. By speech one can’t get that level. Making one’s vision full of spiritual wisdom; one must look upon the world as full of Brahman. That vision is very noble. It is (generally) aimed at the tip of the nose; it must be directed towards the level wherein the cessation of seer, seen and sight take place and not towards the tip of the nose. One may talk about Gita where this kind of thing is mentioned. It is not a fairy tale which can be followed in one strock or by an extrovert mind. It is pointing towards concentration and not on any physical posture. 

The Pranayama (the mastering of breathing process) is that, in which control of mind through the cognition of Brahman in all the states of Chitta takes place. The checking the reality of, the universe, is said to be exhaling. The conception of ‘I am Brahman’ is inhaling. The holding on (long) to this conception without agitation is cessation of breath. Such is the practice of the enlightened. The ignorant person closes his nose. 

It is really a pathetic situation where all the universities do not care about these definitions, while teaching yoga.

This Upanishad is helping in understanding the words used in the Patanjali yoga. Few words and their definitions are given above as examples. The demons also practiced them but they didn’t follow the meaning of the Upanishad. They followed the meaning which were meant for ignorant and totally extrovert person. To some extent, yoga techniques improve health conditions but that is not the aim of yoga. Though, it is taught in that way. The people who are trained like this have a tendency of being extrovert and nuisance for the society. By practicing decoded ones, a person can feel permanent change and a chance of become more human.

The scholars or students, who give total importance to shruti pramana or sabdapramana, do not care about the definitions of yam, niyama, etc given by the above Upanishad.

Brahmabindu Upanishad says: take the essence and leave the scripture. It’s just like taking grains and leaving hay behind. It is the lust which results in, feeling of bondage. The one, who is free from it, is liberated. There is no separate existence of bondage and liberation. The one must practice control of mind till it doesn’t dissolve within. When that event takes place, it is known as, knowledge and liberation. The rest is an expansion of scripture. Here, dissolve means, detached from attachment. The wise man extracts essence and leaves the book. It is just like after thrashing the crops; a person takes grains and leaving the hay behind.

   The sadhanas for the materialistic, behavioralistic and spiritualistic progress mentioned in Brihadaranyak, Chandogya, Taitterya Upanishads are remarkable. None of them increases the issue of pollution and poverty of various types. None can say that these are not ancient Upanishads. 

   Just imagine the impact on the society if the above mentioned things were explained and included in the curriculum. All the Upanishads are not so complex as they are labeled and kept aside. Many of them deal with the style of happy management. The society of Vedic age was happy and progressive due to this.

  Many people want to know about the details or the background of that happy life and these three posts will provide the required input. The Upanishads do not talk openly on every issue but give the required hint which can be followed by using the formulas. With this, read the posts on veda and Hinduism in the blog akshaywaves.blogspot.com 
In short but brief this is available in Hindi in the blog akshayaharshudou.blogspot.com 
and in the playlist named वेद और उपनिषद (Veda and Upanishad) in the channel named Akshay Chaitanya in the youtube.