[Chaturamnaya] Upanishads - 2

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 

1. lsaavaasya or Isa Upanishad
 
It is placed at the end of Sukla Yajur Veda's Samhita portion. It begins with
the words "Ishaa vaasyam" and hence the name. The Upanishad begins by saying
that Iswara pervades the whole cosmic makeup and one should attain the state of
realization of this "paramaatma tattva" by dedicating one's fruit of all
karmas to That Divinity alone!
 
IshA vAsyamidaM sarvaM yatkiM cha jagatyAM jagat.h .
tena tyaktena bhu~njIthA mA gR^idhaH kasya sviddhanam.h ..
 
2. Kenopanishad
 
This Upanishad starts with the word "kena" and so the name. It is also called
talavakaara upanishad since it appears in the talavakaara braahmaNa of the
Jaimini saakha of Saama veda. This describes how the Mother Herself enlightened
Indra with divine wisdom to understand the nature of paramaatman. It is glorified
with a saying "search for whatever is lost in kena"! The Upanishad starts with
a set of questions, "Willed by whom does the directed mind go towards its object?
Being directed by whom does the vital force that precedes all proceed (towards its duty)?
By whom is this speech willed that people utter? Who is the effulgent being who
directs the eyes and the ears? The Upanishad proceeds to declare that "It (Brahman)
is known to him to whom It is unknown; he does not know to whom It is known. It is unknown
to those who know well and known to those who do not know" - an intense and
minute analysis!
 
3. Kathopanishad
 
This upanishad occurs in the "kathaka Saakha" of Krishna Yajur Veda. It contains
the dialog between the Lord of Death and Nachiketas a young boy who demanded to
know the answer for the question , "what happens to the soul after deathbed Although
it begins with a stored it expounds a great truth that the Atma is different from the
body and all afflictions of the body (like anger, hatred, likes, passion etc.) and
so one should train the mind to view the body as an external object to Atman.
 
4-6 Prasna, Mundaka and Maandukya Upanishads
 
These three belong to Atharva Veda. Prasnopanishad deals with the analysis of
six questions (praSna means question) and they are:
1. How creation began? 2. Devas are whom? 3. How body and life are connected?
4. What are three states - wakefulness dream and deep sleep?
5. What is the benefit of worshipping the Pranava?
6 . What is the relation between Purusha and Jiva?
 
Mundaka Upanishad is believed to be followed by sannyaasins with detached
disposition of the phenomenal world. The term mundaka means
"fully shaven head" or "tonsure". The upanishad deals with
'akshara brahman' which may mean either the one which is free from
dissolution (decay) or "syllable" . The imagery of the Jivaatma and
Paramaatma as two birds perched on the tree of sareera (body) where the
Jiva bird eats the fruits of action and the paramaatma bird remains a
mere witness is given in this Upanishad the motto of India,
"Truth alone triumphs" is also derived from this upanishad!
 
satyameva jayate naanR^itaM satyena panthaa vitato devayaanaH
 
The smallest of all upanishads is Maandukya upanishad (contains only twelve
mantras!). Manduka means "frog". As a frog can leap from the first to
the fourth step of a stairs without having to climb each stair this
upanishad gives the way to transcend the three stages of awakening (jaagrati),
dream (swapna), and sleep (susupti) and reach the fourth stage of turiya
through the worship of Pranava.
 

(To be continued)