[Chaturamnaya] Upanishads - 4

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 

9. Chaandogya Upanishad
 
This is placed in the chaandogya braahmana portion of saama veda.
The term 'chaandoga' means 'the one who sings the saama gaana'.
This Upanishad deals with several disciplines (vidya) like akshi vidya,
aakaasa vidya, saandilya vidya, praana vidya, panchaagni vidya etc.
The most important vidya is dahara vidya which deals with the realization
of the limitless spatial expanse of the Paramaatman within the small
space (aakaasa) of the Jiva. It contains several popular stories such
as that of Satyakaama, Uddalaka Aaruni etc . This also gives the famous
mahaavaakya "tat tvam asi"!
 
10. Brihadaaranyka Upanishad
 
This is the biggest of all the Upanishads and occurs as the entire
aaranyaka portion of sukla yajur veda! There are two versions of this,
the Maadhyandina version and the Kaanva version. Adi Sankara's commentary
is on the Kaanva version only. It contains 3 kaandas (Madhu, Muni and
Khila kaandas) divided into six chapters. In this Upanishad the Atman
is described through a series of negations as "not this not this"
known as neti neti (na + iti) vaada . According to this argument,
the world, the body and the mind have to be negated and the Atman is
realized as transcending any description through words! It starts
with the famous saying,
 
Asato maa sadgamaya . tamaso maa jyotirgamaya .
mR^ityormaa amR^itaM gamaya ..
 
(lead me (by giving knowledge) from unreal to real;
from darkness (ignorance) to light;
from death (limitation) to immortality (limitless) ).
 
This Upanishad relates stories of brahma jnanis like kings Ajaata Satru
and Janaka; that women were also brahma vaadins in the story of Gargi!
Madhu kaanda gives the message that everything is the manifestation of
Paramaatman and that a realized Jiva will feel that the entire creation
is as sweet as honey! Muni kaanda relates the advaitic philosophic
discussions of Sage Yaajnavalkya with King Janaka, and his council of
scholars, the sage's vedantic instructions to his wife Maittreyi etc.
Khila kaanda consolidates many messages that lie scattered at various
places (khila - scattered)!
 
If the samhita is like a tree, the braahmanas are its flowers, the
aaranyakas are the fruits in the unripened state and the upanishads
are the ripe fruits. They being the most important part of the vedas,
they are rightly known as "sruti siras" or the head of the vedas!!
 

Ref. "The Vedas", Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay 1988.
 

(Concluded)