Sandeepany Sadhanalaya Mumbai – 16th Residential Vedanta Course (2014-16) Brief Summary of Upanishads Studied ॥ हरय: ॐ॥ SANDEEPANY SAADHANALAYA MUMBAI 16TH RESIDENTIAL VEDANTA COURSE (2014-16) ( : Poojya Guruji Sw. Tejomayanandaji Resident : Sw. Bodhatmanandaji ) न- ॐ - - ॐ -जन- न - - न BRIEF SUMMARY OF UPANISHADS STUDIED (for basic understanding & quick reference) [ Aitareya Isha Katha Taittiriya Kena Chhandogya Kaivalya Amrita-Bindu Mundaka Prashna Mandukya ] _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Sandeepany Sadhanalaya Mumbai – 16th Residential Vedanta Course (2014-16) Brief Summary of Upanishads Studied 16TH RESIDENTIAL VEDANTA COURSE (2014-2016) BRIEF SUMMARY OF UPANISHADS STUDIED I N D E X Name of Upanishad Page No. Name of Upanishad Page No. About Upanishads 3 Atharvana-Veda Upanishads Rig-Veda Upanishad o न 82 o ऐतयमे ोऩरनषद ् 4 o न 88 Yajur-Veda Upanishads o न 94 o Shukla o न 108 . न 8 o न 111 o Krishna . कठोऩरनषद ् 10 . i 17 Invocations (शारि ऩा ) Saama-Veda Upanishads o Rig-Veda 181 o न न 31 o Yajur-Veda o न – 33 . Shukla 182 . Chapter 6 35 . Krishna 183 . Chapter 7 53 o Saama-Veda 185 . Chapter 8 67 o Atharvana-Veda 186 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Prepared by: Br. Damodara Chaitanya Proof-Reading by: Shri Siva Velu, Br. Tanmay Chaitanya & Brni. Shripriya Chaitanya _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 Sandeepany Sadhanalaya Mumbai – 16th Residential Vedanta Course (2014-16) Brief Summary of Upanishads Studied About Upanishads The word ‗Upanishad‘ means Knowledge of Self or absolute Truth, Thus, what the Upanishads indicate to us is that our absolute nature is which eliminates one‘s ignorance about one‘s own Self. Upanishads that of the Creator of Universe, the . Therefore, the endeavour generally form the concluding portion of Vedas (other portions being of human beings has to be to realise the individual‘s Oneness with Mantras, Braahmanas & Aaranyakas) and hence Upanishads are also . Because there is nothing else other than Him, everything referred to as ‗Vedanta‘. The Vedas were collated & categorised as having emerged from Him alone, merely appearing as names & forms, Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda & Atharvana-Veda by Bhagawan Veda- disappearing on Knowledge taking place. Therefore, the teachings & Vyasa. Out of 108 Upanishads available today, 10 Upanishads, on efforts of all Upanishads and other Scriptural texts are intended to which Bhagawan Adi Shankaraachaaryaji wrote exhaustive make mankind understand this aspect and gain the Knowledge of one‘s commentaries, are considered major Upanishads and they are own Self. It is true that this gaining of Knowledge may take years, extensively studied. A dialogue or a series of dialogues between a decades or even several births depending upon one‘s current level of evolution, but one has to, and will take this path eventually because Guru & his disciple/s constitutes the Upanishad, in general. that is the only option available. Thus, when one attains this The Upanishads are not a product of individual mind or intellect Knowledge of Self and identifies himself with that One-Eternal-Infinite- but revelations to the ancient Seers/Sages and intuitively gained by All-Pervading and remains in abidance of that Wisdom, there them at the height of their subtle realms during contemplation. The is no room for sorrow, fear or insecurity nor repeated births & deaths. subtle topics of absolute Truth are not expressed or explained by This is what is called , which is the ultimate goal of human Upanishads directly but revealed through indicative/implied endeavours. meaning. That is why the student necessarily needs to approach a This is what the Upanishads remind us again & again and guide us as Guru for guidance, who would decode and explain to him the to how to develop such a thought process, even in the midst of chaos of Upanishadic teaching in a way that the student could understand the world around us and even while being a part of that chaotic drama. clearly and then reflect and meditate upon it to own up that The Upanishad teaching being an altogether new concept and Knowledge. Such a student could then pass on the Knowledge to the extremely subtle, it is difficult to grasp the teaching for a gross mind, next generation, following the Guru-Shishya Parampara. which is ever restless. Therefore, the mind has to be prepared first to In ‗Upa-Ni-Shad‘, the term ‗Upa‘ means approaching a Guru (i.e. clear all the impurities in the form of our past impressions and readied being in proximity) with humility to attain the Self Knowledge, as to be calm and pure to receive this precious wisdom by developing the one cannot get Self-Knowledge from Vedanta directly, but needs a four-fold qualification (i.e. न ) as enjoined in the process to extract it, which is taught by Guru. ‗Ni‘ is sitting at the Scriptures. feet of the Guru and ‗Shad‘ indicates gaining of Self-Knowledge, The following pages contain a brief summary of Upanishads (viz., which means destroying the Ignorance about the Self. In short, Aitareya, Isha, Katha, Taittiriya, Kena, Chhandogya, Kaivalya, Amrita- Upanishad means the Knowledge of Self for eliminating the Bindu, Mundaka, Prashna & Mandukya) that were studied during the Ignorance about the Self which is gained by a resolute student by two-year residential programme conducted in Sandeepany approaching a qualified Guru and sitting at his feet (i.e. by serving Sadhanalaya. The brief summary is intended to serve as a quick the Guru) with all humility. Another meaning of Upanishad by reference paper for basic understanding of Upanishads, both for Sureshvaracharyaji is - ―that which leads the Seeker of Liberation to students and those who are interested to know about Upanishads, as it may eventually lead them to study of Scriptures. Grateful Salutations realise the true nature of Self, by destroying his ignorance about the to Poojya Gurudev, Poojya Guruji, Poojya Acharyaji & the entire Self along with all ignorance-based effects, i.e. desires, jealousy, pride, Guru-Parampara. fear, finitude, desire-prompted actions, attachment & aversion, etc.‖ ॐ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 Sandeepany Sadhanalaya Mumbai – 16th Residential Vedanta Course (2014-16) Brief Summary of Upanishads Studied ऐतयमे ोऩरनषद ्(Rig-Veda) CONTENT DETAILS Chapter (C)/ No. of Khanda (K) Mantras Brief Description Highlights of the This Upanishad is named after its author, viz., Aitareya Rishi and the Upanishad appears in Brahmana portion of Rig- Upanishad: Veda. ऐतयमे ोऩरनषद ्is the only Upanishad from Rig-Veda amongst major Upanishads. Our Poojya Gurudev refers to this Upanishad as the scripture of the common man for its simplicity and clarity of presentation. One of the four famous Mahavakyas – प्रऻान ब्रह्म (Consciousness is Brahman), is given in this Upanishad (Ch.III/M-3). In this Upanishad, Self-Knowledge is imparted through the method of Superimposition & Negation (अध्यायोऩ-अऩवाद), i.e. elaborate description of creation superimposed upon Brahman, the Truth and then its negation, to essentially indicate that Brahman is the substratum of the entire creation. As Poojya Gurudev has explained in his commentary, the purpose of bringing the creation in the picture is to help the anxious seekers by showing them the Infinite Truth, which is beyond the comprehension of the seeker, in a manner which could be grasped in the initial stages of spiritual practice. The seeker is first taken through the creation process of Universe, as if it emerged from the Infinite Truth and then even as the seeker starts understanding the totality and oneness of the creation as Brahman alone, the creation is negated. Creation is only a relative phenomena and from the point of Brahman, there is no creation and Brahman is अकता ा (like effects of heat, light, etc. from the Sun is relative phenomena and from the point of Sun, he is अकता).ा It is like different ornaments made of gold. Though the ornaments are in different shapes with different utilities, each with a different name for transactional purpose, the essence of all of them is understood as gold alone. In the same way, the entire creation of forms is shown as appearing in different names with the one substratum, i.e. Brahman, with the forms that are experienced being unreal and only having a relative reality, like those seen in a dream, a snake seen on a rope, or water seen in desert in the form of mirage. C-I / K-1 4 This Khanda (Section) takes the seeker through the process of creation of the universe (14 worlds) and all the devatas presiding over this creation. It is indicated that in the beginning, there was Self (आत्मा) alone. Then, the Ishwara (i.e. the Self with Maya) created these worlds – अम्भ् (Water-Cloud), भयीरच् (Light-Rays), भ ्(Death) and आऩ: (Water). To protect the worlds so created, He created „Purusha‘ in human form from the waters and shaped him with different limbs by meditating (thinking about the creation) on the form. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4 Sandeepany Sadhanalaya Mumbai – 16th Residential Vedanta Course (2014-16) Brief Summary of Upanishads Studied