The 10 Great Upanishads: Their Essence Revealed Through Simple Questions And Answers

102 Pages·2016·3.89 MB·English

by  Giridhar Boray

THE
10 GREAT
UPANISHADS
THEIR ESSENCE REVEALED THROUGH SIMPLE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Dr. Giridhar Boray
THE 10 GREAT UPANISHADS
First published in India in 2016 by
Yogi Impressions Books Pvt. Ltd.
1711, Centre 1, World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai 400 005, India.
Website: www.yogiimpressions.com

First Edition, September 2016

Copyright © 2016 by Dr. Giridhar Boray
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, or
transmitted in any form, without written permission from the publisher, except
by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review; nor may any part of
this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other,
without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-93-82742-50-0
Contents
Foreword
Introduction

The Ishavasya Upanishat
The Kena Upanishat
The Katha Upanishat
The Shatprashna Upanishat
The Mundaka Upanishat
The Mandukya Upanishat
The Taittiriya Upanishat
The Aitareya Upanishat
The Chandogya Upanishat
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishat

Epilogue
About the Author
FOREWORD
I am indebted to Dr. Giridhar Boray for this invitation to write a Foreword to his
commentaries on the The 10 Great Upanishads. Dr. Boray has had a
distinguished career as a technology adviser. Study of the Indian scriptures has
been his special interest.
Upanishads mark a quintessential expression of the ultimate vision of
‘Reality’ in man’s eternal spiritual quest. “The Upanishads” says Dr.
Radhakrishnan, “represent a great chapter in the history of the human spirit and
have dominated Indian philosophy, religion and life for 3000 years. Every
subsequent religious movement has had to show itself to be in accord with their
philosophical statements. Even doubting and denying spirits found in them
anticipations of their hesitancies, misgivings and negations.”
In the tradition of Vedanta, there are two main schools. One is the school of
Vedantic Theism; the other the Vedantic Absolutism. There are many
sampradayas (traditions) within each of them. The Upanishadic texts are
invoked by either side. The epistemology of the non-dualistic standpoint is that
problems are inexplicable on the level of relative experience. Only when this
level is transcended is there any more the need to solve them. Vedantic Theism
postulates one supreme God who creates, sustains, regulates, destroys the
Universe and all within it. He is Sat, Chit, Ananda (truth, consciousness, bliss)
with inexhaustible, infinite attributes and is transcendent and immanent
unconditioned by space and time.
There are certain interpretations touching the apparent contradictions and
antagonisms between the fundamental postulates of the liturgical and ritualistic
expositions of the Samhitas (most ancient layer of text in the Vedas, consisting
of mantras, hymns, prayers, etc.) in the Vedic literature on the one hand, and the
purely philosophical positions of the Para Vidya (higher knowledge) in the
Upanishads on the other. These are perceived by some as a revolt against, and
reaction to, the ‘Karma’ sections of the Samhitas and a spirit of denunciation
implicit therein. The Meemamsakaras stand by the liturgical and ritualistic parts
of the Vedas. These areas of great debate amongst scholars are at once
prodigious and illuminating. The range and depth of these debates indicate the
heights of Indian spiritual thought.
On many an occasion, Western philosophers seemed to claim that ‘rigorous
philosophy’ has been an exclusively Western phenomenon. But a professor of
Philosophy at Harvard observed, “By now it is pretty well recognized that Asia
generally, and India in particular, has a philosophical heritage as rich, subtle, and
variegated in its own ways as is that of the West.” He added, “Bertrand Russell
has not stood out during his lifetime as an admirer of Asian thought but, long
after his contributions to mathematical logic have been forgotten, his History of
Western Philosophy may be remembered, not for its contents but for its title
which, in the Western world, was the first to have the grace to recognize that
Western philosophy is not synonymous with philosophy generally.”
Western philosophy makes no distinction between the ‘Mind’ and the
‘Knowing self ’. Mind is more or less equated to consciousness. But traditional
Indian philosophy clearly separates the ‘Atman’ from the ‘Mind’.
Dr. Boray portrays in these essays the didactic spirit of the Upanishadic quest.
The presentation of the ‘Questions and Answers’ method in the Upanishadic
texts exemplify the pariprasna (inquiry) technique of exchange of knowledge.
Particularly interesting are examples of this from the Brihadaranyaka by the
author. The present generation of Homo economicus, distanced from Indian
spirituality, needs an introduction to the sublimity and lofty richness of the
Upanishadic treasure. The learned author seems well-equipped to anticipate the
doubts of the well-meaning modern generation as, indeed, he himself has spent
successful professional time in the West.
He deserves our appreciation for his deep study of the message of the
Upanishads, and for giving us the rich and rewarding results of his studies.

Bangalore
August 16, 2016
– Padma Vibhushan
Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah
Hon’ble Chief Justice (Retd.)
of Supreme Court of India
INTRODUCTION
As civilisations evolve over time, progress is increasingly measured in terms of
material comforts with very little attention being paid to the overall quality of
life. Modern medicine is singularly focussed on extending one’s life without
much regard to the maintenance or extension of inner happiness. In their eternal
and unending quests for material riches, human beings have usurped the natural
habitats of other species and destroyed the ecological balance resulting in
catastrophic natural disasters with increased frequency. Accompanying these
natural disasters are the battles within, where humans are increasingly resorting
to substance abuse and similar self-destructive behaviour, as their search for a
perfect life, full of unending material comforts and eternal youth, leads to
emptiness.
Great civilisations before our times have not had the same levels of material
comforts as we have access to, but have confronted issues such as the purpose of
life, moral decline, etc. Their trials and travails have been well chronicled in
scriptures such as the Upanishads. Humans have a tendency to look at history
and classify time epochs as pre-historic, medieval, etc., which often are code
words for periods dominated by subhuman behaviour among races.
There is a growing movement among modern-day intellectuals who proclaim
that the advances in science and technology have resulted in faster means of
communication and this, in turn, has resulted in a better and more intelligent
world. This belief confuses information for knowledge. Even a cursory review of
great scriptures such as the Vedas reveal the evolved thought processes and
arguments that only a highly evolved race can put forth. Yet, all these occurred
over thousands of years ago where sharing of information among people was
limited. In fact, the Vedas predate invention of script and the concept of writing,
and were orally transmitted by a teacher to a pupil. The Vedas and their
components such as the Upanishads represent millions of years of evolved
thought processes carried through generations, and are as relevant and fresh
today as they have ever been.
‘Upanishat’, a Sanskrit word, means ‘higher knowledge’. The Upanishads are
a part of the Vedas, the ancient scriptures that shape the Hindu school of
thought. It is believed that the Vedas always existed and are not authored by
anyone, human or divine. However, by divine arrangement, specific aspects of
the Vedas were revealed to the sages. As the Upanishads are ‘seen’ by sages,
they are called ‘seers’. This then gets passed on to succeeding generations
verbally by a teacher to a student and so on.
The Vedas, which literally mean ‘knowledge’, are infinite and eternal, and
thus it stands to reason that the Upanishads, that are a part of the Vedas, are also
infinite. They are revealed to deserving individuals at different times. However,
about 108 Upanishads are recognised by scholars and among these 108
Upanishads, 10 Upanishads are extensively studied, interpreted, and commented
upon by leading Hindu theologians. The greatness of the Upanishads is reiterated
by the fact that many of the passages appearing in them find mention in the
Bhagavad Gita, which forms a part of the great epic Mahabharata. While
excellent commentaries and translations of these Upanishads exist in many
Indian languages, very few are available in English. Many of the works in
English on the Upanishads are scholarly writings that are beyond the
understanding of most people. This book attempts to bring out the essential
concepts of the Upanishads in simple English, and therefore avoids the use of
too many Sanskrit terms in order to make it more accessible.
The content of these Upanishads is often a lecture by a teacher to a student,
and hence ideally lends itself to a Question and Answer (Q&A) format. Some
questions are directly taken from the Upanishads, while others have been framed
in such a way that the answers are the teachings from that particular Upanishat.
The book contains 10 chapters, each devoted to one of the 10 Upanishads.
The subtitles of the chapters are chosen to convey the core theme in each
Upanishat. For the purpose of keeping the writing simple, I have used the
pronoun ‘him’ throughout, whereas of course ‘him’ or ‘her’ is meant and may be
read interchangeably.
Chapter 1
THE ISHAVASYA UPANISHAT
An Ode to Trusteeship
One should aspire to live for a hundred years discharging one’s assigned
responsibilities. Such a person will never be tainted by the consequences of his
deeds.
– Ishavasya Upanishat, Verse 2

Presented here is a summary of teachings enumerated in Ishavasya Upanishat, a
short scripture comprising 20 hymns. The central concept of this Upanishat is
‘trusteeship’. This is clear from the context in which this Upanishat was revealed
to the sage Swayambhuva Manu who is entrusted with the affairs of the universe
for a specified sub-cycle called the Manvantara (duration of a Manu, or his life
span). While time is infinite, creation, existence and destruction of the universe
occurs in cycles called kalpa which has a duration of 311.04 trillion years. A
sub-cycle of a kalpa lasts for about 306.72 million years.
It is said that Manu was attacked by demons with the intention to disrupt the
functioning of the universe. So, Manu began praying to the Lord Almighty to
help him discharge his responsibilities of conducting the affairs of the universe.
It is at this time that this Upanishat was revealed to Manu. Consequently, the
issues covered in it deal with the concept and various facets of trusteeship. It
must be noted that the teachings of this Upanishat apply to all trustees, with