In our inspired moments we have the feeling that there is greater reality within us, though we cannot tell what it is. From the movements that stir in us and the utterances that issue from us, we perceive the power, not ourselves that moves us. Religious experience is by no means subjective. God cannot be known or experienced except through his own act. If we have a knowledge of Brahman, it is due to the working of Brahman in us. Prayer is the witness to the spirit of the transcendent divine immanent in the spirit of man. The thinkers of the Upanishads based the reality of Brahman on the fact of spiritual experience, ranging from simple prayer to illuminated experience. The distinctions which they make in the nature of the Supreme Reality are not merely logical. They are facts of spiritual experience.
A Supreme has this fourfold character, why it is what it is, we can only accapt it as the given reality. It is the ultimate irrationality in the sense that no logical derivation of the given is possible. It is apprehended by us in spiritual consciousness, and accounts for the nature of experience in all its aspects. It is the only philosophical explanation that is possible or necessary.
'Who knows and who can declare what pathway leads to the gods?
Seen are their lowest dwelling-places only;
What pathway leads to the highest, most secret regions?'
It is said that the Self cannot be realised except by those whom the Self chooses. Self-realisation is possible through the grace of the Divine. God-vision is the fruit of strenous effort and Divine grace. Only the Spirit in us can raise us to the spiritual status.
The individual should develop the habit of introversion of abstracting from the outside world and looking within himself. By a process of abstraction we get behind knowing, feeling and willing to the essential Self, the God within. We must silence our speech, mind and will. We cannot hear the voice of the still spirit in us, so long as we are lost in vain talk, mental rambling and empty desires. The mind must strip away its outer sheaths in complete detachment, return to its inward quiet and fix its attention on the essential Self which is the ground and reality of the whole universe. The Mundaka Upanishad brings out the need for concentrated attention and undistracted effort. An ordered, disciplined training of all our powers, a change of mind, heart and will is demanded.
The knower of Atman is like a man who is awakened from sleep and dreams no more of empty things. He is like a man who, having been sick, is now whole again; he is like a man who, having been blind, has received back his eyesight. The Knowledge of the Self liberates a man from desire, fear, and death.
He who knows the Self is liberated; even the gods cannot prevent his being so, because he has realized himself to be the very Soul of the gods. 'He who knows the Supreme Brahman verily becomes Brahman.' He has attained the true Immortality, that is to say, indestructibility without a continued existence, and not the state of non-dying-ness in heaven. Thus, according to the Upanishads, Liberation is not the result of the Knowledge of Atman; it is that Knowledge.It is not affected by the Knoeledge of Atman; but this Knowledge is itself Libration in its fullness. Desire is death; desirelessness is Liberation. He who realized himself as Brahman, infinite and all-pervading, he who sees the whole universe in himself and himself in the universe, cannot desire anything. 'What can he crave who has attained the fulfilment of all desires?'
Rebirth
All the good and evil that befall a man during one lifetime cannot be explained if we confine our attention to this life alone. What does he know of life who only one life knows? In the narrow span of a single life we cannot possibly reap the fruit of all that we do. It is reasonable to admit the existence of a transmigrating soul in order to substantiate the general belief in moral requital. 'A mortal ripens like corn, and like corn he springs up again.' But the seed is left. We are all born with a blue-print of our life, as it were, mainly prepared by our actions in the previous life. Our present acts and thoughts are the result of our past and create our future. Man is the architect of his own fate and the builder of his own future destiny.
The assurance of rebirth may bring happiness to those who are afraid of annihilation after death or of the boredom of heaven, or who are eager to return to earth for fresh experience; but life on earth in any form cannot escape old age, disease, and death. The law of karma is inexorable here and in heaven, or, as a matter of fact, anywhere in time and space. The individual soul is bound by this chain of cause and effect. The seeker of Liberation, therefore, resolves upon 'cutting the knot' by turning away from the entire phenomenal existence of time, space, and casuality. True, the destruction of individuality and the suppression of the natural cravings are regarded by many as the severest punishment; but these are the supreme reward for the spiritual endeavour of those who aspire after true Immortality.
From the unreal, lead us to the Real.
From darkness, lead us unto Light.
From death, lead us to Immortality.
KATHA UPANISHAD
Beyond the senses are the objects; beyond the objects is the
mind; beyond the mind, the intellect; beyond the intellect, the
Great Atman; beyond the Great Atman, the Unmanifest;
beyond the Unmanifest, the Purusha. Beyond the Purusha there
is nothing: this is the end, the Supreme Goal.
What is here, the same is there and what is there, the same is
here. He goes from death to death who sees any difference
here.
He is the sun dwelling in the bright heavens. He is the air in the
interspace. He is the fire dwelling on earth. He is the guest
dwelling in the house. He dwells in men, in the gods, in truth,
in the sky. He is born in the water, on earth, in the sacrifice, on
the mountains. He is the True and the Great.
There is one Supreme Ruler, the inmost Self of all beings, who
makes His one form manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to the
wise, who perceive Him within themselves—not to others.
The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor
these lightnings—not to speak of this fire. He shining,
everything shines after Him. By His light all this is lighted.
His form is not an object of vision; no one beholds Him with
the eye. One can know Him when He is revealed by the
intellect free from doubt and by constant meditation. Those
who know this become immortal.
BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD
Lead me from the unreal to the real.
From darkness, lead us unto Light.
From death, lead us to Immortality.
When the mantra (verse) says: "Lead me from the unreal to the
real," "the unreal" means death and the "real," immortality; so it
says, "From death lead me to immortality," that is to say,
"Make me immortal."
When it says: "From darkness lead me to light," "darkness"
means death and "light," immortality; so it says: "From death
lead me to immortality," that is to say, "Make me immortal."
In the verse: "From death lead me to immortality," there is
nothing that is hidden.
In the beginning, this universe was the self (Viraj) alone, in the
shape of a person. He reflected and saw nothing else but His
self. He first said: "I am He." Therefore He came to be known
by the name I (Aham). Hence, even now, when a person is
addressed, he first says: "It is I," and then says whatever other
name he may have. And because He, before (purva) the whole
group of aspirants, burnt (aushat) all evils, therefore He is
called Purusha. He who knows this verily burns up him who
wishes to be Viraj in advance of him.
He was afraid. Therefore people still are afraid when alone. He
thought: "Since there is nothing else but Myself, what am I
afraid of?" Thereupon His fears were gone; for what was there
to fear? Assuredly, it is from a second entity that fear arises.
In the words of Gaudapada:
THERE IS NEITHER DEATH NOR BIRTH,
NEITHER A STRUGGLING NOR A BOUND SOUL,
NEITHER A SEEKER AFTER LIBERATION NOR A LIBERATED ONE-
THIS, INDEED, IS THE ULTIMATE TRUTH.
MUNDAKA UPANISHAD
Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.
Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken, when the fruit of their work is exhausted.
Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.
A Supreme has this fourfold character, why it is what it is, we can only accapt it as the given reality. It is the ultimate irrationality in the sense that no logical derivation of the given is possible. It is apprehended by us in spiritual consciousness, and accounts for the nature of experience in all its aspects. It is the only philosophical explanation that is possible or necessary.
'Who knows and who can declare what pathway leads to the gods?
Seen are their lowest dwelling-places only;
What pathway leads to the highest, most secret regions?'
It is said that the Self cannot be realised except by those whom the Self chooses. Self-realisation is possible through the grace of the Divine. God-vision is the fruit of strenous effort and Divine grace. Only the Spirit in us can raise us to the spiritual status.
The individual should develop the habit of introversion of abstracting from the outside world and looking within himself. By a process of abstraction we get behind knowing, feeling and willing to the essential Self, the God within. We must silence our speech, mind and will. We cannot hear the voice of the still spirit in us, so long as we are lost in vain talk, mental rambling and empty desires. The mind must strip away its outer sheaths in complete detachment, return to its inward quiet and fix its attention on the essential Self which is the ground and reality of the whole universe. The Mundaka Upanishad brings out the need for concentrated attention and undistracted effort. An ordered, disciplined training of all our powers, a change of mind, heart and will is demanded.
The knower of Atman is like a man who is awakened from sleep and dreams no more of empty things. He is like a man who, having been sick, is now whole again; he is like a man who, having been blind, has received back his eyesight. The Knowledge of the Self liberates a man from desire, fear, and death.
He who knows the Self is liberated; even the gods cannot prevent his being so, because he has realized himself to be the very Soul of the gods. 'He who knows the Supreme Brahman verily becomes Brahman.' He has attained the true Immortality, that is to say, indestructibility without a continued existence, and not the state of non-dying-ness in heaven. Thus, according to the Upanishads, Liberation is not the result of the Knowledge of Atman; it is that Knowledge.It is not affected by the Knoeledge of Atman; but this Knowledge is itself Libration in its fullness. Desire is death; desirelessness is Liberation. He who realized himself as Brahman, infinite and all-pervading, he who sees the whole universe in himself and himself in the universe, cannot desire anything. 'What can he crave who has attained the fulfilment of all desires?'
Rebirth
All the good and evil that befall a man during one lifetime cannot be explained if we confine our attention to this life alone. What does he know of life who only one life knows? In the narrow span of a single life we cannot possibly reap the fruit of all that we do. It is reasonable to admit the existence of a transmigrating soul in order to substantiate the general belief in moral requital. 'A mortal ripens like corn, and like corn he springs up again.' But the seed is left. We are all born with a blue-print of our life, as it were, mainly prepared by our actions in the previous life. Our present acts and thoughts are the result of our past and create our future. Man is the architect of his own fate and the builder of his own future destiny.
The assurance of rebirth may bring happiness to those who are afraid of annihilation after death or of the boredom of heaven, or who are eager to return to earth for fresh experience; but life on earth in any form cannot escape old age, disease, and death. The law of karma is inexorable here and in heaven, or, as a matter of fact, anywhere in time and space. The individual soul is bound by this chain of cause and effect. The seeker of Liberation, therefore, resolves upon 'cutting the knot' by turning away from the entire phenomenal existence of time, space, and casuality. True, the destruction of individuality and the suppression of the natural cravings are regarded by many as the severest punishment; but these are the supreme reward for the spiritual endeavour of those who aspire after true Immortality.
From the unreal, lead us to the Real.
From darkness, lead us unto Light.
From death, lead us to Immortality.
Beyond the senses are the objects; beyond the objects is the
mind; beyond the mind, the intellect; beyond the intellect, the
Great Atman; beyond the Great Atman, the Unmanifest;
beyond the Unmanifest, the Purusha. Beyond the Purusha there
is nothing: this is the end, the Supreme Goal.
What is here, the same is there and what is there, the same is
here. He goes from death to death who sees any difference
here.
He is the sun dwelling in the bright heavens. He is the air in the
interspace. He is the fire dwelling on earth. He is the guest
dwelling in the house. He dwells in men, in the gods, in truth,
in the sky. He is born in the water, on earth, in the sacrifice, on
the mountains. He is the True and the Great.
There is one Supreme Ruler, the inmost Self of all beings, who
makes His one form manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to the
wise, who perceive Him within themselves—not to others.
The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor
these lightnings—not to speak of this fire. He shining,
everything shines after Him. By His light all this is lighted.
His form is not an object of vision; no one beholds Him with
the eye. One can know Him when He is revealed by the
intellect free from doubt and by constant meditation. Those
who know this become immortal.
BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD
Lead me from the unreal to the real.
From darkness, lead us unto Light.
From death, lead us to Immortality.
When the mantra (verse) says: "Lead me from the unreal to the
real," "the unreal" means death and the "real," immortality; so it
says, "From death lead me to immortality," that is to say,
"Make me immortal."
When it says: "From darkness lead me to light," "darkness"
means death and "light," immortality; so it says: "From death
lead me to immortality," that is to say, "Make me immortal."
In the verse: "From death lead me to immortality," there is
nothing that is hidden.
In the beginning, this universe was the self (Viraj) alone, in the
shape of a person. He reflected and saw nothing else but His
self. He first said: "I am He." Therefore He came to be known
by the name I (Aham). Hence, even now, when a person is
addressed, he first says: "It is I," and then says whatever other
name he may have. And because He, before (purva) the whole
group of aspirants, burnt (aushat) all evils, therefore He is
called Purusha. He who knows this verily burns up him who
wishes to be Viraj in advance of him.
He was afraid. Therefore people still are afraid when alone. He
thought: "Since there is nothing else but Myself, what am I
afraid of?" Thereupon His fears were gone; for what was there
to fear? Assuredly, it is from a second entity that fear arises.
In the words of Gaudapada:
THERE IS NEITHER DEATH NOR BIRTH,
NEITHER A STRUGGLING NOR A BOUND SOUL,
NEITHER A SEEKER AFTER LIBERATION NOR A LIBERATED ONE-
THIS, INDEED, IS THE ULTIMATE TRUTH.
MUNDAKA UPANISHAD
Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.
Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken, when the fruit of their work is exhausted.
Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.
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