Later Upanishads - Ministry - http://maxpages.com/globalnetwork/Later

These Upanishads are being discussed in this chapter in their estimated chronological order. The
previous group is from about the sixth century BC, and thus some of them are probably
contemporary with the life of the Buddha (563-483 BC). This next group is almost certainly after
the time of the Buddha, but it is difficult to tell how old they are.

The Prashna Upanishad is also associated with the Atharva Veda and discusses six questions;
Prashna means question. Six men approached the teacher Pippalada with sacrificial fuel in hands
and questions in their minds. Pippalada agreed to answer their questions if they would live with
him another year in austerity, chastity, and faith.

The first question is, "From where are all these creatures born?"22 The answer is that the Creator
(Prajapati) wanted them, but two paths are indicated that lead to reincarnation and immortality.
The second question is how many angels support and illumine a creature and which is supreme?
The answer is space, air, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight, and hearing, but the life-breath
(prana) is supreme. The third question seeks to know the relationship between this life-breath and
the soul. The short answer is, "This life is born from the soul (atman)."23

The fourth question concerns sleep, waking, and dreams. During sleep the mind re-experiences
what it has seen and heard, felt and thought and known. When one is overcome by light, the god
dreams no longer; then all the elements return to the soul in happiness. The fifth question asks
about the result of meditating on the word Aum. When someone meditates on all three letters,
then the supreme may be attained. The sixth question asks about the Spirit with sixteen parts. The
sixteen parts of the Spirit are life, faith, space, air, light, water, earth, senses, mind, food, virility,
discipline, affirmations (mantra), action, world, and naming (individuality). All the parts are like
spokes of a wheel, the hub of which is the Spirit.

In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad monotheism takes the form of worshipping Rudra (Shiva). The
later quality of this Upanishad is also indicated by its use of terms from the Samkhya school of
philosophy. The person (Purusha) is distinguished from nature (Prakriti) which is conceived of as
illusion (maya). The method of devotion (bhakti) is presented, and the refrain "By knowing God
one is released from all fetters" is often repeated. Nevertheless the Upanishadic methods of
discipline and meditation are recommended to realize the soul by controlling the mind and
thoughts. Breathing techniques are also mentioned as is yoga. The qualities (gunas) that come
with action (karma) and its consequences are to be transcended. Liberation is still found in the
unity of God (Brahman) by discrimination (samkhya) and union (yoga). By the highest devotion
(bhakti) for God and the spiritual teacher (guru) all this may be manifested to the great soul
(mahatma).

The short Mandukya Upanishad is associated with the Atharva Veda and delineates four levels
of consciousness: waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and a fourth mystical state of being one with the
soul. These are associated with the three elements of the sacred chant Aum (a, u, and m) and the
silence at its cessation. Thus this sacred chant may be used to experience the soul itself.

The thirteenth and last of what are considered the principal Upanishads is the Maitri Upanishad.
It begins by recommending meditation upon the soul and life (prana). It tells of a king,
Brihadratha, who established his son as king and realizing that his body is not eternal, became
detached from the world and went into the forest to practice austerity. After a thousand days
Shakayanya, a knower of the soul, appeared to teach him. The king sought liberation from
reincarnating existence. The teacher assures him that he will become a knower of the soul. The
serene one who rising up out of the body reaches the highest light in one's own form is the soul,
immortal and fearless.

The body is like a cart without intelligence but it is driven by a supersensuous, intelligent being,
who is pure, clean, void, tranquil, breathless, selfless, endless, undecaying, steadfast, eternal,
unborn, and independent. The reins are the five organs of perception, the steeds are the organs of
action, and the charioteer is the mind. The soul is unmanifest, subtle, imperceptible,
incomprehensible, selfless, pure, steadfast, stainless, unagitated, desireless, fixed like a spectator,
and self-abiding.

How then does the soul, overcome by the bright and dark fruits of action (karma), enter good or
evil wombs? The elemental self is overcome by these actions and pairs of opposites, the qualities
(gunas) of nature (prakriti) and does not see the blessed one, who causes action standing within
oneself. Bewildered, full of desire, distracted, this self-conceit binds oneself by thinking "This is I,"
and "That is mine." So as a bird is caught in a snare it enters into a good or evil womb.

Yet the cause of these actions is the inner person. The elemental self is overcome by its
attachment to qualities. The characteristics of the dark quality (tamas) are delusion, fear,
despondency, sleepiness, weariness, neglect, old age, sorrow, hunger, thirst, wretchedness, anger,
atheism, ignorance, jealousy, cruelty, stupidity, shamelessness, meanness, and rashness. The
characteristics of the passionate quality (rajas) are desire, affection, emotion, coveting, malice,
lust, hatred, secretiveness, envy, greed, fickleness, distraction, ambition, favoritism, pride,
aversion, attachment, and gluttony.

How then may this elemental self on leaving this body come into complete union with the soul?
Like the waves of great rivers or the ocean tide it is hard to keep back the consequences of one's
actions or the approach of death. Like the lame bound with the fetters made of the fruit of good
and evil, like the prisoner lacking independence, like the dead beset by fear, the intoxicated by
delusions, like one rushing around are those possessed by an evil spirit; like one bitten by a snake
are those bitten by objects of sense; like the gross darkness of passion, the juggling of illusion, like
a falsely apparent dream, like an actor in temporary dress or a painted scene falsely delighting the
mind, all these attachments prevent the self from remembering the highest place.

The antidote is to study the Veda, to pursue one's duty in each stage of the religious life, and to
practice the proper discipline which results in the pure qualities (sattva) that lead to understanding
and the soul. By knowledge, discipline, and meditation God is apprehended, and one attains
undecaying and immeasurable happiness in complete union with the soul. The soul is identical with
the various gods and powers.

Having bid peace to all creatures and gone to the forest,
then having put aside objects of sense,
from out of one's own body one should perceive this,
who has all forms, the golden one, all-knowing,
the final goal, the only light."24

The means of attaining the unity of the One is the sixfold yoga of breath control (pranayama),
withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), attention (dhyana), concentration (dharana),
contemplation (tarka), and meditation (samadhi).

When one sees the brilliant maker,
lord, person, the God-source,
then, being a knower, shaking off good and evil,
the sage makes everything one in the supreme imperishable.25

When the mind is suppressed, one sees the brilliant soul, which is more subtle than the subtle, and
having seen the soul oneself one becomes selfless and is regarded as immeasurable, without origin
- the mark of liberation (moksha). By serenity of thought one destroys good and evil action
(karma). In selflessness one attains absolute unity.

The sound Aum may be used. Meditation is directed to the highest principle within and also outer
objects, qualifying the unqualified understanding; but when the mind has been dissolved, there is
the bliss witnessed by the soul that is the pure and immortal Spirit. But if one is borne along by the
stream of the qualities, unsteady, wavering, bewildered, full of desire, and distracted one goes into
self-conceit. Standing free from dependence, conception, and self-conceit is the mark of
liberation.

The influence of Buddhism can be seen in the description of liberation from one's own thoughts.
As fire destitute of fuel goes out, so thought losing activity becomes extinct in its source. What is
one's thought, that one becomes; this is the eternal mystery. By the serenity of thought one
destroys good and bad karma; focused on the soul one enjoys eternal delight. The mind is the
means of bondage and release. Though the sacrificial fire is still important, meditation has become
the primary means of liberation.

The Mahanarayana Upanishad is a long hymn to various forms of God with prayers for
everything from wealth to liberation. At one point the author identifies with the divine light:

I am that supreme light of Brahman
which shines as the inmost essence of all that exists.
In reality I am the same infinite Brahman
even when I am experiencing myself
as a finite self owing to ignorance.
Now by the onset of knowledge
I am really that Brahman which is my eternal nature.
Therefore I realize this identity
by making myself, the finite self,
an oblation into the fire
of the infinite Brahman which I am always.
May this oblation be well made.26

The Jabala Upanishad, which is quoted by Shankara, gives a description of the four stages of
religious life for a pious Hindu. Yajnavalkya suggests that after completing the life of a student, a
householder, and a forest dweller, let one renounce, though one may renounce while a student or
householder if one has the spirit of renunciation. Suicide apparently was not forbidden, for to the
one who is weary of the world but is not yet fit to become a recluse, Yajnavalkya recommends a
hero's death (in battle), fasting to death, throwing oneself into water or fire, or taking a final
journey (to exhaustion). The wandering ascetic though wearing an orange robe, with a shaven
head, practicing non-possession, purity, nonviolence, and living on charity obtains the state of
Brahman.

The Vajrasuchika Upanishad claims to blast ignorance and exalts those endowed with
knowledge. It raises the question who is of the Brahman class. Is it the individual soul, the body,
based on birth, knowledge, work, or performing the rites? It is not the individual soul (jiva),
because the same soul passes through many bodies. It is not the body, because all bodies are
composed of the same elements even though Brahmans tend to be white, Kshatriyas red, Vaisyas
tawny, and Sudras dark in complexion. It is not birth, because many sages are of diverse origin. It
is not knowledge, because many Kshatriyas have attained wisdom and seen the highest reality. It
is not work, because good men perform works based on their past karma. It is not performing the
rites, because many Kshatriyas and others have given away gold as an act of religious duty.

The true Brahman directly perceives the soul, which functions as the indwelling spirit of all beings,
blissful, indivisible, immeasurable, realizable only through one's experience, and manifesting oneself
directly through the fulfillment of nature becomes rid of the faults of desire, attachment, spite,
greed, expectation, bewilderment, ostentation, and so on and is endowed with tranquillity. Only
one possessed of these qualities is a Brahman. This flexible viewpoint indicates that the caste
system may not yet have been as rigid as it was later to become.

Although as the major teachings passed down orally from the century before the Buddha, the
Upanishads don't tell us too much about the worldly society of India, they do express a
widespread mysticism and spiritual life-style that was to prepare the way for the new religions of
Jainism and Buddhism as well as the deepened spirituality and mystical philosophies of Hinduism.
The values of the teachers and ascetics of this culture that has been likened to the New Thought
movement of the recent New Age philosophy were spiritual and other worldly, but if they did not
do much to improve the whole society at least they did not do the harm of the conquering Aryans.

A personal educational system of spiritual tutoring for adults developed, and individuals were
encouraged to improve themselves spiritually as they gave and received charity. (When
renouncing they gave to charity; then they accepted charity for basic sustenance.) The rituals of
animal sacrifices were de-emphasized, and knowledge became greatly valued, especially
self-knowledge. The doctrine of reincarnation made the sacrifices for a better life now or in the
future eventually give way to the higher spiritual goal of liberation from the entire cycle of rebirth.
Thus austerity and meditation became the primary methods of spiritual realization.

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