PHILOSOPHY

The Upanishads

The old Vedic culture of India was concerned with propitiating the distant and unapproachable gods. These gods were invited to the fire sacrifice by sacrifice and chanting at the auspicious times as deduced by astrology. Thus religion and worldly duty enabled the ordering of the affairs of humanity in accord with the cosmos. Then the big climate change happened and the great river central to this culture dried up.

The Upanishads were a revolution of insight and focus. They took power from the priests and promoted the inner sacrifice of contemplation and meditation and promoted inquiry. They asked, “Who is doing these rituals?” “What is this person?” They made each person powerful, each one identified with the universal spirit.

The word ‘sat’ means ‘truth’, prefixed with ‘upa’ and ‘ni’ means ‘to sit down close to one’s teacher’, this refers to the way knowledge is transmitted. The main 108 Upanishads were written from 2000 to 3000 years ago all the way to 800 to 400BCE. Some written in the early years of last century.

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WRI

TTEN

BY

CHRISTOPHER GLADWELLCHRISTOPHER TEACHES CONTEMPORARY YOGA-TANTRA UNDER THE NAME OF ENGAGED YOGA. CHRISTOPHERGLADWELL.COM

KATHA - tells the story of the boy Nachiketas who is allowed three boons by the Lord of Death. The first boon is to appease his father. The second boon is to teach him the way to heaven, which can be done through knowledge, meditation and sacrifice. The third boon is one Yama rarely grants which is for knowledge. Nachiketas asks: “When a man dies, does he exist or no longer exist?”

YAMAS - allegorical and reluctant answer speaks of two paths, one leads to the wheel of karma and rebirth, the other to higher worlds. The Atman never born can never die, this can only be truly known beyond the five senses and the mind through introspection and the help of a Guru who has already completed this journey.Only when the senses and mind are still, absorbed within, through the process of yoga, beyond all qualities, beyond the manifest and the unmanifest, in this awareness one knows oneself as Atman, the same as Brahman.

ISA - is a short hymn to the Spirit, swifter than mind and senses, which moves and yet moves not, who is far and near, within and without. Being enlightened one sees the Self in all things and all things in the Self.

KENA - asks who sends the mind to wander afar? Who starts life on its journey? Who impels utterance? It seeks to delineate the nature of the eternal, of Brahman.

PRASNA - uses a story and questions to outline and explain the inner and outer elements that make up the nature of man and the universe. The initial concept of Prana and meditation on the all embracing vibration Om are developed, as well as the concept of the simultaneous immanence and transcendence of Brahman.

MUNDAKA - speaks of Man’s higher and lower selves with the classic story of two birds on a tree, one picking berries, the other observing. The relationship between the two birds and the superior view of the witness is made clear.

MANDUKYA - describes the four states of consciousness as waking, sleeping, dreaming and Samadhi. These states can only be directly experienced to be understood. They are described, reflected and contained within the vibration Om.

TAITTIRYA - a prayer in praise of Brahman, the one without a second. It speaks of humans who attain to Brahman, who realise their indivisible unity with this One without a second. It also describes the yoga teachings of the koshas and the realms or lokas. The final equation is that Brahman is Joy.

AITAREYA - describes pure consciousness and creation. It suggests the aim of all beings is to realise their unity in diversity as the One who is the many.

CHANDOGYA - has the story of the boastful Svetaketu who is asked by his father, “Did your teachers tell you of that knowledge by which all else is known?” Svetaketu dismayed proceeds to learn from his father. This Upanishad introduces the famous aphorism ‘Thou art That’.

KAUSITAKI - teaches on reincarnation, Brahman as breath and the preeminence of lifebreath, and the relationship between breath and intelligence. It’s also full of magical formulas for virility and fertility.

SVETASVATARA - influenced by theism and samkhya, it speaks of knowing divinity and of yoga. It talks of curbing the breath (pranayama) and the place and means for meditative yogic practice. It also reintroduces the two birds analogy. It contains some beautiful heart based methods of yogic practice.

BRHADARANYAKA - is both the longest and the oldest of the Upanishads. It contains the seed essence of the others. A tough read, loaded with allusion and poetry, it contains details of the energy body, processes of death and rebirth, loss of self in union with the One as well as some utterly non-pc bits on gender.

There is a lot of teaching and interesting jewels on yoga and a lot of poetry. If you too are a yoga geek, you may well love reading these old yoga texts.

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