Source Of Origin

Upanishad literally means a “sitting down beside”, a session, an esoteric doctrine. In a wider sense, the Upanishads are the conclusion of the Vedas and are devoted to theological and philosophical speculations on the nature of the world and man. The fundamental doctrine of the Upanishads is the identity of the individual soul (atman) with the world soul (adman-brahma). The formula “tat tvam asi”, “thou art that”, is the keynote of all Upanishad teaching. The following excerpts will exemplify this point.
Thou Art That
The father said to Svataketu, his little son:
“Bring me a fig from that fig tree yonder.”
“Here is one, sir.”
“Break it.”
“It is broken, sir.”
“What do you see there?”
“Some little seeds, sir.”
“Break one of them.”
“It is broken, sir.”
“And what do you see now?”
“Nothing whatsoever.”
Then the father said to his son: “Of that subtleness which you cannot see is the great fig tree made. In that subtleness all that exists has its essence. That is the True, that is the Self, and thou art That.”
“Pray sir,” said the son, “tell me more.”
“So be it, my child,” the father replied and he said, “place this salt in water and come to me tomorrow morning.”
The son did as he was told. Next morning the father said, “Bring me the salt which you put in the water.” The son felt for it but could not find it, for the salt had dissolved.
The father said, “Taste some of the water from the surface. How is it?”
“Salty.”
“Taste from the middle. How does it taste?”
“Salty.”
“Taste some from the bottom. How is it?”
“Salty.”
The father said, “Throw the water away and then come back to me.”
The son did so; but the salt was not lost, for salt exists forever. Then the father said, “Likewise in this body of yours, my child, you cannot perceive the True; but there it is. In the subtle essence all that exists has its being. That is the True, that is the Self, andd thou, Svetaketu, art That.”
- From the Chandogya Upanishad
“The Self, free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless, real of desire, real of purpose, – that Self is to be sought after and inquired about, that Self is to be realized. All worlds he wins and all desires who understands the Self,” said Prajapati.
Both the gods and the demons heard of this. “Come,” they said, “let us seek out this Self so that we can win all the worlds and the fulfilment of all desires.”
Thereupon Indra of the gods and Virochana of the demons set out and approached Prajapati, the famous teacher. They stayed with him as students for thirty two years. Then Prajapati asked them: “For what reason have you lived here all this time?”
And they replied: “The Self, free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless, real of desire, real of purpose, this should men inquire after and should seek to know. All the worlds he wins and all desires who realizes this Self. This they report to be your saying, sir, and that is why we have stayed.”
Prajapati said to them: “The Being who is seen in the eye – that is the Self. That is deathless, that is fearless an that is Brahman.”
“Sir,” inquired the disciples, “who is seen reflected in water or in a mirror?”
“He, the Atman,” was the reply. And Prajapati added: “Look at yourselves in the water, and whatever you do not understand, come and tell me.”
Indra and Virochana looked at themselves in the water and when Prajapati asked them what they had seen, they replied: “Sir, we see the whole of ourselves, even down to our hair and nails.” Then Prajapati bid them put on their finest clothes and look again at their “selves” in the water. This they did and when asked again what they had seen in the water, they answered: “Sir, we see the Self, exactly like ourselves, well adorned in our finest clothes.”
And Prajapati said: “The Self is indeed seen in these. That Self is deathless and fearless, and that is Brahman.” And the students went away content.
But gazing after them Prajapati lamented: “They have gone away without comprehending the Self. Whoever follows this doctrine, as it is false, must surely perish.”
Satisfied that he had found the Self, Virochana returned to the demons and explained to them that the bodily self alone should be served and that he who serves the body gains both worlds, this and the next. And this, in effect, is the doctrine of the demons; and when one of them dies they furnish his body with food and clothing, imagining that therewith he will win the world beyond.
But Indra, on his way back to the gods realized the uselessness of this knowledge. “As the Self,” he reflected, “seems to be well adorned, well dressed when the body is well dressed, so too will it be blind when the body is blind, lame if the body is lame, deformed if the body is deformed. Nay more, this same Self will perish when the body perishes. I see no good in such knowledge.” And so he returned to the teacher for further instruction. Prajapati received him kindly and bade him stay with him for another two-and-thirty years, after which he said to him:
“He who wanders about rejoicing in dreams – he is the Self. That is deathless and fearless, and that is Brahman.”
Indra departed again, content of heart. But before he had rejoined the other angelic beings, he realized the uselessness of that knowledge also. “True it is,” he said to himself, “that this new Self does not become blind if the body is blind, not lame, not deformed if the body is lame or deformed; but nevertheless even in dreams the Self is conscious of many sufferings. So I see no good even in this teaching.”
And so, once more he returned to Prajapati for more instruction and stayed with him for another two-and-thirty years. At the end of that time Prajapati taught him thus: “When a man is asleep and in perfect peace, dreaming no dreams, then he realizes the Self. That is deathless, that is fearless, and that is Brahman.”
Indra departed, content of heart. But even before he had reached home, he felt the fallacy of this knowledge also. “When one is asleep,” he thought, “one does not know oneself as ‘This is I’. One is not conscious of any existence. I see no good in this knowledge either.”
So Indra went back to Prajapati once again to be taught. The teacher bade him stay another five years. At the end of that time, after having stayed with Prajapati altogether for one hundred years, the sage taught him the highest truth of the Self.
“This body,” he said, “is mortal and forever in the clutch of death. But within it resides the Self, immortal and without form. This Self, when embodied, is subject to pleasure and pain. But joy and sorrow touch not what is unembodied. Rising above physical consciousness, knowing the Self as unembodied, distinct from the sense-organs, one rejoices and passes into the Supreme Light.”
- From the Chandogya Upanishad.
Study is not Enough
The Self is not realizable by study nor by intelligence and learning. The Self reveals itself only to him who devotes himself entirely to the Self.
- Katha Upanishad
Two Birds
Two birds reside together in one tree which is the body. One of them, the soul, consumes the fruits of its actions, but the other, God, without partaking of them, witnesses all.
The soul, pressed down in the body, being deluded with ignorance, grieves at its own insufficiency, but when it perceives its mate, the origin itself, it feels relieved.
A wise man, knowing God as residing in all creatures, forsakes all idea of duality, being convinced that there is only one existence which is God. He directs all his senses toward God alone and on Him exclusively he places his love, abstracting his mind from all worldly objects.
- Munduk Upanishad.