The Upanishads

Selections From the Upanishads

With Commentary by Sri Chinmoy

 

 

 

Talk on The Upanishads by Sri Chinmoy

India’s soul-offering is the perennial light of the Upanishads. The Upanishads offer to the world at large the Supreme achievement of the awakened and illumined Hindu life.

The Vedas represent the cow. The Upanishads represent milk. We need the cow to give us milk, and we need milk to nourish us.

The Upanishads are also called the Vedanta. The literary meaning of Vedanta is ‘the end of the Vedas.’ But the spiritual meaning of Vedanta is ‘the cream of the Vedas, the pick of the inner lore, the aim, the goal of the inner life. The Muktikopanishad tells us something quite significant:

Tileshu tailavat vede vedantah supratishthithah.

Like oil in the sesame seed, Vedanta is established essentially in every part of the Vedas.

The Upanishads tell us that there are two types of knowledge: a Higher Knowledge and a lower knowledge. Paravidya is the Higher Knowledge, and Aparavidya is the lower knowledge. The Higher Knowledge is the discovery of the soul. The lower knowledge is the fulfilment of the body’s countless demands.

According to our Indian tradition, there were once one thousand one hundred and eighty Upanishads. Each came from one branch, shakha, of the Vedas. Out of these, two hundred Upanishads made their proper appearance, and out of these two hundred, one hundred and eight Upanishads are now traceable. If a seeker wants to get some glimpse of Truth, Light, Peace, and Bliss, then he must assiduously study these one hundred and eight Upanishads If a real seeker, a genuine seeker, wants to get abundant light from the Upanishads, then he has to study thirteen principal Upanishads. If he studies the principal Upanishads, and at the same time wants to live the Truth that these Upanishads embody, then he will be able to see the face of Divinity and the heart of Reality.

From The Upanishads by Sri Chinmoy

For full: article by Sri Chinmoy

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