Upanishads

Upanishads

Upa nishati iti = Upanishad. This means “taking one nearer to the Para Brahman.  “अनन्य विद्यया ब्रह्मम् प्राप्यते ”  “ananya vidyayaa brahmam praapyate” by knowing this Upanishads, one is able to know the Brahman.  Upanishads were said only in the Aranyakaas (forests) and hence also known as Aranyaka.   The first sloka of Brahma sutra starts as …  "अथातो ब्रह्मजिज्ञासा"  meaning, “then and thereafter he comes to enquire about Brahman”.  “when and whereafter”?   It is also said “Brahmano nirveda” meaning only after completely practicing the Karma kaanda of the Vedas “कर्म विचारं अनन्तरे”, and after getting fed up with the rituals, one gets the desire to know the Brahman. जिज्ञासा = ज्ञातुमिच्छा.  This subject matter is known as “Mimamsa”.   मीमांसा = पूज्यविषये विचार: Mimamsa is also known as the enquiry into the highest philosophical thoughts.

isavasya upanishad

At the end of every Veda we have Upanishads.  Isavasya Upanishad is at the end of Shukla Yajur Veda. There is a speciality about this Isavasya Upanishad. Normally Upanishads are found only after the Aranyakas. But in this case Eashavasya Upanishad is read along with the Samhita part of the Vedas which are usually Mantras and rituals. The reason why it has been classified under the Upanishads is that, it talks in detail about the Brahman.

Story part of the Upanishads :- Normally an interesting story is always associated with the Upanishads. Most of the Upanishads are in the form of "संवाद:" meaning a conversation between Guru and Sishya.  Following is the interesting story which led to the Eashavasya Upanishad.

We have already seen that Maharishi Veda Vyasa segregated the Vedas into 4 and gave it to his Sishyas for propagation. Yajur Veda was given to Maharishi Vysampayana.  And Vysampayana had many Sishyas namely Yaagnya valkya, his brother Balaka, Bodhayana, Trishanku, Vykhanasa….etc.,  Vysampayanaa’s ashrama was on the outskirts of “Mithila” which was ruled by King Janaka.  One day it so happened that Vysampayana had been invited to attend a meeting (conference) of Maharishis in Meru parvatha. Due to some unavoidable reasons or due to the deiva sankalpa he could not go and attend this meeting and so he had sent his Sishya Trishanku.  On return Trishanku gave the message that all the other Maharishis had come to the meet and his absence was seen as an arrogance by Maharishis Viswamitra and Druvasa. Though Maharishi Vashishta supported Vysampayana, Druvasa became angry and cursed Vysampayana for not coming to the meet that he be afflcted with "ब्रह्महत्ति दोषा" in seven days time. Trishanku also told him that he can get relief from the curse by performing the Chaadraayana Homa. Since the person afflicted with dosha cannot perform the homa, his Sishyaas have to perform it.   Vysampayana accepted it with great sorrow, knowing fully well the he has to kill some one if he should be afflicted with "ब्रह्महत्ति दोषा". In the mean time it was Sishyaa Yaagnyavalkyaas turn to take the daily “mantraakshata prasada” to King Janaka.  On advice from Vysampayana he took his little brother Balaka also with him to the palace.  On reaching the palace they found that the king was not there in the throne.  The little boy Balaka out of mischief snatched the mantraakshata from Yaagnyavalkya, climbed up the throne and placed it on the throne. Since it is a sin for ordinary people to climb the throne a curse was uttered in an echo voice, that the one who climbed the throne will be dead shortly.   When they returned to the ashram, Vysampayana was very angry with Yaagnyavalkya.  Balaka fell on Vysampayana’s feet and begged pardon to say that it is his fault and by accident Vysampayana kicked the boy. The boy fell down and died.  As per the curse he had killed the boy and he was afflicted with Brahma hatti dosha.  Yaagnyavalkya retaliated his guru and said that he alone is qualified to perform the Chaandraayana homa among his Sishyaas.  Guru Vysampayana got more angry and asked him to give back all the Vedas taught to him and leave the ashrama. Yaagnyavalkya with his yogic powers brought out all what he had learnt and threw the Vedas he had learnt in the air.  The other Sishyaas took the form of Thithiri birds and swallowed the Vedas thrown in the air.  The other Sishyaas performed the Chaandraayana homa and relieved their Guru Vysampayana from the dosha.  Yaagnyavalkya who walked out went straight to the Meru parvatha and did Tapas invoking the Sun God. After several years of severe Tapas, Sun God appeared. Yaagnyavalkya asked the Sun God to give him a Veda other than what he had returned to his guru Vysampayana.  The Sun god pleased with his tapas, took the form of Hayagriva…. Man with horse head and gave him the “Shukla Yajur Veda”  This is also known as the “Vaajasaneya Yajur Veda” The one that was given by Veda Vyasa to Vysampayana is known as the “Krishna Yajur Veda”.  Yaagnyavalkya after getting the “Shukla Yajur Veda” propagated it to his sishyaas Kaanva and Tadhyan aatharvana.  Tadhyan aatharvana in turn gave it to his son and Sishya Subodha. At the end of Shukla Yajur Veda is the Isvasya Upanishad.   So the Isvasya Upanishad is a samvaada between Tadhyan aatharvana and Subodha.