Chapter 5

The Upanishads—The Love of Philosophy

“All the philosophical systems and religions of India, heretical or orthodox, have sprung up from the Upanishads,” states the book The Vedic Age.¹ It is in these compositions that the cycle of Karma and rebirth—the basic belief of Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs—is first taught. What else do they teach?

Reflecting on Life’s Meaning

² The Upanishads continue the rishis’ search for truth that began in the Vedas. “The sages in the Upaniṣads had already started with the idea that there was a supreme controller or essence presiding over man and the universe,” notes Dr. S. Dasgupta. “But what was its nature? Could it be identified with any . . . new deity or was it no deity at all? The Upaniṣads present to us the history of this quest,” he adds.²

³ In forest retreats, sages meditated on and debated such questions as: “What is the source of this universe? . . . From where do we come? By what power do we live? Where do we find rest [at death]? Who rules over our joys and sorrows?”³ Expecting to find answers through their own reason and experience, rather than by revelation from God, they said: “Tell us this, O you philosophers.”⁴

The Fruits of Philosophy

⁴ The sages attribute the creation of the world to Brahman, who, according to Isa Upanishad, is a being, separate from the universe. (Verse 1) The Mundaka Upanishad, on the other hand, regards Brahman as the universe itself. A third view, based on the Svetasvatara Upanishad, suggests that whereas Brahman is real, the universe is simply an illusion (maya).

⁵ A creation account in the Chandogya Upanishad asserts that the world was born from a giant egg. On the origin of life, the Brihadarayanka Upanishad states that the Creator, feeling lonely and unhappy, “grew as large as a man and a woman entwined, and then divided himself in two, creating a husband and a wife. . . . In this way he created the male and female of all creatures—even down to the ants.”⁵

⁶ What happens at death? According to Katha Upanishad, young Nachiketas approaches Yama, god of death, and asks: “When a man dies, this doubt arises: some say ‘he is’ and some say ‘he is not.’ Teach me the truth.” Yama answers: “Even the gods had this doubt in times of old; for mysterious is the law of life and death. Ask for another boon.”⁶ Nachiketas persists, however, and Yama eventually expounds the doctrine of rebirth.

⁷ Describing this cycle of rebirth, the Chandogya Upanishad relates that  at death a person’s soul goes to the moon, and it remains there until his “good works are consumed.”⁷ After that he falls as rain to the earth to be “born here as rice and barley, as herbs and trees.” He then must wait to enter a womb until “some one or other eats him as food and emits him as semen.”⁸ His caste, or life-form, is determined at his rebirth by his past Karma.

The Search Continues

⁸ Like the Vedas, “the Upanishads left some great issues unsettled,” notes the book India. “The individual Hindu is still free to decide whether he believes the one Supreme Reality is an impersonal . . . spirit . . . or a personal God. . . . Similarly the believer may decide that the world is one aspect of Brahman or Brahma, or that it is simply Its or His creation—or he may remain undecided.”⁹

⁹ Although the teaching of Karma and rebirth is today viewed by devout Hindus as divinely revealed truth, in the book The Vedic Age we read that “the Upanishads do not contain ‘superhuman conceptions,’ but human, absolutely human attempts to come nearer to the truth.”¹⁰ Similarly, the book Advanced History of India notes: “The upanishads reveal the nature of guesses at Truth, from different standpoints; these guesses ultimately led to the evolution of [Indian] systems of philosophy.”¹¹

¹⁰ In order to know God’s truth, therefore, you need to continue your search beyond the Vedas and the Upanishads. By so doing, you will demonstrate that you truly love God and want to worship him in truth. So let us next examine the epics and the Bhagavad Gita, the foremost traditional Smriti scriptures. Can they help us in our search?

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The Upanishads—Did You Know?

“Literally, [“Upanishad”] means sitting near devotedly, and so brings concretely to mind an earnest disciple learning from his guru, his spiritual master. It also means secret teaching—secret, no doubt, because a teaching vouchsafed only to those who are spiritually ready to receive it.”—The Spiritual Heritage of India, Swami Prabhavananda, 1980, page 39.

[Box on page 13]

How do the Upanishads measure up to these criteria?

They should:

1. Magnify God and answer our questions about him

2. Be available to all

3. Be easy to understand

4. Teach true doctrines and morals

5. Be free from myths

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The teaching of the cycle of Karma and rebirth originated with the Upanishads