Book Review #23
Apparently, the Mughal Prince Dara Shiko was fascinated by the Upanishads and translated 52 Upanishads in Persian and believed the Upanishads was the ‘hidden book’ of wisdom – Kitab al-maknun in Quran. Dara was killed by his orthodox brother Aurangzeb, but his French physician, Francois Bernier, translated his work and eventually the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer declared that the Upanishads were the literature most worthy of being read in the entire body of world literature.
The Vedas and Upanishads for Children is a book I wish I read 20 years ago and avoided a lot of meandering and west leaning. Here is a humble attempt to summarize the key lessons from this book
- We cannot ascertain how old the Vedas are as hundreds of generations passed them only through recitation/memory without any written form (they are at least 3500 years old)
- Vedas show high level of scientific temper. E.g., the Purusha Sukta in Rig Veda postulates an expanding universe theory tracing back to an uniamginably dense & hot initial tiny point aligned with the Big Bang theory
- Brahman (not to be confused with Brahmin) is the metaphysical concept of pervasive eternal truth, consciousness, energy & bliss. The mahavakyas or great sayings are aham brahmÄsmi (I am Brahman), tat tvam asi (You are Brahman), Prajnanam Brahma (Knowledge/Consciousness is Brahman) and Ayam Atma Brahma (This Self is Brahman)
- The concepts of cycle of rebirth, karma (action), moksha (liberation), atma (soul) and your body is just a costume that changes every life explains why there is so much suffering despite God being all merciful
- The four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama & Atharva) are made up of Samhita (hymns), Brahmana (prose explanation), Aranyaka (interpretations) and Upanishads (narratives)
- Bhagavad Gita is the condensed form of all teachings of Vedas + Upanishads
The Prinicipal Upanishands are
- Isha (you are divine as the supreme being lives within you)
- Kena (it is difficult for the limited human intellect to understand brahman even when brahman is in front of us)
- Katto (the body is not the Self and when the body dies, the Self remains – untainted, unchanging, eternal)
- Prashna (six questions ranging from origin of life to sleep and meditation)
- Mundaka (rituals and good deeds can get us only to lower level of knowledge, only detachment can get us to the higher level)
- Mandukya (whole world you can see, feel, perceive, and understand, is the imperishable sound, the cosmic vibration – AUM)
- Taittiriya (pure consciousness is your innermost core and layers of physical body, vital body, mind & personality are merely sheaths)
- Aitareya (The Self is Brahman, it is all the gods and the earth, wind, space, water & light)
- Chandogya (Brahman is the answer to fundamental questions like where did the universe come from and how everything works?)
- Brihadaranyaka (We are nothing but our deepest desire)
A book worth every penny #bookreview #philosophy #vedas
