Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Humanity is essentially divine. However, one believes oneself to be an individual, limited and temporary, because one is entangled in the characteristics of the five elements: sound, touch, form, taste, and smell. This error brings about joy and grief, good and bad, birth and death. To escape from this association with the elements, to rid oneself of the pulls of their characteristics, is the sign of liberation, known as kaivalya, moksha, or mukthi.

The names may change, but the achievement is the same.

While entangled in the five elements, one is attracted, distracted, or disappointed by them, all of which causes distress. Wealth, possessions - vehicles, buildings, etc. - are all transmutations of the elements. One craves them, and when one loses them or fails to get them, one spurns them.

Let us take the five elements, one by one. The living being has the first one, the earth, as its base. Water, the second, is the basis for the earth. Water is produced from fire, the third element, and fire itself emanates from wind (vayu), which is the fourth. Wind arises from ether (akasa). Ether emerges from the primal nature, and the primal nature is but the manifestation of one aspect of the majesty of God, or the supreme sovereign Atma (Paramatma).

Seeking to reach that supreme Atma, the source and core of the universe, the individual (jivi), who has entangled himself in the elements, has to overcome the bonds one by one, by discrimination and steady practice of detachment. One who does this is a spiritual aspirant, and one who wins in this struggle is liberated even while alive (is a jivan-muktha).

For the process of such discrimination and for the visualisation of one’s innate reality, one has to study the Upanishads. Collectively called Vedanta, they form the section of the Vedas that deals with the higher wisdom - the Jnana-kanda. Liberation from the consequences of ignorance can be secured only by spiritual knowledge (jnana). The Upanishads themselves declare, By knowledge alone can freedom be won (Jnanath eva thu kaivalyam).

The Vedas are reputed to be “three-sectioned”, the three sections being spiritual wisdom (jnana), contemplation or worship (upasana), and dedicated activity (karma). These three are also found in the Upanishads; they provide the basis for the non-dualist (a-dwaitha), qualified non-dualist (visishta-adwaitha), and dualist (dwaitha) systems of philosophy.

The word Upanishad denotes the study and practice of the innate truth, Brahma-vidya denotes the supremacy of spiritual contemplation, and Yoga-sastra denotes the mental churning that brings success.

What is the fundamental activity that is required? What is the basic thing to be known? It is just one’s real reality. The Upanishads describe the various stages and modes of this search.

The name Upanishad is full of significance. Upa-ni means the process of studying with steadfastness (nishta); shath means the attainment of the Ultimate Reality. The name Upa-ni-shath arose for these reasons. The Upanishads do not only teach the principles of knowledge of the supreme Reality (Atma-vidya), they also instruct in the practical means of realisation. They point out not only the duties and obligations one has to bear but also tell us the acts to be done and those to be avoided.

Why, the Gita is but the essence of the Upanishads, isn’t it? Arjuna acquired by the lessons of the Gita the fruit of listening to the Upanishads. The statement, “That thou art (Thath twam asi)” is found in the Upanishads.

In the Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, “I am Arjuna among the Pandavas,” that is to say, “I and You are the same.” This is the same as saying “Thou art That,” that the individual and God (jiva and Iswara) are the same. So, whether it is the Gita or the Upanishads, the teaching is non-duality, not duality or qualified monism.

The human eye cannot delve into the microcosm or the macrocosm. It cannot read the mystery of the virus or the atom or the stellar universe. Therefore, scientists supplement the eye with the microscope and the telescope.

Similarly, sages are able to experience Divinity through the eye of knowledge gained by following the dharma of moral conduct and spiritual discipline.

When the human eye needs an extraneous instrument to observe even the insignificant worm and virus, how can a person refuse to go through the process of mantra in order to see the omnipresent transcendent Principle? It is very hard to acquire the eye of wisdom. Concentration is essential for it. And, for concentration to develop and stabilise, three things are very important: purity of consciousness, moral awareness, and spiritual discrimination.

These qualifications are difficult for ordinary folk to attain.

But humanity is endowed with the special instrument of discrimination, of judgement, of analysis and synthesis.

Among the animals, only mankind possesses it. It has to be developed and utilised to the best purpose.

Through this instrument, one can realise the immanent Divinity.

Instead, one pesters oneself and others with questions like: Where does God reside? If He is real, why isn’t He seen? Hearing such queries, one feels like pitying the poor questioners, for they are announcing their own foolishness. They are like the dullards who aspire for university degrees without taking pains even to learn the alphabet. They aspire to realise God without putting themselves to the trouble of the required spiritual discipline.

People who have no moral strength and purity talk of God and His existence and decry efforts to see Him - such people have no right to be heard.

Spiritual practice is based on the holy scriptures (sastras). They can’t be mastered in a trice. They can’t be followed through talk. Their message is summed up in the Upanishads, so they are revered as authoritative. They are not the products of human intelligence; they are the whisperings of God to man. They are parts of the eternal Vedas, and the Vedas shine gloriously through all their parts.

The Upanishads are authentic and authoritative, since they share the glory of the Vedas. They are 1180 in number, but, through the centuries, many of them disappeared from human memory and only 108 have survived.

Of the 108, 10 have attained great popularity as a result of the depth and value of their contents.

The sage Vyasa classified the Upanishads and allotted them among the four Vedas. The Rig-veda has 21 branches, and each branch has one Upanishad allotted to it. The Yajur-veda has 109 branches and 109 Upani- shads. The Atharvana-veda has 50 branches and 50 Upanishads. The Sama-veda has 1000 and 1000. Thus, Vyasa assigned the 1180 Upanishads to the four Vedas.

Sankaracharya raised the status of ten of the Upanishads by selecting them for writing his commentaries, so they became specially important. Humanity stands to gain or fall by these ten. All who seek human welfare and progress are now apprehending whether even these ten will be forgotten, because neglecting them will usher in moral and spiritual disaster. However, there is no reason for such fears. The Vedas can never be harmed. Pundits and those with faith should resolve to present at least these ten Upanishads before humanity. They are:

1. Aithareya
2. Brihadaranyaka
3. Chandogya
4. Isa
5. Kena
6. Katha
7. Prasna
8. Mundaka
9. Mandukya
10. Taithiriya

The remaining 98 are:

11. Adhyatma
12. Adhvayatharaka
13. Aksha-malika
14. Akshik
15. Amritha-bindu
16. Amrithanada
17. Annapurna
18. Aruni
19. Atharvasikha
20. Atharvasira
21. Atma
22. Atmabodha
23. Avadhutha
24. Avyaktha
25. Bhasma
26. Bhavana
27. Bhavaricha
28. Brahmajabala
29. Brahmana
30. Brahma-vidya
31. Dakshinamurthi
32. Dattatreya
33. Devi
34. Dhyana-bindu
35. Ekakshara
36. Ganapathi
37. Garbha
38. Garuda
39. Gopalatapani
40. Hamsa
41. Hayagriva
42. Jabaladarshana
43. Jabali
44. Kaivalya
45. Kalagnirudra
46. Katharudra
47. Katharudra
48. Kaushitaka
49. Krishna
50. Kshithi
51. Kshurika
52. Kundiska
53. Maha-bhiksuka
54. Mahanarayana
55. Mahavakya
56. Maitrayani
57. Maitreyi
58. Mandala
59. Mantrika
60. Mudgala
61. Muktika
62. Nadabindu
63. Narada-parivrajaka
64. Narasimha
65. Narayana
66. Niralamba
67. Nirvana
68. Nrisimhatapani
69. Paingala
70. Panchabrahma
71. Parabrahma
72. Paramahamsa
73. Parama-parivrajaka
74. Pasupatha
75. Pranagnihotra
76. Ramarahasya
77. Ramathapani
78. Rudrahridaya
79. Rudraksha
80. Sandilya
81. Sanyasa
82. Sarabha
83. Saraswathi-rahasya
84. Sariraka
85. Sarva-sar
86. Sathyayana
87. Savithri
88. Sita
89. Skanda
90. Soubhagyalakshmi
91. Sukarahasya
92. Sulabha
93. Surya
94. Swethasvatara
95. Tejobindu
96. Tharasara
97. Thripura
98. Thripurathapini
99. Thuriyatita
100. Trisikhi-brahmana
101. Vajrasuchika
102. Varaha
103. Vasudeva
104. Yajnavalkya
105. Yogachudamani
106. Yogakundalini
107. Yogasikha
108. Yogathathwa

The Upanishads have inspired other works on geography, astronomy, astrology, and economic and political theory, as well as the eighteen Puranas comprising Skanda, Siva, Garuda, and others.

The Vedas and the Upanishads are the very foundation of the Eternal Religion (Sanathana Dharma). This religion has no one founder, as do others. The invisible unknown founder is God, the source of all wisdom. He is the prophet of this eternal universal religion. His grace and inspiration manifested through pure sages, and they became the spokespersons of this dharma. When the moral purity of men degenerates, God takes form as grace and inspiration in sages and teachers. Through the Upanishads, He has also spoken the wisdom concerning the Supreme Reality.