Upanishad Ganga Appreciation Thread: A MUST-WATCH! - Page 5

Introduction to Upanishad Ganga, Part 1

The relevance of the Upanishadic wisdom to the present day man is brought out in this episode. The wisdom of Upanishad a timeless appeal since it deals with the basic aspirations of the human being - the desire to exist, the desire to know, and the desire to be happy. Upanishads deal with the nature of the Subject, the common substratum of all objective enquiries, and go to the basic question: Who am I?

These ideas are presented through the conflict between a father, who is a Sanskrit scholar, and his son who does not attach much importance to this Knowledge.

The Govt of India wants to recognise Gaurishankar's contribution to Sanskrit by conferring an award upon him. Gaurishankar refuses to accept, saying it is Sanskrit that has served the humanity for so long, and if at all someone is to be honoured, it should be the students who are studying this language in these modern times. This ironic comment of Gaurishankar is directed towards his younger son Narendra also, who is fascinated by western theatre, and has a low opinion about Indian arts and Sanskrit language. He even accuses his Sanskrit education for his unemployment. Narendra not seeing the relevance of the ancient knowledge in today's world pains Gaurishankar, and he justifies his stand by saying he just did his duty by passing on the legacy. Gaurishankar also challenges Narendra to find his own 'relevance'. This triggers thought in Narendra, and he starts thinking differently. On one hand, Gaurishankar is seen teaching the knowledge of Upanishads to select students like Satyadharma, who comes from distant lands in search of this knowledge, and on the other hand, Narendra starts experimenting with the play - Romeo-Juliet, where he asks the actors to don costumes of ancient Indian theatre, much to the disagreement of his team.

The term "Upanishad" literally means the inner or mystic teaching. It is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and s(h)ad (to sit), i.e., sitting down near, which refers to groups of pupils sitting near their teacher to learn from him the secret doctrine. In the serenity of forest hermitages, the Upanishad thinkers pondered on the problems of deepest concerns and communicated their knowledge to the capable pupils that sat near them.

Samkara derives the word Upanishad as a substitute from the root sad, 'to loosen,' 'to reach' or 'to destroy' with Upa and ni as prefixes and kvip as termination. If this determination is accepted, Upanishad means brahma-knowledge by which ignorance is loosened or destroyed. The Upanishads are found in the concluding sections of the Vedas and are classified as Vedanta, or the end of the Vedas.

There are five Vedas and each of these five books has several Saaakas (Branches). Each Saaka has a Karma Khanda dealing with the actions to be performed and is made up of Mantras and Brahmanaas. The latter deals with Upasana or meditation and has Aranyakas inside them for the benefit of those who have resorted to the quiet habitat of the forest to pursue their spiritual quest.

The Upanishads are found mostly in the Aranyaka section of the Vedas. The five Vedas have 1180 Saaakas and thus there should be 1180 Upanishads. Of these, what exists today is a collection of 108 Upanishads. The list of these 108 Upanishads is given in the Mukthikopanishad.

Out of the 108 Upanishads, only 10 have been commented upon by several Acharyas like Adi Shankaracharya. These are Ishavasya, Kena, Katha, Aithreya, Brihadaranyaka, Prashna, Mandukya, Taittireeya, Chandogya and Mundaka.

"The wisdom of Upanishad a timeless appeal since it deals with the basic aspirations of the human being - the desire to exist, the desire to know, and the desire to be happy. Upanishads deal with the nature of the Subject, the common substratum of all objective enquiries, and go to the basic question: Who am I?"

Going through the Upanishads (application) itself is related to 'Whom am I?'Hence mere reading is not sufficient to understand them.