The Upanishads and Hindu Philosophical and Religious Traditions

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The Upanishads and Hindu Philosophical and
Religious Traditions
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Themes from the Upanishads
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1. Impermanence and Permanence

• The world of sense objects is impermanent, but
  there is a permanent, enduring reality.
• This permanent reality is sat-chit-ananda
  (being-consciousness-bliss).
• When sat-chit-ananda is viewed as an external,
  cosmic reality, it is called Brahman. When
  viewed as the inner reality of the individual
  person, it is called Atman.

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2. The Brahman Reality

• Many of the Upanishads teach that Brahman is
  non-duality, and identical with Atman.
• Non-dual sat-chit-ananda appears or manifests as
  the multiplicity of objects in our experience.
  What endures is one, but its name and form
  (nama-rupa) is many.
• The non-dual conception of the Brahman/Atman
  reality implies ultimate reality has no
  attributes (nirguna) and is thus not a personal
  being.

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Brahma
Vishnu
Shiva
The Non-Dual interpretation of Brahman implies
that gods represent different provisional
manifestations of formless Brahman.
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Brahma
Shiva
Vishnu
The Trimurti (three forms) represent formless
Brahman manifested or immanent in the cosmic
processes of creation, preservation, and
dissolution/recreation of the cosmos. This is
the meaning of the mantra OM or AUM.
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Brahman as Personal God

• The Upanishads also refer to Brahman under
  various attributes (saguna Brahman), including
  those indicative of personhood knowledge, will,
  and moral goodness (Svetasvatara Upanishad,
  VI.1-23).
• Some passages in Mundaka Upanishad subordinate
  imperishable Brahman to the supreme Purusha
  (person).
• Other later Upanishads emphasize personal theism
  (e.g. Katha, Isa, and Svetasvatara).

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Atman and Personal God

• Brahman as the Supreme personal being implies
  that atman (the true Self) and the Absolute are
  distinct, though intimately related to each
  other.
• This also suggests a plurality of atman
  realities, as multiple finite manifestations of
  the infinite essence of Brahman.
• The true Self of each person is to Brahman what a
  wave is to the ocean.

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3. The Human Condition

• The impermanence of the world is found also in
  the human disposition to identity Self with the
  body-mind.
• The separate self is the atman reality
  conditioned by attachments to sense objects.
• Attachment identifying the Self with the body
  or mind (thinking, perceiving, and sensing).

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Unhappiness

• Where there is a separate self, there is
  unhappiness, lack of peace, lack of satisfaction
  or fulfillment.
• By virtue of its self-understanding, the
  separate self is by definition separated from
  the permanent sacred reality that alone is the
  peace or fulfillment it seeks.
• The self-understanding of the separate self is
  really a form of ignorance (avidya).

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4. Spiritual Practice

• The Upanishads refer to a variety of spiritual
  practices by means of which the separate self is
  dismantled and true peace (ananda) is realized.

Unhappiness
Separate Self
Attachment to Sense Objects
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• Since the separate self is grounded in attachment
  to sense objects, the dissolution of the
  self-separate self is by way of non-attachment,
  which is facilitated by three practices
• Discrimination (jnana) between what is enduring
  and non-enduring.
• Meditation (dhyana) on the inner Self or God as
  the enduring reality.
• Love or devotional service (bhakti) to the Self
  or God.

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The Upanishads and Hindu Philosophical Traditions
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Sankhya Philosophy

• Oldest systematic philosophy of the Hindu
  traditions, extending back to the period of the
  Upanishads.
• Central concepts the distinction between matter
  (prakriti) and consciousness (purusha).
  Liberation from samsara requires cultivation of
  practices to realize the Self as consciousness
  unconditioned by matter.
• Sankhya is dualistic there are many true selves.
  
• Sankhya is atheistic, since belief in a god is
  not part of Sankhya.

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Raja-Yoga of Patanjali

• Patanjalis Yoga Sutras (circa 100 BCE 500 CE).
• Ones true Self is purusha or atman, buried
  beneath the layers of a separate self.
• Yoga is chitta-vritti nirodha, stilling the
  thought forms of the mind by practices of moral
  virtue, discrimination, meditation, including
  physical posture and breath control.
• Belief in a personal god is included in the Yoga
  Darshan. Its a marginal element, though, since
  what is essential for liberation is individual
  self-effort not the grace of a god.

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Vedanta

• Originating with Shankara (circa 9th century CE)
  - the systematic elaboration of the Upanishads.

Shankaras tradition of Vedanta is Advaita
Vedanta, advaita meaning not-two. This school
of Vedanta adopts a radically non-dual
understanding of reality.
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• By contrast, Bhakti Vedanta traditions affirm
  that Brahman is ultimately a personal reality,
  the true self of each person is distinct from
  Brahman and each other, even though they are
  intimately related.

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Vedanta in the United States

• The Advaita tradition came to the United
  States in the last quarter of the 20th century
  through the teachings of Swami Vivekananda
  (right), the great disciple of 19th century guru
  Sri Ramakrishna (left).

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Vedanta in the United States

• The Bhakti tradition came to the United States
  in the 1960s under the guidance of A.C.
  Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the
  Hare Krishna movement (a species of Vaishnavism)

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Devotional Hindu Religious Traditions
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Textual Sources

• Theism (belief in a single Supreme personal
  being) emerges in many of the later Upanishads
  (8th-6th centuries BCE).
• Theism is an important motif in the Epic
  literature of India beginning around the 5th
  century BCE.
• The Bhagavad Gita (circa 300 BCE), for example,
  emphasized the ultimately personal nature of
  ultimate reality (Brahman), as well as its
  manifestation in human form as Bhagavan (Lord)
  Krishna.

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• The Puranas
• Hindu devotional traditions are also based on the
  various texts called the Puranas, which were
  composed largely during the Gupta period (circa
  320-500 century CE), and revised during the
  medieval period.
• The Puranas are conceptually influenced by
  aspects of both the Upanishads and Epic
  literature. As such they are an interesting blend
  of non-dual philosophy, cosmology, and theism.

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The Puranas

• The Puranas are essential for understanding
  worship of the gods in the mainline devotional
  traditions of India today.
• Although acknowledging many of the different gods
  of the Hindu pantheon, the Puranas demonstrate
  the rise in popularity of the worship of Vishnu
  and the worship of Shiva as the Supreme being.
• Some of the Puranas are written from a sectarian
  viewpoint in which Vishnu or Shiva is the Supreme
  being, and all other gods are subordinate
  entities.

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Bhakti Renaissance

• Between the 6th to 9th centuries CE, bhakti
  traditions grew in intensity in South India among
  many poets and mystics, and by the 11th century
  were widespread in North India.
• The worship of Vishnu (Vaishnavism) and Shiva
  (Shaivism) as the Supreme being were the
  prominent general forms of religious worship in
  the Bhakti traditions.
• Bhakti traditions emphasized the loss of ego in
  total surrender and love for God, often rejecting
  more formalized aspects of religious worship
  (formal temple worship, yoga, and theology).

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Contemporary Devotional Traditions
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Vaishnavism Worship of Vishnu or Krishna as the
Supreme Being.
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Vaishnava Traditions

• Vaishnavism designates a variety of different
  traditions centered on the worship of Vishnu (or
  Krishna) and his many expansions or
  manifestations.
• Some Vaishnava traditions (dvaita) are strongly
  dualistic in nature, affirming a distinction
  between God, the world, and souls. Others
  (Vishishtadvaita) are non-dualistic with
  qualification souls are part of Gods being.
  Others (Gaudiya Vaishnavism) affirm the
  simultaneous difference and non-difference
  between the Self and God.

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Shaivism Worship of Shiva as the Supreme
Being. Saiva Siddhanta Dualistic Shiva and
the devotee are distinct. Kasmir Shaivism
Non-dualism Shiva and the devotee are
non-distinct, whose essential nature is
consciousness.
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Shaktism Worship of Shakti or Devi the Divine
Mother as the Supreme Being. Rooted in the
Puranas and Tantric texts. Less clearly defined
than Vaishnavism and Shaivism. Often
indistinguishable from Shaivism.
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Smartism Worship of ones own chosen deity as
one among many different manifestations of
formless Brahman. Philosophically grounded in
Advaita Vedanta.
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Truth is one, but the sages call it by different
names. Rig Veda
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References

• Steven Rosen, Essential Hinduism (Westport, CT
  Praeger, 2006).
• R.C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim Mysticism (New
  York Schocken Books, 1969), Chapters 2-4.
• R.C. Zaehner, Hinduism (New York Oxford
  University Press, 1972).
• Swami Prabhavanda, The Spiritual Heritage of
  India A Clear Summary of Indian Philosophy and
  Religion (Hollywood, CA Vedanta Press, 1979),
  Chapters 1-3.
• Gavin Flood, Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge
  University Press, 1996).
• Hans Torwesten, Vedanta Heart of Hinduism (New
  York Grove Press, 1991), Chapter 1.
• Dominic Goodall (ed.), Hindu Scriptures
  (Berkeley, CA University of California Press,
  1996).