Meaning of Upanishad
The liberating wisdom, and not any book, is the primary meaning of the word Upanishad. We may read or teach books, chant mantras, and study many explanations of the mantras. Our actual life may be no different from that of any worldly man. Fear, envy and attachment may mark our relationships. Ambition may not leave our heart. The ego in us may be active in some new form. “My institution or country” is a clever disguise, for example, for the self. Is there then Upanishad in our life?
Shri Shankaracharya, while introducing the Kathopanishad, exhorts us to understand that the litmus test of our Vedanta is that the very seeds of the egoistic living be burnt. Upanishad means the ‘destruction’ of ignorance. Again, Upanishad means that wisdom which ‘leads’ us to the Infinite Truth.
Being scholarly does not ensure freedom from negative self-judgments. Learned people are often seen to burn with envy at the sight of other scholars being better recognized or more rewarded. That is a sure sign of their remaining caught in the web of thoughts. The smoke of egoistic conclusions then covers the flame of awareness in them. They lack openness. They lack psychological simplicity. They are in the shade of, if not in the darkness of, aham-vrittis (thoughts describing one’s identity and worth). Time has them in its clutches. Eternity is just a concept for them.
To call a book Upanishad is best justified in a secondary sense. The study of the book is to awaken in us the wisdom, which alone, once more, is the true meaning of Upanishad. Therefore the book has received much honor traditionally. The truly wise know the serious limitations of the book.
Certain teachings leading to concentration of the mind, attainment of powers and to heavenly pleasures may also sometimes be referred to as Upanishad. This too is in a secondary sense. Upanishad does not bring about any achievement in the usual sense of the term. All achievements – as we usually conceive them – are in time and they perish. The insight that the ‘me’, which wishes to achieve, become somebody or regain some lost status etc. itself is false – is the key to liberation. Then we are out of time, though living in time.
Swami Chidananda
Monday, July 19, 2004