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1. The Geeta and the Upanishads
"Unlimited and comprehensive, up to the point of confusion!" is how one can justifiably describe one’s feeling when one surveys the mass of Hindu Scriptures. It would be the greatest miracle if one is not confused when faced with the veritable mountain that they make! Their very multiplicity and their voluminous character debar any man, however learned, from an acquaintance with more than a small fraction of them. We have only so much time on our hands. What do you focus on? And where do you start? For someone who wants to understand Hinduism, it’s a big problem. Hinduism has come to mean anything to anybody. It has no one founder, no one God, no one acknowledged scriptural text, no uniform worship, no one code of ethical teachings, no uniform faith or religious practices. Hindu philosophy has become a labyrinth of innumerable abstract philosophical statements, enunciated differently by different interpreters, full of contradictions, illusory, evasive, mingled with myths, fables, legends, tales, romantic stories and mysticism, with no beginning or ending. Hinduism has no common creed. A Hindu may worship one God, many gods or no god at all. In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, "Hinduism as a faith, is vague, amorphous, many-sided: all things to all men. It is hardly possible to define it, or indeed to say definitely whether it is a religion or not, in the usual sense of the word. In its present form, even in the past, it embraces many beliefs and practices, from the highest to the lowest, often opposed to or contradicting each other."
The sad fact in India today is even that among many learned pundits, the Puranas (stories of the gods and goddesses, which are not authoritative) are more frequently quoted as authority than the "Shruti" (revelation, the vedas) itself, distracting and keeping the common man away from many uplifting truths. We can’t get trapped in the "first-saw-first-gave-my-life-for" syndrome here. This concerns our lives! It’s far too important for such a hasty approach.
How do we approach the mass of Hindu scriptures? The first thing we need to do as we approach them, is to take a bird’s eye-view of the entire mass of literature, noting the principal characteristics of each. Having got an organized picture of the whole, the next thing to do is to pick and choose which of these is worthy of one’s time and effort. There is no way you can even read even a part of all that is available, let alone study them in some depth! There is an absolute need for discrimination here! If you start indiscriminately, or with the first thing that falls in your laps just because it happens to be the first thing that fell in your laps, you are more likely to end up wasting your time on something that is ultimately irrelevant and not of much benefit to you. Moreover, you are likely to get confused as people quote as authority, scriptures and traditions that are not to be treated authoritatively at all!
Taking a bird’s eye-view of the mass of Hindu Scriptures, they can be divided into the following categories:
1) The Shrutis: Scriptures which are supposed to be divinely revealed ("shruti" means "heard"): These are the four Vedas, revealed to a number of rishis or sages (variously estimated from 400 to 800 in number). These have the highest authority amongst all the scriptures; in fact they are the only authoritative scriptures, a "Hindu" generally being defined as a person who considers the Vedas authoritative. Each Veda comprises four parts:
The four Vedas are:
2) The Smritis: Scriptures which are of human composition and do not have the divine authority of the vedas ("smriti" means "remembered"). Amongst other things, they include
3) The Epics i.e. the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
4) The Puranas, legends of the gods and goddesses. Tradition ascribes them to Sage Vyasa. By definition, the Puranas must deal with the following five topics: History, Cosmology, Secondary creation, Genealogy of kings, and World-cycles. There are eighteen main Puranas and eighteen subsidiary ones (upa puranas). The 18 Main Puranas are divided into three groups of six Puranas each: six Sattvic Puranas glorifying Lord Vishnu, six Rajasic Puranas glorifying Lord Brahma and six Tamasic Puranas glorifying Lord Shiva. These 18, in the three groups of six respectively, are:
The first six are devoted to the praise of Vishnu, the next six to the praise of Brahma, and the last six to the praise of Shiva. The 18 eighteen subsidiary Puranas are Sanat Kumara, Narasimha, Naradiya, Shiva, Durvasa, Kapila, Manava, Ausanasa, Varuna, Kalika, Samva, Nandikeshwara, Saura, Parashara, Vasishtha, Devi-Bhagavata, Ganesha, and Hamsa.
5) The Agamas, or manuals of divine worship: These are not authoritative, but more of instructive of the practical. They are divided into three categories:
6) The six Darshanas or philosophical systems or ways of seeing things or the six systems or six different schools of thought, or the six demonstrations of Truth. Each school has developed, systematized and correlated the various parts of the Veda in its own way. Each system has its sutrakara, i.e., the one great Rishi who systematized the doctrines of the school and put them in short aphorisms or Sutras. The Sutras are terse and laconic. The rishis have condensed their thoughts in the aphorisms. It is very difficult to understand them without the help of commentaries by great sages or rishis. Hence, there arose many commentators or bhashyakaras. There are glosses, notes and, later, commentaries on the original commentaries. The darshanas are grouped into three pairs of aphoristic compositions which explain the philosophy of the Vedas in a rationalistic method of approach. These pairs are: Nyaya and Vaisheshika, Sankhya and Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta.
7) Other Scriptures
A. The Various Geetas: Besides the well-known Bhagavad Geeta, there is the Anu Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Ashvamedha, Canto 16), the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna after the war and coronation of Yudhishthira; Ashtavakra Geeta (a short treatise on nondualistic Vedanta in the form of a dialogue between the saintly king Janaka and his guru Sage Ashtavakra); Avadhuta Geeta by Sage Dattatreya (the "Song of the Free" expounding the ultimate truths of nondualistic Vedanta); Bhikshu Geeta (from the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, Book 11, chapter 23); Brahma Geeta (from the Skanda Purana, chapter 4 of the book Suta Samhita, and chapters 1-12 of the book Yajnavaibhava Khanda); Brahmana Geeta; Bodhya Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Devi Geeta (from the Devi Bhagavata, Book 7, chapters 31-40); Ganesha Geeta (from the Ganesha Purana, Book Krida Khanda, chapters 138-148); Hamsa Geeta (from the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, Book 11, chapter 13); Harita Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Ishvara Geeta (from the Kurma Purana, first eleven chapters of Uttara Vibhaga); Kapila Geeta (from the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, Book 3, chapters 23-33); Manki Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Pandava Geeta (from the Mahabharata); Parashara Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Pingala Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Rama Geeta (in which Lord Rama imparts the knowledge of the Self to his most devoted and dear brother Lakshmana); Ramana Geeta (a contemporary treatise written in Sanskrit by the South Indian sage Ramana Maharshi); Shiva Geeta (from the Padma Purana, Book Patala Khanda); Shiva Shampaka Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Surya Geeta; Suta Geeta (from the Skanda Purana, Book Yana Vaibhava Khanda, chapters 13-20); Uddhava Geeta (from the Bhagavata Purana, Book 11, chapters 6-29, the last teachings of Lord Krishna transmitted to his most ardent devotee and uncle, Uddhava); Uttara Geeta (a dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna); Vicikhyu Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Vritra Geeta (from the Mahabharata, Book Moksha Parva, as a part of the book Shanti Parva); Vyasa Geeta (from the Kurma Purana, twelfth chapter onward of the Uttara Vibhaga); Yama Geeta etc.
B. Miscellaneous: Shandilya Bhakti Sutras; Narada Bhakti Sutras; Devi Mahatmyam (or Chandi or Durga Saptasati, which comes from the Markandeya Upanishad, the poetic narration of triumph of the Divine Mother over the forces of evil); Sri Chakra; Saundaraya Lahari by Adi Shankaracharya; Shakta Upanishad; Subhagodayam; Adhyatma Ramayana; Tripura Rahasya; Tirukural by Tiruvalluvar; Tevaram and Tiruvachakam (hymns of the Shaiva saints of South India); Divya-Prabandham (hymns of the Alvar saints of South India); Songs of Sant Kabir; Abhangas of Sant Tukaram; Ramayana of Sant Tulsidas etc.
8) Secular Writings of a Spiritual Orientation
A. Wisdom Tales (subhashitas): This category includes wise sayings, instructions, fables and stories, either in poetry or in prose. Some of the most famous are: Three Centuries of Verses by Bhartrihari; Subhashita-Ratna-Bhandagara; Katha-Sarit-Sagara by Somadeva Bhatta; Brihat-Katha-Manjari by Kshemendra; Panchatantra; Hitopadesha etc.
B. Poetry (kavyas): These are highly refined compositions in verse, prose, or a combination of the two. These include famous works in verse such as Raghuvamsa and Kumara-sambhava by Kalidasa, Kiratarjuniya by Bharavi, Shisupalavadha by Magha, Naishadha by Sri Harsha; and famous works in prose such as Kadambari and Harshacharita by Bhattabana etc.
C. Dramas (natakas): The best dramas are Shakuntala by Kalidasa, Uttara-Rama-Charita by Bhavabhuti, Mudrarakshasa by Visakhadatta.
D. Rhethorics (alankaras): These are treatises on the perfection of speech and language, both in poetry and in prose. The best works on the subject are Kavyaprakasha by Mammata and Rasagangadhara by Jagannatha.
And then there are the writings by/ about local saints, more popular in particular regions in the country. Thus writings by/ on the saints Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Ramdas etc. are more popular in rural Maharashtra.
That then, is a bird’s eye-view of the scriptural scene in Hinduism. Quite a mountain, this! Where do we begin? What do we concentrate our time and efforts on? The Shrutis i.e. the Vedas, being the only authoritative of the scriptures, immediately present themselves as worthy of our time and attention. We can ignore the Smritis straightaway since they primarily deal with special interest subjects such as health care, military science, art and music, politics and economics, much of which was more relevant in the earlier times. Plus they do not have the authority of the Vedas. As far as the epics i.e. the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are concerned, most Indians know them in summary form anyway. For those who don’t, and who are interested in Hinduism, since they are so popular and known by almost all Hindus, it’s good to have a general idea of them. This can be had by reading an abridged version of them, available in any general bookstore. Since they are so long in their unabridged form, even most Hindus have not read them in their completeness! Next come the Puranas, the legends of the gods and goddesses. The intellectuals deride them as consisting of fantastic, unbelievable and many a times, downright immoral and petty shenanigans of the various gods and goddesses, but for the emotional devotees they are the staple diet! The situation is much like as it was in ancient Greece – the masses fed on the fantasy-stories of the Greek gods and goddesses, whereas the intellectual philosophers and the ruling class, knowing their reality (or lack of reality) made fun of them, though paying them lip-service when it served their political ends to do so. They are supposed to point a finger to the ultimate reality presented in the Vedanta through the stories, but in reality, people get more easily trapped in the forms of the deities presented therein. Hence we do not start with the Puranas. Neither with the Agamas, for a similar reason. At the popular level, many people start with Yogasanas and Meditation, since classes for these are present in all localities. But the fact that they are present more in the comparatively wealthier localities speaks more of their real purpose than their stated one. Generally speaking, at most levels, people go in for whatever is popular and easily available on the mass scale. In other words, they go in for that which falls first into their laps. For example in rural Maharashtra, the abhangas (spiritual worship songs) of Tukaram are very popular, and are what most people are familiar with. Just as in urban, wealthier localities, yoga and meditation classes are more popular.
For the serious student though, the most important are obviously the scriptures that are considered authoritative – the vedas. Each veda, as stated before, consists of four portions – the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads. Amongst these also, the first three would be of little interest to us. The Samhitas are hymns of praise to deities like Indra, Agni, Varuna, etc., deities that are as good as dead today. The Brahmanas are manuals for the performance of sacrificial rites, and the Aranyakas, philosophical interpretations of the rituals.
What’s left are the Upanishads, also known as "Vedanta" since they occur at the end of the Vedas. And this is where the really important stuff is. The Upanishads are where the highest and best of the Indian philosophy is found. They represent the high-water mark of Hindu philosophy and contain the essence of the vedas. In the Suka Rahasya Upanishad, they are rightly called "the crown of the Vedas." It adds, "For the wise man who meditates upon Brahman (the central topic of the Upanishads), holy spots, Vedic rites and mantras are useless." In fact, it is considered that all other knowledge is secondary when compared with the knowledge found in the Upanishads.
There are 108 authoritative Upanishads, each attached to one or the other vedas. These are (in alphabetical order for each veda):
From the Rigveda:
This is where the real stuff is. This is where the best and highest of Hindu philosophy is found. If there is any place to start, it is the Upanishads. If there are any Scriptures worth our time and effort, it’s the Upanishads, the Vedanta. They are called the "cream of the Vedas" and you like to eat the cream first don’t you? And why not?
But then, where does the Bhagavad Geeta fit in? How come it has become the most popular of the Hindu Scriptures? When only the vedas are considered authoritative, and the Upanishads within them are supposed to contain the highest and best of Hindu philosophy, then how come it is the Bhagavad Geeta that has become the most studied and the most popular? Answer: It is the Bhagavad Geeta that presents the very same Upanishadic philosophy in a dramatic setting, in a form that is more easily understandable by the common man. To quote Mahadev Desai (Gandhiji’s close associate) in his book "The Gita according to Gandhi" pgs 18-19,
Whoever would be a serious student of the Gita must go to these source books – the "revered Upanishads" as Hume has called them, and he will find the truth of the metaphors of the cow, and the meadow I have referred to above. But let no one therefore run away with the impression that the Gita is a highly poetic echo of the Upanishads. The Gita performs the unique function of making what was an esoteric doctrine a living reality for the unlettered, the lowly and the lost, and present the highest form of practical religion to enable each and all to realize his or her purpose in life. Above all, it blazons forth in an unmistakable manner the truth that life is worth living and teaches how it may be worth living. It is a unique synthesis and reconciliation of the two doctrines which were in those days held to be contradictory – sannyasa (renunciation of action) and performance of action.
In fact, the Geeta itself is also considered as an Upanishad. The quote that Mahadev Desai was referring to was "Just as the Upanishads are the cream of the Vedas, the Bhagavad Geeta is the cream of the Upanishads. The Upanishads are the cows, Lord Krishna is the cowherd, Arjuna is the calf, and the Bhagavad Geeta is the milk. The wise drink the milk of the Geeta."
The teaching of the Bhagavad Geeta is the same as the teaching of the Upanishads. In fact some statements in the Bhagavad Geeta seem to be word-for-word repetitions of statements in the Upanishads. Compare for example, the following sets of verses:
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From the Bhagavad Geeta |
From the Katha Upanishad |
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2:19 Those who know him to be the killer and those who think him to be the killed, both of them are not in knowledge, for he neither kills nor is killed. |
2:19 If the slayer thinks that he slays, or if the slain thinks that he is slain, both of these know not. For It neither slays nor is It slain. |
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2:20He is not born, nor does he die. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not killed when the body is killed. |
2:18 This Self is never born, nor does It die. It did not spring from anything, nor did anything spring from It. This Ancient One is unborn, eternal, everlasting. It is not slain even though the body is slain. |
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13:16 Outside and inside of living entities, both nonmoving and moving, being subtle, that unknowable is situated far, yet is near. And 13:18b He is situated in the hearts of everyone. |
2:20a The Self is subtler than the subtle, greater than the great; It dwells in the heart of each living being. |
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2:11b Neither for the living nor for the dead grieve those who are wise. And 2:25 Unmanifest he is, inconceivable he is, unchangeable he is said to be. Therefore, knowing this, grief is not appropriate of you. |
2:22 The wise who know the Self, bodiless, seated within perishable bodies, great and all- pervading, grieve not. |
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3:42 The senses are said to be superior, superior to the senses is the mind, superior to the mind is the intellect, but he is superior to the intellect also. |
3:10 Beyond the senses are the objects, beyond the objects is the mind, beyond the mind is the intellect, beyond the intellect is the great Atman. |
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3:43 Thus understanding him who is superior to the intellect, steady the self by the self and conquer the enemy, mighty-armed one, in the form of formidable lust. |
3:13 A wise man should control speech by mind, mind by intellect, intellect by the great Atman, and that by the Peaceful One (the Paramatman or Supreme Self) |
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15:1 With roots above and branches downwards, there is said to be an imperishable banyan tree whose leaves are the vedic hymns. |
6:1a This ancient banyan tree has its roots above and branches below. |
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From the Bhagavad Geeta |
From the Avadhuta Upanishad |
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2:70: As the ever-full ocean is steady and established even though waters enter it, so also is the person in whom all sense gratification desires enter without affecting him. He makes peace his own, not a person who desires sense gratification. |
v. 10: As the ocean into which all waters flow maintains its own nature despite the water pouring in (from all sides), so, he alone attains peace into whom all desires flow in like manner; not he who seeks the objects of pleasure. |
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From the Bhagavad Geeta |
From the Atma Upanishad |
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2:20 He is not born, nor does he die. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not killed when the body is killed. 2:23-25 Neither can he be cut by weapons, nor does fire burn him; neither water moistens him, nor does the wind dry him. Uncleavable is he, unburnable is he, insoluble, and cannot be dried. Eternal, all-pervading, unchangeable, and immovable is this eternal soul. Unmanifest he is, inconceivable he is, unchangeable he is said to be. |
I-4. Next the supreme Self, the imperishable… He is not born, does not die, does not dry, is not wetted, not burnt, does not tremble, is not split, does not sweat. He is beyond the gunas, is spectator, is pure, partless, alone, subtle, owning nothing, blemishless, immutable, devoid of sound, touch, color, taste, smell, is indubitable, non-grasping, omnipresent. He is unthinkable and invisible. He purifies the impure, the unhallowed. He acts not. He is not subject to empirical existence. |
The Bhagavad Geeta presents the same teaching as found in the Upanishads. This philosophy represents the best and the highest as found in Hindu Scriptures. Now that, is both a positive and a negative statement. Positive, for obvious reasons. Negative, because it shows the depths we as a nation have sunk to, from those heights! If the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Geeta represent the high water-mark of the Hindu religion, then it shows that Hinduism has only degraded after that. And degraded to what extent! When we study the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta and see later history of the Hindu religion, we see the light diminishing, earnestness giving place to triviality of thought, to the ravings of superstition, to the inanities of ceremonialism and to laws of social (caste) and religious bondage having no sanction in the authoritative scriptures.
When knowledged Hindus talk of India’s great past, it is the Upanishadic period that they are referring to, the period that existed just before and at the time of the Mahabharata. This was when Upanishadic teaching was prevalent, and even the common man was not only aware of it, but also lived by the accompanying high ethical and moral standards. Today, all kinds of rubbish and all kinds of superstitions pass off under the garb of religion. Bizarre practices flourish under the name of spirituality. In Karur in Tamil Nadu, devotees submit themselves in an annual ritual, to the practice of breaking coconuts on the heads, a practice which can cause brain damage. In another annual ritual in Sholapur, infants are thrown from a four-storied building and caught in bed-sheets held by people below, in the belief that this strengthens them. In a village in Andhra Pradesh, in an annual festival, the priest dances on the prostrate bodies of women to 'bless' them. At the Chenna Keshav temple in Prakasam, Andhra Pradesh, there is a 3-day festival held every year in which bare-bodied children are thrown on a pile of thorny babool trees in the belief that it helps infertile women to bear children. In Uttaranchal in an annual ritual, two groups throw stones at each other, with only a small shield for protection. Any injury (and many are quite serious) is considered a blessing from the goddess in whose honor the festival is held. In Gulbarga, mentally-retarded children and buried in the ground up to their necks during solar eclipses in the belief that this practice cures their mental retardation. When are people with integrity going to stand up against such practices? These are obviously bizarre. But what about a belief such as "a dip in the Ganga can wash away your sins" which even many educated people hold? Is God so foolish?
No nation can be considered advanced while such practices prevail. Mere GDP growth doesn’t make a nation advanced. And it’s not fine economic theories and smart management practices that are going to lift the vast masses of India. They may bring material prosperity to the miniscule minority, but the vast masses of India live in their religion. Indians are naturally a spiritually minded people. That again, is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage, because they can make spiritual progress much faster when the right information is made available to them. It’s in their genes. And we can’t do away with our genes! But there is a disadvantage too. The natural spiritual leaning of Indians makes them prone to blindly accepting anything and everything taught by their religion and the plethora of self-appointed gurus. And so, all kinds of rubbish and all kinds of superstitions of the kind mentioned above pass off under the garb of spirituality. And they flourish only because the right information is not freely made available to the vast majority of the masses.
And what is the "right information" which if, made available to the spiritually-minded Indian, can put him on the fast-track of spiritual progress? Besides other things, I believe that a knowledge of the philosophy presented in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta are high on the list. Leave alone the bizarre practices mentioned above, but I have not found anywhere in the Upanishads or the Bhagavad Geeta, any teaching similar to "a dip in the Ganga can wash away your sins" which even many educated people hold! Based on the teaching of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta as to what really washes away our sins, I have no hesitation in calling the belief that "a dip in the Ganga can wash away your sins" an outright lie! "Riches do not help, nor friends nor kinsmen, nor the strain of the body, nor resorting to sacred waters and temples, but only through the conquest of the mind is that condition reached" as the Maha Upanishad says in IV-28.
It’s only when we build our lives on the truth that we can make spiritual progress. "Satyannasti Paro Dharma" (there is no dharma greater than adherence to truth) says a Sanskrit sentence. "Satyameva jayate" (truth alone triumphs, Mundaka Upanishad III:1:6) says another. It’s when these sentences become a reality in the lives of the vast majority of the people of India, that we will become a truly advanced nation. We can’t pay lip-service to them and keep on building our lives on lies. We have to build our lives on truth, and truth alone.
But for that to happen, we first need to know the truth, we first need to have information about it. Most people in India will pay lip-service to the Bhagavad Geeta and the philosophy of the Upanishads, but how many of them even know or understand what it is? How many of them realize that many of the things they do, and that too in the name of religion, are actually against what has been taught in the Geeta and the Upanishads?
The first step is then, to know and understand what they say. And to that purpose this book is mainly addressed, and most of it explains and expounds these Scriptures. But it doesn’t stop at that. There are places where some of the beliefs come into direct contradiction with important beliefs held by other faiths (especially the belief or re-incarnation with Christian and Muslim faiths). If our purpose is to build our lives on the truth, then we also need to put to the test any claims of truth made. Hindu Scriptures encourage such testing. In this book, we also put to the test by critical examination, in as unbiased and objective a manner as possible, major beliefs which are contradictory to other belief systems, and see which one of them comes out best.
And let truth alone prevail.