AWAKENINGS

Isa means Lord or God. Hence its name itself is indicative of its importance i.e. It is named as God’s Upanishads. Like the Kena Upanishad, the Isa Upanishad takes its name from its first word, Isa. Isa Upanishad is said to be the essence of all Upanishad teachings so far as practical life is concerned. It is comparatively a very short Upanishad, though it is an integral gospel. Its invocation song itself is very famous and has an universal and unique appeal. The meaning of the song is as follows: Om. That is full; this is full. This fullness has been projected from that fullness. When this fullness merges in that fullness, all that remains is fullness. Om, Peace, Peace, Peace! Apart from the above invocation song, there are 18 verses only. But, all these 18 verses are full of eternal truths to lead a meaningful life here in this world and then to attain salvation thereafter. Mahatma Gandhi extolled the spiritual message contained in the first verse of this Upanishad. Apart from other ...

In this Brahdaranya Upanishad’s series, the present article deals with the Vital Force in the body which needs to control three factors – name, form and action. Some liberties have been taken with a view to make the concepts clear, though the core thoughts have been kept intact. - The Editor. As per Brahdaranya Upanishad, this Universe consists of three things. They are name, form and action. Let us examine each one by one. Let us take the case of Name. The actual source of name is speech. The source of speech is sound and the source of sound is tongue, an organ in the body. The next thing is form. The source of form is sight. The source of sight is eyes, which are the organs of the body. The last one is action. The source of action is body. The source of body is its organs including mind and intellect. The man should realize that these three factors viz. name, form and action need to be abandoned to realize the presence of God in us. To achieve this, the mind, which is also conside...

Some anecdotes, discourses and selective meaningful episodes from various Upanishads are being shared with the readers through the columns of this magazine. This essay is based on Brahadaranyaka Upanishad and deals with the characteristics of Immortality of the Supreme Soul. To make the subject matter simple and understandable, some liberties had been taken in the presentation without anyway deviating the core theme. - The Editor. The hermitage of Sage Yajnavalkya was amidst the thick forest. He was living with his two wives – Maitreyi and Katyayani. One day, Yajnavalkya was in deep thoughts. He addressed Maitreyi thus: ‘My dear, I am going to renounce this life. Before my renunciation, I have to divide the wealth possessed by me between you and Katyayani.’ Maitreyi: Well, why do you want to renounce your life? Yajnavalkya: To attain the Immortality. Maitreyi: Then, whether the wealth that you propose to give me, will fetch...

Prelude: Sage Uddalaka Aruni’s discourse with his son Svetaketu in Chandogya Upanishad gives an insight into the knowing of ultimate truth and the real Self. Svetaketu: Supreme Being is said to be nameless and formless? How can I know this principle? Uddalaka Aruni: Son, you might have seen many earthen pots of many forms having different names. There are also gold and steel articles of different forms and names. When you crush them, you will get the essence of the articles like clay, gold and steel. Though the forms and names are lost, the essence of the articles is revealed as clay, gold or steel. That revelation as to the nature of the mud or metals is the ultimate truth. Form and names are immaterial to know the Reality, which is the Supreme Being. Svetaketu: Father, you had told me about the non-living things. How about living things like human beings, animals and insects? Uddalaka Aruni: A man, a tiger or a fly is having different names and forms. But, when it dies, it loses its...

Introduction: Brihadaranya Upanishad meaning ‘Big Forest’ is a longest upanishad. It can reasonably be called as Yajnavalka’s Upanishad because many of the concepts and principles explained in this upanishad are as enunciated by the sage Yajnavalka. The dialogues about Creations, Brahman, Self, Birth, Death, Meditation, Gunas and Salvations are enunciated in this upanishad and symbolisms are very much evident therein. Yajnavalka’s dialogues with his consort Maitreyi and also with Gargi Vachaknavi, a woman saint in the court of Janaka are full of wisdom. The theories of DA(see below) and Neti, Neti (Not this, Not this -ariving at the Truth by negation) are also in this Upanishad. A few of these wonderful and lasting wisdom will be dealt with in a manner so that everyone could understand the in-depth meaning of these principles. In this article, the theory of ‘DA’ is explained. The two letters ‘DA’ denote Damyatta (Control pertaining to Devas), Datta (Charity pertaining to Men) and Dayad...

THREE Rs: Requests, Recommendations, Reactions and Remedies: Requests: The COBRA which stands for Combat Battalion for Resolute Action was formed to tackle the well armed and organized Naxal groups with 10000 strong men geared for guerilla warfare with latest equipments and outfits. The force had made demands, among other things, for the special reinforced helmets of 1000 as the initial supply for the force to the Home Ministry recently. Recommendations: The Home Ministry, on considering their requests, had restricted the supply just to 10 helmets only. The stand taken by the home ministry was based on the presumption that only ‘leaders’ needed the specially toughened helmets rather than all 900 personnel in a battalion. The Ministry had justified their stand on the view that personnel ‘leading’ an operation were more vulnerable to enemy fire as they tended to stand out and that Maoist groups were adept at spotting commanders to target them. The ministry had reiterated that there was...

Harvest No.2: Pope Benedict XVI’s Speech On Islamic Terrorism Late Pope Paul John II had advocated the massive campaign to convert Hindus into Christianity during his visit to India on the 9th November 1999 – the eve of Deepavali Festival and the present Pope Benedict XVI had chosen 12th September 2006 – the worst day of 9/11 for U.S. - one day after the terror attack of Twin Towers in New York to speak at West Germany about Islamic terrorism perhaps to harvest Muslims as converts. But his speech had immediately evoked widespread revolt throughout the Muslim world, which made Pope to tender regret and then even he had to apologize for his speech. Pope would not speak oft hand and his speech would have normally been gone through various stages with his experts and advisories who were supposed to approve the same. Yet, Pope had to retrace his words and forced to tender an apology, which is very rare. It is universally held that there is no violence approved by any religious sects. It is ...