INTRO TO THE UPANISHADS-PART OF THE HINDU SCRIPTURES      UPAN-00.TXT
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       THE UPANISHADS, ANCIENT ACCOUNTS OF MYSTICAL REVELATIONS, HAVE BEEN
       THE INSPIRATION BEHIND ALL SYSTEMS OF HINDU RELIGION AND REMAIN THE
       PRIMARY SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE FOR MILLIONS OF BELIEVERS
       TODAY.

       CONSTITUTING THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PORTIONS OF THE VEDAS, INDIA'S
       OLDEST AND MOST IMPORTANT SCRIPTURES, THEY HOLY WRITINGS ARE SAID TO
       BE DIVINE REVELATIONS RECEIVED BY SAINTS AND SEERS WHO LIVED
       HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. NEITHER DOGMA NOR
       THEOLOGY, THESE MEDITATIONS CONCERN DIRECT, OVERWHELMING RELIGIOUS
       EXPERIENCE IN THE MIDST OF LIFE, AND RECORD INSIGHTS INTO ETERNAL
       TRUTHS. THEY ARE UNIFIED BY THEIR COMMON SEARCH FOR THE TRUE NATURE
       OF REALITY, AND IN THE COURSE OF THIS SEARCH AFFORD GLIMPSES INTO
       SUPREME STATES OF THE SOUL.

       THESE SACRED DOCUMENTS HAVE INFLUENCED GREEK PHILOSOPHY, JUDAISM,
       AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY, AND HAVE BEEN PRAISED BY GREAT WESTERN
       THINKERS. THEY BRING A VITAL MESSAGE FOR MODERN MAN.

       IN THE TRANSLATIONS PRESENTED HERE, THE SANSKRIT WORD ATMAN, MEANING
       GOD WITHIN, IS TRANSLATED AS "SELF". IN THE ORIGINAL TEXTS, THE
       INFORMATION IS IN VERSE, IT HAS BEEN TRANSLATED AS PROSE. AT THE
       BEGINNING OF EACH UPANISHAD IS BRIEF PARAGRAPH WHICH INDICATES
       DOMINATE THEMES.

       THE OLDEST SCRIPTURES OF INDIA ARE THE VEDAS. ALL ORTHODOX HINDUS
       RECOGNIZE IN THEM THE ORIGINAL OF THEIR FAITH AND ITS HIGHEST
       WRITTEN AUTHORITY. THERE ARE FOUR VEDAS. EACH IS DIVIDED INTO TWO
       PARTS. THE SECOND VEDA IS CONCERNED WITH KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, THE
       HIGHEST ASPECT OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH, AND IS CALLED -- UPANISHADS. THE
       LITERAL MEANING OF UPANISHAD IS, "SITTING NEAR DEVOTEDLY." (BRINGING
       TO MIND AN EARNEST DISCIPLE LEARNING FROM HIS TEACHER.) THE WORD
       ALSO MEANS "SECRET TEACHINGS" --- SECRET NO DOUBT, BECAUSE A
       TEACHING VOUCHED SAFED ONLY TO THOSE WHO ARE SPIRITUALLY READY TO
       RECEIVE AND PROPHET FROM THE TEACHINGS. ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF
       THE WORD IS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD --"THE KNOWLEDGE OF BRAHMAN (GOD), THE
       KNOWLEDGE THAT DESTROYS THE BONDS OF IGNORANCE AND LEADS TO THE
       SUPREME GOAL OF FREEDOM."

       THE AUTHORS OF THE UPANISHADS WERE SAINTS AND SEERS. THEY WERE
       CONCERNED WITH REPORTING INSIGHTS WHICH CAME TO THEM IN THOUGHT OR
       VISION, NOT WITH MAKING THESE INSIGHTS SUPERFICIALLY COHERENT. THEY
       WERE NOT BUILDERS OF SYSTEMS BUT RECORDERS OF EXPERIENCE.

       IF A HINDU BELIEVES THE VEDAS/THE UPANISHADS TO BE THE WORD OF GOD,
       IT IS BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THEIR TRUTH TO BE VERIFIABLE, IMMEDIATELY,
       AT ANY MOMENT, IN HIS OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IF HE FOUND ON DUE
       EXAMINATION THAT IT WAS NOT SO VERIFIABLE, HE WOULD REJECT IT. IF HE
       FOUND ANY PART OF IT WAS NOT SO VERIFIABLE, HE WOULD REJECT THAT
       PART. THIS ATTITUDE IS QUITE DIFFERENT THAN THE ATTITUDE HELD BY
       MOST CHRISTIANS TOWARD THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. THE HINDU ATTITUDE
       TOWARD SCRIPTURES IS THAT THEY ARE ONLY A REFLECTION OF THE TRUTH,
       NOT THE TRUTH ITS SELF AND THAT THE REAL STUDY OF RELIGION IS THE
       FIRST HAND DIRECT EXPERIENCE OF GOD, NOT READING AND STUDYING
       SCRIPTURES.