Upanishadism

The Untold Story of the Bhagavad Gita

Revealing the True Intent and Spirit of the Bhagavad Gita in its Historical Context

By K.P.S. Kamath. (pkamath001@gmail.com)

5. Upanishadism

In the previous two articles we studied the rise and fall of orthodox Brāhmanism, and consequent rise of heterodox Dharmas such as Jainism, Buddhism, Ajīvika and Lokāyata. In this article, let us study the Upanishadic Dharma, which came into being to replace hopelessly decadent Brāhmanism.  

1. Internal revolt

A. The Upanishads: Within the fold of Brāhmanism itself there was much disillusion and dissention. A group of disgusted Kshatriya intellectuals, whom we will henceforth refer to as Upanishadists, decided to launch a secret revolution to overthrow Brāhmanism top to bottom. They developed two secret doctrines (Rahasyam) to destroy it: Brahman the Supreme and Yoga of renunciation. Their ideology was known as the Upanishads (“sitting near”). The Guru passed on these two secret doctrines to his respectful students in face-to-face confidential discourses using simple experiments, enigmatic parables, double entendre, code words and phrases, and Sutras (aphorisms), to convey his message.

B. Frogs in the well: Upanishadists referred to Brāhmin and Kshatriya ritualists performing corrupt Yajnas desiring Karmaphalam, which they believed enabled them to go to heaven and be reborn on earth to enjoy it, as “Coopa Mandūka” (frogs in the well). They were also referred to as ‘Nānyadastītivādinah’ –“those who said there is nothing else.” In other words, deluded by these Yajnas they did not realize that there was a greater source of happiness (Brahman) than their material world (Prakriti). Unlike the ritualists Upanishadists considered Samsāra (the cycle of deaths and births) a curse. To them both Punyam and Pāpam were equally bad, as they both led to Samsāra. With this view of Brāhmanism in mind Upanishadists developed their doctrines of Brahman/Ātman and Yoga of renunciation.

2. Developing Upanishadic doctrines  

A. Brahman: Upanishadists picked up Brahman -the mysterious spirit Brāhmins invoked during Yajna by uttering Om- and elevated it to the position of the most powerful divinity of all –Brahman the Supreme. They declared Brahman as Sat (Real), as Brahman was indestructible, eternal, immutable, immortal, all-pervading, all-encompassing, and beyond comprehension by the senses. Brahman could be comprehended intuitively only after one had cut off all contact with Prakriti. Since Brahman had everything and desired nothing, It was the seat of Bliss –Sukham. One who gained knowledge of Brahman enjoyed absolute Bliss.

B. Ātman: Upanishadists claimed that a part of Brahman resided in the heart of all living beings as Ātman (Self). Brahman and Ātman were one and the same, as expressed in the Sūtra: Tat Tvam Asi (That thou art). Since the same Brahman resided in all people, all people were equal. Being part of Brahman, Ātman was the seat of Bliss. The point is, all the happiness one wants is within one’s heart, and one need not go after material pleasures.

C. Yoga: Upanishadists promoted practice of Yoga of detachment to counter attachment to sense objects promoted by the Brāhmanic doctrine of the Gunas of Prakriti. They promoted Yoga of Nishkama Karma (selfless Yajna or any action) to avoid earning Karmaphalam as mandated by the Law of Karma.

3. Dismantling of Brāhmanism begins

A. Demotion of Brahma (Prakriti): Upanishadists claimed that since Brahma (Prakriti) was subject to decay, disease, mutation, destruction and death, it was Asat (Unreal). Brahma and all the nature gods arose from Brahman, and were subservient to Brahman.

B. The Gunas of Prakriti are evil: Upanishadists declared the Gunas of Prakriti as evil as they were imperfect, and the sources of desire for, attachment to, and possessiveness of sense objects such as money, power, people, land, etc. Attachment to these sense objects caused one’s mind to suffer from Shokam (grief following loss) Dwandwam (likes and dislikes; feeling good and bad, and wanting them and not wanting them). Dwandwam (unsteadiness of mind) was a sign of loss of wisdom and discrimination. The Gunas of Prakriti were the cause of ignorance, decay, disease and death.

C. The Law of Karma is evil: Upanishadists declared the Law of Karma as evil, as it mandated rebirth for one to eat, as it were, one’s Karmaphalam from one’s previous life. Some obsessed over gaining good Karmaphalam (Punyam), and others feared incurring bad Karmaphalam (Pāpam). Naturally, all Karmaphalam was sin.  

D. Vedas are ignorance: Upanishadists declared the Vedas as ignorance (Avidya) since they promoted the Gunas of Prakriti, the Law of Karma, and Yajnas all of which bound people to the material world. They declared the Upanishad as true knowledge (Vidya) since it liberated people from the shackles of the Gunas of Prakriti and the Law of Karma, and led to knowledge of Brahman. One could not gain knowledge of Brahman by the Vedas or Yajnas.

E. Varna Dharma is a sign of ignorance: They declared Varna Dharma based on Guna/Karma doctrine as a sign of ignorance as, unlike the Gunas of Prakriti, Brahman was equally distributed in all as Ātman. Unlike Prakriti, Brahman was perfect, and without Gotra, Jāti, and Varna. Therefore, a truly enlightened person sees an illiterate outcaste as equal to a scholarly Brāhmin.

F. Yajnas are evil: Upanishadists declared the Yajnas as evil since they had lost their original goal (Wheel of Yajna -mutual nourishment of gods and people), and were now exclusively used to earn Karmaphalam for the sponsor and DakshiNa for the priest.

G. Brāhmins are conceited fools: They declared Brāhmins, offering Yajnas as the remedy for every malady, as vain, conceited, liars and ignorant fools.

H. The Ultimate Sutras: The following three Sutras, uttered by the student at the initiation ceremony (Brahmopadesham) addressing his Guru summed up the entire Upanishadic revolution:

Asato Ma Sat Gamaya; Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya.

Lead me from perishable Prakriti to immortal Brahman; from ignorance of Brahman engendered by the Gunas of Prakriti to knowledge of Brahman by Yoga of detachment; from Samsāra (death, rebirth and death) engendered by the Law of Karma to immortality (Brahmanirvāna) gained by Nishkāma Karma.      

4. Brāhmanic loyalists react

A. The Upanishads pose existential threat: The Upanishadic doctrines posed existential threat to Brāhmanism in general and Brāhmins in particular. A hungry Brāhmin is said to be more dangerous than starving one. Yoga of Nishkāma Karma threatened the lucrative profession of thousands of priests who performed increasingly complicated Yajnas in return for hefty DakshiNa. Telling them to go back to their life of poverty and austerity did not sit well with them. Besides, being told that they were equal in status to outcastes was too much for them to bear.   

B. Neutralizing the threat: Brāhmanic loyalists were determined to preserve Yajnas and Varna Dharma at any cost. In order to neutralize this threat loyalists took over the Upanishads, and added enormous amount of pro-Yajna, pro-Varna Dharma, pro-Veda, pro-Guna/Karma, pro-everything that Upanishadists condemned. They created their own Supreme God Purusha, described Him as “the Eternal and True,” and appointed Him over Brahman. They demoted Brahman to the role of “Lord of immortality who waxes still greater by food.” They added huge amount of esoteric and ritual nonsense into the texts, attached them to the end of ritual obsessed Vedas, and renamed them as Vedānta –culmination of Vedic wisdom! Since these highly corrupted texts were now part of the holy Vedas, they, too, became Shruti (that which was heard, revealed, sacred). Thus they could be heard only by the upper classes if a Brāhmin chose to utter them.

C. Jnāna Kānda: Furthermore, Brāhmanic loyalists declared the Upanishads as Jnāna Kānda (knowledge branch), and the Vedas as Karma Kānda (ritual branch). They decreed that only after one had thoroughly learned the art of Karma Kānda could one qualify to learn Jnāna Kānda. They knew well that once priests became addicted to wealth gained by corrupt Yajnas, they would not have any incentive to learn Jnāna Kānda and become Yogis. This is like telling newly recruited bureaucrats in the notoriously corrupt Road Transportation Office (R.T.O.) that only after they had thoroughly mastered the art of extorting bribes from helpless drivers could they qualify to be honest bureaucrats serving them selflessly.

D. Brāhmanizing the Upanishads: Here is a small example of how Brāhmanic loyalists corrupted the Upanishads. In these verses, the Upanishadic Guru explains the process of imparting knowledge of Brahman to students. I have shown the original Upanishadic lines in green color, and what Brāhmanic loyalists added later to neutralize and “Brāhmanize” them in saffron color.

Mundaka Upanishad: 1:12-13: Let a Brāhmana, after he has examined all these worlds (earth and heaven), which are gained by (Kāmya) Karma, acquire freedom from all desires. Nothing that is eternal (Brahman) could be gained by what is not eternal (Prakriti). Let him, in order to understand this, take fuel in hand (for Yajna) and approach a Guru who is learned and dwells entirely in Brahman. To that pupil who has approached him respectfully, whose thoughts are not troubled by any desire, and who has obtained perfect peace, the wise teacher told that knowledge of Brahman through which he knows the Eternal and True Purusha (Brāhmanic Supreme God).   

Brāhmanic loyalists neutralized every single Upanishad by such Brāhmanizing interpolations. Here is a secret no one knows: Of the 18 verses in the famous Ishopanishad, the first 8 are Upanishadic verses designed to overthrow Brāhmanism, and the remaining 10 verses are Brāhmanic, designed to overthrow Upanishadism. Not knowing this fact, every commentator has written nonsensical commentaries on this so-called Upanishad. For, when one believes that two diametrically opposite doctrines designed to destroy each other are part one and the same Dharma, one ends up writing nonsensical commentary.    

E. The Upanishads fall into disuse: This is how the Upanishadic doctrines of Brahman and Yoga fell into disuse, -until around 240 B.C. when Upanishadists made another attempt to overthrow Brāhmanism in a 77-shloka long Brāhmanic poem then known as Arjuna Vishāda Gita (Ballad of Arjuna’s Sorrow), a small part of the Mahābhārata epic. On the pretext of alleviating Arjuna’s Shokam (grief), Dwandwam (fickleness of mind) and fear of sin (bad Karmaphalam) on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Upanishadic poets introduced their Secret Doctrines in an attempt to overthrow decadent Brāhmanism. This time around they elevated Upanishadic Guru Krishna (2:7) to the position of Upanishadic Lord of beings (4:6-8), and made him declare in BG: 4:1-3:

This imperishable Yoga I declared to Vivāsvat; he taught it to Manu, Manu taught it to Ikshvāku (the first king of Sun dynasty). Thus transmitted in regular succession, royal (Kshatriya) seers knew it. This Yoga by long efflux of time (being suppressed by vested interests) decayed in this world. I have told you today the same ancient Yoga for you are my friend and devotee. And this Secret (Rahasyam) is supreme indeed!

In the above three shlokas, Lord Krishna assures preservation of Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad by declaring it as imperishable (“you can’t destroy it anymore”). And He, the Lord of beings, declared this Secret (Rahasyam) to Kshatriya seers (“so you better not mess with it this time around”).  

F. The original Upanishads disappeared: Thus the river of the Upanishads disappeared entirely into the ocean of Brāhmanic verbiage. If one reads the Vedānta texts today, one would find them incomprehensible, incoherent and utterly nonsensical. It becomes obvious to any sensible person not deluded by his blind faith that they were deliberately manipulated and scrambled to make them extremely incomprehensible to anyone wanting to know their true purpose. Ancient scribes were quite capable of conveying their ideas and views with a great deal of clarity and eloquence, the contemporary text, the Mahābhārata epic, being an example par excellence.  

G. Inscrutable commentaries: To make bad matters worse, since none of the commentators knew as to why the Upanishads came into being in the first place, they assumed them to be Vedic instead of anti-Vedic scriptures. Unable to explain anti-Vedic verses in the Vedānta texts, they interpreted them literally or gave full vent to their fanciful imagination. Different commentator interpreted the same enigmatic parable or Sūtra differently, often using inscrutable phrases and words to cover-up their ignorance. Even in the Vedānta texts, the scribes did not know the true meanings of some of the original Upanishadic Sūtras. Just read the interpretation of the Ultimate Sūtra of the Upanishads by a scribe in Brihadāranyaka Upanishad: 1:3:27, and decide for yourself if he makes any sense.

Over several centuries various Āchāryas, Swāmis and Gurus who were ignorant of the historical context of scriptures such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad misinterpreted them creating much of the confusion and nonsense we see in today’s Hinduism. This serves the purpose of modern day self-appointed Āchāryas, Swāmis and Gurus very well, indeed.  

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