The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.14. Swami Krishnananda

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Saturday, August 29, 2020. 07:13.AM.
1.Introduction -14.
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Then we have, as the Upanishad proceeds, the subsequent outcome of this principal exposition in the First Chapter, namely, the Second Chapter, where we are not told anything new. It is only an elaboration of the principle which is precisely stated in the earlier one.

 As a matter of fact, the main content of the Upanishad is in the First, the Third and the Fourth Chapters. The Second is a secondary elaboration, and the Fifth and the Sixth are like an appendix and are not of much importance from the point of view of philosophical study, though they are very significant in one's practice of higher meditations.

The central portion of the Upanishad is in the First, Third and the Fourth Chapters, which contain the peak of human thought, and offer an exposition of the highest philosophy the human mind has ever conceived. The discussions that take place in the court of King Janaka, under the leadership of Sage Yajñavalkya, touch upon almost every subject relevant in spiritual life, all following a graduated technique of development of thought from the lower to the higher until the highest Universal is reached.

The outward is described first, the inward afterwards, and the Universal finally. This is the system followed in this Upanishad, especially in the central portion, the Third and the Fourth Chapters. This is precisely the way in which we have to approach things. The outward, the inward and the ultimate follow logically in the course of study.

Though from the point of view of the evolutionary process or the chronological order of the descent of the individual from the Universal, we may say that the outward is the last and the inward is the intermediary link, the Universal being the first, yet, in our studies we would profitably go from the lower to the higher.

We should not jump from the higher to the lower, because the higher is not known to us when the lower is not transcended. The lower can be seen and apprehended in a certain way, to the extent it has become the content of one's direct consciousness. So it is better to follow the inductive method of logic, in some sense, so that we proceed from more acquainted things towards less acquainted things, from particulars to generals, from the visible to the invisible, from the sense-world to the rational realm and then to the spiritual field.

This is the methodology of the Upanishad, the Brihadaranyaka particularly, in the central portion; and it concludes with the grandest proclamation ever made, in the conversation between Yajñavalkya and his consort Maitreyi, known as the Maitreyi-Vidya, popularly, where a staggering description of the Reality is given to us. Perhaps, the discourses of Yajñavalkya are incomparable in literary beauty combined with profundity of thought.

To be continued ....

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