The Upanishads | Page 5

thought there is a distant past, a dark background of which
we shall never know the beginning." Some scholars place the Vedic
period as far back as 4000 or 5000 B.C.; others from 2000 to 1400 B.C.
But even the most conservative admit that it antedates, by several
centuries at least, the Buddhistic period which begins in the sixth
century B.C.
The value of the Upanishads, however, does not rest upon their
antiquity, but upon the vital message they contain for all times and all
peoples. There is nothing peculiarly racial or local in them. The
ennobling lessons of these Scriptures are as practical for the modern
world as they were for the Indo-Aryans of the earliest Vedic age. Their
teachings are summed up in two Maha-Vakyam or "great
sayings":--Tat twam asi (That thou art) and Aham Brahmasmi (I am

Brahman). This oneness of Soul and God lies at the very root of all
Vedic thought, and it is this dominant ideal of the unity of all life and
the oneness of Truth which makes the study of the Upanishads
especially beneficial at the present moment.
One of the most eminent of European Orientalists writes: "If we fix our
attention upon it (this fundamental dogma of the Vedanta system) in its
philosophical simplicity as the identity of God and the Soul, the
Brahman and the Atman, it will be found to possess a significance
reaching far beyond the Upanishads, their time and country; nay, we
claim for it an inestimable value for the whole race of mankind. .
Whatever new and unwonted paths the philosophy of the future may
strike out, this principle will remain permanently unshaken and from it
no deviation can possibly take place. If ever a general solution is
reached of the great riddle . . . the key can only be found where alone
the secret of nature lies open to us from within, that is to say, in our
innermost self. It was here that for the first time the original thinkers of
the Upanishads, to their immortal honor, found it...."
The first introduction of the Upanishads to the Western world was
through a translation into Persian made in the seventeenth century.
More than a century later the distinguished French scholar, Anquetil
Duperron, brought a copy of the manuscript from Persia to France and
translated it into French and Latin. Publishing only the Latin text.
Despite the distortions which must have resulted from transmission
through two alien languages, the light of the thought still shone with
such brightness that it drew from Schopenhauer the fervent words:
"How entirely does the Oupnekhat (Upanishad) breathe throughout the
holy spirit of the Vedas! How is every one, who by a diligent study of
its Persian Latin has become familiar with that incomparable book,
stirred by that spirit to the very depth of his Soul! From every sentence
deep, original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by
a high and holy and earnest spirit." Again he says: "The access to (the
Vedas) by means of the Upanishads is in my eyes the greatest privilege
which this still young century (1818) may claim before all previous
centuries." This testimony is borne out by the thoughtful American
scholar, Thoreau, who writes: "What extracts from the Vedas I have
read fall on me like the light of a higher and purer luminary which
describes a loftier course through a purer stratum free from particulars,

simple, universal."
The first English translation was made by a learned Hindu, Raja Ram
Mohun Roy (1775-1833). Since that time there have been various
European translations--French, German, Italian and English. But a mere
translation, however accurate and sympathetic, is not sufficient to make
the Upanishads accessible to the Occidental mind. Professor Max Mller
after a lifetime of arduous labor in this field frankly confesses:
"Modern words are round, ancient words are square, and we may as
well hope to solve the quadrature of the circle, as to express adequately
the ancient thought of the Vedas in modern English."
Without a commentary it is practically impossible to understand either
the spirit or the meaning of the Upanishads. They were never designed
as popular Scriptures. They grew up essentially as text books of
God-knowledge and Self-knowledge, and like all text books they need
interpretation. Being transmitted orally from teacher to disciple, the
style was necessarily extremely condensed and in the form of
aphorisms. The language also was often metaphorical and obscure. Yet
if one has the perseverance to penetrate beneath these mere surface
difficulties, one is repaid a hundredfold; for these ancient Sacred Books
contain the most precious gems of spiritual thought.
Every Upanishad begins with a Peace Chant (Shanti-patha) to create
the proper atmosphere of purity and serenity. To study about God the
whole nature must be prepared,