Upanishad 7, Sukla Yajurveda

Now we shall go through the 7th Upanishad of Sukla Yajurveda. This Upanishad is known as the Niraalamba Upanishad. This is a very small Upanishad having only few lines in one or two pages. The subject matter is given just like an abstract of other Upanishads.

First part of the explanation starts from Brahmam, then the meaning of eeswara, the jeeva chaitanya, meaning of prakruti, paramaatma chaitanya. The focus goes to their inter and intra relationships. In the second part the discussion focus on the Brahma- Vishnu- Maheswara-Indra-yama-soorya-chandra- raakshasa-pisaacha and so on.

The meanings given in Sanskrit are different from the meaning that we get when we translate the Sanskrit to English. When we say soorya in this Upanishad, it is not the sun and so on. When we write raakshasa it is not meant for demons. The discussion in the Upanishad further goes through karma vaasana (the instinct for a particular mission/ work in human beings either destructive or constructive).

Then akarma vaasana (instinct for doing nothing); absolute knowledge (jnaana) and its relation with ignorance ( ajnaana). What is meant by happiness and sorrow! How the swarga and naraka are related and the translation of swarga and naraka if done as heaven and hell, the whole message will get distorted. Hence every reader should understand that many of the Sanskrit words cannot be translated with all the spirit to English particularly when / where the biblical approach comes.

The relation between attachment and detachment is discussed further and it goes to Varna of human beings such as brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya and soodra. Remember that they are not castes,( i.e. they are not jaati). They are Varna for which there is no English equivalent. Here, in this Upanishad, it is very specifically mentioned that varna is only a feeling and it is not in the blood, skin, bones, cells etc.

The varna is only a feeling and it does not have anything more than that, it is not even strata in the society. In the end it is mentioned that getting attached with the absolute truth brahma or with the highly knowledgeable scholars is known as swargam and opposite of that is known as narakam. I would like to tell one point that, many of our colleagues who are known as progressives/ rational thinkers, or people with scientific temper, if they read this Upanishad they will know what is meant by the spirit of sanaathana dharma, word by word.