Religion - The Upanishads - Essay Example

?The Upanishads Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 23rd March, Topic One The Kena Upanishad is one of the religious scripts derived during the Vedic Sanskrit period. The Kena Upanishad is one of the narrations that belong to the Talavakara Brahman and is associated with Samaveda. This form of Upanishad is derived from Kena which means “by whom” whereby people get to question some of the natural phenomena in the world. For instance, when we get to question where life comes from or who created the earth and the heavenly bodies. The Kena Upanishad tries to answer these questions through use of events and words contained in the Kena Upanishad. The overall message underlined in the Kena Upanishad is that God (Brahman) is the overall in charge of everything in the world. A person who knows the truth will acknowledge the power of the Brahman and it continues to stress that human beings are mortal because they fail to fully grasp understanding of Brahman (Parmananda, 2004). Brahman is mentioned in the Kena Upanishad as the ultimate and the whole. The Kena Upanishad tries to explain that all we see or perceive in the world comes from one source which is the Whole. The Kena Upanishad strives to make it known that knowledge of God (Brahman) and the acknowledgement of his power is very important in life. Most of the Upanishads are related in their content and identification with one’s self. The Upanishads relate to the relationship between Brahman and us as human beings (Parmananda, 2004). One of the similarities between the Kena Upanishad and the other Upanishads is that it acknowledges that life without acknowledgment of the Brahman is pointless. For instance, in the Isha Upanishad it talks of seeing the world through Brahman as the only we to live since it is not possible to enjoy life and realize happiness. The phrase “He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, never suffers” is a thought echoed through the other Upanishads. Another great similarity between the Upanishads is that all of them begin with a chant. This is so done so that people can have the time to reconcile with their maker or Brahman. This is because it is difficult to cultivate the teachings of the deities if you cannot make peace with your brothers. The chant helps in withdrawing our minds from different distractions of the world before entering into the spiritual world. However, there are differences between the Kena Upanishad and the other Upanishads is that, the Kena Upanishad tries to explain the origin of Man. The main difference is the fact that this Upanishad tries to locate and expand the human being’s consciousness to the level it becomes identical to God’s consciousness (Easwaran, 2007). It does this through questions and answers, for instance when a disciple asks the teacher about the source of the world. He explains of the world emerging from a Whole and the whole becoming the World. The Kena Upanishads resembles the message available in other sacred books such as the bible whereby the origin of the World and God is explained in the book of John. Topic Two The Upanishads are narrated in a way that makes the reader to more aware of his life through the teachings. Moreover, the Upanishads does not provide answers since it talks of the things that cannot be seen but rather believe in. Thus, I tend to agree with Alex Levin that the Upanishads make the reader aware of his connection to God through the spirit. The Upanishads are narrated in a format whereby the lessons of understanding God are done through thought provoking phrases. For instance, in the Isha Upanishad, there is this phrase “Whatever We see, movable or immovable, good or bad, it is all “That.” This phrase is not necessarily an answer but it tries to jog the mind of the reader to be fully aware of the questions that the Sage was asked. Several texts have been used in the Upanishad to make the reader alert and learn more and not just to get simple answers of life (Easwaran, 2007). For instance, in the Kena Upanishad the reader will be led to experience spiritual connection. This is because most parts of the Upanishad talks of the ear that cannot hear or the eye that cannot see. As a result, it is easy to understand why the reader ends up getting more connected spiritually with the message contained in the Upanishads. Moreover, the Upanishads do not provide direct answers or quotes that can easily be interpreted at any time. For instance, the phrase “It moves and It moves not…” tend to make the reader understand the purpose of the Upanishads. In the Kena Upanishad, the message brought forward is that a person will not enjoy life unless he/she understands the meaning of his/her true self (Easwaran, 2007). The act of becoming conscious of the questions asked leads a person to questions phenomena that bring him/her closer to God. The connections between the spirit and the world is derived from the fact that the power we posses is not ours but it comes from God. The Upanishads were narrated to the people through Seers who lived in seclusions and they would be contacted on religious issues. For instance, in the Katha Upanishad, we witness Nachiketa approaching the Seer (Teacher of Death) to ask him questions concerning life. However, the most important lesson learnt here is that Nachiketa was given knowledge on death and this brought him closer to God (Brahman). Topic Three There are numerous benefits and pitfalls for worshipping a non-physical and impersonal entity like the Self. For instance, in the Upanishad understanding the Self is very important in ensuring knowledge and wisdom of God is gained. When a person worships an entity like the Self, he or she then ends up worshipping and acknowledging the spirit that is inside that person. The spirit of a person reflects the unknown aspects of the person. There is faith that there is a greater entity of person who had a purpose for our creation. Therefore, it is only fair for a person to worship an entity person so as to explain all the natural and unexplainable phenomena. The worshipping on an impersonal being gives a person hope and purpose to carry on life during different times. Within the impersonal entity as the Self, there is a lot of gifts and power deposited within. As a result, the Self is an image and likeness of God. For instance, in the Kena Upanishad we witness that the power of the God is obtained when we get to know him Brahman. There are several problems associated with worshipping an impersonal entity as the Self since it is difficult to remain loyal to an impersonal entity. Worshipping the Self could bring problems associated with over-dependency syndrome (Parmananda, 2004). This is whereby a person ends up depending on all help and salvation to come from the impersonal entity. Moreover, the worship of an impersonal entity requires patience, believe and faith. This is witnessed in the Upanishads whereby in the Kena Upanishad, a phrase says that “those who feel know Him know Him not.” This phrase bears evidence to the fact that it is difficult to understand the ways and works on an entity being like the Self. Worshipping an impersonal entity tends to disconnect people from the reality since these entities do not exist in the physical sense. The challenges presented through the worship of an impersonal entity like the Self makes it more difficult for a person to understand religion and the purpose of life. As a result, people who end up worshipping impersonal entities become frustrated when their wishes do not become true or come to fruition (Easwaran, 2007). Works Cited Easwaran, Eknath and Nagler, Michael N. The Upanishads. Mumbai: Nilgiri Press, 2007. Print. Parmananda, Swami. The Upanishads. New York, NY: FK Publications, 2004. Print. Read More