Samayasara

Author(s): A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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INTRODUCTION
The True way to Brahma World-The way to realise the true self and to enjoy the spiritual bliss is not by following the traditional rituals but by purity of conduct. "Now what people call sacrifice, Yajña is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge. For only through the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge does he who is a knower find. that world. Now what people call what has been sacrificed is really the chaste life of a student. Now what people call the propriety of a sacrifice is also the chaste life of a student. Now what people call silent asceticism is really the chaste life of a student. Now what people call hermit life is really the chaste life of a student,'
Next we have the instruction of Indra by the Lord of Creation. Indra is actuated by the desire for Brahmin-knowledge. He goes to the Lord of Creation to beg of him the same knowledge. The Self which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless, whose desire is Real, whose conception is the Real. It is such a Self that Indra wants to realize. The Indra here is quite different from our old friend of the Rg Veda. Indra here seeks to obtain a knowledge of the Brahman which is the ultimate principle both of the individual and the world. He is told that even the gods in Brahmaloka reverence their selves shaking off evil, shaking off the body as the moon shakes itself from the mouth of Rahu, a perfected soul passeth off into the uncreated world of Brahman and into it, it may pass. Such is the consolation of the perfected soul which has become perfect by knowing its own Self. Thus we have a complete change of intellectual attitude. Life in the world according to ceremonies and customs is looked down as a source of misery. It is merely to sell one's birth-right of freedom, to be ruled over by anything other than our own Self. The true relief from grief is to secure the freedom from the danger of the non-self. This is the fundamental truth of the new thought. This seems to have actuated both men and gods. The reference to the Devas, the mythological personalities which we have in the Upanisadic writings is really interesting. We find in Vedic period, for example, Indra who wanted casks of wine to infuriate the strength of him in the battlefield is now met with as a docile disciple of the samite in his hand begging to be instructed in this new knowledge of the Self. Here heroes are not measured by physical prowess. Self-control and purity of thought constitute the real worth of life both for men and gods. This aspect will become more and more prominent as we go to study the other Upanisads.
Katha Upanisad-This belongs to Yajurveda. It is mainly associated with a particular kind of sacrifice called Naciketas. But the Upanisad is interesting for us not because of this sacrifice but because of the important problem discussed therein-the great problem of the Hereafter. What is
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