Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 53

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realization makes mau conscious of his problems which are narrated. The Upanişads also answer these. Radliakrishnan stresses this point in these words :
"Only the infinite gives durable happiness. In religion we are for cternal life. All these force upon us the conviction of a timeless being, a spiritual reality, the object of philosophical quest, the fulfilment of our desires and the goal of religion. The seers of the Upanişads try to lead us to this central reality which is infinite existence (sat), absolute truth (cit) and pure delight (ānanda)."6
That is the reason why he rightly stresses that the Vedas are inferior to the Upnişads in that (i) even though the Vedas raise the questions on reality of man's life and the universe, they are more interested in this life, not so the Upanişads, (ii) the religion taught by the Upanişads is higher than that in the Vedas, (iii) the religion of the Vedas centres round sacrifice, not so in the Upanişads, (iv) the Vedas lift man high to the lrigliest conceivable world known as Syarga, the Upanişads scale far higher heights. That is the reason why the Upanişads, though considering the Vedas to be of supernatural origin, yet stress that Vedic knowledge is inuch inferior to true divine insight that the Upanişads aim at. Radhakrishnan brings out the superiority of Upanişadic knowledge thus : "In the Upanişads we find a return to the fresh springs of spiritual life. They declare that the soul will not obtain salvation by tle performance of sacrifices. It can be obtained by the truly religious life, based on an insight into the heart of the universe. Perfection is in ward and spiritual, not outward and mechanical."8
Nature of Reality
Man's inner urge and the consequent desire to know and experience Reality, often starts with his effort at knowing his Self and its subtlest secrets. This Self of man, Atman, is subjective that leads him to the objective that is Brahman. Consequently the Upanişads discuss first the individual Self and then Ātman. This is because, as Radhakrishnan says:
"It is the subject which persists throughout the clanges, the common factor in the states of waking, dream, sleep, death, rebirth and final deliverance. It is the simple truth that nothing can destroy. Death does pot touch it nor vice dissolve it. Permanence, continnity, unity, eternal activity are its characteristics. It is a world self-complete. There is nothing outside of it or set against it,"9