Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 4

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 17

Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 4
to the ascription of an esoteric character to the teachings propouned because of the secrecy involved. According to Oldenberg the term 'Upanisad' connotes 'upāsana' worship and reverence. The interpretation of Oldenberg emphasises the empirical aspect of the worship of the highest reality (of course when the highest reality is looked at from the po view of Māyā), and it is similar to the view of Sankara. Apparently, the act of worship involving a dualistic metaphysics goes somewhat counter to the monistic teaching of the Upanisads. But this interpretation can be justified in the sense that the Vedantic meditative contemplation is the culmination of worship. In the writings of the ancient and medieval Christian theists and mystics we find the religion of contemplation emphasised. The contemplation of the Absolute is only the next higher step of the worship of the monothestic god. The Chandogya says, "taj.jalan iti śānta upasita" (Chān. 3-14-1) the supreme energy of the world creative, preservative and destructive is to be calmly worshipped. Furthermore we get numerous references to the symbolical worsbip of the Absolute as the mind, the Aditya (sun) etc. and this reminds one of the celebrated worship of the Tree of liberty during the French Revolutionary days. This tradition of mystic absorption and meditation and also the worship of the highest godhead has a Vedic origin.
There was a time when the higher aspects of the Vedic religion and thought were not recognised, one of the main reasons being the Christian prejudice and propaganda. The Vedic civilization may be contemporaneous with the great civilizations that flourished around the Mediterranean, but perhaps these latter did not attain the philosophic and literary height of the Vedic. Of the insistence of the Upan işadic religion and philosophy on worship, meditation and contemplation we find roots in the Vedic emphasis on Bhakti and Yoga and mysticism. The inspired and exalted hymns to Varuna are full of high devotional emotionalism. The famous Gayatri hymn emphasises the collective practice of meditative abstraction. The picture of the inspired muni in the tenth Mandala of the Rgveda shows acquaintance with superpormal powers associated with Yoga. The Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda contain many references to the various Prānas and their control, a feature of Yoga referred to in the Katha, the svetaśyatara and even in the Patañjala Darśana and the Bhagavadgitā. Even in the Mohenjodaro days we find this aspect of Yoga emphasized in the representation of Siva. This figure of the proto-Siva also shows a high ethical advancement because of the tender fervour displayed for the animal kingdom (in the figure). It seems that the Indus valley and