Hindu Mythology's Original Texts 2: The Upanishads — Brahman & Atman

Thank you for visiting. This article is the second installment in a series explaining the original texts of Hindu mythology.

Last time (Article 1), I explained the world of the gods and ritual of the oldest scripture, the Vedas. This time, I take up the “Upanishads,” located at the end of those Vedas and the high point of Indian philosophy. We look at a profound world of thought, asking “what am I?” and “what is the cosmos?”

For an overview map of Hindu mythology’s original texts as a whole, please see this summary article.

The Original Texts of Hindu Mythology — From the Vedas to the Two Epicsen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-indian/

What Are the Upanishads — the Culmination of the Veda

“Upanishad” means “the secret teaching received sitting near (the teacher).” Located in the last layer (the fourth layer) of the Veda explained last time, it is also called “Vedanta” in the sense of the end = culmination of the Veda.

The Upanishads are said to have arisen from around the 7th century BC, and their number is said to be more than 200. Being part of the Veda, they too are counted as scriptures of the highest authority, as “Shruti (revelation)” granted from the divine.

The Easiest-to-Understand Indian MythologyView on Amazon → Indian Mythology from ZeroView on Amazon →

From Ritual to the “Inner” — a Great Shift of Interest

The appearance of the Upanishads was a great turning point in Indian thought.

As we saw last time, the religion of the early Veda was centered on “ritual.” It was thought that if you light a fire, offer offerings, and recite hymns rightly, you can move the gods and gain this-worldly happiness (wealth, descendants, long life).

But as the ages passed, people’s interest gradually changed. “No matter how much this-worldly happiness one gains by ritual, do humans not again age, die, are reborn, and repeat suffering?” From such questions, interest deepened from outward ritual to the inner, philosophical inquiry: “What is the nature of the cosmos and the self? How can one be freed from the root of suffering?” What inquired into this is the Upanishads.

The Core Concepts of the Upanishads

The central concepts the Upanishads teach are as follows. These became the foundation of all later Indian thought.

The Oneness of Brahman and Atman — the Cosmos and the Self Are One

The greatest teaching of the Upanishads is “the oneness of Brahman and Atman.”

At first glance, the cosmic root principle “Brahman” and the “Atman” deep within one’s individual self seem entirely separate. The boundless cosmos, and the tiny self. But the Upanishads teach that these two are essentially one and the same.

Realizing this truth from the depths of the heart, not just understanding it with the head, was taken to be the path to freedom from the suffering of rebirth.

Tat Tvam Asi — “Thou Art That”

What expresses this oneness of Brahman and Atman most vividly is the phrase “Tat Tvam Asi (Thou art that),” handed down in the Chandogya Upanishad. It is spoken in the scene where the father Uddalaka teaches the root of the world to his son Shvetaketu, who has returned having completed his studies.

The father teaches using several analogies. For example:

• The analogy of salt: when salt is dissolved in water, the salt becomes invisible, but wherever you drink the water, it is salty. A demonstration that though invisible, the root principle (Brahman) fills every corner of the world.
• The analogy of the fig seed: split the fruit of a great fig tree, and split the tiny seed within, and nothing is seen inside. Yet from that “invisible, subtle thing” a giant tree grows. The source of all things, too, is subtle and invisible like that.

And at the end of each analogy, the father repeats: “That subtle thing (the root of the world) is the true reality, and it is the Atman. Shvetaketu, thou art that (Tat Tvam Asi).” The root of the world (that = Brahman) is none other than yourself (Atman) — this teaching is known as the essence of Indian philosophy.

Rebirth and Karma, and Liberation

Another important worldview the Upanishads established is the framework of “rebirth,” “karma,” and “liberation.”

A person does not end at death but is reborn into the next life according to their “karma (action)” in life. Accumulate good deeds and one is born into a better condition; pile up bad deeds and one is born into a painful condition — this infinite repetition of life and death is “rebirth (samsara).”

Worth noting is that in Indian thought, rebirth is grasped not as “salvation” but as “suffering.” Even if born in heaven, when the karma is exhausted, one falls again into another life. This endless loop itself is fundamental suffering.

That is exactly why the ultimate goal is placed on “liberation (moksha)” — escaping forever from the wheel of rebirth. And the key to liberation is the earlier realization of “the oneness of Brahman and Atman.” If one truly realizes that one’s essence (Atman) is one with the eternal, unchanging root of the cosmos (Brahman), the small ego that is reborn disappears, and one is freed from rebirth. This framework of “rebirth and liberation” was inherited by later Buddhism and Jainism, becoming the common foundation of all Indian thought.

The Story of Nachiketa — the Boy Who Learns from the Death God

The teachings of the Upanishads are often told in story form. Most famous is the story of the boy “Nachiketa,” handed down in the “Katha Upanishad.”

The boy Nachiketa, seeing his father holding back at a ritual, repeatedly asked, “Then to whom will you give me?” The angry father blurted out, “I give you to Death.” The honest Nachiketa, taking the words literally, went to the land of the god who governs death, “Yama.”

Yama was away, and Nachiketa was left as a guest for three days. The returned Yama apologized for the rudeness of not hosting his guest and, as amends, offered to grant three wishes. As his last wish, Nachiketa chose the most difficult question.

What happens to a person when they die? Teach me that secret.

Yama balked, saying “That is a hard question that even the gods puzzle over,” and tried instead to give immense wealth, long life, and every pleasure. But Nachiketa refused, saying, “Such pleasures will eventually be exhausted. What I want to know is eternal truth.”

Impressed by his unshakable seeking, Yama finally grants the deep teaching. The Atman (the true self) is neither born nor dies, and does not perish even when the body perishes. It is subtler than anything and greater than anything, and only one who has stilled the mind knows its existence — a truth beyond death. This story, depicting a figure who seeks truth without even fearing death, is one of the representative pieces of the Upanishads.

Neti Neti — Inquiry Through “Not That”

So what, concretely, are that root principle Brahman and Atman?

Here lies a difficulty peculiar to Indian philosophy. Because Brahman is the source of all, it cannot be explained by limiting it to anything as “this is it.” Say “great,” and you exclude “small”; point and say “this is it,” and you exclude all else. Every limitation fails to grasp the infinite root principle.

So the great sage “Yajnavalkya,” appearing in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, when asked what Brahman is, answered, “Neti neti (not that, not that).”

This is a method of exhaustively negating every limitation, “not this, not that.” Rather than affirming “it is A,” beyond the piling up of negations — “not A, not B…” — lies the true reality beyond words. A distinctive method of inquiry approaching truth through negation. Yajnavalkya is known as a representative thinker of the Upanishads, who developed such profound philosophy through debates before the king and dialogues with his wife Maitreyi.

The Sacred Syllable Om and the Four States of Consciousness

In the Upanishads, the sacred sound “Om (AUM)” is also extremely valued. This single sound is taken as the symbol of the cosmos itself, of Brahman itself, and was placed at the center of meditation.

The Mandukya Upanishad in particular corresponds the three sounds A, U, M that compose this “Om” to the three states of human consciousness.

• A = waking (awake and experiencing the external world)
• U = dream (asleep and experiencing the dream world)
• M = deep sleep (deep sleep without even dreams)

And the silence that remains after these three sounds fade is taken to express the “fourth state (turiya),” beyond all — the Atman itself. This contemplation, reading the whole stages of consciousness and ultimate truth in a single sacred sound, shows well the depth of Upanishadic philosophy.

The Major Upanishads

Of the more than 200 Upanishads, let me sum up those considered especially important.

The Analogy of the Two Birds — Another Self

The analogy of the “two birds,” handed down in the Mundaka Upanishad (and the Shvetashvatara), depicts the state of the oneness of Brahman and Atman in an unforgettable image.

On the very same tree perch two close-friend birds. One, absorbed, pecks at the tree’s sweet and bitter fruits. The other eats nothing, just quietly watching it.

Here the “fruit-pecking bird” is our everyday ego, living elated and dejected by pleasure and pain. The “just-watching bird” represents the true self, Atman, which keeps existing quietly, unswayed by events. When the bird devouring the fruit suddenly notices the neighboring “unmoving bird” and comes to its state, it is freed from sorrow. To realize that within oneself there is another, “quiet self.” This is a passage that poetically tells of the awakening to liberation that the Upanishads teach.

Influence on Later Ages

The thought of the Upanishads had an immeasurable influence both within and outside India.

Within India, “Vedanta philosophy,” which thoroughly systematized the oneness of Brahman and Atman, was born, and especially the 8th-century thinker “Shankara” established a non-dualism holding that “the diversity of the world is illusion, and what truly is, is only the one Brahman.” This became one of the mainstreams of later Hindu thought.

Further, the concern of aiming for liberation from rebirth was shared by new religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhism’s “enlightenment,” too, in aiming for freedom from rebirth (liberation, nirvana), was born from this soil.

And from the modern era onward, its profound philosophy was introduced to the West and gave a shock to thinkers beginning with Schopenhauer. A question from nearly 3,000 years ago is still read around the world today — that is the power of the original text called the Upanishads.

To Learn More

Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.

Indian Mythology: The Gods of the MahabharataView on Amazon → Indian Myth Stories: The Mahabharata, Vol. 1View on Amazon →

Conclusion

In this article, I explained the high point of Indian philosophy, the “Upanishads,” in detail. How was it?

The Upanishads were an original text that deepened Indian thought from the religion of ritual into a philosophy asking “the nature of the cosmos and the self.” Through “the oneness of Brahman and Atman,” that the cosmic root Brahman and the true self Atman are one, the framework of rebirth, karma, and liberation, and the stories of Nachiketa and Yajnavalkya, I hope you could feel their depth.

In the next article (Article 3), I will explain the world of the “Puranas,” which were composed after such philosophy and richly convey the stories of gods like Shiva and Vishnu.

The Original Texts of Hindu Mythology — From the Vedas to the Two Epicsen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-indian/

I hope you’ll read the next article too.