From the foregoing it is clear that the Veḍānṭa Upanishaḍs are intended only for those devotees of God that want to have a development of the heart mainly, and not of the brain and the navel, and that the Yogic Upanishaḍs are intended for those that want to have an all-round development of the soul in its three aspects. Here I may remark that Śri Śaṅkarāchārya and other commentators commented upon the 12 Upanishaḍs only, since other Upanishaḍs treating of Kuṇdalinī, etc., are of an occult character and not meant for all, but only for the select few who are fit for private initiation. If they had proceeded to comment upon the minor Upanishaḍs also, they would have had to disclose certain secrets which confer powers and which are not meant, therefore, for all. It would be nothing but fatal to the community, were the secrets leading to the acquisition of such powers imparted indiscriminately to all. In the case of dynamite, the criminal using it may be traced, since it is of a physical nature, but in the case of the use of the higher powers, they are set in motion through the will, and can never be traced through ordinary means. Therefore in the Upanishaḍ called Yoga-Kuṇdalinī, the final truths that lead to the realisation of the higher powers are said to be imparted by the Guru alone to the disciple who has proved himself worthy after a series of births and trials.

In order to expound the Upanishaḍs, especially those that bear upon Yoga, some one who is a specialist in Yoga—better still, if he is an Adept—should undertake the task of editing and translating them. The passages in Yoga Upanishaḍs are very mystic sometimes; sometimes there is no nominative or verb, and we have to fill up the ellipses as best as we can.

One more remark may be made with reference to the Upanishaḍs. Each Upanishaḍ is said to belong to one of the Veḍas. Even if we take the 12 Upanishaḍs edited by Max Muller and others, we find some of them are to be found in the existing

[paragraph continues] Veḍas and others not. Why is this? In my opinion this but corroborates the statement made by the Vishṇu-Purāṇa about the Veḍas. It says that at the end of each Ḍwāpara Yuga, a Veḍa-Vyāsa, or compiler of the Veḍas, incarnates as an Avaṭāra of Vishṇu—a minor one—to compile the Veḍas. In the Yugas preceding the Kali Yuga we are in, the Veḍas were "one" alone though voluminous. Just before this Kali Yuga began, Kṛshṇa-Ḍwaipāyana Veḍa-Vyāsa incarnated, and, after withdrawing the Veḍas that were not fit for this Yoga and the short-lived people therein, made with the aid of his disciples a division of the remaining portions into four. Hence perhaps we are unable to trace the Veḍas of which some of the extant Upanishaḍs form part.

K. Narayanaswami

Adyar, March 1914.

Next: 1. Mukṭikopanishaḍ of Śukla-Yajurveḍa

Hinduism

« Previous: Thirty Minor Upanishads: Contents