Meditation According to the Upanishads -1. Swami Krishnananda

30/04/2019
(Spoken on January 14th, 1973)
1.

We have been traversing through the courses of different kinds of meditation beginning with the systems expounded in the Kathopanishad, the Bhagavadgita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Epics and Puranas, and so forth. Today we shall have an excursion into the Upanishadic method of meditation, which is the predominant note of all these Vedantic texts. Though we have already looked into the method expounded in the Kathopanishad last time, that cannot be regarded as an example of the Upanishadic technique because it was more akin to the Bhagavadgita and the Yoga Sutras than the main current of thought in the Upanishads, which distinguishes them from other approaches to Reality.

The Upanishadic approach to Truth is out-and-out philosophical and mystical. The Upanishads take a comprehensive view from three angles of vision: the external, the internal, and another feature which transcends them both. The Mandukya, the Taittiriya and the Aitareya Upanishads may be taken as examples of this type of approach, which also receives elaborate treatment and profound consideration in the Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. The Upanishadic method is something not unknown to students of Vedanta, but yet the Upanishads have a peculiarity of their own which demands a very acute understanding and a thoroughgoing philosophical approach from the student. This is what is generally called the jnana method of approach, also known as the jnana yoga path, wherein meditation becomes identical with understanding. It is a gradual enlightenment taking place inside and settling upon Reality. Knowledge is the undercurrent of the thought of the Upanishads. That is why they are called scriptures on jnana, tattva darsana. They deal with Reality, the Supreme Being.

To be continued ..