The Wisdom of the Upanishads

The Upanishads are ancient Hindu scriptures that probably represent the oldest philosophical texts in the world. These texts deal with questions that have tortured the human mind for thousands of years: What is the human nature? What is real and what is unreal? Where do we come from and where do we go after death? What is happiness and what is sorrow?

The Hindu philosophers believed that, in order to answer all these questions, it is absolutely necessary to know yourself. If you do not know yourself, why try to know God? Why ask questions about the universe and creation? Only the knowledge of one's self can give him some hints about how he can attain eternal happiness, if that is at all possible. So, the root question should be: Who am I? or even Who is I? This enquiry into our own nature is called vichara.

The main thing to understand in this enquiry is that the subject (kshetrajna - knower of the field) cannot be it's own object (kshetra - field), just like a mirror can't reflect itself. This is very important, because it shows me that whatever I perceive, whatever I can objectify is not me. So, given the fact that I can perceive my body, then I am not the body, but something different. I am aware of my thoughts, therefore I am not the mind. And how can I be the body, since it changes all the time? The true nature or essence of a thing cannot change. If you are the body, then you do not exist, since in the body, cells die and new cells are born every second. If you are the body and the body is changing so fast, then you become a different YOU by each second that passes.

This reductionist process is continued until we arrive at the conclusion that our true nature is pure awareness and that cannot be described, since it is not objectifiable. The illusion of limitation is only caused by the mind, who's nature is to limit, to identify, to separate. In reality, there are no divisions, there is just pure awareness. Everything else is illusory.

This is what the Upanishads teach us. And that means that our essence is limitless, so sorrow does not exist, since that implies a limitation. Once you are unlimited, there is nothing else to make you unhappy. The big mistake that we make as humans is to think that external things make us happy. We seek happiness by the fullfilment of our wordly desires, but we don't realise that we are essentially happy. In fact, after we fullfil our wish, we are happy not because we have acquired something new, but because there are no other desires in our mind at that moment. As soon as a new desire appears, we feel unhappy, we think that something is missing from us. Actually, there is nothing missing, except the realization that there is only pure awareness. True happiness is eternal and we "obtain" it in the state of no desires (nir-vana).

This is how the wise people of old saw the world. Instead, we try to obtain happiness by the fullfilment of our worldy desires, but fail miserably.