Taittiriya Upanisad: Preface
Often we fail to appreciate how much Srila Prabhupada gives the conclusions of the Upaniṣads, the Vedanta sutras, and the Sat Sandarbhas in his books.
Preface
In his introduction to the Govinda Bhasya, Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana mentions that during the past Dvapara Yuga, the Vedas were destroyed. At the time, many foolish philosophers propounded different incorrect interpretations of the Vedas, and the real spirit of the scriptures was almost lost. Some were teaching that the ultimate goal of life was to act piously to enjoy the results of good karma. Some sustained that the fruits of good karma, such as elevation to the high planets, are eternal, and some even had the audacity of saying Lord Vishnu Himself is bound by the laws of karma.
Others were saying that there is no God and the jivas (the individual souls) and prakrti (the material energy) act independently, without any superior control. Some were propounding that in reality we are all God, and we become free from the cycle of birth and death when we understand our real identity as part of the Supreme Brahman. Others were saying that the souls are reflections of God, or separated fragments of God, and so on.
Answering the prayers of Lord Brahma and other demigods to come as an incarnation and dispel all these speculations, restoring the actual meaning of the Vedas, the Lord appeared as Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa.
The work of Vyasadeva in compiling the Vedas is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.4.20-25):
"The four divisions of the original sources of knowledge [the Vedas] were made separately. But the historical facts and authentic stories mentioned in the Purāṇas are called the fifth Veda.
After the Vedas were divided into four divisions, Paila Ṛṣi became the professor of the Ṛg Veda, Jaimini the professor of the Sāma Veda, and Vaiśampāyana alone became glorified by the Yajur Veda.
The Sumantu Muni Angirā, who was very devotedly engaged, was entrusted with the Atharva Veda. And my father, Romaharṣaṇa, was entrusted with the Purāṇas and historical records.
All these learned scholars, in their turn, rendered their entrusted Vedas unto their many disciples, granddisciples and great-granddisciples, and thus the respective branches of the followers of the Vedas came into being.
Thus the great sage Vyāsadeva, who is very kind to the ignorant masses, edited the Vedas so they might be assimilated by less intellectual men.
Out of compassion, the great sage thought it wise that this would enable men to achieve the ultimate goal of life. Thus he compiled the great historical narration called the Mahābhārata for women, laborers and friends of the twice-born."
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is described that even after all this work, Vyasadeva was still dissatisfied. His spiritual master, Narada Muni, then instructed him to directly glorify the Lord.
The Srimad Bhagavatam is considered the spotless Purana because it is practically the only book in the whole Vedic literature that describes only devotional service to the Lord and nothing more. Most of the verses of the Vedas are dedicated to describing fruitive activities for gradual elevation (karma-kanda) while some confidential sections describe the nature of the soul and the absolute truth (jñana-kanda). Devotional service to the Lord is a jewel that is hidden and accessible only to those who know how to look for it. This process of devotional service is directly and openly described in the Srimad Bhagavatam, and that's what makes it so important.
What about the Upaniṣads? Where do they fit in this description? The Upaniṣads are collections of passages from the original Vedas that discuss self-realization. The Taittirīya Upanisad, for example, is composed of three chapters that came originally from the Yajurveda.
In his Sat-Sandarbhas Srila Jiva Goswami explains that while most of the verses of the original Vedas didn't survive the passage of time, we can still understand the meaning of the original Vedas by studying the Upaniṣads through the conclusions offered in the Vedanta Sutra, as well as the Puranas, of which the Srimad Bhagavatam is the chief.
Often we think that the Srimad Bhagavatam is a book of stories, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Before entering into the intimate pastimes of the Lord, the Srimad Bhagavatam deals with a lot of high philosophy, which Prabhupada describes in detail in his purports. However, often we fail to comprehend the deepness of the text.
Although the Upaniṣads don't describe the absolute truth so directly as in the Srimad Bhagavatam, they may serve as a stairway that may help one to better appreciate the deep knowledge contained in the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam and especially better appreciate the great treasure Prabhupada left us in his purports. As Prabhupada mentions, the Upaniṣads, culminating in the Vedanta-sutra, are for graduates in spiritual knowledge. After we graduate, we may be able to enter into the deep philosophy about pure devotional service of the Lord, described in the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Caitanya Caritāmṛta. Studying the Upaniṣads and the Vedanta-sutra can thus help us to better appreciate and better understand these books.
"The Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic knowledge. It is the first book of spiritual values, as the Upaniṣads are. The Vedānta philosophy is the subject matter for study by the spiritual graduates. Only the postgraduate spiritual student can enter into the spiritual or devotional service of the Lord. It is a great science, and the great professor is the Lord Himself in the form of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And persons who are empowered by Him can initiate others in the transcendental loving service of the Lord." (SB 1.4.25)
Often we have the idea that the Upaniṣads support the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, but this is actually due to the many Mayavadi interpretations of the texts. In reality, the Upaniṣads directly speak about the personal form of the Lord, just like the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The difficulty is that the Upaniṣads are parts of the original Vedas, and thus the language is more metaphorical, and the concepts more abstract. Different from books like the Mahabharata or Ramayana, the Upaniṣads were written to be studied in the company of the spiritual master, receiving explanations, asking questions, and so on. Just being a Sanskrit scholar is not sufficient.
Unfortunately, not many of us have the opportunity to hear directly from a self-realized soul, but we can learn the conclusions of the Upaniṣads by studying the Vedanta sutras, and to understand the Vedanta sutras we should study the Govinda Bhasya, the commentary written by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, who explains everything in detail.
The Govinda Bhasya is not an easy book. To understand it we need to have a very good grasp of the philosophy, understanding the references and the correct conclusions of the scriptures. To get that we need to study the books of Srila Prabhupada very carefully.
When we understand the conclusions, examples, and references Prabhupada gives in his books, especially the Srimad Bhagavatam, we can understand the Govinda Bhasya well, and from there we may venture into trying to understand the Upaniṣads. The Upaniṣads in turn can help us to better understand and value the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, creating a virtuous cycle.
The first Vaishnava acarya to comment on the Upaniṣads was Srila Ramanujacarya, who mentioned and commented on many passages in his Sri Bhasya. Srila Madhvacarya also commented on many passages in his commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, as well as writing direct commentaries on a number of Upanisads. These and other passages were also mentioned and further commented on by the other Vaishnava acaryas in their commentaries of the Vedanta-sutra, culminating with Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya. In the 17th century, Sri Ranga Ramanuja from the disciplic succession of Srila Ramanujacarya wrote short commentaries on most of the Upaniṣads.
This series is a humble attempt to explain the verses of the main Upanisads based on the commentaries of our previous acaryas and the conclusions of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana in the Govinda Bhasya, all inside of the purview of the purports given by Srila Prabhupada in his books.
Often we fail to appreciate how much Srila Prabhupada gives the conclusions of the Upaniṣads, the Vedanta sutras, and the Sat Sandarbhas in his books. I hope this attempt may also shed some light in this direction.