Saareeraka Upanishad — 1

Saareeraka Upanishad—1.

In his Introductory Chapter for “Taittireeya Upanishad“, Sri Aadi Sankaraachaarya Swaamy defined the word Upanishad as under:

“Upanishad iti Brahmavidyaa.
Tat seelinaam karma, janma,
maranaadi nisaatanaat.
Tat avasaadanaat vaa.
Brahmanah upanigamanayitritvaat.
(Tat arthatvaat granthah api Upanishat)“.

Upanishad means “Brahma vidya”. Brahma vidya means the sublime knowledge that enables the spiritual seeker to realise the Supreme Truth. Such a knowledge empowers the seeker to eradicate all the impact of the entire karmic accumulations and the consequent cycle of births and deaths. Or such a knowledge once for all terminates the very
ingredients that cause birth and death.Or such knowledge enables the seriously committed seeker to enter into the Brahman everlastingly. Any book that is capable of imparting such subtle supreme knowledge is also called an Upanishad.

The above definitions and their explanations are enough for our purpose. Now Saareeraka Upanishad means the upanishadic text that deals with various fundamental components and their features and functions of common human existence at all the three levels.

The three levels are:
1. Material body-existence.
2. Subtle body-existence.
3. Causal body-existence.

Apart from the above, there are a few more items with which a serious spiritual seeker is supposed to be well informed. All of them are briefly explained in this text. So Saareeraka Upanishat is a a well-planned primer for the learning of various vedic or yogic philosophies that help a serious spiritual seeker to realise his ultimate spiritual goals.

In the following series of this feature we take up S.U.(Saareeraka Upanishat) for our discussion. Thank you for your interest in this spiritual art and science.