Aitareya Upanisad
By Swami Harshananda
The Upaniṣads which usually form the last part of the Vedas and hence known as Vedānta (anta = end) contain the quintessence of philosophy. They deal with certain fundamental questions of metaphysics:
- The Creator
- Process of creation
- Nature of the created world
- True and apparent nature of the individual
- Relationship between this individual and the Creator
- Goal of life and the path that helps achieving it
The Aitareya Upanisad is one out of the ten or twelve Upaniṣads considered more ancient and important. It forms part of the Aitareya Āranyaka[1] of the Rgveda. Mahidāsa Aitareya who is mentioned in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad[2] is the ṛṣi to whom this Upaniṣad was revealed.
The previous parts of the Āraṇyaka contain instructions regarding karma (Vedic rituals) and prāṇopāsanā (meditation on prāṇa, the vital breath or energy). Anyone who has performed these two seriously and sincerely will become fit for ātmajñāna (self-knowledge). It has been expounded in the three (4 to 6) adhyāyas which comprise this Upaniṣad. The Upaniṣad starts with a description of creation. In the beginning, the Ātman alone existed.
God reflected : ‘Let me create the worlds.’ Then he created four worlds :
- Ambholoka - supercelestial region of waters
- Marīciloka - the heavens with their celestial lights
- Maraloka - the mortal earth
- Āpoloka - the subterranean region of waters
Desiring to create the protectors for these worlds, he proceeded to create first, Virāṭpuruṣa (‘World-Person’), an intermediate entity subsisting between the Ātman and the universe, whom he fashioned out of the waters. From him proceeded the organs of senses, their corresponding functions and the deities or cosmic powers corresponding to such functions in the cosmos. The Ātman who can now be called īśvara, made the Virātpurusa subject to hunger and thirst. Consequently the deities born out of him also became subject to the same limitation. On the request from the deities for a suitable locus from which they can act, he created the human body into which they gladly entered. Hunger and thirst which were left behind were also provided a place, but as an integral part of these deities.
On further reflection, realizing the need for ‘food’ by the Virāṭpuruṣa along with the deities, īśvara created food articles like corn and animals. The Virāṭpuruṣa was able to grasp this food only with the apānavāyu (the prāṇic energy responsible for digestion and excretion) and not with the other deities (or indriyas, i.e., faculties). Since the body of the Virāṭpuruṣa could not live without the presence of the Ātman or īśvara, he entered into it through the brahmarandhra (the aperture in the crown of the head).
The Upaniṣad then describes how the jīvātman (the ātman bound in the body) has three kind of births viz. transmigration, conception of birth and rebirth. It also quotes the great sage Vāmadeva who realized his true nature as the ātman, free from the shackles of bodies and senses, while he was in the womb of his mother. The last section describes Ātman or Brahman as ‘prajñāna’ (consciousness) because of whose presence only all experience is possible. One of the four famous mahāvākyas (great dicta) of the Upaniṣadic literature viz., prajñānam brahma (‘Prajñāna is Brahman’) comes in this section.[3]
Out of the several theories of creation given in the Upaniṣads, the one given here appears to be more enigmatic if not inscrutable. However, a little reflection is enough to convince that it falls in line with the general philosophy of the Upaniṣads.
The various accounts of creation given in the Upaniṣads normally fall into three categories:
- Through trivṛt - karaṇa (triplication) as in the Chāndogya Upanisad
- Through pañcīkaraṇa (quin- tuplication) as in the Taittirīya Upanisad
- Through the Virāṭpuruṣa (cosmic person) as in Aitareya Upanisad
The purpose of creation is to give the unredeemed jīvas (individual souls) one more chance for redemption. This means that each of the jīvas must have a suitable body and a sphere of activity. The sphere of activity is provided by the various lokas or worlds, states of being, and the Virāṭpuruṣa forms the matrix as it were from which the body is shaped. Apart from the physical body, the sense-organs and the mind, located in it, form the basis of all activity. This way the creation process has been described.
The deities like Agni and Aditya mentioned here are the lokapālas, ‘protectors of the worlds’. They are the entities endowed with the power of maintaining order in the created worlds. At the cosmic level, each of them represents the totality or essence of that particular power manifested in creation. At the individual level, it is the controlling power of the particular faculty. For instance, Agni at the cosmic level represents the fire-principle, whereas the same at the individual level represents the power of speech which illuminates the dark areas of unknown fields of knowledge.
The ‘hunger and thirst’ of the deities is a sign of their incompleteness and hence indicates that they too have fallen into the ocean of sarhsāra (transmigratory existence). This is but natural since the whole of the created world, starting with the Virāṭpuruṣa himself, is within the realm of sansāra. Their ‘food’ is the corresponding object of sense, united with which, the deities feel satisfied.
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore