What I love about them is that they are based on rational inquiry and allow us to question instead of following dictums or revealed truths. In fact, Vedanta come out strongly against rituals saying outer rituals need to be replaced by the ritual of introspection. Example, the famous ancient hindu act of horse sacrifice (Ashwamedha Yajna) is revealed as sacrifice of the worldly desires to attain spirituality. The Upanishads even go on to say that those who worship external divinity are the domesticated animals of God. For true divinity is within us. One of the four mahavakyas (Grand Declarations) says Aham Brahma asmi or I am God, the ultimate pronouncement of a self-realized person. This is not blasphemous because we are simply proclaiming the divinity of our immortal self, which is one with everything else in the world, and one with God. In fact, Vedanta calls this world Maya, an illusion. Hanuman when asked how he was related to God, says:
When I consider my body, I am your servant.
When I consider my mind, I am part of you.
But when I consider my (true) Self, you and I are one.
The famous American philosopher, Emerson, also said the same: Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool! On the other hand, what is really sacrilegious is reducing religion to fanatic superstitions, violence and hatred in the name of an external God.
Over time, Upanishads have shaped my own thinking in many ways.
Love is not personal, preferential attachment. Pure love has no motive and no desire, and attachment is actually a perversion of love.
True Happiness lies within even if the journey towards this discovery requires great persistence. The world attracts us with its instant pleasures but they are fleeting and soon turn to sorrow. Today’s hedonistic treadmill is ailing much of the developed world. Bhagwad Geeta says (Chapter 18, Verse 37 & 38): True Happiness is like poison in the beginning but nectar in the end. False happiness is like nectar in the beginning but poison in the end. Schopenhauer succinctly said: It (probably) is difficult to find happiness in oneself but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.
The book also introduced me to what is now my favourite poem, Even This Shall Pass Away, probably the ultimate guide to remain peaceful through all the fluctuations of this world.
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Insightful 👍
Yayy nice
The book definitely brushes up the art of living. Well written review
Very unfortunate that we live our lives and then learn the techniques of living later