Upanishads' guide for living 01

Upanishads form an important part of Vedanta and a unique guide for spiritual living. A wonderful record of discussions among Rishis, who were intensely aware of the fundamentals and the universals of human life. Basically they saw the human being in its total make up. A human being of hunger and natural needs is also a being of emotions. And a human being is rational in its core activity. Not only that, a human being is also literary in its attitudes. A human being is intensely analytic and at the same time frivolously playful. A human being can achieve beyond limits. Also a human being can fail miserably in unexpected ways. A human being can love madly and also a human being can hate fiercely. A human being can meticulously plan for centuries and also a human being can be blinded by the range-of-the-moment likes and dislikes. And more so, a human being can transcend its own organic identity and structure and realise moments of pure spiritual essence. Any good prescription for human living must be aware and encompass all these features and facets, failures and excellences. Denying any part of the reality of human being will not do full justice as a guide. It is here that the Upanishads fulfill being such a guide for living. 

Let us take for instance, Isavasya Upanishad. The name is just after the first word with which the Upanishad starts. It simply means 'Being included into God'. Yea everything that is, everything that face us, everything that links with our living, the Upanishad says just include it into God. See yourself, with all your imperfections, achievements and failures, predicaments and chances, everything be included into God. Transact with anything, enjoy or suffer your experiences, after seeing them from the Divine angle. Give up the habit of seeing from where you are situated and start seeing even yourself from the viewpoint of the Divine. A human being is born with the default habit of seeing everything from its own atomic angle. But you have solved the great riddle of life once you start seeing even yourself from the point of the Divine. This is in short the message of the upanishad Isavasya. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

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