Upanishad Series - Ep. 5 (Prashna Upanishad)
Do you remember your favourite teacher from school - and how they answered all your doubts to make learning so much fun?
Thousands of years ago, six students of our Vedas had a similar doubt-solving session with their guru & that’s how we got the mind-bending Prashna Upanishad.
The Prashna Upanishad is found in the Atharva Veda & contains 67 mantras that reveal the craziest secrets of how our bodies, minds and soul works.
We meet 6 students who ask one question each to Rishi Pippalada, unlocking deep secrets one by one like a layered Russian doll…
Question 1 asks who is the creator of all living beings? To answer it, the sage explains the concepts of the formless Brahman, the Supreme Being, who acts as the Prajapati, giving rise to Prana (invisible energy) & Rayi (gross matter).
We’re told about two paths, the Northern & Southern, that lead to either our rebirth in this material world of maya or illusion, or our escape from it, back to merging with Brahman.
The second & third questions goes one step further, asking about the makeup of living beings, and how life force, or Prana moves through us - we get a detailed answer of how the natural elements act as our building blocks, and how the 5 variations of Prana control different life functions in our body.
Mind you, this was hundreds of years before Western science discovered these processes - so there is so much advanced science about how we work, hidden in our ancient texts!
In question four, the student asks about what happens to all of it when we go to sleep, and the guru uses the opportunity to talk about the different states of being we all experience - Vishwa in waking, Taijasya when we’re dreaming, and Prajna when we’re in deep REM sleep.
Question 5 takes us to the practical conclusion, asking about what happens to those who meditate on the Brahman, symbolised by AUM? To which the guru replies that we achieve God-realisation i.e. merge into the oneness of this universe.
Finally, Question 6 reveals the big secret, about where this Prajapati, this Brahman, this Super God lies? And the guru declares, it is within us. He lives within us, in all of us - giving us the practical takeaway that all the people we see are truly Divine, including ourselves.