Why Studying the Upanishads Will Transform Your Spiritual Journey

I feel that one you will not regret it , as the title of the video says , because once you read the Upanishads , you are not communicating with anything human . You are communicating with consciousness itself , your own inner consciousness .

And these words are there to point you back to yourself , back to the true self , back to the Atman and the reason why I feel like we should keep studying the Upanishads . I know a lot of people talk about studying the Bhagavad Gita and I do agree that should be studied too . But why do I say study the Upanishads ?

Because that holds a philosophical means behind the message of the Bhagavad

Gita . Now , for example , there's times , numerous times , where Sri Krishna actually kind of deliberately takes from the Upanishads . One is to show that it's a continuum , it's nothing different . But at the same time it also shows the significance of the Upanishads that in order to live a practical spiritual life . You need to have this philosophy to ground you .

You need to have this understanding to ground you and there's nothing better than you know reading the Upanishads and my most . There's two versions I really like , um a lot . One is obviously Swami Nikkalan Daji's um , kind of uh , his Bhagavad Gita and his uh , his Upanishads , the full volume one .

That's really good , but the one that I really love the most because I feel like it just speaks to the heart , it gets the essence correct . So it's not sometimes you don't want , you don't need the literal meaning of the Upanishads , because sometimes it then can you know things can get lost .

But when someone understands the essence of what's being said and then is able to translate that into English , eknath Iswaran is the best translation you can have of the Upanishads and also of the Bhagavad Gita . In my opinion , there's something accessible

with the way he words things , with the way he kind of speaks about things . So , yes , you know , obviously there's going to be people who are going to be like , well , you know , we need things to be accurate and and all this , and I agree with that to some degree . But , um , you know , like , for example , some may argue that .

Oh well , you know , such and such person has the bhagavad-gita as it is , but as we know , it really isn't as it is . It's been manipulated with and that's the Sanskrit that's been manipulated too . So it's not even a positive thing .

But when it comes to the I don't know with Ignat Asran's translations , I know with Ignat Asran's translations , even his books I find them to be quite accessible for today's age .

And there's something , you see , we live in a world today where it's very easy to say , well , my religion is better than your religion , and we're better and you're not , and there's this undercurrent of kind of competition . And there's this undercurrent of kind of competition .

But what Ignat G does very well is he shows the similarities and embraces whatever is similar . That's not saying that he probably doesn't acknowledge the differences . Everyone can see the differences , but you know when our mindset is such and acknowledge the differences . Everyone can see the differences

, but you know when our mindset is such . That's why you know a lot of people these days that are , I find their mentality is to fault , find . You know , they always are looking to find faults with something and see something wrong . But recently what I've been trying to do is listen as if I am to discover something new .

And this way of thinking brings you to a mind that is able to think , discern . Because I'm able to slow down , because when you're fault finding , you're being critical , but you're not really slowing down to understand . You know , you're quick to find the one fault , then the next fault , then the next fault .

So , but if you want to study the Upanishads , you have to actually give your mind rest and you have to kind of . You know , just let the Upanishads speak to you . So I'll give you an example . This is in the isha upanishad , so it's the very first verse . This is how ignatisran translates it .

The lord is enshrined in the hearts of all . The lord is a supreme reality . Rejoicing him through renunciation , covet , nothing . All belongs to the lord . Now , obviously , in this , like we can say , he's talking about sagaganabraman or he's talking about Ishvara , the Upanishad the Lord is enshrined in all , in the hearts of all . It's manifest in everything .

But when you say the hearts of all , your heart becomes open too , because you know what . You recognize that the Lord is there within you too . Do you see what I mean here ?

So when you say in all , even in the people , so when you say in all , even in the people that you don't like , even in the people that do not like you , you see , the lord in them is enshrined , enshrined like a temple that in each heart is a temple of the lord . So how would you see a temple of the lord ?

Would you see the temple of the Lord with disgust or with hatred , or with intolerance ? No , you would have a different approach . You will be coming from , you will feel in your heart this sense of calmness , of joy , of tenderness , of gentleness , of sensitivity , and that's what we need more of in this world .

You know , um , and you know some people may argue well , you know , but this culture of toxic masculinity , in my opinion , the people that have to prove their masculinity are the most , uh , are definitely not the poster boys of masculinity at all . In fact I would say it's the exact opposite .

And uh , but here you know , if you see the lord in all , there's nothing masculine there . The lord neither has a gender . So it's quite clear . Here he says the lord is a supreme reality , but the supreme reality , the most important thing , the own , the . If it's a supreme reality , there's nothing bigger than that , nothing beyond that .

So think about , if that's in all , how can you see difference in others ? Forget about hating or disliking , or loving or whatever . Just the fact that , how can you see any difference ? It's all one , in this very line , you see , it's all one . And then rejoicing him through renunciation .

So you know , once you have , once you have him , once you have this Lord , this Ishwara , this Brahman , this formless awareness , this Nirakar , do you want anything else ? You naturally renounce things . For example , what desires ? If you are fully immersed in the rejoicing of this Supreme One , how can you think of anything else ?

How can you think of another desire ? All desires just naturally get renounced . It's not even you have to say , well , I don't want this anymore . No , it just naturally happens . You do not have to say anything , it just drops . And that's true renunciation .

When it just drops away , like when a leaf has , when it's autumn or fall , as they say in America , and the leaves turn yellow , brown and they fall away , they drop from the branches , from the twigs , just like that . Your desires are like those leaves . Once you rejoice in the Lord , then these desires will fall away like the leaves fall away from a tree .

That's how simple it is . And then covet nothing . You know , don't be proud of anything . Why ? Because it's not yours , it's all the Lord's . That's the supreme reality , that's enshrined in everything , in the hearts of all .

So not just anything with a living heartbeat , but anything and everything , anything living , anything that is manifest in this universe , it's enshrined in that . And therefore , how can you be proud of anything you have or desire , something that other people have ? You can't

. You can't have any of those things because it all belongs to the Lord , as it says . You can't have any of those things because it all belongs to the Lord , as it says .

When I was given Brahmagyan in the Nirankarayam mission , the first principle that we are asked to follow is body , mind and material possessions are all a gift from God , from Nirankar , and they are to be treated as such . And you are just merely a trustee , that's all you .

And they are to be treated as such and you're just merely a trustee , that's all you are . You know they're on loan to you and literally , that's the first line of the Isha Upanishad , the first principle . And you know , if you thought , and you know we are used to hear growing up that if you follow that first principle , you've mastered spirituality .

That's the key to spirituality , and it's true . Once you truly say that everything belongs to this formless , to this nirvana , to to god , what are you gonna be proud of ? What are you gonna try and have ownership over ? How can you have ownership over anything ? So that shows that that you know .

We all know , like , for example , if this house is in my name or a car is in my name or this computer is in my name , it's temporary . Once I die , once this body goes , then it's not really going to be belonging to me . God knows what will happen to it afterwards and god will know , because it's god's anyway . But again , it all belongs to god .

So whoever it goes to is going to god . Yeah , because god is enshrined in all . And and this is why I think this the upanishads should be studied , because once you contemplate upon it , once you think about it , once you have something translatable like this , it just makes absolute sense .

What I'm going to do in the next couple of videos is , obviously , I just did the first verse of the Isha Upanishad here and we'll probably come back to this , but I'm going to go through the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita by Ignatis Raran and I use a different translation . I did the commentary , but now we're going to go through a different one .

We're going to do it a different way and we're just going to see how it's so clear with what he says . But I hope you've enjoyed this episode where we've kind of gone into the first verse of the Yisra'ul Upanishad . If you'd like me to go through the Upanishads , let me know . I'm more than happy to do so and we can definitely do that .

So , and we can definitely do that , okay , so , without taking any more of your time , I just want to say thank you for listening . If you like this video , do you like it ? Comment on it . Please let me know what you think . If you have any questions , let me know .

Share this with your friends and family and , most of all , take care , stay safe and see you soon . See you in the next video . Take care , namaste .