Religion - The Upanishads Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion - The Upanishads - Essay Example For instance, when we get to question where life comes from or who created the earth and the heavenly bodies. The Kena Upanishad tries to answer these questions through use of events and words contained in the Kena Upanishad. The overall message underlined in the Kena Upanishad is that God (Brahman) is the overall in charge of everything in the world. A person who knows the truth will acknowledge the power of the Brahman and it continues to stress that human beings are mortal because they fail to fully grasp understanding of Brahman (Parmananda, 2004). Brahman is mentioned in the Kena Upanishad as the ultimate and the whole. The Kena Upanishad tries to explain that all we see or perceive in the world comes from one source which is the Whole. The Kena Upanishad strives to make it known that knowledge of God (Brahman) and the acknowledgement of his power is very important in life. Most of the Upanishads are related in their content and identification with one’s self. The Upanishads relate to the relationship between Brahman and us as human beings. One of the similarities between the Kena Upanishad and the other Upanishads is that it acknowledges that life without acknowledgment of the Brahman is pointless. For instance, in the Isha Upanishad it talks of seeing the world through Brahman as the only we to live since it is not possible to enjoy life and realize happiness. The phrase â€Å"He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, never suffers† is a thought echoed through the other Upanishads. Another great similarity between the Upanishads is that all of them begin with a c hant. This is so done so that people can have the time to reconcile with their maker or Brahman. This is because it is difficult to cultivate the teachings of the deities if you cannot make peace with your brothers. The chant helps in withdrawing our minds from different distractions of the world before entering into the spiritual world. However, there are differences between the Kena Upanishad and the other Upanishads is that, the Kena Upanishad tries to explain the origin of Man. The main difference is the fact that this Upanishad tries to locate and expand the human being’s consciousness to the level it becomes identical to God’s consciousness (Easwaran, 2007). It does this through questions and answers, for instance when a disciple asks the teacher about the source of the world. He explains of the world emerging from a Whole and the whole becoming the World. The Kena Upanishads resembles the message available in other sacred books such as the bible whereby the orig in of the World and God is explained in the book of John. Topic Two The Upanishads are narrated in a way that makes the reader to more aware of his life through the teachings. Moreover, the Upanishads does not provide answers since it talks of the things that cannot be seen but rather believe in. Thus, I tend to agree with Alex Levin that the Upanishads make the reader aware of his connection to God through the spirit. The Upanishads are narrated in a format whereby the lessons of understanding God are done through thought provoking phrases. For instance, in the Isha Upanishad, there is this phrase â€Å"Whatever We see, movable or immovable, good or bad, it is all â€Å"That.† This phrase is not necessarily an answer but it tries to jog the mind of the reader to be fully aware of the questions that the Sage was asked. Several texts have been used in the Upanishad to make the reader alert and learn more and not just to get simple answers of life (Easwaran,