PRECAP FOR BETTER RECAP

Five core Upanishad philosophies that can be learnt for managing our day-to-day life much better and looking at this blog as a precap for a better recap for this optimistic new year.

1. Samsara, Reincarnation

The concept of samsara is prevalent in the Upanishads. Samsara, Sanskrit for, “wandering,” is the cycle of being.

It represents reincarnation, the concept adopted by several Eastern religions of being reborn after you die according to the karmic cycle.

Regardless of our personal beliefs, there’s something important to be taken from the samsara. Samsara tells us that all of life is in flux. The great wheel of life continues to turn, and nothing is ever stagnant:

This vast universe is a wheel, the wheel of Brahman. Upon it are all creatures that are subject to birth, death, and rebirth. Round and round it turns and never stops.

Samsara suggests that energy cannot be destroyed or diminished. It is simply transmuted. And it really is quite a poetic perspective on the cycle of death and birth.

2. Karma, Action

Now, here’s a word we might be more familiar with. Karma, literally translated, means, “action, work, or deed.” But it also refers to the spiritual doctrine of cause and effect.

The karmic cycle suggests that what we do today will influence our life tomorrow. And circling back to the concept of samsara, what we do today will also influence our next life.

The karmic principle urges us to reflect on what we do before we do it. Because each action matters, and what we do affects our life and the lives of those around us.

3. Dharma, Universal Law

In the Upanishads, the concept of dharma represents order, truth, and ultimate universal law.

Dharma is a concept present in many spiritual beliefs, including Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. But for the Vedic order, dharma was a little bit different.

Dharma in the Upanishads represents a whole and complete truth that can’t be refuted. It is the social obligation we have toward one another, the invisible law that governs our actions.

Dharma encourages us to fulfill our role in society to the very utmost of our abilities, carrying ourselves with respect, empathy, and courage.

4. Moksha, Liberation

In Sanskrit, Moksha means “liberation, enlightenment, release.” And it is a powerful concept from the Upanishads.

Moksha is nirvana, the ultimate end of suffering. It represents the surpassing of all worldly pain, desire, and longing for true and ultimate peace. It is the final escape from the cycle of death and rebirth.

For us today, moksha represents a state within the self. We are capable of making a hell or a heaven out of our time on this earth, and moksha is attainable if we learn to let go of our attachments.

5. Atman, Soul

Atman is the true self beyond the identity of the ego. It’s who we are at our innermost core. It’s the life beneath the exterior facade; beneath the clothes, the family, the friends, the job, the hobbies, the memories, and the experiences.

Beneath all we’ve come to identify with, atman represents something timeless and untouchable:

The eye cannot see it; the mind cannot grasp it. The deathless Self has neither caste nor race, neither eyes nor ears nor hands nor feet. Sages say this Self is infinite in the great and in the small, everlasting and changeless, the source of life.

It’s something we must strive to connect with and listen to. Because it’s something intangible but very real.

"Hunt what's mysterious not for the evident"