A Unique Spiritual Experience

A rare opportunity for a fortnight-long immersion into the study and practice of Upanishadic knowledge under the guidance of Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha.

Upanishads – The Eternal Treasure of Knowledge

Upanishads are the final and the loftiest revelations enshrined in the Vedas. They deal with knowledge and knowledge alone. But this knowledge is not about any material object, deity or philosophy; it is the knowledge of our own real identity.

Religions depend on the faith in some concept of God. Upanishads exhort us to transcend all faiths and concepts, and to discover the Truth first hand.

Upanishadic presentations have a transcendental note, giving us a touch of our innate divinity. They provide illustrations to help us make our mind flexible, impersonal, and vast – finally making it one with the Transcendental Reality.

The Upanishads are the result of the deepest relentless enquiry of the human mind:

1. Is there an Ultimate Reality behind the world we perceive, &
2. Where lies the Ultimate fulfillment of human life. Both the enquiries have been conclusively answered in the Upanishads.  

How Relevant is the Study of Upanishads Today?

Upanishads are prehistoric – authored how many thousands of years ago we do not know. But they deal with a knowledge, which is eternal, and which when practised makes man aware of his eternal identity. All troubles of human life, whether modern or ancient, arise from ignorance of our real identity.

Knowledge of our real identity

• makes our mind expansive and free,
• makes our intelligence subtle and clear, and
• makes our life sane, simple, and cheerful.

It relieves us from selfish constrictions and the resulting stresses. 

Not a theoretical study – the knowledge has to be lived

The purpose of the Upanishads is to provide ultimate fulfillment to human mind – irrespective of time, religious or racial identity. Fulfillment means removal of all greed and insufficiencies. Such a mind excels in confidence, poise, virtues and skills.

Upanishads are a record of:

1. Experiential results of the subjective mind experiments carried out by the Seers of India, which even today anyone can verify, provided he cares to repeat the experiments sincerely.
2. Rational understanding and explanation of the experimental observations.

A mere theoretical knowledge about our true identity has no value unless we strive to become what we have learnt. So, the emphasis must be to relate everything, each word if possible, to our saadhana (spiritual pursuit) – our life, our mind, our deficiencies and constrictions. Truly speaking, Vedanta is not a scholarly study of the scriptures but a way of life.

Upanishadic Knowledge leads to an Integrated Personality

The worldly attractions and repulsions are always pulling our mind outward, making us slave to the external situations.

Knowledge of the Upanishads helps us live and act in the world remaining firmly anchored to our inmost Self. We discover that nothing in the world can really overpower our mind. We can possess or lose anything without getting bound by it, without getting affected by the gain or loss.

The knowledge when practiced frees our mind from the bondages and insufficiencies it suffers from. It integrates the mental, emotional, and intelligential aspects of our personality.