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  However, the most fascinating aspect of the Upanishads, as expostulated in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, composed around 700 B.C.E, is its theorization that man himself was the creator of the gods in heaven, and the dharma on earth, in more ways than one.

  The following excerpts from Valerie's The Upanisads elaborate upon this fascinating theory:

  "In the beginning this was self (atman), in the likeness of a person (purusa). Looking round he saw nothing but himself (atman). First he said, 'I ami' So the name 'I' came to be. Even now, when someone is addressed, he first says, 'it is I', and then speaks whatever other name he has. Since before (purva) all this, he burnt up (us-) all the evils from everything, he is purusa. Whoever knows this, burns up anyone who wants to be before him.

  He was afraid: so when alone one is afraid. Then he realized, "there is nothing else but me, so why am I afraid?" then his fear departed. For why should he be afraid? Fear arises from a second.

  He had no pleasure either:

  So when alone one has no pleasure. He desired a companion. He became as large as a woman and a man embracing. He made that self split (pat -) into two: from that husband (pati) and wife (patni) came to be. Therefore Yajnavalkya used to say, 'In this respect we two are each like a half portion.' So this space is filled by a wife. He coupled with her, and from that human beings were born.

  She realized:

  "How can he couple with me when he begot me from himself? Ah, I must hide!" She became a cow, the other a bull, and so he coupled with her. From that, cattle were born. She became a mare, the other a stallion; she became a she-donkey, the other a he-donkey: and so he coupled with her. From that, solid-hoofed animals were born. The one became a nanny-goat, the other a billy-goat; the one became an ewe, the other a ram: and so he coupled with her. From that, goats and sheep were born. In that way he created every pair, right down to the ants.

  He knew: "I am creation, for I created all this." So he became creation. Whoever knows this, come to be in this, his creation."

  "When they say, "Sacrifice to that one!", "Sacrifice to that one!"- some god or other, that is his varied creation, and he himself is all the gods.

  Then he created from seed whatever is moist, and that is Soma. All this is just food and the eater of food. Soma is food, and Agni is the eater of food.

  This is the higher creation of Brahma, since he created gods who are better than he: and also because, being mortal, he created immortals, it is his higher creation. Whoever knows this, comes to be in this, his higher creation."

  And here is another of the many an Upanishadic creativity.

  "In the beginning, brahman was all this, just one. Being just one, it was not complete. So it created over itself a better form, royalty (ksatra), those who are royalty among the gods: Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, M rtyu, and Isana. Therefore there is nothing higher than royalty: therefore at a king's anointing the Brahmana sits below the Ksatriya and he confers this honour on royalty alone.

  Brahman is the source (yoni) of royalty. So even if a king attains the highest state, in the end he takes refuge in the priesthood (brahman) as his own source. So whoever harms the priesthood attacks his own source: he becomes more evil, like one who has harmed a superior.

  He still was not complete. So he created the people (vis), those kinds of gods who are named in groups: the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas, the Visvedevas and the M aruts.

  He still was not complete. So he created the Sudra class, Pusan. This earth is Pusan, for it nourishes (pus) all this, whatever there is.

  He still was not complete. So he created over himself a better form, dharma. Dharma is the royalty of royalty, so there is nothing higher than dharma. Through dharma a weaker man overcomes a stronger one, as though through a king. Dharma is truth: so they say of one who speaks truth, "He speaks dharma", or of one who speaks dharma, "he speaks truth". Both are the same.

  So there were brahman (priesthood), ksatra (royalty), vis (the people) and sudra (the labourer). Brahman came into being among the gods through Agni; as a Brahmana among human beings; as a Ksatriya through the Ksatriya: as a Vaisya through the Vaisya: and as a Sudra through the Sudra. So folk seek a world among the gods in Agni, and a world among human beings in the Brahmana, for brahman came into being through these two forms."

  As against this, the manner in which the God created the world, as propounded by Judaism and subscribed by the Christianity, is narrated in the Torah thus:

  "There were no plants or grain sprouting up across the earth at first, for the Lord God hadn't sent any rain; nor was there anyone to farm the soil. (However, water welled up from the ground at certain places and flowed across the land.)

  The time came when the Lord God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person.

  Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, to the east, and placed in the garden the man he had formed. The Lord God planted all sorts of beautiful trees there in the garden, trees producing the choicest of fruit. At the centre of the garden he placed the Tree of Life, and also the Tree of Conscience, giving knowledge of Good and Bad. A river from the land of Eden flowed through the garden to water it; afterwards the river divided into four branches. One of these was named the Pishon; it winds across the entire length of the land of Havilah, where nuggets of pure gold are found, also beautiful bdellium and even lapis lazuli. The second branch is called the Gihon, crossing the entire length of the land of Cush. The third branch is the Tigris, which flows to the east of the city of Asher. And the fourth is the Euphrates.

  The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden as its gardener, to tend and care for it. But the Lord God gave the man this warning: "You may eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the Tree of Conscience - for its fruit will open your eyes to make you aware of right and wrong, good and bad. If you eat its fruit, you will be doomed to die."

  And the Lord God said, "It isn't good for man to be alone; I will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs." So the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever he called them, that was their name. But still there was no proper helper for the man. Then the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he had removed it, and made the rib into a woman, and brought her to the man.

  "This is it!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own bone and flesh! Her name is "woman" because she was taken out of a man." This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife in such a way that the two become one person. Now although the man and his wife were both naked, neither of them was embarrassed or ashamed."

  What doth the Quran aver: "He hath created man from a drop of fluid" (v4, s.16) and "And the cattle hath He created, whence ye have warm clothing and use, and whereof ye eat" (v.5, S.16). It is another matter that M uhammad would have us believe that the first revelation to him read, "In the name of thy Lord Who createth. Createth man from a dot."

  While the stress on religious belief led the Semitic people to take the Lord God's word without demur, the Brahman inquisitiveness went on to explore the relation between the self (dtma) and the god (paramdtma), besides the nature of the soul and its probable immortality. It is this essential feature of Brahmanical enquiry that was possibly carried on for centuries, which culminated in the Vedanta. However, in the end, the quintessence of the Upanishadic wisdom got crystallized in the Bhagvad-Gita, which William von Humboldt described as 'the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known tongue.' What is more, Humboldt's admiration for the Gita was such that in praise of it he is said to have written seven hundred verses, equaling its numbers.

  What is it that makes the Gita so unique and fascinating to the Hindus and other seekers alike?

  To start with, it is the setting: the battlefield of Kurukshetra where were assembled th
e armies of Paandavds and Kauravds, the estranged cousins, and the dilemma faced by Arjuna, the warrior-in- Chief of the former, about the propriety and usefulness of the fratricide that war ensues. Could the spiritual and temporal conflict in human existence go any farther than that? And the highly sophisticated philosophical discourse that endued between Krishna, the supposed incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and Arjuna his alter ego, has a universal appeal to humanity at large, irrespective of the individual's religious orientation and belief.

  After all, the Gita is not a sermon of religious conditioning of man; it is a philosophical kit for his self-enlightenment. Apart from its peerless philosophy, the Gita postulates the presence of one Universal Spirit, nursing no sectarian interests on religious lines. And one might contrast this with the unabashed partiality of the Semitic God to His protagonists, which, if only we were to go by the Quran, was prone to shifts and turns as well.

  It is this concept of a universal, though uninvolved, god, as can be seen from the following verses from the Gita, which sets Hinduism apart from the Abrahamic faiths that seek to appropriate 'the God' all for their dogma besides prejudicing their followers towards other faiths.

  Doctrine of Faith Chapter 12

  6

  Whosoever hath faith in M e And leans on M e heart 'n soul

  7

  Him I help to crossover Ocean vast of births 'n deaths.

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  If thou develop faith in Me Take for granted I take thee.

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  Were thee to fail develop faith It's not thou reached blind alley,

  Ever M e having in thy mind Practice lets thee turn the bend.

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  If thou feel that's hard as well Indulge then in deeds M e please.

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  If thou find that difficult too Give thyself to M e Supreme Act then with thy subdued mind With no thought for what follows.

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  Scores thought over mere rating Betters meditation awareness too What helps man to find moorings Are acts his with no axe to grind.

  This is about the famed Hindu religious tolerance, and now for a sample of its philosophical sparkle in Lord Krishna's postulations.

  All about Life Chapter 2

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  Wise all realize

  Embodies selfsame spirit all one From birth to death, in every birth.

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  Spirit in lay us All-Pervading Given that not to destruction,

  What sense doth it make to think That ever immutable gets destroyed! 20

  Unbound being ever unborn Ageless since it's endless too Goes on Spirit, beyond life-span.

  22

  Change as men fade if clothes So doth Spirit as frames are worn.

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  Hold as patent on thy work Reckon though not on royalty With no way to ceasing work Never mind outcome but go on.

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  It's but yoga If thou strive Wants without Emotions bereft.

  49

  Work well greedy with motive Work wise not with result in mind.

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  Wise not sentiment bring to work That's hallmark of art of work.

  51

  Freed from bonds with mind even Act wise regardless ever composed.

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  Clears if reason one's illusion Bothers he not to what's over Or for what might lie in store.

  61

  Rein in senses, hone thine effort Rely on Supreme, that's true wisdom.

  Theory of Action Chapter 3

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  Thus spoke Arjuna:

  Why should one with right intent Stray ever on the wayward ways!

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  Thus spoke the Lord:

  Well, it's passion, lust 'n wrath Drag that man on path painful.

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  Flame 'n mirror as shrouded Without let by smoke 'n dust As well embryo in the womb Wisdom is by wants clouded.

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  Wise all tend to cap all wants Which like fire all burn to core.

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  Veiled off wisdom sees not man M ind and body steeped in wants.

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  Rein in matter with thy mind Thus thou nip thy wants in bud.

  Art of Renunciation Chapter 5

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  Thus spoke the Lord:

  Give up all 'n thou be freed So is the case with selfless work But know latter scores much better.

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  Wise neither want, northeyshun Thus they give up ever engaged.

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  Way action 'n path learning Know not ignorant not different.

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  Work highway 'n lane freedom Know the learned are the same.

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  What thou forego if thee quit Deeds selfless make acts forsake.

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  Such one realized Self-willed, dutiful Within self remains Without ever engaged.

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  Takes not Supreme credit or fault Grasp none have of this uncouth.

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  He that keeps his bias at bay Sun-like he shines being wise 17

  In clear conscience 'n fairness Faith in Him gives man freedom.

  In stark contrast to the scriptural exclusivity of the Abrahamic dispensations of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that ironically are mutually skeptical and hostile as well, thus runs the all-inclusive Hindu philosophical stream of the Gita.

  And yet, as if to prove that the destiny of man is but to suffer in strife, either of religious bigotry or of racial prejudice, and/or both, the Brahmanism had abused the allinclusive Hinduism by subjecting large sections of the Indian society to In-humanism.

  The above verses are excerpted from the author's free ebook, Bhagvad-Gita: Treatise of self-help, sans 110 verses interpolated in the version in vogue.

  Chapter 4 Ascent to Descent

  After their remarkable progress in spirituality and rationality, the Brahmans made an acknowledged advance in astronomy as well. The exposure to the mysteries of the universe that their astronomical pursuits afforded, insensibly led them to probe the vicissitudes of life and fathom the fate of man through the astrological vision. The fascination Brahmans felt for the charms of crystal gazing, in a way, put the wheel of the Brahmanic enlightenment in the reverse gear.

  As the predictions about man's future brought the predilections of his present to the fore, and as the acceptance of the former led to the remedial need for the latter, charlatanry became a corollary of the Hindu wisdom. Thus, the imperfect science of astrology and the perfect sense of exploitation together came to dictate the Brahman ethos, and in time, the Hindu social psyche, even to this day.

  Besides, it was this Brahmanic propensity for things astrological that insensibly led to superstitious practices amongst the Hindus at large, giving a go by to the Upanishadic wisdom of yore and all that goes with that. It was thus, in an ironical twist of human destiny, the unmatched intellect of the Brahmans that contributed so much to the World Bank of Knowledge and Wisdom, at first deprived their fellowmen by denying them the scope to learn, and in the end, depraved themselves as well, caught as they were in the quagmire of prejudice and superstition.

  But then, what were the Brahman intellectual achievements that became legends in the annals of human learning! To start with, we have the astronomical reach of the Brahmans, depicted in his 'Indica' by Alberuni, written around 1,030 A.D. It may be noted that for this exercise in dissection, the implements are drawn from Alberuni's cabinet of Indica, presented in English by Dr. Edward C. Sachau, and published in India by Rupa &Co.

  "The science of astronomy is the most famous among them, since the affairs of their religion are in various ways connected with it. If a man wants to gain the title of an astronomer, he must not only know scientific or mathematical astronomy, but also astrology. The book known among M uslims as Sindhind is called by them Siddhanta, i.e. straight, not crooked nor changing. By this name they call every standard book on astronomy, even such books as, according to our opinion, do not come up to the mark of our so-called Zij, i.e. handbooks of mathematical a
stronomy. They have five Siddhantas:

  1. Surya-siddhanta, i.e. the Siddhanta of the sun, composed by Lata.

  2. Vasishtha-Siddhanta, so called from one of the stars of the Great Bear,

  composed by Vishnuchandra.

  3. Pulisa-Siddhanta, so called from Paulisa, the Greek, from the city of Saintra,

  which I suppose to be Alexandria, composed by Paulisa.

  4. Romaka-Siddhanta, so called from the Rum, i.e. the subjects of the Roman Empire composed by Srishena.

  5. Brahma-Siddhanta, so called from Brahman, composed by Brahmagupta, the son of Jishnu, from the town of Bhillamala between Multan and Anhilwara, 16 yojana from the latter place (?)"

  The table of contents of the twenty-four chapters of the Brahma-Siddhanta listed by Alberuni indicates the extraordinary range of the Brahmanical pursuits.

  1. On the nature of the globe and the figure of heaven and earth.

  2. On the revolutions of the planets; on the calculation of time, i.e. how, to find the time for different longitudes and latitudes; how to find the mean places of the planets; how to find the sine of an arc

  3. On the correction of the places of the planets.

  4. On three problems: how to find the shadow, the bygone portion of the day and the ascendens, and how to derive one from the other.

  5. On the planets becoming visible when they leave the rays of the Sun, and their becoming invisible when entering them.

  6. On the first appearance of the moon, and about her two cusps.

  7. On the lunar eclipse.

  8. On the solar eclipse.

  9. On the shadow of the moon.