Kaushitaki Upanishad in The Thirteen Principle Upanishads -- London: Oxford University Press, 1954

The significance of the Kaushitaki Upanishad is not easy to understand. There are at least two important themes: the transmigration of souls and an attempted determination of Brahma. The first theme is interlaced with passages remarking on consequences of moral (usually sacrificial) actions. It is in these passages that one can find expressions of the famous doctrine of karma. Interestingly, the transmigration of souls from one life to the next includes passage of the soul to the sun and then to the moon before returning to its next incarnation.

One is reminded of Plato's description of reincarnation in the Myth of Er where souls are allowed to choose their next existence, but their choices are usually determined by what they did or experienced in their previous existence. Furthermore, if one had been dedicated to sound philosophy in one's previous life, one had a better chance at making an auspicious choice. The parallel with the transmigration of souls as expressed in the Kaushitaki Upanishad lies in the karmic consequences of one's actions and the soul's ability to escape these consequences through a proper understanding of Brahman.

The determination of Brahma is expressed in a dialog between a brahman named Balaki and a kshatriya named Ajatasatru. Balaki begins by attempting to explain the nature of Brahma, but after each attempt, Ajatasatru refutes him. Humbled, Balaki presents himself to Ajatastru as a pupil; whereupon Ajatastru reveals the truth to Balaki, explaining that Brahma is the Atman (or the soul with us) that is "minute as a hair subdivided a thousandfold" and which when awakened is like a blazing fire sending sparks in all directions. The force of this metaphor is that the Atman is Brahman, but that the individual soul is to Brahman as sparks are to a blazing inferno.

While not the most fascinating of the Upanishads, the Kaushitaki Upanishad's themes are unquestionably among the most important in the canon.

Aitareya Upanishad in The Thirteen Principle Upanishads -- London: Oxford University Press, 1954

The Aitareya Upanishad is one of the shortest of the thirteen principle Upanishads. It is a concise mythological account of the creation of the world. "In the beginning, Atman (Self, Soul), verily, one only, was here -- no other winking thing whatever. He bethouhght himself: 'Let me now create worlds,'" and out of Atman, the elements of the world separate. Thus it begins as a theistic treatise.

From the creation of the worlds, Atman creates world-guardians and to nourish them, food; however, the food he offers them is not sufficient until he offers them a person. At least this is how section 1.2 describes it. Section 1.3 describes the food of the guardians as fleeing from him, until "this one living food," the wind, is consumed. The centrality of food is a bit puzzling; however, understood as that which is consumed and which is necessary for a thing's existence, makes it critical to understanding creation and being while indicating the ephemeral, constantly changing nature of creation.

Having created the worlds and all that is in them, Atman enters the body of the world as the self; hence, the distinction between the creator and the creation is blurred. The final section expands the return of the Atman into its creation to all things "born from an egg,..."born from a womb,...born from sweat, and...born from a sprout."

While the Aitareya Upanishad is almost exclusively cosmological in subject, it does makes brief mention of righteous actions as a final "birth" of the self, suggesting a naturalistic basis for morality and indicating the expansiveness of the what is born of and returns to the Atman.

War Dance: a film directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix (2007)

In the early 1980s, a rebel group known as the Holy Spirit Movement formed in Northern Uganda with the aim of overthrowing the Ugandan government. The movement was largely fighting for the interests of the Acholi tribe; however, when the movement's leader fled to Kenya, Joseph Kony gained control of the movement and renamed it the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA quickly became one of the most notorious militias in Africa, murdering, raping, looting, and kidnapping adults and children in order to force them to fight against the Ugandan army. It is in the context of this conflict that the documentary "War Dance" was conceived.

Sean Fine and Andrea Nix take their film crew to a refugee camp in Northern Uganda where they chronicle the efforts of a group of primary school children to compete in Uganda's national music and dance festival. The film focuses on three of the children. The father of one was killed by the LRA and her mother is forced to live in a separate refugee camp to make a living. Another child lost both her parents and is now responsible for her siblings. The third is a boy who was captured by the LRA and made to serve as a child soldier. He escapes the LRA, but not before they force him to kill innocent people.

The first hour of the film is dedicated to telling these tragic stories. The brutalization and suffering of the children is heart breaking, especially as one understands that they are not at all unique among the children affected by the conflict.

The second hour of the film is dedicated to following the children's trip to Kampala and their participation in the national competition. Upon arriving at the festival, the children discover that the other children at the festival distrusted them and believe them to be rebels. The mistaken belief is likely due to the fact that the children themselves are Acholi. Their "outsider" status fuels an already vigorous tribal pride among the children and seems to motivate them to perform well.

"War Dance" is in essence two films: the first tells three brutal stories, while the second is an exuberant celebration of music and dance. Brought together, these two films effectively communicate the horror that so many suffer in Africa's conflicts, while insisting that Africans are not merely two dimensional monsters and victims as they are sometimes portrayed. The pride and excitement of young teenagers participating in a national music and dance competition is deeply endearing and their performances are exhilarating.

As a piece of cinematography, "War Dance" is first rate. The beauty of the land and the people are never lost, the film's pacing is excellent, and the testimony of the children is captured with thoughtful respect. If there is a weakness, it is that the camera does not steadily track the whole of the dance and music performances. The build up to the festival is so effective that one would prefer to simple see a record of the performances and not a montage of dramatic angles and audience reactions.

"War Dance" is both heart breaking and life affirming. It's a real triumph.

Taittiriya Upanishad in The Thirteen Principle Upanishads -- London: Oxford University Press, 1954

Compared to the Brihad-Aranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, the Taittiriya Upanishad is a succinct little meditation on a few moral and metaphysical concepts. The first section primarily valorizes the relationship between a teacher and student, praising the wisdom that can be acquired in such a relationship. This conforms to a common interpretation of the word "upanishad," thought to mean to sit at the feet of, which also has led some to understand the upanishads as teaching an esoteric doctrine. Such an understanding is easy to accept today, when so much learning takes place through texts and other audio and video media; however, when the Taittiriy Upanishad was written, word of mouth teaching was the norm and did not necessarily imply an esoteric teaching.

At the same time, the teaching of the upanishads might very rightly be thought of as esoteric and necessarily requiring instruction from a "seer." The doctrines of the Upanishads themselves would suggest that not everyone is able to grasp their truth without the aid of a seer. Without initiation into the doctrines, most people would not question the reality of their perceptions. It is the rare person who will see beyond the empirical world and into the truth that lies behind it without the guidance of someone who has tread the path before.

The second section explains how knowledge of Brahman (or the divine reality) is bliss. Based first of all on a metaphysical idealism, the section asserts that the contents of the consciousness that constitutes reality is bliss. Here, one is reminded of Meister Eckhart's concept of god as love. Instead, reality is bliss.

The third section describes the Brahman as food. The overall impression is one of the ecological interrelated of nature and ultimately all of being.

Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave / Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps, and Christian Hillaire -- NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1996

After seeing Werner Herzog's film Cave of Forgotten Dreams, I was moved to check out a book about the Chauvet Cave. Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave was at my fingertips, so it filled the bill more or less well enough. The authors are the three spelunkers who discovered Chauvet Cave. The text is mostly an colloquial account of the day of their discovery and the efforts they made to protect the cave from damage before they revealed its whereabouts to the French authorities. The writing style clearly expresses the discover's excitement and their dedication to protecting what has turned out to be the oldest know painting in the world. Carbon dating indicates that the oldest images may have been created about 31,000 years ago.

The most thrilling aspect of the book is, however, the photographs of the artwork itself. There are eighty in all. The images are of extremely high quality, allowing the viewer to study the finest details of the work. The cave is decorated with images of rhinoceroses, lions, mammoths, horses, bison, bears, reindeer, aurochs, ibex, stags, a panther, and what is guessed to be a hyena. Among the most unusual depictions is a great horned owl that was etched into the side of the cave and a human figure with the head of a bison which according to the authors, "evokes the 'sorcerers' of Les Trois-Freres in the Ariege and Gabillou in the Dordogne," two other decorated caves. There are also a number of other animal figures that at the time of publication had not been identified with any particular species.

The art itself has, of course, a significant degree of stylistic similarities; however, many of the drawings are roughly executed and many are stylized, but an amzaing number show a remarkable realism and sensitivity to perspective and the anatomy of the subject. With the exception of a small number of etched figures, they are all drawn in black charcoal or red ochre. Many employ delicate shading.

Along with the art, a rich store of bones, mostly cave bear bones, were found in the cave. The authors provide some discussion of their significance, but the it's no surprise that these relics are little more than an interesting diversion from the main event.

This particular edition of Dawn of Art was published not much more than a year after the cave's discovery. Another paperback edition was released some five years later. While the work does a fine job showing us the art, one is left with a desire to read about the conclusions that art historians and archaeologist have drawn in the 17 years since the cave's discovery.

Herzog's film Cave of Forgotten Dreams provides a wonderful experience of the art as we view it in a large scale in a darkened theatre, but re-examining fine art book reproductions shows us what the film cannot and allows us to linger over specific images that repay close, extended attention.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams: a film directed by Werner Herzog (2010)

On December 18, 1994, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps, and Christian Hillaier discovered a cave in southeastern France, now known as Chauvet Cave. Within it were numerous paleolithic cave painting. Carbon dating suggests that these paintings are thirty-two thousand years old, making them the oldest paintings in existence. The fragility of these paintings prompted the French authorities to immediately seal the cave entrance and prohibit entry by anyone except for a small group of scientists, archaeologist, and art historians. Acclaimed director Werner Herzog, however, received a special exemption from this prohibition in order to make his documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

The film is a ponderous examination of the paintings and their significance. Prominent in the film is the awe that the paintings inspire in the film makers and the scientists alike. Herzog treats us to extended shots of the rapt faces of his party and their minders as they move through the cave. Eventually, it seems a clumsy trick to impress upon the film viewer the profundity of the art. It is, however, consistent with the attitudes expressed by the scientists who are interviewed for the film.

Two other film techniques succeed only partially. The hand held camera and minimal spot lighting that moves across the walls of the cave provides a rough imitation of how the art may have been seen when it as lit by paleolithic torches; however, it would seem some other technology might have been used to more accurately depict this impression. The images are also accompanied by an original score by Ernst Reijseger. As with the rapt faces of Herzog's crew, the music attempts to elevate the film's subject to a lofty spiritual plane, but it is too often overbearing and distracting. A more apt musical sound track might have made use of the simple flutes and percussion instruments that might have been in use by the painters' culture. Alternatively, the quiet of the cave itself may have been more effective than Reijseger's score.

Unsurprisingly, the most impressive aspects of the film are the paintings themselves. These are shown to greatest effect toward the end of the film. Viewing these paintings in a darkened theatre is far more effective than seeing tiny photographs in a handful of art books which up to now has been the best way for the public to see them.

Herzog's fascination with the spiritual significance of art and how it connects us to humans living tens of thousands of years ago is endearing and certainly thought provoking; however, more could have been achieved if he had provided us with a fuller explanation of what the painters' culture was probably like and more explanation of how the images came about. Perhaps the most fascinating interlude in this regard was when we are told that the work of a single artist can be found in various parts of the cave. We know this because some of the markings were made by a hand smeared with ochre. The pinky finger of this hand was distinctively crooked.

The film is being shown in both a 2D and a 3D version. Having only seen the 2D version, I cannot comment on the effectiveness of the 3D version, though it is purported that the 3D camera is better able to convey the contours of the cave walls which are integral to the art itself.

In all, Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a lovely chance to experience a most amazing archaeological discovery that would otherwise be unavailable. Herzog should be congratulated to taking on the project. It is well worth seeing, despite its shortcomings.

Chandogya Upanishad in The Thirteen Principle Upanishads -- London: Oxford University Press, 1954

Along with the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad is perhaps the oldest of the Upanishads. The Upanishads make up the literary form that completes the sacred literature known as the Vedas. They express the general philosophical and theological positions that are implicit within the earlier Vedic literature.

The Vedas are divided into four groupings, the Rigveda, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda, and the Atharvaveda. Each of these are associated with Vedic schools which preserved the literature. Some of these schools also preserved Upanishads that express ideas consonant with their pariticular Veda. The Tandins preserved the Samaveda and the associated Chandogya Upanishad.

Perhaps the most famous passage from the Chandogya Upanishad is "that art thou." This expresses one of the most significant ideas in all of the Vedas, that there is no distinction between subject and object. The Chandogya Upanishad clearly stakes out an answer to the problem of the one and the many which asks whether the universe is most fundamentally a unity or a plurality. Not only does the Chandogya Upanishad come down on the side of monism, it identifies the substance of that monism as mind.

Of course, there is a sense that the mind is separate from the external world and that it is an individual among other minds; however, the truth, according to the Chandogya Upanishad is that this is an illusion masking reality. Famously, that reality is betokened by the word or symbol "om."

The content of the Chandogya Upanishad is similar to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. It is, however, less cohesive and direct than the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and seems to emphasize the esoteric, apostolic character of the Upanishads. The word "upanishad" is often translated two ways: first, as "secret knowledge," but also as something like "to sit at the feet of." The Chandogya Upanishad contains numerous stories of secret knowledge being passed on from teacher to pupil and in this respect is a literary enactment of upanishadic teaching.

Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad in The Thirteen Principle Upanishads -- London: Oxford University Press, 1954

The Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad is among the oldest of all the Upanishads and at 105 pages in translation, it is the longest. Anyone not familiar with its philosophical and religious tradition will find it rather curious, though a number of passages will stand out for their profound expression of a clear theological or cosmological concept. Its deeper value is in its expression of a metaphysical monism that characterizes Hinduism to this day.

The monism is the Upanishad’s answer to a deep philosophical question sometimes known as "the problem of the one and the many" which asks what is the fundamental nature of being – a multiplicity of ephemeral individual things or a permanent and unchanging single thing. The Upanishad describes the world metaphorically as the body of a person and by this metaphor, alludes to the idea that each component of the world exists primarily as a dependent element of the whole. As the heart would have no existence were it not developed as a part of a body, similarly, each component of the world exists only in its interdependence with all other parts of the world.

One is tempted to think of this as an early expression of the Gaia thesis which asserts that the world is a single living being; however, the Gaia thesis tends to describe the world in materialist terms. In contrast, a second strand of thought in the Upanishad clearly comes down on the side of a non-material reality. This is presented by describing objects in connection with, and as dependent upon, our senses. Bringing these strands together, the Upanishad understands the world as a whole that is a manifestation of a perceiver.

Finally, the interconnectedness of being and its origin in the perceiver leads to the conclusion that what appears to us as our individuate soul is in fact an illusion and that the basis of reality is a single universal soul or Brahma.
With a basic understanding of these concepts, a reader can experience the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad is an exhilarating piece of poetry, laced with beautiful imagery, and drawing inspiring conclusions about such things as the fate of the soul after death and the working out of karmic relations.

An Outline of the Philosophy of the Upanishads / Robert E. Hume in The Thirteen Principle Upanishads -- London: Oxford University Press, 1954

The subject of this review is a 72 page introduction to a translation of thirteen Upanishads by Robert Ernest Hume. Hume's introduction is itself divided into eleven short chapters dealing with a number of important aspects of the Upanishads. Its main focus is the peculiar monism expressed in the Upanishads, particularly in the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad.

Hume briefly discusses the place of the Upanishads in philosophy and particularly in Indian philosophy, but he quickly turns his attention to the concept of Brahma which he characterizes as "the world-ground" and "the Real of the real." This most fundamental idea is the conceptual starting point out of which all else flows. It is, however, posited as a speculative, but objective fact. In contrast to this, Hume describes the Atman or the the cosmic soul. Its character can be best understood by beginning with the multifarious, illusory world of experience. Recognizing that it comes with no guarantee of facticity, the phenomenal world is understood to be the creation of mind. Furthermore, the atman (or individual mind) also is recognized as an illusion. Through deep reflection, or the practice of yoga, one can come to understand that one's sense of self and the world are fragments of the all-embracing Atman, which in turn is no different from Brahma. Identifying the Atman with Brahma overcomes the duality of subject and object and brings one to understand the monism at the heart of reality.

It is notable that a Hume asserts that a true understanding of Brahma is not really possible and that the nearest experiences we have of it are deep sleep and death, essentially non-experience; however, by accepting this metaphysical monism, one is placed in a position to more nearly understand the fundamental truth. According to some portions of the Upanishads, simply holding this metaphysical view will cause one to live morally.

Hume points out that the views expressed in the early Upanishads are sometimes different from those of the later Upanishads and that even within a single Upanishad, important differences can be identified. The dating of the Upanishads relies to great extent on these differences and the reliability of these dates depend in turn on a theory about the progress of religious insight. It assumes that the Upanishads that are characterized by a closer affinity to the nature worship of the earlier Vedic period were written first and that those describing an abstract monism were written later. The moral components of Hinduism also are suggested to make a later appearance. These may be a very reasonable assumptions; however, they do need to be recognized as assumptions. In The Origin and Growth of Religion Max Muller makes a strong case against religion generally progressing from animism to monotheism.

In any case, monotheism certainly has become the dominant and lasting form of the Indian religious vision and its roots are in the Upanishads.

Early Zoroastrianism / James Hope Moulton -- London: Williams and Norgate, 1913

In 1912, James Hope Moulton presented a series of lectures in Oxford which were later published in the Hibbert Lectures (1913). His topic was "early" Zoroastrianism by which he means Zoroastrianism, its immediate predecessor beliefs, and its descendant beliefs up to the time of Alexander. The work is quite valuable, but uneven. Moulton's first two chapters, "The Sources" and "Before Zarathustra" are somewhat unclear and confusing. His frequent name dropping and brief allusions, indicates that he was addressing an audience that was well-informed about the prevailing issues in Zoroastrian scholarship. After almost 100 years, it's all a bit baffling to the casual reader.

In the first chapter, Moulton presents numerous arguments for various theories about when Zarathustra lived. His evidence does not provide a clear and simple conclusion, but in general it tends toward an earlier date than what is often suggested. The clearest evidence for Zoroastrianism is the Behistan bas relief and inscription depicting Darius around 500 B.C. It is often thought the Zarathustra must have lived about a century or two before this; however, the arguments Moulton relates could place Zarathustra three or four hundred years early at the start of the first millennium.

Moulton's third chapter, "The Prophet and the Reform" is clearer. Here, Moulton argues that Zarathustra flourished in Bactria and traces the development of his thought -- portrayed as a great reformation of early Aryan nature worship -- though its transmission west by the Magi. In the hands of the Magi, Zarathustra's religious insights were transformed and -- in many of their essentials -- lost. The course of this transformation is described in two chapters, "The Magi" and "The Magi (continued)." Moulton argues that many of the more popular (and sometimes disturbing) notions of Zoroastrianism are actually alien to Zarathustra's teaching and were grafted onto the religion by Magi who, having failed to maintain political power in the Achaemenian period, established themselves as religious leaders.

The rest of the work addresses more specific features of Zoroastrianism and happily is clearer and more direct. The polytheistic doctrine of the divine beings (amesha spenta) is presented as a departure from Zarathustra's monotheism. Similarly, the moral dualism setting the good god Ahura Mazda against the evil Angra Mainyu (or Ahriman) is presented as a Magian perversion. This has come to be known as the Zurvanian heresy and now widely accepted.

Zarathustra made, however, a number of very important theological contributions that are prominent in many religions today, including monotheism, the immortality of the individual soul, a future day of judgement when our moral conduct will determine our eternal fate, and the existence of fravashis, or guardian spirits associated with each person. This notion, however, was not so exclusively Zarathustra's, but it was an important component of his thinking and may have been the origin of contemporary Western angelology.

In the final chapter, "Zarathustra and Israel," Moulton takes up a question that occupied the scholars of his time: what was the relationship between the theology of Zarathustra and the theology of the Bible, which have a number of striking similarities. Moulton's chapter is an interesting, though brief argument that while there might have been some cross-fertilization, the two theologies arose independently. For a more thorough treatment of this question, I recommend Lawrence Mills's series of lectures Our Own Religion in Ancient Persia. Mills's lectures also were published in 1913, though their publication was based on work done in past years. It is likely that Moulton had access to at least some of these before writing his own lectures.

Mills outlines three possibilities: (1) Zoroastrianism and Yahwehism arose largely independently, (2) Yahwehism impressed upon Zoroastrianism its monotheistic tendencies when the Jews were held captive in Babylon, and (3) the converse: Zoroastrianism impressed upon Yahwehism its monotheism during the captivity. Mills, like Moulton, opts for the first possibility, but it seems as though both are motivated by a desire either to glorify monotheism by claiming that its truth was independently evident or by the desire to defend the independence of Yahwehism.

If Moulton is correct, that Zarathustra's monotheism along with his other theological insights arose around the tenth century B.C., and if recent archeology and scholarship is correct, placing the origins of the Bible at or around the time of the exile, then it would seem natural that Zoroastrianism was the progenitor of monotheistic Yahwehism. While not absolutely certain, it seems more likely that a relatively minor ethic group (the Jews) might, while in captivity, adopt the elements of the theology of their surrounding culture. This is particularly likely in that prior to the rise of monotheistic Yahwehism in the post-exilic period, the Jews were at most henotheistic and so open to a variety of theologies. Second, their Babylonian captors were far and away the most powerful state in the region. Finally, their Achaemenian liberators (again the most advanced state of the region) were unquestionably monotheistic. It would have been a very easy step to adopt the monotheism of Ahura Mazda under the old, familiar name "Yahweh."

Moulton's Early Zoroastrianism, while somewhat frustrating at the start, develops into an extremely interesting examination of major theological ideas, whose origins are not well known today. It is no wonder that it remains in print today.