Why the Brahmins Didn't Want Writing

     "And when you have seen, heard, perceived, and known the Self you will know all things," the wise man Yajnavalkya once told his wife, Maitreyi.

Yajnavalkya, spoken of in the Upanishads

      Before we go into the reasons for this particular religious class, as opposed to those throughout history like the priest of the 1500's who have hoarded their knowledge of writing, we should probably talk about why the Aryans started schools in the first place.  The Aryans, whose religion we find out about through the Rigveda, believed that in order to escape a never-ending cycle of birth and death, otherwise known as transmigration, one needed to become a part of the Whole, to merge one's soul with Brahman, or the universe.   In order to do this, one needed to know.  The Vedas, an Aryan religious text, comes from the root word vid, which means "to know."

Gurcharan Gill, PhD, and the Aryans

First off, this is some music of ancient India I found for reading a blog and listening enjoyment.  Enjoy!

The Upanishads, translated by Michael N. Nagler

    You may be asking yourself right at this very moment, "What is 'Upanishad?'" and "How do I pronounce that strange-looking word?" and those would be good questions.  The second question is simpler, so let's start with that.  If you were to ask google translate how to pronounce it with a Spanish accent, it would sound a little like oo-PAWN-ee-Shawd.

    This little exercise we just did, in itself, was interesting - just because the name is written doesn't mean I know how to communicate how it sounds to you without depending on our oral skills. 

                                                                            

This is my attempt at recitation 

   This video is a recording of my recitation of part of one of the Upanishads, which can be found in Michael Nagler's translation of ancient Hindu scripture.  Through reading some of the Upanishads, I learned that this ancient Aryan civilization believed wealth would not lead to happiness, and that eternal happiness comes through recognizing that we are all part of a Self.  As Yajnavalkya tells his wife, Maitreyi, in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, "Everything is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self lives in it."