The mystic education in India until the Upanishads

Abstract

Ancient India is a great example of religious, philosophic and mystic education development. The study upon Vedic and Brahmanic literature shows a specific for archaic cultures institution of initiation — a very important educational element. The time of Upanishads brought a new view on this problem. The formalistic religion, mainly based on rituals, has been modified into more spiritual one. From that very moment the ancient Upanishads show us, that sacrifices are no longer sufficient to achieve the salvation. During the initiation pupils has been taught, that more important from that is “internal sacrifice,” made in one’s heart, the asceticism and fulfilling ones duties. The main aim of the article was to show various manners of presenting the mystic education in a few aspects: initiation for education and its internalization, the question of Atman and Brahman and their significance for the self-development and soteriology, the relations between master and student and at last methods of achieving self-realization and eternal freedom from existence, always connected with suffering.