Overview of 18 Upanishads (source: S. Radhakrishnan - The Principal Upanishads) ---- Aitareya Upanishad The Aitareya Upanishad belongs to the Rig Veda and the Upanishad proper consists of three chapters. This is part of the part of the Aitareya Aranyaka, and the Upanishad begins with the Fourth chapter of the second Aranyaka, and comprises Chapter IV, V and VI. The preceding parts deal with sacrificial ceremonies like mahavrata and their interpretations. It is the purpose of this Upanishad to lead the mind of the sacrificer away from the outer ceremonial to its inner meaning. All true sacrifice is inward. Sankara points out that there are three classes of men who wish to acquire wisdom. The highest consists of those who have turned away from the world, whose minds are free and collected, who are eager for freedom. For these the Upanishad (Aitareya Aranyaka II. 4-6) is in tended. There are others who wish to become free gradually by attaining to the world of Hiranya-garbha. For them the knowledge and worship of the prana, life-breath is intended. (Aitareya Aranyaka II 1-3). There are still others who care only for worldly possessions. For them the meditative worship of Samhita is intended. (Aitareya Aranyaka III.) ---- Brhad-Aranyaka Upanishad The Brhad-Aranyaka Upanishad which is generally recognized to be the most important of the Upanishads forms part of the Satapatha Brahmana. It consists of three Kandas or sections, the Madhu Kanda which expounds the teachings of the basic identity of the individual and the Universal Self, the Yajnavalkya or the Muni Kanda which provides the philosophical justification of the teaching of Khila Kanda, which deals with certain modes of worship and meditation, upasana, answering roughly to the three stages of religious life, sravana, hearing the upadesha or the teaching, manana, logical reflection, upapatti and nisidhyasana or contemplative meditation. Of the two recensions of the Satapatha Brahmana, the Kanva and Madhyandina, Sankara follows the former. ---- Chandogya Upanishad The Chandogya Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda. Chandoga is the singer of the Saman (1). It is part of the Chandogya Brahmana which has ten chapters. The first two chapters of the Brahmana deal with sacrifices and other forms of worships. The other eight constitutes the Chandogya Upanishad. The first and the second chapter discuss the problems of liturgy and doctrine such as the genesis and significance of Aum and the meaning and names of Saman. chando sama gayati iti chandogah ---- Isa Upanishad The Isa, also called the Isavasya Upanishad, derives its name from the opening word of the text Isavasya or Isa. It belongs to the Vajasaneyi school of the Yajur Veda. The Vajasaneyi Samhita consists of forty chapters of which this Upanishad is the last. Its main purpose is to teach the essential unity of God and the world, being and becoming. It is interested not so much in the Absolute in itself, Parabrahman, as in the Absolute in relation to the world, Paramesvara. It teaches that life in the world and life in the Divine Spirit are not incompatible. ---- Jabala Upanishad The Jabala Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda and discusses a few important questions regarding renunciation. ---- Kaivalya Upanishad The Kaivalya Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda and is called Kaivalya Upanishad as its study and practice lead to the state of Kaivalya or aloneness. ---- Katha Upanishad Katha Upanishad, also called Kathakopanishad which belongs to the Taittiriya school of the Yajur Veda, uses the setting of a story found in ancient Sanskrit literature (1). A poor and pious Brahmana, Vajasravasa, performs a sacrifice and gives as presents the priests a few old and feeble cows. His son, Naciketas, feeling disturbed by the unreality of his father's observance of the sacrifice, proposes that he himself may be offered as offering (daksina) to a priest. When he persisted in his request, his father in rage said, 'Unto Yama, I give thee.' Naciketas goes to the abode of Yama and finding him absent, waits there for three days and nights unfed. Yama on his return, offers three gifts in recompense for the delay and discomfort caused to Naciketas. For the first, Naciketas asked, 'Let me return alive to my father.' For the second, 'Tell me how my good works (ista-purta) may not be exhausted'; and for the third, 'Tell me the way to conquer re-death (punar mrtyu).' In the Upanishad, the third request is one for enlightenment on the 'great transition' which is called death. The Upanishad consists of two chapters, each of which has three Vallis or sections. There are some passages common to the Gita and Katha Upanishad. (1) Taittiriya Brahmana III. I. 8; see also Mahabharata Anusasana Parva: 106. The first mention of the story is in the Rig Veda (X. 135) where we read how the boy Naciketas was sent by his father to Yama (Death), but was allowed to get back on account of his great faith, sraddha. ---- Kausitaki-Brahmana Upanishad Kausitaki-Brahmana Upanishad, also called Kausitaki Upanishad (1) does not form a part of the Kausitaki Brahmana of thirty chapters which has come down to us and the name can be accounted for by treating the Aranyaka of which it forms a part as itself included in the Brahmana literature of the Rig Veda. (2) Sankara refers to it in several places in his commentary on the Brahma Sutra and Sankarananda has commented on it. There are various recensions of the text. The Upanishad has four chapters. Sankarananda explains the name thus: ku kutsitam nindyam heyam ity arthah, sitalam samsarikam sukham yasya sa kusitah eva kusitakah tasyapatyam kausitakih. II. I. Brahmanas also deal with Vedanta and so sometimes include the Upanishads: brahmanam api trividham, vidhi-rupam, arthavada-rupam, tad-ubhaya-vilaksanam ca, vidhy-arthavdobhaya-vilaksanam tu vedanta-vakyam. Madhusudana: Prasthana-bheda. ---- Kena Upanishad The Kena Upanishad derives its name from the first word Kena, by whom, and belongs to the Sama Veda. It is also known as the Talavakara, the name of the Brahmana of the Sama Veda to which the Upanishad belongs. It has four sections, the first two in verse and the other two in prose. The metrical portion deals with the Supreme Unqualified Brahman, the absolute principle underlying the world of phenomenon and the prose part of the Upanishad deals with the Supreme as God, Isvara. The knowledge of the Absolute, para vidya, which secures immediate liberation (sadyo-mukti) is possible only for those who are able to withdraw their thoughts from worldly objects and concentrate on the ultimate fact of the universe. The knowledge of Isvara, apara vidya, puts one on the pathway that leads to deliverance eventually (karma-mukti). The worshiping soul gradually acquires the higher wisdom which results in the consciousness of the identity with the Supreme. ---- Maitri Upanishad The Maitri or Maitrayaniya Upanishad, belongs to the Maitrayaniya shakha or branch of the Black Yajur Veda. (1) Maitri is the principal teacher and Maitrayana is the name of the shakha to which the Upanishad belongs. It contains seven chapters of which the last two are comparatively modern. The whole Upanishad is later in date than the classical Upanishads which it quotes frequently. (2) We have a reference to the trimurti conception Brahma, Vishnu and Siva in IV. 5, which also indicates the late date of the Upanishad. The three forms are traced to the three gunas, rajas, sattva and tamas in V. 2. Suggestions of the illusory character of the world, momentousness of phenomenon show the influence of Buddhist thought. Ramatirtha's commentary on the Upanishad is of much interest. In some texts it is assigned to the Sama Veda. From the grammatical peculiarities found in this Upanishad Max Muller ascribes the Upanishad 'to an early rather than late period.' Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XV (1900), p.6 ---- Mandukya Upanishad The Mandukya Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda and contains twelve verses. It is an exposition of the principle of aum as consisting of three elements, a, u, m, which refer to the three states of walking, dream and dreamless sleep. The Supreme Self is manifested in the universe in its gross, subtle and causal aspects. Answering to the four states of consciousness, wakefulness, dream, dreamless sleep, transcendental consciousness (1) these are aspects of the Godhead, the last alone being all-inclusive and ultimately real. The Absolute of mystic consciousness is the reality of the God of religion. The Upanishad by itself, it is said, is enough to lead one to liberation. (2) Gaudapada, Sankara's teacher's teacher wrote his famous Karika on the Upanishad, which is the first systematic exposition of Advaita Vedanta which has come down to us. Sankara has commented on both the Upanishad and the Karika. See Nrsimha-purva-tapaniya Upanishad U. IV. I. Mandukyam ekam evalam mumuksunam vimuktaye, Muktika Upanishad I. 27. ---- Mundaka Upanishad The Mundaka Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda and has three chapters, each of which has two sections. The name is derived from the root mund, 'to shave,' as he that comprehends the teaching of the Upanishad is shaved or liberated from error and ignorance. The Upanishad states clearly the distinction between the higher knowledge of the Supreme Brahman and the lower knowledge of the empirical world. It is by this higher wisdom and not by sacrifices or worship that one can reach Brahman. Only sannyasin who has given up everything can obtain the highest knowledge. ---- Paingala Upanishad Paingala Upanishad belongs to the Sukla Yajur Veda and is in the form of a dialog between Yajnavalkya and his pupil Paingala. Some of the important questions such as meditation on the Supreme, the nature of release, are discussed in this. ---- Prasna Upanishad The Prasna Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda and has six sections dealing with six questions put to a sage by his disciples who were intent on knowing the nature of the ultimate cause, the power of aum, the relation of the Supreme to the constituents of the world. The Upanishad is so called as it deals with prasna or question. ---- Subala Upanishad The Subala Upanishad belongs to the Sukla Yajur Veda and is in the form of a dialog between the sage Subala and Brahma, the creator God. It discusses the nature of the universe and the character of the Absolute. ---- Svetasvatara Upanishad The Svetasvatara Upanishad belongs to the Taittiriya school of the Yajur Veda. Its name is derived from the sage who taught it. (1). It is theistic in character and identifies the Supreme Brahman with Rudra who is conceived as the material and the efficient cause of the world, not only the author of the world but its protector and guide. The elements associated with theism, Personal God and devotion to Him, which are to be met with undoubtedly in the other Upanishads, become prominent in the Svetasvatara Upanishad. The emphasis is not on Brahman the Absolute, whose complete perfection does not admit of any change or evolution but on the personal Isvara, omniscient and omnipotent who is the manifested Brahma. Terms which were used by the later Samkhya philosophy occur in the Upanishad, but the dualism of the Samkhya, purusa and prakrti, is overcome. Nature, or pradhana, is not an independent entity but belongs to the self of the Divine, devatma-sakti. God is the mayin, the maker of the world which is maya or made by him. (2). The Upanishad teaches the unity of the souls and world in the one Supreme Reality. The Upanishad is an attempt to reconcile the different philosophical and religious views, which prevailed at the time of its composition. sveta, pure, asva, indriyas, senses. Sankarananda: literally, he who has a white mutt(?). Cf. Jarad-gavah, he who has an old cow. Mayi srjate sarvam etat. ---- Taittiriya Upanishad The Taittiriya Upanishad belongs to the Taittiriya school of the Yajur Veda. It is divided into three sections called Vallis. The first is the Siksa Valli. Siksa is the first of the six Vedangas (limbs or auxiliaries of the Veda); it is the science of phonetics and pronunciation. The second is the Brahmananda Valli and the third is the Bhrgu Valli. These two deal with the knowledge of the Supreme Self, paramatma-jnana. ---- Vajrasucika Upanishad The Vajrasucika Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda and describes the true character of a Brahmana and incidentally offers comments on the nature of the Supreme Reality. The Upanishad is valuable in that it undermines caste distinctions based on birth.