The Upanishads


The word "Upanishad" consists of three words—"Upa" means
"near", "ni" means "down" and "shad" means "be seated".

So, "Upanishad" means, "be seated at the feet of the Guru
to receive the teaching."

The Upanishads constitute what we call the Vedanta
(Veda-anta), the end of the Vedas, not merely because they
constitute the last part of them, but above all because
they are their ultimate teachings, reaching to the highest
metaphysical state, beyond which is the realm of Silence.

The most ancient Upanishads are, in fact, part of the
Vedas, and are therefore a part of the Shruti. So they
constitute the fundamentals, the essence of the Hindu
philosophy. They are connected to the whole of Knowledge
and contain within them the exposition of the origin of
the Universe, the nature of Brahman and the jivatman, the
relation between the mind and matter, etc… therefore, the
main topic of the Upanishads is the ultimate Knowledge:
the identity of the Brahman and the jivatman—"Tat tvam
asi"—You are That (Chandgogya Upanishad), the quest for
unity in diversity «That by which the whole Universe is
known» (Mundaka Upanishad). The Upanishads are the first
scriptures where the law of Karma first appeared as taught
by Yajnavalkya (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad).

The characteristics of the Upanishads are their
universality and the total absence of any dogmatism. They
are the highest philosophy ever conceived by the human
mind.

Traditionally, there are 108 Upanishads (major), which are
as follows:

  1. Twelve major Upanishads,

        * Aitareya and the Kauhsitaki which belong to
          Rg Veda
        * Chandogya and Kena to Samaveda
        * Taittiriya, Katha, Shvetashvatara,
          Brhadaranyaka and Isha to Yajur Veda
        * Prashna, Mundaka and Mandukya to
          Atharvaveda.

  2. Twenty three samanayayuvedanta Upanishads
  3. Twenty yoga Upanishads
  4. Seventeen samnyasa Upanishads
  5. Fourteen vaishnava Upanishads
  6. Fourteen shaiva Upanishads
  7. Eight shakta Upanishads

If there are more than 200 texts titled as Upanishads, it
is advised to stick to the traditional, specially, to the
Vedic Upanishads.

Upanishads are the work of different authors and, apart
the ‘great Upanishads’ belonging to the sruti and which
are in prose, we cannot say that they constitute a
strictly speaking system of philosophy, some of them being
connected to certain particular sects, such as the cult of
Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Ganesha, Surya, etc.

Here is a list of traditional Upanishads:

   * Ishavasya (major)
   * Kena (major)
   * Katha (or Kathaka) (major)
   * Prashna (major)

>> The Upanishads

Source: Yogi Ramsuratkumar Bhavan


Last update: 25 February 2001—Comments and suggestions?
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