The Upanishads

The word Upanishad, coming from ‘upa ni shad’, means “sitting down near” the teacher to receive instruction as well as a sort of secret doctrine or ‘rahasyam “and the Upanishads, of which approximately 108 are known, record the view of a succession of Hindu teachers and sages who were active as early as 1000B.C.” (The New Encyclopedia Britannica) They contain the earliest records of Indian speculation. “There is no important form of Hindu thought, heterodox Buddhism included, which is not rooted in the Upanishads.” (Bloomfield: The Religion of the Veda, p.51) “Traditionally South Asian teachings based on the Upanishads have been called the Vedanta, the “end of the Veda,” for the Upanishads chronologically and formally set the closure of the Vedic canon.” (Encyclopedia of Religion)

“The Upanishads actually recognize only one spirit- almighty, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, self-existent, the creator, preserver and destroyer of the world. However, the half-gods of the Veda are but the chief manifestations of the highest, the immortal, the incorporal Brahman.” (Indian Philosophy by Prof. Radhakrishna, p.144))

Of fundamental importance of all Hindu thought is the equation in some of the Upanishads of atman (the self) with Brahman (the ultimate reality)  

The Upanishads stress on disciplined practice of meditation and the cultivation of extra- ordinary knowledge in order to discern the ultimate reality.

The Upanishads have been translated in most of the dominating languages. The influence of them on certain thinkers notably in Germany is mentionable; the philosopher Schopenhauer fully acknowledged their influence on his thought.    

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