The Upanishads

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The Upanishads

 

The Upanishads are the concluding portions of the Vedas. The

Upanishads are at the end of the Vedas.

 

The Upanishads are referred to as the Vedanta. The word Vedanta is a

compound word made up of two Sanskrit words: `Veda' and `Anta'. The

word `anta' means an end. The Vedanta essentially refers to the

philosophy pronounced in the Upanishads, the final parts of the

Vedas. The Vedanta broadly covers the philosophy enunciated by the

holy Scriptural Trinity – the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutra and the

Bhagavad Gita.

 

Some scholars consider the Upanishads as the extended portions of the

Aranyakas or the Brahmanas. For e.g., Brihdaranyaka Upanishad is

considered to be the final chapter of the Shat-Patha Brahmana. Some

scholars treat the Vedas and the Upanishads altogether separately.

 

The word `Upanishad' is derived from the Sanskrit root Sad. The

Sanskrit verb sad refers to the knowledge or the satya. The

words `upa' + `ni' suggests `sitting (before someone) with a

determination'. The word `Upanishad' can be understood as: To sit

near (close to) a guru with an objective to acquire knowledge.

 

Most of the Upanishads are in forms of dialogues between a master and

a disciple. In Upanishads, a seeker raises a topic and the

enlightened guru satisfies the query aptly and convincingly. Thus,

the Upanishads contain the sublime knowledge that deals with the

topic at great depth. The Upanishads enrich the human mind immensely

as they discuss the Brahman, the atman, the existence, life and

death, moksha(mukti), the jagat, the knowledge (the para-vidya and

the apara-vidya), the Brahma-gyana (or the atma-gyana) and many other

related issues elaborately.

 

It is not known how many Upanishads existed originally. We do not

know who composed them. Some of the Upanishads are in the prose form

and some others in the verse form. Some of them are partly composed

in prose and partly in verse. Some of the Upanishads have been

composed in recent times. It is difficult to ascertain the precise

number of the original, ancient Upanishads. One hundred and eight

Upanishads are believed to belong to the ancient times. Of the 108

Upanishads, ten Upanishads are considered exquisite by distinguished

scholars.

 

The ten outstanding Upanishads are:

 

Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Chhandogya,

Brahadaranyaka, Aitereya and Taitteriya.

 

Some scholars also attach due importance to Shvetashvatara and

Maitri. Some others opine that even Kautishaki is equally valuable.

 

It is believed that the Rig Veda has 10 Upanishads. The number of

Upanishads for Shukla Yajur Veda is 19, for Krishna Yajur Veda 32

and for Sama Veda it is 16. Atharva Veda has 31 Upanishads.

 

Aiteriya Upanishad is associated with Rig Veda. Kena Upanishad is

associated with Sama Veda.

 

Isha Upanishad is a part of Shukla Yajur Veda. Katha Upanishad is

associated with Krishna Yajur Veda.

 

Prashna Upanishad is associated with Atharva Veda.

 

The most exalted Rishis and the enlightened celebrities have

contributed to the Upanishads. Some of them are Maharshi Yagnavalkya,

Rajarshi Janak, Mandukya Muni, Pippalad Muni etc. Maharshi

Yagnavalkya contributed significantly to the Brahadaranyaka

Upanishad.

 

Excerpted from : http://indianscriptures.50webs.com/partveda.htm