Upanishads

Now we discuss to the concluding part of the Veda namely 8216the Upanishads The Upanishads come towards the end of the Aranyakas If the Samhita is likened to a tree the Brahmanas are its flowers and the Aranyakas are its fruit yet not ripened the Upanishads are the ripe fruits 1 Nature of Upanishads The Vedas are generally considered to have two portions viz KarmaKanda portion dealing with action or rituals and JnanaKanda portion dealing with knowledge The Samhita and the Brahmanas represent mainly theKarmaKanda or the ritual portion while the Upanishads chiefly represent the JnanaKanda or the knowledge portion The Upanishads however are included in the Shruti They are at present the most popular and extensively read Vedic texts The Upanishads are often called 8216Vedanta8216 Literally Vedanta means the end of Veda Vedasya antah the conclusion Anta as well as the goal Anta of the Vedas Chronologically they came at the end of the Vedic period As Upanishads contain difficult discussions of ultimate philosophical problems they were taught to the pupils at about the end of their course The chief reason why the Upanishads are called the 8216end of the Veda8217 is that they represent the central aim of the Veda and contain the highest and ultimate goal of the Veda as they deal with Moksha or Supreme Bliss 2 Meaning of the word 8216Upanishad8217 The word 8216Upanishad8217 has been derived from the root Sad to sit to which are added two prefixes Upa and Ni The prefix Upa denotes nearness and Ni totality Thus this word means 8216sitting near by devotedly8217 This no doubt refers to the pupil8217s sitting down near his teacher at the time of instruction The word in course of time gathered round it the sense of secret teaching or secret doctrine Rahasya which was imparted at such sittings Upanishads are frequently spoken of as Rahasya secret or Guhya mystery also We find in Upanishads that due to secrecy and mystery of the teachings a teacher refuses to impart instruction to a pupil who has not proved his worthiness to receive the instruction Through another definition the word primarily signifies knowledge yet by implication it also refers to the book that contains that knowledge 3 Number of the Upanishads There is a good deal of speculation concerning the number of Upanishads Traditionally the old Upanishads had their place in the Brahmanas and Aranyakas There is only one instance of a Samhita containing Upanishad 8211 the Vajasaneyi Samhita comprises the Ishavasya Upanishad forming the 40th Book In later times the Upanishads obtained a more independent position but still they professed to belong more particularly to one or the other of the four Vedas It is difficult to ascertain the exact number that should be regarded as authentic Upanishads A religious system is considered valid in India only when it is supported by Shruti hence the founders of religious sects have sometimes written books and called them Upanishads in order to give their views scriptural authority The AllahUpanishad for instance was composed in the sixteenth century at the time of emperor Akbar Different estimates of their number have been given by scholars and they have been put by some scholars at as many as 200 One hundred and eight Upanishads are enumerated in the Muktikopanishad and a popular edition contains them However among these Upanishads ten Upanishads the names of which have been mentioned in the Muktikopanishad are considered the most important Upanishads from the point of view of Vedantic Philosophy Ten Principal Upanishads known as 8216Dashopanishad8217 are Isha Kena Katha Prashna Munda Mandukya Taittiriya Aitareya Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Besides Shvetashvatara Kaushitaki and Maitrayaniya Upanishads are often listed in old Upanishads 4 Division of the Upanishads According to the Muktikopanishad 108 Upanishads are divided according to four Vedas are as follows 10 Upanishads from the Rigveda 19 Upanishads from the ShuklaYajurveda 32 Upanishads from the KrishnaYajurveda 16 Upanishads from the Samaveda and 31 Upanishads from the Atharvaveda The Principal thirteen Upanishads related to the Vedas are A Upanishads of the Rigveda 1 Aitareya Upanishad 2 Kaushitaki Upanishad B Upanishads of the ShuklaYajurveda 3 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4 Isha Upanishad C Upanishads of the KrishnaYajurveda 5 Taittiriya Upanishad 6 Katha Upanishad 7 Shvetashvatara Upanishad 8 Maitrayaniya Upanishad D Upanishads of the Samaveda 9 Chandogya Upanishad 10 Kena Upanishad E Upanishads of the Atharvaveda 11 MundakaUpanishad 12 MandukyaUpanishad 13 Prashna Upanishad 5 Major Theme of the Upanishads The Upanishads are religious and philosophical treatises They constitute the last phase of the Vedic revelation They represent the knowledge of Brahman BrahmaVidya What is this world Who am I What becomes of me after death 8211 Such questions are asked and answered in these Upanishads The essential theme of the Upanshads is the nature of the world and God Already in the hymns of the Rigveda we notice here and there a shift of emphasis from the innumerable gods to the one Infinite as in the famous passage 8216Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti 8216 This becomes more pronounced in the Upanishads and is very well illustrated here The doctrine of true knowledge and salvation are major subjects of the Upanishadic philosophy These treatises mark the culmination of the earlier line of investigation into the nature of ultimate reality In the Upanishads we get an intelligible body of verified and verifiable spiritual insights mixed with a mass of myths and legends and cosmological speculations relating to the nature and origin of universe Besides Brahman and His creation are also discussed in these texts The principal contents of the Upanishads are philosophical speculations The spirit of their contents is antiritualistic Although the subjectmatter of most of the Upanishads is almost the same yet each Upanishad has its own unique idea or ideas and its own method of enquiry 6 Importance of the Upanishads 1 The Upanishads occupy a unique place in the development of Indian philosophical thought They contain the highest authority on which the various systems of philosophy in India rest So Vedanta Philosophy is directly related to the Upanishads Not only the Vedanta philosopher professes his faith in the ends and objects of the Veda but the Sankhya the Vaisheshika the Nyaya and Yoga philosophers all pretend to find in the Upanishads some warranty for their tenets 2 The Upanishads are associated with the Vedas and make the entire range of Vedic knowledge as complete 8216The Upanishads generally mention the Vedas and their study with respect Certain verses from the Vedas such as the Gayatri form the subject of meditation here 3 Brahmavidya or the knowledge of Brahman the Supreme Reality is the great kingdom of the principal Upanishads They give importance to 8216Knowledge8217 alone Any one having knowledge may be Guru or Acarya Even kings approached to them for the attainment of knowledge The story of Satyakama Jabala who though unable to give his father8217s name was yet initiated into spiritual life shows this fact In the Chandogya Upanishad 413 Raikva a Brahmana not by caste but by his knowledge instructed king Janashruti In the same Upanishad 53 the king Pravahana instructed the Brahmana Gautama in the new doctrine of transmigration This story together with the one in which king Ashvapati kaikeya instructed five Brahmanas in the doctrine of Atman Chan Up 511 shows that for Upanishads knowledgeable person is the most important and not the Brahmana Kshatriya or anyone else 4 Each of the Vedas has many Mahavakyas or great sayings But four Mahavakyas found in the Upanishads related to four Vedas are very important thoughtprovoking and powerful These spell out the nonduality of the Jiva and the BrahmanPrajnanam Brahma RigvedaAham Brahmasm 8211 YajurvedaTattvamasi SamvedaAyamatma Brahma 8211Aharvaveda 5 Without understanding the Upanishads it is impossible to get an insight into Indian history and culture Every subsequent development of philosophy and religion in India has drawn heavily on the Upanishads By DrShashi Tiwari Retd Sanskrit Department Delhi University