Upaniṣads are the treasure house of Bharat- Indian culture. They constitute the concluding portions of the Vedas.  Upaniṣadic literature is unique in its own way and they are the summits of early Indian thought, and have been aptly described as the ‘Himalayas of the Soul’. One can derive multi- dimensional and multi-faceted meanings from it. It certainly is one of the important sources from where Indian thought and culture sprang up later. They have been interpreted in different ways throughout ages. There have been a lot of translations and studies on Upaniṣads. No records exist as to when or by whom the Upaniṣads were written. Though a lot of scholars and preceptors appear in the Upaniṣads, it is not conceived by them in their life time. There were also disciples, who acquired the knowledge contained in Upanișads from their masters. Those who gained the self-realization through Upanișadic knowledge and their own austere practice and experience, never recorded their life history or the time of revelation they attained. The traditional method during those days was to pass the spiritual knowledge from the master to the disciple orally.

The Sages are the ones who have realized that wisdom. The Philosophy in the Upaniṣads is one of the greatest man-made discoveries in the spiritual realm. That’s why it came to be known as Vedanta. Just like the end of the Vedas, it also means the end of the knowledge of the Vedas.

The word Upanişad is comprised of two prefixes, 'Upa' and 'ni' followed by the verb root 'ṣad'. Upa means, 'subsidiary or the one just below'; ni stands for nikata, meaning 'nearby'; and ṣad means to sit-down'. Thus, the word literally means, to sit down just below nearby. The texts known as the Upaniṣads try to unravel the hidden nature of the wisdom of the enlightened gurus, which the seekers have to receive by sitting at the feet of the guru, and hence the name. This imparting of wisdom implies transferring the enlightened state that a 'guru' experiences within his being, into the being of the seeker-disciple. This process of wisdom transference necessarily requires an intimate bipolarity called 'parasparya' between the two. This also is implicit in the word Upaniṣad. Another meaning of the word is -'hidden wisdom'.

All the Upanișads teach really one and the same wisdom what is known as Brahmavidyā or Ātmavidyā (the science of the Absolute or the science of the self). In the Upaniṣads, we get an intelligible body of verifiable spiritual insight mixed with a mass of myths and legends and cosmological speculations relating to the nature and origin of the universe. According to Muṇḍakopaniṣad, “All this manifested universe is verily Brahma, the Supreme". This Brahman is without a prior or a posterior, without interior or exterior, this Ātman is Brahman, the experience of everything. (Muṇḍakopaniṣad,II,5,19.)

If everything is the Ātman or Brahman, the universe of name and form cannot be an illusion. The Upaniṣads consider it as Māyā; but this does not mean illusion. Māyā is a mere statement of fact, what we are and what we see around us. It refers to the inner contradictions involved in our experience of the world and in our knowledge of it. These contradictions will remain, say the Upaniṣads, so long as we remain at the sensate level, so long as we fail to take into account the Ātman; the self behind the not-self, the One behind the many. Yet, all our experience and knowledge in the sphere of Māyā are experience and knowledge of the Ātman, coming through the sense organs. Hence, they are not illusory, but true empirically.

It is mentioned in the Muktikā Upaniṣad that there were 1180 Upanişads as part of four Vedas. Rigveda had 21, Yajurveda-109, Sāmaveda -1000 and the Atharva Veda 50. Thus, the total comes to 1180 Upanișads. Most of the Upanișads are not yet recovered. However, with the efforts of many researchers, around two hundred Upanişads are available now. Of these, 108 are the most important Upanişads. The name of these 108 Upanişads are given in the Muktikā Upanișad. The Adyar Manuscript Library of Chennai has published a list of Upanișads under the title Unpublished Upanişad. Among the large number of Upaniṣads, ten are considered the most important, they are called the Daśopaniṣad or ten principal Upaniṣads. Sri Śaṅkarācārya has written commentaries on these ten Upaniṣads. These are called as ten principal Upaniṣads, because as they are all found as the part of Vedic texts and because many Acharyas like Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, Ramanuja etc. commented them. These principal Upaniṣads are:

Aitereyopaniṣad belongs to the IVth, Vth Chapters of the second Āraṇyaka of Aitereya Āraṇyaka, which is also known as Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, which in turn belongs to the Rigveda. . It is divided into three chapters. It deals with the Self as the sole primary reality and describes the process of creation. It also teaches that through real knowledge, one gets away from the process of transmigration and attains immortality. The sage Vamadeva is cited as an instance of one who has thus attained immortality.

The Īśāvāsyopaniṣad, or the Īśā-Upaniṣad as it is briefly called, which belongs to the 40^th chapter of Śuklā Yajurveda consisting of 18 mantras. The Mantras 14-18 of Īśāvāsyopaniṣad constitute the fifteenth Brāhmaṇa of chapter five of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. Īśāvāsyopaniṣad is known as the Vājasaneyi Saṁhitā but the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is known as is known as the Vājasaneya Brahmanopaniṣad. It deals with the problem of the material causality of the world and of man’s relation thereto, the nature of the highest truth and the difference between reality and unreality and between knowledge and ignorance. The Upaniṣads derives its name from the opening word of the text, Īśāvāsyam or Īśā. This is one of the most beautiful Upaniṣads and has appealed to thinkers more strongly than any other Upaniṣad.

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belong to the Śuklā yajurveda especially the portions constituting its Mādhyaṃdina and Káṇva branches. It contains six Adhyayas known as Āraṇyakas since it has already been expounded in Āraṇyaka. Being the biggest in size, it is called ‘Bṛhad’or Bṛhadāraṇyaka. Like the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the text is a long one. It contains the highest teaching about Brahman as the one without a second. There is a good deal of miscellaneous matter that has not much interest or importance from the point of view of the main Upaniṣadic teaching. Maitreyī, the wife of Yājñavalkya, renounces all worldly possessions for the sake of knowledge that would lead her to immortality. Gärgi, another woman sage, puts highly philosophical questions to Yajñavalkya, when the latter challenged the assembly at the court of Janaka. The incidents are particularly interesting. The Upanişad begins with the glorification of the Aśvamedha sacrifice. There is a description of the process of creation and a statement of how sacrifice was created. In this connection there is the famous prayer for reality, light, and immortality.

This Upaniṣad belongs to the Krṣṇa Yajrveda and is constituted by the seventh, eight and the ninth prapāṭhakas of the Taittiriya Āraṇyaka. The Upaniṣad consists of three Vallies such as Śikṣā vallī, Brāhmaṇanda vallī, and Bhṛgu vallī. The first section deals with some mystic problems connected with the text and the study of the Veda. The second deals with the bliss of Brahman and the third deals with the story of Bhṛgu, son of Varuna who, under instructions from his father, understands bliss as Brahman through persistent inquiry.

Kaṭhopaniṣad belongs to the Krṣṇa Yajurveda and it consists of six Vallies in two chapters.Here, Death discourses to a young boy called Naciketas upon the problem of "after death." The picture of this young boy facing Death and compelling him to reveal the secret adds a human touch to what may otherwise be a dry philosophical discourse, and the situation then is full of pathos. Those who are familiar with the Bhagavad-gitā will note that many passages in the Gitā are reminiscent of the text of this Upaniṣad.

 

Kenopaniṣad which belongs to the ninth chapter of Talavakara Brāhmaṇa is a part of the Sāmaveda. This Upaniṣad is also known as Talavakara Upaniṣads and Brahmanopaniṣad. Kena-upanişad is a small text in four sections dealing essentially with the nature of Brahman as the efficient cause, and the knowledge thereof. The central point is that Brahman is not what can come within the scope of our ordinary knowledge. The Upanişad derives its name from the first word in the text, namely, kena (by whom.).

Prasnopaniṣad belongs to the pippaladaśākhā of the Atharva Veda and is linked to the Brāhmaṇa portion. It  contains six sections in the form of six questions put to a ‘rsi’ by six disciples seeking knowledge of Brahman and the rsi's answers to the questions. Because it consists of questions, the Upaniṣad is called Prasna (Question) Upanişad. The ultimate cause of this world, the Supreme Being, the nature and power of the sound Oṃ and the relation of the Supreme to the constituents of the world: these are the subjects dealt with in this Upanişad.

Chāndogyopaniṣad belongs to the Chāndogya Brāhmaṇa , the ‘Talavakara’ branch of the Sāmaveda . It has eight chapters. In this Upaniṣads there are several streams of metaphysical and mystical thoughts. . It is a very long text. It begins with the identification of the music of the Sāma Veda with the highest reality. Then the entire Sāma-Veda is identified with the highest reality. Later in this Upaniṣadappears the famous statement "That thou art'' in which the individual self is identified with the supreme self. There are a large number of very interesting stories scattered throughout the text. The familiar Upanişadic teachings about Brahman as transcending the phenomenal world is presented in these stories. The most important portions in the Upanişad are where Śvetaketu receives the teaching of the identity of the individual with the Supreme from his father and where Sanat kumāra teaches that bliss is the highest reality.

Mudakopaniṣad belongs to the mantra portion of the Atharva Veda. The term ‘Muṇḍa’ or ‘Muṇḍaka’ means head. This Upaniṣad is named as Muṇḍaka because in those days it was used to be studied with strict adherence to the austerity which particularly insisted on holding fire on the Muṇḍaka (head). Some scholars say that ‘Siromuṇḍana‘ is translated as shaving of the head. It also means shaving and removal of the errors of the mind. There are three chapters in this Upaniṣad comprised of sixty-four mantras in two sections.  This Upanişad draws a clear line between the higher knowledge of the Supreme Brahman and the lower knowledge of the phenomenal world. It describes the phenomenal world as springing from the Supreme Brahman, regards the benefits of virtues like sacrifices and benefactions as but transitory, and holds up the knowledge of Braman as the summum bonum.

Maṇḍukyopaniṣad belongs to the Atharva Veda and consists of twelve verses. Here the supreme Brahman is identified with the sound Oṃ, and the whole universe is represented as a manifestation of this Oṃ. The sound Oṃ consists of three elements, namely, A, U and M; and they are identified with Vaiśvānara, Taijasa and Prājna, the presiding sentience’s of the three avasthas. There are Kārikās on this Upaniṣad by Gauḍapāda, the earlist known Advaitin, who was the grand-teacher of Śaṅkarā; and there is a commentary on the Upanişad and the Kārikās by Śaṅkarā.

More than these Upaniṣads, there are also various Upaniṣads namely, Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad and Ārṣeya  Upaniṣad. belonging to Krisna Yajurveda.

Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad is an Upaniṣad having seven Prapāṭhakas. This Upaniṣad also explain the metaphysical queries related to Ātma, philosophical teachings of Guru, element of Self.

The other one is Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad which is also believed to be the part of Taittirīya Saṁhitā of Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda. Besides the usual Upaniṣadic thoughts, this Upaniṣad also contain references about Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism, Yoga also. This also deals about the Ātma Jñāna (Self Knowledge), the Supreme Being (Brahman) and so on.

The other Upaniṣad that got importance as an Upaniṣadic text is Ārṣeya  Upaniṣad. Though this Upaniṣad is not considered as principal one, but is considered as an important one among the Vedantic schools. As the name suggest, this Upaniṣad si related to Ṛṣis viz., Jāmadagni, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Bharadvāja and Vasiṣṭa.  These five important seers of Vedic literature explain the concepts regarding philosophy and this are recorded as conversations between these Ṛṣis. The importance of this Upaniṣad is that this is written in prose form and at the concluding part, three verses can be seen.

                               
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Article prepared by:

Assistant Professor,

Department of Vedanta,

Sree Sankarachraya University of Sanksrit,

Regional Campus Koyilandy, Kerala, India