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by Jayaram V
The Upanishads abound in spiritual knowledge. In Sanskrit, the literary
language of Vedic India, the word Upanishad means situated under Truth. The exact number of Upanishads is not clearly known. There must have been as many Upanishads in ancient India as there were schools and masters of self realization.
Many of these must have been lost to us for the relative obscurity of their authors and lack of followers. Presently more than 250 Upanishads are available. Of these only eleven Upanishads drew maximum attention and respect from saints and scholars of all times.
Upanishads have always attracted the attention of the Indian scholars from the earliest times. It is believed that many commentaries must have been written on them even before Sri Shankaracharya whose commentaries are the earliest available historic documents. Apart from Sri Shankaracharya, Sri Rangaramanuja, a disciple of Sri Ramanuja and Sri Madhavacharya also wrote commentaries on some Upanishads.
Although the Upanishads are very ancient and at least a few thousand years old, they were actually brought to light and attention of the world in general only during the twentieth century, thanks to the efforts of some dedicated Indian and foreign scholars.
Prior to that the Upanishads remained strictly confined to a few esoteric and elitist schools and sections of Hindu society, as the knowledge was considered to be too sacred and qualified to be imparted to the ordinary and the ignorant.
In fact preaching these texts to the unqualified and uninitiated was considered as sacrosanct and against divine injunctions. But presently these texts have been translated almost into every major language of the world and available to all sections of people for study and interpretation.
The Upanishads are in fact an integral part of the Vedic texts. They constitute the end part of each Veda, the mantras, the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas forming the other three . Scholars believe that the mantra parts of the Vedas (which are four in number namely, Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda ) are the earliest religious scriptures of ancient India which are primarily, hymns composed in praise of several Gods.
The purpose of these hymns in the early days was invocation of various divine powers through established patterns of prayers and rituals for the fulfillment of some earthly desires and general welfare of the community. Whatever symbolic and spiritual significance they had was lost in course of time and they remained basically ritualistic in their appeal. The Upanishads on the other hand continued to retain their deep spiritual and philosophical significance.
The Upanishads were the products of the spiritual and philosophical inquisitiveness of the ancient Indian seers. They were born out of inner dissatisfaction and quest for fundamental truths of human existence. Not satisfied with mere ritualistic invocation and supplication of gods and other observances, these elevated souls dwelt deep into the fundamental and hidden aspects of human life and existence to find out the deeper purpose of human life and its relationship with the immense universe that surrounded and enveloped them from all sides.
To the sensitive souls the universe has always been enchanting, mystifying, challenging and in some ways frightening with its huge dimension and awesome mysterious silence. It must have been equally appealing and challenging to the the Vedic seers and the Upanishadic texts must have been born out of their courage and the conviction to explore the Truth in a selfless and objective manner .
In their attempt to search for the truth, each seer had to initially tread his own path, make his own journey and discoveries. The hidden secrets so unearthed would then be imparted to the deserving disciples in a careful and regulated manner after satisfying oneself as to the latter's qualifications and inherent qualities.
Since communication was difficult and secrecy and sanctity of the knowledge went hand in hand, coupled with rigid stratification of society, the Upanishadic knowledge grew like branches of a tree, each growing in its own way, as if independently, without the awareness that they were all supported by the same central theme and were contributing simultaneously to the increased spiritual awareness of man towards his own destiny.
While the Vedas enjoyed the support and patronage of common people and served the materialistic inclinations of the common man, the Upanishads largely remained unknown except to groups of highly qualified spiritual souls who had an eye towards inner growth and spiritual realization in the place of material success.
However, this is not to belittle the spiritual or philosophical importance of the Vedas which should not be regarded as spiritually or philosophically inferior to the Upanishads or vice versa. Hidden in the layers of simple invocative prayers of the the Vedas are deep philosophical and spiritual truths which when understood invoke deep sense of inspiration and admiration in any one. The symbolic significance significance of the Vedas has been amply illustrated by Sri Aurobindo in his book the Secret of The Vedas.
The Vedas and the Upanishads are believed to be divine revelations and hence infallible. The Brahma sutras of Veda Vyasa provided the background for the correct interpretation of these texts by subsequent scholars who never questioned the authority and infallibility of either these texts or the Brahma sutras.
The Upanishads did not emerge from the deep devotional fervor of the human mind but from serious and persistent philosophical enquiry. They are not product of imagination, but of deep spiritual and psychological experiences of seekers of truth who, dissatisfied with mere ritualistic surface vision of their times, wanted to seek answers to some fundamental problems of human existence.
The authors of the Upanishads were not judgmental in their conclusions, but compassionate enough to present objectively the vision of universal oneness of existence and the truth behind apparent reality in a language comprehensible not only to the disciplined and elevated human minds grounded already in the knowledge of the Vedas but also to any seeker of truth seriously devoted to the study of human life.
The Upanishads speak of the existence of Universal Cosmic Soul, the Brahman, who is the cause and origin of all origins and God of all gods, and try to describe the indescribable to the extent the human language permits and the intellect admits.
They refer to the Atman, the individual soul that suffers from the vision of diversity and the impact of Maya , the illusion that keeps it chained to a sense driven world. They speak of the need to look inward to understand the various states of awareness and consciousness, to remain awake amidst sleep and to sleep amidst wakefulness.
They denote the importance of acquiring a vision that can see darkness in light and light in darkness or in other words an understanding and awareness that can absorb all contradictions into one harmonious whole.
It speaks of the worlds beyond human worlds, the importance of knowledge and ignorance, the attributes of an evolving soul, the ethical and moral background on which spiritual foundation can be laid, the meaning of death and immortality and the need to transcend the senses to experience the Truth behind all illusions.
They try to present the experience of self realization and of unity with the Absolute in a language which cannot be easily understood without some introduction into the basic concepts of Hindu religion.
At this site we have made best possible efforts to add comprehensive information on the various aspects of the Upanishads. There are articles on Brahman, Atman, original translations of Kena, Mandukya, Isa, Aitareya, Svetavatara and Taittiriya Upanishads. We have also provided links to various sites on the Upanishads. Some degree of complexity in the expression of ideas is unavoidable because of the complexity and abstract nature of the subject matter involved. I hope from these translations the readers get a good idea of the depth of theological thoughts contained in these Upanishads.
Those who want to know how Buddhism differs from the Vedanta schools of thought may visit our section on Buddhism from here.
We will continue to add new information here from time to time as a part of our objective to make this site one of the best sites on Hinduism and related resources. We hope we will be able to accomplish this objective in course of time.
Suggested Further Reading
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