The Upanishads - Philosophy and Wisdom

Why the Upanishads are considred books of wisdom and how they contribute to your higher knowledge and liberation.

the Ancient wisdom regarding life and death from the Katha Upanishad based on the conversation between Naciketas and Yama, Death

This is an introduction to the Upanishads by Swami Paramananda in which he discusses their importance

About the Verses from the Kena Upanishad regarding the difficulty in knowing Brahman.

An essay about About how the seers of the Upanishads entered higher states of consciousness in silence and unraveled the secrets knowledge of the Self.

An essay about self-realization or self-knowledge, the process of knowing the Atman, and the individual Self, in Hinduism according to the Upanishads.

The Origin And Development Of Karma Doctrine In Hinduism

The purpose of this essays is to explain you some of the earliest Vedic beliefs and concepts associated with the doctrine of karma and how they developed into our current knowledge of the law of karma in Hinduism 

The purpose of this translation is present the historical and spiritual value of the Upanishad to our readers. Presently youu will find here only an introduction and a few verses.

Collectively, the Upanishads are known as Vedanta (end of the vedas). The name has struck, because they constitute the concluding part of the Vedas. The word 'upanishad' is derived from a combination of three words, namely upa+ni+sad. 'Upa' means near, 'ni' means down and 'sad' means to sit.

Atman is the immortal aspect of the mortal existence, which is hidden in every object of creation including man. It is the microcosm, representing the macrocosm in each of us, imparting to us divine qualities and possibilities and providing us with the reason to exist and experience the pains and pleasures of earthly life.

Find out what advise Brahma gave to his three offspring and why it is relevant for us.

This story from the Briahdaranyaka Upanishad about gods and demons contains an important lesson to learn. Find out.

Brahman is the central theme of almost all the Upanishads. Brahman is the indescribable, inexhaustible, omniscient, omnipresent, original, first, eternal and absolute principle who is without a beginning, without an end , who is hidden in all and who is the cause, source, material and effect of all creation known, unknown and yet to happen in the entire universe.

The Upanishads are the supreme work of the Indian mind, and that it should be so, that the highest self-expression of its genius, its sublimest poetry, its greatest creation of the thought and word should be not a literary or poetical masterpiece of the ordinary kind, but a large flood of spiritual revelation of this direct and profound character, is a significant fact, evidence of a unique mentality and unusual turn of spirit.

The collection of Upanisads translated by Dara shiko, Aurangzeb's brother, contained 50 Upanisads. The Muktika Upanisad gives a list of 108 Upanisads. With the exception of the first 13 Upanisads most of them are of more or less later date. The Upanisads dealt with in this chapter are the earlier ones.

The Upanishads represent the loftiest heights of ancient Indo-Aryan thought and culture. They form the wisdom portion or Gnana-Kanda of the Vedas, as contrasted with the Karma-Kanda or sacrificial portion.

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.

The universe is not just conscious, but it is consciousness, and this consciousness is Brahman. Human consciousness has forgotten its identity, that of Brahman, as if a drop of water from a vast ocean thought itself separate, and that the only path to merge back into that Brahman or supreme consciousness ...

There are several theories in Hinduism to explain this and no one knows for sure which one is correct. Besides it is all very confusing, as confusing perhaps as the theory of relativity by Einstein. According to one approach the whole universe is one self same reality.

The exact number of the Upanishads is not clearly known. Scholars differ on the total number of Upanishads as well as on what constitutes an Upanishad. Some of the Upanishads are very ancient, but some are of recent origin.

The Hindus believe in many gods and goddesses. At the same time they also believe in the existence on one Supreme God, whom they call variously as Paramatma (Supreme Self), Parameshwar (Supreme Lord), Parampita (Supreme Father). Iswara, Maheswara, Bhagawan, Purusha, Purushottama, Hiranyagarbha and so on

Any attempt to explain Brahman to the satisfaction of a mind that is driven by reason and familiar with the concretization thought is fraught with enormous difficulties, because that which is inexplicable cannot be explained by any amount of reasoning and logic.

Strictly speaking everything in the universe is a manifestation of Brahman only. Innumerable are his forms and manifestation, but He is One and Alone, without a beginning and without an end. He pervades everything, is hidden in everything and enveloped by all that is here and elsewhere.

Through simple stories the Upanishads explain great philosophical truths. This is one such story about the existence and knowledge of Self.