Upanishad
Upaniṣad (IAST)Translation: "to sit down near"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: उपनिषद्
Transliteration: Upaniṣad
Translation: "“to sit close by devotedly”; the last portion of the Vedas (from the verb root sad – “to sit” + the prefixes upa – “near” and ni – “down”); thus, “to sit down near” (the spiritual teacher earnestly)"
- The teachings of the ancient sages which form the knowledge and/or end portion of the Vedas. The central teaching of the Upaniṣad is that the Self of a human being is the same as Brahman, the Absolute. The goal of life, according to the Upaniṣad, is realization of Brahman.
- They are treatises in poetry and prose; on spiritual and philosophical subjects.
- There are ten principal Upaniṣad: Īśa, Kena, Kaṭha, Praśna, Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, Taittirīya, Aitareya, Chāndogya, and Bṛhadāraṇyaka.
- The concluding portion of the Vedas. They are also called Vedānta (which in turn bases its theories on the ideas of the Upaniṣad).
- Some hold the view that Upaniṣad literally means “secret teaching” (Rahasya); and as the Upaniṣad are so varied, and difficult to decide as to what their import is, they account for the emergence in later times of the diverse schools of Vedānta.
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Upanishads, a group of ancient Hindu philosophical texts, or the esoteric sacred doctrines contained in them. ‘Upanishad’ includes the notion of the student “sitting near” the guru. In the eighth century A.D., Shankara identified certain Upanishads as the official source of Vedānta teachings: Aitreya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Īśa, Katha, Kauṣitāki, Kena, Maitrī, Muṇḍaka, Praśna, Svetāśvatara, and Taittirīya. These are the classic Upanishads; together with the Vedānta Sūtras, they constitute the doctrinal authoritative sources for Vedānta. The Vedānta Sūtras are a series of aphorisms, composed somewhere between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200, attributed to Bādarāyana. Practically unintelligible without commentary, these sutras are interpreted in one way by Shankara, in another by Rāmānuja, and in a third way by Madhva (though Madhva’s reading is closer to Rāmānuja’s than to Shankara’s).
For Vedānta, the Upanishads are “the end of the Vedas,” both in the sense of completing the transcript of the immutable source of truth and articulating the foundational wisdom that the Vedas presuppose. While the Upanishads agree on the importance of religious knowledge, on the priority of religious over other sorts of well-being, and on the necessity of religious discipline, they contain radically disparate cosmologies that differ regarding agent, modality, and product of the creative process and offer various notions of Brahman and Ātman.
From The Upanishads: Volume I (Swami Nikhilananda)
"The word Upanishad has been derived fro the rood sad, to which are added two prefixes: upa and ni. The prefix upa denotes nearness, and ni, totality. The root sad means to loosen, to attain, and to annihilate. Thus, the etymological meaning of the word is the Knowledge, or Vidyā, which, when received from a competent teacher, loosens totally the bondage of the world, or surely enables the pupil to attain (i.e., realize) the Self, or completely destroys ignorance, which is responsible for the deluding appearance of the Infinite Self as the finite embodied creature. Though the word primarily signifies knowledge, yet by implication it also refers to the book that contains that knowledge. The root sad with the prefix upa also connotes the humility with which the pupil should approach the teacher.
The profound Knowledge of Brahman has been described in the Bhagavad Gitā as the "sovereign science." It was considered a profound secret and sometimes given the name of Upanishad. It is to be noted that the instructions regarding Brahman were often given in short formulas also known as Upanishads. "Its secret name (Upanishad) is Satyasya Satyam, 'the Truth of truth.'" "Now, therefore, the instruction [about Brahman]: Neti, neti—'Not this, not this.'" "That Brahman is called Tadvana, the Adorable of all; It should be worshiped by the name of Tadvana." The books which contained the above-mentioned secret teachings and formulas were also called Upanishads." (p. 11-12)
"The Upanishads teach the truth—unknown to the sense-organs—regarding living beings (Jīvas), the universe (Jagat), and God (Īśvara). They describe the nature and attributes of Brahman, Its reality and manifestations, Its powers and aspects. They also describe the creation, preservation, and ultimate dissolution of the universe, and the changes and modifications of nature (Prakṛti). Furthermore, the Upanishads deal with the development of the individual soul (Jīva), its evolution and its destiny, its bondage and its freedom. The relationship between matter and Spirit, between God, the universe, and living beings, also belongs to the subject matter of the Upanishads. These concerns relate to a supersensuous realm unknowable to a man's everyday state of consciousness. Yet the weal and woe and the good and evil of a man depend, in a special manner, upon his knowledge of these things. For man is rooted in a reality far deeper than is apparent to the senses. Just as only a small portion of an iceberg is visible, so only a small portion of man is available to the senses, no matter how they may be magnified. The solution of many of our most vital problems must come, therefore, from regions beyond the scope of the ordinary faculty of reason." (p. 22)
The profound Knowledge of Brahman has been described in the Bhagavad Gitā as the "sovereign science." It was considered a profound secret and sometimes given the name of Upanishad. It is to be noted that the instructions regarding Brahman were often given in short formulas also known as Upanishads. "Its secret name (Upanishad) is Satyasya Satyam, 'the Truth of truth.'" "Now, therefore, the instruction [about Brahman]: Neti, neti—'Not this, not this.'" "That Brahman is called Tadvana, the Adorable of all; It should be worshiped by the name of Tadvana." The books which contained the above-mentioned secret teachings and formulas were also called Upanishads." (p. 11-12)
"The Upanishads teach the truth—unknown to the sense-organs—regarding living beings (Jīvas), the universe (Jagat), and God (Īśvara). They describe the nature and attributes of Brahman, Its reality and manifestations, Its powers and aspects. They also describe the creation, preservation, and ultimate dissolution of the universe, and the changes and modifications of nature (Prakṛti). Furthermore, the Upanishads deal with the development of the individual soul (Jīva), its evolution and its destiny, its bondage and its freedom. The relationship between matter and Spirit, between God, the universe, and living beings, also belongs to the subject matter of the Upanishads. These concerns relate to a supersensuous realm unknowable to a man's everyday state of consciousness. Yet the weal and woe and the good and evil of a man depend, in a special manner, upon his knowledge of these things. For man is rooted in a reality far deeper than is apparent to the senses. Just as only a small portion of an iceberg is visible, so only a small portion of man is available to the senses, no matter how they may be magnified. The solution of many of our most vital problems must come, therefore, from regions beyond the scope of the ordinary faculty of reason." (p. 22)
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Audi, Robert (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press
- Nikhilananda, Swami (1949). The Upanishads: Volume I—Katha, Iśa, Kena, and Mundaka. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. p. 11-12, 22.
