 A Living Portrait of India |
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| Upanishad |
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The word Upanishad comes from the Sanskrit verb sad (to sit) and the two prepositions upa and ni (under and at). They are sacred tests of spiritual and philosophical nature. Vedic literature is divided into karmakanda containing Samhitas (hymns) and Brahmanas (commentaries), and gyanakanda containing knowledge in the form of the Aranyakas and Upanishads. Thus each Upanishad is associated with a Veda, Isha-upanishad with Shukla Yajurveda, Kena-upanishad with Samaveda, and so on. The earliest Upanishads may have been composed between B.C. 800 and
400.There have been several later additions, leading to 112 Upanishads
being available today. But the major Upanishads are ten, Isha, Kena,
Kattha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Shwetashwatara,
Chhandogya and Brihadaryanyaka. The teachings of the Upanishads,
and those of the Bhagavat Gita, form the basis of the Vedanta philosophy.
The Isha-upanishad emphasizes the identity of the human soul
with the divine soul. The Kena-upanishad discusses the qualities
of the divine essence (Brahman) and the relationship of the gods to
the divine essence. The Katha-upanishad, through the story of
Nachiketa, discussed death and the permanence of the soul (Atman).
The fairly long Chhandogya-upanishad develops the idea of transmigration
of souls. The rihadaryanaka -upanishad, the longest of the Upanishads,
bears the message of the completeness of the divine essence, and the
associated peace. As literary remnants of the ancient past, the Upanishads
– both lucid and elegant - have great literary value. |
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