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The '''Upanishads''' ({{lang-sa|{{IAST|Upaniṣad}}}}; {{IPA-sa|ʊpən̪ɪʂəd̪|IPA}}) are a collection of texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts of [[Hinduism]], some of which are shared with [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]].{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxiii}}{{refn|group=note|These include rebirth, karma, moksha, ascetic techniques and renunciation.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxiii}}}}{{refn|group=note|The Upanishadic, Buddhist and Jain renunciation traditions form parallel traditions, which share some common concepts and interests. While [[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru]]-[[Panchala]], at the central Ganges Plain, formed the center of the early Upanishadic tradition, [[Kosala]]-[[Magadha]] at the central Ganges Plain formed the center of the other [[shramanic]] traditions.{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}}} The Upanishads are considered by Hindus to contain utterances (''[[śruti]]'') concerning the nature of ultimate reality (''[[brahman]]'') and describing the character of and path to human salvation (''[[mokṣa]]'' or ''mukti'').

The Upanishads are commonly referred to as ''[[Vedānta]]'', variously interpreted to mean either the "last chapters, parts of the [[Vedas|Veda]]" or "the object, the highest purpose of the Veda".<ref>Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n93/mode/2up The Upanishads], Part 1, Oxford University Press, page LXXXVI footnote 1</ref> The concepts of [[Brahman]] (Ultimate Reality) and [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] (Soul, Self) are central ideas in all the Upanishads,{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=59}}<ref name=ptraju/> and "Know your Ātman" their thematic focus.<ref name=ptraju/><ref name=wdstrappini/> The Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions.<ref name=wendydoniger/><ref>Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al), State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791410806, page 39; '''Quote''': "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self.";<br />Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, ISBN 978-1592578467, pages 208-210</ref> Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads are at the spiritual core of Hindus.<ref name=wendydoniger>Wendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226618470, pages 2-3; '''Quote:''' "The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they alone of the Vedic corpus are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus."</ref><ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195352429, page 3; '''Quote''': "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".</ref>

More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the principal or main (''[[mukhya]]'') Upanishads.<ref name=stephenphillips/><ref>E Easwaran (2007), The Upanishads, ISBN 978-1586380212, pages 298-299</ref> The ''mukhya'' Upanishads are found mostly in the concluding part of the ''[[Brahmanas]]'' and ''[[Aranyakas]]''{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=56}} and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation and passed down [[oral tradition|orally]]. The early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, some in all likelihood pre-Buddhist (6th century BCE),<ref name=olivelleintro/> down to the [[Maurya period]].{{sfn|King|Ācārya|p=52|1995}} Of the remainder, some 95 Upanishads are part of the [[Muktika]] canon, composed from about the last centuries of 1st-millennium BCE through about 15th-century CE.{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= 5, 8–9}}{{Sfn|Flood|1996|p=96}} New Upanishads, beyond the 108 in the Muktika canon, continued to be composed through the early modern and modern era,{{sfn|Ranade|1926|p=12}} though often dealing with subjects which are unconnected to the Vedas.{{sfn|Varghese|2008|p=101}}

Along with the [[Bhagavad Gita]] and the [[Brahmasutra]], the ''mukhya'' Upanishads (known collectively as the ''[[Prasthanatrayi]]''){{sfn|Ranade|1926|p=205}} provide a foundation for the several later schools of [[Vedanta]], among them, two influential [[monism|monistic]] schools of Hinduism.{{refn|''Advaita Vedanta'', summarized by Shankara (788–820), advances a non-dualistic (''a-dvaita'') interpretation of the Upanishads."{{sfn|Cornille|1992|p=12}}|group=note}}{{refn|"These Upanishadic ideas are developed into Advaita monism. Brahman's unity comes to be taken to mean that appearances of individualities.{{sfn|Phillips|1995|p=10}}|group=note}}{{refn|"The doctrine of advaita (non dualism) has is origin in the Upanishads."|group=note}}

With the translation of the Upanishads in the early 19th century they also started to attract attention from a western audience. [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] was deeply impressed by the Upanishads and called it "the production of the highest human wisdom".<ref>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=John James|title=Oriental enlightenment|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|page=68|isbn=978-0-415-13376-0}}</ref> The 19th-century [[Transcendentalism|transcendentalists]] noted the influence of the Upanishads in western philosophy.{{sfn|Deussen|2010|p=42}}<ref>[http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=717 Neria H. Hebbar, ''Influence of Upanishads in the West'', Boloji.com]. Retrieved on: 2012-03-02.</ref>

==Etymology==
The [[Sanskrit]] term ''{{IAST|Upaniṣad}}'' (u = at, pa = foot, nishat =sitting down) translates to "sitting at the foot/feet of", referring to the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving [[esoteric]] knowledge.<ref name="EoH 472">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Constance|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|year=2007|publisher=Infobase Publishing|location=New York|isbn=0816073368|pages=472}}</ref> [[Monier-Williams]]' ''Sanskrit Dictionary'' adds that, "According to native authorities Upanishad means 'setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit.'"{{sfn|Monier-Williams|p=201}}

[[Adi Shankara|Shri Adi Shankara]] explains in his commentary on the [[Katha Upanishad|{{IAST|Kaṭha}}]] and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad that the word means ''Ātmavidyā'', that is, "knowledge of the [[Atman (Hinduism)|Self]]", or ''Brahmavidyā'' "knowledge of Brahma". Other dictionary meanings include "esoteric doctrine" and "secret doctrine". The word appears in the verses of many Upanishads, such as the fourth verse of the 13th volume in first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. Max Muller as well as Paul Deussen translate the word ''Upanishad'' in these verses as "secret doctrine",<ref>Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n133/mode/2up Chandogya Upanishad 1.13.4], The Upanishads, Part I, Oxford University Press, page 22</ref><ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, page 85</ref> Robert Hume translates it as "mystic meaning",<ref>Robert Hume, [https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n211/mode/2up Chandogya Upanishad 1.13.4], Oxford University Press, page 190</ref> while Patrick Olivelle translates it as "hidden connections".<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195124354, page 185</ref>

==Development==

===Authorship===
The authorship of most Upanishads is uncertain and unknown. Radhakrishnan states, "almost all the early literature of India was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the Upanishads".<ref name=sradha22>S Radhakrishnan, [https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n25/mode/2up The Principal Upanishads] George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 22, Reprinted as ISBN 978-8172231248</ref> The various philosophical theories in the early Upanishads have been attributed to famous sages such as [[Yajnavalkya]], [[Uddalaka Aruni]], [[Shvetaketu]], [[Sandilya (Rishi)|Shandilya]], Aitareya, Balaki, [[Pippalada]] and [[Sanatkumara]].<ref name=sradha22/>{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|pp=59-60}} Women, such as Maitreyi and Gargi participate in the dialogues and are also credited in the early Upanishads.<ref>Ellison Findly (1999), [http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002352 Women and the Arahant Issue in Early Pali Literature], Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 15, No. 1, pages 57-76</ref>

There are exceptions to the anonymous tradition of the Upanishads and other Vedic literature. The [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]], for example, includes closing credits to sage ''Shvetashvatara'', and he is considered the author of the Upanishad.<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 301-304</ref> Scholars believe that early Upanishads, were interpolated<ref>For example, see: [https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n327/mode/2up/search/interpolation Kaushitaki Upanishad] Robert Hume (Translator), Oxford University Press, page 306 footnote 2</ref> and expanded over time, because of the differences within manuscripts of the same Upanishad discovered in different parts of South Asia, differences in non-Sanskrit version of the texts that have survived, and differences within each text in terms of the meter,<ref>Max Muller, {{Google books|l1ApAAAAYAAJ|The Upanishads|page=PR72}}, Oxford University Press, page LXXII</ref> the style, the grammar and the structure.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (1998), Unfaithful Transmitters, Journal of Indian Philosophy, April 1998, Volume 26, Issue 2, pages 173-187;<br />Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195124354, pages 583-640</ref><ref>WD Whitney, The Upanishads and Their Latest Translation, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 7, No. 1, pages 1-26;<br />F Rusza (2010), The authorlessness of the philosophical sūtras, Acta Orientalia, Volume 63, Number 4, pages 427-442</ref> The texts as they exist now is believed to be the work of many authors.<ref>Mark Juergensmeyer et al. (2011), Encyclopedia of Global Religion, SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-0761927297, page 1122</ref>

===Chronology===
Scholars are uncertain about the exact centuries in which the Upanishads were composed.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=12-13}} The chronology of the early Upanishads is difficult to resolve, states philosopher and [[Sanskritist]] Stephen Phillips,<ref name=stephenphillips>Stephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231144858, pages 25-29 and Chapter 1</ref> because all opinions rest on scanty evidence and analysis of archaism, style and repetitions across texts, and are driven by assumptions about likely evolution of ideas, and presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Indologist [[Patrick Olivelle]] says that "in spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of these documents [early Upanishads] that attempts a precision closer than a few centuries is as stable as a house of cards".<ref name=olivelleintro>Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195124354, page 12-14</ref> Some scholars have sought to analyse similarities between Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist literature to establish chronology for the Upanishads.{{sfn|King|Ācārya|p=52|1995}}

Patrick Olivelle gives the following chronology for the early Upanishads, also called the [[Principal Upanishads]]:{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=12-13}}<ref name=olivelleintro/>
* The [[Brhadaranyaka Upanishad|Brhadaranyaka]] and the [[Chandogya Upanishad|Chandogya]] are the two earliest Upanishads. They are edited texts, some of whose sources are much older than others. The two texts are pre-Buddhist; they may be placed in the 7th to 6th centuries BCE, give or take a century or so.{{sfn|Olivelle|p=xxxvi|1998}}{{sfn|King|Ācārya|p=52|1995}}
* The three other early prose Upanisads—Taittiriya, Aitareya, and Kausitaki come next; all are probably pre-Buddhist and can be assigned to the 6th to 5th centuries BCE.
* The Kena is the oldest of the verse Upanisads followed by probably the Katha, Isa, Svetasvatara, and Mundaka. All these Upanisads were composed probably in the last few centuries BCE.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/618602/Upanishad Patrick Olivelle, ''Upanishads'', Encyclopedia Britannica]</ref>
* The two late prose Upanisads, the Prasna and the Mandukya, cannot be much older than the beginning of the common era.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=12-13}}<ref name=olivelleintro/>

Stephen Phillips places the early Upanishads in the 800 to 300 BCE range. He summarizes the current Indological opinion to be that the Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isha, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, and Prasna Upanishads are all pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain, while Svetasvatara and Mandukya overlap with the earliest Buddhist and Jain literature.<ref name=stephenphillips/>

The later Upanishads numbering about 95, also called minor Upanishads, are dated from the late 1st-millennium BCE to mid 2nd-millennium CE.{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= 5, 8–9}} [[Gavin Flood]] dates many of the twenty [[Yoga]] Upanishads to be probably from the 100 BCE to 300 CE period.{{Sfn|Flood|1996|p=96}} [[Patrick Olivelle]] and other scholars date seven of the twenty [[Sannyasa#Sannyasa Upanishads|Sannyasa Upanishads]] to likely have been complete sometime between the last centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE to 300 CE.{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= 5, 8–9}} About half of the Sannyasa Upanishads were likely composed in 14th- to 15th-century CE.{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= 5, 8–9}}

===Geography===
The general area of the composition of the early Upanishads was northern India, the region bounded on the west by the upper Indus valley, on the east by lower Ganges region, on the north by the Himalayan foothills, and on the south by the Vindhya mountain range.<ref name=olivelleintro/> There is confidence about the early Upanishads being the product of the geographical center of ancient Brahmanism, comprising the regions of [[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru]]-[[Panchala]] and [[Kosala]]-[[Videha]] together with the areas immediately to the south and west of these.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxxvii}} This region covers modern [[Bihar]], [[Nepal]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Uttarakhand]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Haryana]], eastern [[Rajasthan]] and northern [[Madhya Pradesh]].<ref name=olivelleintro/>

While significant attempts have been made recently to identify the exact locations of the individual Upanishads, the results are tentative. Witzel identifies the center of activity in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as the area of Videha, whose king, Janaka, features prominently in the Upanishad.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxxviii}}

The Chandogya Upanishad was probably composed in a more Western than an Eastern location in Indian subcontinent, possibly somewhere in the western region of the Kuru-Panchala country.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxxix}} Compared to the Principal Upanishads, the new Upanishads recorded in the {{IAST|Muktikā}} belong to an entirely different region, probably southern India, and are considerably relatively recent.{{sfn|Deussen|1908|pp=35–36}} In fourth chapter of the Kaushitaki Upanishad, a location named Kashi (modern [[Varanasi]]) is mentioned.<ref name=olivelleintro/>

==Classification==

===Muktika canon: major and minor Upanishads===
There are more than 200 known ''Upanishads'', one of which, ''{{IAST|[[Muktikā]]}}'' Upanishad, predates 1656 CE{{sfn|Tripathy|2010|p=84}} and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads,{{sfn|Sen|1937|p=19}} including itself as the last. The earliest ones such as the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads date to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE,{{sfn|Sharma|1985|pp=3, 10–22, 145}} and the latest to around the mid 2nd-millennium CE during a period of Islamic invasions and political instability.<ref name=stephenphillips/><ref name=olivelleintro/><ref>Geoffrey Samuel (2010), Tantric Revisionings, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120827523, pages 60–61, 87–88, 351–356</ref> Various scholars include the earliest 10, 11, 12 or 13 ''Upanishads'' as [[Mukhya]] (major) or [[Principal Upanishads]], all composed in the 1st-milliennium BCE.<ref name=stephenphillips/> The remainder 95 to 98 are called "minor Upanishads", and were likely composed between the last centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE and about mid 2nd-millennium CE.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997|pp=556-568}}{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=x-xi, 8-11}} These are further divided into Upanishads associated with [[Shaktism]] (goddess Shakti), [[Sannyasa]] (renunciation, monastic life), [[Shaivism]] (god Shiva), [[Vaishnavism]] (god Vishnu), [[Yoga]], and ''Sāmānya'' (general, sometimes referred to as Samanya-Vedanta).<ref>{{Cite book | title = The Samanya-Vedanta Upanisads | publisher = Jain Publishing (Reprint 2007) | isbn = 978-0895819833 |first = T. R. Srinivasa | last= Ayyangar |year = 1941 | oclc = 27193914 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997|pp=556-568}}

Some of the Upanishads are categorized as "sectarian" since they present their ideas through a particular god or goddess of a specific Hindu tradition such as Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, or a combination of these such as the [[Skanda Upanishad]]. These traditions sought to link their texts as Vedic, by asserting their texts to be an Upanishad, thereby a ''[[Śruti]]''.{{sfn|Holdrege|1995|pp=426}} Most of these sectarian Upanishads, for example the [[Rudrahridaya Upanishad]] and the [[Mahanarayana Upanishad]], assert that all the Hindu gods and goddesses are the same, all an aspect and manifestation of [[Brahman]], the Vedic concept for metaphysical ultimate reality before and after the creation of the Universe.<ref>{{cite book|last=Srinivasan |first=Doris |title=Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes| publisher=BRILL Academic| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC&pg=PA111| isbn=978-9004107588 |year=1997 |pages=112-120}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Ayyangar| first = TRS| year=1953| title=Saiva Upanisads| publisher = Jain Publishing Co. (Reprint 2007)|isbn= 978-0895819819|pages=194-196}}</ref>

===Mukhya Upanishads===
{{Main|Mukhya Upanishads}}
The ''Mukhya Upanishads'' can be grouped into periods. Of the early periods are the ''Brihadaranyaka'' and the ''Chandogya'', the oldest.<ref>M. Fujii, On the formation and transmission of the JUB, [[Harvard Oriental Series]], Opera Minora 2, 1997</ref>{{refn|These are believed to pre-date [[Gautam Buddha]] (c. 500 BCE){{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=3–4}}|group=note}}

The Aitareya, Kauṣītaki and Taittirīya Upanishads may date to as early as the mid 1st millennium BCE, while the remnant date from between roughly the 4th to 1st centuries BCE, roughly contemporary with the earliest portions of the [[Sanskrit epics]].
It is alleged that the ''Aitareya, Taittiriya, Kausitaki, Mundaka, Prasna'', and ''Katha Upanishads'' show Buddha's influence, and must have been composed after the 5th century BCE, but it could just as easily have been the other way around. It is also alleged that in the first two centuries A.D., they were followed by the ''Kena, Mandukya'' and ''Isa Upanishads'', but other scholars date these earlier.{{sfn|King|1995|p=52}}
Not much is known about the authors except for those, like Yajnavalkayva and Uddalaka, mentioned in the texts.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=56}} A few women discussants, such as Gargi and Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkayva,{{sfn|Ranade|1926|p=61}} also feature occasionally.

Each of the principal ''Upanishads'' can be associated with one of the schools of exegesis of the four Vedas (''[[shakha]]s'').{{sfn|Joshi|1994|pp=90–92}} Many Shakhas are said to have existed, of which only a few remain. The new ''Upanishads'' often have little relation to the Vedic corpus and have not been cited or commented upon by any great Vedanta philosopher: their language differs from that of the classic ''Upanishads'', being less subtle and more formalized. As a result, they are not difficult to comprehend for the modern reader.{{sfn|Heehs|2002|p=85}}

[[File:Rigveda MS2097.jpg|thumb|300px| An early 19th-century manuscript of the ''Rigveda'']]

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Veda-Shakha-Upanishad association
|-
! Veda!!Recension!![[Shakha]]!! Principal Upanishad
|-
| Rig Veda||Only one recension||Shakala || [[Aitareya Upanishad|{{IAST|Aitareya}}]]
|-
| rowspan=3|Sama Veda||rowspan=3|Only one recension ||Kauthuma || [[Chandogya|{{IAST|Chāndogya}}]]
|-
| [[Jaiminiya]]|| [[Kena Upanishad|Kena]]
|-
|Ranayaniya
|-
|rowspan=7|Yajur Veda||rowspan=5|Krishna Yajur Veda||Katha ||[[Katha Upanishad|{{IAST|Kaṭha}}]]
|-
|[[Taittiriya]]||[[Taittiriya Upanishad|{{IAST|Taittirīya}}]] and {{IAST|[[Śvetāśvatara]]}}{{sfn|Lal|1992||p=4090}}
|-
|Maitrayani ||[[Maitrayaniya Upanishad|{{IAST|Maitrāyaṇi}}]]
|-
|Hiranyakeshi (Kapishthala)||
|-
|Kathaka
|-
|rowspan=2|Shukla Yajur Veda||Vajasaneyi Madhyandina||[[Isha Upanishad|{{IAST|Isha}}]] and {{IAST|[[Bṛhadāraṇyaka]]}}
|-
|[[Kanva Shakha]]
|-
|rowspan=2|Atharva||rowspan=2|Two recension|| [[Shaunaka]]||[[Mandukya Upanishad|{{IAST|Māṇḍūkya}}]] and [[Mundaka Upanishad|{{IAST|Muṇḍaka}}]]
|-
||Paippalada||[[Prashna Upanishad]]
|}

The {{IAST|[[Kauśītāki]]}} and {{IAST|[[Maitrāyaṇi]]}} Upanishads are sometimes added to the list of the mukhya Upanishads.

===New Upanishads===
There is no fixed list of the ''Upanishads'' as newer ones, beyond the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads, have continued to be discovered and composed.{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=17}} In 1908, for example, four previously unknown Upanishads were discovered in newly found manuscripts, and these were named ''Bashkala'', ''Chhagaleya'', ''Arsheya'' and ''Saunaka'', by [[Friedrich Schrader]],{{sfn|Singh|2002|pp=3–4}} who attributed them to the first prose period of the Upanishads.{{sfn|Schrader|Adyar Library|1908|p=v}} The text of three, the ''Chhagaleya, Arsheya'' and ''Saunaka'', were incomplete and inconsistent, likely poorly maintained or corrupted.{{sfn|Schrader|Adyar Library|1908|p=v}}

Ancient Upanishads have long enjoyed a revered position in Hindu traditions, and authors of numerous sectarian texts have tried to benefit from this reputation by naming their texts as Upanishads.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}} These "new Upanishads" number in the hundreds, cover diverse range of topics from physiology<ref>Paul Deussen (1966), The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Dover, ISBN 978-0486216164, pages 283-296; for an example, see [[Garbha Upanishad]]</ref> to renunciation<ref name=olivellesamnyasa1>Patrick Olivelle (1992), The Samnyasa Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195070453, pages 1-12, 98-100; for an example, see [[Bhikshuka Upanishad]]</ref> to sectarian theories.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}} They were composed between the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE through the early modern era (~1600 CE).{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}}<ref name=olivellesamnyasa1/> While over two dozen of the minor Upanishads are dated to pre-3rd century CE,{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= 5, 8–9}}{{Sfn|Flood|1996|p=96}} many of these new texts under the title of "Upanishads" originated in the first half of the 2nd millennium CE,{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}} they are not Vedic texts, and some do not deal with themes found in the Vedic Upanishads.{{sfn|Varghese|2008|p=101}}

The main [[Shaktism|Shakta]] Upanishads, for example, mostly discuss doctrinal and interpretative differences between the two principal sects of a major [[tantra|Tantric]] form of Shaktism called [[Shri Vidya]] [[upasana]]. The many extant lists of authentic ''Shakta Upaniṣads'' vary, reflecting the sect of their compilers, so that they yield no evidence of their "location" in Tantric tradition, impeding correct interpretation. The Tantra content of these texts also weaken its identity as an Upaniṣad for non-Tantrikas. Sectarian texts such as these do not enjoy status as [[shruti]] and thus the authority of the new Upanishads as scripture is not accepted in Hinduism.{{sfn|Brooks|1990|pp=13–14}}

==Association with Vedas==
All Upanishads are associated with one of the four Vedas—[[Rigveda]], [[Samaveda]], [[Yajurveda]] (there are two primary versions or ''Samhitas'' of the Yajurveda: [[White Yajurveda|Shukla Yajurveda]], [[Black Yajurveda|Krishna Yajurveda]]), and [[Atharvaveda]].{{sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|pp=404–406}} During the modern era, the ancient Upanishads that were embedded texts in the Vedas, were detached from the [[Brahmana]] and [[Aranyaka]] layers of Vedic text, compiled into separate texts and these were then gathered into [[anthology|anthologies]] of Upanishads.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}} These lists associated each Upanishad with one of the four Vedas, many such lists exist, and these lists are inconsistent across India in terms of which Upanishads are included and how the newer Upanishads are assigned to the ancient Vedas. In south India, the collected list based on Muktika Upanishad,{{refn|group=note|The Muktika manuscript found in colonial era Calcutta is the usual default, but other recensions exist.}} and published in [[Telugu language]], became the most common by the 19th-century and this is a list of 108 Upanishads.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}}<ref>Paul Deussen (2010 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814691, pages 566-568</ref> In north India, a list of 52 Upanishads has been most common.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}}

The {{IAST|Muktikā}} Upanishad's list of 108 Upanishads groups the first 13 as ''[[mukhya]]'',<ref name=PeterHeehs/>{{refn|group=note|name=mukhya101213|Some scholars list ten as principal, while most consider twelve or thirteen as principal ''mukhya'' Upanishads.<ref>Robert C Neville (2000), Ultimate Realities, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0791447765, page 319</ref><ref name=stephenphillips28>Stephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231144858, pages 28-29</ref>{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxiii}}}} 21 as [[Sāmānya Vedānta]], 20 as [[Sannyāsa]],<ref name=olivellesamnyasa/> 14 as [[Vaishnava]], 12 as [[Shaiva]], 8 as [[Shakta]], and 20 as [[Yoga]].<ref name=ayyangaryoga>[https://archive.org/stream/TheYogaUpanishads/TheYogaUpanisadsSanskritEngish1938#page/n3/mode/2up The Yoga Upanishads] TR Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), SS Sastri (Editor), Adyar Library</ref> The 108 Upanishads as recorded in the {{IAST|Muktikā}} are shown in the table below.{{sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|pp=404–406}} The mukhya Upanishads are the most important and highlighted.<ref name=stephenphillips28/>

<center>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Veda-Upanishad association
! Veda !!Number{{sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|pp=404–406}} !!style="background: #FFDD00; color: black"|Mukhya<ref name=PeterHeehs>Peter Heehs (2002), Indian Religions, New York University Press, ISBN 978-0814736500, pages 60-88</ref>!!Sāmānya !!Sannyāsa<ref name=olivellesamnyasa>[[Patrick Olivelle]] (1992), The Samnyasa Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195070453, pages x-xi, 5</ref> !!Śākta<ref>AM Sastri, The Śākta Upaniṣads, with the commentary of Śrī Upaniṣad-Brahma-Yogin, Adyar Library, {{oclc|7475481}}</ref> !!Vaiṣṇava<ref>AM Sastri, The Vaishnava-upanishads: with the commentary of Sri Upanishad-brahma-yogin, Adyar Library, {{oclc|83901261}}</ref> !!Śaiva<ref>AM Sastri, The Śaiva-Upanishads with the commentary of Sri Upanishad-Brahma-Yogin, Adyar Library, {{oclc|863321204}}</ref> !!Yoga<ref name=ayyangaryoga/>
|-
|Ṛigveda||10||style="background: #FFDD00; color: black"|[[Aitareya Upanishad|Aitareya]], [[Kaushitaki Upanishad|Kauśītāki]]||[[Atmabodha Upanishad|Ātmabodha]], [[Mudgala Upanishad|Mudgala]]||[[Nirvana Upanishad|Nirvāṇa]]||[[Tripura Upanishad|Tripura]], [[Saubhagyalakshmi Upanishad|Saubhāgya-lakshmi]], [[Bahvricha Upanishad|Bahvṛca]]||-||[[Akshamalika Upanishad|Akṣamālika]]||[[Nada Bindu Upanishad|Nādabindu]]
|-
|Samaveda||16 || style="background: #FFDD00; color: black"|[[Chandogya Upanishad|Chāndogya]], [[Kena Upanishad|Kena]]||[[Vajrasuchi Upanishad|Vajrasūchi]], [[Maha Upanishad|Maha]], [[Savitri Upanishad|Sāvitrī]]||[[Aruneya Upanishad|Āruṇi]], [[Maitreya Upanishad|Maitreya]], [[Brihat-Sannyasa Upanishad|Brhat-Sannyāsa]], [[Kundika Upanishad|Kuṇḍika]] (Laghu-Sannyāsa)||-||[[Vasudeva Upanishad|Vāsudeva]], [[Avyakta Upanishad|Avyakta]]||[[Rudrakshajabala Upanishad|Rudrākṣa]], [[Jabali Upanishad|Jābāli]]||[[Yogachudamani Upanishad|Yogachūḍāmaṇi]], [[Darshana Upanishad|Darśana]]
|-
|Krishna Yajurveda||32 ||style="background: #FFDD00; color: black"|[[Taittiriya Upanishad|Taittiriya]], [[Katha Upanishad|Katha]], [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad|Śvetāśvatara]], [[Maitrayaniya Upanishad|Maitrāyaṇi]]{{refn|group=note|Parmeshwaranand classifies Maitrayani with Samaveda, most scholars with Krishna Yajurveda{{sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|pp=404–406}}<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 217-219</ref>}}||[[Sarvasara Upanishad|Sarvasāra]], [[Shukarahasya Upanishad|Śukarahasya]], [[Skanda Upanishad|Skanda]], [[Garbha Upanishad|Garbha]], [[Sariraka Upanishad|Śārīraka]], [[Ekakshara Upanishad|Ekākṣara]], [[Akshi Upanishad|Akṣi]]||[[Brahma Upanishad|Brahma]], (Laghu, Brhad) [[Avadhuta Upanishad|Avadhūta]], [[Kathashruti Upanishad|Kaṭhasruti]]||[[Sarasvati-rahasya Upanishad|Sarasvatī-rahasya]]||[[Narayana Upanishad|Nārāyaṇa]], [[Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad|Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa]]||[[Kaivalya Upanishad|Kaivalya]], [[Kalagni Rudra Upanishad|Kālāgnirudra]], [[Dakshinamurti Upanishad|Dakṣiṇāmūrti]], [[Rudrahridaya Upanishad|Rudrahṛdaya]], [[Pancabrahma Upanishad|Pañcabrahma]]||[[Amritabindu Upanishad|Amṛtabindu]], [[Tejobindu Upanishad|Tejobindu]], [[Amritanada Upanishad|Amṛtanāda]], [[Kshurika Upanishad|Kṣurika]], [[Dhyanabindu Upanishad|Dhyānabindu]], [[Brahmavidya Upanishad|Brahmavidyā]], [[Yogatattva Upanishad|Yogatattva]], [[Yogashikha Upanishad|Yogaśikhā]], [[Yoga-kundalini Upanishad|Yogakuṇḍalini]], [[Varaha Upanishad|Varāha]]
|-
|Shukla Yajurveda||19 ||style="background: #FFDD00; color: black"|[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad|Bṛhadāraṇyaka]], [[Isha Upanishad|Īśa]]||[[Subala Upanishad|Subala]], [[Mantrika Upanishad|Mantrika]], [[Niralamba Upanishad|Niralamba]], [[Paingala Upanishad|Paingala]], [[Adhyatma Upanishad|Adhyatma]], [[Muktikā|Muktika]]||[[Jabala Upanishad|Jābāla]], [[Paramahamsa Upanishad|Paramahaṃsa]], [[Bhikshuka Upanishad|Bhikṣuka]], [[Turiyatitavadhuta Upanishad|Turīyātītavadhuta]], [[Yajnavalkya Upanishad|Yājñavalkya]], [[Shatyayaniya Upanishad|Śāṭyāyaniya]]||-||[[Tarasara Upanishad|Tārasāra]]||-||[[Advayataraka Upanishad|Advayatāraka]], [[Hamsa Upanishad|Haṃsa]], [[Trishikhibrahmana Upanishad|Triśikhi]], [[Mandala-brahmana Upanishad|Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇa]]
|-
|Atharvaveda ||31 || style="background: #FFDD00; color: black"|[[Mundaka Upanishad|Muṇḍaka]], [[Mandukya Upanishad|Māṇḍūkya]], [[Prashna Upanishad|Praśna]]||[[Atma Upanishad|Ātmā]], [[Surya Upanishad|Sūrya]], [[Pranagnihotra Upanishad|Prāṇāgnihotra]]<ref>Prāṇāgnihotra is missing in some anthologies, included by Paul Deussen (2010 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814691, page 567</ref>||Āśrama, [[Naradaparivrajaka Upanishad|Nārada-parivrājaka]], [[Paramahamsa Parivrajaka Upanishad|Paramahaṃsa parivrājaka]], [[Parabrahma Upanishad|Parabrahma]]||[[Sita Upanishad|Sītā]], [[Devi Upanishad|Devī]], [[Tripuratapini Upanishad|Tripurātapini]], [[Bhavana Upanishad|Bhāvana]]||[[Nrisimha Tapaniya Upanishad|Nṛsiṃhatāpanī]], [[Mahanarayana Upanishad|Mahānārāyaṇa (Tripād vibhuti)]], [[Rama Rahasya Upanishad|Rāmarahasya]], [[Rama tapaniya Upanishad|Rāmatāpaṇi]], [[Gopala Tapani Upanishad|Gopālatāpani]], [[Krishna Upanishad|Kṛṣṇa]], [[Hayagriva Upanishad|Hayagrīva]], [[Dattatreya Upanishad|Dattātreya]], [[Garuda Upanishad|Gāruḍa]]||[[Atharvashiras Upanishad|Atharvasiras]],<ref>Atharvasiras is missing in some anthologies, included by Paul Deussen (2010 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814691, page 568</ref> [[Atharvashikha Upanishad|Atharvaśikha]], [[Brihajjabala Upanishad|Bṛhajjābāla]], [[Sharabha Upanishad|Śarabha]], [[Bhasmajabala Upanishad|Bhasma]], [[Ganapati Upanishad|Gaṇapati]]||[[Shandilya Upanishad|Śāṇḍilya]], [[Pashupatabrahma Upanishad|Pāśupata]], [[Mahavakya Upanishad|Mahāvākya]]
|-
|style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|Total Upanishads||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|108||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|13{{refn|group=note|name=mukhya101213}} ||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"| 21 ||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|19||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|8 ||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|14||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|13 ||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|20
|}
</center>

==Philosophy==
{{main|Vedanta}}
[[File:Wassertropfen.jpg|right|thumb|Impact of a drop of water, a common analogy for [[Brahman]] and the [[Atman (Hinduism)|Ātman]]]]

The Upanishadic age was characterized by a pluralism of worldviews. While some Upanishads have been deemed 'monistic', others, including the [[Katha Upanishad]], are [[dualistic]].{{sfn|Glucklich|2008|p=70}} The Maitri is one of the Upanishads that inclines more toward dualism, thus grounding classical [[Samkhya]] and [[Yoga (philosophy)|Yoga]] schools of Hinduism, in contrast to the non-dualistic Upanishads at the foundation of its Vedanta school.{{sfn|Fields |2001|p=26}} They contain a plurality of ideas.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=4}}{{refn|group=note|Oliville: "In this Introduction I have avoided speaking of 'the philosophy of the upanishads', a common feature of most introductions to their translations. These documents were composed over several centuries and in various regions, and it is futile to try to discover a single doctrine or philosophy in them."{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=4}}}}

[[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] states that the Upanishads have dominated Indian philosophy, religion and life ever since their appearance.<ref>S Radhakrishnan, [https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n19/mode/2up The Principal Upanishads] George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 17-19, Reprinted as ISBN 978-8172231248</ref> The Upanishads are respected not because they are considered revealed (''[[Shruti]]''), but because they present spiritual ideas that are inspiring.<ref name="Radhakrishnan">{{Citation |last = Radhakrishnan |first = Sarvepalli |title = The Principal Upanishads|url=https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n5/mode/2up |publisher = Indus / Harper Collins India; 5th edition (1994) |isbn = 978-8172231248}}</ref> The Upanishads are treatises on Brahman-knowledge, that is knowledge of Ultimate Hidden Reality, and their presentation of philosophy presumes, "it is by a strictly personal effort that one can reach the truth".<ref>S Radhakrishnan, [https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n21/mode/2up The Principal Upanishads] George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 19-20, Reprinted as ISBN 978-8172231248</ref> In the Upanishads, states Radhakrishnan, knowledge is a means to freedom, and philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom by a way of life.<ref>S Radhakrishnan, [https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n27/mode/2up The Principal Upanishads] George Allen & Co., 1951, page 24, Reprinted as ISBN 978-8172231248</ref>

The Upanishads include sections on philosophical theories that have been at the foundation of Indian traditions. For example, the [[Chandogya Upanishad]] includes one of the earliest known declaration of [[Ahimsa]] (non-violence) as an ethical precept.<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 114-115 with preface and footnotes;<br />Robert Hume, [https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n233/mode/2up Chandogya Upanishad] 3.17, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 212-213</ref><ref>[[Henk Bodewitz]] (1999), Hindu Ahimsa, in Violence Denied (Editors: Jan E. M. Houben, et al), Brill, ISBN 978-9004113442, page 40</ref> Discussion of other ethical premises such as [[Temperance (virtue)|Damah]] (temperance, self-restraint), [[Satya]] (truthfulness), [[Dāna]] (charity), [[Ārjava]] (non-hypocrisy), [[Compassion#Hinduism|Daya]] (compassion) and others are found in the oldest Upanishads and many later Upanishads.<ref>PV Kane, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofdharmas029210mbp#page/n61/mode/2up Samanya Dharma], History of Dharmasastra, Vol. 2, Part 1, page 5</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Chatterjea|first1=Tara|title=Knowledge and Freedom in Indian Philosophy|publisher=Lexington Books|location=Oxford|page=148}}</ref> Similarly, the Karma doctrine is presented in the [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]], which is the oldest Upanishad.<ref>Tull, Herman W. The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual. SUNY Series in Hindu Studies. P. 28</ref>

===Development of thought===
{{Hindu philosophy}}

While the hymns of the Vedas emphasize rituals and the Brahmanas serve as a liturgical manual for those Vedic rituals, the spirit of the Upanishads is inherently opposed to ritual.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=57}} The older Upanishads launch attacks of increasing intensity on the ritual. Anyone who worships a divinity other than the Self is called a domestic animal of the gods in the [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]. The {{IAST|Chāndogya}} Upanishad parodies those who indulge in the acts of sacrifice by comparing them with a procession of dogs chanting ''Om! Let's eat. Om! Let's drink''.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=57}}

The [[Kaushitaki Upanishad]] asserts that "external rituals such as [[Agnihotra]]m offered in the morning and in the evening, must be replaced with inner Agnihotram, the ritual of introspection", and that "not rituals, but knowledge should be one's pursuit".<ref>[[Paul Deussen]], Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 30-42;</ref> The [[Mundaka Upanishad]] declares how man has been called upon, promised benefits for, scared unto and misled into performing sacrifices, oblations and pious works.<ref name=maxmuller12/> Mundaka thereafter asserts this is foolish and frail, by those who encourage it and those who follow it, because it makes no difference to man's current life and after-life, it is like blind men leading the blind, it is a mark of conceit and vain knowledge, ignorant inertia like that of children, a futile useless practice.<ref name=maxmuller12>Max Muller (1962), Manduka Upanishad, in The Upanishads - Part II, Oxford University Press, Reprinted as ISBN 978-0486209937, pages 30-33</ref><ref>Eduard Roer, [https://www.shemtaia.com/SKT/PDF/Upanishads/roermundakaeng.pdf Mundaka Upanishad] Bibliotheca Indica, Vol. XV, No. 41 and 50, Asiatic Society of Bengal, pages 153-154</ref> The [[Maitrayaniya Upanishad|Maitri Upanishad]] states,<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 331-333</ref>

{{Quote|
The performance of all the sacrifices, described in the Maitrayana-Brahmana, is to lead up in the end to a knowledge of Brahman, to prepare a man for meditation. Therefore, let such man, after he has laid those fires,<ref>"laid those fires" is a phrase in Vedic literature that implies [[yajna]] and related ancient religious rituals; see [https://www.shemtaia.com/SKT/PDF/Upanishads/cowellmaitriskt.pdf Maitri Upanishad - Sanskrit Text with English Translation] EB Cowell (Translator), Cambridge University, Bibliotheca Indica, First Prapathaka</ref> meditate on the Self, to become complete and perfect.
|Maitri Upanishad<ref>Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 2, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/286/mode/2up Maitrayana-Brahmana Upanishad], Oxford University Press, pages 287-288</ref><ref name=hume11>{{citation|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|title=The Thirteen Principal Upanishads|url=https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n433/mode/2up |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1921|pages=412–414}}</ref>}}

The opposition to the ritual is not explicit in the oldest Upanishads. On occasions, the Upanishads extend the task of the Aranyakas by making the ritual allegorical and giving it a philosophical meaning. For example, the Brihadaranyaka interprets the practice of horse-sacrifice or ''[[ashvamedha]]'' allegorically. It states that the over-lordship of the earth may be acquired by sacrificing a horse. It then goes on to say that spiritual autonomy can only be achieved by renouncing the universe which is conceived in the image of a horse.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=57}}

In similar fashion, [[Rigvedic deities|Vedic gods]] such as the ''Agni'', ''Aditya'', ''Indra'', ''Rudra'', ''Visnu'', ''Brahma'' and others become equated in the Upanishads to the supreme, immortal and incorporeal Brahman-Atman of the Upanishads, god becomes synonymous with Self, and is declared to be everywhere, inmost being of each human being and within every living creature.<ref>{{citation|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|title= The Thirteen Principal Upanishads | url=https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n449/mode/2up|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1921|pages=428–429}}</ref><ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 350-351</ref><ref name=pauldeussenov>Paul Deussen, {{Google books|2h0YAAAAYAAJ|The Philosophy of Upanishads}}, University of Kiel, T&T Clark, pages 342-355, 396-412</ref> The one reality or ''ekam sat'' of the Vedas becomes the ''ekam eva advitiyam'' or "the one and only and sans a second" in the Upanishads.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=57}} Brahman-Atman and Self-realization develops, in the Upanishad, as the means to [[moksha]] (liberation, freedom in this life or after-life).<ref name=pauldeussenov/><ref>RC Mishra (2013), Moksha and the Hindu Worldview, Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 25, No. 1, pages 21-42</ref><ref>Mark B. Woodhouse (1978), [http://www.jstor.org/stable/27902516 Consciousness and Brahman-Atman], The Monist, Vol. 61, No. 1, Conceptions of the Self: East & West (JANUARY, 1978), pages 109-124</ref>

According to Jayatilleke, the thinkers of Upanishadic texts can be grouped into two categories.{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|p=32}} One group, which includes Early Upanishads along with some Middle and Late Upanishads, were composed by metaphysicians who used rational arguments and empirical experience to formulate their speculations and philosophical premises. The second group includes many middle and later Upanishads, where their authors professed theories based on yoga and personal experiences.{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|p=32}} Yoga philosophy and practice, adds Jayatilleke, is "not entirely absent in the Early Upanishads".{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|p=32}} The development of thought in these Upanishadic theories contrasted with Buddhism, since the Upanishadic inquiry assumed there is a soul ([[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]]), while Buddhism assumed there is no soul (''Anatta''), states Jayatilleke.{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|pp=36-39}}

===Brahman and Atman===
{{main|Ātman (Hinduism)|Brahman}}
Two concepts that are of paramount importance in the Upanishads are ''[[Brahman]]'' and ''[[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]]''.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=59}} The Brahman is the ultimate reality and the Atman is individual self (soul).<ref name=james122/><ref name=scholarsatman3/> Brahman is the material, efficient, formal and final [[Four causes|cause]] of all that exists.<ref name=ptraju426>PT Raju (2006), Idealistic Thought of India, Routledge, ISBN 978-1406732627, page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII</ref><ref>Mariasusai Dhavamony (2002), Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Theological Soundings and Perspectives, Rodopi Press, ISBN 978-9042015104, pages 43-44</ref><ref name=fxclooney>For dualism school of Hinduism, see: Francis X. Clooney (2010), Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries between Religions, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199738724, pages 51-58, 111-115;<br>For monist school of Hinduism, see: B Martinez-Bedard (2006), Types of Causes in Aristotle and Sankara, Thesis - Department of Religious Studies (Advisors: Kathryn McClymond and Sandra Dwyer), Georgia State University, pages 18-35</ref> It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes.<ref name=james122>James Lochtefeld, ''Brahman'', The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing. ISBN 978-0823931798, page 122</ref><ref name=jeffreybrodd>Jeffrey Brodd (2009), World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery, Saint Mary's Press, ISBN 978-0884899976, pages 43-47</ref> Brahman is "the infinite source, fabric, core and destiny of all existence, both manifested and unmanifested, the formless infinite substratum and from which the universe has grown". Brahman in Hinduism, states [[Paul Deussen]], as the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, page 91</ref>

The word ''Atman'' means the inner self, the soul, the immortal spirit in an individual, and all living beings including animals and trees.<ref>'''[a]''' [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/atman Atman], Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press (2012), '''Quote''': "1. real self of the individual; 2. a person's soul";<br>'''[b]''' John Bowker (2000), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0192800947, See entry for Atman;<br>'''[c]''' WJ Johnson (2009), A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0198610250, See entry for Atman (self).</ref><ref name=scholarsatman3>'''[a]''' Richard King (1995), Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791425138, page 64, '''Quote:''' "Atman as the innermost essence or soul of man, and Brahman as the innermost essence and support of the universe. (...) Thus we can see in the Upanishads, a tendency towards a convergence of microcosm and macrocosm, culminating in the equating of Atman with Brahman".<br>'''[b]''' Chad Meister (2010), The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195340136, page 63; '''Quote''': "Even though Buddhism explicitly rejected the Hindu ideas of Atman (“soul”) and Brahman, Hinduism treats Sakyamuni Buddha as one of the ten avatars of Vishnu."<br>'''[c]''' David Lorenzen (2004), The Hindu World (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, ISBN 0-415215277, pages 208-209, '''Quote''': "Advaita and nirguni movements, on the other hand, stress an interior mysticism in which the devotee seeks to discover the identity of individual soul (atman) with the universal ground of being (brahman) or to find god within himself".</ref> Ātman is a central idea in all the [[Upanishad]]s, and "Know your Ātman" their thematic focus.<ref name=ptraju>PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0887061394, pages 35-36</ref> These texts state that the inmost core of every person is not the body, nor the mind, nor the ego, but ''Atman'' – "Soul" or "Self".<ref>Soul is synonymous with Self in translations of ancient texts of Hindu philosophy</ref> Atman is the spiritual essence in all creatures, their real innermost essential being.<ref name=alicebailey>Alice Bailey (1973), The Soul and Its Mechanism, ISBN 978-0853301158, pages 82-83</ref><ref>Eknath Easwaran (2007), The Upanishads, Nilgiri Press, ISBN 978-1586380212, pages 38-39, 318-320</ref> It is eternal, it is ageless. Atman is that which one is at the deepest level of one's existence.

''Atman'' is the predominantly discussed topic in the Upanishads, but they express two distinct, somewhat divergent themes. Some state that Brahman (Highest Reality, Universal Principle, Being-Consciousness-Bliss) is identical with ''Atman'', while others state ''Atman'' is part of Brahman but not identical.<ref name=johnkoller/><ref>[[Paul Deussen]], {{Google books|B0QzAQAAMAAJ|The Philosophy of the Upanishads}}, Dover Publications, pages 86-111, 182-212</ref> This ancient debate flowered into various dual, non-dual theories in Hinduism. The [[Brahmasutra]] by Badarayana (~ 100 BCE) synthesized and unified these somewhat conflicting theories, stating that Atman and Brahman are different in some respects particularly during the state of ignorance, but at the deepest level and in the state of Self-realization, Atman and Brahman are identical, non-different.<ref name=johnkoller>John Koller (2012), Shankara, in Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion, (Editors: Chad Meister, Paul Copan), Routledge, ISBN 978-0415782944, pages 99-102</ref>

The idea put forth by the Upanishadic seers that Atman and Brahman are One and the same is one of the greatest contributions made to the thought of the world.{{sfn|Lanman|1897|p=790}}{{sfn|Brown|1922|p=266}}{{sfn|Slater|1897|p=32}}{{sfn|Varghese|2008|p=132}}

===Illusion===
{{main|Maya (illusion)}}
Two different types of the non-dual Brahman-Atman are presented in the Upanishads, according to Mahadevan.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=62}} The one in which the non-dual Brahman-Atman is the all inclusive ground of the universe and another in which empirical, changing universe is a form of ''Maya'', often translated as "illusion".

The Upanishads describe the universe, and the human experience, as an interplay of [[Purusha]] (the eternal, unchanging principles, consciousness) and [[Prakṛti]] (the temporary, changing material world, nature).<ref>[[Paul Deussen]], {{Google books|2h0YAAAAYAAJ|The Philosophy of the Upanishads|page=161}}, pages 161, 240-254</ref> The former manifests itself as [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] (Soul, Self), and the latter as [[Maya (illusion)|Māyā]]. The Upanishads refer to the knowledge of ''Atman'' as "true knowledge" (''Vidya''), and the knowledge of ''Maya'' as "not true knowledge" (''Avidya'', Nescience, lack of awareness, lack of true knowledge).<ref name=beamsc>Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791436844, page 376</ref>

Hendrick Vroom explains, "the term ''Maya'' [in the Upanishads] has been translated as 'illusion,' but then it does not concern normal illusion. Here 'illusion' does not mean that the world is not real and simply a figment of the human imagination. ''Maya'' means that the world is not as it seems; the world that one experiences is misleading as far as its true nature is concerned."<ref>H.M. Vroom (1996), No Other Gods, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 978-0802840974, page 57</ref> According to [[Wendy Doniger]], "to say that the universe is an illusion (māyā) is not to say that it is unreal; it is to say, instead, that it is not what it seems to be, that it is something constantly being made. Māyā not only deceives people about the things they think they know; more basically, it limits their knowledge."<ref>Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1986), Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226618555, page 119</ref>

In the Upanishads, Māyā is the perceived changing reality and it co-exists with Brahman which is the hidden true reality.<ref name=aegough>Archibald Edward Gough (2001), The Philosophy of the Upanishads and Ancient Indian Metaphysics, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415245227, pages 47-48</ref><ref>Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120823891, pages 1-17</ref> ''Maya'', or "illusion", is an important idea in the Upanishads, because the texts assert that in the human pursuit of blissful and liberating Self-knowledge, it is ''Maya'' which obscures, confuses and distracts an individual.<ref name=knaiyar>KN Aiyar (Translator, 1914), Sarvasara Upanishad, in Thirty Minor Upanishads, page 17, {{oclc|6347863}}</ref><ref name=adishankaratu>Adi Shankara, {{Google books|d0oAAAAYAAJ|Commentary on Taittiriya Upanishad}}, SS Sastri (Translator), Harvard University Archives, pages 191-198</ref>

==Schools of Vedanta==
{{Main|Vedanta}}
[[File:Raja Ravi Varma - Sankaracharya.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Adi Shankara]], expounder of [[Advaita Vedanta]] and [[Works of Adi Shankara|commentator]] (''[[bhashya]]'') on the Upanishads]]

The Upanishads form one of the three main sources for all schools of Vedanta, together with the [[Bhagavad Gita]] and the [[Brahmasutra]]s.{{sfn|Radhakrishnan|1956|p=272}} Due to the wide variety of philosophical teachings contained in the Upanishads, various interpretations could be grounded on the Upanishads. The schools of Vedānta seek to answer questions about the relation between [[Ātman (Hinduism)|atman]] and Brahman, and the relation between Brahman and the world.{{sfn|Raju|1992|p=176-177}} The schools of Vedanta are named after the relation they see between atman and Brahman:{{sfn|Raju|1992|p=177}}
* According to [[Advaita Vedanta]], there is no difference.{{sfn|Raju|1992|p=177}}
* According to [[Vishishtadvaita]] the jīvātman is a part of Brahman, and hence is similar, but not identical.
* According to [[Dvaita]], all individual souls (jīvātmans) and matter as eternal and mutually separate entities.

Other schools of Vedanta include Nimbarka's ''Dvaitadvaita'', Vallabha's ''Suddhadvaita'' and Chaitanya's ''Acintya Bhedabheda''.{{sfn|Ranade|1926|pp=179–182}} The philosopher [[Adi Sankara]] has provided commentaries on 11 [[mukhya]] Upanishads.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=63}}

===Advaita Vedanta===

Advaita literally means non-duality, and it is a [[monistic]] system of thought.{{sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica}} It deals with the non-dual nature of [[Brahman]] and [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]]. Advaita is considered the most influential sub-school of the ''Vedanta'' school of Hindu philosophy.{{sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica}} Gaudapada was the first person to expound the basic principles of the Advaita philosophy in a commentary on the conflicting statements of the Upanishads.{{sfn|Radhakrishnan|1956|p=273}} Gaudapada's Advaita ideas were further developed by [[Adi Shankara|Shankara]].{{sfn|King|1999|p=221}}{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=31}} King states that Gaudapada's main work, Māṇḍukya Kārikā, is infused with philosophical terminology of Buddhism, and uses Buddhist arguments and analogies.{{sfn|King|1999|p=219}} King also suggests that there are clear differences between Shankara's writings and the ''Brahmasutra'',{{sfn|King|1999|p=221}}{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=31}} and many ideas of Shankara are at odds with those in the Upanishads.{{sfn|Collins|2000|p=195}} Radhakrishnan, on the other hand, suggests that Shankara's views of Advaita were straightforward developments of the Upanishads and the ''Brahmasutra'',{{sfn|Radhakrishnan|1956|p=284}} and many ideas of Shankara derive from the Upanishads.<ref>John Koller (2012), Shankara in Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion (Editors: Chad Meister, Paul Copan), Routledge, ISBN 978-0415782944, pages 99-108</ref>

Shankara in his discussions of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy referred to the early Upanishads to explain the key difference between Hinduism and Buddhism, stating that Hinduism asserts "Atman (Soul, Self) exists", while Buddhism asserts that there is "no Soul, no Self".<ref name=eroer1>Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|page=3}} to ''Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad'' at pages 3-4; Quote - "(...) Lokayatikas and Bauddhas who assert that the soul does not exist. There are four sects among the followers of Buddha: 1. Madhyamicas who maintain all is void; 2. Yogacharas, who assert except sensation and intelligence all else is void; 3. Sautranticas, who affirm actual existence of external objects no less than of internal sensations; 4. Vaibhashikas, who agree with later (Sautranticas) except that they contend for immediate apprehension of exterior objects through images or forms represented to the intellect."</ref><ref name=eroer2>Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|page=3}} to ''Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad'' at page 3, {{oclc|19373677}}</ref><ref>KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, ISBN 978-8120806191, pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards;<br />Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791422175, page 64; Quote: "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]] is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";<br />Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|page=2}}, pages 2-4<br />Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?], Philosophy Now;<br />John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120801585, page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".</ref>

The Upanishads contain four sentences, the [[Mahavakyas|Mahāvākyas]] (Great Sayings), which were used by Shankara to establish the identity of Atman and Brahman as scriptural truth:
* [[Mahāvākyas#Prajñānam Brahma|"Prajñānam brahma"]] - "Consciousness is Brahman" ([[Aitareya Upanishad]]){{sfn|Panikkar|2001|p=669}}
* "Aham brahmāsmi" - "I am Brahman" ([[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]){{sfn|Panikkar|2001|pp=725–727}}
* [[Tat Tvam Asi|"Tat tvam asi"]] - "That Thou art" ([[Chandogya Upanishad]]){{sfn|Panikkar|2001|pp=747–750}}
* "Ayamātmā brahma" - "This Atman is Brahman" ([[Mandukya Upanishad]]){{sfn|Panikkar|2001|pp=697–701}}

Although there are a wide variety of philosophical positions propounded in the Upanishads, commentators since [[Adi Shankara]] have usually followed him in seeing [[idealism|idealist]] [[monism]] as the dominant force.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998}}{{refn|group=note|According to Collins, the breakdown of the Vedic cults is more obscured by retrospective ideology than any other period in Indian history. It is commonly assumed that the dominant philosophy now became an idealist monism, the identification of atman (self) and Brahman (Spirit), and that this mysticism was believed to provide a way to transcend rebirths on the wheel of karma. This is far from an accurate picture of what we read in the Upanishads. It has become traditional to view the Upanishads through the lens of Shankara's Advaita interpretation. This imposes the philosophical revolution of about 700 C.E. upon a very different situation 1,000 to 1,500 years earlier. Shankara picked out monist and idealist themes from a much wider philosophical lineup.{{sfn|Collins|2000|p=195}}}}

===Dvaita===
The Dvaita school was founded by [[Madhvacharya]].{{sfn|Raghavendrachar|1956|p=322}} Dvaita is regarded as the best philosophic exposition of theism.{{sfn|Chari|1956|p=305}} Madhva, much like Adi Shankara claims for Advaita, states that his theistic Dvaita Vedanta is grounded in the Upanishads.<ref name=staffordbetty/>

===Vishishtadvaita===
The third school of Vedanta is the Vishishtadvaita, which was founded by [[Ramanuja]]. Ramanuja strenuously refuted Shankara's works.{{sfn|Klostermaier|2007|pp=361–363}} Visistadvaita is a synthetic philosophy bridging the monistic Advaita and theistic Dvaita systems of Vedanta.{{sfn|Chari|1956|p=305}} Ramanuja, just as Madhva claims for Dvaita sub-school, states that Vishishtadvaita is grounded in the Upanishads.<ref name=staffordbetty>Stafford Betty (2010), Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita: Contrasting Views of Mokṣa, Asian Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 2, pages 215-224, {{doi|10.1080/09552367.2010.484955}}</ref>

==Similarities with Platonic thought==
{{See also|Proto-Indo-European religion|Satya|Ṛta|Asha|Form of the Good}}

Several scholars have recognised parallels between the philosophy of [[Pythagoras]] and [[Plato]] and that of the Upanishads, including their ideas on [[epistemology|sources of knowledge]], concept of justice and path to salvation, and Plato's [[allegory of the cave]]. Platonic psychology with its divisions of reason, spirit and appetite, also bears resemblance to the three ''[[gunas]]'' in the Indian philosophy of [[Samkhya]].{{sfn|Chousalkar|pp=130-134}}{{sfn|Wadia|1956|p=64-65}}{{refn|group=note|For instances of Platonic [[Pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]] in the early Upanishads see Randall.{{sfn|Collins|2000|pp=197–198}}}}

Based on these common features some scholars, most notably E.J. Urwick and [[Martin Litchfield West|M.L. West]], have argued that the [[Ancient Greek philosophy]] was influenced by, and borrowed some core concepts from, the Upanishads. Various mechanisms for such a transmission of knowledge have been conjectured including Pythagoras traveling as far as India; Indian philosophers visiting Athens and meeting [[Socrates]]; Plato encountering the ideas when in exile in Syracuse; or, intermediated through Persia.{{sfn|Chousalkar|pp=130-134}}{{sfn|Urwick|1920}}

However other scholars, such as [[Arthur Berriedale Keith]], [[John Burnet (classicist)|J. Burnet]] and [[Ardeshir Ruttonji Wadia|A.R. Wadia]], believe that the two systems developed independently. They note that there is no historical evidence of the philosophers of the two schools meeting, and point out significant differences in the stage of development, orientation and goals of the two philosophical systems. Wadia writes that Plato's metaphysics were rooted in ''this'' life and his primary aim was to develop an ideal state.{{sfn|Wadia|1956|p=64-65}} In contrast, Upanishadic focus was the individual, the self (atman, soul), self-knowledge, and the means of an individual's [[moksha]] (freedom, liberation in this life or after-life).{{sfn|Keith|2007|pp=602-603}}<ref name=wdstrappini/><ref>RC Mishra (2013), Moksha and the Hindu Worldview, Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 25, No. 1, pages 21-42; Chousalkar, Ashok (1986), Social and Political Implications of Concepts Of Justice And Dharma, pages 130-134</ref>

==Translations==
The Upanishads have been translated into various languages including [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Urdu]], [[French language|French]], [[Latin]], [[German language|German]], [[English language|English]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Russian language|Russian]].{{sfn|Sharma|1985|p=20}} The [[Moghul]] Emperor [[Akbar]]'s reign (1556–1586) saw the first translations of the Upanishads into Persian.{{sfn|Müller|1900|p=lvii}}{{sfn|Muller|1899|p=204}} His great-grandson, Sultan Mohammed [[Dara Shikoh]], produced a collection called ''Oupanekhat'' in 1656, wherein 50 Upanishads were translated from Sanskrit into [[Persian language|Persian]].{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997|pp=558-59}}

[[Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron|Anquetil Duperron]], a French Orientalist received a manuscript of the ''Oupanekhat'' and translated the Persian version into French and Latin, publishing the Latin translation in two volumes in 1801–1802 as ''Oupneck'hat''.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997|pp=558-59}}{{sfn|Müller|1900|p=lvii}} The French translation was never published.{{sfn|Müller|1900|p=lviii}} The Latin version was the initial introduction of Upanishadic thought to Western scholars.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997|pp=558-559}} However, according to Deussen, the Persian translators took great liberties in translating the text and at times changed the meaning.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997|pp=915-916}}

The first Sanskrit to English translation of the [[Aitareya Upanishad]] was made by [[Henry Thomas Colebrooke|Colebrooke]],<ref name=colebrook1858>See Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1858), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=o4tc6WjwJrcC&pg=PA26 Essays on the religion and philosophy of the Hindus]''. London: Williams and Norgate. In this volume, see chapter 1 (pp. 1–69), ''On the Vedas, or Sacred Writings of the Hindus'', reprinted from Colebrooke's ''Asiatic Researches'', Calcutta: 1805, Vol 8, pp. 369–476. A translation of the [[Aitareya Upanishad]] appears in pages 26–30 of this chapter.</ref> in 1805 and the first English translation of the [[Kena Upanishad]] was made by [[Rammohun Roy]] in 1816.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vV_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=Rammohun+Roy,+Translation+of+Upanishad&source=bl&ots=MFrea85aLJ&sig=tTahe6Cvo9Fctja3P7jbGGU5GAc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ycmKU-WICM6PuAS_74GgAQ&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Rammohun%20Roy%2C%20Translation%20of%20Upanishad&f=false||title=Rammohun Roy and the Making of Victorian Britain,By Lynn Zastoupil|accessdate=1 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01011.htm|title=The Upanishads, Part 1, by Max Müller}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Paramananda|first1=Swami|title=The Upanishads|publisher=The Pennsylvania State University|page=7|year=1919|url=http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/upanishads/upanishads1.pdf|accessdate=1 June 2014}}</ref> [[Henry Thomas Colebrooke|Colebrooke]] was aware of 170 Upanishads. Sadhale's catalog from 1985, the {{IAST|''Upaniṣad-vākya-mahā-kośa''}} lists 223 Upanishads.{{sfn|Sadhale|1987}}

The first German translation appeared in 1832 and Roer's English version appeared in 1853. However, Max Mueller's 1879 and 1884 editions were the first systematic English treatment to include the 12 Principal Upanishads.{{sfn|Sharma|1985|p=20}} Other major translations of the Upanishads have been by Robert Ernest Hume (13 Principal Upanishads),<ref>{{citation|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|url=https://archive.org/details/thirteenprincipa028442mbp |title=The Thirteen Principal Upanishads|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1921}}</ref> [[Paul Deussen]] (60 Upanishads),{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule (tr.)|1997}} [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] (18 Upanishads),<ref>{{citation|first=Sarvapalli|last=Radhakrishnan |year=1953|url=https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n5/mode/2up |title=The Principal Upanishads|location=New Delhi|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers (1994 Reprint)|isbn=81-7223-124-5}}</ref> and [[Patrick Olivelle]] (32 Upanishads in two books).{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992}}{{Sfn|Olivelle|1998}}

==Reception in the West==
[[File:Schopenhauer.jpg|right|thumb|German philosopher [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], impressed by the Upanishads, called the texts "the production of the highest human wisdom".]]

The German philosopher [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'' (1819), as well as in his ''[[Parerga and Paralipomena]]'' (1851).{{sfn|Schopenhauer|Payne|2000|p=395}} He found his own philosophy was in accord with the Upanishads, which taught that the individual is a manifestation of the one basis of reality. For Schopenhauer, that fundamentally real underlying unity is what we know in ourselves as "will". Schopenhauer used to keep a copy of the Latin ''Oupnekhet'' by his side and commented,
{{quote|It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death.{{sfn|Schopenhauer|Payne|2000|p=397}}}}

Another German philosopher, [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]], praised the mystical and spiritual aspects of the Upanishads.{{sfn|Singh|p=456-461|1999}} Schelling and other philosophers associated with [[German idealism]] were dissatisfied with [[Christianity]] as propagated by churches. They were fascinated with the Vedas and the Upanishads.{{sfn|Singh|1999|p=456-461}} In the United States, the group known as the [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] were influenced by the German idealists. These Americans, such as [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau|Thoreau]], were not satisfied with traditional Christian mythology and therefore embraced Schelling's interpretation of [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]]'s [[Transcendental idealism]], as well as his celebration of the romantic, exotic, mystical aspect of the Upanishads. As a result of the influence of these writers, the Upanishads gained renown in Western countries.{{sfn|Versluis|1993|pp=69, 76, 95. 106–110}}

One of the great English-language poets of the 20th century, [[T. S. Eliot]], inspired by his reading of the Upanishads, based the final portion of his famous poem ''[[The Waste Land]]'' (1922) upon one of its verses.{{sfn|Eliot|1963}} [[Erwin Schrödinger]], the great quantum physicist said,
{{quote|The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West.{{sfn|Schrödinger|1992|p=129}}}}

[[Eknath Easwaran]], in translating the Upanishads, articulates how they
{{quote|...form snapshots of towering peaks of consciousness taken at various times by different observers and dispatched with just the barest kind of explanation.{{sfn|Easwaran|2007|p=9}}}}

[[Juan Mascaró]] states that the Upanishads represents for the Hindu approximately what the [[New Testament]] represents for the Christian, and that the message of the Upanishads can be summarized in the words, "the kingdom of God is within you".<ref>Juan Mascaró, The Upanishads, Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0140441635, page 7, 146, cover</ref>

[[Paul Deussen]] in his review of the Upanishads, states that the texts emphasize Brahman-Atman as something that can experienced, but not defined.<ref name=pauldeussenreview/> This view of the soul and self are similar, states Deussen, to those found in the dialogues of Plato and elsewhere. The Upanishads insisted on oneness of soul, excluded all plurality, and therefore, all proximity in space, all succession in time, all interdependence as cause and effect, and all opposition as subject and object.<ref name=pauldeussenreview>Paul Deussen, [https://archive.org/stream/philosophyoftheupa00deusuoft#page/n167/mode/2up The Philosophy of the Upanishads] University of Kiel, T&T Clark, pages 150-179</ref> Max Muller, in his review of the Upanishads, summarizes the lack of systematic philosophy and the central theme in the Upanishads as follows,

{{quote|
There is not what could be called a philosophical system in these Upanishads. They are, in the true sense of the word, guesses at truth, frequently contradicting each other, yet all tending in one direction. The key-note of the old Upanishads is "know thyself," but with a much deeper meaning than that of the ''γνῶθι σεαυτόν'' of the [[Know thyself|Delphic Oracle]]. The "know thyself" of the Upanishads means, know thy true self, that which underlines thine Ego, and find it and know it in the highest, the eternal Self, the One without a second, which underlies the whole world.
|[[Max Muller]]<ref name=wdstrappini>WD Strappini, {{Google books|111FAAAAYAAJ|The Upanishads|page=258}}, The Month and Catholic Review, Vol. 23, Issue 42</ref>}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Hinduism}}
*[[100 Most Influential Books Ever Written]]
* [[Bhagavad Gita]]
* [[Hinduism]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

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{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Edgerton |first=Franklin|title=The Beginnings of Indian Philosophy|location=Cambridge|publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1965}}
* {{cite book|last=Embree|first=Ainslie T. | authorlink= Ainslie Embree |title=The Hindu Tradition|location=New York|publisher=Random House|year=1966|isbn=0-394-71702-3}}
* {{cite book|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|url=https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n7/mode/2up |title= The Thirteen Principal Upanishads |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book|first=Charles|last=Johnston|url=https://archive.org/stream/fromupanishadsby00thomiala#page/n9/mode/2up |title=From the Upanishads |publisher=Kshetra Books (Reprinted in 2014) |year=1898|isbn=9781495946530}}
* [[Max Muller|Müller, Max]], translator, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n7/mode/2up ''{{IAST|The Upaniṣads}}'', Part I], New York: Dover Publications (Reprinted in 1962), ISBN 0-486-20992-X
* Müller, Max, translator, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/n7/mode/2up ''{{IAST|The Upaniṣads}}'', Part II], New York: Dover Publications (Reprinted in 1962), ISBN 0-486-20993-8
* {{cite book|first=Sarvapalli|last=Radhakrishnan |year=1953 |title=The Principal Upanishads|location=New Delhi|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India (Reprinted in 1994) |isbn=81-7223-124-5| url = https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n5/mode/2up}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisourcelang|sa|उपनिषत्}}
* [http://www.gayathrimanthra.com/Library.html Complete set of 108 Upanishads and other documents]
* [http://hinduebooks.blogspot.com/2010/09/108-upanishads-with-sanskrit-commentary.html Complete set of 108 Upanishads with Sanskrit Commentaries of Upanishad Brahma Yogin]
* [http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_upanishhat/ Upanishads at Sanskrit documents site]
* [http://www.celextel.org/upanishads/ Complete translation on-line into English of all 108 Upanishads]
* [https://www.academia.edu/19972388/Tripura_Upanishad_English_Translation_Prabuddha_Bharata_January_2016 Complete English Translation of the Tripura Upanishad by Swami Narasimhananda]
* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/upanisad/ The Upaniṣads] article in the ''[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''

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