View source for Upanishads

{{short description|Ancient Sanskrit religious and philosophical texts of Hinduism}}
{{good article}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox religious text
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
| verses = 
| author = 
| image={{multiple image|border=infobox|perrow=2/2|total_width=300
|image1=Guru and DiscipleI.jpg
|alt1=
|image2=Yama teaches Nasiketha.jpg
|alt2=
|image3=Tat tvam asi.jpg
|alt3=in the
|image4=Vajrasuchi Upanishad sample i, Samaveda, Sanskrit, Devanagari script, 1728 CE manuscript.jpg
|alt4=}}
| caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist|
* The encounter of a [[Guru|teacher]] and a [[Shishya|disciple]], giving rise to the etymology of the term "Upanishad"
* [[Yama]] teaches [[Nachiketa]] in the [[Katha Upanishad]]
* A manuscript of the minor [[Vajrasuchi Upanishad]]
* The Upanishadic phrase "Tat Tvam Asi" displayed at the [[Sabarimala temple]] in Kerala
}}
| language = [[Sanskrit]] 
}}
{{Hindu scriptures}}
{{Contains special characters|Indic}}

The '''Upanishads''' ({{IPAc-en|ʊ|ˈ|p|ʌ|n|ɪ|ʃ|ʌ|d|z}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/upanishad "Upanishad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140920223325/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/upanishad |date=20 September 2014 }}. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{langx|sa|उपनिषद्}}, {{IAST3|Upaniṣad}}, {{IPA|sa|ˈupɐniʂɐd|pron}}) are [[Sanskrit]] texts of the [[Vedic period|late Vedic]] and post-Vedic periods that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the [[Vedas|Veda]] into new religious ideas and institutions"{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=xxiii}} and the emergence of the central religious concepts of [[Hinduism]].{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=xxiii}}{{refn|group=note|name="Central concepts"}} They are the most recent addition to the [[Vedas]], the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, and deal with [[meditation]], [[Indian philosophy|philosophy]], [[consciousness]], and [[Ontology|ontological]] knowledge. Earlier parts of the Vedas dealt with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices.{{sfnp|Flood|1996|p=35–39}}<ref name="A Bhattacharya 2006 pp. 8–14">A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology'', {{ISBN|978-0595384556}}, pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|978-0195332612}}, p. 285</ref><ref name="Jan Gonda 1975">Jan Gonda (1975), ''Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas)'', Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3447016032}}</ref>

While among the most important literature in the history of Indian religions and culture, the Upanishads document a wide variety of "rites, incantations, and esoteric knowledge"{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=51}} departing from Vedic ritualism and interpreted in various ways in the later commentarial traditions. The Upanishads are widely known, and their diverse ideas, interpreted in various ways, informed later traditions of Hinduism.{{refn|group=note|name="Central concepts"}} The central concern of all Upanishads is to discover the relations between ritual, cosmic realities (including gods), and the human body/person,{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=lii}} postulating [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] and [[Brahman]] as the "summit of the hierarchically arranged and interconnected universe",{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=lv}}{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=59}}{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}} but various ideas about the relation between Atman and Brahman can be found.{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}}{{refn|group=note|name=Olivelle_plurality}}

108 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 ''mukhya'' Upanishads predate the [[Common Era]], but there is no scholarly consensus on their date, or even on which ones are pre- or post-Buddhist. The [[Brhadaranyaka Upanishad|''Brhadaranyaka'']] is seen as particularly ancient by modern scholars.<ref name=olivelleintro/>{{sfn|King|1995|p=52}}<ref name="Bronkhorst">Bronkhorst, Johannes (2007). ''Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India'', pp. 258-259. BRILL.</ref> Of the remainder, 95 Upanishads are part of the [[Muktikā]] 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 that are unconnected to the Vedas.{{sfn|Varghese|2008|p=101}} The ''mukhya'' Upanishads, along with the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' and the [[Brahmasutra]] (known collectively as the ''[[Prasthanatrayi]]''),{{sfn|Ranade|1926|p=205}} are interpreted in divergent ways in the several later schools of [[Vedanta]].{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}}{{refn|group=note|Vedanta has been interpreted as the "last chapters, parts of the [[Vedas|Veda]]" and alternatively as "object, the highest purpose of the Veda".}}<ref>Max Müller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n93/mode/2up ''The Upanishads''], Part 1, Oxford University Press, page LXXXVI footnote 1</ref>

Translations of the Upanishads in the early 19th century started to attract attention from a Western audience. German philosopher [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] was deeply impressed by the Upanishads and called them "the most profitable and elevating reading which ... is possible in the world."<ref>{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=John James |year=1997 |title=Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter Between Asian and Western Thought |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YOGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |location=[[Abingdon-on-Thames|Abingdon, Oxfordshire]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=68 |isbn=978-0-415-13376-0 |access-date=31 March 2020 |archive-date=17 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517134927/https://books.google.com/books?id=8YOGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |url-status=live }}</ref> Modern era [[Indology|Indologists]] have discussed the similarities between the fundamental concepts in the Upanishads and the works of major [[Western philosophers]].{{sfn|Deussen|2010|p=42, Quote: "Here we have to do with the Upanishads, and the world-wide historical significance of these documents cannot, in our judgement, be more clearly indicated than by showing how the deep fundamental conception of Plato and Kant was precisely that which already formed the basis of Upanishad teaching".}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Lawrence Hatab|editor=R. Baine Harris|title=Neoplatonism and Indian Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D3C1XktpnWIC&pg=PA31|year=1982|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-546-1|pages=31–38|access-date=4 November 2016|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517134922/https://books.google.com/books?id=D3C1XktpnWIC&pg=PA31|url-status=live}};<br>{{cite book|author=Paulos Gregorios|title=Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7wCKJZC3XsC|year=2002|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5274-5|pages=71–79, 190–192, 210–214}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ben-Ami Scharfstein|title=A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZQy2lu70bwC|year=1998|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-3683-7|pages=62–74|access-date=4 November 2016|archive-date=18 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218014934/https://books.google.com/books?id=iZQy2lu70bwC|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The [[Sanskrit]] term ''{{IAST|Upaniṣad}}'' originally meant “connection” or “equivalence",{{sfnp|Doniger|Gold|Smith|2023}} but came to be understood as "sitting near a teacher,"{{sfnp|Doniger|Gold|Smith|2023}} from ''upa'' "by" and ''ni-ṣad'' "sit down",<ref>[https://www.etymonline.com/word/upanishad "Upanishad"]. [[Online Etymology Dictionary]].</ref> "sitting down near", referring to the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving spiritual knowledge (Gurumukh).<ref name="EoH 472">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Constance|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|year=2007|publisher=Infobase Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-0816073368|pages=472}}</ref> Other dictionary meanings include "esoteric doctrine" and "secret doctrine". [[Monier-Williams]]' ''Sanskrit Dictionary'' notes – "According to native authorities, Upanishad means setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit."{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1976|p=201}}

[[Adi Shankara]]charya 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 Brahman". The word appears in the verses of many Upanishads, such as the fourth verse of the 13th volume in the first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. [[Max Müller]] as well as [[Paul Deussen]] translate the word ''Upanishad'' in these verses as "secret doctrine",<ref>Max Müller, [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>{{cite book|title=The Early Upanishads|url=https://archive.org/details/TheEarlyUpanisads/page/n207/mode/2up|page=185}}</ref>

==Development==

===Authorship===
The authorship of most Upanishads is unknown. [[Sarvapalli 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 ancient Upanishads are embedded in the Vedas, the oldest of Hinduism's religious scriptures, which some traditionally consider to be ''[[apauruṣeya]]'', which means "not of a man, superhuman"<ref>Vaman Shivaram Apte, [http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/sktdic/ ''The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515160048/http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/sktdic/ |date=15 May 2015 }}, see apauruSeya</ref> and "impersonal, authorless".<ref>D Sharma, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN, pages 196-197</ref><ref>Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195384963}}, page 290</ref><ref>Warren Lee Todd (2013), The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva: A Selfless Response to an Illusory World, {{ISBN|978-1409466819}}, page 128</ref> The Vedic texts assert that they were skillfully created by ''[[Rishi]]s'' (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.<ref name=scharfe>Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004125568}}, pages 13-14</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 Vachaknavi|Gargi]], participate in the dialogues and are also credited in the early Upanishads.<ref>Ellison Findly (1999), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25002352 Women and the Arahant Issue in Early Pali Literature] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604033550/http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002352 |date=4 June 2016 }}, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 15, No. 1, pages 57-76</ref> There are some exceptions to the anonymous tradition of the Upanishads. 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>

Many 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. There are 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 meter,<ref>Max Müller, {{Google books|l1ApAAAAYAAJ|The Upanishads|page=PR72}}, Oxford University Press, page LXXII</ref> style, grammar and 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 existing texts are 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 when the Upanishads were composed.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=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}}, pp. 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}}, pages 12-14.</ref>

Some scholars have tried to analyse similarities between Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist literature to establish chronology for the Upanishads.{{sfn|King|1995|p=52}} Precise dates are impossible, and most scholars give only broad ranges encompassing various centuries. [[Gavin Flood]] states that "the Upanisads are not a homogeneous group of texts. Even the older texts were composed over a wide expanse of time from about 600 to 300 BCE."<ref>Flood, Gavin D. (2018). ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', p. 40, Cambridge University Press.</ref> Stephen Phillips places the early or "principal" Upanishads in the 800 to 300 BCE range.<ref name="stephenphillips" />

[[Patrick Olivelle]], a Sanskrit [[Philology|Philologist]] and [[Indology|Indologist]], gives the following chronology for the early Upanishads, also called the [[Principal Upanishads]]:{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=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|1995|p=52}}
* The three other early prose Upanishads—''Taittiriya, Aitareya'', and ''Kausitaki'' come next; all are probably pre-Buddhist and can be assigned to the 6th to 5th centuries BCE.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), ''The Early Upanishads,'' Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195124354}}, pp. 12-13.</ref>
* The Kena is the oldest of the verse Upanishads followed by probably the Katha, Isa, [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad|Svetasvatara]], and Mundaka. All these Upanishads were composed probably in the last few centuries BCE.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Upanishad|title=Upanishad &#124; Hindu religious text &#124; Britannica|website=www.britannica.com|date=23 May 2023 }}</ref> According to Olivelle, "All exhibit strong [[Theism|theistic]] tendencies and are probably the earliest literary products of the theistic tradition, whose later literature includes the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas."<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), ''The Early Upanishads,'' Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195124354}}, p. 13.</ref> 
* The two late prose Upanishads, the Prasna and the Mandukya, cannot be much older than the beginning of the common era.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=12-13}}<ref name="olivelleintro" />
Meanwhile, the Indologist [[Johannes Bronkhorst]] argues for a later date for the Upanishads than has generally been accepted. Bronkhorst places even the oldest of the Upanishads, such as the ''Brhadaranyaka'' as possibly still being composed at "a date close to [[Kātyāyana|Katyayana]] and [[Mahābhāṣya|Patañjali]] [the grammarian]" (i.e., {{circa}} 2nd century BCE).<ref name="Bronkhorst" />

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===
[[File:Late Vedic Culture (1100-500 BCE).png|thumb|400px|right|Geography of the Late Vedic Period]]
The general area of the composition of the early Upanishads is considered as northern India. The region is 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/> Scholars are reasonably sure that the early Upanishads were produced at the geographical center of ancient Brahmanism, [[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru]]-[[Panchala]], and [[Kosala]]-[[Videha]], a "frontier region" of Brahmanism, together with the areas immediately to the south and west of these.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=xxxvii-xxxix}} 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 eastern location in the 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 the 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, the ''{{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. 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 Upanishads | publisher = Jain Publishing (Reprint 2007) | isbn = 978-0895819833 |first = T. R. Srinivasa | last= Ayyangar |year = 1941 | oclc = 27193914 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Deussen|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 |access-date=8 March 2016 |archive-date=14 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514224113/https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC&pg=PA111 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Ayyangar| first = TRS| year=1953| title=Saiva Upanishads| publisher = Jain Publishing Co. (Reprint 2007)|isbn= 978-0895819819|pages=194–196}}</ref>

===Principal Upanishads===
{{Main|Principal Upanishads}}
The Principal Upanishads, also known as 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]] ({{circa}} 500 BCE){{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=3–4}}|group=note}}

[[File:MS Indic 37, Isa upanisad. Wellcome L0027330.jpg|thumb|A page of ''[[Isha Upanishad]]'' manuscript]]
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]]. One chronology assumes that the ''Aitareya, Taittiriya, Kausitaki, Mundaka, Prasna'', and ''Katha Upanishads'' has Buddha's influence, and is consequently placed after the 5th century BCE, while another proposal questions this assumption and dates it independent of Buddha's date of birth. The ''Kena'', ''Mandukya,'' and ''Isa Upanishads'' are typically placed after these Principal Upanishads, but other scholars date these differently.{{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}}

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

===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 of them, namely 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 the Upanishads.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=xxxii-xxxiii}} These lists associated each Upanishad with one of the four Vedas. Many such lists exist but they 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]], 18 as [[Sannyāsa]],<ref name=olivellesamnyasa/> 14 as [[Vaishnava]], 14 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/>

{| 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]]
|-
|Sāmaveda||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]]
|-
|Kṛṣṇa 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]], [[Mahanarayana Upanishad|Mahānārāyaṇa (Tripād vibhuti)]],||[[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]]
|-
|Śukla 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]]||[[Jabala Upanishad|Jābāla]], [[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 Upanishad|Paramahamsa]], [[Paramahamsa Parivrajaka Upanishad|Paramahaṃsa parivrājaka]], [[Parabrahma Upanishad|Parabrahma]]||[[Sita Upanishad|Sītā]], [[Devi Upanishad|Devī]], [[Tripuratapini Upanishad|Tripurātapini]], [[Bhavana Upanishad|Bhāvana]]||[[Nrisimha Tapaniya Upanishad|Nṛsiṃhatāpanī]], [[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 Upaniṣads|| 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"|18||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|8 ||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|14||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|14 ||style="background: #FFCC88; color: black"|20
|}

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

The central concern of all Upanishads is to discover the relations between ritual, cosmic realities (including gods), and the human body/person,{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=lii}} postulating [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] and [[Brahman]] as the "summit of the hierarchically arranged and interconnected universe,"{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=lv}}{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=59}}{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}} but various ideas about the relation between Atman and Brahman can be found.{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}}{{refn|group=note|name=Olivelle_plurality}}

The Upanishads reflect a pluralism of worldviews. While some Upanishads have been deemed 'monistic', others, including the [[Katha Upanishad]], are [[Dualism (Indian philosophy)|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|name=Olivelle_plurality|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}}}}

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 declarations 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)#Hinduism|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 Müller (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]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 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>

{{Blockquote|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]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} EB Cowell (Translator), Cambridge University, Bibliotheca Indica, First Prapathaka</ref> meditate on the Self, to become complete and perfect. But who is to be meditated on?
|Maitri Upanishad<ref>Max Müller, 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), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27902516 Consciousness and Brahman-Atman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804092021/http://www.jstor.org/stable/27902516 |date=4 August 2016 }}, The Monist, Vol. 61, No. 1, Conceptions of the Self: East & West (January, 1978), pages 109-124</ref>

According to [[K. N. Jayatilleke|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 fails to find an empirical correlate of the assumed Atman, but nevertheless assumes its existence,{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|pp=39}} "[reifying] consciousness as an eternal self."{{sfn|Mackenzie|2012}} The Buddhist inquiry "is satisfied with the empirical investigation which shows that no such Atman exists because there is no evidence," states Jayatilleke.{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|pp=39}}

===Atman and Brahman ===
{{main|Ātman (Hinduism)|Brahman}}

The Upanishads postulate [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] and [[Brahman]] as the "summit of the hierarchically arranged and interconnected universe."{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=lv}}{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=59}}{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}} Both have multiple meanings,{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=lvi}} and various ideas about the relation between Atman and Brahman can be found.{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}}{{refn|group=note|name=Olivelle_plurality}}

Atman has "a wide range of lexical meanings, including ‘breath’, ‘spirit’, and ‘body’."{{sfn|Black|}} In the Upanishads it refers to the body, but also to the essence of the concrete physical human body,{{sfn|Olivelle|1996|p=lv}} "an essence, a life-force, consciousness, or ultimate reality."{{sfn|Black|}} The Chāndogya Upaniṣhad (6.1-16) "offers an organic understanding of ātman, characterizing the self in terms of the life force that animates all living beings," while the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣhad "characterizes ātman more in terms of consciousness than as a life-giving essence."{{sfn|Black|}}

Brahman may refer to a "formulation of truth," but also to "the ultimate and basic essence of the cosmos," standing at the "summit of the hierarchical scheme, or at the bottom as the ultimate foundation of all things."{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=lvi}} Brahman is "beyond the reach of human perception and thought."{{sfnp|Brodd|2009|p=43-47}} Atman likewise has multiple meanings, one of them being 'self', the inner essence of a human body/person.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=lv}}{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002|p=122}}{{refn|group=note|name=scholarsatman3}}

Various ideas about the relation between Atman and Brahman can be found.{{sfnp|Raju|1985|p=35-36}}{{refn|group=note|name=Olivelle_plurality}} Two distinct, somewhat divergent themes stand out. Older upanishads state that ''Atman'' is part of Brahman but not identical, while younger Upanishads state that Brahman (Highest Reality, Universal Principle, Being-Consciousness-Bliss) is identical with ''Atman''.<ref name=johnkoller/><ref>[[Paul Deussen]], {{Google books|B0QzAQAAMAAJ|The Philosophy of the Upanishads}}, Dover Publications, pages 86-111, 182-212</ref> The [[Brahmasutra]] by Badarayana ({{circa}} 100 BCE) synthesized and unified these somewhat conflicting theories. According to Nakamura, the Brahmasutras see Atman and Brahman as both different and not-different, a point of view which came to be called ''[[bhedabheda]]'' in later times.<ref>Nakamura (1990), ''A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy'', p.500. Motilall Banarsidas</ref> According to Koller, the Brahmasutras state 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> This ancient debate flowered into various dual, non-dual theories in Hinduism.

===Reality and Maya===
{{main|Maya (illusion)}}
Two different types of the non-dual Brahman-Atman are presented in the Upanishads, according to Mahadevan. The one in which the non-dual Brahman-Atman is the all-inclusive ground of the universe and another in which empirical, changing reality is an appearance (Maya).{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|pp=62-63}}

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.{{refn|group=note|name=Olivelle_plurality}}{{refn|group=note|name=Collins}} The schools of Vedānta seek to answer questions about the relation between 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 [[Nimbarkacharya]]'s ''[[Svabhavika Bhedabheda]]'', [[Vallabha]]'s ''Suddhadvaita'', and Chaitanya's ''Acintya [[Bhedabheda]]''.{{sfn|Ranade|1926|pp=179–182}} The philosopher [[Adi Shankara]] 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 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]] (8th century CE).{{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 that Atman (soul, self) exists, whereas 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 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?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913132314/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=13 September 2017 }}, 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>

Shankara used four sentences from the Upanishads, called the [[Mahavakyas|Mahāvākyas]] (Great Sayings), 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}}

=== Bhedabheda ===
Vijñānabhikṣu countered Advaita emphasis on non-difference of the self and Brahman by pointing to statements from the Upanishads that support difference.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nicholson |first=Andrew J. |date=2007-08-01 |title=Reconciling dualism and non-dualism: three arguments in Vijñānabhikṣu’s Bhedābheda Vedānta |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10781-007-9016-6 |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |language=en |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=377–378 |doi=10.1007/s10781-007-9016-6 |issn=1573-0395|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Vishishtadvaita===
[[Ramanuja]] (1017–1137 CE), the main proponent of the Vishishtadvaita philosophy, disagreed with Adi Shankara and the Advaita school.{{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 frequently cited the Upanishads, and stated 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><ref name=fowlerr299>{{cite book|author=Jeaneane D. Fowler|title=Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C|year=2002|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-93-6|pages=298–299, 320–321, 331 with notes|access-date=3 November 2016|archive-date=22 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122065042/https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita interpretation of the Upanishads is that of qualified [[monism]].<ref name=williamindichcav1>{{cite book|author=William M. Indich|title=Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ykZjWOiBMoC|year=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1251-2|pages=1–2, 97–102|access-date=3 November 2016|archive-date=13 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213135335/https://books.google.com/books?id=7ykZjWOiBMoC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=brucesullivan239>{{cite book|author=Bruce M. Sullivan|title=The A to Z of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xU4ZdatgRysC|year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-4070-6|page=239|access-date=3 November 2016|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415064539/https://books.google.com/books?id=xU4ZdatgRysC|url-status=live}}</ref> Ramanuja interprets the Upanishadic literature to be teaching a body-soul theory, states Jeaneane Fowler – a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, where the Brahman is the dweller in all things, yet also distinct and beyond all things, as the soul, the inner controller, the immortal.<ref name=fowlerr299/> The Upanishads, according to the Vishishtadvaita school, teach individual souls to be of the same quality as the Brahman, but quantitatively distinct.<ref name=staffordbetty215>Stafford Betty (2010), Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita: Contrasting Views of Mokṣa, Asian Philosophy: An International Journal of the Philosophical Traditions of the East, Volume 20, Issue 2, pages 215-224</ref><ref>Edward Craig (2000), Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415223645}}, pages 517-518</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sharma |first=Chandradhar |title=A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy|year= 1994|publisher= Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-0365-5 | pages=373–374}}</ref>

In the Vishishtadvaita school, the Upanishads are interpreted to be teaching about [[Ishvara]] (Vishnu), who is the seat of all auspicious qualities, with all of the empirically perceived world as the body of God who dwells in everything.<ref name=fowlerr299/> The school recommends a devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of a personal god. This ultimately leads one to the oneness with abstract Brahman.<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp/><ref name="Sydnor2012p20">{{cite book|author=Jon Paul Sydnor|title=Ramanuja and Schleiermacher: Toward a Constructive Comparative Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4FBAAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=Casemate|isbn=978-0227680247|pages=20–22 with footnote 32|access-date=3 November 2016|archive-date=3 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103173247/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4FBAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=joeschultz81>{{cite book|author=Joseph P. Schultz|title=Judaism and the Gentile Faiths: Comparative Studies in Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dchpiP-9YQAC|year=1981|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|isbn=978-0-8386-1707-6|pages=81–84|access-date=3 November 2016|archive-date=3 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103172821/https://books.google.com/books?id=dchpiP-9YQAC|url-status=live}}</ref> The Brahman in the Upanishads is a living reality, states Fowler, and "the Atman of all things and all beings" in Ramanuja's interpretation.<ref name=fowlerr299/>

===Dvaita===
The Dvaita school was founded by [[Madhvacharya]] (1199–1278 CE).{{sfn|Raghavendrachar|1956|p=322}} It is regarded as a strongly theistic philosophic exposition of the Upanishads.{{sfn|Chari|1956|p=305}} Madhvacharya, much like Adi Shankara claims for Advaita, and Ramanuja claims for Vishishtadvaita, states that his theistic Dvaita Vedanta is grounded in the Upanishads.<ref name=staffordbetty/>

According to the Dvaita school, states Fowler, the "Upanishads that speak of the soul as Brahman, speak of resemblance and not identity".<ref name="Fowler2002p356">{{cite book|author=Jeaneane D. Fowler|title=Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C|year=2002|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-93-6|pages=356–357|access-date=3 November 2016|archive-date=22 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122065042/https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C|url-status=live}}</ref> Madhvacharya interprets the Upanishadic teachings of the self becoming one with Brahman, as "entering into Brahman", just like a drop enters an ocean. This to the Dvaita school implies duality and dependence, where Brahman and Atman are different realities. Brahman is a separate, independent and supreme reality in the Upanishads, Atman only resembles the Brahman in limited, inferior, dependent manner according to [[Madhvacharya]].<ref name="Fowler2002p356"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Madhva (1238–1317) |first=Valerie |last=Stoker |publisher=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |year=2011 |access-date=2 November 2016 |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/madhva/ |archive-date=12 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012131604/http://www.iep.utm.edu/madhva/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Edwin |last= Bryant| title=Krishna : A Sourcebook (Chapter 15 by Deepak Sarma)| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 2007| isbn= 978-0195148923|pages=358–359}}</ref>

Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualism Vedanta schools,<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp>J.A.B. van Buitenen (2008), [http://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramanuja Ramanuja - Hindu theologian and Philosopher] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006100847/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramanuja |date=6 October 2016 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> both are premised on the assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya believed that some souls are eternally doomed and damned.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sharma |first=Chandradhar |title=A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy|year= 1994|publisher= Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-0365-5 | pages=374–375}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Edwin |last= Bryant| title=Krishna : A Sourcebook (Chapter 15 by Deepak Sarma)| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 2007| isbn= 978-0195148923|pages=361–362}}</ref>

==Similarities with Platonic thought==
{{See also|Proto-Indo-European religion|Ṛta|}}

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 ''[[Guṇa]]s'' in the Indian philosophy of [[Samkhya]].{{sfn|Chousalkar|1986|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}}}}

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|1986|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>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 [[Mughal emperors|Mughal Emperor]] [[Akbar]]'s reign (1556–1586) saw the first translations of the Upanishads into Persian.{{sfn|Müller|1900|p=lvii}}{{sfn|Müller|1899|p=204}} His great-grandson, [[Dara Shukoh]], produced a collection called ''[[Sirr-i-Akbar]]'' in 1656, wherein 50 Upanishads were translated from Sanskrit into [[Persian language|Persian]].{{Sfn|Deussen|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|1997|pp=558-59}}{{sfn|Müller|1900|p=lvii}} The French translation was never published.{{sfn|Müller|1900|p=lviii}} More recently, several translations in French of some Upanishads or the whole of 108 have been published : by indianists [[Louis Renou]], ''Kausitaki, Svetasvatra, Prasna, Taittiriya Upanisads'', 1948;<ref>{{cite book|language=fr |author=[[Louis Renou]] | title= Kausitaki, Svetasvatra, Prasna, Taittiriya Upanisads | place=Paris |editor=Adrien Maisonneuve  | date=1948 | pages=268 |isbn=978-2-7200-0972-3 }}.</ref> [[Jean Varenne]], ''Mahâ-Nârâyana Upanisad'', 1960,<ref>{{cite book|language=fr |author=[[Jean Varenne]] | title=Mahâ-Nârâyana Upanisad, 2 vol. | place=Paris |editor= Éditions de Boccard  | date=1960| pages=155 and 144 |isbn= }} Reprint in 1986.</ref> and ''Sept Upanishads'', 1981;<ref>{{cite book|language=fr |author=[[Jean Varenne]] | title=Sept Upanishads | place=Paris |editor=[[Éditions du Seuil|Seuil]]  | date=1981| pages=227 |isbn=9782020058728 }}.</ref> Alyette Degrâces-Fadh, ''Samnyâsa-Upanisad (Upanisad du renoncement)'', 1989;<ref>{{cite book|language=fr |author=Alyette Degrâces-Fadh | title= Samnyâsa-Upanisad (Upanisad du renoncement) | place=Paris |editor=Fayard  | date=1989 | pages=461 |isbn=9782213018782}}.</ref> Martine Buttex, ''Les 108 Upanishads'' (full translation), 2012.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|author=Martine Buttex|title=Les 108 Upanishads|place=Paris|editor=Éditions Dervy|date=2012|pages=1400 | isbn= 978-2-84454-949-5}}.</ref>
 
The Latin version was the initial introduction of the Upanishadic thought to Western scholars.{{Sfn|Deussen|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|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://archive.org/details/essaysonreligio01colegoog/page/n38 <!-- pg=26 --> 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|title=Rammohun Roy and the Making of Victorian Britain, By Lynn Zastoupil|access-date=1 June 2014|isbn=9780230111493|last1=Zastoupil|first1=L|year=2010|publisher=Springer |archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002082612/https://books.google.com/books?id=vV_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01011.htm|title=The Upanishads, Part 1, by Max Müller|access-date=2 June 2014|archive-date=29 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729182732/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01011.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

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|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> [[Patrick Olivelle]] (32 Upanishads in two books){{Sfn|Olivelle|1992}}{{Sfn|Olivelle|1998}} and Bhānu Swami (13 Upanishads with commentaries of Vaiṣṇava ācāryas). Olivelle's translation won the 1998 A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aasianst.org/book-prizes-ramanujan.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020625104035/http://www.aasianst.org/book-prizes-ramanujan.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-06-25|title=AAS SAC A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation|publisher=Association of Asian Studies|date=2002-06-25|access-date=2018-11-27}}</ref>

Throughout the 1930s, [[List of Irish poets|Irish poet]] [[W. B. Yeats]] worked with the Indian-born [[sadhu|mendicant]]-teacher [[Shri Purohit Swami]] on their own translation of the Upanishads, eventually titled ''[[The Ten Principal Upanishads]]'' and published in 1938. This translation was the final piece of work published by Yeats before his death less than a year later.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead%2Fmss0126.xml%3Btab%3Dprint |title=William Butler Yeats papers |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=library.udel.edu |publisher=University of Delaware |access-date=30 October 2020 |archive-date=2 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102123314/https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead%2Fmss0126.xml%3Btab%3Dprint |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Reception in the West==
[[File:Schopenhauer by Jules Lunteschütz.jpg|right|thumb|German 19th century 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 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,
{{blockquote|In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death.{{sfn|Schopenhauer|Payne|2000|p=397}}}}

Schopenhauer's philosophy influenced many famous people and introduced them to the Upanishads. One of them was the Austrian Physicist [[Erwin Schrödinger]], who once wrote:

{{Blockquote|text=“There is obviously only one alternative,” he wrote, “namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads.”<ref>{{Citation|last1=Schrodinger|first1=Erwin|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107295629.016|work=What is Life?|pages=140–152|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-29562-9|access-date=2021-05-10|last2=Penrose|first2=Roger|title=Science and Religion|year=2012|doi=10.1017/cbo9781107295629.016|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002082617/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/what-is-life/science-and-religion/A4777179321044F6045B30F3AF85D667|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>}}

Another German philosopher, [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]], praised the ideas in the Upanishads,<ref>{{cite book|author=Herman Wayne Tull|title=The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auqGWz2l9pYC&pg=PA14|year=1989|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-0094-4|pages=14–15|access-date=4 November 2016|archive-date=8 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608205943/https://books.google.com/books?id=auqGWz2l9pYC&pg=PA14|url-status=live}}</ref> as did others.<ref>{{cite book|author=Klaus G. Witz|title=The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jnPlEqwe_UC&pg=PA35|year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1573-5|pages=35–44|access-date=4 November 2016|archive-date=9 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609142049/https://books.google.com/books?id=2jnPlEqwe_UC&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref> In the United States, the group known as the [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] were influenced by the German idealists. Americans, such as [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau|Thoreau]] 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}}

The poet [[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}} According to [[Eknath Easwaran]], the Upanishads are snapshots of towering peaks of consciousness.{{sfn|Easwaran|2007|p=9}}

[[Juan Mascaró]], a professor at the University of Barcelona and a translator of the Upanishads, 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 be 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 Müller, in his review of the Upanishads, summarizes the lack of systematic philosophy and the central theme in the Upanishads as follows,

{{blockquote|
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 Müller]]}}

The English composer [[Gustav Holst]] based several works on Ancient Indian texts, including ''[[Hymns from the Rig Veda]]'', ''[[The Cloud Messenger (music)|The Cloud Messenger]]'' and the opera ''[[Sāvitri (opera)|Sāvitri]]''. The Upanishads was one of a small number of books that Holst kept with him for his whole life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Head |first=Raymond |date=1988 |title=Holst and India (III) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/945908 |journal=Tempo |issue=166 |pages=35–40 |issn=0040-2982}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Hinduism}}
* ''[[The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written]]''
* [[Bhagavad Gita]]
* [[Hinduism]]
* [[Prasthanatrayi]]
* [[Principal Upanishads]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note|35em|refs=
<!-- A -->
<!-- Advaita_monism
{{refn|group=note|name=Advaita_monism|Advaita Vedanta as monism or nondualism:
* {{harvnb|Cornille|1992|p=12}}''Advaita Vedanta'', summarized by Shankara (788–820), advances a non-dualistic (''a-dvaita'') interpretation of the Upanishads."
* {{harvnb|Phillips|1995|p=10}} "These Upanishadic ideas are developed into Advaita monism. Brahman's unity comes to be taken to mean that appearances of individualities.}} -->
<!-- C -->
<!-- "Central concepts" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="Central concepts"|Central concepts:<br>
* {{harvtxt|Doniger|1990|p=2-3}}: "The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they 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."
* {{harvtxt|Dissanayake|1993|p=39}}: "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought";
* Patrick Olivelle (2014), ''The Early Upanisads'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195352429}}, page 3: "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";
* Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-1592578467}}, pages 208-210.
These new concepts and practices include rebirth, samsara, karma, meditation, renunciation and moksha.{{harv|Olivelle|1998|pp=xx-xxiv}} 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 (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] at the central Ganges Plain formed the center of the other [[shramanic]] traditions.{{harv|Samuel|2010}}}}
<!-- Collins -->
{{refn|group=note|name=Collins|{{harvnb|Collins|2000|p=195}}: "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."}}
<!-- S -->
<-- scholarsatman3 -->
{{refn|group=note|name=scholarsatman3|Atman:<br>
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141230210157/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/atman Atman], Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press (2012): "1. real self of the individual; 2. a person's soul";
* John Bowker (2000), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0192800947}}, See entry for Atman;
* WJ Johnson (2009), A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0198610250}}, See entry for Atman (self);
* Richard King (1995), Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791425138}}, page 64 "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".
* Chad Meister (2010), The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195340136}}, page 63: "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."
*David Lorenzen (2004), The Hindu World (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415215277}}, pages 208-209: "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".}}
}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin|40em}}
<!-- B -->
* {{Citation | last =Black | first =Brian | title =The Upaniṣads | publisher = Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy | url =https://iep.utm.edu/upanisad/#SH11b}}
* {{Citation | last =Brodd | first =Jeffrey | year =2009 | title =World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery | publisher =Saint Mary's Press | isbn =978-0884899976}}
* {{Citation |last =Brooks |first=Douglas Renfrew |title = The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Shakta Tantrism |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=1990 }}
<!-- C -->
* {{Citation|last=Chari|first=P. N. Srinivasa|year=1956|title=History of Philosophy Eastern and Western|editor=Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan}}
* {{Citation|last=Chousalkar|first=Ashok|year=1986|title=Social and Political Implications of Concepts Of Justice And Dharma|publisher=Mittal Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsGJNVUMigAC|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002082626/https://books.google.com/books?id=bsGJNVUMigAC|url-status=live}}
* {{Citation|year=2000|last=Collins|first=Randall|title=The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=0-674-00187-7}}
<!-- D -->
* {{Citation | last =Deussen | first =Paul | author-link =Paul Deussen | title =The philosophy of the Upanishads | others = Alfred Shenington Geden | publisher=T. & T. Clark|year=1908|isbn=0-7661-5470-X}}
* {{cite book | last =Deussen | first =Paul |year=1997 | title =Sixty Upanishads of the Veda | volume =2 | translator1-last =Bedekar | translator1-first =V.M. | translator2-last =Palsule | translator2-first =G.B. | publisher =Motilal Banarsidass | isbn =978-81-208-1467-7}}
* {{Citation |last = Deussen |first = P. |year = 2010 |title = The Philosophy of the Upanishads |publisher = Cosimo |isbn = 978-1-61640-239-6 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k_Bea7AXHY4C&pg=PA42 }}
* {{Citation | last =Dissanayake | first =Wiman | year =1993 | chapter =Introduction to Part Two | editor-last1 =Kasulis | editor-first1 =Thomas P. | title =Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice | publisher =State University of New York Press | isbn =978-0791410806}}
* {{Citation | last =Doniger | first =Wendy | year =1990 | title =Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism | edition =1st | publisher =University of Chicago Press | isbn =978-0226618470}}
* {{Citation | last1 =Doniger | first1 =Wendy | last2 =Gold | first2 =Ann G. | last3 =Smith | first3 =Brian K. | year =2023 | title =Hinduism - The Upanishads | publisher =Encyclopedia Britannica | url =https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hinduism/The-Upanishads}}
<!-- E -->
* {{Citation|last=Easwaran|first=Eknath|year=2007|author-link=Eknath Easwaran|title=The Upanishads|publisher=Nilgiri Press|isbn=978-1-58638-021-2}}
* {{Citation|last=Eliot|first=T. S.|year=1963|author-link=T. S. Eliot|title=Collected Poems, 1909-1962|publisher=Harcourt, Brace & World|location=New York|isbn=0-15-118978-1|url=https://archive.org/details/collectedpoems00elio}}
* {{Citation|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/6636/Advaita|access-date=10 August 2010|author=Encyclopædia Britannica|title=Advaita|archive-date=5 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505054114/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/6636/Advaita|url-status=live}}
<!-- F -->
* {{Citation|first=Gregory P|last=Fields|title=Religious Therapeutics: Body and Health in Yoga, Āyurveda, and Tantra|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2001|isbn=0-7914-4916-5}}
* {{Citation | last = Flood | first = Gavin D. | author-link = Gavin Flood | year = 1996 | title = An Introduction to Hinduism | publisher = Cambridge University Press | isbn = 978-0521438780 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo }}
<!-- G -->
* {{Citation|last=Glucklich|first=Ariel|title=The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008|isbn=978-0-19-531405-2}}
<!-- H -->
* {{Citation|title=Indian religions: a historical reader of spiritual expression and experience|first=Peter|last=Heehs|publisher=NYU Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8147-3650-0}}
* {{Citation |last=Holdrege |first=Barbara A. |title=Veda and Torah |year=1995 |publisher= SUNY Press |location=Albany |isbn=0-7914-1639-9 }}
<!-- J -->
* {{Citation |last=Jayatilleke |first=K.N. |title=Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge |year=1963 |edition=1st |publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd. |location=London |url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge_Jayatilleke.pdf |access-date=28 December 2015 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224184220/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge_Jayatilleke.pdf%20 |url-status=dead }}
* {{Citation |title=The Veda and Indian culture: an introductory essay |first=Kireet |last=Joshi |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1994 |isbn=978-81-208-0889-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1CJlM2nhlt0C |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=24 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124084432/https://books.google.com/books?id=1CJlM2nhlt0C |url-status=live }}
<!-- K -->
* {{cite book |last = Keith |first = Arthur Berriedale |author-link = Arthur Berriedale Keith |title = The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=p9zCbRMQbyEC |year = 2007 |publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |isbn = 978-81-208-0644-3 |access-date = 15 November 2015 |archive-date = 30 June 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200630080410/https://books.google.com/books?id=p9zCbRMQbyEC |url-status = live }}
* {{citation|first=Richard|last=King|title=Indian philosophy: an introduction to Hindu and Buddhist thought|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=1999|isbn=0-87840-756-1}}
* {{Citation|title=Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: the Mahāyāna context of the Gauḍapādīya-kārikā, Gauḍapāda |isbn=978-0-7914-2513-8|first=Richard|last=King|year=1995|publisher=State University of New York Press}}
* {{Citation|first=Klaus K.|last=Klostermaier|author-link=Klaus Klostermaier|title=A survey of Hinduism|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-585-04507-8}}
<!-- L -->
* {{Citation | last =Lochtefeld | first =James | year =2002 | chapter =Brahman | title =The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M | publisher =Rosen Publishing | isbn =978-0823931798}}
<!-- M -->
* {{Citation | last =Mackenzie | first =Matthew | year =2012 | chapter =Luminosity, Subjectivity, and Temporality: An Examination of Buddhist and Advaita views of Consciousness | editor-last1 =Kuznetsova | editor-first1 =Irina | editor-last2 =Ganeri | editor-first2 =Jonardon | editor-last3 =Ram-Prasad | editor-first3 =Chakravarthi | title =Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue: Self and No-Self | publisher =Routledge}}
* {{Citation|last=Mahadevan|first=T. M. P|year=1956|title=History of Philosophy Eastern and Western|editor=Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan|publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd|url=https://archive.org/stream/HistoryOfWesternAndEasternPhilosophyByRadhaKrishnan/Radhakrishnan-history.of.philosophy-Eastern.and.western-volume#page/n7/mode/1up}}
* {{Citation|last=Monier-Williams|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|year=1976|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0200/mw__0234.html|access-date=10 August 2010|isbn=0-8426-0286-0|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226214215/http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0200/mw__0234.html|url-status=live}}
* {{Citation|title=The science of language founded on lectures delivered at the royal institution in 1861 AND 1863|first=F. Max|last=Müller|year=1899|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DQTAAAAQAAJ|isbn=0-404-11441-5|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002082630/https://books.google.com/books?id=2DQTAAAAQAAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{Citation|last=Müller|first=Friedrich Max|year=1900|title=The Upanishads Sacred books of the East The Upanishads, Friedrich Max Müller |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
<!-- N -->
* {{citation|first=Hajime|last=Nakamura|others=Trevor Leggett|title=A history of early Vedānta philosophy|volume=2|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2004}}
<!-- O -->
* {{cite book|first=Patrick |last=Olivelle|year=1996|title=Upanisads|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0192835765}}
* {{cite book|first=Patrick |last=Olivelle|year=1998|title=The Early Upanisads|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0195124354}}
* {{cite book|first=Patrick| last=Olivelle|year=1992|title= The Samnyasa Upanisads|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0195070453}}
<!-- P -->
* {{Citation|title=The Vedic experience: Mantramañjarī : an anthology of the Vedas for modern man and contemporary celebration|first=Raimundo|last=Panikkar|author-link=Raimundo Panikkar|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2001|isbn=978-81-208-1280-2}}
* {{Citation|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads|last=Parmeshwaranand|first=Swami |publisher=Sarup & Sons|year=2000|isbn=978-81-7625-148-8}}
<!-- S -->
* {{Citation | last =Samuel | first =Geoffrey | year =2010 | title =The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century | publisher =Cambridge University Press}}
<!-- R -->
* {{Citation | last =Radhakrishnan | first =Sarvepalli | editor=Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | author-link =Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | year =1956 | title =History of Philosophy Eastern and Western | publisher =George Allen & Unwin Ltd}}
* {{Citation|title=History of Philosophy Eastern and Western|editor=Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan|first=Vidvan H. N|last=Raghavendrachar|year=1956}}
* {{Citation | last =Raju | first =P.T. | year =1985 | title =Structural Depths of Indian Thought | publisher =State University of New York Press | isbn =978-0887061394}} 
* {{Citation|title=A constructive survey of Upanishadic philosophy|first=R. D.|last=Ranade|year=1926|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan}}
* {{Citation|title=Contemporary Hinduism: ritual, culture, and practice|first=Robin|last=Rinehart|editor=Robin Rinehart|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2004|isbn=978-1-57607-905-8}}
* {{Citation|title=Parerga and paralipomena: short philosophical essays|volume=2 of Parerga and Paralipomena|first1=Arthur|last1=Schopenhauer|first2=E. F.J|last2=Payne|editor=E. F. J. Payne|others=E. F. J. Payne|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-19-924221-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88CV8JOYUmsC|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=3 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403035535/https://books.google.com/books?id=88CV8JOYUmsC|url-status=live}}
* {{Citation|title=A descriptive catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the Adyar Library|first1=Friedrich Otto|last1=Schrader|author2=Adyar Library|publisher=Oriental Pub. Co|year=1908}}
* {{Citation|first= Sris Chandra|last=Sen|year = 1937| title =The Mystic Philosophy of the Upanishads| publisher = General Printers & Publishers|chapter=Vedic literature and Upanishads}}
* {{Citation|title=Life in the Upanishads|first=Shubhra|last=Sharma|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=1985|isbn=978-81-7017-202-4}}
* {{Citation|title=Encyclopaedia of Hinduism|first=N.K|last=Singh|publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD|year=2002|isbn=978-81-7488-168-7}}
* {{Citation|last=Tripathy|first=Preeti|title=Indian religions: tradition, history and culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lixAAQAAIAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Axis Publications|isbn=978-93-80376-17-2|access-date=15 November 2015|archive-date=30 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630210909/https://books.google.com/books?id=lixAAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{Citation |title=The message of Plato: a re-interpretation of the "Republic" |first=Edward Johns |last=Urwick |publisher=Methuen & Co. Ltd. |year=1920 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjedyT6Ts20C |isbn=9781136231162 |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131027161041/http://books.google.com/books?id=CjedyT6Ts20C |url-status=live }}
* {{Citation |title=India : History, Religion, Vision And Contribution To The World |volume=1 |first=Alexander P. |last=Varghese |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-269-0903-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7GKwhuea9kC |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=30 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430121217/https://books.google.com/books?id=y7GKwhuea9kC |url-status=live }}
* {{Citation|title=American transcendentalism and Asian religions|first=Arthur|last=Versluis|isbn=978-0-19-507658-5|publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=1993|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNPMzoVEv3sC|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002082615/https://books.google.com/books?id=mNPMzoVEv3sC|url-status=live}}
* {{Citation|title=History of Philosophy Eastern and Western |first=A.R.|last=Wadia|author-link=Ardeshir Ruttonji Wadia |chapter= Socrates, Plato and Aristotle |volume = II |editor=Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli |year=1956|publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd. }}
* {{Citation | last =Raju | first =P. T. | year =1992 |title =The Philosophical Traditions of India | place =Delhi | publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited}}
{{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.|author-link=Ainslie Embree|title=The Hindu Tradition|location=New York|publisher=Random House|year=1966|isbn=0-394-71702-3|url=https://archive.org/details/hindutraditionre00ains}}
* {{cite book|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|url=https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n7/mode/2up |title= The Thirteen Principal Upanishads |year=1921 |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}}
* {{cite book|last=Mascaró |first=Juan|title=The Upanishads|location=London, England|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |year=1965}}
* [[Max Müller|Müller, Max]], translator, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n7/mode/2up ''{{IAST|The Upaniṣads}}'', Part I], New York: Dover Publications (1879; 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 (1884; 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}}
* Adi Shankara (2020). [https://bookscape.com/product-details/atma-bodha-tattva-bodha-esoteric-classics-eastern-studies-9781631184017?srsltid=AfmBOop-BdUt6zH_ZhgXFZgEMysgw8WfVmMGu5i-dctM9pY6a7xWi2UM Atma Bodha and Tattva Bodha]. Lulu Press. {{ISBN|9781631184017}}
* [[:pl:Anandmurti Guruma|Gurumaa, Anandmurti]] (2020) [https://www.amazon.in/Sri-Adi-Shankaracharya-Krit-Atmabodha/dp/9381464650 Sri Adi Shankaracharya Krit Atmabodha] {{ISBN|9381464650}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Upanishads}}
{{Wikisource|Sacred Books of the East/Volume 1|Upanishads}}
{{Wikisourcelang|sa|उपनिषत्}}
{{Commons category|Upanishads}}

;Translations
*[http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Upanishads.html The Upanishads] translated into English by [[Swami Paramananda]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160322115246/http://www.gayathrimanthra.com/contents/documents/Translation/108UpanishadsWithUpanishadBrahmamCommentary.pdf Complete set of 108 Upanishads, Manuscripts with the commentary of Brahma-Yogin], Adyar Library

;Other
*[http://www.iep.utm.edu/upanisad/ The Upaniṣads] article in the ''[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25208067 The Theory of 'Soul' in the Upanishads], [[Thomas Rhys Davids|T. W. Rhys Davids]] (1899)
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3746162 Spinozistic Substance and Upanishadic Self: A Comparative Study], M. S. Modak (1931)
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/511150 W. B. Yeats and the Upanishads], A. Davenport (1952)
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2105571 The Concept of Self in the Upanishads: An Alternative Interpretation], D. C. Mathur (1972)

{{Mukhya Upanishads}}
{{Hindu deities and texts}}
{{Hindudharma}}
{{Indian Philosophy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Upanishads| ]]
[[Category:Ancient yoga texts]]
[[Category:Agnosticism]]
[[Category:Hindu texts]]
[[Category:Hinduism and atheism]]
[[Category:Hinduism and society| ]]
[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Hindu philosophy]]
[[Category:Sanskrit texts]]
[[Category:Theism]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]
[[Category:Vedas]]