Upanishads are the personal insights and experiences of ancient sages. They are not chapters of a book and individualistic in the way a teacher teaches his students but the central theme is one and the same. Each one of them is complete in itself and if a person learns thoroughly from a Vedic teacher who experienced Brahman himself, that is enough. There is no need to study all of them, although doing so does not cause any problem and if they did, there is no particular order in which they should be studied. They attempt to integrate most of the opposing views regarding philosophical and spiritual matters. In short they are the science of life and death.

The western philosophers including the famous Greek philosophers like Aristotle, until the modern ages, nobody has studied or explained about the nature of the SELF. What makes the world go by is not explained. Only Upanishads have done that. Scientists have projected and looked outside to find out what is what where as the ancient Rishis/sages have looked into themselves and used the inner laboratory of their human brain and came up with Upanishads. There were 1080 upanishads altogether one from each division of the four vedas according to Mukthikopanishad which was taught by Sreerama to Anjaneya in the ancient times. But under the raids of the foreign invaders of whom most of them were determined to destroy them, there are about two hundred remaining. Out of which 108 are considered to be important and out of which ten of them are called major Upanishads, for which Jagadguru AdiSankaraachaarya has written commentaries. Other Dvaithaachaaryas and Visistaadvaithaachaaryas have written Dvaitha commentaries but they are distorted opinions about the real content of the last part of Vedas i.e Upanishads. Some foreigners have learnt Sanskrit and studied the Upanishads and appreciated their greatness. The translations are there in other countries but the method of teaching is unique and that is there only in India.

The major ten upanishads are - Isaavaasya, kena, katha, Mundaka, Mandookya, Taitreya, Itreya, Chandogya, Brihadaaranyaka, and Prasna. Some of the important ones in the others are Svethasvatara, Nrusimhatapina, Kaivalya, and Narayana.

The word Upanishad is not one word. It is a coined word which contains three syllables - Upa, Ni, Sad. Sad is actually sath for which the root is in Sanskrit is Sad which again has been explained by Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian as VISARANA, GATHI, AVASAADANA. Visarana means that it removes all the obstructions and obstacles to attain Brahmajnaana or Moksha. Gathi is attaining Brahman. Avasaadana is removing the causes that caused the obstacles in the first place so that they don’t come back and cause problems. Upa is near or nearest to the enquirer which cannot be anything but ones own SELF. It is proven in Mandookya Upanishad as Ayam atmaa brahma. It means I am that Brahman. So Upa means you are nearest to Brahman. The syllable Ni means (Nischayamu or nirdhaarana) meaning it is so beyond any reasonable doubt and it is like this once and for all. So there is a lot of meaning in the chosen word by the ancient Rishis as it was well thought about to be effective for all ages without any doubt and disputes. Some will say Upa means near the teacher or sitting below the level of the teacher etc which are not really acceptable.

The unique nature of Upanishads is, it does not promise anything like other religions or some sections of Hinduism do. The other religions promise heaven or hell if you do this or don’t do this etc. The promises they make cannot be proven at any time. There are no dos and don’ts in Upanishads. They are based entirely on the knowledge and intellect and certainly not prayers, meditations etc.

Here are a couple of comments made by some great people.

“The Upanishads are a great mine of strength.There in lies the strength enough to invigorate the whole world. The whole world can be vivified, made strong and energised by them.” Swami Vivekananda.

“The earnestness of search for truth is one of the delightful and commendable features of the Upanishads.” Earnest Hume.

“(After reading Svetasvatara upnishad, got interested in Vedas)I encounter in vedas deep original lofty thoughts suffused with a high and holy seriousness” Arthur Schopenhaur.

Upanishads are basically the dialogue in the form of question and answers between the teacher and the taught. They analyse beyond any reasonable doubt the life of the human being body and mind, birth and death, and reincarnation, and the universe and the connection between the two and show the connection between them and the Brahman who is the prime substance with no form, name, is the one underlying substance of the universe, the unchanging “Absolute Being”, the intangible essence of the entire existence. It is the undying and unchanging seed that creates and sustains everything. It is beyond all description and intellectual understanding. One of the great insights of the Upanishads is that Atman and Brahman are made of the same substance. When a person achieves Moksha or liberation, Atman returns to Brahman, to the source, like all rivers returning to the ocean. The Upanishads claim that it is an illusion that we are all separate. with this realization we can be freed from ego, from reincarnation and from the suffering we experience during our existence. Moksha, in a sense, means to be reabsorbed into Brahman, into the great Soul. The Upanishads agree on the idea that men are naturally ignorant about the ultimate identity between Atman(the self within), and Brahman. It is the same consciousness, but in different degrees. This identification with Brahman, abandons the ignorance in the human being that arises from the identification with the illusory world. This is the the Moksha which is the one and only goal that should be there for all people.