The Upanishads, translated by Eknath EaswaranThe Upanishads are a group of ancient wisdom texts. One meaning is “to give happiness”, and the second meaning is “to protect” or “to guard”. The Bhagavad-Gita of Lord Krishna is also considered to be an Upanishad because it contains the essence of many of the Upanishads. The Upanishads are the crest jewels - choodamani – of the Vedas. three and three hundred, three and three thousand. The Vedas are the oldest sacred text of Hinduism. Typically, a teacher transmits these truths to the students, often in silence. Each chapter is known as Mundaka and each section as a Kanda. Just as even one penny that you credit in your bank account is still there, notwithstanding the … And Aitareya Brahmanam has in total 40 chapters, and towards the end of it comes Aitareya Aranyakam, and a portion of that is Aitareya Upanishad. This is a fairly big Upanishad consisting of 119 mantras spread over 2 chapters. Kena (KeUp), Samaveda 3. The Samhitas. And since in each chapter the teacher Pippalada is answering questions raised by the students, this Upanishad got the name Prasna Upanishad, the word “Prasna” meaning a “question”. The Upanishads are a continuation of the Vedic philosophy, and were written between 800 and 400 B.C. Concluding Insights: The Vedas are Hindu text providing guidance and insight into the philosophies and rituals of Hinduism. Even in the Dasopanishads verse where we enumerate the 10 main Upanishads we start with Isavasya. And since Mandukya Upanishad can be understood only with the help of these Karikas, the Upanishad and Mandukya Karika are generally studied together. “Karika” means a verse analysis. In fact, they were written over a very long period of time and do not represent a coherent body of information or one particular system of belief. It is about the nature of man himself. Upapatti Kandam means predominantly logical in nature. And because of this blessing Aitareya became a Rishi (a wise person) and what knowledge he got by the grace of Prithvi Devata, he brought out in the form of Aitareya Brahmanam, which is a very big portion of Rig Veda. Each individual upanishad is named for the sage who delivered its teaching, long ago; each one describes in flashes of insight how to explore your own consciousness, how to come closer to the Divine. This Upanishad has got 434 mantras which makes it a very big Upanishad. Although there are more than 200 Upanishads, only thirteen have been identified out as presenting the core teachings. The mystical teachings of the Upanishads are the essence of the Vedic Hindu Religion and Philosophy. They are the most ancient literary monuments of the human race.The word ‘Veda’ means to know implying that the subject of the Vedas is Knowledge. I still marvel at how Prabhavananda and Manchester managed to encapsulate so much of the core content and meaning of the twelve principle Upanishads in such a slim volume. One is known as Krishna Yajur Veda and the other as Shukla Yajur Veda. This Upanishad gets it name because of the first portion of the beginning verse “Isavasyam Idam Sarvam”. You may have to take many births in order to enjoy the fruit thereof, but the fruit will be there. The Upanishads became the subject of many commentaries and subcommentaries, and texts modeled after them and bearing the name “Upanishad” were composed through the centuries up to about 1400 ce to support a variety of theological positions. We have listed below 108 Upanishads as per the list contained in the Muktikopanishad. Rig-Veda Samhita (c. 1200 BCE) is the oldest of the four vedas and consists of …