Upanishads are ancient scriptures of the highest Advaitic wisdom which was revealed to the sages and seers of India in their deepest spiritual communion with the ultimate Divine Self.  We do not know when they were narrated or who revealed them.  The sages and seers who gave them to us did not care for personal recognition; but rather only that the timeless Truths they expounded be made known – as an aid to others after them who are also in search of the Truth.  

1180 Upanishads were classified by sage Vyasa; but through centuries, many of them have disappeared from human memory and only 108 remain now. Adi Shankaracharya wrote commentaries on ten of the Upanishads so they became more important. The Upanishads form the Higher Wisdom (Jnana) section (Kanda) of the Vedas; the other larger section being the action (karma) section (kanda) which preserves the hymns and interpretation of rituals used in worship. The ritual sections of the Vedas define the main religion of the Indian culture. The Upanishads on the other hand, is universal, as relevant to the entire Earth as it remains relevant to India.  They convey a deep experiential understanding of the human mind and consciousness which science even today is nowhere near understanding. This to me, if nothing else, is reason enough for every human being to at least contemplate upon the wisdom they expound.

The Upanishads are collectively called Vedanta. Vedanta refers to the ultimate essence, the end of all i.e.  the culmination and consummation of all scriptures. Upanishad means the process of studying (upa) with conviction/steadfastness (nishta) to attain the Ultimate Reality (Shad). It also means to  ‘sit down near’ [that is, at the feet of one who knows].  Upanishads are not studied as an intellectual exercise. The student to whom they were taught was expected to realise their teachings i.e. make the truths expounded in the Upanishads an integral part of such student’s character and consciousness and thus reflected in such student’s thoughts, words and deeds. The Upanishads capture the inspired teachings of men and women for whom the transcendental Reality was their experiential Reality. They are narrated by enlightened Masters from the basis of personal experience. Although we speak of the Upanishads as one body of scriptures, they are definitely not to be construed as parts of one whole but rather each Upanishad is complete in itself, a personal experience of transcendental Reality.

Man essentially is Divine but believes himself to be an individual because he is caught in the bonds which tie him to the phenomenal world. It is this erroneous belief that gives rise to joy and grief, good and bad, life and death. To rid oneself from the bonds to the material world and to attain one’s Reality, is the sign of liberation (Moksha/ Mukthi/ Kaivalya) and the individual has to overcome the bonds one by one; by discrimination and steady practice of detachment. Man is able to do this because he is endowed with the special instrument of discrimination which man alone possesses among all animals. Man has to develop this instrument and through this instrument he can realise the immanent Divinity. One who achieves this is liberated even while alive (jivanmuktha). 

“Arise, awake and stop not until the goal is reached!” – Kathopanishad