Read 108-Upanishad in English

The importance of Upanishads is as important as the Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramcharitmanas, etc. in Hinduism. Upanishads are the important Shruti scriptures of Sanatan culture. Upanishad is also called Vedanta. The total number of Upanishads is 108. According to Shankaracharya, the main meaning of Upanishad is Brahmavidya and secondary meaning is the exponent of Brahmavidya.

The word ‘Upanishad’ is derived from ‘up’ and ‘ni’ by adding the ‘quip’ suffix to the ‘sad’ root. ‘Sad’ metal has three meanings-

1) Visharan means destruction,
2) speed i.e. attainment and
3) Depression means becoming relaxed.

This is etymology-labhya meaning. By definition, the Upanishads have been called spiritual science. This is such a knowledge that by studying which, except for the desire of visible and audible (shrutigamya) subjects, Mumukshu people can destroy the seed ignorance of the world.

Most of the scholars consider 13 Upanishads as the main Upanishads-
1) Ishavasyopanishad,
2) Kenopanishad
3) Kathopanishad
4) Prashnopanishad
5) Mundakopanishad
6) Mandukyopanishad
7) Taittiriya Upanishad
8) Aitareyopanishad
9) Chhandogyopanishad
10) Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
11) Shvetashvataropanishad
12) Kaushitaki Upanishad
13) Maitrayani Upanishad

Composition period of Upanishad: –

The Upanishads are considered to be an integral part of the Vedas. That’s why the time of creation of Vedas is also considered to be the time of creation of Upanishads. According to modern western scholar, the time of Upanishads was in B.C. 700 to B.C. 600 is kept.

Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak has proved on the basis of astronomy that the period of creation of Upanishads was B.C. Must be 1900. Therefore, according to his opinion and according to other scholars who follow his opinion, some of the ten Upanishads on which Shankaracharya wrote commentaries are known to be very ancient.

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