Friday, January 18, 2008

108 Hindu Upanishads

The Upanishads are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most forms of Hinduism.
The Upanishads are mystic or spiritual contemplations of the Vedas, their putative end and essence, and thus known as Vedānta ("the end of the Vedas"). The Sanskrit term upaniṣad derives from upa- (near), ni- (down) and sad (to sit), i.e. referring to the "sitting down near" a spiritual teacher (guru) in order to receive instruction in the Guru-shishya tradition or parampara. The teachers and students appear in a variety of settings (husband answering questions about immortality, a teenage boy being taught by Yama, etc.). Sometimes the sages are women and at times the instructions (or rather inspiration) are sought by kings. Most disciples are men, but not always. A woman disciple, Gargi Vacaknavi, drove the eminent sage Yajnavalkya to fury with her persistent unanswerable questions. The Upanishads were composed over several centuries, the oldest such as the Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya upanisads have been dated to around the tenth century BCE and the later ones to as late as the fifth century BCE. The roots of many Indian religions are built upon the foundation of the Upanishads.

Full article: 108 Hindu Upanishads

2 comments:

rk said...

Hi.. Thanks for this informative article. I really liked it. I also came across this similar site with nice articles and videos on vedic prinicples - http://www.vichaar.tv

guru said...

Hi All,
Please find the below link for the Vedas In Telugu and for lot more books in telugu.

http://www.e-telugu.com/

Thanks,
Guru.