Upanishads

[Guest guest]

sri:

srimathe rAmAnujAya namaha:

 

Dear Bhaktas,

 

Following the recent discussion on Upanishads, I wish to post a query

regarding the Upanishads.

 

I understand that there are 108 Upanishads in total ( I stand to be

corrected in the number). Further more, I understand that there are

'later' questionable upanishads which are not reffered to by any of the

schools of vedAnta.

 

Why is this so?

 

(I feel that I am implusive in this regard)Secondly, I also understand

that, usually 12 Upanishads are reffered by Ubhaya Vedantins, the most

common among them beign the 'TaitiriyOpanishad'. Again why are the rest

of the 96 Upanishads left out?

 

Thanks and Regards,

 

adiyEn mAlOla narasimha dAsan,

 

mAlOlan cadAmbi.

 

 

 

 

_______

 

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[Guest guest]

Malolan Cadambi writes:

> I understand that there are 108 Upanishads in total ( I stand to be

> corrected in the number). Further more, I understand that there are

> 'later' questionable upanishads which are not reffered to by any of the

> schools of vedAnta.

 

Of the hundreds of texts today bearing the name 'upanishad', only a

handful are universally accepted by orthodox Vedantins. The principal

Upanishads can be roughly identified by analyzing their style and

investigating whether there are any references to them in early

literature. The Brahma-Sutras, the aphorisms whose purpose is to

codify the philosophy of the Upanishads, refer to nine or ten of these

texts according to the earliest commentators. We also have a 'muktaka'

(stray) sloka which refers to 10 of these Upanishads as being the

most important. They are, in order of their mention:

 

(1) ISa

(2) kena

(3) kaTha

(4) praSna

(5) muNDaka

(6) mANdUkya

(7) aitareya

(8) taittirIya

(9) bRhadAraNyaka

(10) chAndogya

 

Of these ten, together known as 'daSopanishad', the mANDUkya receives no mention

in the Brahma-Sutras.

 

Sri Adi Sankaracharya commented on these ten and no other.

A commentary on the SvetASvatara upanishad is sometimes attributed

to him, but quite clearly it is a work by a later, inferior writer.

 

In addition to these ten, a few others are referred to by the early

commentators and are considered ancient and consequently are accepted by

all Vedantins. They are:

 

(11) SvetASvatara

(12) kauSItaki

(13) maitrAyaNIya or maitrI

 

Only two sections of the taittirIya are commented upon by Sri Sankaracharya,

but he and his school also refer to the third section. This section

contains many mantras used primarily for ritual, so it is known as 'yAjnikI',

pertaining to the yajna. There are also many philosophical portions, including

the famed 'nArAyaNa sUkta', the jnAna-yajna, and the second anuvAka of the

purusha-sUkta. Consequently, this section, also known as the mahAnArAyaNa

upanishad, is also of significance, and is sometimes reckoned a separate

upanishad by itself:

 

(14) mahAnArAyaNa

 

There is also the subAla upanishad, which, while not directly referred

to by Sri Sankaracharya, is hinted at in his commentary on the brhadAraNyaka

upanishad (maitreyi brAhmaNa) and which is mentioned by his immediate

disciple Suresvara. The subAla is of fundamental importance to Sri Ramanuja

so we also include it here:

 

(15) subAla

 

While the ancient commentators may mention a few other Upanishads here

and there, by and large, the 15 above are the fundamental ones and are

acknowledged as being the true sourcebooks of Vedanta.

 

In later days, many other texts were written and given the title

of Upanishad, either to enhance their stature or as a sign of respect.

For example, even the Bhagavad Gita is known as 'gitopanishad', though

it is not part of the Veda. With time, the original intention was

forgotten and any such text began being considered by their respective

votaries as a real, honest-to-god Upanishad. So, we have texts such as

'rAma-tApanIya-upanishad', 'kali-santaraNa-upanishad', etc., which,

while not devoid of value, are essentially later, sectarian religious

documents which can hardly compare to the philosophical depth of the

principal 14 or 15. [ In much later times, an 'allopanishad' was written,

presumably to honor Allah, the Muslim name for God, and in recent

times people refer to a 'rAmakrishnopanishad' and 'tyagopanishad',

referring to Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Tyagaraja respectively. ]

 

Many of these later upanishads are authoritative in their own way.

For example, there are a class of upanishads that deal of the rites

involving renunication or sannyAsa. These are mentioned when dealing

with the roles and rituals of a sannyAsi, but are ignored in most

philosophical discourse, particularly between schools of Vedanta.

Similarly, there are many Upanishads which deal with the yogic

process, known as the 'yoga upanishads'. These are fascinating

to study the ideas behind yoga and their development, but simply

cannot be held up as authoritative texts establishing the philosophy

of the Vedanta.

 

Sri Malolan refers above to the number 108. This comes from the muktika

upanishad,

itself a late text, wherein it is said that a study of the 108 upanishads leads

to

liberation.

 

It is probably appropriate to mention here that Sri Ramanuja, Sri Sankara,

and their respective followers carefully stick to these 15 texts when

debating and expounding Vedanta. Other ancient Vedantins such as Bhaskara

also do the same. The notable exception is Sri Madhvacharya, who tends

to go his own way, citing many non-traditional, lost, or unknown texts in

the course of his commentaries. Sri Madhva's approach to the Brahma-Sutras

is similarly novel and is quite different from the rest of the Vedantic

tradition.

 

Incidentally, the most often cited text in the commentaries of the

early acharyas is not the taittirIya, but probably the bRhadAraNyaka upanishad,

from which we get such magnificent vAkyas such as 'aham brahmAsmi' (I am

Brahman),

'AtmA are draStavyaH Srotavyo mantavyo nididhyAsitavyaH' (The Self should be

seen -- heard, reflected upon, and meditated upon), 'neti neti' ([brahman] is

not just so much, not just so much), etc. This is closely followed by

the chAndogya, which houses the equally famous vAkyas 'tat tvam asi' (you

are that) and 'sarvam khalv idam brahma' (all this is indeed Brahman).

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mani

[Guest guest]

Mani Varadarajan writes:

> There is also the subAla upanishad, which, while not directly referred

> to by Sri Sankaracharya, is hinted at in his commentary on the brhadAraNyaka

> upanishad (maitreyi brAhmaNa) ...

 

Dear Members,

 

The indirect reference to subAla is actually in the bhAshya

on antaryAmi brAhmaNa, not the maitreyi brAhmaNa. I apologize

for the error.

 

dAsan

Mani