The word upanishad is the conjuction of three words, upa, ni and sad meaning near below and sit respectively. upa near indicates the receptive attitude required of a student to learn the great truth imparted by a master. Ni below indicates that the disciple occupies a seat at a lower level to look up to the guru. The higher position occupied by the guru has a psychological association with devotion. The disciple requires the feeling of devotion for gaining self knowledge. Sad sit suggests the introvert nature of the student. a student needs to be introvert to apprehend the Self. Thus etymologically the word Upanishad itself indicates the qualities necessary for a seeker to gain the knowledge of the Supreme God.
The Upanishads are simple and graceful in language. some in prose, some in verse and some in both. Their subject matter is terse, cryptic, abstruse. they are a matchless record of scientific exposition of Brahmavidya, the science of knowing the supreme Reality.
Sri Aurobindo views the Upanishads as a kind of poetry - word of vision and rhythm of the Spirit that has not been written before or after. alone of extant scriptures gives one and all without veil of stinting, with plentitude and a noble catholicity the truth of the supreme God, Brahman, Its aid to humanity is therefore indispensable.
Swami Vivekananda spoke of the universality of the Upanishads as being founded on eternal principles while every other religion depends upon the life of the founder.
Swami Rama Tirtha acclaims Vedanta as a religion which is found in the streets, which is written upon the leaves, which is murmured in the brooks, which is whispered in the winds, which is throbbing in your veins and arteries, a religion which concerns your business and thought, a religion which you have to practice by living it in your every day endeavour.
Upanishads are the highest authority in all matters pertaining to philosophy and religion. The philosophy of Vedanta rests on three canonical works known as the Prasthanatraya; The Upanishads, Brahmasutras and Bhagvad gita. Badarayana Vyasa, the author of the Brahmasutras roots its aphorisms to the text of the Upanishads. As such it becomes impossible to understand or interpret them without reference to the Upanishads. The Bhagvadgita, the central theme of the epic Mahabaratha also rests its authority upon the Upanishads we can see several verses taken verbatim from the Upanishads.
George Herbert Meade eulogises the Upanishads as a world scripture. written thousands of years ago by the wise Indian seers - simple and graceful in inspiring Samskrta poetry. a matchless record of Brahmavidya, the knowledge of Brahaman, the Supreme God.
Victor Cousin, the historian and Philosopher of France, says there can be no denying that the ancient Hindus possessed the knowledge of the true God. Their philosophy their thought is so sublime, so elevating, so accurate and true that any comparison with the writings of the Europeans appears like a Promethean fore stolen from heaven as in the presence of the full glow of the noon day sun.
William Jones professes that the Greeks derived their knowledge from Vedanta, the clear comprehensive system of philosophy of the Hindus of India.
John Gough believes the Upanishads to be the loftiest utterances of Indian Intelligence.
The German Philosopher Schlegel considers the highest stretches of European philosophy as dwarfish pygmies before the majestic Titan of Upanishadic thought. He considers the Upanishadic philosophy to be noble, clear severally grand. Deeply and reverentially expressed as no other human language in which men have spoken of their God.
Paul Deussen found the philosophy of Permenides, Plato and Kant in a nutshell in the Upanishads. He claimed Vedanta as the greatest philosophy.
Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy is unmistakably transfixed with the doctrines expounded in the Upanishads. He eulogises the Upanishad as most sublime, elevating, rewarding and refers to it as the solace of life and death. Max Muller endorses this view with a lifetime study of religions in the world and all the systems of philosophy.
Theosophists regard the Upanishads as a world scripture. A scripture appealing to lovers of truth in all races at all times without distinction.
