Definitions starting with the letter: U

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Definitions starting with the letter: U

Upanishads - from the root upa or 'near' + ni or 'down' + sad or 'near'. Or to sit down near. Now to what? To sit down near the truth (sat). This implies to sit down near the teacher/guru who is established in Truth Consciousness (ritam), hense sitting near Brahman.. The upanisads are a portion of the veda's ( see Veda definition) that extract maximum value for the aspirant regarding the Truth of existence or the essence of the Veda's.
Discussion- There are always dicussions on how many Upanishads there are. Some think there is a total of 108. The earliest commentary on the Upanishads is Adi Shankara's brilliance. He commented on the Ten Upanishads. They are regarded as the ten major Upanishads named below:
1. Īşha
2. Kena
3. Kaţha
4. Prashna
5. Mundaka
6. Māndūkya
7. Aitereya
8. Taittirīya
9. Chhāndogya
10.Brihadāraņyaka
Three additional Upanishads Shvetāshvatara, Kauşhītaki and Maitrāyaņi are also of major import.The latter three Upanishads are well known and should be regarded an important as the other ten.

In the Muktika Upanishad, there is a conversation between Sri Ram and Hanumanji. (I.i. sloka 26 to 29) Sri Ram says, " But by what means is the Kaivalya kind of Moksha got? The Manduka (Upanishad) is enough; If knowledge is not from it, then study the 10 Upanishads (mentioned above). Getting knowledge very soon you will reach my abode. If certainty is not even then, study the 23 Upanishads and stop. If desiring Moksha without the body, read the 108 Upanishads."


References Used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads
http://www.vedah.com/org/literature/upanishads/108Upanishads.asp
http://www.advaita.it/library/muktika.htmhttp://www.advaita.it/library/muktika.htm

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