Upanishad

[oo-pan-i-shad, oo-pah-ni-shahd]

noun

Hinduism.

1. any of a class of speculative prose treatises composed between the 8th and 6th centuries b.c. and first written a.d. c1300: they represent a philosophical development beyond the Vedas, having as their principal message the unity of Brahman and Atman.

Upanishad

/ juː-, -ˌʃæd, uːˈpʌnɪʃəd /

noun

1. Hinduism any of a class of the Sanskrit sacred books probably composed between 400 and 200 _bc and embodying the mystical and esoteric doctrines of ancient Hindu philosophy

Other Word Forms

• Upanishadic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Upanishad¹

< Sanskrit upaniṣad, equivalent to upa near + ni- down + -ṣad, sandhi variant of sad- sit ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of Upanishad¹

C19: from Sanskrit upanisad a sitting down near something, from upa near to + ni down + sīdati he sits

Example Sentences

And I just started the Upanishads last week.

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So I started reading the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, went to retreats, learned some chanting, studied some Sanskrit, and was like, “This is like amazing.”

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They learn Sanskrit in order to read the “Yoga Sutras,” the “Upanishads,” the “Bhagavad Gita” in their original language.

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It was the age of Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tze, the Upanishads, the Hebrew prophets, Greek natural science and philosophy and so on.

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For them, it is an ascetic practice: the sadhu severs connection with his family, renounces his worldly possessions and lives a life of celibacy as prescribed from the sacred texts Paramahamsa Parivrajaka Upanishad.

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