ed to-day, the title of a philosophical work; that
of knowledge derived from esoteric teaching; or the esoteric teaching
itself. Thus _brahma upanishad_ is the secret doctrine of _brahma_,
and 'whoever follows this _upanishad_' means whoever follows this
doctrine. This seems, however, to be a meaning derived from the nature
of the Upanishads themselves, and we are almost inclined to think that
the true significance of the word was originally that in which alone
occurs, in the early period, the combination _upa-ni-[s.]ad_, and this
is purely external: "he makes the common people _upa-ni-s[=a]din,"
i.e_., 'sitting below' or 'subject,' it is said in _Cat. Br_. ix. 4.
3. 3 (from the literal meaning of 'sitting below').[5] Instead,
therefore, of seeing in _upan[=i]sad_, Upanishad, the idea of a
session, of pupils sitting down to hear instruction (the prepositions
and verb are never used in this sense), it may be that the Upanishads
were at first _subsidiary_ works of the ritualistic Br[=a]hmanas
contained in the [=A]ranyakas or Forest Books, that is, appendices to
the Br[=a]hmana, ostensibly intended for the use of pious
forest-hermits (who had passed beyond the need of sacrifice); and
this, in point of fact, is just what they were; till their growth
resulted in their becoming an independent branch of literature. The
usual explanation of 'Upanishad,' however, is that it represents the
instruction given to the pupil 'sitting under' the teacher.

Although at present between two and three hundred Upanishads are
known, at least by name, to exist, yet scarcely a dozen appear to be
of great antiquity. Some of these are integral parts of Br[=a]hmanas,
and apparently were added to the ritualistic works at an early
period.[6]

While man's chief effort in the Brahmanic period seems to be by
sacrifice and penance to attain happiness hereafter, and to get the
upper hand of divine powers; while he recognizes a God, who, though
supreme, has yet, like the priest himself, attained his supremacy by
sacrifice and penance; while he dreams of a life hereafter in heavenly
worlds, in the realm of light, though hardly seeking to avoid a
continuation of earthly re-births; nevertheless he frees himself at
times from ritualistic observances sufficiently to continue the
questioning asked by his Vedic ancestors, and to wonder whither his
immortal part is definitively going, and whether that spirit of his
will live independently, or be united with som