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The Earlier Upanisads
[сн.
The meaning of the word Upanişad. The word Upanişad is derived from the root sad with the prefix ni (to sit), and Max Müller says that the word originally meant the act of sitting down near a teacher and of submissively listening to him. In his introduction to the Upanişads he says, “The history and the genius of the Sanskrit language leave little doubt that Upanişad meant originally session, particularly a session consisting of pupils, assembled at a respectful distance round their teacher?." Deussen points out that the word means"secret" or "secret instruction," and this is borne out by many of the passages of the Upanişads themselves. Max Müller also agrees that the word was used in this sense in the Upanişads? There we find that great injunctions of secrecy are to be observed for the communication of the doctrines, and it is said that it should only be given to a student or pupil who by his supreme moral restraint and noble desires proves himself deserving to hear them. Sankara however, the great Indian exponent of the Upanişads, derives the word from the root sad to destroy and supposes that it is so called because it destroys inborn ignorance and leads to salvation by revealing the right knowledge. But if we compare the many texts in which the word Upanişad occurs in the Upanişads themselves it seems that Deussen's meaning is fully justified.
The composition and growth of diverse Upanişads.
The oldest Upanişads are written in prose. Next to these we have some in verses very similar to those that are to be found in classical Sanskrit. As is easy to see, the older the Upanişad the more archaic is it in its language. The earliest Upanişads have an almost mysterious forcefulness in their expressions at least to Indian ears. They are simple, pithy and penetrate to the heart. We can read and read them over again without getting tired. The lines are always as fresh as ever. As such they have a charm apart from the value of the ideas they intend to convey. The word Upanisad was used, as we have seen, in the sense of "secret doctrine or instruction"; the Upanisad teachings were also intended to be conveyed in strictest secrecy to earnest enquirers of high morals and superior self-restraint for the purpose of achieving
Max Müller's Translation of the Upanishads, S. B. E. vol. 1. p. lxxxi. 2 S. B. E. vol. 1. p. Ixxxiii. 3 Deussen's Philosophy of the Upanishads, pp. 10-15.
