Outlines of Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Paul Deussen
Publisher: Crest Publishing House

Page 28

PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANISHADS
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More remarkable for their beauty than for their originality are Kâthaka-Upanishad, Mundaka- Upanishad, and others.
Fundamental idea of the Upanishads
11. Two terms, Brahman and Atman, form almost the only objects of which the Upanishads speak. Very often they are treated as synonyms, but when a difference is noticeable, Branhman is the philosophical principle, as realised in the universe, and Âtman the same, as realised in the soul. This presupposed, we might express the fundamental thought of all the Upanishads by the simple equation :
Brahman = Âtman
this is, Brahman, the power from which all worlds proceed, in which they subsist, and into which they finally return, this eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent power is identical with our âtman, with that is each of us which we must consider as our true Self, the unchangeable essence of our being, our soul. This idea alone secures to the Upanishads an importance reaching far beyond their land and time; for whatever means of unveiling the secrets of Nature a future time may discover, this idea will be true for ever, from this mankind will never depart, - if the mystery of Nature is to be solved, the key of it can found only there where along Nature allows us an interior view of the world, that is in ourselves.
Chronology of the Upanishads
12. It can be proved that the Upanishads of the three first Vedas are older generally speaking than the Atharva