Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/46

 3° The E artier Upanzads [CH. Sailkara the most eminent exponent of the U paniads holds that they are meant for such superior men who are already above worldly or heavenly prosperi ties, and for whom the Vedic duties have ceased to have any attraction. Wheresoever there may be such a deserving person, be he a student, a householder or an ascetic, for him the Upaniads have been revealed for his ultimate emancipation and the r .-knbWledge. Those who perform the Vedic dut):>elorg to'"a stage inferior to those who no longer care for the fruits of the Vedic duties but are eager for final emancipation, and it is the latter who alone are fit to hear the Upaniadsl. The names of the Upaniads; Non-Brahmanic influence. The U paniads are also known by another name Vedanta, as they are believed to be the last portions of the Vedas (veda-anta, end); it is by this name that the philosophy of the Upaniads, the Vedanta philosophy, is so familiar to us. A modern student knows that in language the U pani!?ads approach the classical Sanskrit; the ideas preached also show that they are the culmina- tion of the intellectual achievement of a great epoch. As they thus formed the concluding parts of the Vedas they retained their Vedic names which they took from the name of the different schools or branches (siikhii) among which the Vedas were studied 2. Thus the Upaniads attached to the BrahmaJ].as of the Aitareya and Kau!?ltaki schools are called respectively Aitareya and Kau!?Itaki U paniads. Those of the TaJ].c;lins and Talavakaras of the Sarna-veda are called the Chandogya and Talavakara (or Kena) U paniads. Those of the Taittirlya school of the Yajurveda 1 This is what is called the difference of fitness (adhikiiribheda). Those who perform the sacrifices are not fit to hear the U pani!iiads and those who are fit to hear the U pa- nids have no longer any necessity to perform the sacrificial duties. 2 When the SalJ1hita texts had become substantially fixed, they were committed to memory in different parts of the country and transmitted from teacher to pupil along with directions for the practical performance of sacrificial duties. The latter formed the matter of prose. compositions, the Briihmal.1as. These however were gradually liable to diverse kinds of modifications according to the special tendencies and needs of the people among which they were recited. Thus after a time there occurred a great divergence in the readings of the texts of the Brahmal.1as even of the same Veda among different people. These different schools were known by the name of particular Sakhas (e.g. Aitareya, Kauitaki) with which the Briihmal.1as were asso- ciated or named. According to the divergence of the Brahmar:las of the different Sakhas there occurred the divergences of content and the length of the Upaniads associated with them.