Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/67

 The Veda 51 which have become fateful for all subsequent higher Hindu thought. In these the ritual together with every other manifestation of the religion of works is negated, sometimes by cautious and delicate innu- endo, always by the inherent antagonism of the Upan- ishad themes. The older Upanishads are for the most part either imbedded in the Aranyakas or, more frequently, attached to the end of these texts. From very early times, therefore, they have the name Vedānta, "End of the Veda." End of the Veda they are, as regards their position in the re- dactions of the long line of the so-called revealed (çrauta) texts, and as regards the time of their com- position. But they are the end of the Veda in a higher sense as well. They are the texts of the Veda's highest religion and philosophy. In particu- lar that system of Brahmanical philosophy which controls at the present time nearly all the higher thought of Brahmanical India bears the name Vedānta. And there is no important form of Hindu thought, heterodox Buddhism included, which is not rooted in the Upanishads. The philosophic and religious quality of the Upanishads will occupy a good deal of our attention when we come to the higher religion of the Veda in the fifth and sixth lectures of this course. For the ¹ Çvetāçvatara Upanishad 6. 22; Mundaka Upanishad 3. 2. 6.