Upanishad

The Upanishads (उपनिषद्, Upaniṣad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism.

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:A note: When -a a- come together at the join in a Sanskrit compound word, they run together to form -ā-, e.g. Vedānta is from Veda-anta = "Veda end". See sandhi.

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The Upanishads are commentaries on the Vedas, their putative end and essence, and thus known as Vedānta = "End of the Veda". The term Upanishad derives from the Sanskrit words upa (near), ni (down) and ṣad (to sit) = "sitting down near" a spiritual teacher to receive instruction in the Guru-Shishya tradition or parampara. The teachers and students appear in a variety of settings (husband answering questions about immortality, a teenage boy being taught by Yama, or Death personified, etc.). Sometimes the sages are women and at times the instructions (or rather inspiration) are sought by kings.

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Hindu: :This article is about the followers of Hinduism; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation)....

Shruti: Shruti (Sanskrit ??????, "what is heard") is a canon of Hindu scriptures. They do not date to a particular period, but span the entire history of Hinduism, beginning with the earliest texts known, with some late Upanishads reaching down into modern times....

Scripture: Scripture is that corpus of literature deemed authoritative for establishing doctrine within any of a number of specific religious traditions, especially the Abrahamic religions....