be he a student, a householder or an
ascetic, for him the Upani@sads have been revealed for his ultimate
emancipation and the true knowledge. Those who perform the
Vedic duties belong 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
Upani@sads [Footnote ref 1].

The names of the Upani@sads; Non-Brahmanic influence.

The Upani@sads 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 Upani@sads,
the Vedanta philosophy, is so familiar to us. A modern student
knows that in language the Upani@sads approach the classical
Sanskrit; the ideas preached also show that they are the culmination
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 (_s'akha_) among which the Vedas were studied
[Footnote ref 2]. Thus the Upani@sads attached to the Brahma@nas
of the Aitareya and Kau@sitaki schools are called respectively
Aitareya and Kau@sitaki Upani@sads. Those of the Ta@n@dins and
Talavakaras of the Sama-veda are called the Chandogya and Talavakara
(or Kena) Upani@sads. Those of the Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda

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[Footnote 1: This is what is called the difference of fitness
(_adhikaribheda_). Those who perform the sacrifices are not fit to
hear the Upani@sads and those who are fit to hear the Upani@sads
have no longer any necessity to perform the sacrificial duties.]

[Footnote 2: When the Sa@mhita 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 Brahma@nas. 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 Brahma@nas even of the same Veda among different people.
These different schools were known by the name of particular S'akhas
(e.g. Aitareya, Kau@sitaki) with