ABSTRACT
The Upaniṣads, as pointed out already, form the fourth part of the Veda. Some belong to one Veda, some to another, and so forth. Each Veda contains some Upaniṣads. It is accepted by the general Indian tradition that all the Vedas have the same teaching, and so all the Upaniṣads also teach the same philosophy. That philosophy is called the Vedanta. The word Vedanta means the end of the Veda, because the Upaniṣads form its last part, and it also means the final teaching of the Vedas. The Vedas are supposed to teach different philosophies to different men with different levels of maturity, and the Vedānta is meant, it is said, for those men whose minds are the most mature. But this view is not accepted by the other philosophies, each of which contends that its doctrines are meant for the most mature and that the doctrines of the Vedānta are not true enough. But since each philosophy makes this contention, it is advantageous to study each separately, because each attempts to be a self-consistent system.
