ABSTRACT
The Upanishads are an outstanding addition to humanity's search for meaning and beauty in life—and in death. The Upanishads have been a rich source of inspiration throughout the ages and seem to speak with special eloquence to men and women of modern times. The Upanishads, like the Vedas, are part of a great body of sacred knowledge known as shruti. By the time of the late Vedic Age—which is to say the time around the beginning of the first millennium bce—evidence of a dramatic new movement began to emerge. Many renunciate sadhus took the vow of sannyas and were thus known more specifically as sannyasis. The deepest roots of the new renunciate movement would seem to be in the traditional culture of the long-suppressed Dravidian people. The relationship between the guru and disciple is one of mutual acceptance and love; it has to be like the relationship between a loving father and son.
