SOURCE: Pandit, Moti Lal. “Meaning of the Upanishad.” In Philosophy of the Upanishads: A Christian Understanding, pp. 17-22. Delhi, India: I.S.P.C.K., 1978.

In the following essay, Pandit comments on the dialogue style of the Upanishads as well as on the actual etymology of the word upanishad.

The meaning of the word upanishad is difficult to tell, for its etymology is doubtful. According to Max Muller, the term means “the art of sitting down near a teacher, of submissively listening to him” (from upa, below; ni, down, and sad, to sit).¹ But, according to Sankara, the word is formed by adding the suffix kvip and the prefixes upa and ni to the root sad, meaning: that which destroys ignorance.² If we accept this definition, then the term would mean that kind of knowledge (and not the texts) which destroy ignorance: thus gradually releasing man from the...