I propose to write a series of essays on Vedanta for the benefit of readers who would

welcome a connected account of the important and the essential ideas in the Upanishads and
the methods of approach adopted in placing them before the enquirer. The Upanishads have
been also called 'Vedantas' partly because most of them are to be found at the end of the Vedas,
and partly and perhaps especially because they contain the ultimate pronouncement of the
central philosophy of the Vedas.
The word 'Vedanta' itself is rarely found in the classical Upanishads. I have come across
two passages which deserve our special notice:

वेदान्ते परमं गुह्यं पुराकल्पे प्रचोददतम् ।

नाप्रशान्ताय दातव्यं नापुत्रायादशष्याय वै पुनः ॥ श्वे ६-२२
"This is the supreme secret in Vedanta which has been urged (or taught) of yore. This
(teaching) should not be transmitted to anyone who has no self-control, nor again to one who
is neither one's son nor disciple." Sve. 6-22.
This is from the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. We are told here that the teaching contained
in the Upaniṣad is a traditional secret, fit to be revealed to qualified seekers only.

वेदान्तदवज्ञानसुदनदिताराथ ः सन्यासयोगाद्यतयः शुद्धसत्वा ।

ते ब्रह्मलोकेषु परान्तकाले परामृताः पररमुच्यन्तन्त सवे ॥ मुं ३-२-६
"Those who have perfectly ascertained the nature of the entity revealed by Vedāntic
intuition, the endeavouring aspirants whose mind has become purified through the Yoga of
Sannyāsa, they are freed from all circumscribing limitations, having become perfectly
immortal at the ultimate end of life." Mu.3-2-6.
Here Vedanta-Vijñāna, has been explained by Śaṅkara as वेदान्तजदनतदवज्ञान (intuition
born from the teaching of the Vedantas) and therefore it appears that Śaṅkara takes the word
in the sense of the Upanishads. In his Introduction to the Sūtra-Bhashya, he writes:-

अस्यानरथ हेतोः प्रहाणाय आत्मैकत्वदवद्याप्रदतपत्तये सवे वेदान्ता आरभ्यन्ते ॥

------- अध्यासभाष्यम्
"In order to destroy this source of evil, all the Vedantas are begun so that the knowledge
of the unity of Atman may be acquired." Intro. SBh.
It is evident that Śaṅkara means to say that all the Upanishads aim at helping the
aspirant to acquire the knowledge of the one Atman.