According to Osho, the Upanishads are neither commentaries on nor extensions of the Vedas; they are a radical break—a rebellion ending the Vedic phase (vedanta as ‘the end’) and inaugurating a new vision. They shift religion from priestly, worldly petitions (lower knowledge) to direct, experiential awakening (higher knowledge) through meditative stillness and clarity. Thus, Upanishadic insight stands independent of Vedic ritualism and its fear-and-greed economy.
They aren’t add-ons to the Vedas; they end that old path and begin a new one based on your own inner seeing, not priests and rituals.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, your discourse on the isa upanishad was so beautiful. I have heard it said that the upanishads are commentaries on or extensions of the vedas. Is this true? I bow to you.
Knowledgeability is not wisdom; knowledgeability is, on the contrary, a hindrance to wisdom. The more knowledgeable you become, the less is the possibility of attaining your own experience, because knowledge deceives -- it deceives others, it deceives you. It goes on giving you the sense as if you know, but that "as if" has not to be forgotten. That "as if" can easily be forgotten and one can be deceived. Remember one very significant saying in the Upanishads: Those who are ignorant, they are bound to be lost in darkness; and those who are knowledgeable, they are bound to be lost in a far more and far bigger darkness than the ignorant ones. The ignorant person is at least sincere: he knows that he does not know; at least this much truth is there. But the knowledgeable covers up his wounds, his ignorance, his black holes. He covers them by…
Question: The first question: Osho, this verse too is from the Mundaka Upanishad: “Vedānta-vijñāna sunishcitārthāḥ sannyāsa-yogād yatayaḥ śuddha-sattvāḥ te brahmalokeṣu parānta-kāle parāmṛtāḥ parimucyanti sarve.” Meaning: “Those who, through Vedanta and science (knowledge of nature), have well ascertained the meaning, and who through sannyas and yoga have become of pure sattva—these earnest seekers devoted to Brahman, upon dying, reach Brahma-loka and are liberated.” Please be compassionate and explain this sutra. Sahajanand! The sutra is precious, but most of its commentaries so far have been worthless. Even the Hindi meaning you’ve cited is based on those mistaken commentaries. And when a wrong interpretation is repeated long enough, it starts to feel right. Repetition has a hypnosis, a magic of its own. Adolf Hitler wrote in his autobiography Mein Kampf that a lie, if repeated again and again, becomes truth.
Beloved Osho, what is the difference between the emptiness of the child before the formation of the ego and the awakened childlikeness of a buddha?
Whether you are for it or against it doesn't matter -- your concern shows where your ego is hanging. And I will include the capitalist in it also: his whole concern is how to gather money, hoard money -- because money has power over matter. You can purchase any material thing through money. You cannot purchase anything spiritual, you cannot purchase anything that has any intrinsic value; you can purchase only things. If you want to purchase love, you cannot purchase; but you can purchase sex. Sex is the material part of love. Through money, matter can be purchased, possessed. Now you will be surprised: I include the communist and the capitalist both in the same category, and they are enemies, just as I include Charvaka and Mahatma Gandhi in the same category, and they are enemies. They are enemies, but their concern is the same. The capitalist is trying…
Invocation
AUM, MAY BRAHMAN PROTECT US BOTH. MAY HE NOURISH US BOTH. MAY WE BOTH ACHIEVE ENERGY. MAY THIS STUDY MAKE US BOTH ILLUMINED. MAY WE NEVER HATE EACH OTHER. AUM, PEACE, PEACE, PEACE. AUM, MAY MY LIMBS BECOME STRONG. ALSO, LET MY SPEECH, PRANA -- VITAL AIR -- SIGHT, HEARING, AND ALL THE SENSE ORGANS, BE VIGOROUS. THE ENTIRE EXISTENCE IS THE BRAHMAN OF THE UPANISHADS. MAY I NEVER DENY BRAHMAN; MAY BRAHMAN NOT DENY ME. LET THERE BE NO DENIAL AT ALL. LET THERE BE NO DENIAL AT LEAST ON MY PART. WHATEVER VIRTUES ARE IN THE UPANISHADS, MAY THEY ABIDE IN I WHO AM DEVOTED TO THE ATMAN -- SELF. MAY THEY ABIDE IN ME. AUM, PEACE, PEACE, PEACE. It is just like heating water. At a particular degree, a hundred degrees, it evaporates. Do not think that at fifty degrees half will evaporate. It will not evaporate…
Question: MANDUKYOPANISHAD SANTI-PATHAH OM BHADRAM KARNEBHIH SRNUYAMA DEVAH STHIRAIR ANGAIS TUSTUVAMSAS TANUBHIR VYASEMA DEVA-HITAM YAD AYUH SVASTI NA INDRO VRIDDHASRAVAH SVASTI NAH PUSA VISVAVEDAH SVASTI NASTAKRSYO ARISTANEMIH SVASTI NO VRHASPATIRDADHATU OM SANTIH SANTIH SANTIH OM ITYETAD AKSARAM, IDAM SARVAM TASYOPAVYAKHYANAM, BHUTAM BHAVAD BHAVISYAD ITI, SARVAM ONKARA EVA. YAC CANYAT TRIKALATITAM TAD APYOMKARA EVA. SARVAM HYETAD BRAHMA, AYAM ATMA BRAHMA AUM, THE IMPERISHABLE SOUND, IS THE SEED OF ALL THAT EXISTS. THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE, -- ALL ARE BUT THE UNFOLDING OF AUM. AND WHATEVER TRANSCENDS THE THREE REALMS OF TIME, THAT INDEED IS THE FLOWING OF AUM. THIS WHOLE CREATION IS ULTIMATELY BRAHMAN. AND THE SELF, THIS ALSO IS BRAHMAN. AUM PURNAMADAH PURNAMIDAM PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA PURNAMEVA VASHISYATE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST significant statements ever made anywhere on the earth at any time. It contains the whole secret of the mystic approach towards life.