S'a@nkara the most eminent exponent of the Upani@sads holds that they are meant for such superior men who are already above worldly or heavenly prosperities, and for whom the Vedic duties have ceased to have any attraction. Wheresoever there may be such a deserving person, be he a student, a householder or an ascetic, for him the Upani@sads have been revealed for his ultimate emancipation and the true knowledge. Those who perform the Vedic duties belong to a stage inferior to those who no longer care for the fruits of the Vedic duties but are eager for final emancipation, and it is the latter who alone are fit to hear the Upani@sads [Footnote ref 1]. The names of the Upani@sads; Non-Brahmanic influence. The Upani@sads are also known by another name Vedânta, as they are believed to be the last portions of the Vedas (_veda-anta_, end); it is by this name that the philosophy of the Upani@sads, the Vedânta philosophy, is so familiar to us. A modern student knows that in language the Upani@sads approach the classical Sanskrit; the ideas preached also show that they are the culmination of the intellectual achievement of a great epoch. As they thus formed the concluding parts of the Vedas they retained their Vedic names which they took from the name of the different schools or branches (_s'âkhâ_) among which the Vedas were studied [Footnote ref 2]. Thus the Upani@sads attached to the Brâhma@nas of the Aitareya and Kau@sîtaki schools are called respectively Aitareya and Kau@sîtaki Upani@sads. Those of the Tâ@n@dins and Talavakâras of the Sâma-veda are called the Chândogya and Talavakâra (or Kena) Upani@sads. Those of the Taittirïya school of the Yajurveda ___________________________________________________________________ [Footnote 1: This is what is called the difference of fitness (_adhikâribheda_). Those who perform the sacrifices are not fit to hear the Upani@sads and those who are fit to hear the Upani@sads have no longer any necessity to perform the sacrificial duties.] [Footnote 2: When the Sa@mhitâ texts had become substantially fixed, they were committed to memory in different parts of the country and transmitted from teacher to pupil along with directions for the practical performance of sacrificial duties. The latter formed the matter of prose compositions, the Brâhma@nas. These however were gradually liable to diverse kinds of modifications according to the special tendencies and needs of the people among which they were recited. Thus after a time there occurred a great divergence in the readings of the texts of the Brâhma@nas even of the same Veda among different people. These different schools were known by the name of particular S'âkhâs (e.g. Aitareya, Kau@sîtaki) with which the Brâhma@nas were associated or named. According to the divergence of the Brâhma@nas of the different S'âkhâs there occurred the divergences of content and the length of the Upani@sads associated with them.] 31