Vedas Vs Upanishads Essay

Hinduism started out with the Vedas as its primary text, but the concepts from the Vedas have been expanded on with the addition of the Upanishads. While the Vedas and the Upanishads both depict the social classes of Hindu society, in the Upanishads, these classes represent the level of the true inner selves. In addition, both social class setups are similar in some ways because at the top of each hierarchy, there is a social class called Brahman.
The Vedas, in general, provide the four social classes of Hindu society with the highest class being the Brahmans or the priests and then on down through the warriors and rulers then onto the merchants and finally at the bottom, the laborers. This social system becomes established in verse 10:90 which provides an account of

Upanishadic texts relate the social classes of society to the different levels of the inner human self. For instance, there is the physical outer part of the body that transcends into the vital part, which then leads into the mental stage and finally the intellectual part of the body. Supported evidence of these levels is derived from the Upanishad in verse 2.1-6 which states, “Of the essence of food is the body which consists of breath; Verily, different from and within this body which consists of vital breaths is the body which consists of minds” (Upanishad 2.1-6). So as compared to the Vedas, which went from the highest part of the body to the lowest part of the body to associate the social classes of Hindu society, the Upanishads start from the outermost part of the self to the innermost part of the self, with the innermost part being the highest class. The Upanishads add more complexion, as compared to the Vedas, because they look at the layers of the body, so as the parts of the self change complexity, the understanding of the true self becomes harder to