This is a study of the Upanishads, part of the Vedas, the huge body of millennia-old writings that is at the heart of Hindu wisdom. At the same time they represent some of India's highest achievements in world literature. The Upanishads focus on the nature and reality of Brahman or the universal soul. Every person's soul or atman longs for union with the universal and this is possible if we abandon the transient and the material and contemplate the eternal. The path to freedom is narrow but the Upanishads teach that all can escape karma for true liberation.