For those whose appetites run more to philosophy than to hymns about the gods, there are the Upanishads. The Upanishads are the fourth section of each of the Vedas. The word “Upanishads” means “sitting near,” as in being near enough to listen to your sage or master. The conversations in the Upanishads took place between gurus and their students as they sat and ruminated over the philosophical implications of the Vedas.