In the long history of man's endeavor to grasp the fundamental truths of being, the metaphysical treatises known as the Upanishads hold an honored place. They represent the earnest efforts of the profound thinkers of early India, beginning around the sixth century B.C., to .solve the problems of the origin, the nature, and the destiny of man and of the universe, or-more technically-the meaning and value of ' knowing' and ' being.' The Upanishads embody one of the earliest discoveries that the various gods of polytheistic belief are but special manifestations of the power of the universe gods of polytheistic belief are but special manifestations of the power of the universe, and of a variously revealed, partially elusive, all-comprehending unitary Reality.