For Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the Upanishads stand as the very heart of the Vedic revelation, the culminating *jñāna-kāṇḍa* that constitutes Vedānta. They are regarded as the ultimate authority on spiritual knowledge, the foundational texts that unfold Brahman, the ultimate reality, and Ātman, the innermost self. In this vision, the Upanishads are not peripheral or optional; they are the decisive scriptural source that reveals the true nature of reality and the human being. Their teaching is not merely speculative but is understood as a precise and reliable means of knowledge for what lies beyond the reach of ordinary perception and inference.

Central to this understanding is the idea that the Upanishads function as a unique *śabda-pramāṇa*, a verbal means of knowledge for Self-knowledge (*ātma-vidyā*). The nature of the self as non-dual awareness cannot be arrived at through empirical investigation or logical reasoning alone, and so the Upanishadic sentences are treated as a distinct doorway to that recognition. They reveal that the individual self and Brahman are in truth non-separate, a non-dual reality that Advaita Vedānta encapsulates in the great statements such as “tat tvam asi” and “ahaṃ brahmāsmi.” This revelation removes fundamental ignorance (*avidyā*), which is seen as the root of bondage and suffering.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati consistently presented the Upanishads as texts whose sole purpose is mokṣa, freedom from limitation and sorrow. The knowledge they impart is not a promise of a distant heaven but the recognition that one’s true nature is already whole, free, and complete. Liberation, in this light, comes through *jñāna*—direct understanding of what is already the case—rather than through ritual performance or extraordinary mystical experiences. Thus the Upanishadic teaching is both radical and deeply practical: it addresses the existential problem of human dissatisfaction by correcting a basic error about identity.

Equally significant in his approach is the insistence that the Upanishads must be approached through a living teaching tradition (*sampradāya*). Their sentences are subtle and often appear paradoxical, and so a systematic study under a qualified teacher is considered indispensable. Through such guided inquiry, apparent contradictions within the texts are resolved, and their underlying coherence becomes evident. In this way, the Upanishads are not treated as mere philosophy or poetry but as a carefully structured pedagogy designed to lead a prepared mind to clarity.

Finally, Swami Dayananda Saraswati highlighted that the vision of the Upanishads does not negate ordinary life but illumines it. When the error regarding the self is removed, one is free to live a dharmic, responsible life, fully engaged yet inwardly unburdened. Upanishadic wisdom thus becomes a living insight that can be integrated into daily roles and relationships, making profound non-dual knowledge relevant for householders and renunciates alike. The significance of the Upanishads, therefore, lies not only in their lofty metaphysics but in their capacity to transform the way life is understood and lived.