Editing Upanishads (section)

==Similarities with Platonic thought==
{{See also|Proto-Indo-European religion|Ṛta|}}

Several scholars have recognised parallels between the philosophy of [[Pythagoras]] and [[Plato]] and that of the Upanishads, including their ideas on [[epistemology|sources of knowledge]], concept of justice and path to salvation, and Plato's [[allegory of the cave]]. Platonic psychology with its divisions of reason, spirit and appetite, also bears resemblance to the three ''[[Guṇa]]s'' in the Indian philosophy of [[Samkhya]].{{sfn|Chousalkar|1986|pp=130-134}}{{sfn|Wadia|1956|p=64-65}}{{refn|group=note|For instances of Platonic [[Pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]] in the early Upanishads see Randall.{{sfn|Collins|2000|pp=197–198}}}}

Various mechanisms for such a transmission of knowledge have been conjectured including Pythagoras traveling as far as India; Indian philosophers visiting Athens and meeting [[Socrates]]; Plato encountering the ideas when in exile in Syracuse; or, intermediated through Persia.{{sfn|Chousalkar|1986|pp=130-134}}{{sfn|Urwick|1920}}

However, other scholars, such as [[Arthur Berriedale Keith]], [[John Burnet (classicist)|J. Burnet]] and [[Ardeshir Ruttonji Wadia|A. R. Wadia]], believe that the two systems developed independently. They note that there is no historical evidence of the philosophers of the two schools meeting, and point out significant differences in the stage of development, orientation and goals of the two philosophical systems. Wadia writes that Plato's metaphysics were rooted in ''this'' life and his primary aim was to develop an ideal state.{{sfn|Wadia|1956|p=64-65}} In contrast, Upanishadic focus was the individual, the self (atman, soul), self-knowledge, and the means of an individual's [[moksha]] (freedom, liberation in this life or after-life).{{sfn|Keith|2007|pp=602-603}}<ref>RC Mishra (2013), Moksha and the Hindu Worldview, Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 25, No. 1, pages 21-42; Chousalkar, Ashok (1986), Social and Political Implications of Concepts Of Justice And Dharma, pages 130-134</ref>