[4] The text is listed at 29 in the serial order in the Muktika enumerated by Rama to Hanuman in the modern era anthology of 108 Upanishads.

[12] The Maitreya Upanishad, states Patrick Olivelle, is a record of Sandhya rituals and rites that were abandoned in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism, along with the rationale for this development.

[16] The second chapter starts with a prose prologue, has three sections with a total of thirty verses, structured as knowledge from god Shiva to Maitreya.

[19] Initially the sage says that the subject of Brahman or Atma was difficult to explain, old fashioned knowledge, and the ascetic king should ask for something else.

[4][20] The ascetic king states that everything is transient, lofty peaks crumble down, pole star swerves with seasons, oceans dry up and gods fall with time.

[21] Sakayanya then expounds the nature of human life, starting with the statement that "Artha is Anartha", or "objects of senses are in truth worthless", that a soul that craves and attaches to hedonistic pleasures never reaches its highest potential.

The Maitreya Upanishad, in verse 1.4.4 states that the pursuit of rituals and rites are false, that it is the mind that travels the path of truth which self-liberates and attains freedom.

The Lord (God) is within the heart of each person, translates Olivelle, "He is the witness of the reason's dance, and the object of the utmost love".

[7] This Lord has no beginning and no end, is pure light, can neither be seized nor abandoned, is without mark or sign, is calm and profound, states the Upanishad.

He is neither light nor darkness, He is changeless and without false appearances, He is knowledge, He is free, He is true, He is subtle, He is an ocean of bliss, and He is I, the inner essence of a person, asserts the Maitreya Upanishad.

Those who do not accept social class, subdivisions, duties imposed by others, live by their conscience and are sated by their own bliss, no torment can touch their core, states the Maitreya Upanishad.

[11] The second chapter of the Upanishad opens with Maitreya meeting god Shiva in mount Kailasha, and asking him about the knowledge of highest reality.

The human body, states the text, is a "filthy house of joy and grief", one that is built with humors, is born, suffers from diseases over its life, and ultimately dies.

These verses, states Patrick Olivelle, summarize the reasons why Advaita Vedanta tradition abandoned rituals, and redefined what solitude and path to self-knowledge means: The sun of consciousness always shines brightly, in the sky of our hearts, It does not set and it does not rise, how can we perform the twilight worship.

This sentiment is repeated in verses 2.3.8 onward in the Upanishad, but the text adds that "forsaking rites and chanting renunciation" alone does not lead to knowledge.