Upanisads

Composed in Sanskrit between 900 and 600 BC, the Upanishads are man's oldest works of philosophy. The translations presented here are the oldest and most important of those that exist.

The Upanishads: one of three new editions of the books in Eknath Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality series You are what your deep driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (IV.4.5) Over two thousand years ago, the sages of India embarked on an extraordinary experiment. While others were exploring the external world, they turned inward - to explore consciousness itself. In the changing flow of human thought, they asked, is there anything that remains the same? They found that there is indeed a changeless Reality underlying the ebb and flow of life. Their discoveries are an expression of what Aldous Huxley called the Perennial Philosophy, the wellspring of all religious faith that assures us that God-realization is within human reach. The Upanishads are the sages' wisdom, given in intense sessions of spiritual instruction in ashrams, in family gatherings, in a royal court, in the kingdom of Death himself. And Easwaran shows how these teachings are just as relevant to us now as they ever were centuries ago.

Volume 2 of the definitive, scholarly English translation of one of the great religious and philosophical classics of the East. Included are the 12 classical upanishads. Fully annotated with a 160-page introduction.

The Upanishads are a collection of texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts of Hinduism. They are based on principles like samsara, brahman, atman, karma, dharma and moksha and form the core of Indian philosophy. This version is an English translation by Swami Paramananda as part of his mission to spread the eastern teachings of Hinduism to the Western world. Easy to understand and simply written, the thought behind this text is to know your SELF and follow the wisdom within the text to lead a wholesome and spiritually centered life. Swami Paramananda was one of the early Indian teachers who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion there. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living.

The Upanishads, The Earliest Of Which Were Composed In Sanskrit Between 8 And 4 Bce By Sages And Poets, Form Part Of The Vedas - The Sacred And Ancient Scriptures That Are The Basis Of The Hindu Religion. Each Upanishad, Or Lesson, Takes Up A Theme Ranging From The Attainment Of Spiritual Bliss To Karma And Rebirth, And Collectively They Are Meditations On Life, Death And Immortality. The Essence Of Their Teachings Is That Truth Can By Reached By Faith Rather Than By Thought, And That The Spirit Of God Is Within Each Of Us - We Need Not Fear Death As We Carry Within Us The Promise Of Eternal Life.

The Message of the Upanishads is a study, verse by verse, of three of the principal Upanishads, namely, Isha, Kena and Katha, in the light of modern thought and modern needs. Though constituting a small portion of the total Upanishadic literature, they yet contain a lucid exposition of all the essential ideas of this immortal literature. The spiritual insights of the Upanishads are an exception to the tyranny of time. Subsequent scientific advances have not only affected their truth-value but have, on the contrary, only helped to reveal the rational basis of their insights and enhanced their spiritual appeal. This is no wonder, because these insights are the products of an equally scientific investigation into a different field of experience, namely, the world of man’s inner life. Published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication house of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math.

The seers and sages of Ancient India revealed fundamental principles of perennial philosophy. The Upanishads contain the essential principles of this perennial-this ageless philosophy. They contain a large number of inspiring and instructive passages and verses. It has not been possible to include all of them in this book. For the purposes of this book the author has taken those verses and passages that have a bearing on the mystical teaching of the Upanishads. It is mysticism which is the very core of the Upanishads-and so in understanding its mysticism one comes to the heart of the sublime and magnificent teaching of the Upanishads. In this age, where science and technology may lead us into a world devoid of meaning and significance. Modern man needs today a meaningful philosophy if the achievements of science are not to lead him to greater and greater destruction-but to sublime and majestic heights of creative living. It is in the Vision of Life given by the Upanishads that man can find the fundamental philosophy of Creative Living-a philosophy that can serve as a Beacon Light even in the midst of surrounding darkness, a philosophy that can lead him from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light, from death to Immortality.

"The Upanishads" is a collection of Sri Aurobindo's final translations of and commentaries on every Upanishad or other Vedantic text he worked on. Upanishads are the ancient treatises on spiritual truths as envisioned by the seers, sages and rishis of the civilization of India.