Sri Aurobindo represents a synthesis of the teachings of both the West and the East. Not content simply with dissolution into a transcendental, other-worldly God-consciousness, nor with concentration on the outer life and its powers to the exclusion of anything other or higher, Sri Aurobindo has created the teachings of a Divine Life on Earth.The secret knowledge of the Veda is the seed which evolved later on into the Vedanta. Its inner practice and discipline is a seed of the latter practice and discipline of Yoga. The Upanishads are the record of a period in human evolution where inner experience and realization was translated into rich poetic imagery and philosophical expression by the sages and seers of the time.
How did the universe come into being? What is the nature of God? Of the human spirit? All who seek understanding will find this book an illuminating presentation of India's oldest and most profound religious and philosophical tradition. The Wisdom of the Vedas was first published in 1931 by Kailas Press under the title India's Outlook on Life. The Theosophical Publishing House published a second edition in 1973, and again in 1980 under the Quest imprint. The present 1992 edition was edited to reflect the modern use of inclusive language, and includes an introduction by Vedic scholar David Frawley. Mr. Frawley explains to the Western reader, "The Vedas are the original scripture or source teaching of the Hindu tradition, from which its many branches of Vedanta, Yoga, and Tantra have emerged through time, and to which they all look back with reverence." The Vedas are also "..the background relative to which the Buddhist religion evolved, and Buddhism also preserves many Vedic terms and practices." The study then, of the Vedas is important to understanding many different Eastern teachings. The author is from India, and has an unusual ability to frame the subtleties of Eastern thought for the Western world.
Written with extraordinary clarity and elegance, this book is an excellent exposition of the complex philosophy of Advaita. A special feature of the book is that it inspires readers to inquire deeply into their own tradition and undertake the mystical quest. The authors emphasis on "first hand truth" is indeed heartening, for as he says quite rightly, "ultimate questions are too important to be left for others to determine the answers." Professor Pugliganda approaches Vedanta as a free and independent thinker with a desire to modernize its format and shows the key to search and reach the highest form of living truth by tracing the single theme of non-dualism.
The Katha Upanishad embraces the key ideas of Indian mysticism in a mythic story we can all relate to – the quest of a young hero, Nachiketa, who ventures into the land of death in search of immortality. But the insights of the Katha are scattered, hard to understand. Easwaran presents them systematically, and practically, as a way to explore deeper and deeper levels of personality, and to answer the age-old question, “Who am I?” Easwaran grew up in India, learned Sanskrit from a young age, and became a professor of English literature before coming to the West. His translation of The Upanishads is the best-selling edition in English. For students of philosophy and of Indian spirituality, and readers of wisdom literature everywhere, Easwaran’s interpretation of this classic helps us in our own quest into the meaning of our lives. (Previously published as: Dialogue With Death)
In Wisdom of the Ancient Sages, Swami Rama shares with the modern world the powerful and inspiring teachings of one of the worlds greatest spiritual texts: the Mundaka Upanishad. This beautiful translation and commentary affirms human nature as peaceful, creative, and transcendent. Its message will assist anyone who seeks to walk the path of personal and spiritual development.
“The Powers Of The Mind” is a speech delivered at Los Angeles, California, on January 8, 1900 by Swami Vivekananda explained his thoughts on the Powers of the Mind. This book brings together that speech for followers everywhere in his exact words.
"The Upanishads ... are among the noblest and most inspired books in the world; in them, the whole of the Indian wisdom is already contained; later teachers could but expand and comment on them, but in no way departed from this original treasure of wisdom." ... "The Upanishads teach the wisdom of Atma, the Supreme Self of all beings; the same divine Life which Philo of Alexandria later called the Logos, the Divine Mind, the collective spiritual consciousness of our universe. They tell us that, while each of us may seem to be a wanderer and exile, lonely, desolate in our world of shadow and of sorrow, we are in reality neither alone nor desolate, but undivided, unseparated rays of the Universal Self, the Logos. What is needed to secure our immortality-an immortality which is still conditional, until this victory is won-is the realization of our oneness with the Supreme Self. The Upanishads show how, step by step, we may mount the golden stairs; they tell us what we must leave behind; what we must gain, as we tread the small, old path; what we must achieve; with the promise that we shall in the fullness of time be initiated into the fullness of that eternal, universal Supreme Self of all beings. "The whole aim of their teachings is this: to point the path by which the personal self may win immortality and divinity, by becoming united with the Higher Self, which always possessed immortality and divinity."-Charles Johnston The Upanishads are the ultimate classic of Indian Spirituality. In this volume the reader will find the heart and soul of India, the foundations of the Vedanta philosophy, the source-wisdom that was later embodied in the teachings of such exalted sages as Krishna, Badarayana, Gaudapada and Sankaracharya. Johnston has here translated and comments upon the complete text of the 10 principal (mukhya) Upanishads, the oldest and most profound of all Upanishadic texts. Originally printed in two theosophical magazines-The Oriental Department Papers & The Theosophical Quarterly-between the years 1892 and 1931, these translations and commentaries have finally been collected and organized into a single volume. In addition to these, several articles on the Indian wisdom Tradition are included, both to introduce the translations and to supplement them. The student will find Johnston's commentaries drawing comparisons and correspondences between the hidden wisdom of the Upanishads and the wisdom embodied by the world's religious traditions as well as the modern philosophies of Kant, Schopenhauer and others, and even to the modern sciences of physics and astronomy. These commentaries provide a bridge for students and researchers that will enhance their understanding of the deep and timeless wisdom of the sages of old. "Traces of the teachings which have become known to us as Theosophy are found in the records of all ancient religions in both hemispheres, but nowhere are these teachings so fully, lucidly and profoundly recorded as in the oldest Upanishads and this is true not only of large generalizations, like the doctrines of rebirth and liberation, but also of those more particular and recondite doctrines which come gradually to the knowledge of students who follow a special line of study and work. So that, in the Upanishads, we have an invaluable proof of the antiquity and authenticity of both general and particular doctrines, a guarantee at least three thousand years old, and, in all probability, very much older. And if the Upanishads lend this invaluable support to our modern teachings, it is, on the other hand, true, that without these modern teachings, much that is most profound and of greatest value in the Upanishads is hardly intelligible, so that one may read the ordinary translations without gaining any idea of the meaning, or even the presence, of those particular teachings which we have spoken of. It was, therefore, necessary to read and translate, the Upanishads, in the light of Theosophy."-Charles Johnston
This is one of the "Upanishads", or the philosophical parts of the "Vedas",he central sacred texts of Hinduism. It addresses a problem of interest toll: what happens after the death of the body. The story tells how Nachiketaeets Yama, the lord of Death. During their discussion, Yama explains thathere are two paths in life. By rejecting the path of the outside world, andhoosing "the path that leads inward", it is possible to achieve immortalityhrough a merging with the Universal Self.;This translation brings out thepiritual message of the "Katha Upanishad". Swami Ambikananda Saraswati seekso weave the poetry of the Sanskrit with her interpretation to convey thishousand-year-old wisdom. The text is illustrated with Indian miniatures fromhe Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
