The Upanishads are a group of texts in Hindu sacred literature that are considered to reveal the ultimate truth and whose knowledge is considered to lead to spiritual emancipation. In the Upanishads, we find the finest flowering of the Indian metaphysical and speculative thought. They are utterances of seers who spoke out of the fullness of their illumined experience. Upanishad is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and sad (to sit). Hence, the term implies the pupils, intent on learning, sitting near the teacher to acquire knowledge and truth. There are over 200 Upanishads but the traditional number is 108. Of them, only 10 are the principal Upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashan, Mundaka, Mandukya, Tattiriya, Aitareya, Chhandogya and Brihadaranyaka. This book is a forerunner in introducing these primary Upanishads to the uninitiated.
Ten Upanishads Of Four Vedas,Ram K.Piparaiya:A contemporary treatise that contains unabridged texts,numerous commentaries,simplified synopses, and inspirational highlights.The book is a useful compendium of original Upanishadic texts and commentaries. Interfaith classics that contemplate on..What is God?Where from came the cosmos?Who am I?Why am I here? Upanishads are a record of human mind's earliest contemplatives flights to the unknown.Many of the anonymous seekers proceeded great masters and prophets like Lao-Tzu,Comfucius,Socrates,Zoroaster,Buddha,Mahavira,Abraham and Jesus,by at least a few centuries. Upanishads use many captivating,stories and metaphors to bring out the relationship between man,God and world.Timeless truths are condensed in profound aphorisms.After a few glimpses of Upanishads texts, their mere presence on a bookshelf inspires thoughts of wisdom.
NINE PRINCIPAL/ MAJOR UPANISHADS (Made Easy to Understand)We have tried our best to make study of the Upanishds easy for serious students. One does not have to leave home and go to Rishikesh or anywhere!! we even provide free e-mail support to help your study: www.gita-society.com/contactus .write a Blog or send a review: www.gita-society.com/review . And get any one book of your choice as our gift. HERE IS WHAT YOU GET:Seven illustrations, abstract, explanatory rendering (without Sanskrit verses) of all verses in simple, modern English; copious notes and gloss on difficult verses; simpler important verses are printed in underlined-bold for the first time readers; quotations from the Bhagavad-Gita; Chapter and Section headings and references.Free downloads Links for all 108 upanishads with commentaries and also for nine upanishads with commentaries from other scholars....... A Hindi version is under preparation.
The Upanishads include some of the most beloved and illuminating stories from the vast literature of India's Vedic tradition. Adapted from the original text, this collection of tales tells the story of enlightenment. It talks about: a teacher and his student in a secluded forest ashram, a great seer meditating in a Himalayan retreat, and more.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Lessons for all humankind from the Upanishads The greatness of the Upanishads lies in the fact that many of the passages appearing in them find mention in the Bhagavad Gita - the very essence of Indian thought and wisdom renowned the world over. Of the 108 Upanishads recognised and accepted as genuine by scholars, these 10 essential Upanishads have been extensively studied and interpreted upon by leading theologians including Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein to name just a few. An invaluable gift to humanity, the teachings contained in the Upanishads are relevant for all time. Since they are often in the form of lectures delivered by a teacher to a student, they inspired the 'Question-Answer' format for this concise book. Easy to read, easier to understand - The 10 Great Upanishads is a must read for those who want to benefit from the lessons the Upanishads have for everyone.
"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
