The Ten Principal Upanishads

by Purohit Swami (Translator)

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.

Genres: Philosophy, Hinduism, Spirituality, India, Nonfiction

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 501

Reviews

[Dennis Littrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful poetic rendition

Of the many thousands of books that essentially are one of a kind and out of print, few are more worthy of being reissued than this very beautiful rendition of the heart of the Upanishads. World class poet W. B. Yeats, working with Vedic scholar Sri Swami Purohit, retired to Majorca away from the war clouds gathering over Europe in the thirties with the intent of making "a translation that would read as though the original had been written in common English" (p. 8). Here's an exchange between the boy Nachiketas and Death from the Katha Upanishad that gives a sense of just how well Yeats and Purohit succeeded:

Nachiketas said: "Some say that when man dies he continues to exist, others that he does not. Explain, and that shall be my third gift."

Death said: "This question has been discussed by the gods, it is deep and difficult. Choose another gift, Nachiketas! Do not be hard. Do not compel me to explain."

It is from the Upanishads that the Bhagavad Gita finds its inspiration. One can see immediately in this short exchange the seed from which the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna grew. Indeed it is from the Upanishads that the central doctrines of Hinduism are derived, and the philosophy of yoga, and even that of Buddhism. As such the Upanishads, despite their repetition and extraneous material, constitute one of the great spiritual works of humankind. What Yeats and Purohit have done here, in contradistinction to other translations that I have read, is to make the work intelligible, accessible and a pleasure to read. To do this, it is true they have trimmed; and they have drifted in parts from a strictly literal translation, preferring instead to emphasize the spirit and the essence of the Upanishads. Consequently, for the scholar this is not the best translation. But for those who want the feel and the heart of the Upanishads without the ritualistic circumlocutions or much of the repetition, this is an idea translation. Through the poetic use of words, incorporating the magic of sound and rhythm in judicious repetition, Yeats and Purohit are able to preserve the oral formulaic expression of the Upanishads, and bring the sense of their power to the modern English speaker. This is an outstanding achievement. Here is the refrain that ends this beautiful translation:

"This is perfect. That is perfect. Perfect comes from perfect. Take perfect from perfect; the remainder is perfect. May peace and peace and peace be every where."

--Dennis Littrell, author of “Yoga: Sacred and Profane (Beyond Hatha Yoga)”

[Bradley McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly profound. The selections could probably be longer, though.

[David Radavich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read this classic every year about this time - it is eternal, centering, and restorative.

[Matt Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic modern translation into English, with input from Yeats, no less. One frustration for those who are familiar with at least one Indian language: There are times when one wonders which Sanskrit word it is which is being translated.

[Scott Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far this book has challenged me to rethink what I think about God, and to rethink my search for my own identity. Seek self says the Upanishad, and seek the absolute. Find consciousness.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The aforementioned Indian philosophy textbook (see previous review) makes clear that Hinduism (the dominant, even defining -ism of South Asian civilization) may have been founded millenia ago, but its philosophy took its modern form only with the 8th century AD thinker Ādi Śaṅkara, who defined the Principal Upaniṣads (10 major Vedic scriptures), the Brahma Sūtra (a metaphysical text), and the Bhagavad Gītā (a sermon in the epic poem Mahābhārata), as the Vedanta canon that defines Hinduism today. Naturally the next thing to do was to read the 10 Principal Upaniṣads; this translation was in a local library. These upanishads are mostly short poems that discuss the nature of the individual self and its relationship to the divine ground underlying reality. The translation calls the latter divinity "God" (yes with a capital G), but it's not clear whether that is an accurate equivalence, as it does not create the universe but *is* the universe. That such an entity would be translated as 'God' is perhaps unsurprising, as this translation was a collaboration between an Indian teacher and a British poet, the not obscure WB Yeats, in order to make these upanishads available to the early 20th century British public. As poetry, the book is quite good, but an academic translation might be desirable. This may be a case analogous to that of the King James Version of the Bible, which is not the most accurate of English translations, but may well be the most beautiful.

[Mukul Ranjan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a word-by-word translation of the Sanskrit without the Sanskrit texts included in the book. For many Sanskrit words, the English translation is incorrect, and I feel that the original Sanskrit terms would be more appropriate. For example, "Brahman" is translated as "Spirit," however when you read "Spirit," it has a completely different meaning in English and is definitely not the "Supreme Being" defined in the Upanishads. Similarly, there are many ambiguous translations like "meditation," "Self," etc. Yoga has multiple meanings depending on the context, and it is certainly not just meditation. Yoga and Karma are tightly related in Vedanta philosophy, and reducing these terms to simple English words loses their philosophical precision and interconnected meanings.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike so many translations of Indian spiritual texts into English, the Yeats Upanishads uses clear direct language that makes it easy to read. Although Yeats was one of the greatest poets of all time, he avoided flowery language here and just kept it simple.

[Er. Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Upanishads are regarded as one the best books on human philosophy and reading it lifts one to a higher plane.

Anyone wanting to know more about himself should surely read them.

[Nipun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives so much to think about.
I was planning to discover some ancient wisdom of India, and stumbled upon this book. It is a book small enough just to regenerate the curiosity about the wisdom of ancient Indians.

The ideas which appear in Vedas are discussed in this book with so much of simplicity that sometimes you may just miss the point.

I have to re read after every few pages and go slow on the content imagining what might have gone into the heads of those seers who wrote those descriptions and details of Supreme Being. Sceptical you might become of some stories, yet cannot help being totally bewildered by the ideas detailed in these Upanishads.

स वा अयमात्मा ब्रह्म ........सर्वमय...........
That self is indeed Brahman...........He is everything...........

Beyond the senses is the mind; higher than the mind is the intellect; above the intellect is the great atman; higher than the mahat is Avyaktam. Beyond the Avyaktam is Purusha, all-pervading .

जीवापेतं वाव किलेदं म्रियते न जीवो म्रियते इति When the self leaves the body, the body surely dies. The self, however, never dies.

एको वशी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा एकं रूपं बहुधा यः करोति ।
Sole, controller, the internal atman of all living things who makes his own form diverse

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book as a junior in college (lo, many years ago). I’ve always wanted to read it again, but finding an affordable copy proved to be elusive until recently. Times change and people change.

This book is a lyrical translation of the ancient Hindu texts. It revolves around the idea of Self (aka Atman) as being the underpinning of the universe – in all things but unseeable, unsayable, unknowable. For some reason, the universe was created and made unknowable to man without solving innumerable contradictory and tautological riddles.

When I was a young man, I thought that perhaps the answers existed. Older and more weary, I do not think so. Ideas of enlightenment, nirvana and cosmic consciousness are just so much smoke men have been trying to bottle for many millennia.

This book, and this translation by Yeats, certainly has a beauty to it. One should read it for the poetry, and not get too caught up in the philosophy.

[#DÏ4B7Ø Chinnamasta-Bhairav · Rating 3 out of 5]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seK2D...

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SOMETHING 2 MEDITATE 2 - JUST AN ENDLESS FLOW OF GOD IN HIS INFINITE FORMS
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