The Upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Shvetashvatara, Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka

by Bibek Debroy, Dipavali Debroy

The word Upanishad is derived from the Sanskrit verb 'sad,' which means to sit, and two prepositions, 'upa' (under) and 'ni' (at). The sense is thus of sitting for instruction at the feet of a teacher. The Upanishads are sacred treatises, spiritual and philosophical in nature. Vedic literature is divided into two broad groups. The first is known as karma kanda, the section that deals with rituals and rites. This has the samhitas, that is, compilations of mantras or hymns. The four samhitas are the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda The mantras require commentaries as explanations. These are the brahmanas. The samhitas and the brahmanas are together known as karma kanda. The second section of Vedic literature is Jnana kanda, the part that deals with knowledge. This segment is the spiritual and philosophical part and consists of the aranyakas and the Upanishads. The earliest Upanishads were probably composed between the years 800 B.C. and 400 B.C. The major Upanishads are ten or eleven in number. This is based on the fact that Shankaracharya (800 A.D.) wrote his celebrated commentaries of ten of the Upanishads. The eleven major Upanishads listed are fairly short. It is of course possible that the text that is now available does not constitute the entirety of the original Upanishad. This, for example, seems to have happened with the Mandukya Upanishad Two Upanishads are however fairly long. These are the Chandogya and the Brihadaranyaka. It is now impossible to establish the chronological order in which the Upanishads were composed. But the most likely order seems to be Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya, Kena, Katha, Isha, Mundaka, Prashna, Mandukya, Shvetashvatara and Aitareya. The teachings of the Upanishads, together with that of the Bhagavad Gita, form the basis of Vedanta philosophy. CONTENTS Copyright Information Introduction The Isha Upanishad The Kena Upanishad The Katha Upanishad The Prashna Upanishad The Mundaka Upanishad The Mandukya Upanishad The Taittiriya Upanishad The Aitareya Upanishad The Shvetashvatara Upanishad The Chandogya Upanishad The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Glossary

Genres: Hinduism

227 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2020

About the author

Bibek Debroy was an Indian economist, who served as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He was also the Chairman of the Finance Ministry's 'Expert Committee for Infrastructure Classification and Financing Framework for Amrit Kaal'. Debroy has made significant contributions to game theory, economic theory, income and social inequalities, poverty, law reforms, railway reforms and Indology among others. From its inception in January 2015 until June 2019, Mr. Debroy was a member of the NITI Aayog, the think tank of the Indian Government. He was awarded the Padma Shri (the fourth-highest civilian honour in India) in 2015.
Bibek Debroy's recent co-authored magnum opus, Inked in India, stands distinguished as the premier comprehensive documentation, capturing the entirety of recognized fountain pen, nib, and ink manufacturers in India.
In 2016, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the US-India Business Summit. In 2022, he was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by The Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC). In February 2024, Debroy was conferred Insolvency Law Academy Emeritus Fellowship, in recognition of his distinguished leadership, public service, work and contributions in the field of insolvency.
Bibek Debroy died on 1 November 2024, at the age of 69. He had been admitted to All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in New Delhi one month prior.

Reviews

[Humilis Memoriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tat tvam asi. Thou art That.

Three Sanskrit words that every commentary for three thousand years has been trying to explain without reducing. The Chāndogya presents them as the culmination of Uddālaka's instruction to his son Śvetaketu — not as a belief to hold but as a recognition to have. The self (Ātman) and the ground of all being (Brahman) are not two things that have been brought into relation. They are one thing that appears as two when consciousness is functioning through ego.

The Māṇḍūkya is the most structurally precise of these three: four states of consciousness — waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and turīya — each with distinct characteristics, with turīya as the witnessing awareness underlying all three. This isn't mysticism in the vague sense. It's a consciousness map precise enough to be worked with empirically. The stages of meditation I've been practicing over the past years have thresholds that correspond to what the Māṇḍūkya is describing. I'm not claiming to have arrived at turīya, but I'm more certain than I was that the map is accurate.

The Kaṭha dialogue between Naciketas and Death is the most dramatic presentation: a boy refuses to be frightened away from asking about what happens to a person after death, and Death — finding the question genuine — teaches him everything. That's the frame, but the teaching inside is the Ātman-instruction in its most compressed form.

What I didn't understand until reading these alongside other traditions is how precisely the fourfold consciousness structure appears elsewhere — in different vocabulary, with different emphasis, but pointing to the same territory.

This text is Book 16 in The Mysterious Thread curriculum. The complete architecture can be found via The Collective Press.

[Srinivas Nidugondi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for anyone interested in beginnning a journey into Vedanta.

[Princess Kichelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great translation. Makes total sense despite the complicated Sanskrit involved.