The Upanishads

Easwaran is a leading authority on the Upanishads – his best-selling translation of the key Upanishads is accessible and reliable, and is preceded by a unique, comprehensive introduction to the profound insights of the sages of ancient India.

ISBN-13: 9781586381318

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Nilgiri Press

Publication Date: 02-12-2019

Pages: 384

Product Dimensions: 5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

Series: Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality #2

Eknath Easwaran (1910-1999) brings to this volume a rare combination of credentials. Trained from a young age in one of the purest Sanskrit traditions in India, he had a deep intuitive knowledge of his own Hindu legacy. He also had a great love of Western literature and was chairman of the English department at a major Indian university when he came to the United States on a Fulbright fellowship in 1959. From the 1960s onwards, Easwaran held classes on mysticism and practical spirituality for a primarily American audience. A gifted teacher, he was able to anticipate the problems that Western readers may have with the concepts underlying the classics of Indian spirituality, and to explain them in fresh and profoundly simple ways. In 1961 Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in California, and in 1967, at the University of California, Berkeley, he taught the first academic course on meditation ever offered for credit at a major American university. He continued to teach passage meditation and his eight-point program for spiritual living to an American and international audience for almost forty years. His books on meditation and the classics of world mysticism have been translated into many languages. Easwaran drew on the Upanishads and the other Classics of Indian Spirituality throughout his life for deep inspiration. As Huston Smith writes, “it is impossible to get to the heart of those Classics unless you live them, and he did live them.” Through the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and its publishing arm, Nilgiri Press, Easwaran continues to reach an ever-growing audience around the world through publications and retreats. Chapter introductions, notes, and the essay "Reading the Upanishads" are by Michael N. Nagler, PhD, who is professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Foreword     7
Introduction     13
Isha: The Inner Ruler     51
Katha: Death as Teacher     61
Brihadaranyaka: The Forest of Wisdom     93
Chandogya: Sacred Song     119
Shvetashvatara: The Faces of God     153
Mundaka: Modes of Knowing     179
Mandukya: Consciousness & Its Phases     197
Kena: Who Moves the World?     207
Prashna: The Breath of Life     219
Taittiriya: Ascent to Joy     239
Aitareya: The Unity of Life     263
Minor Upanishads: Beads of Wisdom
Tejobindu     283
Atma     286
Amritabindu     288
Paramahamsa     291
Afterword: A Religion for Modern Times   Michael N. Nagler     295
Glossary     337
Notes     345
Index     377 Show More