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The Upanishads (Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality Book 2) Paperback – January 1, 2007
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Easwaran’s best-selling translation of the ancient wisdom texts called the Upanishads is reliable, readable, and profound.
In the Upanishads, illumined sages share flashes of insight, the results of their investigation into consciousness itself.
In extraordinary visions, they experience directly a transcendent Reality which is the essence, or Self, of each created being. They teach that each of us, each Self, is eternal, deathless, one with the power that created the universe.
Easwaran’s best-selling translation of selections taken from the principal Upanishads and five others is reliable and accessible. It includes an overview of the cultural and historical setting, with chapter introductions, notes, and a Sanskrit glossary. But it is Easwaran’s understanding of the wisdom of the Upanishads, and their relevance to the modern reader, that makes this edition truly outstanding.
Each sage, each Upanishad, appeals in different ways to the reader’s head and heart. As Easwaran writes, “The Upanishads belong not just to Hinduism. They are India’s most precious legacy to humanity, and in that spirit they are offered here.”
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherNilgiri Press
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2007
- Dimensions5.43 x 1 x 8.26 inches
- ISBN-101586380214
- ISBN-13978-1586380212
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From the Back Cover
About the Author
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.
Product details
- Publisher : Nilgiri Press; 2nd edition (January 1, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1586380214
- ISBN-13 : 978-1586380212
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.43 x 1 x 8.26 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #11,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Vedas
- #2 in Upanishads
- #55 in Meditation (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Eknath Easwaran (1910-1999) is one of the twentieth century's great spiritual teachers and an authentic guide to timeless wisdom.
He is a recognized authority on the Indian spiritual classics. His translations of the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Dhammapada are the best-selling editions in the USA.
His books on meditation, spiritual living, and the classics of world mysticism have been translated into sixteen languages. His book Passage Meditation (originally titled Meditation) has sold over 200,000 copies since it was first published in 1978. Two million copies of Easwaran's books are in print.
* Sign up for the free daily Thought for the Day, our bi-weekly email with short articles and stories, and/or our twice-yearly Journal at www.bmcm.org/subscribe/.
* For more information on Eknath Easwaran and free resources on meditation and spiritual living, please visit www.bmcm.org.
Born in Kerala, India, Easwaran was a professor of English literature at a leading Indian university when he came to the United States in 1959 on the Fulbright exchange program. A gifted teacher, he moved from education for degrees to education for living, and gave talks on meditation and spiritual living for 40 years. His meditation class at UC Berkeley in 1968 was the first accredited course on meditation at any major university.
In 1961 he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, a nonprofit organization that publishes his books, videos, and audio talks, and offers retreats and online programs.
Easwaran lived what he taught, giving him lasting appeal as a spiritual teacher and author of deep insight and warmth.
Discovering Meditation
Easwaran discovered meditation mid-life, while he was teaching on a college campus in central India. In the midst of a successful career he found himself haunted by age-old questions: Why am I here? What is life for? What will happen when I die?
Meanwhile in a few short months he lost two people passionately dear to him: Mahatma Gandhi, whom he’d visited in his ashram, and his beloved grandmother, who was his spiritual teacher. Finally he came home one day to find his dog had been killed by a passing truck, and his sense of loss would not subside. His dog stood for death itself, for all who had passed away.
“Almost instinctively,” Easwaran said, “I went to my room and picked up my Gita, most of which I knew by heart. I closed my eyes, and as I began to repeat the verses silently to myself, the words opened up and took me deep, deep in.” Over the next weeks he continued in the same way, seated in silence in the early morning. His meditation practice had begun.
Still leading a full life at the university, Easwaran looked for guidance in this new inner world. He read the Upanishads, Patanjali, the Catholic mystics, the Buddhist scriptures, the poetry of the Sufis. In addition to his Bhagavad Gita, he found passages for meditation from every major spiritual tradition. Some of the mystics he studied had chosen not to retire into monasteries but, like himself, to seek the spiritual path in the midst of everyday life.
In meditation, he found a deep connection between the wisdom in the passages and the way he conducted himself throughout the day. It was a thrilling discovery. “The passages were lifelines, guiding me to the source of wisdom deep within and then guiding me back into daily life.”
Years passed, and Easwaran’s inner and outer life became richer and more challenging as his meditation deepened.
In 1959 he came to the US on the Fulbright scholarship and lectured widely on the spiritual heritage of India. Some students were eager to learn about meditation, and Easwaran loved teaching. He developed a simple, effective eight-point program of passage meditation based on his own spiritual experience. Thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds now follow this program all around the world.
Easwaran as a Teacher
In the introduction to one of his key books, Easwaran described his approach as a teacher. He appealed to people, he said, “partly because I have not retired from the world – I live very much as a family man, a good husband, son, and friend – but also because I have tried to combine the best of West and East.
“I live together with forty friends at our ashram, or spiritual community, and though I have heavy responsibilities in guiding our work, I take time for recreation. I go with friends to the theater; I am fond of Western and Indian classical music; I like to take the children to the ice cream parlor and the dogs to the beach for a run.
“But perhaps what appeals most deeply is that I understand the difficulties of living in the modern world. Before taking to meditation, in my ignorance of the unity of life, I too committed most of the mistakes that even sensitive people commit today. As a result, I understand how easy it is to make those mistakes, and I know how to guide and support those who are trying to learn a wiser way of living.”
Easwaran Now
Since Easwaran’s passing in 1999, interest in his work has only increased. People choose to relate to him today in various ways: as an authority on world mysticism; as a wise spiritual writer; as an experienced teacher of meditation; and as a personal spiritual guide.
The meditation programs that Easwaran created for every stage of life are reaching growing audiences in person and online. He left a vast legacy of video and audio talks which will be shared increasingly over the next years through our website, programs, publications, and digital library.
For those who seek him as a personal spiritual guide, Easwaran assured us that he lives on through his eight-point program.
"I am with you always”, he said. “It does not require my physical presence; it requires your open heart."
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Top reviews from the United States
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Indeed this is more of a popularization effort than a scholarly-intended work. Don't worry, this is a great quality. The language used is modern (no "thee", "thou", "ye", German-looking conjugations or weird archaisms you can only find in a scholar dictionary) and Aswaran really drives it home in terms of making sure the reader understands the point regardless of previous knowledge on the subject, but without stripping the text of any linguistic and/or rhetoric beauty. He just makes it understandable, he doesn't dumb it up.
Besides, there's a great Introduction from Aswaran himself which sums up the basic points about why the Upanishad are so important and how they contributed in the evolution from Vedism to Brahmanism (I'm studying this theological transition and this book helped me a lot to shore up my data on the matter). This book includes the ten major Upanishads (though a couple of them in abridged versions) and four minor Upanishads. Don't fret about the abridged versions: they are competently shortened to include the most significant and essential sections. No greater meaning is lost.
Also, Michael N. Nagler gives short introductions to each Upanishad and a general afterword that round up each text. Add a very pertinent glossary and most relevant notes to the Upanishads, along with a very attractive design, and you have a wonderful mix. (Personally, I don't like having all the notes at the end of the book, but I understand the sweet design didn't allow for footnotes on each page of the text)
So, in short, this is a wonderful edition for either the curious or interested reader as well as the beginner or medium scholar on Hinduism. (I'm assuming the advanced scholar masters Sanskrit and has access to complete untranslated editions)
This is a great book, make no mistake. You won't regret this purchase.
Reading this book, this particular translation and perspective of the Upanishads, there are several thoughts that leap into my mind. The author was a skilled writer with a mastery of the English language. After all, he was a professor of Victorian English literature who was also comfortable with Sanskrit. Easwaran was at ease with both the East and the West and learned in both. And all this is present in his writing.
Eleven major and four minor Upanishads unfold in fluid, eloquent lyrics that run like "pouring oil into oil." There is no Sanskrit script, no transliteration, just the flow of uninterrupted prose. It draws the reader in and wraps itself around the reader. Like a riveting novel, it is hard to put down. Easy to read, not overwhelmed by Sanskrit terms, this book can be appealing to a whole spectrum of readers. The reader does not have to be into yoga, meditation, philosophy, or religion.
In the introduction, Easwaran explains that "the sages of the Upanishads learned to make a science and art and craft of insight--something that could be mastered and then taught to others, as a painting master in the Renaissance might take a gifted student as part of his family and absorb his art."
The critical analysis goes on to expound the message of the Katha Upanishad "to dare like a teenager: to reach for the highest you can conceive with everything you have, and never count the cost."
This is a book to be revisited over and over again. Whether the reader has an interest in yoga, meditation, spirituality, or simply reading beautifully composed writing on the philosophy of life, the Upanishads are worth the time. At the very least, we see how so much meaning can be conveyed in the fewest possible lyrical words, enriching our lives with meaning.
By the way, if you want the complete text of all the Upanishads, the book "112 Upanishads", edited by Joshi et al., is a good place to find that. Big, fat book. 1216 pages long. However, I would say that, for English-speaking readers, Eknath's version is a way better place to dig into.
Top reviews from other countries
Easwaran is a noted scholar and translator and I do like his extended introduction - it felt like being back in lectures when my brain was more alive. This is only a fragment of the entire Upanishads, Easwaran has made selections based upon what they feel to be important. Each Upanishad also has a short explanation which can be a real help.
The quality of this print book is exceptional, there is nothing cheap at all with the print, the quality of the pages, and the quality of the covers. A great purchase that I have really enjoyed reading and will be returning to it again.
If anyone is interested in Upanishads (in english), start with this book and then progress to others with more detail. This book sets up a strong foundation