Upanishads are mankind's oldest works of philosophy, predating the earliest Greek philosophy. They are the concluding part of the Vedas, the ancient Indian sacred literature, and mark the culmination of a tradition of speculative thought first expressed in the Rig-Veda more than 4000 years ago. Remarkable for their meditative depth, spirit of doubt and intellectual honesty, the Upanishads are concerned with the knowledge of the Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, and Man's relationship with it. The name Upanishad is derived from the face-to-face mode of imparting knowledge - in the utmost sanctity and secrecy, to prevent its trivialisation or perversion. Composed in Sanskrit between 900 and 600 BC, the Upanishads presented here are by far the oldest and most important of those that exist. Twelve were first translated more than a hundred years ago, and have been extensively revised and edited. The thirteenth is an entirely new translation by Suren Navlakha.

Another classic. You could consider this to be a practical guide towards spirituality. For usage in modern times, highlight what is important and filter or distill the repetitive parts. That said, an absolute must read. ( )

I’m not going to pretend that there are no differences between an Indian and a Hebrew prophet; two centuries, even, have never been clones, one of another, let alone two countries, each with its traditions.

But all good is kin, and the Upanishads help me make sense of the mindset embodied in the Christian girl’s tattoo: I loved you at your darkest. Romans 5:8.

Yes, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, the unrighteous, and not because we were shining so brightly. How do you do that? You must have to see yourself as the other person, yourself in the other person, yourself as all this, yourself in all this—until you no longer see any difference in how people treat you; it’s all love. There are demons (asuras) in the Hindu worldview too, but life is not all hell. God could have accepted our resignation from having a hope of heaven and cast us out without giving us another chance, at least in respect to power. But God saw himself in us, himself in all this: that’s the Incarnation. You have to be like him, to see yourself in the other, in all things, until I am in you, because I am love.

…. As for Eknath and Michael, obviously I don’t know them when they’re off the clock, and some cool people are terrible hypocrites, so I don’t know; it’s good commenting and translating overall, maybe a little over polished, *very* smooth, but some of the material he brings in is good or very good, you know. If you love a stone, you are like a stone; if you love a woman, you are like a woman; and if you love God, you are like him.

…. Incidentally, yes, this was what I finished reading on Christmas Eve, although I read A Christmas Carol and Louisa May Alcott Christmas stories earlier in the season. And I do believe in the explicit idea, Keep Christ in Christmas, and I do find sorrow in the New Christmas: nothing’s really fun when the public is gorging itself. The Old Christmas though, then as now was an ideal. And I don’t believe in the implicit idea in the above slogan, that all was better when there was more national and gender chauvinism, and even (old) age chauvinism, although most days in contemporary culture this has so reversed itself—the young people are on their way to enjoying the unspiritual meats of revenge—that some people assume that all talk of chauvinism in the world is fantasy….

Greed, and all-this-is-separate, and do what comes easily…. No. ‘Use self-control’, gods [=Californians]; ‘give’, average humans [=greedy fuckers]; ‘be compassionate’, demons [=psychos with anger issues]. Telling each group what they know on some level they need, but which comes to them least easily, much like John the Baptist (I’m Episcopalian, and I was in church on Pink Candle Day, that was the gospel reading), telling soldiers and bureaucrats, Don’t steal. It’s not especially complicated, just what they knew they were going to hear, but were hoping against faulty hope that they wouldn’t.

ancient, india, hindu, sanskrit, mythology, religion, philosophy

They are late Vedic Sanskrit texts of Hindu philosophy which form the foundations of Hinduism. They are the most recent part of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, and deal with meditation, philosophy, and ontological knowledge; other parts of the Vedas deal with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices. Among the most important literature in the history of Indian religions and culture, the Upanishads played an important role in the development of spiritual ideas in ancient India, marking a transition from Vedic ritualism to new ideas and institutions. Of all Vedic literature, the Upanishads alone are widely known, and their central ideas are at the spiritual core of Hinduism. ( )