The Upanishads (1947)

"Thou are that". The Upanishads is not only enlightening but also refreshing. Highly recommended for any spiritual seeker. ( )

It pays to stick with it.

The first edition of the Upanishads that I tried to read was published by a Western university press in the 1920s. From my readings of modern books and extract-books I knew some of the ideas of the Upanishads, at least from being told, but I also wanted to read it for myself, to go on the journey for myself. But I found that to be difficult, and the whole thing seemed like a linguistic joke and very strange. I knew that part of this is the difficulty of reading an ancient book from a different culture, and part of it, indeed, is the difficulty of reading any ancient book: it’s not really easy (although sometimes we assume that it is) to figure out where in the Bible to find the core of the gospel.

Still, eventually I did find that there are parts of the Upanishads which are profound and true and deserve to find their way into modern books and extract-books, and now in this new edition by Eknath Easwaran, the old wisdom really comes to light, and I see now just much more is here than a linguistic joke.

The Upanishands are contain some of the most influential texts I've been studying the past three decades. They're also among the most important esoteric texts in the Hindu pantheon of revealed yogic texts. I find this translation dry. Reading the Upanishads should naturally engage up or Heart Center as well as your mind (they should take you beyond the mind into Union with your Self ). After years of studying the Upanishads, this translation suffices. However, I believe
readers new to Vedanta would be better served starting with Eknath Easwaren's translations and commentary on these ecstatic texts. ( )

In this translation the author blends accuracy and readability. Contains an introduction discussing the social, philosophical and religious background of the texts and explains key concepts.

Having never studied Hinduism, I found this book somewhat difficult to understand. I feel that I would have understood it much better if I were reading it for a class, or had someone who understands it around to explain it to me. Some of the concepts are very strange to me, and yet thought provoking. I think that I need to do some research into the Indian history and culture before I can understand some of the ideas presented. Also, I found some of it very repetitive. ( )