Product Description

An "Upanisad" is a teaching session with a guru, and the thirteen texts of the "Principal Upanis.ads"—which comprise this volume—form a series of philosophical discourses between teacher and student that question the inner meaning of the world. Composed beginning around the eighth century bce, the Upanisads have been central to the development of Hinduism, exploring its central doctrines: rebirth, karma, overcoming death, and achieving detachment, equilibrium, and spiritual bliss. Speaking to the reader in direct, unadorned prose or lucid verse, the Upanisads collected here embody humanity’s perennial search for truth and knowledge. Valerie Roebuck’s powerful new translation blends accuracy with readability and retains the oral style of these stirring and profound philosophical explorations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157821 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-27
• Released on: 2004-04-27
• Original language: Sanskrit
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 590 pages

Amazon.com Review
The poetic backbone of Hinduism, the millennia-old Upanishads transcend time. The selections offered here illuminate a path that is as "narrow as the edge of a razor" but pregnant with freedom and bliss. Through vivid metaphors and timeless prose, learn how the path of yoga leads beyond the treacherous web of karma to the final, blissful union of the personal soul, atman, with the universal soul, Brahman.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)

About the Author
Valerie Roebuck is a Buddhist, practicing and teaching meditation in the Samatha tradition. She is an honorary research fellow of the University of Manchester and author of The Circle of Stars: An Introduction to Indian Astrology.

Customer Reviews

This is a beautiful translation of India's great scripture.
The Upanishads, translated by Juan Mascaro, is a beautiful translation, which, like Mascaro's translation of The Bhagavid Gita, breathes simplicity and purity throughout. The Upanishads are maxims on the spiritual life, and are poetry, scripture, guidance all in one. "The truth is hidden by a circle of gold. Unveil the truth, oh God of light, that I might see!" "It is not for the love of the husband that the husband is dear, but for the soul that is in the husband." "Behold, all that lives and walks on earth. Leaving the transient, take refuge in the eternal, set not your heart on another's possession. Working thus, a man can wish for a life of one hundred years. Only actions done in God, bind not the heart of man." (I paraphrase). This collection is truly wonderful, and should be a part of everyone's spiritual library, along with the major scriptures of all the world's faiths.

Breathtaking!
This is undoubtedly one of the pearls of the world's religious literature. Only a few Upanisads are included, with mere excerpts from the longer ones, but it is still well worth anyone's time. Personal union with all of being is the central theme, which will come as a welcome change from the more presriptory religious teachings of the Vedas and Hebrew Bible.

Life altering philosophies that you already knew, awakened.
Nice to know that some things that you have, or may have, experienced, have been around for over 2,500 years. This mind expanding translation can help one to regain focus and balance in today's much too hectic living. Putting the trivial in perspective, this is one that is not only useful in everyday life, but will stick with you forever; and then some . . .