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.”

Updated to be more accessible to readers with vision impairment (August, 2022)

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

Introduction 13

ISHA 51

     The Inner Ruler

KATHA 61

     Death as Teacher

BRIHADARANYAKA 93

     The Forest of Wisdom

CHANDOGYA 119

     Sacred Song

SHVETASHVATARA 153

     The Faces of God

MUNDAKA 179

     Modes of Knowing

MANDUKYA 197

     Consciousness & Its Phases

KENA 207

     Who Moves the World?

PRASHNA 219

     The Breath of Life

TAITTIRIYA 239

     Ascent to Joy

AITAREYA 263

     The Unity of Life

MINOR UPANISHADS  Beads of Wisdom

     TEJOBINDU 283

     ATMA 286

     AMRITABINDU 288

     PARAMAHAMSA 291

Afterword 295

    A Religion for Modern Times

    by Michael N. Nagler

Glossary 337

Notes 345

Index 377