Customer Reviews
Important volume on one of humanity's greatest religious works - By: Dennis Littrell, 04 Oct 2008 
In the Upanishads there are two selves. They are symbolized by two birds sitting on a tree branch. The one bird, the self with a small "s" eats. The other bird, the Self with a capital "S" observes. The first self is the self that is part of this world. The second Self is merely an observer that doesn't take part & isin fact beyond the pairs of opposites such as pleasure & pain that dominate our existence. This Self is formally called the Atman. In an important analogy, it is said that the Atman is the drop of water that glides off of the lotus leaf into the ocean of Brahman, with Brahman being the entirety of all that there is,in other words, God, the God beyond all attribution.
This presentation of the Upanishads--necessarily a selection, of course--by Eknath Easwaran is the best single volume that I have come across for the following reasons:
First, the translation by Easwaran is readable, edifying & congenial to the Sanskritin so far as that is possible. The poetryin the original language & the word play are lostin translation as is always the case with poetry & highly symbolic language, & especially language that is meant to be taken on more than one level. However Easwaran's notes after each Upanishad help to give us an idea what the original is like & give the reader a feel for the some of the nuances.
Second, the chapter introductions & the concluding essay by Michael N. Nagler lend insight & clarity to the reader's understanding.
Third, the selections themselves & what is includedin the selections are efficacious. By that I mean the ideas & the "feel" of the expression, the psychology, & the philosophy of the Upanishads & the larger Vedic tradition are made manifest. Some voluminous translations give us much more of the repetition & ritual than we need, while some volumes give us perhaps not enough.
In this regard I want to call the reader's attention to the slim volume The Ten Principal Upanishads (1937) by the poet W.B. Yeats, & Shree Purohit Swami. Easwaran's book contains more of the Upanishads & offers a more extensive commentary, but Yeats & Purohit are more poetic. I recommend that the reader read both books. Alas Yeats's book is out of print & so you'll have to find it at, probably, a college library.
Here is how Easwaran translates the invocation to the famous Isha Upanishad:
All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes.
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.
Om shanti shanti, shanti
Now here is how Yeats & Purohit have it:
This is perfect. That is perfect.
Perfect comes from perfect.
Take perfect from perfect; the remainder is perfect.
May peace & peace & peace be everywhere.
I think the former is perhaps truer to the spirit of the philosophy of the Upanishad, but I think the latter is more poetic.
The Upanishads, usually acknowledged to be the culmination of the wisdom of the Vedas, form the basis for Hinduism as well as serving as a wellspring for Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, & yoga. Many ideas central to these ways of life are foundin the Upanishads. In particular the Bhagavad Gita finds its inspiration & even some of its expression & even a bit of its formin the most famous & most often read Upanishad, the Katha. Nachiketas of the Katha becomes Arjuna of the Gita, while Death becomes Krishna of the Gita.
In his essay, Nagler writes, "Taken as a whole, the Upanishads contain the raw material of a profound philosophy."
In the tradition of India, philosophy & religion are not separate as they usually arein the West. In truth all religions contain not only religious ideas, but philosophical ones as well; but more than anything, religions are psychologies--guides on how to live life, & how to die. In the Upanishads we do not die. Death happens only to the bird that eats. Our real essence, the Atman is eternal, & therefore death is an illusion, a compelling illusion to be sure, but one that can be tossed off through an understanding that "thou art that" ("tat tvam asi") meaning that you & the universe (or Brahman) are one. Nagler writes, "Indian religious systems hold as a core belief that the individual is not that which dies but is instead the forces which brought the body & personality into existence & will continue shaping its destiny after what we call death..." (p. 287).
Easwaran is the author of many books on religion. I was particularly impressed with his book on The Bhagavad Gita (1985; 2000). See my review at Amazon.
Comprehensive but not an easy read - By: K. Seidler, 22 Jan 2008 
The main good point about this book is that it gives you notes before hand as to what to expect from the upanishads. It describes the meaning behind each one. But apparently not all of the upanishads are written about here. Although this is said to be the best & clearest version to comprehend it is not necessarily a book to be read once. If you are not a very good reader & don't want read over paragraphs a few timesin order to take it in,i don't think this book is a good one.However if you are interestedin the roots of indian spirituality or/and on a course on yoga this seems a the most clear interpretation for first timers.
