The Upanishads

The Upanishads were written a very long time ago.  Scholars disagree as to the age of various Upanishads but some of them are considered to be over 7000 years old while others are closer to 5000 years old.  The Upanishads are short stories though some of them are as long as a novel.  They were historically used to teach students the way of the Spiritual Warrior.

"The Kriya Yoga Upanishad and the Mystical Upanishads" by Goswami Kriyananda (ISBN 0-9613099-7-0) is published by the Temple of Kriya Yoga and available through their website.   This is the only translation of the important Kriya Yoga Upanishad serious students need to study.  It is easy to read and understand.  Every stanza is important. 

The Kriya Yoga Upanishad is only thirty-six pages long and comprises ten chapters.  Students who spend one to two months on each chapter over the course of one year will learn a great deal about themselves and their own spiritual path.  Each year new information will be disclosed by the same passages.  Step by step we progress to illumination.

The ten Mystical Upanishads are translated by other teachers but none capture the essence of these teachings in easy-to-understand language as well as Goswami Kriyananda.  Each of these Upanishads yields more fruit with each reading. 

"The Upanishads" translated by Swami Prahavananda and Frederick Manchester (ISBN 0-451-62607-9) published by the Penguin Group as a Mentor Book is no longer available in paperback.  It was originally copyrighted by the Vedanta Society of Southern California and can be found in used book stores in either paperback or hard cover.

Swami Prahavananda selected a dozen Upanishads for this printing.  All are well known and include the Katha, Isha, Kena, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Kaivalya and Svetasvatara Upanishads along with portions of Taittirya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads.  This particular translation of these important documents is very well done, very well done indeed.  It's a shame the book is no longer being printed.

Several other authors have translated these particular Upanishads, but in my opinion, none are as well done as those presented by Swami Prahavananda and Frederick Manchester in this book.

Twelve months, twelve Upanishads.  Seems like a good fit to me.  You'll be hard put to find any other way to learn as much as with these two excellent books discussing the ancient Upanishads.

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