Upanishads, Volume 1

this is a translation of the nuclear secrets called upanishads by an upanishadic physicist. it also includes the translated commentaries of shankara, the einstein of advaita vedanta. in order to assist the reader's understanding, nikhilananda has also included concise revelatory notes. if you're looking for stories, this is not the version for you (try the prabhavananda/manchester version instead). but if you're looking for the nuclear code of self-realization, this may be the eyes-only version for you.

I hated this book. mainly because of the format. Every few sentences of the Upanishad stories are interrupted by notes. It makes for a disorienting experience as the flow is constantly cut and interrupted. What makes this especially annoying is that many of the notes are merely pointing out what is obvious, even to an amatuer like myself. So the flow is interrupted either to feed you a note that is painfully obvious therefore making the interruption a complete waste, or it's to feed you something that is interesting, but that you nontheless can't fully appreciate because the flow of the story has been stunted.I came to this book already familiar with the upanishad stories after reading the basic signet classics version. It would've been impossible for me to understand them without having read it as a complete story first without constant interruption. So I definitely would not recommend this series to anyone who hasn't read or listened to the stories elsewhere first. But even as someone who was familiar with the stories, reading this was disorienting and gave me a headache. Reading a story is like going on a journey of sorts and with this book it's like taking that journey in a car that is cruising at 30 miles per hour but constantly breaks every few miles. Reading this gave me a sort of mental motion sickness.It would have been MUCH better if the notes were put on the opposite page for reference rather than in the midst of the tales. Putting the tales on the left page and putting the notes on the right for example. Also some of the more painfully obvious notes need to be edited out. With these changes I would definitely reconsider this series, but with the format as it is - it's the worst reading experience I've had in a long time.

This series is a beautiful and scholarly introduction to the Upanishads.The volume contains a rich introduction by Swami Nikhilananda and lengthy discussion of Brahman-important for us Western readers who may not be familiar with many of the basic concepts of Hindu thought. Then follows a line by line commentary by Nikhilananda (who founded the Ramakrishna-Vivikenanda Mission in New York City) and helpful notes from the Sri Shankara, the great Hindu scholar of the 8th Century. The result is an impressive and fresh presentation of some of the most important texts in the Hindu religion. Volume one covers the Katha, Isa, Kena and Mundara Upanishads. This series is for the serious student or religious scholar. The depth of presentation and rich footnotes will remind readers of other great commentaries such as St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica or Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics.

A favorite Upanishad of Swami Vivekananda's. He said to his disciple, "Among the Upanishads, one finds no other book so beautiful as this. I wish you would all get it by heart. What will it do only to read it? Rather try to bring into your life the faith, the courage, the discrimination, and the renunciation of Nachiketâ." Here is the Razor's Edge.

Book is in good shape

Great hardcover book set for Masonic cipher enthusiasts. Foreign and some seemingly English words are cipher jumbles. Overall cipher keys are found in the cognitive and Brahma passages.

If you have basic knowledge already then this book is extra enlightening. I recommend this to people who are searching various religions for the "truth".

It was just like new, was so wonderful for my use in class! Couldn't ask for a better purchase!