Author: A Composition
Publisher: Gita Press
Year: 2009
Language: multilingual
Pages: 1376
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8129302470
Description
In the long history of man's endeavor to grasp the fundamental truths of being, the metaphysical treatises known as the Upanishads hold an honored place. They represent the earnest efforts of the profound thinkers of early India to solve the problems of the origin, nature, and the destiny of man and of the universe, the meaning and value of 'knowing' and 'being'.
These important texts, the earliest of which can hardly have taken form later than the seventh century BC, are still attracting devoted readers, as they have during the past twenty-five centuries. The student of the history of philosophy who desires to know some of the earliest answers reached in India for the every insistent problems of man and the universe and for the ideals of the highest existence; the special students of India who strives to understand the essence as well as the externals of its culture; the religious teacher and worker in East and West who seeks to apprehend the aspirations and spiritual ideals of the Hindi soul; the educated English speaking Hindu who feels a special affection for, and interest in, the sacred writings of his native land; and the deep thinker who searches in arcane texts for those clues to the solution of life's mysteries - all of these students will turn constantly to the Upanishads as an authoritative compendium of Indian metaphysical teachings.
Brhadaranyaka Upanishad consists of three Kandas - the first being called the Madhu-Kanda, the second of the Yajnavalkya-Kanda or the Muni-Kanda, and the third the Khila-Kanda. The first kanda conveys the main teaching of the Advaita doctrine, and is of the nature of upadesa; the second embodies the logical argument and explanation showing the soundness of the upadesa; and the third deals with certain upasanas or modes of meditation.