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Upanishads

   
book cover Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

You can download complete books by Swami Krishnananda on the Upanishads (including the Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka) and the Panchadasi. The hardcopy versions may also be ordered from the same website.

book cover Chandogya Upanishad
   

Rather than reading the Upanishads themselves, you might prefer to read a modern 're-telling' and interpretation. The following are extremely good and are highly recommended. The author, Ananda Wood, is a disciple of Atmananda Krishna Menon, and he provides exceptionally lucid descriptions of difficult concepts.

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From The Upanishads by Ananda Wood - Free translation of selected passages from a number of the Upanishads into blank verse, along with some occasional prose. Divided up according to clear topic headings. An original adaptation to make them more accessible to the modern reader.
Free Download in PDF format. Purchase in paperback form from Vedic Books.

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Interpreting The Upanishads by Ananda Wood - This focuses on particular ideas from the Upanishads, and explains how these ideas can be interpreted. For each idea, selected passages are translated and placed for comparison beside much freer retellings that have been taken from the first book. The Sanskrit is often referenced with explanation of alternative translations.
Free Download in PDF format. Purchase in Paperback form from Vedic Books.

Both books have been reprinted by Zen Publications in India (Pune and Mumbai) in 2007. They were also offered at Nataraj Books in Springfield, Virginia. They are not available from Amazon.

   

Most of the Upanishads, works by Shankara and a large number of other classics are available electronically at Celextel. Only the English translation (i.e. no Sanskrit), without commentary, is provided but this is a tremendous resource.

   

Also available from archive.org, in text or pdf format are the following:

The Philosophy of the Upanishads By Paul Deussen, Authorised Translation - Rev. A. S. Geden, Year 1908.

Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Translated by Robert Ernest Hume.

Thirty Minor Upanishads, Translated by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar, Year 1914.

And, finally, The MetaPhysics of The Upanishads, VicharaSagar, Translated by Lala SreeRam, Year 1885.

   

Bhagavad Gita

   

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Swami Chinmayananda’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita is available as an excellent html-based package, containing the complete text. It also contains the Sanskrit (unlike the book version) as well as additional study notes.

   
Brahma Sutra
   

For the Brahma Sutras, the commentary by Swami Sivananda is available.

Shankara's commentary, in the translation by George Thibaut, can be read on-line. Part may also be downloaded in text or PDF format from archive.org.

You can also join the Advaitin E-Group and read the the exposition of the introductory material by Dr. K. Sadananda. He posted commentaries on this in 2000 - 2001, based on lectures given by Swami Paramarthananda of Madras. The archived material may be downloaded by members.

The lectures of Swami Dayananda Saraswati based on the Brahma Sutra Bhashya are also available for download.

   

Shankara

   

sankaracharya.org has Swami Nikhilananda's translations of the Upanishads as well as translations of the Vedas. More importantly, however, it has most of Shankara's works such the Vivekachudamani, Upadesha Sahasri, Vakya Vritti etc. and his bhASya-s on the gIta and brhama sutra-s.

   

Sri Sharada.com has the translation and commentary on the Vivekachudamani by Sri Chandrashekara Bharati Mahaswamigal, translated into English by Sri. P. Sanakaranarayanan. The book is divided into sections, most of which are downloadable as PDF files.

 

Swami Nikhilananda's commentary on dRRigdRRishyaviveka (Seer-Seen Discrimination) is available for dowload from the Internet Archive in various formats - 3MB for the PDF version. (Thanks to Ravicande for this link.)

A new rendition of the Crest-Jewel of Wisdom, Vivekachudamani (the version translated by Charles Johnston) may be read on-line (or saved to one's own drive).

 

Astavakra Gita

   

The modern translation by Dr. Thomas Byrom is available on-line with its simple yet luminous prose - highly recommended. It may also be downloaded as a pdf file from the Satsang with Ganga site, where there is also a more literal version, also as a pdf file (note that the two liks were the wrong way round when I checked).

There is also a commentary on the aShTAvakra saMhitA (a different name for the same work) by V. Subrahmanya Iyer.

There is also a translation by John Richards available on-line at Realization.org.

   

yoga vAsiShTha

A translation of Yoga-Vasishtha-Laghu - (the smaller) (1896) by K. Narayanaswami Aiyer is available for dowload from the Internet Archive in various formats - bit note that it is 41MB for the PDF version. (Thanks to Ravicande for this link.)

 

advaita siddhi

Anand Hudli's site advaitasiddhi specifically addresses this classical work by madhusUdana saraswatI, which defends advaita against the objections of the mAdhva-s or dvaitins. In particular there are extended definitions and analyses of the meaning of the term mithyA.

 

Swami Paramarthananda

Many books (transcription of talks) by Swami Paramarthananda are available at www.arshaavinash.in. This includes a number of Upanishads (Mundaka, Mandukya, Brihadaranyaka, Kena and more), Bhagavad Gita, Brahmasutra with Shankara bhAshya and many other key scriptures such as upadesha sAhasrI, vivekachUDAmaNi, dRRig dRRiShya viveka etc. These cannot be recommended too highly.There are also books on Sanskrit grammar and a biography of Pujya Swami Dayananda.

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Page last updated: 13-Aug-2016