The Upanishads

The Upanishads contain not philosophy but central principles to guide us through life. They are therefore India’s most precious legacy to humanity.

‘What is that, by knowing which, all things are known?’ ‘What makes my mind think, my eyes see, my tongue speak, my body live?’ ‘What happens when this body dies?’

With such questions the Upanishads—the fount of India’s loftiest thought and faith—begin. Unlike the chapters in a book, each of the Upanishads is complete in itself: a snapshot of transcendent reality. They are remarkable and unique because while other civilizations, including Vedic India itself, were studying science and the natural world, the Upanishads focus entirely on the life of the mind. More than 3000 years old, they are the earliest living records of what Aldous Huxley called ‘the Perennial Philosophy’: the conviction, marked by personal experience, that there is a spark of the Divine in every creature, and that to realize this divinity is life’s highest goal.

Easwaran includes the ten principal Upanishads, plus the Shvetashvatara, which he considers of equal importance, and four Yoga Upanishads to represent the later tradition.