The Upanishads

The Upanishads are the philosophical core of the Vedas — a body of Sanskrit texts (c. 800–500 BCE) that gave Hindu thought its central doctrines of Brahman (ultimate reality), Atman (the self), and their identity. They are the source from which the whole later tradition of Vedānta grew, and the texts that Schopenhauer called "the consolation of my life and will be the consolation of my death."

The word Upanishad means "sitting close" — the teaching one receives at the master's feet — and the texts have that intimate shape: question and answer, parable, hymn. Few works of philosophical writing have been so loved, so translated, and so continuously consulted across so many centuries.

This edition reproduces Swami Paramananda's English translations of the principal Upanishads from the original Sanskrit.