अथर्वशिखोपनिषत् Atharvashikha Upanishad. (निस्स्वरः) Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (basic without accent) (translation, 120. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is a highly advanced philosophical and mystical text, and is one of the major Upanishads constituting the basic canons on which the whole philosophy of India and its general outlook of life may be said to be founded.
The Upanishads PDF downloads
The downloads are available from Patheos: PDFdownloads of Upanishads in English, Hindi and Sanskrit.
The book details are as below.
Book Details
English
The Principal Upanishads
by Sri Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
The Principal Upanishads
by Sri Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Hindi
The Upanishads
by Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya
The Upanishads
by Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya
These books are currently out of copyright in India as per the IndianCopyright Act 1957. Please check copyright law within your country beforedownloading the books. In case of any issues send us an email.
About the Upanishads
The Upanishadic period from around 800 to 450 B.C in Indian history is amongthe greatest periods of philosophical and creative thought in India'sillustrious career. In these 350 years, a large number of people looked at thefundamental basis of life and sought out philosophers, teachers, and seers.Students and disciples traveled into the forest to the ashrams of these greatbeings and spent much time in study, contemplation, and much philosophicaldiscussion about the nature of creation. Young men and women made their way tothese centers of learning and engaged each other in debate, seeking answers tofundamental questions.
The Upanishads were a result of these many debates and were composed by theseers and sages in their forest ashrams. These became the final additions tothe corpus of the Vedas. They are also referred to as the 'listened to' textsor shrutis, and most of the Upanishads are set as dialogues between teacher andstudent. Upanishad literally means 'sitting down near' a guru or spiritualmaster who initiates his students into his secret teachings. The exact numberof Upanishads is not clearly known and estimates range from 108 (according tothe Muktikopanishad) to 350. The major ones include the Aitareya Upanishad inthe Rig Veda, the Kena and Chandogya Upanishad in the Sama Veda, the Katha,Taittiriya , Brihadaranyaka and Svetasvatara Upanishad in the Yajur Veda, andthe Mandukya and Kaivalya Upanishad in the Atharvana Veda. The compilations ofUpanishads written as dialogues, and 13 of these are called smriti or sacredtexts.
The Upanishads usually deliberate on the nature of the individual and theuniverse and the relations of the micro and macro; about the atman, paramatmanand jeeva or the soul, about life, death and their nature and many otheraspects. The Upanishadic period in India brought in a new mode of question andseeking which had been absent for a while. It was present mostly among thesages and seers, but during the Upanishadic period, it seeped into the generalpopulace as well. The Upanishads were open to all, irrespective of caste orgender, but these concepts were subtle, so only a few individuals ever gainedmastery over them.
Despite this complexity, the ashrams opened their doors to all who displayedthe necessary intensity. One passage from the Upanishads displays this sense ofopenness.
Satyakama, the son of Sabala, asked her once, 'Mother, I want to be astudent. What is my family name?' His mother replied, 'Dear son, I don't knowyour family. I had you when I was very young traveling as a servant. My name isSabala, and yours is Satyakama, so you are Satyakama Sabala.' The next day,Satyakama arrived at the doorstep of the teacher Gautama Haridrumata , andsaid: 'I want to be your student, sir. Can I?' The teacher asked the child hisfamily name and Satyakama replied, 'I don't know my family, sir. I asked mymother and she said that she had me in her youth, when she traveled about a lotas a servant. She said she was Sabala and I was Satyakama and that I was togive my name as Satyakama Sabala.' The teacher replied, 'Nobody but a truebrahman would be so honest!' He said, 'Go and fetch me fuel, my friend, and Iwill initiate you, for you have not swerved from the truth.'
Two of the oldest and most important Upanishads are the Brihadaranyaka andChandayoga Upanishads. In the Chandayoga, there is a question posed by astudent to his teacher, the answer to which examines the relationship of thesacrificial fire to the Sun, and tapas, the ascetic practice of generating heator ushna in the body. The question is: What is the nature of the One that isthe cause of the whole of existence? The answer looks at the power of tapas andsacrifice and of the nature of brahman or ultimate truth.
The Upanishads state that it is not the act of the sacrifice that matters.Rather, it is the spirit of the ritual. Through meditation and yoga, experienceof the divine brahman could be perceived and they would experience the truenature of existence, having pierced the veil of Maya. Thus it is said,'Knowledge (vedana) means meditation (upasana). In that sense, in allUpanishads, the knowledge which is enjoined as the means of final release ismeditation.'
Such spiritual quest was the hallmark of this age. Divine knowledge was saidto be attained through tapas (the heat of knowing) and through the unwaveringperseverance of the student towards his goal. Thus, in a manner of speaking,the seeker was sacrificing himself, since he had sacrificed many comforts andconveniences to pursue this path. Thus, his sacrifice was no less and in factgreater than the sacrifices depicted in the Vedas. Their only quest was to knowoneself and to be oneself and to declare to the whole universe the innermostsecret. That secret is contained in this statement, 'Aham brahmasmi,' whichmeans 'I am the divine.'
Thus, the Upanishads bring all gods under one umbrella, brahman. This is thesupreme oneness that pervades existence, that is existence, and is whatexistence rests upon. This essence takes on many individual forms as parts ofcreation, but their inner soul is only brahman.
Thus, a major aspect of these scriptures is that a person's soul or jeeva oratman, is part of the larger brahman, but playing the part of an individual.Realizing this reality and coming to a living experience of it, releases anindividual from the grip of karma, and thus that being attains moksha ornirvana or mukti. Thus, the atman becomes one with the great atman orparamatman, which is none other than brahman.
Sanskrit (149mb file)
Hindi - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (You will have to read Part 1 & 2 in djvureader, which is available for free here.
Malayalam
Hindi - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (You will have to read Part 1 & 2 in djvureader, which is available for free here.
Malayalam