On Best English Translations of The Upanishads

"In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death." ~Arthur Schopenhauer

"As we study the philosophy of the Upanishads, the impression grows on us that the attainment of this path is not exactly the simplest of tasks. Our Western superciliousness in the face of these Indian insights is a mark of our barbarian nature, which has not the remotest inkling of their extraordinary depth and astonishing psychological accuracy." ~Carl Jung 

"The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad." ~Erwin Schrödinger

I am writing this for you and me. I wish to reread the Upanishads again. The last time I did so was in 2013. In doing the research this time around on the various translations available, I thought I'd place the results here so I can remember what I discovered and so others will have a starting point for their own research. For this post, I am dividing the translations into Missionary, Poetic, and Academic.

Missionary

Here's the thing about translations of The Upanishads one has to consider when it comes to many of them: they are missionary documents. They are meant to spread the word. You shall know them by their Swami. This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but it is a fact. 

The best-sellers include Swami Prabhavanada (with Frederick Manchester). Prabhavanada was a monk of the Ramakrishna Order who founded the Vedanta Society of Southern California in 1930. The Upanishads: Breath from the Eternal includes Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taiittiriya (selected), Aitreya, Chandogya (selected), Brihadaranyaka (selected), Swetasvatara, Kaivalya. Small paperback. Also available in different formats including Kindle.

There is also Swami Nikhilananda who founded the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, a branch of Ramakrishna Mission, which comes under the umbrella of Ramakrishna Order. The Upanishads in 4 volumes. General Introduction. Introduction to each Upanishad. Notes included within text. Volume 1 includes Katha, Isa, Kena, and Mundaka. Volume 2 includes Svetasvatara, Prasna, and Mandukya. Volume 3 includes Aitareya and Brihadaranyaka. Volume 4 includes Taittiriya and Chhandogya. Hardcovers. Also an abridged one-volume, The Principal Upanishads, hardcover or paperback is available.

And there is Swami Gambhirananda who was the 11th President of the Ramakrishna Mission. Eight Upanishads, with the Commentary of Sankaracarya. In 2 volumes. Each verse has the Devanagri Sanskrit, with English translation and commentary, with further commentary by Sankaracarya. Also included is an Index to texts in Devanagri Sanskrit. Volume One covers the Isa, Kena, Katha, and Taittiriya. Volume Two covers the Aitareya, Mundaka, Mandukya, Karika. Individual volumes are available at a reasonable cost. Two volume set is also available in Kindle.

I like to consider these three translations Ramakrishna LA, New York, and India. The LA is like a story or screenplay assisted by the writer-journalist. The New York is more intellectual with footnotes. And the India includes Devangiri Sanskrit and commentary by their saint Shankara.

On a different path, there is Swami Chinmayananda who helped found Chinmaya Mission. He is noted for his spiritual commentaries. Because of this, his translations have been published as individual volumes. They include: Mandukya Upanisad with Gaudapada's Karikaka (the Kārikā is a concise explanation, in verse form of the doctrines in Mandukya Upanishad, the earliest extant systematic treatise on Advaita Vedānta); Aitareya Upanishad; Taittiriya Upanisad; Isavasya Upanisad as well as others. Includes Sanskrit, Devanagari, and word-for word translation on some, if not all. Some, if not all, are available on Kindle for lesser price.

Another holy man is Sri Aurobindo who helped found Aurobindo Ashram whose mission involved the Life Divine application of Integral Yoga. Aurobindo's The Upanishads is a collection of Sri Aurobindo's final translations of and commentaries on every Upanishad or other Vedantic text he worked on. There is also a small voulume on the Isha Upanishad with translation, commentary and original text. Furthermore, there is a very inexpensive Kindle edition of his final translations of and commentaries on the Isha and Kena, his final translations of the Mundaka and Katha Upanishads, and a commentary on part of the Taittiriya Upanishad.

Even the recent more academic translation by Vernon Katz (doctorate from Oxford University) and Thomas Egenes (doctorate from the University of Virginia) is inspired by their work with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation. It may be unfair classifying them here but I do not see this as academic.

Sivananda Saraswati was the founder of the Divine Life Society. The ten upanishads covered in this book are Yogasara, Vedantasara, Siva-jnanamitra, Advaitamrita, Svarupabodha, Brahmarahasya, Brahmanubhava, Vicharabindu, Jyotirbindu and Anadabindu. Also commentary.

Finally in this grouping, there is Radhakrishnan, not a spiritual leader per se, but a strong defender of Hinduism and the second President of India. The book includes Sanskrit originals, verse by verse commentaries and English translations of some of the main Upanisads. The book has 2 Appendices, which give the perspectives of Edmond Holmes and Rabindranath Tagore on the Upanisads.

  

All of these translations have their excellent qualities but their biases as well. I have not read all of them and do not know Sanskrit so judging them is impossible in the end. I have sampled many of them though, especially when attempting my own transcreation of the Kena. I found many to be subservient to Shankara's interpretation, who was THE holy man of Advaita Vedanta in the 8th century. But I walked away feeling Aurobindo's may be the most honest attempt at a independent translation.

Still there's something for everyone here. Prabhavanada has the unencumbered stories. Nikhilananda has the notes. Gambhirananda has Shankara's commentaries. Chinmayananda offers the Mandukya Upanisad with Gaudapada's Karikaka. Aurobindo has a more independent and intellectual approach. Katz and Egenses have a the transcendental meditator's point of view with contemporary language. Sivananda offers some unusual translations. Radhakrishnan has a public figure's viewpoint.

Poetic

I did not include Eknath Easwaran in the previous category but maybe should have since he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and Nilgiri Press, based in northern California  But his translation feels to be more a poetic attempt though. And he deals with abridgment.

Then there's W.B. Yeats' poetic prose rendition. Yet even that was translated with Shri Purohit Swami, disciple of Bhagwan Shri Hamsa. Yeats knew of the Upanishads from his long-time theosphist friend, George William Russell and wished to understand them better. Upon meeting Shri Purohit Swami he proposed that the two of them of them translate the ancient text as though the original was written in common English.

Another poetic version is by Alan Jacobs, the poet not the critic, and chairman of the Ramona Maharshi Foundation in the UK. This was the first copy I read. With joy. It's a free verse transcreation/translation abridgment with commentary.

Academic

Max Muller’s 1879/1884 versions, volume 1 & 15 of the Sacred Books of The East, were the first full English translations of the main Upanishads. 19th century scholar. Maybe a bit Victorian in its language.

Robert Ernest Hume published his Thirteen Principal Upanishads in 1921. He too was a missionary, but a Christian one. Yale PhD.

Two 21st century translations include Patrick Olivelle (pub. Oxford, actually 1996 but close enough). Olivelle was the Chair, Department of Asian Studies, and Director, Center for Asian Studies, at the University of Texas at Austin, and Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religion. His translation includes an extensive bibliography and end notes. 

And the other is by Valerie Roebuck (pub Penguin).  Also introduction and end notes. Valerie Roebuck is a Buddhist, practicing and teaching meditation in the Samatha tradition. She is an honorary research fellow of the University of Manchester.

Conclusion

I have this theory on translations. It's based on triangulation. or trilateration. It's not as scientific, but it involves reading and comparing 3 respected translations, if available, and understanding the actual gist is somewhere in the middle.

So in this respect, I want to look at 1 missionary, 1 poetic, and 1 academic. Olivelle will be my academic. Yeats will be my poetic. I have the Prabhavananda and Gambhirananda (as well as the Jacobs) from my last excursion to this territory in 2013, but I'm thinking the Nikhilananda may be the one now.

Appendix 1. The Mandukya Upanishad.

As previously mentioned, the Mandukya Upanishad is considered the earliest extant systematic treatise on Advaita Vedanta, and Gaudapada's Karikaka a concise explanation of the Madukya in verse form. Besides Chinmayananda's translation, Mandukya Upanisad with Gaudapada's Karikaka, mentioned above there are three other stand-alone versions worth mentioning here. There's Gambhirananda's Mandukya Upanisad With the Commentary of Sankaracarya, which is included in the 2nd volume of his Eight Upanishads, There is a combination of these two by Nikhilananda: Mandukya Upanishad With Gaudapada's Karika and Shankara's Commentary. And there is the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapada's Karika by James Swartz, an American disciple of Chinmayananda.

Appendix 2. The Bargain Basement.

These are some worldly bargains considering infinity. Some of these may be available someplace else at similarly low prices. I will try to keep this current.

The Ten Principal Upanishads by Yeats is $2.00 on Kindle.

 

Aurobindo's final translations of and commentaries on the Isha and Kena, his final translations of the Mundaka and Katha Upanishads, and a commentary on part of the Taittiriya Upanishad. This is $2.99 on Kindle.

As for paperbacks, the Prabhavanada is $6.95 for mass maket pb.

And Olivelle's Oxford 512 page state-of-academic-study paperback is $8.97.

Considering the foundational importance of the literature, the variety of the types of translation available, the combination of media, and the quality of the work involved, that's not a bad collection for under $21.

Vegas Waves Love

The sea has waves. The waves have white caps, like dreams in white satin.

And the dreams have dreams in fractal dimensions.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, as if it never happened.

Personal experience is the stuff of memories. Vague, disjointed,

untrustworthy. All dreams are rotten in daylight.

Yet there are no dreams in the deep blue absolute sea.

The sea has waves. The waves have self-awareness.

Self-awareness has a universe. The universe has an evolution.

Evolution has a mind. The mind forgets.

But love remembers. And love is the expression of waves in the world.

the seven foothills

i loved tripping to the moody blues. and early steve miller band. space cowboy saved my life one night.

as above, so below. like boston college and a working class hero.

the closest i ever came to vegas was on the loneliest road in america.

the earliest memory i have is hiding behind the bed with my dog while my mother panicked at my whereabouts.

dear director, feel free to use this in your movie.

"Horatio:

He waxes desperate with imagination.

Marcellus:

Let’s follow. ‘Tis not fit thus to obey him.

Horatio:

Have after. To what issue will this come?

Marcellus:

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Horatio:

Heaven will direct it."

some say ishmael is all that's left of ahab after realizing the great white whale awareness. call me ishmael.

first, by the nature of awareness, the self is self-aware. this self-awareness appears as being. this being appears as the universe. this universe appears as divine imagination. lovers, be like gods!

Any fool can get into an ocean   

But it takes a Goddess   

To get out of one.

~Jack Spicer

poet be like goddess

in my picture window tonight is sirius, betelgeuse, and the moon.

sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and some say it's named for the egyptian god, osiris.

osiris is the god of the underworld. isis is the lover of osiris.

betelgeuse is, conveniently, for this digital world, the 10th brightest star in the night sky.

from sufi's book of fixed stars https://t.co/4YANuSufjE.

The Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon, the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, the Fish Moon, the Paschal Moon, Hanuman Jayanti, Bak Poya, and a Supermoon.

hanuman jayanti is basically the birthday of hanuman. hanuman is basically the divine primate.

self-awareness incarnate.

the first full moon after easter.

all my night skies have been rabbit holes.

between the subject and its reflection, there's a mirror.

this mirror is located on planet earth.

call me mind.

that's me, i am that.

experiencing that is like satori. and the lovelike bliss following completion.

the kena says self-awareness is neither known nor unknown.

trains of thought have particular destinations.

this stream of consciousness is going out to sea.

One Can't Love a Thought

What one loves is the space between the person.

Thinking otherwise is a common mistake.

It’s written in the Manyoshu:

third eyes unconditionally love each other.

Love is how Hafiz leaves this electric space

between each couplet in every one of his ghazals.

Listen lover, do you want to know a secret—

one can’t love a thought.

The space between the logic is the paradox.

Every koan is a love song—

the good ones make me want to cry.

Meditating presence IS loving the beloved.

fifteen footnotes in three acts

mistaking divine signs for earthly conspiracies is missing the point. the satguru speaks tao.

dreams change. being is being. the experience of being is love. we are loving that which makes one feel alive.

i am loving That is self-awareness.

i love hafiz so i shouldn't take ladinsky so personally.

love anything. it doesn't matter. one can't love a thought. one can only love the beloved. this is self-awareness 101.

did you hear the one about zhaozhou falling in the snow? basically he cries for help and a monk lies down beside him. so he gets up and leaves. lol!

and good sitcoms make me cry. it all started with mary tyler moore. all the way back to the dick van dyke show. freud would have a field day. fuck freud.

i'm a poet. of course i like talking to my self.

"i've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate"

consciousness is always talking to consciousness in reflexive self-awareness.

in the fog of personality it shall sound like emotion.

i second that emotion.

love plus thought equals an emotion.

emotion minus thought equals love.

there's a thought behind each emotion. love it out.

The Sea of Nonduality

First, the mind is not belief as consciousness is not the mind but all is well with all of this.

Consciousness is the sea, and mind, the surf. Belief is on the beach.

It’s not as much reflexive universe as reflexive being.

In self-awareness, awareness appears to be unaware. Absolute awareness is self-aware.

This self-awareness appears to be an evolutionary universe of self-awareness.

It’s the nature of an ocean and its waves.

seven footnotes

like this. awareness. consciousness. mind. belief. deconstruction. being. self-awareness.

or this. sky. sea. surf. beach. trail. mountain. sky.

arthur m young goes like this. potential. substance. form. combination. organization. mobility. dominion.

ken kesey has something to say about the combine.

do not throw away the mind with its belief.

you have one tool. love it properly.

it takes a thorn to beat a thorn. keep it sharp.

the martial arts are all about mind-training. any outward sign is just its manifestation.

personal deconstruction is the ultimate martial art.

zatoichi has a lot to say about this.

enlightening intent appears to be evolutionary. it's also devo.

reflexive being is the grand unified truth.

or myth. truth is myth.

truth is a concept too.

tao is nonconceptual.

it's not about the names.

there is a continuum. not space-time but mind-being.

space-time is ego.

mind-being is another name for god.

i-am is the name of god.

deity yoga has some things to say about this.

not thinking i know nor not know, it’s known.

knowledge knows the unknown.

unbelievable being is knowledge 101.

what the world calls knowledge, i call bodily functions.

no knowledge, no knowing, no knower.

if you don't like the whether, wait a second.

the mind is literally binary.

there is a universe born every zero breath.

memory is the hard drive. love is electricity!

electricity is enlightening intent.

remembering facts is photographic. remembering love is always now.

facts fade to gray.

all math is gray.

love is not remembered.

love is a tear in the opening.

i am the opening and beyond.

god sutra

the mind dreams a dream but consciousness dreams a life.

the mind uses concepts. consciousness uses gods.

scientific materialism uses theory. consciousness uses myth.

consciousness is the unknown being.

only consciousness knows the unknown.

consciousness is the secret knowledge.

i am the lover and beloved. i am this and i am that.

the world is the tomb of the unknown being.

rise from the tomb of the world, christ consciousness!

take your own medicine, doctors of consciousness.

a person is a god without intent.

a god is consciousness without belief.

consciousness is unknown without and within.

lover, be like god. god, be like being. being, be beyond. bodhi svaha!

The Reality Express

Love is the substrate of the people as the absolute is the substrate of consciousness. Hate the thought, love the thinker.

It is what it is, is a paradox, because it isn’t. Everything is noumenal. There is no thing.

This doesn’t mean there’s nothing. Nothing is as much an object as it is. Any object, whether physical or mental,

is conceptual. A concept is a dream is an illusion. Love is the expression of the real. Thoughts are not.

To properly utilize a tool, one must love the tool for what it is, and not as what one is.

Seeing through belief is seeing in the mirror. Every rosebud is reflecting self-awareness. Every picture tells satori.

eleven footnotes

i love how schitt's creek has re-invigorated rosebud as a metaphor

listening to every picture tells a story 1974 and joe the fireman is pounding on the wall to turn it down!

there's no thing like nothing

if the manifest is the expression of the unmanifest, and consciousness is the expression of awareness, is love the expression of the real?

actually, it's true because it isn't

reboot big bang theory and call it, big bang tao

with a neo-nondual sheldon cooper

the mind is a tool. its function is division. its myth is a mirror. its finished good is self-awareness.

oh the spelling!

love is a thinker like joe the plumber

mind training is consciousness teaching love how to use the mind

the human mind is more powerful than an atomic bomb

like james bond but a license to think

the noumenal is phenomenal!

eat at tao's

you can get anything you want at alice's wonderland

the substrate and its expression. discuss in as few words as possible. make this your myth.

a paradox is contrary to popular conditioning

a paradox is a truth contrary to popular conditioning

for example, it appears you can't get there from here.

that would be a fact if all were not right here already

zeno is like the anti-trickster. the popular opinion, when brought to its logical, if absurd, conclusion is: you can't get there from here. but the truth actually is: out there is always in here. everything appears in consciousness. paradox ain't rocket science.

you can lead a horse to deconstruction but you can't make it drink the wonder

love it. don't believe it.

the mind dreams a dream but consciousness dreams a life

the mind uses concepts. consciousness uses gods.

scientific materialism uses theory. consciousness uses myth.

consciousness is not it

consciousness is the unknown being

only consciousness knows the unknown

consciousness is the secret knowledge

i am the lover and beloved. i am this and i am that.

the world is the tomb of the unknown being

rise from the tomb of the world, jesus!

take your own medicine, doctors of consciousness

be responsibly

a person is a god without intent

a god is consciousness without belief

consciousness is unknown without and within

the unknown is the unknown and that is all ye need to know

lover, be like god

god, be like being

being, be beyond

gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha!

Father Consciousness Mother Being

Pseudacris crucifer forever. Consciousness is creator.

My creation is currently appearing in consciousness. It’s called projection.

Eros is director. Self-awareness is producing.

Mind is the tool that runs away with the spoon.

Like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, non-doing is dancing.

Lovers, only dancing understands the dance. Lead or follow. Take turns.

footnotes act one and two

In dreams, mind is both god and its actors. If psychology is the logic of the mind, projection is the love of soul, eros, absolute intent

My pseudonym is son or father consciousness. My other pseudonym is rivers like stream of consciousness.

I married being and she, i. It’s nondual. Who hasn’t been a boy named Sue or vice versa?

Identify with consciousness or being, surrender to intent or eros, it’s self-awareness, my friend.

The way has no name. I call her muse. She calls me Adam. I am evening, she is day.

Everyone I have ever loved is my beloved. Every word I write is in translation of my love

Consciousness is love, is it not? Two concepts sharing one consciousness.

Even after their orbits have grown distant, their shared sun of consciousness remains

The great unknown is being and non-being, knowing and believing, self-aware. Loving is beloved, my lover

Note to self: the snake is always eden This segment is dedicated to julian of norwich. All shall be well.

I finally get gertrude stein. I nominate my muse. Getting gertrude

I’d like to thank my agent, eros from absolute intent It never was a snake. A rope is a rope is a rope, alice b. toklas.

I can’t stop loving this: a rope is a rope is a rope. I wonder who got here first. No results found

A rope is a rope is rope. I claim this land for my Acadia. A rope is a rope is a rope.

Someone somewhere said this first. Well done, old chap. Bliss is another name for eros, n’est-ce pas?

You don’t follow your bliss. You are bliss. Follow yourself.

Self-awareness is a feature of awareness, naturally. Original face. Being the unknown is redundant.

Being awareness is awareness being. We are electric nonduality. Thank you, omaha!

Dads do dad jokes. The universe supplies all you need. You can’t get what you want if you have what you need.

Time out. Love is your next clue. Mouse trap! Or level up when speaking about gods. Or speaking in tongues

Just your everyday nondoing. Like voting. Between being and non-being, i.e. the personal, is visualization

Visualization is imaginary medicine. All is well. If you think it isn’t, look into that thought. I’m not going to lie to you; it will hurt.

Nothing is worse than thinking love is lost. Love is never lost. I am love. Sayeth you.

You shall know my spontaneity by its use of metaphor. Obviously I need to look at the imagist poets more closely.

I love discovering new metaphors. Another facet in ny jewel. In a new york minute.

Treat every typo as your great intent. Inspiration needs an outlet. vGo with the diversion. Recalculate.

Horatio Trickster III

There’s being the unknown. Call this consciousness. There’s being something. Call this non-being a person.

Words describe non-being. Being is indescribable. Some call consciousness a fraud. I prefer the name of trickster.

To know myself, I need to trick myself, and think I’m not myself. Just understanding this articulation is to know myself, O self-awareness.

Paradox is magic to those who swear by logic. To consciousness, paradox is fresh air. Beyond what philosophy dreams, O rationality, is paradox.

footnotes 

consciousness is being. thinking is non-being. although the absolute is beyond being and non-being, only consciousness is being the absolute.

being is indescribable. so is love. do the math.

maya and coyote are identical twins. i'm their triplet.

mind cuts love. love breaks spock. paradox crushes q.

conspiracy theories are the egoic way of surviving paradox heroically

using the mind to love hurts

psa: there's a new moon in four days

facebook tells me i was in san francisco twelve years ago tonight

our hotel room was like eleventh floor with a bay window, literally, overlooking the golden gate bridge. it was the best best western i was ever in.

it was my second time there. the first time the view was a spontaneous anti-war march after bush invaded iraq in march of 90, i think it was, from our picture window on the seventh floor of the downtown hilton.

misty watercolor memories

the stuff of dreams

a memory isn't real because the actual experience wasn't real. it's like newtonian physics.

the real is never unreal. that's like logic 101.

the real equals here and now without the concepts of here and now

i was never in san francisco. san francisco was in me.

let's be contrary. all drugs are sacred.

there's a fine line connecting some unnamed shaman, parmenides, plotinus, rumi, ibn arabi, shabistari, and gurdjieff

huxley called it the perennial philosophy. what was he thinking?

maybe he was trying to translate timeless wisdom for barbarians?

good translators are worth every dime. be it burton watson's chinese poetry or eckhart tolle's perennial philosophy.

my job is translating my muse for my identical twin and vice versa

so i'm starting to talk in song. that's my granddaughter's language. she's my latest guru.

i've come to bury krishnamurti not to praise him

krishnamurti tells me to

that's paradox

robert adams is a great translator of ramana maharshi

in search of the lost tweet

everyone has a guru

gurus are nothing special

it doesn't even matter if you know who your guru is.

your guru knows you.

knowing who your guru is is not knowing who your guru is

idle not idol

love is the ultimate spinach

Beyond Belief

Awareness reflecting in consciousness is consciousness appearing in awareness. This is quantum ouroborics. That the body-mind is in fact an ordinary transistor is Matrix 101.

No, April is the coolest month. Dna survives another winter. Enlightening intent emerges from the underground. What’s so bad about memory and desire if I refuse to call them that.

Belief is the antichrist. Christ consciousness tells us that. Don’t buy the hype; being can’t be denied. We’re told there are seven billion people thinking otherwise. I don’t believe it.

Being is universally beloved and love is all the proof I need. For being is experienced in the world as love, forgiveness, and compassion, for being is beyond belief.

footnotes:

your power is only limited by your belief. but this belief is as deep as dna in your scientific materialistic religion. and you have to respect that kind of trucking. like the do-dah man.

the secret of science fiction is simple. science is fiction. and sadhana for the post-atomic age. every religion needs it super-hero. disney is its marvel. hbo is dc. i am i am.

belief is anti-consciousness. people are nothing but belief. love knows none of this is true.

there are no states of consciousness. the sun is the sun. there are states of belief however: dna, religion, postmodern deconstruction and eastern romanticism.

dna is to body as religion is to mind. shamans are to dna as guru is to mind. spirit animals are all about seeing through our dna.

in the kali yuga, it's all about social conditioning. if the absolute has consciousness and the mind has a body, where does self-awareness begin?

dna is like original sin for scientific materialists. it's like the western version of the i ching.