The Upanishads, Vol. I-IV (4 Volume Set)

Rating:
Summary: Volume III : "Rituals and sacrifices"
Review: This third volume deals with the relative truth provided by rituals and sacrifices, which objective is to bring conscience about their "unefficiency" at an absolute point of view for bringing knowledge of "Brahman" (the ultimate reality). These rituals and sacrifices are means for realizing it through superimposition, i.e. adding some false semantics over what is to be understood and then invalidating it by showing its inconsistency with what is to be understood. One should hence meditate on them to better dwelve into the difference between the relative and the absolute.

This volume is less abstract than the previous two volumes so people that prefer metaphors and more practical stories will be more at ease with this volume.

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Summary: Volume IV : where the Buddhists Teachings come from...
Review: This volume contains most of the stories told in the Buddhist Teachings. Many examples seen in this volume can also be found in the Teachings of the Buddha Gotama. Brahman is explained through symbols like the "elements" (air, fire,...), objects for meditation, short stories that also appear in the Buddhist literature. However, these examples and stories are explained in a rather crude manner in this volume, compared to what can be found in the Buddhist Teachings. The advantage being that they are presented in a condensed manner here, with the most profound ones in this single volume...

So if your purpose is to try to understand this volume just by itself, there are chances you'll get struck by the depth of its meaning. So please first get into some other medium to advanced books in Hinduism and Buddhism before trying to absorb this volume, because the other previous three volumes are not enough to get across this one...but the essence is there, Gotama relied on the content of this volume for his Teachings, no doubt.

When you'll be done with the four volumes, you'll understand where the Buddhist Teachings come from...these Upanishads constitute the essence of the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies.

Unfortunately, they are probably the most cryptic texts that deal with the Ultimate, the style is so crude that one should not read them nor teach them to people that have not spent many years at studying the basics of the Indo-aryan philosophy (be it Hinduism, Buddhism,...) and are not prepared to approach the Absolute. Find a qualified teacher before reading them, unless you could be mislead and loose more time than if you had learned the basics before. So unless you know what you'll find in there, don't read them. If you feel prepared to it, get into it. If the Vedanta considered them as the secret teachings, it's not for the sake of hiding them, but rather because their use should be restricted to the most advanced scholars. There is no discrimination in this, only a will to prevent misunderstanding and misinterpreting of this difficult topic, nothing else. If you don't trust me, get into it and you'll understand very soon what i'm talking about. It's useless to begin learning a subject with the most advanced textbooks, except making you disgusted of it, so please don't try to catch the Ultimate directly with the Upanishads.

Rating:
Summary: The Athoritative Translation
Review: To have a work of this philosophic profoundness translated by someone who was himself steeped in the very same tradition as the work that he is translating is a privelege.
Swami Nikhilananda was a genuine Hindu holy man who was also a scholar and he brings to this translation rare insights that can only be found from the actual experience of what he is writing of.
Be careful of premature comparisons between the Upanishads and the teachings of Buddhism: While there are similarities between both traditions, they are each distinct and have their own value and integrity as religious systems and both make a decided contribution to the wisdom of the religions of the east.