Eight Upanishads, with the Commentary of Sankara, Vol. II

by Adi Shankaracharya (Commentary), Gambhirananda (Translator)

Volume 2 of a two-volume set. Volume Two covers the Aitareya, Mundaka, Mandukya, Karika and Prasna Upanishad. Each verse has the Devanagri Sanskrit, with English translation and commentary, with further commentary by Sankaraca. Also included is an Index to texts in Devanagri Sanskrit.

Genres: Hinduism, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Religion, Philosophy

513 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1958

About the author

Adi Shankara(788 CE - 820 CE), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was an Indian guru from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta. His teachings are based on the unity of the ātman and brahman— non-dual brahman, in which brahman is viewed as nirguna brahman, brahman without attributes.

Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He is reputed to have founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of advaita (nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon (Brahma Sutra, principal upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism.

AKA Śaṅkarācārya; Śaṃkara; Śaṃkarācārya; Ṣaṅkara Āchārya; Shamkaracharya; Çamkara; Śaṃkara-bhagavat-pāda; Shankara; Çankara; Ādi Śaṅkara; Shankarâchârya; Śaṁkarācharya; Sankara; Shang-chieh-lo; Shangjieluo; Śankaracharya; Adi Sankar; Āticaṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Caṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Adi Sankaracharya; Āticaṅkar; Āticaṅkarācāriyar; Āticaṅkarar; Adi Sankaracarya; Adi Shankaracharya; Camkaracarya

Reviews

[Tj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent translations with word for word sanskrit-english too, and commentaries by sankara. I reccomment that anyone who wants to read upanishads do it from this or a similar issue.

[Anmol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excluding the Mandukya Karika (which I've reviewed separately), Shankara's commentaries in this volume lack the illuminating content of Volume 1. This may be because the Upanishads in this volume themselves are not as iconic as the Isha or the Katha. Yet even Shankara does not seem to go into so much detail, or bring out any interesting interpretations, in this volume, as he did for the Kena in particular.

[Nothing Heretosee · Rating 4 out of 5]

same kinda content as the first

[Abhishek Shekhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

very nicely explained but not easy to go through as it appears things get repeated.

[Venkat Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Upanishads, being the original and unparalleled texts on non-physical science, cannot be compared or grouped with anything else. This makes them sometimes difficult to understand without some explanation. The commentaries by Adi Shankaracarya on the ten major Upanishads provide the most logical explanation of the Upanishads. This book is the best translation of Adi Shankaracarya's commentary on Aitareya, Mundaka, Mandukya, and Prashna, four of the ten major Upanishads.

[Anindya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mandukya upanishad is the most compact.