Glimpses of The Upanishads
The Vedanta Kesari
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Published by Unistar Books Pvt.Ltd., 301, Industrial Area, Phase-9, SAS Nagar Mohali-Chandigarh. Email:unistarbooks@gmail. com. 2017, pp.xxvii+246, Hardbound, Rs.495.
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t was Swami Vivekananda’s mission to unlock the Vedantic treasures of the Upanishads and make them available to the common people in English and vernacular languages. Here is a book penned by one who had access only to the English commentaries on Upanishads and who courageously dived deep into them to collect pearls of wisdom to share with his readers. A casual visit to legendary Nachiketa lake near Uttarakashi during his service in the army ultimately led Major General Purushotam Vig to engage in an intensive study of the Upanishads. The result is “Glimpses of the Upanishads”. The book has three sections. First Section briefly introduces the content, time, and the myths surrounding the Upanishads. The Second Section is a simple study of all the ten principal Upanishads as well as Maittrayanya, Svetasvatara and Kaushitiki Upanishads. The Third Section gives an account of six minor Upanishads Kaivalya, Atma, Amrita Bindu, Jabala, Tejobindu and Paramahamsa upanishads. Though Major Vig admits to his inability to make an in-depth study of original commentaries in Sanskrit language, his deep study of the available English translations finds a sincere presentation in a poetic language. Each Upanishad is dealt briefly covering only the core points under suitable sub-titles. His reflections at the end of each Upanishad presents its essence as well as its relevance to the contemporary society. In this section, the author underlines the origin of universe in Brihadaranyka, the glory of Aum and power of truth in Chandogya, transmigration of
us two copies of their latest publication.
soul in Kaushitaki, policy doctrine on education in Taittriya and so on. This book gives a simple and good introduction to the treasures of the Upanishads.
____________________ SWAMI TATPURUSHANANDA, VARANASI
Bhagavad Geeta by Chilukuru Venkateswarlu.
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Published by Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam, 20, Race Course Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 032 Mob: 9884708559. Email:chvekateswarlu30@gmail. com, paperback, pp.135, Rs.110.
his book has Maxims from Swami V i v e k a n a n d a , Yo g i Ve m a n a , Bhartruhari’s Neeti Satakam, Bhaskara Satakam, Sumati Satakam, Kumari Satakam and Sri Ramakrishna. Except for the maxims of Sumati Satakam and Kumari Satakam, the others are good. Through these two, we get a glimpse of the society two centuries back. However, they are very outdated to be of any moral value today. These two could have been skipped without any loss of value to the book. The others are good and are applicable even today. In these times, when people do not have the patience to read big books, this small book gives short snippets of wisdom from great saints and thinkers. As each snippet is independent, a person can even randomly read and benefit. It will
PA G E D O N O R : S R I N I T I N M U T H A N E , B E L A G AV I
April 2021
by Maj Gen Purushotam Vig AVSM, VSM (Retd).
