The Philosophy of the Upanishads

$33
Item Code: IDE423
Author: Paul Deussen
Publisher: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation
Language: English
Edition: 1979
Pages: 433
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 8.8" X 5.8"
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Book Description

From the Jacket:

What is that by knowing which everything in this vast universe is known? This question has something or other agitated all thinking persons. The hoary sages of ancient India, after deep and prolonged meditation, discovered the answer that by knowing Atman, the sole reality that sustains the universe, all is known; for the atman creates this universe and enters into it as soul. Atman also termed Brahman, the creator is the supreme soul; atman the created is the individual soul. The entire esoteric fabric of the Upanishads, which number more than a hundred, is woven around two concepts - that of the Brahman and the atman They urge the earnest seeker to strive for Brahma-atma-aikyam (unity of the Brahman and the Atman). As the path to this knowledge is best with perils and sharp as a razor's edge, the adept teachers commencing from such an insignificant trifle as a fig take their pupils through theology, cosmology, psychology and eschatology to that destination where all illusions vanish and the purport of laconic but profound statements like tat tvam as (that art thou), aham brahma asmi (I am Brahman) are realized. Countless philosophers, noteable being Badarayana the author of Brahma-sutras, have sought inspiration from the Upanishads for their system of philosophy.

The unabating popularity of Paul Deussen's The Philosophy of the Upanishads ever since its first publication in 1906 attests to the quality of its contents. This second edition is brought out to reach a wider circle of readers who desire to have a close acquaintance with the philosophy of the Upanishads.

 

CONTENTS

 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANISHADS
The Second Period of Indian Philosophy, or The Continuance and Close of the Times of the Brahman
Introduction to the Philosophy of The Upanishads
I. The Place of the Upanishads in the Literature of the Veda 1-15
  1. The Veda and its Divisions 1
  2. Brahman, Aranyaka, Upanishad 2
  3. The Upanishads of the three older Vedas 5
  4. The Upanishads of the Atharvaveda 7
  5. On the Meaning of the word Upanishad 10
II. Brief Summary of the History of the Upanishads 16-38
  1. The earliest Origin of the Upanishads 16
  2. The extant Upanishads 22
  3. The Upanishads in Badarayana and Sankaras 26
  4. The most important Collection of Upanishads 33
III. The Fundamental Conception of the Upanishads and its Significance. 38-50
  1. The Fundamental Conception of the Upanishads 38
  2. The Conception of the Upanishads in its relation to Philosophy 50
  3. The Conception of the Upanishads in its relation to Religion 44
THE SYSTEM OF THE UPANISHADS
Introduction 51-53
First Part : Theology, or the Doctrine of Brahman
On the Possibility of Knowing Brahman 54-85
  1. Is the Veda the Source of the Knowledge of Brahman? 54
  2. Preparatory Means to a Knowledge of Brahman 60
  3. Sacrifice 61
  4. Asceticism (tapas) 65
  5. Other Preliminary Conditions 70
  6. The Standpoint of Ignorance, of Knowledge, and of superior Knowledge in relation to Brahman 74
The Search for Brahman 85-99
  1. The Atman (Brahman) as the Unity 85
  2. Balaki's Attempts at Explanation 87
  3. Sakalya's Attempts at Explanation 88
  4. Six inadequate Definitions 89
  5. Definition of the Atman Vaisvanara 90
  6. Narada's gradual Instruction 92
  7. Three different Atmans 94
  8. Five different Atmans 97
III. Symbolical Representations of Brahman 99-125
  1. Introduction and Classification 99
  2. Brahman as Prana and Vayu 101
  3. Other Symbols of Brahman 111
  4. Attempts to interpret the symbolical Representations of Brahman 117
  5. Interpretations of and Substitutes for Ritual Practice 119
IV. The Essential Brahman 126-157
  1. Introduction 126
  2. Brahman as Being and not-Being, Reality and not-Reality 128
  3. Brahman as Consciousness, Thought 132
  4. Brahman as Bliss (ananda) 140
  5. Negative Character and Unknowableness of the essential Brahman 146
V. Brahman and the Universe 157-179
  1. Sole Reality of Brahman 157
  2. Brahman as the cosmical Principle 159
  3. Brahman as the psychical Principle 166
  4. Brahman as a Personal God (isvara) 172
Second Part: Cosmology, or the Doctrine of the Universe  
VI. Brahman as Creator of the Universe 180-201
  1. Introduction to the Cosmology 180
  2. The Creation of the Universe and the Doctrine of the Atman 182
  3. The Creation of Inorganic Nature 186
  4. Organic Nature 195
  5. The Soul of the Universe (Hiranyayarbha, Brahman) 198
Brahman as Preserver and Ruler 202-219
  1. Brahman as Preserver of the Universe 202
  2. Brahman as the Ruler of the Universe 206
  3. Freedom and Constraint of the Will 208
  4. Brahman as Providence 211
  5. Cosmography of the Upanishads 214
VIII. Brahman as Destroyer of the Universe 219-226
  1. The Kalpa Theory of the later Vedanta 219
  2. Return of Individuals into Brahman 221
  3. Return of the Universe as a Whole into Brahman 223
  4. On the Origin of the Doctrine of the Dissolution of the Universe in Brahman 225
IX. The Unreality of Universe 226-239
  1. The Doctrine of Maya as the Basis of all Philosohy 226
  2. The Doctrine of Maya in the Upanishads 228
  3. The Doctrine of Maya as it is presented under empirieal Forms 235
X. The Origin of the Saskhya System 239-255
  1. Brief Survey of the Doctrine of the Sankhya 239
  2. Origin of Dualism 244
  3. Origin of the Evolutionary Series 246
  4. Origine of the Doctrine of the Gunas 250
  5. Origin of the Doctrine of Emancipation 253
Third Part: Psychology, or the Doctrine of the Soul
XI. The Supreme and the Individual Souls 256-263
  1. The Theory of the later Vedanta 256
  2. Originally only one Soul 257
  3. The Individual Souls by the side of the Supreme 258
  4. Reasons for the Assumption of Bodily Form 261
The Organs of the Soul 263-296
  1. Later View 263
  2. The Atman and the Organs 265
  3. Manas and the ten Indriyas 271
  4. The Prana and its five Varieties 274
  5. The Subtle Body and its ethical Qualification 280
  6. Physiological Conclusion from the Upanishads 283
XIII. The States of the Soul 296-312
  1. The Four States 296
  2. The Waking State 300
  3. Dream-sleep 302
  4. Deep Sleep 305
  5. The Turya 309
Fourth Part: Eschatology, or the Doctrine of Transmigration and Emancipation, Including the Way Thither (Practical Philosophy)
XIV. Transmigration of the Soul 313-338
  1. Philosophical Significance of the Doctrine of Transmigration 313
  2. Ancient Vedic Eschatology 317
  3. The Germs of the Doctrine of Transmigration 324
  4. Origin of the Doctrine of Transmigration 328
  5. Further Development of the Doctrine of Transmigration 332
XV. Emancipation 338-361
  1. Significance of the Doctrine of Emancipation 338
  2. Origin of the Doctrine of Emancipation 340
  3. The Knowledge of the Atman is Emancipation. Characteristics of those who are emancipated 344
  4. The Doctrine of Emancipation in Empirical Form 355
Practical Philosophy 361-395
  1. Introduction 361
  2. Ethics of the Upanishads 364
  3. The Sannyasa 373
  4. The Yoga 382
XVII. Retrospect of the Upanishads and their Teaching 396-412
  1. Introduction 396-412
  2. Idealism as the fundamental Conception of the Upanishads 398
  3. Theology (Doctrine of Brahman or the Atman) 401
  4. Cosmology and Psychology 405
  5. Eschatology (Transmigration and Emancipation) 408
Index I. Subjects 413
Index II. References 418

 

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