SrI:

Dear VedAbhimAnis :

It is with great pleasure I write about the release of
the most recent volume on Principal Upanishads in
the scholarly series published by the Vedantha Vidwan ,
Dr.N.S. Ananatha RangachAr Swamy of Bangalore ,
the distinguished sishyar of a great AchAryan,
Vaikunta Vaasi ,Koti KanyA dhAnam U.Ve. K.S.Krishna
TatachAr swamy .

The release of volume II of Principal Upanishads
(ChAndhOgya Upanishad) marks an important stage in
the Kaimkaryam on the part of Dr.N.S.A.Swamy
to bless us all with the VisishtAdvaithic intrepretation of
ChAndhOgya Upanishad . The importance of
ChAndhOgya Upanishad can be appreciated form
the copious references to passages from it by
the Brahma SutrakArar , Veda VyAsar .The SutrakArar has
closely followed this Upanishad from the beginning
(IkshatyadhikaraNa: VedAntha SutrAs: I.1.5) to
the thundering end " anAvrutthi sabdhAth"
(VedAntha SutrAs: IV.4.22) as an adaptation of
the final words of ChAndhOgyam ( na cha PunarAvartatE).

Upaasana or meditation on Brahman for the realization of
Brahman is the major message of ChAndhOgya Upanishad.
Through a variety of SaguNa VidhyAs , ChAndhOgyam
teaches us about the Saguna UpAsanAs of different kinds for
the benefit of the SaadhakAs such as sadvidya( Sixth
chapter), Bhuma Vidya( Seventh chapter), Dahara VidhyA
( Eighth and the concluding chapter) and others .
To read and benefit from the translations and commentaries of
Dr.NSA Swamy on the entire chAndhOgya Upanishad along
the VisishtAdvaithic way is like " Pazham nazhuvi
Paalil vizhunthAr pOlE" ( like the case, where the fruit
slices slipped in to the milk for our complete enjoyemnt).

Principal Upanishad volume I and Selections from
Upanishads are the two earlier volumes in this series
that follow SrI Ranga Raamaanuja Muni's VisishtAdvaithic
intrepretations of and commentaries on Upanishads.
SrI RangarAmAnuja Muni Himself , who as a sanyAsi
resided in ThiruttaNkA dhivya dEsam next to Swamy
Desikan's and SrI DhIpa PrakAsan's sannidhi followed
the expositions of Bhagavath RaamAnujA , Srutha PrakAsika
AchArya (SrI Sudarsana Suri) and Swamy Desikan's
commentaries on major upanishads.

We are thus fortunate to have VisishtAdhvathic commentaries
and translations of passages from 14 Upanishads in the First release
in the series ( Selections from the Upanishads: October 2002);
the second volume in the series ( Principal Upanishads: Volume I,
February 2003) had the full text and commentary of Nine Upanishads ;
the latest release ( Principal Upanishads: Volume II , June 2003))
deals with the full text of ChAndhOgya Upanishad. We hope
that Dr.NSA Swamy will bless us with the translations and
commentaries of BrahadaraNyakOpanishad in the future .
We pray to the Dhivya dampathis and AchAryAs for long life
and perfect health to Dr.NSA Swamy to bless us with
more scholarly monographs to comprehend the ancient
doctrines of VisishtAdvaitham .

This kaimkaryam of Dr.NSA Swamy known for many splendid
kaimakryams of VidhyA DhAnam fills an important gap
that existed in the study of Upanishads along
the VisishtAdva VedAnthic path. All of us are
immensely thankful to DR.NSA Swamy to bring out this series
o Upanishads in English to address the needs of a large group of
VedAbhimAnis , who could not access Upanishad commentaries
related VisishtAdvaithic Texts in their original Sanskrit
version. The elegance of the translation , the addition of
relevant commentaries on the individual manthrAs from
SrI Ranga RaamAnuja Muni's original text and the provision of
scholarly introductions at the beginning of each of these
three volumes on Upanishads is a major accomplishment by
Dr.NSA Swamy for future generations of VedAbhimAnis.

The individual volumes in this series are modestly priced ,
beautifully printed along with the index of all manthrams
covered.

These volumes are a must in the libraries of all
who wish to study the VisishtAdvaithic intrepretations
of Major Upanishads . The clarity of presentation
and the provision of copious notes on each manthram is
a masterly accomplishment by a great teacher and Scholar,
who has devoted a life time to Ubhaya VedAntha studies
under a great AchAryan.

At the request of many bhakthAs from USA and India
and with the blessings of current day AchAryAs,
Dr.NSA Swamy undertook the task of releasing
the three volumes so far and we are immensely
grateful to him for introducing our kula dhanams in
such an elegant manner.

Those who wish to acquire these volumes for their
own libraries are requested to contact Dr.NSA Swamy at:
Vedanta Vidvan Dr.N.S.Anantha Rangachar
#780 V Main Road,Vijaya Nagar, Bangalore 560 040
(Telephone : 338-3755).

NamO Veda PurushAya,
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SaDagOpan