Upanishad commentary
http://www.hindu.com/br/2004/12/07/s...0700121600.htm

PRINCIPAL UPANISHADS — Volume III: N. S. Anantha
Rangacharya; 780, V Main Road, Vijayanagar,
Bangalore-560040. Rs. 250.
THE BRIHADARANYAKA Upanishad is one of the larger
Upanishads. It is a part of the Satapatha Brahmana (in
the Kanva recension) of the Sukla Yajurveda. It is
generally regarded as composed of six chapters. It is
a mine of Mantras and it is related to forest life.
Hence the name. It has a great impact on the Brahma
Sutras.

This particular Upanishad is of special significance
for Visishtadvaita philosophy as it expounds the
concept of the Supreme Soul residing in every one and
acting as the inner ruler. An interesting homily is
administered by Sage Yajnavalkya to his wife Maitreyi
that a man becomes dear to his wife and vice versa,
not because he or she is worthy of it.
There is an excellent homily that is very relevant
today; a man might have reached the acme of learning
and wisdom and even glory on that score. Nevertheless,
he should behave as an urchin of innocence.

Granting that it is one of the less esoteric of the
Upanishads, the author has to present a translation
and commentary that would make some sense to the
modern reader. One has to necessarily recall what Sri
Aurobindo had to say (in the 1950s) regarding Max
Mueller's rather unkind comment on these sacred books
(that there was much not only meaningless, artificial,
and silly, but even hideous and repellent). The
problem arises only when the interpreter depends
purely on his linguistic mastery. Such a scholar
merely feels the language but then misses the spirit.

In this book, however, the Upanishad has a commentary
of a great scholar, Rangaramanuja Muni of 17th Century
A.D. His commentary has been rendered into English
with comments by the present author. Incidentally,
this Acharya's commentary on the Upanishad is possibly
the only one ever available in Ramanuja's school.
Hence, he is sometimes referred to as the "Upanishad
Bhashyakara".

The book assumes particular importance, being an
excellent English version of an authentic presentation
of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The author has been
doing monumental service by bringing out our ancient
classics.

The admiration and the appreciation of all discerning
students of Indian philosophy for his work ought to
turn into a massive support and encouragement for his
future endeavours in this direction.
V. N. VEDANTA DESIKAN





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An interesting post.

The bhAgavatAs should note with interest that Sri
RangaramAnuja muni's translation and commentary is possibly
the only such upanishadic work in Sri RamanujA's school.
Adiyen can think of sAndogya navanItam as another work from our
tradition. Sri Anantha Rangacharya has done a great service by
publishing the modern version of the commentary on B. Up. I hope
that the bhagavathas buy and read this volume with great interest.
Both BrihatAranyaka upanishad and chAndogya upanishad describe
various vidyas that form the basis of most of the Brahma sutras.
The commentaries would help us understand Sri Bhashyam much better.
Most of the sutras that describe brahmAn's qualities or facets
traditionally point to the verses of these upanishads as the
supporting arguments.

dAsan
RTV Varadarajan




--- In SriRangaSri (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com, Madhavakkannan V
<srivaishnavan@y...> wrote:
>
> Upanishad commentary
> http://www.hindu.com/br/2004/12/07/s...0700121600.htm
>
> PRINCIPAL UPANISHADS — Volume III: N. S. Anantha
> Rangacharya; 780, V Main Road, Vijayanagar,
> Bangalore-560040. Rs. 250.
> THE BRIHADARANYAKA Upanishad is one of the larger
> Upanishads. It is a part of the Satapatha Brahmana (in
> the Kanva recension) of the Sukla Yajurveda. It is
> generally regarded as composed of six chapters. It is
> a mine of Mantras and it is related to forest life.
> Hence the name. It has a great impact on the Brahma
> Sutras.
>
> This particular Upanishad is of special significance
> for Visishtadvaita philosophy as it expounds the
> concept of the Supreme Soul residing in every one and
> acting as the inner ruler. An interesting homily is
> administered by Sage Yajnavalkya to his wife Maitreyi
> that a man becomes dear to his wife and vice versa,
> not because he or she is worthy of it.
> There is an excellent homily that is very relevant
> today; a man might have reached the acme of learning
> and wisdom and even glory on that score. Nevertheless,
> he should behave as an urchin of innocence.
>
> Granting that it is one of the less esoteric of the
> Upanishads, the author has to present a translation
> and commentary that would make some sense to the
> modern reader. One has to necessarily recall what Sri
> Aurobindo had to say (in the 1950s) regarding Max
> Mueller's rather unkind comment on these sacred books
> (that there was much not only meaningless, artificial,
> and silly, but even hideous and repellent). The
> problem arises only when the interpreter depends
> purely on his linguistic mastery. Such a scholar
> merely feels the language but then misses the spirit.
>
> In this book, however, the Upanishad has a commentary
> of a great scholar, Rangaramanuja Muni of 17th Century
> A.D. His commentary has been rendered into English
> with comments by the present author. Incidentally,
> this Acharya's commentary on the Upanishad is possibly
> the only one ever available in Ramanuja's school.
> Hence, he is sometimes referred to as the "Upanishad
> Bhashyakara".
>
> The book assumes particular importance, being an
> excellent English version of an authentic presentation
> of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The author has been
> doing monumental service by bringing out our ancient
> classics.
>
> The admiration and the appreciation of all discerning
> students of Indian philosophy for his work ought to
> turn into a massive support and encouragement for his
> future endeavours in this direction.
> V. N. VEDANTA DESIKAN
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> All your favorites on one personal page – Try My Yahoo!
> http://my.yahoo.com