The Atma Jyoti Blog

We are happy to announce the completion and publication online of Swami Nirmalananda’s new Commentary on the Upanishads. The text of this commentary is available for reading online from our Upanishad page, and is also available as a free PDF Download. The Upanishad Commentary covers the eleven major Upanishads of the Vedas (Isha, Katha, Kena, Mandukya, Mundaka, Prashna, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, and Shwetashwatara), and is is 332 pages, 1.33 mb.

What are the Upanishads?

The Upanishads are  those treatises of mystical and speculative philosophy which are part of the Vedas, the most ancient and authoritative scriptures in India (and the world). The word “upanishad” comes from the root word upasana, which means “to draw near,” and is usually considered to mean that which was heard when the student sat near the teacher to learn the eternal truths.

The authority of the Vedic scriptures rests not upon those who wrote them down but upon the demonstrable truths they express. They are as self-sufficient and self-evident as the multiplication tables or the Table of Elements. They are simply the complete and unobscured truth. And realization of that Truth alone matters.

The Upanishads have long interested students of philosophy in the West. The English philosopher Hume translated some of them into English in the eighteenth century. Later he travelled to America where he taught Sanskrit to Thomas Jefferson and together they studied the Upanishads in their original form.

Through a unique combination of exhaustive study and scholarship, and insight and wisdom gleaned from personal experience, Swami Nirmalananda’s commentary offers new gems that will enrich all true seekers.

Download the new Commentary on the Upanishads by Swami Nirmalananda Giri.

Related: Find more ebooks to download–Om Yoga–Its Theory and Practice and A Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, both by Swami Nirmalananda, by visiting our Free Ebooks page.

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