Book Review: The 13 Principal Upanishads by Robert E. Hume (trans.)

I will open with a video discussing the 13 Upanishads. The book is a scholarly work with much discussions around the translation itself as well as related content and context.

Introductory Video

The following video about the book The 13 Principal Upanishads, summarizes a number of points (26:94 minutes).

Here is a list of each Upanishad in the video:

1. 02:05 – The Grand Design: 13 Texts, One Chronological Argument.
2. 02:58 – Brihadaranyaka & the Birth of Brahman (Neti Neti). This leas to the identification of the Brahman, the formless, indestructible, absolute, ultimate ground of reality. The Gnostics called it the Monad.
3. 05:08 – Chandogya: The Seed and the Salt — Proving the Invisible Essence. You do not see Brahman but it is everywhere. In the Bible, Psalm 139 captures this.
4. 08:26 – Katha: Nachiketa, Death, and the Discovery of the Atman. The Atman is never born and never dies. It is the silent observing consciousness that sits at the center of your being.
5. 11:42 – Kena: The Silent Witness Behind the Voice in Your Head. This sits behind your thoughts, emotions, feelings and ego. This is the silent witness. This is the “I” in “I AM that I AM”.
6. 13:06 – Isha: How to Live in the World Without Being Trapped by It. One must learn to live in the world while rejecting being captured by it or attached to any of its as[ects.
7. 14:30 – Taittiriya: The Five Koshas and the Map of the Self. We have 5 distinct layers; 1. the physical body, 2. the energy or breath, 3. the lower mind or emotions, 4. the intellect, logic and ego, 5. the Atman or quiet center.
8. 16:19 – Mandukya: The Four States of Consciousness. These are 1. the waking state, 2. the dream state, 3. deep sleep where the deep peaces resides, 4. the state where the deep peace of the third or deep sleep state manifests fully in the waking state and throughout the experience of life.
9. 19:54 – The Great Collision: Tat Tvam Asi — Thou Art That. Separation is the ultimate fear so to eliminate this the Atman and the Brahman must be one. Brahman is the universe viewed from the outside. Atman is the universe viewed from the inside. You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop.
10. 23:25 – The Modern Cure: Ending the Epidemic of Separation

From the Book

There is an extensive initial discussion about issues around translation and doctrine. As i have mentioned, this is a scholarly work, perhaps the most important translation available. Since I am looking for the core teachings, most of this part if not all may be skipped. I did not find it helpful for attempting to find the essential teaching. Indeed, the video achieves this end. I did attempt to read the Upanishads. In many cases I skipped passages that droned on about that that I considered unessential. Here are a few notes about the specific Upanishads

Of the Upanishads themselves, I spent several days working through the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad. The PDF of this (the only one that I could find) did not lend itself to easy reading by my reading software. Further, the early material is heavily laden with cultural and doctrinal imagery and portrays a very rudimentary creation and divine constellation. Finally, last night I had a dream that I interpreted as saying that the material was too insubstantial and dated. The dream suggested that of all the knowledge that I might seek to acquire, I have limited time to do this and should be careful of what I spend my remaining time on. I took this to mean that I should move on.

From the excellent summary from the video, I decided to look at only specific Upanishads.

Mandukya Upanishad (p.341)

The four states of consciousness:

1. The waking state, outwardly cognitive, the Common-to-all-men.
2. The dreaming state, inwardly cognitive.
3. Deep sleep experiencing no desires, no dream, but unified as a cognition-mass of bliss.
4. Beyond deep sleep is the lord of all, the all-knowing, the inner controller, the source of all, the origin and the end of beings. This is the Self with regard to the word. It is deep sleep in the waking state. This state is the Atman.

Comments

The format of the Upanishads does not allow for easy summary extraction of key points. One might invest their time elsewhere.

Resources

I found several links online but all to the same translation by Robert Hume.

1. Hume, Robert E. (trans). The Thirteen Principal Upanishads.Oxford,1921 (PDF).

Articles in This Series

Refer to the series index in Gnostic Wisdom.

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