The Katha Upanishad (Sacred Wisdom) [Hardcover]

Anonymous (Author), Ambikananda Saraswati (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Sacred Wisdom | Publication Date: March 19, 2001

Art lovers, spiritual seekers, and anyone entranced by The Perfection of Wisdom, Words of Paradise, and The Moon in the Pines will want to own The Katha Upanishad. One of India's most revered texts and part of the famous Hindu scriptures, the thousand-year-old Vedas, it tells the story of a young boy who compels the Lord of Death to reveal the secret of what happens after we die. There are, teaches The Katha Upanishad, two paths in life. One-that of the senses-leads to the world and all its pleasures. But since all material things must perish, it ends inevitably in death. The other path is "the way inward that leads to grace, "a spiritual journey toward immortality and joyous union with the universal Divine. This translation converts simply and practically the wisdom at the heart of the scripture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Swami Ambikananda Saraswati, a Hindu monk has taught Vedanta philosophy and yoga for more than twenty-five years, and maintains a healing clinic.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Studio; 1St Edition edition (March 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670892300
• ISBN-13: 978-0670892303
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible & Other Sacred Texts > Upanishads

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully translated, June 23, 2003

By 

"hkundra" (Allentown, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Katha Upanishad (Sacred Wisdom) (Hardcover)

I was visiting a used bookstore with a friend when this book caught my attention. I immediately purchased it and read it. Its a small book - 61 pages total, interlaced with beautiful Indian miniature paintings. The author clarifies all uncertain/difficult translations in the introduction - for example "buddhi" is translated throughout as intellect.

In the past, I have read translations of old Indian text in which some authors give a detailed account of their own interpretations on the subject. I usually don't like this "lecturing" and find it more appealing if the text is just translated so that the reader is open to his/her own interprtations.

Finally, the story of young Nachiketas may or may not be true. But we all can associate with it on some level or the other. Here are a few passages from the book:

"Like pure water being poured into pure water,
Who sees only the One
Becomes the One"

"There, in that Self,
The sun cannot shine,
Nor the moon or stars.
The light of lightning cannot reach it,
Much less a conflagration on Earth.
Yet by Its presence all these are lit
And light shines forth."

This book is all I expected it to be, and more.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dialogue with death, March 10, 2004

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Katha Upanishad (Sacred Wisdom) (Hardcover)

If you had three wishes, as did Nachiketas, what would you wish for? The story start when the father offers the son, Nachiketas as a sacrifice (reminscent of Abraham and Isaac). As a compensation of being made to wait for Yama, the God of Death, Nachiketas is granted 3 wishes.

This most popular of the Upanished's, is one of the Veda's surviving perhaps 3000 years. This is the gospel of "yajnas" (sacrifices), and the sacrificer offers obligations in the fire. Nachiketas wishes for understanding of the fire ritual. The book unfolds, as Yama, satisfying his third wish for special knowledge of death, lays out the paths of life "You can walk the way outward that leads to pleasure or the way inward that leads to grace." There is the common Indian image of the chariot, with the self-seating in the back "Think of the reins the driver is holding as the mind". Swami Ambikanananda states "This is not a translation for scholars", but provides a poetic translation for those seeking, for example:
" Remember always ~
Not with my speech,
Not with my eyes,
Nor even with my mind
Will that Self be reached.
It will declare itself to me
Only in my stillness."

The 15 Indian miniatures illustrations are only tangentially related to the story, but are striking. For example there is a drawing of a sacred fire ritual prominent in the story, but there is also a drawing of Krishna, not at all in the story.