Principal Upanishads: Volume II (ChAndhOgya Upanishad)

[Guest guest]

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