Present the Upanishads and their interpretation by influential commentators The one taken, for example, by Swamis Nikhilananda and Gambhirananda, who He doesn’t assume the traditional commentaries on the UpanishadsĪre correct. Texts as they were understood when they were composed, before the Olivelle, like most Western scholars (he was born in Sri Lankaīut educated in the West), is mainly concerned with The translator, a professor at anĪmerican university, incorporates the full body of Western scholarship That has ever been made for a general audience. This is the best Western academic translation of the Upanishads Upanisads: A New Translation by Patrick Olivelle The translation was originally published in 1903, and its copyright has expired. The complete text of the original book, including both the Upanishad and commentaries, was recently reprinted in an excellent hardcover edition by Samata Books in Madras. We have omitted the commentaries here on our website and include only the translator’s preface and the English version of the Upanishad. In its original printed form, this translation was accompanied by translations of several commentaries including Sankaracharya’s.
Nevertheless, I confess I find the result not displeasing it suggests to me some imaginary archaic English as old as the work itself. The result is a faithful translation in a peculiar style whose syntax fails at times to qualify as English. Inside all five of them, as if sheltered in a cave, is the Self.Įvery translation is a tradeoff between mutually incompatible goals, and the creator of this one has taken that principle to extremes by pursuing a literal one-to-one correspondence of words at the expense of everything else. Next is the vijnanamaya-kosa or sheath of intellect, and last is the anandamaya-kosa or sheath of bliss. Inside it is the pranamaya-kosa or sheath made of prana (energy), which “fills the physical sheath as air fills a bellows.” Inside the prana sheath is the manomaya-kosa or mind sheath. The outermost kosa is the annamaya-kosa or physical sheath (literally, food sheath). For Advaita Vedanta, self-realization is nothing more than the loss of this illusion.Īccording to this Upanishad, the five kosas fit one inside another like five socks slipped over the same foot. The techniques of Jnana Yoga (including self-enquiry) are designed to dispel the illusion that these sheaths and the Self are one and the same. It has special importance for students of Advaita Vedanta and Jnana Yoga because it’s the only Upanishad that sets forth the doctrine of the five sheaths (kosas) that envelop and conceal the Self like a scabbard holding a sword. T HE TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD is one of the eleven major Upanishads.
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