The Upaninṣads
Translated literally, "upanishad" means "sitting near devotedly, " conjuring images of the contemplating student listening with rapt attention to the teachings of a spiritual master. The principal Upanishads offered in this edition have been recognized throughout the centuries by Hindu believers and great Western thinkers such as Goethe, Schopenhauer, and Emerson as philosophical and spiritual meditations of the highest order.