A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c13.s2: II. Commentaries
A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c13.s2
- Language
- English
II. Commentaries
c13.s2.1
All the great Schools of Vedānta Philosophy have had their own commentaries on the Upanishads, as on the Brahma-Sūtras, and the Bhagavadgītā. The *Commentaries of Śaṅkara* on the various Upanishads have been printed in the Anandasram Press, Poona, a
c13.s2.2
also in the collected edition of his works printed at Vanivilas Press. They are also edited in one volume by H. R. Bhagavat, Poona. Śaṅkara’s commentary on the Kārikās of Gauḍapāda, which are themselves a commentary on the Māṇḍūkyopanishad, is most famous, as well as his commentary on the Bṛihadāraṇyaka. This last has been again commented on by Sureśvarāchārya in his Vārtika. Doubt has sometimes been thrown upon Śaṅkara’s commentary on the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad; but his commentaries on the other Upanishads have been regarded as authentic. There has been a very good one-volume edition of the principal Eleven Upanishads commented on by Swami Achintya Bhagawan and printed at the Nirnayasagar Press, 1910, which follows in substance the commentary of Śaṅkara on the Upanishads. If one wishes to have an epitome of Śaṅkara’s commentaries on the Upanishads, one can have it in this edition of Swami Achintya Bhagawan. The edition is also beautifully printed and is handy. Another running commentary on the substance of the various Upanishads, following the Advaita school of Philosophy, is entitled “Anubhūtiprakāśa,” and has been written by the famous Mādhavācharya.
c13.s2.3
The *Commentaries of Rāmānuja* on the Upanishads are not so well-known as his commentary on the Brahma-Sūtras. There is a mention of the existence of his commentaries on the Upanishads in an edition printed at Madras, which is however, in any case, not very accessible. On the other hand, the commentaries of Raṅga Rāmānuja on the various Upanishads following the Viśiṣṭādvaita school of thought are better known. The Anandashram Press has printed Raṅga Rāmānuja’s commentaries on the Bṛihadāraṇyaka, the Chhāndogya, the Kaṭha and the Kena Upanishads. The last two Upanishads with Raṅga Rāmānuja’s commentary have been also edited by Shridharashastri Pathak, of the Deccan College, Poona.
c13.s2.4
The *Commentaries of Madhva* on the Upanishads can be had in the Sarvamūla Series edited at the Madhavavilas Book Depot, Kumbhakonam. Extracts from Madhva's commentaries along with the original Upanishads and translations have been published at the Panini Office, Allahabad.
c13.s2.5
The Brahma-sūtras themselves are an aphoristic summary of the Upanishads, borrowing words and ideas from them, and linking them together in a theologico-philosophical context. It is the commentaries of the great Teachers on the Brahma-sūtras, which are, however, more famous than the commentaries on the Upanishads themselves. These commentaries constitute the later Vedānta proper, and use the scholastico-logical method, as has been pointed out in the Preface, instead of the mystico-intuitional one.