Upanishadic Stories and Their Significance

Opinions About the Book

THE ARYAN PATH: The stories are of much historical value, as they paint a vivid picture of the India of the Vedic period. The moral and social conditions in which women played an equal part with men, the politics of the time, and above all, the high place given to knowledge and religion.

AMRITA BAZAR PATRIKA: These lucid stories have been made the vehicles of expressing the highest wisdom about existence, knowledge and joy. In these tales the values of life find concept of truth. About a score of stories .... harmonise knowledge and religion. We also get a peep into the social, moral, political and religious conditions of India.

VEDANTA KESARI: The spirit of the book has been kept up throughout every narrative, and the difficult task of simplified presentation has been achieved with success. Book of the kind are the real need of the day when there is a clamour for reconciliation of the ancient and modern approach to religion and philosophy.

HINDU: The Upanishadic stories represent a marvellous attempt by the sages of India to convey the profoundest truths about the spiritual through medium of simple stories. The book must be of great appeal to the general reader to whom Vedas and Upanishads may be a closed book.

CHETANA: The stories take the reader's mind to the source of Brahmavidya and illustrate how supreme knowledge could be attained and how at the same time it could be harmonised with the day to day life.

Preface:

Upanishads have been considered as the Himalayas of the Soul. There is no limit to the heights to which the human spirit can soar. Upanishads are the manifestation of Brahman through our ancient seers and sages in their contemplation of the Divine in the form of eternal philosophy. Age has not withered their everlasting freshness and charm. We can find in them philosophic concepts at different levels. According to Sri Ramakrishna, the aspirant has to choose from them what best suits his mental and emotional make up.

Srimat Swami Tattwanandaji, an initiated disciple of Srimat Swami Sivanandaji a prominent direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna was ordained to Sannyasa in 1938, worked in many of the Ramakrishna Mission Centres and also spent many years in Tapasya in the Himalayas. He left his mortal frame in 1976. Being the author of many English and Bengali books, he performed an excellent role to a great extent to bring out this book "The Upanishadic Stories And Their Significance", the first published book by Sri Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, Kalady.