Journey of the Upanisads to the West

Contents: General introduction. I. The Vedas and the Upanisads: 1. The Vedas. 2. The Upanisads. II. Impact on the nineteenth century western philosophy: 3: 1. Journey of the Upanisads to the west. 2. Translation of the Upanisads. 4. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (von) Schelling. 5. Critical examination of some pantheistic views prior to Schelling’s. 6. Arthur Schopenhauer. 7. Theosophy of Madame H.P. Blavatsky. III. Impact on the nineteenth century western literature: 8. English poets. 9. Ralph Waldo Emerson. 10. Walt Whitman. 11. French poets. Conclusion Index.

"The book highlights the impact of the Upanisads on the western thought. The author here makes a very interesting discovery by pointing out how and when the message of the Upanisads reached the western countries. In so doing he has covered the entire 19 century and forcefully demonstrated to what extent the western philosophers and litterateurs were influenced in their writings by the teachings of the Upanisads. This is precisely what is meant by the ‘journey of the Upanisads to the west’.

"The kernel of the Upanisadic teaching in author’s view consists in pantheism which is elaborately explained in the first section of the work. In other two sections the author has made a penetrating analysis of some important philosophical and literary thoughts of the west with a view to substantiating his principal thesis. The eminent figures whose systems come within the purview of his discussion are Schelling, Schopenhauer, Madame Blavatsky, Emerson, Whitman and many other contemporary stalwarts. The author has thus opened up a new horizon and sought to fulfil a long-felt need of all sections of inquisitive readers. In fact there has been no exhaustive, adequately warranted and well-documented analysis so far on the subject the author has brought to light". (jacket)