Impressions: Book “Our Upanishads” By Shri R.R.Gandikota

The book “Our Upanishads” serves as a short introduction to the Upanishads for all those who are interested in the rich tradition, knowledge and wisdom of the ancient sages of India.   A venture of this nature is most essential as our younger generation is not given any formal exposure to the teachings of our great sages. They are not taught about this in the schools, busy as we are teaching them  Maths, science and social studies.

 While organized religions have occasion to study and learn from the Bible or the Quran, Hinduism does not have any one book to follow although Bhagawat Gita is held sacrosanct and a Hindu takes oath on this holy book in a court of law. Most people find it difficult to read and understand the contents of the Gita by themselves.  These days, we have many Satsangs where Gita is read, interpreted and explained in simple terms so that more people can understand it.

It is  a similar service that Shri R.R. Gandikota has done through his book. In the initial chapters he has given readers a background of how teaching happened in the ancient times in a Gurukul when “celibacy and truthfulness of the disciples were considered very important for imparting the Brahma-Jnaana”.  He has underscored the role of the Sankaracharya in bringing out of “obscurity this immortal literature through his masterly commentaries” and later that of Swami Vivekananda in the modern age “when vast masses of men and women of East and West were drawn to Upanishadic spiritual literature by his authentic voice”.

Shri R.R Gandikota in the book notes that “One of the fascinating features of the Upanishads is ‘Love for Truth’ and it’s ‘Fearless - Quest’.  It is this exciting aspect that keeps the reader glued to the literature as the writer gives us a brief glimpse of the contents of 17 Upanishads including the 10 principal Upanishads (On which Sankaracharya commented). Shri Gandikota has reiterated in couple of places in the book, that it is written for beginners and that the basic aim of writing it is to kindle an interest in the readers to explore more.

To that extent, the author has succeeded wholly. As a reader, I enjoyed very much the discussion between Nachiketa and Lord Yama and the explanation of the central message of “Katha Upanishad” as condensed by Swami Vivekananda. We end up asking for more after reading the piece. But then the author states “As this article is meant for the beginners, more information in detail is not given.”  What it does to the reader is to compel him to search for more about Vedas and Vedanta. (It was on Google that I learnt that as Upanishads come at the end of Vedas they are therefore called ‘Vedanta’ and that Upanishad and Vedanta is the same).

I would conclude my impressions of the book by once again reiterating that the book “Our Upanishads” has achieved fully all that it set out to do (1) Kindling an interest in readers for more (2) serving as a go to place for the Gen Next  for basic information about the great teachings of Indian sages who realized very early that the questions on existentialism can be answered only from within and not by studying external factors. The author has given suggestions of four important books on Upanishads by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and others for the benefit of readers who would like to delve further and deeper into the subject.   

About the Author: 

R R Gandikota –

Ramakrishna Rao Gandikota (b.27^th Sept, 1947)is an  education Administrator and Distance Teacher. He studied and taught Botany for four decades. However, his first love has always been poetry and literature.

RRG was the youngest recipient of the State Award for Commendable Record  awarded by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, for his services as a teacher  in 1981. He did extensive research on VIDYARANYA-and earned the title-“Vidyaranya Vidya Vardhana”.

He has served as Secretary Sahitya Lahari & Jaateeya Sahitya Parishad. He is a regular contributor to the Kalyana Kalpataru-Gita Press-Gorakhpur; Triveni Journal (Estd.1927); Saarasa and several News Papers, including The Hindu; The Indian Express; The Hans India, etc. He has authored 18 books and  writes in English, Telugu, Sanskrit & Hindi.

NB:  For soft copy of the book readers may contact the author at  rrgandikota@gmail.com