-02_Publishers Note.htm

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

Among the Notes and manuscripts of Sri Aurobindo was found a sheaf of papers the cover page bearing the legend:

THE UPNISHADS

RENDERED INTO SIMPLE AND RHYTHMIC ENGLISH.
(COMPRISING SIX UPANISHADS NAMELY THE ISHA, KENA,
KATHA, MUNDAKA, PRASHNA AND MANDUKYA).

Svalpamapyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt

BHAGAVADGITA

EVEN A LITTLE OF THIS LAW DELIVERETH ONE OUT OF GREAT FEAR.

*

*  *

QUAL CH’ELLA PAR QUAND UN POCO SORRIDE,
NON SI PUO DlCER NE TENER A MENTE,
SI E NOVO MIRACOLO GENTILE

DANTE

WHAT SHE APPEARS WHEN SHE SMILES A LITTLE,
CANNOT BE SPOKEN OF, NEITHER CAN THE MIND LAY HOLD ON IT,
IT IS SO SWEET AND STRANGE AND SUBLIME A MIRACLE.

Of these, the renderings of the Isha and the Katha Upanishads are found to be revised versions of translations originally published in the Karmayogin (1909) and the Kena and the Mundaka correspond to what appeared in the same Journal. The Isha and the Kena were subsequently further revised and published in the Arya (1914-16) along with commentary. The Mundaka also was thoroughly revised and the Katha received partial revision. The last available revised versions of Sri Aurobindo’s translations of these four Upanishads and renderings of the Prashna and the Mandukya as found in these manuscripts are published in this collection.

Also included are translations of the Taittiriya and the Aitareya Upanishads done by Sri Aurobindo while in Baroda. These were not revised and are being published as they stand to make the collection as inclusive as possible.

A Note ‘On translating the Upanishads’ written by Sri Aurobindo (in the same period) obviously as a preface to his then intended work on the Upanishads is added here for the light it sheds on the approach and spirit governing his translations.