INTRODUCTION
There have been numerous English translations of the Upanishads, especially the Mandukya which is short and exceedingly profound. The majority of these translations, however, have been made from the point of view of the traditional Indian systems of philosophy. In most cases, the translator has followed the commentaries of Shankara, the chief exponent of Adwaita Vedanta. This has produced an unfortunate imbalance in the Western student's understanding of the Upanishads, since Shankara's interpretation depends heavily on the illusionism commonly associated with the concept of māyā. It has not generally been realized that the teachings of the Upanishads are open to alternative interpretations, several of which acknowledge the reality of the world without sacrificing the nondualistic basis of Vedanta. This has always been recognized in India, and it soon led to other systems of Vedanta like the Vishishtadwaita of Ramanuja. But the superior logical foundations of Shankara's approach have made it preeminent above all others, despite its evident sacrifice of certain values which most of us identify with individual existence.
With this background in mind, it comes as a refreshing surprise to view the Upanishads from the standpoint of Sri Aurobindo. The works of Sri Aurobindo are becoming more widely known in the West through the publication of the thirty-volume Birth Centenary edition, and a number of popular American paperbacks, such as McDermott's The Essential Aurobindo and the reissue by Dutton of The Mind of Light. But it is not well known that Sri Aurobindo also translated a number of Upanishads and wrote masterful commentaries on several of them. Although the approach is essentially nondualistic, it is more comprehensive and integral than that of any of the classical philosophical systems and it particularly avoids the pitfalls of world-illusionism associated with Shankara's interpretation. In view of the dearth of material relating to Sri Aurobindo's contributions to
Vedantic scholarship, K.D. Sethna's translation, commentary and notes on the Mandukya Upanishad offer a challenging lead to books which can bridge the gap between the cultures of the East and West.
Sethna is one of the leading interpreters of Sri Aurobindo, and is exceptionally qualified, as a philosophical scholar and a sensitive poet, to present and explain the Upanishads from an Aurobindonian standpoint. Mention of a few of the outstanding features of his book may serve to support this statement.
Sethna has produced an accurate and thoroughly readable English translation of the Mandukya Upanishad, carefully footnoted to show how he has arrived at the meaning of key Sanskrit terms. There is much originality in the footnotes which should be highly valued by serious students. He has also appended an extensive commentary showing how the thought of the Upanishads grows naturally out of the background of the Hymns of the Rig Veda. This is one of the unique features of the Aurobindonian approach and, needless to say, it is almost wholly absent from the methods of Western (and most Indian) scholarship. The usual procedure is to begin with the classical commentaries, which were written more than a thousand years after the Upanishadic period, and then to read back into the Upanishads the interpretations of Shankara, Ramanuja or another of the later commentators. In order to correct this misleading approach, a large part of Sethna's commentary is taken up with a presentation of the Vedic background which is so essential for a proper understanding of the Upanishads. This provides an opportunity for the reader to become more familiar with Sri Aurobindo's incomparable interpretation of the Vedic Hymns. Since his work on the secret meaning of the Veda is largely unknown to a Western audience, this in itself provides a worthwhile raison d'être for Sethna's book.
In conclusion, Sethna has made a substantial contribution to our understanding of the nature of mysticism by showing that the Mandukya Upanishad can be interpreted as a
handbook of "Integral Spirituality" which denies neither the visionary heights toward which the mystic aspires, nor the value of this world in which the scaling of those heights becomes a supremely meaningful experience for the individual. Since the Mandukya Upanishad has ordinarily been taken as a basic text for the world-denying orientation of māyāvāda, Sethna's work, saturated as it is with the genius of Sri Aurobindo, could well be a regenerative force in a field of research which has been considered closed and unrewarding by many Western students of Indian thought.
Dr. Robert M. Kleinman
Professor of Philosophy and Religion,
Pensacola Junior College,
Pensacola, Florida, U.S.A.