2 Books Like The Jatakas

I respect this book because it challenges the common-sense distinction between action and inaction. Part of the epic Hindu poem Mahabharata is a cunning text. On its spiritual surface, it preaches overcoming suffering, casting away ego, practicing detachment, and unifying oneself with the divine. Yet these tenets simultaneously boost Krishna’s rhetoric to convince Arjuna to slaughter his own family.

This is a thinly veiled attack on the Buddhist ideal of doing nothing on the grounds that every inaction involves action and vice versa. Its real insight, for me, is that we should sometimes actively do nothing. My favorite instance of the Gītā’s widespread influence is a contemporary Bengali no-loitering sign that reads: ‘If you have nothing to do, please do not do it here.'

The content of the Upanishads is very diverse, and may include mantras, rituals, creation myths, lineages of teachers, historical narratives, and the like. But at their best and most original, the Upanishads take the form of a philosophical dialogue, not unlike those of Plato, with named interlocutors presenting and debating various viewpoints.

For example, in the Great Forest Upanishad, the sage Yajnavalkya engages in philosophical debate with, among others, his wife Maitreyi, the sage Gargi (another, rare, woman), and King Janaka of Videha—who salutes Yajnavalkya with “namaste”.

In the Chandogya Upanishad, the sage Uddalaka Aruni—the guru or teacher of Yajnavalkya—engages in debate with his son, Shvetaketu. Uddalaka Aruni, Shvetaketu, Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi, and Gargi are among the first philosophers in recorded history.

This being philosophy, there is a tendency to abstraction, to grasp at 'the truth behind the truth' (satyasya satyam). The central vision is one of pantheism (all is God)… show more.