100 Great Books (Book 10: The Upanishads)

Great books, Masterclass by an astronaut, a raging debate

This is the tenth book of our new course on 100 Great Books. You can read the brief about why the course exists and check out previous editions.

Before we dive in, here is an interesting weekend debate for you.

We hosted Tuva, a Turkish astronaut, for a masterclass. Learn what it's like to actually follow your dreams with some serendipity and some planning.

The Upanishads: The World as Consciousness

Composed between 800 and 300 BCE, the Upanishads mark the moment when Indian civilization turned from ritual to reflection. They are the philosophical culmination of the Vedas, written to encourage reflection and analysis. Picture teachers and students sitting under trees, reasoning their way toward the nature of being. That’s the setting.

The word Upanishad means “to sit down near,” implying both proximity to a teacher and the humility required for insight. Across more than a hundred dialogues, of which a dozen, including the Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Katha, and Mundaka, form the canon, the texts shift religion’s center of gravity from gods to awareness. Where the Arthashastra builds the state and the Gita disciplines the will, the Upanishads dissolve both into consciousness itself.