must have resulted from transmission through two alien languages,
the light of the thought still shone with such brightness that it
drew from Schopenhauer the fervent words: "How entirely does the
Oupnekhat (Upanishad) breathe throughout the holy spirit of the
Vedas! How is every one, who by a diligent study of its Persian
Latin has become familiar with that incomparable book, stirred by
that spirit to the very depth of his Soul! From every sentence
deep, original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is
pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit." Again he says:
"The access to (the Vedas) by means of the Upanishads is in my
eyes the greatest privilege which this still young century (1818)
may claim before all previous centuries." This testimony is borne
out by the thoughtful American scholar, Thoreau, who writes:
"What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the
light of a higher and purer luminary which describes a loftier
course through a purer stratum free from particulars, simple,
universal."

The first English translation was made by a learned Hindu, Raja
Ram Mohun Roy (1775-1833). Since that time there have been
various European translations--French, German, Italian and
English. But a mere translation, however accurate and
sympathetic, is not sufficient to make the Upanishads accessible
to the Occidental mind. Professor Max Mller after a lifetime of
arduous labor in this field frankly confesses: "Modern words are
round, ancient words are square, and we may as well hope to solve
the quadrature of the circle, as to express adequately the
ancient thought of the Vedas in modern English."

Without a commentary it is practically impossible to understand