An Ocean of Knowledge...

[Madhavan]

My favourite text is the Mundaka Up. A beautiful description of what happens in aparoxa is described here until the final goal is reached.

All upanishads must be read with commentaries and various viewpoints to appreciate the depth of each verse. No single author can really drive home all that he intends to say. In my opinion, even the samhitas and brahmanas deal with the heights of spiritual instruction if they are interpreted properly, though it is customary to dismiss them as karma kANDa.

[sarabhanga]

Now, of the major upanishads, you have mentioned only five. Would you please classify the study of the other parts of the Vedas, and then the Smriti for a reading approach? Where does the Gita figure in the five stages? It seems that the six darshanas can fall nicely into the five levels of consciousness their study may be structured in?

Namaste Saidevo et al.,

A comprehensive reading approach for the whole library of dharma shAstra is rather a lot to ask!

The shruti texts, however, may be generally classified as follows:

vaishvAnara = saMhitA
taijasa = brAhmaNa
prAjña = AraNyaka
turya = upaniSad

vaishvAnara = sAmaveda
taijasa = yajurveda
prAjña = Rgveda
turya = atharvaveda

Which provides a logical starting point for shruti (in pure vaishvAnara) with the sAmaveda saMhitA, and an end (in pure turya) with the atharvan upaniSada (including the mANDukya).

The IshopaniSad is a special case, being the only upaniSad that is actually part of the mantra saMhitA (as the final chapter of the shukla yajurveda).

The muktikopaniSad gives excellent advice:

By what means is kaivalya moksha attained? The mANDUkya is enough!
If knowledge is not gained from it, then study the 10 upaniSada.
If certainty is not achieved even then, study the 32 upaniSada and stop.
If desiring moksha without the body, read the 108 upaniSada.