Introduction
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika (principal) canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters.
It is a part of the “black” “krishna” Yajurveda. The word Svetashvatara does not appear to be the original name of the Rishi, but his honorific title. The word means ‘one who has controlled his senses’ and is without likes or dislikes. According to others, it means the man with the white mule. Either way the word signifies respect and love by the disciples and the greatness of the teacher.
The chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad is contested, but generally accepted to be a late period Upanishadic composition. The text includes a closing credit to sage Shvetashvatara, considered the author of the Upanishad. However, some scholars believe that while sections of the text show an individual stamp by its style, some verses and other sections may have been interpolated and expanded over time. The Upanishad as it now exists is possibly the work of more than one author.
This Upanishad does not advocate any particular system of orthodox philosophy. There are passages in this exposition which are allied in thought to Dvaita (dualism), Visishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism), Advaita (non-dualism) and other branches of Vedanta. Sankhya and Yoga ideas also find a prominent place in certain verses. It lays equal emphasis on jnana (knowledge), bhakti (devotion) and other paths of spiritual life. It does so without any conflict. In fact it would seem to be an attempt of a great synthetic mind to reconcile the various views which were current at the time of its composition. It understands, as does the Bhagavad-Gita, that not all paths suit all alike. But that each person should adopt a path suited to that person’s temperament which leads to spiritual enlightenment and liberation from bondage.
The main themes of the Upanishad are stated in each chapter. Chapter 1, is to realize Oneness. Chapter 2 is using meditation and yoga as a means to realize Oneness. We will deal with themes and texts of Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 in our future blogs.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad opens with metaphysical questions about the primal cause of all existence, its origin, its end, and what role, if any, time, nature, necessity, chance, and the spirit had as the primal cause.
It then develops its answer, concluding that the Universal Self exists in every individual. It expresses itself in every creature, everything in the world is a projection of it, and that there is Oneness, a unity of Self in one and only Self. The text is also notable for its discussion of the concept of Ishvara (personal God), and seeing God as a devotional, meditative path to one’s own highest Self.The text thus is notable for its multiple mentions of both Rudra and Shiva, along with other Vedic deities.
Brief Notes for helping to understand different terms
Dvaita – means duality, dualism (teachings of Madhvacharya). It considers Brahman and Atman as two different entities and Bhakti (devotion) as the route to eternal salvation.
Vishishtadvaita – (teachings of Ramanujacharya) literally means the Unique Advaita. Brahman is accepted as the unified whole, but it’s characterized by multiple forms. It is kind of a midway between Advaita and Dvaita philosophies.
There is a basic recognition in all schools of Indian philosophy that the world is relative. Mainly, there are certain things which always come coupled with, and are always in relation to, another, for example pain and pleasure, knowledge and ignorance, success and failure etc.
The aim of all schools of Indian philosophy is to overcome such a relative existence, and to reach a state which is above it; hence, there is a search for the Absolute, which is called Brahman in Vedanta. To reach the Absolute is moksha (liberation).
Advaita – non-dual (teachings of Shankaracharya). This school of Vedanta states that Brahman is the only reality and the world is Maya (the creative and projecting power of Brahman). Atman (individual self) and Brahman (the absolute) are the same. Liberation can be obtained by the true knowledge of Brahman and the moment when an individual soul stops to identify itself with the body/mind complex and understands its real nature by the power of jnana (knowledge), it loses its individuality and realizes its own true nature. There is only one Absolute. It cannot co-exist with something else, or have any parts in It.
In both dvaita and vishishtadvaita, the individual soul retains its identity, including a separate existence from Brahman, even after liberation. In advaita, the very notion of an individual soul is held to be unreal. The world is considered real according to the two former schools, while advaita says it is an unreal superimposition on the only real entity, Brahman.
Sankhya adopts a consistent dualism of matter (prakriti) and the eternal spirit (purusha). The two are originally separate, but in the course of evolution purusha mistakenly identifies itself with aspects of prakriti. Right knowledge consists of the ability of purusha to distinguish itself from prakriti. Sankhya theorizes that Sankhya cosmology describes how life emerges in the universe; the relationship between Purusha and prakṛti is crucial to Patanjali’s yoga system. The strands of Sankhya thought can be traced back to the Vedic speculation of creation. It is also frequently mentioned in the Mahabharata and Yogavashita.
Structure
The text has six Adhyaya (chapters), each with a varying number of verses. The last three verses of the sixth chapter are considered as epilogue. Thus, the Upanishad has 110 main verses and 3 epilogue verses.
The epilogue verse 6.21 is a homage to sage Shvetashvatara for proclaiming Brahman-knowledge to its disciples. This closing credit is structurally notable because of its rarity in ancient Indian texts, as well as for its implication that the four-stage ashrama system of Hinduism, with ascetic Sanyasa, was an established tradition by the time verse 6.21 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad was composed.
As stated, it is apparent that the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, unlike most of the major Upanishads, contains a strong theistic strain. Names like Hara (I. 10.), Rudra (III. 2, 4; IV. 12, 21, 22.), Shiva (III. 11; IV. 14.), Bhagavan (III. 11.), Agni, Aditya, Vayu (IV. 2.), etc., which appear in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, are generally used as epithets of the Personal God. Devotion, or bhakti, moreover, is mentioned as a means of realizing the Supreme Spirit. The word deva is used frequently. All this, according to Ramanuja and other theistic interpreters, establishes the Personal God as Ultimate Reality. But Sankaracharya gives these words a non-dualistic meaning and emphasizes that the goal of this, as of the other major Upanishads, is to prove the sole reality of the nondual Brahman and the unsubstantiality of the jiva and the phenomenal universe. The word deva, which means, literally, “luminous one,” signifies for him Brahman, or Pure Consciousness. Likewise, Hara means “destroyer of evil,” and Siva, “all good.”
First Adhyāya
The primal cause is within each individual, as an innate power – The Upanishad asserts, in verse 1.3, that there are individuals who by meditation and yoga have realized their innate power of Self, powers that were veiled by their own gunas (innate personality, psychological attributes). Therefore, it is this “power of the Divine Self” (Deva Atman Shakti, देवात्मशक्तिं) within each individual that presides over all the causes, including time and self.
Verses 1.4 through 1.12 of the Upanishad use Sankhya-style enumeration to state the subject of meditation, for those who seek the knowledge of Self. These verses use a poetic simile for a human being, with the unawakened individual Self described as a swan on the vast wheel of karma.
Sloka 1.5 and 1.6:
We meditate on him as a river with five courses, From five sources, mighty and winding, whose waves Are the five vital breaths, whose first source is the fivefold intellect, With five whirlpools, a flooded current of fivefold Misery, with fifty divisions and five branches.
In the vast wheel of Brahman in which all things live and rest, The swan, the self, flutters about, Thinking himself and the mover to be separate. But when blessed by him, he attains immortality.
~ Vernon Katz and Thomas Egenes translation
The text distinguishes the highest Self from the individual self, calling the former Isha and Ishvara, and asserting it is this Highest Brahman which is Eternal. In verse 1.10, the text states the world is composed of the perishable, and Hara the God that is the imperishable. By meditating on Hara and thus becoming one with God, Hara, becomes a path to moksha (liberation). From meditating on it, states verse 1.11, man journeys to perfect freedom, the divine alone-ness, the kevalatvam where the individual self dissolves and then one with the divine self.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.13 to 1.16, states that to know God, look within, know your Atman (Self). It suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one’s body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which unleashes in sound the supreme awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of this Upanishad.
With the practice of meditation rooted in self-knowledge and self-discipline, one sees the all pervading Atman, like fire in wood, oil in sesame seeds and butter lying dormant in milk.
Read slokas 1.13 – 1.16
Second Adhyāya
Yoga as means for self knowledge, self discipline
The second Adhyaya of Shvetashvatara Upanishad is a collection of themes. It begins with prayer hymns to Savitr, as the rising sun, the spiritual illuminator and the deity of inspiration and self-discipline. Thereafter, the Upanishad discusses Yoga as a means for Self-knowledge.
The verses 2.8 and 2.9 describe yoga as the state of body and mind, wherein the body is in threefold erect posture, and mind along with all senses are withdrawn into an introspective point. In this state of yoga, the individual then breathes gently slowly through the nose, states the Upanishad, with any physical motions subdued or the body is still, the mind calm and undistracted. Such is the state where self-reflective meditation starts. The text recommends a place to perform such yoga practice as follows:
Sloka 2.10:
Let him practice yoga in a clean and level place, Free from pebbles, fire and dust, beautiful to the eyes, Settled by the sound of water and the like, In a sheltered retreat protected from the wind.
~ Vernon Katz translation
The Upanishad, in verse 2.13, describes the first benefits of Yoga to be agility, better health, clear face, sweetness of voice, sweet odor, regular body functions, steadiness, and feeling of lightness in one’s personality. Yoga then leads to the knowledge of the essence of the Self, the nature of the Self.
Read verses 2.8-2.15 from Second adhayaya
So in reading this Upanishad, you can see how it provides a moving and poetic balance to other more abstract Upanishads. It is a lyrical and sustained hymn of praise to the One and to all its manifestations. The many Gods, and embodied beings, are no more a threat to the One than the spectrum of colors is to pure white light: in fact, they are its very expression. Just how the Absolute can assume the form of the ever changing world and yet maintain it’s eternal and unchanging status is something that has fascinated theologians of all religions.
To explain this cosmic sleight of hand, the sage uses the concept of Maya. Maya, a very rich term, is usually translated as illusion but this is misleading. The word can be derived from the root Ma, meaning “to make, to limit, to divide” in which case it means that which is made limited or divided, that is the world of duality and distinctions. Maya is the projecting power of the Brahman, shining. It deceives because it makes embodied beings believe that they, and the world of objects, have an independent existence without the reality that is being manifest. It is Consciousness, Knowledge, Existence and Bliss which is manifesting both the foreground and the background. Ignorance is not understanding that it is Brahman that manifests the world. It is not understood that it is water that permeates the wave, the ripple, the foam. For the enlightened person, his or her standpoint is that their true nature is that they are actually on a higher level of pure Consciousness.
Through the projecting power of Maya names and forms come into existence, as the relative universe. The empirical experience of the illusory manifold is called ignorance because Brahman or pure consciousness is not understood correctly. Relativity is Maya. The fact that the One appears as the many is only understood by the enlightened being. The doctrine of Maya recognizes that Sat-Chit-Ananda shines, and in shining, the background appears as the foreground and makes the foreground possible. When a human sees the One he does not see the many because he or she sees the world of objects including himself or herself as an embodied being, as really an expression of that Brahman or pure Consciousness.
The 19th-century sage Ramakrishna provides a parable for illustration:
“A tiger cub was born as its mother was attacking a flock of sheep. In giving birth to the cub the mother died, and so the cub grew up with the sheep. It bleated, ate grass, and regarded itself in all aspects as a sheep. One day it was pounced upon by a tiger from the forest and dragged to a lake. There it was shown its reflection and a piece of meat was pressed into its mouth. Then suddenly the veil dropped off and the sheep tiger discovered itself to be a real tiger.”
The most important symbol of the supreme soul is the symbol OM, which is Brahman or the absolute with attributes (Saguna-Brahman) as well as without attributes (Nirguna-Brahman). The individual soul, or jiva, is identified with a body, looks at itself as an embodied being and is subject to hunger and thirst, pain and pleasure, good and evil, and the other pairs of opposites which appear in time and space. Limited in power and wisdom, it is entangled in the eternal round of Samsara (cycle of birth and rebirth) and seeks deliverance from it. The Atma (or Brahman) through Maya projects forms from Itself which both veil the Atma as well as provide the means to pierce or lift the veil.
Ramanuja (the chief exponent of the qualified non-dualistic school of Vedanta) declares that the goal of this Upanishad is to demonstrate the ultimate reality of Brahman as endowed with benign qualities only and free from all blemish. Sankaracharya stands as the upholder of an unconditioned and attributeless Brahman, while Ramnuja represents the belief of a Brahman abounding with blissful attributes. Both can be looked at as complimentary viewpoints and one can move happily between the unqualified (Nirguna Brahman) and the qualified (Saguna Brahman).
Nirguna Brahman is the negation of all attributes and relations. It is beyond time, space and causality. Although it is spaceless, yet without It, space could not exist. Though it is timeless, yet without It, time could not exist. Without the unchanging background of the white screen, one cannot relate in time and space to the disjointed frames in a movie.
Though it is causeless, without It, the universe bound by the law of cause and effect, could not exist. No description of It is possible except by the denial of all empirical attributes, so it is contemplated as what remains after the removal of all attributes from it. It is often visualized in meditation as deep awareness, a substratum, a seat of blissful existing pure Consciousness, an abode of happiness and transcendent peace.
Please note: excerpts, commentary and references from the following teachers of Vedanta. Vedanta Society lectures and literature Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Nikhilananda, Swami Gambhirananda, Swami Tyagisananda
Excerpts from the following commentaries and translations of the Upanishads: Alistair Shearer and Peter Russell T.N. Sethumadhavan Vernon Katz and Thomas Egenes Robert Ernest Hume
Wikipedia: Shevetashvatara Upanishad
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