Tradition
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Overview
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Sanskrit: श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्, IAST: Śvetāśvataropaniṣad) is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters.
The Upanishad is one of the 33 Upanishads from Taittiriyas, and associated with the Shvetashvatara tradition within Karakas sakha of the Yajurveda. It is a part of the "black" "krishna" Yajurveda, with the term "black" implying "the un-arranged, motley collection" of content in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" (well arranged) Yajurveda where Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Isha Upanishad are embedded.
The chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad is contested, but it is generally accepted to be a late-period Upanishadic composition. The text includes a closing credit to sage Shvetashvatara, who is considered the author of the Upanishad. However, scholars believe that while sections of the text shows an individual stamp by its style, verses and other sections were interpolated and expanded over time; the Upanishad as it exists now is the work of more than one author.
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 Selfs 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 Selfs in one and only Self". The text is notable for its discussion of the concept of personal god – Ishvara, and suggesting it to be a path to one's own Highest Self. The text is also notable for its multiple mentions of both Rudra and Shiva, along with other Vedic deities, and of crystallization of Shiva as a central theme.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is commented by many of its ancient and medieval scholars. It is a foundational text of the philosophy of Shaivism, as well as the Yoga and Vedanta schools of Hinduism. Some 19th century scholars initially suggested that Shvetashvatara Upanishad is sectarian or possibly influenced by Christianity, hypotheses that were disputed, later discarded by scholars.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
But by sacred things one must not understand simply those personal beings which are called gods or spirits; a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred. A rite can have this character; in fact, the rite does not exist which does not have it to a certain degree.
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Shvetashvatara Upanishad is.
The one part, which really is orthodox, has no other purpose than to make the deliverances of the Vedas clearer, or to derive from the text of these original treatises an ingeniously thought-out Psychology. This system is called Mimansa, and two schools proceed from it. Distinguished from these there are other systems, amongst which the two chief are those of the Sanc’hya and Nyaya. The former again divides into two…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Shvetashvatara Upanishad is.
The comprehension of these we call knowledge; for which reason science is the binary number. But opinion is the ternary; for that rationally follows from comprehension. The objects of opinion are many things, and the ternary number denotes a multitude, as "Thrice happy Grecians"; for which reason Pythagoras admits the ternary. This sect of philosophers is called the Italic, by reason Pythagoras started his school in…
Plutarch, Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3
States what Shvetashvatara Upanishad is.
Related ideas
- Paul Deussen
- Madhvacharya
- Ishvara
- Satya
- Bhakti
- Moksha
- Adi Shankara
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
- Vedanta
- Shaivism
- Purusha
- Shiva
- Samkhya
- Samhita
- Max Müller
- Yoga
- Unmoved mover
- Rigveda
- Sannyasa
- Oxford University Press
- Shaiva Siddhanta
- Maya (religion)
- Vaishnavism
- Guṇa
Place in the tradition
Part of Samkhya.