The Upaniṣads (उपनिषद्)
Executive summary
Three of the ten principal Upaniṣads (उपनिषद्) are sat here: the Māṇḍūkya (माण्डूक्य) in twelve mantras, the Īśāvāsya (ईशावास्य) in eighteen, and the Kaṭha (कठ) in one hundred nineteen. The other seven are named and not sat. Gauḍapāda (गौडपाद)’s kārikā (कारिका) is a later book, not these twelve mantras. The Brahma Sūtra (सूत्र) decides what these passages are about. It does not retell them.
नेपालीमा
दश प्रमुख उपनिषदमध्ये तीन यहाँ समावेश गरिएका छन्। माण्डूक्य बाह्र मन्त्र, ईशावास्य अठार, र कठ एक सय उन्नाइस। अरू सात नाम छन् र समावेश गरिएका छैनन्। गौडपादको कारिका पछिको पुस्तक हो, यी बाह्र मन्त्र होइनन्। ब्रह्मसूत्रले यी अंश के बारे हुन् भन्ने निर्णय गर्छ। तिनलाई फेरि सुनाउँदैन।
The narrative of the four Vedas, and of the twelve principal Upaniṣads, is the Śruti portal. This shelf remains the three books sat mantra by mantra.
Vedānta (वेदान्त) has three points of departure. The śruti (श्रुति) is the Upaniṣads (उपनिषद्). The smṛti (स्मृति) is the Bhagvad Gītā (भगवद् गीता). The nyāya (न्याय) is the Brahma Sūtra (ब्रह्म सूत्र). The sūtra (सूत्र) does not retell these books. It decides what a passage is about. The Gītā (गीता) is already a book of its own. This shelf is the śruti (श्रुति).
A Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) bhāṣya (भाष्य) is read on ten principal Upaniṣads (उपनिषद्): Īśā (ईशा), Kena (केन), Kaṭha (कठ), Praśna (प्रश्न), Muṇḍaka (मुण्डक), Māṇḍūkya (माण्डूक्य), Taittirīya (तैत्तिरीय), Aitareya (ऐतरेय), Chāndogya (छान्दोग्य), Bṛhadāraṇyaka (बृहदारण्यक). Three of those ten are sat here. The other seven are named and not sat. Gauḍapāda (गौडपाद)'s kārikā (कारिका), printed in some editions between the Māṇḍūkya (माण्डूक्य) mantras, is a later book. It is not these twelve mantras.
What is written
- The Māṇḍūkya (माण्डूक्य). Twelve mantras. Waking, dream, deep sleep, and the fourth. Then the same four on the measures of oṃ (ओं): a (अ), u (उ), m (म्), and the measureless.
- The Īśāvāsya (ईशावास्य). Eighteen mantras, Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā (वाजसनेयि संहिता) 40 in the Kāṇva (काण्व) recension. The opening keeps renunciation and action in one short book.
- The Kaṭha (कठ). Naciketas (नचिकेत) and Yama (यम), six vallī (वल्ली), 119 mantras. The chariot is vallī (वल्ली) 3.
Where these three meet the other books
- The syllable. Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 1.27 names praṇava (प्रणव). 1.28 says to repeat it and contemplate the meaning. Gītā (गीता) 8.13 puts oṃ (ओं) in the mouth at the hour of leaving. The Māṇḍūkya (माण्डूक्य) is that syllable, sat as twelve mantras. The Kaṭha (कठ) names the same syllable at 2.15.
- Action and knowing. Mīmāṃsā (मीमांसा) 1.1.1 asks what is to be done. Brahma Sūtra (सूत्र) 1.1.1 asks what Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) is. Īśā (ईशा) 1 and 2 set renunciation and the rites next to each other.
- The chariot. Kaṭha (कठ) 3.3 through 3.11. The senses are the horses. Gītā (गीता) 3.42 climbs the same series. Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 2.54 is the senses coming to heel, and 1.2 is the stilling those horses are for.