The Shvetashvatara Upanishad (, ) is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 556-557 The Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters.Robert Hume (1921), Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 394–411 with footnotes
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.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 217-219
The chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad is contested, but it is generally accepted to be a late-period Upanishadic composition.Stephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, , Chapter 1 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.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 301-304
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.Max Muller, The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pages xxxii - xlii It is a foundational text of the philosophy of Shaivism,Chakravarti, p. 9. 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.
Etymology
The name "Shvetashvatara" has the compound Sanskrit root Shvetashva (श्वेताश्व, Shvet + ashva), which literally means "white horse" and "drawn by white steeds".zvetAzva Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Sanskrit Digital Lexicon, Germany Shvetashvatara is a bahuvrihi compound of (), where tara means "crossing", "carrying beyond".tara Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Sanskrit Digital Lexicon, Germany The word Shvetashvatara translates to "the one carrying beyond on white horse" or simply "white mule that carries".
The text is sometimes spelled as Svetasvatara Upanishad. It is also known as Shvetashvataropanishad or Svetasvataropanishad, and as Shvetashvataranam Mantropanishad.
In ancient and medieval literature, the text is frequently referred to in the plural, that is as Svetasvataropanishadah. In the Vachaspatyam,quoting a shloka from Muktikopanishad, this Upanishad is referred to as simply Shvetashva, in order to fit poetic metres.
Chronology
The chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain and contested. The chronology is difficult to resolve because all opinions rest on scanty evidence, an analysis of archaism, style and repetitions across texts, driven by assumptions about likely evolution of ideas, and on presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies.Patrick Olivelle (1996), The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text & Translation, Oxford University Press, , Introduction Chapter
RanadeRD Ranade, A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy, Chapter 1, pages 13-18 places Shvetashvatara Upanishad's chronological composition in the fourth group of ancient Upanishads, after Katha and Mundaka Upanishads. Deussen states that Shvetashvatara Upanishad refers to and incorporates phrases from the Katha Upanishad, and chronologically followed it.
According to Patrick Olivelle, it was composed after the Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Kena and Katha, probably in the last few centuries BCE, showing non-Vedic influences.
Flood as well as Gorski state that the Shvetashvatara Upanishad was probably composed in the 5th to 4th century BCE,Flood (1996), page 153 places it in the 5th or 4th century BCE; E. F. Gorski, Theology of Religions (2008), p. 97 places it "probably in the late 4th century BCE". contemporary with the Buddha. Paul Muller-Ortega dates the text between 6th to 5th century BCE.Paul E. Muller-Ortega (1988), The Triadic Heart of Siva, State University of New York Press, , page 27 Phillips chronologically lists Shvetashvatara Upanishad after Mandukya Upanishad, but before and about the time the Maitri Upanishad, the first Buddhist Pali and Jaina canonical texts were composed.
Winternitz,M Winternitz (2010), History of Indian Literature, Vol 1, Motilal Banarsidass, suggests that Shvetashvatara Upanishad was probably a pre-Buddhistic composition along with Katha, Isha, Mundaka and Prasna Upanishad, but after the first phase of ancient Upanishads that were composed in prose such as Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kaushitaki and Kena. Winternitz states that Isha was likely composed before post-Buddhist Upanishads such as Maitri and Mandukya.
Some sections of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad are found, almost in its entirety, in chronologically more ancient Sanskrit texts,Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 309 as attempts to support it's doctrines "with Vedic-proof texts." For example, verses 2.1 through 2.3 are also found in chapter 4.1.1 of Taittiriya Samhita as well as in chapter 6.3.1 of Shatapatha Brahmana, while verses 2.4 and 2.5 are also found as hymns in chapters 5.81 and 10.13 of Rig Veda respectively.Max Muller, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Upanishads, Part II, Oxford University Press, pages 238-240 Similarly, many verses in chapters 3 through 6 are also found, in nearly identical form in the Samhitas of Rig Veda, Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda.
Structure The text has six Adhyaya (chapters), each with varying number of verses. The first chapter includes 16 verses, the second has 17, the third chapter contains 21 verses, the fourth is composed of 22, the fifth has 14, while the sixth chapter has 23 verses. The last three verses of the sixth chapter are considered as epilogue. Thus, the Upanishad has 110 main verses and 3 epilogue verses.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 305-326
The epilogue verse 6.21 is a homage to sage Shvetashvatara for proclaiming Brahman-knowledge to ascetics. 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 Sannyasa, was an established tradition by the time verse 6.21 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad was composed.Max Muller, The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Upanishads, Part II, Oxford University Press, pages 266-267
Poetic style The Shvetashvatara Upanishad has a poetic style and structure. However, unlike other ancient poetic Upanishads, the meter structure of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad varies significantly, is arbitrary and inconsistent within many verses in later chapters, some such as verse 2.17 lack a definite poetic meter entirely,Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 311 suggesting that the text congealed from the work of several authors over a period of time, or was interpolated and expanded over time. The first chapter is the consistent one, with characteristics that makes it likely to be the work of one author, probably sage Shvetashvatara.
Contents The Shvetashvatara Upanishad opens with the metaphysical questions about first causes. Scholars have differed somewhat in their translations, with Max Muller translating the questions thus,
Paul Deussen translates the opening metaphysical questions of the Upanishad thus,
The primal cause is within each individual, a power innate – First Adhyāya The Upanishad asserts, in verse 1.3, 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).Robert Hume (1921), Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 394 Therefore, it is this "power of the Divine Self" (Deva Atman Shakti, देवात्मशक्तिं) within each individual that presides over all the primal causes, including time and self.Max Muller, The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Oxford University Press, page 232 verse 3 with footnotes
God, non-God, the Eternal is within self – First Adhyāya Verses 1.4 through 1.12 of the Upanishad use Samkhya-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 resting swan.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 307 verse 1.6 with footnote 2
The verse 1.5, for example, states, "we meditate on the river whose water consists of five streams, which is wild and winding with its five springs, whose waves are the five vital breaths, whose fountainhead is the mind, of course of the five kinds of perceptions. It has five whirlpools, its rapids are the five pains, it has fiftyHume translates this as five instead of fifty, see Robert Hume (1921), Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 395 with footnotes kinds of sufferings, and five branches." Adi Shankara and other scholars have explained, using more ancient Indian texts, what each of these numbers correspond to. For example, the five streams are five receptive organs of a human body,eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin; see Max Muller, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Upanishads, Part II, Oxford University Press, page 234 footnote 1 the five waves are the five active organs of a human body,hands, legs, excretory organs, sexual organs and speech organs; see Max Muller, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Upanishads, Part II, Oxford University Press, page 234 footnote 1 and five rapids are the major health-related life stages.developing in the womb, being born, growing old, growing seriously ill, and dying; see Max Muller, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Upanishads, Part II, Oxford University Press, page 234 footnote 1