Traditional
72-399: Avyakta , meaning "not manifest", "devoid of form" etc., is the word ordinarily used to denote Prakrti on account of subtleness of its nature and is also used to denote Brahman , which is the subtlest of all and who by virtue of that subtlety is the ultimate support ( asraya ) of Prakrti . Avyakta as a category along with Mahat (Cosmic Intelligence) and Purusa plays an important role in
144-506: 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, 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
216-532: A resting swan. 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 fifty 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,
288-530: Is "the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". It is a key concept in Hinduism , formulated by its Sāṅkhya school, where it does not refer to matter or nature, but "includes all the cognitive, moral, psychological, emotional, sensorial and physical aspects of reality", stressing " Prakṛti 's cognitive, mental, psychological and sensorial activities". Prakriti has three different innate qualities ( guṇas ), whose equilibrium
360-464: Is Brahman, in everything is Deva (God), it is the individual Self and the highest Self. As in other chapters of the Upanishad, several of these verses are also found in more ancient texts; for example, verse 4.3 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad is identical to hymn 10.8.27 of Atharva Veda. The verses are notable for their grammar, where through numerous poetic phrases, the gender of the highest Self (God),
432-411: 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. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad has
504-699: Is a phenomenon of the soul-mind-body complex. According to Bhagavad Gita XIII.1-2, Vikara or the evolutionary products of Prakrti are the Ksetras (Field) (Living organisms) and the Avyakta-part of Purusa or Chetana or Paramatman is the Ksetragna (Knower of the Field) (the individual self) (the Supreme Self). According to Sushruta ’s views on the evolutionary process set in motion by Consciousness, Mahan (Intellect)
576-487: 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
648-657: 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
720-402: Is called Avyakta , not manifest, devoid of form etc., because one cannot obtain awareness of it by sense-perception and it cannot be seen in its native or true nature. It is to be inferred from its effects by persons whose intellect functions in accord with the declarations of Sruti . In its special condition it is spoken of as Susupti ("dreamless sleep") when in it the buddhi (Intellect) and
792-620: Is characterized by traits like hankering, power, and various forms of movement and creative activity. Tamas is marked by qualities such as ignorance, delusion, lethargy, and disinclination toward constructive activity. These psychological attributes reveal the nature of the gunas in Yoga. Shvetashvatara Upanishad Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas The Shvetashvatara Upanishad ( Sanskrit : श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् , IAST : Śvetāśvataropaniṣad )
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#1732848484215864-464: 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
936-651: Is described in Bhagavad Gita as the "primal motive force". It is the essential constituent of the universe and is at the basis of all the activity of the creation. In Vishishtadvaita Vedanta , Prakṛti is one of the six substances ( dravya ) . The guṇas (qualities) are the attributes of primordial Nature ( Prakṛti ), and not its constituents, unlike Sāṅkhya . These qualities are inseparable from Prakṛti , but not identical with it and inextricably related to Ishvara . Prakṛti in Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
1008-429: Is eternal in the transcendental abode of God is non-eternal in the world. The Advaita School regards the world and therefore all substances as appearance due to an undefinable principle called the "Cosmic Nescience" or Maya , which is neither real nor unreal but undefinable. The Advaitins connect Time with the empirical world alone. As creation means the appearance of names and forms, they cannot exist before creation; also
1080-547: Is generated from Avyakta or mula-prakrti , from that Mahan , Ahamkara (Ego) is produced having the same qualities, and from Ahamkara are produced the twenty four elements that are achetana (unconscious) in nature, and the twenty-fifth element is the Jiva ( Purusa or soul ). Paingala Upanishad, extending the instructions of the Mandukya Upanishad states that the mula-prakrti (body) becomes animated by associating with
1152-469: Is held in place. In Chapter 13 verses 19-23, Krishna discusses the eternal nature of both prakriti and purusha, as well as their distinction. You should understand that both prakriti (matter) and purusha (spirit) have no beginning. You should also know that all transformations and the gunas have their origin in prakriti . In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , prakriti is described as encompassing
1224-497: Is limited above by the eternal manifestation ( nityavibhuti ) whereas it's infinite in Sāṅkhya . According to Dvaita Vedanta , Prakṛti is the material cause ( Satkaryavada ) of the world. Prakriti is closely associated with the concept of Maya within Hindu texts. In Jainism the term " Prakriti " is used in its theory of Karma , and is considered "that form of matter which covers
1296-453: Is meticulously and metrically stated as neuter gender, as against the occasional masculine gender that is found in some ancient texts. The Upanishad states that Brahman is in all Vedic deities, in all women, in all men, in all boys, in all girls, in every old man tottering on a stick, in every bee and bird, in all seasons and all seas. Out of the highest Self, comes the hymns, the Vedic teachings,
1368-685: Is not a fabrication of Adi Shankara . In the Rig Veda and the Upanishads Maya is generally meant "power"; it is in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad that Maya is identified with Prakrti and brought in to mean "illusion", and in the Bhagavad Gita, as "magical power". Adi Shankara does not accept the Samkhya view that Avyakta signifies Pradhana in its unmanifested state because the sage of
1440-398: Is of the nature of Maya and is the great sleep in which transmigratory souls unaware of their form continue to slumber on. When they first evolve from Avyakta the five subtle elements, then unable to participate in any action, do not have a form, later on out of these five only earth, water and fire acquire corporeality. The composition of Akasa containing the greatest amount of sattva
1512-403: Is often mistranslated as 'matter' or 'nature' – in non-Sāṃkhyan usage it does mean 'essential nature' – but that distracts from the heavy Sāṃkhyan stress on prakṛti's cognitive, mental, psychological and sensorial activities. Moreover, subtle and gross matter are its most derivative byproducts, not its core. Only prakṛti acts. In Indian languages derived from Sanskrit roots, Prakriti refers to
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#17328484842151584-485: Is one unborn being (feminine), red, white and black, but producing many creatures like herself, There is one unborn being (masculine) who loves her and stays with her, there is another unborn being (masculine) who leaves her after loving her. The metaphor of three colors has been interpreted as the three Gunas , with red symbolizing harmonious purity (Sattva), white as confused passion (Rajas), and black as destructive darkness (Tamas). An alternative interpretation of
1656-533: Is sectarian or possibly influenced by Christianity, hypotheses that were disputed, later discarded by scholars. The name "Shvetashvatara" has the compound Sanskrit root Shvetashva (श्वेताश्व, Shvet + ashva), which literally means "white horse" and "drawn by white steeds". Shvetashvatara is a bahuvrihi compound of ( Śvetaśva + tara ), where tara means "crossing", "carrying beyond". The word Shvetashvatara translates to "the one carrying beyond on white horse" or simply "white mule that carries". The text
1728-443: 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 . Some metric poetic verses, such as Vakaspatyam simply refer to the text as Shvetashva . The chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, like other Upanishads,
1800-450: Is the basis of all observed empirical reality as the five panchamahabhootas namely Akasha , Vayu , Agni , Jala , Pruthvi . Prakriti , in this school, contrasts with Puruṣa , which is pure awareness and metaphysical consciousness. The term is also found in the texts of other Indian religions such as Jainism and Buddhism . Prakriti (Sanskrit: प्रकृति) is an early Indic concept meaning "making or placing before or at first,
1872-668: Is the conscious witness in every living being, while Prakriti is the manifest world. In Hindu cosmology, Prakṛti is the feminine aspect of existence, the personified will and energy of the Supreme (Brahman); while in Shaktism , the Goddess is presented as both the Brahman and the Prakṛti . In Samkhya-Yoga texts, Prakriti is the potency that brings about evolution and change in the empirical universe. It
1944-583: Is the consistent one, with characteristics that makes it likely to be the work of one author, probably sage Shvetashvatara. 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, The Brahma-students say: Is Brahman the cause? Whence are we born? Whereby do we live, and whither do we go? O ye who know Brahman, tell us at whose command we abide, whether in pain or in pleasure. Should time, or nature, or necessity, or chance, or
2016-445: Is the power to create drawn from the unconditioned Brahman or Nirguna Brahman , for effect without cause is impossible. Avyakta or Maya is beginningless avidya , it has no reality in the absolute sense and is destroyed by knowledge. It is compacted in three gunas - sattva , rajas and tamas , which by themselves are its constituents. Maya is of the nature of these three gunas and is superior to its effects. By virtue of being
2088-468: 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. 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
2160-403: 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. Ranade places Shvetashvatara Upanishad's chronological composition in
2232-430: Is used, it can either have a supportive or hindering effect on the evolution of the soul. Tamas is commonly associated with inertia, darkness, insensitivity. Souls who are more Tamasic are considered imbued in darkness and take the longest to reach liberation. In Samkhya, prakriti , comprising the three gunas , exists in equilibrium before the cosmos manifests, neutralizing each other's properties. Samkhya argues that
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2304-533: The Sāṅkhya and Yoga philosophical literatures, it is contrasted with Purusha (spirit, consciousness), and Prakriti refers to "the material world, nature, matter, physical and psychological character, constitution, temper, disposition". According to Knut Jacobsen , in the dualistic system of the Samkhya school, " Purusha is the principle of pure consciousness, while Prakriti is the principle of matter", where Purusha
2376-472: The Katha Upanishad I.iii.10-11 does not define Avykta as Pradhana , nor indicates what should be known by this word. Primarily, Avyakta denotes "the antecedent seed stage of this world" in which it is not manifested by names and forms. Shankara replaces Pradhana as definition of seed is of the nature of Avidya and is signified by the word Avyakta , and having the supreme Lord (Brahman) as its ground
2448-399: The indriyas (senses) are completely dissolved and cease to function, when all pramanas (sources of knowledge) are still, and buddhi remains only in the form of a seed, the test of this is the universal verdict – "I did not know anything (while asleep)". Maya is the power of Ishvara or the conditioned Brahman as Saguna Brahman to create, which power is unimaginable and wonderful. It
2520-596: The God that is the imperishable. By meditating on Hara and thus becoming one with God Hara , is the path to moksha (liberation). From meditating on it, states verse 1.11, man journeys unto the third state of existence, first that of blissful universal lordship, then further on to "perfect freedom, the divine alone-ness, the kevalatvam where the individual self is 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
2592-527: The Samhitas of Rig Veda, Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda. 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. The epilogue verse 6.21
2664-603: The Svetasvatara Upanishad was probably composed in the 5th to 4th century BCE, contemporary with the Buddha. Paul Muller-Ortega dates the text between 6th to 5th century BCE. 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, suggests that Svetasvatara Upanishad
2736-415: The Upanishad discusses Yoga as a means for self-knowledge. The verses 2.8 and 2.9 describes yoga as 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 within (the heart). In this state of yoga, the individual then breathes gently slowly through the nose, states the Upanishad, with any physical motions subdued or
2808-419: The all prevading Atman, as butter lying dormant in milk, rooted in self-knowledge and self-discipline – which is the final goal of the Upanishad, the final goal of Upanishad. (16) The second Adhyaya of Shvetashvatara Upanishad is a motley collection of themes. It begins with prayer hymns to God Savitr, as the rising sun, the spiritual illuminator and the deity of inspiration and self-discipline. Thereafter,
2880-464: The body is still, the mind calm and undistracted. Such is the state where the self-reflective meditation starts. The text recommends a place to perform such yoga exercise as follows, In a clean level spot, free from pebbles, fire and gravel, Delightful by its sounds, its water and bowers, Favorable to thought, not offensive to the eye, In a hidden retreat protected from the wind, One should practise Yoga. The Upanishad, in verse 2.13, describes
2952-463: The cause of all transformations beginning with akasa and by virtue of the sruti which intimates the evolutions brought about by iksana ("seeing", "thinking"), samkalpa ("purposing") and parinama ("transformation"), Maya is established Shvetashvatara Upanishad - Know that Maya is Prakrti and Maheswara to be the Mayain, the wielder of Maya ). It gives birth to this world. Maya is responsible for
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3024-644: The changing conditions of joy and sorrow? Are Time, Nature, Necessity, Chance, Basic matter, the Spirit, the primal cause? Can the union of these be thought of as the primal cause? It is not that, however, because the Self exists. Still the Self also is not powerful enough to create joy and sorrow! 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). Therefore, it
3096-563: The complex and purposeful nature of the world suggests that it exists for the sake of something else, particularly the conscious souls. This view suggests that prakriti , though unconscious, serves to aid the liberation of the soul, similar to how milk nourishes a calf. The Bhagavad Gita emphasize the role of prakriti as the material energy of the universe, created and controlled by God (Krishna), and its distinction from purusha in different verses. In Chapter 4 verse 6, Krishna describes prakriti as His own power, through which He manifests in
3168-406: The delight of Prakrti . All three are stated in the verse to be "unborn", implying that all three are eternal. The Samkhya school of Hinduism cites this verse for Vedic support of their dualistic doctrine. The Vedanta school, in contrast, cites the same verse but points to the context of the chapter which has already declared that everything, including the feminine (Prakrti) and masculine (Purusha),
3240-517: The difference between objects of the same class can have no reference to Sat , the "non-existent" simply does not exist. The Bhagavad Gita declares that – "Far beyond even this Avyakta (the Unmanfest referred to in the earlier Verse 18) there is yet another unmanifest Existence, that Supreme being who does not perish. The same Unmanifest which has been spoken of as the Indestructible is also called
3312-594: The elements be considered as the cause, or he who is called the Purusha ? It cannot be their union either, because that is not self-dependent, and the self also is powerless, because there is, independent of him, a cause of good and evil. Paul Deussen translates the opening metaphysical questions of the Upanishad thus, The teachers of Brahman say: What is the primal cause? What is Brahman? Wherefrom have we been born? By what do we subsist? and on what are we founded? By whom regulated, do we have our being, ye wise men? in
3384-413: The entire cosmos including its physical aspects. It is characterized by the three gunas - sattva, rajas, and tamas. However, the emphasis within the text primarily is on the psychological manifestations of these guṇas. Sattva , the purest guna , is associated with qualities like lucidity, tranquility, wisdom, discrimination, detachment, happiness, and peacefulness when expressed in the mind (citta). Rajas
3456-500: The feminine aspect of all life forms, and more specifically a woman is seen as a symbol of Prakriti . In Hinduism, the concept of Prakriti is thoroughly mentioned. According to Sanskrit scriptures, Brahma Vaivarta Purana , Devi Mahatmya and Devi Bhagavata Purana , five Hindu goddesses are considered as the complete feminine personification of Prakriti – Saraswati , Lakshmi , Parvati , Gayatri and Radha . Together these five goddesses are worshiped as Pancha Prakriti . In
3528-424: 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. Verses 3.1 through 3.6 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad describe the "Atman, Self" as the personal God, as the one and only Lord, that resides within,
3600-399: The five streams are five receptive organs of a human body, the five waves are the five active organs of a human body, and five rapids are the major health-related life stages. The subject of meditation, states Shvetashvatara Upanishad, is the knower and the non-knower, the God and non-God, both of which are eternal. The text distinguishes the highest Self from the individual Self, calling
3672-449: The former Isha and Ishvara, and asserting it is this Highest Brahman which is Eternal and where there is the triad - the bhoktri (subject), the bhogya (object), and the preritri (mover). With meditation, when a being fully realizes and possesses this triad within self, he knows Brahman. In verse 1.10, the text states the world is composed of the Pradhana which is perishable, and Hara
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#17328484842153744-546: 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
3816-535: The greatest, concealed in all beings, one that encompasses all of the universe, formless, without sorrow, changeless, all prevading, kind ( Shiva ), one who applies the power of knowledge, the Purusha, one with the whole world as it is, one with the whole world as it has been, one with the whole world as it will be. It is the Atman, the Self of all. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 4.1 through 4.8 states that everything
3888-825: The help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent churning of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge and ethics is, asserts the Upanishad, the goal of Upanishad. तिलेषु तैलं दधिनीव सर्पिरापः स्तस्वरणीषु चाग्निः । एवमात्माऽत्मनि गृह्यतेऽसौ सत्येनैनं तपसा योऽनुपश्यति ॥ १५ ॥ सर्वव्यापिनमात्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिरिवार्पितम् । आत्मविद्यातपोमूलं तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परं तद्ब्रह्मॊपनिषत्परमिति ॥ १६ ॥ As oil in sesame seeds, as butter in milk, as water in Srota , as fire in fuel-sticks, he finds in his own self that One (Atman), he, who sees him through Satya (truthfulness) and Tapas (austerity). (15) He sees
3960-413: The human body. He identifies cetanā, as one of six basic elements. The other five elements are earth, water, fire, air, and space. Avyakta is identified as the combined category of Purusa and the Avyakta-part of Prakrti treated as one category and called Paramatman . It is when Purusa or Chetana is connected with the body of senses and mind that consciousness can come to the self; consciousness
4032-605: The individual Self and the cosmic Self, is nothing but Oneness and of a single Brahman. The verses 4.9 and 4.10 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad state the Māyā doctrine found in many schools of Hinduism. The text asserts that the Prakrti (empirical nature) is Māyā , that the individual Self is caught up by this Māyā (magic, art, creative power), and that the cosmic Self is the Māyin (magician). These verses are notable because these verses are one of
4104-611: The later Samkhya philosophy even though the Bhagavad Gita III.42 retaining the psychological categories altogether drops out the Mahat and the Avyakta (Unmanifest), the two objective categories. The word avyakta is formed by combining the prefix "a," root words "vi + anja" and suffix "kta." It means unclear or unmanifested. Avyakta plays a role in Charaka 's theory of the composition of
4176-518: The oldest known explicit statement of the Māyā doctrine. The verse 4.10 is also significant because it uses the term Maheswaram (Sanskrit: महेश्वरम्), literally the highest Lord (later epithet for Shiva), for the one who is "Māyā-maker". There is scholarly disagreement on what the term Māyā means in Upanishads, particularly verse 4.10 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad; Dominic Goodall, for example, states that
4248-552: The origin of all gods, calling it the Isha or Rudra . This innermost Self, is stated as under the sway of Māyā or empirical Prakrti . This theme of Eka Deva (one God) – eternal, all prevading and forging the world with his heat – in Svetasvatara Upanishad, is common in more ancient Sanskrit texts such as Rig Veda's hymns 10.72.2 and 10.81.3, Taittiriya Samhita 4.6.2.4, Taittiriya Aranyaka 10.1.3, White Yajur Veda's Vajasaneyi Samhita 17.19, Atharva Veda 13.2.26 and others. Similarly,
4320-513: The original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". The term is discussed by Yāska (~600 BCE) in Nirukta , and is found in numerous Hindu texts . It connotes "nature, body, matter, phenomenal universe" in Hindu texts. According to Dan Lusthaus, In Sāṃkhya puruṣa signifies the observer, the 'witness'. Prakṛti includes all the cognitive, moral, psychological, emotional, sensorial and physical aspects of reality. It
4392-473: The past and the future, asserts the Shvetashvatara Upanishad. The fourth chapter of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad contains the famous metaphorical verse 4.5, that was oft-cited and debated by the scholars of dualistic Samkhya , monist Vedanta and theistic Vedanta schools of Hinduism in ancient and medieval era, for example in Vedanta Sutra's section 1.4.8. The metaphor-filled verse is as follows, There
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#17328484842154464-520: The perfections of the soul (jiva) and prevents its liberation". According to Samkhya and the Bhagavad Gita Prakrti or Nature is composed of the three guṇas which are tendencies or modes of operation, known as rajas (creation), sattva (preservation), and tamas (destruction). Sattva encompasses qualities of goodness, light, and harmony. Rajas is associated with concepts of energy, activity, and passion; so that, depending on how it
4536-456: The reflected being of Ishvara and Avidya for the reflection that is the Jiva . From Maya is born everything from the Mahat to Brahmanda that is known as the Karanasarira or the "Causal body of the atman". The Karana sarira is called avyakta because not being available for sense-perception it is to be inferred from its effects.- Vivekachudamani .110, 122, 123 The Doctrine of Maya
4608-494: 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
4680-606: The supreme goal; that again is My supreme Abode, attaining which they return not to this mortal world. Thus, the Sruti and the Smrti both declare the existence of Avyakta which as Maya is the upadhi of Ishvara ; the five sheaths ( Panchakosa-sarira ) which are the effects of Maya are the upadhis of Jiva , when these upadhis are effectively removed there is no Ishvara and no jiva - Vivekachudamani .245-6. Prakrti Prakriti ( Sanskrit : प्रकृति IAST : Prakṛti )
4752-409: 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
4824-478: The three colors is based on an equivalent phrase in chapter 6.2 of Chandogya Upanishad, where the three colors are interpreted to be "fire, water and food". The unborn being with feminine gender is symbolically the Prakrti (nature, matter), while the two masculine beings are Cosmic Self and the Individual Self, the former experiencing delight and staying with Prakrti always, the latter leaves after experiencing
4896-466: The verses 3.5 and 3.6 are also found in the more ancient Vajasaneyi Samhita as verses 16.2 and 16.3, in Taittiriya Samhita 4.5.1.1, as well as in chapter 8.5 of the chronologically much later Nilarudra Upanishad. These verses symbolically ask Rudra to be graceful and "not hurt any man or any beast". The verses 3.7 through 3.21 of the Upanishad describes Brahman as the highest, the subtlest and
4968-473: The witnessing consciousness which is the conditioned Brahman, and begins to evolve. Its first evolute is Avyakta which has Ishvara-consciousness as its subject animating soul. Pure consciousness of Brahman descends into or becomes Ishvara - self with Avyakta as the body. Thus, at that stage of evolution the Avyakta is the "causal body". Maya , a Vedantic metamorphosis of the Samkhya Prakrti ,
5040-425: The world. In Chapter 7 verse 4 and 5, Krishna mentions two types of prakriti : Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and the sense of ego comprise the eight component parts of my energy known as prakriti . This is the inferior prakriti , but you should also know about my higher prakriti , which is distinct from it. This is the element of life, O mighty one, the jiva bhuta , by means of which this world
5112-535: Was duly considered by the Upanishadic thinkers but the composition of "Time" which is dependent on "space" was left unconsidered. Lokacharya of the Vishishtadvaita school regarded Time as the cause of transformation of Prakrti and its mutation, but Srinivasa regarded the invisible incorporeal Time, which is an object of perception through the six sense-organs, as matter devoid of the three gunas, and that Time that
5184-897: 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, 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. Similarly, many verses in chapters 3 through 6 are also found, in nearly identical form in
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