Chandogya Upanishad
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The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" (mukhya) Upanishads. Together with the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period (ca. 9th to 8th century BC).
It is associated with the Samaveda. It figures as number 9 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. It is part of the Chandogya Brahmana which has ten chapters. The first two chapters of the Brahmana deal with sacrifices and other forms of worships. The other eight constitute the Chandogya Upanishad. Though there are more than one hundred Upanishads, ten are principal. These are known as Dashopanishads and known for their philosophical depth, becoming popular through the commentaries of Adi Shankara and Madhvacharya. Along with Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogyopanishad is an ancient source of principal fundamentals for Vedanta philosophy. Number of references made to this Upanishad in Brahma sutras indicate special importance of this Upanishad in Vedantic philosophy. Important meditational Upasana's like Dahara vidya, Shandilya vidya, etc. are its speciality.
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[edit] Commentary
Of the available commentaries the oldest is the one written by Adi Shankara. Adi Shankara has indicated that his commentary work is a brief book for those who want to know summary of this Upanishad. Commentator Ananda Giri has mentioned in his commentary that one Dramidacharya has written an elaborate and detailed commentary well before Adi Shakara. Very little is known about this Dramidacharya and his work is now lost. Brahmanandi Tankacharya has written a brief explanation for this upanishad and Dramidacharya wrote an elaborate and detailed commentary on the work of Brahmanandi Tankacharya. Sri Ramanuja makes many references to these two scholars in his Vedanta Sangraha and Sri Bhasya both of which are commentary works. This Upanishad contains eight chapters and each chapter is divided into several subchapters called Khandas.
[edit] First Chapter
First chapter contains thirteen Khanda's. First Khanda ordains the the Upasana of UdGeetha which is nothing but holy syllable OM. The syllable OM is called by the term UdGeetha since a priest called Udgatha starts his singing of Sama's from OM in vedic yajnas.
Second Khanda ordains that Udgeetha should be meditated as Vital Life Force or Prana, and tells a story to explain the holiness of Prana describing how it remained untouched by evil while all other five senses got tainted by evil.
Third Khanda prescribes that Udgeetha should be meditated as sun god in the outer world.
Fourth Khanda continues telling one more method ( Upasana )for meditating upon OM as the Eternal and Ultimate Refuge ( Amritam, Abhayam) and one who mediatates this way becomes himself a Eternal and Ultimate Refuge.
Fifth Khanda tells that one who meditates Sun and its rays as separate from each other or Prana and its functions such as speech etc as separate would beget many children.
One more Upasana of Udgeetha is told in Sixth Khanda for obtaining all round wealth.
Seventh Khanda ordains that OM (or UdGeetha) should be meditated as Purusha (person) present in right eye who is nothing but another manifestation of Sun (Aditya)who in turn another manifestation of OM.
Another Upasana of UdGeetha is told in ninth and tenth Khanda's which results in a superior devine fruit (Parovareeya satva). This is told in the form a story.
Tenth and Eleventh Khandas describe four parts of Sama called Prastava UdGeetha and Pratihaara which are sung by priests in vedic Yajna Rituals and their respective gods through a story.
Twelfth khanda discusses the UdGeetha Sama seen by gods in the form of Dogs for obtaining food. Thirteeth Khanda describes the various Upasana's of Sthobha-Akshara's
[edit] Second Chapter
This chapter elaborates the many Upasana's of different Sama's.
[edit] Third Chapter
This chapter deals with various modes of mediation on Sun god.
[edit] Fourth Chapter
A story of king Janushruti Pautrayana and Self realized seer Raikva is told in this chapter.
[edit] Fifth Chapter
An esoteric knowledge of Five Fires ( Panchangi Vidya ) is described in this chapter.
[edit] Sixth Chapter
This chapter contains the most important message of this Upanishad. It establishes the principle of oneness of Atman with all beings and non beings. In this chapter famous story of Uddalaka and his son Shvetaketu is told and dialogue between them establishes the principle of oneness of Atman. The Mahavakya "That art Thou" (Tatvamasi) is found in this chapter.
[edit] Seventh Chapter
In this chapter there is a well known dialogue of sage Sanatkuamara and Narada estblishing that realizing the ultimate principle of universe is only way to ride over sarrows of man.
[edit] Eighth Chapter
An esoteric mediation technique of concentrating in the cave of heart about Brahman (Dahara Vidya) is told in this chapter
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- S. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads
- Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads [1]. Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 1972.
- Introduction by Sri Adidevananda: Chhandyogapanishads (Kannada translation)
[edit] External links
- Chhandogya Upanishad - A translation by swami Nikhilananda
- etext
- Translation of Chandogya Upanishad at Celextel's Online Spiritual Library
- Swami Krishnananda Speaks on The Chhandogya Upanishad - Contains audios
es:Chandogya
