Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad ( Sanskrit: बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद् Brhadaranyaka Upaniṣad f ) is one of the earliest ( mukhya ) Upanishads. The name means " Big Upanishad the Aranyakas ," by which the intermediate position of the work and Aranyaka Upanishad between displays. The Upanishad belongs to the White Yajur Veda. It consists of three parts, which are referred to as Madhukandam, Yajnavalkyam Kandam and Khilakandam. There are two versions of this Upanishad, which differ slightly from each other. You will Mâdhyandina - or Kanva - called reviews.

Structure & Content

The Upanishad is written both in verse and in prose long Upanishad. The first two parts must have existed independently of each other originally. Thus, the teachings of Yajnavalkya to his wife Maitreyi find in almost identical both in Madhukandam ( 2.4 ) as well as in Yajnavalkyam Kandam ( 4.5 ).

Madhukandam

One of the most famous mantras can be found in this part of the Upanishad:

Out of non- lead me to beings; From darkness lead me to light; From death lead me to immortality Om peace, peace, peace

Yajnavalkyam Kandam

The Yajnavalkyam Kandam is divided into two sections, 3 and 4 Adhyaja In Adhyaya 3 reported a large speech tournament at the court of Janaka of Videha in the course of which way Yajnavalkya its superiority over nine counterparties proves succession. In Adhyaya 4 three talks of the wise with the king Janaka are recorded.

Third Adhyaya

In the defense at the court of Janaka Yajnavalkya are provided by nine opponents one after the other issues to ritual, psychology, metaphysics and spirituality that can answer this convincingly. A few examples:

"Do not you see the seer of seeing, you can not hear the hearer of hearing, you can not understand the understander of understanding, you can not recognize the knower of knowledge. It is your soul that is all inside. What different from him, that's painful. "

"Therefore, after the Brahmin dismissed by the erudition; he I remain in childishness; after he dismissed the childishness and erudition, so is he a Schweiger ( muni ); after he dismissed the non- silence and the silence, so is he a Brâhamana. What lives this Brâhmana? Therein, in which he lives, as it comes up. What different from him, that's painful. "

Fourth Adhyaya

In Brahmanam 4.1 Yajnavalkya calls on the King Janaka make known to him what he had heard from other Brahmins about the nature of Brahman. The explanations are the king of the nature of the Atman - there are six different schools of thought - Yajnayalkya designated as one-sided. For the above principles ( speech, respiratory, eye, ear, mind, heart ) were the only ayatam ( base ) of the Brahman and not this itself The common location of these principles is the space and therefore these statements would only specify how the Brahman appearing in the room or WOULD not matter what it is by its very nature.

In Brahmanam 4.2 Yajnavalkya explained the king Atman and Brahman, by being the starting point mentions various physical aspects and this is in relation to the cardinal points. But then he breaks this speculation and says: "He but the Atman, is not so and is not that ( neti neti ). It is intangible, because it is not used, indestructible, because it is not destroyed; unhaftbar, because it adheres nothing to him; he is not bound, he be not moved, he suffers no damage.

In Brahmanam 4.3, the last conversation between Janaka and Yajnavalkya, the following topics are addressed:

In this final section of the way revealed to the king his knowledge of Atman and Brahman:

"A path extends itself difficult to see, an old, He reaches into me, he was found by me; On it will turn out the ways that Brahma Wisser, To the world of the sky upward to salvation "

" But who the Atman When God looked directly in to the Lord of the past, and to Künft'gen, The is afraid of any more. "

Khilakandam

This part of the Upanshad is already being referred to by the old comments as an attachment.

Importance

The importance of this Upanishad is due to Atman and Brahman in the utterances of the sage Yajnavalkya. The Brahmin Yajnavalkya places in the traditional speeches around the decisiveness and clarity of his knowledge of the Atman dar. Yajnavalkya says that Atman and Brahman are identical and discuss in death Atman Brahman and the man can be born again from the Brahman. Brahman is true for him as the Supreme Being; no one can exceed. According to the Indologist Paul Deussen is the third conversation between Janaka and Yajnavalkya the climax of this and perhaps of all Upanishads dar. Shankara has written a commentary on this Upanishad.