^ Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8-4, pages 7–14.The author of the Aitareya Aranyaka and the Aitareya Upanishad has been historically credited to rishi Aitareya Mahidasa. Other translators include Max Muller, Paul Deussen, Charles Johnston, Nikhilānanda, Gambhirananda, Sarvananda and Patrick Olivelle. The first English translation was published in 1805 by Colebrooke.
ACADEMIA.EDU TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD FULL
Worship yourself.' Adi Shankara then explains that rituals, sacrifices, merit-karma (worship) does not lead to liberation, the wise do not perform these and rituals such as Agnihotra, they seek Atman and understanding of their own Being and their own Inner Self, and when one has achieved 'Self-knowledge, full awareness of one's consciousness' does one achieve moksha. Rather, states Shankara, the context is abundantly clear that one must know, 'Atman exists, I am consciousness, and that self-realization of one's Atman, its Oneness with Universal Soul is the path to liberation and freedom. It doesn't start with, nor does the text's context, mean that 'I am alive, thus God'. Adi Shankara, Aitareya Upanishad Bhasya Īdi Shankara then reminds the reader that the Aitereya Upanishad must be studied in its context, which starts with and states Atma va idam in hymn 1. Who is he whom we meditate on as the Self? Which is the Self?Įverything are various names only of Knowledge (the true Self)Įverything is led (produced) by knowledge. Max Muller translates parts of the chapter as follows (abridged), Become immortal, suggests the Aitareya Upanishad, by being you. Then the Upanishad asserts that the key to the riddle of the Universe is one's own inner self. It declares that consciousness is what defines man, the source of all intellectual and moral theories, all gods, all living beings (man, animals, plants), all that there is. The third chapter of Aitareya Upanishad discusses the nature of Atman. The overall idea of chapter 2 of Aitareya Upanishad is that it is procreation and nurturing of children that makes a man immortal, and the theory of rebirth, which are the means by which Atman sustainably persists in this universe.
In the second chapter, Aitareya Upanishad asserts that the Atman in any man is born thrice: first, when a child is born (procreation) second, when the child has been cared for and loved to Selfhood where the child equals the parent third, when the parent dies and the Atman transmigrates. The world as a creation, the Man as the highest manifestation of the Atman who is also named as the Brahman - this is the basic idea of this section. Paul Deussen summarizes the first chapter of Aitareya Upanishad as follows, Aitareya Upanishad, Chapter 1, Hymn 11 But this sense then began cogitating on itself, saying that 'I am more than my sensory organs, I am more than my mind, I am more than my reproductive ability', and then asked (abridged), Thereafter came man, who could not exist without a sense of Self and Soul (Atman). Then, asserts Aitareya Upanishad, came the connective principles of hunger and thirst, where everything became interdependent on everything else through the principle of apana (digestion). Atman then created eight guardians corresponding to these psyches and principles.
After these came into existence, came the cosmic self and eight psyches and principles (speech, in-breathing, sight, hearing, skin/hair, mind, out-breathing, reproductivity). First came four entities: space, maram (earth, stars), maricih (light-atom) and apas (ur-water, cosmic fluid). The text states that the Atman created the universe in stages. It is this Atman, the Soul or the Inner Self, that is then portrayed as the creator of everything from itself and nothing, through heat. In the first chapter of the Aitareya Upanishad, Atman is asserted to have existed alone prior to the creation of the universe. The Aitareya Upanishad is a short prose text, divided into three chapters, containing 33 verses. Considered one of the middle Upanishads, the date of composition is not known but has been estimated by scholars to be sometime around 6th or 5th century BCE. Discussion Īitareya Upanishad is a primary ancient Upanishad, and is listed as number 8 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. Īccording to a 1998 review by Patrick Olivelle and other scholars, the Aitareya Upanishad was likely composed in a pre-Buddhist period, possibly 6th to 5th century BCE. Īitareya Upanishad discusses three philosophical themes: first, that the world and man is the creation of the Atman (Soul, Universal Self) second, the theory that the Atman undergoes threefold birth third, that Consciousness is the essence of Atman. It comprises the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the second book of Aitareya Aranyaka, which is one of the four layers of Rig vedic text. The Aitareya Upanishad (Sanskrit: ऐतरेय उपनिषद्) is a Mukhya Upanishad, associated with the Rigveda.