| Mahanarayana Upanishad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Devanagari | महानारायणोपनिषत् |
| IAST | Mahānārāyaṇa |
| Title means | Great Narayana[1] |
| Date | 1100 BCE |
| Type | Vaishnava[1] |
| LinkedVeda | Krishna Yajurveda[2] orAtharvaveda[3] |
| Chapters | varies |
| Verses | varies by manuscript |
| Philosophy | Vaishnavism |
TheMahanarayana Upanishad (Sanskrit:महानारायण उपनिषद्,IAST: Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad), alsoBrihannarayanaUpanishad,[4] is an ancientSanskrit text, and is one of the minorUpanishads ofHinduism. The text is classified as aVaishnava Upanishad.[3][2]
The text exists in three main versions.[5] One version with 64 chapters is attached to theKrishna Yajurveda in several South Indian anthologies, and the same text in Andhra edition exists in an expanded form with 80 chapters attached to the same Veda.[2] A second version is attached to theAtharvaveda,[3] has 25 chapters and is prefixed withTripadvibhuti.[6] These manuscripts are sometimes titled as theYajniki Upanishad orTripad-vibhuti-mahanarayana Upanishad.[7][3] According toSwami Vimalananda, this Upanishad is also called Yagniki Upanishad in reverence for sage Yagnatma Narayana.[8]
AuthorDoris Srinivasan says, The Upanishad, despite its title which means "Great Narayana",[9] is notable for glorifying bothNarayana andRudra, both as the first equivalent embodiment ofBrahman, the concept of ultimate, impersonal, and transcendental reality in Hinduism.[5] The Upanishad usesVedanta terminology,[10] and uses numerous fragments fromRigveda, Taittiriya Brahmana, Vajasaneyi Samhita andPrincipal Upanishads.[10]
When doingsandhyavandanam, the mantras used forPrāṇāyāma, Mantrācamana, Gāyatrī āhvānam, Devatānamaskāraḥ andGāyatrī Prasthānam are directly fromMahanarayana Upanishad (Andhra rescension containing 80 anuvakas).[11]
The author and the century in which theMahanarayana Upanishad was composed is unknown. The relative chronology of the text, based on its poetic verse and textual style, has been proposed by Parmeshwaranand to the same period of composition asKatha,Isha,Mundaka, andShvetashvatara Upanishads, but beforeMaitri,Prashna, andMandukya Upanishad.[12] Feuerstein places the relative composition chronology of Mahanarayana to be about that of Mundaka and Prashna Upanishads.[13] These relative chronology estimates date the text to second half of 1st millennium BCE.[12][14]
Srinivasan suggests a later date, one after about 300 BCE, and by around the start of the common era, probably the 1st century CE, based on the texts it cites and the comparison of details of theSamdhya ritual found inMahanarayana Upanishad with those found in otherSutras andShastras.[15] Deussen considers it to be ancient and a transitional link between the Upanishads of the three Vedas (Rig, Sama and Yajur) and the Atharvaveda.[1]
Manuscripts of this text are also found titled as Mahanaryanopanishad.[16][17] In the Telugu languageanthology of 108 Upanishads of theMuktika canon, narrated byRama toHanuman, it is listed asTripadvibhutimahanarayana Upanishad at number 52.[18] It is different from the shorter version ofNarayana Upanishad of theAtharva Veda.[1] The tenth chapter of theTaittiriya Upanishad is adopted in this Mahanarayana text.[19]
TheMahanarayana Upanishad was among the text included in the collection of fifty Upanishads translated intoPersian by Sultan MohammedDara Shikhoh in 1656, under the title Maha-narain, and listed at 30 in the compilation called theOupanekhat.[20] In the Colebrooke's version of 52 Upanishads, popular in North India, it is listed at 39–40 as Brhadnarayana. In the Narayana anthology, popular in South India, it is included at number 34 as Mahanarayana or Brhadnarayana in Bibliothica Indica.[21] Even thoughAdi Shankara did not directly comment on this Upanishad, his commentary onBrahmasutras such as at III.3.24 applies to this text, since some of the Vedanta sutras are incorporated in this Upanishad.[8]
All virtues are Tapas
The text opens withcosmology, with a verse describing theBrahman principle as existent before the creation of universe, which existed as and in light in the "boundless cosmic water".[5][23] The style of its opening verses suggest that the metaphysical principle of Brahman was well established by the time this text was composed.[5] It is described as that where and from which the world originated and into which it shall disintegrate, upon whom all the gods are founded, it is that which was past and what will be, it is all parts of time, it is that which envelops the entire universe, which procreates and is present in all creatures, mobile and immobile, and that which is inOm.[24] It is highest of the highest, greatest of the greatest,[25] it is the law, it is the truth, it is the Brahman.[24] The text calls this metaphysical principle asAgni (fire),Vayu (wind),Surya (sun),Chandrama (moon),Prajapati,Purusha, Rudra and Narayana, that they are all none other than Brahman.[26][27] It is that, states verse 10.19 which was already there before the gods appeared.[28]
The text extracts, repeats and integrates the hymns from the Vedic texts. For example, its first ten chapters reference and include hymn fragments or entire hymns from Rigveda 1.18, 1.22, 1.164, 2.3, 4.58, 5.82, 9.96 and 10.81,[29] Yajurveda 32.1 through 32.4,[30][31] Atharvaveda 10.8.13,[31] section 6.9 ofKatha Upanishad, 4.2 ofShvetashvatara Upanishad, 2.1 ofMundaka Upanishad and others.[32] The chapter 2 of the text gives, for example, an elaborate version of the RigvedicGayatri mantra.[33][34][35] This upanisad also contains some famous hymns such asDurga Sukta,Medha Sukta, andNarayana Sukta.[36]
Axiology in the Upanishad
Thecharity or gift is the armour in the world,
All beings live on the gift of the other,
Through gifts strangers become friends,
Through gifts, they ward off difficulties,
On gifts and giving, everything rests,
That is why charity is the highest.
Narayana is particularly solemnized in the 11th chapter of the text, callingAtman (soul) as Narayana.[39] This description mirrors those found inYogashikha Upanishad andYogatattva Upanishad.[39] Narayana is described as the highest goal, the light beyond, the highest self, the highest Brahman, the highest object of thought.[39][16]
The chapter 12 and twenty six verses that follow then solemnize Rudra, in a manner similar to Narayana, as being all the universe, the manifest One, the right, the just, the truth and the highest Brahman.[40][41] Once again, the text references and integrates numerous hymns and their fragments from the Vedas, as it solemnizes Narayana and Rudra.[42][43]
The Upanishad describes itsaxiology, describing the highest principles of human endeavor to besatyam (truth),tapas (penance),dama (temperance, self restraints),sama (quietude, stillness of the forest),danam (charity),dharmam (duty),prajanam (having children),agnihotram (sacred domestic fire),yajna (fire ritual),manasam (mind's contemplation),nyasa (renunciation,sannyasa).[44] It then declares renunciation as the exquisite among these, possibly because this text is followed by theSannyasa Upanishads in the Atharvaveda.[44][16] The discussion of human virtues and value systems is carried in two parts of the Upanishad, once in chapter 8 and then again in chapters 62 and 63, but explained with different details.[45][16]
The last chapter of the text, in different versions of the manuscript is a poem of reverence for those who renounce for their journey of knowledge, metrically describing how the life of thissannyasi (monk) is an act of worship in itself.[46][16] He is a man of knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, whose faith is his wife, whose body is the sacred fuel, his chest is the sacrificial place, his tuft of hair is his sacrificial broom, his love is the sacredghee (clarified butter), his speech is the Hotr priest, his breath is the Udgatr priest, his eyes are the Adhvaryu priest, his mind the object of his worship, his knowledge is his sacrifice.[47][16] This chapter of theMahanarayana Upanishad has been called by the French IndologistJean Varenne as a Sannyasa Upanishad by itself.[48]
The text is notable for using the wordNyasa with, statesPatrick Olivelle, a meaning approximatingSannyasa (Yati, Bhikshu, Hindu Monk).[48]
दानं यज्ञानां वरूथं दक्षिणा लोके दातार | सर्वभूतान्युपजीवन्ति दानेनारातीरपानुदन्त दानेन | द्विषन्तो मित्रा भवन्ति दाने सर्वं प्रतिष्ठितं तस्माद्दानं परमं वदन्ति ॥ ६॥
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