Nirvana Upanishad
The Upanishad describes aSannyasi
Devanagari	निर्वाणोपनिषत्
IAST	Nirvana
Title means	Liberation, highest bliss[1]
Date	before 300 AD, likely BC[2]
Type	Sannyasa[3]
LinkedVeda	Rigveda[4]
Chapters	1[5]
Verses	82 sutras[6]
Philosophy	Vedanta[7]

TheNirvana Upanishad (Sanskrit:निर्वाण उपनिषत्,IAST: Nirvāṇa Upaniṣad) is an ancientsutra-style Sanskrit text and a minorUpanishad ofHinduism.^[8] The text is attached to theRig Veda,^[4] and is one of the 20Sannyasa (renunciation) Upanishads.^[9] It is a short text and notable for its distilled, aphoristic presentation with metaphors and allegories.^[10][11]

TheNirvana Upanishad describes thesannyasi (renouncer), his character and his state of existence as he leads the monastic life in the HinduAshrama tradition.^[12] The Upanishad is notable for not mentioning any rites of passage, qualifications or discussion of the sannyasi's life before renunciation.^[5] It just describes the Sannyasi, his external state, his inner state.^[5][11]

TheUpanishad asserts that the life of thesannyasi is of reflection, not rituals,^[13] dedicated to Jnana-kanda (knowledge section of theVedas),^[14][15] finding home when he is in union with truth and perfection.^[15] Self-knowledge is his journey and destination,^[15] a solitary place his monastery of bliss.^[16]

The composition date or author ofNirvana Upanishad is unknown, but itssutra-style suggests that it originated in the sutra text period (final centuries of the 1st-millennium BC), before it was compiled and classified as an Upanishad.^[7] This text was likely composed in the centuries around the start of common era.^[2]

Gavin Flood dates theSannyasa Upanishads likeNirvana Upanishad to the first few centuries of the common era.^[17]

This text has been sometimes titled as Nirvanopanishad in manuscripts.^[11][18] In the Telugu languageanthology of 108 Upanishads of theMuktika canon, narrated byRama toHanuman, it is listed at number 47.^[8]

TheNirvana Upanishad is written inSutra-style. ASutra means "string, thread",^[19] and in Indian literary traditions, it also refers to anaphorism or a collection ofaphorisms in the form of a condensed manual or text.^[20][21] Eachsutra is like a theorem distilled into few words or syllables, around which "teachings of ritual, philosophy, grammar or any field of knowledge" can be woven.^[19][20] This Upanishad deals withVedanta philosophy.^[15][22]

The aphoristic style implies that the text can be interpreted with multiple meanings, is full of metaphors and allegories, and its sutras implicitly refer to Hindu scriptures.^[23][15] "The sky is his belief" in its third sutra for example, statesPatrick Olivelle, is a metaphor for consciousness, spanning everything visible yet indivisible; it also means that thesannyasi is not enslaved to any specific doctrine but instead follows his own consciousness, his own conception of the absolute.^[24]

The text asserts that the life of thesannyasi is of reflection, not rituals.^[13] Jnana-kanda (knowledge section of the Vedas) is the scripture of thesannyasi, states the Upanishad, and not the section on Karma-kanda (rituals section of the Vedas).^[14][15] He is marked by fearlessness, fortitude, equanimity, a conduct that is both respectful of others and his own wishes, he does not revile others nor find faults in others, states the Upanishad.^[25] The verse 36–37 of the text asserts a position reverse of the Sunyavada ofBuddhism, states Olivelle, where the Hindusannyasi does not accept void-emptiness as ultimate reality, but believes Atman-Brahman as the ultimate reality.^[26][15] The primordial Brahman, states sutra 40 of the text, is self-knowledge for the renouncer.^[27]

Thesannyasi finds home when he is in union with truth and perfection, states sutra 38 of the text.^[15] Self-knowledge is his journey and destination.^[28][15] His state is of an entranced mind, solitude his monastery.^[29] He is virtuous, he knows no fear, no delusions, no grief, no anger, no selfishness, no egotism.^[30] He contemplates on the true nature, silence is his mantra, he conducts himself as he pleases, his own nature is his liberation, translates Olivelle.^[31][15]

The text is obscure, statesT.M.P. Mahadevan,^[32] whilePaul Deussen states the text may have been a memory aid that went with the glossary sections of the 108 Upanishads, namely theSarvasara Upanishad andNiralamba Upanishad.^[8]

Patrick Olivelle concurs with Deussen and considers this Upanishad as an early text in theSutra tradition of Hinduism.^[7] The text, state Olivelle, has a distinctAdvaita Vedanta of Hindu philosophy flavor, like most Sannyasa Upanishads, but this may be because major Hindu monasteries of 1st millennium AD belonged to the Advaita Vedanta tradition.^[7]

Buddhadasa, a Thai Buddhist, in a commentary onNirvana between two Indian religions, states that the Upanishad's view is that an eternal, uncreated Atman exists. In contrast, states Buddhadasa, there is no Atman terminology in Buddhism.^[33]

• Aruni Upanishad
• Jabala Upanishad
• Paramahamsa Upanishad
• Sarvasara Upanishad

Bibliography

• Deussen, Paul (1 January 1997).Sixty Upanishads of the Veda. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN 978-81-208-1467-7.
• Deussen, Paul (2010).The Philosophy of the Upanishads. Oxford University Press (Reprinted by Cosimo).ISBN 978-1-61640-239-6.
• Dhiravamsa, Dhiravamsa (September 2012).Nirvana Upside Down. Wisdom Moon Publishing LLC.ISBN 978-1-938459-03-0.
• Flood, Gavin D. (1996),An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press,ISBN 978-0521438780
• Hattangadi, Sunder (1999)."निर्वाणोपनिषत् (Nirvana Upanishad)"(PDF) (in Sanskrit). Retrieved18 January 2016.
• Mahadevan, T. M. P. (1975).Upaniṣads: Selections from 108 Upaniṣads. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN 978-81-208-1611-4.
• Olivelle, Patrick (1992).The Samnyasa Upanisads. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0195070453.
• Olivelle, Patrick (1993).The Asrama System. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0195083279.
• Sprockhoff, Joachim F (1976).Samnyasa: Quellenstudien zur Askese im Hinduismus (in German). Wiesbaden: Kommissionsverlag Franz Steiner.ISBN 978-3515019057.
• Tinoco, Carlos Alberto (1996).Upanishads. IBRASA.ISBN 978-85-348-0040-2.

• Upanishads

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