First Prapāṭhaka The chant of Om, the essence of all The
Chandogya Upanishad opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on
Om". It calls the syllable Om the
udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is this: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the
Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is
udgitha. In section 1.4, the text highlights the importance of Om in the High Chant.
Good and evil may be everywhere, yet life-principle is inherently good {{Infobox The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between
Devas (gods) and
Asuras (demons) – both being races derived from one
Prajapati (creator of life). The
Prajapati is man in general, in this allegory. The legend in section 1.2 of
Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the
Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The gods revered the Udgitha as sense of smell, but the demons cursed it and ever since one smells both good-smelling and bad-smelling, because it is afflicted with good and evil. The debaters summarize their discussion as, {{blockquote| What is the origin of this world? Space, said he. Verily, all things here arise out of space. They disappear back into space, for space alone is greater than these, space is the final goal. This is the most excellent
Udgitha [Om, ]. This is endless. The most excellent is his, the most excellent worlds does he win, who, knowing it thus, reveres the most excellent
Udgitha. Max Muller notes the term "space" above, was later asserted in the Vedanta Sutra verse 1.1.22 to be a symbolism for the Vedic concept of
Brahman.
A ridicule and satire on egotistic nature of priests The tenth through twelfth volumes of the first "Prapathaka" of
Chandogya Upanishad describe a legend about priests and it criticizes how they go about reciting verses and singing hymns without any idea what they mean or the divine principle they signify. The 12th volume in particular ridicules the egotistical aims of priests through a satire, that is often referred to as "the Udgitha of the dogs". The verses 1.12.1 through 1.12.5 describe a convoy of dogs who appear before
Vaka Dalbhya (literally, sage who murmurs and hums), who was busy in a quiet place repeating Veda. The dogs ask, "Sir, sing and get us food, we are hungry". After the dogs settled down, they together began to say, "Him" and then sang, "Om, let us eat! Om, let us drink! Lord of food, bring hither food, bring it!, Om!"
Structure of language and cosmic correspondences The 13th volume of the first chapter lists mystical meanings in the structure and sounds of a chant. The text asserts that
hāu,
hāi,
ī,
atha,
iha,
ū,
e,
hiṅ among others correspond to empirical and divine world, such as Moon, wind, Sun, oneself, Agni, Prajapati, and so on. The thirteen syllables listed are "Stobhaksharas", sounds used in musical recitation of hymns, chants and songs. This volume is one of many sections that does not fit with the preceding text or text that follows. The fourth verse of the 13th volume uses the word
Upanishad, which Max Muller translates as "secret doctrine", and
Patrick Olivelle translates as "hidden connections".
Second Prapāṭhaka The significance of chant The first volume of the second chapter states that the reverence for entire
Sāman (साम्न, chant) is
sādhu (साधु, good), for three reasons. These reasons invoke three different contextual meanings of
Saman, namely abundance of goodness or valuable (सामन), friendliness or respect (सम्मान), property goods or wealth (सामन्, also समान). The
Chandogya Upanishad states that the reverse is true too, that people call it
a-sāman when there is deficiency or worthlessness (ethics), unkindness or disrespect (human relationships), and lack of wealth (means of life, prosperity).
Everything in Universe chants Volumes 2 through 7 of the second Prapathaka present analogies between various elements of the Universe and elements of a chant. The latter include
Hinkāra (हिङ्कार, preliminary vocalizing),
Prastāva (प्रस्ताव, propose, prelude, introduction),
Udgītha (उद्गीत, sing, chant),
Pratihāra (प्रतिहार, response, closing) and
Nidhana (निधन, finale, conclusion). The sets of mapped analogies present interrelationships and include cosmic bodies, natural phenomena, hydrology, seasons, living creatures and human physiology. For example, chapter 2.3 of the Upanishad states, {{Blockquote| The winds blow, that is
Hinkāra A cloud is formed, that is
Prastāva It rains, that is an
Udgītha The lightning that strikes and thunder that rolls, that is
Pratihāra The rains stop and clouds lift, that is
Nidhana. The eighth volume of the second chapter expands the five-fold chant structure to seven-fold chant structure, wherein
Ādi and
Upadrava are the new elements of the chant. The day and daily life of a human being is mapped to the seven-fold structure in volumes 2.9 and 2.10 of the Upanishad. Thereafter, the text returns to five-fold chant structure in volumes 2.11 through 2.21, with the new sections explaining the chant as the natural template for cosmic phenomena, psychological behavior, human copulation, human body structure, domestic animals, divinities and others. The metaphorical theme in this volume of verses, asserts
Paul Deussen, is that the Universe is an embodiment of Brahman, that the "chant" (Saman) is interwoven into this entire Universe and every phenomenon is a fractal manifestation of the ultimate reality. The 22nd volume of the second chapter discusses the structure of vowels (
svara), consonants (
sparsa) and sibilants (
ushman). The Upanishad describes the three branches of dharma as follows: {{Blockquote| त्रयो धर्मस्कन्धा यज्ञोऽध्ययनं दानमिति प्रथमस्तप एव द्वितीयो ब्रह्मचार्याचार्यकुलवासी तृतीयोऽत्यन्तमात्मानमाचार्यकुलेऽवसादयन्सर्व एते पुण्यलोका भवन्ति ब्रह्मसँस्थोऽमृतत्वमेति ॥ १ ॥ There are three branches of
Dharma (religious life, duty):
Yajna (sacrifice),
Svādhyāya (self study) and
Dāna (charity) are the first,
Tapas (austerity, meditation) is the second, while dwelling as a
Brahmacharya for education in the house of a teacher is third, All three achieve the blessed worlds. But the
Brahmasamstha – one who is firmly grounded in Brahman – alone achieves immortality. This passage has been widely cited by ancient and medieval Sanskrit scholars as the fore-runner to the
asrama or age-based stages of dharmic life in Hinduism. The four
asramas are:
Brahmacharya (student),
Grihastha (householder),
Vanaprastha (retired) and
Sannyasa (renunciation). Olivelle disagrees however, and states that even the explicit use of the term
asrama or the mention of the "three branches of dharma" in section 2.23 of
Chandogya Upanishad does not necessarily indicate that the
asrama system was meant.
Paul Deussen notes that the
Chandogya Upanishad, in the above verse, is not presenting these stages as sequential, but rather as equal. The Advaita Vedanta scholars state that this implicitly mentions the Sannyasa, whose goal is to get "knowledge, realization and thus firmly grounded in Brahman". Other scholars point to the structure of the verse and its explicit "three branches" declaration.
Third Prapāṭhaka Brahman is the sun of all existence, Madhu Vidya The
Chandogya Upanishad presents the "Madhu Vidya" ("Honey Knowledge" or "Nectar of Knowledge") in first eleven volumes of the third chapter. Sun is praised as source of all light and life, and stated as worthy of meditation in a symbolic representation of Sun as "honey" of all Vedas. The Brahman is stated in these volume of verses to be the sun of the Universe, and the 'natural sun' is a phenomenal manifestation of the Brahman. The simile of "honey" is extensively developed, with Vedas, the
Itihasa and mythological stories, and the Upanishads are described as flowers. The nectar itself is described as "essence of knowledge, strength, vigor, health, renown, splendor". The Sun is described as the honeycomb laden with glowing light of honey. The rising and setting of the Sun is likened to man's cyclic state of clarity and confusion, while the spiritual state of knowing Upanishadic insight of Brahman is described by
Chandogya Upanishad as being one with Sun, a state of permanent day of perfect knowledge, the day which knows no night. is the symbol of the Brahman - the essence of everything, states volume 3.12 of the
Chandogya Upanishad. Gayatri as speech sings to everything and protects them, asserts the text.
The Ultimate exists within oneself The first six verses of the thirteenth volume of Chandogya's third chapter state a theory of
Svarga (heaven) as human body, whose doorkeepers are eyes, ears, speech organs, mind and breath. To reach
Svarga, asserts the text, understand these doorkeepers. The volume 3.13 of verses, goes on to offer proof in verse 3.13.8 that the highest reality is inside man, by stating that body is warm and this warmth must have an underlying hidden principle manifestation of the Brahman. This, states Paul Deussen, is with
Satapatha Brahmana 10.6.3, perhaps the oldest passage in which the basic premises of the Vedanta philosophy are fully expressed, namely – Atman (Self inside man) exists, the Brahman is identical with Atman, God is inside man. These are, {{Blockquote| Brahman, you see, is this whole world. With inner tranquillity, one should venerate it as
Tajjalan (that from which he came forth, as that into which he will be dissolved, as that in which he breathes). Now, then, man is undoubtedly made of his
Kratumaya (क्रतुमयः, resolve, will, purpose). What a man becomes on departing from here after death is in accordance with his (will, resolve) in this world. So he should make this resolve: This [S]elf (atman) of mine that lies deep within my heart — it is made of mind; the vital functions (
prana) are its physical form; luminous is its appearance; the real is its intention; space is its essence (atman); it contains all actions, all desires, all smells, and all tastes; it has captured this whole world; it neither speaks nor pays any heed. This [S]elf (atman) of mine that lies deep within my heart—it is smaller than a grain of rice or barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller even than a millet grain or a millet kernel; but it is larger than the [E]arth, larger than the intermediate region, larger than the sky, larger even than all these worlds put together. This [S]elf (atman) of mine that lies deep within my heart—it contains all actions, all desires, all smells, and all tastes; it has captured this whole world; it neither speaks nor pays any heed. It is
Brahman. On departing from here after death, I will become that. A man who has this resolve is never beset at all with doubts. This is what
Shandilya used to say. The teachings in this section re-appear centuries later in the words of the 3rd century CE
Neoplatonic Roman philosopher
Plotinus in "
Enneads 5.1.2". This chest is where all wealth and everything rests states verse 3.15.1, and it is imperishable states verse 3.15.3. The best refuge for man is this Universe and the Vedas, assert verses 3.15.4 through 3.15.7. This section incorporates a benediction for the birth of a son. The
Chandogya Upanishad makes one of the earliest mentions of this ethical code in section 3.17. This is one of the earliest statement of the
Ahimsa principle as an ethical code of life, that later evolved to become the highest virtue in Hinduism. {{Blockquote| अथ यत्तपो दानमार्जवमहिँसा सत्यवचनमिति ता अस्य दक्षिणाः ॥ ४ ॥ Now
Tapas (austerity, meditation),
Dāna (charity, alms-giving),
Arjava (sincerity, uprightness and non-hypocrisy),
Ahimsa (non-violence, don't harm others) and
Satya-vacanam (telling truth), these are the
Dakshina (gifts, payment to others) he gives [in life]. The
metaphor of man's life as a Soma-festival is described through steps of a
yajna (fire ritual ceremony) in section 3.17. Death is like ablution after the ceremony. These verses suggest a developed state of mathematical sciences and addition by about 800-600 BCE. Secondly, verse 3.17.6 mentions
Krishna Devakiputra (Sanskrit: कृष्णाय देवकीपुत्रा) as a student of sage Ghora Angirasa. This mention of "
Krishna as the son of
Devaki", has been studied by scholars whether this part of the verse is an interpolation, or just a different Krishna Devikaputra than deity Krishna, because the much later age
Sandilya Bhakti Sutras, a treatise on Krishna, cites later age compilations such as
Narayana Upanishad and
Atharvasiras 6.9, but never cites this verse of
Chandogya Upanishad. Others state that the coincidence that both names, of Krishna and Devika, in the same verse cannot be dismissed easily and this Krishna may be the same as one found later, such as in the
Bhagavad Gita. The verse 3.17.6 states that Krishna Devikaputra after learning the theory of life is a Soma-festival, learnt the following Vedic hymn of refuge for an individual on his death bed, Thou art the
Aksitamasi (indestructible, imperishable, undecaying), Thou art the
Acyutamasi (imperturbable, unchangeable, imperishable), Thou art the
Prana-samsitamasi (fountainhead, crest of life-principles, fortified by breath).
Fourth Prapāṭhaka Samvargavidya The fourth chapter of the
Chandogya Upanishad opens with the story of king
Janasruti and "the man with the cart" named
Raikva. The moral of the story is called,
Samvarga (Sanskrit: संवर्ग, devouring, gathering, absorbing)
Vidya, summarized in volume 4.3 of the text. Air, asserts the Upanishad, is the "devourer unto itself" of divinities because it absorbs fire, [S]un at sunset, [M]oon when it sets, water when it dries up. In reference to man,
Prana (vital breath, life-principle) is the "devourer unto itself" because when one sleeps,
Prana absorbs all deities inside man such as eyes, ears and mind. The
Samvarga Vidya in Chandogya is found elsewhere in Vedic canon of texts, such as chapter 10.3.3 of
Shatapatha Brahmana and sections 2.12 - 2.13 of
Kaushitaki Upanishad. Paul Deussen states that the underlying message of
Samvarga Vidya is that the cosmic phenomenon and the individual physiology are mirrors, and therefore man should know himself as identical with all cosmos and all beings. Satyakama's mother reveals to the boy, in the passages of the Upanishad, that she went about in many places in her youth, and he is of uncertain parentage. The boy, eager for knowledge, goes to the sage Haridrumata Gautama, requesting the sage's permission to live in his school for
Brahmacharya. The teacher asks, "my dear child, what family do you come from?" Satyakama replies that he is of uncertain parentage because his mother does not know who the father is. The sage declares that the boy's honesty is the mark of a "Brāhmaṇa, true seeker of the knowledge of the Brahman". The sage accepts him as a student in his school. The sage sends Satyakama to tend four hundred cows, and come back when they multiply into a thousand.
Penance is unnecessary, Brahman as life bliss joy and love, the story of Upakosala The volumes 4.10 through 4.15 of
Chandogya Upanishad present the third conversational story through a student named 'Upakosala'. The boy Satyakama Jabala described in volumes 4.4 through 4.9 of the text, is declared to be the grown up
Guru (teacher) with whom Upakosala has been studying for twelve years in his
Brahmacharya. Upakosala has a conversation with sacrificial fires, which inform him that Brahman is life, Brahman is joy and bliss, Brahman is infinity, and the means to Brahman is not through depressing, hard penance. The fires then enumerate the manifestations of Brahman to be everywhere in the empirically perceived world. Satyakama joins Upakosala's education and explains, in volume 4.15 of the text, {{Blockquote|य एषोऽक्षिणि पुरुषो दृश्यत एष आत्मेति होवाचैतदमृतमभयमेतद्ब्रह्मेति The person you see here in the eye — he is the [S]elf (atman)" he told him. "He is the immortal free from fear; he is
Brahman. The Upanishad asserts in verses 4.15.2 and 4.15.3 that the Atman is the "stronghold of love", the leader of love, and that it assembles and unites all that inspires love. The first volume of the fifth chapter of the text tells a fable and prefaces each character with the following maxims, {{Blockquote| He who knows excellence, becomes excellent. He who knows stability, becomes stable. He who knows success, becomes successful. He who knows home, becomes home for others. The fable, found in many other principal Upanishads, describes a rivalry between eyes, ears, speech, mind. Each rivaling organ leaves for a year, and the body suffers but is not worse off.
The five fires and two paths theory Volumes 5.3 through 5.10 of
Chandogya Upanishad present the "Pancagnividya", or the doctrine of "five fires and two paths in after-life". These sections are nearly identical to those found in section 14.9.1 of
Sathapatha Brahmana, in section 6.2 of
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and in chapter 1 of
Kaushitaki Upanishad. Paul Deussen states that the presence of this doctrine in multiple ancient texts suggests that the idea is older than these texts, established and was important concept in the cultural fabric of the ancient times. The path of the fathers, in after-life, is for those who live a life of rituals, sacrifices, social service and charity – these enter heaven, but stay there in proportion to their merit in their just completed life, then they return to Earth to be born as rice, herbs, trees, sesame, beans, animals or human beings depending on their conduct in past life. The path of the
Devas, in after-life, is for those who live a life of knowledge or those who enter the forest life of
Vanaprastha and pursue knowledge, faith and truthfulness – these do not return, and in their after-life join unto the Brahman. The five householders approach a sage named
Uddalaka Aruni, who admits his knowledge is deficient, and suggests that they all go to king
Asvapati Kaikeya, who knows about Atman Vaishvanara.
Sixth Prapāṭhaka Atman exists, Svetaketu's education on the key to all knowledge - Tat Tvam Asi According to Deutsch and Dalvi, "the entire sixth chapter is no doubt the most influential of the entire corpus of the Upanishads." It contains the famous dictum "
Tat Tvam Asi," traditionally interpreted as "That Thou Art," and as such the most influential of the Upanishadic statements, yet, according to Brereton, followed by Olivelle and Doniger, the correct translation is "That's how you are." Yet, according to Brereton, followed by Olivelle and Doniger, the correct translation is "That's how you are": • "That which is this finest essence, that the whole world has as its self. That is the truth. That is the self.
In that way are you, Śvetaketu." • "The finest essence [the existent] here — that constitutes the self of this whole world; that is the truth; that is the self (atman). ''And that's how you are'', Śvetaketu." The
Tat Tvam Asi dictum emerges in a tutorial conversation between a father and son,
Uddalaka Aruni and 24-year-old
Śvetaketu Aruneya respectively, after the father sends his boy to study the Vedas, saying "take up the celibate life of a student, for there is no one in our family, my son, who has not studied and is the kind of Brahmin who is so only because of birth." The son returns after studying the Vedas for twelve years, "swell-headed [and] arrogant." The father inquires if Śvetaketu has asked about that by which "we perceive what cannot be perceived, we know what cannot be known"? Śvetaketu admits he hasn't, and asks what that is. His father, through 16 volumes of verses of
Chandogya Upanishad, explains. The various objects produced from these materials do not change the essence, they change the form. Thus, to understand something, studying the essence of one is the path to understanding the numerous manifested forms. In volume 2 Uddalaka, rejects the idea that the world was born from the non-existent [
a-sat], asserting that "in the beginning this world was simply what is existent [
sat]- one only, without a second." The existent thought "let me become many," emitting heat. From the heat emitted water, which in turn emitted food. In the verses of volume 3, Uddalaka asserts that life emerges through three routes: an egg, direct birth of a living being, and as life sprouting from seeds. is this root, it is the essence (
atman), it is at the core of all living beings. It is True, it is Real, it is the Self (
atman), and Thou Art That, Śvetaketu. In Brereton's interpretation, followed by Olivelle and Doniger, Uddalaka states that "that's how you are,"
Oneness in the world, the immanent reality and of Man The
Chandogya Upanishad in volume 6.9, states that all Selfs are interconnected and one. The inmost essence of all beings is same, the whole world is One Truth, One Reality, One Self. The Self and the body are like salt and water, states the Upanishad in volume 6.13. Salt dissolves in water, it is everywhere in the water, it cannot be seen, yet it is there and exists forever no matter what one does to the water. He receives the directions, and continues his journey on his own, one day arriving home and to happiness. The latter asks, "teach me, Sir, the knowledge of Self, because I hear that anyone who knows the Self, is beyond suffering and sorrow". Sanatkumara first inquires from Narada what he already has learned so far. Narada says, he knows the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Atharva Veda, the epics and the history, the myths and the ancient stories, all rituals, grammar, etymology, astronomy, time keeping, mathematics, politics and ethics, warfare, principles of reasoning, divine lore, prayer lore, snake charming, ghosts lore and fine arts. Narada admits to Sanatkumara that none of these have led him to Self-knowledge, and he wants to know about Self and Self-knowledge. Sanatkumara states that Narada, with the worldly knowledge, has so far focussed on name. Adore and revere the worldly knowledge asserts Sanatkumara in section 7.1 of the Upanishad, but meditate on all that knowledge as the name, as Brahman. Narada asks Sanatkumara to explain, and asks what is better than the worldly knowledge. In volumes 2 through 26 of the seventh chapter, the Upanishad presents, in the words of Sanatkumara, a hierarchy of progressive meditation, from outer worldly knowledge to inner worldly knowledge, from finite current knowledge to infinite Atman knowledge, as a step-wise journey to Self and infinite bliss. (a paraphrase below) To one who sees, perceives and understands Self as Truth, asserts the Upanishad in section 7.26, the life-principle springs from the Self, hope springs from the Self, memory springs from the Self, as does mind, thought, understanding, reflection, conviction, speech, and all outer worldly knowledges.
Eighth Prapāṭhaka The nature of knowledge and Atman (Self) The eighth chapter of the
Chandogya Upanishad opens by declaring the body one is born with as the "city of Brahman", and in it is a palace that is special because the entire Universe is contained within it. Whatever has been, whatever will be, whatever is, and whatever is not, is all inside that palace asserts the text, and the resident of the palace is the Brahman, as Atman – the Self, the Self. Those who do not discover that Self within themselves are unfree, states the text, those who do discover that Self-knowledge gain the ultimate freedom in all the worlds. Theosophist
Charles Johnston calls this section to be a
Law of Correspondence, where the macrocosm of the Universe is presented as microcosm within man, that all that is infinite and divine is within man, that man is the temple and God dwells inside him.
The means to knowledge and Atman The Upanishad in section 8.5 and 8.6 states that the life of student (
Brahmacharin, see
Brahmacharya) guided by a teacher is the means to knowledge, and the process of meditation and search the means of realizing Atman. The verse 8.5.1 asserts that such life of a student is same as the
yajna (fire ritual), the
istam (oblations offered during the fire ritual), the
sattrayanam (community fire ritual festival), the
maunam (ritual of ascetic silence), the
anasakayanam (fasting ritual), and the
aranyayanam (a hermit life of solitude in the forest). The section thus states all external forms of rituals are equivalently achievable internally when someone becomes a student of sacred knowledge and seeks to know the Brahman-Atman. The section is notable for the mention of "hermit's life in the forest" cultural practice, in verse 8.5.3. The opening passage declares Self as the one that is eternally free of grief, suffering and death; it is happy, serene being that desires, feels and thinks what it ought to. Thereafter, the text structures its analysis of true and false Atman as four answers. corporeal self in dreams, individual self in deep sleep, while the fourth is the true Self – the self in beyond deep sleep state that is one with others and the entire Universe. This theory is also known as the "four states of consciousness", explained as the awake state, dream-filled sleep state, deep sleep state, and beyond deep sleep state.
A paean for the learning, a reverence for the Self With the knowledge of the Brahman, asserts the text, one goes from darkness to perceiving a spectrum of colors and shakes off evil. This knowledge of Self is immortal, and the one who knows his own self joins the glory of the Brahman-knowers, the glory of
Rajas (kings) and the glory of the people. The one who knows his Self, continues to study the Vedas and concentrates on his Self, who is harmless towards all living beings, who thus lives all his life, reaches the Brahma-world and does not return, states the
Chandogya Upanishad in its closing chapter. ==Influence==