Yoga
Yoga is a group of physical and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. There is a broad variety of yoga schools and goals in Hinduism and Jainism; the term "yoga" in the Western world denotes a modern form of Hatha yoga, consisting of the postures called asanas. The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions; the chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Upanishads. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, but only gained prominence in the West in the 20th century. Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra. Yoga gurus from India introduced yoga to the West, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century with his adaptation of yoga tradition, excluding asanas. In the 1980s, a different form of modern yoga, with an increasing number of asanas and few other practices, became popular as a system of exercise across the Western world.
Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise. One of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism is called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics, is related to Hindu Samkhya philosophy. Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of modern yoga as a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia and heart disease; the results of these studies have been inconclusive. On December 1, 2016, yoga was listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage; the Sanskrit noun योग yoga is derived from the root yuj "to attach, harness, yoke". The word yoga is cognate with English "yoke"; the spiritual sense of the word yoga first arises in Epic Sanskrit, in the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, is associated with the philosophical system presented in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, with the chief aim of "uniting" the human spirit with the Divine. The term kriyāyoga has a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras, designating the "practical" aspects of the philosophy, i.e. the "union with the supreme" due to performance of duties in everyday life.
According to Pāṇini, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga or yuj samādhau. In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau is considered by traditional commentators as the correct etymology. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras, states that yoga means samādhi. According to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga or yuj samādhau. Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi or yogini; the term yoga has been defined in various ways in the many different Indian philosophical and religious traditions. The ultimate goal of Yoga is moksha, although the exact definition of what form this takes depends on the philosophical or theological system with which it is conjugated. According to Jacobsen, Yoga has five principal meanings: a disciplined method for attaining a goal. According to David Gordon White, from the 5th century CE onward, the core principles of "yoga" were more or less in place, variations of these principles developed in various forms over time: a meditative means of discovering dysfunctional perception and cognition, as well as overcoming it for release from suffering, inner peace and salvation.
White clarifies that the last principle relates to legendary goals of "yogi practice", different from practical goals of "yoga practice," as they are viewed in South Asian thought and practice since the beginning of the Common Era, in the various Hindu and Jain philosophical schools. The origins of yoga are a matter of debate. There is no consensus on its chronology or specific origin other than that yoga developed in ancient India. Suggested origins are the Indus Valley Civilization and pre-Vedic Eastern states of India, the Vedic period (1500–5
Sudarshana Chakra
The Sudarshana Chakra is a spinning, disk-like weapon meaning "disk of auspicious vision," having 108 serrated edges used by the Hindu god Vishnu. The Sudarshana Chakra is portrayed on the right rear hand of the four hands of Vishnu, who holds a shankha, a Gada and a padma. While in the Rigveda the Chakra was Vishnu's symbol as the wheel of time, by the late period Sudarshana Chakra emerged as an ayudhapurusha, as a fierce form of Vishnu, used for the destruction of an enemy. In Tamil, the Sudarshana Chakra is known as Chakkrath Azhwar; the word Sudarshana is derived from two Sanskrit words – Su meaning "good/auspicious" and Darshana meaning "vision". In the Monier-Williams dictionary the word Chakra is derived from the root क्रम् or ऋत् or क्रि and refers among many meaning, to the wheel of a carriage, wheel of the sun's chariot or metaphorically to the wheel of time; the anthropomorphic form of Sudarshana can be traced from discoid weapons of ancient India to his esoteric multi-armed cult images in the medieval period in which the Chakra served the supreme deity as his faithful attendants.
While the two-armed Chakra-Purusha was humanistic, the medieval multi-armed Sudarshana was speculatively regarded as an impersonal manifestation of destructive forces in the universe. The Chakra finds mention in the Rigveda as a symbol of Vishnu, as the wheel of time, in the Itihasas and Puranas. In the Mahabharatha, identified with Vishnu, uses it as a weapon. For example, he beheads Shishupala with the Sudarshana Chakra at the Rajasuya yagna of Emperor Yudhishthira; as per Valmiki Ramayana, Purushottama killed a Danava named Hayagriva on top of mountain named Chakravana constructed by Vishvakarma and took away Chakra i.e. Sudarshana Chakra from him; as per the Shiva Purana, the Sudarshana Chakra was gifted by Shiva to Vishnu, when the latter worshipped him by offering 999 lotus flowers, the thousandth one being one of his eyes. In a way it accounts for the name too, Sudarshana meaning Good Vision. In the puranas, the Sudarshana Chakra was made by the architect of Vishvakarma. Vishvakarma's daughter Sanjana was married to Surya.
Due to the Sun's blazing light and heat, she could not go near the Sun. She complained to her father about this. Vishvakarma made; the left over stardust was collected by Vishvakarma and made into three divine objects, the aerial vehicle Pushpaka Vimana, Trishula of Shiva, Sudarshana Chakra of Vishnu. The Chakra is described to have 10 million spikes in two rows moving in opposite directions to give it a serrated edge. Sudarshana Chakra was used to cut the corpse of Sati, the consort of Shiva into 51 pieces after she gave up her life by throwing herself in a yagna of her father Daksha. Shiva, in grief, was inconsolable; the 51 parts of the goddess' body were tossed about in different parts of the Indian subcontinent and became "Shakti Peethas". In Mahabharata, Jayadratha was responsible for the death of Arjuna's son. Arjuna vows to kill Jayadratha the next day before sunset; however Drona creates a combination of 3 layers of troops, which act as a protective shield around Jayadratha. So Krishna creates an artificial sunset using his Sudarshana Chakra.
Seeing this Jayadratha comes out of the protection to celebrate Arjuna's defeat. At that moment, Krishna withdraws his Chakra to reveal the sun. Krishna commands Arjuna to kill him. Arjuna beheads Jayadratha. There are several puranic stories associated with the Sudarshana Chakra, such as that of Lord Vishnu granting King Ambarisha the boon of Sudarshana Chakra in form of prosperity and security to his kingdom. Sudarshana Chakra was used to behead Rahu and cut the celestial Mandra Parvat during the Samudra Manthan The chakra is found in the coins of many tribes with the word gana and the name of the tribe inscribed on them. Early historical evidence of the sudarshana-chakra is found in a rare tribal Vrishni silver coin with the legend Vṛishṇi-rājaṅṅya-gaṇasya-trātasya which P. L. Gupta thought was jointly issued by the gana after the Vrishnis formed a confederation with the Rajanya tribe. However, there is no conclusive proof so far. Discovered by Cunningham, placed in the British Museum, the silver coin is witness to the political existence of the Vrishnis.
It is dated to around 1st century BC. Vrishni copper coins dated to time were found in Punjab. Another example of coins inscribed with the chakra are the Taxila coins of the 2nd century BC with a sixteen-spoked wheel. A coin dated to 180 BCE, with an image of Vasudeva-Krishna, was found in the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum in the Kunduz area of Afghanistan, minted by Agathocles of Bactria. In Nepal, Jaya Cakravartindra Malla of Kathmandu issued a coin with the chakra. Among the only two types of Chakra-vikrama coins known so far, there is one gold coin in which Vishnu is depicted as the Chakra-purusha. Though Chandragupta II issued coins with the epithet vikrama, due to the presence of the kalpavriksha on the reverse it has not been possible to ascribe it to him; the rise of Tantrism aided the development of the anthropomorphic personification of the chakra as the active aspect of Vishnu with few sculptures of the Pala era bearing witness to the development, with the chakra in this manner associated with the Vrishnis.
However, the worship of Sudarshana as a quasi-indepe
Kundalini yoga
Kundalini yoga is a school of yoga, influenced by Shaktism and Tantra schools of Hinduism. It derives its name through a focus on awakening kundalini energy through regular practice of mantra, yantra, yoga or meditation. Kundalini yoga is identified as the most dangerous form of yoga because of the involvement of subtle energies. What has become known as "Kundalini yoga" in the 20th century, after a technical term particular to this tradition, is a synthesis of many traditions which may include haṭha yoga techniques, Patañjali's kriya yoga, tantric visualization and meditation techniques of laya yoga, other techniques oriented towards the'awakening of kundalini'. Laya may refer both to techniques of yoga, its effect of "absorption" of the individual into the cosmic. Laya Yoga, from the Sanskrit term laya meaning "dissolution", "extinction", or "absorption", is always described in the context of other Yogas such as in the Yoga-Tattva-Upanishad, the Varaha Upanishad, the Goraksha Paddhati, the Amaraugha-Prabodha, the Yoga-Shastra of Dattatreya.
The exact distinctions between traditional yoga schools is hazy due to a long history of syncretism, hence many of the oldest sources on Kundalini come through manuals of the tantric and haṭha traditions such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Shiva Samhita. The Shiva Samhita describes the qualified yogi as practicing'the four yogas' to achieve kundalini awakening while lesser students may resort to one technique or another: "Mantra Yoga and Hatha Yoga. Laya Yoga is the third; the fourth is Raja Yoga. It is free from duality."The Sanskrit adjective kuṇḍalin means "circular, annular". It does occur as a noun for "a snake" in the 12th-century Rajatarangini chronicle. Kuṇḍa, a noun with the meaning "bowl, water-pot" is found as the name of a Naga in Mahabharata 1.4828. The feminine kuṇḍalī has the meaning of "ring, coil" in Classical Sanskrit, is used as the name of a "serpent-like" Shakti in Tantrism as early as the 11th century, in the Śaradatilaka; the Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad is listed in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads.
Since this canon was fixed in the year 1656, it is known that the Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad was compiled in the first half of the 17th century at the latest. The Upanishad more dates to the 16th century, as do other Sanskrit texts which treat kundalini as a technical term in tantric yoga, such as the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpana and the Pādukā-pañcaka; these latter texts were translated in 1919 by John Woodroffe as The Serpent Power: The Secrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga. He identifies the process of involution and its techniques in these texts as a particular form of Tantrik Laya Yoga; the Yogakundali and the Yogatattva are yoga texts related to the school of Hatha yoga and Mantra yoga. They are part of a tendency of syncretism combining the tradition of yoga with other schools of Hindu philosophy during the 15th and 16th centuries; the Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad consists of three short chapters. Verses I.3-6 explain the concepts of moderate food and concept, verse I.7 introduces Kundalini as the name of the Shakti under discussion: I.7.
The Sakti is only Kundalini. A wise man should take it up from its place to the middle of the eyebrows; this is called Sakti-Chala. I.8. In practising it, two things are necessary, the restraint of Prana. Through practice, Kundalini becomes straightened. Although kundalini developed as a part of tantra side-by-side with hatha yoga through a process of syncretism, Swami Nigamananda taught a form of laya yoga which he insisted was not part of Hatha yoga. Swami Sivananda introduced many readers to "Kundalini Yoga" with his book on the subject in 1935; this book has in-depth details about Kundalini Yoga Swami Sivananda's book combines laya teachings from older sources including the Hathapradipika and Sat Cakra Nirupana. Together with other currents of Hindu revivalism and Neo-Hinduism, Kundalini Yoga became popular in 1960s to 1980s western counterculture. In 1968, Harbhajan Singh Khalsa known as Yogi Bhajan, introduced his own brand of kundalini yoga into the United States, "Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan".
Yogi Bhajan founded the "Healthy, Holy Organization" as a teaching organization. Yogi Bhajan took yogic postures and techniques, attached them to Tantric theories and Sikh mantras, synthesizing a new form of'Kundalini' yoga. "When placed alongside the teachings of Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari and Maharaj Virsa Singh, it becomes strikingly apparent that at least in its earliest years, Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini yoga was not a distinct practice, but a combination of yogic mechanics learned from the former and the Sikh-derived mantras and chanting from the latter," Deslippe writes. But Virsa Singh rejected Bhajan’s Kundalini yoga. Yoga was not a part of the Gobind Sadan spiritual path, and a power struggle ensued over. Traditional Sikhs use quotations by Bhai Gurdas, whose "Vaaraa," or "Ballads," were considered by Guru Arjan as a key to understanding the concepts of the Guru Granth as saying, wherever Guru Nanak went and debated the futility of yoga, the yogis gave up their yogic paths; the yogis of "Gorakhmata," meaning "Wisdom of Gorakhnatha," the founder of Hatha yoga, converted to the path of Guru Nanak, als
Shudra
Shudra or Shoodra is the fourth varna, or one of the four social categories found in the texts of Hinduism. Various sources translate it into English as a caste, or alternatively as a social class, it is the lowest rank of the four varnas. The word Shudra appears only once in the Rig veda but is found in other Hindu texts such as the Manusmriti and Dharmashastras. Theoretically, Shudras have constituted the hereditary labouring class serving others. In some cases, they participated in the coronation of kings, or were ministers and kings according to early Indian texts; the term Shudra appears only once in the Rigveda. This mention is found in a verse in the Purusha Sukta, one of its 1,028 hymns. While the Rigveda was most compiled between c. 1500 and 1200 BCE, John Muir in 1868 suggested that the verse that mentions the four varnas has "every character of modernness both in its diction and ideas". The Purusha Sukta verse is now considered to have been inserted at a date into the Vedic text as a charter myth.
According to Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, a professor of Sanskrit and Religious studies, "there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system", "the varna system seems to be embryonic in the Rigveda and, both and a social ideal rather than a social reality". Historian R. S. Sharma states that "the Rig Vedic society was neither organized on the basis of social division of labour nor on that of differences in wealth... was organised on the basis of kin and lineage."According to Romila Thapar, the Vedic text's mention of Shudra and other varnas has been seen as its origin, that "in the varna ordering of society, notions of purity and pollution were central and activities were worked out in this context" and it is "formulaic and orderly, dividing society into four groups arranged in a hierarchy". The word Pusan appears in a Vedic era Upanishad, meaning "nourisher" and associates it with the creation of earth and production activities that nourishes the whole world, the text calls this Pusan as Shudra.
The term Pusan, in Hindu mythology, is the charioteer of the sun who knows the paths thereby bringing light and life to all. The same word Pusan is, associated in a Brahmana text to Vaishya. According to Sharma, nowhere in the Vedic text collections "is there any evidence of restrictions regarding food and marriage either between the Dasa and Aryan, or between the Shudra and the higher varnas". Further, adds Sharma, in late Atharva Veda, "Shudra does not come in for notice because his varna did not exist at that stage"; the ancient Hindu text Arthashastra states, according to Sharma, that Aryas were free men and could not be subject to slavery under any circumstances. The text contrasts Aryas with Shudra, but neither as a hereditary slave nor as an economically closed social stratum in a manner that the term Shudra was interpreted. According to Rangarajan, the law on labour and employment in Arthashastra has led to a variety of different interpretations by different translators and commentators, "the accepted view is that slavery, in the form it was practised in contemporary Greece, did not exist in Kautilyan India".
Kautilya argued for the rights of all classes to participate as warriors. Roger Borsche says that this is so because it is in the self-interest of the ruler to "have a people's army fiercely loyal to him because the people had been treated justly"; the Manusmriti predominantly discusses the code of conduct for the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. The text mentions Shudras, as well as Vaishyas. Sections 9.326 – 9.335 of the Manusmriti state eight rules for Vaishyas and two for Shudras. In section 10.43 - 10.44 Manu gives a list of Kshatriya tribes who, through neglect of the priests and their rites, had fallen to the status of Shudras. These are: Pundrakas, Dravidas, Yavanas, Paradas, Chinas and Daradas. According to Laurie Patton, a professor of Religion specialising on early Indian religions, the rights and status of Shudra varies across early Indian texts. While section 9.15 of Atharvaveda states Shudras may undertake thread wearing ceremony, the Apastamba Grhysutra states they may not and excludes the Shudra students from hearing or learning the Vedas.
Yajnavalkya Smriti in contrast mentions Shudra students, the Mahabharata states that all four varnas including the Shudras may hear the Vedas. Other Hindu texts go further and state that the three varnas – Brahmin, Vaishya – may acquire knowledge from Shudra teachers, the yajna sacrifices may be performed by Shudras; these rights and social mobility for Shudras may have arisen in times of lower societal stress and greater economic prosperity, periods that saw the improvement in the social conditions of women. Medieval era texts such as Vajrasuchi Upanishad discuss varna, include the term Shudra. According to Ashwani Peetush, a professor of Philosophy at the Wilfrid Laurier University, the Vajrasuchi Upanishad is a significant text because it assumes and asserts that any human being from any social background can achieve the highest spiritual state of existence. Outside of the conflicting stances within the Hindu texts, non-Hindu texts present a different picture about the Shudras. A Buddhist text, states Patton, "refers to Shudras who know the Vedas, Mimamsa, Samkhya and lagna".
According to Johannes Bronkhorst, a professor of Indology specializing on early Buddhism and Hinduism, the ancient Buddhist canon is predominantly devoid of varna discussion, Shudra and other varnas are referred to in
Pradyumna
Pradyumna is the name of a character in the Srimad Bhagavatam. He was the son of Lord Rukmini. Pradyumna is considered as one of the four vyuha avatars of Vishnu. According to some accounts, Pradyumna was an incarnation of the god of love. Pradyumna is a name of the Hindu god Vishnu, he is one in 24 Keshava Namas, praised in all pujas. It is the only name in Sanskrit with all the 3 letters joint The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vasudeva, Sankarsana and Aniruddha that would form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or avatar. Pradyumna was 61st grandson of Adinarayan, his mother was Rukmini, whom Lord Krishna got from her father Bhimkashen Narayan and brother Bhimkaraya Rukmi. Pradyumna was born in Dvaraka, he was the incarnate of god Kamdev. In the sat Yuga, Kamdev was burnt by Shiva. Shiva blessed Kamdev's distraught wife and promised her that in his next birth Kamdev will be a part of Krishna and Rati will be the daughter of Bhimkaraya Rukmi and that she will marry him.
When he was a baby he was abducted by the demon Sambara. He was cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish, but that fish was caught and carried to the house of Sambara; the fish was opened and the child was found inside. He was given to a woman in Sambara's house to raise. Narada informed her about the true identity of the child; when Pradyumna grew up, he killed him using the Vaishnavastra. Soon after Pradyumna became a constant companion of his father Krishna and was well liked by the people of Dvaraka. Pradyumna was a mighty Maharathi warrior, he possessed the rare Vaishnavastra, the most powerful weapon in the universe. He was one of the few people to know the secret of the Chakra Vyuha. According to Mahabharata Pradyumna trained Abhimanyu and Upapandavas in warfare, but Pradyumna did not participate in the Kurukshetra War as he went on a pilgrimage with his uncle Balarama and other yadavas. But he was an active participant In ashwameda yagna, conducted by Yudishtira, he along with Krishna fought against the demon Nikumbha.
Nikumbha hung he began to vomit blood. When Nikumbha's head was cut off by Krishna, Arjuna began to fall down from the sky. Pradyumna held hence his life was saved. In accordance to Lord Shiva's boon to Rati, he married her incarnation, Princess Mayavati, the Princess of Vidarbha and daughter of his maternal uncle, Bhimkaraya Rukmi, it is said that Mayavati found his valor and charm beyond words and insisted on marrying him at her swayamvara. With her, he fathered, Krishna's grandson and favourite considered a vyuha avatar of Vishnu, Prince Aniruddha. Pradyumna was killed in an intoxicated brawl at Dvaraka that resulted in the death of most Yadava warriors. Aniruddha was the son of Pradyumna, he is said to have been much like his grandfather Krishna, to the extent that he may be a jana avatar, avatar of Vishnu. Aniruddha had a son named Vajra. Vajra was known as an invincible warrior and would remain among the few survivors of the Yadus' battle. King Vajra had 16 idols of Krishna and other gods carved from a rare, imperishable stone called Braja and built temples to house these idols in and around Mathura so as to feel the presence of Lord Krishna.
The Jain version of the story of Pradyumna is mentioned in the Pradyumna-charitra of Rajchandra, written in 1618 AD. Krishnamachariar, M. History of Classical Sanskrit Literature, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0284-5
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads; the Upanishad contains 113 verses in six chapters. The Upanishad is one of the 33 Upanishads from Taittiriyas, associated with the Shvetashvatara tradition within Karakas sakha of the Yajurveda, it is a part of the "black" Yajurveda, with the term "black" implying "the un-arranged, motley collection" of content in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" Yajurveda where Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Isha Upanishad are embedded. The chronology of Maitrayaniya Upanishad is contested, but accepted to be a late period Upanishadic composition; the text includes a closing credit to sage Shvetashvatara, considered the author of the Upanishad. However, scholars believe that while sections of the text shows an individual stamp by its style and other sections were interpolated and expanded over time; the Shvetashvatara Upanishad opens with metaphysical questions about the primal cause of all existence, its origin, its end, what role, if any, nature, necessity and the spirit had as the primal cause.
It develops its answer, concluding that "the Universal Soul exists in every individual, it expresses itself in every creature, everything in the world is a projection of it, that there is Oneness, a unity of souls in one and only Self". The text is notable for its discussion of the concept of personal god – Ishvara, suggesting it to be a path to one's own Highest Self; the text is notable for its multiple mentions of both Rudra and Shiva, along with other Vedic deities, of crystallization of Shiva as a central theme. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is a Principal Upanishad of Hinduism, commented by many of its ancient and medieval scholars, it is a foundational text of the philosophy of Shaivism, as well as the Yoga and Vedanta schools of Hinduism. Some 19th century scholars suggested that Shvetashvatara Upanishad is sectarian or influenced by Christianity, hypotheses that were disputed discarded by scholars; the name "Shvetashvatara" has the compound Sanskrit root Shvetashva, which means "white horse" and "drawn by white steeds".
Shvetashvatara is a bahuvrihi compound of, where tara means "crossing", "carrying beyond". The word Shvetashvatara translates to "the one carrying beyond on white horse" or "white mule that carries"; the text is sometimes spelled as Svetasvatara Upanishad. It is known as Shvetashvataropanishad or Svetasvataropanishad, as Shvetashvataranam Mantropanishad. In ancient and medieval literature, the text is referred to in the plural, as Svetasvataropanishadah; some metric poetic verses, such as Vakaspatyam refer to the text as Shvetashva. Flood as well as Gorski state that the Svetasvatara Upanishad was composed in the 5th to 4th century BCE. Paul Muller-Ortega dates the text between 6th to 5th century BCE; the chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain and contested. The chronology is difficult to resolve because all opinions rest on scanty evidence, an analysis of archaism and repetitions across texts, driven by assumptions about evolution of ideas, on presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies.
Phillips chronologically lists Shvetashvatara Upanishad after Mandukya Upanishad, but before and about the time the Maitri Upanishad, the first Buddhist Pali and Jaina canonical texts were composed. Ranade places Shvetashvatara Upanishad's chronological composition in the fourth group of ancient Upanishads, after Katha and Mundaka Upanishads. Deussen states that Shvetashvatara Upanishad refers to and incorporates phrases from the Katha Upanishad, chronologically followed it; some sections of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad are found in its entirety, in chronologically more ancient Sanskrit texts. For example, verses 2.1 through 2.3 are found in chapter 4.1.1 of Taittiriya Samhita as well as in chapter 6.3.1 of Shatapatha Brahmana, while verses 2.4 and 2.5 are found as hymns in chapters 5.81 and 10.13 of Rig Veda respectively. Many verses in chapters 3 through 6 are found, in nearly identical form in the Samhitas of Rig Veda, Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda; the text has six Adhyaya, each with varying number of verses.
The first chapter includes 16 verses, the second has 17, the third chapter contains 21 verses, the fourth is composed of 22, the fifth has 14, while the sixth chapter has 23 verses. The last three verses of the sixth chapter are considered as epilogue. Thus, the Upanishad has 3 epilogue verses; the epilogue verse 6.21 is a homage to sage Shvetashvatara for proclaiming Brahman-knowledge to ascetics. This closing credit is structurally notable because of its rarity in ancient Indian texts, as well as for its implication that the four-stage Ashrama system of Hinduism, with ascetic Sannyasa, was an established tradition by the time verse 6.21 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad was composed. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad has structure. However, unlike other ancient poetic Upanishads, the meter structure of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad varies is arbitrary and inconsistent within many verses in chapters, some such as verse 2.17 lack a definite poetic meter suggesting that the text congealed from the work of several authors over a period of time, or was interpolated and expanded over time.
The first chapter is the consistent one, with characteristics that makes it like
Vishnu
Vishnu is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, the Supreme Being or absolute truth in its Vaishnavism tradition. Vishnu is the "preserver" in the Hindu triad that includes Shiva. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is identical to the formless metaphysical concept called Brahman, the supreme, the Svayam Bhagavan, who takes various avatars as "the preserver, protector" whenever the world is threatened with evil and destructive forces, his avatars most notably include Rama in the Krishna in the Mahabharata. He is known as Narayana, Vasudeva and Hari, he is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism. In Hindu iconography, Vishnu is depicted as having a pale or dark blue complexion and having four arms, he holds a padma in his lower left hand, Kaumodaki gada in his lower right hand, Panchajanya shankha in his upper left hand and the Sudarshana Chakra in his upper right hand. A traditional depiction is Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesha, accompanied by his consort Lakshmi, as he "dreams the universe into reality".
Yaska, the mid 1st-millennium BCE Vedanga scholar, in his Nirukta, defines Vishnu as viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā, "one who enters everywhere". He writes, atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati, "that, free from fetters and bondages is Vishnu"; the medieval Indian scholar Medhātithi suggested that the word Vishnu has etymological roots in viś, meaning to pervade, thereby connoting that Vishnu is "one, everything and inside everything". Vishnu means "all pervasive". Vishnu is a Vedic deity, but not a prominent one when compared to Indra and others. Just 5 out of 1028 hymns of the Rigveda, a 2nd millennium BCE Hindu text, are dedicated to Vishnu, he finds minor mention in the other hymns. Vishnu is mentioned in the Brahmana layer of text in the Vedas, thereafter his profile rises and over the history of Indian mythology, states Jan Gonda, Vishnu becomes a divinity of the highest rank, one equivalent to the Supreme Being. Though a minor mention and with overlapping attributes in the Vedas, he has important characteristics in various hymns of Rig Veda, such as 1.154.5, 1.56.3 and 10.15.3.
In these hymns, the Vedic mythology asserts that Vishnu resides in that highest home where departed Atman reside, an assertion that may have been the reason for his increasing emphasis and popularity in Hindu soteriology. He is described in the Vedic literature as the one who supports heaven and earth. In the Vedic hymns, Vishnu is invoked alongside other deities Indra, whom he helps in killing the symbol of evil named Vritra, his distinguishing characteristic in Vedas is his association with light. Two Rigvedic hymns in Mandala 7 refer to Vishnu. In section 7.99 of the Rgveda, Vishnu is addressed as the god who separates heaven and earth, a characteristic he shares with Indra. In the Vedic texts, the deity or god referred to as Vishnu is Surya or Savitr, who bears the name Suryanarayana. Again, this link to Surya is a characteristic Vishnu shares with fellow Vedic deities named Mitra and Agni, where in different hymns, they too "bring men together" and cause all living beings to rise up and impel them to go about their daily activities.
In hymn 7.99 of Rigveda, Indra-Vishnu are equivalent and produce the sun, with the verses asserting that this sun is the source of all energy and light for all. In other hymns of the Rigveda, Vishnu is a close friend of Indra. Elsewhere in Rigveda and Upanishadic texts, Vishnu is equivalent to Prajapati, both are described as the protector and preparer of the womb, according to Klaus Klostermaier, this may be the root behind post-Vedic fusion of all the attributes of the Vedic Prajapati unto the avatars of Vishnu. In the Yajurveda, Taittiriya Aranyaka, Narayana sukta, Narayana is mentioned as the supreme being; the first verse of Narayana Suktam mentions the words paramam padam, which mean highest post and may be understood as the supreme abode for all souls. This is known as Param Dhama, Paramapadam or Vaikuntha. Rig Veda 1.22.20 mentions the same paramam padam. In the Atharvaveda, the mythology of a boar who raises goddess earth from the depths of cosmic ocean appears, but without the word Vishnu or his alternate avatar names.
In post-Vedic mythology, this legend becomes one of the basis of many cosmogonic myth called the Varaha legend, with Varaha as an avatar of Vishnu. Several hymns of the Rigveda repeat the mighty deed of Vishnu called the Trivikrama, one of the lasting mythologies in Hinduism since the Vedic times, it is an inspiration for ancient artwork in numerous Hindu temples such as at the Ellora Caves, which depict the Trivikrama legend through the Vamana avatar of Vishnu. Trivikrama refers to "three strides" of Vishnu. Starting as a small insignificant looking being, Vishnu undertakes a herculean task of establishing his reach and form with his first step covers the earth, with second the ether, the third entire heaven; the Vishnu Sukta 1.154 of Rigveda says that the first and second of Vishnu's strides are visible to the mortals and the third is the realm of the immortals. The Trivikrama describing hymns integrate salvific themes, stating Vishnu to symbolize that, freedom and life; the Shatapatha Brahmana elaborates this theme of Vishnu, as his herculean effort and sacrifice to create and gain powers that help others, one who realizes and defeats the evil symbolized by the Asuras after they had usurped the three worlds, thus Vishnu is the savior of the mortals and
