Varaha Upanishad (, "boar") is a minor Upanishad of Hinduism composed between the 13th and 16th centuries CE. Composed in Sanskrit, it is listed as one of the 32 Krishna Yajurveda Upanishads, and classified as one of 20 Yoga Upanishads.
The text has five chapters, structured primarily as a discussion between Vishnu in his Varaha (boar) avatar and the sage Ribhu. The discussion covers the subjects of Tattvas, the nature and relationship between the individual soul (Self, Atman) and the Ultimate Reality (Brahman), the seven stages of learning, the characteristics of Jivanmukti (inner sense of freedom while living), and the four types of Jivanmuktas (liberated persons). The last chapter of the text is dedicated to Yoga, its goals and methods.
It is, as an Upanishad, a part of the corpus of Vedanta literature that presents the philosophical concepts of Hinduism. The Varaha Upanishad emphasizes that liberation from sorrow and fear requires a human being to know the non-dualistic nature of existence, oneness between Self, Brahman and Vishnu, and the role of Yoga in self-liberation, and lists ten Yamas (virtues) as essential to a liberation of one's soul: nonviolence, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, compassion, rectitude, kshama, non-hypocrisy, mitahara, and shaucha. The text describes the Jivanmukta as one whose inner state, amongst other things, is neither affected by happiness nor by suffering inflicted on him, who does not shrink out of fear from the world, nor the world shrinks from him with fear, and whose sense of calm and inner contentment is free from anger, fear, and joy toward others.
Etymology and anthology Varaha means boar, specifically referring to the incarnation of Vishnu as a boar in Indian mythology.KN Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Archives, , page 220 footnote 1 The term Upanishad means it is knowledge or "hidden doctrine" text that belongs to the corpus of Vedanta literature presenting the philosophical concepts of Hinduism and considered the highest purpose of its scripture, the Vedas.Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 1, Oxford University Press, page LXXXVI footnote 1, 22, verse 13.4 The text is also known as Varahopanishad.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad page 397, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri)
The text is listed as 98th in the modern era anthology that consists of 108 Upanishads. A Sanskrit text, it is considered one of the 32 Upanishads under the Krishna Yajurveda or Black Yajurveda. Classified as a Yoga Upanishad, the author, authenticity, and source of this Hindu text has been in question, and it is a late Upanishad.Peter Heehs (2002), Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience, New York University Press, , pages 85–87 Varaha Upanishad was not listed in the anthology of known Upanishads published in the 17th century by Dara Shikoh, in the early 19th-century Henry Thomas Colebrooke anthology, or in the Narayana compilations of Upanishads.Paul Deussen (Translator), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Vol 2, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 558–565
Chronology The text opens by acknowledging Itihasa (Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata) and other post-Vedic era texts, thus implying that it was composed in the common era. The text incorporates terminology such as Yogi Siddhi, suggesting that, like other Yoga Upanishads, it was composed after Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and other major Yoga texts. The text also incorporates sections on tantra terminology such as Chakra and Nāḍi in its discussion of Laya, Mantra, and Hatha yoga.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, pages 435–437, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri) The minor Yoga Upanishads, according to Antonio Rigopoulos, a professor of Indology at the University Ca 'Foscari of Venice, were recorded in the medieval period of India's Advaita and Yoga-rooted traditions, possibly in the middle of the 2nd millennium CE, but may well represent already established ideas and practices before the epic and medieval period, given that they use concepts and terminology rooted in the 1st millennium BCE Vedic era text, such as pranava, Atman, and Brahman.Antonio Rigopoulos, Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara, State University of New York Press, ISBN pages 58–63, for context see 57–87 with footnotes
According to Ananda, the text was likely composed between the 13th and 16th centuries.
Contents
Structure Ribhu, after observing Tapas (penance) for 12 long deva years, is visited by Vishnu in his Varaha avatar; the latter asks Ribhu what boon he would like. Ribhu declines all worldly pleasures, and asks Vishnu to explain "that science of Brahman which treats of thy nature, a knowledge which leads to salvation".KN Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Archives, , page 220 with footnotes From this point on, the Upanishad is structured as a sermon by Varaha to the sage Ribhu. It has five chapters with a total of 247 verses.
Tattvas
In Chapter 1 of the text, Varaha tells Ribhu first about the science of Tattvas, meaning "principles". The Tattvas are said to be 24, 36, or even 96 by some teachers, which Varaha elaborates.
In the Tattvas, asserts Varaha, are included the five sensory organs, five organs of action, five vital airs essential to a living body ("Vital airs" of Prāṇa, Apāna, Uḍāna, Samāna, and Vyāna), five rudimentary principles of perception, and the faculties of knowledge – Manas (mind) which produces uncertain knowledge, Buddhi (intelligence) which leads to certain knowledge, "Chitta" (emotional consciousness) which produces doubts and fluctuations in knowledge, and "Ahankara" (ego) which produces egoism. These total 24 tattvas, states the text.
Some scholars, asserts Varaha, expand the list of tattvas of a human body to 36, by including the five elements – earth (Prithvi), air (Vayu), water (Ap), ether (Akasha), and fire (Agni); the three bodies – the gross, the subtle and the causal (Karana); three states of consciousness – when awake, when dreaming, and when in dreamless sleep; and one jiva (soul).KN Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Archives, , page 221 with footnotes
Varaha then describes how the list of tattva increases to 96 in verses 1.8 to 1.14.॥ वराहोपनिषत् ॥ Sanskrit text of Varaha Upanishad, SanskritDocuments Archives (2009)Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 1.7–15, pages 399–400, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri) It includes the six stages of changes (Aiyar translates this to "existence, birth, growth, transformation, decay, and destruction"); six maladies or "infirmities" (hunger, thirst, suffering, delusion, age, and death); koshas or six sheaths ("skin, blood, flesh, fat, marrow, and bones"); six adversities or foes of a body ("longing, anger, craving, arrogance, and malice"); three aspects of "jiva" – "Vishva" (world), "Taijasa" (endowed with light), and "Prajna" (insight into nature of reality); three "Guṇas" or qualities, innate psyche ("Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas"); three types of Karmas ("Prarabdha" (past karma now being enjoyed), "Sanchita" (past karma yet to be enjoyed), and "Agamin" (current karma to be enjoyed later)); five actions ("talking, lifting, walking, excreting, and enjoying"); and tattvas of "thought, certainty, egoism, compassion, kindness, anticipation, sympathy, and indifference". To complete its list of 96, the Varaha adds "Dik", or the four quarters, all Vedic deities who are part of the human body, namely "Vayu" (air, ear), Sun (light, eye), "Varuna" (water, tongue), Ashvini Devas (nose), Agni (fire), Indra, Upendra, and Mrityu (death); it includes the moon, the four-faced Brahma, Rudra, Kshetrajna (the conscious knower of the body), and Ishvara.
Vishnu, as Varaha, asserts in verses 1.15 to 1.17, that he is "other than aggregate of these 96 Tattvas", and those who worship him in his Varaha avatar and know these 96 tattvas remove their Ajnana (ignorance), achieve salvation regardless of which order of life they are in, whether they have shaven head, or head full of hair, or maintain a head with only a tuft of hair.
Brahmavidya
The Varaha, in the 83 verses of Chapter 2, explains to Ribhu how to achieve the most exalted knowledge of Brahmavidya, and then what it is.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 2.1–2.83, pages 401–417, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri) He tells Ribhu that the four means of this knowledge are to practice conduct of one's Varna (class) and one's Ashrama (stage in life), from ascetic austerity and with the help of a Guru (spiritual teacher).Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 2.1–2.3, pages 401–402, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri) The Varaha then states that the path to Brahmavidya is through the capacity to distinguish between the ephemeral and the eternal, detachment from the material world unto the spiritual world. A sincere longing for spiritual liberation and six virtuous qualities (shama) are essential in order to achieve Brahmavidya, asserts the Upanishad, these being tranquility, self-restraint, doing work without craving for rewards, endurance, faith, and meditation.KN Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Archives, , page 222 with footnotes Varaha states in verse 2.4 that the truly blessed are those who know Brahman and Atman and have thus become one with them.
Ribhu then asks Varaha, "Taking birth as a human, that is also a male and a Brahmana is difficult, a Yogi who has studied the Vedanta but who does not know the form of Vishnu, how can such an ignorant one become liberated?"
Varaha replies in verses 2.7–2.9 that he alone is Supreme Bliss, that apart from the Atman (soul) there exists no Ishvara or phenomenal world.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 2.7–2.16, pages 402–404, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri) Those who know their Atman (soul) have no notions of Varna (class) or Ashrama (stage in life); they see Atman in all, they become Brahman and reach "Moksha" salvation even without seeking.KN Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Archives, , page 223, Quote: "That man who sees (his) Atman, which is all-witness and is beyond all caste and orders of life, as of the nature of Brahman, becomes himself Brahman". That which is of the character of Truth, Knowledge, Bliss, and Fullness, states Varaha Upanishad in verse 2.16, stands farthest away from Tamas (darkness, destruction, chaos).Sanskrit: सत्यज्ञानानन्दपूर्णलक्षणं तमसः परम् । ब्रह्मानन्दं सदा पश्यन्कथं बध्येत कर्मणा ॥२: १६॥ Source: ॥ वराहोपनिषत् ॥English Translation: Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 2.16–2.18, page 404, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri)
Varaha states that what one aspires to is part of His own "light", which is all-encompassing. As Atman, self effulgent, Varaha states that "Brahma-Jnanis" are those who see nothing but the Brahman, and they are happy and content in the universe despite being subject to sufferings.KN Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Archives, , pages 229–232
The Varaha Upanishad asserts the non-dualistic premise that Brahman and Atman are one, and those who know this fear nothing, suffer nothing, and possess fortitude. He is I, states Vishnu.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 2.18–2.38, pages 405–407, Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri) "Become that, Ribhu; Thou am I verily", suggests Vishnu. Those high souled ones, who with the firm conviction that "I am the Brahman", are the Jivanmukta, states verse 2.43 of the text.Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), The Yoga Upanishads, Varahopanishad Verses 2.41–2.43, pages 408–409 Aidyar Library, (Editor: SS Sastri)
Sankalpa