Brahmavidya Upanishad
| Brahmavidya | |
|---|---|
Om
|
|
| Devanagari | ब्रह्मविद्या |
| IAST | Brahmavidyā |
| Title means | Knowledge of Brahman |
| Date | ~100 BCE to 300 CE |
| Type | Yoga |
| Linked Veda | Krishna Yajurveda |
| Chapters | 1 |
| Verses | varies by manuscript (14 to 110) |
| Philosophy | Yoga, Vedanta |
The Brahmavidya Upanishad (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मविद्या उपनिषत्, IAST: Brahmavidyā Upaniṣad) is a Sanskrit text and one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism. It is one of twenty Yoga Upanishads in the four Vedas.
Two major versions of its manuscripts are known. One has fourteen verses that is attached to Atharvaveda, while another larger manuscript exists in the Telugu language which has one hundred and ten verses and is attached to the Krishna Yajurveda.
The Upanishad mainly explains the structure of Om, aspect of its sound, its placement, its beginning and end, and the significance of the Laya (fading away of its sound).Om is Brahman (ultimate reality), asserts the text. The text is notable for stating that gods live inside human body as five Atmans, with Vishnu in the throat, Rudra in the middle of the palate, Shiva in the forehead, Sadashiva at the tip of nose, and the Brahman in the heart. The innermost Atman, states the text, is same as the all transcendent Paramatman, the Brahman pervading everywhere.
It is also called as Brahmavidyopanishad. It is listed at number 40 in the serial order of the Muktika enumerated by Rama to Hanuman in the modern era anthology of 108 Upanishads.
The text was, states Mircea Eliade, possibly composed after the Maitri Upanishad. He dates it in the same period as the didactic parts of the Mahabharata, the chief Sannyasa Upanishads and along with other early Yoga Upanishads such as Brahmabindu, Ksurika, Tejobindu, Yogatattva, Nadabindu, Yogashikha, Dhyanabindu and Amritabindu. These and the Brahmavidya text, adds Eliade, were composed earlier than the ten or eleven later yogic Upanishads such as the Yoga-kundali, Varaha and Pashupatabrahma Upanishads.
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