Varaha Upanishad

Varaha Upanishad
Vishnu in a boar (Varaha) avatar rescues Bhudevi (earth)
Devanagari	वराह
Title means	Boar
Date	c. 13th–16th century CE
Author(s)	Ribhu and Vishnu
Type	Yoga
Linked Veda	Krishna Yajurveda
Chapters	5
Verses	247
Philosophy	Vaishnavism, Yoga

Varaha Upanishad (Sanskrit: वराह उपनिषद्, "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.