page_title: Brahma Upanishad
section_title: Brahman is the Self in human body
hierarchical_section_title: Brahma Upanishad / Contents / Brahman is the Self in human body
caption_attribution_description: English: Spiral orb webs showing some colours in the sunlight in a gorge in Karijini National Park, Western Australia, Australia.
context_page_description: Brahma Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text and one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism. It is among the 32 Upanishads attached to the Krishna Yajurveda, and classified as one of the 19 Sannyasa Upanishads.
  The text has been one of the important Upanishads dealing with Hindu renunciation traditions. It discusses Atma and its four avasthas and four seats; the seats for the purpose of achieving Dhyana of the Nirguna Brahman. It is presented as a conversation between Sage Pippalada and Shaunaka Mahashala. The Brahma Upanishad is notable, in its third chapter, for rejecting all forms of rituals and external religious observations, and declaring the highest complete state of man is one that is dedicated entirely to knowledge.
  In the Telugu anthology of 108 Upanishads of the Muktika canon, narrated by Rama to Hanuman, the Brahma Upanishad is listed at number 11. The text is also referred to as Brahmopanishad.
context_section_description: Brahman, states sage Pippala in the text, indeed is the Prana (breath, life-force) and is the Atma (soul). The self's form is the shining Brahman that resides in one’s body giving it a glow, and which controls everything. The Brahman is Prana, and the life of the gods that are the vital sensory organs in human body, their beginning and end.
  The Chapter 1 uses many similes using nature to describe how the soul and the human body interact. The Brahman (Atman) leads all these gods within the human body, and they follow him, asserts the text, in a way similar to bees and queen-bee. They do and focus on what the Atman wants. He connects a web with them, and withdraws within itself like a spider. In a similar way, Prana spreads out into arteries in the temple that is human body and also retracts when it wants to. When the human body goes into deep sleep, the Prana retires, just like falcon soars to the skies when he wants to and then goes to his nest to retire.
  The soul is not affected by rituals and rites, nor by good or evil, states the Upanishad. This soul (Devadatta) is like a child without desires experiencing joy innocently, he loves the highest light, experiences the joy therein.
  Like a caterpillar, which moves from its first grass or leaf abode to the next leaf, puts its foot forward to get a firm footing there before leaving its original abode; the Atman moves to its new abode yet retains a footing in the sleeping body. The Atman, states the text, is the source of the Vedas and the gods.
  Both Deussen and Olivelle state that the prose in this chapter and many of the similes are fragments and references to earlier Upanishads, such as Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.7 and 2.2.9, Kaushitaki Upanishad at 4.19, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in section 4.3, and Prashna Upanishad in 2.4.
  Brahman, as the Atman, expresses itself when the man is awake, he is the bird, the crab, and the lotus. While the bird and lotus analogy for the human soul is commonly found in Vedic literature, this is the first and isolated mention of crab analogy, states Deussen. It may refer to a lost Upanishad, or Schrader suggests that the chaotic movements of a crab that is difficult to follow, might be implied in the crab simile here.
  The Atman is the higher and lower brahman, the one inspiring the principle of non-harm (Ahimsa), imbuing consciousness into the gods that are sensory organs, he is the swan, he is the self.
caption: The soul weaves a connection to the gods of sensory organs similar to a spider, states the Brahma Upanishad.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H50", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12,01", "Image DateTime": "2009:03:01 13:50:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "272", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "860", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9061", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:11:28 06:54:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:11:28 06:54:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "336/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "718", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}