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. 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. The text is also known as Varahopanishad.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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". 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.