The 108 Upanishads (Muktika canon)

01In the jewelled pavilion at Ayodhya

The Muktika Upanishad opens in Ayodhya. Shri Rama sits in a jewelled pavilion with Sita, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna around him, the rishis praising him, and Hanuman, son of the wind, at his feet. Hanuman asks how one reaches the Lord's own state. The Upanishad that follows is the last of the hundred and eight it names, and its own colophon places it in the Shukla Yajurveda. It is Shruti, and for the many traditions that print the 108 together it is the doorway to the whole collection. Its name means the Upanishad of liberation, and it ends with the Rigveda's words on the paramam padam of Shri Vishnu, which the wise always see.

02Rama teaches Hanuman

Hanuman asks Shri Rama how one reaches liberation. Rama answers in steps. For the seeker who wants mukti, the Mandukya alone is enough. If knowledge does not come from it, read the ten Upanishads. If still not, read thirty-two. And for one who wants videha mukti, freedom with no further birth, read all one hundred and eight. Rama then names them in order, beginning with the Isha, and adds that the list is to be taught only to a qualified disciple.

03The ten and the rest

The first ten in Rama's list are the ones every Vedanta school reads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. After them come Upanishads grouped by theme in modern editions: Samanya Vedanta texts such as the Adhyatma and Subala; Yoga Upanishads such as the Yogatattva, Dhyanabindu and Nadabindu; Sannyasa Upanishads such as the Jabala and Paramahamsa; Vaishnava ones such as the Narayana and Ramatapani; Shaiva ones such as the Kaivalya and Rudrahridaya; and Shakta ones such as the Tripura and Bahvricha.

04Five Vedas, five shanti mantras

Hanuman then asks for the shanti mantra of each Veda, and Rama gives them group by group. The ten Upanishads of the Rigveda open with vang me manasi. The nineteen of the Shukla Yajurveda open with purnam adah purnam idam. The thirty-two of the Krishna Yajurveda open with saha navavatu. The sixteen of the Samaveda open with apyayantu mamangani. The thirty-one of the Atharvaveda open with bhadram karnebhih shrinuyama devah. This is still how a Vedic teacher begins any Upanishad: the pupil hears first the shanti of that Upanishad's Veda, and the same shanti closes the lesson, with om shantih shantih shantih said three times.

05How the 108 are to be learned

The Muktika is strict about the way. The seeker who has the four qualifications, discrimination, dispassion, the six virtues beginning with calm, and longing for freedom, goes to a sadguru with an offering in his hands, a teacher who is learned in the Vedas, straight, compassionate and devoted to the good of all beings. He studies the hundred and eight in due order, with their shanti mantras, from the teacher's own mouth, and then hears, reflects and meditates without a break. Such a one is a jivanmukta while his prarabdha karma lasts, and reaches videha mukti when it ends. The teaching is not to be given to one who has no faith, who is ungrateful, or who has no devotion to the guru.

06Vasanas, the mind and freedom

In the second adhyaya Hanuman asks what jivanmukti is and what it is for. Rama answers that bondage is the mind's sense of being the doer and the enjoyer, which brings pain; stilling it is jivanmukti. Human effort is of two kinds, he says, one against the shastra that leads to harm, one by the shastra that leads to the highest good. Then comes the line Advaita teachers quote often: the ending of vasanas, knowledge of the truth and the dissolving of the mind, practised together for a long time, bear fruit. Bondage is bondage to vasanas; freedom is their ending. Give up the vasanas, and then give up even the wish for freedom.

07The Upanishads people chant at home

Many households know some of the 108 without knowing they are Upanishads. The Ganapati Upanishad of the Atharvaveda is the Ganapati Atharvashirsha, recited in sahasravartan, a thousand recitations by many voices together, at Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra. The Devi Upanishad is the Devi Atharvashirsha, read in many homes before the Durga Saptashati in Navaratri. The Kalisantarana Upanishad of the Krishna Yajurveda gives the sixteen-word mantra Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, as the way across the Kali Yuga. The Narayana Upanishad carries om namo narayanaya. The Rudrakshajabala and Bhasmajabala teach the wearing of rudraksha and bhasma, and the Kaivalya is chanted by Shaiva and Smarta families alike.

08Commentators on the whole canon

Adi Shankaracharya wrote on the principal Upanishads, and Ramanuja's and Madhva's schools wrote on the same core. The rest of the 108 found their own commentators. Upanishad Brahmayogin of Kanchipuram, a sannyasi of the Advaita tradition, wrote a commentary on every one of the hundred and eight, which is why he carries that name. Narayana and Shankarananda wrote dipikas, short lamps of explanation, on many of the Atharvana Upanishads. In the twentieth century the Adyar Library printed the minor Upanishads in classified volumes, and Gita Press brought out the Upanishad Ank for Hindi readers.

09From Varanasi to the world

In 1657, working with pandits from Varanasi, Prince Dara Shikoh had fifty Upanishads put into Persian as the Sirr-i-Akbar, the Great Secret. Anquetil-Duperron put that Persian into Latin as the Oupnek'hat (1801–1802), and the philosopher Schopenhauer kept it by his bed. The full 108 were printed in Sanskrit in the nineteenth century, and the Adyar Library in Chennai later published the minor Upanishads in classified volumes with the commentary of Upanishad Brahmayogin, who wrote on all 108.

What it contains

1. 1
   Rigveda (10)

   Including the Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Nadabindu, Atmabodha and Bahvricha. The Muktika gives them the shanti mantra vang me manasi. The group also holds the Nirvana, Mudgala, Akshamalika, Tripura and Saubhagya Upanishads.

2. 2
   Shukla Yajurveda (19)

   Including the Isha, Brihadaranyaka, Jabala, Paramahamsa and Subala. Their shanti mantra is purnam adah. Many of the Sannyasa Upanishads, such as the Turiyatita and Bhikshu, belong here, and so does the Muktika itself.

3. 3
   Krishna Yajurveda (32)

   Including the Katha, Taittiriya, Shvetashvatara, Kaivalya, Narayana and Kalisantarana. Their shanti mantra is saha navavatu. The largest group, it carries many Yoga Upanishads, among them the Amritabindu, Dhyanabindu, Yogatattva and Yogakundalini, and the Dakshinamurti.

4. 4
   Samaveda (16)

   Including the Kena, Chandogya, Maitrayani, Maitreyi, Vajrasuchi and Rudrakshajabala. Their shanti mantra is apyayantu. The Aruni, the Yogachudamani, the Vasudeva and the Kundika are in this group too.

5. 5
   Atharvaveda (31)

   Including the Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Atharvashira, Ramatapani and Ganapati. Their shanti mantra is bhadram karnebhih. Here are the Nrisimha-tapani, the Narada-parivrajaka, the Sita, the Sharabha, the Devi and the Gopala-tapani.

6. 6
   Grouped by theme

   Modern editions, following the Adyar Library, sort the 108 into Mukhya (principal), Samanya Vedanta, Yoga, Sannyasa, Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta Upanishads. The groupings are a convenience for study; the Muktika itself arranges them by Veda.

Famous verses

इयं कैवल्यमुक्तिस्तु केनोपायेन सिद्ध्यति। माण्डूक्यमेकमेवालं मुमुक्षूणां विमुक्तये॥

By what means is this kaivalya mukti won? The Mandukya alone is enough for the liberation of those who seek freedom.Muktika Upanishad 1.26

ईशकेनकठप्रश्नमुण्डमाण्डूक्यतित्तिरिः। ऐतरेयं च छान्दोग्यं बृहदारण्यकं तथा॥

Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka.Muktika Upanishad 1.30

एवमष्टोत्तरशतं भावनात्रयनाशनम्। ज्ञानवैराग्यदं पुंसां वासनात्रयनाशनम्॥

Thus the hundred and eight: they destroy the three kinds of wrong notion, give knowledge and dispassion, and destroy the three kinds of vasana.Muktika Upanishad 1.40

वासनाक्षयविज्ञानमनोनाशा महामते। समकालं चिराभ्यस्ता भवन्ति फलदा मताः॥

O wise one, the ending of vasanas, true knowledge and the dissolving of the mind, practised together over a long time, are held to bear fruit.Muktika Upanishad 2.10