Taittiriya Upanishad

01Inside the Taittiriya Aranyaka

The Taittiriya Upanishad belongs to the Taittiriya shakha of the Krishna Yajurveda, the most widely recited Vedic shakha in South India. It forms the seventh, eighth and ninth prapathakas of the Taittiriya Aranyaka, and the tenth prapathaka that follows is the Mahanarayana Upanishad. So a Taittiriya student who has learned his Samhita and Brahmana arrives at this Upanishad as part of his own Veda, chanted with the same svaras, the raised, lowered and falling pitches that mark every syllable. It opens with the shanti mantra sham no mitrah sham varunah, and the second valli with saha navavatu.

02Three vallis, thirty-one anuvakas

The Upanishad has three vallis divided into anuvakas, lessons. The Shiksha Valli has twelve, the Brahmananda Valli nine and the Bhrigu Valli ten. The first is a teacher's book: pronunciation, meditations, prayers for a sharp mind and a good name, and the parting advice to a student. The second is the most philosophical, a single sustained teaching on Brahman, the five sheaths and bliss. The third tells the same teaching again as a katha, a son finding his way to it by tapas. In the South the three are chanted together as one parayana, and many Taittiriya families know them by heart.

03The science of sound

The second anuvaka of the Shiksha Valli is the oldest statement of Vedic phonetics: varna, the letter; svara, the pitch; matra, the length; bala, the effort; sama, the evenness; and santana, the joining. A Vedic student learns these six before anything else. Then come meditations on the joining of words as the joining of earth and sky, prayers that the teacher may be famous and that students may come to him as waters flow downhill, and the four vyahritis, bhuh, bhuvah, suvah and mahah. Rishi Trishanku's joyful declaration, I am the shaker of the tree, my fame is like a mountain's peak, stands in the tenth anuvaka.

04The teacher's last words

The Shiksha Valli begins with the study of sound, letters, accent, measure and joining, and with prayers for a sharp mind. In its eleventh anuvaka the teacher, having taught the Veda, instructs the student who is leaving: speak the truth, follow dharma, do not neglect study. Let your mother be a deva to you, your father, your teacher, your guest. Give with faith, give with modesty. When in doubt about conduct, do as the wise Brahmins of the place do. Gurukulas and many Indian universities still read this at convocation.

05The five koshas

The Brahmananda Valli opens: the knower of Brahman reaches the highest. Brahman is satyam, jnanam, anantam. From the Atman came space, from space air, then fire, water, earth, plants, food, and from food the person. That person is the annamaya kosha, the sheath of food. Within it is the pranamaya, of breath; within that the manomaya, of mind; then the vijnanamaya, of understanding; and innermost the anandamaya, of bliss. The valli then measures bliss, rising by hundredfold steps from a young, learned, strong man to Brahma, all of which the knower already has.

06Raso vai sah

The seventh anuvaka of the Brahmananda Valli gives two words that bhakti and Vedanta both treasure: raso vai sah, he is rasa, the very taste of joy, and having found rasa a man becomes blissful. Who could breathe, who could live, the Upanishad asks, if this bliss were not in the space of the heart? The eighth anuvaka then measures bliss. Take a young man, good, learned, quick, firm and strong, and give him the whole earth with its wealth: that is one unit of human bliss. A hundred times that is the bliss of the gandharvas, and so on upward, a hundredfold at each step, to the bliss of Brahma, and all of it belongs to the knower free from desire.

07Bhrigu and Varuna

In the Bhrigu Valli the son goes to his father Varuna and says, teach me Brahman. Varuna answers only: that from which beings are born, by which they live, into which they return, seek to know that; it is Brahman. Do tapas. Bhrigu does tapas and decides Brahman is food. He comes back; Varuna says again, do tapas. Then prana, then mind, then understanding, and at last bliss. From bliss beings are born, in bliss they live, into bliss they return. The valli ends with the chant aham annam, I am food, I am the eater of food.

08Do not despise food

Having found Brahman as bliss, Bhrigu is given vows that bring the teaching down to the kitchen. Do not despise food; that is the vow. Do not reject food. Make food plentiful. Turn no one away who comes seeking shelter, and so gather food by whatever means, and tell the guest, food is ready for you. The valli ends in song. The knower, moving through the worlds eating what he wishes and taking what form he wishes, sits singing a saman: I am food, I am food, I am food; I am the eater of food. The rule of never sending a guest away hungry is still quoted from this valli.

09Is the bliss-sheath Brahman?

The Brahma Sutra opens its definition of Brahman, janmadyasya yatah, that from which the birth and rest of this world proceed (1.1.2), with Varuna's words to Bhrigu. A few sutras later (1.1.12) it asks whether the anandamaya of the fifth sheath is Brahman, and here the acharyas part ways. Adi Shankaracharya holds that the bliss-sheath is still a sheath, and that Brahman is what the Upanishad calls its tail, its support. Ramanujacharya holds that the anandamaya is Brahman itself, the Lord whose body the other sheaths are. Sureshvara wrote a long vartika on Shankara's bhashya; Sayana, Madhvacharya and Rangaramanuja Muni also wrote commentaries.

10At convocations and in kitchens

Few Upanishads reach as many people in an ordinary week. Sham no mitrah and saha navavatu open classes, conferences and pujas across Bharat. Satyam vada, dharmam chara, the teacher's words in the eleventh anuvaka, are read at convocations. Matrudevo bhava, pitrudevo bhava, acharyadevo bhava, atithidevo bhava are taught to children before they can read the Sanskrit, and the last of them became the name of a campaign of India's Ministry of Tourism. In Taittiriya households the three vallis are a common parayana at homas and family rites.

What it contains

1. 1
   Shiksha Valli शीक्षावल्ली

   Twelve anuvakas, opening and closing with sham no mitrah. They teach the six elements of pronunciation, meditations on the joining of words, prayers for intelligence and for students, the vyahritis bhuh, bhuvah, suvah and mahah, and Om as Brahman. The eleventh anuvaka is the teacher's charge to the departing student: speak the truth, follow dharma, honour mother, father, teacher and guest.

2. 2
   Brahmananda Valli ब्रह्मानन्दवल्ली

   Nine anuvakas. The knower of Brahman reaches the highest; Brahman is truth, knowledge and infinity, and from the Self came space, air, fire, water, earth, plants, food and the person. Five sheaths are taught from food to bliss, Brahman is called rasa, and the bliss of Brahman is measured in hundredfold steps. Words turn back from it with the mind, and the one who knows its bliss fears nothing.

3. 3
   Bhrigu Valli भृगुवल्ली

   Ten anuvakas. Bhrigu asks his father Varuna to teach him Brahman and is told only to seek that from which beings are born, by which they live and into which they return. By repeated tapas he finds Brahman as food, prana, mind, understanding and finally bliss. Vows about food and hospitality follow, and the valli ends with the knower's song, I am food, I am the eater of food.

Famous verses

सत्यं वद। धर्मं चर। स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः।

Speak the truth. Practise dharma. Do not neglect your study of the Veda.Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.1

मातृदेवो भव। पितृदेवो भव। आचार्यदेवो भव। अतिथिदेवो भव।

Let your mother be a deva to you. Let your father be a deva. Let your teacher be a deva. Let your guest be a deva.Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.2

ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परम्। तदेषाऽभ्युक्ता। सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म।

The knower of Brahman reaches the highest. On this it is said: Brahman is truth, knowledge, infinity.Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1

यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते। अप्राप्य मनसा सह। आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान्। न बिभेति कदाचनेति।

From which words turn back, along with the mind, without reaching it: one who knows that bliss of Brahman fears nothing, ever.Taittiriya Upanishad 2.4.1

यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते। येन जातानि जीवन्ति। यत्प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति। तद्विजिज्ञासस्व। तद् ब्रह्मेति।

That from which these beings are born, by which, once born, they live, and into which they go and enter: seek to know that. That is Brahman.Taittiriya Upanishad 3.1.1