The Chandogya Upanishad (छान्दोग्योपनिषद्) is a Sanskrit text embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of the Sama Veda of Hinduism. It is one of the oldest Upanishads. It lists as number 9 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad belongs to the Tandya school of the Samaveda. Like Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogya is an anthology of texts that must have pre-existed as separate texts and were edited into a larger text by one or more ancient Indian scholars. The precise chronology of Chandogya Upanishad is uncertain, and it is variously dated to have been composed by the 8th to 6th century BCE in India. Adi Shankaracharya, for example, cited Chandogya Upanishad 810 times in his Vedanta Sutra Bhasya, more than any other ancient text.

Chandogya Upanishad Definition

Within its eight chapters, the “Chandogya Upanishad” describes many aspects of Hindu philosophy including concepts such as the chanting of Om, good and evil, space, the universe as a whole, the Soul and Self, oneness with the world, and Brahman. It is a poetic text with a metered structure, focusing on song, language, and chanting.

Chandogya Upanishad Etymology

The name of the Upanishad is derived from the word Chanda or chandas, which means “poetic meter, prosody”. The nature of the text relates to the patterns of structure, stress, rhythm, and intonation in language, songs, and chants. The text is sometimes known as Chandogyopanishad.

Chronology of Chandogya Upanishad

Chandogya Upanishad was in all likelihood composed in the earlier part of the 1st millennium BCE and is one of the oldest Upanishads. The exact century of the Upanishad composition is unknown, uncertain, and contested.

The chronology of early Upanishads is difficult to resolve due to scant evidence, an analysis of archaism, style, and repetitions across texts, driven by assumptions about the likely evolution of ideas, and on presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Patrick Olivelle states, “In spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of these documents (early Upanishads) that attempts a precision closer than a few centuries is as stable as a house of cards”.

Structure of Chandogya Upanishad

The text has eight Prapathakas (प्रपाठक, lectures, chapters), each with a varying number of Khandas (खण्ड, volume).

Each Khanda has a varying number of verses. The first chapter includes 13 volumes each with a varying number of verses, the second chapter has 24 volumes, the third chapter contains 19 volumes, the fourth is composed of 17 volumes, the fifth has 24, the sixth chapter has 16 volumes, the seventh includes 26 volumes, and the eight chapters is last with 15 volumes.

The Upanishad comprises the last eight chapters of a ten-chapter Chandogya Brahmana text. The first chapter of the Brahmana is short and concerns ritual-related hymns to celebrate a marriage ceremony and the birth of a child.

Chandogya Upanishad Contents

First Prapathaka of Chandogya Upanishad

The chant of Om, the essence of all

The Chandogya Upanishad opens with the recommendation that “let a man meditate on Om“. It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of the earth is water, the essence of water is the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rigveda, the essence of the Rigveda is the Samaveda, and the essence of Samaveda is udgitha.

Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce the song. The highest song is Om, asserts volume 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.

Good and evil may be everywhere, yet life-principle is inherently good

The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of the syllable Om (ॐ, Aum), explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons) – both being races derived from one Prajapati (creator of life). 

Max Muller states that this struggle between deities and demons is considered allegorical by ancient scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The Prajapati is a man in general, in this allegory. The struggle is explained as a legend, that is also found in a more complete and likely original ancient version of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (chapter 1.3).

Space: the origin and the end of everything

The Chandogya Upanishad, in the eighth and ninth volumes of the first chapter, describes the debate between three men proficient in Udgitha, about the origins and support of Udgitha and all of empirical existence. The debaters summarize their discussion as,

What is the origin of this world?
Space, said he. Verily, all things here arise out of space. They disappear back into space, for space alone is greater than these, space is the final goal. This is the most excellent Udgitha [Om, ॐ]. This is endless. The most excellent is his, the most excellent worlds does he win, who, knowing it thus, reveres the most excellent Udgitha. — Chandogya Upanishad 1.9.1-1.9.2

Max Muller notes the term “space” above, which was later asserted in the Vedanta Sutra verse 1.1.22 to be a symbol for the Vedic concept of Brahman. Paul Deussen explains the term Brahman means the “creative principle which lies realized in the whole world”.

Ridicule and satire on the egotistic nature of priests

The tenth through twelfth volumes of the first “Prapathaka” of Chandogya Upanishad describes a legend about priests and it criticizes how they go about reciting verses and singing hymns without any idea what they mean or the divine principle they signify. The 12th volume in particular ridicules the egotistical aims of priests through a satire, that is often referred to as “the Udgitha of the dogs”.

Structure of Language and cosmic correspondences

The 13th volume of the first chapter lists mystical meanings in the structure and sounds of a chant. The text asserts that hāu, hāi, ī, atha, iha, ū, e, hiṅ among others correspond to the empirical and divine world, such as the moon, wind, sun, oneself, Agni, Prajapati, and so on. The thirteen syllables listed are “Stobhaksharas”, sounds used in the musical recitation of hymns, chants, and songs. This volume is one of many sections that does not fit with the preceding text or text that follows.

The fourth verse of the 13th volume uses the word Upanishad, which Max Muller translates as “secret doctrine”, and Patrick Olivelle translates as “hidden connections”.

Second Prapāṭhaka

The significance of chant

The first volume of the second chapter states that the reverence for the entire Sāman (साम्न, chant) is sādhu (साधु, good), for three reasons. These reasons invoke three different contextual meanings:

• Saman, namely abundance of goodness or valuable (सामन),
• Friendliness or respect (सम्मान), and
• Property goods or wealth (सामन्, also समान). 

The Chandogya Upanishad states that the reverse is true too, that people call it a-sāman when there is deficiency or worthlessness (ethics), unkindness or disrespect (human relationships), and lack of wealth (means of life, prosperity).

Everything in the universe chants

Volumes 2 through 7 of the second Prapathaka present analogies between various elements of the universe and elements of a chant. The latter include:

• Hinkāra (हिङ्कार, preliminary vocalizing), 
• Prastāva (प्रस्ताव, propose, prelude, introduction), 
• Udgītha (उद्गीत, sing, chant), 
• Pratihāra (प्रतिहार, response, closing), and 
• Nidhana (निधन, finale, conclusion).

The sets of mapped analogies present interrelationships and include cosmic bodies, natural phenomena, hydrology, seasons, living creatures, and human physiology. For example, chapter 2.3 of the Upanishad states,

The winds blow, that is Hinkāra
A cloud is formed, that is Prastāva
It rains, that is an Udgītha
The lightning that strikes and thunder that rolls, that is Pratihāra
The rains stop and clouds lift, that is Nidhana. — Chandogya Upanishad 2.3.1

The eighth volume of the second chapter expands the five-fold chant structure to a seven-fold chant structure, wherein Ādi and Upadrava are the new elements of the chant. The day and daily life of a human being are mapped to the seven-fold structure in volumes 2.9 and 2.10 of the Upanishad.

The nature of Dharma and Ashramas (stages) theory

The Chandogya Upanishad in volume 23 of chapter 2 provides one of the earliest expositions on the broad, complex meaning of the Vedic concept of dharma. It includes dharma – ethical duties such as charity to those in distress (Dāna, दान), personal duties such as education and self-study (svādhyāya, स्वाध्याय, brahmacharya, ब्रह्मचर्य), social rituals such as Yajna (यज्ञ). The Upanishad describes the three branches of dharma as follows:

त्रयो धर्मस्कन्धा यज्ञोऽध्ययनं दानमिति प्रथम
स्तप एव द्वितीयो ब्रह्मचार्याचार्यकुलवासी तृतीयो
ऽत्यन्तमात्मानमाचार्यकुलेऽवसादयन्सर्व एते पुण्यलोका भवन्ति ब्रह्मसँस्थोऽमृतत्वमेति ॥ १ ॥

There are three branches of Dharma (religious life, duty): Yajna (sacrifice), Svādhyāya (self study) and Dāna (charity) are the first,
Tapas (austerity, meditation) is the second, while dwelling as a Brahmacharya for education in the house of a teacher is third,
All three achieve the blessed worlds. But the Brahmasamstha – one who is firmly grounded in Brahman – alone achieves immortality. — Chandogya Upanishad 2.23.1

This passage has been widely cited by ancient and medieval Sanskrit scholars as the forerunner to the ashrama or age-based stages of dharmic life in Hinduism. 

Third Prapāṭhaka

Brahman is the sun of all existence, Madhu Vidya

The Chandogya Upanishad presents the “Madhu Vidya” (“Honey Knowledge”) in the first eleven volumes of the third chapter. Sun is praised as a source of all light and life and stated as worthy of meditation in a symbolic representation of the Sun as the “honey” of all Vedas. The Brahman is stated in this volume of verses to be the sun of the universe, and the ‘natural sun’ is a phenomenal manifestation of the Brahman.

Gayatri mantra: Symbolism of all that is

It is the symbol of the Brahman – the essence of everything states Volume 3.12 of the Chandogya Upanishad. Gayatri as speech sings to everything and protects them, asserts the text.

The Ultimate exists within oneself

The first six verses of the thirteenth volume of Chandogya’s third chapter state a theory of Svarga (heaven) as the human body, whose doorkeepers are eyes, ears, speech organs, mind, and breath. To reach Svarga asserts the text, understand these doorkeepers. The Chandogya Upanishad then states that the ultimate heaven and highest world exists within oneself, as follows:

अथ यदतः परो दिवो ज्योतिर्दीप्यते विश्वतः पृष्ठेषु सर्वतः पृष्ठेष्वनुत्तमेषूत्तमेषु लोकेष्विदं वाव तद्यदिदमस्मिन्नन्तः पुरुषो ज्योतिस्तस्यैषा

Now that light which shines above this heaven, higher than all, higher than everything, in the highest world, beyond which there are no other worlds, that is the same light which is within man.

— Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7

This premise, that the human body is the heaven world, and that Brahman (highest reality) is identical to the Atman (Self) within a human being is at the foundation of Vedanta philosophy. 

Individual Self and the infinite Brahman are the same, one’s Self is God, Sandilya Vidya

The Upanishad presents the Śāṇḍilya doctrine in volume 14 of chapter 3. This states Paul Deussen, is with Satapatha Brahmana 10.6.3, perhaps the oldest passage in which the basic premises of the Vedanta philosophy are fully expressed, namely – Atman (Self inside man) exists, the Brahman is identical with Atman, God is inside man. 

The Chandogya Upanishad makes a series of statements in section 3.14 that have been frequently cited by later schools of Hinduism and modern studies on Indian philosophies. 

The universe is an imperishable treasure chest

The universe, states the Chandogya Upanishad in section 3.15, is a treasure chest and the refuge for man. This chest is where all wealth and everything rests states verse 3.15.1, and it is imperishable states verse 3.15.3. The best refuge for man is this universe and the Vedas, assert verses 3.15.4 through 3.15.7. This section incorporates a benediction for the birth of a son.

Life is a festival, ethics is one’s donation to it

Section 3.17 of Chandogya Upanishad describes life as a celebration of a Soma festival, whose Dakshina (gifts, payment) is moral conduct and ethical precepts that includes non-violence, truthfulness, non-hypocrisy and charity unto others, as well as simple introspective life. This is one of the earliest statements of the Ahimsa principle as an ethical code of life, that later evolved to become the highest virtue in Hinduism.

अथ यत्तपो दानमार्जवमहिँसा सत्यवचनमिति ता अस्य दक्षिणाः ॥ ४ ॥

Now Tapas (austerity, meditation), Dāna (charity, alms-giving), Arjava (sincerity, uprightness and non-hypocrisy), Ahimsa (non-violence, don’t harm others) and Satya-vacanam (telling truth), these are the Dakshina (gifts, payment to others) he gives [in life]. — Chandogya Upanishad 3.17.4

The metaphor of man’s life as a Soma festival is described through the steps of a yajna (fire ritual ceremony) in section 3.17. The struggles of an individual, such as hunger, thirst, and events that make him unhappy, states the Upanishad, is Diksha (preparation, effort, or consecration for the ceremony/festival). 

Fourth Prapāṭhaka 

Samvargavidya

The fourth chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad opens with the story of King Janasruti and “the man with the cart” named Raikva. The moral of the story is called, Samvarga (Sanskrit: संवर्ग, devouring, gathering, absorbing) Vidya, summarized in volume 4.3 of the text. Air, asserts the Upanishad, is the “devourer unto itself” of divinities because it absorbs fire, the sun at sunset, the moon when it sets, and water when it dries up. In reference to man, Prana (vital breath, life-principle) is the “devourer unto itself” because when one sleeps, Prana absorbs all deities inside man such as eyes, ears, and mind. 

The Samvarga Vidya in Chandogya is found elsewhere in the Vedic canon of texts, such as chapter 10.3.3 of Shatapatha Brahmana and sections 2.12 – 2.13 of Kaushitaki Upanishad. Paul Deussen states that the underlying message of Samvarga Vidya is that the cosmic phenomenon and the individual physiology are mirrors, and therefore man should know himself as identical with all cosmos and all beings.

Satyakama’s education

The Upanishad presents another symbolic conversational story of Satyakama, the son of Jabala, in volumes 4.4 through 4.9. Satyakama’s mother reveals to the boy, in the passages of the Upanishad, that she went about in many places in her youth, and he is of uncertain parentage. 

The boy, eager for knowledge, goes to the sage Haridrumata Gautama, requesting the sage’s permission to live in his school for Brahmacharya. The teacher asks, “My dear child, what family do you come from?” Satyakama replies that he is of uncertain parentage because his mother does not know who the father is. The sage declares that the boy’s honesty is the mark of a “Brāhmaṇa, true seeker of the knowledge of the Brahman”. The sage accepts him as a student in his school.

Penance is unnecessary, Brahman as life bliss joy and love, the story of Upakosala

Volumes 4.10 through 4.15 of Chandogya Upanishad present the third conversational story through a student named ‘Upakosala’. 

Upakosala has a conversation with sacrificial fires, which inform him that Brahman is life, Brahman is joy and bliss, Brahman is infinity, and the means to Brahman is not through depressing, hard penance. The fires then enumerate the manifestations of Brahman to be everywhere in the empirically perceived world. Satyakama joins Upakosala’s education.

Fifth Prapāṭhaka

The noblest and the best

The fifth chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad opens with the declaration,

यो ह वै ज्येष्ठं च श्रेष्ठं च वेद ज्येष्ठश्च ह वै श्रेष्ठश्च भवति

When a man knows the best and the greatest, he becomes the best and the greatest.

— Chandogya Upanishad 5.1.1

The first volume of the fifth chapter of the text tells a fable and prefaces each character with the following maxims,

He who knows excellence, becomes excellent.
He who knows stability, becomes stable.
He who knows success, becomes successful.
He who knows home, becomes home for others. — Chandogya Upanishad 5.1.1

The fable, found in many other principal Upanishads, describes a rivalry between eyes, ears, speech, and mind. They all individually claim to be “most excellent, most stable, most successful, most homely”. 

The five fires and two paths theory

Volumes 5.3 through 5.10 of Chandogya Upanishad present the “Pancagnividya”, or the doctrine of “five fires and two paths in the after-life”. These sections are nearly identical to those found in section 14.9.1 of Sathapatha Brahmana, in section 6.2 of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and in chapter 1 of Kaushitaki Upanishad.

Paul Deussen states that the presence of this doctrine in multiple ancient texts suggests that the idea is older than these texts, established, and was an important concept in the cultural fabric of ancient times. 

Who is our Atman (Self), and what is the Brahman

The Chandogya Upanishad opens volume 5.11 with five adults seeking knowledge. 

The five householders approach a sage named Uddalaka Aruni, who admits his knowledge is deficient, and suggests that they all go to King Asvapati Kaikeya, who knows about Atman Vaishvanara. When the knowledge seekers arrive, the king pays his due respect to them and gives them gifts, but the five ask him about Vaisvanara Self.

Sixth Prapāṭhaka

Atman exists, Svetaketu’s education on the key to all knowledge – Tat Tvam Asi

The sixth chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad contains the famous “Tat Tvam Asi” (“That Thou Art”) precept, one regarded by scholars as the sum-total or as one of the most important of all Upanishadic teachings. The precept is repeated nine times at the end of sections 6.8 through 6.16 of the Upanishad, as follows:

स य एषोऽणिमैतदात्म्यमिदँ सर्वं तत्सत्यँ स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो

Translation 1: This universe consists of what that finest essence is, it is the real, it is the Self, that thou art, O Śvetaketu!
Translation 2: That which is the finest essence – this whole world has that as its Self. That is Reality. That is Atman (Self). That art thou, Śvetaketu.
Translation 3: That which is this finest essence, that the whole world has as its self. That is the truth. That is the self. In that way are you, Śvetaketu.
Translation 4: The finest essence here — that constitutes the self of this whole world; that is the truth; that is the self (atman). And that’s how you are, Śvetaketu. — Chandogya Upanishad, 6.8 – 6.16

The Tat Tvam Asi precept emerges in a tutorial conversation between a father and son, Uddalaka Aruni and 24-year-old Śvetaketu Aruneya respectively, after the father sends his boy to school saying “go to school Śvetaketu, as no one in our family has ever gone to school”, and the son returns after completing 12 years of school studies. Śvetaketu admits he hasn’t, and asks what that is. His father, through 16 volumes of verses of Chandogya Upanishad, explains.

Oneness in the world, the immanent reality and of Man

The inmost essence of all beings is the same, the whole world is One Truth, One Reality, One Self.

Living beings are like rivers that arise in the mountains, states the Upanishad, some rivers flow to the east and some to the west, yet they end in an ocean, become the ocean itself, and realize they are not different but are the same, and thus realize their Oneness. Uddalaka states in volume 6.10 of the Upanishad, that there comes a time when all human beings and all creatures know not, “I am this one, I am that one”, but realize that they are One Truth, One Reality, and the whole world is one Atman.

Seventh Prapāṭhaka

From knowledge of the outer world to the knowledge of the inner world

The seventh chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad opens with a conversation between Sanatkumara and Narada. The latter asks, “Teach me, Sir, the knowledge of Self, because I hear that anyone who knows the Self, is beyond suffering and sorrow”.

Sanatkumara first inquires from Narada about what he already has learned so far. Narada says he knows the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Atharva Veda, the epics and the history, the myths and the ancient stories, all rituals, grammar, etymology, astronomy, timekeeping, mathematics, politics, and ethics, warfare, principles of reasoning, divine lore, prayer lore, snake charming, ghosts lore, and fine arts. Narada admits to Sanatkumara that none of these have led him to Self-knowledge, and he wants to know about Self and Self-knowledge.

Narada’s education on progressive meditation

In its exposition of progressive meditation for Self-knowledge, the Chandogya Upanishad starts by referring to the outer worldly knowledge as a name.

Deeper than this name, is speech asserts verse 7.2.1 because speech is what communicates all outer worldly knowledge as well as what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false, what is good and what is bad, what is pleasant and what is unpleasant. Without speech, men can’t share this knowledge, and one must adore and revere speech as a manifestation of Brahman.

From ativadin to self-knowledge

The Chandogya Upanishad, in sections 7.16 through 7.26 presents a series of connected statements relayed from Sage Sanatkumara to Narada, as follows (a paraphrase below)

Now, a man talks only when he talks with truth, hence you should seek to perceive the truth (Satya, सत्य).
A man must first perceive before he speaks the truth, so it is perception/comprehension (Vijñana, विज्ञान) that you should seek to understand.
A man must first think before he perceives, so it is thinking/thought (Mati, मति) that you should seek perceive.
A man must first have faith before he thinks, so it is faith (Śraddhā, श्रद्दधा) that he should seek to perceive.
A man must first produce before he has faith, so it is production/growing forth (Nististhati, निस्तिष्ठति) that you should seek to perceive.
A man must first act before he produces, so it is action (Krti, कृति) that you should seek to perceive.
A man must first attain well-being before he acts, so it is well-being (Sukham, सुखं) that you should seek to perceive.
Now, well-being is nothing but plenitude/limitlessness (Bhuman, भूमानं). There is no prosperity in scarcity. — Chandogya Upanishad 7.16-7.26

To one who sees, perceives, and understands Self as Truth, asserts the Upanishad in section 7.26, the life-principle springs from the Self, hope springs from the Self, memory springs from the Self, as does mind, thought, understanding, reflection, conviction, speech, and all outer worldly knowledge.

Eighth Prapāṭhaka

The nature of knowledge and Atman (Self)

Whatever has been, whatever will be, whatever is, and whatever is not, is all inside that palace asserts the text and the resident of the palace is the Brahman, as Atman – the Self, the Self.

Those who do not discover that Self within themselves are unfree, states the text, those who do discover that Self-knowledge gains the ultimate freedom in all the worlds. The Upanishad describes the potential of self-knowledge with the parable of hidden treasure.

The Means to Knowledge and Atman

The Upanishad in sections 8.5 and 8.6 states that the life of a student (Brahmacharin, see Brahmacharya) guided by a teacher is the means to knowledge, and the process of meditation and search for the means of realizing Atman. Verse 8.5.1 asserts that:

• Such life of a student is the same as the yajna (fire ritual),
• Istam (oblations offered during the fire ritual),
• Sattrayanam (community fire ritual festival),
• Maunam (ritual of ascetic silence),
• Anasakayanam (fasting ritual), and
• Aranyayanam (a hermit life of solitude in the forest). 

The section thus states all external forms of rituals are equivalently achievable internally when someone becomes a student of sacred knowledge and seeks to know the Brahman-Atman. The section is notable for the mention of the “hermit’s life in the forest” cultural practice, in verse 8.5.3.

The false and true Atman

Sections 8.7 through 8.12 of the Chandogya Upanishad return to the question, “What is true Self, and what is not”? The opening passage declares the Self as the one that is eternally free of grief, suffering, and death; it is a happy, serene being that desires, feels, and thinks what it ought to.

Thereafter, the text structures its analysis of true and false Atman as four answers. The three Self, which is the false Self, asserts the text is the material body, corporeal self in dreams, and individual self in deep sleep, while the fourth is the true Self – the self in beyond deep sleep state that is one with others and the entire universe. This theory is also known as the “four states of consciousness”, explained as the awake state, dream-filled sleep state, deep sleep state, and beyond deep sleep state.

A paean for learning, a reverence for the Self

With the knowledge of Brahman, asserts the text, one goes from darkness to perceiving a spectrum of colors and shakes off evil. This knowledge of Self is immortal, and the one who knows his own self joins the glory of the Brahman-knowers, the glory of Rajas (kings), and the glory of the people.

The one who knows his Self continues to study the Vedas and concentrates on his Self, who is harmless towards all living beings, who thus lives all his life, reaches the Brahma-world and does not return, states the Chandogya Upanishad in its closing chapter.

Conclusion

Because of the above, I am confident that you have learned in-depth about Chandogya Upanishad.  Its definition, chronology, structure, contents, teachings, self, atman, brahman, etc. Now, that you have become self-sufficient in knowing the importance of Chandogya Upanishad. Henceforth, I believe that you will be adopting the values of such unique knowledge.

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Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandogya_Upanishad