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{{Short description|One of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism}}
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{{Infobox Upanishad
| name = ''Bhikshuka Upanishad''
| image = People of Varanasi 006.jpg
| caption = The ''Bhikshuka Upanishad'' describes [[Hindu]] mendicants who seek spiritual liberation through the practise of yoga
| Devanagari = भिक्षुक
| Sanskrit_transliteration = Bhikṣuka
| meaning = Ascetic or Mendicant
| type = Sannyasa
| Veda = Shukla [[Yajurveda]]
| chapters = 1
| verses = 5
| philosophy = [[Vedanta]]
}}
The '''''Bhikshuka Upanishad''''' ({{langx|sa|भिक्षुक उपनिषत्}}, [[IAST]]: Bhikṣuka Upaniṣad), also known as '''''Bhikshukopanishad''''', is one of the minor [[Upanishads]] of [[Hinduism]] and is written in [[Sanskrit]].

The Upanishad describes four kinds of ''[[Sannyasa|sannyasins]]'' (Hindu monks), their eating habits and lifestyle. Yoga is the path of spiritual liberation for all four. Of these, the ''Paramahamsa'' monks are discussed in this text at greater length, and described as loners who are patient with everyone, free from [[Dualism (Indian philosophy)|dualism]] in their thoughts, and who meditate on their [[Atman (Hinduism)|soul]] and the [[Brahman]].

==Etymology==
''Bhikshuka'' means "mendicant" or "monk", and is derived from the root word ''[[Sannyasi|Bhiksu]]'' meaning "one who subsists entirely on alms".<ref>Monier Monier Williams (2011 Reprint), ''Sanskrit-English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-81-208-3105-6}}, p. 756, see [http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/tamil/index.html bhikSu] Archive</ref>

==History==
The author of the ''Bhikshuka Upanishad'' is unknown, as is its date of composition. It was probably composed in the late medieval to modern era, most likely in the 14th or 15th century.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=8–10}} The text has ancient roots, as its contents are identical in key details to chapter 4 of the ''Ashrama Upanishad'',{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|pp=557 footnote 6, 763}} which is dated to about the 3rd century CE.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=8–10}}<ref>Joachim Friedrich Sprockhoff (1976), "Saṃnyāsa: Quellenstudien zur Askese im Hinduismus", Volume 42, Issue 1, ''Deutsche Morgenländische'', {{ISBN|978-3-515-01905-7}}, pp. 117–132 (in German)</ref>{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=98–100}} Both texts mention four types of mendicants with nearly identical life styles.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule | 1997|pp=557 footnote 6, 763}} The two texts have a few minor differences. The much older ''Ashrama Upanishad'', for example, mentions that each type aspires to know their self (Atman) for liberation,{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|pp=765-766}} while the ''Bhikshuka'' specifies that they seek this liberation through a yogic path.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=236–237}}

The ''Bhikshuka Upanishad'' is a minor [[Upanishad]] attached to the [[Yajurveda|Shukla Yajurveda]].{{Sfn|Tinoco|1997|p=89}} It is classified as one of the [[Sannyasa]] (renunciation) Upanishads of [[Hinduism]].{{Sfn|Tinoco|1997|p=89}}{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=236–237}} The text is listed at number 60 in the serial order in the [[Muktika]] enumerated by [[Rama]] to [[Hanuman]], in the modern era [[anthology]] of 108 Upanishads.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|pp=557 footnote 6, 763}} Some surviving manuscripts of the text are titled ''Bhikshukopanishad'' ({{lang|sa|भिक्षुकोपनिषत्}}).<ref>Vedic Literature, Volume 1, {{Google books|2YIoAAAAYAAJ|A Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts|page=PA492}}, Government of Tamil Nadu, Madras, India, page 492</ref>

==Contents==
''Bhikshuka Upanishad'' consists of a single chapter of five verses. The first verse states that four types of mendicants seek liberation, and these are ''Kutichaka'', ''Bahudaka'', ''Hamsa'' and ''Paramahamsa''.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}} The text describes the frugal lifestyle of all four, and asserts that they all pursue their goal of attaining [[moksha]] only through [[yoga]] practice.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=236–237}} The first three mendicant types are mentioned briefly, while the majority of the text describes the fourth type: ''Paramahamsa'' mendicants.<ref name=sanskritbhikshu>[http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/bhikshuk.html?lang=sa ॥ भिक्षुकोपनिषत् ॥] Sanskrit text of Bhiksuka Upanishad, SanskritDocuments Archives (2009)</ref>

===''Kutichaka'', ''Bahudaka'' and ''Hamsa'' monks===
The Upanishad states that ''Kutichaka'' monks eat eight mouthfuls of food a day.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}} Prominent ancient [[Rishi]]s (sages) who illustrate the ''Kutichaka'' group are [[Gautama Maharishi|Gotama]], [[Bharadwaja]], [[Yajnavalkya]], and [[Vasishta]].{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}}{{Sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|p=67}}

The ''Bahudaka'' mendicants carry a water pot and a triple staff walking stick.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}} They wear a topknot hair style and ochre-coloured garments, and wear a sacrificial thread.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}} The ''Bahudaka'' do not eat meat or honey, and beg for their eight mouthfuls of food a day.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}}{{Sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|p=67}}

The ''Hamsa'' mendicants are constantly on the move, staying in villages for just one night, in towns no more than five nights, and in sacred places for no more than seven nights.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}} The ascetic practice of ''Hamsa'' monks includes daily consumption of the urine and dung of a cow.{{Sfn|Parmeshwaranand|2000|p=67}} The ''Hamsa'' monks practice the ''Chandrayana'' cycle in their food eating habit, wherein they vary the amount of food they eat with the [[lunar cycle]].{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=236}}<ref name=knaiyar132/> They eat a single mouthful of food on the day after the dark [[new moon]] night, increase their food intake by an extra mouthful each day as the size of the moon increases, and reach the maximum fifteen mouthfuls of food for the day after [[full moon]] night.<ref name=knaiyar132/> Thereafter, they decrease their food intake by a mouthful each day until they reach the new moon night and begin the cycle again with one mouthful the following day.<ref name=knaiyar132>KN Aiyar, ''Thirty Minor Upanishads'', University of Toronto Archives, {{oclc|248723242}}, p. 132 footnote 3</ref>

===''Paramahamsa'' monks===
The ''Bhikshuka Upanishad'' illustrates the ''Paramahamsa'' (literally, "highest wandering birds"){{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|p=766}} mendicants with a list of names.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=237}} The list includes Samvartaka, [[Aruni]], [[Svetaketu]], Jadabharata, [[Dattatreya]], [[Shuka]], Vamadeva, and Haritaka.<ref name=sanskritbhikshu/><ref name=knaiyar132133>KN Aiyar, ''Thirty Minor Upanishads'', University of Toronto Archives, {{oclc|248723242}}, pp. 132–133</ref> They eat only eight mouthfuls of food a day and prefer a life away from others.<ref name=sanskritbhikshu/> They live clothed, naked or in rags.{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|p=766}}

The Upanishad dedicates the rest of the verses to describing the beliefs of the ''Paramhamsa'' monks. For example,
{{Quote|
<poem>{{lang|sa|न तेषां धर्माधर्मौ लाभालाभौ
शुद्धाशुद्धौ द्वैतवर्जिता समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनाः
सर्ववर्णेषु भैक्षाचरणं कृत्वा सर्वत्रात्मैवेति पश्यन्ति
अथ जातरूपधरा निर्द्वन्द्वा निष्परिग्रहाः
शुक्लध्यानपरायणा आत्मनिष्टाः प्राणसन्धारणार्थे}}<ref name=sanskritbhikshu/>

With them, there are no [[dvaita]] ([[dualism (Indian philosophy)|dualities]]) as [[dharma]] and [[adharma]], gain or loss,
purity and impurity. They look upon these with the same eye, and to gold, stone and clod of earth with indifference,
they put up with everything, they are patient with everyone, they seek and accept food from anyone,
they do not distinguish people by caste or looks, they are non-covetous and non-craving ([[aparigraha]]),
they are free from all duality, engaged in contemplation, meditate on [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]].
</poem>
|''Bhiksuka Upanishad'' 5{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=236–237}}<ref name=knaiyar132/>{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|pp=763, 766}}}}

The ''Paramhamsa'' monks, who are loners, are to be found in deserted houses, in temples, straw huts, on ant hills, sitting under a tree, on sand beds near rivers, in mountain caves, near waterfalls, in hollows inside trees, or in wide open fields.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=236–237}} The Upanishad states that these loners have advanced far in their path of reaching [[Brahman]] – they are pure in mind, they are the ''Paramahamsas''.<ref name=sanskritbhikshu/><ref name=knaiyar132133/>{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|p=237}}

==Influence==
The classification of mendicants in the ''Bhikshuka Upanishad'', their moderate eating habits and their simple lifestyles, is found in many Indian texts such as the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' sections 1.7.86–87 and 13.129.<ref>J. A. B. van Buitenen (1980), ''The Mahabharata'', Volume 1, Book 1, University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|978-0-226-84663-7}}, pp. 195, 204–207</ref>{{Sfn|Deussen| Bedekar | Palsule |1997|p=763,<br>Sanskrit: चतुर्विधा भिक्षवस ते कुटी चर कृतॊदकः<br>हंसः परमहंसश च यॊ यः पश्चात स उत्तमः – [[Anushasana Parva]] 13.129.29, Mahabharata}}

[[Gananath Obeyesekere]], an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the Princeton University, states that the beliefs championed and attributed in ''Bhikshuka Upanishad'' are traceable to Vedic literature such as ''Jaiminiya [[Brahmana]]''.<ref name=gananath99/> These views are also found in other Upanishads such as the ''Narada-parivrajakopanishad'' and ''Brhat-Sannyasa Upanishad''.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp=98–100}}<ref name=gananath99/> In all these texts, the renouncer is accepted to be one who, in pursuit of spirituality, was "no longer part of the social world and is indifferent to its mores".<ref name=gananath99/>

A test or marker of this state of existence is where "right and wrong", socially popular "truths or untruths", everyday morality, and whatever is happening in the world makes no difference to the monk, where after abandoning the "truths and untruths, one abandons that by which one abandons". The individual is entirely driven by his soul, which he sees to be the Brahman.<ref name=gananath99>Gananath Obeyesekere (2005), ''Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study'', Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-2609-0}}, pp. 99–102</ref><ref>Oliver Freiberger (2009), ''Der Askesediskurs in der Religionsgeschichte'', Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-05869-8}}, p. 124 with footnote 136, 101–104 with footnote 6 (in German)</ref>

==See also==
*[[Asceticism]]
*[[Jabala Upanishad]]
*[[Paramahamsa Upanishad]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last1= Deussen |first1=Paul |last2= Bedekar |first2=V.M. (tr.)|last3= Palsule|first3=G.B. (tr.)|title=Sixty Upanishads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYepeIGUY0gC|date=1997|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1467-7}}
*{{cite book|last= Knapp |first=Stephen |title=The Heart of Hinduism: The Eastern Path to Freedom, Empowerment, and Illumination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2KPChj7lTwC&pg=PA476|date=2005|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-35075-9}}
*{{cite book|last= Olivelle |first=Patrick |date=1992 |title=The Samnyasa Upanisads |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507045-3 }}
*{{cite book|last= Parmeshwaranand |first=Swami |title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mgwzp6-HTTIC&pg=PA67|date=2000|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-148-8}}
*{{cite book|last= Tinoco |first=Carlos Alberto |title=Upanishads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xoNEM63hZEC&pg=PA87|date=1997|publisher=IBRASA|isbn=978-85-348-0040-2}}

{{Hindudharma}}
{{Mukhya Upanishads}}

[[Category:Upanishads]]

Bhikshuka Upanishad - Revision history

Aksdw at 07:32, 8 August 2025