Kundika Upanishad

Template:Italic title Template:Infobox Upanishad The Kundika Upanishad (Template:Langx, IAST: Kuṇḍikā Upaniṣad), also known as Kundikopanishad, is an ancient text and a minor Upanishad of Hinduism. It is one of the 19 Sannyasa Upanishads,Template:Sfn and is one of the 16 Upanishads attached to the Sama Veda.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The text is titled Kundika in surviving Telugu language versions, and notably large parts of it are identical to the Laghu-Sannyasa Upanishad versions found in some parts of India.

The Kundika and Laghu-Sannyasa Upanishads discuss when and how someone may renounce, and the answers it gives are different from those found in other Upanishads such as the Jabala Upanishad.Template:Sfn The text dedicates most of its verses to the lifestyle of the renouncer, and its broad theme centers around renunciation or spiritual enlightenment.Template:Sfn The text mentions ancient cultural and religious Hindu traditions.Template:Sfn^[1] It describes renunciation as a stage of life where a man lives like a monk yogi, sleeps on sand and near temples, remain calm and kind no matter what others do to him, while pondering on Vedanta and meditating on Brahman through Om.Template:Sfn A renouncer, states the Kundika Upanishad, should seek to realize the identity of his soul with the universal soul.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Etymology

Kundika means "water holder"Template:Sfn or "student's water-pot."^[2]

Dating and versions

The text is titled Kundika in surviving Telugu language versions, and notably large parts of it are identical to the Laghu-Sannyasa Upanishad versions found in some parts of India.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The oldest layer of the text was composed before 3rd century CE, likely in the final centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Text was likely added to it over a long period of time, and numerous recensions were created.Template:Sfn The Kundika Upanishad survives in very damaged and corrupted versions,Template:Sfn in Telugu and Sanskrit languages, a few with the title Laghu-Sannyasa Upanishad.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The Upanishad, in one version, has 34 verses in a single chapter.^[3] In other versions, the text has 28 verses,Template:Sfn or 5 to 6 chapters with no verse numbers.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The text is a mix of prose and metered poetry.

In the Telugu anthology of 108 Upanishads of the Muktika canon, narrated by Rama to Hanuman, the Kundika Upanishad is listed at number 75.Template:Sfn

The Kundika and Laghu-Sannyasa Upanishads discuss when and how someone may renounce, and the answers it gives are different from those found in other Upanishads such as the Jabala Upanishad.Template:Sfn The text dedicates most of its verses to the lifestyle of the renouncer, and its broad theme centers around renunciation or spiritual enlightenment.Template:Sfn The text is notable for implying an ancient cultural tradition, that a man should go visit sacred places in his retirement, and take his wife with him.Template:Sfn After the travels, he should proceed to renunciation where he lives like a monk yogi, sleeps on sand and near temples, remain calm and kind no matter what others do to him while pondering on Vedanta and meditating on Brahman through Om.Template:Sfn He should seek to realize the identity of his soul with the universal soul.Template:Sfn

A few manuscript versions of the Upanishad start and end with general invocations, such as of the śānti mantra.Template:Refn Template:Refn

In the first two verses, the Upanishad deals with the Brahmacharya stage, when as a student well-versed in Upanishads, a person graduates to the Grihashthashrama stage of a householder by marrying a suitable girl with the consent of his guru. In the next verses 3 to 6 the Upanishad gives justification for a person to lead the forest dweller or Vanaprastha stage of life. In the remaining 28 verses, starting with discarding the life of forest dweller, the sanyasa stage of life with details on how to renounce and attain self-realization are explained.^[3]Template:Sfn

When can one renounce?

The Kundika Upanishad begins with a preface and notable definition. The first two verses mention a student, who used to take delight in Vedic studies with his Guru (teacher) but becomes tired of student life, leaves with his teacher's permission.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Upanishad defines this ex-student an Ashramin, a definition that is different than the typically understood meaning for Ashramin as someone living in an Ashrama (monastic order).Template:Sfn

This ex-student, states the text, then marries a woman of equal birth, he deposits the fire, performs a Brahma-sacrifice for a day and night. Both Deussen and Olivelle consider this verse as obscure insertion and possibly corrupted, because neither does it fit with style nor does it follow the Sandhi rules of Sanskrit.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

That Ashramin, continues the text, reaches an age when he should retire from leading the household. He should divide his estate among his sons, spend some time in the forest along with his wife.Template:Sfn After this comes renunciation. According to Olivelle, these verses suggest the position recommended by Kundika is that the four life stages are to be sequential, with renunciation being the last stage.Template:Sfn This position is different than the freedom suggested to anyone in any stage of life, that is recommended in Jabala Upanishad.Template:Sfn

The retired, states the text, becomes a hermit and departs from his former routine. He begins wandering in sacred regions, taking his wife with him.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The dress and hygiene on the day of initiation

On the day of initiation, states Kundika Upanishad, after he renounces the fire, he should silently recite the thirty four verses of Atharvaveda section 11.8.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The renouncer from that day stops shaving the armpits and the pubic hair.Template:Sfn He has his face and head shaved, and wears ochre-colored clothing.Template:Sfn

He then leaves.Template:Sfn

He wanders about homeless.Template:Sfn He begs and eats what he receives.Template:Sfn He carries a water strainer. He strains the water before he drinks, in order to save the lives of little creatures that live in water, states the Upanishad.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Renouncer's lifestyle

The third chapter of Upanishad describes the belongings of the renouncer, as follows:Template:Sfn

Template:Quote

The renouncer's lifestyle is of a wanderer. He begs with a split dry gourd.Template:Sfn He sleeps in a temple, or on the sandy banks of a river.Template:Sfn He bathes and cleanses himself. He does not rejoice when others praise him.Template:Sfn He does not curse when others abuse him.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn This way of life marks his inner victory over his senses, in his journey of renunciation.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

There is, states Deussen, likely corruption of the text with "tripod walking stick" wording requirements because it does not follow the precise meter the rest of the poetic verse does and it is not consistent across manuscript editions.Template:Sfn

Meditation and yoga for the renouncer

The Kundika Upanishad asserts in chapter 4, that the Yoga (union) of knowledge occurs in mind, in the mind is perceived space, from space comes wind, from wind comes light, from the light rain the waters, from waters originated the earth, from earth came plants and food, from food is created semen, and from semen originates man.Template:Sfn The one who studies, meditates and understands the origins and causes, realizes the Brahman, that which is ageless, immortal, imperishable, indestructible constant.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In chapter 5, the text recommends yoga and breathing exercises for the renouncer, however states Deussen, the verses of this chapter appear altogether corrupted and damaged.Template:Sfn

The Laghu-Samnyasa Upanishad ends here, while the Kundika Upanishad continues with one additional chapter.Template:Sfn

The state of liberated renouncer

The last chapter of the text is structured entirely as a poem.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn This poem has been influential, fragments of it are referenced and appear in Advaita Vedanta texts such as in verses 495–529 of Vivekachudamani attributed to Adi Shankara.Template:Sfn The poem describes the state of the liberated renouncer, and its author embeds double meanings mapping and resonating with external and internal realities, the physical and psychological states of man.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The renouncer has realized that his inner state is an ocean of total bliss, but one punctuated by waves that rise and fall because of winds of Maya (changing reality, illusion).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He feels that his soul is not limited by his body, just like the sky is not limited by a cloud.Template:Sfn He is like a sky, far beyond the reach of time. He is the sun beyond the light, he is the sea without the shore, he is the hill that never changes, he is the Purusha, he is the Narayana, he is the Lord, he is one with them all.Template:Sfn He is pure consciousness, he is the witness of all, he is free from selfishness or the thought of mine, he has no lord.Template:Sfn

This liberated wise sage, states the Upanishad, feels "all are myself, and I am all", he sees himself alone everywhere, he is blissful, he feels his uniqueness yet transcendence, he does what he wants to do, ever delighting in himself.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Laghu-Sannyasa and Kundika Upanishads overlap

The Laghu-Sannyasa Upanishad attaches an additional chapter before the Kundika Upanishad, and it does not include the last entirely poetic Kundika chapter.Template:Sfn Laghu- means small, and this prefix differentiates it from the main Brihat-Sannyasa Upanishad (Brihat- means "great, big").Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The first extra chapter attached in the Laghu-Sannyasa text is ritual-focused in contrast to the rest. Its opening sentence, states Patrick Olivelle, does not explicitly state that it is meant for a Brahmin but the style makes it clear that the ritual specified is addressed to a Brahmin on a dying bed, but who has recovered his health.Template:Sfn The verses in this extra chapter ask this person, if he resolves to renounce, to first declare his intention to renounce to his friends and family,Template:Refn offer oblations to his ancestors, libation on the morning after new moon, then recite hymns from the Vedas, such as verses from section 4.1.1 of Atharvaveda:Template:Sfn

Template:Quote

Thereafter, the Laghu-Sannyasa text continues to the opening lines of the Kundika Upanishad.Template:Sfn

Notes

↑ June McDaniel (2009), Religious Experience in Hindu Tradition, Religion Compass, Volume 3, Issue 1, pages 99–115
↑ kuNDikA. Spokensanskrit. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Ramanathan

References

Bibliography

The Penguin Guide to Vaastu: The Classical Indian Science of Architecture and Design{{#if:Ananth|, Ananth}. Penguin Books India(1999). ISBN 978-0-14-027863-7
Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide{{#if:Dalal|, Dalal}. Penguin Books India(2010). ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6
Sixty Upanishads of the Veda{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Motilal Banarsidass(1 January 1997). ISBN 978-81-208-1467-7
कुण्डिकोपनिषत् (Kundika Upanishad), Hattangadi, Sunder. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
[{{{url}}} The Heart of Hinduism: The Eastern Path to Freedom, Empowerment and Illumination]. iUniverse.
Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom{{#if:Nair|, Nair}. Pustak Mahal(2008). ISBN 978-81-223-1020-7
The Samnyasa Upanisads{{#if:Olivelle|, Olivelle}. Oxford University Press(1992). ISBN 978-0195070453
The Asrama System{{#if:Olivelle|, Olivelle}. Oxford University Press(1993). ISBN 978-0195083279
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads{{#if:Parmeshwaranand|, Parmeshwaranand}. Sarup & Sons(1 January 2000). ISBN 978-81-7625-148-8
Indian Scriptures{{#if:Prasoon|, Prasoon}. Pustak Mahal(1 January 2008). ISBN 978-81-223-1007-8
Laghu-Samnyasa-Upanisad und Kundika-Upanisad: Versuch einer deutschen Ubersetzung. Asiatische Studien({Template:Year).

Template:Hindudharma Template:Mukhya Upanishads

[1] June McDaniel (2009), Religious Experience in Hindu Tradition, Religion Compass, Volume 3, Issue 1, pages 99–115

[2] uNDikA. Spokensanskrit. Retrieved 8 January 2016.

[Ramanathan-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Ramanathan

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