आत्मन्
Ātman
The self
In brief
The innermost self that stays the same through all change: the essential core behind body, roles and thoughts.
Source
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and others
Wiki · yoga knowledge
Upanishads
The wisdom texts of yoga
The Upanishads (upaniṣad · उपनिषद्) are the wisdom texts at the close of the Vedas. Once passed on in trusted conversation from teacher to student, they ask after the self and after the ground of the world, and so lay a foundation of yoga. On this page you can get to know what the word means and where the texts come from, along with four central ideas.
What it means
At the teacher's feet
The Sanskrit word upaniṣad (उपनिषद्) joins upa (“near”), ni (“down”) and the root sad (“to sit”). Literally, an Upanishad is therefore the sitting down close to the teacher: knowledge passed on in trusted conversation.
Because this teaching was not public, the Upanishads also count as a confidential teaching. Rather than ritual and sacrifice, they are about the great questions: Who am I? What carries the world? What remains when everything changes? Questions we still follow today: on the mat as much as in coaching.
For yoga, the Upanishads are a wellspring: out of them speak the self (atman) and the ground of the world (brahman), the early knowledge of prana and the syllable Om.
Upanishad“Sitting down near”: teaching in the trusted circle around the teacher.
Veda“Knowledge”: the oldest sacred texts of India. The Upanishads form their close.
Vedanta“End of the Veda”: the school of thought that grew out of the Upanishads. To the ideas →
The source
The close of the Vedas
The Upanishads grew over centuries. The oldest among them, Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya, reach back to roughly the 8th to 6th century BCE. Well over a hundred texts have come down to us, traditionally counted as 108, and about a dozen count as principal Upanishads. Because they form the close of the Vedas, their teaching is called Vedanta, “end of the Veda”. From there their knowledge works on into yoga, as far as the Yoga Sutra and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
Vedas · Brihadaranyaka · Chandogya · 8th to 6th century BCE
Core ideas
Four central ideas
Out of the conversations of the Upanishads rise ideas that carry yoga to this day. Four of them will meet you again and again:
ब्रह्मन्
Brahman
The ground of the world
In brief
The one out of which everything arises and in which everything rests: the ground of the world.
Source
Chandogya and Taittiriya Upanishad and others
तत्त्वमसि
Tat tvam asi
“That art thou”
In brief
The famous teaching: atman and brahman are one. Your essential core and the ground of the world are not separate.
Source
Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 6
ॐ
Om
The sacred syllable
In brief
The syllable at the beginning and the end of a recitation. Its sounds stand for waking, dream and deep sleep, held by the silence behind them.
Source
Mandukya Upanishad
In practice
From wisdom into practice
The Upanishads are no grey theory. Four of their traces will meet you with us again and again:
- The Katha Upanishad describes yoga as the calm holding of the senses. That is exactly what you practise in meditation: attention travels from the outside inward.
- The Prashna Upanishad unfolds the teaching of prana, the life energy with its five currents. With every conscious breath it becomes tangible.
- The Mandukya Upanishad reads the syllable Om. When we sing mantras and kirtans together, that image still resounds today.
- The great questions of the Upanishads will meet you beyond the mat as well. In coaching you get room and company to follow them in your own life: Who am I? What carries me? Where do I want to go?
You can read more about the breath of life in the article Prana, we sing Om at Mantras & kirtans, and the great questions are what our coaching is devoted to.
Tat tvam asi. That art thou.
Related topics
Going deeper
Wiki · yoga knowledgePranaThe life energy the Upanishads already speak of, with its five currents.Wiki · yoga knowledgePranayamaGuiding the breath in yoga: observing, leading and widening it.Singing & soundMantras & kirtansSinging Om and mantras together, carried by guitar and harmonium.CompanyCoachingRoom for the great questions of your life: finding clarity and taking the next steps.
Would you like to experience this wisdom alive?
In our courses and in singing together, stillness, breath and sound come together; in coaching you follow the great questions in your life. That is how reading becomes experiencing.