Mudgala Upanishad

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The Mudgala Upanisad is structured into four chapters.^[15] The first part opens with nine slokas which references and presents the Purusasukta from the Rigveda chapter 10.90, stating it to be the foundation of Vaishnavism and asserting that Vishnu is the Purusha, or primordial person.^[4] The second part of the text is structured in prose form, presenting it as a discourse from Vasudeva (Vishnu) to Indra who represents the inhabitants of the universe seeking moksha (liberation).^[16] The teachings in the text, states Gonda, resonate with the main tenets found in the Hindu epics and post-epic, especially pancharatra literature.^[4]

The text opens with the Purusha Sukta found in Rig veda hymn 10.90, but just the first nine of the sixteen verses that are found in the modern surviving version of Rigveda manuscript.^[1] The Purusha is identified to be Vishnu (Narayana, Hari).^[19] The Adi-purusha, primordial cosmic reality, is identified by the text as nothing but Brahman, who is asserted to be Vishnu, then declared as the cause of All.^[1][9] Vishnu's soul is the primordial sacrifice that becomes the unchanging and the evolving reality, according to the text.^[1]

The first two verses of chapter 1 of the Mudgala Upanishad assert Vishnu to be omnipresent in space and time.^[20] The text thereafter asserts that Vishnu (Hari) to be the grantor of liberation, from whom all of Prakriti and Purusha were born.^[1][9] Vishnu, states the text using the words of the Purusha sukta, sacrificed himself and thus became Brahman and Atman (individual soul).^[5] Thus arose the world of living beings, asserts the text.^[1]

Chapter 2 opens as a discourse of Vasudeva to Indra, wherein Vasudeva teaches Bhagavatism.^[15] Purusha Narayana is asserted by the text to be "what has been, what is, and what will be", who divided himself into four, wherein the first three remained in the heavens, and the last fourth became all of living beings include humanity, as well as non-living nature.^[15][21] He, that is Vishnu, is the soul within each living being (jiva), identical everywhere and with the universal soul (atman).^[15][21]

Chapter 3 asserts that everything is manifestation of Vishnu, from Asuras to Gandharvas, from men to gods, and regardless of how one worships him, they become him. One must seek, states the text, to realize through meditation the identity of his own I (aham iti) with Brahman.^[15][21]

The Upanishad in chapter 4 discusses virtues in the context of self-knowledge, and asserts that the six inner enemies of man are anger, covetousness, infatuation, conceit, desire and jealousy.^[22][18] The six waves of inner reminder are hunger, thirst, sorrow, craving, old age and dying, while the six embarrassments, states the text, are race, family, social class (varna), stage in life (ashrama) and favorable circumstances.^[22][18] One overcomes these with Yoga, asserts the text, and by meditating on one's soul, and realizing it being one with Vishnu.^[1][5]

• Atma Upanishad
• Maha Upanishad
• Nirvana Upanishad
• Sarvasara Upanishad

• Deussen, Paul (1997). Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 978-8120814677.
• Jan Gonda (1975). Selected Studies: Indo-European linguistics. Brill. ISBN 978-9004042285.
• Gonda, Jan (1968). "Mudgalopanisad". Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies. 12–13.
• Hattangadi, Sunder (2000). "मुद्गलोपनिषत् उपनिषत् Mudgala Upanishad)" (PDF) (in Sanskrit). Retrieved 16 February 2016.
• Jamison, Stephanie; et al. (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199370184.
• Mahadevan, T. M. P. (1975). Upaniṣads: Selections from 108 Upaniṣads. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-1611-4.
• Parmeshwaranand, Swami (2000), Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads, Sarup & Sons, ISBN 978-81-7625-148-8
• Tinoco, Carlos Alberto (1996). Upanishads. IBRASA. ISBN 978-85-348-0040-2.
• Witz, Klaus (1998). The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-8120815735.