Chandogya

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A prominent text from ancient Indian philosophy that expounds the principles of the Upanishads and explores concepts such as the nature of reality
2. An important scripture within the Vedic tradition, focusing on meditation and knowledge of the self and ultimate truth
3. A key philosophical work that delves into the relationship between the individual self and the universal consciousness, influencing Hindu thought

Etymology: The Chandogya is one of the oldest of the Upanishads, the philosophical texts that form the concluding portion of the Vedas, the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of Hinduism. Its name comes from the "Chandogas," a community of Vedic reciters associated with the Sama Veda, and the title is traditionally read as "belonging to the Chandogas" or "the Chandoga [recension]." The text is generally dated to roughly the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, though exact dating is debated among scholars, and it was composed and passed down orally long before it was written. Its most famous passage is the teaching of Uddalaka Aruni to his son Svetaketu, which repeats the phrase "tat tvam asi," usually translated as "that thou art." Through a series of examples, such as a fig seed that holds an invisible tree and salt dissolved in water, the father argues that the essence of the world (brahman) and the innermost self (atman) are identical. This identity became a central claim of the Vedanta schools, which later built much of their philosophy on it.