Upanishad

Upanishad

The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...

 is an Upanishad, associated with the Atharvaveda

Atharvaveda

The Atharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda"....

. It figures in the Muktika

Muktika

The Muktikā refers to the canon of 108 upaniṣadas of the Advaita school enumerated in the Muktikopaniṣad, the 108th of which is the Muktikopaniṣad itself...

 canon of 108 Upanishads (as number 95).

Origins

As with most of the late Upanishads, the Gopāla-tāpanī is said to be attached to the Atharva-veda.
In the Muktikā, the distribution of the Upanishads between the Ṛg, Śukla-yajus, Kṛṣṇa-yajus, Sāma and Atharvan is rather complicated. Nevertheless, all four Tāpinī Upanishads (Nṛsiṁha, Rāma, Tripurā and Gopāla) are also listed there as belonging to the Atharvaveda

Atharvaveda

The Atharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda"....

.

Of the 108 Upanishads commented on by Upanishad Brahmayogin

Upanishad Brahmayogin

Upanishad Brahmayogin is the cognomen of Rāmachandrendra Sarasvati , a sannyasin and Advaitin scholar of the upanishads. He is credited with having written commentaries on all 108 upanishads of the Muktika canon. His works have been translated and published by the Adyar Library.He was born...

, eight are Śākta, fifteen Śaiva, and fourteen Vaiṣṇava. The Vaishnava Upanishads are . Although the appears to be one of the earliest of the Vaishnava Upanishads, neither it nor any of the others has achieved the kind of special status amongst later Vaiṣṇava schools that the Gopāla-tāpanī has.

Dating the tāpanīya Upanishads

There are many problems in trying to date the Gopāla-tāpanī, as none of the reference points that we have are very solid. The Muktikopaniṣad, which lists Gopāla-tāpanī as one of the 108 Upanishads, is itself undated and is thus not of much help. The Gaudiya Vaishnavas also quote the Gautamīya-tantra at the beginning of the Gopāla-tāpanī in order to establish that this Upanishad is śruteḥ śiraḥ, the topmost text of the Shruti literature, a view that can be disputed. The quote does indeed seem to be a reference to Gopāla-tāpanī, but unfortunately we have no firm dates for the Gautamīya-tantra, so this too is of little help. An early book by Keśava Bhaṭṭa - Krama-dīpikā may or may not have borrowed elements from Gopāla-tāpanī, but it is more likely that they have a common source as Keśava does not quote or refer to Gopāla-tāpanī anywhere. Gopāla-tāpanī, Gautamīya-tantra and Krama-dīpikā all show the influence of a Kṛṣṇa-centred

Svayam Bhagavan

Svayam Bhagavan , "The Lord" or Lord Himself, is a Sanskrit theological term. The term refers to the concept of absolute representation of the monotheistic God as Bhagavan within Hinduism....

 Pancharatra

Pancharatra

Pancharātra is a Sanskrit drama written by Bhasa. The plot is based on the Hindu epic Mahabharata....

 or according to others Bhagavata

Bhagavata

Bhagavata signifies in the context of Hinduism. In this context bhakti has the primary meaning of 'adoration', while Bhagavat means 'the Adorable One', and Bhagavata is a worshiper of the Adorable One...

 tradition, which may also have produced the Nārada-pañcarātra.

The first of the Tāpanīya Upanishads is believed to be the Nṛsiṁha, which served as the model for the others which took this name. The has a commentary attributed to either Gauḍapada

Gaudapada

Gaudapada was a very early guru in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy...

 or Śaṅkara

Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...

. Other than these, the earliest reference to this work is the 14th c. Madhva

Madhwas

The Madhwa are one community of Brahmins of India, whose members follow the doctrine of Dvaita or Dualism as codified by Madhwa Acharya ....

 scholar Vidyāraṇya's Anubhūti-prakāśa, in which there is a chapter on the Nṛsiṁha Uttara-tāpanī Upanishad. It is thus concluded that Nṛsiṁha-tāpanī Upanishad must at least be older than the 14th c. Since there are no earlier references to the work, however, it is not likely that it is much older. Taking all these things into consideration, the earliest possible date for Gopāla-tāpanī would appear to be somewhere in the 13th or 14th c. This concords with the opinions of other scholars.

The meaning of the series name

The Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 word tāpanīya in the context of these Upanishads is not clear. The word is found in four different forms: Tāpanī is the most common form used in titles and references, but this appears to be an abbreviated form of the more correct tāpanīya, which appears in the texts themselves.
According to Monier-Williams verdict we should assume tāpanīya ("gold") to be the name of a school of the Vājaseyani Saṁhitā that produced the four Upanishads bearing this name.
This assumes that they come from a common source something disputed by others, who believe that the three other works were written on the model of the as a result of the success enjoyed by that work in bringing legitimation a particular ancient tradition containing Nṛsiṁha mantra

Mantra

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...

.
Deussen reads tapanīya, which means "that which must be heated" or "gold". It also has the meaning of "self-mortification".

The process of self-purification is often compared to smelting gold, which is heated repeatedly in fire to remove any impurities. Deussen thus explains the term is as follows: "Tapanam (austerity) is burning pain-suffering or ascetic self-sacrifice; Nṛsiṁha-tapanam thus means ascetic self-surrender to Nṛsiṁha. Therefore Nṛsiṁha-tapanīya Upanishad

Upanishad

The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...

is "the esoteric doctrine concerning the ascetic surrender to Nṛsiṁha."

Editions and early commentaries

• Prabodhānanda Sarasvati

• Kusuma Sarovaravala Kṛṣṇadāsa’s edition (Kusuma Sarovarawala is only used for commenting on the text of the Upanishaad itself)

• Kuśakratha dāsa’s English translation

• Jīva Goswami commentary

• Viśvanātha Cakravarti commentary

• Siddhāntī Mahārāja edition and comments

• B.V. Tripurari edition and comments

Also found quoted

Verses as reference: used in Krishna sandarbha by Jiva Goswami

Jiva Goswami

Jiva Goswami is one of the most prolific and important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines...

Verses as reference: used in Hari Bhakti vilasa by Gopala Bhatta Goswami

Gopala Bhatta Goswami

Gopala Bhatta Goswami is one of the foremost disciples of the Vaishnava saint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and a leading historical figure in the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism...

Concordance of different editions and commentaries

Pūrva

Tripurari	Vishvanatha Cakravarti	Prabodhānanda Sarasvati	Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami is one of the most prolific and important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines...  commentary	Kuśakratha dāsa's English translation	Kṛṣṇa Sandarbhua by Jiva Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami is one of the most prolific and important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines...	Hari Bhakti Vilasa by GBG Gopala Bhatta Goswami Gopala Bhatta Goswami is one of the foremost disciples of the Vaishnava saint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and a leading historical figure in the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism...
1	1	1	1	1
2	2	2	2	2	82	1.160
3	3-6	3	3-6	3	82	1.160
4	7	4	7	4		1.160
5	8-9	5	8-9	5		1.160
6	10	6	10	6		1.160
7	11	7	11	7		1.160
8	12	8	12	8	187	1.160
9	12	9	13	9
10	12	10	14	9
11	12	11	15	10	153
12	13	12-14	16	11-12	153
13	14	15	17	13	153
14	15	16	18	14		1.161
15	16-17	17	19	15		1.161
16	18	18	20	16		1.162
17	19	19	21	17
18	20	20-22	22	18-19
19	21	23	23	20		1.163
20	22	24	24	21		1.164
21	23	25	25	22		1.165
22	24	26	26	23	64	1.166
23	25	27	27	24		1.167
24	26	28	28	25	106	1.168
25	26-27	29-32	29	26-28	64	1.169
26	28	33-36	30	29-30	83	1.169
27	29	37-38	31	31		1.172
28	30	39-40	32	32-33		1.172
29	31	41-42	33	34	93
30	32	43	34	35		1.173
31	33	44	35	36		1.174
32	34	45	36	37		1.175
33	35	46	37	38		1.176
34	36	47	38	39
35	37	48	39	40
36	38	49	40	41
37	39	50	41	42	99,106,153
38	40	51	42	43
39	41	52	43	44
40	42	53	44	45
41	43	54	45	46
42	44	55	46	47
43	45	56	47	48
44	46	57	48	49
45	47	58	49	50
46	48	59	50	51
47	49	60	51	52-53		1.177
48	50	61	52	54	82	1.178

'Uttara

Tripurari	Vishvanatha Cakravarti	Prabodhānanda Sarasvati	Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami is one of the most prolific and important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines...	Kuśakratha dāsa's English translation	Kṛṣṇa Sandarbhua by Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami Jiva Goswami is one of the most prolific and important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines...
1	1	1	1	1
2	1	2	2	2-3
3	2	3	2	4
4	3	4	3	5
5	4	5	4	6
6	4	6	4	7
7	5	7	5	8
8	6-7	8-9	6-7	9
9	7	10	7	10
10	8	11-12	8	11
11	9	13	9	12
12	10	14	10	13
13	11	15	11	14	177
14	12-13	16	12	15
15	13	17	13	16-19
16	14-15	18	14-15	20
17	16	19	16	21
18	17	20	17	22
19	18-20	21-24	18-20	23
20	21	25	21	24
21	22	26	22	25-26
22	23	27	23	27
23	24	28-31	24	28	99
24	25-27	32-35	25-27	29-32
25	28	36	28	33-34
26	29	37-38	29	35-36	106
27	30	39-40	30	37-38	106, 177
28	31	41	31	39-40	106
29	32	42-43	32	40
30	33	44	33	41	172
31	34	45	34	42	106
32	35-36	46-47	35-36	43-45	106
33	37	48	37	46
34	38	49	38	47
35	39	50	39	48a	106
36	40	50	40	48b	106
37	41	51	41	49a
38	42	52	42	49b
39	43	53	43	50
40	44	53-58	44	51-53	87,153
41	45	59	45	54
42	46	60	46	55
43	47	61	47	56
44	48	62-63	48	57-58
45	49	64	49	59
46	50	65	50	60
47	51	66	51	61
48	52	67-68	52	62
49	53	69	53	63
50	54a	70	54	64
51	54b	71-73	55	65
52	54c	73	56	66
53	54d	74	57	67
54	55	75	58	68
55	56	76	59	69
56	57	77	60	70
57	58	78-79	60-61	71-72
58	59	79	61	73-74	106
59	60	80a	62	75	106
60	61	80b	63	76	106
61	62	80c	64	77
62	63	80d	65	78
63	64	81	66	79
64	65	82	67	80
65	66	83	68	81
66	67	84	69	82	82
67	68	85	70	83
68	69	86	71	84
69	70	87	72	85
70	71	88	73	86-87
71	72	89	74	88-89
72	73	90	75	90
73	74	91	76	91
74	75	92	77	92
75	76	93-94	78	92-93
76	77	95-96	79	94
77	78	97-98	80	95
78	79	98-99	81	96-97
79	80	100	82	98
80	81	101	83	99
81	82	102	84	100
82	83	103	85	101
83	84	104	86	102
84	85	105	87	103
85	86	106	88	104
86	87	107	89	105
87	88	108	90	106
88	89	109	91	107
89	90	110	92	108
90	91	111	93	109
91	92	112	94	110
92	93	113	95	111
93	94	114	96	112
94	95	115	97	113
95	96	116	98	114
96	97	117	99	115
97	98	118	100	116
98	99	119	101	117
99	100	120	102	118

Excerpts

eko 'pi san bahudhā yo 'vabhāti. Although the Lord is one, He is present in innumerable hearts as many. 1.15

eko vaśī sarva-gaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. In that abode there is only one Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose name is Kṛṣṇa.1.21

tam ekaṁ govindam: "You are Govinda, the pleasure of the senses and the cows." sac-cid-ānanda-vigraham: "And Your form is transcendental, full of knowledge, bliss and eternality."1.35

yo brahmāṇaṁ vidadhāti pūrvaṁ yo vai vedāṁś ca gāpayati sma kṛṣṇaḥ: "It was Kṛṣṇa who in the beginning instructed Brahmā in Vedic knowledge and who disseminated Vedic knowledge in the past." 1.24

kṛṣṇo vai paramaṁ daivatam: "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." 1.3

External links

• Gopala-tapani Upanisad (full text)

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