The History of Indian Literature c8.473.5

c8.473.5

There is, for the rest, a considerable difference between this Upanishad¹⁷⁷ and the Muṇḍaka and Praśna; it belongs more to the Yoga-Upanishads properly so called. It consists of two sections: the first, which is in prose, treats, in the first place, of the majesty of Átman; and later on, in its last portion, it alleges Brahman, Vishṇu, Rudra, and Akshara to be the four *pádas* (feet) of the *nirváṇam brahma*; the first eleven of the nineteen verses of the second section discuss the subject of the Yogin being allowed to lay aside his *yajnopavíta*, or sacred thread, as he stands in the most intimate relation to the *sútra*, or mundane thread; the whole therefore amounts to a mere play upon words. The last eight verses are borrowed from the Śvetáśvataropanishad, Muṇḍakopanishad, and similar Upanishads, and again describe the majesty of the One.—The *Máṇḍúkyopanishad* (25–28) is reckoned as consisting of four Upanishads, but only the prose portion of the first of these, which treats of the three and a half *mátrás* of the word *om*, is to be looked upon as the real Máṇḍúkyopanishad, all the rest is the work of Gauḍapáda,∗ whose pupil Govinda was the teacher of Śaṃkara; it dates therefore from about the seventh century A.D. Similarly, there are two works by Śaṃkara himself specified among the Upanishads, viz., the *Áptavajrasúchí* (29), in prose, and the *Tripurí* (30), likewise in prose; both composed in a Vedánta sense.