Yajur Veda · Krishna Yajurveda — Samanya Vedanta group · 23 mantras
Sarvasara Upanishad
Sarvasāropaniṣad
Central theme: A compact glossary of every essential Vedantic term arranged as a direct inquiry into the Self
The Sarvasara Upanishad, literally the Upanishad of the Essence of All, is a short but uniquely structured text of the Krishna Yajurveda that functions as a teaching dictionary of the central terms of Advaita Vedanta. It proceeds by question and answer, asking in turn what is meant by bondage, what is meant by liberation, what is avidya, what is vidya, what are the four states of consciousness, what is the kshetra and what is the kshetrajna, what is maya, what is jiva, what is paramatma, and what is the witness, and it answers each with a precise philosophical definition drawn from the larger Upanishadic corpus. The text is widely studied as a beginner's compendium because it crystallises in a few lines what the longer Upanishads such as the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya elaborate across hundreds of mantras, yet it is equally cherished by advanced practitioners for the discipline of its definitions. It enumerates the panchakoshas, the three bodies, the three gunas, the avasthatraya of waking dream and deep sleep, and the turiya that transcends them, and it weaves them into a single coherent map of the seeker's inner geography. The text concludes by identifying the Self with the indivisible Brahman and declaring that one who has grasped these essences has in effect grasped the whole of Vedanta, requiring no further scripture for liberation but only the direct contemplation of what has been heard.
Sarvasara Upanishad 1
देहाद्यहम्बुद्धिर्बन्ध इत्युच्यते। तन्निवृत्तिर्मोक्ष इति॥
dehādy-aham-buddhir bandha ity ucyate, tan-nivṛttir mokṣa iti
Bondage is the conviction that I am the body and its kindred forms; the cessation of that conviction is itself called liberation.
Liberation is not a distant attainment but the simple dropping of the mistaken identification with body and mind.