Yajur Veda · Krishna Yajur Veda (Taittiriya shakha — appended to its Aranyaka) · 113 mantras
Svetasvatara Upanishad
Śvetāśvataropaniṣad
Central theme: The first theistic Upanishad — Rudra-Shiva as the one God hidden in all beings
Mahavakya
एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः
Eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ
“One God hidden in all beings.”
— Svetasvatara 6.11
Named after the sage Svetasvatara ("of the white mule"), this is the earliest Upanishad to openly worship a personal deity — Rudra-Shiva — as the Supreme Brahman. Six adhyayas of 113 mantras synthesise Samkhya cosmology (purusha + prakriti + three gunas), early Yoga (posture, breath, withdrawal), and Vedanta non-duality into a devotional theism. Sources the iconic verses "yo brahmāṇaṁ vidadhāti pūrvam" and "tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaram". Often called the seed-text of bhakti within the shruti canon.
Svetasvatara 6.11
एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा । कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च
Eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ sarva-vyāpī sarva-bhūtāntarātmā, karmādhyakṣaḥ sarva-bhūtādhivāsaḥ sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaśca
One God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the inner Self of all — overseer of all action, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the knower, alone and beyond the gunas.
The impersonal Brahman of the early Upanishads here puts on a face — and that face is Shiva-as-Ishvara, lovable as well as knowable.