Uddalaka Aruni
Topic: The Vedic Age · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 7 "India's Cultural Roots"
Meaning
Uddālaka Āruṇi was a sage of the Upanishadic period. He appears in the Chhāndogya Upaniṣhad. He is remembered as a teacher who explained hard ideas through simple, everyday examples. His teaching was that one subtle, invisible essence, brahman, lies inside all things, and that each person's self is one with it.
Example
His son Śhvetaketu came home proud after twelve years of study with a teacher. Uddālaka asked him to break open a banyan seed. The seed looked empty, yet a whole banyan tree grows from it. In the same way, the unseen brahman fills everything. He told his son: "You are That, Śhvetaketu."
Don't confuse with
- Yājñavalkya: He is another Upanishadic sage. He is known for the debates at King Janaka's court and for Gārgī's questions in the Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upaniṣhad, not for the banyan-seed lesson.
- Śhvetaketu: He is the son and pupil who receives the teaching, not the teacher.
Related concepts
- Upanishads
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
- Chandogya Upanishad
- Tat tvam asi
- Katha Upanishad
- Nachiketa
- Mundaka Upanishad
- Satyameva Jayate
- Atman
- Brahman