[Advaita-l] About the Brihadaranyaka

[sidha at omkarananda-ashram.org]

Dear Venkat and Ravi,
The case of Brihadaranyaka is very confusing. The Shatapatha Brahmana of
the Kanva Shakha has 14 Kandas. The last Kanda (the 14th one) is called
"Upanishat Kaanda", having 8 chapters. The real Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
starts from the second chapter of the 14th Kanda. The first two chapters
deal with "pravargya" and therefore haven't been commented upon by Shri
Shankara Bhagavatpada. So, the Upanishad is within the Brahmana, and the
Aranyaka is within the Upanishad.
But the Shatapatha Brahmana of the Madhyandina Samhita is a bit different,
which also has 14 Kandas. Here also the 14th Kanda is called "Upanishat
Kanda", but in this Shakha the 14th Kanda has 9 chapters. Here the real
Upnishad starts from the 3rd chapter, which is only titled as
"Brihadaranyakam".
Love,
Siddhartha