Garuḍa Upanisad

By Swami Harshananda

Gāruḍa Upaniṣad is a minor Upaniṣad originating from the Atharvaveda. Its main purpose is to attain freedom from the fear of all the poisonous creatures. The science taught here is called ‘gāruḍa-brahmavidyā’ and is believed to have originated from the four-faced Brahmā. The other important teachers of this Upaniṣad are Nārada, Brhatsena, Indra and Bharadvāja. It comprises of 25 mantras which are mostly in prose.

Contents

• Mantras 2 to 4 give the usual preliminaries that include:
  • Ṛṣi - sage
  • Chanda - meter
  • Devatā - deity
  • Viniyoga - usage
  • Nyāsa - purification processes of hands and limbs
• Dhyāna or meditation on Garuḍa or Garutmān is emphasized in a long passage comprising seven verses in the śloka meter. It contains a picturesque description of Garuḍa who has the famous serpents as his ornaments all over his body. These serpents are:

1. Ananta
2. Vāsuki
3. Takṣaka
4. Kārkoṭaka

• Several mālā- mantras are described in detail with the main purport of the destruction (or prayers for destruction) of various kinds of poisons
• The Upaniṣad ends with a phalaśruti, a statement of the favorable results got by the chanting or listening to it

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia, Deval Sancheti

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