Śvetaketu
Śvetaketu, simply known as Shvetaketu, Sanskrit: श्वेतकेतु, Telugu: శ్వేతకేతువు, Hindi: श्वेतकेतु.
Śvetaketu was the son of Uddālaka and the uncle of Ashṭāvakra. He is known in two places. In the Mahābhārata he goes with the young Ashṭāvakra to the court of King Janaka. In the Chāndogya Upanishad he is the student to whom his father gives the great teaching that ends in “tat tvam asi”.
In the Mahābhārata
In the Vana Parva (Chapter 133), Śvetaketu goes with the young Ashṭāvakra on his journey to the court of King Janaka in Videha. The two travelled together from the āśrama of Uddālaka to Janaka’s court in Mithilā. Ashṭāvakra went there to challenge the scholar Vandi, who had defeated Ashṭāvakra’s father Kahoḍa and had him drowned. In this account Śvetaketu is the companion of Ashṭāvakra, and not the main actor.
In the Chāndogya Upanishad
In the sixth chapter of the Chāndogya Upanishad, Śvetaketu is the main student. He goes away to study the Vedas. He comes back proud of his learning. His father Uddālaka then shows him that he does not yet know the one thing, by knowing which everything is known.
Uddālaka teaches him through one example after another: salt dissolved in water, the seed inside the fruit, and the rivers flowing into the ocean. The teaching leads to the words tat tvam asi, “thou art that”. It means that the individual ātmā (self) is one with Brahman. This is one of the four Mahāvākyas, the great sayings of the Upanishads. Because Śvetaketu received the teaching so openly, he has a lasting place in the tradition of Vedānta.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 133
- Chāndogya Upanishad, sixth chapter