Uddālaka
Uddālaka
Uddālaka appears in four texts. In the Mahābhārata (Vana Parva) he is a great Vedic teacher, the teacher and grandfather of Ashṭāvakra and the father of Śvetaketu. In the Chāndogya Upanishad he is the teacher who instructs Śvetaketu in the nature of Brahman with the words tat tvam asi. In the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhagavān Vishṇu trusts him with the care of the devī Alakshmī. In the Vāmana Purāṇa, the river Sarasvatī comes to Uttara Kośala at his dhyāna (meditation), as Manoharā.
In the Mahābhārata
Uddālaka was one of the great Vedic scholars of his time and was known for his command of the deepest teachings. In the Vana Parva (Chapters 132–134) he appears in two roles. He is a teacher who had trained the best scholars of the day. He is also the grandfather and guardian of Ashṭāvakra.
His disciple Kahoḍa studied under him with great devotion and later married Uddālaka’s daughter. Kahoḍa’s wife, the mother of Ashṭāvakra, was Uddālaka’s own child. Kahoḍa went to the court of King Janaka to seek support. The scholar Vandi defeated him in debate there, and by the custom of the court he was put into the ocean. He was drowned. Uddālaka then raised Ashṭāvakra in his āśrama and kept from the boy the truth about his father’s fate.
When Ashṭāvakra was twelve years old, he learned the truth. He set out at once for Janaka’s court, defeated Vandi and brought his father back from the ocean.
In the Chāndogya Upanishad
In the sixth Prapāṭhaka of the Chāndogya Upanishad, Uddālaka Āruṇi teaches his son Śvetaketu about the nature of the Self. He does so through a series of examples that end in tat tvam asi, “that you are”. This is one of the four Mahāvākyas (great sayings) of Advaita Vedānta. This teaching gives Uddālaka a lasting place in the tradition of Vedānta teaching.
In the Padma Mahā Purāṇa
Bhagavān Vishṇu wished to marry Lakshmī. Lakshmī had set a condition that her elder sister should be given a home. Her elder sister is the devī Alakshmī, also called Jyeshṭhā. Bhagavān Vishṇu accepted the condition and chose Uddālaka, a brāhmaṇa ṛshi, to be her keeper. Uddālaka accepted this unusual charge and took Alakshmī to his hermitage.
Alakshmī is the devī of what is aśubha (inauspicious). She could not bear the hermitage of a devoted brāhmaṇa ṛshi. It was full of the recitation of the Veda, the smoke of the yajña fire, the silence of deep tapas (austerity) and the pure air of mantra. Uddālaka could find no suitable place for her within his āśrama.
He brought her to an Aśvattha tree, the sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa), and left her there. Then he went back to his hermitage without her. Bhagavān Vishṇu saw Alakshmī’s distress and set her in the Aśvattha for good.
In the Vāmana Purāṇa
The Saro Māhātmya of the Vāmana Purāṇa tells how the river Sarasvatī came in seven forms to Kurukshetra. The fourth of them came through Uddālaka. When the muni Uddālaka meditated on her, the Sarasvatī came to the holy land of Uttara Kośala, served by devarshis. There a gathering of munis wearing bark and deer-skin worshipped that excellent river. That river, which takes away every pāpa, was called Manoharā. Later, accepting the prayer of Maṅkaṇa Maharshi, and out of regard for the ṛshis, she came to Kurukshetra (Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 16).
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 132–134
- Chāndogya Upanishad, 6th Prapāṭhaka
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 116
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 16