Taittiriya Upanishad

One of the major Upanishads; source of the classical definition of brahman as satyam jnanam anantam — reality, consciousness, infinity.

Overview

The Taittiriya Upanishad is one of the ten principal Upanishads and is famous for two things central to Vedantic teaching: the pancha-kosha analysis of the five sheaths (annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya, anandamaya), and the compact metaphysical formula satyam jnanam anantam brahma — “Brahman is reality, consciousness, infinity.”

Swami Sarvapriyananda cites this Taittiriya formula when introducing ananta in Ep 3. The three terms are not three properties; they are three doorways into the same reality: satyam as existence (close to sat), jnanam as awareness, anantam as limitlessness. This compact definition is in the background of 02-16‘s argument — what is real is what does not come and go, what is unlimited, and what is self-aware.

Related

• upanishads — the larger body
• brahman — what the Taittiriya formula defines
• ananta — one-third of the formula, developed at length
• sat-chit-ananda — the three-part expansion of the formula
• prasthanatraya — the Taittiriya is part of the Upanishad prasthana

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 3 [~40:00]: Swami cites the Taittiriya definition satyam jnanam anantam brahma while developing the technical meaning of ananta.