Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in the context of "Muktikā"

The Mahāvākyas (sing.: mahāvākyam, महावाक्यम्; plural: mahāvākyāni, महावाक्यानि) are "The Great Sayings" of the Upanishads, with mahā meaning great and vākya, a sentence. The Mahāvākyas are traditionally considered to be four in number, though actually five are prominent in the post-Vedic literature:

1. Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) – literally translated as "That Thou Art" ("That is you" or "You are that"), appears in Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 of the Sama Veda, with tat in Ch.U. 6.8.7 referring to *sat, "the Existent," and contextually understood as "That's how [thus] you are," with tat in Ch.U. 6.12.3 referring to "the very nature of all existence as permeated by [the finest essence]."
2. Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi (अहं ब्रह्मास्मि) - "I am Brahman", or "I am absolute" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 of the Yajur Veda)
3. Prajñānaṁ Brahma (प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म) - "Prajñāna is Brahman", or "Brahman is Prajñāna" (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3 of the Rig Veda)
4. Ayam Ātmā Brahma (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म) - "This Self (Atman) is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad 1.2 of the Atharva Veda)
5. Sarvaṃ Khalvidaṃ Brahma - "All this indeed is Brahman"(Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1)

Mahāvākyas are instrumental in Advaita Vedanta, as they are regarded as valid scriptural statements that reveal the self (ātmán), which appears as a separate individual existence (jīva), is, in essence, non-different (not two-ness) from Brahman, which, according to Advaita, is nirguna. In contrast, these statements are less prominent in most other Hindu traditions, which emphasize a qualified or dualistic relationship between the self and Brahman, whom they regard as saguna, often identified with Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, etc.

The Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Sanskrit: श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्, IAST: Śvetāśvataropaniṣad) is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters.

The Upanishad is one of the 33 Upanishads from Taittiriyas, and associated with the Shvetashvatara tradition within Karakas sakha of the Yajurveda. It is a part of the "black" "krishna" Yajurveda, with the term "black" implying "the un-arranged, motley collection" of content in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" (well arranged) Yajurveda where Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Isha Upanishad are embedded.

Prasthanatrayi (Sanskrit: प्रस्थानत्रयी, IAST: Prasthānatrayī), literally, three sources (or axioms), refers to the three canonical texts of theology having epistemic authority, especially of the Vedanta schools. It consists of:

1. The Upanishads, known as Upadeśa Prasthāna (injunctive texts), and the Śruti Prasthāna (the starting point or axiom of revelation), especially the Principal Upanishads.
2. The Bhagavad Gita, known as Sādhana Prasthāna (practical text), and the Smṛti Prasthāna (the starting point or axiom of remembered tradition)
3. The Brahma Sutras, known as Sūtra Prasthāna (formulative texts) or Nyāya Prasthāna or Yukti Prasthāna (logical text or axiom of logic)

The Upanishads consist of ten, twelve or thirteen major texts, with a total of 108 texts (some scholars list ten as principal – the Mukhya Upanishads, while most consider twelve or thirteen as principal, most important Upanishads). The ten Upanishads are Īśā, Kena, Kaṭha, Praṣna, Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, Taittirīya, Aitareya, Chāndogya and Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

Kashyapa (Sanskrit: कश्यप, IAST: Kaśyapa) is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the Rigveda. In the Ramayana, he is referred as Arishtanemi. Kashyapa is the most ancient and venerated rishi, along with the other Saptarishis, listed in the colophon verse in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

Kashyapa is an ancient name, referring to many different personalities in the ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts.

Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya (Sanskrit: याज्ञवल्क्य, IAST:Yājñavalkya) is a Hindu Vedic sage prominently mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE) and Tattiriya Upanishad. Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti ("not this, not this") to discover the universal Self and Ātman. Texts attributed to him include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in the Mahabharata as well as various Puranas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas.

Kāṇva Shākha (Sanskrit:काण्व शाखा) is the oldest shakha ("branch" or "recension") of Shukla Yajurveda. The Kānva tradition is followed mostly in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka, parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The Kānva Shākha was quite prevalent around the period of Shankaracharya's birth. The parampara āchārya (main founding guru) for Shukla Yajurveda was sage Yajnavalkya.

The main Samhita for Kānva Shākha is the Kanva Samhita and the corresponding brahmana is Kanva Shatapatha Brahmana. The main upanishads of the Kānva Shākha are Ishavasya Upanishad and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The Shrauta Sutra for Kānva Shākha is Katyayana Shrauta Sutra and the Grhya Sutra is Paraskara Grhya Sutram.

The Chandogya Upanishad (Sanskrit: छान्दोग्योपनिषद्, IAST: Chāndogyopaniṣad) is a Sanskrit text embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of the Sama Veda of Hinduism. It is one of the oldest Upanishads. In the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads, it is listed as the ninth.

The Upanishad belongs to the Tandya school of the Samaveda. Like Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogya is an anthology of texts that must have pre-existed as separate texts, and were edited into a larger text by one or more ancient Indian scholars. The precise chronology of Chandogya Upanishad is uncertain, and it is variously dated to have been composed by the 8th to 6th century BCE in India.