1. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi Samvada - Introduction

1. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi Samvada - Introduction

From Brihadaranyaka Upanishad | Swami Sarvapriyananda by Vedanta Society of New York

January 25, 2026 · 1h 11m

About this episode

The episode introduces the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and discusses the dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi about love and spirituality.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Sanskrit: बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद्, IAST: Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad) is one of the Principal Upanishads and one of the first Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is tenth in the Muktikā or "canon of 108 Upanishads". Brihadaranyaka literally means "great wilderness or forest". The Upanishad forms the last part, that is the fourteenth kānda of Śatapatha Brāhmana of "Śhukla Yajurveda". The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad has six adhyayas (chapters) in total. It includes three sections: Madhu kānda (the 4th and 5th chapter of the fourteenth kānda of Satapatha Brahmana), Muni kānda (or Yajnavalkya Kanda, the 6th and 7th chapter of 14th kānda of Satapatha Brahmana) and Khila kānda (the 8th and 9th chapter of the fourteenth kānda of Satapatha Brahmana). The first and second chapters of the Upanishad's Madhu kānda consists of six brahmanas each, with varying number of hymns per brahmana. The first chapter of the Upanishad's Yajnavalkya kānda consists of nine brahmanams, while the second has six brahmanas. The Khila kānda of the Upanishad has fifteen brahmanas in its first chapter, and five brahmanas in…

More episodes of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad | Swami Sarvapriyananda podcast page.