TWENTY-ONE UPANISHADS ARE usually classified as Samanya Vedanta texts, that is, general Upanishads dealing with Vedanta. These are: Akshaya, Adhyatma, Annapurna, Atma, Atmabodha, Ekakshara, Garbha, Maha, Mantrika, Muktika, Mudgala, Niralamba, Paingala, Shariraka, Shukarahasya, Sarvasara, Savitraya, Subala, Surya, Skanda, Vajrasuchika. Mahony dates these and other minor Upanishads between 100 BCE to CE 1100.1 Out of these, the Mantrika and Sarvasara are relatively early texts.
There are some variations in this classification. Sometimes three ancient Upanishads are added to these, thus reaching twenty-four; that is, the Shvetashvatara, Maitrayani, Kaushitaki. The list of twenty-four also varies. Upanishad Brahmayogin includes the Annapurna, Maitri and Kaushitaki. These Samanya Vedanta Upanishads have the same themes as the early Upanishads, and therefore most of them are explained briefly.
The Adhyatma Upanishad belongs to the White or Shukla Yajur Veda. It discusses the nature of Brahman and the path of liberation. It states that one should always focus on Brahman and meditate on the true Self within. One should not identify with the body or the senses or be attached to the world. One should know that ‘I am Brahman’ and constantly remember this. Brahman is beyond beginning and end, beyond all actions and all worldly forces. It is subtle, certain and unblemished, beyond thought, mind and words. Brahman is the only truth, the only reality, there is no other.
The Akshi Upanishad belongs to the Taittiriya Samhita of the Krishna Yajur Veda and has two parts. The first part consists of prayers and salutations to the sun and light. In the second part, Samkriti requests the sun to teach him Brahma-vidya, the knowledge of Brahman. The sun describes the nature of Brahman, the stages towards non-attachment and liberation and the significance of Om. It explains how to reach the true Self, which is knowledge and bliss, free from all impurities.
The text begins with Samkriti visiting Aditya Loka, the world of the sun god. There he worships him through the Chakshushmati Vidya, the science related to seeing. He reveres him as the god Surya, the sky-wanderer, the leader of the army, of energy and light, and asks him to lead him from darkness to light. (Here, the famous mantra beginning ‘tamaso ma jyotirgamaya’ is used.) The god Surya Narayana is pleased with this. He says that no one would become blind in the family of a brahmana who studies this vidya.
Samkriti then asks Surya to teach him about Brahman. Surya says he will explain the true knowledge by which a person attains liberation. Only One exists, tranquil, without beginning or end. A person on this path, says Surya, avoids wrong actions and sense gratification and performs only noble deeds. The person speaks in a gentle and loving way and sees the good points of others, not the bad. Along with this, he studies the Shastras. Then, when thoughts of transmigration touch the mind, the first stage of yoga is reached. After this, the second stage of vichara or analysis is attained. In the third stage, detachment grows and the aspirant begins to perceive Reality. In the fourth stage, non-duality is established. All duality is dissolved.
The text then compares the first three states to the waking consciousness and the fourth to the dream state (though this does not correspond with a state of non-duality). The fifth is like deep sleep, where the outer world no longer affects one, and the sixth state corresponds with the fourth state of consciousness, Turiya. Then, he reaches the seventh state, liberation beyond the body.
The text next describes the importance of focusing on Om and on Brahman.
The Annapurna Upanishad is attached to the Atharva Veda. It is a long Upanishad with five sections. Section 1 has fifty-seven verses. In this, a yogi named Nidagha asks Ribhu, a knower of Brahman, to teach him about it. Ribhu explains how he obtained this knowledge by propitiating the goddess Annapurna, using her mantra of twenty-seven syllables. He then explains to Nidagha, how to attain the knowledge of Reality. For this, everything in life should be renounced, including the mind. The mind becomes unattached. Such a person may act in the world or may not, but he is never an agent or experiencer.
In Section 2, which has forty-four verses, Nidagha asks about the reasons for attachment and bondage, and how to gain liberation. Ribhu explains how to control the mind and be united with Brahman. The jivan-mukta, the liberated one, does not crave anything in the future, does not count on whatever is in the present and does not think of the past. Nevertheless, he never ceases to work.
In Section 3, which has twenty-four verses, Nidagha asks Ribhu about any sage who was liberated while still living. Ribhu replies that in Sumeru lived the sage Mandavya, who had been instructed by Kaundinya. Mandavya had been a jivan-mukta, liberated while living. Ribhu describes the process of how Mandavya attained this, by first sitting in meditation and controlling his mind.
In Sections 4 and 5, the nature of a jivan-mukta is described as one who no longer has desires or attachments. He is silent and yet active and knows his Self to be identical with Brahman.
The Atma Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda and has two sections. In Section 1, which has four verses, the rishi Angiras explains the three types of Self: the Self that constitutes the external Self or body, the inner Self, and the Supreme Self. For the external Self, different parts of the body, that is, skin, eyes, ears, etc., are listed. The internal Self includes the elements, emotions and the consciousness of oneself as Purusha. The highest self is the eternal atman, free from the bonds of action.
Section 2 has thirty-one verses and describes the pure, non-dual atman and its identity with Brahman. The one who knows Brahman has no sense of ‘mine’ or ‘I’ and no desires. Even though he has a body, he lives beyond the body and is nothing but Brahman.
The Atmabodha Upanishad belongs to the Rig Veda and has two sections. It has a few lines praising the god Vishnu, but goes on to describe the state of knowledge of the inner self (atmabodha). In one of its verses, the person who has achieved this state says: ‘I have no bondage, no liberation, no shastra, no guru. I have gone beyond maya; whatever happens, I have no misery, I am filled with joy; I know myself, all ignorance has gone. I have no actions to perform, no duty, no kula [lineage or family], and no gotra.’ Such a person knows that Brahman pervades the whole world, just as sugarcane is sweet in all its parts. When clouds block the sun, the person without knowledge thinks it does not exist, in the same way, the ignorant lack knowledge of the shining Brahman.
The Ekakshara Upanishad belongs to the Krishna Yajur Veda, Taittiriya Samhita. It sees the god Vishnu as creator, lord of all, and source of the world, seen through the Sushumna. He is Parjanya, Hiranyagarbha, Subrahmanya, Arishtanemi, Indra and Soma. The Vedas proceed from him, and he is the Vasus, Agni and the Rudras. He is Varuna, Aryaman and other gods, the eternal dweller in the cave of the heart, the ancient, golden lord, the supreme goal of the wise.
The Garbha Upanishad belongs to the Krishna Yajur Veda, Taittiriya Samhita. This provides a description of the body and its constituents. It explains the stages of growth in the womb (garbha). The baby remembers its past lives in the ninth month, but after being born, forgets it. Still, it always yearns for liberation.
There are different versions of this text. Deussen calls it a short Upanishad2 and classifies it as a Vaishnava Upanishad, but it is actually known in a very long form.
This long text has six sections or chapters. Section 1 with thirteen verses states that in the beginning Narayana was alone. There was no Brahma, Ishana, water, Agni, Soma, heaven, earth, stars and sun, but only he, Nara (Purusha) alone). By the desire of the Paramatman and the Yajnastoma (hymn), he created fourteen Purushas (Brahman, Vishnu, Rudra, Ishana, Sadashiva and nine Prajapatis), one maiden (Mula-Prakriti), the ten organs (five of perception and five of action), manas or mind as the eleventh, tejas or brilliant intellect the twelfth, ahamkara the thirteenth, Prana the fourteenth, atma the fifteenth, next buddhi, kama, karma and tamas, five tanmatras or subtle elements, five gross elements with the Being or Sutratman as the twenty-fifth. The Supreme Being remained detached.
Narayana continued his creation, producing a person with three eyes and a trident, a golden egg from which came Brahma, as well as other deities, the metres and the Vedas. The text then states that one should meditate on the eternal Narayana, who has 1000 heads and eyes and is the source of all. He is Brahma, Shiva and Indra, and is present everywhere (1.10–13).
Section 2 with seventy-seven verses begins by stating that Shuka realized the truth at birth and, similarly, a person can gain knowledge of the Self through his own Self. Shuka knew the truth through his subtle intellect and then remained rapt in it. He did not conceive that the atman is real, his mind merely turned away from worldly temptations. Once he asked his father, the rishi Vyasa, seated alone on Mount Meru, about the origin and dissolution of the world. Vyasa provided this knowledge, but Shuka was already aware of everything he said. Vyasa understood this and asked him to enquire from Janaka, king of Mithila. Shuka goes to Janaka’s city of Videha and Janaka explains that when the mind realizes that nothing seen is real, there is liberation. Janaka continues with explanations similar to the Bhagavad Gita—one who has equanimity, who does not rejoice or feel sorrow when things go well or badly, who is silent, without ego, fear or pride, who has given up all dharma and adharma, who eats any food, and does not have thoughts or desires, who has a mind, yet is mindless.
Section 3 has fifty-seven verses. In this, Nidagha, while still a young boy, is permitted by his father to go on pilgrimage. After visiting three and a half crore sacred places, he goes to Ribhu and explains at length that he is troubled in his mind and has lost the taste for various things. Everything in the world is born only to die and then be reborn. While describing the ephemeral nature of the world, he also (39–48) describes women as the flame of sin. They are pleasing to the eye, yet not to be touched or they burn man like grass. They are the basket of all defects, the chain of misery. He goes on to say that everything in the world perishes, even the yogis, siddhas, the unborn Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Rudra, nothing was permanent. Wealth, birth and death are only for a moment, everything dies.
Section 4 has 131 verses. Ribhu responds to him. He says, Nidagha, there is nothing more to be known by you, you already know everything by your intellect and God’s grace. Then Ribhu goes on to tell him how to remove the error caused by impurity of the mind. One must control the inner and outer senses, maintain contentment, continue with enquiry and have contact with good people. He advises him to remain like a dumb, blind and deaf person, giving up with his mind the thought of all things as the Self. The wise person should enquire, who am I? The contented person gives up longing for anything. The text also comments on schools of thought. It says that schools from the Trinachiketa to the Yoga depend on Ishvara’s illusion, from the Lokayata to Samkhya on jiva’s illusion—aspirants to liberation should not consider these schools but only the truth about Brahman (4.73–75).
Ribhu goes on to say that the auspicious path cannot be obtained without subduing the mind and giving up desires through one’s own efforts. One should forget about what is mine and not-mine, give up involvement. It is strange that Brahman is forgotten by people.
Section 5 has 186 verses; Ribhu describes the seven steps of ignorance and the seven steps of wisdom. Each of these has hundreds of variations and intermediate steps. Liberation follows after the seven stages of knowledge: auspicious desire, reflection, thinning of the mind, attainment of sattva, detachment, reflection on objects and Turiya. Ribhu then explains these further. Reaching the seventh stage, even animals are liberated. Ribhu also looks at the different types of life and rebirth.
Section 6 has eighty-three verses. Ribhu continues with this theme, that nothing exists but Brahman. The text ends with the merits of studying this Upanishad. It is a valuable Upanishad on attaining Brahman.
The Mantrika Upanishad of the Vajasaneyi or Shukla Yajur Veda probably dates to the first century BCE or earlier. It has twenty-one verses and discusses the nature of Brahman, Maya and the individual and includes elements of different philosophies, Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga. It begins with the mystical statement: The eight-footed pure Swan (Hamsa), bound with three cords, subtle and imperishable, to whom three ways lead, is seen by all yet cannot be seen.
This verse indicates that though the atman, represented by the Hamsa, is visible, it cannot be seen. The text goes on to say that living beings exist in darkness but those who are established in the sattva guna are able to see the supreme. The common metaphor of two birds, one who eats the fruit and one who looks on, is mentioned. The tattvas of the Samkhya system are referred to, but finally the text affirms that those who know Brahman are dissolved in avyakta, that is, they become Brahman.
The Mudgala Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda. It identifies the god Narayana (Vishnu) with Brahman. Jan Gonda believes it is a medieval text but Klaus Witz places it as post-Vedic but early Vaishnava.
The text has four chapters or sections. The first presents an explanation of the first nine verses of the Purusha-sukta (10.90) of the Rig Veda. In this Upanishad, Purusha is identified with Vishnu, who sacrificed himself. The Mudgala explains that 1000 heads indicates a number that cannot be counted, while ten fingers suggests an infinite distance. The entire Purusha-sukta thus indicates that it is the god Vishnu that pervades all space. The second chapter says that Vasudeva provided a knowledge of Bhagavan to Indra, and also of the two parts of the Purusha-sukta. It was difficult for people to understand the Purusha that is beyond name and form, therefore he took on a form with 1000 parts. This Narayana provides moksha to all. Three parts of him are in heaven, while the fourth, Aniruddha-Narayana, created all the worlds. Chapter 3 states that thus the single god became many, and is worshipped in different forms, while Chapter 4 says that those who study this text will become Purusha in this birth.
For information on this particular Upanishad, see the introduction of this book.
The Niralamba Upanishad belongs to the Shukla Yajur Veda. This text raises and answers forty-one questions that must be known to remove ignorance. Next, the Niralamba provides the answers to these questions.
The forty-one questions are: (1) What is Brahman? (2) Who is Ishvara? (3) Who is a jiva (living being)? (4) What is Prakriti? (5) Who is the Paramatma (Supreme Self)? (6) Who is Brahma? (7) Who is Vishnu? (8) Who is Rudra? (9) Who is Indra? (10) Who is Yama (the god of death)? (11) Who is Surya? (12) Who is Chandra? (13) Who are the Suras? (14) Who are the asuras? (15) Who are the pishachas? (16) Who are men? (17) Who are women? (18) Who are animals, etc.? (19) What is the immobile (sthavaram)? (20) Who are brahmanas, etc.? (21) What is a jati (caste)? (22) What is action? (23) What is non-action? (24) What is jnana or knowledge? (25) What is ajnana or ignorance? (26) What is sukha or pleasure? (27) What is dukha or sorrow? (28) What is svarga (heaven)? (29) What is naraka (hell)? (30) What is bandha (bondage)? (31) What is moksha (liberation)? (32) What is upasya (to be adored)? (33) Who is the disciple? (34) Who is the vidvan (learned one)? (35) Who is the deluded? (36) What is the asuram (demoniac)? (37) What is tapas (austerity)? (38) Which is the supreme abode? (39) What is to be sought after? (40) What is to be rejected? (41) Who is the renouncer (sannyasin)? The responses to the questions state that Brahman is the Supreme Spirit, who through mahat, the ego, the elements, and other aspects of life, remains non-dual, pure and unqualified. God too is Brahman, who through the power of prakriti brings forth creation. All the deities and others mentioned in questions 6–20 are also Brahman. It goes on to say that caste really doesn’t exist, for bones, flesh and blood have no caste. It responds to the other questions too, and ends by stating that the sannyasi is the liberated one, who is the same as Brahman.
This Upanishad belongs to the Shukla Yajur Veda and has four sections or chapters. A shorter version of it is attached to the Atharva Veda. It is classified as a Samanya Vedanta Upanishad. The date is uncertain but it may be of the sixth century CE. Shankara refers to it in his commentary on the Brahma Sutra.
It consists of a dialogue between the rishi Yajnavalkya and his pupil Paingala (son of Pingala).
Chapter 1 with twelve verses begins with the verse ‘Then (atha) Paingala, after serving his teacher for twelve years, asked Yajnavalkya to tell him the great secret (paramarahasya) of aloneness (kaivalya). In response Yajnavalkya describes Brahman, the one without a second (ekam evadvityam), which is eternal and has the nature of truth, knowledge and bliss, ever full, eternal. He explains how from Brahman, the witnessing self (sakshi), Ishvara or god, and other aspects of the world come into being. When mula-prakriti, the root principle of matter, changes because of the quality of sattva in it, it develops a veiling power. Ishvara is reflected in it and through the power of maya it becomes the first cause of creation, sustenance and dissolution. From this veiling power in Ishvara comes mahat, the power of projection, because of the quality of rajas. What is reflected in it becomes the Hiranyagarbha consciousness from which comes the power of creating matter through tamas. Virat consciousness is reflected in it and conceives the sense of Self, and its form manifests as the god Vishnu. From Virat rose the five elements which contain the three gunas. These root elements were further subdivided using the gunas and the various functions and organs were created. Still they could not function on their own. To provide them with consciousness, he pierced through the microcosm, the caverns of the cranium and the crowns of individuals and entered them. Though non-conscious by nature, they now began to function as if they were conscious. ‘The omniscient Lord, together with a streak of Maya, on entering the individual bodies, and deluded by it, became the jiva; due to self-identification with the three bodies (he) became both agent and reaper (of action’s fruits). Possessing the attributes of wakefulness, dream, deep sleep, fainting and death, like a chain of buckets (attached to a water wheel) he is born and dies, revolving like a potter’s wheel’ (12).
Chapter 2 also has twelve verses. In the first verse, Paingala asks Yajnavalkya, ‘How does Isha, the all-pervading lord, the cause of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of all the worlds, assume the state of the jiva, the individual soul?’
Yajnavalkya replies that he will explain the difference between the jiva and the divine. He describes the aspects of the gross body, including its different parts such as the skin, bones, etc., the emotions and functions. Then god creates Prana, the principle of life, its modifications, prana, apana, samana, vyana and udana, and its subordinate functions, naga, kurma, krikara, devadatta and dhananjaya. Next he creates the organs of action and the inner senses and their modifications. The deities presiding over them are the directions as well as vata (air), arka (the sun), Prachetas, the Ashvins, fire (vahni), Indra, Upendra, Mrityu, Chandra, Vishnu, the four-faced (Brahma) and Shambhu. The five kosha or body sheaths are described. These are the annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya and anandamaya. The annamaya or food body comes into being and grows through food and rests in the earth. The pranamaya kosha consists of the five pranas and the organ of action. The manomaya kosha consists of the mind and the organs of perception. The vijnanamaya kosha consists of the intellect and the organs of perception. These three sheaths of life, mind and intelligence form the subtle body. The anandamaya kosha consists of knowledge of one’s own form and is the causal body.
Next it discusses the states of consciousness, vishva, taijasa and prajna, that is, of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and also refers to death, bondage and release.
Chapter 3 with six verses begins with Paingala asking Yajnavalkya to narrate a detailed account of the mahavakyas or great statements. Yajnavalkya provides the classic statements of the Upanishads: ‘Tat tvam asi’, that is, ‘That you are’, and also ‘You are the seat of Brahman’, ‘I am Brahman’. It goes on to provide further explanations of Brahman who should be meditated upon. The knower of Brahman becomes liberated in this life. Meditation should be on the unchanging, imperishable being within who manifests diverse aspects. The one who is liberated when alive is blessed, and all his duties have been fulfilled. He attains that state that is without sound, touch, form and desire.
Chapter 4 with twenty-four verses begins with another question as Paingala asks Yajnavalkya about the qualities and actions of a knower. Such a person, says Yajnavalkya, has both humility and all other good qualities. It describes how a person with a pure mind and consciousness attains the state of Brahman. It ends by stating that the one who studies this Upanishad attains the highest state of Vishnu.
The Sarvasara Upanishad belongs to the Taittiriya Samhita of the Krishna Yajur Veda. Like the Niralamba, it asks a number of questions, though not quite as many. Questions include those on bondage, moksha or liberation, ignorance and knowledge (avidya and vidya), states of consciousness, of Jagrat (waking), Svapna (dreaming), Sushupti (dreamless sleep), and the fourth, Turiya (the state beyond these three). Other questions include on the five bodies of a person: annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya and anandamaya koshas; the karta, or agent of action; the jiva or individual Self; the kshetrajna (knower of the body); the sakshi (witness); the kutastha; the antaryamin (internal ruler); pratyagatman (inner self); the Paramatman (Supreme Self); the atman and maya. These are then explained.
The Savitri Upanishad is attached to the Sama Veda. It begins by asking, ‘Who is Savitar, who is Savitri?’ The reply is that Agni is Savitar, Prithivi or earth is Savitri, and Varuna is Savitar, water is Savitri. It continues with other identifications of Savitar and Savitri, the masculine and feminine representatives of sun and light. The pairs are Vayu–Akasha, Yajna–Chhandas, Stanayitnu (thundercloud)–Vidyut (lightning), Aditya–Dyaus, Chandra–Nakshatra, Manas–Vach, Purusha–Stri, and connects the Gayatri Mantra with these pairs. These nine pairs correspond with bhur–bhuvar–svar, that is, the earth, mid-regions and heaven, and are equal to atman and Brahman. This is the Savitri-vidya, says the text. Next, the mantras Bala and Atibala are explained, as well as benefits of meditation on the goddess Savitri and the Savitri-vidya.
The Shariraka Upanishad belongs to the Taittiriya Samhita of the Krishna Yajur Veda.
This Upanishad describes the body and its different aspects, along with the three gunas and their qualities and the four states of consciousness. It states that the body is a combination of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether or space (akasha). The hard elements in the body are related to earth, the liquid to water, and what is hot to fire. Movement relates to air and that which is porous to space. It further relates the elements to different parts of the body, including the senses and the mind. As for the gunas, rajas is reflected in the belief that ‘I am the doer and the enjoyer’, tamas is present in sleep, laziness, delusion, attachment, sex and theft, and sattva is above these. Right knowledge is sattva, the practice of rituals is rajas and tamas is blindness. As for the states of consciousness, this Upanishad states that the waking state uses the five sense organs, five of action, and four inner senses. The dream state uses the four inner senses. In dreamless sleep, the mind is active, and in the fourth or Turiya state, only the soul or atma remains.
The knower is the empirical Self, different from the Supreme. The twenty-five tattvas are mentioned, with Purusha as the twenty-fifth and Avyakta as the twenty-fourth.
The Shukarahasya is attached to the Taittiriya Samhita of the Krishna Yajur Veda.
In this Upanishad, Shiva instructs Shuka, son of the rishi Vyasa, on the Rahasya or secret Upanishad. It is Vyasa who requests Shiva to instruct his son. After obtaining the knowledge of the supreme Brahman, inherent in Om, Shuka asks for more knowledge. Shiva then conveys this secret Upanishad to him, along with the four mahavakyas (Verses 22–24). It explains each word of the mahavakyas, and adds methods of meditating on them. Shuka, after being instructed by Shiva, gives up all possessions. He renounces the world and is one with the Supreme. As a renunciate he begins to leave the place and though Vyasa is happy he calls after him, and the whole world echoes him. The Upanishad ends by stating that the one who studies will attain moksha through the grace of the guru.
The Skanda Upanishad is attached to the Taittiriya Samhita of the Krishna Yajur Veda.
In this Upanishad, Skanda (the god Karttikeya) states that through compassion of the great god, he identifies himself with Brahman. In the text, Shiva and Vishnu are also identified. Shiva is the jiva and the body is a temple. Knowledge arises when non-difference is understood, meditation is the mind without any object. To bathe is to remove mental impurity, and cleanliness implies the control of the senses. Living by oneself without duality, one attains liberation.
The Subala Upanishad belongs to the Shukla Yajur Veda and has sixteen sections.
It consists mainly of a discussion between the rishi Subala and Brahma, the creator. It begins with an account of creation by the Supreme person (Purusha) and by Brahma. It describes the attainment of Brahman by the six means of truthfulness, charity, austerity, fasting, chastity and detachment from worldly objects. Simultaneously, self-control and compassion should be practised. It describes the different types of prana (breath) and the centre within the heart from where the various nadis branch out. This Upanishad identifies Brahman, the Supreme reality, with Narayana (Vishnu).
The Surya Upanishad belongs to the Atharva Veda. It begins with a reference to Atharva-Angirasa, a name of the Atharva Veda, and states that it will explain the Surya Mantra according to the Atharva.
Surya, the sun or Sun God, is identified with the manifest Brahman. All creatures are born from him, protected by him and dissolve in him. It prescribes various meditations and mantras for Surya worship and provides different names of Surya, including Bhanu, Mitra, Savitr and Aditya. Surya is also identified with the golden Narayana, who propels the chakra or wheel of time, and who is seated in the chariot of the sun.
The Vajrasuchika Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda and can be dated to medieval times.
This text discusses the four castes and their basis. The second verse raises the question of why a brahmana is so identified. Is it because of his jiva or individual soul, his body, his birth, his actions, or the rituals he performs? The question is answered in succeeding verses. It cannot be the jiva as this transmigrates and is reborn; nor are there any distinguishing marks on the body because everybody has the same elements. It can’t be birth, as great rishis are born in different ways, for instance, Vyasa from Satyavati, daughter of a fisherman, Gautama from a hare, Jambuka from a jackal, Agastya from a vessel and Vasishtha from an apsara. Many kshatriyas have great knowledge, actions are performed by all, and therefore the only criteria for recognizing someone as a brahmana is one who has realized Brahman, who knows that the atman is eternal, one without a second, and the same as Brahman that pervades the whole world.
There is also a Buddhist text known as the Vajrasuchi, which some assigned to Ashvaghosha, a Buddhist scholar of the second century. The general conclusion is that this is much later and not composed by Ashvaghosha.