Editing Varuna (section)

=== Upanishads ===
In the ''[[Upanishads]]'', the metaphysical emphasis shifts toward monism, and Varuna is often absorbed into the concept of the ''[[brahman]]'', the Supreme Reality. While individual deities lose their independent theological status in favor of the unified Self (''[[Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]]''), Varuna is still employed as a symbolic and pedagogical figure.<ref name=":Up">{{Cite book |last=Chaudhuri |first=Dr Usha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HODWjwEACAAJ |title=Indra And Varuna In Indian Mythology |publisher=Nag Publishers |year=1978 |isbn=978-81-7081-034-6 |pages=114–119 |language=en |chapter=Varuṇa in the Upanishads}}</ref>

Varuna also finds a mention in the early [[Upanishad]]s, where his role evolves. In verse 3.9.26 of the ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]'' (~800 BCE), for example, he is stated to be the god of the western quarter, but one whose abode is water, whose world is the heart, soul is the fire and whose illumination is the mind. This establishes him as an intermediary symbol for the Self and its realization through inward knowledge. The cosmological hierarchy that begins with water and culminates in the heart is used to indicate that all arises from desire (''[[Kama|kāma]]'') in the Supreme’s mind.<ref name=":Up" /><ref>{{cite book |title=The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text and Translation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lsp18ZvstrcC |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535242-9 |pages=98–101}}</ref> In the ''[[Katha Upanishad]]'', [[Aditi]] is identified to be same as the goddess earth and the mother of Varuna and [[Mitra (Vedic)|Mitra]] along with other Vedic gods.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text and Translation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lsp18ZvstrcC |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535242-9 |page=478}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Arthur Anthony Macdonell |title=Vedic Mythology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b7Meabtj8mcC |year=1898 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1113-3 |pages=120–124, 30–34, 45–46}}</ref>

The ''[[Chandogya Upanishad]]'' includes Varuna in ritual prayers and refers to him as the source of sustenance and purity. The ''Maitri Upanishad'' portrays him as one of many manifestations of the inner Self (''ātman''), acknowledging his place in the idealist ontology of the Upanishadic worldview.<ref name=":Up" />

Varuna, addressed as Varuni explained ''Brahman'' in ''[[Taittiriya]] Upanishad'' to sage [[Bhrigu]]. First six anuvakas of Bhrigu Valli are called ''Bhargavi Varuni Vidya'', which means "the knowledge Bhrigu got from (his father) Varuni". It is in these anuvakas that sage Varuni advises Bhrigu with one of the oft-cited definition of Brahman, as "that from which beings originate, through which they live, and in which they re-enter after death, explore that because that is Brahman".<ref name="pauldeussen311">Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, pages 241-246</ref> This thematic, all encompassing, eternal nature of reality and existence develops as the basis for Bhrigu's emphasis on introspection, to help peel off the outer husks of knowledge, in order to reach and realize the innermost kernel of spiritual Self-knowledge.<ref name="pauldeussen311" />