Ex somnio lux. Il sogno nel Jyotirbrāhmaṇa (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3) alla luce dell’esegesi śaṅkariana

Gianni Pellegrini

Abstract:

This essay focuses on a philosophical interpretation of a textual passage from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (4.3), specifically named Jyotirbrāhmaṇa, which primarily deals with oneirology. In order to properly analyse the issue, the Jyotirbrāhmaṇa is inserted in wider linguistic, historical and doctrinal context. Then, the paper provides a philosophical contextualization of dream, oneiric condition and dreamer, placing them within a well-known threefold scheme of the states of consciousness as presented by the non-dualistic metaphysics of the Advaita Vedānta, mainly represented by the commentaries of Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda. Hence, the essay will textually trace an exegetical iter concerning the dream and the oneiric metaphor and how these are utilized in order to prove, on one hand, the medium and unattached status of the self (ātman, puruṣa) and on the other, its self-evident and constantly aware nature.