[15] Deussen considers it to be ancient and a transitional link between the Upanishads of the three Vedas (Rig, Sama and Yajur) and the Atharvaveda.

In the Narayana anthology, popular in South India, it is included at number 34 as Mahanarayana or Brhadnarayana in Bibliothica Indica.

[5][23] The style of its opening verses suggest that the metaphysical principle of Brahman was well established by the time this text was composed.

[5] It is described as that where and from which the world originated and into which it shall disintegrate, upon whom all the gods are founded, it is that which was past and what will be, it is all parts of time, it is that which envelops the entire universe, which procreates and is present in all creatures, mobile and immobile, and that which is in Om.

[24] The text calls this metaphysical principle as Agni (fire), Vayu (wind), Surya (sun), Chandrama (moon), Prajapati, Purusha, Rudra and Narayana, that they are all none other than Brahman.

[38][16] The chapter 12 and twenty six verses that follow then solemnize Rudra, in a manner similar to Narayana, as being all the universe, the manifest One, the right, the just, the truth and the highest Brahman.

[41][42] The Upanishad describes its axiology, describing the highest principles of human endeavor to be satyam (truth), tapas (penance), dama (temperance, self restraints), sama (quietude, stillness of the forest), danam (charity), dharmam (duty), prajanam (having children), agnihotram (sacred domestic fire), yajna (fire ritual), manasam (mind's contemplation), nyasa (renunciation, sannyasa).

[44][16] The last chapter of the text, in different versions of the manuscript is a poem of reverence for those who renounce for their journey of knowledge, metrically describing how the life of this sannyasi (monk) is an act of worship in itself.

[47] The text is notable for using the word Nyasa with, states Patrick Olivelle, a meaning approximating Sannyasa (Yati, Bhikshu, Hindu Monk).