[4] The text is notable for its discussion of the concept of personal god – Ishvara, and suggesting it to be a path to one's own Highest Self.

[3] According to Patrick Olivelle, it was composed after the Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Kena and Katha, probably in the last few centuries BCE,[13] showing non-Vedic influences.

[2] This closing credit is structurally notable because of its rarity in ancient Indian texts, as well as for its implication that the four-stage Ashrama system of Hinduism, with ascetic Sannyasa, was an established tradition by the time verse 6.21 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad was composed.

[23] However, unlike other ancient poetic Upanishads, the meter structure of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad varies significantly, is arbitrary and inconsistent within many verses in later chapters, some such as verse 2.17 lack a definite poetic meter entirely,[24] suggesting that the text congealed from the work of several authors over a period of time, or was interpolated and expanded over time.

[28] Verses 1.4 through 1.12 of the Upanishad use Samkhya-style enumeration to state the subject of meditation, for those who seek the knowledge of Self.

These verses use a poetic simile for a human being, with the unawakened individual Self described as a resting swan.

[29] The verse 1.5, for example, states, "we meditate on the river whose water consists of five streams, which is wild and winding with its five springs, whose waves are the five vital breaths, whose fountainhead is the mind, of course of the five kinds of perceptions.

As oil in sesame seeds, as butter in milk, as water in Srota,[40] as fire in fuel-sticks, he finds in his own self that One (Atman), he, who sees him through Satya (truthfulness) and Tapas (austerity).

It begins with prayer hymns to God Savitr, as the rising sun, the spiritual illuminator and the deity of inspiration and self-discipline.

The text recommends a place to perform such yoga exercise as follows, In a clean level spot, free from pebbles, fire and gravel, Delightful by its sounds, its water and bowers,[46] Favorable to thought, not offensive to the eye, In a hidden retreat protected from the wind, One should practise Yoga.

[58] The Upanishad states that Brahman is in all Vedic deities, in all women, in all men, in all boys, in all girls, in every old man tottering on a stick, in every bee and bird, in all seasons and all seas.

The metaphor of three colors has been interpreted as the three Gunas,[62] with red symbolizing harmonious purity (Sattva), white as confused passion (Rajas), and black as destructive darkness (Tamas).

[65] The verse 4.10 is also significant because it uses the term Maheswaram (Sanskrit: महेश्वरम्), literally the highest Lord (later epithet for Shiva), for the one who is "Māyā-maker".

[68] In these verses, the Brahman, discussed so far in earlier chapters of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, is celebrated as Isha, Ishana (personal god) and Rudra.

[68] The verses of the fourth chapter use an adjective repeatedly, namely Shiva (literally, kind, benign, blessed) as a designation for Rudra (a fierce, destructive, slaying Vedic deity).

[14] This adjective developed into a noun, and the Shvetashvatara Upanishad witnesses the assimilation of the non-Aryan deity Shiva, a central God in later scriptures of Hinduism, into the Vrdic fold.

[70] These benedictions are found, in essentially similar form but different context in more ancient Vedic texts, for example in Rig Veda 1.114.8, 3.62.10 and 10.121.3, Vajasaneyi Samhita 16.16 and 32.2, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.32, and elsewhere.

[59][70] The verses of the fourth Adhyaya of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, with explicit references to Rudra and Shiva, and the text in general, became important to Shaiva Siddhanta,[71][72] and to Shaivism.

[73] Scholars[68][14] state that while Rudra is an oft mentioned Vedic deity, the adjective Shiva for him in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad was new, and simply meant "kind, graceful, blessed, blissful".

[68] This is among the earliest mentions of Shiva in ancient Sanskrit literature, and possibly evidence that the name was crystallizing as the proper name of the highest God in Vedic times.

The wise who perceive Him dwelling within their self, to them belongs eternal happiness and serenity, not to others, He who knows this God as primal cause, through Sāṁkhya (reason, reflection)[86] and Yoga (self-discipline), achieves Mukti (freedom, moksha).

The Upanishad, in verses 6.14 through 6.20 discusses Deva (God), interchangeably with Brahman-Atman, and its importance in achieving moksha (liberation, freedom).

[82][85] It is impossible to end sorrow, confusion and consequences of evil, without knowing this joyful, blissful Deva, asserts the sixth chapter of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad.

[83] Shvetashvatara Upanishad does not extensively discuss the concept of bhakti (devotion), however, in verse 6.23, it does touch upon the importance of bhakti:[88] Only in a man who has the deepest love for God, and who shows the same love towards his teacher as towards God, do these points declared by the Noble One [mahatma] shine forthAncient and medieval Indian scholars left many Bhasya (review, commentary) on Shvetashvatara Upanishad.

[92] Flood states that it elevated Rudra to the status of Īśa ("Lord"), a god with cosmological functions such as those later attributed to Shiva.

[99] Grierson as well as Carus note that the first epilogue verse 6.21 is also notable for its use of the word Deva Prasada (देवप्रसाद, grace or gift of God), but add that Deva in the epilogue of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad refers to "pantheistic Brahman" and the closing credit to sage Shvetashvatara in verse 6.21 can mean "gift or grace of his Self".

[95] Scholars have long debated whether the Shvetashvatara Upanishad follows or opposed the theories of the Samkhya school of Hinduism.

Paul Deussen makes a similar conclusion as Max Muller, and states in his review of verse 1.3 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The individual Self does not comprise Purusha and Prakrti (shakti) which is independent of him together with its gunas (sattvam, rajas, tamas) but it is the God's own power (deva-atman-shakti) which, veiled under its own qualities (svagunah), appears as the Self.

[3][4][104] Doris Srinivasan[105] states that the Upanishad is a treatise on theism, but it creatively embeds a variety of divine images, an inclusive language that allows "three Vedic definitions for personal deity".

[105][106][107] Hiriyanna interprets the text to be introducing "personal theism" in the form of Shiva, with a shift to monotheism but in henotheistic context where the individual is encouraged to discover his own definition and sense of God.