1. Rishis, discoursing on Brahman, ask:
Is Brahman the cause? Whence are we born? By what do we live? Where do we dwell
at the end? Please tell us, O ye who know Brahman, under whose guidance we
abide, whether in pleasure or in pain.
2. Should time, or nature, or
necessity, or chance, or the elements be regarded as the cause? Or he who is
called the purusha, the living self?
3. The sages, absorbed in meditation
through one-pointedness of mind, discovered the creative power, belonging to the
Lord Himself and hidden in its own gunas. That non-dual Lord rules over all
those causes-time, the self and the rest.
4. The sages saw the wheel of Brahman,
which has one felly, a triple tire, sixteen end-parts, fifty spokes with twenty
counter-spokes and six sets of eight; whose one rope is manifold; which moves
on three different roads; and whose illusion arises from two causes.
5. We meditate on the River whose five
currents are the five organs of perception, which is made impetuous and winding
by the five elements, whose waves are the five organs of actions and whose
fountain-head is the mind, the source of the five forms of perception. This
River has five whirlpools and its rapids are the fivefold misery; and lastly,
it has fifty branches and five pain-bearing obstructions.
6. In this great Brahma-Wheel, in which
all things abide and finally rest, the swan wanders about so long as it thinks
the self is different from the Controller. When blessed by Him the self attains
Immortality.
7. It is the Supreme Brahman alone
untouched by phenomena that is proclaimed in the Upanishads. In It is
established the triad of the enjoyer, the object and the Lord who is the
Controller. This Brahman is the immutable foundation; It is imperishable. The
sages, having realized Brahman to be the essence of phenomena, become devoted
to Him. Completely merged in Brahman, they attain freedom from rebirth.
8. The Lord, Isa, supports all this
which has been joined together-the perishable and the imperishable, the
manifest, the effect and the unmanifest, the cause. The same Lord, the Supreme
Self, devoid of Lordship, becomes bound because of assuming the attitude of the
enjoyer. The jiva again realizes the Supreme Self and is freed from all
fetters.
9. The Supreme Lord appears as Isvara,
omniscient and omnipotent and as the jiva, of limited knowledge and power, both
unborn. But this does not deny the phenomenal universe; for there exists
further the unborn prakriti, which creates the ideas of the enjoyer, enjoyment
and the object. Atman is infinite and all-pervading and therefore devoid of
agency. When the seeker knows all these three to be Brahman, he is freed from
his fetters.
10. Prakriti is perishable. Hara, the
Lord, is immortal and imperishable. The non-dual Supreme Self rules both
prakriti and the individual soul. Through constant meditation on Him, by union
with Him, by the knowledge of identity with Him, one attains, in the end,
cessation of the illusion of phenomena.
11. When the Lord is known all fetters
fall off; with the cessation of miseries, birth and death come to an end. From
meditation on Him there arises, after the dissolution of the body, the third
state, that of universal lordship. And lastly, the aspirant, transcending that
state also, abides in the complete Bliss of Brahman.
12. The enjoyer (jiva), the objects of
enjoyment and the Ruler (Isvara)-the triad described by the knowers of Brahman-all
this is nothing but Brahman. This Brahman alone, which abides eternally within
the self, should be known. Beyond It, truly, there is nothing else to be known.
13. The visible form of fire, while it
lies latent in its source, the fire-wood, is not perceived; yet there is no
destruction of its subtle form. That very fire can be brought out again by
means of persistent rubbing of the wood, its source. In like manner, Atman,
which exists in two states, like fire, can be grasped in this very body by
means of Om.
14. By making the body the lower piece
of wood and Om the upper piece and through the practice of the friction of
meditation, one perceives the luminous Self, hidden like the fire in the wood.
15-16.
As oil exists in
sesame seeds, butter in milk, water in river-beds and fire in wood, so the Self
is realized as existing within the self, when a man looks for It by means of truthfulness
and austerity-when he looks for the Self, which pervades all things as butter
pervades milk and whose roots are Self-Knowledge and austerity. That is the
Brahman taught by the Upanishad; yea, that is the Brahman taught by the
Upanishads.
1. May the sun, at the commencement of
yoga, join our minds and other organs to the Supreme Self so that we may attain
the Knowledge of Reality. May He, also, support the body, the highest material
entity, through the powers of the deities who control the senses.
2. Having received the blessings of the
divine Sun and with minds joined to the Supreme Self, we exert ourselves, to
the best of our power, toward meditation, by which we shall attain Heaven
(Brahman).
3. May the Sun bestow favour upon the
senses and the mind by joining them with the Self, so that the senses may be
directed toward the Blissful Brahman and may reveal, by means of Knowledge, the
mighty and radiant Brahman.
4. It is the duty of those brahmins who
fix their minds and senses on the Supreme Self to utter such lofty invocations
to the divine Sun, omnipresent, mighty and omniscient. For He, all-witnessing
and non-dual, is the dispenser of sacrifices.
5. O senses and O deities who favour
them! Through salutations I unite myself with the eternal Brahman, who is your
source. Let this prayer sung by me, who follow the right path of the Sun, go
forth in all directions. May the sons of the Immortal, who occupy celestial
positions, hear it!
6. If sacrifices are performed without
first propitiating the Sun, then the mind becomes attached to sacrifices in
which fire is kindled by the rubbing of the pieces of fire-wood, the oblations
are offered to the deity Vayu and the soma juice is drunk excessively.
7. Serve the eternal Brahman with the
blessings of the Sun, the cause of the universe. Be absorbed, through samadhi,
in the eternal Brahman. Thus your work will not bind you.
8. The wise man should hold his body
steady, with the three upper parts erect, turn his senses, with the help of the
mind, toward the heart and by means of the raft of Brahman cross the fearful
torrents of the world.
9. The yogi of well regulated
endeavours should control the pranas; when they are quieted he should breathe
out through the nostrils. Then let him undistractedly restrain his mind, as a
charioteer restrains his vicious horses.
10. Let yoga be practised within a cave
protected from the high wind, or in a place which is level, pure and free from
pebbles, gravel and fire, undisturbed by the noise of water or of market-booths
and which is delightful to the mind and not offensive to the eye.
11. When yoga is practised, the forms
which appear first and which gradually manifest Brahman are those or snow-flakes,
smoke, sun, wind, fire, fire-flies, lightning, crystal and the moon.
12. When earth, water fire, air and
akasa arise, that is to say, when the five attributes of the elements,
mentioned in the books on yoga, become manifest then the yogi's body becomes
purified by the fire of yoga and he is free from illness, old age and death.
13. The precursors of perfection in
yoga, they say, are lightness and healthiness of the body, absence of desire,
clear complexion, pleasantness of voice, sweet odour and slight excretions.
14. As gold covered by earth shines
bright after it has been purified, so also the yogi, realising the truth of
Atman, becomes one with the non-dual Atman, attains the goal and is free from
grief
15. And when the yogi beholds the real
nature of Brahman, through the Knowledge of the Self, radiant as a lamp, then,
having known the unborn and immutable Lord, who is untouched by ignorance and
its effects, he is freed from all fetters.
16. He indeed, the Lord, who pervades
all regions, was the first to be born and it is He who dwells in the womb of
the universe. It is He, again, who is born as a child and He will be born in
the future, He stands behind all persons and His face is everywhere.
17. The Self-luminous Lord, who is fire,
who is in water, who has entered into the whole world, who is in plants, who is
in trees-to that Lord let there be adoration! Yea, let there be adoration!
1. The non-dual Ensnarer rules by His
powers. Remaining one and the same, He rules by His powers all the worlds
during their manifestation and continued existence. They who know this become
immortal.
2. Rudra is truly one; for the knowers
of Brahman do not admit the existence of a second, He alone rules all the
worlds by His powers. He dwells as the inner Self of every living being. After
having created all the worlds, He, their Protector, takes them back into
Himself at the end of time.
3. His eyes are everywhere, His faces
everywhere, His arms everywhere, everywhere His feet. He it is who endows men
with arms, birds with feet and wings and men likewise with feet. Having
produced heaven and earth, He remains as their non-dual manifester.
4. He, the omniscient Rudra, the
creator of the gods and the bestower of their powers, the support of the
universe, He who, in the beginning, gave birth to Hiranyagarbha-may He endow us
with clear intellect!
5. O Rudra, Thou who dwellest in the
body and bestowest happiness! Look upon us with that most blessed form of
Thine, which is auspicious, unterrifying and all good.
6. O Dweller in the body and Bestower
of happiness, make benign that arrow which Thou holdest in Thy hand ready to
shoot, O Protector of the body! Do not injure man or the world!
7. The Supreme Lord is higher than
Virat, beyond Hiranyagarbha. He is vast and is hidden in the bodies of all
living beings. By knowing Him who alone pervades the universe, men become
immortal.
8. I know the great Purusha, who is
luminous, like the sun and beyond darkness. Only by knowing Him does one pass
over death; there is no other way to the Supreme Goal.
9. The whole universe is filled by the
Purusha, to whom there is nothing superior, from whom there is nothing
different, than whom there is nothing either smaller or greater; who stands
alone, motionless as a tree, established in His own glory.
10. That which is farthest from this
world is without form and without affliction They who know It become immortal;
but others, indeed, suffer pain.
11. All faces are His faces; all heads,
His heads; all necks, His necks. He dwells in the hearts of all beings. He is
the all-pervading Bhagavan. Therefore He is the omnipresent and benign Lord.
12. He, indeed, is the great Purusha,
the Lord of creation, preservation and destruction, who inspires the mind to
attain the state of stainlessness. He is the Ruler and the Light that is
imperishable.
13. The Purusha, no bigger than a thumb,
is the inner Self, ever seated in the heart of man. He is known by the mind,
which controls knowledge and is perceived in the heart. They who know Him
become immortal.
14. The Purusha with a thousand heads, a
thousand eyes, a thousand feet, compasses the earth on all sides and extends
beyond it by ten fingers' breadth.
15. The Purusha alone is all this-what
has been and what will be. He is also the Lord of Immortality and of whatever
grows by food.
16. His hands and feet are everywhere;
His eyes, heads and faces are everywhere; His ears are everywhere; He exists
compassing all.
17. Himself devoid of senses, He shines
through the functions of the senses. He is the capable ruler of all; He is the
refuge of all. He is great.
18. The Swan, the ruler of the whole
world, of all that is moving and all that is motionless, becomes the embodied
self and dwelling in the city of nine gates, flies outward.
19. Grasping without hands, hasting
without feet, It sees without eyes, It hears without ears. It knows what is to
be known, but no one knows It. They call It the First, the Great, the Full.
20. The Self, smaller than the small,
greater than the great, is hidden in the hearts of creatures. The wise, by the
grace of the Creator, behold the Lord, majestic and desireless and become free
from grief.
21. I know this undecaying, primeval
One, the Self of all things, which exists everywhere, being all-pervading and
which the wise declare to be free from birth. The teachers of Brahman, indeed,
speak of It as eternal.
1. He, the One and Undifferentiated,
who by the manifold application of His powers produces, in the beginning,
different objects for a hidden purpose and, in the end, withdraws the universe
into Himself, is indeed the self-luminous-May He endow us with clear intellect!
2. That Supreme Self is Agni (Fire); It
is Aditya (Sun); It is Vayu (Wind); It is Chandrama (Moon). That Self is the
luminous stars; It is Hiranyagarbha; It is water; It is Virat.
3. Thou art woman, Thou art man; Thou
art youth and maiden too. Thou as an old man totterest along on a staff; it is
Thou alone who, when born, assumest diverse forms.
4. Thou art the dark-blue bee; Thou art
the green parrot with red eyes; Thou art the thunder-cloud, the seasons and the
seas. Thou art beginningless and all-pervading. From Thee all the worlds are
born.
5. There is one unborn prakriti-red,
white and black-which gives birth to many creatures like itself. An unborn
individual soul becomes attached to it and enjoys it, while another unborn
individual soul leaves it after his enjoyment is completed.
6. Two birds, united always and known
by the same name, closely cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet
fruit; the other looks on without eating.
7. Seated on the same tree, the jiva
moans, bewildered by its impotence. But when it beholds the other, the Lord
worshipped by all and His glory, it becomes free from grief.
8. Of what use are the Vedas to him who
does not know that indestructible Substance, that akasa-like Brahman, which is
greater than the unmanifest and wherein the Vedas and all the gods are
sheltered? Only those who know It attain bliss.
9. The sacred verses, the offerings
(yajna), the sacrifices (kratu), the penances (vrata), the past, the future and
all that the Vedas declare, have been produced from the imperishable Brahman.
Brahman projects the universe through the power of Its maya. Again, in that
universe Brahman as the jiva is entangled through maya.
10. Know, then, that prakriti is maya
and that Great God is the Lord of maya. The whole universe is filled with
objects which are parts of His being.
11. By truly realising Him who, though
non-dual, dwells in prakriti, both in its primary and in its secondary aspect
and in Whom this whole world comes together and dissolves-by truly realising
Him Who is the Lord, the bestower of blessings, the Adorable God, one attains
the supreme peace.
12. He, the creator of the gods and the
bestower of their powers, the Support of the universe, Rudra the omniscient,
who at the beginning gave birth to Hiranyagarbha-may He endow us with clear
intellect!
13. He who is the sovereign of the gods,
in whom the worlds find their support, who rules over all two-footed and four-footed
beings-let us serve that God, radiant and blissful, with an oblation.
14. By realising Him who is subtler than
the subtlest who dwells in the midst of the chaos, who is the Creator of all
things and is endowed with many forms, who is the non-dual Pervader of the
universe and all good-by realising Him one attains the supreme peace.
15. It is He who, in proper time,
becomes the custodian of the universe and the sovereign of all; who conceals
Himself in all beings as their inner Witness; and in whom the sages and the
deities are united. Verily, by knowing Him one cuts asunder the fetters of
death.
16. He who knows Brahman, who is all
Bliss, extremely subtle, like the film that rises to the surface of clarified
butter and is hidden in all beings-he who knows the radiant Deity, the sole
Pervader of the universe, is released from all his fetters.
17. The Maker of all things, self-luminous
and all-pervading, He dwells always in the hearts of men. He is revealed by the
negative teachings of the Vedanta, discriminative wisdom and the Knowledge of
Unity based upon reflection. They who know Him become immortal.
18. When there is no darkness of
ignorance, there is no day or night, neither being nor non-being; the pure
Brahman alone exists. That immutable Reality is the meaning of
"That"; It is adored by the Sun. From It has proceeded the ancient
wisdom.
19. No one can grasp Him above, across,
or in the middle. There is no likeness of Him. His name is Great Glory (Mahad
Yasah).
20. His form is not an object of vision;
no one beholds Him with the eyes. They who, through pure intellect and the
Knowledge of Unity based upon reflection, realise Him as abiding in the heart
become immortal.
21. It is because Thou, O Lord, art
birthless, that some rare souls, frightened by birth and death, take refuge in
Thee. O Rudra, may Thy benign face protect me for ever!
22. O Rudra, do not, in Thy wrath,
destroy our children and grand-children. Do not destroy our lives; do not
destroy our cows or horses; do not destroy our strong servants. For we invoke
Thee always, with oblations, for our protection.
1. In the Immutable, infinite Supreme
Brahman remain hidden the two: knowledge and ignorance. Ignorance leads to
worldliness and knowledge, to Immortality. Brahman, who controls both knowledge
and ignorance, is different from both.
2. He, the non-dual Brahman, who rules
over every position; who controls all forms and all sources; who, in the
beginning, filled with knowledge the omniscient Hiranyagarbha, His own
creation, whom He beheld when He (Hiranyagarbha) was produced-He is other than
both knowledge and ignorance.
3. At the time of the creation the Lord
spreads out individual nets in various ways and then at the time of the cosmic
dissolution withdraws them into the great prakriti. Again the all-pervading
Deity creates the aggregates of body and senses, both individual and collective
and their controllers also and thus exercises His overlordship.
4. As the sun shines, illumining all
the quarters-above, below and across-so also God, self-resplendent, adorable
and non-dual, controls all objects, which themselves possess the nature of a
cause.
5-6. He who is the cause of all and who
enables all things to function according to their nature; who brings to
maturity all that can be ripened; who, being non-dual, rules over the whole universe
and engages the gunas in their respective functions-He is concealed in the
Upanishads, the secret part of the Vedas. Brahma knew Him who can be known only
from the evidence of the Vedas. The gods and seers of olden times who knew Him
became Brahman and attained Immortality.
7. Endowed with gunas, the jiva
performs action, seeking its fruit; and again, it reaps the fruit of what it
has done. Assuming all forms and led by the three gunas, the jiva, ruler of the
pranas, roams about following the three paths, according to its deeds.
8. Of the size of a thumb, but
brilliant, like the sun, the jiva possesses both volition and egoism. It is
endowed with the qualities of both buddhi and Atman. Therefore it is seen as
another entity, inferior and small as the point of a goad.
9. Know the embodied soul to be a part
of the hundredth part of the point of a hair divided a hundred times; and yet
it is infinite.
10. It is not female, it is not male,
nor is it neuter. whatever body it takes, with that it becomes united.
11. By means of desires, contact,
attachment and delusion, the embodied soul assumes, successively, diverse forms
in various places, according to its deeds, just as the body grows when food and
drink are poured into it.
12. The embodied soul, by means of good
and evil deeds committed by itself, assumes many forms, coarse and fine. By
virtue of its actions and also of such characteristics of the mind as knowledge
and desire, it assumes another body for the enjoyment of suitable objects.
13. He who knows the Lord, who is
without beginning or end, who stands in the midst of the chaos of the world,
who is the Creator of all things and is endowed with many forms-he who knows
the radiant Deity, the sole Pervader of the universe, is released from all his
fetters.
14. Those who know Him who can be
realised by the pure heart, who is called incorporeal, who is the cause of
creation and destruction, who is all good and the creator of the sixteen parts-those
who know the luminous Lord are freed from embodiment.
1. Some learned men speak of the
inherent nature of things and some speak of time, as the cause of the universe.
They all, indeed, are deluded. It is the greatness of the self-luminous Lord
that causes the Wheel of Brahman to revolve.
2. He by whom the whole universe is
constantly pervaded is the Knower, the Author of time. He is sinless and
omniscient, It is at His command that the work which is called earth, water,
fire, air and akasa appears as the universe. All this should be reflected upon
by the wise.
3. The yogi who first performs actions
and then turns away from them and who practises one, two, three, or eight
disciplines, unites one principle with another principle and with the help of
virtues cultivated by the self and of subtle tendencies attains Liberation in
course of time.
4. He who attains purity of heart by
performing actions as an offering to the Lord and merges prakriti and all its
effects in Brahman, realises his true Self and thereby transcends phenomena. In
the absence of maya, both collective and individual, all his past actions are
destroyed. After the destruction of the prarabdha karma he attains final
Liberation.
5. The Great Lord is the beginning, the
cause which unites the soul with the body; He is above the three kinds of time
and is seen to be without parts. After having worshipped that adorable God
dwelling in the heart, who is of many forms and is the true source of all
things, man attains final Liberation.
6. He from whom this universe proceeds
is higher and other than all forms of the Tree of the World and of time. When
one knows Him who is the indweller, the bringer of good, the destroyer of evil,
the Lord of powers, the immortal support of all, one attains final Liberation.
7. We know Him who is the Supreme Lord
of lords, the Supreme Deity of deities, the Ruler of rulers; who is higher than
the imperishable prakriti and is the self-luminous, adorable Lord of the world.
8. He is without a body or organs; none
like unto Him is seen, or better than He. The Vedas speak of His exalted power,
which is innate and capable of producing diverse effects and also of His
omniscience and might.
9. He has no master in the world, no
ruler, nor is there even a sign of Him by which He can be inferred. He is the
cause, the Lord of the lord of the organs; and He is without progenitor or
controller.
10. May the non-dual Lord, who, by the
power of His maya, covered Himself, like a spider, with threads drawn from
primal matter, merge us in Brahman!
11. The non-dual and resplendent Lord is
hidden in all beings. All-pervading, the inmost Self of all creatures, the impeller
to actions, abiding in all things, He is the Witness, the Animator and the
Absolute, free from gunas.
12. There is a non-dual Ruler of the
actionless many; He makes the one seed manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to
the wise, who perceive Him within themselves-and not to others.
13. He is the Eternal among the eternal,
the Conscious among the conscious and though non-dual, fulfils the desires of
many. He who has known Him, the luminous Lord, the Great Cause, to be realised
by Knowledge (Samkhya) and yoga, is freed from all fetters.
14. The sun does not shine there, nor
the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings-much less this fire. He shining,
everything shines after Him. By his light all this is lighted.
15. In this universe the Swan, the
Supreme Self alone exists. It is He who, as fire, abides in the water. Only by
knowing Him does one pass over death, There is no other way to reach the
Supreme Goal.
16. He who is the support of both the
unmanifested prakriti and the jiva, who is the Lord of the three gunas and who
is the cause of bondage, existence and Liberation from samsara, is verily the
Creator of the universe, the Knower, the inmost Self of all things and their
Source-the omniscient Lord, the Author of time, the Possessor of virtues, the
Knower of everything.
17. He who constantly rules the world is
verily the cause of bondage and Liberation. Established in His own glory, He is
the Immortal, the Embodiment of Consciousness, the omnipresent Protector of the
universe. There is no one else able to rule it.
18. Seeking Liberation, I take refuge in
the Lord, the revealer of Self-Knowledge, who in the beginning created Brahma
and delivered the Vedas to Him.
19-20.
When men shall roll
up space as if it were a piece of hide, then there will be an end of misery
without one’s cultivating the Knowledge of the Lord, who is without parts,
without actions, tranquil, blameless, unattached, the supreme bridge to
Immortality, an like a fire that has consumed all its fuel.
21. Through the power of austerity and
through the grace of the Lord, the sage Svetasvatara realised Brahman and
proclaimed the highly sacred Knowledge, supremely cherished by the company of
seers, to sannyasins of the most advanced stage.
22. The profound mystery in the Vedanta
was taught in the previous cycle. It should not be given to one whose passions
have not been subdued, nor to one who is not a son or a disciple.
23. If these truths have been told to a
high-minded person who feels the highest devotion for God and for his guru as
for God, then they will surely shine forth as inner experiences-then, indeed,
they will shine forth.
Om. That is full; this is full. This fullness has been
projected from that fullness.
When this fullness merges in that fullness, all that remains is fullness.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!