1. Sanyasa UpanishadsTranslated-by A A Ramanathan Adyar

THE SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

(ON RENUNCIATION)

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

(BASED ON THE COMMENTARY OF

UPANIṢAD BRAHMAYOGIN)

By PROF. A. A. RAMANATHAN

THE ADYAR LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTRE

THE ADYAR LIBRARY SERIES

VOLUME ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR

THE SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

English Translation

THE SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

(ON RENUNCIATION)

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

(BASED ON THE COMMENTARY OF

UPANIṢAD BRAHMAYOGIN)

BY PROF. A. A. RAMANATHAN

THE ADYAR LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTRE

(C) 1978 The Adyar Library and Research Centre

The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Madras 600 020, India

ISBN 0-8356-7511-4

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

CONTENTS

Page

CONTENTS

vii

CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

CONTENTS

ix

CONTENTS

TRANSLATION :

CONTENTS

1. Avadhūtopanisad

CONTENTS

1

CONTENTS

2. Ārunyupanisad

CONTENTS

9

CONTENTS

3. Katharudropanisad

CONTENTS

13

CONTENTS

4. Kundikopanisad

CONTENTS

21

CONTENTS

5. Jābālopanisad

CONTENTS

28

CONTENTS

6. Turīyātītopanisad

CONTENTS

36

CONTENTS

7. Nārada-parivrājakopanisad

CONTENTS

40

CONTENTS

8. Nirvāṇopanisad

CONTENTS

127

CONTENTS

9. Parabrah­mopanisad

CONTENTS

142

CONTENTS

10. Paramahamsa-parivrājakopanisad

CONTENTS

152

CONTENTS

11. Paramahamsopanisad

CONTENTS

162

CONTENTS

12. Brahmopanisad

CONTENTS

166

CONTENTS

13. Bhikṣukopanisad

CONTENTS

172

CONTENTS

14. Maitreyopanisad

CONTENTS

176

CONTENTS

15. Yājñavalkyopanisad

CONTENTS

190

CONTENTS

16. Sātyāyanīyopanisad

CONTENTS

199

CONTENTS

17. Samnyāsopanisad

CONTENTS

209

CONTENTS

GLOSSARY

CONTENTS

233

FOREWORD

In 1888, Professor Max Müller wrote to Col. H. S. Olcott, President-Founder of the Theosophical Society: ' It seems to me, considering the higher object of the Theosophical Society, that you ought to publish a complete and correct edition of the Upaniṣad-s. . . . At present the issue of a beautiful and correct edition of the text seems to me almost a duty to be performed by the Theosophical Society.'

As a result of this suggestion Dr. F. Otto Schrader, Director of the Adyar Library, projected a scheme for the publication of the Major and Minor Upaniṣad-s and in 1912 brought out the first volume of the Minor Upaniṣad-s comprising the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣad-s. Later Pandit A. Mahadeva Sastri restarted the series by publishing the Upaniṣad-s with the Advaitic commentary of Upaniṣad Brahmayogin of the Kanchi Maṭha, who wrote a learned and illuminating commentary on the ten major and ninety-eight minor Upaniṣad-s, all of which have appeared in the Adyar Library Series. Volumes in the Series entitled Sāmānya-vedānta, Śaiva, Śākta, Vaiṣṇava and Yoga Upaniṣad-s contain eighty-one of the Upaniṣad-s, while the concluding Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣad-s include seventeen works. The text of the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣad-s with Brahmayogin's commentary appeared first in our series in 1929 and was later reprinted in 1966.

viii

SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Translations of the above-mentioned volumes,

based on the commentary of Brahmayogin, were also

published from 1920 onwards except for the translation

of the Samnyāsa Upaniṣad-s which is seeing the light of day

only now as a result of the labours of Professor

A. A. Ramanathan of the Adyar Library. In preparing

the volume, he has availed of translations of the Avadhūta

and Āruni Upaniṣad-s, and of preliminary drafts of the

Katharudra and Kuṇḍika Upaniṣad-s, very kindly made

by Dr.E.R. Sreekrishna Sarma of the Sri Venkateswara

University at our request. Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier

has helped to see the work satisfactorily through the

Press. We express thanks to both of them.

The Samnyāsa Upaniṣad-s deal, as the name itself

indicates, with the characteristics, qualifications, life

and other particulars concerning those who have

renounced the world, the samnyāsin-s. The role of the

samnyāsin varies from that of a mendicant monk, who

has outwardly cast away the trappings of the world,

to the supremely realized individual who has become

inwardly free of all differentiation. The reader will

find in this volume descriptions and details of the

Kuṭīcaka, Bahūdaka, Hamsa, Paramahaṃsa, Turīyātīta

and Avadhūta stages of Saṃnyāsa.

A short summary of the contents of each Upaniṣad

precedes the text. Notes have been provided wherever

elucidation seemed necessary. A glossary has been

added to enhance the usefulness of the translation.

15 August 1978

Radha Burnier

Director

ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATIONS

Adh. Adhyāya

Br. Up. Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad

Ch. Up. Chāndogyopaniṣad

Gītā Bhagavadgītā

Kaṭh. Up. Kaṭhopaniṣad

Mānd. Up. Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad

Manu. Manusmṛti

Śvet. Up. Śvetāśvataropaniṣad

T. B. Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa

Up., Upa. Upaniṣad

1

AVADHŪTA UPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the seventy-ninth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Kṛṣṇayajurveda describes the nature of the Avadhūta ascetic, his conduct, the absence of obligation on his part to study scripture, ctc. and concludes with the glorification of the blessed state of Self-realization.]

Inquiry into the nature of the Avadhūta

Then, it is said, Sāṃkrti approached the venerable Avadhūta, Dattātreya, and questioned: Venerable Sir, Who is an Avadhūta? What is his condition? What his characteristic? And what his worldly existence? To him replied the venerable Dattātreya, the most compassionate:

1

Literal meaning of the word avadhūta

The Avadhūta is so called because he is immortal (akṣara); he is the greatest (varenya); he has discarded worldly ties (dhūtasamsārabandhana); and he is the indicated meaning of the sentence ‘Thou art That’, etc. (tattvamasyādi-lakṣya).1

2

Conduct of an aspirant to Avadhūta-hood

He who rests constantly in himself, after crossing [the barrier of] castes and stages [of social position]

1 Here the four syllables a, va, dhū and ta are taken separately as standing for akṣara, varenya, dhūtasamsārabandhana and tattvamasyādi-lakṣya, respectively. The idea is that the Avadhūta is verily Brahman itself.

2

SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

and thus rises above varṇa-s and āśrama-s and is in union

[with God] is said to be an Avadhūta.1

3

Condition of an aspirant to Avadhūthood

His joy (priya) is [to be envisaged as] the head;

delight (moda) is his right wing; great delight [pramoda]

his left wing; and bliss [his very self]. Thus he assumes

a fourfold condition.2

4

One should identify Brahman neither with the head nor with the middle part nor with the bottom

but with [what remains in the shape of] the tail, since

it is said that Brahman is ‘the Tail’ and substratum.

Thus, those who contemplate this fourfold division

attain the supreme Goal.

5

1 In mantra 2 above, the real nature of an Avadhūta is

explained. In this mantra, his practical conduct is described,

constituting the stage preceding the attainment of real Avadhūta-

hood. In this stage the person rises above considerations of caste,

profession and social status. He is always in communion with

God, the supreme Self.

2 Joy (priya) here means the happiness derived from the

attainment of the prerequisites for Brahman-realization. These

include the discriminative knowledge of the eternal and non-

eternal, the necessary control of the internal organs and the

external senses, indifference towards enjoyments here or hereafter

and a burning desire for liberation. Delight (moda) is the felicity

experienced during contemplation, and that which is experienced

in the state of intensified contemplation is pramoda. Bliss is the

state of nirvikalpa-samādhi which is the Self itself. Although all

these four stages are of the self itself, none of them shoud be consi-

dered as the real nature of realization. Compare this with a

similar statement in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, Brahmānanda Vallī.

Importance of knowledge

Not by rituals, not by begetting children, not by wealth, but by renunciation (tyāga) alone a few attained immortality.

Description of the conduct of an Avadhūta

His [the Avadhūta's] worldly existence consists in moving about freely, with or without clothes. For them there is nothing righteous or unrighteous; nothing holy or unholy. Through all-consuming, correct knowledge (sāmgrahaṇeṣṭi) [the Avadhūta] performs Aśvamedha sacrifice within [himself]. That is the greatest sacrifice and the great yoga.

The great vow

Nought of this extraordinary, free action [of his] should be disclosed. This is the great vow (mahāvratā). He is not tainted like the ignorant.

As the sun absorbs all waters, and the fire consumes all things [remaining unaffected by them], even so, the pure Yogin enjoys all objects, unstained by virtues or sins.

As the ocean into which all waters flow maintains its own nature despite the water pouring in [from all sides], so, he alone attains peace into whom all desires flow in like manner ; not he who seeks the objects of pleasure.

1 In the Aśvamedha sacrifice many iṣṭi-s (offerings of oblations to the fire) have to be performed to propitiate the god Savitṛ. These iṣṭi-s are the symbols of the conquest of the entire world by the king who performs the Aśvamedha. In the case of the Avadhūta all-consuming knowledge stands for the sāṃgrahaṇeṣṭi.

4

Teaching concerning the ultimate truth

11

There is neither death nor birth; none is bound, none aspires. There is neither seeker after liberation nor any liberated; this indeed is the ultimate truth.

12

Many were my activities perchance in the past for gaining things here and hereafter, or for obtaining liberation. All that is now of the past.

That itself is the state of contentment. Verily remembering the same [i.e. the past] achievements involving objects, he now remains thus ever content.1

13

The miserable ignorant, desirous of children, etc. needs must suffer.

Wherefore shall I suffer, who am filled with supreme bliss? Let those who yearn to go to the other worlds perform rituals.

14

What shall I, who am of the nature of all the worlds, perform? For what and how? Let those who are qualified interpret the Śāstra-s or teach the Veda-s.

15

I have no such qualification, since I am free of action.2 I have no desire for sleeping or begging, bathing or cleaning. Nor do I do them.

16

If onlookers thus superimpose, let them do so. What matters to me the superimposition of others?

1

In the past he did his duties which required external objects (pratiyogin-s); now, on the contrary, he has no need of objects or their achievement for his contentment; for he realizes that he himself is Brahman without a second (niṣpratiyogin).

2

Even studying or interpeting the Veda-s requires the superimposition (adhyāsa) of attributes like agency, etc. on the Self, which is in reality free of all attributes. Since the Avadhūta does not feel ‘I am doing,’ he has no activity whatsoever.

AVADHŪTA UPANIṢAD

A heap of the red-black berries [of the Abrus precatorius] would not burn, even if others superimposed fire on it. Likewise, I partake not of worldly duties superimposed [on me] by others.

Obligation to study, etc.

Let them, who are ignorant of the reality, study the scriptures; knowing [the reality] why should I study? Let them who have doubts reflect [upon what was studied]. Having no doubts, I do not reflect.

Were I under illusion, I may meditate; having no illusion, what meditation can there be [for me]? Confusion of body for the self, I never experience.

The habitual usage ‘I am a man’ is possible even without this confusion, for it is due to impressions accumulated during a long time.

When the results of actions set in motion [prārabdha-karman] are exhausted, the habitual usage also ends. This [worldly usage] will not cease even with repeated meditation unless such actions are exhausted.

If infrequency of worldly dealings is sought, let there be contemplation for you. Wherefore should I, to whom worldly dealings offer no hindrance, contemplate?1

1 This statement is in answer to a postulated question, ‘Why does the Avadhūta use the words, “I” and “my” as others do, inasmuch as he does not feel “I” and “my” ’? Karman-s are mainly of two types: prārabdha-karman-s (past actions which have begun to produce their fruits) and samcita-karman-s (those which are latent in their accumulated form). Even a realized self cannot be free of the former type. Realizations burn down the samcita but not the prārabdha which is destroyed only after the shedding of the mortal coil.

6

Because I do not have distractions, I do not need concentration, distraction or concentration being of the mind that modifies.

23

What separate experience can there be for me, who am of the nature of eternal experience? What has to be done is done, what has to be gained is gained for ever.

24

Let my dealings, worldly, scriptural or of other kinds proceed as they have started, I being neither an agent [of action] nor one affected [by it].

25

Or, even though I have achieved what has to be achieved, let me remain on the scriptural path for the sake of the well-being of the world. What harm for me thereby?

26

Let the body be engaged in the worship of gods, bathing, cleaning, begging and so forth. Let speech repeatedly utter the tāra-mantra or recite the Upaniṣadic passages.

27

Let thought contemplate Viṣṇu or let it be dissolved in the bliss of Brahman. I am the witness. I neither do nor cause any doing.

28

Being contented with duties fulfilled and achievements accomplished, he ceaselessly reflects as follows with a contented mind:

29

Blessed am I, blessed am I. Directly and always, I experience my own self. Blessed am I, blessed am I, the bliss of Brahman shines brightly in me.

30

Blessed am I, blessed am I. I do not see the misery of existence. Blessed am I, blessed am I; my ignorance has fled away.

31

AVADHŪTA UPANIṢAD

Blessed am I, blessed am I; no duty exists for me. Blessed am I, blessed am I; everything to be obtained is now obtained.

32

Blessed am I, blessed am I. What comparison is there in the world for my contentment! Blessed am I, blessed am I; blessed, blessed, again and again blessed.

33

Lo! the virtues accrued have yielded fruit! Indeed they have! By the richness of virtue we are as we are.

34

Wondrous knowledge, wondrous knowledge! Wondrous happiness, wondrous happiness! Wondrous scriptures, wondrous scriptures! Wondrous teachers, wondrous teachers!

35

Result of studying and contemplating this knowledge

He who studies this also achieves everything to be achieved. He becomes free of the sins of drinking liquor. He becomes free of the sins of stealing gold. He becomes free of the sins of killing a Brahmin. He becomes free of actions, ordained or prohibited. Knowing this, let him wander according to his free will. Om, Truth.

36

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

ĀRUNYUPANIṢAD

2

ĀRUNYUPANIṢAD

ĀRUNYUPANIṢAD

ĀRUNYUPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the sixteenth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Sāmaveda describes the state of asceticism, the duties of one who renounces worldly life, his accoutrements such as the water-vessel, emblematic staff, etc. and concludes with the rules prescribed for receiving alms.]

Description of Asceticism

Description of Asceticism

Description of Asceticism

The son of Aruṇa belonging to the gotra of Prajāpati went to the world of the Creator (Prajāpati). Having gone there, he asked of him: Venerable sir, how may I renounce activities completely? Unto him the Creator said: Renounce your sons, brothers, relatives, the tuft, the sacred thread, the sacrifices, the rules, the study of the Veda-s, the worlds [called] bhū, bhuvah, svar, mahar, janas, tapas and satya [as well as] atala, vitala, sutala, pātala, rasātala, talātala, mahātala; and verily the whole universe. Retain only the staff and the loin-cloth for covering [the body]. Give up all else.

Duties of one who renounces

Duties of one who renounces

Duties of one who renounces

Whether a householder, a student, or a recluse, one shall transform the ritual fires into the internal fire; and the Gāyatrī [mantra] into the fire of one's own speech. One shall abandon the sacred thread

10

upon the earth or in the waters. The hut-dweller (Kuṭīcaka) who devotes himself to the study [of the scriptures] shall renounce the family; shall give up the [water] vessel; shall give up the ritual ring (pavitra); shall give up the staff and the ritual fires. Thus he said. Thereafter, he shall act as one without any wish; he shall give up mental fancies; he shall consume food as if it were medicine. Thrice a day [i.e. early morning, at noon and in the evening] he shall have an ablution. His samdhyā [ritual] is contemplation in which the Self is united [with the Absolute]. Among all the scriptures the Āraṇa1 portion shall be repeated and [in the end] the Upaniṣadic portion shall be repeated, the Upaniṣadic portion shall be repeated. Verily I am the Brahmasūtra. [For] sūtra is that which points to [the Brahman alone]. Hence am I the Brahmasūtra [in as much as I am concerned only with Brahman]. He who knows this is the knower and shall give up the threefold thread (yajñopavīta).

Mantra, Symbols, Rules, etc. at renunciation

2

After saying thrice, ‘I have renounced, I have renounced, I have renounced’, he shall take up the bamboo staff and don the loin-cloth, uttering the mantra: ‘Let all beings be devoid of fear. Everything originates from me. You are my friend and

1 Āraṇa = Āraṇyaka. Here, according to the commentator, the Sāvitra portion of the Taittirīya is meant.

[you] protect me. You are the strength, my friend. You are the vajra of Indra that killed Vṛtra. Be pleasant to me and remove all my sins.' He shall partake of food as if it were medicine. He shall eat as if taking medicine. He shall eat as and when food is obtained. 'Oh [disciples], protect brahmacarya, non-injury, non-possession and truth with care.'1

3

Rules regarding the seat, etc. of ascetics

[The life of] the wandering mendicants (Paramahamsa-s), who dwell upon the Brahman (brahmacārin-s) is [passed] by sitting and sleeping on the ground. Theirs is the [drinking] vessel of clay, gourd or wood; he [the Paramahaṃsa] shall give up passion, anger, greed, delusion, hypocrisy, arrogance, desire, envy, possessiveness and egotism. During the rainy season, stationed at one place, the mendicant monk shall journey alone for eight months; or [he shall be stationary] for two months, for two months. He who knows thus shall renounce these [the undermentioned] either after initiation or before: father, son, the [ritual] fire, the sacred thread, rituals, wife and whatever remains.

4

1 The outer and inner aspects of these qualities are: brahmacarya (outer) = celibacy, (inner) = the dwelling of the mind on Brahman; ahiṃsā = not injuring others, non-injury of oneself; aparigraha = non-possession of anything other than what is needed for bare subsistence, non-concern with all but Brahman; satya = truthfulness, realization of the true nature of the Self.

Rules for receiving alms

Mendicant monks enter a village for seeking alms, receiving food either in the bowl of the hand or in the mouth.

Rules for receiving alms

He shall utter the sacred mantra, Om hi Om hi Om hi (thrice). He who knows this is the knower.

Rules for the wise ascetic

One should give up the staff made of either palāśa or bilva or udumbara, the girdle made of muñjā grass and the sacred thread. He who knows this is brave.

Conclusion

The seers always perceive the supreme abode of Viṣṇu, as the eye fully directed towards the sky sees [without hindrance].

Conclusion

The wise ones, being awake, and uttering special prayers enlighten the supreme abode of Viṣṇu.

Conclusion

Thus is the secret advice for attaining nirvāṇa, the secret advice of the scriptures, the secret advice of the scriptures. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

3

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the eightythird among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s, and forms part of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda describes the procedure of renunciation, the duties of ascetics, the fruit of celibacy and the knowledge of Brahman and concludes with the description of the sevenfold division of the one attributeless Brahman.]

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

Study of Brahmavidyā

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

The Gods, it is said, requested of the venerable [Brahmā]: Venerable sir, impart to us the spiritual knowledge. He, the creator (Prajāpati), replied:

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

1

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

Investigation into Renunciation, a part of Brahmavidyā

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

After removing the hair including the tuft and discarding it, and after removing the sacred thread, looking at one’s son [the following shall be uttered]: ‘Thou art the scripture, thou the sacrifice, thou the vaṣaṭkāra,1 thou the syllable Om, thou art svāhā,1 thou svadhā,2 thou the docr and thou the creator.’ Then the son shall ’say: ‘I am the scripture, I am the sacrifice, I am vaṣaṭkāra, I am the syllable Om, I am svāhā, I am

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

1 An exclamation used while making an oblation to a deity.

KAṬHARUDROPANIṢAD

2 An exclamation used while making an oblation to the manes.

14

svadhā, I am the doer, I am the creator, I am the divine architect (Tvaṣṭṛ), I am the base’. These are the words [to be uttered]. While parting [from the son] he shall not shed tears. Should he shed tears, the line of progeny will be broken. Circumambulating clockwise [his village] and not looking at anything he shall depart. Such a one is fit for the world of Brahman.

2

Procedure of Renunciation

After studying the Veda as a celibate student and performing the duties prescribed in the scriptures, after marrying and begetting sons and providing them with suitable means, having performed sacrifices according to ability, he who has been permitted by elders and relatives shall take to renunciation. Reaching the forest he shall perform the Agnihotra sacrifice for twelve nights by pouring oblations of milk into the fire; for twelve nights he shall subsist on milk. At the end of twelve nights, the wooden vessels, being no more of use, shall be offered to the fire [with the mantra]: ‘This is the oblation of cooked rice to the Vaiśvānara fire, to Prajāpati, [this is] the oblation apportioned in three potsherds to Viṣṇu and Agni.’ The clay pots shall be consigned to the waters; the metal ones shall be given to the teacher, with the mantra: ‘May you not desert me while parting from me, may I not desert you while I part from you.’ He shall prostrate before the three fires—the household-fire, the southern-fire and the fire in which the oblations are offered. Some

say that he shall consume a handful of ashes from the

place where the fire-kindling sticks stand. After re-

moving the hair including the tuft and discarding it,

he shall abandon the sacred thread in the waters with

the mantra, ‘bhūḥ svāhā’. Thereafter, he shall resort

to starvation or drowning in water or entering fire,

or betake himself to the battlefield; or he shall journey

forward until he falls and dies or he shall enter a

hermitage of elderly ascetics. He shall consume milk

as the repast [of the evening]. That shall be his

offering for the evening. That [milk which he takes]

in the morning is his morning [offering]; that of the

newmoon-day the newmoon-day sacrifice; that of the

fullmoon-day the fullmoon-day sacrifice. The shaving

of the hair, beard, etc. and cutting of nails in the

spring comprise his Agniṣṭoma sacrifice.

3

Duties of an Ascetic

Duties of an Ascetic

After renunciation he shall not resume the fire-

rituals. He shall recite the spiritual mantra: ‘For

I have become Death and would enter that which is

coming into being [i.e. Brahman-knowledge]’, etc.

Saying ‘Welfare to all beings’, and contemplating the

Self and naught else, lifting up the arms, he shall be

one who has abandoned the [usual] path; he shall

move about without any [fixed] abode. He shall

subsist on alms, and shall not give any [gift]. He shall

not wear even scant [apparel] save during the rainy

season for the protection of the animal body. Here

are the verses [to support this]:

4

16

The water-pot, the ladle, the sling [to carry his effects], the staff, foot-wear, covering to protect from the cold, the loin-cloth, the garment [to cover the body], the ring of Kuśa grass, the bath towel, as well as the upper cloth, the sacred thread and the scriptures-all these an ascetic shall renounce.

5, 6

With purified water he shall bathe and wash and also drink of the same. He shall sleep on the sands of a river [bank] or in temples.

7

He shall not make the body endure the extremes of comfort or hardship. He shall not exult when praised, nor curse others when blamed.

8

Description of Celibacy (Brahmacarya)

The one who bears a staff [ascetic] shall be unflatteringly firm in celibacy. Looking at, touching, sporting, talking about, entering into secret dialogue, imagining, thinking about, or physical enjoyment [with women]-this is what the learned call the eightfold cohabitation. Brahmacarya (celibacy) is the contrary. It should be observed by those who seek Liberation.

9-11

The Fruits of Celibacy

The self-effulgent light which illumines the world ever shines. It is indeed the witness of the world, the Self of all, pure in form, the basis of all beings, whose nature is pure consciousness.

11-12

Oneness with Brahman dependent on Knowledge [of Brahman]

Not by action, not by [begetting] children, not by anything else, only by knowing Brahman, man attains Brahman.

13

KAṬHARUḌROPANIṢAD

The Fruit of knowing Brahman

That Brahman, which is without a second, and which is Truth, Knowledge and Happiness, is the object of [real] knowing. The best of the twice-born, who know Brahman residing in the cave which is called the highest heaven, during his transmigratory existence known as ‘illusion’, ‘ignorance’, etc. attain all desired things instantaneously.

14, 15

He who realizes his own Self, which is the witness of the power called ignorance and illusion, knowing ‘ I am Brahman alone’ becomes Brahman Itself.

16

From this Self which is one with Brahman and which is possessed of power [i.e. māyā] arose the unmanifest ether (ākāśa) like a rope-serpent.

17

Then from the ether emerged the unmanifest touch which is named ‘air’ (vāyu). Then from air emerged fire; from fire, water; and from water, the earth.

18

Then after dividing and compounding all those subtle [elements] into five, from them alone the auspicious Lord created the cosmic egg.

19

Enfolded in the (cosmic egg are gods, anti-gods, Yakṣa-s, Kinnara-s, human beings, animals, birds, etc. in accordance with [the result of] their own actions.

20

The bodies of beings which appear in the form of [a framework of] bones, sinews, etc. is the self of the nature of food for the all-pervading Self.

21

Then, further within, is the self of prāṇa [vital energy] split [into five]. Still further within is the self of the nature of mind which is different [from the others].

22

2

18

Next, even further within and different is the self of the nature of knowledge. Then, in the interior, distinct, is the self of the nature of bliss.

23

That [self] of the nature of food is pervaded by [the self] of the nature of vital energy; similarly [the self of] vital energy is by nature [pervaded] by [the self] of the nature of mind.

24

The mind-self is pervaded by the self of knowledge. The ever-happy self of the nature of knowledge is always pervaded by bliss.

25

In the same way, the self of bliss is pervaded by Brahman, the witness, the innermost of all. Brahman is not [pervaded] by anything else.

26

By realizing directly this Brahman, which is named the Support (the Tail puccha), which is of the nature of truth, knowledge and non-duality, the essence, the joy, the eternal, the dweller in the body becomes happy everywhere. Wherefrom otherwise can there be happiness?

27-8

If this supreme bliss which is the very Self of all beings were not existent, which human being can be alive? Who can ever be active?

28-9

Therefore it is this Being, shining fully in the consciousness, that ever makes happy the individual self, which is otherwise full of sorrow.

29-30

Only when the great ascetic realizes his complete unity without any difference from this, which is described as unseen, etc., he attains total fearlessness.

30-2

This is the ultimate Good, supreme Immortality, absolute Existence, transcendent Brahman, beyond the three divisions [of time].

KAṬHARUDROPAṆIṢAD

When an individual experiences even a slight difference in this [identity] he will have fear; there is no doubt.

32-3

Because of this sheath of bliss, from [God] Viṣṇu to a pillar—all always realize happiness though in different degrees.

33-4

For him who is versed in the scriptures, disinterested in attaining any position, and happy, the bliss which is his very nature shines forth by itself.

34-5

It is well known that word functions dependent upon a base [like jāti, dravya, kriyā, guṇa]. Because of the absence of any [such] base, words recoil [from Brahman]. For how can the word function in respect of the absolute bliss devoid of any base?

35-6

This subtle mind which makes all things its object turns back from That, from which retreat also [the senses], hearing, touch, sight, etc. as well as the organs of action; they are not capable of reaching the Supreme.

37-8

Realizing that Brahman which is Bliss, without a second, devoid of attributes, the solidity of truth and consciousness, as one’s own Self, one fears nought.

38-9

He who knows thus from the teaching of his Guru, who becomes master of himself, never suffers from the impact of good or bad actions.

39-40

The whole world which appeared formerly as the inflictor and the inflicted now shines as one’s own Self, owing to the knowledge arising from the Vedāntic teaching.

40-1

20

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Sevenfold Division of the One Attributeless Brahman

The pure [Brahman], God, the individual self, the knower, the means of knowledge, the object of knowledge and the result—thus, for empirical purposes, is the sevenfold distinction made.

41-2

[The Consciousness] devoid of the condition of māyā (cosmic nescience) is termed ‘pure’ [Brahman]. When related to the cosmic nescience, it is God. Under the influence of the individual nescience (avidyā) it is the individual self. When related to the internal organ it is called the knower. In relationship with the modifications of the internal organ, it is called the means of knowledge.

43-4

The Consciousness which is not known is termed ‘object’; and the consciousness which is known is called ‘result’. The intelligent man should meditate upon his own Self as devoid of all conditioning.

45-6

The Fruit of [Brahman] knowledge

46

He who knows this in reality becomes Brahman itself.

47

Now I speak of the true essence of the teaching of all Vedānta: dying oneself, becoming oneself, one yet remains oneself.

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad

4

KUNDIKOPANISAD

[This Upanisad which is the seventy-fourth among the one hundred and eight Upanisad-s and forms part of the Sāmaveda sets forth the duties of one prior to renunciation, the importance of renunciation to prevent rebirth, the rules of its procedure, the necessity of yoga for Self-realization and finally the attainment of liberation by those who realize the unconditioned Brahman.]

Duties prior to renunciation

After studying the scriptures during the blemishless period of studentship in which he devotes himself to the service of the teacher, the brahmacārin with the permission of the teacher shall marry a suitable wife. Then [at the end of the householder's life] he shall kindle the sacred fire [for renunciation] bravely and perform a sacrifice1 lasting a day and night in which Brahmā, etc. are the deities.

1-2

Then after dividing his property among his sons in the proper way and giving up all sensory pleasures, he shall journey along sacred places as a vānaprastha. 3 Subsisting on air only or on (air and) water only or with the addition [in dire need] of approved bulbous

1 The Brahma-sacrifice is the prelude to a secluded ascetic-life in a forest; the sacrifice is intended to propitiate all the gods with special reference to Brahmā, the Creator.

22

roots [and fruits] he shall find all worldly life in his person alone. He shall not [remembering his past comforts] allow his tears fall on the ground.

4

Right of renunciation only when one is without wife

5-7a

How can a man, in the company of his wife, be said to have renounced (worldly life)? How can one who is (merely) known with an appellation (of an ascetic) be said to have renounced? Hence he should purify himself [first] by renouncing the result of his deeds through self-control [vānaprastha]; thereafter he may take to renunciation. One reaches the stage of forest-life (vānaprastha) after having maintained the sacred fire [as a householder]. He goes to lead the forest-life with self-control accompanied by his wife1 as though he were a person attached to her.

Renunciation to prevent rebirth

'Why does he undergo [the life of a mendicant monk] in vain, having given up the happiness of worldly life? What is that (impending) misery the thought of which should make him abandon great pleasures?' [Such is the query of the wife.] 'I am afraid of the [miserable] life in the womb [of another mother] and also the miseries of heat, cold, etc. [So] I wish to enter the cave[-shelter] of renunciation, the means for the painless transcendent state (of Brahman)'. Thus [he replies].

7b-8

1 During the forest-life as a vānaprastha, the wife is necessary to assist him in the performance of certain religious rites; there is no sex-life involved.

KUNDIKOPANISAD

No maintenance of sacred fire after renunciation

Having renounced the sacred fire he shall not return to it [even in mentally reciting the mantra-s pertaining to it].

'For, I, (i.e. the mantra) [pertaining to this sacred fire] becoming extinct [being incompatible with renunciation] shall be merged into the oncoming [knowledge of Brahman].'

10

Muttering of 'Om' and great Vedic texts for mental purification

He may repeat the mantra-s pertaining to Self [realization].

11

Rules of the spiritual life

He shall have consecration. [He shall be] wearing [ochre] coloured garment. [He shall remove] the hairs excluding those in the arm pits and the private parts. With [right] hand raised [he shall set forth as a mendicant monk], abandoning the path of worldly life. He shall move on without [a fixed] abode. Living on alms, he shall deeply ponder over [Vedāntic texts] and meditate [on his identity with the transcendent Brahman]. He shall possess pure knowledge (pavitram) for the protection of all beings.

12

[These] verses are there [on the same theme]: [The mendicant monk shall have] a water pot, an [alms-]bowl, a sling [to carry his effects], sandals to traverse a long distance (literally, over the three worlds), a patched garment to withstand cold, a loin cloth to cover [his privities], a purifying ring [pavitram of holy

24

SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

grass], a bath towel and an upper garment; other than these the ascetic shall give up all else.

13-14

He shall sleep on the sandy bed of a river or outside

a temple. He shall not bother his body too much

either with pleasures or pain.

15

Pure water should be used for bathing, drinking

and cleansing. He shall not become pleased with

praise nor shall he curse others when censured.

16

His alms-bowl shall be [a cup] made of leaves and

the material for washing shall be the prescribed [fresh earth].

17

Thus provided with the means of living, he shall,

with the senses subdued, always mutter the [philo-

sophical] mantra-s. The wise [ascetic] shall realize

in his mind [the identity of the individual self with

the universal Self] which is the meaning of Om.

18

The five primary elements differ from the universal substratum

[From Brahman arose ether]; from ether air;

from air fire; from fire water; from water the earth.

To [the prime cause of all] these primary elements,

Brahman, I resort [in reverence]; I resort to the age-

less, immortal and indestructible Brahman.

19

The way in which the ascetic discloses self-experience

In me, the ocean of unalloyed bliss, many a time

arise and fall waves of the universe due to the winds

of the fanciful sport of illusion (māyā).

I am not attached to my body just as the sky is

not attached to the clouds.

20

KUNDIKOPANISAD

25

Hence how can I have its (i.e. the body's) characteristics during [the stages of] waking, dreaming and deep sleep?

21

I am always far beyond imagination like ether; I am different from it [the body] as the sun is from the objects of illumination; I am ever changeless just like the unchangeable [i.e. the Meru mountain] and, like the ocean am I limitless.

22

I am Nārāyaṇa, I am the destroyer of the (demon) Naraka, I am (Śiva), the destroyer of the three [aerial] cities, I am the Puruṣa, I am the supreme Lord; I am the indivisible consciousness, the witness of all; I am without a superior, I am devoid of ‘I-ness’ [egotism] and ‘mine-ness’ [possessiveness].

23

Realization of Brahman by yoga-practice

[The ascetic] shall, by the practice (of yoga) bring together the prāṇa and apāna vital airs in the body. He shall place the [palms of the] two hands at the perineum, gently biting the [tip of the] tongue thrust out to the extent of a grain of barley. Similarly directing the eyes open to the extent of a blackgram seed, towards the [ether of the] ear [and the feet firmly resting] on the ground, he shall not allow the ear [to function] and the nose to smell [i.e. the five senses shall be controlled]. [Thus he accomplishes the union of the prāṇa and apāna vital airs.]

24-5

[Thereafter the vital air passing through the Kuṇḍalinī and the Suṣumnā gets dissolved in the Sahasrāracakra at the top of the head. Then the vision,

the mind, vital air and the ‘fire’ of the body reach] the seat of Śiva [and get dissolved]; that is Brahman; that is the transcendent Brahman. That (Brahman) will be realized by the practice (of yoga), which is facilitated by the acquisition of practice in previous births.

The knower of the Brahman-with-attributes gets liberated in due course

With the [help of the] external and internal organs [the knowledge of the qualified Brahman] called effulgence, reaching the heart and supported by the vital air's capability [to proceed upwards, goes through the Suṣumnā nāḍī] and piercing the skull at the top of the body, one realizes the indestructible [qualified Brahman].

Those [sages] who attain the transcendent state [through the passage] in the skull at the top of their body, do never return [to the worldly life] for they realize the lower1 as well as the higher [Brahman].

[Final] liberation of the knowers of the Brahman-without-attributes

The attributes of objects seen do not affect the onlooker who is different from them. The attributes of a householder do not affect him who remains non-aligned without any mental modification, just as a

1 These sages worshipping Brahman, possessed of attributes, having reached the heaven of Saguṇabraḥman, realize the absolute Brahman, devoid of attributes, when the good vāsanā-s still clinging to them have been exhausted.

KUNDIKOPANIṢAD

lamp [which suffers no change by the objects revealed by it].

29

Let [me] the non-aligned (sage) roll in water or on the ground; I am untouched by their characteristics just as the ether [in the pot] is not affected by the attributes of the pot.

30

I am free [from the effect] of activities, and changes, devoid of parts and form, I am without fancies, I am eternal, I am without a support and I am devoid of duality. I am the form of all (beings), I am the all, I am beyond everything and without a second; I am the one indivisible knowledge and I am the compact bliss of the Self.

31-2

Seeing everywhere the Self, considering the Self as without a second, enjoying the bliss of the Self, I remain without reflections.

33

Walking, standing, sitting, lying or otherwise, the wise sage delighting in the Ātman shall live as he wishes [fulfilling his duties; and on leaving the world, will attain final liberation].

34

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad

5

JĀBĀLOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the thirteenth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Śuklayajurveda describes the adoration of the Avimukta (Brahman, in the form of Lord Śiva), the renunciation of worldly life by those who maintain or not the sacred fire, the high position accorded to the class of ascetics called Paramahaṃsa-s and winds up with the description of the austere way of life led by the unclad sect of Paramahaṃsa-s, which leads them to the realization of Brahman.]

FIRST KHAṆḌA

FIRST KHAṆḌA

Worship of Avimukta1

Brhaspati (the preceptor of the gods) asked [the sage] Yājñavalkya: [which is] the Kurukṣetra, [the famous holy place that destroys sins and protects the good], [the place] where the gods perform sacrifices and which is the abode of Brahman in all beings?

[Yājñavalkya replied]: Avimukta is the Kurukṣetra, (the place) where the gods perform sacrifices to deities and which is the abode of Brahman in all beings (i.e. the middle of the eye-brows). Hence wherever one goes one shall think thus: This is the Kurukṣetra,

1 A form of Lord Śiva. Avimukta is also the name of (the deity in the temple at) Banaras.

[Kha. 2] JĀBĀLOPANIṢAD

the place where the gods perform sacrifices to the deities and which is the abode of Brahman in all beings. This is the spot where, when the vital airs depart from the living person, Rudra1 imparts the mantra (tāraka brahman) to him by which, becoming immortal, he attains liberation (final beatitude). Hence one shall resort to the Avimukta; shall not desert the Avimukta. [Brhaspati approved of the statement saying:] ‘So it is, Yājñavalkya’, verily it is so, O, revered one! ‘It is so Yājñavalkya’.

SECOND KHAṆḌA

Investigation into the true nature of the Avimukta

SECOND KHAṆḌA

Thereafter the sage Atri [son of the creator Brahmā] asked of Yājñavalkya: ‘How am I to realize the Self which is infinite and unmanifest?’ [To this] Yajñavalkya replied: ‘That Avimukta [Lord Śiva as the redeemer] is to be worshipped; the Self which is infinite and unmanifest, is established in [i.e., is non-different from] the Avimukta [in Īśvara, possessed of attributes]’.

The means of realizing the Avimukta

‘Which is that [place] where Avimukta is established?’ ‘He is established in between varaṇā and nāśī’. ‘What is [meant by] varaṇā and what [by] nāśī?’ ‘The varaṇā is so called as it wards off all the

1 The word means ‘he who chases all ignorance’.

30

faults committed by the [ten] organs [of perception and action]. The nāsi is so named as it destroys all sins committed by the [ten] organs. [The place between the varanā and the nāsi is the meeting place of the upper part of the nose and the centre of the eye brows.] 'Which is the seat of that [Avimukta]?' 'That, which is the (well known) juncture of the eye brows and the nose, is the juncture of heaven [in the form of the crown of the head] and this world [in the form of the end of the chin]. The knowers of the Veda worship indeed this juncture (Samdhi) as samdhyā (in their daily worship). That Avimukta is to be worshiped. He who knows this thus [the true nature of the Avimukta], imparts the wisdom of the Avimukta [that the individual Self is no other than the attributeless Brahman, to his disciples].

2

THIRD KHAṆḌA

The way to get the knowledge of the Avimukta

Then the disciplined students (brahmacārin-s of Yājñavalkya) asked him: 'Pray, tell us, what is that mantra by reciting which one attains immortality?' He replied: 'By [reciting] Śatarudrīya'.1 These mantra-s are indeed the names of [Rudra to achieve] immortality. By [reciting] these (mantra-s) one becomes immortal.2

1

1 TS, 4.5.1.1, namaste rudra manyava. . .

2

2 By reciting and meditating on these mantra-s one gets purity of mind and the knowledge which leads one to immortality.

[Kha. 4] JĀBĀLOPANIṢAD

FOURTH KHAṆḌA

FOURTH KHAṆḌA

Investigation into the knowledge of renouncing all [motivated] actions

Investigation into the knowledge of renouncing all [motivated] actions

Then Janaka, the king of the Vidcha-s [respectfully] approached Yājñavalkya and requested him: ' Revered Sir, expound (to me) the (tenets of) renunciation (sannyāsa).' He (Yājñavalkya) then replied: ' After completing the period of disciplined studentship (brahmacarya) one may become a householder. After being a householder he may become a forest-dweller (i.e., become a vānaprastha). Having become a vānaprastha he may renounce the world [and thus become a mendicant monk]. Or, alternately, he may embrace renunciation from brahmacarya itself,1 or from the [stage of a] householder, or from the forest (-life of a vānaprastha). [It can also be that] a person may renounce worldly life that very day on which distaste for it dawns on him, whether he is one not observing the vows [before the stage of renunciation] or observes them, whether he has undergone the prescribed ablution on completing the disciplined studentship or not, whether he is one who has discontinued maintaining the sacred fire at the death of his wife (utsannāgni) or is one who does not maintain [for other causes] the sacred fire (anagnika).

1 When a wise brahmacārin has very great distaste for the ways of the world, he may study the Vedānta and renounce worldly life from brahmacarya itself and become the highest kind of ascetic (Paramahaṃsa). It is not necessary that he should proceed from the stage of a Kuṭicaka, etc. as those stages are intended for renouncers whose 'disgust' for worldly life is not absolute.

32

Method of renunciation by one who maintains sacred fire

Some [law givers] prescribe the sacrifice called prājāpatya [of which the god Brahmā is the presiding deity, to a twice-born before he embraces renunciation].

But [though thus laid down] he may not do so. He shall only perform the sacrifice in which Agni is the deity.

For Agni is the vital breath (Prāṇa). Thereby he does [strengthen] the vital breath.

He shall then perform the traidhātavīya sacrifice.

For the three forms of Agni in him, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas are [strengthened] by this sacrifice.

[Having performed the sacrifice] he shall smell [the smoke of] the holy fire, reciting the following mantra.

'O Fire, this (vital breath) is your source; as you are born from sūtrātman (at the proper time) you shine forth.

Knowing him [the Ātman, your ultimate source] may you merge [in him]. May you increase our wealth.'

(here the transcendent knowledge). Verily, this is the source of fire, namely the vital air.

So what is said by this mantra is: 'May you go unto your source.' svāhā.1

Method of renunciation by one who does not maintain holy fire

Having procured the holy fire from [the house of a well-versed Vedic scholar in] the village he shall smell the holy fire as described previously.2

1 An exclamation used in offering oblations to the gods.

2 He shall recite the mantra of the Virajā homa and the Puruṣa-sūkta and after the final oblation recite the mantra 'O Agni, etc.' given before and then smell the fire as directed by the officiating priest.

[Kha. 4-5]

to procure the holy fire he shall offer the oblations in water. For water is, verily, all the gods. Reciting ' I offer the oblation to all the gods, svāhā ' he shall tender the oblation and picking up [a small portion of] the offered oblation which is mixed with ghee, he shall eat it, as this is beneficial. The mantra of liberation [namely ' Om ' ] is [the essence of] the three Veda-s; this he shall realize. It is Brahman and It is to be worshipped. Indeed, so it is, O, revered Yājñavalkya (said Janaka).

FIFTH KHANDA

Brāhmaṇa's right to renunciation Then the (sage) Atri asked Yājñavalkya: ' May I ask you Yājñavalkya, how is one without the sacred thread1 a Brāhmaṇa ?' Yājñavalkya replied: [ 'The conviction I am the] Self alone is his sacred thread.2 He shall then sip water [ceremoniously thrice]. This is the method enjoined on those who renounce worldly life.'

Definition of the duties of those not entitled to renunciation3 [In the case of Kṣatriya-s and others not entitled to renunciation, they may seek liberation] in the path of

1 A Brāhmaṇa discards his sacred thread when he becomes an ascetic. 2 He discards his tuft of hair and sacred thread. 3 Other than the Brāhmaṇa, the two 'twice borns ', namely the Kṣatriya and Vaiśya are debarred from embracing saṃnyāsa.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

the brave [who court death in the battle field] or fast [unto death as a discipline], or enter into water [to rise no more] or enter fire [to be burnt to ashes] or undertake the great journey [in which they collapse by exhaustion].

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Then [in the case of those entitled to renunciation] the mendicant monk wearing [ochre] coloured garment, with shaven head, accepting nothing [excepting food for bare sustenance], being pure, injuring none [in thought, word and deed], [austere] living on alms, becomes fit for realizing Brahman.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

If sorely afflicted [by disease, etc.] he may renounce the world by mental resolve, or by spoken words uttering mantra-s.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

This way [of renunciation] has been prescribed by Brahmā (the creator, in the Vedānta); the ascetic [the samnyāsin who has renounced the world] following this path realizes Brahman.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

'Thus indeed it is, O, revered Yājñavalkya' (appreciated Janaka).

SIXTH KHANDA

SIXTH KHANDA

SIXTH KHANDA

High position above all to the group of Paramahaṃsa-s

SIXTH KHANDA

There are sages called Paramahaṃsa-s [as in the days of yore, the sages] Samvartaka, Āruṇi, Śvetaketu, Durvāsas, Ṛbhu, Nidāgha, Jadabharata, Dattātreya, Raivataka and others, wearing no distinguishing marks, with conduct beyond the ken [of worldly people] and who behaved as though bereft of their senses though [perfectly] sane.

[Kha. 6]

JĀBĀLOPANIṢAD

Characteristics of the Paramahaṃsa who wears garment

Discarding all these, namely the threefold staff (of bamboo), the water pot, the sling [to carry personal effects], the (alms-) bowl, the cloth for purifying water [tied to the staff], tuft of hair and sacred thread in water (i.e. a reservoir) by reciting ‘bhūḥ svāhā’, the Paramahaṃsa shall seek the Ātman.

Characteristics of the unclad Paramahaṃsa

Possessing a form as one just born (i.e. unclad), unaffected by the pairs [of opposites, such as heat and cold, pleasure and pain], accepting nothing [except bare sustenance], well established in the path of the truth of Brahman, of pure mind, receiving alms into the mouth (literally into the vessel of the belly) at the prescribed hour in order to sustain life, becoming equanimous at gain or loss [of alms], sheltering himself, without an abode (of his own), in an unoccupied house, a temple, a clump of (tall) grass (or a heap of straw), an anthill, the shade of a tree, a potter's hut, a cottage where sacred fire is kept, sandy bank of a river, a mountain thicket or cavity, a hollow in a tree, the vicinity of a water fall or a piece of clean ground; making no efforts [in any kind of gainful activity], free from ‘mineness’ (i.e. a sense of possessiveness), ever meditating on Brahman, devoted to the Self, ever intent on eradication of the good and bad karman, [the sage] finally gives up his body in the state of renunciation—[such a sage] is indeed a Paramahaṃsa. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

3

6

TURĪYĀTĪTĀVADHŪTOPANISAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the sixtyfourth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Śuklayajurveda consists of a dialogue between the god Brahmā and Lord Viṣṇu in which the latter expounds in detail the way of life led by the Turīyātīta ascetic and the Avadhūta sage, after they have completed the stages prescribed for the ascetics, namely, that of hut-dweller (Kuṭīcaka), mendicant monk (Hamsa) and the high stage of the Paramahamsa and shows how, as a result of this austere life, the Avadhūta fulfils the purpose of his life, namely absorption in the non-dual Ātman.]

The Conduct of The Avadhūta After The Turīyātīta Stage And His Steady Excellence *

Now the grandfather of all people (the god Brahmā) respectfully approaching his father, Ādinārayana (Lord

• According to the Nāradaparivrājakopaniṣad the order of ascetics is:

Kuṭīcaka, a hut-dweller, who has a tuft of hair and sacred thread, an emblematic staff, a water pot, etc., and who takes food in one place.

Bahūdaka, remaining in a holy place of sacred waters, having accoutrements similar to the former and subsists on eight mouthfuls of food, secured as alms from housecholders, bee-like.

Hamsa, wearing matted hair and loincloth, living on five mouthfuls of food secured at random from five different houses.

Paramahamsa, who has shaven head, wears no sacred thread, lives on food similar to that of a Hamsa, secured from five

TURĪYĀTĪTĀVADHŪTOPANIṢAD

37

Viṣṇu) said, ‘What is the path of the Avadhūta-s after the Turīyātīta stage, and what is their standing?’ To him replied the Lord Nārāyaṇa: Wise sages consider that one who remains in the path of the Avadhūta is very rare in the world and [such sages] are not many; if one becomes [an Avadhūta] he is ever pure, he is indeed the embodiment of dispassion; he is indeed the visible form of wisdom and he is indeed the personification of the Veda (Vedapurusa). He is a [truly] great man, as his mind abides in me alone. Indeed I too abide in him. In due order, having been first a hut-dwelling ascetic (Kuṭīcaka), he reaches the stage of a mendicant monk (Bahūdaka); the mendicant monk attains to the stage of a Haṃsa ascetic; the Haṃsa ascetic [then] becomes the highest kind of ascetic (Paramahaṃsa). [In this stage] by introspection he realizes the entire world [as non-different from his Self]; renouncing all personal possessions in [a reservior of] waters, [such things as] his emblematic staff, water pot, waist band, loincloth that covers [his privities] and all ritualistic duties enjoined on him [in a previous stage]; becoming unclad [lit. clothed by the points of the compass]; houses without an alms-bowl, has an emblematic staff of a single bamboo, is smcared with holy ashes and has no possessions.

Turīyātīta, who reccives food consisting of fruits into the mouth or other food as alms from three houses, is unclad and his body just alive.

Avadhūta, who has shaken off all worldly attachments, is bound by no duties, takes food as it comes (like a python) from any one without caste distinction and is ever absorbed in meditation.

38

abandoning even the acceptance of a discoloured, worn out bark garment or [deer] skin; behaving thereafter [after the stage of the Paramahaṃsa] as one sujbect to no mantra-s [i.e. performing no rituals] and gives up shaving, oil bath, the perpendicular mark of sandal paste on the forchead, etc.

He is one terminating allreligious andsecular duties; free of religious merit or otherwisein allsituations; giving up both knowledge and ignorance; conquering [the influence of] cold and heat, happiness and misery, honour and dishonour; having burnt up in advance, with the latent influence (vāsanā) of the body, etc. censure, praisc, pride, rivalry, ostentation, haughtiness, desirc, hatred, love, anger, covetousness, delusion, [gloating] joy, intolerance, envy, clinging to life, etc.; vicwing his body as a corpse, as it were; becoming equanimous effortlessly and unrestrainedly in gain or loss; sustaining his life [with food placed in the mouth] like a cow; [satisfied] with [food] as it comes without ardently longing for it; reducing to ashes the host of learning and scholarship; guarding his conduct [without vaunting his noble way of life]; disowning the superiority or inferiority [of any one]; [firmly] established in non-duality (of the Self) which is the highest [principle] of all and which comprises all within itself; cherishing the conviction, 'There is nought else distinct from me'; absorbing in the Self the fuel [of concept] other than the secret known only by the gods; untouched by sorrow; unresponsive to [worldly] happiness; free of desire for affection; unattached everywhcre to the auspicious

TURĪYĀTĪTĀVADHŪTOPANIṢAD

or the inauspicious; with [the functioning of] all senses at standstill; unmindful of the superiority of his conduct, learning and moral merit (dharma) acquired in the previous stages of his life; giving up the conduct befitting caste and stage of life (varṇāśrama); dreamless, as night and day are the same to him; ever on the move everywhere; remaining with the body alone left to him; his waterpot being the watering-place [only]; ever sensible [but] wandering alone as though he were a child, madman or ghost; always observing silence and deeply meditating on his Self, he has for his support the propless (Brahman); forgetting everything [else] in consonance with the absorption in his Self; this Turyātīta sage reaching the state of the Avadhūta ascetic and completely absorbed in non-duality (of the Ātman) [finally] gives up his body as he has become one with Om (the Praṇava): such an ascetic is an Avadhūta; he has accomplished his life's purpose. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

7 NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANISAD

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANISAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the fortythird among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Atharvaveda deals claborately with the means to be cmployed for realizing final beatitude, the order of ascetics and their qualifications to renounce the world, the cases of emergency renunciation by the sorely afflicted, the duties of mendicant monks, the six stages of asceticism beginning with the Kuṭīcaka and ending with the Avadhūta, the restrictions in regard to food, etc. to be practised by the ascetics and their total renunciation of motivated action, the Tāraka mantra to cross the occan of worldly life and winds up with the description of the real form of Brahman and the means to realize that final beatitude.]

FIRST UPADEŚA

FIRST UPADEŚA

Query of Saunaka and others to Sage Nārada

Query of Saunaka and others to Sage Nārada

Now once Nārada, a jewel among ascetics, taking his [usual] rounds over all the [three] worlds, sanctifying [all the more] new sacred places and holy places of pilgrimage by his observation, [himself] attaining purity of mind, [remaining] free from enmity, tranquil, self-controlled, getting despondent from every quarter [seeing people's misery], closely investigating into his own Self, seeing the holy place, the Naimiśa (sacred) forest, noted for its joy of self-imposed religious

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

observances and crowded with saintly personages, he alighted there [from his aerial journey], fascinating groups of men, animals, horse-faced demigods, gods, Kimnara demigods and nymphs with his songs on the exploits of Lord Viṣṇu, called Sthāvara and Jaṅgama, which specially induce devotion to the Lord, set in musical notes sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha and ni, which arouse dispassion (to worldly attachments) and which are averse to the ways of the world. On his approach, Śaunaka and other great sages who had arrived there to participate in a sacrifice lasting twelve years, rich in Vedic lore, all wise [in sacerdotal functions], well addicted to stable penance and endowed with wisdom and dispassion, rose to greet him; and paying homage, seated him [in a place of honour], after offering him a befitting welcome.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Then, though they were [already] well instructed [in matters spiritual, yet for the benefit of the world] they [said to Nārada]: ‘Revered Sir, son of the god Brahmā, what is the means of liberation [from worldly bondage]? Please tell us.’

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

1

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Advice on the Means of Gaining Liberation in the Disembodied State

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Thus requested, that (sage) Nārada said to them: ‘A [twice-born] of good family, invested with the sacred thread and initiated into Vedic study, having undergone the forty sacred rites [beginning with consummation of marriage of his parents and ending with Aptoryāma sacrifice], completing the course on all branches of learning as a disciplined celibate student

42

for twelve years, doing personal service to the preceptor all along; the period of twentyfive years as a householder; [another] twentyfive years in the stage of a forest dweller (Vānaprastha), all [the three stages] in due order in the prescribed manner; having studied well the duties of four kinds of brahmacarya1, six kinds of householders2, four kinds of Vānaprastha3; having completed all the appropriate duties pertaining to them; equipped with the four disciplines4 (for the study of Brahmavidyā);

1 The four kinds of brahmacārin-s are: 1. Gāyatra, studying Gāyatrī mantra for three days, taking food without artificial or natural salt; 2. Brāhma who remains a celibate student till the Vedic study is completed; 3. Prājāpatya, who observes [all] vows enjoined by the Veda for a year; and 4. Brhat, or Naiṣṭhika who spends his whole life as a student with his preceptor.

2 The six kinds of householders are: 1. Vārtaka, who lives by agriculture, dairying, etc. like a Vaiśya; 2. Śālīna who observes the six duties enjoined on a Brāhmaṇa and lives by officiating at sacrifices; 3. Yāyāvara, who gets rice for maintaining his family from good people, a little from each; 4. Ghorasaṃnyāsika, who draws and supplies potable water to good people and receives rice in return; 5. Uñchavrtti, who gleans grain from harvested fields; and 6. Ayācita, who lives on what comes unsought (i.e. by voluntary gifts).

3 The four kinds of Vānaprastha are: 1. Vaikhānasa who performs Agnihotra fire-ceremony and lives on grains and vegetables available in the forest without cultivation; 2. Audumbara who lives on udumbara and other fruits and wild grains; 3. Vālakhīlya, who wears matted hair and bark garment, gathers means of living for eight months and lives on them during the four months of austerities (Cāturmāsya); and 4. Phenapa, who lives on fallen leaves and fruits and stays here and there without a fixed abode.

4 The four disciplines that are essential prior to the commencement of Vedāntic study are: 1. Discrimination of permanent and transitory things; 2. Absence of desire to enjoy the fruits of actions, here and thereafter; 3. Possession of a peaceful mind and self-control; and 4. The desire for liberation from worldly life.

free from desire in thought, word and deed as well as

in latent desires (vāsanā-s) and solicitations (eṣanā),

devoid of enmity and is peaceful and self-controlled;

when such an ascetic, meditating on his Self without

interruption in the highest stage of renunciation (as

Paramahaṃsa), gives up the body, he becomes liberated

[from rebirth], he becomes liberated. Thus [ends the

first Upadeśa of] the Upaniṣad.

2

SECOND UPADEŚA

Stages in the Order of Mendicant Monks

Then all [sages] Śaunaka and others, requested

the venerable Nārada: ' Revered Sir, expound to us

the mode of renunciation.' Observing them Nārada

said: ' It is but proper to know all about its nature

from the mouth of the grandfather (the god Brahmā).'

After the completion of the sacrifice he went, accom-

panied by them, to the world of the god Brahmā

(Satyaloka) and made obeisance in the prescribed

manner to him (Parameṣṭhin) and eulogized him.

Bidder by him he seated himself along with them

properly and said to the grandfather (of all) : ' You

are the preceptor, you are the Father, you are omni-

scient, knowing the secret of all lores. Hence be

pleased to expound one secret (lore) of my choice.

Barring you, who is competent to speak on the secret

[lore] dear to me? It is to wit the stages in the order

of mendicant monks. Please tell us'. Requested

thus by Nārada the god Brahmā seeing them all on

44

all sides, remained steady in deep meditation (Samādhi) for a short time. Coming to the conclusion that they were in search of a remedy against the ills of worldly life and turning to Nārada the grandfather said: ' My son, I shall now clearly expound the secret which was formerly taught by the supreme Being (Virāṭ-puruṣa) assuming the matchless form of the Puruṣa-sūkta hymn and the secret doctrine of the Upaniṣad-s. May you listen to this due order (of asceticism), very secret, with all your attention.'

' O Nārada, one born in a good family, being uninitiated at first, getting initiated into Vedic lore (after being invested with sacred thread), obedient to his mother and father, approaches [after the preliminary instruction by his father] a good preceptor, who maintains the noble tradition, has faith [in the Vedic lore], is born of a good family, is well versed in the Veda-s, has love for the śāstra-s, is virtuous and free from devious ways. Bowing to him and rendering personal service appropriate for the occasion, be shall inform him of his heart's desire [to study under him]. Having undergone the course of study in all branches of learning for twelve years, doing personal service all the while, he shall marry an agreeable damsel worthy of his family with his (preceptor's) consent. After this residence in the preceptor's house he leads, with the approval of the teacher, the life appropriate to a householder for twenty-five years. Free from the evils of a bad Brāhmaṇa, getting a son with desire to perpetuate his family and completing twenty-five

years befitting the stage of a householder, he shall

lead the life of a lone forest-dweller (Vānaprastha)

till [another] twenty-five years are passed; bathing

thrice a day after touching with water the various

parts of the body, cating one meal a day at the fourth

watch [of day time, i.e. in the afternoon], giving up

journey to town and village as practised in former

days, performing appropriate rituals without using

cultivated grains [such as wheat and rice, but using

wild grains alone], frec from desire for enjcymcnts

that are seen or heard of [i.e. pleasures in this world

and the next], being purified by the forty sacraments,

free of attachments to all things, getting purity of

mind, having burnt away envy, jealousy and egotism

and being rich in the fourfold discipline—such a person

deserves to embrace [the life of] renunciation'. Thus

[ends the second Upadeśa of] the Upaniṣad.

THIRD UPADEŚA

Person Entitled to Renounce Worldly Life

Then Nārada asked the grandfather (Brahmā) :

'Lord, what is renunciation (Samnyāsa) and who is

entitled to renounce worldly life?' 'I shall first deal

with the [kind of] person entitled to renunciation and

thereafter the mode of renunciation. Listen attentively.'

'These [the following persons] do not deserve to

renounce worldly life. A cunuch, one fallen [from

right conduct], deformed person, women, the deaf, a

child, the dumb, the heretic, an emperor, a religious

student, a Vaikhānasa anchorite and a Haradvija

46

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-s

[Upa. 3]

[Kāpālika?], a hired teacher, a man without prepuce and one who does not maintain the sacred fire, even though all these are possessed of dispassion. Even if they adopt [the life of] renunciation they have no right to receive [instruction in] the great Vedic texts [“That Thou Art;” etc.]. One who is already an ascetic1 has the right to become the highest kind of ascetic (Paramahaṃsa).

1

‘He who brings about protection from fear to others from him, as he gets himself (that protection from fear) from others, is declared in law books as a mendicant monk.

2

‘A eunuch, deformed person, the blind, a boy, one guilty of crime, one fallen from right conduct, one [always] at the gate of another [seeking help], the Vaikhānasa anchorite and the Haradvija, an emperor, a religious student, a heretic, one without prepuce, one who does not maintain the sacred fire, one who has twice or thrice renounced worldly life (previously), and a hired teacher—these persons do not deserve to embrace renunciation, excepting the afflicted in emergency [just before death].2’

3.4

Renunciation by the Afflicted

How is [renunciation at] the time of dire affliction approved by the esteemed (Ārya-s)?

1

1 According to the Bhagavadgītā a person who performs duties without expectation of results for himself is an ascetic.

2

2 There is a provision in śāstra-s for sick people, hopeless of life, to embrace a kind of renunciation (ātura saṃnyāsa).

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

The time just prior to the departure of the vital breath from the body is called the sorely afflicted [time] and not any other; this occasion of emergency leads to the path of liberation [by recourse to renunciation with the prescribed praiṣamantra-s].

5

The Method of Renunciation by the Sorely Afflicted

Even in renunciation by the sorely afflicted (āturasannyāsa), a wise man shall renounce the world only in the prescribed manner by uttering the mantra-s laid down for it and having repeated the mantra-s.

6

Even in the kind [of renunciation adopted] by the greatly afflicted, there is nowhere any difference in the Praiṣa (mantra-s). There is no mantra [uttered] without a religious activity; [and] a religious activity has an eye on a mantra.

7

[An act] without a mantra is no religious act [i.e. it is inefficient]; hence one shall not give up the mantra. A religious act done without mantra is like oblation offered in ashes.

8

Renunciation by the sorely afflicted is declared to be by abridging the ritual prescribed therefor; hence in āturasannyāsa, there is the mode of repeating mantra-s [without ritual], O sage.'

9

The Method of Renunciation by an Āhitāgni Householder when Remaining in another Province

If an āhitāgni-householder gets disillusioned with the world while away in another province, he shall

1

1 An āhitāgni is a householder who maintains the sacred fire in his house (by performing certain rituals).

complete the Prājāpatya sacrifice1 in (a reservoir of)

watchers and then renounce worldly life.

A wise man shall renounce the world after complet-

ing [the prerequisite recital of Praiṣa mantra-s] either

mentally, or by repeating the mantra-s in the pre-

scribed manner [during the Prājāpatya sacrifice] or

[offer oblation] in waters or by performing rituals

in the manner prescribed in the Veda; otherwise he

will be heading to a fall (degradation).

Consigning to Hell a Person who Turns an Ascetic when he has Worldly

Desires

When desirelessness arises in the mind towards

all objects, then [authorities] sanction renunciation

[by such person]; contrariwise he shall fall [from

virtue].

A wise man, when disillusioned with the world,

may become a mendicant monk; when a person has

attachments he shall reside in his house. That degraded

Brāhmaṇa who turns ascetic when he has attachments

indeed goes to hell.

Desirelessness alone the Cause for Embracing Renunciation

That Brāhmaṇa, in the stage of a disciplined

celibate student, may take to renunciation, without

getting married whose tongue, genitals, stomach and

hands are well guarded [i.e. they are under perfect

control].

1 Prājāpatya is a sacrifice in which a householder gives away

the whole of his property before entering the life of an ascetic.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

49

Seeing worldly life as completely devoid of substance and with a desire to realize the essence [of all], they renounce the world without getting married, being imbued with great dispassion.

15

[All non-spiritual] activity is characterized by the play of an active part in worldly affairs; true knowledge is the characteristic of renunciation. Hence placing in front (i.e. preferring) wisdom, an intelligent man will renounce the world.

16

Renunciation by the Wise

When a person realizes that the supreme reality is the eternal Brahman [alone] he shall, taking up the single emblematic staff, give up the tuft of hair along with the sacred thread.

17

He who is attached to the supreme Self (Paramātman), is detached from things other than that (Paramātman); freed from all desires it behoves on his part to eat food given as alms.

18

When a person, who becomes very pleased when he is honoured and respectfully saluted, becomes similarly (very pleased) when he is being beaten, then he is a [true] mendicant monk (subsisting on alms).

19

'I am the indestructible nondual Brahman alone, called Vāsudeva (Lord Viṣṇu)'—he whose firm attitude is thus (established) becomes a [true] mendicant monk.

20

He is in the stage [leading to] final beatitude in whom are found peace, quiescence, purity, truth, contentment, straightforwardness, absence of any possession and false airs.

21

4

When a person has no evil propensity towards all beings in deed, thought and speech he becomes a [true] mendicant monk.

22

Attentively discharging his duties characterized by the ten1 (virtues) and studying in the prescribed manner the Upaniṣad-s (Vedānta),2 a twice-born (dvija), having discharged the three debts,2 may renounce worldly life.

23

The ten virtues characterizing right conduct (dharma) are: Contentment, forgiveness, self-control, non-stealing, purity, control of the senses, humility, [scriptural] learning, truth, and an even temper.

24

He abides in the stage [leading to] final emancipation who remembers not [with longing] past pleasures, as also those not yet experienced; nor does he exult in those that have arrived.

25

He who is always able to keep the inward faculties of senses within and the outward objects of sense outside [without any reaction] resides in the stage [leading to] final beatitude.

26

Just as, when the vital breath has departed, the body no longer experiences pleasure and pain; he [the sage] is such even when he is alive (lit. when he is united with the vital breath); then he stays in the stage [leading to] final emancipation (kaivalya).

27

1 The ten virtues are enumerated in the next verse.

2 The three debts which everyone has to discharge are: 1. To sages by studying the Veda-s 2. To the gods by performing sacrifices and 3. To the manes by begetting a son.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Sinfulness in the Possession of Unlawful Accoutrements

A pair of loin cloth, a patched garment [against the cold of winter], and a single emblematic staff constitute the accoutrements of the highest class of ascetics (Paramahaṃsa); no more is allowed by [scriptual] law.

28

If he were to possess more accoutrements for comfort he will go to the dreadful hell (Raurava) and be (re-)born in the species of animals.

29

He may wear outwardly a patched garment strung out of pieces of discarded but clean cloth after dyeing it with ochre.

30

Wearing a single garment or unclad, his vision on one alone [i.e. liberation] and without longing [for pleasures] [the Paramahaṃsa] shall always be on the move alone;1 in the rainy season [alone] he may stay in one place.

31

Giving up his house-hold (kinsmen), children and wife, all branches of the Veda,2 sacrificial rites and the sacred thread, the ascetic shall journey alone [without attracting attention to him].

32

The Characteristics of Mendicant Monks

Abandoning faults such as passion, anger, pride, greed and delusion the mendicant monk shall remain free from ‘mine-ness’ (nirmamah).

33

1 If he is not deeply engaged in the study, meditation, etc. on Vedāntic texts, he may stay one night in a village.

2 The six branches of the Veda are: 1. Phonetics, 2. Grammar, 3. Rituals, 4. Etymology, 5. Astronomy and 6. Science of Prosody.

SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Ridding himself of love and hatred, [viewing] equally on clod, stone and gold and desisting from injuring [all] beings; the ascetic shall remain free from all desires.

34 An ascetic will attain liberation when he is freed of pride and egotism, devoid of hurting and wickedness, and possessed of the virtues of self-knowledge.

35 By attachment to [the pleasures of] the senses one undoubtedly comes to harm; restraining them alone well one attains final beatitude.

36 Desires do not subside by giving scope for their enjoyment; like fire fed by oblation, they only increase all the more.1 That person is to be known as one who has conquered his senses, who neither rejoices in nor dislikes (the objects) having heard, touched, eaten, seen or smelt them.2

37-38 He reaps all the fruits promised by the Vedānta (Upaniṣad-s) whose speech and mind are ever pure and always well guarded.

39 A Brāhmaṇa [in quest of liberation] should always recoil from honours as from poison; he should always welcome disregard as [he would] nectar.

40 A person illused [forgetting it] sleeps soundly, wakes up in good humour and goes about (his work) in the world happily; [but] the insulter comes to grief.

41 1 Manusmṛti, 2. 94. 2 ibid., 2. 98.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

One should bear patiently with abusive language and never insult another; nor should he in this embodied state, create enmity with anyone.1

One shall not return anger for anger; when abused he shall speak gently for the welfare [of all]; one should never speak an untrue word which feeds [worldly desires of] the seven gates2 [of the body].

Taking delight in the supreme spirit (manifested in the individual Self), remaining quiescent, free from desires and blessings, seeking (supreme) bliss, he (the ascetic) should move about [as a mendicant monk] with the Self alone as his companion.

He becomes fit for immortality by subduing the senses, enervating [feelings of] love and hatred and by non-injury to living beings. [This body] pillared by bones, bound together by tendons, plastered with flesh and blood, covered by skin, foul smelling, filled with urine and faeces, subject to old age and affliction, an abode of diseases, liable to injury, full of passion, impermanent and the abode of the elements (i.e. the body) one may abandon (without regret).

If one were to take delight in the body which is a conglomerate of flesh, blood, pus, faeces, urine, tendons, marrow and bones, that fool will be (delighted) in hell as well.

The attitude ‘I am the body’ is (the same as) the path leading to the hell [called] Kālasūtra,

1 ibid., 6. 47 ff.

2 The five senses of perception with the mind and intellect are the seven gates.

trap for Mahāvīcī hell and a series of forest [-hells] where the trees have leaves as sharp as swords.

49

Even if total ruin faces one, this [identifying the body with the Self] should be abandoned by every effort; it should not be touched [accepted] by a nobly-born person just as a (low born) tribal woman carrying dog's meat.

50

Abandoning [both] virtuous acts towards one's dear ones and evil deeds towards unfriendly people, [a person] attains the eternal Brahman by the practice of deep meditation (Dhyānayoga).

51

By this method, abandoning all attachments gradually, and freed from [the influence of] all the pairs [of opposites, such as pleasure and pain] one gets established in Brahman alone.

52

[The ascetic] shall journey alone without any helper for attaining final beatitude; for, seeing the perfection of the one (Brahman) he neither abandons it nor is he abandoned (by it).

53

The Daily Life of the Ascetic and its Fruits

54

A skull [for an alms bowl], [shelter under] the shade of trees, ragged garments, solitude and equanimity in all [things]—such is the characteristic of the liberated.

Benign to all beings, calm, wearing three-fold (emblamatic) staff,1 [carrying] a water-pot, delighting

1 Philosophically the three daṇḍas-s (restraints) are: 1. Vāg-daṇḍa, restraint in speech; 2. Kāyadaṇḍa, restraint of the bodily senses and 3. Manodaṇḍa, restraint of the mind (Manusmṛti, 11. 10).

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

in the one (Brahman)—having become a mendicant monk [thus] he may enter a village for alms.

55 The mendicant monk shall be alone as stated before; two together are declared to be a pair [having attachment to each other]; three together are said to constitute a village [with their bickerings]; more than these [three] become a city [of bustle and confusion].

56 The city [of ascetics] should not be created, nor the village nor the pair; an ascetic doing [forming part of] these three falls off his rightful duty.

57 Due to their close association there will doubtless be talks on royal personages, etc., mutual luck in alms, and [also] affection, tale-bearing and rivalry among them.

58 He shall remain alone and without desires; he shall not converse with any one. He shall utter 'Nārāyaṇa' alone as the reply always [to other's statements].

59 In solitude he shall contemplate on Brahman [whole heartedly] in thought, word and deed. He shall not by any means either welcome death or [rejoice in] life.

60 He shall only mark time (when practising asceticism) till the allotted span of life is completed; he shall neither welcome death nor rejoice in living. He shall await the time [of death] alone as an employee awaits orders.

61 A mendicant monk gets liberation when he possesses the following six characteristics: he is tongueless [in

56 SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-s [Upa. 3]

relishing food and speech], a eunuch [in sex], lame [in push], blind [in seeing sense objects], deaf [in hearing praise or curse] and innocent [like a child]. There is no doubt about it.

62

Characteristics of Ascetics who are Tongueless, etc.

That ascetic is said to be tongueless who, while eating food is not conscious of its being savoury or otherwise and who speaks words beneficial and truthful in moderation.

63

He is a eunuch who is unaffected on seeing a female whether newly born, sixteen year old or one of a hundred years.

64

When an ascetic goes about [only] for alms and answering calls of nature and does not exceed [a distance of] thirteen or fourteen kilometres [in a day] he is by all means a lame person.

65

That mendicant monk is said to be blind whose eyes, [being modestly lowered] while standing still or walking, do not see far excepting sixteen cubits of ground [before him].

66

Hearing words beneficial or otherwise, pleasing to the mind or causing grief, he seems not to hear them (i.e. remains equanimous); such a sage is said to be deaf.

67

That mendicant monk is said to be childlike who always remains as if asleep in the presence of objects of sensory pleasures, [though] his senses are efficient and unimpaired.

68

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Things to be Avoided by Ascetics

Show by dancers, etc. gambling, lady friend [of former days], eatables [heaped temptingly], [other] enjoyable things and a woman in her courses—these an ascetic shall always avoid.

69

An ascetic shall never even think of in his mind these six—love, hatred, intoxication, bamboozling, hurting and deluding others.

70

A bedstead, white clothes, talk on women, unsteadiness, daytime sleep and a carriage—these six cause the fall of ascetics.

71

One who thinks on the Self shall painstakingly avoid long journeys.

Duties of Ascetics

The ascetic shall always be practising the lore of the Upaniṣad-s which is the means for liberation.

72

The ascetic shall not always be resorting to a place of pilgrimage nor be undergoing fasts frequently; he shall not be studying the scripture all the time nor be expounding them exclusively.

73

He shall always conduct himself without (committing) sin, deceit and devious acts, restraining his senses in every way as a tortoise does its limbs.

74

He will be released [from worldly bondage] when the functioning of his senses and the mind has become quiescent; is free of hopes (of gain) and possessions; is indifferent to the pairs [of opposites, pleasure and pain, etc.], reverential salutation and the exercisc of his will (niḥsvadhēkāra); is free from ‘mine-ness’

58

egotism, expectations and blessings; and sticks to solitude. There is no doubt about it. Thus [are the duties of ascetics].

Renunciation Befitting the Stage of Life

A disciplined celibate student, a householder or a forest dweller (Vānaprastha) may renounce worldly life when he is ever vigilant in leading a righteous life, possesses (proficiency in) action, has devotion and wisdom, and comes to possess dispassion of his own accord. If he is chiefly interested [in the particular stage of his life] he shall complete the stage of studentship and become a householder; from [the stage of a householder] becoming a forest-dweller, he shall [thereafter] renounce the world. Or otherwise he may renounce worldly life from the stage of a student or householder or forest dweller. But then a person may renounce, that very day on which he gets disillusioned with the world, whether he is one who observes not vows [before the stage of renunciation] or observes them, whether he has undergone the prescribed ablution on completing the disciplined studentship or not, whether he has discontinued maintaining the ritual fire at the death of his wife (utsannāgni) or is one who does not maintain [for other causes] the ritual fire (anagnika).

Some [law-givers] prescribe the sacrifice called Prājā-patya [of which the god Brahmā is the presiding deity, to a twice-born before he embraces renunciation]. But [though thus said] he may not do so. He shall only perform the Āgneyī sacrifice [whose presiding deity is

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Agni, the god of fire]. For Agni is the vital breath (Prāṇa). Thereby he does [strengthen] the vital breath. [Then] he shall perform the Traidhātavīya sacrifice [whose presiding deity is the god Indra]. By this [sacrifice] the three vital fluids [become strong like fire], namely the sattva (semen), rajas (blood) and tamas (the dark one).

77 [Having performed the sacrifice in the prescribed manner he shall smell the holy fire, reciting the following mantra]: ‘Oh Fire, this (vital breath) is your source; as you are born at the proper time (of the year) you put on effulgence. Knowing him [the Ātman, your ultimate source] may you merge [with the Prāṇa, your source]. May you increase our wealth [of transcendent knowledge].’ Thus reciting the mantra he shall smell the fire. This is the source of fire, this vital air. May you go unto Prāṇa, may you go unto your source. Svāhā. Thus alone this [mantra] says. Having secured the ritual fire from the Āhavanīya (sacred fire) he shall smell it as before. If he is unable to procure the ritual fire he shall offer the oblation in the waters. For water is [presided over by] all the gods. Reciting [the mantra] ‘I offer the oblation to all the gods, svāhā,

he shall tender the oblation, and picking up [a small portion left over of] the offered oblation which is mixed with ghee, he shall eat it [mixed] with water. The oblation mixed with ghee is beneficial and gives [leads to] liberation. Thus [it has been declared]. Only after discarding the tuft of hair, sacred thread, parents,

son, wife, [normal] work, study, mantra-s [other than those prescribed for ascetics], a wise man (knower of spiritual knowledge) renounces worldly life. By the mantra-s of liberation pertaining to the Traidhātavīya sacrifice he shall attain [final beatitude]. That is Brahman; that should reverently be resorted to. Thus alone is this [liberation attained]. Thus.

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The Ascetic Alone is a pre-eminent Brāhmaṇa

The Ascetic Alone is a pre-eminent Brāhmaṇa

Nārada again asked of the grandfather (Brahmā):

'How is he, [being now] without the sacred thread, a Brāhmaṇa?' The god Brahmā said to him [as follows]:

79

Taking a shave with the [removal of the] tuft, a wise man shall discard the external [sacred] thread. He shall wear as the thread [i.e. he shall always be conscious of] the transcendent Brahman which is indestructible.

80

The sūtra is so called as it indicates [Brahman]. The sūtra is indeed the supreme state. That Brāhmaṇa [alone]. has completely mastered the Veda-s who has realized that sūtra.

81

The yogin, the knower of yoga and the perceiver of the truth, shall possess that sūtra (Brahman) by which everything is held together (sustained), as a group of gems by a thread.

82

Established in the highest yoga a wise man shall abandon the external (sacred) thread. He is wise who possesses the sūtra, the state of Brahman. Possessing that sūtra he becomes neither unholy or impure.

83

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61

Those who have the sūtra inwardly and possess the sacred thread of wisdom, are indeed the knowers of the sūtra; they wear the [true] sacred thread.

84

Those who wear a tuft of hair in the form of wisdom (jñāna), whose fundamental condition is wisdom, who possess the sacred thread of wisdom, to whom wisdom alone is supreme, have, it is said, pure knowledge.

85

That wise man whose tuft consists of wisdom, like the flame in the case of fire, and no other, is said to be the possessor of sikhā [tuft; pre-eminence]; not others who [merely] bear a lock of hair on the crown of the head.

86

The Brāhmaṇa and such others who are engaged in Vedic rites are to wear this (sacred) thread; for it is declared to be part of the ceremony.

87

He whose tuft consists of wisdom as also his sacred thread (of that wisdom), has all the requisites of a Brāhmaṇa; so understand the knowers of the Veda.

Thus.

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Adoption of the State of Paramahaṃsa 1 or Avadhūta 2

Knowing thus [the duties of ascetics], a Brāhmaṇa, having renounced worldly life, becomes a mendicant monk, wearing a single garment and shaven-headed, he

1 An ascetic of the highest order who wears a loin cloth and has a single emblematic staff, subsisting on alms secured from five householders.

2 An ascetic who has no worldly attachments or connections, ever in deep meditation and living on food that comes unsolicited.

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receives no gifts [other than simple food for bare sustenance], if he is unable to bear bodily privation [of an unclad, unsoliciting Avadhūta ascetic]. Or, according to prescribed rules, becoming unclad (lit. possessing a form as when newly born), renouncing his children, friends, wife, close kinsmen, etc., his vedic study and rituals, abandoning the entire world, his loin cloth, emblematic staff and [warm] garment; being capable of putting up with the pairs [of opposites, pleasure and pain, etc.] and unmindful of cold and heat, pleasure and pain, sleep, honour and dishonour, and the six human infirmities1 [hunger, etc.]; leaving off censuring, egotism, rivalry, pride, false airs, jealousy, envy, desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, love, anger, covetousness, delusion, etc.; remembering his body as a corpse; not conscious of anything other than the Self both inwardly and outwardly; not bowing to anyone, having neither the utterance of svāhā (in worshipping the gods) nor the utterance of svadhā (in honour of the manes); indulging neither in praise nor blame; he thus becomes independent of extraneous influences.

Contented with [food alone] that comes un-solicited, he shall not accept [gifts of] gold, etc. He does neither the invocation of deities nor utter mantra-s to send them back; he has not mantra or non-mantra, meditation or worship, aim or non-aim, separation or union; and being of firm mind [in regard to residence] has no home [to sleep in at

1

The six human infirmities, according to the Bhāgavata are: Sorrow, delusions, old age, death, hunger and thirst.

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night] other than a deserted house, the shade of a tree, a temple, a clump of [tall] grass, a potter's shed, a hut where ritual fire is kept, the southeast quarter, the sandy bank of a river, a cellar, cave or grounds near water falls or in a forest. He may have no distinctive emblem of an ascetic [like the great sages of yore] such as Śvetaketu, Ṛbhu, Nidāgha, Ṛṣabha, Durvāsas, Samvartaka, Dattātreya and Raivataka. His conduct is incomprehensible [to ordinary people] like the conduct of children, mad men and ghosts. Though [perfectly] sane he behaves like an insane person. Muttering svāhā he shall discard all these in the waters -the threefold (emblematic) staff, sling [to carry his effects], [alms] bowl, [water] vessel, waist band and loin-cloth.

89 He shall journey [as a mendicant monk] unclad, leaving in the waters all these--the waistband, loincloth, the (emblematic) staff, garment and water vessel.

90 He shall seek the [realization of the] Self. Remaining unclad, free from [the influence of] the pairs [of opposites], receiving no gifts, well established in the path of the reality of Brahman, with his mind pure, eating food to sustain life at the prescribed hour with his hand or otherwise [placed in the mouth] without begging, equanimous in gain or denial [of food], without 'mineness', deeply interested in meditating on the pure effulgence [i.e. Brahman], devoted to the supreme spirit (manifested as the individual Self), deeply engaged in rooting out the effect of good and

64 SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S [Upa. 4]

bad actions, he shall renounce [all other than the Self]; having only one thought, namely of supreme bliss, ever recollecting Brahman in the form of Praṇava (Om) and that he is Brahman alone, he shall give up the threefold body1 according to the maxim of the wasp2 [to become one with Brahman] and abandon the body by renunciation alone. He becomes one who has fulfilled himself [i.e. he attains liberation in the disembodied state]. Thus [ends the third Upadeśa of] the Upaniṣad.

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FOURTH UPADEŚA

Discourse on the Duties of Ascetics and the Fruit Thereof

He who abandons the [three] worlds, the Veda-s, objects of senses, the [the influence of the] senses and remains [established] in the Ātman alone, attains the highest goal.

1

A good ascetic shall never answer the inquiry on his name, lineage, etc., his native place, duration [of his stay there], study of the scripture, family, age, conduct, and the vows observed by him.

2

He shall neither converse with any woman nor remember one seen before; he shall avoid all talks on them and never look at one even in a picture.

3

1 The three bodies are:-the grosser or material and perishable body; the subtle body, and the inner rudiment of the body, causal frame.

2 It is believed that a worm, under the grip of a wasp and deeply thinking of that wasp alone, becomes a wasp itself.

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The mind of an ascetic will necessarily get disturbed on his doing the four things regarding women [mentioned above]; due to this agitation of the mind he is lost.

An ascetic comes down [from his high position] if he has greed, anger, untruth, bamboozling, covetousness, delusion, likes and dislikes, [love of] fine art, explaining tendency, desire, passion, accepting [gifts], egotism, ‘ mine-ness ’, practising medicine, enforcing right conduct [in others], expiatory acts, journeying abroad [into unholy places], and [the practice of] mantra-s, herbs, poisons and blessing [others] which are prohibited.

A sage intent on liberation shall not speak [words such as] ‘ come, go, stop, welcome, friends and honouring ’.

A mendicant monk shall neither accept gifts nor induce others to offer donation nor prompt [others to give or take gifts] at any time even in a dream.

Hearing or seeing good or bad of his [former] wife, brother, children, etc. and kinsmen, he shall not get agitated; he shall give up sorrow and delusion.

Abstaining from injury, [having] truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, non-acquiring, humility, absence of depression, serenity, stability, straightforwardness, freedom from affection, serving respectable elders, faith, forgiveness, calmness, non-alignment, fortitude, amiability, endurance, compassion, modesty, knowledge and wisdom, contemplation of the supreme Spirit (yoga), very moderate diet and contentment – these are

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well known as the essential requisites of self-controlled ascetics.

10-12

Free from [the influence of] the pairs [of opposites], ever established in goodness, equanimous in everything, the sage in the fourth stage (of asceticism), the Parama-haṃsa, is the visible god Nārāyaṇa.

13

Except in the rainy season, he may stay one night in a village and five nights in a city; during the rains he may stay four months [in a village or town].

14

The mendicant monk shall not stay two nights in a village; if he stays, affection, etc. may find scope [to deflect him]; thereby he will go to hell.

15

In the outskirts of a village, in a secluded spot he may pitch his camp and go about [for alms] like a worm [crawling] on the ground; during the rains he shall stay in one place.

16

Clad in a single garment or unclad, with his vision fixed in the one (Brahman), free from desires, undeflected from the path of the good and deeply meditating he shall walk the earth.

17

Practising his essential duties in a pure place always a mendicant monk shall ever be on the move, his eye fixed on the ground.

18

He shall never journey at night, midday or during the two twilights; neither in a deserted place nor an impassable region nor a place causing harm to creatures.

19

A mendicant monk may stay one night in a village, two nights in a small town, three nights in a big town and five nights in a city. During the rains he

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may camp in one place which has plenty of pure water.

20

Seeing all beings as like unto himself a mendicant monk shall walk the earth, like a person blind, dull-witted, deaf, mad and dumb.

21

A Bahūdaka mendicant monk and a forest-dweller, it is declared, are to have a bath at the three periods (junctures) of the day, the Hamsa ascetic but once a day and a Paramahamsa ascetic has none [prescribed].

22

The ascetic carrying a single emblematic staff shall observe these seven things—silence, yoga posture, deep meditation, endurance, solitude, desirelessness and equanimity.

23

One at the stage of a Paramahamsa, due to the absence of prescribed rules in regard to bath, etc., shall merely give up all the activities of the mind.

24

What difference is there between worms [revelling in putrid waters] and men who take delight in [the body consisting of] skin, flesh, blood, tendons, marrow, fat, bones, faeces, urine and pus?

25

Where [on the one hand] is the body, a great conglomerate of all [foul things] such as phlegm and others and where [on the other hand] are merits such as bodily splendour, auspiciousness and personal charm?

26

If a fool takes delight in his body which is a conglomerate of flesh, blood, pus, faeces, urine, tendons, marrow and bones, he will be [delighted] in hell as well.

Though there is no difference between the unmentionable region of women and a putrified ulcer, people are generally deceived by the difference in outlook.

28

A piece of skin split in twain and perfumed by the apāna-wind—a bow to those who take delight in it! What is greater rashness than this?

29

The wise ascetic has no (worldly) work to do nor has he any emblem. The sage free from ‘mine-ness’ and fear, calm, uninfluenced by the pairs [of opposites], taking food without caste-distinction, clad in loin cloth or unclad, shall remain deeply engaged in meditation. Thus the yogin, solely devoted to wisdom is fit for identity with Brahman.

30-1

Even though he may carry an emblem [such as the staff], the [real] cause of his liberation is his spiritual knowledge alone. To the people here [in the matter of attaining final beatitude] an assemblage of emblems is meaningless.

32

He is a Brāhmaṇa [knower of Brahman] who knows not [the difference between] one who is good or bad, unlearned or highly learned [in scripture], of good or bad character.

33

Therefore a wise (ascetic) shall move about unobtrusively without any emblem, knowing right conduct, devoted to the vow of (realizing) Brahman, and resorting to the secret doctrine (i.e. the Upaniṣad-s).

34

He shall journey over the earth, a mystery to all people, devoid of class or stage of life, as [though he were] blind, dull-witted and dumb.

35

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Seeing him calm in mind the gods desire to be like him. As he observes no distinction he attains the [distinctionless] final beatitude. Thus the teaching of the god Brahmā. Thus [it ends].

36

The Method of Renunciation in the due Order

The Method of Renunciation in the due Order

Then Nārada asked of Brahmā (the grandfather): 'Pray expound to us the method of renunciation.' The god Brahmā agreeing to it saying 'Be it so' declared: For embracing the fourth stage of life (i.e. renunciation) whether one is in a state of emergency or in the regular sequence, one shall perform the eight commemorative religious ceremonies (aṣṭaśrāddha) after having first undergone the penance to expiate all sins (krčhra-prāyaścitta), the eight ceremonies being [the propitiation of] the gods, sages [of yore], [other] divine beings, men, [the five] primary elements, manes, father, mother and [one's] Self. First [he shall propitiate] the group of deities named Satya, Vasu, etc.; in the commemorative ceremony for the gods, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva); in the śrāddha1 ceremony for the sages, divine sages [like Nārada], royal sages [like Janaka] and men-sages [like yājñavalkya]; in the śrāddha for divine beings, the (eight) Vasu-s, the (eleven) Rudra-s and the (twelve) Āditya-s (suns); in the śrāddha for men, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanat-kumāra and Sanatsujāta (sons of the god Brahmā); in the śrāddha for the Elements, the five primary elements

1 Śrāddha is a commemorative ceremony performed in honour of the departed spirits of dead relatives.

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Earth, etc., the sensory organs such as the eye, and the four groups1 of living beings; in the śrāddha for the manes, father, paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfather; in the śrāddha for the female ancestors, mother, paternal grandmother and paternal great grandmother; in the śrāddha for one's Self, one-self, father and paternal grandfather; if his father is alive, leaving off the father, himself, paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfather.

In all cases he shall honour the Brāhmaṇa-s, arranging that two of them are present each time. Having honoured the Brāhmaṇa-s in the manner prescribed for the ceremony of the daily offerings to deceased ancestors (pitryajña) during the eight śrāddha-s performed in eight days or in a day with the mantra-s pertaining to his own branch of the Veda, following the option of a single ceremony a day or eight ceremonies on the same day; having completed [the rituals] according to rules till they are fed; having performed the offering of rice-balls to the manes and bidding farewell to the Brāhmaṇa-s, pleased with the presents and betel rolls; having saved seven hairs for the success of the remaining ritual acts; the twice born, having had seven or eight hairs shaved together along with the [remaining] hairs and beard, and the nails cut for the success of the remaining ritual acts; bathing after the shave in which hairs in the arm pits and the public hairs are exempted and preserving the [above said]

1 The four groups are: Womb-born, egg-born, sweat-born and sprout-born (Manu. 1.43 ff.).

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seven hairs; completing the evening twilight worship; muttering the Gāyatrī mantra a thousand times; performing the [daily] teaching and study of the Veda-s; getting ready his own ritual fire; completing [the recital of] his branch of the Veda; offering the oblation of ghee in the fire as stated in it (his Vedic branch) till Agni and Soma have been propitiated; completing the act of offering oblations; [ceremoniously] eating the barley meal three times [invoking] himself, etc., keeping alive the fire after having ceremoniously sipped water (ācamana); seating himself in a skin of the black antelope at the north of the fire, keeping awake listening to the recital of Purāṇa-s; bathing at the end of the fourth watch (of the night), boiling the oblation in that fire, offering the rice- oblation sixteen times reciting the Purusasūkta; performing the Virajā ritual [so as to be free from all sins]; sipping water ceremoniously and gifting clothes, gold, vessel and cow along with a cash present, completing [the preceding rituals], bidding farewell to the god Brahmā who had been invoked, invoking the fire to be [symbolically] present on his person [reciting the mantra-s]—

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' May the Marut-s bring together (the scattered vital energy], may Indra [do so], may Brhaspati [do so], may this fire [do so granting] along with [long] life, wealth and strength; may he make me long lived ' (TĀ, 2. 18). Thus.

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' Oh Agni, come with your body which is fit for sacrifice. [You] being my Self, may you climb into my body, bringing before me great wealth suitable

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for men. Assuming the form of sacrifice, may you rest in my body, your source. Oh Fire, being born of the earth, may you come with your abode (TB, 2. 5. 8); meditating on Fire, bidding farewell to him after having circumambulated and prostrated in reverence before him; worshipping the morning twilight; paying obeisance to the Sun reciting the Gāyatrī mantra a thousand times, seated in the waters which reach up to his navel; bidding farewell to Gāyatrī having made respectful offerings to the eight guardian-deities of the quarters; mingling the Gāyātrī with the vyāḥṛti-s (bhūr, bhuvas, suvas) and reciting in a low, middling or high tone one or mentally [the mantra-s], ‘I am the stimulator of the tree [of the phenomenal world]. Fame

[of my knowledge] is lofty like the peak of a mountain. High and holy, I am the immortal being as [the immortal Self] in the sun. [I am] the wealth [of the Self] endowed with effulgence. Possessing true knowledge I am immersed in my immortal nature. Thus the words of self-realization (based on the Veda) of Triśaṅku [a realized soul] (Tai. Up., 1. 10).’

‘ He [the Om] who is the most exalted of the Veda-s and omnipresent and who has sprung from the ambrosial scripture–may that [Om], the [supreme] lord endow me with [true] intelligence. May I, Oh Lord, become the possessor of [wisdom leading to] immortality; my body very active [in the higher life]; my tongue (speech) possessed of sweetness to the highest degree. May I, with my ears, listen to the wealth [of Vedāntic learning]. You are the sheath of Brahman, concealed by worldly

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

intelligence [which please rent asunder]. Pray protect my wisdom [born] of the study of the scripture’ (Tai. Up., 1. 4) ; ‘I am [now] risen above the desire for wife, desire for wealth and desire for worldly glory’ ‘Om bhūḥ, I have renounced (the world)’. ‘Om bhuvaḥ, I have renounced.’ ‘Om suvaḥ, I have renounced.’ ‘Om bhūḥ bhuvaḥ suvaḥ, I have renounced.’ Sipping water (ceremoniously, reciting the mantra) ‘Freedom from fear to all beings; everything emanates from me, svāhā’; offering [water] to the East with the palms fully folded and uprooting the śikhā [of seven hairs] reciting Om svāhā; snapping the sacred thread [reciting the mantra-s]—‘The sacred thread is highly sanctifying; it has been natural to the god Brahmā (Prajāpati) in the first place; foremost in promoting long life, put on thus. [comm. knowing the Self to be the foremost, leave off other thoughts]. May the bright [fresh] sacred thread be the strength and effulgence [unto me] [comm. resorting to the inner effulgence, give up the external sacred thread]’ (Brahmopanisad, 5) ;

‘Let not the sacred thread reside externally; may you, entering inside into the middle [of the heart] ever grant [me] the highly sanctifying fame, strength, wisdom and dispassion, and [true] intelligence.’ Offering water with cupped palms, he shall offer [the sacred thread] as oblation to the waters, [reciting the mantra] ‘Om bhūḥ, [pray] reach the sea, svāhā.’ Repeating thrice, ‘Om bhūḥ, I have renounced, Om bhuvaḥ, I have renounced, Om suvaḥ, I have renounced’, he shall ceremoniously sip water and discard in the

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waters his garment and waist band, reciting ‘ Om bhūḥ svāhā.’ Reminding himself that he had ceased from all [worldly] activities and becoming unclad he shall start for the north with his hand raised and thinking of his Self.

37

If, as stated before, he is an enlightened recluse, he shall receive instruction from his Guru on the Praṇava (Om) and the great scriptural texts [such as ‘That “Thou Art”], journeying [as a mendicant monk] in easy stages, [convinced] that no one exists other than his Self and subsisting on fruits, [edible] leaves and water and thus move about on hills, forests and temples. Then unclad, giving up journeying all [over the earth], his heart solely filled with the experience of bliss always, profited by the complete severance of [worldly] activities, sustaining life by means of fruits, juicy barks, leaves, bulbous roots and water only for attaining liberation, he shall discard his body in some mountain cave remembering the emancipating mantra (Om).

38

If he is a recluse desiring further study (Vivi-diśā Samnyāsin) he shall proceed along with learned Brāhmaṇa-s like his preceptor, etc. and receiving a staff, waistband, loin cloth, garment and water vessel [offered] by his preceptors reciting, ‘ Pray wait, wait, blessed one, take the staff, [ochre] garment and water vessel,’ he shall go to the spiritual guide’s presence to receive instruction in the Praṇava (Om) and the great scriptural texts (mahāvākya-s). He shall then receive the [emblematic] bamboo staff, which is free

from cuts from the tip to the top, evenly shaped,

smooth, free from black colour and is auspicious look-

ing, having first sipped water ceremoniously and

[repeating the mantra], 'You are my friend. Protect

my strength. You, my friend, are Indra's (weapon)

Vajra, the destroyer of [the demon] Vṛtra. May you

bring protection to me. Prevent that which is a sin.'

He shall then receive the water-vessel reciting the

Praṇava first [and then the mantra] 'you are the life

of the world, you are the container of water, you who

are always cool'. [Receiving] the waist-band, loin

cloth and the [ochre] garment [reciting the mantra

in the due order], 'the waist-band, the supporter of

the loin cloth, Om; the cover for the privities, the

loincloth, Om; the garment, which is the protection

against cold, wind, and heat, Om;' and invested with

the yoga cloth [cloth used for meditation] preceded by

the ceremonial sipping of water, he shall zealously

follow the rules of his stage of life (i.e. asceticism)

considering that he has fulfilled himself [in the quest

for liberation]. Thus [ends the fourth Upadeśa of ]

the Upaniṣad.

FIFTH UPADESÁ

No Conflict in Renouncing Activity and Following one's Stage of life

Then Nārada asked of the god Brahmā: 'Lord,

you have said that renunciation entails ceasing from

all activity. Again you have said that one shall be

zealous in the conduct of one's stage of life.'

Then the god Brahmā replied: 'To the embodied being there are the four stages of waking, dreaming, sleeping and the fourth state (turya). Under their influence people who engage themselves in action, knowledge and dispassion, conform to them in their conduct'. 'If this is so, Lord, how many kinds of renunciation are there? What are the differences in their practice? Pray expound to us completely'. Agreeing to this saying 'Be it so' the god Brahmā [said to] him [as follows].

Four Kinds of Renunciation

If the question is raised, 'How does conduct differ in the varieties of renunciation? [the answer is] that renunciation is really one only, that it becomes threefold due to imperfection of knowledge [vidvat-], incapacity [vividiṣā-] and failure in action [ātura-] and it attains the four stages of renunciation due to dispassion, renunciation due to wisdom, renunciation due to wisdom and dispassion, and renunciation of action.

2

Renunciation due to Dispassion

This is how it is. Due to the absence of wicked passion, by indifference to objects of pleasure and by the influence of good actions done before, one who renounces the world is [called] the renouncer due to dispassion.

3

Renunciation due to Wisdom

Due to the knowledge of the scripture (śāstra-s), withdrawing from the phenomenal world by listening

to sinful and auspicious experiences of the world; desisting from all the world composed of anger, jealousy, intolerance, egotism and pride; discarding bodily inclinations such as desire for wife, desire for wealth and desire for worldly glory, [excessive] regard for the śāstra-s and public esteem; considering all these common things to be eschewed as vomit; endowed with the four disciplines [such as discrimination of permanent and transitory things]—he who renounces thus alone is a renouncer due to wisdom.

4

Renunciation due to Wisdom cum Dispassion

Having studied all [scripture] in due order and experienced all [worldly life] one who, influenced by wisdom cum dispassion and deep meditation on the Self, becomes an unclad [ascetic], is the renouncer due to wisdom cum dispassion.

5

Renunciation of Worldly Activity

Having completed the course of disciplined studentship in celibacy, becoming a householder, reaching the stage of a forest-dweller, he who [thereafter] renounces the world in accordance with the order of the stages of life even in the absence of dispassion, is a renouncer of [worldly] activities.

6

Renouncing the world while in celibacy and becoming unclad in renunciation—such is the renouncer due to dispassion. The renouncer due to [scriptural] learning is the renouncer due to wisdom.

7

renouncer due to imperfect knowledge is the renouncer of [worldly] activity.

Twofold Renunciation of Activity due to Cause and Otherwise

Renunciation of activity is of two kinds: renunciation due to [some] cause and renunciation without [an adventitious] cause. The one with cause is the afflicted [and is at the point of death]; the causeless is renunciation in the regular order.

8

The afflicted skips over all preliminary ritual acts; it is renunciation at the point of the departure of the vital breath; this is renunciation due to [some] cause. Hale in body [but convinced] that created things are transient and hence all things such as the body are fit to be abandoned:

9

The individual soul, non-different from Brahman, pervading pure ether, the sun (Vasu), remaining in the sky, the Fire that rests in the altar [of the universe], the Guest, residing in the house [of the sacrifice], residing in men, dwelling in the superior (gods), resting in truth, residing in the sky [as the sun], born in the waters, born on earth [as grain, etc.], born as [sacrificial] truth, born in mountains [as rivers], this truth [Brahman] is [truly] great.

10

Convinced that everything other than Brahman is transient and as a result he renounces, that renunciation is renunciation without [an adventitious] cause.

Six Kinds of Renunciation, Kuṭicaka, etc.

11

Renunciation is of six kinds—Kuṭīcaka, Bahūdaka, Hamsa, Paramahaṃsa, Turīyātīta and Avadhūta.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD 79

Characteristics of the Kuṭicaka Ascetic

Characteristics of the Kuṭicaka Ascetic

The Kuṭicaka ascetic wears tuft and sacred thread, carries an (emblematic) staff and water vessel, puts on a loin cloth and patched garment, is devoted to the service of father, mother and preceptor, has recourse to the assistance of using mantra-s for the vessel (pīṭhara), spade (khanitra) and sling (śikya), is addicted to eating food in one place, puts on the fore-head a perpendicular sign of white sandal and has a three-fold (emblematic) staff.

12

Characteristics of the Bahūdaka Ascetic

Characteristics of the Bahūdaka Ascetic

The Bahūdaka ascetic wears tuft, etc. and patched garment, puts on the forehead a mark consisting of three horizontal lines of holy ashes, looks on all equally like the Kuṭicaka and subsists on eight mouthfuls of food gathered from (different) places like a bee.

13

Characteristics of the Hamsa Ascetic

Characteristics of the Hamsa Ascetic

The Hamsa ascetic wears matted hair, puts on the forehead a horizontal mark of holy ashes or a perpendicular mark of sandal, subsists on food gathered without predetermination like a bee and wears loincloth and khandatunda (a piece of cloth covering the mouth).

14

Characteristics of the Paramahamsa Ascetic

Characteristics of the Paramahamsa Ascetic

The Paramahamsa ascetic wears no tuft or sacred thread, subsists only on food taken at night and gathered from five houses, has his hand serving as (alms-) bowl, wears a single loincloth and a single garment, (carries)

80 SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S [Upa. 5]

one bamboo staff or wears a single garment, smears holy ashes (all over the body) and renounces every-

thing.

15

Characteristics of the Turīyātīta Ascetic

The Turīyātīta ascetic is ‘cow-faced’ [eats food at random without using hands], eats fruits [only] or if he takes cooked food, gets it from three houses (i.e. three mouthfuls), has his body just alive, is unclad and has his body as though it were a corpse [due to insensibility by nirvikalpasamādhi].

16

Characteristics of the Avadhūta Ascetic

The Avadhūta ascetic follows no rules, subsists on food that comes to him, as is the practice of a python, from all classes of people excepting those who are accursed or fallen, and is solely devoted to the realization of his Self.

17

Renunciation in due order by Those Living in Affliction

If one lives in [great] affliction [of bodily infirmities], he shall renounce the world in the due order [by getting instruction in Praṇava and the mahāvākya-s from his Guru].

18

The Method of Renunciation of Kuṭicaka, etc.

To the Kuṭicaka, Bahūdaka and Hamsa ascetics, the method of renunciation of the Kuṭicaka-s applies just as [renunciation is embraced after completing] the stages of brahmacarya, etc. [ending with] the fourth stage [namely, renunciation].

19

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

The Method of Renunciation of the Triad Beginning with the Paramahaṃsa

The rule is that the triad of the Paramahaṃsa, etc. has no waist band, loincloth, garment, water vessel or staff; their soliciting alms shall be from all classes of people and they shall be unclad. Even in the stage of renunciation they may study [the scripture] till they feel fully satisfied and thereafter discard in the waters the waistband, loincloth, staff, garment and water-vessel. Then if unclad there shall not be any vestige of patched garment. They shall neither study nor expound [the scripture]. There is nothing whatsoever for them worth hearing. Other than the Praṇava (Om) they shall not cultivate any science of logic, not even the Verbal authority (i.e. the Veda). He shall not speak much in expounding [sacred texts], he shall not stultify by his words the words of the great, [he shall not] communicate by making signs with his hands, etc. nor shall he use other special means of communication. He shall not speak to the low class of people, women, the fallen and [specially to] women in their courses. To the ascetic there is no worship of the gods, nor seeing [the deities] during festivals nor any journey on pilgrimage.

20

Modes of Receiving Alms by Kuṭicaka and others

Again [on] the different kinds of ascetics. [In the rule relating] to the Kuṭicaka the receiving of alms is from one house; to the Bahūdaka it is at random as in the case of a bee gathering honey; to the Haṃsa it is eight mouthfuls [collected] from

6

eight houses; to the Paramahaṃsa [five mouthfuls collected] from five houses, the hand being the [alms-] bowl; to the Turīyātīta the food consists of fruits put into his mouth (gomukha); to the Avadhūta [the food comes to him] as in the case of a python, from all classes of people. The ascetic shall not stay many nights [in the same place]. He shall not bow to any one. To the Turīyātīta and Avadhūta none is superior. He who knows not the Self, though the eldest, is yet the youngest [in wisdom]. He shall not swim across a river, nor climb a tree, nor travel in a carriage. He shall not indulge in buying and selling, nor barter even the least. He shall not put on airs nor speak an untruth. There is no duty enjoined on an ascetic. If there is, then he will have to mix with people practising religious observances [which is undesirable]. Hence ascetics have the right [only] to meditation, etc.

Goals attained by the Ascetics

Goals attained by the Ascetics

The renouncer in an emergency and the Kuṭicaka ascetic attain the worlds of Bhūr and Bhuvar respectivcly. The Bahūdaka ascetic attains heaven (Svarga). The Hamsa sage attains the [highest heaven of] Tapoloka. The Paramahaṃsa reaches the abode of Brahmā and of Truth (Satyaloka). The Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta attain final beatitude in the [individual] Self by deeply meditating on the Self according to the maxim of the wasp and the worm.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

“Whatever the state one remembers when discarding the body at death, the same he attains [after death]. The teaching of the scripture is never false.” 23

The Thinking shall be on Brahman alone, nothing else

Thus having known [the procedure], barring investigation into the nature of the Self, [the ascetic] shall not devote himself to any other practice. As a result of such practice there is the attainment of the respective worlds [such as heaven, etc.]. By one endowed with wisdom and dispassion liberation is [attained] in himself; hence there is no adherence to any other practice. Adherence to [any other] practice [will be useless for attaining final beatitude]. To the embodied [self] [there are the three states of] waking, dreaming and deep sleep; in the waking state [it has] the faculty to perceive individuality (viśva); in the dreaming state, the subtle essence of light (taijasa); in the state of deep sleep, intelligence dependent on individuality (prājña). Due to the difference in the state, there is the difference in the conditioned Lord (Īśvara). For the difference in effect, there is the difference in the cause. In these [three states] the material cause for [such differences] is the external and internal activity of the fourteen sensory organs.1 The mental states are four, the mind (manas), intelligence (buddhi), ego (ahaṅkāra) and the heart (citta).

1 The five organs of perception, the five organs of action, the manas, buddhi, citta and ahaṅkāra constitute the fourteen organs.

84

There is clear difference in practices due to the difference in the activity of the mental states.

24

'Know [the individual Self] to be awake when it remains in the eye; when in the throat it enters the dreaming [state]; it is in the heart in deep sleep; but remaining in the head it is the fourth state (Turīya).'

25

Knowing the Turiya to be the indestructible (Brahman) he who remains as though unconscious of all [happenings] such as whatever is heard or seen, remains as one in the state of deep sleep, though he is in the waking state. In him even in the dreaming state such condition [of non-consciousness] prevails. [The śāstra-s] say that he is one who is 'liberated while living'. The exposition of the meaning of all scriptures is that such a person alone attains liberation. A mendicant monk does not hanker after this world or the next (i.e. Svarga, the heaven of varying enjoyments with a time-limit). If he has [such] expectation he becomes one in accordance with that. By [ritual] practices of the scripture other than investigation into the Self, he does a useless thing, like the burden borne by a camel of a load of saffron flowers.1 [For him] there is no practice of the science of yoga, no pursuit of the lore of the Sāṃkhya, nor application of the mantra-s and rituals. If an ascetic practises lores other than [Self-realization] it is like adorning a corpse.

1

1 The fragrant and valuable saffron flowers cannot be enjoyed by a camel; it only bears the burden.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

As a cobbler is far away from the performance of Vedic rituals, so is he from the [practice of Brahma-] vidyā [by his rituals]. He is not to devote himself to repeat the Praṇava. Whatever activity he does he has to reap the fruit there of. Hence discarding all [ritual acts] like the foam in castor oil, and seeing the unclad ascetic engaged in it [Self realization] with complete control over the mind and using the hand as the [alms-] bowl, the mendicant monk shall [truly] renounce [all worldly attachments]. Like the child, mad man or a goblin the mendicant monk shall not desire either for death or life, but shall merely mark time according to the maxim of a servant awaiting orders.

24-6 Loss of position by non-investigation (into the Self)

If an ascetic merely lives on the alms devoid of the qualitics of forbearance, wisdom, dispassion, tranquility, etc. he is a bane of the conduct of ascetics.

27 Not by bearing an (cmblematic) staff, not by a shaven head, not by [special] dress, not by hypocritical airs [of sage-hood] does liberation [come to one].

28 He who bears the staff of wisdom is said to be 'single staffed.'

The ascetic who carries a wooden stick, eats all sorts of food and is devoid of wisdom goes to terrible hells called Mahāraurava.

29 A stable position [in a monastery] is said by great sages to be similar to the excreta of a sow; hence, leaving it aside, the ascetic shall move about like an [assiduous] worm.

30

Turīyātita ascetics have food, etc. at others' will

The Turīyātita ascetic shall have food and clothing without solicitation and just as they happen to occur, by others' will. He shall be unclad and have a bath at others' will.

The best of the knowers of Brahman

The ascetic whose behaviour is well in harmony even with the dreaming state as with the waking state, is considered the best; he is the most excellent among those that follow the Vedānta.

1In non-acquirement [of alms] he shall not grieve; in its acquisition he shall not feel joy. Avoiding attachment to material things He shall simply keep himself alive [for a higher purpose].

He shall in all cases shrink from being honoured [by admiring disciples]; the ascetic who welcomes such honour gets bound [with worldly ties] though liberated.

Restriction as to diet, etc. in the case of ascetics

For the sake of bare subsistence an ascetic may go about for alms to the houses of approved classes of people (i.e. the 'twice borns') at the proper time when they have dined after the fire-ritual.

Using his hand as a vessel [for receiving food] the ascetic shall not solicit alms more than once a day; he may eat the food standing, he may eat the food

1 Manu., 6. 57-8.

walking. There is no ceremonial sipping of water in between.

36

[The ascetics] with pure thoughts keep within the limits [of good behaviour] like the sea; these great men do not abandon the prescribed course (of conduct) like the sun.

37

When the ascetic seeks food with his mouth alone like a cow, he shall then be equanimous in all beings; he is [then] fit for immortality.

38

Going to a house which is not forbidden [for alms], he shall avoid a house which is prohibited. He shall enter the house when the door is open; he shall never go towards the house when it is closed.

39

He shall shelter [for the night] in a deserted house covered with dust, or he may shelter under a tree, giving up all likes and dislikes.

40

The ascetic's full control over his senses

41

The ascetic shall go to sleep where he is when the sun sets and be free of [ritual] fire and [fixed] abode. He shall live on what comes at random, self-possessed and senses subdued.

42

Departing [from human habitations] and resorting to a forest, possessing true knowledge and senses subdued, moving about awaiting the time [of death], [the ascetic] becomes fit for absorption into Brahman.

43

The sage who moves about, desisting from causing fear to all beings has nowhere fear from any being.

Free from pride and egotism, unaffected by the pairs (of opposites), with all doubts dispelled, [the

88

SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

[Upa. 5]

ascetic] never gets angry nor hates [any one] and does

not utter a false word.

44

Moving in holy places, causing no injury to living

beings and receiving alms at the proper time, [the

sage] is fit for absorption into Brahman.

45

He shall at no time associate himself with the forest-

dwellers (Vānaprastha-s) and the householders. He

shall desire to move about unobtrusively. Joy (of any

kind) shall not enter him. His path indicated by the

sun he shall walk the earth [unhurriedly] like a

worm.

46

The ascetic's renunciation of all actions

Actions entailing blessing and those connected

with injury as well as those intended for the welfare

of the world, these [the ascetic] shall neither perform nor

cause others to do.

47

He shall not be attached to heterodox doctrines nor

pursue a means of living. He shall not indulge in assert-

ive arguments nor lean to either side in a debate.

48

He shall not have a following of disciples nor

study many books. He shall not utilize a commentary

nor initiate inaugural functions anywhere.

49

Without displaying any distinctive emblem or

motive the ascetic shall show himself to the people

as a mad man or a child or a dumb person though he

is [all] wise.

50

He shall neither do nor speak on anything. He shall

have no thoughts good or bad. Delighting in the Self,

the sage shall move about, leading this way of life.

51

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

He shall move about the country alone, free from attachment, his senses subdued, playing with and rejoicing in the Self, self-possessed, equanimous.

Wise [but] playful like a child, well versed but appearing dull-witted, [the ascetic] shall journey. Learned, he may speak like a mad man. Seeking food like a cow he shall walk in the path of the Upaniṣad-s.

Disregarded, insulted, deceived, envied, beaten, obstructed or made to suffer by denial of food by wicked people or when faeces and urine are thrown at him by the ignorant and shaken in various ways, [the ascetic] desiring welfare but fallen into difficulties shall raise himself by the [power of the] Self.

Honour received by the ascetic brings about great loss to the wealth of his penance (yoga), but when he is disregarded by ignorant people he attains success in the practice of yoga [as he becomes free of ego by the ordeal]. Without transgressing right conduct of the good the yogin may so move about, that [ordinary] people may disregard him; but they shall never associate with him.

The yogin [absorbed in meditation] shall do no harm by word, thought or physical action to beings such as the womb-born, the egg-born and others. He shall avoid all associations.

Abandoning all defects, such as passion and anger as well as pride, greed, delusion, etc. the mendicant monk shall remain free from fear.

Special duties of the ascetic

Eating food given as alms, observing silence, penance, meditation specially, [possessing] correct knowledge and dispassion--these are considered to be the duties of a mendicant monk.

60

Wearing ochre garment, ever devoted to the yoga of meditation, he may take shelter [for the night] at the outskirts of a village, the shade of a tree or even in a temple. He shall always live on alms and nowhere eat food obtained from one house alone.

61

A wise man [before embracing renunciation] shall always be on the move till he attains purity of mind; there the pure-minded shall renounce worldly life and move about here and there.

62

Visualizing God (the Lord Viṣṇu) everywhere, both outwardly and inwardly, he shall move about at all times, silent and free from impurity like the breeze.

63

Equanimous in joy and sorrow, patient and forgiving, eating what comes to his hand and seeing without enmity equally on the 'twice-born', the cow, the horse and the deer, etc. [he shall journey].

64

Meditating on Viṣṇu [who is] the supreme Self and the Lord (Īśāna), comtemplating on the Supreme bliss and remembering that he is Brahman alone [he shall spend the time].

65

Thus having become wise and possessing complete control over the mind, turning away from desires, unclad [by becoming an Avadhūta], always discarding all worldly affairs by thought, word and deed and turning his face away from the illusory phenomenal world,

[the sage] becomes liberated [from worldly bondage] by deep meditation on his Self according to the maxim of the wasp and the worm.1 Thus [ends the fifth chapter of] the Upaniṣad.

SIXTH UPADEŚA

Inquiry into the means of attaining liberation Then Nārada asked of the grandfather (Brahmā): ‘ Lord, [the sage attains liberation] by that practice, according to the maxim of the wasp and the worm. How is that practice [accomplished]?’ The god Brahmā said to him: ‘ True in speech he shall lead the life, with his body remaining distinctive by the [power of] wisdom and dispassion.’

Description, etc. of the wise man's body Wisdom is the [wise man's] body; know that dis-passion is his life; tranquillity and self-restraint his eyes; the mind his face; intelligence his digit (kalā) [consisting of sixteen parts beginning with Prāṇa and ending with nāman]; the twenty-five elements2 his limbs, the [aggregate of the] states [of waking, etc.] his five primary elements [of earth, water, etc.]; action,

1 According to Śaṁkarācārya, a worm thinking deeply on a wasp becomes a wasp itself. 2 The twenty-five elements are: the five organs of action; the five sense-objects—sound, touch, form, taste and smell; the five vital airs—Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna and Samāna; the mind, intelligence, ego, citta and the avyakta.

92

devotion, wisdom and dispassion are the branches [i.e. hands in the form of his] waking, dreaming, deep sleep and the fourth state (turīya); the fourteen organs1 are of the form of [unstable] pillars [fixed] in slime. None the less, as a pilot guides a boat even from a muddy place [to safety], as a mahout an [intractable] elephant, the man of dispassion shall bring them (organs) under his control by his discernment; and considering everything other than the ‘I’ (i.e. the Self) to be false and transitory, he shall always speak of himself as Brahman. There is nothing else for him to know other than his Self. Being thus ‘liberated while living’ (jīvanmukta) he lives as one who has fulfilled himself. He shall never say ‘I am not Brahman’, but [feel] incessantly ‘Brahman I am’ in the states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep; [then] reaching the turīya state he shall be merged in the state of turyātīta (of disembodied final beatitude).

2

The means to attain the state of Turyātīta [In the fourth state of turīya] the day is the waking state, the night is the dreaming state and mid-night is the state of deep sleep. In one state there are the four states [as explained later on p. 94]. Among the fourteen organs, each of which has a single function under its control, the functions of the eye, etc. [will now be described]. By the eye there is the comprehension of form, by the ears that of sound, by the

1 The five organs of perception, the five organs of action, the mind, intelligence, ego and citta constitute the fourteen organs.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

tongue that of taste, by the nose that of smell, by speech that of articulate expression, by the hand that of seizure, by the feet that of movement, by the anus that of evacuation, by the genitals that of [sexual] pleasure and by the skin that of touch. Intelligence which comprehends objects is dependent on these [described above]. [It] comprehends by intelligence. It becomes conscious by the mind (citta). It becomes conceited by the ego. Having specially created these the individual Self (jīva) becomes as such due to the conscious possession of the body. The jīva pervades the body as a householder moves in his house conscious of its possession. Having understood [the nature] of the face [of consciousness] [in the lotus of the heart] namely, that it experiences goodness in the eastern petal, sleep and sloth in the south-eastern, cruelty in the southern, sinfulness in the south-western, sportiveness in the western, inclination to move about in the north-western, tranquillity in the northern, wisdom in the north-eastern, dispassion in the pericarp, and thought of the Self in the filaments [the sage is left with the consciousness of the turyātīta Brahman alone simultaneously with the dawn of that wisdom]. 3

The nature of the Turyātīta

The nature of the Turyātīta There is in the state [of the awareness] of life, the first of the waking state, the second of dreaming, the third of deep sleep, the fourth of the turīya state; and the ' state beyond the fourth ' (turīyātīta) when the four states are absent. The Self is one only [spoken of as] having the different states of viśva, taijasa, prājña and

94

tatastha (the passive state). There is [only] one luminous Being, the witness, the one free of all attributes; the sage shall speak (i.e. feel) that he is Brahman [alone]. Otherwise there are the four states of waking, etc. in the waking state, the four states of dreaming, etc. in the dreaming state, the four states of deep sleep, etc. in the state of deep sleep and the four states of turīya, etc. in the turīya state. Not so in the state of turyātīta which is devoid of attributes. As viśva, taijasa, prājña and Īśvara in the states of the gross, subtle and causal bodies, the witness remains as one alone in all the states. Is the passive one (tatastha) the witness? The tatastha is the not the witness. Due to being a witness, he is not the witness alone. The jīva is affected by his states of doing, enjoying and egotism, etc. The one other than the jīva is unaffected [by the various states]. If argued that the jīva too is unaffected, it is not so. There is the conscious feeling of the body due to the consciousness of being the jīva and of being a jīva due to the possession of the body. There is an intervention in the state of the jīva as between the ether in the pot and the all prevailing ether. It is due to this intervention alone that the jīva, pretending inhalation and exhalation investigates [into the supreme witness] by the mantra, ‘The Hamsa (Brahman), that I am ’. Thus realizing [that there is really no difference between the jīva and the supreme witness] one shall abandon conscious feeling of the body; thus one becomes free of the consciousness of the body. Such a one alone is said to be Brahman.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Discarding of bad conduct and the practice of virtuous conduct

Giving up attachment, conquering anger, taking a very moderate diet, subduing the senses and blocking the gates [of the body] by his intelligence, [the ascetic] shall direct his mind towards deep meditation. 5

In solitary places alone, in caves and forests, the yogin, ever in harmony, shall always begin well his meditation [on the Self]. 6

In receptions, ceremonies performed in honour of the manes (śrāddha-s) and sacrifices, in religious processions and festivities and in the assemblies of people the knower of yoga desiring final emancipation shall never be present. 7

The yogin absorbed in meditation shall so move about that the people disregard and insult him; but he shall never swerve from the path of the good. 8

The three disciplines are restraint in speech, restraint in action and perfect control of the mind; he who practises these three restraints is ‘the observer of the three disciplines’ (tridandin) and is a great sage. 9

That ascetic is considered as the foremost of all, who goes to receive alms from different houses of very learned Brāhmaṇa-s, as a bee does for honey, when the ritual fire emits no smoke and has burnt itself out. 10

He is a despicable ascetic who goes for alms continuously [without any restraint], remains in that order [of ascetics] without an inward urge and has no dispassion. 11

96

He is considered an ascetic and no other, who, knowing that alms are specially attainable in a particular house, does not go there again.

12

That ascetic is considered as one beyond the castes and orders (ativarnāśramin) who realizes the supreme truth which is free of the body, senses, etc., which is the all-witness, the spiritual wisdom, the self of bliss and the self-radiant. Castes and orders, etc., pertaining to the body are invented by the bamboozling illusion. 13-14

15

They (the castes and orders) are never part of my Self which is of the form of pure consciousness. He who realizes thus by the [teachings of the] Upaniṣad-s shall be deemed as one beyond the castes and orders.

16

He whose conduct conforming to castes and orders has dropped out on visualizing his Self, goes beyond all [restrictions of] castes and orders and remains in the [bliss of his] Self.

17

The knowers of the truth of all the Veda-s declare that man to be beyond the castes and orders who is established in his Self, having reached the stage beyond his order (āśrama) and his caste (varṇa).

18

Therefore, Oh Nārada, even the castes and the orders of other people have all been superimposed on the Self by delusion [of the ordinary people]; this is not done by the knower of the Self.

19

There is no [Vedic] injunction, no prohibition, no rule of exclusion or inclusion to those who have realized Brahman; nor is there anything else [restricting their conduct], Oh Nārada.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

Rule regarding study of the Vedānta, etc. by the novice

Unattached to all beings and even to the [attainment of the] position of the god Brahmā and uprooting tenderness towards everything, even to his children, wealth, etc. [the novice], full of faith in the path leading to liberation and desiring to acquire the wisdom of the Upaniṣad-s, should approach a Guru who has realized Brahman, with a present in his hand.

20-1

Pleasing him by rendering personal service attentively for a long time, he shall always listen with great attention to [his exposition of] the truths of the Upaniṣad-s.

22

Free from ‘mine-ness’ and egotism, bereft of all attachment and always possessing tranquillity, etc. he visualizes the Ātman in his Self.

23

Dispassion always dawns [on one] only when one sees the defects of worldly life. To one discontented with the life in the world renunciation will come. There is no doubt about it.

24

One [truly] desiring liberation is called a Parama-hamsa. [Before reaching this state] the ascetic shall practise [in his life] the wisdom of the scripture which is evidently the one means of liberation, by listening to the exposition of the Upaniṣad-s, etc.

25

In order to attain the wisdom of the scripture [that results in self-realization] the sage called the Parama-hamsa should be equipped with all the means such as tranquillity, self-restraint, etc.

26

Deeply intent on the practice of the [wisdom of the] Upaniṣad-s; tranquil, self-restrained, conquering

98

the senses, fearless, free always from ‘mine-ness’, un-affected by the pairs (of opposites), without dependants or other belongings [the ascetic] shall be clad in a tattered loincloth and be with shaven head; or he may be unclad. Wise, proficient in the Vedānta, practising yoga, free from ‘mine-ness’ and egotism, equanimous towards friends, etc., friendly to all beings, alone, the man of wisdom and the selfcontrolled—[such an ascetic] crosses [the ocean of worldly misery] and not any other. 27-9

[As novice] he shall be devoted to the welfare of his elders and reside a year there [in the abode of the Guru]. He shall always be vigilant in the observance of the lesser vows (niyama-s1) as well as the great moral duties (yama-s)2.

30

Then at the end [of the year] having attained the excellent yoga of wisdom he shall move about the country in conformity with (lit. without antagonizing) right conduct.

31

Thereafter at the end of another year he shall give up [even] the excellent wisdom of the yoga and the triad of orders [of Kuṭicaka, etc.] and reach the state of the Paramahaṃsa.

32

And bidding farewell to the Guru-s (elders and preceptors) he shall indeed move about the country,

1, 2 According to Yājñavalkya (3. 312-13) the ten yama-s are: celibacy, kindness, forgiveness, giving gifts, truthfulness, non-deception, non-injuring, non-stealing, sweet disposition, and self-restraint; the ten niyama-s are: bathing, observing silence and fasts, sacrificing, study of the scripture, control of the genitals, serving elders, cleanliness, absence of anger, and carefulness.

giving up all attachment, subduing anger, being very

moderate in diet; and conquering the senses.

33

33

These two [people] do not fare well due to incompa-

tibility in their action: the householder not engaging

himself in productive work and the mendicant monk

busying himself with work.

34

34

On seeing a young handsome woman [he] becomes

inflamed with passion, and drinking liquor he becomes

intoxicated. Therefore he shall avoid from afar a

woman who is poison to the eye.

35

35

Conversing with women, as well as chatting with

and sending them on errands, their dance, music and

laughter and scandals about them—these [the ascetic]

shall avoid.

36

36

Neither [ceremonial] ablution nor muttering

prayers, nor worship (of the gods), nor offering oblation

to gods, nor means of accomplishing anything, nor fire-

ritual, etc. is to be practised by him here, Oh Nārada.

37

37

He has not [to do] the worshipping (of gods),

offering oblation to the manes, going on pilgrimage and

the observing of vows; he has neither righteous conduct

(dharma) nor unrighteous conduct (adharma); nor has

he any rule (of conduct) nor worldly action.

38

38

The yogin shall give up all [worldly] duties and

those conforming to popular practices in every way.

The wise ascetic, the yogin, his mind dwelling on the

highest truth, shall not destroy insects, worms, moths,

as well as trees. With your attention always turned in-

ward, pure, composed in mind, your mind filled with the

Self, discarding inward contact [with outward objects],

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may you, Oh Nārada, move freely in the world.

Journeying alone the ascetic shall not move about in

39-41

an anarchical country.

Praising none, bowing to no one, not uttering

svadhā (as he worships no manes), residing in unstable

[deserted houses] and hills the ascetic shall move about

42

without any restraint.

Thus [ends the sixth chapter of] the Upaniṣad.

SEVENTH UPADEŚA

Restrictions on the ascetic

Then asked about the restrictions to [the conduct

of] the ascetic, the god Brahmā said to them in front of

Nārada. [The ascetic] being dispassionate shall reside

in a fixed abode during the rains and move about for

eight months alone; he shall not [then] reside in one

place [continuously]. The mendicant monk shall not

stay in one place like a deer out of fright. He shall

not accept [any proposal to prolong his stay] which

militates against his departure. He shall not cross a

river [swimming] with his hands. Neither shall he

climb a tree [for fruits]. He shall not witness the

festival in honour of any god. He shall not subsist

on food from one place (alone). He shall not perform

external worship of gods. Discarding everything other

than the Self and subsisting on food secured as alms

from a number of houses as a bee (gathers honey),

becoming lean, not increasing fat [in the body], he shall

discard [the fattening] ghee like blood. [He shall

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consider] getting food in one house alone as [taking] meat, anointing himself with fragrant unguent as smearing with an impure thing, treacle as an outcaste, garment as a plate with leavings of another, oilbath as attachment to women, delighting with friends as urine, desire as beef, the place previously known to him as the hut of an outcaste, women as snakes, gold as deadly poison, an assembly hall as a cemetery, the capital city as dreadful hell (Kumbhīpāka), and food in one house as lumps of flesh of a corpse.

Discarding the sight of others as different from himself and also the ways of the world, leaving his native place, avoiding the places previously known to him, recollecting the bliss of the Self like the joy of regaining a forgotten object and forgetting the pride in his body and native place, admitting that his body is fit to be discarded like a corpse, he shall remain far away leaving the place of his children and close relatives as a thief does when released from prison. Subsisting on food secured without effort, devoting himself to meditation on Brahman and the Praṇava and freed of all (worldly) activities, having burnt passion, anger, greed, delusion, pride, envy, etc. and unaffected by the three guṇa-s (sattva, etc.), free of the six human infirmities [hunger, thirst, etc.], devoid of change due to the six states1 [of beings namely origin, existence, etc.], true in speech, pure,

1 According to Yāska's Nirukta the six states are: birth, existence, development, transformation, decline and death.

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not hating any one, [residing] one night in a village, five nights in a city, five nights in sacred spots, five nights in holy places on the banks of sacred rivers, without a fixed abode, with a steady mind, never uttering a falsehood, he may reside in mountain-caves; he shall journey alone, [but intent on the four months of rest during the rains, cāturmāsya] he may journey in the company of another towards a village, and as three or four towards a city.

[The rule is] that a mendicant monk shall journey alone. He shall not allow free play to the fourteen organs1 there. Enjoying the wealth of dispassion brought on by the full knowledge [of the transient nature of worldly life], [firmly] resolved in himself that there is no one other than his Self and there is no other different from him, seeing everywhere his own form and [thus] attaining liberation while living (jīvanmukti), and conscious of his fourfold Self [as Oṛ, etc.] till the end of the sway of prārabdha-karman2, [the ascetic] shall live meditating on his Self till his body falls.

1

Special rules for bath, etc. of Kuṭicaka and others

[These are] bathing at the three periods (sandhyā-s) of the day by the Kuṭicaka ascetic, twice by the

1 See fn. on p. 83.

2 Karman is of three kinds: Deeds done in the past whose consequences have begun to operate in the present life (prārabha); those done in the past whose consequences have to be expiated in some future life or the stored (saṃcita) karman; those produced in the present life which require to be expiated in the present life or in some future one (āgāmin). Radhakrishnan: Indian Philosophy, vol. II, p.365.

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103

2

Bahūdaka, once by the Hamsa, mental bath by the Paramahamsa, bath (i.e. smearing) of holy ashes by the Turyātīta, and air-bath by the Avadhūta.

3

The Kuṭīcaka should put on the perpendicular mark of sandal on the forehead (ūrdhvapundra), the Bahūdaka the three horizontal lines of holy ashes (tripundra), the Hamsa [either] the ūrdhvapundra or the tripundra, the Paramahamsa the smearing of holy ashes, the Turyātīta the mark of sandal (tilakapundra), the Avadhūta none at all [or] the Turyātīta and the Avadhūta [have none at all].

4

The Kuṭīcaka shall have a shave [in each of the six] seasons, the Bahūdaka a shave [at the end of] two seasons, the Paramahamsa no shave or if there is, a shave in six months (at the time of the solstice, ayana), and no shave to the Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta.

5

The Kuṭīcaka takes food in one house, the Bahūdaka collects alms from door to door as a bee does honey, the Hamsa and the Paramahamsa use the hand as vessel (i.e. begging bowl), the Turīyātīta is cow-mouthed [i.e. food is placed in his mouth] and the Avadhūta takes food at random [as does a python].

6

The Kuṭīcaka [wears] two garments, the Bahūdaka one garment, the Hamsa a piece (of cloth), the Paramahamsa is either unclad or wears a single loin-cloth, the Turyātīta and the Avadhūta are unclad (lit. they remain as at the time of birth). The Hamsa and the Paramahamsa wear a [deer-] skin, not the others.

The Kuṭīcaka and the Bahūdaka [practise] worship of gods, the Hamsa and the Paramahamsa worship

7

mentally, the Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta feel, ‘That I am’ [i.e. they identify the individual soul with the supreme spirit].

8

The Kuṭīcaka and the Bahūdaka have the right to recite mantra-s, the Haṃsa and the Paramahaṃsa to meditate (on them), the Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta have no right for either of the two (practices), [but] the Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta have the right to give instruction on the great Vedantic texts; so also the Paramahaṃsa. The Kuṭīcaka, the Bahūdaka and the Haṃsa have no right to give instruction to others.

9

The Kuṭīcaka and the Bahūdaka [are to meditate on] the Praṇava of men [the external Praṇava consisting of four mātrā-s], the Haṃsa and the Paramahaṃsa on the antarapraṇava (consisting of eight mātrā-s), the Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta on brahmapraṇava (consisting of sixteen mātrā-s).

9

The Kuṭīcaka and the Bahūdaka shall listen [to the exposition of the Vedānta], the Haṃsa and the Paramahaṃsa reflect on them, the Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta have profound and repeated meditation on them. The rule is that all these (ascetics) shall meditate on the Self.

10

Thus the aspirant after liberation always remembering the liberating mantra (Oṃ) which enables him to cross [the ocean of] worldly life, shall live ‘liberated while living’; the ascetic shall seek the means to attain final beatitude (kaivalya) according to the rules of the special order [of the ascetic in which he finds himself].

11

Thus [ends the seventh chapter of] the Upaniṣad.

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NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

EIGHTH UPADEŚA

EIGHTH UPADEŚA

Inquiry into the nature of the saviour (Tāraka)

Inquiry into the nature of the saviour (Tāraka)

Then Nārada asked the god Brahmā: ' Be pleased to expound the saviour mantra for ending the course of worldly life'. Agreeing to it the god Brahmā commenced to expound it. The Om (is) Brahman in the mode of viewing it as made up of many separate bodies (vyaṣṭi) and as made up of parts each of which is cosubstantially the same with the whole (samaṣṭi). Which is the vyaṣṭi? Which is the samaṣṭi?

The saṃhāra Praṇava1 and srṣṭi Praṇava are of three kinds: the inner Praṇava (Antahpraṇava), the outer Praṇava (Bāhyapraṇava) and the combined inner and outer Praṇava (Ubhayāmakapraṇava). The [one] BrahmaPraṇava is [sometimes] the inner Praṇava [consisting of eight mātrā-s] and the practical Praṇava (Vyāhārikapraṇava2). The outer Praṇava3 and the Praṇava of the sages (Ārṣapraṇava4).

1 The SaṃhāraPraṇava consists of three syllables (mātrā-s) presided over by the gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva who are responsible for the creation, sustenance and withdrawal of the universe.

2 The Vyāvahārikapraṇava consists of one mātrā presided over by Durgā, etc. and is the source of articulate speech.

3 The Bāhyapraṇava consists of four mātrā-s and is presided over by the Viśva.

4 The Ārṣapraṇava consists of seven mātrā-s: a, u, m, bindu, nāda, kalā and the kalātita and is resorted to by the sages. It is presided over by Pañcabrahman, the Vīrāj and the Antaryāmin.

106

combined inner and outer Pranava is the VIRĀTPRA-NAVA.1 The Samhārapranava, the Brahmapranava2 and the Ardhāmātrāpranava.3 [Thus the Brahma-pranava is of eight kinds: Samhāra-, Sṛṣṭi-, Antalı-, Bāhya-, Vyāvahārika-, Āṛṣa-, Virat- and Ardhamātrā-Pranava].

1

Description of the nature of antalhpranava, etc.

The Om is Brahman. Know that the Om consisting of one syllable is the Antalhpranava. It is divided into eight [mātrā-s]—the vowel a, the vowel u, the consonant m, the halfsyllable (ardhamātrā) the nāda, the bindu, the kalā and the śakti. Hence it is not four [as its chief mātrā-s have been said to be]. The vowel a consists of ten-thousand parts, the vowel u is of a thousand parts, the letter m of a hundred parts and the Ardhāmātrāpranava consists of an endless number of parts. The Virāṭpranava is possessed of attributes (Saguṇa) and the Samhārapranava is free of attributes (Nirguṇa), the Uṭpaṭṭipranava consists of both (Saguṇa and Nirguṇa). The Virāṭpranava is prolated (pluta). The Samhārapranava is pluta-pluta.

2

1 The Virāṭpranava consists of four mātrā-s and is presided over by Virāj, etc.

2 The Brahmapranava, though one, is considered to consist of 108 mātrā-s and is with and without attributes.

3

3 The Ardhāmātrāpranava cousists of four mātrā-s and is presided by the Oṭr, the Anujñātr, etc.

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Virāṭpranava consists of sixteen mātrā-s

The Virāṭpranava consists of sixteen mātrā-s and is beyond the thirty-six primary substances.1 How has it sixteen mātrā-s? They are enumerated: the vowel a is the first, the vowel u is the second, the letter m is the third; the ardhāmātra is the fourth, the bindu is the fifth, the nāda the sixth, the kalā the seventh, the kalātīta the eighth, śānti the ninth, the śāntyatīta the tenth, the unmanī the eleventh, the manonmanī the twelfth, the puri the thirteenth, the madhyamā the fourteenth, the paśyantī the fifteenth, and the parā the sixteenth. Again the Brahmapranava though only one attains the state of possessing or not possessing attributes (Saguṇa and Nirguṇa), having attained the state of possessing 1282 mātrā-s, due to the twofold character of Prakṛti and Puruṣa, when it has sixty-four mātrā-s each.

3

Inquiry into the parabrahman

This (Brahmapranava) is the prop of all, the supreme effulgence and the lord of all—thus [the sages with true vision] look upon it. It consists of all gods and the prop of all universe [the Lord] is in it.

4

1 The 36 primary substances are: 5 senses of knowledge, 5 senses of action, 5 vital airs, 5 objects of senses, mind, intellect, citta and the ahaṃkāra (4), 5 quintuplicated primary elements, 5 subtle primary elements, mahat and the avyakta.

2 The 9 Prajāpati-s, the 5 Pañcabrahman-s, Vasu, Rudra, Āditya, Antaryāmin and Kūṭastha (5), the Viśva-Viśva, etc. (15), the Virāṭ-Virāj, etc. (15), Oṭr, etc. (15). Thus 64 mātrā-s. As each of the Prakṛti and the Puruṣa has 64 mātrā-s, the Brahma-pranava has 128 mātrā-s.

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SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

[Upa. 8]

5

It consists of all the syllables; it is the Time; it is composed of all the scripture and is the auspicious one (Śiva). It is the most excellent of all the Veda-s and consists of [the essence] of all the Upanisad-s; this [Om, the Ātman] should be sought.

6

Past, present and future constitute the three periods—the indestructible syllable Om [pervades and transcends] these; know that it is the beginning [of everything] and the bestower of final beatitude.

7

The same (Om) which is the Ātman has been described by the word Brahman. Similarly experiencing it as the one [without a second], the ageless, the immortal, the Om and superimposing the Om along with the body [on Brahman] it becomes one with it. Know it for certain then that the triple-bodied 1 Ātman is the supreme Brahman.

8

One should deeply meditate on the supreme Brahman in the due order of Viśva, etc. [the Viśva, the Virāj, the Otr and the Turya].

The fourfold character of the viśva, etc.

This Ātman is fourfold—as experiencing the gross aspect (as the Viśva) when it is an individual in the gross aspect, as enjoying (the world) in the dreaming

1 The three bodies as explained in the comm. on Nrsimha-uttara-tāpinyupanisad (p. 225) are: the three guṇa-s Sattva, Rajas and Tamas; the states of consciousness waking, dreaming and deep sleep; the three sheaths gross, subtle and causal; the three Jīva-s Viśva, Taijasa and Prājña; the three Īśvara-s Virāj, Sūtrā and Bīja; the three Caitanya-s Otr, Anujñātṛ, and Anujñāikarasa.

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state in a subtle form when it has asumed the subtle form [of the Taijasa], as [enjoying bliss] in the state of identity [of the Prājña and the Īśvara], and as enjoying bliss [in the Turya state]. The Ātman is of four pāda-s 1 (quarters). The Viśva consisting of four stages [Viśva-Viśva, Viśva-Taijasa, Viśva-Prājña and Viśva-Turya] is the Puruṣa Vaiśvānara. It functions in the waking state. It perceives gross forms [of the phenomenal world] and experiences them. It possesses nineteen faces (the five organs of perception, the five organs of action, the five vital airs and the four inner senses of manas, buddhi, ahamkara and citta), has eight limbs [the sky as the head, the sun and the moon the two eyes, the directions the ears, the sea the lower part of the abdomen, the earth the feet], moves everywhere and is the master (Prabhu).

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This Viśva (jit) is the first pāda (of the Ātman).

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[The Viśva (the Viśvapāda of the Ātman) has four aspects in the four states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep and the Turya. In the waking state it functions through the senses and experiences the sight, etc. of objects. This is the waking within the waking state (jāgrat-jāgarana). Its experiencer in the individual aspect is the Viśva-Viśva (the Viśva subdivision of the Viśva-pāda of the Ātman); it is Virāṭ-Virāj in the collective aspect. It is Oṭr-oṭr in the individual and collective aspects. When the mind grasps objects without the

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1 The lords of the four pāda-s are Viśva, Virāj, Oṭr and Turya.

110

functioning of the senses it is dreaming within the waking state (jāgrat-svapna); its experiencer is Viśva-Taijasa (the Taijasa subdivision of the Viśva). When one is not conscious of anything but remains as if unconscious then it is sleep within the waking state (jāgrat-susupti); its experiencer is the Viśva-Prājña (the Prājña subdivision of the Viśva). When one is in equanimity due to the grace of the Guru or the fruition of one's good deeds (punya), as if one were in Samādhi, and behaves like an onlooker (sākṣin) it is the Turya in the waking state (jāgrat-turya). Its experiencer is the Visva-Turya (the Turya subdivison of the Viśva).

The second pāda [of the Ātman] the Taijasa, too, has four aspects [the Taijasa-Viśva, the Taijasa-Taijasa, the Taijasa-Prājña and the Taijasa-Turya] and is the lord of beings, the Hiranyagarbha. It functions as the master in the dreaming state. It perceives subtle forms [of the phenomenal world] and experiences them. Though possessing eight limbs it is one and not different, Oh Nārada (lit. the tormentor of foes). 12-13

[When in the dreaming state the Ātman experiences the sight, etc. of objects with dream-eyes, etc. without the active functioning of the mind then there is the waking within the dreaming state (svapna-jāgarana) and its experiencer is the Taijasa-Viśva (the Viśva subdivision of the Taijasa). Its experiencer is the Sūtra-Virāj in the collective aspect of the experiences of the svapna-jāgarana state; it is the Otr subdivision of the Anujñātṛ in the individual and collective aspects. When in the dreaming state the Ātman enjoys the objects by the

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mind alone without the functioning of the dream-eyes, etc. and the svapna-jāgarana state, it is the state of svapna-svapna (dreaming within the dreaming state). Its experiencer is the Taijasa-Taijasa (the Taijasa subdivision of the Taijasa pāda of the Ātman). When there is no experience of the svapna-jāgarana and the svapna-svapna states and there is no perception either by the dream-eyes, etc. or by the mind and there is a total forgetfulness of external objects and of oneself, that state of insensibility is the svapna-susupti (the state of deep sleep within the dreaming state). The Ātman who experiences this state is the Taijasa-Prājña (the Prājña subdivision of the Taijasa pāda of the Ātman). When due to the fruition of one's good deeds there are no perceptions of the three previous states of the dreaming state and the Ātman remains in the Turya state (the state of a witness) of generic and particular experiences of the external world and of the inner senses, that state is svapna-turya (the Turya subdivision of dreaming state) and the Ātman who experiences this is the Taijasa-Turya (the Turya subdivision of the Taijasa pāda of the fourfold Ātman].

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When one is asleep and neither hankers after desire nor sees any dream, that is clearly deep sleep. In this state functions the four-fold Prājña (as Prājña-Viśva, Prājña-Taijasa, Prājña-Prājña and Prājña-Turya), which is termed the third pāda of the Ātman. This Ātman is one, remains in the state of deep sleep, possesses the fullness of wisdom, enjoys happiness,

112

consists of everlasting bliss and remains in the heart of all beings; yet he enjoys bliss, has the mind for his face, is omnipresent and indestructible and is the Īśvara.

14-16

He is the lord of all, omniscient and subtle in conception. He permeates all beings; he is the prime source, the origin and the destruction of all.

17

All these three stages (of waking, dreaming and deep sleep) are a hindrance to the annihilation of all activities to beings [i.e. for self-realization]; hence they are akin to the state of deep sleep; it is really dream-stuff and has been said to be an illusion alone.

[In the state of deep sleep when the person remaining in either of the two states of waking or dreaming desires to move to the state of deep sleep and experiences the false notion of form, etc. of objects with the eyes, etc. then it is the state of waking within deep sleep (suṣupti-jāgrat); its experiencer in the individual aspect is the Viśva subdivision of the Prājña; in its collective aspect it is the Virāj subdivision of the Bijātman; in the combined individual and collective aspect it is the Anujñaikarasoṭr. In the state of deep sleep when the Ātman is free of the false notion of form, etc. of external objects and occupying a position in either of the waking or dreaming states experiences the false notions of form, etc. of objects, it is the state of dreaming with in deep sleep (svāpa-svapna). The experiencing Ātman then is the Prājña-Taijasa (the Taijasa subdivision of the Prājña). Again in deep sleep when the Ātman, though experiencing the false notion of form, etc. of

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objects with the false activities (of seeing, etc), which pervade one's consciousness (Caitanya), is yet not experiencing them as if stagnant, then it is the state of deep sleep within deep sleep. The experiencing Ātman then is the Prājña-Prājña (the Prājña subdivision immanent in the Prājña). Again in the state of deep sleep when the Ātman enjoys bliss, remaining as the witness of the experiences of the three previous stages in deep sleep, then it is the Turya state of deep sleep and the experiencing Ātman is the Prājña-Turya (the Turya subdivision of the Prājña)].

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18

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Fourfold character of the turya state

NĀRADAPARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

The fourth [pāda, the Turya] though fourfold [as Turya-Viśva, Turya-Taijasa, Turya-Prājña and Turya-Turya] is indeed the one essence of pure consciousness, for the reason that each one of these [Viśva, etc.] culminates in the Turya state. [The Turya state] forms the basis for the differentiation [of the Ātman] as Oṭṛ, Anujñātṛ and Anujñāna (i.e. Anujñanāikarasa). These three different states are [really] suṣupta [as they merely constitute a veil of the Turya-Turya which is supreme bliss] and consists of an inward dream-stuff. Knowing that [anything other than the Turya-Turya] is mere illusion, there remains the next moment the one essence of pure consciousness.

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19-20

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[As the Turya-Turya, being the one state of bliss, is incapable of subdivisions in the individual, collective, and partly individual and partly collective aspects, the Turya by itself is not of a fourfold nature, but only

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8

114

three (excluding the Turya-Turya). This threefold nature of the Turya may be explained thus: As there are distinctions in external objects, the knower of Brahman perceives them with his senses, but without distinction; this state is the turya-jāgarana; the Ātman who experiences this state individually is the Turya-Viśva, collectively it is the Turya-Virāj, partly individual partly collective it is the Avikalpa-Otr̥. When the knower of Brahman, with all sense-activities abated, perceives the oneness of the Self with Brahman by his mind alone it is the state of turya-svapna; the Ātman who experiences this is the Turya-Taijasa. When the person is in distinctionless deep meditation (Nirvikalpa-samādhi) and remains as if in a state of suspended animation, it is the state of turya-susupti and the experiencing Ātman is the Turya-Prājña.]

The turya-turya is the brahmapranava

Here is the distinct precept [as given in the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s] that the Turya-Turya is not at any time gross wisdom, [as it is not the Otrotṛ which is the same as Viśva-Viśva and the Virāj-Virāj, experiencing the jāgrat-jāgarana state], nor indeed the subtle sentience [as it is different from the Taijasa, Sūtra and Anujñātṛ of the svapna-jāgarana state], nor pure consciousness (Prajña), [as it is different from the Otr̥-Avikalpa, the same as the Viśva, the Virāj and the Turya of the form of consciousness disclosing the presence or absence of the jāgrat-jāgarana and other states], nor anywhere else, Oh sage.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

It is not nonconsciousness (Aprajña) [as it is far away from the Anujñātr-Otr, identical with the Taijasa-Viśva and the Sūtra-Virāj that are without outward perception in the svapna-jāgarana state], nor of both gross and subtle consciousness [as it is outside the scope of Otr-Anujñaikarasa, identified with the Viśva-Prājña and the Virāj-Bīja of the jāgrat-svapna state which is outside the province of true knoweldge], nor exclusive intelligence [as it is not within the scope of Anujñātr-Anujñaikarasa, identified with the Taijasa-Prājña and the Sūtra-Bīja of the form of exclusive intelligence functioning in the svapna-svapna state] and is never perceptible [as it is beyond the range of the Anujñātr-Anujñātr, identified with the Taijasa-Taijasa and the Sūtra-Sūtra deluded by the vision created by the mind in the svapna-svapna state].

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

It cannot be defined [as it is differnt from the Anujñaikarasa-Anujñātr, identified with the Prājña-Taijasa and the Bīja-Sūtra which can be known only through the ignorance of the Ātman in the svapna-svapna state], cannot be grasped [as it is different from the Anujñaikarasa-Otr, indentified with the Prājña-Viśva and the Bīja-Virāj, which can be grasped through the ignorance of the Ātman in the svapna-jāgarana state], is incapable of being expressed [as it is different from the Anujñātr-Avikalpa, identified with the Taijasa-Sūtra-Turīya, which manifests the presence or absence of the svapna-jāgarana and other states in the svapna-turya state], is beyond thought [as it is outside the Anujñaikarasa-Amujñaikarasa, identified with the

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Prājña-Prājña and the Bīja-Bīja in the svāpa-svāpa state, having only the recollection, 'I know not anything of that state'], is incapable of being given a name [as it is untouched by the perception of the Anujñaikarasa-Avikalpa, identified with the Prajñā-Bīja-Tūrya, that could be named as the witness of the presence or absence of the svapna-jāgarana and similar states in the svapna-turya state], is also the essence of the conviction in the one Ātman [as it is different from the perceptions of the Avikalpa-Otr, identified with the Turya-Viśva-Virāj, experiencing the turya-jāgarana state], is the annihilation of worldly life [as it cannot bear even the smell of the Avikalpa-Anujñātṛ, identified with the Turya-Taijasa-Sūtra which in some cases does not put an end to worldly life and which experiences the turya-svapna state], is quiescent [as it differs from the experience of the Avikalpa-Anujñaikarasa, identified with the Turya-Prājña-Bija experiencing the turya-svapna state], is the auspicious one [as it is the same as final beatitude (Kaivalya) in the disembodied state] and is the non-dual one [as it is of the form of the supreme non-dual state without a counter-part]—this [the knowers of Brahman] consider as the fourth (the turya-turya); it is the [same as the] Brahmapranava. This should be realized and not any other [called] turya. This [turya-turya] is the prop to the seekers after liberation as the sun [to the phenomenal world]; it is self-effulgent [as it is the source of lustre to the sun, etc.]; it is the ether of Brahman [as it is without a counter-part]; it always shines

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

as it is the transcendent Brahman. Thus [ends the eighth chapter of] the Upaniṣad.

NINTH UPADEŚA

Description of the real form of Brahman

Then Nārada inquired: ‘ How is the real form of Brahman?’ The god Brahmā answered [expounding] the real form of Brahman. Those who consider that He [the transcendent Brahman] is one and himself [the individual self] as another are beasts, though not beasts in their [true] nature. The wise (sage) having realized thus [that the individual Self and Brahman are identical] is released from the jaws of death [i.e. belief in duality results in death and re-birth; that in nonduality, in immortality]. There is no other path known to reach the goal (of final beatitude).

Time [is the root-cause of worldly life, say some philosophers], Nature [say the Mīmāṃsaka-s], chance [say the atheists], the (five) elements [say the Jaina-s who believe in the eternality of the world], Matter (Prakṛti) [say the S̄ākta-s], the Puruṣa (Hiraṇyagarbha) [say the yogin-s]—thus the speculation [on the cause of worldly life]. The combination of these is not [the cause] on account of the existence of the Self. The Self too is incapable [of being the cause] on account of its being subject to happiness and misery.1

They [the knowers of Brahman] resorting to the yoga of deep meditation perceived the power [māyā]

1 Verses 2-12 are the same in the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad, 1. 2-12.

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of the self-luminous Ātman, well hidden by its own attributes [of Sattva, etc.], who, alone, governs all these causes including Time and the individual Self. 3 [Māyā, under the guidance of the Saguṇa-Brahman (Īśvara), created the universe. Brahman itself does not perform any action as it is niskriya]. [They perceived] that [world resembling the wheel of a chariot] in one felly [māyā], covered with three [the gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, possessing the power of creation, sustenance and withdrawal of the world, due to the association with the three guṇa-s], possessing sixteen powers (kalā-s),1 having fifty spokes2 with twenty nails3 [in the form of the senses and their objects], having six groups of eight (aṣṭaka-s)4 with one letter (desire)

1 The 16 powers or kalā-s as described in the Praśnopaniṣad are: the vital breath, faith, the 5 elements, the organs of sense, the mind, food, virility (vīrya), penance, the mantra of the Veda-s, action, the worlds and name.

2 The 50 letters of the alphabet (beginning with a and ending with l) resembling spokes. Others say that the 50 spokes are particular forms of consciousness, or 50 petals of the six mystical circles of the body (saṭcakram) or 50 powers of the supreme Being as given in the Purāṇa-s.

3 The 5 organs of perception, their 5 objects (sound, touch, form, taste, and smell), the 5 organs of action, their 5 objects (speech, grasping, locomotion, evacuation and sexual enjoyment).

4 The six aṣṭaka-s are:

(1) The 8 primary ingredients—the skin, flesh, blood, fat, bone, marrow and semen.

(2) The 8 types of feeling—righteousness, knowledge, renunciation, mastery and their 4 opposites.

(3) The 8 virtues of the soul—compassion, forbearance, absence of envy, purity, goodness, harmlessness, liberality and contentment.

of many forms, with three kinds of paths,1 and having delusion which is the cause of the two [goodness and sin, based on love and hatred].

We think of that (river) the water of which flows in five ways2 (currents), which has five fierce mouths due to five causes,3 the waves of which are the five vital airs,4 whose source is [the ego] which controls the five senses of perception, which has five whirlpools,5 whose speed of flow consists of the five miseries,6 which has fifty divisions7 and which has five junctures.8

(4) The 8 yogic powers are: becoming subtle, great, light, heavy; attainment of anything, irresistible will, sovereignty and subjection.

(5) The 8 forms of nature—earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, discriminating faculty and self-consciousness.

(6) The 8 types of superhuman beings—Brahmā, Prajāpati, gods, gandharva-s, yakṣa demi-gods, rākṣasa-s, the manes and the goblins. [The 8 forms of Śiva are Bhava, Sarva, Īśāna, Paśupati, Ugra, Bhīma, Rudra and Mahādeva]

1 The paths are: The path of light, the path of smoke, the lower path of birth and death.

2 The five currents are the five organs of perception : eye, etc.

3 The five causes are the five subtle elements (tanmātrā-s).

4 The five vital airs are: Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna and Samāna.

5 The five whirlpools are the five primary elements, ether, etc. or the five senses which obstruct progressive movements of living beings, in which they get drowned.

6 The five miseries are: the stay in the womb, birth, disease, old age, and death; or ignorance (avidyā), egoism, attachment, aversion, and fear of death, etc.

7 The fifty divisions are the gods presiding over the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet beginning with a and ending with l.

8 The five junctures or stages are: darkness, delusion, great delusion, great darkness and blinding darkness which are well known in the Purāṇa-s or they are ignorance (avidyā, etc.) or they are the forms of the Ātman: Īśvara, Antaryāmin, Sūtra, Hiranyagarbha and Virāj.

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In this wheel of Brahman which is [the cause of] the life of all, [the substratum of] the dissolution of all and extensive [far vaster than the sky], the Hamsa1 [the Paramātman in the form of the individual Self] is revolved. Having considered himself as separate [as the individual Self, as the ether in the pot with reference to the all-pervading ether], and Brahman as the controlling Self [he is revolved in the wheel of worldly life]; and then becoming beloved by Him [on realizing the truth in ‘That Thou Art’, and ‘I am Brahman’] [the individual soul] attains immortality.

6

This [described before as different from the Saguṇa Brahman, or Īśvara] has indeed been sung [in the Upaniṣad-s] as the supreme Brahman; on Him [the essence of the Praṇava] the triad2 [is super-imposed] and it is the support [of the phenomenal world] which is in itself; it is imperishable. Knowers of the Veda realizing the difference3 [between the Self and Brahman to be false] and being completely devoted to Him are absorbed in the transcendent Brahman. 7

1 Though the Paramātman is without a counter-part it takes the form of the individual Self due to its own Avidyā and reaping the fruit of good and bad deeds is born again and again.

2 The three mātrā-s a, u and m of the Praṇava; the three qualities Sattva, Rajas and Tamas; the three aspects of god as Viśva-Viśva, Viraj-Vīraj and the Avikalpa-Anujñaikarasa; the three gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva.

3 If the word is taken as antara (in the text) it means ‘having realized Brahman as immanent in the universe.’

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

The Lord sustains the universe unified [by cause and effect], the perishable (phenomenal world) and the imperishable1 [māyā], the manifested [Nature] and the unmanifested [cause, māyā]. The individual Ātman is considered to be powerless due to its nature of being an experiencer [of pleasure and pain]; having realized the self-effulgent Being, he becomes free of all bonds.

8

The omniscient and the ignorant are the two uncreated beings; the (former) is the Lord2 and (the other) the powerless (anīśa); there is indeed the one uncreated [Prakṛti] which is intended for the things of experience and the experiencer. The [transcendent] Ātman is unlimited and omnipresent and is not an agent (of actions). When [one] realizes these three [Īśvara, the individual Self and Prakṛti] to be Brahman [one becomes Brahman].

9

Prakṛti (Pradhāna) is perishable;3 the Lord (Hara, who dispels ignorance) is immortal and imperishable. The one self-effulgent Being rules over the perishable (Prakṛti) and the individual Ātman. By repeated deep meditation on Him and concentration of the mind [in yoga, ‘I am He’] and by the realization of true

1 The imperishable is māyā as it remains even after the with-drawal of the phenomenal world.

2 Īśvara with māyā is the object (bimba) and the Self is the reflected image (pratibimba) and Prakṛti (matter) is the mirror.

3 Pradhāna which is Prakṛti (=māyā, the phenomenal world) is perishable in as much as it has no separate existence when true knowledge is gained.

reality, [there shall be] the disappearance of the universal illusion (māyā) at the end1 [of one's ignorance]. 10

Having realized the self-effulgent Lord [as identical with the Self] one is released from all bonds; with all miseries2 destroyed there will be an end to births and deaths. By deeply meditating on that [that he is no other than that reality] and when the difference between the body [and the Self has disappeared] [the sage] realizes the third3 supreme state [of the Parameśvara] and [therein] final beatitude [kevala], and [thus] has fulfilled himself.4

11

This (Brahman) should be realized [as oneself], it is everlasting and present as the individual Ātman; for there is nothing other than that that is worthy of realization. Having considered [with illusory vision] the experiencer (individual Ātman), the objective world (of experience) and the Īśvara (ruler) [as different], [know] that all this triad has been well declared [by the knowers of the Vedānta] to be Brahman [alone]. 12

The means of realizing this Brahman is the Brahma-vidyā (the teaching of the Upaniṣad-s) and penance

1 Ante (in the text) is also interpreted as 'at death'; in that case 'liberation while alive' (jīvanmukti) becomes impossible.

2 The miseries that are described in the fifth verse.

3 Salvation is said to be in three stages: (1) The world of the moon, (2) the Brahmaloka, the world of Saguṇa Brahman (Parameśvara) and (3) final beatitude (of Nirguṇa Brahman).

4 Lit. he has attained all desires (which existed prior to the dawn of true wisdom).

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

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(i.e. deep meditation); it is solely dependent on the Upaniṣad-s [for its realization].1

The fruit of knowing this Upaniṣad

To one who thus understands and meditates on one's Self alone, ‘What delusion is there, what sorrow, to one who beholds oneness?’ Hence [the separateness of] Virāj, the past, the present and the future [disappears and they] become of the form of the indestructible [Brahman].

14

Subtler than the atom, greater than the great, the Self is situated in the heart of this [every] creature. One sees this transcendent Lord who is free from passions by the grace of the creator and [thus] becomes freed from sorrow.

15

Having no hands and feet, [the Lord] moves fast and grasps [objects]; without eyes He sees; without ears He hears. He knows things to be known [without a mind, as he is omniscient]; no one knows Him. [Knowers of the Vedānta] speak of Him as the foremost transcendental Puruṣa [the supreme Consciousness].2

16

The wise ( yogin) does not feel sorrow, having realized the Ātman who is bodiless, transcendent and all pervading and who is present in [all] bodies which are impermanent.3

17

1 The last line is also rendered thus: Brahman is present inside (as the Self of all).

2 Verses 15 and 16 are the same in the Śvet. Up., 3. 19, 20.

3 Kath. Up., 2. 22.

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This transcendent [Being] the prop of all [as Viṣṇu], whose powers are beyond [the reach of] thought, who is to be realized by the esoteric meaning of all the Upaniṣad-s, and who is greater than the [indestructible] great, ought to be realized; at the end of everything [phenomenal] the emancipator [lit. the harbinger of death to avidyā] ought to be known.

18

The [all-]wise, the [most] ancient, the most exalted of sentient beings, the Lord of all, the one adored by all gods, and devoid of beginning, middle and end, the infinite, the indestructible and the prop [lit., the mountain] to (the gods) Śiva, Viṣṇu, and Brahmā [should be realized].

19

All this Universe made up of the five elements and remaining in the five, which becomes endless in variety by their quintuplication is pervaded by him [the Ātman as Antaryāmin, etc.]; but it is unencompassable by the parts [thus] quintuplicated; [for] it is the highest of the high and greater than the great, and eternal auspiciousness by the effulgence of its own form. [Thus the seeker after liberation should realize the Self as Brahman].

20

Realization of Brahman and the means therefor Neither one who has not refrained from bad conduct, nor one who is not peaceful, nor one without concentrated meditation, nor one whose mind is not quiescent can realize him (Brahman) by [mere] knowledge [of the scripture].1 [But the one gaining true

1 Kath. Up., 2. 24.

NĀRADA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

knowledge (Prajñāna)¹ by refraining from the evils described above realizes Brahman].

21

The Self [remaining in oneself] reveals itself neither to one [who considers it] as inwardly wise, nor as outwardly wise, nor as gross, nor as subtle, nor as knowledge, nor as ignorance, nor as knowledge of both (external and internal), nor as conceivable, nor as directly connected with worldly activities.² He who realizes it thus becomes liberated; he becomes liberated. Thus said the god Brahmā.

22

The state of the mendicant monk

The mendicant monk³ is a knower of the real nature of the Self. The mendicant monk journeys alone [as duality is foreign to him even in a crowd]. Like a deer timid through fear, he remains [without mixing with company]. He does not stand in the way [of others' progress]. Discarding everything other than his [bare] body, sustaining his life in the manner of a bee [by collecting food from different places] and deeply meditating on his Self and without seeing any difference in all things from his own Self, he becomes liberated. This mendicant monk abstaining from being the agent of all [worldly] actions, freed from [duties of]

1 Prajñāna may be interpreted both as inferior and true knowledge, referring to the worldly wise and the self-controlled wise man respectively.

2 cf. Mānd. Up., 7.

3 The mendicant monk (parivrāja) is one who realizes his true nature after getting rid of his ignorance.

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the preceptor, disciple, scripture, etc. and discarding all bonds of the phenomenal world, is untouched by delusions. How can the mendicant monk devoid of wealth be happy? He is rich [as he has the wealth of Brahman], beyond both knowledge and ignorance, beyond pleasure and pain, illumined by self-effulgence, celebrated among all (people), omniscient, the giver of all great powers, the lord of all—thus he considers himself. That is the highest place of Lord Viṣṇu where the yogin-s, having reached it never return (therefrom). The sun shines not there, nor does the moon. He never again returns [to worldly life], he never returns. That is final beatitude (Kaivalya). Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

23

End of ninth chapter [and the Upaniṣad].

8

NIRVĀNOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the forty-seventh among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Ṛgveda, enunciates in the style of aphorisms(sūtra-style) the progress of the Paramahaṃsa-parivrājaka, the self-realized mendicant monk. The external accoutrements of patched garment, emblematic staff, sacred thread, ctc. arc all merged in the state of self-realiza tion. He is a jīvanmukta, liberated while alive, observes no religious vows and worships no gods. He is ever in the enjoyment of bliss as he has realized the non-duality of the Self and Brahman.]

Characteristics of the chief avadhūta ascetic

Now we shall expound the Nirvānopaniṣad. [Now refers to the fourth stage, after being a Brahmacārin, Grhastha and Vānaprāstha. Nirvāṇa is the final beatitude in the disembodied state. This Upaniṣad expounds the nature and the means to attain that final emancipation.]

1

The Paramahaṃsa: I am He. [The Parama is the Paramātman and Haṃsa is the one that destroys the illusion of difference between the Self and Brahman.]

2

The mendicant monks who wear marks of renunciation inwardly. [They are the ascetics entitled to study this Upaniṣad. Renouncing the world these ascetics put on outward emblems of renunciation such as the

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staff, etc. at first and later discard them and move about the country.]

3

[They are] the protectors of the field in which I-ness (indicative of the separateness of the Self) is destroyed. [The embodied self is the field. The conviction that it is not separate by the removal of the feeling of ‘ I ’ results in the state ‘ I am all this ’.]

4

Their settled conclusion is partless like ether. [The all pervasiveness of Lord Viṣṇu presupposes distinction between Viṣṇu and the universe. When this duality disappears, only Viṣṇu remains partless like the ether. Such is the settled conclusion of these ascetics.]

5

[Their heart] is the river of immortal waves. [How can their heart realize part-less-ness of Brahman when they have the limitation of wandering monks? Like the celestial river Virajā, free from all impurity, their heart becomes one with pure consciousness by meditating on the partless Brahman.]

6

[Their heart] is imperishable and unconditioned. [When one's heart is ruled by passion, etc. it is tainted and perishable. As the Parivrājaka is not so, his heart identifies itself with the ideation-less Brahman and there is no scope for decay and impurity.]

7

[Their preceptor] is the [realized] sage free from doubts. [Who is competent to help them realize the partless Brahman? It is the Guru who had himself realized the truth by the annihilation of all doubts by the grace of his preceptor and meditation on the truths of the Vedānta. Hence he renders his disciples also free from doubts.]

8

NIRVĀṆOPANIṢAD

The divine being [they adore is] final beatitude. [Instructed by a competent sage, which god do they worship? It is Viṣṇu who shines as Kaivalya, that is the same as the unique state of Brahman.]

Their activity is free of family [and other] ties. [Is the realized soul too prone to act in accordance with family traditions? No. Though he goes about receiving alms, he is not conscious of any distinction between himself and the phenomenal world. An act which is known to be illusory is no real act at all.] 10

Their knowledge is not isolated. [Is their knowledge born of the study of scripture? No; it is not mere study, but the realization of its true import.] 11

[They study and/or teach] the higher scripture. [The High (ūrdhvaṃ) is Brahman; the 108 Upaniṣad-s constitute the scripture that reveal this Brahman. Hence the ascetics either themselves study or teach worthy disciples this higher wisdom. Thereby this lore is not lost to posterity.] 12

[They constitute] the propless monastic centre. [To propagate the Brahmavidyā a centre of study is not necessary as the journeying monks themselves absorbed in the propless Brahman constitute the piṭha (monastic centre).] 13

Their dedication [is to reveal Brahman] to a group [of worthy disciples]. [This dedication is a mere semblance to the Parivrājaka-s; as they have no duties to perform and is solely intended for the benefit of disciples.] 14

The instruction is the non-existence [of things other than Brahman]. [Their instruction consists in pointing out to the disciples that in Brahman without a counterpart there is no scope for any delusion that things other than the Self can or cannot exist. The Kaṭhopaniṣad says (II. 8): If it is taught by one who is identified with the Self, then there is no uncertainty (as to the real nature of the Self).]

15

This dedication brings joy and purification [to the disciples]. [The Parivrājaka-s have no dedicated work to do; even the semblance of it is a source of joy and purity to the disciples.]

16

Their sight is [like] seeing the twelve suns. [One becomes extremely purified at the sight of the twelve suns in the twelve months of the year or the twelve suns which are supposed to shine only at the withdrawal of the universe. The sight of the Parivrājaka-s who have realized Brahman is similarly sanctifying.]

17

Discrimination [of the real from the unreal] is [their] protection. [Who will guard these unmolesting Parivrājaka-s during their incessant journeys? They are protected by the very wisdom of self-realization. The Smṛti says: The gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu, etc. protect one whose doubts [on reality] have been set at rest by their knowledge of the Self due to the grace of the Guru and the teachings of the scripture.]

18

Their compassion alone is the sport. [What is their sport or pastime? The compassion they have to bring erring flock to emancipation constitutes their pastime.]

19

NIRVĀṆOPANIṢAD

131

[They wear] the garland of bliss. [Are these

ascetics honoured by presenting bouquets, etc? The

garland they care for consists of the bliss which they

enjoy and which adorns them.]

20

In the cave of one seat [is] their audience of happi-

ness, free from restrictions of yoga-postures. [What

constitutes the audience to honour them? They have

but one state [of bliss] whether they are seated or are

moving about. The ground for sports is the cave [of

the heart]. In this they leave off all restrictions of

postures pertaining to yoga. The bliss they enjoy is the

party for enjoyment, not of the people.]

21

[They] subsist on food not prepared [specially

for them]. [The ascetic goes to receive alms in the

afternoon only when the householders after their

dinner give as alms what remains. No food is specially

prepared for him.]

22

Their conduct is in consonance with the realiza-

tion of the oneness of the Self and Brahman (Hamsa).

[The word Hamsa denotes That (Brahman) and Thou

(Tvam) of the Mahāvākya ‘That Thou Art’. The

conduct of the Parivrājaka conforms to this great

truth.]

23

They demonstrate to disciples [by their conduct]

that Brahman is present in all beings. [What do they

teach the disciples? Brahman which is non-different from

the Self is present in all beings; they are being per-

ceived as separate due to Avidyā.]

24

True conviction is their patched garment. Non-

alignment is their loin-cloth. Reflection [on the truths

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of the Vedānta] is their [emblematic-] staff. The vision of Brahman [as non-different from the Self] is with their yoga-cloth. Sandals [consist in avoiding contact with worldly] wealth. Activity [for bare living] at the behest of others. Their bondage [is only in the desire to direct] the Kuṇḍalinī [into the Suṣumnā]. Liberated while alive, as they are freed from denial of the highest (Brahman). The oneness with Śiva is their sleep. True knowledge [by denying joy in Avidyā] or the Khecarīmudrā is their supreme bliss. [The patched garment, in case they wear it, indicates their true conviction that nothing other than Brahman exists. Similarly the loin-cloth indicates their non-alignment to things other than the Self. The yoga-cloth (yogapatta) is a cloth thrown over the back and knees by an ascetic during abstract meditation. The sandals, if worn, help in that the feet may not come into contact with the ground which represents worldly wealth. ‘At the desire of others alone is he clad or unclad or he bathes,’ says the śruti. By yogic practice the Kuṇḍalinī is made to enter the central path (Suṣumnā) so that the vital breath reaches the Brahmarandhra in the skull, which results in emancipation. The (so-called) sleep is the distinction-less ‘deep’ meditation (Nirvikalpa-samādhi). The external Khecarī-mudrā is accomplished when the tongue is turned back and enters the cavity leading to the skull, and the eyes are fixed between the eyebrows. This practice of the Haṭha-yogin gives immunity from disease, etc. Vide Haṭhayogapradīpikā, Adyar Library.]

NIRVĀNOPANIṢAD

The [bliss of] Brahman is free from the [three] qualities [Sattva, Rajas and Tamas].

[Brahman] is realized by discrimination [of the real from the unreal] (and) it is beyond the reach of the mind and speech. [There is no path other than that for liberation, says the Puruṣasūkta.]

The phenomenal world is impermanent as it is produced [from Brahman which alone is real]; it is similar to a world seen in a dream and an elephant in the sky (i.e. illusory); similarly the cluster of things such as the body is perceived by a network of a multitude of delusions and it is fancied to exist as a serpent in a rope [due to imperfect knowledge].

The [worship of] gods named Viṣṇu, Brahmā and a hundred others culminates [in Brahman].

The goad is the path. [Just as a goad is wielded by an elephant rider to reach a desired destination, so the path of light, etc. leads one to the gods Viṣṇu, etc.]

[The path] is not void, only conventional. [The path of light, etc. is non-different from Viṣṇu, etc. and hence it is not a void but permeated by its reality. The word path is used conventionally for every day purpose, just as heaven is fancied high above the earth and the path itself as one through the sky without any support.]

The strength of the supreme Lord [is the support to the aerial path]. [The path of Self-realization is a difficult one. 'Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, difficult to cross and hard to tread' Kathopanisad]

III. 14.

Hence the grace of the Lord gives the necessary support to traverse that path.

32

The yoga accomplished by truth is the monastery. [The monastery (Matha) is the resting place of ordinary monks. The Maṭha for the earnest seeker after liberation is the final beatitude (Kaivalya) in the disembodied state. This is attained by the yoga-realization that he is non-different from the one reality (Brahman). In other words this yoga is the path leading to the attributeless Brahman.]

33

The position (heaven) of gods does not constitute its real nature. [The heaven of gods is well known as impermanent. As the Gītā puts it (IX. 21) ‘ Having enjoyed the great pleasures of heaven, they enter the mortal world when the merit [of actions done before] is exhausted ’. Brahman is everlasting bliss.]

34

The prime source Brahman is Self-realization. [Everything emanates from Brahman alone. Hence it is the First. The knowledge that it is not a cause which results in an effect is itself Brahman. It is of the nature of the realization of the Self.]

35

[The ascetic] shall meditate on the absence of distinction, based on the Gāyatrī through the Ajapā Mantra. [The Ajapā consists of inhalation and exhalation and is of the conviction, ‘ I am the Hamsa (Brahman)’. The Gāyatrī, the protector of its reciter, is of the form of one-fourth of the two Avidyā-s. This Gāyatrī too is based on a distinction between the self and the Ātman. The ascetic’s meditation is on a denial of all such distinctions.]

36

NIRVĀṆOPANIṢAD

Restraint on the mind is the patched garment. [The active mind is rooted in Avidyā. Brahmavidyā (the lore of the Upaniṣad-s) restrains the activity of the mind in world]y interests. The mind rendered quiescent is itself the protection against cold, etc. which a patched garment provides.] 37

By yoga [there is] the vision [experience] of the nature of everlasting bliss. [What is the purpose of Brahmavidyā? yoga, which is the harbinger of the non-difference between the Self and Brahman and results in everlasting bliss, is accomplished by Brahmavidyā.] 38

Bliss is the alms that he enjoys. [When Self-realization has been achieved the food that the Pari-vrajaka enjoys consists of bliss, as any external food is absent in Nirvikalpa Samādhi.] 39

Residence even in the great cemetery is as in a pleasure garden. [The great cemetery is Banaras, as dying there is welcomed by many people. Even there Brahmanāla or some other very holy place is recommended as the final residence of the ascetic. Or the individual Self is the great cemetery, as the separate existence of the five great elements is reduced to ashes therein when wisdom dawns. Even in this great cemetery the residence is as in the garden of bliss (as distinction between the Self and Brahman disappears in the bliss of Self-realization.] 40

A solitary place is the monastery. [A solitary place is that where no one is present other than oneself. Such a solitary place is considered as the monastery where the Parivrājaka stays.] 41

136

Complete quiescence of the mind is the practice of Brahmavidyā. [The state of unmanī with total concentration of the mind is Nirvikapla-samādhi. When one awakens from such Samādhi all the truths of the Vedānta are present in him. This is his practice of the Brahmavidyā. In Haṭha Yoga the unmanī-avastāhā is reached by concentrating the mind on the Ātman directing the eyes at the tip of the nose, raising the eyebrows a little. During this state the body becomes like a log of wood; and in it all fulfilment is found. See Haṭhayogapradīpikā.]

42

His movement is to unmanī state. [At every step of his journey the Parivrājaka is heading to the state of unmanī which is Nirvikalpa-samādhi.]

43

His pure body is the propless seat of dignity. [An ordinary ascetic has his dignified seat (pīṭha) in a monastery. The Parivrājaka remaining in the unmanī state has a pure body as he has realized the oneness of truth in the form of Brahman. As Brahman is propless he is said to occupy the propless seat.]

44

His activity is the bliss of the waves of immortality. [In the ocean of bliss having waves of immortality he finds his activity i.e. he has in truth no worldly activity but the enjoyment of supreme bliss.]

45

The ether of consciousness is the great established conclusion. [The word pāndara in the text means consciousness (cit). The conviction that the ether of consciousness is his Self is the great siddhānta or established conclusion of the Vedāntic texts].

46

NIRVĀNOPANIṢAD

Instruction in the emancipating mantra results in cfficiency of bodily limbs and mind for possessing divine power in practising tranquillity, self-restraint, etc. and in the realization of the oneness of the (so-called) higher and lower Self. [The instruction given by the Guru to the worthy disciple is the mantra Om, etc. It is called the emancipator (Tāraka) as it removes all misconception in regard to the existence of things other than the Self. Tranquillity is the control over inner organs (the mind, etc.). Self-restraint is the control of external organs. Thus the instruction in the Tāraka-mantra finally results in the realization of the oneness of the individual Self and the Para-brahman.]

47 The presiding deity [of the Tārakā] is the everlasting bliss of non-duality. [As every mantra has a presiding deity, the Tāraka mantra too must have one. But in this case it is not one of the gods but the everlasting bliss of the realization of the non-duality of the Self and Brahman.]

48 The voluntary religious observance is the restraint of the inner senses. [Self-imposed religious observances such as fasting on certain days are practised for gaining worldly ends. The observance that the Parivrājaka practises consists of the restraint over the four inner senses: mind, ego, buddhi and citta.]

49 Renouncing (tyāga) is the giving up of fear, delusion, sorrow and anger. [Fear arises by the recognition of difference between the Self and Brahman. Delusion is in identifying the Self with the body. Sorrow consists

138

in the failure to secure a desired object. Anger arises from non-fulfilment of a desire. Their abandonment is renunciation (Samnyāsa) itself. cf. Bhagavadgītā, 18.2.]

50

[Renouncing results is] the enjoyment of bliss in the identity of the higher and lower (self).

51

Unrestrainedness is pure power. [The Īśvara is the controller of all beings. But as the distinction between the beings and Īśvara is due to māyā, the state of distinction-less-ness is the state of omnipresence. This state of being unrestrained is itself the pure power that illumines everything.]

52

When the reality of Brahman shines in the self there is the annihilation of the phenomenal world which is enveloped by the power of Śiva (māyā); similarly the burning of the existence or non-existence of the aggregate of the causal, subtle and gross bodies.

53

[What is achieved by the possession of pure power? The bliss experienced in the world (by Jīvanmukta-s) is Śiva. Names and forms that envelop reality is śakti, the power of māyā. The realization 'I am Brahman' cuts at the root of this māyā. Then occurs the burning out of the illusion of the triad of bodies. Pātra is the causal body, akṣa the subtle body and akṣika is the gross body]. He realizes Brahman as the prop of the ether. [What is the form of Brahman that the Parivrājaka realizes? Ether (ākāśa) and the other four primary elements, of the phenomenal world are the contents in

NIRVĀNOPANIṢAD

the receptacle (Brahman), when viewed from the state of ignorance. When the true realization comes that Brahman alone exists, he is the true knower of Brahman.]

54 The auspicious fourth state is the sacred thread; the tuft [too] consists of that.

[How can one be considered a Brāhmaṇa if one has no sacred thread and tuft, as the Parivrājaka has neither? The auspicious Turīya state of oneness with Brahman itself constitutes these external accouterments. The Brahmopaniṣad (14) says: ‘The knowers of Brahman declare that one whose tuft and sacred thread consist of true knowledge only has all the qualifications for the Brāhmaṇa.]’

55 [To him] the created world consists of consciousness; [so also] the immovable and the group of various beings.

[To the knower of Brahman the whole universe whether animate or inanimate, consists of consciousness alone. The Smṛti says: Do not pots and pans consist of earth as they are fashioned out of clay? So also the universe of the animate and the inanimate consists of consciousness as it has been created out of it.]

56 Uprooting [the effect of] karman is [mere] talk; in the cemetery (Self-Brahman), illusion, ‘mine-ness’ and ego have been burnt. [In the cemetery of the Self non-different from Brahman all dead bodies in the form of the effect of all actions born of Avidyā have been burnt; for all darkness of the triad of actions,

bodies, ego, ‘ mine-ness ’, etc. is dispelled at the rise of

the sun in the form of true knowledge.]

57

57

[The realized Parivrājaka] has his body intact.

[If the realized Parivrājaka has not the triad of

causal, subtle and gross bodies, viewed from the angle

of the highest truth, how does he live in the world?

The question of existence or non-existence of the body

does not arise in Self-realization. Hence he moves

about in the world as though he were disembodied.]

58

58

The secondary Avadhūta, his conduct and its results

Meditation on the true form which is beyond the

three attributes [of sattva, rajas and tamas]; [even this]

condition [of distinction ‘ I am Brahman ’] is a delusion

which shall be annihilated. The burning of the

attitude of passion, etc. [ought to be done]. The loin

cloth ought to be rough and tight [so that the vital

energy moves upward in perpetual celibacy]. Deer-

skin garment for long [and later to be unclad]. The

unstruck mantra (the Om in the fourth state turīya) is

practised by refraining from [worldly] action. Con-

ducting himself freely [as he has reached a stage which

is beyond good and bad, he realizes] his true nature

which is liberation.

59

59

The means to become the primary Avadhūta

His conduct [of serving a primary Avadhūta] as

a ship [to cross the ocean of worldly life and] reach

the transcendent Brahman; practising celibacy till

tranquillity is attained; getting instruction in the stage

of a celibate student, or learning [the truth] in the

stage of a dweller in the forest (Vānaprastha) he

[embraces] renunciation wherein all (true) knowledge

is established; at the end he becomes of the form of the

indivisible Brahman, the eternal, the annihilator of

all doubts.

60

The person entitled to study this Upaniṣad

This Nirvāṇopaniṣad (the secret doctrine leading to

final beatitude) shall not be imparted to one other

than a disciple or a son.

61

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

9

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the seventy-eighth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Atharvaveda expounds the greatness of motiveless action, the purifying nature of ritualistic action, the true meaning of the tuft and sacred thread as contrasted with the external ones, and the duties to be performed by those who are keen on liberation.]

Brahmavidyā is the highest (lore)

Now then Saunaka, the great householder (mahāśāla) approached in due form the revered sage Pippalāda of Aṅgiras family and asked him: [All created things] were surely present in the divine ether of the heart of Brahman (the Hiranyagarbha). How did the great lord create them out of himself in different species and who is this great and powerful lord? To him (Pippalāda) said: The most excellent lore of Brahman which I now expound, [Brahman of that alone] is true. It shines brilliantly in the city of the transcendent Brahman, being beyond rajas [and the other guṇa-s], partless, pure, indestructible and sustaining the power of the senses and the vital airs. He is the creator of the group of bees [in the form of individual souls] and restrains [their outward vision]. Remaining in the city of his Self, doing no worldly work (as an

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

ascetic) [he realizes oneness with Brahman]. [But] as a doer of action he reaps the fruit [of repeated births and deaths], like a farmer. The knower of the true nature of action does action [without attachment]. Knowing the secret of action, [that unattached action leads to liberation] [the ascetic] shall do action. Which person [possessing discrimination] will throw the net [of motivated action] on the one [Brahman, screening it]? [Motiveless action] will not drag him [to worldliness], will not drag him.

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

The means to realize the Tripād Brahman

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

The deities presiding over the vital breath are four [Viśva, Virāj, Oṭr and Turya]. All the nāḍī-s [where the vital breath and the deities remain] are also four]. [The former two active in Ramā and Aramā get fatigued in the waking and dreaming states and rest during] deep sleep as a hawk flying in the sky. Just as a hawk flying in the sky goes (when fatigued) into its abode, the nest, so the speaker [the Self] after remaining in this [waking] and the other [dreaming state, rests in deep sleep]. This Self [while resting] in the golden transcendent sheath [of the ether of the heart] and being immortal is active in the three nāḍī-s [Ramā, etc.]. [The first pāda of this being avidyā] it remains in the state of Brahman in the three quarters. The remaining pāda [the jīva] attains [its natural state] and then follows [i.e. attains liberation]. Hence the speaker of elsewhere [the jīva in the avidyā] and the other [the Tripāda Brahman

144

are fancied to be different and thereby the jīva wanders in bondage].

144

[Although] the jīva remains in the golden transcendent sheath [of the ether of the heart, yet it experiences the states of waking, etc. due to avidyāl. Just as Devadatta [i.e. any person] awakened from sleep when prodded with a stick does not go back [to sleep immediately, so also the jīva getting wisdom from the Vedānta does not have the delusion of the three states of waking, etc.]; and it is not tainted by good or bad acts [such as the optional] charitable deeds.

144

It is similar to a small boy who experiences joy without specific desires [in whatever thing that comes to him]. Just as the luminous being (jīva), [after getting fatigued in the waking and dreaming states] welcomes the joy of deep sleep, so it experiences bliss by realizing [its oneness with] the supreme effulgence (Brahman), which gives all round lustre to luminaries [such as the sun]. Thus the heart (cittā) merges itself in the highest (Brahman) and thus realizing the Paramātman enjoys bliss. The pure colour (i.e. the state of non-distinction) arises from the (grace of) Īśvara.

144

Again by the same path of turya-svapna [dreaming in the fourth state] he gives rest to the Self. Just as a leech moves from one position to another [the jīva moves from the waking state of the turya to the dreaming state of the turya]; this desire [to move from one state to another in the turya] arises due to [the grace of ] Īśvara. By this the jīva enjoys itself [by means of the distinctionful and

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

distinctionless deep meditation, Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa Samādhi].

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

The juncture of the individual and supreme consciousness is rejected as there is a tinge of distinction involved in it. [When distinctionlessness alone exists] it is the highest (i.e. Brahman) and there is nothing other than that. [When Self-realization does not result by the study, etc. of the scripture] then one shall resort to the eight-limbed yoga;1 this like a flower of a plantain tree [ever rubbing against the stem and attaining the state of a blossom] succeeds [in attaining perfection]. That which remains as the source of Indra [Īśvara] is ever awake there, as the source of the Veda [as Parameśvara]. Beyond [the bonds of] good and bad, he [the ascetic] is not tainted by [accidental] good or bad actions. This effulgent Being is the [bestower of] favour on other gods [like the god Brahmā], the ‘internal check’ of the form of unattached pure consciousness, the Puruṣa, the Haṃsa of the Praṇava, the supreme Brahman. It is not the chief prāṇa (vital breath). The Praṇava is the Self (jīva). [This state of the jīva] remains as the first effulgent being. How can he who knows thus [the true nature of the Praṇava] set forth difference [between the jīva and Brahman]? He realizes that the jīva is Brahman [alone].

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

1 The eight stages of yoga are: self-control (yama), observance of secondary vows, postures, breath-control, restraining the organs, steady abstraction of the mind, meditation, and perfect absorption in meditation (Samādhi).

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SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Characteristics of internal and external tuft, etc.

Then to this realized person reality (i.e. true wisdom) constitutes the inner tuft and sacred thread. To the Brāhmaṇa desirous of liberation is [allowed] the state of the inward tuft and sacred thread. The wearing of externally visible tuft and sacred thread [is necessary] for the householders engaged in rituals. The characteristic of the inward sacred thread is not clearly visible like external thread; it is the union with reality inwardly.

3

3

The true nature of the distinction-less Brahman

It [avidyā] is not existent [as the cause is not visible], nor non-existent [as the effect is visible as the phenomenal world], nor both [existent and non-existent part, as the two are incompatible]. It is not different [from Brahman as it has no independent existence], nor non-different [as it is not a substance], nor of both [different and non-different, as it is an impossibility]. It is not possessed of parts [as the parts are absent in the cause], nor partless [as the effect is seen possessed of parts], nor a combination of both. [Thus avidyā is indescribable]. It is to be discarded by the realization of oneness of Brahman and the Self; for it is the cause of illusion. Thus [it is to be understood].

4

4

Good action leads to purity of mind

There is nothing other than Brahman of the five pāda-s (i.e. the turyātīta). There are four places for realizing the inward Jīva-Brahman who consists of

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

four pāda-s inside the body. [The vyaṣṭī's1 four pāda-s are: Viśva, Taijasa, Prājña and Turīya. The samaṣṭī's four pāda-s are: Virāj, Sūtra, Bīja and Turīya]. In the eyes, throat, heart and head there are [the four] states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep and turya. [Moreover the Ātman is to be conceived as] the Āhavanīya, Gārhapatya, Dakṣiṇa and Sabhya fires.2 In the waking state [the presiding deity is] the god Brahmā, in dreaming state Viṣṇu, in deep sleep Rudra and the fourth state is the indestructible one, consisting of consciousness. Hence the four states (waking, etc.) are to be considered as a covering by four fingers and just as the sacred thread is of ninety-six four-finger breadths [in extent] so the inward brahmasūtra consists of ninety-six categories (tattva-s). As the sacred thread consists of three threads so the inward brahmasūtra is brought to the state of thirty two categories in each of the three guṇa-s.

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

This state of the triad purified by wisdom is to be known separately as the three gods (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva). This is known as the nine3

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

1Vyaṣṭi is an aggregate or whole viewed as made up of many separate bodies and samaṣṭi is an aggregate which is made up of parts each of which is cosubstantially the same with the whole.

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

2The Āhavanīya is a consecrated fire taken from the house-holder's perpetual fire, the eastern one of the three fires burning at a sacrifice; the Gārhapatya is the sacred fire perpetually maintained by a householder; the Dakṣiṇa is the sacred fire placed southwards in a sacrifice and the Sabhya is one of the five sacred fires believed to be present in the body.

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

3The nine Brahman-s are the five Pañcapādabrahmans and the four Caṭuṣpādabrahmans.

148

Brahman-s possessed of nine attributes. These counted as nine, being rendered into three each having three attributes, are to be identified with the digits of the sun, moon and fire. The first and last (of the triad) are to be turned thrice in the middle and are to be considered as Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara. The first and last are to be joined and the knot of non-duality is to be made in the knot of consciousness. Then this which extends from the navel to the Brahmarandhra and connected with the twenty-seven tattva-s separately and possessing the three guṇa-s is to be considered as one though they are seen with the characteristics of the Trinity. This (inward) brahmasūtra is to be considered as hanging from the left shoulder reaching up to the right hip. The meeting together of the first and last is to be understood as having one foundation. Things made of clay are considered real (but) it is verbosity [born of ignorance]; the transformation is a [mere] name; that it is clay alone is the truth. [As there is no pot without clay, so the primary cause, Brahman alone is real]. With the two letters of the Haṃsa [i.e. I am the Haṃsa, Brahman] he should be convinced of the internal tuft and sacred thread. The state of a Brāhmaṇa is the state deserving meditation on Brahman. The state of being a sage has the absence of visible tuft and sacred thread. Thus the house-holder has visible tuft for performing ritual and the sacred thread for acquiring wisdom. To the state of the semblance of a Brāhmaṇa there is the

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

tuft consisting of a mass of hair and sacred thread made of cotton threads. [The brahmasūtra is one alone]; it is four (as Viśva, Virāj, etc.) by quadruplication. The twenty four tattva-s constitute the threads. The nine tattva-s constitute the one transcendent Brahman, [but people] provide many paths [such as Sāṁkhya, Yoga, etc.] due to difference in approach. Liberation is one alone to all, whether they are Brahmā and the other gods, divine sages or human beings. Brahman is one alone. The state of the Brāhmaṇa is one alone. Castes, stages of life and special duties are divergent. The tuft is the same to the castes and stages of life. To the ascetic seeking salvation the basis of tuft and sacred thread, [the wise] declare, is the Praṇava alone. The Haṃsa is the tuft, the Praṇava is the sacred thread and the Nāda is the connecting link. This is the dharma and no other is the dharma. How is that? The Praṇava, Haṃsa and Nāda constitute the three fold thread and this remains in consciousness in one's heart. Know this to be the three fold Brahman. [The ascetic] shall discard the worldly tuft and sacred thread.

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

5

Duties of one seeking liberation

Having had a shave removing the tuft, a wise person shall discard the external sacred thread. He shall have as the sacred thread the transcendent Brahman which is indestructible

Duties of one seeking liberation

6

Duties of one seeking liberation

For avoiding rebirth he shall ever long for liberation. The sūtra is so called as it indicates [liberation]; the sūtra indeed is the highest position.

Duties of one seeking liberation

7

8

He knows the sūtra who has become a seeker after liberation, a mendicant monk. He is the knower of the Veda, having unimpeachable conduct. He is the learned Brāhmaṇa who sanctifies by his presence the persons who sit in the same row to dine with him.

9

The yogin, who is the knower of yoga, a Brāhmaṇa and an ascetic shall wear that sūtra by which all this [phenomenal world] is joined together [as a unity] just as gems are strung together in a thread.

10

A learned Brāhmaṇa who is deeply intent on yoga and spiritual wisdom shall discard the external sacred thread. He who wears the sūtra consisting of devotion to Brahman attains salvation. There is neither impurity nor the state of eating the leavings of others when one possesses that sūtra.

11

Those who, having the sacred thread of spiritual wisdom, possess the sūtra inwardly are the knowers of the sūtra in the world and they are the [true] wearers of the sacred thread.

12

Their tuft and sacred thread consist of spiritual wisdom (Jñāna), they are established in Jñāna; to them Jñāna alone is supreme and this Jñāna is declared to be sanctifying.

13

The wise one whose tuft consists of Jñāna and no other, like the flame emanating from fire, is said to possess the [true] tuft; not the others who wear [a mass of] hair.

Those who are immersed in activities, whether Vedic (ritual) or worldly actions live as Brāhmaṇa-s

PARABRAHMOPANIṢAD

in name only, filling their bellies. They come to grief and have rebirth again and again.

14

The sacred thread hanging from the left shoulder to the right hip is contrariwise [to liberation]. The wise shall wear [i.e. possess] true knowledge which is rooted in consciousness, having threads in the form of true principles (tattva-s ) and extending from the navel to the tip of the aperture in the crown of the head (Brahmaraṇdhra).

15

This sacred thread which forms part of ritual and made of (cotton) threads is to be worn by them (i.e. the ignorant). He whose tuft consists of wisdom as also his sacred thread has all the (true) characteristics of a Brāhmaṇa; others have none at all.

16

It is this sacred thread which is the supreme panacea. The wise one who wears this sacred thread attains liberation.

17

That learned Brāhmaṇa is entitled to renunciation who has the sacred thread both within and without; but the one having one (i.e. the external one) alone is never entitled to renunciation.

18

Hence by all effort the ascetic shall long for liberation. Discarding the external thread he shall wear the internal sūtra within himself.

19

Disregarding the external phenomenal world, tuft and sacred thread he shall hold on to the tuft and sacred thread in the form of the sacred syllable (Praṇava) and Brahman (Haṃsa) and thus equip himself for liberation. Thus declared the revered sage Śaunaka. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

20

10

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the sixty-sixth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Atharvaveda enjoins the qualifications for embracing renunciation of the highest and secondary kind, the characteristics of the Praṇava that is Brahman, establishes the Brāhmanhood of the ascetics who do not wear the sacred thread and tuft and winds up by detailing the noble traits of the Paramahaṃsa mendicant monk.]

Investigation of the nature of a mendicant monk

Now then the god Brahmā approaching his father Ādinārāyaṇa, the supreme Being and paying obeisance asked of him: Lord, from your mouth all things pertaining to the nature of castes and orders have been heard, known and grasped. Now I wish to know the characteristics of the Paramahaṃsa mendicant monk. Who is entitled to renunciation? What are the characteristics of a mendicant monk? Who is a Paramahaṃsa monk? How is his mendicancy? [Pray] expound to me all this.

The Lord Ādinārāyaṇa then replied:

Definition of the person entitled (to renunciation)

[The person entitled to renunciation] is the wise one who has undergone the difficult course of learning the sacred lores from a good preceptor; has understood

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

all the exertion necessary for happiness in this world and the next; has understood the need to discard, as vomit, the three (primary) desires,1 the three primary inclinations [regard for the body, etc.], ‘mine-ness’ and egotism; has completed studentship in celibacy which is the means to reach the path of liberation and has become a house-holder. From the stage of a house-holder he shall become a forest-dweller (Vānaprastha) and then renounce (worldly life). Or alternately he may renounce from the stage of a celibate student or from the stage of a householder or a forest-dweller. Or, whether or not he is an observer of vows, has completed his course of study, has discontinued his fire-ritual or does not maintain the sacred fire, he shall renounce that very day on which he has become disillusioned with the world. Thus discontented with all worldly affairs, whether as a celibate student, householder or forest-dweller, he shall get the approval of his father, mother, wife, close kinsmen and in the absence of these, of a disciple or fellowlodger [and then renounce the world].

Some [law-givers] prescribe the sacrifice called Prājāptya [of which the god Brahmā is the presiding deity, prior to a twice-born embracing renunciation]. But [though thus prescribed] he may not do so. He shall only perform the sacrifice Āgneyī [whose presiding deity is Agni, the god of fire]. For Agni is the vital

1 ‘The primary desires (eṣaṇa-s) are for wife, wealth, and progeny. cf. Brh. Up., 4. 4. 22.

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breath [prāṇa]. Thereby he does [i.e. strengthens] the vital breath. [Then] he shall perform the Traidhā-tavīya sacrifice [whose presiding deity is the god Indra]. By this [sacrifice] the three vital fluids, namely the sattva (semen), rajas (blood) and tamas (the dark one) [become strong like fire]. [Having performed the sacrifice in the prescribed manner he shall smell the holy fire, reciting the following mantra]:

' Oh Fire, this (vital breath) is your source; as you are born at the proper time (of the year) you put on effulgence. Knowing him [the Ātman, your ultimate source] may you merge [with the prāṇa, your source]. May you increase our wealth [of transcendent knowledge].' So reciting the mantra he shall smell the fire. This is the source of fire, the vital air. May you go to the prāṇa, may you go to your source. Svāhā.' Thus alone the mantra says.

Having procured the holy fire from the house of a well-versed Vedic scholar he shall smell the holy fire in the manner described previously. If he is afflicted [by illness] or does not get the holy fire, he shall offer the oblation in the waters. For water is [presided over by] all the gods. Reciting, 'I offer the oblation to all gods, svāhā', he shall tender the oblation and picking up [a small portion of] the offered oblation which is mixed with ghee, he shall eat this, as it is beneficial.

[In the case of the Kṣatriya-s and others not entitled to renunciation] the rule is that they may seek liberation] in the path of the brave [by courting death in battlefield] or fast [unto death as a discipline], or enter into

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water [to rise no more] or enter fire or undertake the great journey ·[in which they collapse by exhaustion]. If he were afflicted [by illness] he may renounce mentally or by speech [reciting mantra-s]. This is the path [of their renunciation].

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Renunciation by those free from illness

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

A healthy person [if desiring to renounce the world] in the due order [of the stages in life] shall perform the śrāddha ceremony unto himself and the fire-ritual for ridding himself of passions (Virajāhoma). He shall infuse the ritual fire to be symbolically present in his person. His proficiency in the affairs of the world and Vedic learning as well as the fourteen means of action under his control (karana-s) shall be transferred to his son [symbolically]. In the absence [of a son] it shall be done to a disciple; in his absence it shall be transferred into his Ātman. He shall then meditate on Brahman as identical with his Self, pronouncing the words ‘ Brahman Thou [Art],’ ‘The sacrifice thou [art]’. The Veda-mother, the prop of Brahmanhood and embodiment of the essence of all learning shall be consigned into the waters reciting the three vyāhrti-s (Oṃ bhūḥ, etc.) and the three vyāḥrti-s into the letters a, u and m (of the Praṇava). He shall then ceremoniously sip water keeping his attention on that (Praṇava) ; pull out the tuft muttering the Praṇava; snap the sacred thread; discard the garment too on the ground or in the waters; become unclad reciting the mantra ‘ Oṃ bhūḥ svāhā, Oṃ bhuvah svāhā and Oṃ suvalḥ svāhā’; meditate on his own

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form; again recite mentally or in speech the Praṇava and the vyāhṛti-s separately and utter three times three the farewell words, ‘I have renounced, I have renounced, I have renounced’ in gentle, middling and sharp tones; deeply engage in meditation on the Praṇava and raise his hand saying ‘Freedom from fear to all from me, svāhā.’ He shall then start for the north thinking over the meaning of great scriptural texts such as ‘The Brahman I Am’, ‘That Thou Art’, and proceed in the unclad state. This is renunciation.

If one is not entitled to this (way of renunciation), he shall recite first the prayer of the householder and then the texts ‘ Freedom from fear to all beings, every thing emanates from me, you are my friend and you guard me. You are the [source of] strength. You are the Vajra (wapon) of Indra which killed [the demon] Vṛtra. Be a blessing to me. Prevent that which is a sin.’ Reciting this mantra preceded by the Praṇava he shall take up the emblematic bamboo staff and water pot and wear the waist band, loincloth and a discoloured (i.e. ochre coloured) garment; then approach a good Guru, bow to him and receive from the mouth of the Guru the great scriptural text ‘ That Thou Art’, preceded by the Praṇava. Then he shall wear a tattered garment or a barkgarment or a deer-skin; avoid a landing place at a river side [for bathing, to prevent mixing with crowds], moving up [a staircase], and getting alms from a single house. He shall bathe during the three prescribed periods, listen to an exposition of the Vedānta and practise the Praṇava; he

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

well established in the path of [realizing] Brahman; merge his favourite desire in the Ātman; become free of ‘mine-ness’ and get established in the Self; give up passion, anger, greed, delusion, intoxication, rivalry, false pride, pride, egotism, intolerance, arrogance, desires, hatred, gloating, impetuosity, ‘mine-ness’, etc.; possessed of wisdom and dispassion he shall turn away from wealth and women and possessing a pure mind he shall ponder over the truths of all the Upaniṣad-s; guard bestowing particular care his celibacy, non-possession, un-injuring attitude and truthfulness; conquer his senses and be free from affection externally and internally; secure alms for sustaining the body, like a harmless cow, from members of the four castes excepting those who are accursed and fallen; such a person is considered worthy of realizing Brahman. He shall view with equanimity at gain or loss [of alms] at all times; eat food [secured as alms from many places] like a bee, using the hand as a vessel; not increase fat [but] become lean; feel that he is Brahman; approach a village for [serving the preceptor]. He shall, steady in conduct, go about alone for eight months and shall not journey as two [i.e. with a companion].

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

When he has attained sufficient good sense [i.e. dispassion] he may become a Kuṭīcaka or a Bahūdaka or a Hamsa or a Paramahaṃsa ascetic. Reciting the respective mantra-s he shall discard in the waters his waistband, loincloth, staff and water vessel and move about unclad. He shall stay one night in a village,

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three nights in a holy place, five nights in a town and seven nights in a place of pilgrimage (Kṣetra). He shall be without a [fixed] abode, be steady in mind, not resort to a fire-place [for warmth], be free from emotions, discard both rituals and non-rituals, receive alms for sustaining life alone with equanimity at its gain or loss in the manner of a cow, has his water vessel [only] in [the form of] a watering place and his residence in a solitary place free from trouble. He shall not think of gain or loss but be interested in rooting out both good and bad actions; sleep always on the floor; discard shaving, give up the restriction of observing cāturmāsya,1 interest himself deeply in pure meditation, be averse to wealth, women and city (life), behave like an insane person although perfectly sane, possess no distinguishing emblems or distinctive conduct, have no dreams as day and night are the same to him and be attentive to the path of deep meditation on Brahman in the form of Praṇava in investigating on the nature of the Self. He who thus gives up his body by resorting to renunciation is the Paramahaṃsa mendicant monk.

3

Investigation of the nature of Brahma-praṇava The god Brahmā asked [Nārāyaṇa]: Lord, what is Brahma-praṇava? [The Lord] Nārāyaṇa replied: The Brahma-praṇava consists of sixteen parts and it is cognized in quadruples in the four states [waking, etc.].

1

1 Religious observances during the four months of the rainy season.

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

In the waking state there are the four states, waking within waking, etc. [jāgrat-jāgrat]; in the dreaming state the four states are waking within dreaming, etc. [svapna-jāgrat]; in deep sleep there are the four states waking within deep sleep, etc. (suṣupti-jāgrat); in the fourth state (turīya) there are the four states waking within the Turīya, etc. (turīya-jāgrat). In the waking state of distributive pervasion (vyaṣṭi) there is quadruplicity of viśva, namely, viśva-viśva, viśva-taijasa, viśva-prājña and viśva-turīya. In the dreaming state of distributive pervasion there is quadruplicity of Taijasa, namely taijasa-viśva, taijasa-taijasa, taijasa-prājña and taijasa-turīya. In the state of deep sleep of Prājña there is quadruplicity, namely prājña-viśva, prājña-taijasa,prājña-prājña and prājña-turīya. In the fourth state (turīya) there is the quadruplicity of the turīya, namely turīya-viśva, turīya-taijasa, turīya-prājña [and turīya-turīya]. These in due order make up the sixteen parts. In the letter a [of the Om=Aum] there is jāgrat-viśva, in the letter u jāgrat-taijasa, in the letter m jāgrat-prājña, in the ardhamātrā [of Om] jāgrat-turīya, in the bindu svapna-viśva, in the nāda svapna-taijasa, in the kalā svapna-prājña, in the kalātīta svapna-turīya, in the śānti suṣupta-viśva, in the śāntyatīta suṣupta-taijasa, in unmanī suṣupta-prājña, in manon-manī suṣupta-turīya, in paśyantī turīya-prājña, in parā turya-turīya. The four parts of jāgrat pertain to the letter a, the four parts of Svapna pertain to the letter u, the four parts of Suṣupti pertain to the letter m, the four parts of turīya pertain to the ardhamātrā. This is the Brahmapraṇava. This is to be worshipped by the Paramahaṃsa,

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Turyātīta and Avadhūta ascetics. By this Brahman is illumined. [This is] liberation in the disembodied state (Videhamukti).

4

The status of a Brāhmaṇa to one devoid of the sacred thread

Lord, how is one without the sacred thread and tuft a person who has discarded all [worldly] activities? How is he solely devoted to absorption in Brahman? How is he a Brāhmaṇa? Thus the god Brahmā asked [Nārāyaṇa]. Lord Viṣṇu then replied: Oh child, he who has knowledge of the non-dual Ātman has the real sacred thread [i.e. that knowledge itself is the sacred thread]. His deep absorption in meditation is itself the tuft. This activity is [itself] the possession of the sanctifying ring of holy grass (pavitra). He does all actions, he is the Brāhmaṇa, he is deeply absorbed in Brahman, he is the illumined being (deva), he is the sage, he practises penance, he is the noblest, he is superior to all; know that he is I. In this world very rare is the mendicant monk who is a Paramahaṃsa. If there is one he is ever pure, he alone is the Puruṣa [glorified] in the Veda. He who is a great man (mahā-puruṣa) has his mind resting in me. I too remain in him alone. He is the ever-satisfied. He is free from the [effects of] cold and heat, happiness and misery, honour and dishonour. He puts up with insult and anger. He is devoid of the six human infirmities [hunger and thirst, sorrow and delusion, old age and death], and is free from the six properties [of the body, birth, existence, change, growth, decay and death].

PARAMAHAMSA-PARIVRĀJAKOPANIṢAD

He is without the intervention of [i.e. he is not circum-scribed by] the state of elderliness or otherwise. Excepting the Self he sees nothing else. Unclad (lit. clothed by the points of the compass), bowing to none, not uttering svāhā (as he worships no gods), not uttering svadhā (to propitiate the manes), without the need to send back (gods as they have not been invoked), free from blame and praise, not resorting to mantra-s and rituals, not meditating on other gods [than the supreme God], refraining from aims and their absence, with all activitics ceased, firmly established in Consciousness consisting of Existence, Knowledge and Bliss, being conscious of the one supreme bliss, he ever meditates on the Brahma-praṇava [to the effect] that he is Brahman alone and thus fulfils himself; such a one is the Paramahaṃsa mendicant monk. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

11

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the nineteenth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Śuklayajurveda describes the path of the Paramahaṃsa mendicant monk, who, having renounced all worldly attachments and activities, goes about clad in a loincloth and holding the emblematic staff in the initial stages, sustaining his life by alms for the good of the world and controlling his senses, finds bliss in the conviction ‘I am Brahman alone’ and thereby fulfils himself.]

The path of the Paramahaṃsa mendicant monk

Now then the sage Nārada [reverently] approaching the Lord (Nārāyaṇa) asked him: What is the path of the Paramahaṃsa yogin-s? What is their way of life?

The Lord said to him: The path of the Paramahaṃsa is a very rare one in this world and not many [pursue it]. If there is a single person who becomes one, he is indeed ever pure, he is the Puruṣa [glorified] in the Veda (Vedapuruṣa)—thus do the wise consider him. He is the [truly] great man whose mind ever rests in Me alone. Hence I too abide in him. Moving away from his children, friends, kinsmen and others and discarding his tuft, sacred thread, study of the scripture and all worldly activities and [thus] renouncing the world, he may have a loincloth, bamboo staff and a cloak for protecting the body and to render service to the world [by conforming to minimum ways of the

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

world]. But these things are not important. What is important is the chief one [namely that he renounces the world].

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1

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

The way of life of the Paramahamsa mendicant monk

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

[After the initial stage] the Paramahamsa moves about without a bamboo staff, tuft, sacred thread and cloak; [he does not mind] cold or heat, happiness or misery, honour or dishonour. Free of the six human infirmities [hunger and thirst, etc.] and giving up censure, pride, intolerance, religious hypocrisy, arrogance, desires, hatred, pleasures, sorrow, passion, anger, greed, delusion, gloating, envy, egotism, etc. he looks at his body as though it were a corpse. As the body is the cause of the accursed doubts and false knowledge [of the one reality], he refrains from [attachment to] it; the knowledge of the eternal (Brahman) is [nothing but] the state of remaining as the Self [uncontaminated by bodily consciousness] and the conviction that he is really the bliss of Consciousness non-different from the Self and which is tranquillity and inviolability; that is the supreme abode, that is the tuft, that also is the sacred thread. By the realization of the identity of the transcendent Self and the [individual] Self, the very difference [noticed in ignorance] gets broken. This is the worship during the junctures (samdhya) [and not pouring water consecrated by mantra-s].

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

2

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

Giving up all [worldly] desires he remains in [communion with] the non-dual transcendent state.

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He who has this staff of true knowledge is said to be the one possessed of the single staff [among ascetics] (ekadandin). He is a sinner and a blot on the life of (true) ascetics, who [only] carries a wooden staff, eats all sorts of food and is devoid of true knowledge, endurace, wisdom, dispassion, tranquillity and other virtues and who lives to collect alms alone. He goes to the frightful hells called Mahāraurava.

3

Knowing this difference [between the spurious and genuine ascetics] the Paramahaṃsa is sky-clad (i.e. unclad), pays no obeisance, does not utter svāhā [as he worships no gods], is unaffected by praise or blame and becomes contented with things as they come. This ascetic does not invoke gods, nor bids them goodbye; he has no mantra-s, no meditation [on the gods] and no worship [of them]. He has neither aim nor its absence, neither separatedness [of things apart from the Self] nor its opposite; he has no day [when he is expected to do some duties] nor anything else [other than the Self]. He has no [fixed] abode [but] has a steady mind. This mendicant monk shall never accept [as gift] gold, etc. He shall neither look at it nor be blind to it. If it is said that this does not hinder him [from his goal], there is really a hindrance [to Self-realization]; for, if a mendicant monk were to gaze at gold with interest [to possess it] he becomes a great sinner (lit. the killer of a Brāhmaṇa). For, if a mendicant monk were to touch gold with longing, he becomes [low] like a cobbler. For, if a mendicant monk were to grasp gold

PARAMAHAMSOPANIṢAD

with longing he becomes a killer of the Self [i.e. he is completely lost]. Hence when a mendicant monk does not with longing see, touch or grasp gold, all desires lurking in the mind turn away. He does not become bitter in adversity, is free from desire for [worldly] well being; even in attachment [to noble work] he has renunciation. He has no love for good and bad, neither hates [the unpleasant] nor welcomes [the pleasant]. He whose every sense has its course brought to a halt remains [firmly] in his Self alone. Thus conscious only of the fullness of bliss, he fulfils himself with the conviction ‘I am Brahman alone’; he thus fulfils himself. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad. 4

12

BRAHMOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the eleventh among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the

Kṛṣnayajurveda explains the four pāda-s of Brahman as

the gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu, etc., the indestructibility of the

transcendent Brahman, the characteristics of the inner

and outer sacred thread, the truly learned person as

the one who has realized the Self and winds up by setting

forth the means to realize Brahman.]

Brahman consists of four pāda-s

Now then the Puruṣa (Brahman) can be

realized in the four places [of the human body, namely],

the navel, heart, throat and the head. There Brahman

consisting of four pāda-s (quarters) shines [as] god

Brahmā in the waking state, as Viṣṇu in the dreaming

state, as Rudra in the state of deep sleep and as the

indestructible [in the] Turīya. He is the sun, Viṣṇu

and God (Īśvara); he is himself without the mind,

ears, hands and feet; he is realized as effulgence.

1

Indestructibility of the transcendent Brahman

Where [in Brahman] the worlds are not the worlds,

gods are not gods, the Veda-s are not Veda-s, the

sacrifices are not sacrifices, the mother is not the mother,

the father is not the father, the daughter-in-law is not

the daughter-in-law, the outcaste is not outcaste, the cobbler is not the cobbler, the ascetic is not the ascetic, the hermit is not the hermit; it is one alone, the transcendent Brahman which shines as the final beatitude. 2

Oneness [alone] is the final beatitude

There [in the final beatitude] the gods, sages and manes exercise no power [as they are non-existent]; the one is awakened [to reality] [as the result of] all (Vedic) lore.

3

The threefold [sacred] thread

All gods remain in the heart [i.e. in consciousness]; all the (five) vital airs are established in the heart. The vital breath [inhaled through the nose] is in the heart as also the [self-] effulgent (Ātman). [Sages who have discarded the external sacred thread] know [this self-luminous Ātman as] the [true] threefold sacred thread. [The external sacred thread] remains [merged] in the heart of consciousness.

4

The external [sacred] thread

The sacred thread is highly sanctifying; it has been natural to the god Brahmā (Prajāpati) in the first place; the foremost in promoting long life, put on this [comm.: knowing the Self to be the foremost, leave off other thoughts]. May the bright [fresh] sacred thread be the strength and effulgence [to me]. [Comm.: resorting to the inner effulgence, give up the external sacred thread].

5

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SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Braḥmasūtra (the inner sacred thread)

Taking a shave, removing the tuft, the wise one shall discard the external sacred thread. He shall have as the sacred thread the transcendent Brahman which is indestructible.

6

The sūtra is so called as it indicates [liberation]; the sūtra indeed is the highest position. He who knows this sūtra is the learned Brāhmaṇa who has [truly] mastered the Veda.

7

The yogin, who is the knower of yoga and the seer of truth, shall wear that sūtra by which all this [phenomenal world] is joined together [as a unity] just as gems are strung together on a thread.

8

The wise one deeply intent on the highest yoga shall discard the external sacred thread. He is conscious [of the truth] who wears the sūtra in the form of absorption in Brahman. By wearing [possessing] this sacred thread he shall not become an cater of the leavings of others or impure.

9

Tuft in the form of true knowledge, etc. constitute the chief characteristics of a Brāhmaṇa

Those who, having the sacred thread of spiritual wisdom, possess the sūtra inwardly are the knowers of the sūtra in the world and they are the [true] wearers of the sacred thread.

10

Their tuft and sacred thread consist of spiritual wisdom (Jñāna), they are established in Jñāna; to them Jñāna alone is supreme and this Jñāna is declared to be sanctifying.

11

BRAHMOPANIṢAD

169

The wise one whose tuft consists of Jñāna and no

other, like the flame emanating from fire, is said to

possess the [true] tuft; not the others who wear [a mass

of] hair.

12

The sacred thread as part of the rituals

Those Brāhmaṇa-s and others entitled to perform

Vedic rituals are to wear this [external] sacred thread;

for it is declared to be a part of the rituals.

13

Brāhmanhood exists without rituals

He whose tuft consists of spiritual wisdom and

whose sacred thread too consists of that (wisdom) has

all the noble characteristics of a Brāhmaṇa—thus

declare the knowers of Brahman.

14

The true nature of the sacred thread

He to whom this sacred thread [of spiritual wisdom]

is the summum bonum is the wise one; he [truly wears]

the sacred thread; he is the sacrifice [such as the

Agniṣṭoma]; [knower of the Veda] declare him to be

the [true] performer of sacrifices. [It is he who

oblates into fire all things other than the Self and

hence to him there remains the Self alone].

15

The sage who has realized Brahman is identical with the one (Brahman)

There is one self-effulgent Being who is hidden in

all creatures; he is all pervasive and the inward soul

of all beings; he is the controller of all actions, resides

in all beings, is the witness, solely conscious and free

from all attributes.

16

He is the one, the controller, the inward self of all beings; he has one form [but] makes it many. Those wise men who realize Him as the Self have eternal happiness, not the others.1

The means of realizing Brahman

Making the self [the lower] kindling stick and the Praṇava the upper kindling stick and by practice of vigorous rubbing in the form of meditation, [the sage] may realize the hidden effulgent Being [as the fire hidden in the sticks].

As oil [is present] in sesamum seeds, ghee in curds, water in underground springs and fire in kindling sticks, so the [supreme] Self is realized in the [individual] self by one who visualizes him through truth and penance.2

Just as a spider produces and withdraws cobwebs, so the self[jīva] goes into and returns again from waking and sleeping.

Know that the waking state remains in the eyes, dreaming state in the throat and [the state of] deep sleep in the heart; the fourth state (turīya) remains in the head.

That from which speech along with the mind turns away without reaching it is the bliss experienced by the Self (jīva); knowing this the wise man is liberated.

1 Śvet. Up., 6. 11, 12.

2 ibid., 1. 14, 15.

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[One should realize] the Ātman who is all-pervading like clarified butter in milk, the prop of spiritual lore and the object of the Brahmopaniṣad, the aim of the Upaniṣad which expounds Brahman.1 23

1 Śvet. Up., 1. 16.

13

BHIKṢUKOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the sixtieth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Śuklayajurveda classifies ascetics into four categories as Kuṭīcaka, Bahūdaka, Hamsa and Paramahamsa and explains their distinctive characteristics.]

Ascetics are of four kinds

Mendicant monks desiring liberation are of four kinds: the Kuṭīcaka, Bahūdaka, Hamsa and Paramahamsa.

1

Kuṭīcaka ascetics

The Kuṭīcaka-s (hut-dwelling ascetics) such as [the sages of yore like] Gautama,1 Bharadvāja,2 Yājñavalkya3 and Vasiṣṭha,4 subsist on eight mouthfuls of food and seek liberation alone by the path of yoga.

2

1 A sage celebrated in the Rāmāyaṇa, whose wife Ahalyā was restored to her natural form by Śrī Rāma.

2 A sage well known in the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. He received Śrī Rāma and Sītā in his hermitage while they were in exile.

3 A celebrated sage and the chief expounder of Brahmavidyā in the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad.

4 A sage celebrated in the Rāmāyaṇa and the family priest of Śrī Rāma.

BHIKṢUKOPANIṢAD

Bahūdaka ascetics

Next the Bahūdaka ascetics [remaining mainly in a holy place of sacred waters] who carry a three-fold emblematic staff (tridaṇḍa) and water vessel and wear tuft, sacred thread and ochre coloured garment. Avoiding wine and meat, they subsist on eight mouthfuls of food secured as alms from the houses of Brāhmaṇa sages and seek liberation alone in the path of yoga.

3

Hamsa ascetics

Then come the Hamsa ascetics who shelter for one night in a village, five nights in a town and seven nights or more in a holy place. Subsisting on cow's urine and other products from the cow and always addicted to the cāndrāyaṇa1 vow, they seek liberation alone in the path of yoga.

4

Paramahamsa ascetics

Then there are the Paramahamsa ascetics [such as the sages of yore like] Samvartaka,2 Āruṇi,3 Śvetaketu,4

1 A religious observance regulated by the moon's age (the period of its waxing and waning); in it the daily quantity of food, which consists of fifteen mouthfuls at the fullmoon, is diminished by one mouthful everyday during the dark fortnight till it is reduced to zero at the new moon, and is increased in like manner during the bright fortnight.

2 An inspired sage, the writer of a Dharmaśāstra.

3 A sage celebrated in the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 3. 6.1.

4 A sage well known in the Chandogyopaniṣad (6. 9. 4) to whom was propounded the great scriptural text, 'That Thou Art'.

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Jaḍabharata,1 Dattātreya,2 Śuka,3 Vāmadeva,4 and Hārīta,5 who live on eight mouthfuls of food and seek liberation alone in the path of yoga. They take shelter under the shade of trees, in deserted houses or in a cemetery. They may wear a dress or be unclad. They observe neither Dharma nor Adharma [i.e. they are above the laws of the land]. They are not conscious of profit and loss of anything. They discard the doctrines of Viśiṣṭādvaita [propounded by Rāmānuja], the Śuddha Dvaita [of Madhvācārya] and the Aśuddha Dvaita. Considering equally a pebble, stone and gold they receive alms from [persons of] all castes and see the Ātman alone everywhere. Unclad, unaffected by pairs [of opposites, heat and cold, etc.] receiving no gifts, solely adhering to pure meditation, established in the Ātman alone, receiving alms at the prescribed time for sustaining life, [taking shelter during nights] in a deserted house, temple, hay stack, anthill, shade of a tree, potter's hut, a place where ritual fire is kept, sandy bank of a river, a mountain thicket or cavity, a

1 A sage ‘apparently stupid’ described in the Bhāgavata 5. 9f).

2 A saint, son of the patriarch Atri and Anasūyā. He was considered as an incarnation of the god Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva (Bhāgavata, 9. 23, 24).

3 A son of Vyāsa. A born philosopher who narrated the Bhāgavata Purāṇa to king Parīkṣit. His name is proverbial for the most rigid observance of continence.

4 A Vedic sage, author of many hymns.

5 A sage, son of Yuvanāśva of the solar race. From him descended the Hārīta Aṅgirasa-s.

BHIKṢUKOPANIṢAD

hollow in a tree, the vicinity of a water fall, or a piece of clean ground, they are well on the way to realize Brahman; with pure mind, they give up their bodies in the state of renunciation as a Paramahaṃsa. They are indeed the Paramahaṃsa-s [as they become absorbed in Brahman]. Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

14

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the twentyninth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Sāmaveda points out the desire for self-realization by those who are disillusioned with the world, expounds the true nature of Brahman and details the guidelines given by Lord Śiva to the sage Maitreya, such as purity of mind, the discarding of egotism and worldly action and winds up with the disclosure of the personal experiences of Maitreya when he had progressed in the path of Brahman.]

First Adhyāya

First Adhyāya

Investigation of the nature of the Self and those disgusted with worldly life

The King, Bṛhadratha by name, had his eldest son installed on the throne and considering the body to be impermanent and feeling disgusted [with worldly life] went to a [penance] forest. There he performed the highest kind of penance and facing the sun remained with his arm uplifted. At the end of a thousand years the sun-god [taking the form of the sage Śākāyanya] approached the sage. Like fire [blazing] without smoke and burning all as it were with his effulgence the sage Śākāyanya, the knower of the Self, said to the king: ‘Rise up, rise up, choose a boon’. Bowing to him the king said: ‘Revered Sir, I know not the Ātman. But we hear that you are a knower of the truth.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

177

Expound to me that’. ‘This request of yours is impossible on the very face of it. Do not ask me this question. Oh descendant of Ikṣvāku, choose [the fulfilment of] other desires’. Reverently touching the feet of the sage Śākāyanya the king gave utterance to the following religious text (Gāthā).

1

The song on the disgust of worldly life

Now then why speak of other things? [There is] the drying up of great seas, the downfall of mountains, the movement of the polestar or of trees, the submerging of the earth and the loss of position by the gods. In this worldly life which is of the nature of [distinction between] ‘he’ and ‘I’, what is the use of enjoying desires as, resorting to them, there is seen the repeated return [to the phenomenal world]? Hence it behoves on your part to uplift me. I am like a frog in a well in this worldly life. Revered Sir, you are my refuge’. Thus [the king said].

2

Revered Sir, this body is born of sexual union alone, is devoid of consciousness and is verily hell as it has emerged through the urinal path, full of bones, daubed with flesh and encased in skin; it is fully filled with faeces, urine, wind, bile, phlegm, marrow, fat, fatty exudations and many other filthy things. Remaining in a body of this kind, revered Sir, you are my refuge. Thus [he implored].

3

Disclosure of the true nature of Brahman

12

Then the revered sage Śākāyanya greatly pleased, said to the king: ‘Great king Bṛhadratha, you are

prominent in the family of the Ikṣvāku-s, a knower

of the Ātman, one who has done his duty well and you

are well known by the name of Marut. Such is your

Self. Revered Sir, who is to be described? And he

said to the king:

4

The objects such as those denoted by sound and

4

touch are apparently [a source of] danger; for the

5

individual self [encased in the five elements] may not

5

remember the highest goal when attached to them.

6

Through penance one gets to know the inborn

6

disposition (Sattva); from Sattva one gets [stability of]

6

the mind; through the mind one realizes the Ātman;

6

by realizing the Self [worldly life is] prevented.

7

Just as fire, when fuel is exhausted, calms down

7

in itself, so the mind, when its activity is exhausted,

7

becomes quiescent in its source [i.e. in the Self].

8

When the mind is calmed down into its source

8

and goes in the true path, the results dependent on

8

activities are unreal as the objects of the senses are

8

confounded [i.e. actions performed do not affect him

8

as he is without attachment].

9

It is the mind that constitutes worldly life; this

9

should be purified. As the mind, so the things appear

9

coloured by it; this is the eternal secret.

10

By the purity of the mind one destroys [the effect

10

of] good and bad actions. When with a pure mind one

10

remains in the Self one enjoys inexhaustible bliss.

11

If a person's mind, which is well attached to the

11

region of the sense-objects, were turned towards Brah-

11

man, who will not be released from bondage?

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

One should feel the supreme Lord to be present in the midst of the lotus of one's heart as the spectator of the dance of the intellect, as the abode of supreme love, as beyond the range of mind and speech, as the rescue ship scattering all worry [of those sinking in the sea of worldly life], as of the nature of effulgent Existence alone, as beyond thought, as the indispensable, as incapable of being grasped by the [active] mind, possessing uncommon attributes, the immobile, steady and deep, neither light nor darkness, free from all doubts and semblance, and is consciousness consisting of the final beatitude. 12-14

That which is the eternal, the pure, the ever vigilant, free from the nature [of delusions], the true, the subtle, the supremely powerful, the one without a second, the ocean of bliss and transcendent, that I am, the innermost essence [of all]; there is no doubt about it. 15

How can the danger [of duality] approach me, re- sorting as I do to the inner bliss of the Self, who despise the female goblin of desires, who view the phenomenal world as in illusion and who am unattached to it? 16

Those ignorant poeple who stick to castes and orders of life obtain the [worthless] fruit of their respective actions. Those who discard the ways of caste, etc. and are happy with the bliss of the Self become merged in Brahman (lit. Puruṣa-s). 17

The body consisting of various limbs and observing the [rules of] castes and orders has a beginning and an end and is only a great trouble. Free of attachment

180

to one's children, etc. and the body, one should live in the endless supreme happiness.

18

Second Adhyāya

Lord Śiva's advice to Maitreya

1

Then the revered sage Maitreya went to Kailāsa. Approaching him (the Lord) he said: ‘Lord, expound to me the secret of the supreme truth.’ The great god said to him:

2

The body is said to be the temple; the individual Self (jīva) is Śiva alone. One should discard the faded flowers in the form of spiritual ignorance and worship God [with the conviction] ‘He and I are one’.

3

True knowledge consists of seeing non-difference [in all]; deep meditation consists of the mind freed from thinking on sensory objects; bathing is the removal of impurity in the mind and cleansing consists of controlling the senses.

4

He should imbibe the nectar, Brahman, go about for alms to preserve the body, and becoming devoted to the one [Brahman] live in the solitary place of oneness free from duality. Thus should a wise man spend his life; he alone will attain liberation.

Process of purification

This body is born and it has death; it has originated from the impure secretions of the mother and father; it is the abode of joy and sorrow and it is impure. Bathing in the form of discarding attachment

to it is ordained when one touches it with the idea that it belongs to one.

5

It is built up of primary fluids, subject to grievous maladies, abode of sinful actions, transitory and diffused with agitated feelings. Touching this body, bathing [as aforesaid] is ordained.

6

It always naturally exudes at the appropriate time impure secretions through the nine apertures (eyes, ears, etc.). Having impure matter it smells foul. Touching this, bathing [as aforesaid]is ordained.

7

It is associated with the mother in impurity at birth and is born with the impurity caused by child-birth; as it is born associated with death [in due course] and the impurity caused by child birth, touching this body, bathing [as aforesaid] is ordained.

8

Viewing the body as ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is smearing one-self with faeces and urine in the place of cosmetics. Thus pure cleansing has been spoken of [in the verses above]. Cleansing [the body] with mud and water is [the external one] practised in the world.

9

Purity of mind

Cleansing which purifies the mind consists of the destruction of the three inborn tendencies [loka-vasanā, śāstra-vāsanā and deha-vāsanā]; [real] cleansing is said to be by washing with mud and water in the form of [true] knowledge and dispassion (jñāna and vairāgya).

10

Fecling of non-duality is the alms [which is consumed] and the feeling of duality is the thing unfit for consumption. The receiving of alms by the mendicant

182 SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S [Adh. 2]

monk is ordained in accordance with the directions of the Guru and the scripture.

11

After embracing renunciation of his own accord the wise man shall move away from his native place and live far away, like a thief who has been released from prison.

12

Discarding egotism, etc.

No sooner has [the ascetic] moved away from the son of ego, the brother of wealth, the home of delusion and the wife of desires than he is liberated [from worldly bondage]; there is no doubt about it.

13

Renouncing [motivated] actions

How shall I perform the twilight worship [sandhyā, i.e. there is no need for it] when the mother of delusion is [just] dead and the son of true awakening is born, causing two-fold impurity?¹ How can I perform twilight worship when the bright sun of consciousness ever shines in the sky of the heart and it never sets or rises? [i.e. there is no twilight at all and hence there is no scope for worship].

14-15

The conviction, which is present from the words of the Guru that there is only one [reality] without a second, alone is the solitude [necessary for meditation] and not a monastery nor the interior of a forest.

16

¹ A twice-born is not entitled to perform any religious function for ten days when there is impurity caused either by birth or death in the family.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

Real renunciation

There is liberation for those who are free from doübts; there is no emancipation even at the end of repeated births for those whose minds are invaded by doubts [about the non-duality of the Ātman].1 Hence one shuld have faith.

17

There is no [true] renunciation by discarding action, nor by reciting the mantra-s of Praiṣa [at the formal ceremony of renunciation]. Renunciation has been declared to be the oneness of the individual self (Jīva) and the universal Self (Ātman).

18

Person entitled to renunciation

One, to whom all primary desires, etc. [such as for wife, wealth and progeny] appear like vomit and who has discarded pride in his body, is entitled to renunciation.

19

A wise man should embrace renunciation only when there has risen in his mind dispassion for all worldly things; otherwise he is fallen.

20

He who renounces worldly life for amassing wealth [contributed by rich disciples] or for the sake of [assured] boarding and clothing or for a stable position [as the head of a monastery] is doubly fallen [i.e. he has neither the full pleasures of worldly life nor liberation]; he does not deserve final beatitude.

21

1 The Gītā says (4. 40): The ‘doubting Thomas’ perishes; there is neither this world nor the next nor happiness for one who doubts [the truth of the one reality].

Various means adopted for liberation

The wisest take to contemplation on the reality (of Brahman); the middling ones contemplate on the scripture; low people think of the mantra-s; the lowest are deluded by [the efficacy] of holy places.

Practical experience

A fool in vain takes [theoretical] delight in Brahman without practically experiencing it [as I am Brahman], like the joy of tasting fruits found in the branch of a tree reflected [in a lake].

Practical experience

If a sage does not give up—the inward [conviction of non-duality in] the collecting of alms from various houses as a bee does honey from flowers, the father in the form of dispassion, the wife of faith and the son of true knowledge, he is liberated.

Instruction on the supreme duty

People rich in wealth, old in age and similarly those mature in knowledge—all these are [but] servants, [nay] the servants of the disciples of those who are mature in wisdom.

Instruction on the supreme duty

Even learned people have their minds deluded by the illusion created by me and without realizing me, the Ātman, who am omnipresent, they but wander like cows to fill the wretched belly!

Instruction on the supreme duty

To one desiring liberation worship of idols made of stone, metal, gem and clay results only in the experience of rebirth; hence the sage should perform the worship of his heart alone [i.e. contemplate on Brahman

enshrined in his heart, non-different from the Self].

To prevent rebirth he shall avoid external worship [of idols].

27

He who is full inwardly and outwardly is like a jar filled in the sea; he who is empty inwardly and empty outwardly is like a jar empty in the sky.

28

Do not become one enjoying objects [of the senses], do not also become one believing in the senses. Rejecting all ideations, become that which remains.

29

Discarding [ideas of] seer, seeing and what is seen along with inward tendencies, may you resort only to the Ātman who is the prime source of all phenomena.1

30

The state of one liberated in the disembodied state

31

That state of remaining like a stone with all ideations quiescent and freed from the states of waking and sleeping is the supreme state of the Self [in the disembodied state].

Thus [end the instruction given by Lord Śiva and the second chapter].

Third Adhyāya

Maitreya discloses his own experience

1

I am I, I am the other (the supreme one), I am Brahman, I am the source [of all], I am also the Guru of all the worlds, I am all the worlds, That I am.

1 Or who is the most important effulgence of the Scripture.

186

I alone am, I have attained perfection, I am pure,

I am the supreme, I remain always, I am He, I am

eternal, I am pure.

2

I am the true knowledge (Vijñāna), I am the

special one, I am Soma, I am the all. I am the auspi-

cious one, I am free from sorrow, I am consciousness,

3

I am the impartial one

I am devoid of honour and dishonour, I am with-

out attributes, I am Śiva, I am free from duality and

non-duality, I am free from the pairs [of opposites],

4

I am He.

I am devoid of being and non-being, I am beyond

speech, I am effulgence, I am the power of the void and

the non-void and I am the auspicious and the in-

5

auspicious [i.e. beyond both of them].

I am devoid of the equal and the unequal, eternal,

pure, ever auspicious; I am free of all and the non-all,

6

I am the righteous and I ever remain.

I am beyond the number one and I am

beyond the number two as well. I am above the dis-

tinction of good and bad and I am devoid of idea-

7

tion.

I am free from the distinction of many souls, being

of the form of unalloyed bliss. I am not [existent as an

entity], I am not another, I am devoid of the body,

8

etc.

I am free from the concept of substratum and

that of the object resting on it; I am devoid of a prop.

I am above captivity and liberation, I am the pure

9

Brahman, I am He.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am devoid of all things such as the mind, I am the supreme, greater than the great. I am always of the form of investigation, I am free from investigation. I am He.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

10

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am of the form of the letter a and u and I am the letter m which [as Om] is eternal. I am free from meditation and being a meditator, I am beyond the object of meditation, I am He.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

11

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am of the form which fills everything, possessing the characteristics of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. I am of the form of all holy places, I am the supreme Ātman, I am Śiva.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

12

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am devoid of aim and non-aim and I am the bliss (rasa) which has no extinction. I am beyond measurer and measure and the thing measured; I am Śiva.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

13

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am not the world, I witness all and I am devoid of eyes, etc. I am immense, I am awake, I am serene and I am Hara (Śiva).

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

14

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am devoid of all the senses and I do all actions. I am the [object of] satisfaction to all the Upaniṣad-s, I am always casily accessible [to the devoted].

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

15

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am joy [to the devoted] and sorrow [to the careless], I am the friend of all silence. I am always of the form of consciousness and I am always of the form of Existence and Consciousness.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

16

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

I am not devoid of even the least, nor am I a little. I am without the knot of the heart [i.e. partiality due to affection] and I abide in the midst of the lotus of the heart.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

17

188

I am devoid of the six changes [of birth, etc.],

I am without the six1 sheaths [the gross material body,

etc.]; I am free from the group of six [internal] enemies

[passion, etc.] and I am the witness, being the supreme

God.

18

I am free of space and time, I am the bliss of the

principal unclad sages, I am beyond ‘there is’ and

‘there is not’ and I am devoid of all negation [i.e. I

am pure Existence without a counterpart].

19

I am of the form of unbroken ether and I am of

omnipresent form. I am the mind (citta) free from

the phenomenal world and I am devoid of the

phenomenal world.

20

I am of the form of all effulgence, I am the efful-

gence of pure consciousness. I am beyond the three

durations [past, present and future] and I am free

from passion, etc.

21

I am above the body and its dweller and I am

unique, devoid of attributes. I am beyond liberation,

I am liberated and I am always devoid of final emanci-

pation.

22

I am above truth and untruth, I am always

nothing other than pure Existence. I am not obliged

to go to any place, being free of movement, etc.

23

1 The kośa-s or sheaths are usually said to be five: annamaya,

prāṇamaya, manomaya, vijñānamaya and ānandamaya. According

to the Varāhopaniṣad (1. 10), they are six: skin, blood, flesh, fat,

marrow and bones.

MAITREYOPANIṢAD

189

I am always equanimous, I am quiescence, the greatest being (Puruṣottama); one who has his own experience thus is without doubt myself. He who listens to this [experience] even once [with supreme faith] becomes himself [i.e. becomes merged into] Brahman.

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

24

15

YĀJÑAVALKYOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the ninety-seventh among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Śuklayajurveda deals with the renunciation of worldly life by those who maintain the ritual fire, the duties of those entitled to renunciation, the supremacy of the Paramahamsa among ascetics, the characteristics of the unclad Paramahamsa-s, the oneness of the sage with God, the pitfalls of sex attraction and the characteristics of good ascetics.]

Investigation of renunciation of all [motivated] actions

Now King Janaka of the Videha-s respectfully approached the sage Yājñavalkya and said: ‘ Revered Sir, expound to me renunciation.’ Yājñavalkya said: Having completed the stage of a celibate student one may become a householder. From the stage of the householder he may become a forest-dweller (Vāna-prastha) and then renounce. Or else he may become a mendicant monk from the stage of a celibate student or a householder or a forest-dweller. [There is also the provision that] a person may renounce worldly life that very day on which distaste for it dawns on him, whether he is not observing vows [before the stage of renunciation] or observes them, whether he has undergone the prescribed ablution on completing the disciplined studentship or not, whether he is one who has discontinued maintaining ritual fire at the death of his

YĀJÑAVALKYOPANIṢAD

wife (Utsannāgni) or one who does not maintain the ritual fire (anagnika).

Method of renunciation by one who maintains ritual fire

Some [law givers] prescribe the sacrifice called Prājāpatya [of which god Brahmā is the presiding deity, prior to a twice-born embracing renunciation]. But [though thus prescribed] he may not do so. He shall only perform the sacrifice Āgneyī [whose presiding deity is Agni, the god of fire]. For Agni is the vital breath (prāṇa). Thereby he helps [strengthens] the vital breath. [Then] he shall perform the Traidhā-tavīya sacrifice [whose presiding deity is the god Indra]. By this sacrifice the three vital fluids [become strong like fire], namely the sattva (semen), Rajas (blood) and Tamas (the dark one).

[Having performed the sacrifice in the prescribed manner he shall smell the holy fire, reciting the following mantra]—

'Oh Fire, this (vital breath) is your source; as you are born at the proper time (of the year) you put on effulgence. Knowing him [the Ātman, your ultimate source] may you merge [with the Prāṇa, your source]. May you increase our wealth [of transcendent knowledge].' So reciting the mantra he shall smell the fire. This is the source of fire, this vital air. '[May you] go unto fire [your source]. Svāhā.'1 Thus alone the mantra says.

1 An exclamation used in offering oblations to gods.

192

Method of renunciation by one who does not maintain ritual fire

Having procured the holy fire [from the house of a well-versed Vedic scholar] in the village he shall be directed to smell the fire as described previously. If he does not get the ritual fire he may offer the oblations in the waters. For water is [presided over by] all the gods, Reciting ‘I offer the oblation to all the gods, svāhā’, he should tender the oblations and picking up [a small portion of] the offered oblation which is mixed with ghee, he shall eat it, as this is beneficial. [Before eating the offered oblation he shall recite] the mantra of liberation [namely Om] which he shall realize as [the essence of] the three Veda-s. He shall adore Brahman [Existence, Knowledge and Bliss] as that [connoted by Om]. Cutting off the tuft of hair and sacred thread he shall recite thrice ‘I have renounced.’ [The royal sage Janaka accepted this elucidation by saying] ‘Indeed, so it is, revered Yājñavalkya.’ 3

The Brāhmaṇa has the right to renunciation

[Then prompted by King Janaka] the sage Atri asked Yājñavalkya: How is one without the sacred thread [by wearing which alone he can perform rituals] a Brāhmaṇa? Yājñavalkya replied: This alone is his sacred thread [the conviction ], ‘That [self-effulgent] Ātman [I am].’ He shall then ceremoniously sip water [thrice with the mantra, ‘Reach the sea, svāhā,’ having prviously discarded his tuft and sacred thread]. This is the method [to be adopted by those who renounce the world]. 4

YĀJÑAVALKYOPANIṢAD

Definition of the duties of those not entitled to renunciation

Then [in the case of those entitled to renunciation] the mendicant monk wearing (ochre) coloured garment, with shaven head, accepting nothing [except food for bare sustenance], pure, injuring none [in thought, word and deed], [austerely] living on alms, becomes fit for realizing Brahman. This is the path of the mendicant monks. [In the case of the Kṣatriya-s and others not entitled to renunciation, they may seek liberation] by the path of the brave [by courting death in the battle-field], or fast [unto death as a discipline], or enter into water [to rise no more], or enter fire or undertake the great journey [in which they collapse by exhaustion]. [For those entitled to renunciation] this way has been prescribed by the god Brahmā; the ascetic who has renounced the world (Saṃnyāsin) following this path realizes Brahman. Thus [it is stated in the Vedānta]. 'Thus indeed it is, revered Sir, Yājñavalkya,' [appreciated the royal sage Janaka].

High position above all to the group of Paramahaṃsa-s

There are the well known sages called Parama-haṃsa-s [as in the days of yore, the sages] Saṃvartaka, Āruṇi, Śvetaketu, Durvāsas, Ṛbhu, Nidāgha, Dattā-treya, Śuka, Vāmadeva, Hārīta and others, wearing no distinguishing marks, with conduct beyond the ken [of worldly people] and who behaved as though bereft of their senses though (perfectly) sane.

194

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Characteristics of the Paramahaṃsa who wears garment

Averse to others' wives and [desire to stay in] towns and discarding all these, namely, the threefold staff [of bamboo], the water vessel, [the earthern plate] used for a meal, the ceremonial purification with water, the tuft and the sacred thread, internally as well as externally, in the waters reciting ‘bhūḥ, svāhā,’ [the Paramahaṃsa] shall seek the Ātman.

7

Characteristics of the unclad Paramahaṃsa :

Possessing a form as one newborn [i.e. unclad], unaffected by pairs [of opposites, such as heat and cold, pleasure and pain]; accepting nothing [except alms, for bare sustenance]; well established in the path of the truth of Brahman; of pure mind; receiving alms into the mouth (lit. into the vessel of the belly) at the prescribed time in order to sustain life, becoming equanimous at gain and loss [of alms], drinking water from the vessel of the hand or from a water vessel, begging alms but to store in the belly; devoid of any other vessel; the watering place serving as water vessel; sheltering, equanimous at gain and loss of it, in an abode which is free from disturbance and is solitary (such as) an unoccupied house, a temple, a clump of (tall) grass [or hay stack], an anthill, the shade of a tree, a potter's hut, a hut where ritual fire is kept, the sandy bank of a river, a mountain thicket, a cave, a hollow in a tree, the vicinity of a water fall or a piece of clean ground, without residing in a fixed abode; making no efforts [for gainful activity] and deeply

YĀJÑAVALKYOPANIṢAD

intent on the uprooting of good and bad actions—such a sage who finally gives up his body in the state of renunciation is indeed a Paramahaṃsa. Thus [it has been declared].

8

The true ascetic has the position of the supreme God

The mendicant monk who is unclad (lit. clothed by the points of the compass), salutes none, has no desire for wife or son and is above aim and non-aim becomes the supreme God. Here are the verses: 9

To one who has become an ascetic earlier and who is equal to him in characteristics, obeisance ought to be paid [by an ascetic], and never to any one else. 10

Even ascetics are seen who are careless, whose minds are in outward phenomenal things, are tale-bearers, eager to quarrel and whose views are condemned by the Veda.

11

If an ascetic remains in identity with the highest self-effulgent Brahman which is beyond name, etc., then to whom shall he, the knower of the Ātman, pay obeisance? Then the activity (of bowing) ought not to be done.

12

[If an ascetic is convinced that] the supreme God has entered into beings as the individual Self, then he may fully prostrate on the ground before a dog, outcaste, cow or donkey.

13

Reproach on women, etc.

What possibly is charming in a woman who is a doll made of flesh, in a cage of limbs which is moved

14

by machinery and who is a conglomerate of tendons, bones and joints?

15

Are the eyes [of a woman] charming when we look at them after dissection into skin, flesh, blood and tears? Why then do you get infatuated in vain?

16

Similarity, Oh sage, is seen of the pearl necklace which shines bright [adorning women] in the onrush of the Ganga water down the shining slopes of the Meru mountain.

17

In cemeteries [situated] in remote places the same breast of a woman is eaten in due course by dogs as if it were a small morsel of food.

18

Having [attractive] tresses and putting on collyrium, women, difficult to touch but pleasing to the eyes are [verily] the flames of the fire of sin and they burn men as though they were straw.

19

Women pleasing and cruel, are the fuel for the hell-fires, that inflame even at a distance and though juicy (lovable) are devoid of moisture (flavour).

20

Silly women are the nets spread by the hunter called Cupid to entangle the bodies of men in the form of birds.

21

Woman is the bait stuck in the fishhook at the string of evil propensity to catch men in the form of fish that are in the pond of worldly life and that are active in the mud of the mind.

22

Enough of women to me, forever, who are the strong caskets [to preserve] all gems of evil and are the chains of misery.

YĀJÑAVALKYOPANIṢAD

He who has a woman with him has desire for enjoyment; where is the scope for enjoyment to one who is without a woman? Discarding woman is discarding worldly life; one shall be happy after abandoning worldly life.

23

A son unborn worries the [would be] parents for long; when obtained [in the womb] he gives trouble due to miscarriage or the pangs of child-birth.

24

When the boy is born there is the worry of evil planets, illness, etc. and then his propensity to evil ways. When invested with the sacred thread he does not become learned and if he becomes wise he refuses marriage.

25

In youth he takes to adultery, etc. and has [the curse of] poverty when he has a family. There is no end of worry due to a son and if he is rich he [suddenly] may die.

26

Characteristics of a good ascetic

The (good) ascetic has no fickleness of hands and feet; he is not unsteady in his eyes and he is not loose with his speech; conquering his senses he becomes one with Brahman.

27

When a person of discrimination sees equality and oneness between an enemy, a prisoner and his own body, where is [the scope for] anger, as towards the limbs of one's own body?

28

If you have any anger against a wrong doer, how is it you do not have anger against anger, as it forcibly blocks [the path to] duty, wealth, love and liberation?

29

198

My salutation to the anger against anger, which well sets ablaze its substratum and which gives one dispassion and awakens one to one's faults.

30

Where the people are always asleep the man of self-control is wide awake; where they are vigilant, Oh wise one, the prince among yogin-s is in deep sleep.1 Be convinced that there is consciousness here, that [all] this is consciousness alone and is pervaded by consciousness, that you are consciousness and I am consciousness, and all these worlds are of consciousness.

31

Ascetics should accept this, the highest position of being a Paramahamsa. Oh best of sages, there is nothing higher than this.

32

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

1

cf. Bhagavadgītā, 2. 69 : yā niśā sarvabhūtānām, etc.

16

ŚĀTYĀYANĪYOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the ninety-ninth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Śuklayajurveda enumerates the essential pre-requisites which an ascetic shall possess, describes the characteristics of the Kuṭīcaka ascetic, the four classes of ascetics with their duties, the four kinds of disciplines such as the yogayajña, the duties of the mendicant monk, the life of one who has realized the Self, the dangers that befall careless ascetics and the glory of the ascetics who follow the noble path.]

The mind is the cause of bondage and liberation

The mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation of the people; [the mind] attached to the objects of the senses leads them to bondage; freed from the objects it leads them to liberation. [Thus] it has been declared.

1

If that attachment of the mind of a person to the objects of the senses is directed towards Brahman, who shall not be liberated from bondage?

2

The mind (citta) alone is worldly life; hence it should be purified with effort. As the mind is, so he becomes. This is the eternal secret.

3

One who knows not the Veda realizes not that omnipresent One (Brahman); one who knows not Brahman reaches not that supreme abode. He who realizes that the omnipresent god (Viṣṇu), the omniscient one, the prop of all (Vāsudeva) [is himself],

that sage, seer of reality, attains the state of wisdom while living (vipratvam).

4

Accomplishment of the four disciplines (sādhana-s)1

Then [observing the four disciplines] those Brāhmaṇa-s well-versed in the Veda and untouched by desires, who ponder over the eternal supreme Brahman [realize Brahman]. [A person desiring liberation] who is quiescent, self-subdued, has renounced all sensory pleasures, is forbearing, well versed in the scripture, is known as equanimous, has discarded the primary desires [for wealth, wife and progeny] and is free from the debts [to the manes, etc.], coming to realize the Ātman, shall live, observing silence, in some stage of life or other as the Kuṭicaka [or Paramahaṃsa].

5

Characteristics of the Kuṭīcaka ascetic

Then entering into the final stage of life [i.e. saṃnyāsa] he may possess five (small) things (mātrā-s) as is proper.

6

He should possess as long as he lives [the five things, namely] a three-fold staff (of bamboo), sacred thread, garment consisting of a loincloth, sling, and holy ring of sacred grass.

7

These five are the things pertaining to an ascetic [of the Kuṭicaka order]; [to all ascetics the inward possessions are five, namely, the a, u, m, the bindu and the nāda constituting Om]. This mātrā [namely the

1 See fn. 4 on page 42.

five constituents] is heard in the Praṇava (Brahman). Till the final exit (of the vital breath) the ascetic shall not abandon [the twofold five mātrā-s]; even at death [the five external mātrā-s] shall be buried with him. 8

The sign of Viṣṇu [i.e. means leading to liberation] is said to be twofold, the external and the internal. If one of them is discarded [the ascetic] is without doubt fallen. 9

The threefold staff is an emblem [leading to] Viṣṇu; it is a means of attaining liberation by learned Brāhmaṇa-s as ascetics. It is the extinction of all worldly characteristics—thus runs the Vedic teaching. 10

Four kinds of ascetics and their characteristics

Then indeed, Oh Brāhmaṇa, there are four kinds of ascetics, namely Kuṭicaka, Bahūdaka, Hamsa and Paramahaṃsa. 1 All these bear the signs of Viṣṇu [i.e. they strive for liberation], wear tuft and sacred thread, are pure in mind, consider their own Self as Brahman, are intent on worship [of God] in the form of pure consciousness, practise muttering of prayers and the principal and secondary disciplines (yama and niyama), are of good conduct and [thus] become exalted.

This is declared in a Vedic verse: The Kuṭicakā, Bahūdaka, Hamsa, and Paramahaṃsa ascetics are different in their way of life; all these possess the signs of Viṣṇu, the external and internal, which are always visible and invisible (respectively). Practising the five

1 See footnotes 1-4 on page 36.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

devotional acts (yajña-s),1 having penetration into the Vedānta, observing the rites [appropriate to the station in life], resorting to the spiritual lore, abandoning the tree [of worldly life] but having recourse to its root-cause [namely Brahman], renouncing its flowers [of rituals] but enjoying its [true] essence, sporting in Viṣṇu (i.e. leading the life spiritual), delighting in Viṣṇu, freed [from external worship], identifying themselves with Viṣṇu, they realize the omnipresent Viṣṇu.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

11-12

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Reciting prayers, etc. by the Kuṭīcaka-s

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Worship during the three junctures of the day (Samdhyā-s), bathing according to capacity,2 presenting libations of water to the manes, cleansing [i.e. purifying oneself with water], waiting upon [the deities with prayers]—these five devotional acts [the Kuṭīcaka] shall perform till death.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

13

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

With ten Praṇava-s and seven mystic words (vyāhrti-s)3 the four-footed Gāyatrī along with its ‘head’4

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

1 Reciting the Praṇava, yoga, penance, study of the scripture and spiritual wisdom (jñāna) are the five devotional acts of ascetics.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

2 The Kuṭīcaka bathes thrice, Bahūdaka twice and Hamsa once in a day; the Paramahamsa takes a ‘bath’ of holy ashes.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

3 The vyāhrti-s or mystic words uttered during the samdhyā adoration are usually three, namely bhūr, bhuvas and svar; according to some they are seven: bhūḥ, bhuvas, svar, mahas, janas, tapas and satyam.

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

4 The head (śiras) in the Gāyatrī is ‘omāpōjyoti rasō’ mr̥tam brahma bhūrbhūvaḥsvarom’.

ŚĀTYĀYANĪYOPANIṢAD

203

is the prayer to be recited during the three

Saṃdhyā-s.1

14

The four devotional acts such as the practice of yoga

The practice of yoga consists of the constant single-

minded devoted service of Viṣṇu, the Guru; non-

injuring by word, thought and deed is the devotional

act of penance (tapoyajña).

15

It is declared that the devotional act of studying

the scripture (Svādhyāya-yajñà) consists of reciting

the various Upaniṣad-s. The attentive reciting of

Om offers the [concept of the individual] Self in

the fire of the [non-dual] Brahman.

16

The devotional act of possessing spiritual wisdom

[Jñānayajña] is to be known as the very best of all

yajña-s. [The Paramahaṃsa-s] have Jñāna (true knowl-

edge) for the [emblematic] staff, Jñāna for the tuft,

and Jñāna for the sacred thread.

17

He whose tuft consists of Jñāna and the sacred

thread too of that [Jñāna] has all the characteristics of

a Brāhmaṇa—thus is the injunction of the Veda.

18

Ascertainment of the duties of mendicant monks

Then indeed, Oh Brāhmaṇa, these mendicant

monks are as they appear [i.e. unclad, as when they

were born]. They should desire to remain as a tree,

having gone beyond passion, anger, greed, delusion,

1 The Smṛti says: ‘An ascetic shall recite daily the branch

of his Veda, the Upaniṣad-s, the Gītā, the thousand names

of Viṣṇu, Śrī Rudra and the Praṇava.

204

false pride, pride, envy, ' mine-ness ' and egotism; and having discarded honour and dishonour, blame and praise; and when cut down [like a tree] they shall not complain. Thus these wiscmen become immortal here [in this world] itself. This has been said in the Vedic verse: Having taken leave of his kinsmen and son with good will and not seeing them again, enduring the pairs [of opposites, heat and cold, etc.] and quiescent he shall turn eastward or northward and proceed on foot.

19

[Equipped with] a [water] vessel and staff, seeing four cubits of ground alone before him, wearing sacred thread and tuft or remaining shavenheaded, having a family [of his body alone], and receiving from people alms unbegged or begged for for bare sustenance; having a vessel made of clay, wood, gourd or strutzg leaves as originally provided, and clothed with a garment of hemp, silk, grass, a patched one, [deer-]skin or a leafy one strung or unstrung; shaving his head alone at the junction of the seasons without removing hair below and in the arm pits and never the tuft; he shall reside in a fixed place for four months [of the rainy season] during which the inward soul, the omnipresent Puruṣa (Viṣṇu) is asleep [in the milky ocean].

20-2

Rules in the place of residence When [God, Viṣṇu] has risen [from sleep], the ascetic may reside in one place to carry out his work [such as study, meditation or Samādhi] for the other eight months or he may go about [as a mendicant monk].

ŚĀTYĀYANĪYOPANIṢAD

205

[During the journey] he may stay [for short periods] in a temple, a hut where ritual fire is kept, the shade of a tree, or a cave, without attachment and unnoticed by the people. He shall be quiescent like fire when fuel is exhausted and he shall not give or cause trouble to any one anywhere. [On seeing one equal to or inferior to him he shall not shrink nor consider any one existing as different from himself].

23

The state of one who has realized the Self

The state of one who has realized the Self

If a person has realized that he is the Ātman non-different from the universal Self, what can he wish for, and to fulfil which desire need he torture his body [by various kinds of austerities]?

24

A wiseman knowing this [truth] and thus a knower of Brahman shall have this consciousness. He shall not worry himself with many words; for it is only torturing language.1

25

Having discerned the knowledge of Brahman he should wish to remain with dispassion (lit. with the innocence of the child); a sage has realized the Ātman when he has the lore of Brahman and dispassion.

26

When all desires which cling to the heart have been shed, then the man becomes immortal and he enjoys the [bliss of] Brahman here [itself].2

27

Danger in falling from asceticism

Danger in falling from asceticism

Then indeed, Oh Brāhmaṇa, he who abandons this asceticism which is the highest spiritual life, becomes

1 Br. Up., 4.4.21.

2 ibid., 4.4.7; Kath. Up., 6. 14.

206

a child-murderer,1 a murderer of a Brāhmaṇa, a killer of an embryo, a great sinner. He, who abandons this steady life pertaining to Viṣṇu [i.e. the external and internal discipline in spiritual life], becomes a thief, a seducer of his preceptor's wife, treacherous to a friend, ungrateful; he is denied all [auspicious] worlds. This has been declared in the Vedic verse2—A thief, a drinker of spirituous liquor, a seducer of his preceptor's wife and one treacherous to his friend get purified by expiation; [but] one who abandons the sign of Viṣṇu,3 external or internal, which he was possessing, will never be purified in spite of all his self-exertions. 28

Abandoning the sign of Viṣṇu-worship, external or internal, he who resorts to his stage of life or no [prescribed] stage at all, or returns [to his former way of living prior to renunciation]—to that great fool [and people of his kind] there is no liberation seen even in tens of millions of eons. 29

Abandoning all other stages of life a wise man should live for long in the stage of life leading to liberation. There is no liberation possible to one who has fallen from the stage leading to final beatitude. 30

Having embraced asceticism, if one does not remain observing its laws, he is to be known as ‘fallen from grace’ (ārūdhacyuta)—such is the Vedic injunction. 31

1 or a killer of a hero. 2 cf. Ch. Up., 5.10.9. 3 The external sign of Viṣṇu is said to be doing personal service to the spiritual Guru; the internal one is remaining in the state of spiritual wisdom.

ŚĀṬYĀYANĪYOPANIṢAD

Observance of the two fold sign of Viṣṇu

Then indeed, Oh Brāhmaṇa, when [a wise man] has embraced this age old spiritual life pertaining to Viṣṇu and remains without transgressing it, he becomes self-controlled, worthy of being remembered as auspicious, a [true] knower of the world, a knower of the Vedānta, a knower of Brahman, omniscient, self-luminous; he becomes the supreme God Brahman, he redeems from [the misery of] worldly life his ancestors, relations by marriage, [other] kinsmen, associates and friends.

32

When a wise man renounces the world, those belonging to his family become blessed in this world, a hundred generations before him and three hundred generations after him.

33

The scripture says that a very pious mendicant monk redeems thirty generations of his family after him, thirty generations before him and thirty generations after those that follow [the first thirty].

34

The Vedic teaching is that the ancestors of [a wise man] are redeemed if he were to say that he has renounced even while his final breath remains in his throat [i.e. just before death].

35

Hence, Oh Brāhmaṇa, wise men have said that this age old lore of the Self, the discipline pertaining to Viṣṇu, shall not be expounded till one has oneself realized [the goal] and [that] not to one who has not studied the Veda, has not the conviction of the Self, has not freed himself from attachment, has not become pure, has not approached [to receive this of his own

208

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

accord], and who has not made earnest efforts [to know them]. This has been said in a Vedic verse [as well]:

Once [Brahma-]Vidyā approached [the god] Brahmā and said: ‘ Guard me, I am your treasure. Do not reveal me to one who is envious, crooked or crafty. Thus shall I be of potent strength.’ 36

This discipline of the Ātman pertaining to Viṣṇu [i.e. this lore to realize Brahman] shall be revealed to a person after a careful test as to whether he is of pure conduct, attentive, intelligent, observes celibacy, and has approached [the Guru of his own accord for receiving instruction].

37

With those ascetics who have been taught [the scripture] by a Guru and who do not honour him in word, thought and deed, the Guru does not dine; similarly [good ascetics] do not eat the food [from houses where the ill-mannered receive alms]. Such is the [injunction of the] scripture.

38

The Guru is the supreme righteousness (Dharma) ; the Guru alone is the sole means [of liberation]. He who honours not his Guru who gives [initiation into] the single syllable [Om which is Brahman] has all his scriptural learning, penance and spiritual wisdom oozed out as water from an unbaked clay vessel.

39

He who has supreme faith in God and the same faith in his Guru is a knower of Brahman, who reaches supreme beatitude. Such is the teaching of the Veda. 40

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

17

SAMNYĀSOPANIṢAD

[This Upaniṣad which is the sixty-fifth among the one hundred and eight Upaniṣad-s and forms part of the Sāmaveda expounds the rules of renunciation, the class of persons entitled to renounce the world, the method of embracing renunciation, the manner of receiving the staff and water vessel, the six kinds of ascetics, the need for the conviction of the oneness of the Self and Brahman, the personal experience of this non-duality, renunciation due to an emergency, the six pitfalls of careless ascetics and winds up with the assurance of ‘liberation while living’ to those who cling to the ship of non-duality.]

First Adhyāya

Now we shall expound the Upaniṣad on renunciation. He who in due order [of the stages of life] gives up [the primary inclinations such as the desire for wealth, etc.] becomes one who has renounced [worldly life]. What is this called renunciation? How does one renounce? One who guards himself by the [following] activities, who has [for his renunciation] the approval of mother, father, wife, sons and kinsmen should assemble all the officiating priests known to him and as before [with their approval] perform the Vaiśvānara sacrifice [for the welfare of all people]. He shall [after partition] give away all his wealth to the officiating priests. For the priests are the singers [of the

14

210

Vedic hymns, deserving the gift]. The [five] vital airs, Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna and Samāna, shall be [symbolically] placed in all the sacrificial vessels over the [five] sacred fires, the āhavanīya, gārhapatya, anvāhāryapacana, sabhya and āvasathya. Shaving off his hair along with the tuft, snapping the sacred thread and seeing his son, he shall consecrate [himself] with the mantra-s 'You are the god Brahmā, you are the sacrifice, you are everything'. If he has no son he should consecrate himself thus and not minding [anything] proceed as a mendicant monk eastward or northward.

He may receive alms from [people of the] four castes. He should eat from the vessel of his hands. He shall consider food as medicine. He should take food as medicine (i.e. in great moderation). He should eat as and when he gets [food, without discontent and not asking for more, like Oliver Twist] for bare sustenance and in such a way that there is no increase of fat. Having grown lean he may shelter one night in a village, five nights in a town; he may reside during the four rainy months in a village or town. [Interpreting] fortnights as months, he may reside [in a fixed abode] for two months. If he is unable to endure [heat or cold] he may accept as gift a tattered garment or bark dress. He shall not accept any other. For penance1 is to suffer pain [with equanimity]. What then is the sacred thread, the tuft and the ceremonial sipping of

1 Or penance is to endure pain due to discomfort from cold, etc.

water to one who thus renounces in the prescribed manner and who thus views it [in the correct perspective]? To him [the questioner] is this reply. This is his sacred thread [namely] that he meditates on the Ātman; the [practice of] Brahmavidyā is the tuft; that he quenches his thirst with the vessel of his belly accomplishes [the ceremonial] duty with water that is present everywhere. His residence is at the bank of [a reservoir of] water. When the sun has set, how can he [ceremoniously] sip water?1 As [he touches water] during day, so at night; [for] he has neither night nor day. [The enlightened ascetic is above the restrictions of time]. This has been said by the Vedic sage [in a mantra]: ‘To him there is [only] one [time], the day.’2 He who knows thus realizes the Ātman through this [renunciation].

Second Adhyāya

Person entitled to renunciation

Second Adhyāya

That person alone is entitled to renunciation who has undergone the forty purificatory rites (saṃskāra-s), has detachment from all [worldly] things, has acquired purity of mind, has burnt out desires, envy, intolerance and egotism, and is equipped with the four disciplines of spiritual life (ṣāadhanā-s)

1 One is prohibited from going to any reservoir of water during the night.

2 Ch. Up., 3. 11.3.

3 See fn. 4 on p. 42.

212

Characteristics of (ascetics) fallen (from virtue)

Having resolved on renunciation he who does not embrace it shall perform the penance (prājāpatya) alone [as an atonement]; thereafter he is entitled to renounce (the world).

2

One who [having resolved on renunciation, later] denounces it, one who supports a fallen ascetic [as if he were genuine], and one who throws obstacles [in the path of those desiring renunciation]—these three [classes of people] are to be known as fallen.

3

Persons not entitled to renunciation

Now these [persons], though possessing dispassion, are not entitled to renunciation—a cunch, a fallen man, a maimed person, women, a deaf person, a child, a dumb person, a heretic, an informer, a student [who has not completed his study], a Vaikhānasa anchorite [belonging to a Vaiṣṇava sect], an ardent Śaivite (Haradvija), a salaried teacher, a man without produce and one without ritual fire. Even if they renounce the world they are not entitled to instruction in the great scriptural texts [such as ‘That Thou Art’].

4

The son of one who has fallen from ascetic grace, one having disease of the nails, one who is brown toothed, a consumptive, as well as a deformed person—these are never entitled to renounce.

5

One should never allow renunciation to those who have just settled as householders, those who have committed great sins, those who have lost caste due

to non-performance of the principal purificatory rites (vrātya-s) and the accursed.

6

[Again] one should never allow renunciation to one who is devoid of religious observances, religious acts (yajña-s), penance, charity, offering oblations in ritual fire and study of scripture; and those fallen from truth and purity. These do not deserve to renounce; [and no one] can dispense with the due order except one sorely afflicted.

7

The method of embracing renunciation

8

The person [entitled to renounce] should discard his tuft reciting 'Oṁ bhūḥ svāhā.' Saying the mantra 'The sacred thread shall not remain externally. Grant me fame, strength, spiritual wisdom, dispassion and intelligence', he shall snap the sacred thread and leave it in the waters along with his garment and waist-band muttering 'Oṁ svāhā'; then he should repeat thrice, 'I have renounced.'

In praise of the person who has renounced

9

Seeing a Brāhmaṇa who has renounced the world the sun moves from his place [thinking], 'This person will reach Brahman breaking through my disc.'

10

That wise man who says 'I have renounced' raises to glory sixty generations of his family before him and sixty generations after him.

11

All the defects born of bad sons and all defects born of bodily weaknesses, the Praiṣa fire (at the time of renouncing) shall burn out, just as the fire of chaff does to gold.

Investiture with the (emblematic) staff

Investiture with the (emblematic) staff

[Reciting the mantra] ‘ Friend, guard me’, he [the renouncer] shall accept the (emblematic) staff. 12

Characteristics of the staff

Characteristics of the staff

The ascetic should bear a staff which shall be of bamboo, smooth, whole [with the bark], of even joints, grown in holy ground and cleaned of all defects;

It shall be unscarred [by forest fire], uninjured by worms, shining with its joints, [of length] reaching upto the nose, head or the eyebrows. 13-14

Close association is always enjoined between the staff and the person; a wise man shall not move without the staff a distance three times that of an arrow-throw. 15

Receiving the water vessel

Receiving the water vessel

Reciting the mantra ‘ You are the receptacle of water which sustains the world; never say nay to me, you who are always agreeable to all ’, he should receive the water vessel; and invested with the yogic garment [as aid to meditation] he shall go about in an agreeable frame of mind.

Give up [concepts of] righteousness and unrighteousness (dharma and adharma), give up both truth and untruth; having given up both truth and untruth discard that by which you abandon [all these] [i.e. duality].

17

Four kinds of ascetics

Four kinds of ascetics

Ascetic due to dispassion, ascetic due to spiritual wisdom, ascetic due to wisdom and dispassion and

SAMNYĀSOPANIṢAD

ascetic due to renunciation of action; these are the four

kinds [of ascetics] obtained.

18

Ascetic due to dispassion

This is how it is. He is the ascetic due to dispassion

who has become indifferent to sensory objects that are

seen or heard of and who has renounced [the world]

due to the influence of good actions done previously.

19

Ascetic due to spiritual wisdom

He alone is the ascetic due to Jñāna, who, being

dead to worldly life due to the [true] knowledge of the

scripture and listening to the experiences of the people

in sin and goodness and who, having discarded linger-

ing attachment to the body, scripture and the world

and considering as worthless like vomit all worldly

actions, possesses the fourfold discipline in spiritual

life and then renounces the world.

20

Ascetic due to Jñāna and dispassion

Having studied in the prescribed manner all

[scripture] and experienced all [vicissitudes of] life he

is the ascetic due to Jñāna and dispassion who has his

body alone left to him by meditation on the nature of the

Self due to Jñāna and dispassion and then renounces

and becomes unclad (as he was when born).

21

Ascetic who renounces action

Having completed the period of celibate student-

ship, becoming a householder and then embracing

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SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

[Adh. 2]

the stage of forest life (Vānaprastha), he, who renounces [the world] only in order to observe the order of the stages of life even though without dispassion, is the ascetic who renounces action.

22

Six kinds of renunciation

Renunciation is of six kinds; [and the ascetics are called] Kuṭicaka, Bahūdaka, Hamsa, Parama-hamsa, Turīyātīta and Avadhūta.

23

Kuṭicaka ascetic

The Kuṭicaka ascetic has tuft and sacred thread, bears a staff and water vessel, wears a loincloth and patched garment, is devoted to the service of father, mother and preceptor, is equipped with a vessel, spade, sling, etc. alone, is addicted to eating food in one place, wears on the forehead a perpendicular mark of white sandal and holds a threefold (emblematic) staff.

24

Bahūdaka ascetic

The Bahūdaka ascetic wears tuft, etc., patched garment and three [horizontal] lines of holy ash on his forehead and is similar in all respects to the Kuṭicaka ascetic [except] that he subsists on eight mouthfuls of food gathered [as alms from eight houses], as a bee [does honey].

25

Hamsa ascetic

The Hamsa ascetic wears matted hair, puts on the forehead the mark of either the horizontal lines of

holy ash or the perpendicular one of sandal, subsists on food gathered as alms without restriction and wears a piece of loincloth.

26

Paramahamsa ascetic

The Paramahamsa ascetic is devoid of tuft and sacred thread, receives alms in the vessel of his hands, wears a single loincloth, has a single [patched] garment, one bamboo staff, either wears a single garment or is smeared with holy ashes and has discarded all [possessions and attachments].

27

Turīyātita ascetic

The Turīyātita ascetic subsists on fruits receiving them in his mouth like a cow; if he eats cooked rice The reccives them as alms] from three houses. He has his body alone left to him [without any possessions and attachments], is unclad (dressed by the points of the compass) and treats his body as if it were a corpse.

28

Avadhūta ascetic

The Avadhūta ascetic has no fixed rules. He eats food like a python as and when he gets it, from persons of all castes except those who are fallen or accursed and is ever intent on meditation on the nature of the Self.

29

Conviction on the oneness of the individual Self and Brahman

I am not surely of this world consisting of trees, grass and mountains. How can I, the supreme being,

218

be this external [phenomenon] which is intensely inert? I am not the body which is non-sentient and perishable in a short time.

30

I am not the sound which is non-sentient, coming from void and of the form of void and which remains for a short period grasped by the inert cavity of the ear.

31

I am not the touch which is non-sentient but which has life granted to it by the favour of consciousness and which can be experienced by skin of momentary existence and in no other way.

32

I am not the taste which is non-sentient, dependent on matter and of short duration, insignificant and brought into existence by the fickle tongue aided by the fickle mind.

33

I am not the form (rūpa) which is non-sentient, non-existent in the sole Witness [Brahman], perishable and which rests on sight and the object of sight which have but momentary existence.

34

I am not the smell which is non-sentient, subtle and of indefinable form and brought into existence by the perishable nose which is dead to smell.

35

I am pure consciousness alone which is devoid of parts, 'mind-ness ' and thought and which is quiescent and beyond the delusions of the five senses.

36

I am consciousness alone, devoid of a place of worship, and am illuminator, omnipresent (externally and internally), devoid of parts and stain, the light of distinctionless consciousness, all-pervading and one alone.

37

SAMNYĀSOPANIṢAD

It is only by me, the consciousness, that all things such as pots and garments up to the sun are illumined by self-effulgence as by a lamp.

38

It is only by me, with my inwardly shining effulgence, that the various senses are active just as the mass of sparks shine due to fire which is blazing within.

39

This pure eye of consciousness, which enjoys endless bliss and which shines even when all others are extinct, is victoriously present in all eyes.

40

Salutation, salutation to myself alone who am present in all other beings and consist of consciousness free from [the restriction of] an object to be known and am of the form of the individual Self (consciousness).

41

Power of Consciousness and its praise

The various clearly seen powers [such as those of earth, etc.] are [really] rendered variegated by consciousness which is free of change, one whole and free from the limitation of time and parts [kalā].

42

Of consciousness which is beyond the three durations [of past, present, and future], is devoid of the restriction of perceivability of objects and which discards individuality of the soul, there remains the oneness alone [of the Self and Brahman].

43

Indeed the same (consciousness), being beyond the reach of words, seems to remain as having reached the state of the conclusion of Selflessness, [i.e. the state of non-duality], as if it were eternal non-existence.

44

220

SAṂNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

[Adh. 2]

The same consciousness, slightly encompassed by impurifies of desires and non-desires, is unable to rise high like a female bird bound by a string.

45

People [overcome] by the delusion [caused by] the pairs (of opposites), which is born of desire and hatred, become similar to worms which are sunk in the cavities of the earth.

46

Experience of non-difference

Salutation to the Ātman, to you, who are non-different from consciousness. I am now seized [of the truth], I am awakened, I have risen [above delusion].

47

I am lifted up from doubts; I am what I am; salutation to you, to you and to me, the eternal; to you and to me consisting of consciousness.

Salutation to you, the supreme God and salutation to me, the Śiva. Though seated [the Ātman] is not seated, though going he does not go. Though quicscent he is engaged in activities, though performing action he is not tainted.

49

He is eminently accessible, he is easily known like a close kinsman; he is the bee in the interior of the lotus of the body of all.

50

I have no desire for the state of enjoyment nor for abandoning enjoyment. Let come what may, let go what may.

51

When the mind is quelled in itself and has become free of egotism and when ideation is dissolved in itself I remain, alone, happy.

52

SAṂNYĀSOPANIṢAD

221

My enemy [duality] remains [i.e. is absorbed] in the pure Ātman of vibration alone, without ideation, egotism, mind and desire.

53

Breaking the bonds of intense desires from the cage of my body I know not where the female bird of non-ego has flown up and gone.

54

He who has no egotism, whose intellect is not tainted, and who is equanimous to all beings—his life shines bright.

55

He who looks at this [phenomenal world] like [an impartial] witness with his mind, being cool within, is freed of love and hatred, has his life blessed.

56

He who, understanding correctly, abandons both the undesirables and the desirables and places his mind in its quiescence, has his life blessed.

57

When the connecting link between the object and the person [who grasps it] has vanished peace comes well into being. When peace has established itself, it is called liberation.

58

Like parched seeds there is no more sprouting of worldly birth; the latent desires become pure in the heart of those who are liberated while living.

59

[Latent desire of a realized soul] is purifying, highly proper, falls within the scope of pure nature, consists of meditation on the Ātman and is eternal; it remains as if in deep sleep.

60

Understanding without the mind is indeed said to be the individual consciousness. As it is of the nature of the quiescent mind there is not the impurity of comprehension [of distinctions].

61

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Where the mind is rendered quiescent, there is truth and auspiciousness; it is the true state; it is omniscience and it is indeed complete satisfaction.

62

When speaking, giving, taking, opening and closing the eyes, I am purely consciousness, the bliss [that comes of] discarded thinking process.

63

Having discarded the impurity of things to be known, rendering the mind thoroughly quiescent and cutting off the fire of the bond of desire, I am pure consciousness alone.

64

I have set at rest thoughts good and bad, am without worry, rid of ideation of the pleasant and the unpleasant; I am pure consciousness alone.

65

Discarding the idea of oneself and another, taking no sides in worldly happenings and clinging to the Ātman, as an adamantine pillar I am steady.

66

I remain in my consciousness which is pure and without hopes, freed from desires and non-desires and devoid of both the undesirables and the desirables.

67

When shall I get the inward joy while remaining in the state of self-luminosity? When shall I be in a mountain cave with my mind quiescent?

68

When shall I attain similarity to a stone by [practising] distinctionless deep meditation (Nirvikalpa Samādhi) when, while remaining dumb by the peace of partless meditation, birds of the forest will build their leafy nests on my head?

69

Having cut the trees of ideation and the creepers of intense desire of the forest of the mind and having

reached the broad plains [of spiritual wisdom], I enjoy life happily.

70

I follow that path [of wisdom], I am alone [unencumbered with attachments], I am successful [in realizing the truth]; I am liberated, I am without desirc, I am partless and I desire nothing.

71

The states of purity, strength, reality, heartiness, truth, true knowledge, bliss, tranquillity, the rise of constant joy, fullness, true richness, the possession of effulgence and true oneness—the mendicant monk thus thinking on the true nature of his Self and realizing his true nature freefrom doubts, indeed became the one without an alternative [i.e. became one with Brahman]. 72-3

Renunciation by the sorely afflicted and the goals reached by ascetics

If one sorely afflicted recovers, renunciation in the prescribed order should be embraced. [An ascetic] shall not converse with a low caste woman, one fallen from virtue, and a woman in her courses. The ascetic has no worship of gods, nor witnessing [temple] festivals. The goal of asceticism is not one [and the same] heaven. The sorcly afflicted and the Kuṭicaka ascetics gain the worlds Bhīr and the Bhuvas respectively. The Bahū-daka ascetic [gains] heaven (Svarga). The Hamsa ascetic, the world of truth (Satyaloka). The Turīyātīta and the Avadhūta ascetics attain supreme bliss in themselves by deeply meditating on the true nature of the Self according to the maxim of the wasp.1 74

1 See fn. 2 on page 64.

224

Ascetics have no other duty than meditation on the nature of the Self

The practice of Scripture-study, which is distinct from meditation on the nature of the Self, is useless like [carrying] saffron flowers which are but a burden to a camel. The ascetic has not to practise the science of Yoga or the Sāṅkhya; he has no rituals with mantra-s and tantra-s 1 nor the study of any other religious treatise (Śāstra); if there is, it is like adorning a corpse. [Such an ascetic] is far away from spiritual lore like a cobbler. A mendicant monk shall not mention his name [in the previous stage of life]. One reaps the fruit of whatever action one does. [Hence the ascetic] shall give up all, as one would [discard] the foam on castor oil. There is no receiving of the offerings made to a deity. He shall not worship gods externally. 75

Their Conduct, etc.

Discarding everything apart from the Self, subsisting on food secured as alms from a number of houses (as a bee gathers honey), being lean and avoiding increase of fat (in his body) he shall move about. He should spend the time, [eating food] secured as alms from a number of houses using his hand or mouth as a vessel. 76

The sage established in the Self should take food which is conducive to [the realization of] the Self. Two quarters [of the belly shall be filled] with food and one quarter with water; the fourth quarter shall be left for the movement of air.

77

1 Worship with the use of mystical formulas.

He shall always live on alms; he shall never eat food secured as alms from one house alone; he should go particularly to those houses where the people are seen to be easy in mind [i.e. those who dine only after giving alms].

78

He may expect alms from four or seven houses [where the house-holders] perform religious rites; he may expect [alms] up to the period of milking cows [in the afternoon]; when he has come out [of a house without alms] he shall not go in again.

79

Fasting is preferable to [getting food from] devotees; unsolicited food is better than fasting; begging alms is preferable to unsolicited food; hence he shall subsist on alms.

80

He shall never enter a house by a side entrance at the time of begging alms; he shall not out of delusion go across a house where no harm is seen in so doing.

81

He shall not beg alms from a Vedic scholar if it is [given] without faith and devotion; he may beg alms from the house of a twice-born who has lost caste when offered with faith and devotion.

82

Alms from a number of houses without planning, that which is planned, the one unbegged, the timely one and the one offered [at the monastery] are declared to be the five kinds of alms.

83

[The first kind], alms from a number of houses, is declared to be that which is obtained from three, five or seven houses without premeditation as in the case of a honeybee [from flowers].

84

15

226

[The second kind], alms previously arranged, is that which is accepted after repeated requests made by devotees in that morning and the previous day; none the less he may subsist on that.

85

[The third kind], alms unbegged is that which is received when invited to dine by some one or other as he is ready to go abegging; this should be eaten by ascetics (desiring salvation).

86

[The fourth kind], timely alms is known as that [meal] which is offered by a Brāhmaṇa when he has approached [a house] for alms; this [food] should be eaten by ascetics.

87

Sages desiring liberation say that the [fifth kind of] alms, the food offered [to the ascetic at the monastery] is the ready meal which is brought by a Brāhmaṇa to the monastery.

88

The ascetic shall subsist on alms by begging from door to door even though it may be from the houses of outcastes. He shall not dine in one house even if [the hōst] is equal to the preceptor of the gods [in learning]. He shall subsist on alms, solicited or unsolicited.

89

Air is not spoiled by touching [any object]; fire, by the activity of burning; waters, by urine and faeces [getting into them]; and a mendicant monk by short-comings in food.

90

When [in houses] smoke has subsided, the pestle [for pounding rice] is at rest, the fire [in the oven] has gone out and the people have dined, [the ascetic] shall go for alms in the late afternoon.

91

SAMNYĀSOPANIṢAD

He shall receive alms except from the accursed, the fallen, heretics and the class of people exclusively engaged in temple worship; from all the castes, in difficult times.

92 [He shall consider] clarified butter as dog's urine, honey as spirituous liquor, oil as hog's urine, condiment as garlic, cakes made of black gram as beef, and milk as urine. Therefore the ascetic shall avoid, by putting forth all effort, clarified butter, etc.

93-4 The Yogin shall never eat food mixed with clarified butter, condiments, etc; using his hand as a vessel he shall not go about for alms more than once [a day].

95 When the ascetic seeks food with his mouth [alone] like a cow, he becomes equanimous to all; [hence] he becomes fit for immortality.

96 Things to be avoided by ascetics

[The ascetic] shall discard clarified butter like blood, taking food in one house like flesh, using cosmetics like smearing himself with unclean things, salt and molasses like an outcaste, garment like dirty dishes, oil bath like courting women, pleasant company of friends like urine, desire like beef, familiar places like the hut of an outcaste, women like snakes, gold like deadly poison, an assembly hall like a cemetery, the capital (city) like hell 1 and food in one house like the balls of rice at a funeral.

1 Kumbhīpāka is a particular hell where the wicked are baked like potter's vessels.

228

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

[Adh. 2]

of gods [by him.] Discarding the way of the world

he shall become one ‘liberated while living’. 97

Six sins of ascetics and the ascertainment of guilt in their loss of position

Stay [continuously in one place], acquisition of

[begging] bowl, collecting [of staff, etc.], gathering

disciples, sleep1 by day time (divāsvapnaḥ) and useless

talk—these are the six sins of ascetics. 98

Remaining [continuously in one place] except

during the rains is said to be a stay (āsana). Acquisi-

tion of even a single vessel like the aforesaid vessel

of gourd, etc. for daily use by an ascetic is said to be

‘acquiring vessels’ (pātralopa). Collecting (samcaya)

is declared to be the acceptance of a second staff, etc.

for future use by one who has one already. The

acceptance of disciples for personal service, pre**

dignity or fame and not out of compassion [to help

them] is said to be gathering disciples (śiṣyasamgraha).

[Vedāntic] learning is [called] day as it is illuminating;

ignorance (avidyā) is said to be night. Negligence

in learning is said to be ‘sleep during day’ (divā-

svapnaḥ). Excepting talk pertaining to the Self

and at the time of receiving alms, [bestowal of]

blessings and inquiries [concerning the Self],

any other talk is said to be useless talk (vrthā-

jalpaḥ). 99-103

1 This expression is interpreted as negligence of the study of

Vedānta.

Food from one house, pride, envy, adorning with cosmetics and flowers, chewing betel-roll, oil bath, sport, desire for enjoyment, medicine to prolong life and retard old age (rasāyana);

104

104

Boasting, abusive language, pronouncement of benediction, astrological prediction, buying and selling, ritual, debate on ritual, transgression of the Guru and scripture;

105

105

Conciliating, fighting, vehicle, cot, white garment, release of semen, sleep by day time, vessel for alms (almsbowl,) gold, gum-myrrh, weapon, seed [for cultivation or mystical letter forming the essential part of the mantra of a deity], injuring, severity, copulation, what is discarded by the yoga of renunciation, vows such as the duties of householder;

106-7

106-7

Family, etc., branch of the Veda [of his early days], all families of the father and mother, and wealth—all these are prohibited to the ascetic. If he resorts to them he falls [from the state of renunciation].

108

108

A wise man, though very old, shall not trust in women though very old. Even in very old patched garments old cloth will stick (when stitched).

109

109

Immovable property, mobile things [servants], seed [for cultivation], gold, gum-myrrh and weapon—these six an ascetic shall not take up as [though they were] urine and faeces.

110

110

An ascetic shall not take with him even a little provision for a journey except when in danger; in hard times he may receive ripe corn when cooked food is not available.

111

111

230

A mendicant monk who is not sick and a young monk shall not stay in any house [of a householder]; he shall neither accept nor give anything to another at any time.

112

With a sense of humility the ascetic shall strive for the welfare of beings; begging cooked or uncooked food [for another], he falls [from asceticisim].

113

An ascetic keen on feeding others, who accepts clothes, etc. and woollen garments or others as well as good clothes undoubtedly falls (from virtue). Resorting to the ship of non-duality he will gain liberation while living.

114-15

For restraint in speech, he shall observe silence; for control over the body, he shall fast; for control over the mind, breath control (prānāyāma) is prescribed.

116

A being is bound by [worldly] action; he gets liberated by spiritual knowledge. Hence far-seeing ascetics do not perform (worldly) action.

117

Scattered are [torn] garments on roads; alms can be had everywhere; the earth is a wide bed; how [then] are ascetics put to grief?

118

The ascetic who offers the whole world as oblation in the fire of spiritual wisdom, having [symbolically] transferred the ritual fires to his Self—that great ascetic is the [true] Agnihotrin (the consecrator and maintainer of sacred fire).

119

Advancement in the spiritual path is twofold—that of the she-cat and the she-monkey. Those who practise spiritual wisdom (jñāna) are [like] she-cats;

the secondary way of [Aparabrahman] is [like that of ]

a she-monkey.1

The ascetic shall not speak to any one unless he

is spoken to; nor to one who asks improperly. An

intelligent man though knowing, should behave in

the world as if he were dull-wittedted.

121

When confronted with a mass of sins [i.e. when

the flesh becomes weak, overruling the dictates of

wisdom] he shall practise the [meaningful] repetition

of the Tāraka (Om) twelve thousand times [a day];

for it cuts [sins].

122

The supreme Brahman shines to him in twelve

months who gently repeats the Praṇava twelve thousand

times every day.

123

Thus [ends] the Upaniṣad.

1 Those who pursuc the path of the attributeless Brahman

become one with Brahman simultaneously with that realization,

just as a cat realizes its aim by thinking for a short time. Those

who attempt to realize Brahman with attributes (Saguṇa Brahman),

do so gradually as does a monkey with its grip in the course of

its climb.

GLOSSARY

Ācamana—Ceremonial sipping of water.

Adharma—unrighteous conduct.

Adhyāya—Chapter, section.

Āgneyī—a sacrifice whose presiding deity is Agni, the god of fire.

Agnihotra—maintenance of the sacred fire and offering oblations to it.

Āhavanīya—Name (N.) of a sacred fire. See fn. 2, p. 147.

Āhitāgni—a ‘twice-born’ who maintains the sacred fire in his home perpetually.

Ajapā—See line 24, p. 134.

Ākāśa—ether, space.

Anagnika—a ‘twice-born’ who does not maintain the sacred fire (for certain reasons).

Ānandamaya—consisting of bliss.

Annamaya—consisting of or made of food.

Antaryāmin—the regulating soul, ‘the internal check’.

Apāna—one of the five life-breaths in the body which goes downwards.

Aptoryāma—N. of a sacrifice, the last part of the Jyotiṣṭoma sacrifice.

Ardhamātrā—the half-syllable forming part of Om.

Āruṇi—N. of a sage. See fn. 3, p. 173.

Ārya—a respectable person.

Āśrama—a stage or period of the (religious) life of a ‘twice-born.’

Aṣṭaśrāddha—eight commemorative religious ceremonies.

Aśvamedha—a | horse-sacrifice, implying that the king who performs it is a conqueror and king of kings.

Atharvaveda—the last of the four Veda-s or Hindu scripture.

Ativarṇāśramin—one beyond castes and orders.

Atri—N. of a sage celebrated in the Rāmāyaṇa.

234

Ātura-samnyāsa—a kind of renunciation embraced by one who is sick and grown hopeless of life.

Avadhūta—an ascetic who has reached the highest stage in renunciation. See fn. 6, p. 37.

Avidyā—cosmic and individual ignorance.

Avimukta—Brahman, in the form of Lord Siva; the deity in the temple at Varanasi.

Bahūdaka—a particular kind of ascetic. See fn. 2, p. 36.

Bharadvāja—N. of a sage. See fn. 2, p. 172.

Bindu—Śakti (Power) ready to create.

Brāhma—a kind of celibate student. See fn. 1, p. 42.

Brahmā—the first aspect of the Hindu Trinity.

Brahmacārin—a celibate student studying scripture.

Brahmacarya—the stage of a celibate student studying the scripture.

Brahman—the supreme Being.

Brahmanāla—a sacred spot in Varanasi.

Brahmāsūtra—sacred thread worn by the ‘twice-borns’.

Brahmavidyā—the philosophical part of the Veda, the Upaniṣad-s.

Branches of the Veda—See fn. 2, p. 51.

Bṛhaspati—N. of the preceptor of the gods.

Buddhi—intelligence.

Caitanya—consciousness.

Cāndrāyaṇa—a kind of religious observance. See fn. 1, p. 173.

Cāturmāsya—religious practices during the four months of the rainy season.

Dakṣiṇa—N. of a sacred fire. See fn. 2, p. 147.

Daṇḍa—a stick, restraint. See fn. 1, p. 54.

Dattātreya—N. of a great sage. See fn. 2, p. 174.

Debts, three—see fn. 2, p. 50.

Dehavāsanā—the inborn tendency to regard the body highly.

Dharma—righteousness.

Dhyānayoga—profound meditation.

Disciplines, four—See fn. 4, p. 42.

GLOSSARY

Dvija—‘twice-born’; a person of the first three castes.

Ekadanḍin—one possessing a single staff among ascetics.

Eṣaṇā—primary desire. See fn. 1, p. 153.

Gārhapatya—N. of a sacred fire. See fn. 2, p. 147.

Gautama—N. of a sage. See fn. 1, p. 172.

Gāyatra—a kind of celibate student. See fn. 1, p. 42.

Gāyatrī—a very sacred verse repeated by every ‘twice-born’ during Saṃdhyā worship.

Gomukha—an ascetic who receives food into the mouth, like a cow.

Guru—spiritual preceptor.

Haṃsa—a particular kind of ascetic. See fn. 3, p. 36; the supreme Being in the form of the individual self.

Haradvija—an ardent worshipper of Śiva; a subcaste among Śaiva-s.

Hārīta—N. of a sage. See fn. 5, p. 174.

Human infirmities—See fn. 1, p. 62.

Ikṣvāku—an ancestor of Śrī Rāma.

Īśvara—God (possessed of attributes).

Jadabharata—N. of a sage. See fn. 1, p. 174.

Jāgarata—waking state.

Janaka—a king of the Vidcha country, famous as a saint-philosopher.

Jīva—the individual self.

Jīvanmukta—one who is liberated while living.

Jñāna—spiritual wisdom.

Kaivalya—final beatitude.

Kālī—a particular display of Power (Śakti).

Kālasūtra—N. of a hell.

Karman—action, the result of action. See fn. 2, p. 102.

Khaṇḍatuṇḍa—a piece of cloth covering the mouth.

Khecarī-mudrā—See line 25, p. 132.

Kinnara—a kind of demi-god.

Kośa—sheath. See fn. 1, p. 188.

Kṛcchra-prāyaścitta—a difficult expiatory penance.

236

Krṣṇa-yajurveda—the Taittirīya or black Yajurveda.

Kuṇḍalinī—N. of an important Nāḍī in yoga.

Kurukṣetra—celebrated holy place near Delhi.

Kuṭṭika—a particular class of ascetics. See fn. 1, p. 36.

Lokavāsanā—the inborn tendency to enjoy worldly pleasures.

Madhyamā—a mystic aspect of speech.

Mahāpuruṣa—a great man.

Mahāvākya—a great scriptural text, such as ‘That Thou Art’.

Mahāvīcī—N. of a hell.

Mahāvrata—a great religious observance.

Manomaya—consisting of the mind.

Mantra—a Vedic prayer or incantation (addressed to any deity).

Manusmṛti—the earliest available book on Hindu law.

Maṭha—monastery.

Māyā—cosmic illusion.

Mental states, four—mind (manas), intelligence (buddhi), ego (ahaṅkāra), and mind-stuff (citta).

Meru—a fabulous mountain, round which all the planets are said to revolve.

Mīmāṃsaka—a follower of the Mīmāṃsa system of Indian philosophy.

Nāda—sound; the most subtle aspect of śabda; the union and mutual relation of Śiva and Śakti.

Nāḍī—a tubular organ of the body, important in yoga.

Naimiśa N. of a sacred forest, near the Gomatī river.

Naiṣṭhika—a kind of celibate student. See fn. 1, p. 42.

Nārada—N. of a divine sage, a mind-born son of Brahmā.

Narak—N. of a demon killed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Nārāyaṇa—a name of Lord Viṣṇu.

Niḥśvadhākāra—one free from the duty of honouring the manes.

Nirguṇabrahman—Brahman (God) without attributes.

Nirmama—one free from ‘mine-ness.’

Nirvāṇa—final emancipation.

GLOSSARY

Nirvikalpa-samādhi—an exclusive concentration upon one entity without even self-consciousness.

Niyama—lesser vow. See fn. 1-2, p. 98.

Om—the sacred syllable; a mystic monosyllable, the object of the most profound religious meditation.

Organs of perception—See fn. 1, p. 83.

Paramahaṃsa—a particular kind of ascetic. See fn. 4, pp. 36-7.

Paramātman—the supreme Being.

Parameṣṭhin—an epithet of Brahmā.

Parivrājaka—a wandering mendicant monk.

Paśyantī—a mystic aspect of speech.

Pavitra—ritual ring made of sacred grass.

Pitṛyajña—daily offerings made to deceased ancestors.

Pradhāna—See fn. 3, p. 121.

Praisa-mantra-s—mantra-s recited at the time of bidding farewell to a renouncer of worldly life.

Prajāpati—Brahmā, the god of creation.

Prājāpatya—a kind of celibate student. See fn. 1, p. 42; a ceremony in which the whole of one’s property is given away before embracing renunciation.

Prajñāna—See fn.1, p. 125.

Prakṛti—Nature, the original source of the material world.

Prāṇa—the vital breath.

Prāṇamaya—consisting of the vital breath.

Praṇava—the sacred syllable Om.

Prāṇāyāma—regulation of breath.

Prārabdha-karman—deeds done in the past whose consequences have begun to operate in the present life. See karman, fn. 2, p. 102.

Puṇya—the fruition of one’s good deeds.

Puruṣa—the supreme Being.

Puruṣasūkta—a famous hymn of the Ṛgveda.

Rajas—the quality of energy.

Rasāyana—medicine to prolong life and retard old age.

238

Raurava—N. of a dreadful hell.

Sabhya—N. of a sacred fire. See fn. 2, p. 147.

Sādhana—discipline necessary for spiritual life. See fn. 4, p. 42.

Saguṇabraḥman—Braḥman (God) possessed of attributes.

Sahasrārakaṛa—a kind of cavity at the top of the head resembling a lotus reversed (and said to be the seat of the soul).

Śākta—a worshipper of Śakti, the female personification of divine energy.

Śakti—See Śākta.

Salvation, three stages of—See fn. 3, p. 122.

Samādhi—deep abstract meditation.

Samaṣṭi—See fn. 1, p. 147.

Sāmaveda—the third of the four Veda-s.

Saṃdhyā—twilight; worship during morning, noon and evening.

Saṃnyāsa—complete renunciation of the world and its possessions and attachments.

Saṃvartaka—N. of a sage. See fn. 2, p. 173.

Śāstra—a religious or sacred treatise.

Śāstra-vāsanā—the inborn tendency to study the Śāstra-s.

Ṣatarudrīya—the famous hymn in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā on Rudra. See fn. 1, p. 30.

Sattva—the quality of goodness.

Satyaloka—the world of the god Brahmā.

Śāṭyāyana—N. of a celebrated sage.

Saunaka—a famous sage, author of various Vedic compositions.

Seven gates (of the body)—See fn. 2, p. 53.

Siddhānta—the established conclusion (of any question).

Śikhā—tuft of hair.

Śiva—the third aspect of the Hindu Trinity.

States, six—See fn. 1, p. 101.

Śuklayajurveda—white Yajurveda, the Vājasaneyi saṃhitā.

Suṣumnā—the name of an important Nāḍī in yoga.

Suṣupti—deep sleep.

Sūtra—thread, an aphorism.

GLOSSARY

Svadhā—See fn. 2, p. 13.

GLOSSARY

Svāhā—See fn. 1, p. 13.

GLOSSARY

Svarga—heaven of varying enjoyments with a time limit.

GLOSSARY

Svapna—dreaming state.

GLOSSARY

Śvetaketu—N. of a sage. See fn. 4, p. 173.

GLOSSARY

Tamas—the quality of inertia.

GLOSSARY

Tāramantra—the mantra that leads to emancipation, Om.

GLOSSARY

Three bodies—See fn. 1, p. 64.

GLOSSARY

Tilakapunḍra—the mark of sandal on the forehead.

GLOSSARY

Traidhātavīya—N. of a ceremony by which one renouncing the world gets added strength.

GLOSSARY

Tridaṇḍin—an ascetic who has a threefold staff; one who observes the three disciplines. See fn. 1, p. 54.

GLOSSARY

Tripunḍra—the mark of three horizontal lines of holy ash on the forehead.

GLOSSARY

Turya—the fourth state, beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping.

GLOSSARY

Turyātīta—the state beyond the fourth (i.e. final beatitude); a particular kind of ascetic. See fn. 5, p. 37.

GLOSSARY

‘Twice-born ’—a person belonging to the first three castes. He is said to have a second birth when he is invested with the sacred thread, enabling him to study the Veda-s.

GLOSSARY

Tyāga—giving up, renouncing.

GLOSSARY

Unmani-avasthā—See line 6, p. 136.

GLOSSARY

Upadeśa—instruction, chapter, section.

GLOSSARY

Upaniṣad—name of certain mystical writings attached to the Veda-s.

GLOSSARY

Ūrdhvapuṇḍra—the perpendicular mark of sandal on the forehead.

GLOSSARY

Utsannāgni—a householder who has discontinued maintaining the sacred fire at the death of his wife.

GLOSSARY

Vaikhānasa—An anchorite.

GLOSSARY

Vaiśvānara—a particular Agni, the god of fire.

GLOSSARY

Vajra—the thunderbolt weapon of Indra, the king of gods.

GLOSSARY

Vāmadeva—N. of a sage. See fn. 4, p. 174.

240

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SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

SAMNYĀSA UPANIṢAD-S

Vānaprastha—a person who resides in a penance-forest before embracing renunciation.

Varṇa—caste, esp. applied to the four principal castes Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya and Śūdra.

Vāsanā—sub-conscious impression left on the mind by past good and bad actions.

Vaṣaṭkāra—See fn. 1, p. 13.

Vasiṣṭha—N. of a sage. See fn. 4, p. 172.

Vāsudeva—Krṣṇa, an incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu.

Vedānta—the final portion of the Veda, the Upaniṣad-s.

Videha—N. of a kingdom in the present Bihar State; the ancient Mithilā.

Videhamukti—liberation in the disembodied state.

Vijñānamaya—consisting of intelligence or wisdom.

Virāj—N. of ‘intellect’ considered as ruling over the aggregate of bodies.

Virajā—a ceremony by which one gets rid of all impurities.

Viṣṇu—the second aspect of the Hindu Trinity.

Vividiṣā-saṃnyāsin—a recluse who has need for further study of the Vedānta.

Vrātya—a ‘twice-born’ who loses caste due to non-performance of the principal purificatory rites.

Vṛtra—a demon killed by Indra, the king of gods.

Vyaṣṭi—See fn. 1, p. 147.

Wasp, maxim of the—See fn. 2, p. 64.

Yajña—any devotional act; sacrifice.

Yājñavalkya—N. of a sage. See fn. 3, p. 172.

Yajñopavīta—sacred thread worn by the ‘twice-borns.’

Yakṣa—a class of semi-divine beings.

Yama—basic moral duty; restraint. See fn. 1–2, p. 98.

Yoga—the system of philosophy established by Patañjali.

Yoga, stages of —See fn. 1, p. 145.

Yogapaṭṭa—See line 15, p. 132.

Yogin—one who practises the discipline of yoga.