1. Upanishads Valerie Roebuck J. Penguin.epub

PENGUIN

CLASSICS

THE UPANIṢADS

VALERIE J. ROEBUCK was born in Hertfordshire in 1950. She studied

at the University of Cambridge, where she was awarded a BA (Hons.)

in Oriental Studies, specializing in Sanskrit and other Indian

languages, and a Ph.D. for a thesis on South Indian Bronzes. A

freelance scholar and lecturer, she is an Honorary Research Fellow of

the University of Manchester. Dr Roebuck has a broad interest in

Indian language, culture and religion. She is a Buddhist, practising

and teaching meditation in the Samatha tradition, and is involved in

interfaith work in Manchester. Her previous publications include The

Circle of Stars: An Introduction to Indian Astrology (Element Books,

1992).

The

Upaniṣads

Translated

and

edited

by

VALERIE

J.

ROEBUCK

PENGUIN

BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published by Penguin Books India 2000

This revised edition published 2003

5

Copyright © Valerie J. Roebuck, 2003

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the

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978-0-14-193801-1

Contents

Acknowledgements

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Abbreviations

Introduction

Bibliography

About the Translation

GĀYATRĪ MANTRA

ĪŚĀVĀSYA OR ĪŚĀ UPANIṢAD

'Pervaded by the Lord'

BṚHADĀRAṆYAKA UPANIṢAD

The Great Forest Teaching

CHĀNDOGYA UPANIṢAD

The Chanters' Teaching

TAITTIRĪYA UPANIṢAD

The Taittirīyas' Teaching

AITAREYA UPANIṢAD

Aitareya's Teaching

KAUṢĪTAKĪ UPANIṢAD

Kauṣītaki's Teaching

KENA UPANIṢAD

'By Whom?'

KAṬHA UPANIṢAD

The Kaṭhas' Teaching

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANIṢAD

śvetāśvatara's Teaching

MUNḌAKA UPANIṢAD

The Renouncers' Teaching

PRAŚNA UPANIṢAD

The Teaching in Questions

MĀNḌŪKYA UPANIṢAD

The Māṇūkās' Teaching

MAITRĪ UPANIṢAD

Maitri's Teaching

Notes

Glossary

Index

Acknowledgements

It would be impossible to mention by name all the friends and colleagues who have helped me in their various ways during this project. In the course of it I have been lucky enough to experience the help, encouragement and expertise of many fine scholars in the fields of Indian Studies and Comparative Religion, notably Drs F. R. and B. Allchin, Mr L. S. Cousins, Dr Rupert Gethin, Professor J. R. Hinnells, Dr Jacqueline Suthren Hirst, Mr David Melling, Dr John D. Smith and Dr Karel Werner. Dr Brian Gates of the University College of S. Martin, Lancaster, helped to set the whole process in motion when he arranged a year’s teaching fellowship for me to ‘do some work on the Ḅṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad’. Members of Liverpool Hope University College gave encouragement as the project grew, and students there and elsewhere helped me to test the drafts of the translations, giving useful comments on what would and would not work for readers.

The original version of this translation was commissioned by Penguin India, and the patience, understanding and sensitivity of staff there, and particularly of my editor, Kamini Mahadevan, enabled me to bring it to completion. The present version, for Penguin Classics, required a certain amount of rewriting and adaptation, in which I was grateful for the help and encouragement of Hilary Laurie and staff at Penguin UK.

At times the authors of the Upanisads seem to expect their readers to be familiar with every imaginable branch of knowledge, like the sage Nārada in the Chāndogya, and my friends must have become used to receiving slightly strange enquiries about their own areas of expertise. Particular thanks are due to Mrs Wendy Hodkinson (archery), Dr Michael Houndsome (natural history) and Dr Francis Beresford (medicine). Thanks, too, to Mr Roberto Raso, Mr Taig McNab and Mr Rob Adkins for help with computer matters, and especially to Miss Erica Adkins, who lent me her computer when mine was stolen. Thanks also to the many scholars who have responded to my enquiries on the Internet. Needless to say, I take full responsibility for the use I have made of knowledge received from all these sources.

Particular thanks to the Wilmslow Vedānta Group, for showing what it means to practise the teachings of the Upaniṣads in daily life: above all to the late and much missed Swami Turiyānanda Saraswati, for her

unfailing kindness and encouragement.

Special thanks, of course, to my dear husband, Peter, without whom probably none of this would have happened.

Finally, I wish to dedicate this book to my parents.

Valerie J. Roebuck

Manchester, June 2003

Sanskrit Pronunciation

The following are the closest approximations in Received Standard English to the sounds of the Sanskrit words in this translation. The Roman script has fewer letters than Devanagari and other scripts used for writing Sanskrit, so diacritic marks and combinations of letters have to be used to represent some of the sounds.

VOWELS

A as in cup, not as in cap.

Ā as in calm.

I as in pibardck.

Ī as in peak.

U as in took.

Ū as in tool.

ṛ is 'vocalic r' − r as a vowel. It bears the same relation to consonant r as i does to y. At the period of the Upaniṣads it was probably pronounced as a trilled sound, like an r continued. Today, however, it is generally pronounced as a short ri sound, as in Kṛṣṇa ('Krishna'), ṛṣi ('Rishi').

ḷ, 'vocalic l' − l as a vowel − in Upaniṣadic times was probably pronounced as in bottle, but today it is generally pronounced like a short 'Iri'. It occurs only in the verb kḷp-, 'to shape', and its derivatives − see Chāndogya VII.4 and notes.

E as in bake.

Ai as in pīke.

O as in boat.

Au as in bout.

A, i, u, ṛ, ḷ are short vowels; ā, ī, ū, e, ai, o, au are long.

CONSONANTS

K, g, c, j, ṭ, ḍ, t, d, p, b are unaspirated sounds: practically no breath escapes when they are pronounced, so they sound softer than their English equivalents. Kh, gh, ch, jh, ṭh, ḍh, th, dh, ph, bh are aspirated: there is a noticeable escape of air, like an h, when they are

pronounced. Kh, gh etc. are written with single characters in the

Indian scripts, and count as single sounds in pronunciation. Double

consonants, such as kka, kkha etc., are fully pronounced (as in Italian).

C as in chat, not as in cat (which would be spelled with a k in this

system).

J as in lodge, not as in mirage.

Kh as in blockhead, not as in loch.

Gh as in egghead.

Ch as in chat, but with a more marked escape of breath.

Jh as in bridgehead.

Ph as in cuphook, not as in physics.

Bh as in abhor.

There are two groups of T and D sounds. T and d are true dentals,

pronounced with the tongue on the teeth, as in French. ṭ and ḍ are

those distinctively Indian sounds, the retroflex consonants. In

pronouncing them, the tongue starts from a position bent back against

the roof of the mouth, and is brought slightly forward during speech,

much as for r.

There is a similar relationship between dental n and retroflex ṅ, and

between dental s (like English s) and retroflex ṣ (a soft sh sound). In

Vedic Sanskrit there is also a retroflex consonant ḷ, which occurs in

this book only in the name Iḷā. (Although it is transliterated with the

same symbol as the vowel ḷ, both are so rare that there is no

possibility of confusion.)

To the Indian hearer, the T, D and N sounds of English tend to

sound more like retroflexes than dentals, so that in Indian scripts

‘London’ is spelled laṅḍan.

Th, dh, ṭh, ḍh are aspirated versions of the T and D sounds, as in

pothook and bloodhound, not as in theme or this.

Ś is a palatal sh sound, made with the tongue in the same place as

for j, as in pushchair.

N usually comes before c, ch, j or jh, and sounds as in pinch, angel:

on its own it sounds as in Espana.

Jn, as in Yājñavalkya, is pronounced rather like ‘dny’, or in some

parts of India like ‘gy’.

ṅ usually comes before k, kh, g or gh: it is the sound in pink, angle,

king.

Ṛ nasalizes the preceding vowel, rather like the n in French bon.

V sounds somewhere between v and w, on its own sounding more

like v, but after another consonant more like w.

STRESS ON WORDS

The stress on words in Sanskrit is determined by long and short syllables. For this purpose, a syllable containing a long vowel, or any vowel which is followed by more than one consonant, is long. A syllable containing a short vowel followed by a single consonant is short.

In a two-syllable word, the stress is always on the first syllable: Yama, dharma, Juhū.

In a three-syllable word, if the last syllable but one is long, it is stressed (Maitreyī). If not, then the first syllable is stressed, regardless of length: Pārvatī, Janaka, Asura.

In words of four syllables or more, if the second-to-last syllable is long, it is stressed (Yājnavalkya). If not, but if the third-to-last syllable is long, that syllable is stressed (Viśvāvasu, Bṛhaspati, Bṛhadāraṇyaka). If that, too, is short, the fourth-to-last syllable is stressed, regardless of its length (Ānumati, Āṅgirasa). So ‘Upaniṣad’ should strictly be stressed on the first syllable, though among English speakers it has become conventional for it to be stressed on the second. The stress on words in Sanskrit is not quite as heavy as that in English.

Abbreviations

AA Aitareya Āraṇyaka

AB Aitareya Brāhmaṇa

AG Āścute;valāyana Grhyasūtra

AU Aitareya Upaniṣad

AV Atharvaveda

BhG Bhagavadgītā

BU Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad

CU Chāndogya Upaniṣad

GM Gāyatrī (Sāvitrī) Mantra

IU Īścute;āvāsya Upaniṣad

JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society

JU Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa

JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

JU Jaiminīya Upaniṣad (not in this collection)

KauU Kauṣītakī Upaniṣad

Kena Kena Upaniṣad

Kaṭha Kaṭha Upaniṣad

ManU Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad

MaiU Maitrī Upaniṣad

Mbh Mahābhārata

MDh Mānava Dharmaścute;āstra

MG Mānava Grhyasūtra

MuU Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad

PG Pāraskara Grhyasūtra

PU Praścute;na Upaniṣad

RV Rgveda

SA Sāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka

SBr ścute;atapatha Brāhmaṇa

SG

ścute;āñkhāyana Gṛhyasūtra

SM

Southern recension of Maitrī Upaniṣad

SU

ścute;vetāścute;vatara Upaniṣad

SV

Sāmaveda

TA

Taittirīya Āraṇyaka

TB

Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa

TS

Taittirīya Saṁhitā (Yajurveda)

TU

Taittirīya Upaniṣad

V

Vulgate recension of Maitrī Upaniṣad

VS

Vājasaneya Saṁhitā (Yajurveda)

WZKS

Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Sudasiens

Introduction

The Upaniṣads are among the world’s most influential creative works. Not only did they play a large part in shaping Hinduism as it is today, but the debates that they helped to initiate also influenced, either directly or by reaction, the development of the other South Asian religious traditions, including Buddhism. In the last two centuries they have also begun to influence religious and philosophical thought outside Asian cultural areas. So it is probably no exaggeration to say that at least half the people in the world have been affected in some way by the ideas of the Upaniṣads.

The word ‘Upaniṣad’, however we derive it,1 implies an esoteric teaching, concerned not with the outward forms of religion but with the inner meaning. Typically, an Upaniṣad recounts one or more sessions of teaching, often setting each within the story of how it came to be taught. A renowned spiritual teacher is about to leave the household life to live as a renunciant in the forest: one of his wives refuses her share of his wealth, and asks for knowledge instead. A serious young boy, taking his angry father at his word, goes to the house of Death: while there, he takes the opportunity to question the god about the afterlife. A king sends his chamberlain to look for a great teacher of whom he has heard: he finds a rude and uncouth man, sitting scratching himself under a cart. The knowledge that is sought in these encounters is aimed not at material success or even intellectual satisfaction, but at enabling the questioner to become free of worldly suffering and limitations: ‘to attain fearlessness’, ‘to cross beyond sorrow’, ‘to dig up the supreme treasure’.

There are several hundred works that have the status of Upaniṣads for at least some groups of Hindus. Many of these are late texts, expounding specialized ways of practice such as Yoga or Tantra, or teaching devotion to one great god or goddess. In fact the most famous Hindu text of all, the Bhagavadgītā, is a devotional Upaniṣad of this kind, embedded within the great epic of the Mahābhārata. It even keeps the traditional format, with the divine charioteer Krṣṇa as the teacher and the warrior prince Arjuna as the seeker for knowledge.

It follows that any selection of Upaniṣads like the present one must be to some extent arbitrary. However there are thirteen texts, often

called the ‘Principal Upaniṣads’, which would be recognized by almost

all Hindus as forming the foundation of their philosophy, and it is

these which are translated in this book. Eleven are those on which the

great philosopher Śaṅkara wrote commentaries in the eighth to ninth

century CE,2 confirming their canonical status for later generations. In

addition to these, there are several others to which Śaṅkara made

reference, though he did not write commentaries on them: one of

these is the Kauṣītakī, which is now universally accepted among the

‘Principal’ group.3 Its world-view and language seem very close to

those of the early Upaniṣads, particularly the Chāndogya and the

Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

The Maitrī or Maitrāyaṇī is sometimes included among the

‘Principal Upaniṣads’, and sometimes not. Patrick Olivelle’s recent

translation (Olivelle 1996b) omits it. As we have it, it seems to be

somewhat later than the other Upaniṣads in this collection. However,

it contains a wealth of material of significance for anyone interested in

the development of Hinduism or of meditation, and I felt its inclusion

here was necessary. Along with the Māṇḍūkya, it helps to show some of

the directions in which the Upaniṣadic tradition was taken in later

times. While the Māṇḍūkya lays stress on knowledge, the Maitrī is

principally concerned with practice. Both give great importance to the

symbolism of the syllable OM.4

THE BACKGROUND

The Upaniṣads form part of the tradition of religious literature5 that is

known as the Veda, literally ‘knowledge’. This tradition begins with

the four Saṅhitās or ‘Collections’, themselves more frequently known

as ‘the Vedas’: the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda and Atharvaveda.

Each Saṅhitā is a collection of metrical prayers and hymns for use in

sacred ritual, associated with a particular class of priests who

specialized in it and handed it down within their families.6 Of the

four, the ṛgveda is probably the earliest.7 It consists of hymns (ṛc) for

use in the elaborate sacrifice (yajña) which was at the heart of Vedic

religion. The Yajurveda consists of ritual formulae (yajus) to be

uttered during the activities of the sacrifice, while the Sāmaveda

consists of hymns (sāman) arranged for chanting. Both the Yajurveda

and the Sāmaveda share a large part of their content with the ṛgveda,

adapted for the different purposes of the priests who used them.

The ṛgveda is performed in the main as simple syllabic chant, on a

narrow range of tones which follow the accents marked in its text. The

Yajurveda follows a similar system, though the tones used for each

accent are not the same as those for the ṛgveda. But the Sāmaveda is

sung in an elaborately ornamented style, in which one syllable may be

extended and sung over a number of notes.8

The Atharvaveda stands a little apart from the other three. The

early Upaniṣads generally group the ṛg-, Yajur- and Sāmavedas

together,9 and treat the Atharvaveda as something slightly

separate.10 Subsequently, the Atharvaveda comes to be regarded as a

fourth Veda, on a level with the other three. Its verses (called

atharvan, like the priests who used them) often resemble magical

spells, used to cast out misfortunes, gain success in love, and so on.

They are generally concerned with the triumphs and problems of the

individual, rather than with public sacrifices. But the distinction is by

no means always a sharp one. The three earlier Vedas contain

personal, as well as public, material, and the Atharvaveda contains

many hymns that would not be out of place in the other Saṁhitās.

The basis of Vedic religion was the sacrifice, which no doubt began

as a way of nourishing and placating the gods, but expanded to

become something of huge symbolic complexity, even to being seen as

a means of keeping the cosmos in existence. The sacrificial enclosure

and the altar within it, like the temple in later Hinduism, were

interpreted as a kind of maṇḍala or diagram of the universe. Each part

of it, every action performed within it, and all the equipment and

offerings took on multiple layers of significance, of which the skilled

priest was expected to be aware as he carried out his duties.

In ancient times, at least, the sacrifice involved the ritual slaughter

of animals. (Modern revivals, like that documented by Frits Staal, use

symbolic replacements.)11 The supreme examples of the sacrifice

were elaborate rituals sponsored by kings, such as the horse

sacrifice.12 It is perhaps debatable how often such costly and time-

consuming rituals were carried out in full; however, their structure

served as the pattern on which less ambitious kinds of ritual were

based.

Once the ritual had taken on this complex symbolic power, a new

kind of literature was required to provide instruction in it. This was

the role of the Brāhmaṇas,13 liturgical commentaries on the sacrifice

for use by the priests, which formed the second stratum of the Vedic

literature. The next stage was that of the Āraṇyakas, which overlap to

some extent with the Brāhmaṇas, but are concerned with the inner

symbolism of the rituals rather than their external forms. Often they

take one of the rituals of the sacrifice and turn it into a form of inner

contemplation.

The Vedas, Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas, together with the principal

Upaniṣads, are regarded by Hindus as Śruti – ‘that which is heard’,

revelation - as distinct from smṛti - 'that which is remembered', epics,

legends, law books, etc. Each SaṚhitā has come down to us in various

lineages (Śākhās, 'branches'), each of which may have its own

associated Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas and Upaniṣads. The Yajurveda

exists in two recensions, the 'Black' (kṛṣṇa) and 'White' (Śukla)

versions, each with its own Śākhās: in the 'Black' tradition, the verses

of the SaṚhitā are interspersed with the Brāhmaṇa material, while in

the 'White' they are kept separate. The diagram (overleaf) shows the

lineages of the Upaniṣads which are translated in this book.

In some cases, the Upaniṣads have a genuine and early connection

with the Vedas to which they are attached. For example the

Bṛhadāraṇyaka is closely related to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa of the

Yajurveda, and is itself, as its name implies, regarded as an Āraṇyaka

as well as an Upaniṣad. The first chapter of Book I of this Upaniṣad,

internalizing the symbolism of the horse sacrifice, is typical of the

Āraṇyakas. The Chāndogya, which is allotted to the Sāmaveda,

addresses the concerns of the priests who were responsible for the

chanting that accompanied the sacrifice. Book II of the Chāndogya, for

example, is devoted to the symbolism of different elements of the

chant. But in the case of the later Upaniṣads the attributions to

particular Vedas seem to spring mainly from a desire to fit them into

the pattern. In general, when there was no clear reason to attach them

to another SaṚhitā, they seem to have been allotted to the

Atharvaveda.14

In certain respects the Upaniṣads mark the changing point between

the religion of the Vedas, now generally called 'Brahmanism', and

Hinduism as it later developed. Although Hindus regard the whole

Vedic literature as the foundation of their tradition, in practice the

Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas, and even most of the hymns of the

SaṚhitā, are now the province of specialists. But the Upaniṣads are

still loved, studied and treated as guides to life by Hindus today, more

perhaps than any text apart from the Bhagavadgītā.

In certain respects the Upaniṣads anticipate developments that

remain important to the present day. They include what are thought

to be the earliest mentions of religious practices, such as Bhakti

(devotional worship); philosophical schools, such as Sāṅkhya and

Vedānta; and even deities, such as the goddess Umā and a teacher

called Kṛṣṇa son of Devakī.15 In other respects they look back to an

older way of life, reflecting a society that is more socially fluid than

that described in later texts, such as the law books.

According to the formulations of classical Hinduism, knowledge of

the Vedic literature was restricted to men of the upper three classes

(varṇas) who had become 'twice-born' by undergoing initiation with

the sacred thread. But in the Upaniṣads we meet women who can

debate Śruti as equals with men. In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad,

Yājñavalkya’s wife Maitreyī is called a ‘scholar of sacred lore’,16 and

her interest is treated as entirely admirable. In the great debate of

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Book III, Gārgī Vācaknavī disputes on equal terms

with the male scholars. Not only does she regard herself as the equal

of anyone there except Yājñavalkya himself (III.8.1, 12), but the other

Brāhmaṇas17 seem to take her at her own estimation. (In view of

what subsequently happens to Vidagdha Śākalya,18 I do not think we

can take Yājñavalkya’s warning about ‘asking too many questions’ (BU

III. 6.1) as being patronizing.)

Lineages of the Principal Upaniṣads

We also find men of doubtful social background giving or receiving

teaching. A good example is the story of Satyakāma Jābāla in

Chāndogya IV.4. Later commentators have great difficulty with this

story, and sometimes go to considerable lengths to explain away the

clear meaning: that Satyakāma’s parents either were not married or at

most had some very informal contract.19 Yet such explanations seem

to take away from the impact of the story, with its clear message

about the overriding importance of truthfulness.

One of the most striking developments in the Upaniṣads is in the

attitude to family life and the renunciation of it. The Vedas take for

granted the overwhelming importance of the desire, even the duty, of

a man to marry and leave sons to carry on his family traditions. In the

early Upaniṣads, too, this theme is strongly represented: in the

Bṛhadāraṇyaka, for example, we find many passages that are

concerned with the traditional obligation for a man to leave a son

behind him (1.5.16–17) and the sexual rituals thought to ensure that

this would happen (VI.4). But there are other passages, particularly

those concerned with the teaching of the sage Yājñavalkya, where we

find approval of the urge to renounce such worldly needs:

Desiring it [brahman, the supreme reality] as their world,

renouncers wander. Knowing it, the ancients did not desire

offspring, for they thought, ‘What is offspring to us, when the self

is our world?’ Leaving behind desires for sons, desires for wealth and desires for worlds, they lived on alms. For desire for sons is desire for wealth, and desire for wealth is desire for worlds: both are merely desires.20

Such teachings are associated with Śramaṇas,21 ascetics who wandered from place to place in search of truth, studying with a teacher, or challenging rivals to debate. Śramaṇas, like Indian sādhus today, seem to have followed a variety of practices, some wearing distinctive robes or animal skins, others going naked; some with shaven heads, others with long matted locks.22

Both Buddhism and Jainism originated in Śramaṇa circles, as did a number of other movements that have not survived to the present, such as that of the Ājīvikas. These movements all rejected the authority of the Vedas - one of the reasons why they are regarded as religions in their own right, and not as branches of Hinduism - though their influence also feed back into Hinduism as it developed, particularly in such matters as the increasing emphasis on non-violence (ahiṁsā) and the rejection of animal sacrifice. But there were others among the Śramaṇas who continued to accept the authority of the Vedas, while interpreting them in new ways. Their influence can be strongly seen in the Upaniṣads, and in the subsequent development of Hinduism.

Śramaṇas did not have to come from the Brāhmaṇa class, and might bring with them ideas that came from outside the Brahmanical tradition. It has often been noted that both the Buddha and Mahāvīra, the founder of Jainism, were born in the Kṣatriya, not the Brāhmaṇa, varṇa, and that their followers came from every level of society. But we see similar tendencies in the Upaniṣads. In Bṛhadāraṇyaka VI.2.8 and Chāndogya V.3.7, a Ksatriya, Pravāhaṇa Jaivali, claims knowledge about the human destiny after death that has not previously been known to Brāhmaṇas.

The tension between the urge to live in society and carry on one’s family and the urge to renounce worldly life in a whole-hearted search for liberation has remained a live and creative one for Hindus to the present day. Often a solution was sought by assigning different priorities to different times of life. It was recommended that a man should first marry and father a family, and that only after fulfilling these duties should be abandon the household life and live as a renunciant.

This solution was eventually formalized into the system of four āśramas or stages of life. The āśramas, in their fullest form, were offered as the ideal plan for the life of a Brāhmaṇa man, though there were comparable structures for men of the other ‘twice-born’ classes.

According to this system, when he was old enough to go to a teacher's house, a boy was expected to become a celibate student (brahmacārin).

At the end of his studies he was expected to marry and become a householder (grhastha).

When his children had grown up and had children of their own, he should leave the household life and become a forest-dwelling ascetic (vanaprastha).

At the end of his life he should give up all worldly things to become a homeless renunciant (sannyāsin).

Sometimes the four āśramas were associated with the four parts of Śruti: it was said that the brahmacārin should study one or more of the SaRhitās, the grhastha the Brāhmaṇas, the vanaprastha the Āraṇyakas, and the sannyāsin the Upaniṣads.

In the Upaniṣads themselves, although there are clear references to different stages of life, there is no explicit statement of the āśrama system in its classical form.

It is arguable how far the āśrama scheme was ever actually practised: certainly there seems no evidence that any of the groups of sacred texts were restricted to one particular āśrama.

In fact it was early recognized that not all the details of it were practicable in the present age of the world.23

And there seem always to have been a number of men, and even a few women, who left conventions behind and became ascetics at any time of life.

It should not be forgotten, either, that there were great scholars and teachers who contemplated higher realities while living the household life.

They included royal sages such as Janaka and AjātaŚatru, and Brāhmaṇa sages who achieved renown and wealth as sacrificing priests.

The triumphs of Yājñavalkya described in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad all take place while he is living in a family with his two wives, and winning wealth in cattle that would have made him a millionaire in modern terms.

He is clearly believed to have achieved liberation while in the household state.

In many cases, however, we are told next to nothing about the background of the characters.

We simply do not know, for example, whether Gārgī Vācaknavī was a Śramaṇī or a married woman.

The trend in recent research on the Upaniṣads has been to rediscover their connection with the earlier parts of Vedic literature.

This is important, but it should not lead us to minimize their originality.

The world they describe is not the pastoral society of the Vedic hymns, but a city-based culture deriving its wealth from industries such as weaving, pottery and mining, as well as from agriculture.

The sages may be based in the forest, but they mingle with kings and princes.

And although most people still have the perennial human concerns that we find in the SaRhitās, with creating a prosperous life for themselves and their families, others now question the satisfaction to be found in the whole realm of existence,

and renounce the household life entirely. It is clearly the same world

that we find in the early texts of the Buddhists and Jains.

DATING THE UPANIṢADS

The date of the Upaniṣads is still a matter of debate. For many

traditional Hindus the question is irrelevant, since in essence, at least,

the whole of Śruti literature is considered to be apauruṣeya, not of

human origin, and of primordial antiquity, containing truths to be

rediscovered in every age of the world.24 But the view among most

scholars is that the Saṁhitās of the Veda date back to about 1500–

1000 BCE, the Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas to 1000 BCE on, and the

Upaniṣads from about 700 BCE on. Attempts to set the whole body of

literature further back25 always come up against the fact that the

period of the early Upaniṣads clearly cannot be too far removed from

that of the Buddha and of Mahāvīra, both of whom were traditionally

placed in the sixth century BCE, but are now thought by most scholars

to have been active around 400 BCE.26

It seems probable, at least, that the main teachings of the

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, attributed to the sage Yājñavalkya, are

immediately pre-Buddhist. (Parts of the rest are if anything older.)

Yājñavalkya presents the doctrine of reincarnation as a new and

unfamiliar one, whereas in the earliest Buddhist texts that we have it

is already fully developed.27

There is little internal evidence to link the Upaniṣads to historical

events that are known from elsewhere.28 The most that we can say

with confidence is that the material culture described in the earlier

Upaniṣads appears entirely compatible with what the archaeological

evidence tells us of the city-based culture of the sixth and fifth

centuries BCE.

It is possible to place the Upaniṣads in a rough sequence among

themselves. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Taittirīya and Aitareya

Upaniṣads are generally agreed to be the earliest. All have strong links

with the earlier Vedic material, and are mainly in prose with verse

passages. The Kauṣītakī Upaniṣad follows a similar format, though its

versions of the material that it shares with the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and

Chāndogya give the impression of being later reworkings.

The Kena, Kaṭha, ŚvetāŚvatara and Muṇḍaka seem to belong

together. The last three are almost entirely in verse, the Kena in a

mixture of verse and prose. All seem to anticipate later developments

in Hindu philosophy, including Yoga, Sāṁkhya and Bhakti. The

ĪŚāvāsya is generally thought to belong here, though its clear link with

verse passages of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka suggests an earlier date.29

The Praśna and Māṇḍūkya revert to the prose format of the early Upaniṣads, but contain ideas that clearly have later origins, particularly in their interpretation of the sacred syllable OM. The Maitrī is a different case again. It seems to contain material from different periods, including a core that is related to the Taittirīya, but the main body of it appears much later, and includes references to astronomical ideas that were probably not current until the second century CE.

So we are brought back to the consensus view that the principal Upaniṣads were composed from about 700 BCE, perhaps incorporating some older material. The early prose Upaniṣads could well date from about 700–400 BCE, the verse Upaniṣads two or three centuries later, and the Praśna and Māṇḍūkya from the end of the last millennium BCE. The Maitrī could have been put into its present form as late as the second or third century CE.30

Such is my own view about the dating of the Upaniṣads. I hope that those who take a different view will not let it deter them from reading my translation with an open mind. After all, the date of a text is not the most important thing about it, though it may help to provide a context for what we are reading. Surely much that is most important about the Upaniṣads is timeless: perhaps what was originally meant by calling them apauruṣeya, and attributing them to a primordial past.

AUTHORSHIP AND TRANSMISSION

The authorship of the Principal Upaniṣads is as enigmatic as their date. According to tradition, they were transmitted by the sages who act as teachers in the texts: Yājñavalkya in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, Uddālaka Āruṇi and others in the Chāndogya, Śvetāśvatara in the Upaniṣad that bears his name. The most detailed account is in the ‘lineage chapters’ of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka,31 which trace the teaching back from one Pautimāṣya or Pautimāṣi-putra,32 via some fifty generations of human and divine students and teachers, to its ultimate source, either Āditya, the sun-god,33 or the supreme reality itself.34 Yājñavalkya himself appears in one of these lists.35

But these lists seems to refer to the content of the texts – the truths believed to be embodied in them – rather than the words in which the texts are expressed. It is clear from the Upaniṣad itself that Yājñavalkya gave his teachings in his own words, to suit the circumstances and the people questioning him, and it seems reasonable to assume that the other teachers in the lineage did the

same. So the tradition seems to have nothing to say about the actual

form in which these teachings were handed on, or who assembled

them into the literary form in which we have them today.

The early Upaniṣads, at least, bear clear signs of having been

created and originally transmitted as part of the oral tradition. We do

not know at what stage they were put into writing. At the other

extreme, the Maitrī, with its remarkable complexity of structure, must

surely have been assembled in a written form, albeit one that was

strongly influenced by the conventions of the oral form.36

We know something of the ways in which ancient Indian texts were

memorized and preserved from accidental corruption. In the case of

the Vedic hymns themselves, there was an elaborate process of

memorization. The students would learn the hymns by heart, both in

their normal sequence and in a number of variations (krama-pāṭha) in

which the syllables were rearranged in different patterns, ranging in

complexity from 1–2, 2–3, 3–4, 4–5, etc., to 1–2-2-1-1-2-3-3-2-1-2-3,

2-3-3-2-2-3-4-4-3-2-3-4,…37 The effectiveness of this system can be

seen in the fact that the Vedas have survived in an ancient form of

Sanskrit (generally known as Vedic) with words and grammatical

forms that had dropped out of the spoken language even before the

time of the Upaniṣads. The learning system must have helped to

ensure that these features were not smoothed over and replaced by

more familiar forms.

The method of learning the early Buddhist texts seems to have been

a less formal one: monks who knew the texts would meet and chant

them together to make sure that mistakes had not crept in. Perhaps

some similar process was involved in the transmission of the early

Upaniṣads.

The stress on memorization seems to be universal in the South Asian

traditions. Even today, when teachings of all kinds are readily

available in print, many Hindu, Buddhist and Jain teachers can draw

upon extensive internal libraries of memorized texts, and hearing is

still viewed as a more effective way of learning about spiritual matters

than reading.

KEY CONCEPTS

The Upaniṣads often teach through riddles, images and suggestions,

rarely through statements of dogma. However, certain important

concepts recur throughout.

Brahman

'Brahman' was in origin one of a group of words and names which clustered around the idea of 'priestly power' and its central manifestation, 'sacred speech'.38 It could mean sacred lore as a whole, or some particular powerful saying. It could be 'priesthood': either the priestly class as a whole or the power embodied in it - counterpart to kṣatra, 'royalty', the power of the ruling class. In the Upaniṣads all these meanings are still present, but the word has developed to mean the sacred power not just of some particular person, word or class, but of the whole universe: hence the first cause, absolute or supreme reality. There is an overlap in the different meanings, and sometimes we can only guess which was uppermost in the author's mind. The scholars of brahman (brahmavādin) of Śvetāśvatara I.1 are certainly expert in the sacred lore, but they also seek the reality or first cause behind it.

'Brahman' is a neuter word, and indicates an abstract concept. The masculine form from the same stem is 'Brahmā', referring to a male being who embodies the quality of brahman (in its various senses).39 In later Hinduism, the neuter and masculine forms of the word are clearly differentiated, and attached to two distinct concepts. Brahman now refers exclusively to the abstract power, and Brahmā to a creator-god with his own attributes and characteristics. In the Upaniṣads the distinction is much less sharp. In the chapters on creation in Bṛhadāraṇyaka I, the creator-figure seems to shift between the neuter power and the masculine deity. In the Kena, the neuter brahman takes an active part in the narrative, appearing before the gods as a mysterious being (yakṣa).

Sometimes we cannot be sure which of the two is meant. The words differ in only a few of their grammatical forms, and in compounds they are indistinguishable. Does brahmaloka mean the world of the god Brahmā, or the world or state achieved by a person who realizes brahman? In Book I of the Kauṣītakī the two appear to be the same. Where there is real ambiguity I have tried to indicate it.

I have normally left the word 'brahman' untranslated, and saved any comment on usage for the notes. When a translation seems to be required, I have added the original word in brackets.

Ātman

Another complex term is 'atman', a word whose origin is disputed. Some consider that it was originally a term for the breath (which would make it a parallel to prāṇa, below). In everyday usage it was the reflexive pronoun - myself, yourself, themselves, etc. In the Upaniṣads it becomes the subject of speculation: What is the self?

Who, in reality, am I? It comes to be seen as a real, unchanging part within each changing being, just as brahman is within the changing universe. The existence of such an unchanging part was among the main points of contention between early Hinduism and Buddhism. In the translation, ātman appears both as ‘the self’, and as ‘myself’, ‘oneself’ etc. Where it seemed appropriate, I have added the Sanskrit word in brackets.

Puruṣa

By the time of the later Upaniṣads included in this book, brahman and ātman have become the accepted way of discussing the nature of reality. However in the earlier period the sages seem still to be experimenting with different ways of talking about it.

In the early Upaniṣads, the inner part of a human being is often called puruṣa, ‘man’ or ‘person’, rather than ātman. (I generally use ‘person’, to avoid the implication that it is exclusive to the male: for the authors of the Upaniṣads, every being contained both male and female aspects.)40 Here the inner reality is pictured in almost physical form as a tiny being moving inside the body, a ‘dwarf’ (Katha V.3), ‘a thumb in length’ (e.g. Katha IV.12, 13 and VI.17; SU III.13 and V.8), ‘like a rice-grain or a barleycorn’ (BU V.6.1; CU III. 14.3), yet mysteriously as large as space (see CU VIII. 1.3). Some of the texts (e.g. TU II) envisage a series of puruṣas or ātmans, of increasingly subtle form, from the physical body to the inmost self.

The concept of puruṣa is first found in a famous hymn of the ṛgveda, in which a giant man with ‘a thousand heads, a thousand eyes… who is all this, whatever has been and whatever is to be’, is sacrificed by the gods, and his dismembered body used to create the world.41 As so often in the development of the Vedic tradition, what was originally a cosmic concept then became internalized through inner contemplation.

Prāṇa

‘Prāṇa’ means ‘breath’, that which gives life to every being. Within the body, it is said to divide itself into five separate breaths, each also called prāṇa. The five prāṇas all have names derived from the verb an, ‘to breathe’, with different prefixes denoting direction of movement. Unfortunately for the translator, ideas about their functions changed over time.

In later Hindu physiology, the functions of the breaths are clearly defined. The first is prāṇa itself, literally ‘breathing forth’, as the

process of breathing in and out: it is based in the chest, and has its

seat in the heart. Apāna, 'breathing away', is the lower breath, based

in the intestine, thought to be responsible for the process of digestion

and the elimination of waste matter from the body. Vyāna, 'breathing

apart, breathing in different directions', is the diffused breath, thought

to pervade the whole body. Udāna, 'breathing up', is the up-breath,

based in the throat, and samāna, 'breathing together', is the central

breath, based in the navel. This system seems to anticipate the later

theory of the cakras, in which energy flows are thought to be centred

on particular points within the body.

In the Praśna Upaniṣad, the prāṇas are clearly described in the

above terms. In the Aitareya, too, the prāṇa and apāna seem to have

their later roles. But in the earliest references the situation is more

complicated. Chāndogya I.3.3–5 makes sense only if we assume that

vyāna means 'between-breath', the point at which the breath stops in

mid-respiration, and prāṇa and apāna are the out-breath and in-breath

or vice versa. In Bṛhadāraṇyaka I, prāṇa is the organ that experiences

scents, which would connect it to the in-breath, while in III.2.2 of the

same Upaniṣad it is apāna that has that function. Elsewhere in the

Bṛhadāraṇyaka there are traces of yet another system, with references

to the 'breath of the mouth' (ayāsya prāṇa: I.3.7–8) and the 'middle

breath' (madhyama prāṇa: I.4.21,22; II.2.1). Because the translations

of these words are somewhat speculative, I have generally added the

original terms in brackets.

Apart from these technical uses, the word 'prāṇa' can also be used

of the senses, of the bodily functions in general, and even of living

beings seen as embodying the prāṇas. The central importance of the

breath in its various forms is repeatedly stressed, notably in the fable

found in several Upaniṣads of the competition for supremacy between

the human faculties, in which only the breath proves itself

indispensable.42

The Cosmos

For the authors of the Upaniṣads, the inner and outer worlds are

closely interrelated. Human nature and the nature of the universe are

seen as microcosm and macrocosm. Often we encounter a list of

correspondences, taken from the earlier Brāhmaṇa literature, in which

the sun corresponds to the eye, the moon to the mind, wind to the

breath, fire to speech and so on.43 Typically, both the cosmic powers

and the faculties within the human being are called devas, or gods.

Therefore accounts of the creation of the universe as we know it

(sarvam idam, 'all this') are intimately connected with ideas about the

nature of the human being. There is generally an attempt to describe

the way in which an original pure, undifferentiated state of being

came to fall into the diverse and less pure state in which we see

ourselves and the universe to be today. This attempt in turn is the key

to finding a way to return to the original, purer, state. There are traces

of an ancient debate between those who saw the original state as

'being' (sat) and those who saw it as 'not-being' (asat).44 These

debates use some of the terminology of the speculative passages in the

Veda, such as the Puruṣa Hymn and the 'Creation Hymn':45 however,

they unite it with a new preoccupation with finding a way to achieve

liberation from a world which is now seen as a cycle of otherwise

unending bondage. The force that causes the fall from the original

state is identified with desire in some form or another – hunger for

food, or desire for a companion.

The Upaniṣads do not in general envisage the creation of something

from nothing: the language used is that of emanation, begetting (or

giving birth), or the ordering of a chaotic original material. In the

early Upaniṣads the being responsible for this is described in a number

of ways: as Death or Hunger; as Brahmā/brahman; as Hiraṇyagarbha,

the Golden Embryo; and as Prajāpati, Lord of Offspring, whose

children include gods, demons and human beings.

In the middle Upaniṣads we find the growth of a more developed

kind of theism. In the Kaṭha, the supreme deity is variously identified

with Agni, the Vedic fire-god, Dhātṛ, the Arranger, and Aditi, the

mother of the gods. In the Śvetāśvatara, Rudra, identified with the

solar deity Savitṛ, already has many of the titles and attributes of Śiva.

Particularly in Book III, the deity becomes the focus of personal

worship and devotion, tinged with awe and a touch of fear, rather as

Kṛṣṇa does in the great vision of Book XI of the Bhagavadgītā.

THE UPANIṢADS AS LITERATURE

Many of the distinctive features of the Upaniṣads as literature are

connected with their origins in an oral tradition. The literary devices

that are used seem to be chosen primarily as means of conveying

teaching. Perhaps the most striking of these devices is repetition,

which takes several forms.

There are a number of passages that are found in different versions

in more than one Upaniṣad. Such, for example, are the passages on

the triumph of the breath, and on the two ways by which a person can

go after death.46 Since each of the Upaniṣads was in origin a separate

work, this is not so much repetition as a case of different authors

drawing on the same fund of oral material and interpreting it in their

own ways. Sometimes the same kind of repetition occurs within an Upaniṣad, as with the two different versions of the dialogue of Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka.47 It is possible that both were originally separate versions of the same teaching, each handed down through a slightly different chain of teachers.48 However, the authors of the Upaniṣad as we have it must have felt that both versions were distinct enough to include, and indeed each contains material that is not in the other, though the second version is slightly fuller and more detailed than the first.

More typically there is a deliberate use of repetition within an Upaniṣad for dramatic or teaching purposes. For example, in Bṛhadāraṇyaka II.1 the sage Gāṛgya attempts to teach Ajātaśatru, but finds the king more than a match for him in debate. Gāṛgya puts forward twelve different forms in which he visualizes brahman, each time using the same form of words: ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the sun’, and so on through a series of twelve persons or puruṣas. Ajātaśatru rejects each of these visualizations, not as wrong, since each is said to bring great benefits to the one who practises it, but as being inadequate as a way of understanding brahman: ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the topmost, the head and king of all beings. Whoever worships him as such becomes the topmost, the head and king of all beings.’

The word translated here as ‘worship’ is upās-, and these visualizations are often called upāsanā – an untranslatable word combining the ideas of meditation, worship and contemplation.49 Often the seeker is advised to contemplate something as a symbol or embodiment of something else, as in the first words of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad: ‘One should contemplate the syllable OM as the Udgītha.’ Upāsanā is often used as a way of moving from grosser to subtler concepts of truth. Gāṛgya is unable to do this, and in the end has to ask Ajātaśatru to teach him instead.

Sometimes the repetition seems designed to act like the recitation of a mantra, putting the hearer in the right frame of mind for understanding to arise, as in Yājñavalkya’s answer to Uddālaka Āruṇi’s question about the nature of the ‘inner controller’:50

That which, resting in the earth, is other than the earth; which the earth does not know; of which the earth is the body; which controls the earth from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

That which, resting in the waters, is other than the waters; which the waters do not know; of which the waters are the body; which controls the waters from within: this is your self, the inner

controller, the immortal.

• and so on for twenty verses, through the rest of the cosmic powers,

through beings as a whole, and through the faculties of the individual

being: ‘in relation to deities’ (adhidaivatam), ‘in relation to beings’

(adhibhūtam) and ‘in relation to oneself’ (adhyātman), as these

different levels are called in the Upaniṣads. Finally Yājñavalkya brings

it all together:

It is the unseen seen, the unheard hearer, the unthought-of

thinker, the unknown knower. Other than this there is no seer;

other than this there is no hearer; other than this there is no

thinker; other than this there is no knower. This is your self, the

inner controller, the immortal: what is other than this is suffering.

These words are themselves picked up again in his next answer, to

Gārgī, so helping to bind the different chapters of Book III together.

For their intended effect such passages have to be read in full -

preferably aloud.

The favoured means of conveying teaching in the Upaniṣads is

dialogue, which takes a variety of forms. Sometimes the situation is

the expected one, with a seeker humbly asking a sage for instruction,

but at other times there is an element of challenge or competition, as

rival sages seek to test themselves against one another. Sometimes, as

with AjātaŚatru and Gārgya, a less regarded person may prove more

knowledgeable than a teacher who is reputed to be wise.

This way of teaching belongs to a tradition of verbal combat that is

first found in the Brāhmaṇas.51 The sage who wished to excel in it

needed not only a profound knowledge of ritual and its meaning, but

also powerful debating skills, and the ability to ask and answer

questions in new and unexpected ways. Riddle and paradox are

essential to this style of teaching, partly as ways of opening the

hearer’s mind to unfamiliar concepts, and partly for sheer delight, for

‘the gods seem to love the mysterious, and hate the obvious.’52 In the

Upaniṣads, the riddle was particularly apt as a way of suggesting ideas

about brahman and ātman which could not readily be conveyed in

conventional terms:

The one for whom priesthood and royalty,

Both, are the rice

And death is the sauce:

Who, truly, knows where he is?53

Two birds, companions and friends,

Cling to the same tree.

One of them eats the sweet pippala-berry:

The other looks on, without eating.54

An important part of the sages’ debating skills was wordplay, often in the form of puns or punning etymologies. A typical instance is Bṛhadāraṇyaka I.3.25-7, where the ideas of property (sva), tone (svara) and gold (suvarṇa) are linked together through the similarity of their sounds. Such conceits, though playful, have a serious purpose. The authors were almost certainly aware of the true derivations of these words, but regarded verbal resemblances as something more than coincidence. For them, it appears, the sound of a word had a genuine relationship to the thing it named.

Throughout the texts of the Upaniṣads we see the delight of the authors in the resources of the Sanskrit language, with its huge vocabulary, its versatility, and its wide range of consonants which make possible striking effects of assonance and alliteration. Such resources can be used not only for communicating abstract concepts, but also for more earthy purposes, as we see in the wonderfully scornful description of unworthy ascetics in Maitrī VII.8:

...aṭa-jaṭa-naṭa-bhaOṭa-pravrajita-raṅgāvatāriṇo rājakarmaniī patitādayo...

... vagabonds, wearers of matted locks, dancers, mercenaries, who have gone forth yet appear on the stage, renegades who work for kings, and so on...

This complexity of detail exists in tension with a powerful simplicity and directness. Stories are told with little scene-setting or explanation, and the characters appear with the minimum of introduction, leaving us to judge them by their own words and actions. The prose is generally clear and unadorned, drawing on universal experiences:

As a caterpillar, reaching the end of a blade of grass and taking the next step, draws itself together, so the self, dropping the body, letting go of ignorance and taking the next step, draws itself together.

As a weaver, unpicking a pattern from her weaving, fashions another, newer and more beautiful shape, so the self, dropping the body and letting go of ignorance, creates another, newer and more beautiful shape...55

Verse passages are generally in the simplest of the available metres,

the Anuṣṭubh (‘Śloka’), helping to make important teachings easy to memorize:

yadā sarve pramucyante

kāmā ye 'sya hṛdi Śritāḥ

atha mṛto 'mṛto bhavaty

atra brahma samaśnute.

When all the desires that dwell

In one’s heart are let go,

Mortal becomes immortal:

One reaches brahman here.56

In such passages, the Upaniṣads seem to speak directly to the heart of the reader, regardless of distance in time, place or background from the world of their authors.

NOTES

1. The word is derived from upa-ni-sad-, ‘to sit down close to’.

Traditionally this has been taken to refer to a session of teaching, with the student sitting close to the teacher. Within the texts themselves, however, it often refers to another kind of connection, in the hidden correspondences between things (cf. Olivelle 1996b: lii-liii, 303, n. 1.20). These two meanings are not necessarily exclusive. In Taittirīya I.1.2–3 the relationship between teacher and student is given as one of the five ‘great connections’.

2. I have preferred the neutral terms BCE and CE to BC and AD.

3. Radhakrishnan 1994: 21.

4. I have written the syllable in this form in the translation because it generally has its own special character in Indian scripts.

5. The words ‘literature’ and ‘text’ here should not be taken necessarily to imply something written down: they are just less clumsy terms than the available alternatives.

6. See the Glossary under Priests.

7. According to most scholarly opinion, around 1500 BCE, though incorporating earlier material. The question of the dating of ancient Indian texts is a difficult and controversial one: see following section.

8. This is similar to what is called ‘melisma’ by scholars of early music in the European tradition. Examples of Vedic chanting can

be found on the internet at http://www.ahista.com/vedchant/#contents and http://sanskrit.bhaarat.com/Dale/index.html.

9. E.g. as the threefold knowledge (trayī vidyā, BU V.14.2, CU I.1.9, I.4.2–3, KauU II.6; tretā [vidyā], Muṇḍaka I.2.1). The forms ṛg-, Yajur- and Sāmaveda represent the words ṛc, yajus and sāman in compound, with the appropriate sound changes (sandhi) before initial ‘v’.

10. E.g. ‘[the verses of] the Atharvans and Aṅgirases’ (atharvāṅgirasaḥ), BU II.4.10 and CU III.4. Cf. CU VII.1.2 and its n. 1.

11. Staal 1983; I, 303, 308–9, 311–12; II, 456–65.

12. See BU I.1 and notes.

13. Bearing the same name as members of the priestly class: see the Glossary.

14. In the case of the Praśna Upaniṣad, the connection is genuine, since it is attributed to the atharvan sage Pippalāda. These attributions are discussed further in the headnotes to each individual Upaniṣad.

15. Oberlies’s theory (see n. 29) would give precedence to the references to Bhakti, Sāṅkhya and Vedānta in the Bhagavadgītā: and VI.22. The Bhagavadgītā has Bhakti as a major theme, but its references to Sāṅkhya and Vedānta are not at all specific. In BhG 2.39 Sāṅkhya seems to refer to ‘theory’ as distinct from ‘practice’. In BhG 15.15, Kṛṣṇa calls himself vedāntakṛt, ‘maker of the Vedānta’, which may refer to the Upaniṣads themselves as ‘end of the Veda’ rather than to the philosophy derived from them. The Upaniṣadic references to Umā and Kṛṣṇa are distinctly early: for Umā, Kena III.12; for Kṛṣṇa, CU III. 17.6.

16. Brahmavādinī (BU IV.5.1): the female equivalent of the brahmavādins in SU I.1.

17. In this translation I have used this form of the name for the priestly class in preference to Anglicized forms such as ‘brahmin’. It is the same name as that of the liturgical texts: see Glossary.

18. BU III.9.26.

19. See for example Śaṅkara (Gambhīrānanda 1983: 265–6), who thinks that Jabālā was too busy to ask her husband about his gotra, and that he left her shortly after their marriage.

20. BU IV.4.22.

21. The word Śramaṇa, in its Prakrit form Śamaṇa, spread under Buddhist influence into the languages of Central Asia, from which it entered Chinese (as sha-men) and Japanese (as shamon).

Tungus and Russian, it appears also to be the origin of the English ‘shaman’ (Blacker 1975: 23, 317–18).

22. The Vrātya ascetic of the Atharvaveda was perhaps a forerunner of the Śramaṇas – AV 15: cf. PU II. 11 and the Glossary entry for Vrātya.

23. For a comprehensive study of the āŚramas in theory and practice, see Olivelle 1993.

24. apauruṣeyaṁ vākyaṁ vedah, ‘The Veda is speech which is not of human origin’, according to the Arthasamgraha of Laugākṣi Bhāskara (Radhakrishnan 1977: 388). This is a late (c. seventeenth-century) text on Mīmāṁsā, the philosophy of ritual, but the idea is derived from the fundamental text of Mīmāṁsā, the Jaiminīya Mīmāṁsā Sūtra (I.27–32).

25. E.g. Frawley 1994.

26. See Bechert 1991, 1992; Cousins 1996.

27. Bronkhorst (1986: 112–13) disputes this. He considers the Bṛhadāraṇyaka to be later than the Buddhist texts, explaining the difference in teachings by the different surroundings in which the two religions grew up: ‘The former [Bṛhadāraṇyaka] was part of an esoteric movement confined to Brahmans who dwelt in villages; the latter [early Buddhism] centred in the cities.’ This seems to conflict with the view of society portrayed in either group of texts. The Buddha is recorded as having debated with learned Brāhmaṇas, and several of his chief monks were Brāhmaṇas with a traditional Vedic education. It seems impossible to accept any theory about the dating of the Upaniṣads that depends upon such a slow movement of ideas, in either direction.

28. Numerous kings and princes are mentioned, but none whose dates are even approximately known, with the possible exception of AjātaŚatru of KāŚi, mentioned in both the Bṛhadāraṇyaka (II.1) and the Kauṣītakī (IV. 1). Most scholars think that this is not the same as the AjātaŚatru (Pāli Ajātasattu) of Magadha, mentioned as a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahāvīra; though the Magadhan king is actually said to have become the ruler of KāŚi in later life, when he conquered the states of the Vajjian confederacy. (For the Buddhist account, see Dīghanikāya Suttas II, XVI: Walshe 1987: 91–2, 108–9, 231–2, 568.) The two AjātaŚatrus are portrayed as markedly different in character. Though both are shown debating with religious teachers, the motive of the AjātaŚatru of the Buddhist texts is a search for peace of mind, to allay his mental torment over the dynastic murder of his father. Bronkhorst identifies the two, explaining the

discrepancies by dating the texts very late, after the details of the king’s life had been forgotten. (This seems improbable, in view of the memory training undergone by those who handed on both Vedic and Buddhist texts.) I think it more likely that Ajātaśatru of Magadha, ‘son of the Videhan princess’ (videhiputta), was a later king, perhaps named after Ajātaśatru of Kāśi, an illustrious member of his mother’s family.

29. Thomas Oberlies (1988, 1995) has recently argued for a date for the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, and by implication for the other middle-period Upaniṣads, later than the conventional one. He argues that the passages shared between this text and the Bhagavadgītā belong more naturally in the latter, making the Śvetāśvatara the later of the two. In his opinion, the differences between the Sāṅkhya philosophy of the Svetāśvatara and the Sāṅkhya system arose not, as has previously been thought, because the version in the Upaniṣad is earlier and less developed, but because of the impetus to reconcile the Sāṅkhya system with developing theistic ideas. Oberlies would date the Śvetāśvatara to the early centuries of the Common Era. However, this would depend on the date allotted to the Bhagavadgītā, which is also a matter of debate. Current scholarly consensus would place the Bhagavadgītā around the second century BCE, and there is no need to place the Śvetāśvatara much later than this. Even if the shared verses were first found in the Bhagavadgītā, they could quickly have gained popular currency and become widely known.

30. Ranade and Belwalkar (1927: 95–6) date the Māṇḍūkya later than the Maitrī, because it analyses the syllable OM into four parts instead of three.

31. BU II.6, IV.6, VII.5.

32. BU VI, n. 55.

33. BU VI.5.3.

34. Brahman (see ‘Key Concepts’, p. xxviii): BU II.6.3, IV.6.3, VI.5.4.

35. BU VI.5.3.

36. Van Buitenen 1962: 23–5.

37. See the Vedic Trust web page on the subject: http:// www.ahista.com/dvt/vedchant.html#noerror.

38. Others include Brahmā, ḅhat (‘great’, as in Ḅhad-āraṇyaka), Braḥmaṇa, Ḅhaspati.

39. In the Upaniṣads, it is also found as the title of one of the sacrificing Priests (BU III.1.6, 9; CU IV.16), and as a term of respect for a (very young) Brāhmaṇa (Kaṭha I.9).

40. BU IV.2.3.

41. RV X.90: O'Flaherty 1981: 29–31.

42. BU VI.1.7–14; CU V.1.7–15; KauU III.3. See also the closely related fable of the breath in the mouth as the supreme chanter-priest (Udgātṛ) who enables the gods to triumph over the demons: BU I.3 and CU I.2.

43. E.g. in SBr VIII.1.2.1–7. In Sanskrit, such correspondences are called bandhutā, ‘kinship’.

44. Cf. CU VI.2.1–2 and note.

45. ‘There was neither non-existence [asat] nor existence [sat] then…’ (RV X.129): O'Flaherty 1981: 25–6.

46. See BU VI.2, CU IV.15 and V.3.

47. BU II.4 and IV.5.

48. As given in BU II.6 and IV.6.

49. It is derived from upa + ās-, ‘to sit close to’, hence ‘attend on’ or ‘worship’: clearly a concept related to that of upaniṣad itself.

50. BU III.7.3–23.

51. Melling 1997.

52. BU IV.2.2.

53. Kaṭha II.25.

54. SU IV.6 and MuU III.1.

55. BU IV.4.3–4.

56. BU IV.4.7.

Bibliography

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McEvilley, T. 2002. The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies (New York: Allworth Press)

Ranade, R. D., and Belvalkar, S. K. 1927. History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 2: The Creative Period (Poona: Bilvakunda Publishing House)

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About the Translation

When I began the present translation, I had for some years been involved in teaching courses on Indian religious traditions to students of a wide range of ages and backgrounds, and had frequently found myself cautioning them about the translations of the Upanisads that were available to them. Some seemed inaccurate or partial, others coloured too strongly by the translators’ own religious convictions. Others, though excellent in certain ways, were written in language that the students found difficult to read, leaving them with the feeling that the original texts must themselves have been crabbed and archaic in their expression. So the project began as an attempt to provide students and the general reader with a complete, accurate and readable version of these important texts.

Since I began the work, Patrick Olivelle’s translation has appeared, providing one fresh answer to these problems. Olivelle is a great scholar of the Vedic tradition, and I feel a certain temerity in offering another translation so soon after his. While revising my text I have been grateful for his insights into many aspects of the meaning of the Upaniṣads, as the reader will observe from the notes.

However, I feel that there is still room for another approach to a group of texts as full of layers of meaning as the Upaniṣads. I have been particularly concerned to try to retain something of their quality as literature – to convey something of the different ways in which they express their teachings.

The Upaniṣads, as we have seen, were either oral literature or very close to the oral form. Students would have studied them by learning them by heart, and even now scholars of Vedānta will often quote favourite passages in the original Sanskrit. For this reason I have included the invocations that begin and end each Upaniṣad in traditional recitation, usually omitted in Western translations. It is not clear how long these verses have been attached to the Upaniṣads, but in themselves they seem to be ancient, referring to distinctively Vedic gods and concepts.

My basic principle has been to represent accurately what is in the original text, so that readers with no knowledge of Sanskrit may have confidence that anything that they find in the translation corresponds to something in the original. Most readers would probably regard this

as the minimum requirement for a translation. However, some of the

earlier translators took considerable liberties with the text, importing

large amounts of commentarial material into their versions. An

extreme example is Juan Mascaró, who renders the sentence which

literally means ‘Yājñavalkya went to Janaka of Videha: he thought, I

will not teach’ into ‘To Janaka king of Videha came once Yājñavalkya

meaning to keep in silence the supreme secret wisdom’.1

Other translators, without going to such extremes, have tried to

smooth out what is irregular or startling in the original, so depriving

the Upaniṣadic authors of one of their most powerful teaching tools.

For example:

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti

ye 'vidyāṁ upāsate.

tato bhūya iva te tamo

ya u vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ.

They who worship ignorance

Enter blind darkness:

They who delight in knowledge

Enter darkness, as it were, yet deeper.2

Max Müller translates this as ‘All who worship what is not real

knowledge (good works), enter into blind darkness: those who delight

in real knowledge, enter, as it were, into greater darkness.’3 But

clearly the original passage was intended to shock the hearers, as a

Zen or Tantric teaching might, in order to wake them up. They had,

after all, devoted their lives to Vedic knowledge, and now they would

wonder, ‘Have I been worshipping ignorance or knowledge? Which is

worse?’ By inserting the word ‘real’, Müller has reduced the impact of

the verse.

Similarly, one of the effects of Mascaró’s additions, quoted above, is

to turn Yājñavalkya into a cliché of a guru figure, instead of the

complex man that we meet in the Upaniṣad and the Śatapatha

Brāhmaṇa.

In translating the early Upaniṣads, I have tried to retain something

of the oral style. I have not attempted to retain all the words that

denoted the teacher's gesture – that sun, this fire - or the many

particles expressing linkage or emphasis. In English it becomes

cumbersome if it is ‘yonder sun’ at every mention, or if every new

sentence begins with a ‘therefore’ or an ‘indeed’. However, I have

aimed for a conversational quality in the prose passages, shading into

a certain raciness where it seemed appropriate in the dialogues. The

verse passages, in Sanskrit metres of various degrees of complexity,

have been translated into a form of free verse which I hope will set

them slightly apart from the prose. (Sanskrit verse, like that in

classical Greek and Latin, depends for its structure on fairly strict

patterns of long and short syllables, rather than on rhyme or stress.) I

have not attempted to imitate the original forms, except in a very

limited way.

I did not want to strew the pages of the translation with additions in

Square brackets, so where different linguistic or cultural assumptions

have required an extra word of explanation I have made a rule of

mentioning the fact in the notes. However, I allowed myself the

following exceptions. In passages of dialogue where all the Speakers

are referred to by pronouns I thought it legitimate to add names, or

titles such as ‘the king’, to make it clear who is speaking. As well as

pronouns, impersonal verbs are used in Sanskrit far more freely than

in English, and the authors of the Upaniṣads are particularly fond of

expressions such as ‘they say’ or ‘they call it’, referring to people in

general. To avoid awkwardness or ambiguity, I have often translated

these as ‘folk say’, ‘folk call it’. And where the word ‘this’ in the

feminine gender introvertibly means ‘this earth’, I have translated

it as such – partly to avoid confusion with ‘this’ or ‘all this’, in the

neuter gender, as a term for the whole universe, such a typically

Upaniṣadic expression that I wanted to keep it unchanged. (One can

almost see the sweep of the teacher’s arm.)

While in the latter stages of this work, I came across Robert Alter’s

new translation of the first book of the Hebrew Bible, and found that

much of what he had to say in his introduction expressed for me the

special problems and excitements of translating these ancient texts. I

was particularly struck by his warning about the perils of ‘explaining

away’:

The unacknowledged heresy underlying most modern English

versions of the Bible is the use of translation as a vehicle for

explaining the Bible instead of representing it in another language,

and in the most egregious instances this amounts to explaining

away the Bible... Modern translators, in their zeal to uncover the

meanings of the biblical text for the instruction of a modern

readership, frequently lose sight of how the text intimates its

meanings – the distinctive, artfully deployed features of ancient

Hebrew prose and poetry that are the instruments for the

articulation of all meaning, message, insight, and vision.4

When in doubt, I have felt it safest to assume that the original authors

of the Upaniṣads knew what they were doing.

NUMBERING

Most of the Upaniṣads consist of several major divisions, which in the case of the longest are divided into subdivisions, themselves divided into individual verses. In different Upaniṣads, both the larger and the smaller divisions tend to have different, and often colourful, names, which are given in the notes to the texts. In the translation itself I have standardized these names, calling the major divisions ‘books’ and the subdivisions ‘chapters’. (I have made an exception in the case of the Praśna Upaniṣad, which is divided into a series of questions (praśna): here I have followed the original and called the divisions ‘questions’.) In cross-references, the first division in each case is given as a Roman numeral, so that BU 1.2.3 denotes Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad Book I, Chapter 2, Verse 3, and SU VI.20 denotes Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad Book VI, Verse 20. The two shortest Upaniṣads, the Īśā and the Māṇḍūkya, are simply numbered by verses – for example IU 3.

NOTES

1. Mascaró 1965, on BU IV.3.1.

2. IU 9, BU IV.4.10.

3. Müller 1879, I: 312.

4. Alter 1996: xii.

GĀYATRĪ MANTRA

We meditate on the lovely

Glory of the god Savitr

That he may stimulate our minds.

Rgveda III. 57.10

ĪŚĀVĀSYA OR ĪŚĀ UPANIṢAD

'Pervaded by the Lord'

OM. That is full; this is full;

Fullness comes forth from fullness:

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness remains.1

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

1. All this, everything that moves in this moving world,2

Must be pervaded by the lord.3

Enjoy what has been abandoned.4

Do not covet anyone's wealth.

2. You must seek to live5 a hundred years

Just doing work (karman) here.

There is no other way for you but this:

This way, work does not stick to a man.

3. Those worlds, covered with blind darkness,

Are 'Sunless'6 by name.

Those people who are self-slayers7

Go to them on departing.

4. One, unmoving, swifter than mind,

The gods cannot catch it, as it goes before:

Standing still, it outruns others that are running.

Mātariśvan sets the waters8 in it.

5. It moves, it does not move;

It is far and near likewise.

It is inside all this:

It is outside all this.

6. Whoever sees

All beings in the self (ātman)9

And the self in all beings

Does not shrink away from it.10

7. For the one who knows,

In whom all beings have become self,

How can there be delusion or grief

When he sees oneness?

8. He has encompassed the bright,11 the bodiless,

the unwounded,

The sinewless, the pure, the unpierced by evil:

The wise seer, conqueror, self-born,

He has arranged objects according to their nature

Through eternal years.

9. They who worship ignorance

Enter blind darkness:

They who delight in knowledge

Enter darkness, as it were, yet deeper.12

10. It is different, they say, from knowledge;

It is different, they say, from ignorance:

So we have heard from those wise ones

Who have revealed it to us.

11. Whoever knows knowledge and ignorance -

Both of them, together -

By ignorance crosses over death.

And by knowledge reaches immortality.

12. They who worship non-becoming

Enter blind darkness:

They who delight in becoming13

Enter darkness, as it were, yet deeper.

13. It is different, they say, from becoming;

It is different, they say, from non-becoming:

So we have heard from those wise one

Who have revealed it to us.

14. Whoever knows becoming and destruction -

Both of them, together -

By destruction crosses over death

And by becoming reaches immortality.

15. The face of truth is concealed

By a vessel made of gold.14

Reveal it, Pūṣan, to my sight,

Which has truth as its dharma.15

16. Pūṣan, Ekarṣi, Yama, Sūrya, son of Prajāpati,

Draw apart your rays and draw them together.

I see the light that is your most beautiful form.

That very person - I am he.16

17. My breath (vāyu) to immortal air:

This body has ended in ashes.

OM! Will, remember! Remember the deed!

Will, remember! Remember the deed!17

18. Agni, god who knows all ways,

Lead us by a good road to prosperity.

Overcome our crooked faults,18

And we will render you the utmost reverence.

OM. That is full; this is full;

Fullness comes forth from fullness:

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness remains.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

BṚHADĀRANYAKA

UPANIṢAD

The Great Forest Teaching

OM. That is full; this is full;

Fullness comes forth from fullness:

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness remains.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

BOOK

I

CHAPTER I

1. OM. Dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse.1 The sun is the eye of the sacrificial horse, the wind his breath, the fire that is in all men2 his open mouth, the year his body (ātman). The sky is his back, middle-air3 his belly, earth his flanks, the directions4 his two sides, the intermediate directions his ribs, the seasons his limbs, the months and half-months5 his joints, the days and nights his feet, the constellations6 his bones, the clouds his flesh. The food in his stomach is the sands; the rivers are his bowels, liver and lungs; the mountains, plants and trees are his hairs; the rising sun is his front half, the setting sun his rear half; when he yawns, it lightens; when he shakes himself, it thunders; when he urinates, it rains; speech is his voice.7

2. Day arose as the sacrificial vessel8 in front of the horse: its birthplace9 was in the eastern ocean. Night arose as the sacrificial vessel behind him: its birthplace was in the western ocean. These two came into being as the vessels at either end of the horse.

Becoming Steed, he carried the gods; becoming Charger, he carried the gandharvas; becoming Courser, he carried the demons; becoming Horse,10 he carried human beings. The ocean was his kinsman, the ocean his birthplace.

CHAPTER 2

1. In the beginning there was nothing here: this11 was covered by Death, by Hunger, for Hunger is Death.12 Death made up his mind: ‘If only I could have a self (ātman)!’ Shining (arc-),13 he moved about, and, as he shone, the waters14 were born of him. ‘As I shone, water (ka)15 came to me,’ he thought: that is why water is called arka.16 Water will come to the one who knows in this way why water is called arka17

2. The waters are arka. The foam of the waters was compacted together. It became the earth. He toiled on it, and, as he toiled and grew hot, his brightness,18 his essence, became fire.

3. He divided himself into three, one third being the sun and one third the air.19 As breath, too, he was divided into three. The eastern direction became his head; that one and that one20 became his forequarters; that one and that one21 became his hindquarters. The southern and northern directions became his two sides, the sky his back, middle-air his belly, this22 his breast. He stands firm on the waters. Knowing this, one stands firm wherever one goes.

4. He desired that a second self might be born of him. By means of mind, Hunger, that is Death, joined with Speech23 in sexual union. The seed24 became the year. Before that there was no year. He carried it for so much time. After so much time, a year, he sent it out.25 He opened his jaws to eat his offspring. It made the noise ‘Bhāñ!’26 That became speech.

5. He realized that if he were to kill it he would make less food for himself. With that speech, that self, he sent out all this, whatever there is: the ṛgveda, Yajurveda and Sāmaveda, the metres,27 people and animals. Whatever he sent forth he began to eat. Because he eats (ad-) everything, space is called Aditi. Whoever knows that this is why space is called Aditi becomes the eater of all this: all this becomes his food.

6. He desired that he might sacrifice again with a greater sacrifice. He toiled, he raised heat;28 and as he toiled and grew hot his splendour, his vigour, departed. The breaths (prāṇa) are splendour, vigour. Once the breaths had departed, his body began to swell, but mind was still in his body.

7. He desired that that body of his should become fit for sacrifice, and that by it he should become embodied.29 Then his body became a horse. ‘Since it has swollen (aśvat),’ he thought, ‘it has become fit for sacrifice (medhya).’ That is why the horse sacrifice is the aśvamedha. Whoever knows this, knows the horse sacrifice.

Letting it go free, he contemplated it. After a year, he sacrificed it to himself.30 He offered the animals31 to the deities. That is why folk offer the horse, which is consecrated to all the deities, as an offering to Prajāpati.

The one who gives heat32 is the horse sacrifice: the year is his self. Fire is arka:33 the worlds34 are his bodies. They are two, the shining one and the horse sacrifice. Then again, they are just one deity, Death. He who knows this conquers re-death;35 Death does not get him; Death becomes his body (ātman); he becomes one of the deities.

CHAPTER 3

1. The descendants of Prajāpati are of two kinds: the gods and the demons. The gods are the younger, the demons the elder, and they vied for these worlds. The gods said, ‘Come, let us defeat the demons at the sacrifice by means of the Udgītha!’

2. The gods said to speech, ‘Chant the Udgītha for us!’

‘I will!’ said speech, and chanted it for them. Whatever enjoyment there is in speech, it sang into being for the gods: but the fact that it sang well was for itself.36

The demons thought, ‘By means of this Udgātr they will defeat us,’ and, attacking it, pierced it with evil. That evil is the evil that anyone does when he says what is not proper.

3. The gods said to breath (prāṇa),37 ‘Chant the Udgītha for us!’

‘I will!’ said breath, and chanted it for them. Whatever enjoyment there is in breath it sang into being for the gods: but the fact that it smelled well was for itself.

The demons thought, ‘By means of this Udgātr they will defeat us,’ and, attacking it, pierced it with evil. That evil is the evil that anyone does when he smells what is not proper.

4. The gods said to the eye,38 ‘Chant the Udgītha for us!’

‘I will!’ said the eye, and chanted it for them. Whatever enjoyment there is in the eye it sang into being for the gods: but the fact that it saw well was for itself.

The demons thought, ‘By means of this Udgātr they will defeat us,’ and, attacking it, pierced it with evil. That evil is the evil that anyone does when he sees what is not proper.

5. The gods said to the ear, ‘Chant the Udgītha for us!’

‘I will!’ said the ear, and chanted it for them. Whatever enjoyment there is in the ear it sang into being for the gods: but the fact that it heard well was for itself.

The demons thought, ‘By means of this Udgātr they will defeat us,’ and, attacking it, pierced it with evil. That evil is the evil that anyone does when he hears what is not proper.

6. The gods said to mind, ‘Chant the Udgītha for us!’

‘I will!’ said mind, and chanted it for them. Whatever enjoyment there is in mind it sang into being for the gods: but the fact that it imagined well was for itself.

The demons thought, ‘By means of this Udgātr they will defeat us,’ and, attacking it, pierced it with evil. That evil is the evil that anyone does when he imagines what is not proper.

In the same way they afflicted the other deities with evil, they pierced them with evil.

7. The gods said to the breath in the mouth (ayāsya prāṇa), ‘Chant the Udgītha for us!’

‘I will!’ said the breath in the mouth, and chanted it for them.

The demons thought, ‘By means of this Udgātr they will defeat us,’ and, attacking it, desired to pierce it with evil. As a turf would be scattered if it struck a rock, they perished, scattered in all directions.

Then the gods prevailed and the demons were overcome. Whoever knows this himself39 prevails, and the adversary40 who hates him is overcome.

8. They said, ‘Where is the one we had dealings with just now?’

‘He is here in the mouth.’ He is Ayāsya Āṅgirasa, the essence (rasa) of the limbs (aṅga).

9. That deity is called Dūr, for death is far (dūra) from him. Death is far from the one who knows this.

10. That deity, having driven away evil - that is, death - from these deities, took it to the end of the directions. There he set down their evils. So one should not go to the people there, one should not go to the end of the directions, lest one should meet with evil, with death.

11. That deity, having driven away evil - that is, death - from these deities, then carried them beyond death.

12. First he carried speech across. When speech escaped death, it became fire. Fire, having passed beyond death, blazes.

13. Next he carried breath across. When breath escaped death, it became wind. Wind, having passed beyond death, purifies.

14. Next he carried the eye across. When the eye escaped death, it became the sun. The sun, having passed beyond death, gives heat (tap-).

15. Next he carried the ear across. When the ear escaped death, it became the directions. The directions have passed beyond death.

16. Next he carried the mind across. When the mind escaped death, it became the moon. The moon, having passed beyond death, shines.

Whoever knows this, these deities carry him beyond death.

17. Next he sang into being good food41 for himself. Whatever food is eaten is eaten by him, and he is supported on it.

18. The gods said, ‘You have sung all this into being as food for yourself. Give us a share in this food.’

‘Then sit round me.’

‘We will,’ they said, and surrounded him. So whatever food one eats by means of him the gods too enjoy.

Whoever knows this is surrounded by his own people: he becomes the lord, the best, the foremost of his own people, an eater of food, an overlord. If someone knows this, and one among his own people desires to rival him, that rival is not even adequate to support his own dependants. But if someone who helps him desires to support his own dependants, that helper is adequate to support his own dependants.

19. He is called Ayāsya Āṅgirasa, for he is the essence of the limbs. Breath is the essence of the limbs. Breath is the essence of the limbs. So when breath departs from any limb, it dries up, for it is the essence of the limbs.

20. It is also Bṛhaspati. Speech is bṛhatī and it is its lord (patī), so it is also Bṛhaspati.

21. It is also Brahmāṇaspati. Speech is brahman and it is its lord, so it is also Brahmāṇaspati.

22. It is also the sāman. Speech is the sāman. It is she (sā) and he (ama).42 It is equal (sama) to a gnat, equal to a fly, equal to an elephant, equal to the three worlds, equal to all this, so it is the sāman. Whoever knows the sāman in this way attains union with the sāman, shares a world with it.43

23. It is also the Udgītha. The breath (prāṇa) is ud (up), for all this is upheld by breath. Speech is song (gīthā). Ud and gīthā make Udgītha.

24. On this, Brahmāda Caikitāneya, while drinking the King,44 said, ‘May the King make this man’s45 head split apart if Ayāsya Āṅgirasa chanted the Udgītha by anything else but this! He chanted it only by speech and by breath.’

25. Whoever knows the property (sva) of the sāman obtains property. Its property is tone (swara).46 So one who is about to fulfil the office of a priest should wish for good tone in his speech. With speech possessing good tone he can fulfil the office of a priest. So at a sacrifice people desire to see a priest with good tone, and one who therefore has property. Whoever knows as such the wealth of the sāman obtains property.

26. Whoever knows the gold (suvarna) of the sāman obtains gold. Its gold is tone. Whoever knows as such the gold of the sāman obtains gold.

27. Whoever knows the support (pratiṣṭhā) of the sāman stands firm (prati-sthā-). Its support is speech. The breath sings when it is supported on speech. Some say, ‘supported on food’.

28. Now there is the praying of the prayers of purification. The Prastotṛ chants the sāman. While he chants, one47 should mutter these prayers:

‘From the unreal lead me to the real.

From darkness lead me to light.

From death lead me to immortality.'

When he says, 'From the unreal lead me to the real': death is the

unreal, immortality is the real. He means, 'From death lead me to

immortality, make me immortal.'

'From darkness lead me to light': death is darkness, immortality is

light. He means, 'From death lead me to immortality, make me

immortal.'

'From death lead me to immortality': there is nothing here that

seems obscure.

In whatever other hymns of praise there are, one should sing into

being good food for oneself. In them one may choose a boon, for

whatever desire one may desire. The Udgātr̥ who knows this sings into

being, either for himself or for the patron of the sacrifice, whatever

desire he desires.

So it48 is called 'World-Conquering': and whoever knows the sāman

as such has no prospect of ever being without a world.

CHAPTER 4

1. In the beginning this was self (ātman), in the likeness of a person (purusa). Looking round he saw nothing but himself (ātman). First he said, ‘I am!’ So the name ‘I came to be. Even now, when someone is addressed, he first says, ‘It is I’, and then speaks whatever other name he has. Since, before (pūrva) all this, he burnt up (us-) all the evils from everything, he is purusa. Whoever knows this burns up anyone who wants to be before him.

2. He was afraid: so when alone one is afraid. Then he realized, ‘There is nothing else but me, so why am I afraid?’ Then his fear departed. For why should he be afraid? Fear arises from a second.

3. He had no pleasure either: so when alone one has no pleasure. He desired a companion. He became as large as a woman and a man embracing. He made that self split (pat-) into two: from that husband (pati) and wife (patnī) came to be. Therefore Yājñavalkya used to say, ‘In this respect we two are each like a half portion.’ So this space is filled by a wife. He coupled with her, and from that human beings were born.

4. She realized, ‘How can he couple with me when he begot me from himself? Ah, I must hide!’ She became a cow, the other a bull, and so he coupled with her. From that, cattle were born. She became a mare, the other a stallion; she became a she-donkey, the other a he-donkey: and so he coupled with her. From that, solid-hoofed animals were born. The one became a nanny-goat, the other a billy-goat; the one became a ewe, the other a ram: and so he coupled with her. From that, goats and sheep were born. In that way he created every pair, right down to the ants.

5. He knew, ‘I am creation, for I created all this.’ So he became creation. Whoever knows this comes to be, in this, his creation.

6. Then he rubbed like this and with his hands created Agni from his mouth as from the womb (yoni). So both these are hairless on the inside, for the vagina (yoni) is hairless on the inside.

When they say, ‘Sacrifice to that one!’ ‘Sacrifice to that one!’ – some god or other – that is his varied creation, and he himself is all the gods.

Then he created from seed whatever is moist, and that is Soma. All this is just food and the eater of food. Soma is food, and Agni is the eater of food.

This is the higher creation of Brahmā, since he created gods who are better than he: and also because, being mortal, he created immortals, it is his higher creation. Whoever knows this comes to be,

in this, his higher creation.

7. Then this was undifferentiated. It became differentiated by name and form: ‘He is so-and-so by name. He has such-and-such a form.’ Therefore even now this is differentiated by name and form: ‘He is so-and-so by name. He has such-and-such a form.’

He entered in here right to the tips of the nails, as a razor slips into a razor-case, or a scorpion56 into a scorpion’s nest. They do not see him, for he is incomplete. When he breathes,he is called ‘breath’, when he speaks, ‘speech’; when he sees, ‘eye’; when he hears, ‘ear’; when he thinks, ‘mind’. They are just the names of his works.

Whoever worships one or other of them does not know, for with just one or other he is incomplete. One should worship him as ‘self’ (ātman), for in that all these become one.

The self is the trace of all this: by it one knows all this, just as one can find someone by a footprint. And so whoever knows this finds glory and renown.

8. The self is dearer than a son, dearer than wealth, dearer than any other thing, and deeper within. If someone were speaking of something other than the self as dear, and one were to say of him, ‘He will weep for what is dear to him’, one would very likely be right. One should worship only the self as dear: then what is dear to one is not perishable.

9. They say, ‘Since human beings think that they will become all through knowledge of brahman, what did brahman know, that it became all?’

10. In the beginning, brahman was this. It knew only itself: ‘I am brahman.’ Through that it became all. Whichever of the gods woke up to it became that; whichever of the ṛsis, likewise; whichever of human beings, likewise. Seeing that, the ṛsi Vāmadeva began his hymn: ‘I have become Manu and Sūrya too.’57

Even today, whoever knows ‘I am brahman’ becomes all this. Even the gods are not able to prevent it, for he becomes their self. Whoever worships another god, thinking, ‘He is one and I am another’, does not know. He is like a domestic animal (paśu) for the gods. As many animals are useful to a man, so each man is useful to the gods. When even one animal is taken away, one does not like it, let alone when many are. So the gods do not like it when human beings know this.

11. In the beginning, brahman58 was all this, just one. Being just one, it was not complete. So it created over itself a better form, royalty (ksatra), those who are royalty among the gods: Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Mṛtyu and Īśāna. Therefore there is nothing higher than royalty: therefore at a king’s anointing the Brāhmana sits below the Ksatriya, and he confers this honour on royalty alone.

Brahman is the source (yoni) of royalty. So, even if a king attains the highest state, in the end he takes refuge in the priesthood (brahman) as his own source. So whoever harms the priesthood attacks his own source: he becomes more evil, like one who has harmed a superior.

12. He59 still was not complete. So he created the people (viś), those kinds of gods who are named in groups: the Vasus, the Rudras, the Ādityas, the Viśvedevas and the Maruts.

13. He still was not complete. So he created the Śūdra class, Pūsan. This earth is Pūsan, for it nourishes (pus-) all this, whatever there is.

14. He still was not complete. So he created over himself a better form, dharma.60 Dharma is the royalty of royalty, so there is nothing higher than dharma. Through dharma a weaker man overcomes a stronger one, as though through a king. Dharma is truth: so they say of one who speaks truth, ‘He speaks dharma’, or of one who speaks dharma, ‘He speaks truth’. Both are the same.

15. So there were brahman (priesthood), ksatra (royalty), viś (the people) and śūdra (the labourer). Brahman61 came into being among the gods through Agni; as a Brāhmana among human beings; as a Ksatriya through the Ksatriya; as a Vaiśya through the Vaiśya; and as a Śūdra through the Śūdra. So folk seek a world among the gods in Agni, and a world among human beings in the Brāhmana, for brahman came into being through these two forms.

Whoever leaves this world without knowing his own world, it, unknown, is of no use to him, just like the Veda unrecited, or some other work undone. Even if someone does a great and meritorious work without knowing it, that work of his perishes in the end.

One should worship only the self as one’s world. If someone worships only the self as his world, his work does not perish; for he creates from the self whatever he desires.

16. Oneself (ātman) is a world for all beings. When one makes offerings, when one sacrifices, one becomes a world for the gods. When one learns by heart,62 one becomes a world for the ṛsis. When one makes offerings to the ancestors, when one wishes for offspring, one becomes a world for the ancestors. When one gives shelter to human beings, when one gives them food, one becomes a world for human beings. When one finds grass and water for animals, one becomes a world for animals. When wild beasts and birds, and all creatures right down to the ants, find a living in one’s house, one becomes a world for them. As one desires safety for one’s own world, all beings desire safety for the one who knows this. This is well known and considered.

17. In the beginning, the self was all this, just one. He desired: ‘If only I had a wife, so that I might have offspring! If only I had wealth, so

that I might do work (karman)!' This is all that desire is: even if one wishes, one cannot find more than this. So even now a man alone desires: 'If only I had a wife, so that I might have off spring! If only I had wealth, so that I might do work!' So long as he does not get one or other of these, he thinks he is incomplete.

But his completeness is this:63 his mind is himself (ātman); speech is his wife; breath is his offspring; the eye is his human wealth (vitta), because he finds (vid-) it with the eye; the ear is his divine wealth, because he hears it with the ear. His body (ātman) is his work, because he does work with the body.

The sacrifice is fivefold; the animal is fivefold; the person is fivefold;64 all this, whatever there is, is fivefold. Whoever knows this obtains all this.

CHAPTER 5

1. When by intelligence and heat (tapas)

The Father produced seven foods,

One of his foods was common to all,

Two he allotted to the gods,

Three he made for himself,

One he gave to the animals.

On it everything is supported,

What breathes and what does not.

Why do they not perish

When they are eaten all the time?

Whoever knows this imperishability

Eats food with his face:

He joins the gods;

He lives on strength.

So say the verses.

2. ‘When by intelligence and heat the Father produced seven foods’

for the father produced them by intelligence and heat. ‘One of his foods was common to all’: this is common food (anna), that which is eaten (ad-). Whoever eats this food does not get rid of evil, for it is mixed.

‘Two he allotted to the gods’, the huta and the prahuta:

therefore one offers the huta and the prahuta to the gods. But some say also that it means the new-moon and full-moon sacrifices. Therefore one should not offer a lesser sacrifice.

‘One he gave to the animals’, that is, milk, for in the beginning both human beings and animals live only on milk. So in the beginning they give the newborn infant ghee to lick, or put it to the breast: and they call a newborn calf ‘not grass-fed’. ‘On it everything is supported,

what breathes and what does not’, for all this is supported on milk, what breathes and what does not. So when they say, ‘Whoever makes offerings with milk for a year conquers re-death’, one should not understand it like that. He conquers re-death on the very day he first makes the offering,

if he knows this: for he is offering all his good food to the gods.

‘Why do they not perish when they are eaten all the time?’ The person is imperishability, for he produces food again and again.

‘Whoever knows this imperishability’: the person is imperishability, for he produces food by repeated meditations, his works. If he did not do this, it would perish. ‘Eats food with his face’: ‘face’ means ‘mouth’

– he eats food with his mouth. ‘He joins the gods; he lives on strength’: this is praise.

3. ‘Three he made for himself’: mind, speech, breath – he made them for himself. Someone may say, ‘I had my mind elsewhere: I did not see. I had my mind elsewhere: I did not hear.’ For one sees with the mind, hears with the mind. Desire, imagination,69 doubt, faith, lack of faith, constancy, inconstancy, shame, meditation, fear – all this is mind. So even when one is touched on the back one knows it through mind.

Whatever sound there is is speech. It may rest on an object, or it may not.70

The breath (prana), the lower breath (apāna), the diffused breath (vyāna), the upbreath (udāna) and the central breath (samāna) are all ‘breath’ (ana). All this is breath (prāna). The self (ātman) consists of this: it consists of speech, mind and breath.

4. The three worlds are these. Speech is this world, mind is the world of middle-air, and breath is the world of the sky.

5. The three Vedas are these. Speech is the ṛgveda, mind is the Yajurveda, and breath is the Sāmaveda.

6. Gods, ancestors and human beings are these. Speech is the gods, mind is the ancestors, and breath is human beings.

7. Father, mother and offspring are these. Mind is the father, speech is the mother, and breath is the offspring.

8. The known, the to-be-known and the unknown are these. Whatever is known is a form of speech, for speech is known. Speech, by becoming the known, protects one.

9. Whatever is to be known is a form of mind, for mind is to be known. Mind, by becoming the to-be-known, protects one.

10. Whatever is unknown is a form of breath, for breath is unknown. Breath, by becoming the unknown, protects one.

11. Earth is the body of speech, fire its form of light. As far as speech goes, earth goes, and fire goes.

12. Sky is the body of mind, the sun its form of light. As far as mind goes, the sky goes, and the sun goes.

They two71 came together in sexual union. From it, breath was born. He is Indra: he is the unrivalled. A second is a rival. Whoever knows this has no rival.

13. The waters are the body of breath, the moon its form of light. As far as breath goes, the waters go, and the moon goes.72 All these are the same, all infinite. Whoever worships them as finite wins a finite world: but whoever worships them as infinite wins an infinite world.

14. The year is Prajāpati, of sixteen portions.73 His nights are fifteen

portions. His fixed portion is the sixteenth. Only in his nights does he

wax and wane. On the new-moon night74 he enters into all this that

has breath, and in the morning is born from it again. So on that night

one should not cut off the breath of anything that has breath, even a

lizard, out of reverence for that deity.

15. Any person who knows this is himself the Prajāpati of sixteen

portions who is the year. His wealth is the fifteen portions: his self

(ātman) is the sixteenth portion. Only in his wealth does he wax and

wane. The self is the hub of a wheel, wealth the rim. So even if he

loses everything, but himself lives, they say, ‘He has got off with the

loss of a wheel-rim.’75

16. There are three worlds: the world of human beings, the world of

the ancestors, and the world of the gods. The world of human beings

can be won only through a son,76 not by any other work. The world

of the ancestors can be won by work; the world of the gods by

knowledge. The world of the gods is the best of the worlds: and so folk

praise knowledge.

17. Now the handing on.

When a Brāhmana77 thinks he is about to depart, he says to his son,

‘You are brahman. You are sacrifice (yajña). You are the world.’

The son replies, ‘I am brahman. I am sacrifice. I am the world.’

‘Brahman’ means the unity of everything that has been learned.

‘Sacrifice’ means the unity of all the sacrifices that there are. ‘World’

means the unity of all the worlds that there are. So much is all this.

The father thinks, ‘Since he is all this, may he help me from this

world!’ So a son who has been taught they call ‘world-winning’: that is

why they teach him.

When one who knows this departs from this world, with the breaths

(prāṇa) he enters his son. And if he has done anything amiss, the son

frees him from it all. That is why he is called putra (son).78

Through his son he is established in this world. Then the divine,

immortal breaths enter him.

18. From earth and fire the divine speech enters him. The divine

speech is that by which whatever one says comes to be.

19. From sky and the sun the divine mind enters him. The divine mind

is that by which one is joyful and never grieves.

20. From the waters and the moon the divine breath enters him. The

divine breath is that which, whether moving or not moving, does not

suffer, does not come to harm.

The one who knows this becomes the self of all beings. What that

deity is he is. Just as all beings favour that deity, all beings favour the

one who knows this. Whatever sorrow creatures have remains at home

with them. Only good goes to him. No evil goes to the gods.

21. Now an investigation of vows.79

Prajāpati created the activities (karman). Once created, they vied

with each other. Speech resolved, ‘I will speak’; the eye, ‘I will see’;

the ear, ‘I will hear’; and so with the other activities, each according

to its activity. Death, becoming tiredness, took possession of them and

held them. Holding them, he stopped them. So speech grows tired, the

eye grows tired, the ear grows tired. But he was not able to hold the

one who is the middle breath.80

They resolved to know it. ‘It is the best of us,’ they said, ‘for,

whether moving or not moving, it does not suffer, does not come to

harm. Come, let us all become a form of it!’

They all became a form of it, and therefore they are called ‘breaths’

after it.81 Any family in which there is someone who knows this

comes to be called after him.

And whoever vies with the one who knows this gradually dries up:

he dries up and in the end he dies.

So much regarding oneself.

22. Now regarding deities:

Fire resolved, ‘I will burn’; the sun, ‘I will give heat’; the moon, ‘I

will shine’; and so with the other deities, each according to its deity.

Like the middle breath among the breaths is Vāyu among the deities.

Other deities set, but not Vāyu. Vāyu is the deity who never goes

down in the west.

23. There is a verse:

That from which the sun rises

And into which it sets…

It rises from breath and sets into breath.

… The gods made it dharma.

It is, today, and tomorrow, too.

What they resolved to do then they still do today. So one should

undertake just one vow: one should breathe out and breathe in,

thinking, ‘May not evil, may not death, hold me!’ And when one

undertakes it, one should desire to bring it to completion. Then one

wins union with that deity, shares a world with him.83

CHAPTER 6

1. All this is a triplicity: name, form and action. What is called 'speech' is the Uktha of all the names that there are, for all names arise (ut-thā-) from it. It is their sāman, for it is equal (sama) to all names. It is their brahman, for it bears (bhr-) all names.

2. What is called 'the eye' is the Uktha of all the forms that there are, for all forms arise from it. It is their sāman, for it is equal to all forms. It is their brahman, for it bears all forms.

3. What is called 'the body' (ātman) is the Uktha of all the actions that there are, for all actions arise from it. It is their sāman, for it is equal to all actions. It is their brahman, for it bears all actions.

This triplicity is one, the self: the self, being one, is a triplicity. This is immortality, hidden by truth. Breath is immortality: name and form are truth. The breath is hidden by them.

BOOK II

CHAPTER 1

1. OṀ. Bālāki the Proud, the Gāṛgya, was a learned man. He said to Ajātaśatru of Kāśī, ‘I must teach you about brahman.’1

Ajātaśatru said, ‘We will give you a thousand cows2 for such a teaching. People will run crying, A Janaka, a Janaka!’3

2. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person (purusa) who is in the sun.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the topmost, the head and king of all beings. Whoever worships him as such becomes the topmost, the head and king of all beings.’

3. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the moon.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the great King Soma, dressed in white. Whoever worships him as such, Soma4 is pressed and re-pressed for him every day, and his food never fails.’

4. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the lightning.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the bright (tejasvin). Whoever worships him as such becomes bright, and his off spring become bright.’

5. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in space.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the full, the unmoving. Whoever worships him as such is filled with offspring and animals, and his offspring do not vanish from this world.’

6. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the wind.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as Indra Vaikuṇṭha, the unvanquished army.5 Whoever worships him as such becomes victorious, unvanquished, a conqueror of foes.’

7. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in fire.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the courageous.6 Whoever worships him as such becomes courageous, and his offspring become courageous.’

8. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the waters.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as likeness. Whoever worships him as such, what is like him7 comes to him, not what is unlike, and what is like him is begotten from him.’

9. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the mirror.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the

shining. Whoever worships him as such becomes shining, and his

offspring become shining, and he outshines those he meets.'

10. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the sound which follows one as

one moves.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as life

(asu). Whoever worships him as such attains his full span in this

world, and his breath does not leave him before his time.’

11. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the

directions.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as the

companion who never leaves us. Whoever worships him as such has a

companion,8 and is never deprived of company.’

12. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person made of shadow.’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as

death. Whoever worships him as such attains his full span in this

world, and death does not come to him before his time.’

13. Gāṛgya said, ‘I worship as brahman the person who is in the body

(ātman).’

Ajātaśatru said, ‘Do not talk to me about him. I worship him as

embodied.9 Whoever worships him as such comes to be embodied,

and his offspring come to be embodied.’

Then Gāṛgya fell silent.

14. Ajātaśatru said, ‘Is that all?’

‘That is all.’

‘It is not known by this.’

Gāṛgya said, ‘I must come to you as your student.’10

15. Ajātaśatru said, ‘It is against the natural order11 that a Brāhmaṇa

should come to a Ksatriya to be taught about brahman. However, I

shall make it known to you.’

He took him by the hand and stood up. They came to a man who

was asleep, and the king called him by these names: ‘O great King

Soma, dressed in white!’ He did not get up. But by patting him with

his hand, he woke him, and he got up.

16. Ajātaśatru said, ‘When he fell asleep, where was the person made

of knowledge, and where has he come back from?’

Gāṛgya did not know.

17. Ajātaśatru said, ‘When he fell asleep, the person made of

knowledge, by knowledge taking his knowledge with him, lay down in

the space within the heart. When the person takes these to himself, he

is said to be asleep: the breath is taken, the eye is taken, the ear is

taken, the mind is taken.

18. 'When in dreams he moves about, these are his worlds. He seems to become a great king, or a great Brāhmaṇa, or to move high and low. Just as a great king, taking his subjects with him, moves about at will in his own country, so he, taking his senses (prāṇa) with him, moves about at will in his own body.

19. 'When he is deeply asleep, when he knows nothing at all, he moves along the seventy-two thousand channels called hitā12 from the heart to the citadel of the heart.13 Having moved quietly along them he lies down in the citadel. He lies there as a young prince or a great king or a great Brāhmaṇa would lie on reaching the utmost ecstasy of bliss.

20. 'As a spider moves up along its thread, as small sparks fly up from a fire, so all breaths, all worlds, all gods, all beings come up out of the self. Its inner meaning (upanisad) is 'the truth of the truth': the breaths are the truth, and it is the truth of them.'

CHAPTER 2

1. Whoever knows the baby with his home, his covering, his post and his rope keeps away seven adversaries who hate him. The baby is the middle breath; this14 is his home; this15 is his covering; the breath is his post; food is his rope.16

2. Seven unfailing ones wait on him. By the red streaks which are in the eye, Rudra is brought into contact with him; by the waters which are in the eye, Parjanya; by the pupil, Āditya; by the iris, Agni; by the white, Indra; by the lower lid, Pṛthivī is brought into contact with him; by the upper lid, Dyaus. The food of the one who knows this does not fail.

3. There is a verse about it:

There is a bowl with its rim below and its base above.

In it is placed the glory which possesses all forms.

On its edge sit the Seven ṛsis,

And Vāc, as the eighth, communing with brahman.17

The ‘bowl with its rim below and its base above’ is the head, for it is a bowl with its rim below and its base above. ‘In it is placed the glory which possesses all forms’: the breaths are the glory which possesses all forms. ‘On its edge sit the Seven ṛsis’: the breaths are the ṛsis; here he speaks of the breaths. He says, ‘Vāc, as the eighth, communing with brahman’, because speech, as the eighth, communes with brahman.

4. These two18 are Gotama and Bharadvāja: this one is Gotama, this one Bharadvāja. These two19 are Viśvāmitra and Jamadagni: this one is Viśvāmitra, this one Jamadagni. These two20 are Vasistha and Kaśyapa: this one is Vasistha, this one Kaśyapa. Speech21 is Atri, for by speech food is eaten. ‘To eat’ (ad-) is the same as Atri. The one who knows this becomes the eater of everything: everything becomes his food.

CHAPTER 3

1. There are two forms of brahman: the shaped and the unshaped, the mortal and the immortal, the still and the moving, the present and the beyond.22

2. The shaped is what is other than the wind and the middle-air: this is the mortal, the still, the present. The essence of the shaped, the mortal, the still, the present is the one who gives heat,23 for this is the essence of the present.

3. The unshaped is the wind and the middle-air: this is the immortal, the moving, the beyond. The essence of the unshaped, the immortal, the moving, the beyond is the person (purusa) in the circle,24 for this is the essence of the beyond. This in respect of deities.

4. In respect of oneself: the shaped is what is other than the breath and the space which is within the self - this is the mortal, the still, the present. The essence of the shaped, the mortal, the still, the present is the eye, for this is the essence of the present.

5. The unshaped is the breath and the space which is within the self: this is the immortal, the moving, the beyond. The essence of the unshaped, the immortal, the moving, the beyond is the person who is in the right eye, for this is the essence of the beyond.

6. The form of this person is like a saffron garment, a white woollen cloth, a rain-mite,25 a flame of fire, a white lotus,26 a sudden flash of lightning. Hence the symbolic statement,27 ‘Not this, not this’, for there is nothing - ‘not this’ - higher than this. Its name is ‘the truth of the truth’: the breaths are the truth, and it is the truth of them.

CHAPTER 4

1. Yājñavalkya said, ‘Maitreyī, I am going forth from this state.28 1 must make a settlement on you and Kātyāyanī.’

2. Maitreyī said, ‘Blessed one, if I had this whole earth, filled with riches, would I become immortal by it?’

‘No,’ said Yājñavalkya. ‘Your life would be as the life of the wealthy, but there is no hope of immortality through riches.’

3. Maitreyī said, ‘What use to me is something by which I cannot become immortal? Blessed one, teach me what you know.’

4. Yājñavalkya said, ‘Ah, you have always been dear to me, and now you speak what is dear too. Come, sit down, I will teach you: but, as I explain, meditate upon it.’

5. He said, ‘It is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear: it is for the love of the self (ātman) that a husband is dear. It is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear: it is for the love of the self that a wife is dear. It is not for the love of children that children are dear: it is for the love of the self that children are dear. It is not for the love of riches that riches are dear: it is for the love of the self that riches are dear. It is not for the love of priesthood (brahman) that priesthood is dear: it is for the love of the self that priesthood is dear. It is not for the love of royalty (ksatra) that royalty is dear: it is for the love of the self that royalty is dear. It is not for the love of the worlds that the worlds are dear: it is for the love of the self that the worlds are dear. It is not for the love of the gods that the gods are dear: it is for the love of the self that the gods are dear. It is not for the love of beings that beings are dear: it is for the love of the self that beings are dear. It is not for the love of the all that the all is dear: it is for the love of the self that the all is dear. It is the self that must be seen, heard, thought of and meditated upon: by seeing, hearing, thinking of and understanding the self, Maitreyī, all this is known.

6. ‘Whoever understands priesthood as other than the self, priesthood has given him over.29 Whoever understands royalty as other than the self, royalty has given him over. Whoever understands the worlds as other than the self, the worlds have given him over. Whoever understands the gods as other than the self, the gods have given him over. Whoever understands beings as other than the self, beings have given him over. Whoever understands the all as other than the self, the all has given him over. This priesthood, this royalty, these worlds, these gods, these beings, this all are what this self is.

7. ‘As, when a drum is beaten, one cannot seize the sounds as something outside it, but by seizing the drum or the drummer one has

seized the sound;

8. ‘As, when a conch is blown, one cannot seize the sounds as

something outside it, but by seizing the conch or the conch-blower

one has seized the sound;

9. ‘As, when a lute30 is played, one cannot seize the sounds as

something outside it, but by seizing the lute or the lute-player one has

seized the sound;

10. ‘As smoke billows out in all directions from a fire that has been

laid with damp fuel, just so is everything breathed out from this great

being: the ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the hymns of the

Atharvans and Aś;girases, history, legend, science, the Upanisads,

verses, sūtras, explanatory passages and expositions, all these are

breathed out from it.

11. ‘As the ocean is the one meeting-place of all waters, so the skin is

the one meeting-place of all touches, the nostrils are the one meeting-

place of all smells, the tongue is the one meeting-place of all tastes,

the eye is the one meeting-place of all shapes, the ear is the one

meeting-place of all sounds, the mind is the one meeting-place of all

decisions, the heart is the one meeting-place of all knowledges, the

hands are the one meeting-place of all works, the loins are the one

meeting-place of all pleasures, the anus is the one meeting-place of all

excretions, the feet are the one meeting-place of all roads, and the

voice is the one meeting-place of all the Vedas.

12. ‘As a lump of rock-salt thrown into water would dissolve in the

water, and there would be none, as it were, to take out again, yet

wherever one took water it would be salty, so this great being,

endless, boundless, consists entirely of knowledge. Having arisen from

these elements, it vanishes along with them,for after it has departed

there is no consciousness:31 that is what I say,’ said Yājñavalkya.

13. Maitreyī said, ‘Blessed one, you have confused me by saying that

after it has departed there is no consciousness.’

He said, ‘I do not speak to confuse you: this is enough for

knowledge.

14. ‘For where there is duality, one smells another, one sees another,

one hears another, one speaks to another, one thinks of another, one

knows another. But where everything in one has become self, how can

one smell – and whom? How can one see – and whom? How can one

hear – and whom? How can one speak – and to whom? How can one

think – and of whom? How can one know – and whom? How can one

know that by which one knows all this? How can one know the

knower?’

CHAPTER 5

1. The earth is the honey32 of all beings, and all beings are the honey

of the earth. The radiant, immortal person33 who is in the earth, or -

in respect of oneself34 - the radiant, immortal person of the body, is

the self (ātman). This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

2. The waters are the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey

of the waters. The radiant, immortal person who is in the waters, or -

in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of the seed, is the

self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

3. Fire is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of fire.

The radiant, immortal person who is in fire, or - in respect of oneself -

the radiant, immortal person who is made of speech, is the self. This is

the immortal, brahman, the all.

4. Air is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of air.

The radiant, immortal person who is in air, or - in respect of oneself -

the radiant, immortal person who is made of breath, is the self. This is

the immortal, brahman, the all.

5. The sun is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of

the sun. The radiant, immortal person who is in the sun, or - in

respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of the eye, is the self.

This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

6. The directions are the honey of all beings, and all beings are the

honey of the directions. The radiant, immortal person who is in the

directions, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of

the ear, of the echo, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

7. The moon is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of

the moon. The radiant, immortal person who is in the moon, or - in

respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of the mind, is the

self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

8. The lightning is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the

honey of the lightning. The radiant, immortal person who is in the

lightning, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of

brightness, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

9. The thundercloud is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the

honey of the thundercloud. The radiant, immortal person who is in the

thundercloud, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person

of sound, of tone, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

10. Space is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of

space. The radiant, immortal person who is in space, or - in respect of

oneself - the radiant, immortal person of the space within the heart, is

the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

11. Dharma is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of dharma. The radiant, immortal person who is in dharma, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of dharma, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

12. Truth is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of truth. The radiant, immortal person who is in truth, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of truth, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

13. Humankind is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of humankind. The radiant, immortal person who is in humankind, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person of humanity, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

14. The self is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of the self. The radiant, immortal person who is in the self, or - in respect of oneself - the radiant, immortal person who is the self, is the self. This is the immortal, brahman, the all.

15. The self is the overlord of all beings, the king of all beings. As all the spokes are held together in the hub and rim of a chariot-wheel, so all beings, all gods, all worlds, all breaths, all selves are held together in the self.

16. Dadhyac Ātharvana spoke of this honey to the Aśvins. Seeing it, the ṛsi said:

‘Twin heroes, I proclaim, as thunder proclaims the rain, The strange, terrible thing you did for greed, When Dadhyac Ātharvana, through the head of a horse, Taught you about the honey.’35

17. Dadhyac Ātharvana spoke of this honey to the Aśvins. Seeing it, the ṛsi said:

‘Aśvins, you placed a horse’s head On Dadhyac Ātharvana. Keeping truth, he told you, wonderful ones, Of Tvaṣṭr’s honey - to be your secret.’36

18. Dadhyac Ātharvana spoke of this honey to the Aśvins. Seeing it, the ṛsi said:

‘He made citadels (pur) with two feet; He made citadels with four feet; First (puras) becoming a bird, The person entered the citadels.’

This person (purusa) is lying-in-the-citadel (puri-śaya) in all citadels.

There is nothing that is not covered by him, nothing that is not surrounded by him.

19. Dadhyac Ātharvana spoke of this honey to the Aśvins. Seeing it, the ṛsi said:

‘He shifted shape to match every shape,

To manifest his shape.

Indra, by his magical powers,37 goes in many shapes.

His bay horses, hundreds and ten, are yoked.’

He is the bay horses; he is ten, many thousands, and infinities. He is brahman, without a before, without an after, without an inside, without an outside. This self, all-embracing, is brahman.

That is the teaching.

1. Now the lineage of the teaching. Pautimāśya received it38 from Gaupavana, Gaupavana from Pautimāśya,39 Pautimāśya from Gaupavana, Gaupavana from Kauśika, Kauśika from Kaundinya, Kaundinya from Śāndilya, Śāndilya from Kauśika and Gautama, Gautama

2. from Āgniveśya, Āgniveśya from Śāndilya and Ānabhimlāta, Ānabhimlāta from Ānabhimlāta, Ānabhimlāta from Gautama, Gautama from Saitava and Prācinayogya, Saitava and Prācinayogya from Pārāśarya, Pārāśarya from Bhāradvāja, Bhāradvāja from Bhāradvāja and Gautama, Gautama from Bhāradvāja, Bhāradvāja from Pārāśarya, Pārāśarya from Baijavāpāyana, Baijavāpāyana from Kauśikāyani, Kauśikāyani

3. from Ghṛtakauśika, Ghṛtakauśika from Pārāśaryāyana, Pārāśaryāyana from Pārāśarya, Pārāśarya from Jātūkarnya, Jātūkarnya from Āsurāyana and Yāska, Āsurāyana from Traivani, Traivani from Aupajandhani, Aupajandhani from Āsuri, Āsuri from Bhāradvāja, Bhāradvāja from Atreya, Atreya from Māṇṭi, Māṇṭi from Gautama, Gautama from Gautama, Gautama from Vātsya, Vātsya from Śāndilya, Śāndilya from Kaiśorya Kāpya, Kaiśorya Kāpya from Kumārahārita, Kumārahārita from Gālava, Gālava from Vidarbhī-Kaundinya, Vidarbhī-Kaundinya from Vatsanapāt Bābhrava, Vatsanapāt Bābhrava from Pathin Saubhara, Pathin Saubhara from Ayāsya Āṅgirasa,Ayāsya Āṅgirasa from Ābhūti Tvāstra, Ābhūti Tvāstra from Viśvarūpa Tvāstra, Viśvarūpa Tvāstra from the Aśvins, the Aśvins from Dadhyac Ātharvana, Dadhyac Ātharvanac from the Divine Atharvan, the Divine Atharvan from Mṛtyu Prādhvaṃsana,40 Mṛtyu Prādhvaṃsana from Pradhvaṃsana,41 Pradhvaṃsana from Ekarsi,42 Ekarsi from Vipracitti,43 Vipracitti from Vyasti,44 Vyasti from Sanāru, Sanāru from Sanātana, Sanātana from Sanaga,45 Sanaga from Paramesthin,46 Paramesthin from brahman. Brahman is self-born:

homage to brahman.

BOOK III

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. Janaka of Videha offered a sacrifice, with munificent gifts for the priests.1 There the Brāhmaṇas of the Kurus and Pañcālas were gathered together. It occurred to Janaka of Videha to wonder which of the Brāhmaṇas was most learned. So he penned off a thousand cows, and ten gold pieces were attached to the horns of each.

2. He said to them, ‘Blessed Brāhmaṇas, whoever is the truest Brāhmana2 among you, let him drive away these cows.’ The Brāhmaṇas dared not.

But Yājñavalkya called3 to his own student, ‘Sāmaśravas, good lad; drive out these cows!’ And he drove them out.

The Brāhmaṇas were angry, thinking, ‘How can be claim to be the truest Brāhmana among us?’

Aśvala was Hotṛ4 to Janaka of Videha. He asked him, ‘Yājñavalkya, are you the truest Brāhmana among us?’

He said, ‘We pay respect to the truest Brāhmana: we just want the cows.’

Then Aśvala the Hotṛ undertook to question him.

3. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘since all this is seized by death, all this is overpowered by death, by what means does the patron of the sacrifice become free from the grip of death?’

‘By the Hotṛ priest, by fire, by speech. Speech is the Hotṛ of the sacrifice; what speech is, fire is; that is the Hotṛ. That is freedom; that is utter freedom.’

4. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘since all this is seized by days and nights, all this is overpowered by days and nights, by what means does the patron of the sacrifice become free from the grip of days and nights?’

‘By the Adhvaryu priest, by the eye, by the sun. The eye is the Adhvaryu of the sacrifice; what the eye is, the sun is; that is the Adhvaryu. That is freedom; that is utter freedom.’

5. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘since all this is seized by bright fortnights and dark fortnights,5 all this is overpowered by bright fortnights and dark fortnights, by what means does the patron of the sacrifice become free from the grip of bright fortnights and dark fortnights?’

‘By the Udgātr̥ priest, by wind, by breath. Breath is the Udgātr̥ of the sacrifice; what breath is, wind is; that is the Udgātr̥. That is freedom; that is utter freedom.’

6. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘since the middle-air is, as it were, without a support, by what way does the patron of the sacrifice climb to the heaven-world?’

'By the Brahmā priest, by mind, by the moon. Mind is the Brahmā of the sacrifice; what mind is, the moon is; that is the Brahmā. That is freedom; that is utter freedom.'

That was the passage on utter freedoms: now come the attainments.

7. 'Yājñavalkya,' he said, 'how many kinds of verses will the Hotṛ employ in the sacrifice today?'

'Three.'

'What are the three?'

'The verse of invitation, the verse accompanying the sacrifice, and the verse of blessing as the third.'

'What does one win by them?'

'Whatever has breath.'

8. 'Yājñavalkya,' he said, 'how many kinds of offerings will the Adhvaryu offer in the sacrifice today?'

'Three.'

'What are the three?'

'Those which blaze up when offered, those which overflow when offered, and those which sink down when offered.'

'What does one win by them?'

'By those which blaze up when offered, one wins the world of the gods, for the world of the gods, as it were, shines; by those which overflow when offered, one wins the world of the ancestors, for the world of the ancestors is, as it were, beyond; and by those which sink down when offered, one wins the human world, for the human world is, as it were, below.'

9. 'Yājñavalkya,' he said, 'with how many gods will the Brahmā on the southern side protect the sacrifice today?'

'One.'

'What is the one?'

'The mind.'

Indeed, the mind is infinite; the Viśvedevas are infinite; by knowing it one wins an infinite world.

10. 'Yājñavalkya,' he said, 'how many praises will the Udgātṛ chant in the sacrifice today?'

'Three.'

'What are the three?'

'The chant of invitation, the chant accompanying the sacrifice, and the chant of blessing as the third.'

'What are they in relation to oneself?'

'The chant of invitation is the breath, the chant accompanying the

sacrifice the lower breath, and the chant of blessing the diffused breath.’

‘What does one win by them?’

‘By the chant of invitation, one wins the world of the earth; by the chant accompanying the sacrifice, the world of the middle-air; and by the chant of blessing, the world of the sky.’

Then Aśvala the Hotṛ fell silent.

CHAPTER 2

1. Then Jāratkārava Ārtabhāga questioned him. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, 'how many graspers are there; how many over-graspers?'6 'Eight graspers; eight over-graspers.' 'What are they, the eight graspers, the eight over-graspers?'

2. ‘The out-breath (prāṇa) is the grasper. It is grasped by the in-breath (apāna) as its over-grasper, for by the in-breath one smells smells.

3. ‘Speech is the grasper. It is grasped by name as its over-grasper, for by speech one utters names.

4. ‘The tongue is the grasper. It is grasped by taste as its over-grasper, for by the tongue one discerns tastes.

5. ‘The eye is the grasper. It is grasped by form as its over-grasper, for by the eye one sees forms.

6. ‘The ear is the grasper. It is grasped by sound as its over-grasper, for by the ear one hears sounds.

7. ‘The mind is the grasper. It is grasped by desire as its over-grasper, for by the mind one desires desires.

8. ‘The hands are the grasper. It is grasped by action as its over-grasper, for by the hands one performs actions.

9. ‘The skin is the grasper. It is grasped by touch as its over-grasper, for by the skin one feels touches. These are the eight graspers and the eight over-graspers.’

10. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘since all this is the food of death, who is the deity of whom death is the food?’ 'Fire is death: he is the food of the waters. He who knows this7 conquers re-death.’

11. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘when a person dies, do his breaths go up out of him or not?’ 'No,' said Yājñavalkya, 'they are gathered together just here, and he swells up, becomes inflated. The dead man lies inflated.’

12. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘when a person dies, what does not leave him?’ 'Name.' Name is infinite; the Viśvedevas are infinite; by it one wins an infinite world.

13. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘when a person dies, and his voice goes into fire, his breath into air, his eye into the sun, his mind into the moon, his ear into the directions, his body into the earth, his self into space, his body-hair into plants, and his head-hair into trees, and his blood

and seed are placed in the waters, where is the person then?'

'Ārtabhāga, good man, take my hand. Just we two will know of this:

it is not for us to discuss in public.'

They went away and discussed it. What they spoke of was action

(karman); what they praised was action. One becomes good by good

action, evil by evil action.

Then Jāratkārava Ārtabhāga fell silent.

CHAPTER 3

1. Then Bhujyu Lāhyāyani questioned him. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘we were wandering as religious students among the Madras, and we came to the house of Patañcala Kāpya. He had a daughter who was possessed by a gandharva. We asked the gandharva, “Who are you?” He said, “Sudhanvan Āngirasa.” When we were questioning him about the ends of the worlds, we said to him, “Where have the Pāriksitas gone?”

‘I ask you, Yājñavalkya, where have the Pāriksitas gone?’

2. He said, ‘He told you, “They have gone where those who perform the horse sacrifice go.” You said, “Where do those who perform the horse sacrifice go?” He said, “This world is thirty-two days’ journey of the god’s chariot wide, and the earth surrounds it completely, twice as wide. The ocean surrounds the earth completely, twice as wide. The space between is just as wide as the edge of a razor or the wing of a fly. Indra, becoming an eagle, handed them over to Vāyu. Vāyu placed them in himself and took them where those who perform the horse sacrifice have gone.” In some such words the gandharva praised Vāyu. So Vāyu is individuality, Vāyu is totality. Whoever knows this conquers re-death.’

Then Bhujyu Lāhyāyani fell silent.

CHAPTER 4

1. Then Usasta Cākrāyana questioned him. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, 'reveal to me the brahman that is manifest, not hidden, that is the self within everything.'

'It is your self that is within everything.'

'What is within everything, Yājñavalkya?'

'The one that breathes with your breath is your self that is within everything. The one that breathes down with your lower breath is your self that is within everything. The one that breathes apart with your diffused breath is your self that is within everything. The one that breathes up with your up-breath is your self that is within everything. This is your self that is within everything.'

2. Usasta Cākrāyana said, ‘You have explained it exactly as one might say, “This is a cow, this is a horse.” Reveal to me the brahman that is manifest, not hidden, that is the self within everything.'

'It is your self that is within everything.'

'What is within everything, Yājñavalkya?'

'You cannot see the seer of seeing; you cannot hear the hearer of hearing; you cannot think of the thinker of thinking; you cannot know the knower of knowing. This is your self that is within everything. What is other than this is suffering.'

Then Usasta Cākrāyana fell silent.

CHAPTER 5

1. Then Kahola Kausītakeya questioned him. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘reveal to me the brahman that is manifest, not hidden, that is the self within everything.’

‘It is your self that is within everything.’

‘What is within everything, Yājñavalkya?’

‘What goes beyond hunger and thirst, grief, delusion, old age and death. Seeing the self as such, leaving behind desires for sons, desires for wealth, and desires for worlds, Brāhmaṇas live on alms. For desire for sons is desire for wealth, and desire for wealth is desire for worlds: both are merely desires. Therefore a Brāhmaṇa should turn away from learning, and desire to live like a child. When he has turned away from both childhood and learning, he is a “silent one” (muni). When he has turned away from both non-silence and silence, he is a Brāhmaṇa.’

‘By what would he become a Brāhmaṇa?’

‘By whatever it might be, that is how he is. What is other than this is suffering.’

Then Kahola Kausītakeya fell silent.

CHAPTER 6

1. Then Gārgī Vācaknavī questioned him. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ she said,

'since all this is woven on the waters, as warp and weft, on what are

the waters woven, as warp and weft?'10

'On air, Gārgī.'

'On what is air woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of middle-air, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of middle-air woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of the gandharvas, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of the gandharvas woven, as warp and

weft?'

'On the worlds of the sun, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of the sun woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of the moon, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of the moon woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of the constellations, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of the constellations woven, as warp and

weft?'

'On the worlds of the gods, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of the gods woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of Indra, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of Indra woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of Prajāpati, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of Prajāpati woven, as warp and weft?'

'On the worlds of Brahmā, Gārgī.'

'On what are the worlds of Brahmā woven, as warp and weft?'

He said, ‘Gārgī, do not ask too many questions, lest your head

should split apart. You are asking too many questions about a deity

concerning whom too many questions should not be asked. Gārgī, do

not ask too many questions.’

Then Gārgī Vācaknavī fell silent.

CHAPTER 7

1. Then Uddālaka Āruni questioned him. ‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said, ‘we were living among the Madras, in the house of Patañcala Kāpya, studying the sacrifice. He had a wife who was possessed by a gandharva. We asked the gandharva, “Who are you?” He said, “Kabandha Ātharvana.” He asked Patañcala Kāpya and us students of the sacrifice, “Do you know, Kāpya, the thread on which this world, the other world, and all beings are strung together?” Patañcala Kāpya said, “I do not know, blessed one.” He asked Patañcala Kāpya and us students of the sacrifice, “Do you know, Kāpya, the inner controller (antaryāmin) who controls this world, the other world, and all beings from within?” Patañcala Kāpya said, “I do not know, blessed one.” He told Patañcala Kāpya and us students of the sacrifice, “Kāpya, whoever knows the thread and the inner controller (as it is called) is a knower of brahman, a knower of the worlds, a knower of the gods, a knower of the Vedas, a knower of beings, a knower of the self, a knower of everything.”

‘He told us, and I know it. If you, Yājñavalkya, take those brahman-cows without knowing the thread, without knowing the inner controller, your head will split apart.’

He said, ‘Gautama, I know the thread and the inner controller.’

‘Anyone could say, “I know, I know.” Tell us what you know.’

2. He said, ‘Air, Gautama, is the thread. On air as the thread, this world, the other world and all beings are strung together. That is why, Gautama, they say of a person who has died, “His limbs are loosed”, for they are strung together on air as the thread.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya. Tell us of the inner controller.’

3. ‘That which, resting in the earth, is other than the earth; which the earth does not know; of which the earth is the body; which controls the earth from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

4. ‘That which, resting in the waters, is other than the waters; which the waters do not know; of which the waters are the body; which controls the waters from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

5. ‘That which, resting in fire, is other than fire; which fire does not know; of which fire is the body; which controls fire from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

6. ‘That which, resting in middle-air, is other than middle-air; which middle-air does not know; of which middle-air is the body; which controls middle-air from within: this is your self, the inner controller,

the immortal.

7. ‘That which, resting in air, is other than air; which air does not know; of which air is the body; which controls air from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

8. ‘That which, resting in the sky, is other than the sky; which the sky does not know; of which the sky is the body; which controls the sky from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

9. ‘That which, resting in the sun, is other than the sun; which the sun does not know; of which the sun is the body; which controls the sun from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

10. ‘That which, resting in the directions, is other than the directions; which the directions do not know; of which the directions are the body; which controls the directions from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

11. ‘That which, resting in the moon and stars, is other than the moon and stars; which the moon and stars do not know; of which the moon and stars are the body; which controls the moon and stars from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

12. ‘That which, resting in space, is other than space; which space does not know; of which space is the body; which controls space from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

13. ‘That which, resting in darkness, is other than darkness; which darkness does not know; of which darkness is the body; which controls darkness from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

14. ‘That which, resting in light, is other than light; which light does not know; of which light is the body; which controls light from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

‘So much regarding deities: now regarding beings:

15. ‘That which, resting in all beings, is other than all beings; which all beings do not know; of which all beings are the body; which controls all beings from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

‘So much regarding beings: now regarding oneself:

16. ‘That which, resting in the breath, is other than the breath; which the breath does not know; of which the breath is the body; which controls the breath from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

17. ‘That which, resting in speech, is other than speech; which speech does not know; of which speech is the body; which controls speech from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

18. ‘That which, resting in the eye, is other than the eye; which the

eye does not know; of which the eye is the body; which controls the eye from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

19. That which, resting in the ear, is other than the ear; which the ear does not know; of which the ear is the body; which controls the ear from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

20. ‘That which, resting in the mind, is other than the mind; which the mind does not know; of which the mind is the body; which controls the mind from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

21. ‘That which, resting in the skin, is other than the skin; which the skin does not know; of which the skin is the body; which controls the skin from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

22. ‘That which, resting in knowledge (vijñāna), is other than knowledge; which knowledge does not know; of which knowledge is the body; which controls knowledge from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

23. ‘That which, resting in the seed, is other than the seed; which the seed does not know; of which the seed is the body; which controls the seed from within: this is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.

‘It is the unseen seer, the unheard hearer, the unthought-of thinker, the unknown knower. Other than this there is no seer; other than this there is no hearer; other than this there is no thinker; other than this there is no knower. This is your self, the inner controller, the immortal: what is other than this is suffering.’

Then Uddālaka Āruni fell silent.

CHAPTER 8

1. Then Vācaknavī said, ‘Blessed Brāhmaṇas, listen, I am going to ask

him two questions. If he answers them for me, not one of you will

defeat him in debate about brahman.’

‘Ask, Gārgī.’

2. She said, ‘Yājñavalkya, as a warrior son of Kāśī or Videha might

string his unstrung bow, take in his hand two enemy-piercing arrows,

and advance against you, so I have advanced against you, with two

questions. Answer them for me.’

‘Ask, Gārgī.’

3. She said, ‘Yājñavalkya, that which is above the sky; that which is

below the earth; that which is between sky and earth; that which they

call past, present and future: on what is that woven, as warp and

weft?’

4. He said, ‘Gārgī, that which is above the sky; that which is below the

earth; that which is between sky and earth; that which they call past,

present and future: that is woven on space, as warp and weft.’

5. She said, ‘Homage to you, Yājñavalkya, since you have solved this

for me. Brace yourself for the other one.’

‘Ask, Gārgī.’

6. She said, ‘Yājñavalkya, that which is above the sky; that which is

below the earth; that which is between sky and earth; that which they

call past, present and future: on what is that woven, as warp and

weft?’

7. He said, ‘Gārgī, that which is above the sky; that which is below the

earth; that which is between sky and earth; that which they call past,

present and future: that is woven on space, as warp and weft.’

‘On what is space woven, as warp and weft?’

8. He said, ‘That, Gārgī, is what Brāhmaṇas call the imperishable, not

thick, not thin, not short, not long, without blood, without oiliness,

without shadow, without darkness, without air, without space,

without clinging, without taste, without smell, without eye, without

ear, without speech, without mind, without light, without breath,

without face, without measure, without inside, without outside. It eats

nothing, and nobody eats it.

9. ‘Under the rule of the imperishable, Gārgī, the sun and moon abide

in their separate places. Under the rule of the imperishable, Gārgī, sky

and earth abide in their separate places. Under the rule of the

imperishable, Gārgī, moments, hours,11 days and nights, half-months,

months, seasons, and the year abide in their separate places. Under

the rule of the imperishable, Gārgī, some rivers flow east from the

snowy mountains and others flow west, each in its own direction.

Under the rule of the imperishable, Gārgī, human beings praise those

who give, gods are attracted to the patron of the sacrifice, and

ancestors to the offering-spoon.

10. ‘Gārgī, if someone in this world makes offerings, performs

sacrifices, and practises asceticism for many thousands of years

without knowing the imperishable, that work of his comes to an end.

Gārgī, if someone passes on from this world without knowing the

imperishable, he is pitiable. But, Gārgī, if someone passes on from this

world knowing the imperishable, he is a Brāhmaṇa.

11. ‘The imperishable, Gārgī, is the unseen seer, the unheard hearer,

the unthought-of thinker, the unknown knower. Other than this there

is no seer; other than this there is no hearer; other than this there is

no thinker; other than this there is no knower. On the imperishable,

Gārgī, space is woven as warp and weft.’

12. She said, ‘Blessed Brāhmaṇas, you should think it a fine thing if

you can escape from him by paying him homage: not one of you will

defeat him in debate about brahman.’

Then Vācaknavī fell silent.

CHAPTER 9

1. Then Vidagdha Śākalya questioned him: ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’

He answered with this invocation: ‘As many as it says in the invocation of the hymn to the Viśvedevas, “three hundred and three and three thousand and three”.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’

‘Thirty-three.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘Six.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘Three.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘Two.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘One and a half.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘One.’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘Who are the three hundred and three and three thousand and three?’

2. He said, ‘They are their powers: there are just thirty-three gods.’

‘Who are the thirty-three?’

‘The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras and the twelve Ādityas make thirty-one: Indra and Prajāpati make thirty-three.’

3. ‘Who are the Vasus?’

‘Fire, the earth, the wind, the middle-air, the sun, the sky, the moon and the constellations. All this is placed in them, so they are called the Vasus.’12

4. ‘Who are the Rudras?’

‘The ten breaths in a person, with the self as eleventh. When they leave this mortal body they make folk weep (rud-). Since they make folk weep, they are called the Rudras.’

5. ‘Who are the Ādityas?’

‘The twelve months of the year are the Ādityas. They go (yanti), taking (ā-dā-) all this with them. Since they go, taking all this with them, they are called Ādityas.’

6. ‘Who is Indra? Who is Prajāpati?’

‘Indra is the thunderer. Prajāpati is the sacrifice.’

'What is the thunderer?'

'The thunderbolt.'

'What is the sacrifice?'

'The animals (paśu).'

7. 'Who are the six?'

'Fire, the earth, the wind, the middle-air, the sun and the sky are the six: the six are all this.'

8. 'Who are the three gods?'

'They are the three worlds, for all the gods are in them.'

'Who are the two gods?'

'Food and breath.'

'Who is the one and a half?'

'He who purifies.13'

9. 'Some say about this, “He who purifies seems to be just one, so how is he one and a half?” But since all this has grown (adhyār dhot) in him, he is one and a half (adhyardha).'

'Who is the one god?'

'Breath: that is brahman. They call it “the beyond”.'

10. 'If someone were to know the person (purusa) whose dwelling is the earth, whose world is fire, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person of the body. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Immortality,' he said.

11. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is desire, whose world is the heart, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person made of desire. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Women,' he said.

12. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is forms, whose world is the eye, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person in the sun. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Truth,' he said.

13. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is space, whose world is the ear, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person of hearing and of the echo. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'The directions,' he said.

14. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is darkness, whose world is the heart, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person made of shadow. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Death,' he said.

15. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is forms, whose world is the eye, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person in the mirror. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Life,' he said.

16. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is the waters, whose world is the heart, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person in the waters. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Varuna,' he said.

17. 'If someone were to know the person whose dwelling is seed, whose world is the heart, and whose light is the mind, the ultimate refuge of every self, he would truly be a knower, Yājñavalkya.'

'I know the person you speak of, the ultimate refuge of every self. He is the person made of one's children. Tell me, Śākalya, who is his deity?'

'Prajāpati,' he said.

18. 'Śākalya,' cried Yājñavalkya, 'have the Brāhmanas made you their tool, to pull coals from the fire for them?'14

19. 'Yājñavalkya,' said Śākalya, 'what is the brahman that you know, that you have out-debated the Brāhmanas of the Kurus and Pañcālas?'

'I know the directions with the gods and their supports.'

'If you know the directions with their gods and their supports,

20. 'What deity have you in the eastern direction?'

'I have Āditya as deity there.'

'On what is Āditya supported?'

'On the eye.'

'On what is the eye supported?'

'On forms: for one sees forms with the eye.'

'On what are forms supported?'

'On the heart,' he said, 'for one knows forms with the heart, so

forms are supported on the heart.'

'So it is, Yājñavalkya.

21. 'What deity have you in the southern direction?'

'I have Yama as deity there.'

'On what is Yama supported?'

'On the sacrifice.'

'On what is the sacrifice supported?'

'On the gift to the priests (dakṣiṇā).'

'On what is the gift supported?'

'On faith (śraddhā), for when one has faith one gives the gift, so the

gift is supported on faith.'

'On what is faith supported?'

'On the heart,' he said, 'for one knows faith with the heart, so faith

is supported on the heart.'

'So it is, Yājñavalkya.

22. 'What deity have you in the western direction?'

'I have Varuna as deity there.'

'On what is Varuna supported?'

'On the waters.'

'On what are the waters supported?'

'On seed.'

'On what is seed supported?'

'On the heart,' he said. 'That is why, when a baby is born who looks

like his father, they say, "He seems to have crept out of his father's

heart;15 he seems to have been fashioned out of his heart." '

'So it is, Yājñavalkya.

23. 'What deity have you in the northern direction?'

'I have Soma as deity there.'

'On what is Soma supported?'

'On initiation (dīkṣā).'

'On what is initiation supported?'

'On truth. That is why, when someone is initiated, they tell him,

"Speak truth", for initiation is supported on truth.'

'On what is truth supported?'

'On the heart,' he said, 'for one knows truth with the heart, so truth

is supported on the heart.'

'So it is, Yājñavalkya.

24. 'What deity have you in the centre?'16

'I have Agni as deity there.'

'On what is Agni supported?'

'On speech.'

'On what is speech supported?'

'On the heart.'

'On what is the heart supported?'

25. 'You fool,' said Yājñavalkya, 'for thinking it might be anywhere else but in us! If it were anywhere else but in us, dogs might eat it or birds tear it apart.'

26. 'On what are both you and your self supported?'

'On the breath (prāṇa).'

'On what is the breath supported?'

'On the lower breath (apāna).'

'On what is the lower breath supported?'

'On the diffused breath (vyāna).'

'On what is the diffused breath supported?'

'On the up-breath (udāna).'

'On what is the up-breath supported?'

'On the central breath (samāna). The self is “not this, not this”. Unseizable, it is not seized; indestructible, it is not destroyed; without clinging, it is not clung to; unbound, it does not suffer, does not come to harm.

'There are eight dwellings, eight worlds, eight gods, eight persons. I ask you about the person of the secret teaching,17 who takes apart and puts together those persons and goes beyond them. If you do not explain him to me, your head will split apart.'

Śākalya did not know about him, and his head split apart. Indeed, robbers stole his bones, thinking they were something else.

27. Then Yājñavalkya said, 'Blessed Brāhmanas, let whoever of you wishes to, question me; or let all of you question me; or I will question whoever of you wishes me to; or I will question all of you.' But the Brāhmanas dared not.

28. He questioned them with these verses:

'Just like a tree, a lord of the forest,

Truly, is a man (purusa).

The hairs of his body are the leaves,

His skin the outer bark.

'Blood flows out from his skin

Like sap from the skin of the tree:

When he is wounded, it flows out of him

Like sap from a tree that has been struck.

'His flesh is the outer wood;

The fibres, so strong, his sinews;

His bones the hard wood within;

His marrow made in the likeness of the pith.

'Since a tree, cut down, grows up again,

In a newer form, from its root,

From what root does a mortal man,

Cut down by death, grow up again?

'Do not say, "From the seed",

For that comes from the living.

A tree, too, springing up from seed,

Is reborn directly, without having died.18

'When a tree has been pulled up

With its root, it cannot grow again.

From what root does a mortal man,

Cut down by death, grow up again?

'Though born, he is not born again,

For who could beget him again?

Brahman - knowledge, joy, and grace -

Is the final refuge of the giver,

The one who abides in it, the one who knows it.'

BOOK

IV

CHAPTER 1

1. OṂ. Janaka of Videha sat to give audience.1 Yājñavalkya approached him. Janaka said to him, ‘Yājñavalkya, why have you come? Are you wanting cattle, or subtle arguments?’

‘Both, your majesty,’ he said.

2. ‘Let us hear what someone has told you.’

‘Jitvan Śailini told me that speech is brahman.’

‘Śailini says what anyone would say who had a mother, a father and a teacher to teach him,2 when he says that speech is brahman: for what would anyone have who could not speak? But did he tell you its dwelling and support?’

‘He did not.’

‘Then that is a one-footed brahman,3 your majesty.’

‘So you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’

‘Speech itself is its dwelling, space is its support. One should worship it as knowledge (prajñā).’

‘What is the nature of this knowledge?’

‘Speech itself, your majesty,’ he said. ‘By speech, your majesty, a friend is known (pra-jñā-). The ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the hymns of the Atharvans and Aṅgirases, history, legend, science, sacrifice, offering, food, drink, this world, the other world, and all beings are known by speech, your majesty: speech, your majesty, is indeed the supreme brahman. The one who knows this, and worships it as such, speech does not desert him; all beings flock to him; and becoming a god he goes to the gods.’

‘I give you a thousand cows, with a bull like an elephant,’4 said Janaka of Videha.

Yājñavalkya said, ‘My father used to say that one should not accept gifts without having taught.

3. ‘Let us hear what someone has told you.’

‘Udaṅka Śaulbāyana told me that the breath is brahman.’

‘Śaulbāyana says what anyone would say who had a mother, a father and a teacher to teach him, when he says that the breath is brahman: for what would anyone have who could not breathe? But did he tell you its dwelling and support?’

‘He did not.’

‘Then that is a one-footed brahman, your majesty.’

‘So you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’

'The breath itself is its dwelling, space is its support. One should worship it as the dear.'

'What is its dearness?'

'The breath itself, your majesty,' he said. 'For love of the breath, your majesty, one offers sacrifice for someone for whom one should not offer sacrifice, one accepts gifts from someone from whom one should not accept gifts. For love of the breath, your majesty, in whatever direction one goes, there exists the fear of being killed.5 The breath, your majesty, is indeed the supreme brahman. The one who knows this, and worships it as such, the breath does not desert him; all beings flock to him; and becoming a god he goes to the gods.'

'I give you a thousand cows, with a bull like an elephant,' said Janaka of Videha.

Yājñavalkya said, 'My father used to say that one should not accept gifts without having taught.'

4. 'Let us hear what someone has told you.'

'Bārku Vārsna told me that the eye is brahman.'

'Vārsna says what anyone would say who had a mother, a father and a teacher to teach him, when he says that the eye is brahman: for what would anyone have who could not see? But did he tell you its dwelling and support?'

'He did not.'

'Then that is a one-footed brahman, your majesty.'

'So you tell us, Yājñavalkya.'

'The eye itself is its dwelling, space is its support. One should worship it as truth.'

'What is its trueness?'

'The eye itself, your majesty,' he said. 'For when someone sees with the eye, your majesty, and they ask him, "Have you seen it?", and he says, "I have seen it", that is the truth. The eye, your majesty, is indeed the supreme brahman. The one who knows this, and worships it as such, the eye does not desert him; all beings flock to him; and becoming a god he goes to the gods.'

'I give you a thousand cows, with a bull like an elephant,' said Janaka of Videha.

Yājñavalkya said, 'My father used to say that one should not accept gifts without having taught.'

5. 'Let us hear what someone has told you.'

'Gardhabhīvipīta Bhāradvāja told me that the ear is brahman.'

'Bhāradvāja says what anyone would say who had a mother, a father and a teacher to teach him, when he says that the ear is

brahman: for what would anyone have who could not hear? But did he tell you its dwelling and support?

‘He did not.’

‘Then that is a one-footed brahman, your majesty.’

‘So you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’

‘The ear itself is its dwelling, space is its support. One should worship it as the endless.’

‘What is its endlessness?’

‘The ear itself, your majesty,’ he said. ‘That is why, your majesty, whatever direction one goes in, one never reaches the end of it. The directions are endless, and the directions, your majesty, are the ear. The ear, your majesty, is indeed the supreme brahman. The one who knows this, and worships it as such, the ear does not desert him; all beings flock to him; and becoming a god he goes to the gods.’

‘I give you a thousand cows, with a bull like an elephant,’ said Janaka of Videha.

Yājñavalkya said, ‘My father used to say that one should not accept gifts without having taught.

6. ‘Let us hear what someone has told you.’

‘Satyakāma Jābāla told me that the mind is brahman.’

‘Jābāla says what anyone would say who had a mother, a father and a teacher to teach him, when he says that speech is brahman: for what would anyone have who had no mind? But did he tell you its dwelling and support?’

‘He did not.’

‘Then that is a one-footed brahman, your majesty.’

‘So you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’

‘The mind itself is its dwelling, space is its support. One should worship it as joy.’

‘What is its joyfulness?’

‘The mind itself, your majesty,’ he said. ‘Through the mind, your majesty, one is attracted to a woman, and of her a son is born who looks like oneself. That is joy. The mind, your majesty, is indeed the supreme brahman. The one who knows this, and worships it as such, the mind does not desert him; all beings flock to him; and becoming a god he goes to the gods.’

‘I give you a thousand cows, with a bull like an elephant,’ said Janaka of Videha.

Yājñavalkya said, ‘My father used to say that one should not accept gifts without having taught.

7. ‘Let us hear what someone has told you.’

'Vidagdha Śākalya told me that the heart is brahman.'

'Śākalya says what anyone would say who had a mother, a father and a teacher to teach him, when he says that the heart is brahman: for what would anyone have who had no heart? But did he tell you its dwelling and support?'

'He did not.'

'Then that is a one-footed brahman, your majesty.'

'So you tell us, Yājñavalkya.'

'The heart itself is its dwelling, space is its support. One should worship it as steadfastness.'

'What is the nature of this steadfastness?'

'The heart itself, your majesty,' he said. 'For the heart, your majesty, is the dwelling of all beings; the heart, your majesty, is the support of all beings. The heart, your majesty, is indeed the supreme brahman. The one who knows this, and worships it as such, the heart does not desert him; all beings flock to him; and becoming a god he goes to the gods.'

'I give you a thousand cows, with a bull like an elephant,' said Janaka of Videha.

Yājñavalkya said, 'My father used to say that one should not accept gifts without having taught.'

CHAPTER 2

1. Janaka of Videha came quietly down from his throne and said, ‘Homage to you, Yājñavalkya: teach me!’

He said, ‘Your majesty, as one about to go on a great voyage would get hold of a chariot or a ship, so you have a self well prepared by these inner teachings (upanisad). You are a leader of men, wealthy: you have studied the Vedas and heard the inner teachings. When you are released from here, where will you go?’

‘Blessed one, I do not know where I shall go.’

‘Then I will tell you where you will go.’

‘Tell me, blessed one.’

2. ‘The person in the right eye is called Indha. Though he is Indha, folk call him Indra, mysteriously, because the gods seem to love the mysterious, and hate the obvious.

3. ‘The form of a person in the left eye is his wife, Virāj. The place where they meet in praise together is the space within the heart, and their food is the lump of blood within the heart. The path they travel together is the channel that goes upward from the heart. Its channels called hitā, like a hair divided into a thousand parts, are established within the heart: through them flows whatever flows. So that self is an eater of choicer food than the bodily self.

4. ‘The eastern direction is its eastward breaths; the southern direction its southward breaths; the western direction its westward breaths; the northern direction its northward breaths; the direction above its upward breaths; the direction below its downward breaths; all directions all its breaths. The self is “not this, not this”. Unseizable, it is not seized; indestructible, it is not destroyed; without clinging, it is not clung to; unbound, it does not suffer, does not come to harm. You have attained fearlessness, Janaka,’ said Yājñavalkya.

Janaka of Videha said, ‘May fearlessness come to you, Yājñavalkya, since you, blessed one, make us see fearlessness. Homage to you! Here are the Videhas, and here am I, at your service.’

CHAPTER 3

1. Yājñavalkya went to Janaka of Videha, intending not to teach. But once, when Janaka of Videha and Yājñavalkya spoke together about the Agnihotra, Yājñavalkya had granted him a boon.9 The king chose to ask any question he desired, and Yājñavalkya granted it to him. So the first question he asked him was:

2. ‘Yājñavalkya, what light has a man (purusa)?’

‘He has the sun as his light. With the sun as his light he sits, goes about, does his work, and returns.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya.

3. ‘When the sun has set, Yājñavalkya, what light has a man?’

‘He has the moon as his light. With the moon as his light he sits, goes about, does his work, and returns.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya.

4. ‘When the sun has set, Yājñavalkya, and the moon has set, what light has a man?’

‘Fire is his light. With fire as his light he sits, goes about, does his work, and returns.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya.

5. ‘When the sun has set, Yājñavalkya, and the moon has set, and fire has gone out, what light has a man?’

‘Speech is his light. With speech as his light he sits, goes about, does his work, and returns. That is why, your majesty, even when one cannot see one’s own hand, when speech is uttered, one goes towards it.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya.

6. ‘When the sun has set, Yājñavalkya, and the moon has set, and fire has gone out, and speech has fallen silent, what light has a man?’

‘The self (ātman) is his light. With the self as his light he sits, goes about, does his work, and returns.’

7. ‘What is the self?’

‘The person (purusa) among the breaths who consists of knowledge, the inner light in the heart. Remaining the same, he travels the two worlds, seems to think, seems to move about. Falling asleep, he goes beyond this world, the forms of death.

8. ‘When the person is born and gets a body he is joined with evils. Leaving it, when he dies, he leaves evils behind.

9. ‘The person has two states: this one and the state of the other world. The third, intermediate, state is that of dreaming sleep.10

When he rests in the intermediate state, he sees both states: this one and the state of the other world. When he has gone by whatever way it is that one gains the state of the other world, he sees both evils and joys. When he falls asleep, he takes with him the material of this all-containing world, himself breaks it up, himself re-makes it. He sleeps by his own radiance, his own light. Here the person becomes lit by his own light.

10. ‘There are no chariots, nor chariot-horses, nor roads there, but he creates11 chariots, chariot-horses and roads. There are no pleasures, nor enjoyments, nor delights there, but he creates pleasures, enjoyments and delights. There are no ponds, nor lotus-pools, nor rivers there, but he creates ponds, lotus-pools and rivers. For he is a maker.

11. ‘There are these verses about it:

Overcoming with sleep the bodily part, Unsleeping he looks down upon the sleeping.12 Taking his light, he returns to his place, The golden person, the goose who flies alone.13

12. Guarding with the breath his nest below, Immortal he roves outside his nest. Immortal he goes wherever he desires, The golden person, the goose who flies alone.

13. In the dream state, going high and low, A god, he creates many forms. Enjoying himself with women, laughing, Or even seeing dreadful sights.

14. They see his pleasure, But him nobody sees.

‘That is why they say, “You should not wake him suddenly”, for a cure is hard to find for someone if it14 does not get back to him. Some say that this is just the same as his waking state, since he sees when asleep the same objects that he sees when awake: but they are wrong,15 for in this state he is lit by his own light.’

‘Blessed one, I give you a thousand cows: speak on, for my liberation.’16

15. ‘When he has taken pleasure in deep sleep,17 when he has travelled about in it and seen both good and evil, he runs back again, back where he began, to dream. Whatever he sees there, he is not followed by it, for the person is without attachment.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya. Blessed one, I give you a thousand cows:

speak on, for my liberation.’

16. ‘When he has taken pleasure in dream, when he has travelled

about in it and seen both good and evil, he runs back again, back

where he began, to the waking state. Whatever he sees there, he is not

followed by it, for the person is without attachment.’

‘So it is, Yājñavalkya. Blessed one, I give you a thousand cows:

speak on, for my liberation.’

17. ‘When he has taken pleasure in the waking state, when he has

travelled about in it and seen both good and evil, he runs back again,

back where he began, to the dream state.

18. ‘As a great fish travels along both banks, the nearer and the

farther, even so the person travels along both states, the dream state

and the waking state.

19. ‘As a hawk or eagle, tired after flying around in the sky, folds its

wings and is carried to its roosting-place, even so the person runs to

the state where he desires no desire and dreams no dream.

20. ‘There are in him channels called hitā, in minuteness like a hair

divided into a thousand parts, filled with white, blue, yellow, green

and red. When18 it seems that folk kill him or overcome him, or an

elephant tramples him, or he falls down a hole, he is imagining

through ignorance whatever danger he has seen while waking: but

when, like a god or a king, he thinks, “I am this! I am all!”, that is his

highest world.

21. ‘That is the form of him which is beyond craving, freed from evil,

without fear. As a man closely embraced by a beloved wife knows

nothing outside, nothing inside, so the person, closely embraced by

the self of wisdom, knows nothing outside, nothing inside. That is the

form of him in which his desires are fulfilled, with the self as his

desire, free from desire, beyond sorrow.

22. ‘Here a father is not a father, a mother is not a mother, the worlds

are not the worlds, the Vedas are not the Vedas. Here a thief is not a

thief, a murderer not a murderer,19 a Caṇḍāla not a Caṇḍāla, a

Paulkasa not a Paulkasa, a monk (śramaṇa) not a monk, an ascetic not

an ascetic. There is no following by good, no following by evil, for

then he has passed beyond all sorrows of the heart.

23. ‘Though then he does not see, yet seeing he does not see. There is

no cutting off of the seeing of the seer, because it is imperishable.20

But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, that he might

see.

24. ‘Though then he does not smell, yet smelling he does not smell.

There is no cutting off of the smelling of the smeller, because it is

imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself,

that he might smell.

25. ‘Though then he does not taste, yet tasting he does not taste. There is no cutting off of the tasting of the taster, because it is imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, that he might taste.

26. ‘Though then he does not speak, yet speaking he does not speak. There is no cutting off of the speaking of the speaker,because it is imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, to which he might speak.

27. ‘Though then he does not hear, yet hearing he does not hear. There is no cutting off of the hearing of the hearer, because it is imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, that he might hear.

28. ‘Though then he does not think, yet thinking he does not think. There is no cutting off of the thinking of the thinker, because it is imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, of which he might think.

29. ‘Though then he does not touch, yet touching he does not touch. There is no cutting off of the touching of the toucher, because it is imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, that he might touch.

30. ‘Though then he does not know, yet knowing he does not know. There is no cutting off of the knowing of the knower, because it is imperishable. But there is no second, no other, separate from himself, that he might know.

31. ‘When there seems to be another, one can see another, smell another, taste another, speak to another, hear another, think of another, touch another, know another.

32. ‘He becomes one water, a seer without duality. This is the world of Brahmā,21 your majesty.’ Yājñavalkya taught him:

‘This is his highest way;

This is his highest fulfilment;

This is his highest world;

This is his highest joy.

‘All other beings live on a tiny portion of this joy.

33. ‘If someone among human beings is healthy, prosperous, a lord over others, fully endowed with all human enjoyments, that is the highest joy of human beings. A hundred joys of human beings make one joy of the ancestors who have won their world. A hundred joys of the ancestors who have won their world make one joy in the world of the gandharvas. A hundred joys in the world of the gandharvas make

one joy of the gods by action, who have achieved their godhead by

their actions. A hundred joys of the gods by action make one joy of

the gods by birth, and of one who is learned, straightforward, and not

afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of the gods by birth make one joy

in the world of Prajāpati, and of one who is learned, straightforward,

and not afflicted by desire. A hundred joys in the world of Prajāpati

make one joy in the world of Brahmā, and of one who is learned,

straightforward, and not afflicted by desire. This is the highest joy:

this is the world of Brahmā, your majesty,’ said Yājñavalkya.

'Blessed one, I give you a thousand cows: speak on, for my

liberation.’

Then Yājñavalkya was afraid, thinking, ‘This king is clever: he has

driven me out of all my territories!’

34. ‘When he has taken pleasure in dream, when he has travelled

about in it and seen both good and evil, he runs back again, back

where he began, to the waking state.

35. ‘As a heavily loaded cart goes along creaking, so this bodily self,

ridden by the self which is wisdom, goes along creaking when it is

breathing its last.

36. ‘When it grows weak – whether it becomes weak through old age

or through illness – then, just as a mango or fig or pipal-berry22 is

loosed from its stalk, the person is released from these limbs and runs

back again, back where he began, to the breath.

37. ‘Just as, when a king approaches, officers, magistrates, charioteers

and village headmen await him with food, drink and lodgings, crying,

‘He approaches! He is coming!’, in the same way all beings await this

brahman, crying, ‘It approaches! It is coming!’

38. ‘Just as, when a king wishes to go back, officers, magistrates,

charioteers and village headmen accompany him, so at the end all the

breaths come together with the self when it is breathing its last.

CHAPTER 4

1. ‘When this self (ātman) becomes weak and, as it were, confused, the breaths come together with it. Taking with it particles of light (tejas), it goes down into the heart. When the person of the eye turns away from it, it ceases to know forms.

2. ‘They say,23 “He is becoming one: he does not see.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not smell.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not taste.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not speak.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not hear.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not think.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not touch.” They say, “He is becoming one: he does not know.”

The top of his heart lights up, and by its light the self departs, either through the eye, or through the head, or through other parts of the body. As he goes, the breath follows; as the breath goes, the senses (prāṇa) follow. He becomes a being of consciousness; he follows consciousness. His knowledge and action take hold of him, as does his former experience.24

3. ‘As a caterpillar, reaching the end of a blade of grass and taking the next step, draws itself together, so the self, dropping the body, letting go of ignorance and taking the next step, draws itself together.

4. ‘As a weaver,25 unpicking a pattern from her weaving, fashions another, newer and more beautiful shape, so the self, dropping the body and letting go of ignorance, creates another, newer and more beautiful shape, either of the ancestors, or of the gandharvas, or of the gods, or of Prajāpati, or of Brahmā,26 or of some other beings.

5. ‘The self, made of knowledge, made of mind, made of breath, made of sight, made of hearing, made of earth, made of water, made of air, made of space, made of light (tejas), made of darkness (atejas), made of desire, made of non-desire, made of anger, made of non-anger, made of right (dharma), made of wrong (adharma), made of everything, is brahman. It is “made of this, made of that”. As one acts, as one behaves, so does one become. The doer of good becomes good, the doer of evil becomes evil. By virtuous action one becomes virtuous, by evil action evil. They say, “As one desires, so does one become, for the person is made of desire.” As he desires, so does his will become; as his will is, so is the action he does; as is the action he does, so is what he gets back.27

6. ‘There is a verse about it:

He, with his action, is attached

To that same mark to which his mind is bound.

When he reaches the end

Of the action he did here,

He comes back from that world

To this one, to act again.

‘That is about the one who desires. The one who does not desire,

who is without desire, free from desire, whose desires are fulfilled,

with the self as his desire, the breaths do not leave him. Being

brahman he goes to brahman.

7. ‘There is a verse about it:

When all the desires that dwell

In one’s heart are let go,

Mortal becomes immortal:

One reaches brahman here.

‘As the slough of a snake lies dead, abandoned, on an ant-hill, so the

body lies. But the bodiless immortal breath is brahman, light (tejas).’

‘Blessed one, I give you a thousand cows,’ said Janaka of Videha.

8. ‘There are these verses about it:

I have touched, I have found

The narrow, long and ancient way.

By it the wise, the knowers of brahman,

Go up to a heavenly world, freed from this.

9. On it, they say, are white and blue,

Yellow, green and red.

The way was found by brahman:28 by it goes

The knower of brahman, the doer of good, the radiant.

10. They who worship ignorance

Enter blind darkness:

They who delight in knowledge

Enter darkness, as it were, yet deeper.29

11. Those worlds, covered with blind darkness,

Are ‘Joyless’ by name.

People who are unknowing, unaware,

Go to them on departing.30

12. But if a person knows the self –

‘I am this!’ –

Wanting what, for desire of what,

Would he burn up his body?

13. Whoever has found and woken up to the self

That has entered this dangerous, inaccessible place,31

He is the ‘All-Creator’, for he is the maker of everything:

His is the world - indeed, he is the world.

14. While we are here, we know this -

If not, ignorance, great destruction!

Those who know it become immortal:

The rest go to sorrow again.

15. When one sees it straight,

The self, the god,

Lord of past and future,

One does not shrink from it.

16. The one before whom

The year revolves with its days

The gods worship

As the light of lights, immortal life.

17. The one in whom the five times five peoples32

And space too are established

I honour as the self.

Knowing brahman, the immortal, I am immortal.

18. Those who know the breath of the breath,

The eye of the eye, the ear of the ear,

The mind of the mind have discovered

The ancient supreme brahman.

19. It is to be seen only by mind:

There are no differences in it.

Whoever sees differences in it

Gets death after death.

20. It is to be seen as one,

Immeasurable, steadfast.

The self is dustless, beyond space,

Unborn, great, steadfast.

21. Knowing it, a wise Brāhmana

Should cultivate wisdom.

He should not think on many words,

For that is mere weariness of speech.

22. 'It is the great, unborn self among the breaths that consists of

knowledge. It lies in the space that is within the heart, controller of

all, ruler of all, overlord of all. It does not become bigger by good

actions, or smaller by bad ones. It is the lord of all, the overlord of

beings, the protector of beings. It is the dam separating these worlds

so that they do not run together.33 Brāhmanas try to find it through

study of the Vedas, through sacrifice, through giving, through

asceticism, through fasting: knowing it one becomes a 'silent one'

(muni). Desiring it as their world, renouncers wander. Knowing it, the

ancients did not desire off spring, for they thought, 'What is off spring

to us, when the self is our world?' Leaving behind desires for sons,

desires for wealth and desires for worlds, they lived on alms. For

desire for sons is desire for wealth, and desire for wealth is desire for

worlds: both are merely desires. The self is 'not this, not this'.

Unseizable, it is not seized; indestructible, it is not destroyed; without

clinging, it is not clung to; unbound, it does not suffer, does not come

to harm. It is not overcome by the thoughts 'Here I did wrong, here I

did right': it overcomes both, and what has been done or not done

does not burn it.

23. 'About this, the hymn34 says:

This eternal greatness of the Brāhmana

By works neither increases nor grows less.

One should know its place: knowing it,

One is not smeared by evil works.

'So knowing this, and becoming calm, self-controlled, quiet, patient

and concentrated, he sees the self in himself, sees the self as all. Evil

does not overcome him: he overcomes all evil. Evil does not burn him:

he burns all evil. Without evil, without dust, free from doubt, he

becomes a Brāhmana.35 This is the world of Brahmā,36 your majesty:

you have attained it,' said Yājñavalkya.

'Blessed one, I give you the Videhas, and myself to be your slave.'

24. This is the great unborn self, eater of food, giver of wealth. The

one who knows this finds wealth.

25. This is the great unborn self, unageing, undying, immortal,

fearless, brahman. Brahman is fearless: the one who knows this

becomes fearless brahman.

CHAPTER 5

1. Yājñavalkya had two wives: Maitreyī and Kātyāyanī. Of the two, Maitreyī was a scholar of sacred lore (brahman), while Kātyāyanī had just a woman’s knowledge in it.37 Now, as Yājñavalkya was about to undertake another course of life –

2. ‘Maitreyī,’ said Yājñavalkya, ‘I am about to go forth from this state. I must make a settlement on you and Kātyāyanī.’

3. Maitreyī said, ‘Blessed one, if I had this whole earth, filled with riches, would I become immortal by it?’

‘Oh, no, no,’ said Yājñavalkya. ‘Your life would be as the life of the wealthy, but there is no hope of immortality through riches.’

4. Maitreyī said, ‘What use to me is something by which I cannot become immortal? Blessed one, teach me what you know.’

5. Yājñavalkya said, ‘Ah, dear as you are to me, you have grown yet dearer. Come, sit down, I will teach you: but, as I explain, meditate upon it.’

6. He said, ‘It is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear: it is for the love of the self that a husband is dear. It is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear: it is for the love of the self that a wife is dear. It is not for the love of children that children are dear: it is for the love of the self that children are dear. It is not for the love of riches that riches are dear: it is for the love of the self that riches are dear. It is not for the love of cattle that cattle are dear: it is for the love of the self that cattle are dear. It is not for the love of priesthood (brahman) that priesthood is dear: it is for the love of the self that priesthood is dear. It is not for the love of royalty that royalty is dear: it is for the love of the self that royalty is dear. It is not for the love of the worlds that the worlds are dear: it is for the love of the self that the worlds are dear. It is not for the love of the gods that the gods are dear: it is for the love of the self that the gods are dear. It is not for the love of the Vedas that the Vedas are dear: it is for the love of the self that the Vedas are dear. It is not for the love of beings that beings are dear: it is for the love of the self that beings are dear. It is not for the love of the all that the all is dear: it is for the love of the self that the all is dear. It is the self that must be seen, heard, thought of and meditated upon, Maitreyī: when the self has been seen, heard, thought of and meditated upon, all this is known.

7. ‘Whoever understands priesthood as other than the self, priesthood has given him over. Whoever understands royalty as other than the self, royalty has given him over. Whoever understands the worlds as other than the self, the worlds have given him over. Whoever

understands the gods as other than the self, the gods have given him over. Whoever understands the Vedas as other than the self, the Vedas have given him over. Whoever understands beings as other than the self, beings have given him over. Whoever understands the all as other than the self, the all has given him over. This priesthood, this royalty, these worlds, these gods, these Vedas, these beings, this all are what this self is.

8. 'As, when a drum is beaten, one cannot seize the sounds as something outside it, but by seizing the drum or the drummer one has seized the sound;

9. 'As, when a conch is blown, one cannot seize the sounds as something outside it, but by seizing the conch or the conch-blower one has seized the sound;

10. 'As, when a lute is played, one cannot seize the sounds as something outside it, but by seizing the lute or the lute-player one has seized the sound;

11. 'As smoke billows out in all directions from a fire that has been laid with damp fuel, just so is everything breathed out from this great being: the ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the hymns of the Atharvans and Aṅgiras, history, legend, science, the Upanisads, verses, sūtras, explanatory passages, expositions, sacrifice, offering, food, drink, this world, the other world, and all beings, all these are breathed out from it.

12. 'As the ocean is the one meeting-place of all waters, so the skin is the one meeting-place of all touches, the nostrils are the one meeting-place of all smells, the tongue is the one meeting-place of all tastes, the eye is the one meeting-place of all shapes, the ear is the one meeting-place of all sounds, the mind is the one meeting-place of all decisions, the heart is the one meeting-place of all knowledges, the hands are the one meeting-place of all works, the loins are the one meeting-place of all pleasures, the anus is the one meeting-place of all excretions, the feet are the one meeting-place of all roads, and the voice is the one meeting-place of all the Vedas.

13. 'As a lump of rock-salt is without an inside, without an outside, and consists entirely of taste, so this self is without an inside, without an outside, and consists entirely of wisdom. Having arisen from these elements, it vanishes along with them, for after it has departed there is no consciousness:38 that is what I say,' said Yājñavalkya.

14. Maitreyī said, 'Blessed one, you have brought me to extreme confusion: I do not understand this.'39

He said, 'I do not speak to confuse you: this self is imperishable, of a nature (dharma) that cannot be destroyed.

15. 'For where there is duality, one sees another, one smells another,

one tastes another, one speaks to another, one hears another, one thinks of another, one touches another, one knows another. But where everything in one has become self, how can one see - and whom? How can one smell - and whom? How can one taste - and whom? How can one speak - and to whom? How can one hear - and whom? How can one think - and of whom? How can one touch - and whom? How can one know - and whom? The self is “not this, not this”. Unseizable, it is not seized; indestructible, it is not destroyed; without clinging, it is not clung to; unbound, it does not suffer, does not come to harm. How can one know the knower? So now, Maitreyī, you have the teaching. This is immortality.’ And, so saying, Yājñavalkya departed.

1. Now the lineage of the teaching, from Pautimāsya.40 Pautimāsya received it from Gaupavana, Gaupavana from Pautimāsya, Pautimāsya from Gaupavana, Gaupavana from Kauśika, Kauśika from Kaunḍinya, Kaunḍinya from Śāṇḍilya, Śāṇḍilya from Kauśika and Gautama,

2. from Āgniveśya, Āgniveśya from Gārgya, Gārgya from Gārgya, Gārgya from Gautama, Gautama from Saitava, Saitava from Pārāśaryāyana, Pārāśaryāyana from Gārgyāyana, Gārgyāyana from Uddālakāyana, Uddālakāyana from Jābālāyana,Jābālāyana from Mādhyandināyana, Mādhyandināyana from Saukarāyana, Saukarāyana from Kāśāyana, Kāśāyana from Sāyakāyana, Sāyakāyana from Kauśikāyani, Kauśikāyani

3. from Ghṛtakauśika, Ghṛtakauśika from Pārāśaryāyana, Pārāśaryāyana from Pārāśarya, Pārāśarya from Jātūkarnya, Jātūkarnya from Āsurāyana and Yāska, Āsurāyana from Traivani, Traivani from Aupajandhani, Aupajandhani from Āsuri, Āsuri from Bhāradvāja, Bhāradvāja from Atreya, Atreya from Māṇṭi, Māṇṭi from Gautama, Gautama from Gautama, Gautama from Vātsya, Vātsya from Śāṇḍilya, Śāṇḍilya from Kaiśorya Kāpya, Kaiśorya Kāpya from Kumārahārita, Kumārahārita from Gālava, Gālava from Vidarbhī-Kaunḍinya, Vidarbhī-Kaunḍinya from Vatsanapāt Bābhrava, Vatsanapāt Bābhrava from Pathin Saubhara, Pathin Saubhara from Ayāsya Āṅgirasa, Ayāsya Āṅgirasa from Ābhūti Tvāstra, Ābhūti Tvāstra from Viśvarūpa Tvāstra, Viśvarūpa Tvāstra from the Aśvins, the Aśvins from Dadhyac Ātharvana, Dadhyac Ātharvana from the Divine Atharvan, the Divine Atharvan from Mṛtyu Prādhvaṃsana, Mṛtyu Prādhvaṃsana from Pradhvaṃsana, Pradhvaṃsana from Ekarsi, Ekarsi from Vipracitti, Vipracitti from Vyasti, Vyasti from Sanāru, Sanāru from Sanātana, Sanātana from Sanaga, Sanaga from Paramesthin, Paramesthin from brahman. Brahman is self-born:

BOOK

V

CHAPTER 1

1. OM That is full; this is full;

Fullness comes forth from fullness:

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness remains.

OM. ‘Brahman is space (kha), ancient space, airy space’: so the son of

Kauravyāyanī used to say. This is the Veda that the Brāhmanas know.

By it one knows what is to be known.

CHAPTER 2

1. The descendants of Prajāpati, of three kinds, gods, human beings and demons, lived as brahmacārins with their father Prajāpati. When they had completed their studentship, the gods said, ‘Teach us, father.’1

He spoke to them the syllable DA. ‘Did you understand?’

‘We understood,’ they said. ‘You told us, “Be self-controlled (dāmyata).” ’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘You understood.’

2. Then the human beings said to him, ‘Teach us, father.’

He spoke to them the same syllable DA. ‘Did you understand?’

‘We understood,’ they said. ‘You told us, “Give (datta).” ’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘You understood.’

3. Then the demons said to him, ‘Teach us, father.’

He spoke to them the syllable DA. ‘Did you understand?’

‘We understood,’ they said. ‘You told us, “Be compassionate (dayadhvam).” ’

‘OM,’ he said. ‘You understood.’

This is what the divine voice that is thunder repeats: ‘DA DA DA’, ‘Be self-controlled! Give! Be compassionate!’ One should practise this set of three: self-control (dama), giving (dāna) and compassion (dayā).

CHAPTER 3

1. The heart (hṛdaya) is Prajāpati: it is brahman: it is all. It has three syllables: hṛ-da-yam.3 Hṛ is one syllable: his own and other people bring (abhi-hṛ-) gifts to the one who knows this. Dā is one syllable: his own and other people give (dā-) to the one who knows this. Yam is one syllable: the one who knows this goes (i-)4 to a heavenly world.

CHAPTER 4

1. That is that.5 This was that – truth. The one who knows the great, first-born wonder6 – that truth is brahman – wins the worlds. Could he ever be conquered, the one who knows the great, first-born wonder – that truth is brahman? For truth is brahman.

CHAPTER 5

1. In the beginning the waters were all this. The waters created truth; truth brahman; brahman Prajāpati; and Prajāpati the gods. The gods worship truth (satya). It has three syllables: sa-ti-yam.7 Sa is one syllable. Ti is one syllable. Yam is one syllable. Truth is in the first and the last syllable, falsehood in the middle:8 so falsehood is surrounded on both sides by truth, and becomes truth. Falsehood does not harm the one who knows this.

2. What truth is, the sun is. The person who is in its circle and the person who is in the right eye are supported on one another. That one rests on this one through its rays, and this one rests on that one through its breaths.

When one is about to depart,9 one sees that circle pure. The rays do not come to one again.

3. The head of the person in that circle is BHŪḥ:10 the head is one, and that is one syllable. His arms are BHUVAḥ: the arms are two, and that is two syllables. SVAḥ is his support: the supports (pratisthā)11 are two, and that is two syllables (su-aḥ). His inner name (upanisad) is ‘day (ahar)’. The one who knows this destroys and gets rid of evil.

4. The head of the person in the right eye is BHŪḥ: the head is one, and that is one syllable. His arms are BHUVAḥ: the arms are two, and that is two syllables. SVAḥ is his support: the supports are two, and that is two syllables. His inner name is ‘I (aham)’. The one who knows this destroys and gets rid of evil.

CHAPTER 6

1. The person made of mind, the light, the true, is inside the heart, like a rice-grain or a barleycorn. He is the ruler of everything, the overlord of everything: he controls all this, whatever there is.

CHAPTER 7

1. They say, ‘Lightning is brahman.’ It is called lightning (vidyut) because it cuts free (vi-do-). It cuts free from evil the one who knows in this way that lightning is brahman: for lightning is brahman.

CHAPTER 8

1. One should worship speech as a milch-cow. She has four udders:

the sound SVĀHĀ, the sound VAṢAṭ, the sound HANTA and the sound

SVADHĀ.12 The gods live on two of her udders, the sound SVĀHĀ

and the sound VAṢAṭ; human beings on the sound HANTA; and the

ancestors on the sound SVADHĀ. Breath is her bull, mind her calf.

CHAPTER 9

1. The fire which is within a person is that which is in all men,13 by which the food that is eaten is digested.14 It is its sound that one hears when one covers one’s ears like this. When one is about to depart, one does not hear this sound.

CHAPTER 10

1. When a person goes forth from this world, he comes to the air. It parts there for him like the hole in a chariot-wheel, and he goes up through it. He comes to the sun. It parts there for him like the hole in a tabor,15 and he goes up through it. He comes to the moon. It parts there for him like the hole in a drum,and he goes up through it. He comes to a world without sorrow, without snow, and he lives there for eternal years.

CHAPTER 11

1. When one suffers (tap-) with illness, that is the highest asceticism (tapas).16 Whoever knows this wins the highest world. When they take the dead out to the forest, that is the highest asceticism. Whoever knows this wins the highest world. When they lay the dead on the fire, that is the highest asceticism. Whoever knows this wins the highest world.

CHAPTER 12

1. Some say that food is brahman, but it is not so, for without breath food decays. Some say that breath is brahman, but it is not so, for without food breath dries up. But when these two deities become united they reach the highest state.

So Prātṛda said to his father, ‘What good could I do to one who knows this? What harm could I do to him?’

His father said, with a gesture of his hand, ‘No, Prātṛda. Who reaches the highest state by becoming united with these two?’ He said to him also, ‘Vi. Food is vi, for all these beings have entered (viś-) into food. Ram. Breath is ram, for all these beings take pleasure (ram-) in breath. All beings enter into, all beings take pleasure in, the one who knows this.’17

CHAPTER 13

1. Uktha. Breath is the Uktha, for breath makes all this arise (ut-thā-). Whoever knows this, a hero18 who knows the Uktha arises from him: he wins union with the Uktha, shares a world with it.

2. Yajus. Breath is the yajus, for all beings are joined together (yuj-) in breath. Whoever knows this, all beings are joined with him for his betterment: he wins union with the yajus, shares a world with it.

3. Sāman. Breath is the sāman, for all beings are together (samyac) in breath. Whoever knows this, all beings come together with him for his betterment: he wins union with the sāman, shares a world with it.

4. Royalty (ksatra). Breath is royalty, breath indeed is royalty, for breath protects (trat-) one from being injured (ksan-). Whoever knows this attains royalty that needs no protection (a-tra): he wins union with royalty, shares a world with it.

CHAPTER 14

1. Bhūmiḥ, antarikṣam, dyaulḥ (earth, middle-air, sky) - eight syllables.19 One foot of the Gāyatrī has eight syllables, and this is that foot of it. Whoever knows that foot of it as such wins as much as there is in the three worlds.

2. ṛcaḥ, yajūṃsi, sāmāni (ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda) - eight syllables. One foot of the Gāyatrī has eight syllables, and this is that foot of it. Whoever knows that foot of it as such wins as much as there is of this threefold knowledge.

3. Prāṇa, apāna, vyāna20 (breath, lower breath, diffused breath) - eight syllables. One foot of the Gāyatrī has eight syllables, and this is that foot of it. Whoever knows that foot of it as such wins as much as there is that has breath.

Its visible foot, the turīya,21 is the one who gives heat (tap-)22 beyond the darkness. The fourth is the turīya. It is called ‘the visible foot’ because it has become visible. It is ‘beyond the darkness’23 because it gives heat far, far above the darkness. The one who knows that foot of it as such blazes (tap-) with splendour, with fame.

4. The Gāyatrī is supported on the fourth (turīya), visible, foot, which is beyond the darkness.

That is supported on truth. The eye is truth: the eye, indeed, is truth. So if now two people were to come arguing, one saying, ‘I have seen’, the other saying ‘I have heard’, we would believe the one saying, ‘I have seen.’

Truth is supported on strength. Breath is strength: it is supported on breath. So they say, ‘Strength is more powerful than truth.’

That is how the Gāyatrī is supported in relation to oneself. It has protected the gayas. The breaths are the gayas.24 It has protected the breaths. Because it has protected (trat-) the gayas, it is called Gāyatrī. This is the same Sāvitrī that one teaches. It protects the breaths of the one to whom one teaches it.

5. Some teach the Sāvitrī as an Anustubh25 saying, ‘Speech is the anustubh, so we teach it as speech.’ One should not do so. One should teach the Sāvitrī as a Gāyatrī. Even if one who knows this receives much wealth, it is not equal to one foot of the Gāyatrī.

6. If one were to receive the three worlds, full, one would be getting the first foot of the Gāyatrī. If one were to receive as much as there is of this threefold knowledge, one would be getting the second foot of it. If one were to receive as much as there is that has breath, one would be getting the third foot of it. But no one can get its fourth (turīya), visible, foot, the one who gives heat beyond the darkness:

how could one receive something like this?

7. The way to worship it: 'Gāyatrī, you are one-footed, two-footed,

three-footed, four-footed: you are no-footed, for you do not walk.

Homage to your fourth, visible, foot beyond the darkness.' One may

pray,26 'May < name > not attain this!' or 'May his desire not be

fulfilled!' If one offers worship in this way about someone, his desire

is not fulfilled. Or one may pray, 'May I attain this!'

8. On this matter, Janaka of Videha said to Buḍila Āśvatarāśvi, 'Ha!

You have called yourself a knower of the Gāyatrī. How is it that you

have become an elephant, carrying?'27

'Because I did not know its mouth, your majesty,' he said.

Its mouth is fire. Even if one lays, as it were, much fuel on a fire, it

burns it all up. In the same way, even if one who knows this does, as it

were, much evil,28 he swallows it all and becomes pure, cleansed,

unageing, immortal.

CHAPTER 15

1. The face of truth is concealed

By a vessel made of gold.29

Reveal it, Pūṣan, to my sight,

Which has truth as its dharma.

2. Pūṣan, Ekarsi, Yama, Sūrya, son of Prajāpati,

Draw apart your rays and draw them together.

I see the light that is your most beautiful form.

That very person – I am he.

3. My breath to immortal air:

This body has ended in ashes.

OM! Will, remember! Remember the deed!

Will, remember! Remember the deed!

4. Agni, god who knows all ways,

Lead us by a good road to prosperity.

Overcome our crooked faults,

And we will render you the utmost reverence.

BOOK

VI

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. The one who knows the eldest and best becomes the eldest and best of his own people. Breath is the eldest and best. The one who knows this becomes the eldest and best of his own people, and of those of whom he wishes to become so.

2. The one who knows the finest1 becomes the finest of his own people. Speech is the finest. The one who knows this becomes the finest of his own people, and of those of whom he wishes to become so.

3. The one who knows the support (pratisthā) stands firm (prati-sthā-) on even ground, stands firm on rough ground. The eye is the support, for the eye stands firm on even ground, stands firm on rough ground.2 The one who knows this stands firm on even ground, stands firm on rough ground.

4. The one who knows prosperity attains whatever desire he desires. The ear is prosperity, for all the Vedas are attained in it.3 The one who knows this attains whatever desire he desires.

5. The one who knows the dwelling-place becomes a dwelling-place for his own folk, a dwelling-place for the people. Mind is the dwelling-place. The one who knows this becomes a dwelling-place for his own folk, a dwelling-place for the people.

6. The one who knows procreation increases in offspring and in animals.4 The seed is procreation. The one who knows this increases in offspring and in animals.

7. The bodily functions (prāna) were arguing about who was the best. They went to brahman and asked it, ‘Who is the finest of us?’

It said, ‘The finest of you is the one after whose departure the body is thought to be worst off.’

8. Speech departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

They said, ‘We lived like the dumb, not speaking with speech, but breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind, procreating with the seed.’

Then speech went back in.

9. The eye departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

They said, ‘We lived like the blind, speaking with speech, breathing with the breath, not seeing with the eye, but hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind, procreating with the seed.’

The eye went back in.

10. The ear departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

They said, ‘We lived like the deaf, speaking with speech, breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, not hearing with the ear, but knowing with the mind, procreating with the seed.’

Then the ear went back in.

11. The mind departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

They said, ‘We lived like the simpletons, speaking with speech, breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, not knowing with the mind, but procreating with the seed.’

12. The seed departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

They said, ‘We lived like the eunuchs, speaking with speech, breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind, but not procreating with the seed.’

Then the seed went back in.

13. The breath (prāṇa), about to depart, dragged those bodily functions (prāṇa) together as a fine big stallion of Sindhu might drag its tethering-pegs.

They said, ‘Blessed one, do not leave. We will not be able to live without you.’

‘Then make me an offering.’

‘We will.’

14. Speech said, ‘In that I am the finest, you are the finest.’

The eye said, ‘In that I am the support, you are the support.’

The ear said, ‘In that I am prosperity, you are prosperity.’

The mind said, ‘In that I am the dwelling-place, you are the dwelling-place.’

The seed said, ‘In that I am procreation, you are procreation.’

‘Then what is my food, what is my clothing?’

‘Whatever there is, down to dogs, worms, insects and flying things,5 is your food: water is your clothing.’

Whoever knows in this way the food of the breath will not come to eat anything that is not food, will not come to receive anything that is not food. Knowing this, the learned sip water when they are about to eat, and sip water after they have eaten. They think that they are making the breath (ana) not-naked (anagna).

CHAPTER 2

1. Śvetaketu Āruneya came to an assembly of the Pañcālas. He approached Jaivali Pravāhana, who was being waited on by his entourage.6 Seeing him, the prince called, ‘Young man!’7

‘Sir?’ he called back.

‘Have you been educated by your father?’

‘OM,’ he said.

2. ‘Do you know,’ cried the prince, ‘how people, when they depart, go in different directions?’

‘No,’ he said.

‘And do you know how they come back to this world again?’

‘No,’ he said.

‘And do you know how that world does not become full with the many people who depart to it again and again?’

‘No’ was all he said.

‘And do you know how many offerings have to be offered before the waters take on a human voice, rise up, and speak?’

‘No’ was all he said.

‘And do you know how to reach the path that leads to the gods or the one that leads to the ancestors – what they do to reach the path that leads to the gods or the one that leads to the ancestors? For we have heard the saying of the ṛsi:

I have heard of two ways for mortals,

To the ancestors and to the gods:

By them goes everything that moves

Between the father and the mother.’8

‘I do not know a single one of these things,’ he said.

3. The prince invited him to stay with him, but the young man, not honouring his hospitality, ran away. He came to his father and said, ‘Now, father, you said before that we had been educated!’

‘What of it, clever one?’

‘A princeling9 asked me five questions, and I do not know a single one of them.’

‘What are they?’

‘These’ – and he told him the subjects.

4. He said, ‘You should know me, son: whatever I know, I have taught you. But come, we two will go to him and live with him as his

students.’

‘You go, father.’

Gautama went to Pravāhana Jaivali’s house. The prince offered him

a seat, had water brought for him, and welcomed him as an honoured

guest. He said, ‘We grant a boon to the blessed Gautama.’

5. He said, ‘I accept the boon. Tell me the words you spoke in the

presence of the young man.’

6. He said, ‘Gautama, that falls among boons for the gods. Name

something that belongs to human beings.’

7. He said, ‘It is well known that I have plenty of gold, cows and

horses, slave-women, coverings and clothing. Sir, do not stint me of

what is great, endless, unlimited.’

‘Then, Gautama, you should ask for it in the proper way.’

The ancients used to go to their teachers by saying, ‘I come to you,

sir’: and so Gautama became his student by announcing10 that he was

going to him.

8. He said, ‘Gautama, may you not be displeased with us, nor your

grandfathers either, but this knowledge has never before lived in any

Brāhmaṇa. But I will teach it to you: for who could refuse you when

you ask in this way?

9. ‘That world11 is a fire, Gautama. The sun is its fuel; the rays its

smoke; the day its flame; the directions its embers; the intermediate

directions its sparks. In that fire the gods offer faith (śraddhā). From

that offering King Soma arises.

10. ‘Parjanya is a fire, Gautama. The year is his fuel; the clouds his

smoke; the lightning his flame; the thunderbolt his embers; the

hailstones his sparks. In that fire the gods offer King Soma. From that

offering rain arises.

11. ‘This world is a fire, Gautama. The earth is its fuel; fire its smoke;

the night its flame; the moon its embers; the constellations its sparks.

In that fire the gods offer rain. From that offering food arises.

12. ‘A man (purusa) is a fire, Gautama. The open mouth is his fuel;

breath his smoke; speech his flame; the eye his embers; the ear his

sparks. In that fire the gods offer food. From that offering the seed

arises.

13. ‘A young woman is a fire, Gautama. The loins are her fuel; the

body-hairs her smoke; the vagina her flame; what one does inside, her

embers; the pleasures her sparks. In that fire the gods offer the seed.

From that offering a person arises.12 He lives as long as he lives, and

when he dies –

14. ‘They carry him to the fire. Then his fire becomes the fire; his fuel

the fuel; his smoke the smoke; his flame the flame; his embers the

embers; his sparks the sparks. In that fire the gods offer the person.

From that offering a person of the colour of light arises.

15. 'Those who know this, and those who in the forest worship faith as

truth,13 go into the flame, from the flame into the day, from the day

into the waxing fortnight, from the waxing fortnight into the six

months in which the sun goes northward,14 from the months into the

world of the gods, from the world of the gods into the sun, from the

sun into that which is made of lightning. The person of mind goes to

those beings of lightning and leads them to the world of Brahmā.15

Exalted, far above, they dwell in the worlds of Brahmā. For them there

is no returning.

16. 'But those who win worlds by sacrifice, giving and asceticism go

into the smoke, from the smoke into the night, from the night into the

waning fortnight, from the waning fortnight into the six months in

which the sun goes southward,16 from the months into the world of

the ancestors, from the world of the ancestors into the moon.

'Reaching the moon, they become food. There the gods partake of

them, as they do of King Soma,17 saying, 'Grow full!' 'Wane!'

'When that passes away for them, they enter into space, from space

into the air, from the air into the rain, from the rain into the earth.

'Reaching the earth, they become food. They are offered again in

the fire of a man, and from that are born in the fire of a young

woman, rising again to the worlds. So they circle around. But those

who do not know the two paths become worms, flying things, and

everything that bites.'

CHAPTER 3

1. If someone desires to achieve greatness, then in the northward passage of the sun, on a lucky day of the waxing fortnight, he takes an upasad vow lasting twelve days. Then he puts together all the herbs called ‘fruits’ in a cup or dish made of pipal-wood. He sweeps up and smears around, 18 builds a fire, and covers it with grass. He prepares the clarified butter in the usual way. Then, under a masculine constellation, he prepares the stirred mixture 19 and makes an offering:

‘As many gods as there are in you, Jātavedas, Who, crossing them, thwart a person’s desires, I offer them all a share. May they be pleased, and please me with all desires. SVĀHĀ!

‘And you who cross our desires, 20 Saying, “I am the Separator”, With a stream of ghee I sacrifice to you as the Reconciler. SVĀHĀ!’

2. Saying, ‘To the eldest, SVĀHĀ! To the best, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture. Saying, ‘To breath, SVĀHĀ! To the finest, 21 SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture. Saying, ‘To speech, SVĀHĀ! To the support, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture. Saying, ‘To the eye, SVĀHĀ! To prosperity, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture. Saying, ‘To the ear, SVĀHĀ! To the dwelling-place, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture. Saying, ‘To the mind, SVĀHĀ! To procreation, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture. Saying, ‘To the seed, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

3. Saying, ‘To Agni, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To Soma, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘BHŪḥ, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘BHUVAḥ, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘SVAḥ, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘BHŪḥ, BHUVAḥ, SVAḥ, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To priesthood (brahman), SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To royalty (ksatra), SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To the past, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To the future, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To the universe, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To all, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To Prajāpati, SVĀHĀ!’, he makes an offering into the fire and pours the remainder into the stirred mixture.

4. Then he touches it, saying, ‘You are the wandering, you are the blazing, you are the full, you are the rigid, you are the one meeting-place, you are the sound hiṁ,22 you are the sounding of hiṁU, you are the Udgītha, you are the chanting of the Udgītha, you are what is recited,23 you are what is recited back,24 you are what burns in what is wet,25 you are the all-pervading, you are the powerful, you are food, you are light, you are the ending, you are the drawing together.’

5. Then he lifts it up, saying, ‘Āmaṁsy āmaṁhi te mahi.26 He is the ruler of kings, the overlord: may the ruler of kings make me the overlord!’

6. Then he sips it and says:

‘We meditate on the lovely _27

Sweetly28 the winds blow for the good,

Sweetly the rivers flow.

Sweet be the herbs for us.

BHŪḥ SVĀHĀ!

'Glory of the god Savitṛ –

Sweet be the night and the dawns too,

Sweet-filled be the dust of the earth,

Sweet be the sky our father.

BHUVAḥ SVĀHĀ!

'That he may stimulate our minds –

Sweet-filled be the lord of the wood,29

Sweet-filled be the sun,

Sweet be the cows to us.

SVAḥ SVĀHĀ!'

He recites the whole of the Sāvitrī and all the 'Sweet-filled' verses.

Then: 'May I become all this! BHŪḥ, BHUVAḥ, SVAḥ, SVĀHĀ!'

Finally, when he has sipped it, he washes his hands and lies down behind the fire-altar with his head towards the east.

In the morning he worships the sun, saying 'You are the one white lotus of the directions: may I become the one white lotus of humankind!' He goes back by the way he came, sits down behind the fire-altar, and recites the lineage.30

7. Uddālaka Āruni taught this to his student Vājasaneya Yājñavalkya, and said, 'If one were to sprinkle this even on a dried-up stump, branches would grow, and leaves would sprout.'

8. And Vājasaneya Yājñavalkya taught this to his student Madhuka Paiṅgya, and said: 'If one were to sprinkle this even on a dried-up stump, branches would grow, and leaves would sprout.'

9. And Madhuka Paiṅgya taught this to his student Cūla Bhāgavitti, and said, 'If one were to sprinkle this even on a dried-up stump, branches would grow, and leaves would sprout.'

10. And Cūla Bhāgavitti taught this to his student Jānaki Āyasthūna, and said, 'If one were to sprinkle this even on a dried-up stump, branches would grow, and leaves would sprout.'

11. And Jānaki Āyasthūna taught this to his student Satyakāma Jābāla, and said, 'If one were to sprinkle this even on a dried-up stump, branches would grow, and leaves would sprout.'

12. And Satyakāma Jābāla taught this to his students, and said, 'If one were to sprinkle this even on a dried-up stump, branches would grow, and leaves would sprout.' One should not teach this to anybody who is not a son or a student.

13. Four things31 are made of pipal-wood. The spoon is of pipal-wood; the bowl is of pipal-wood; the fuel is of pipal-wood; the two churning-sticks are of pipal-wood.

There are ten cultivated grains: rice, barley, sesamum, beans, millet, panic seed, wheat, lentils, peas and vetch.32 He sprinkles them, ground, on yoghurt, honey and ghee, and makes an offering of melted butter.

CHAPTER 4

1. The earth is the essence of all beings, the waters the essence of

earth, plants of the waters, flowers of plants, fruits of flowers, a man

(purusa) of fruits, and the seed of a man.

2. Prajāpati thought, ‘Come, I must make a support for him!’ He

created a woman. When he had created her, he worshipped her below:

so one should worship a woman below. He stretched forward his

pressing-stone33 in front of him, and with it he poured34 into her.

3. Her loins are the altar; her body-hairs the strewing-grass; her skin

the Soma-press; her labia the fire in the middle. The one who practises

sexual intercourse knowing this gains as great a world as the one who

offers the Vājapeya sacrifice,35 and takes the merit of the women to

himself. But the one who practises sexual intercourse without knowing

this, the women take his merit36 to themselves.

4. Knowing this, Uddālaka Āruni used to say –

Knowing this, Nāka Maudgalya used to say –

Knowing this, Kumārahārita used to say, ‘Many mortals,

descendants of Brāhmanas,37 depart from this world impotent,

without merit: the ones who practise sexual intercourse without

knowing this.’

If, when a man is asleep or awake, this much of his seed is spilled,

5. He should touch it, or recite over it:

‘Whatever seed of mine is spilled on the earth,

Or has flowed into plants, or into the waters,

I take back that seed. May my potency,

My energy, my luck, come back to me!

‘May the fire-altar and the side-altars be set again in their proper

places!’ Then he should take it between ring-finger and thumb and rub

it between his breasts or his eyebrows.

6. If it is in water, he should look at himself in the water and recite

over it,38 ‘In me be light, potency, goods, merit!’

This is the beauty (śrī) of women, when she has taken off her dirty

clothes.39 So when she is glorious, having taken off her dirty clothes,

the man should approach and invite her.

7. If she does not give him his desire, he should bribe her. If she still

does not give him his desire, he should strike40 her with a stick or

with his hand, saying, ‘With my potency, my glory, I take away your

glory!’: and she becomes inglorious.

8. If she gives him his desire, he should say, 'With my potency, my glory, I place glory in you!': and they both become glorious.

9. If a man desires a woman, wishing, 'May she desire me!', then he should place his sex-organ in her, join mouth with mouth, stroke her loins, and mutter:

'You41 come from every limb,

You are born in the heart;

You are the essence of the limbs:

Make < name > mad for me,

As though pierced by a poisoned arrow!'

10. If he desires a woman, wishing, 'May she not become pregnant!', then he should place his sex-organ in her, join mouth with mouth, breathe out into her, and breathe in,42 saying, 'With my potency, my seed, I take the seed from you!': and she becomes without seed.

11. If he desires a woman, wishing, 'May she become pregnant!', then he should place his sex-organ in her, join mouth with mouth, breathe in, and breathe out into her, saying, 'With my potency, my seed, I place seed in you!': and she becomes pregnant.

12. If a man's wife has a lover, and he hates that lover, he should set a fire in an unfired pot, lay out a strewing of reeds in the opposite order to normal,43 and offer in the fire those reed arrows in the opposite order, saying:

'You have made an offering in my fire. I take away your out-breath (prāṇa) and in-breath (apāna), < name > !'

'You have made an offering in my fire. I take away your sons and animals, < name > !'

'You have made an offering in my fire. I take away your sacrifice and merit, < name > !'

'You have made an offering in my fire. I take away your hope and expectation, < name > !'

The one who is cursed by a Brāhmaṇa who knows this departs from this world impotent, without merit. So, knowing this, one should not wish for sexual intercourse with the wife of one who is learned in the Veda, for one who knows this becomes superior.

13. When one's wife has her period, for three days she should not drink from a metal cup nor change her clothes. No low-born man or woman should touch her. At the end of three nights she should bathe and have rice ground.

14. If someone wishes, 'May a white son be born to me! May he learn a Veda! May he live a full span!', the couple should have rice-and-milk

cooked and eat it with ghee: and they will be able to have one.

15. If someone wishes, ‘May a tawny, yellow son be born to me! May

he learn two Vedas! May he live a full span!’, the couple should have

rice-and-yoghurt cooked and eat it with ghee: and they will be able to

have one.

16. If someone wishes, ‘May a dark, red-eyed son be born to me! May

he learn three Vedas! May he live a full span!’, the couple should have

rice-and-water cooked and eat it with ghee: and they will be able to

have one.

17. If someone wishes, ‘May a learned daughter44 be born to me! May

she live a full span!’, the couple should have rice-and-sesame cooked

and eat it with ghee: and they will be able to have one.

18. If someone wishes, ‘May a learned, famous son be born to me, one

who goes to assemblies, a speaker of well-received words! May he

learn all the Vedas! May he live a full span!’, the couple should have

rice-and-meat cooked and eat it with ghee: and they will be able to

have one – with meat from a bull-calf or a bull.45

19. Towards morning, the man should stir ghee in the manner of the

sthālipāka,46 and make a touch-offering,47 saying, ‘To Agni, SVĀHĀ!

To Anumati, SVĀHĀ! To the god Savitṛ, of true conception, SVĀHĀ!’

After offering it, he takes it up and eats: after eating, he offers it to the

other. He washes his hands, fills a water-bowl, and sprinkles her three

times, saying:

‘Get up from here, Viśvāvasu.

Look for another young woman.

Leave this wife with her husband.’48

20. Then he approaches her, saying:

‘I am he, you are she;49

You are she, I am he;

I am the sāman verse, you the ṛc verse;

I am sky, you are earth:

Let us two join together,

Mix our seed together,

To get a male child.’

21. Then he spreads apart her thighs, saying ‘Spread apart, sky and

earth.’ He places his sex-organ in her, joins mouth with mouth, and

strokes her three times in the direction of the hair,50 saying:

‘May Visnu prepare the womb;

May Tvaṣṭṛ fashion the shapes;

May Prajāpati pour in;

May Dhāṭṛ place the embryo in you.

‘Place the embryo, Sinīvalī;

Place the embryo, you with the broad fringe;

May the Aśvins, garlanded with lotuses,

Place the embryo in you.

22. ‘Just as the Aśvins

Twirl with their golden fire-sticks,

We invoke for you an embryo

To be born in the tenth month.

‘As the earth is pregnant with fire

And the sky is pregnant with Indra,

As air is the embryo of the directions,

I place an embryo in you, < name >.’

23. When she is about to give birth, he sprinkles her with water, saying:

‘As the wind ruffles a lotus-pond

On every side,

May your embryo stir

And come down with its afterbirth.

‘Indra’s enclosure has been made

With its bolt and its fence.

Indra, send out from it

The afterbirth with the embryo.’

24. When a son has been born, he takes him in his lap and puts mixed51 ghee in a metal cup. He makes a touch-offering of the mixed ghee, saying:

‘May I nurture a thousand in this one,

Increasing in my own house.

May his lineage not be cut off

In offspring or in animals.

SVĀHĀ!

‘The breaths in me

By mind I offer into you.

SVĀHĀ!

'Whatever in my work I have overdone,

Or whatever I have underdone,

May Agni, the maker-good of sacrifices, knowing it,

Make it a good sacrifice, a good offering, for us.

SVĀHĀ!'

25. Then, close to the child's right ear, he whispers three times,

'Speech, speech.' Then putting together yoghurt, honey and ghee he

feeds him with a golden spoon, which he does not put inside his

mouth, whispering, 'I place BHŪḥ in you; I place BHUVAḥ in you; I

place SVAḥ in you: I place BHŪḥ, BHUVAḥ, SVAḥ, everything in you.'

26. Then, saying, 'You are Veda,' he gives him a name: and that

becomes his secret name.

27. Then he gives him to his mother and offers him her breast, saying:

'That breast of yours, never-flowing, refreshing,

Wealth-bestowing, rich, generous,

With which you nourish all that are fit to be chosen,

Sarasvatī, give it to my baby here to suck.'52

28. Then he addresses the mother, saying:

'You are Ilā, daughter of Mitra and Varuna.

Heroine,53 you have borne a hero.

May you always possess heroes,54

Since you have given us a hero.'

They say to such a one, 'Ah, you have become greater than your

father! Ah, you have become greater than your grand-father!' Ah, he

has attained the highest point in splendour, fame and the glory of

brahman – the son who is born to a Brāhmana who knows this!

CHAPTER 5

1. Now the lineage of the teaching. The son of Pautimāsi55 received it

from the son of Kātyāyanī, the son of Kātyāyanī from the son of

Gautamī, the son of Gautamī from the son of Bhāradvājī, the son of Bhāradvājī from the son of Pārāśarī, the son of Pārāśarī from the son

of Aupasvastī, the son of Aupasvastī from the son of Pārāśarī, the son

of Pārāśarī from the son of Kātyāyanī, the son of Kātyāyanī from the

son of Kauśikī, the son of Kauśikī from the son of Ālambī and the son

of Vaiyāghrapadī, the son of Vaiyāghrapadī from the son of Kāṇvī and

the son of Kāpī, the son of Kāpī

2. from the son of Ātreyī, the son of Ātreyī from the son of Gautamī,

the son of Gautamī from the son of Bhāradvājī, the son of Bhāradvājī

from the son of Pārāśarī, the son of Pārāśarī from the son of Vātsī, the

son of Vātsī from the son of Pārāśarī, the son of Pārāśarī from the son

of Vārkārunī, the son of Vārkārunī from the son of Vārkārunī, the son

of Vārkārunī from the son of Ārtabhāgī, the son of Ārtabhāgī from the

son of Śaungī, the son of Śaungī from the son of Sāṅkṛtī, the son of

Sāṅkṛtī from the son of Ālambāyanī, the son of Ālambāyanī from the

son of Ālambī, the son of Ālambī from the son of Jāyantī, the son of

Jāyantī from the son of Māṇḍūkāyanī, the son of Māṇḍūkāyanī from

the son of Māṇḍūkī, the son of Māṇḍūkī from the son of Śāṇḍilī, the

son of Śāṇḍilī from the son of Rāthītarī, the son of Rāthītarī from the

son of Bhālukī, the son of Bhālukī from the two sons of Krauñcikī, the

two sons of Krauñcikī from the son of Vaidabhṛtī, the son of

Vaidabhṛtī from the son of Kāśakeyī, the son of Kāśakeyī from the

son of Prācinayogī, the son of Prācinayogī from the son of Sāñjīvī, the

son of Sāñjīvī from the son of Prāśni who lived in Āsuri's house,56 the

son of Prāśni from Āsurāyana, Āsurāyana from Āsuri, Āsuri

3. from Yājñavalkya, Yājñavalkya from Uddālaka, Uddālaka from

Aruna, Aruna from Upaveśi, Upaveśi from Kuśri, Kuśri from

Vājaśravas, Vājaśravas from Jihvāvat Bādhyoga, Jihvāvat Bādhyoga

from Asita Vārṣagaṇa, Asita Vārṣagaṇa from Harita Kaśyapa, Harita

Kaśyapa from Śilpa Kaśyapa, Śilpa Kaśyapa from Kaśyapa Naidhruvi,

Kaśyapa Naidhruvi from Vāc, Vāc from Ambhinī, Ambhinī from

Āditya. These White Yajus verses of Āditya were taught by Vājasaneya

Yājñavalkya.

4. The same as far as 'the son of Sāñjīvī'.57 The son of Sāñjīvī received

the teaching from Māṇḍūkāyani, Māṇḍūkāyani from Māṇḍavya,

Māṇḍavya from Kautsa, Kautsa from Māhitthi, Māhitthi from

Vāmakaksāyana, Vāmakaksāyana from Śāṇḍilya, Śāṇḍilya from

Vātsya, Vātsya from Kuśri, Kuśri from Yajñavacas Rājastambāyana,

Yajñavacas Rājastambāyana from Tura Kāvaseya, Tura Kāvaseya from

Prajāpati, Prajāpati from brahman. Brahman is self-born: homage to brahman.

OṀ. Together may it protect us two:58

Together may it profit us two:

Together may we do a hero’s work.59

May we learn intelligently:

May we never hate one another.

OṀ. Peace, peace, peace.

CHĀNDOGYA UPANIṢAD

The Chanters’ Teaching

OM. May my limbs, speech, breath, eye, ear, strength and all senses grow strong. Everything is the brahman of the Upanisads. May I not reject brahman. May brahman not reject me. May there be no rejecting. May there be no rejecting of me.1 May all the dharmas which are in the Upanisads be in me, who delight in the self. May they be in me.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

BOOK I

CHAPTER 1

1. OṂ. One should contemplate the syllable OṂ as the Udgītha,1 for one sings aloud (ud-gai-) OṂ. To explain further:

2. The earth is the essence of all beings, the waters the essence of earth, plants the essence of the waters, a man (purusa) the essence of plants, speech the essence of a man, the ṛc the essence of speech, the sāman the essence of the ṛc, the Udgītha the essence of the sāman.

3. This, the Udgītha, is the final essence2 of essences, the supreme, the ultimate, the eighth.

4. It has been debated, ‘Which, which is the ṛc? Which, which is the sāman? Which, which is the Udgītha?’

5. Speech is the ṛc. Breath is the sāman. The syllable OṂ is the Udgītha. This is a couple - speech and breath, and ṛc and sāman.

6. This couple come together in the syllable OṂ. When two come together as a couple, they fulfil one another’s desire.

7. The one who, knowing this, contemplates the syllable as the Udgītha becomes a fulfiller of desires.

8. It is the syllable of assent, for when one assents to something one says, ‘OṂ.’ Assent is accomplishment, and the one who, knowing this, contemplates the syllable as the Udgītha becomes an accomplisher of desires.

9. By it the threefold knowledge3 exists: one sounds OṂ, one praises OṂ, one chants aloud OṂ,4 for reverence of the syllable with its greatness and essence.

10. So both do it, the one who knows this and the one who does not know. But knowledge and ignorance are different. What one does with knowledge, faith, the inner meaning (upanisad), is more powerful.

This is the explanation of the syllable.

CHAPTER 2

1. When the gods and the demons, both descendants of Prajāpati, strove together, the gods took up the Udgītha, thinking, ‘With this we will overcome them.’5

2. They contemplated the breath in the nose as the Udgītha. The demons pierced it with evil. That is why one smells with it both the sweet-scented and the foul-smelling, because it was pierced with evil.

3. Then they contemplated speech as the Udgītha. The demons pierced it with evil. That is why one speaks with it both truth and falsehood, because it was pierced with evil.

4. Then they contemplated the eye as the Udgītha. The demons pierced it with evil. That is why one sees with it both what should be seen and what should not be seen,6 because it was pierced with evil.

5. Then they contemplated the ear as the Udgītha. The demons pierced it with evil. That is why one hears with it both what should be heard and what should not be heard, because it was pierced with evil.

6. Then they contemplated the mind as the Udgītha. The demons pierced it with evil. That is why one imagines with it both what should be imagined and what should not be imagined, because it was pierced with evil.

7. Then they contemplated the breath which is in the mouth as the Udgītha. The demons, attacking it, perished, as one attacking a solid rock would perish.

8. The one who wishes ill for and is hostile to the one who knows this perishes as one attacking a solid rock.

9. With it7 one does not discern the sweet-scented or the foul-smelling, for it is free from evil: what one eats and drinks with it protects the other breaths. At the end, when one does not find it, one departs: for at the end, they say, one has one’s mouth open.

10. Aṅgiras contemplated it as the Udgītha: indeed, folk consider it to be Aṅgiras, because it is the essence (rasa) of the limbs (aṅga).

11. So Bṛhaspati contemplated it as the Udgītha: indeed, folk consider it to be Bṛhaspati, because speech is bṛhatī and it is its lord (pati).

12. So Ayāsya contemplated it as the Udgītha: indeed, folk consider it to be Ayāsya, because it goes (ayate) from the mouth (āsya).

13. So Baka Dālbhya knew it. He became the Udgātr̥ of the people of the Naimisa forest, and used to sing into being all their desires.

14. The one who, knowing this, contemplates the syllable as the

Udgītha becomes a singer-into-being of all desires.

So much regarding oneself.

CHAPTER 3

1. Now regarding deities:

One should contemplate the one who gives heat8 as the Udgītha.

Rising, it sings aloud (ud-gai-) to creatures. Rising, it destroys darkness and fear. The one who knows this becomes a destroyer of darkness and fear.

2. This one and that one9 are the same. That one is hot and this one is hot (usna). Folk call this one ‘svara’, and that one ‘svara’, ‘pratyāsvara’.10 So one should contemplate this one and that one as the Udgītha.

3. One should contemplate the between-breath (vyāna) as the Udgītha. When one breathes out, that is the out-breath (prāna): when one breathes in, that is the in-breath (apāna). The meeting-point of the out-breath and the in-breath is the between-breath.What the between-breath is, speech is. So one utters speech while neither breathing out nor breathing in.11

4. What speech is, the ṛc is. So one utters the ṛc while neither breathing out nor breathing in. What the ṛc is, the sāman is. So one sings the sāman while neither breathing out nor breathing in. What the sāman is, the Udgītha is. So one sings the Udgītha while neither breathing out nor breathing in.12

5. Whatever other works there are that require effort, such as rubbing to light a fire, running a race, or drawing a strong bow, one does while neither breathing out nor breathing in. For this reason one should contemplate the between-breath as the Udgītha.

6. One should contemplate the syllables of Udgītha, ‘ud, gī, tha’. The breath is ud, since one rises up (ut-thā-) by means of the breath. Speech is gī, since folk call speech ‘voice’ (gīr). Food is tha, since all this rests (sthā-) on food.

7. Sky is ud, middle-air is gī, earth is tha. The sun is ud, air is gī, fire is tha. The Sāmaveda is ud, the Yajurveda is gī, the ṛgveda is tha.

Speech gives milk, the milk of speech, for him, and he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food - the one who, knowing these things, contemplates the syllables of Udgītha, ‘ud, gī, tha’.

8. Now the fulfilment of hopes:

One should contemplate the refuges, as they are called. One should go for refuge to the sāman verse which one is about to chant.

9. One should go for refuge to the ṛc verse on which it is based, to the ṛṣi to whom it belongs, and to the deity to whom one is about to chant.

10. One should go for refuge to the metre in which one is about to chant, to the hymn-sequence13 from which one is about to chant.

11. One should go for refuge to the direction towards which one is about to chant.

12. Finally, taking refuge in oneself (ātman), one should chant without carelessness, reflecting on one’s desire. So whatever desire one may have while chanting is quickly fulfilled: whatever desire one may have while chanting.14

CHAPTER 4

1. One should contemplate the syllable OM as the Udgītha, for one sings aloud OM. To explain further:

2. The gods, fearing Death, entered into the threefold knowledge. They covered themselves with the metres. It is because they covered (chad-) themselves with them that the metres are called metres (chandas).

3. Death saw them there, in the ṛc, sāman and yajus, as one might see a fish in water. Realizing this, they went up out of the ṛc, sāman and yajus, and entered into the sound (svara).

4. When one receives a ṛc verse, one sounds OM: so with a sāman, and so with a yajus. This sound is what the syllable is: it is immortal, fearless. By entering it the gods became immortal, fearless.

5. The one who, knowing this, reverberates the syllable enters into the syllable, the sound, the immortal, the fearless. By entering it, he becomes immortal as the gods are immortal.

CHAPTER 5

1. What the Udgītha is, the reverberation (pranava) is: what the reverberation is, the Udgītha is. So the sun is the Udgītha: it is the reverberation, since it moves with the sound OM.

2. ‘I sang only of the one: that is why I have just you,’ said Kausītaki to his son. ‘You must reflect on its rays, then you will have many.’15

So much regarding deities.

3. Now regarding oneself:

One should contemplate the breath in the mouth as the Udgītha, since it moves with the sound OM.

4. ‘I sang only of the one: that is why I have just you,’ said Kausītaki to his son. ‘You must sing of the breaths as abundance, thinking, “I will have many.” ’

5. What the Udgītha is, the reverberation is: what the reverberation is, the Udgītha is. Knowing this, even if the Udgītha is badly sung, one puts it right again from the Hotṛ’s seat. One puts it right again.

CHAPTER 6

1. This16 is the ṛc: fire is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. This is sā: fire is ama.17 Hence ‘sāman’.

2. Middle-air is the ṛc: air is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. Middle-air is sā: air is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

3. Sky is the ṛc: the sun is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. Sky is sā: the sun is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

4. The constellations are the ṛc: the moon is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. The constellations are sā: the moon is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

5. The white light of the sun is the ṛc: the blue light, deeper than black, is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc.

6. The white light of the sun is sā: the blue light, deeper than black, is ama. Hence ‘sāman’. The person made of gold who is seen within the sun, with golden beard, golden hair, all golden to the nail-tips,

7. Has eyes like the monkey-face lotus.18 His name is Ud.19 He has risen (udita) above all evils. The one who knows this rises above all evils.

8. The ṛc and the sāman are his minstrels.20 Hence ‘Udgītha’;hence, indeed, ‘Udgātr̥’, since he is Ud’s singer (gātr̥). ‘He rules over the worlds which are beyond that, and over the desires of the gods.’21

So much regarding deities.

CHAPTER 7

1. Now regarding oneself:

Speech is the ṛc: breath is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. Speech is sā: breath is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

2. The eye is the ṛc: the self is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. The eye is sā: the self is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

3. The ear is the ṛc: the mind is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. The ear is sā: the mind is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

4. The white light of the eye is the ṛc: the blue light, deeper than black, is the sāman. So the sāman is carried on the ṛc. When the sāman is sung it is carried on the ṛc. The white light of the eye is sā: the blue light, deeper than black, is ama. Hence ‘sāman’.

5. The person who is seen within the eye - that is the ṛc; that is the sāman; that is the Uktha; that is the yajus; that is brahman. This one’s form is that one’s form;22 this one’s minstrels are that one’s minstrels; this one’s name is that one’s name.

6. ‘He rules over the worlds which are below this, and over the desires of human beings.’ Those who sing to the lute sing of him, and so are rewarded with wealth.

7. The one who, knowing this, sings the sāman sings of both. Through that one he gains the worlds which are beyond that, and the desires of the gods.

8. Through this one he gains the worlds which are below this, and the desires of human beings. Therefore the Udgātṛ who knows this should say,

9. ‘What desire of yours should I sing into being?’: for the one who, knowing this, sings the sāman has the power of singing desires into being: the one who sings the sāman.

CHAPTER 8

1. There were three who were expert in the Udgītha: Śilaka Śālāvātya, Caikitāyana Dālbhya and Pravāhana Jaivalī. They said, ‘We are expert in the Udgītha: come, let us have a debate about the Udgītha.’

2. ‘Agreed,’ they said, and sat down together.

Pravāhana Jaivalī said, ‘Blessed ones, speak first, and I will listen to you two Brāhmaṇas as you speak.’

3. Śilaka Śālāvātya said to Caikitāyana Dālbhya, ‘Come, let me ask you a question.’

‘Ask,’ he said.

4. ‘What does the sāman go back to?’23

‘Sound (svara),’ he said.

‘What does sound go back to?’

‘The breath,’ he said.

‘What does the breath go back to?’

‘Food,’ he said.

‘What does food go back to?’

‘The waters,’ he said.

5. ‘What do the waters go back to?’

‘That world,’ he said.

‘What does that world go back to?’

‘One should not carry it on beyond the heavenly world,’ he said. ‘We establish the sāman on the heavenly world, for the sāman is praised as heaven.’

6. Śilaka Śālāvātya said to Caikitāyana Dālbhya, ‘Dālbhya, your sāman is unsupported. If someone were to say now, “Your head will split apart”, your head would split apart.’

7. ‘Come then, I must know it from you, blessed one.’

‘You shall know it,’ he said.

‘What does that world go back to?’

‘This world,’ he said.

‘What does this world go back to?’

‘One should not carry it on beyond this world, the support,’ he said. ‘We establish the sāman on the world, the support, for the sāman is praised as the support.’

8. Pravāhana Jaivalī said to him, ‘Śālāvātya, your sāman is finite. If someone were to say now, “Your head will split apart”, your head would split apart.’

‘Come then, I must know it from you, blessed one.’

‘You shall know it,’ he said.

CHAPTER 9

1. ‘What does this world go back to?’

‘Space,’ he said, ‘for all beings arise from space and sink back into space. Space is older than they: space is the final end.’

2. The Udgītha is higher than the highest; it is infinite. The one who, knowing this, contemplates the Udgītha as higher than the highest gets what is higher than the highest, conquers worlds which are higher than the highest.

3. Atidhanvan Śaunaka, having taught this to Udaraśāṇḍilya, said, ‘As long as those in your progeny know the Udgītha as such, their life in this world will be higher than the highest.

4. ‘They will have a world in that world, too.’

Likewise, for the one who, knowing this, contemplates it as such, his life in this world is higher than the highest. He will have a world in that world, too: a world in that world, too.

CHAPTER 10

1. When the Kuru-country had been battered by hailstones,24 Uṣasti Cākrāyana, being destitute, lived with his wife Ātikī in an elephant-keeper’s village.25

2. He begged alms from the elephant-keeper, who was eating black beans.

The elephant-keeper said, ‘There are none but these which have been served to me.’

3. Uṣasti said, ‘Give me some of them.’

He gave them to him, and said, ‘Come, here is water to go with it.’

Uṣasti said, ‘But then I would be drinking leftovers.’

4. ‘So weren’t these leftovers, too?’

‘If I had not eaten them, I would not have lived,’ he said, ‘but drinking the water is up to me.’26

5. When he had eaten, he took those that were left, for his wife. She had got good alms earlier, so she took them and put them in store.

6. When he got up in the morning, he said, ‘Ah! If only we could get some food! Then we could get a little bit of wealth. The king is going to offer a sacrifice. He would have chosen me for all the priestly offices.’

7. His wife said, ‘Well, husband, here are the black beans!’ He ate them, and went to the sacrifice which had been prepared.

8. He sat down near the Udgātr priests, who were about to sing praises at the praising-place.27

He said to the Prastotr,

9. ‘Prastotṛ, if you sing the Prastāva without knowing the deity that is associated with the Prastāva, your head will split apart.’28

10. Likewise, he said to the Udgātr, ‘Udgātr, if you sing the Udgītha without knowing the deity that is associated with the Udgītha, your head will split apart.’

11. Likewise, he said to the Pratihartr, ‘Pratihartṛ, if you sing the Pratihāra without knowing the deity that is associated with the Pratihāra, your head will split apart.’

They ceased and sat in silence.

CHAPTER 11

1. The patron of the sacrifice29 said, ‘Blessed one, I would very much like to know who you are.’

‘Usasti Cākrāyana,’ he said.

2. The patron said, ‘Blessed one, I searched for you for all the priestly offices. Because I could not find you, blessed one, I chose the others.’

3. ‘Blessed one, please act for me in all the priestly offices.’30

‘I will. But let these still offer praise, under my direction. But you should give me as much wealth as you give them.’

‘I will,’ said the patron of the sacrifice.

4. Then the Prastotṛ approached him, saying, ‘Blessed one, you said to me, “Prastotṛ, if you sing the Prastāva without knowing the deity that is associated with the Prastāva, your head will split apart.” Which is that deity?’

5. ‘The breath,’ he said. ‘All beings enter into the breath, rise up with the breath. That is the deity that is associated with the Prastāva. If you had sung the Prastāva without knowing it, your head would have split apart when I told you this.’

6. Then the Udgātṛ approached him, saying, ‘Blessed one, you said to me, “Udgātṛ, if you sing the Udgītha without knowing the deity that is associated with the Udgītha, your head will split apart.” Which is that deity?’

7. ‘The sun,’ he said. ‘All beings sing (gai-) to the sun when it is on high (uccaiḥ). That is the deity that is associated with the Udgītha. If you had sung the Udgītha without knowing it, your head would have split apart when I told you this.’

8. Then the Pratihartr̥ approached him, saying, ‘Blessed one, you said to me, “Pratihartṛ, if you sing the Pratihāra without knowing the deity that is associated with the Pratihāra, your head will split apart.” Which is that deity?’

9. ‘Food,’ he said. ‘All beings live by collecting (prati-hṛ-) food. That is the deity that is associated with the Pratihāra. If you had sung the Pratihāra without knowing it, your head would have split apart when I told you this – when I told you this.’

CHAPTER 12

1. Now the Udgītha of the dogs:31

Once Baka Dālbhya, or Glāva Maitreya, went forth to study.

2. A white dog appeared to him. Other dogs approached that one

and said, ‘Blessed one, sing into being food for us, for we are hungry.’

3. He told them, ‘Meet me just here in the morning.’ Baka Dālbhya,

or Glāva Maitreya, waited.

4. Just as those who are about to chant the Bahispavamāna glide

around holding on to one another,32 they glided around. Then, sitting

down together, they uttered the sound hiṂ.

5. ‘OM… Let us eat…! OM… Let us drink…! OM… May the god

Varuna, may Prajāpati, may Savitṛ… bring food here…! O lord of

food… bring here… bring food here…! OM…!’33

CHAPTER 13

1. This world is the sound hāu. Air is the sound hāi. The moon is the sound atha. The self is the sound iha. Fire is the sound ī.34

2. The sun is the sound ū. Invocation is the sound e. The Viśvedevas are the sound auhoyi. Prajāpati is the sound hiṚ. Breath is svara. Food is yā. Speech is virāj.

3. The thirteenth ritual cry, huṚ, which is variable, is undefined.

4. Speech gives milk, the milk of speech, for him, and he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food - the one who knows the inner meaning (upanisad) of the sāman: the one who knows the inner meaning.

BOOK II

CHAPTER 1

1. OṂ. Contemplation of the sāman as a whole is good (sādhu). What is good, folk call ‘prosperity (sāman)’; what is not good, ‘not prosperity’.

2. They say, too, ‘He approached him tactfully (sāmnā)’,1 meaning ‘He approached him well’; and they say, ‘He approached him tactlessly (asāmnā)’, meaning ‘He approached him badly’.

3. And they say, too, ‘Oh! Lucky (sāman) for us!’ when something good happens; and they say, ‘Oh! Unlucky (asāman) for us!’ meaning ‘Oh! Bad for us!’ when something bad happens.

4. Good dharmas will come quickly and do homage to him – the one who, knowing this, contemplates the good as sāman.

CHAPTER 2

1. One should contemplate the fivefold sāman in the worlds. Earth is the Hiṅkāra; fire is the Prastāva; middle-air is the Udgītha; the sun is the Pratihāra; sky is the Nidhana. That is going upward.

2. But coming downward, sky is the Hiṅkāra; the sun is the Prastāva; middle-air is the Udgītha; fire is the Pratihāra; earth is the Nidhana.

3. Worlds upward and downward are made fit for the one who, knowing this, contemplates the fivefold sāman in the worlds.

CHAPTER 3

1. One should contemplate the fivefold sāman in rain. The wind beforehand is the Hiṅkāra; when the rain-cloud forms, that is the Prastāva; when it rains, that is the Udgītha; when it lightens and thunders, that is the Pratihāra; when it ceases, that is the Nidhana.

2. It rains for him, and he makes it rain - the one who, knowing this, contemplates the fivefold sāman in the rain.

CHAPTER 4

1. One should contemplate the fivefold sāman in all water. When the rain-cloud gathers, that is the Hiṅkāra; when it rains, that is the Prastāva; that which flows east is the Udgītha; that which flows west is the Pratihāra; the ocean is the Nidhana.

2. He does not die in water, but becomes rich in water - the one who, knowing this, contemplates the fivefold sāman in all water.

CHAPTER 5

1. One should contemplate the fivefold sāman in the seasons. Spring is the Hiṅkāra; summer is the Prastāva; the rainy season is the Udgītha; autumn is the Pratihāra; winter is the Nidhana.

2. The seasons are tempered to him, and he becomes rich in seasons2 – the one who, knowing this, contemplates the fivefold sāman in the seasons.

CHAPTER 6

1. One should contemplate the fivefold sāman in the animals (paśu).

Goats are the Hiṅkāra; sheep are the Prastāva; cows are the Udgītha;

horses are the Pratihāra; man (purusa) is the Nidhana.

2. Animals come to him, and he becomes rich in animals – the one

who, knowing this, contemplates the fivefold sāman in the animals.

CHAPTER 7

1. One should contemplate the fivefold sāman, the higher than the highest, in the breaths. Breath is the Hiṅkāra; speech is the Prastāva; the eye is the Udgītha; the ear is the Pratihāra; the mind is the Nidhana.

2. He gets what is higher than the highest, wins worlds that are higher than the highest – the one who, knowing this, contemplates the fivefold sāman, the higher than the highest, in the breaths.

So much about the fivefold.

CHAPTER 8

1. Now about the sevenfold:

One should contemplate the sevenfold sāman in speech.3 Whatever in speech is huR is the Hiṅkāra; whatever is pra is the Prastāva; whatever is ā is the Ādi;

2. Whatever is ud is the Udgītha; whatever is prati is the Pratihāra; whatever is upa is the Upadrava; whatever is ni is the Nidhana.4

3. Speech gives milk, the milk of speech, for him, and he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food - the one who, knowing this, contemplates the sevenfold sāman in speech.

CHAPTER 9

1. One should contemplate the sevenfold sāman as the sun. It is always the same (sama), hence it is sāman. Everyone thinks,5 ‘It faces me, it faces me.’ It is the same for everyone, hence it is sāman.

2. One should know that all beings are connected with it. Its form6 before rising is the Hiṅkāra. The domestic animals (paśu) are connected with that: because they share in the Hiṅkāra of the sāman they go ‘hiR’.7

3. Its form when it has first risen is the Prastāva. Human beings are connected with that: because they share in the Prastāva of the sāman they are lovers of praise (prastuti), lovers of fame.

4. Its form at the time when cattle meet is the Ādi. The birds are connected with that: because they share in the Ādi of the sāman they fly around in middle-air relying on just themselves (ātmānam ādāya), without a support.

5. Its form just at midday is the Udgītha. The gods are connected with that: because they share in the Udgītha of the sāman they are the best of the children of Prajāpati.

6. Its form after midday but before evening falls8 is the Pratihāra. Embryos are connected with that: because they share in the Pratihāra of the sāman they are held together (pratihṛta) and do not fall down.

7. Its form after evening falls but before setting is the Upadrava. The forest animals are connected with that: because they share in the Upadrava of the sāman, when they see a human being they run away (upa-dru-) to a thicket or cave.

8. Its form when it has first set is the Nidhana. The ancestors are connected with that: because they share in the Nidhana of the sāman, folk give them a place (ni-dhā-).

This is how one contemplates the sevenfold sāman as the sun.

CHAPTER 10

1. Then one should contemplate the sevenfold sāman as equal to the self, and as beyond death. ‘Hiṅkāra’ is three syllables: ‘Prastāva’ is three syllables, so it is equal.

2. ‘Ādi’ is two syllables: ‘Pratihāra’ has four syllables. Take one from that to this, then it is equal.

3. ‘Udgītha’ is three syllables: ‘Upadrava’ is four syllables. With three each it becomes equal, but a syllable (aksara) is left over. That [a-ksa-ra] is three syllables, so it is equal.

4. ‘Nidhana’ is three syllables, so that becomes equal. There are twenty-two syllables here.

5. By twenty-one one reaches the sun: the sun is the twenty-first from here. By the twenty-second one conquers what is beyond the sun, heaven, free from sorrow.

6. He gains victory over the sun – has victory greater than victory over the sun9 – the one who, knowing this, contemplates the sevenfold sāman here as equal to the self, and as beyond death: who contemplates the sāman.

CHAPTER 11

1. The mind is the Hiṅkāra: speech is the Prastāva; the eye is the Udgītha; the ear is the Pratihāra; the breath is the Nidhana. This is the Gāyatra, woven on the breaths (prāṇa).

2. The one who knows the Gāyatra, woven on the breaths, becomes alive (prāṇin): he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should be of great mind: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 12

1. When one rubs the sticks together,10 that is the Hiṅkāra; when smoke is produced, that is the Prastāva; when it bursts into flame, that is the Udgītha; when there are embers, that is the Pratihāra; when it dies down, that is the Nidhana – when it goes out, that is the Nidhana. This is the Rathantara, woven on fire.

2. The one who knows the Rathantara, woven on fire, becomes radiant with brahman, an eater of food: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not sip water or spit facing a fire: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 13

1. When one invites a woman,11 that is the Hiṅkāra; when one makes known one’s desire, that is the Prastāva; when one lies close to the woman, that is the Udgītha; when one lies with her, that is the Pratihāra; when one reaches the climax, that is the Nidhana - when one reaches the end, that is the Nidhana. This is the Vāmadevya, woven on the sexual act.

2. The one who knows the Vāmadevya, woven on the sexual act, achieves the sexual act, procreates from every sexual act: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not reject any woman: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 14

1. Rising, it is the Hiṅkāra; risen, it is the Prastāva; at midday, it is the Udgītha; in the afternoon, it is the Pratihāra; setting, it is the Nidhana. This is the Ḅhat, woven on the sun.

2. The one who knows the Ḅhat, woven on the sun, becomes radiant, an eater of food: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in off spring and animals, great in fame. One should not speak ill of the one who gives heat: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 15

1. When clouds gather, that is the Hiṅkāra; when a rain-cloud forms,

that is the Prastāva; when it rains, that is the Udgītha; when it lightens

and thunders, that is the Pratihāra; when it ceases, that is the

Nidhana. This is the Vairūpa, woven on Parjanya. This is the

2. The one who knows the Vairūpa, woven on Parjanya, pens in all

kinds of (virūpa) fine-looking (surūpa) animals: he attains his full

lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in

fame. One should not speak ill of the one who rains: that should be

the vow.

CHAPTER 16

1. Spring is the Hiṅkāra; summer is the Prastāva; the rainy season is the Udgītha; autumn is the Pratihāra; winter is the Nidhana. This is the Vairāja, woven on the seasons.

2. The one who knows the Vairāja, woven on the seasons, excels (vīrāj-) in off spring and animals and in the radiance of brahman: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not speak ill of the seasons: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 17

1. Earth is the Hiṅkāra; middle-air is the Prastāva; sky is the Udgītha; the directions are the Pratihāra; the ocean is the Nidhana. These are the Śakvarīs, woven on the worlds.

2. The one who knows the Śakvarīs, woven on the worlds, becomes a possessor of worlds: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not speak ill of the worlds: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 18

1. Goats are the Hiṅkāra; sheep are the Prastāva; cows are the Udgītha; horses are the Pratihāra; man is the Nidhana. These are the Revatīs, woven on the animals.

2. The one who knows the Revatīs, woven on the animals, becomes rich in animals: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not speak ill of the animals: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 19

1. Hair12 is the Hiṅkāra; skin is the Prastāva; flesh is the Udgītha; bone is the Pratihāra; marrow is the Nidhana. This is the Yajñāyajñīya, woven on the parts of the body.

2. The one who knows the Yajñāyajñīya, woven on the parts of the body, possesses the parts of the body, and is not maimed in any part: he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not eat meat for a year: that should be the vow. Or one should not eat meat: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 20

1. Fire is the Hiṅkāra; air is the Prastāva; the sun is the Udgītha; the constellations are the Pratihāra; the moon is the Nidhana. This is the Rājana, woven on the deities.

2. The one who knows the Rājana, woven on the deities, shares a world with, shares power with, attains union with the deities:13 he attains his full lifespan, lives long, becomes great in offspring and animals, great in fame. One should not speak ill of Brāhmaṇas: that should be the vow.

CHAPTER 21

1. The threefold knowledge is the Hiṅkāra; the three worlds are the Prastāva; fire, air and sun are the Udgītha; constellations, birds and light-rays are the Pratihāra; snakes, gandharvas and ancestors are the Nidhana. This is the sāman, woven on everything.

2. The one who knows the sāman, woven on everything, becomes everything.

3. There is a verse about it:

There is nothing else beyond them, older Than the threes, the fivefold threes.

4. The one who knows this knows everything. All the directions bring him tribute. One should contemplate, ‘I am every thing’: that should be the vow. That should be the vow.

CHAPTER 22

1. I recommend the roaring style of sāman, called ‘animal-like’: it is

the Udgītha of Agni. The ‘indistinct’ belongs to Prajāpati, the ‘distinct’

to Soma, the ‘soft and smooth’ to Vāyu, the ‘smooth and powerful’ to

Indra, the ‘crane-like’ to Bṛhaspati, the ‘ill-sounding’ to Varuna. One

should practise all of them, but avoid the one that belongs to Varuna.

2. Thinking, ‘Let me sing into being immortality for the gods!’, one

should sing it into being. ‘Let me sing into being the offering (svadhā)

for the ancestors, hope for human beings, grass and water for the

animals, a heavenly world for the patron of the sacrifice, food for

myself!’: meditating on these things in the mind, one should chant

undistracted.

3. All vowels are the selves of Indra; all sibilants are the selves of

Prajāpati; all stops are the selves of Death,14 If someone finds fault

with one regarding one’s vowels, one should say, ‘I have gone for

refuge to Indra: he will answer you.’

4. If someone finds fault with one regarding one’s sibilants, one

should say, ‘I have gone for refuge to Prajāpati: he will crush you.’ If

someone finds fault with one regarding one’s stops, one should say, ‘I

have gone for refuge to Death: he will burn you up.’

5. One should pronounce all vowels with resonance, with strength,

thinking, ‘Let me bestow strength on Indra!’ One should pronounce all

sibilants without swallowing, without dropping, distinctly, thinking,

‘Let me give myself up to Prajāpati!’ One should pronounce all stops

crisply, without slurring, thinking, ‘Let me keep myself from Death!’

CHAPTER 23

1. There are three who have dharma as their trunk. The first believes in sacrifice, study and giving, the second in asceticism (tapas); the third is the brahmacārin, living in his teacher's family, completely dedicating himself to his teacher's family. All these win worlds of merit. The one who rests in brahman attains immortality.15

2. Prajāpati heated up (abhi-tap-) the worlds. When they were heated up, the threefold knowledge issued from them. He heated that up. When it was heated up, the sounds16 BHūḥ, BHUVAḥ, SVAḥ issued from it.

3. He heated them up. When they were heated up, the OM issued from them. Just as all leaves are penetrated and joined together by their main vein, all speech is penetrated and joined together by the OM. The OM is all this. The OM is all this.

CHAPTER 24

1. Scholars of brahman say, ‘Since the morning pressing17 belongs to the Vasus, the midday pressing to the Rudras, and the third pressing to the Ādityas and the Viśvedevas,

2. ‘Where, then, is the world of the patron of the sacrifice?’ How could one perform a sacrifice without knowing this? One should perform it knowing this:

3. Before the start of the morning recitation,18 the patron sits down behind the Gārhapatya fire, facing north, and sings the sāman of the Vasus:

4. ‘Open... up... the door of the world... that we may see you... For the sake of king... huR... ā... ship... o... ā...!’19

5. Then he makes an offering, saying, ‘Homage to Agni, dwelling on earth, dwelling in a world. Find a world for me, the patron of the sacrifice. This is the patron’s world: here shall I go,

6. ‘As patron, after my lifespan. SVĀHĀ!’ Then, saying, ‘Draw back the bolt!’, he stands up. The Vasus offer him the morning pressing.

7. Before the start of the midday pressing, the patron sits down behind the Agnīdhrīya fire, facing north, and sings the sāman of the Rudras:

8. ‘Open... up... the door of the world... that we may see you... For the sake of glo... huR... ā... ry... o... ā...!’

9. Then he makes an offering, saying, ‘Homage to Vāyu, dwelling in middle-air, dwelling in a world. Find a world for me, the patron of the sacrifice. This is the patron’s world: here shall I go,

10. ‘As patron, after my lifespan. SVĀHĀ!’ Then, saying, ‘Draw back the bolt!’, he stands up. The Rudras offer him the midday pressing.

11. Before the start of the third pressing, the patron sits down behind the Āhavanīya fire, facing north, and sings the sāman of the Ādityas and the Viśvedevas:

12. ‘Open... up... the door of the world... that we may see you... For the sake of sovereign... huR... ā... ty... o... ā...!’

13. – the Ādityas’ sāman. Then the Viśvedevas’ sāman:

‘Open... up... the door of the world... that we may see you...

For the sake of em... huR... ā... pire... o... ā... !'

14. Then he makes an offering, saying, ‘Homage to the Ādityas and the Viśvedevas, dwelling in the sky, dwelling in a world. Find a world for me, the patron of the sacrifice.

15. ‘This is the patron’s world: here shall I go, as patron, after my lifespan. SVĀHĀ!’ Then, saying, ‘Draw back the bolt!’, he stands up.

16. The Ādityas and the Viśvedevas offer him the third pressing. The one who knows this knows the dement20 of the sacrifice: the one who knows this.

BOOK III

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. The sun is the honey of the gods. The sky is its horizontal cane,1 middle-air its honeycomb, the rays its larvae.2

2. Its eastward rays are the eastward honey-veins.3 The ṛc verses are the bees, the ṛgveda the flower, the nectar of immortality the nectar.4 The ṛc verses

3. heated up the ṛgveda. When it was heated up, its essence was produced from it, as fame, brightness, strength, energy and good food.5

4. It flowed out and settled beside the sun. This is what is now6 the red form of the sun.

CHAPTER 2

1. Its southward rays are the southward honey-veins. The yajus verses are the bees, the Yajurveda the flower, the nectar of immortality the nectar.

2. The yajus verses heated up the Yajurveda. When it was heated up, its essence was produced from it, as fame, brightness, strength, energy and good food.

3. It flowed out and settled beside the sun. This is what is now the white form of the sun.

CHAPTER 3

1. Its westward rays are the westward honey-veins. The sāman verses are the bees, the Sāmaveda the flower, the nectar of immortality the nectar.

2. The sāman verses heated up the Sāmaveda. When it was heated up, its essence was produced from it, as fame, brightness, strength, energy and good food.

3. It flowed out and settled beside the sun. This is what is now the black form of the sun.

CHAPTER 4

1. Its northward rays are the northward honey-veins. The verses of the Atharvans and Aṅgirases are the bees, the histories and legends the flower, the nectar of immortality the nectar.

2. The verses of the Atharvans and Aṅgirases heated up the histories and legends. When they were heated up, their essence was produced from them, as fame, brightness, strength, energy and good food.

3. It flowed out and settled beside the sun. This is what is now the deeper-than-black form of the sun.

CHAPTER 5

1. Its upward rays are the upward honey-veins. The secret symbolic statements7 are the bees, brahman the flower, the nectar of immortality the nectar.

2. The secret symbolic statements heated up brahman. When it was heated up, its essence was produced from it, as fame, brightness, strength, energy and good food.

3. It flowed out and settled beside the sun. This is what now seems to tremble in the midst of the sun.

4. These are the essences of essences, for the Vedas are the essences and these are the essences of them. These are the nectars of nectars, for the Vedas are the nectars and these are the essences of them.

CHAPTER 6

1. The Vasus, with Agni as their chief, live on the first of these nectars.8 Gods do not eat or drink: they are satisfied just by seeing the nectar.

2. They enter into this form,9 and out of this form they arise.

3. The one who knows the nectar in this way becomes one of the Vasus, with Agni as his chief, and is satisfied just by seeing the nectar. He enters into this form, and out of this form he arises.

4. As long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west he will encompass the overlordship and kingship of the Vasus.

CHAPTER 7

1. The Rudras, with Indra as their chief, live on the second of these nectars. Gods do not eat or drink: they are satisfied just by seeing the nectar.

2. They enter into this form, and out of this form they arise.

3. The one who knows the nectar in this way becomes one of the Rudras, with Indra as his chief, and is satisfied just by seeing the nectar. He enters into this form, and out of this form he arises.

4. Twice as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it will rise in the south and set in the north. For so long he will encompass the overlordship and kingship of the Rudras.

CHAPTER 8

1. The Ādityas, with Varuna as their chief, live on the third of these nectars. Gods do not eat or drink: they are satisfied just by seeing the nectar.

2. They enter into this form, and out of this form they arise.

3. The one who knows the nectar in this way becomes one of the Ādityas, with Varuna as his chief, and is satisfied just by seeing the nectar. He enters into this form, and out of this form he arises.

4. Twice as long as the sun rises in the south and sets in the north, it will rise in the west and set in the east. For so long he will encompass the overlordship and kingship of the Ādityas.

CHAPTER 9

1. The Maruts, with Soma as their chief, live on the fourth of these nectars. Gods do not eat or drink: they are satisfied just by seeing the nectar.

2. They enter into this form, and out of this form they arise.

3. The one who knows the nectar in this way becomes one of the Maruts, with Soma as his chief, and is satisfied just by seeing the nectar. He enters into this form, and out of this form he arises.

4. Twice as long as the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, it will rise in the north and set in the south. For so long he will encompass the overlordship and kingship of the Maruts.

CHAPTER 10

1. The Sādhyas, with Brahmā as their chief, live on the fifth of these nectars. Gods do not eat or drink: they are satisfied just by seeing the nectar.

2. They enter into this form, and out of this form they arise.

3. The one who knows the nectar in this way becomes one of the Sādhyas, with Brahmā as his chief, and is satisfied just by seeing the nectar. He enters into this form, and out of this form he arises.

4. Twice as long as the sun rises in the north and sets in the south, it will rise above and set below.10 For so long he will encompass the overlordship and kingship of the Sādhyas.

CHAPTER 11

1. Then, when it has risen above, it will not rise and will not set, but will rest, solitary, in the middle. There is a verse about it:

2. It is not there: it has not set

Nor ever risen.

Gods, by that truth

May I not be parted from brahman!

3. It does not rise or set for him: it is always daytime for the one who knows the inner teaching of brahman.11

4. In this way Brahmā taught it to Prajāpati; Prajāpati to Manu; Manu to his offspring.12 In this way his father taught brahman to Uddālaka Āruni, his eldest son.

5. In this way a father should teach brahman to his eldest son or to a trustworthy student,

6. not to anyone else at all, even if someone should give him this whole earth,13 surrounded by the waters, filled with riches: for this is greater than that.14 This is greater than that.

CHAPTER 12

1. The Gāyatrī is all this, whatever has come to be.15 Speech is the Gāyatrī: speech sings (gai-) and protects (trai-) all this that has come to be.

2. What the Gāyatrī is, this earth is. Whatever has come to be is established on the earth and does not go beyond it.

3. What the earth is, the body is in a person. The breaths are established in it and do not go beyond it.

4. What the body is in a person, the heart is within the person. The breaths are established in it and do not go beyond it.

5. The Gāyatrī is four-footed and sixfold. It is described in a ṛc verse:

6. So far goes his greatness,

And the person is greater than that.

A foot of him is all beings:

Three-footed, he has immortality in the sky.16

7. What is called brahman is the space that is outside a person. The space that is outside a person

8. is the space that is within a person. The space that is within a person

9. is the space that is within the heart. It is the full, the unmoving. The one who knows this wins glory which is full and unmoving.

CHAPTER 13

1. The heart has five divine channels.17 Its eastern channel is the breath (prāṇa); it is the eye; it is the sun. One should contemplate it as brightness (tejas), as good food. The one who knows this becomes bright (tejasvin), an eater of food.

2. Its southern channel is the diffused breath (vyāna); it is the ear; it is the moon. One should contemplate it as glory, as fame. The one who knows this becomes glorious, famous.

3. Its western channel is the lower breath (apāna); it is speech; it is fire. One should contemplate it as the radiance of brahman, as good food. The one who knows this becomes radiant with brahman, an eater of food.

4. Its northern channel is the central breath (samāna); it is the mind; it is Parjanya. One should contemplate it as renown, as beauty. The one who knows this becomes renowned, beautiful.

5. Its upward channel is the up-breath (udāna); it is air; it is space. One should contemplate it as power, as might. The one who knows this becomes powerful, mighty.

6. These five brahman-persons are the door-guardians of the heavenly world. A hero is born in the family of the one who knows these five brahman-persons as the door-guardians of the heavenly world. He attains the heavenly world - the one who knows these five brahman-persons as the door-guardians of the heavenly world.

7. The light which shines beyond the sky, behind all, behind everything, in the unsurpassed, highest worlds, is the same that is the light within the person.

8. This is what one is seeing when one experiences by touch the heat in the body. This is what one is hearing when one closes one’s ears and hears a kind of noise, a roaring like that of a blazing fire. One should contemplate it as the seen and the heard. The one who knows this becomes someone worth seeing, someone heard-of - the one who knows this.

CHAPTER 14

1. ‘All this is brahman. Calming oneself, one should contemplate it as Tajjalān.18 The person is made of intention:19 as is his intention in this world, so does the person become on departing from here. He should form his intention.

2. ‘Made of mind, with breath as body, with light as form, of true resolve,20 with space as self, doing all, desiring all, smelling of all, tasting of all, encompassing all this, unspoken, untroubled.

3. ‘This self of mine within the heart is smaller than a rice-grain or a barleycorn or a mustard-seed or a millet-grain or the kernel of a millet-grain. This self of mine within the heart is greater than the earth, greater than middle-air, greater than the sky, greater than these worlds.

4. ‘Doing all, desiring all, smelling of all, tasting of all, encompassing all this, unspoken, untroubled, this self of mine within the heart is brahman. “Having gone forth from here, I shall be changed into21 this.” Truly he will, the one who has no doubt of this.’ So said Sāṇḍilya, Sāṇḍilya.

CHAPTER 15

1. Middle-air its interior, earth its base,

The treasury is not exhausted.

The directions are its corners,

Sky the opening above.

This treasury is the holder of wealth. All this rests in it.

2. Its eastern direction is called Juhū, its southern direction

Sahamānā, its western direction Rājñī, its northern direction Subhūtā.

Air is their darling child. Whoever knows air as the darling child of

the directions never makes mourning for a son. I know air as the

darling child of the directions: may I never make mourning for a son!

3. I take refuge in the undamaged treasury with < name >, with <

name >.22 I take refuge in the breath with < name >, with <

name >. I take refuge in BHŪḥ with <

name >, with < name >. I take refuge in BHUVAḥ

with < name >, with < name >, with < name >. I take refuge in

SVAḥ with < name >, with < name >, with < name >.

4. When I said, ‘I take refuge in the breath’, I was saying, ‘Breath is

all this, whatever there is. I have taken refuge in it.’

5. And when I said, ‘I take refuge in BHŪḥ’, I was saying, ‘I take

refuge in earth; I take refuge in middle-air; I take refuge in sky.’

6. And when I said, ‘I take refuge in BHUVAḥ’, I was saying, ‘I take

refuge in fire; I take refuge in air; I take refuge in the sun.’

7. And when I said, ‘I take refuge in SVAḥ’, I was saying, ‘I take

refuge in the ṛgveda; I take refuge in the Yajurveda; I take refuge in

the Sāmaveda.’

CHAPTER 16

1. A person is a sacrifice. Twenty-four of his years are the morning pressing.23 The Gāyatrī has twenty-four syllables: the morning pressing is in Gāyatrī metre. The Vasus are associated with it. The breaths are the Vasus, for they cause all this to stay (vas-).24

2. If some illness afflicts him during this period, he should say, ‘Breaths, Vasus, extend my morning pressing to the midday pressing. May I, the sacrifice, not be cut off in the middle of the breaths, the Vasus.’ Then he gets over it and is cured.

3. Forty-four of his years are the midday pressing. The Tristubh has forty-four syllables: the midday pressing is in Tristubh metre. The Rudras are associated with it. The breaths are the Rudras, for they cause all this to weep (rud-).

4. If some illness afflicts him during this period, he should say, ‘Breaths, Rudras, extend my midday pressing to the third pressing. May I, the sacrifice, not be cut off in the middle of the breaths, the Rudras.’ Then he gets over it and is cured.

5. Forty-eight of his years are the third pressing. The Jagatī has forty-eight syllables: the third pressing is in Jagatī metre. The Ādityas are associated with it. The breaths are the Ādityas, for they take (ā-dā-) all this.

6. If some illness afflicts him during this period, he should say, ‘Breaths, Ādityas, extend my third pressing to a lifespan. May I, the sacrifice, not be cut off in the middle of the breaths, the Ādityas.’ Then he gets over it and is cured.

7. Knowing this, Mahidāsa Aitareya once said ‘Why do you25 afflict me like this? For I will not die from this.’ He lived a hundred and sixteen years. The one who knows this lives a hundred and sixteen years.

CHAPTER 17

1. When one is hungry, when one is thirsty, when one takes no pleasure, that is one’s initiation.26

2. When one eats, when one drinks, when one takes pleasure, one takes part in the upasads.27

3. When one laughs, when one feasts, when one makes love, one takes part in the hymns and recitations.28

4. One’s asceticism, giving, honesty, non-violence and truth-speaking (as they are called) are one’s gifts to the priests.29

5. So they say, ‘She will give birth!’ ‘She has given birth!’ This is one’s resumption of the sacrifice.30 Death is one’s bath at the end.31

6. Ghora Āṅgirasa, having taught this to Kṛṣṇa son of Devakī,32 said – for he had become free from thirst – ‘At the time of death one should take refuge in these three recollections: “You are the unperishing. You are the unfallen. You are the subtlest part of the breath.” ’33

There are two ṛc verses about it:

7. Yes, they see the day-like light

Of the primal seed

Which is kindled beyond in the sky.34

8. Seeing above darkness the highest light,

Seeing, each for himself, the highest,

We have reached the sun,

The god among gods,

The highest light –

The highest light.35

CHAPTER 18

1. One should contemplate mind as brahman. That is regarding oneself. Now, regarding deities: space is brahman. Both are taught, regarding oneself and regarding deities.

2. Brahman has four feet. Speech is a foot, breath is a foot, eye is a foot, ear is a foot. That is regarding oneself. Now, regarding deities: fire is a foot, air is a foot, the sun is a foot, the directions are a foot.

3. Speech is a quarter, a foot of brahman. With fire as its light it shines and gives heat. The one who knows this shines and gives heat with fame, glory, the radiance of brahman.

4. Breath is a quarter, a foot of brahman. With air as its light it shines and gives heat. The one who knows this shines and gives heat with fame, glory, the radiance of brahman.

5. The eye is a quarter, a foot of brahman. With the sun as its light it shines and gives heat. The one who knows this shines and gives heat with fame, glory, the radiance of brahman.

6. The ear is a quarter, a foot of brahman. With the directions as its light it shines and gives heat. He shines and gives heat with fame, glory, the radiance of brahman, the one who knows this: the one who knows this.

CHAPTER 19

1. The sun is brahman: this is the symbolic statement. To explain further: in the beginning this was not-being. That was being;36 it came into existence; it turned into an egg. It lay for the space of a year, then cracked open. The two halves of the eggshell became gold and silver.

2. What was the silver half is the earth, and what was the gold half is the sky. What was the chorion is the mountains, and what was the amnion37 is the mist with the clouds. What were the blood-vessels are the rivers, and what was the amniotic fluid38 is the sea.

3. What was born is the sun. When it was being born, sounds of ululation went up towards it, and all beings and all desires. So, at its rising and at its setting, sounds of ululation go up towards it, and all beings and all desires.

4. Good sounds will come quickly to him – the one who, knowing this, contemplates the sun as brahman – and will fill him with joy: will fill him with joy.

BOOK

IV

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. Jānaśruti the great-grandson1 was full of faith, very generous, having much food cooked. He had lodging-houses built everywhere, with the idea that everywhere folk would be eating his food.

2. One night, some geese2 flew over. One goose said to another, ‘Hey, hey there, Clearsight, Clearsight! The light of Jānaśruti the great-grandson is spread out like day. Do not get caught in it, or you will burn up!’

3. The other replied, ‘So! Who is this that you speak about as though he were Raikva the Yoke-man?’3

4. ‘What is he like, this Raikva the Yoke-man?’4

5. ‘Just as the lower throws of the dice go into the winning kṛta throw,5 whatever good deed people do goes to him. I say the same about anyone who knows what he knows.’

6. Jānaśruti the great-grandson overheard that. As soon as he got up, he said to his chamberlain,6 ‘So! You speak about me as though I were Raikva the Yoke-man!’

7. ‘Who is this Raikva the Yoke-man?’

8. ”Just as the lower throws of the dice go into the winning kṛta throw, whatever good deed people do goes to him. I say the same about anyone who knows what he knows.” ’

9. The chamberlain searched for him and returned, saying, ‘I have not found him.’

10. Jānaśruti said to him, ‘Oh! Search for him where you would look for a Brāhmana!’7

11. He came upon him under a cart, scratching a rash. He said to him, ‘Blessed one, are you Raikva the Yoke-man? He called back, ‘I am. So what?’8

12. The chamberlain returned, saying, ‘I have found him.’

CHAPTER 2

1. Then Jānaśruti the great-grandson went to him, taking six hundred cows, a golden jewel, and a chariot drawn by she-mules, and said to him:

2. ‘Raikva, here are six hundred cows; here is a golden jewel; and here is a chariot drawn by she-mules. Blessed one, teach me about the deity, the one that you worship.’9

3. The other replied, ‘Śūdra, you can keep the necklace and the wagon, and the cows too!’

So Jānaśruti the great-grandson went to him again, taking a thousand cows, a golden jewel, a chariot drawn by she-mules, and his daughter.

4. He said to him, ‘Raikva, here are a thousand cows; here is a golden jewel; here is a chariot drawn by she-mules; here is a wife; and here is the village in which you live. Blessed one, teach me now.’

5. Raikva turned up her face to him and said, ‘Śūdra, you have brought all these, but with this face alone you would have made me talk!’

There are villages in Mahāvṛsa called the Raikvaparnas, where he lived at the king’s behest.10 He taught him:

CHAPTER 3

1. ‘Air is the drawer-together.11 When fire goes out, it enters air. When the sun sets, it enters air. When the moon sets, it enters air.

2. ‘When water dries up, it enters air. Air draws all these together. So much regarding details.

3. ‘Regarding oneself: the breath is the drawer-together. When one sleeps, speech enters the breath; the eye enters the breath; the ear enters the breath; the mind enters the breath. The breath draws all these together.

4. ‘These two are the drawers-together: air among the gods, the breath among the breaths.

5. ‘A brahmacārin once begged alms of Śaunaka Kāpeya and Abhipratārin Kāksaseni as they were being served with food, but they did not give him any.

6. ‘He said, “One god, Ka,12 the protector of the world, has swallowed up four of great self. Kāpeya, Abhipratārin, mortals do not see him, for he dwells in many forms – the one to whom this food has not been given.”

7. ‘Then Śaunaka Kāpeya, in reply, went over to him, saying:

‘ ”Self of the gods, begetter of creatures, With golden tusks, devourer, no fool is he! Uneaten, he eats what is not food.

‘ ”Brahmacārin, it is he that we are not worshipping. – Give him alms!”

8. ‘And they gave him some.

‘There are five in the one group and five in the other group, ten in all. That is the kṛta throw. Therefore the ten in all the directions – the kṛta – are food. It is also Virāj,13 the eater of food – she who sees all this. All that is seen is his, and he becomes an eater of food – the one who knows this: the one who knows this.’

CHAPTER 4

1. Satyakāma Jābāla asked his mother, Jabālā, ‘Mother, I want to live the life of a brahmacārin. What lineage14 do I belong to?’

2. She said to him, ‘Darling, I do not know what lineage you belong to. I got you in my youth, when I travelled about a great deal as a servant, so I do not know what lineage you belong to. But I am called Jabālā and you are called Satyakāma. You can say you are Satyakāma Jābāla.’15

3. He went to Hāridrumata Gautama and said, ‘Blessed one, I will live the life of a brahmacārin with you. Blessed one, I would come to you as my teacher.’16

4. He said, ‘Good lad, what lineage do you belong to?’

He said, ‘Sir, I do not know what lineage I belong to. I asked my mother, and she answered me, “I got you in my youth, when I travelled about a great deal as a servant, so I do not know what lineage you belong to. But I am called Jabālā and you are called Satyakāma. You can say you are Satyakāma Jābāla.” Sir, I am Satyakāma Jābāla.’

5. Hāridrumata said to him, ‘No one who was not a Brāhmana could have explained it so. Good lad, bring firewood: I shall initiate you. You have not departed from the truth.’ After he had initiated him, he separated out four hundred of his thin and feeble cows and said, ‘Good lad, follow these!’

As he drove them off, Satyakāma said, ‘I will not come back without a thousand.’ He lived away for a number of years. When they had become a thousand -

CHAPTER 5

1. the bull called17 him: ‘Satyakāma!’

‘Blessed one?’ he replied.

‘Good lad, we have reached a thousand. Drive us to the teacher’s

house -

2. ‘and I must tell you about a foot of brahman,’

‘Tell me, blessed one.’

He told him, ‘The eastern direction is a fraction;18 the western

direction is a fraction; the southern direction is a fraction; the

northern direction is a fraction. This, good lad, is a foot of brahman, in

four fractions, called “Shining”.19

3. ‘The one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in

four fractions, as “Shining” becomes shining in this world and wins

shining worlds - the one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of

brahman, in four fractions, as “Shining”.

CHAPTER 6

1. ‘Fire will tell you about a foot.’

The next morning he drove the cows onward. At the place they reached in the evening he lit a fire, penned up the cows, brought firewood, and sat down behind the fire, facing east.

2. Fire called him: ‘Satyakāma!’

‘Blessed one?’ he replied.

3. ‘Good lad, I must tell you about a foot of brahman?’

‘Tell me, blessed one.’

He told him, ‘Earth is a fraction; middle-air is a fraction; sky is a fraction; ocean is a fraction. This, good lad, is a foot of brahman, in four fractions, called “Unending”.

4. ‘The one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in four fractions, as “Unending” becomes unending in this world and wins unending worlds - the one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in four fractions, as “Unending”.

CHAPTER 7

1. ‘A goose will tell you about a foot.’

The next morning he drove the cows onward. At the place they reached in the evening he lit a fire, penned up the cows, brought firewood, and sat down behind the fire, facing east.

2. A goose alighted and called him: ‘Satyakāma!’ ‘Blessed one?’ he replied.

3. ‘Good lad, I must tell you about a foot of brahman.’ ‘Tell me, blessed one.’

He told him, ‘Fire is a fraction; the sun is a fraction; the moon is a fraction; lightning is a fraction. This, good lad, is a foot of brahman, in four fractions, called “Radiant”.

4. ‘The one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in four fractions, as “Radiant” becomes radiant in this world and wins radiant worlds – the one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in four fractions, as “Radiant”.

CHAPTER 8

1. ‘A cormorant20 will tell you about a foot.’

The next morning he drove the cows onward. At the place they reached in the evening he lit a fire, penned up the cows, brought firewood, and sat down behind the fire, facing east.

2. A cormorant alighted and called him: ‘Satyakāma!’ ‘Blessed one?’ he replied.

3. ‘Good lad, I must tell you about a foot of brahman.’ ‘Tell me, blessed one.’

He told him, ‘Breath is a fraction; the eye is a fraction; the ear is a fraction; the mind is a fraction. This, good lad, is a foot of brahman, in four fractions, called “Abiding”.21

4. ‘The one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in four fractions, as “Abiding” becomes abiding in this world and wins abiding worlds – the one who, knowing this, contemplates a foot of brahman, in four fractions, as “Abiding”.’

CHAPTER 9

1. He reached the teacher's house. The teacher called him: 'Satyakāma!'

2. 'Blessed one?' he replied.

'Good lad, you shine like a knower of brahman. Who taught you?'

He replied, 'Ones who were other than human. But, blessed one, you tell me, please.

3. 'For I have heard from those like yourself, blessed one, that knowledge learned from one's teacher has the best results.'22

He taught it to him. In it, nothing was different. Nothing was different.

CHAPTER 10

1. Upakosala Kāmalāyana lived as a brahmacārin with Satyakāma Jābāla. For twelve years he tended his fires. Satyakāma let his other students return home,23 but he did not let Upakosala return home.

2. Satyakāma’s wife said to him, ‘The ascetic brahmacārin has tended the fires well. Do not let the fires speak to him first. You should teach him.’ But he went on a journey without having spoken to him.

3. Then, from grief, Upakosala resolved not to eat. His teacher’s wife said, ‘Eat, brahmacārin. Why do you not eat?’

He said, ‘In this person are many desires, sufferings of all kinds. I am full of grief. I shall not eat.’

4. Then the fires spoke together: ‘The ascetic brahmacārin has tended us well. Come, let us teach him.’ They said to him:

5. ‘Breath is brahman; Ka is brahman; Kha24 is brahman.’

He said, ‘I know that breath is brahman, but I do not know Ka or Kha.’

They said, ‘What Ka is, Kha is, and what Kha is, Ka is.’ They told him about breath, and then about space.

CHAPTER 11

1. Then the Gārhapatya fire taught him: “Earth, fire, food, the sun.”

The person who is seen in the sun am I. I am he.25

2. ‘The one who knows and contemplates him in this way wards off evil actions, becomes a possessor of worlds, attains his full span, and lives long, and his descendants do not perish. We protect, both in this world and in that, the one who knows and contemplates him in this way.’

CHAPTER 12

1. Then the Anvāhāryapacana fire taught him: “The waters, the directions, the constellations, the moon.” ’ The person who is seen in the moon am I. I am he.

2. ‘The one who knows and contemplates him in this way wards off evil actions, becomes a possessor of worlds, attains his full span, and lives long, and his descendants do not perish. We protect, both in this world and in that, the one who knows and contemplates him in this way.’

CHAPTER 13

1. Then the Āhavanīya fire taught him: ‘ "Breath, space, fire, lightning." The person who is seen in the lightning am I. I am he.

2. ‘The one who knows and contemplates him in this way wards off evil actions, becomes a possessor of worlds, attains his full span, and lives long, and his descendants do not perish. We protect, both in this world and in that, the one who knows and contemplates him in this way.’

CHAPTER 14

1. They said, ‘Upakosala, good lad, you have knowledge of us and knowledge of the self. But your teacher will tell you where they go back to.’26

His teacher came back. His teacher called him: ‘Upakosala!’

2. ‘Blessed one?’ he replied.

‘Good lad, your face shines like that of a knower of brahman. Who taught you?’

‘Who could have taught me, sir?’ he said, seeming to deny it. He paid respect to the fires, saying, ‘Now they look like this, but then they looked different.’27

‘So what did they tell you, good lad?’

3. ‘This...,’ he replied.

‘But did they tell you only about the worlds, good lad? But I will tell you about that. When one knows that, evil action does not stick to one, just as water does not stick to a lotus petal.’

‘Tell me, blessed one.’

And he told him:

CHAPTER 15

1. ‘The person who is seen in the eye is the self,’ he said. ‘It is the immortal, the fearless. It is brahman. Even if one sprinkles ghee or water on it, it goes only as far as the eyelids.28

2. ‘They call him “Unifying the Beautiful”, for all beautiful things come together to him. All beautiful things come together to the one who knows this.

3. ‘He is also “Bringer of the Beautiful”, for he brings all beautiful things. The one who knows this brings all beautiful things.

4. ‘He is also “Light-Bringer” ’, for he shines in all worlds. The one who knows this shines in all worlds.

5. ‘And whether they perform funerary rites for him or not, they29 go into the light; from light into the day; from the day into the waxing fortnight; from the waxing fortnight into the six months in which the sun goes northward; from the months into the year; from the year into the sun; from the sun into the moon; from the moon into the lightning: then a person who is not human30 leads them to brahman. This is the path of the gods, the path of brahman. Those who travel by it do not whirl again in the whirlpool of Manu.31 They do not whirl again.’

CHAPTER 16

1. The one who purifies32 is a sacrifice, for as it goes it purifies all this. Since as it goes it purifies all this it is a sacrifice. Mind and speech are ways to it.

2. Of the two, the Brahmā consecrates one with his mind; the Hotṛ, the Adhvaryu and the Udgātṛ the other with speech. When the Brahmā breaks the silence, once the morning recitation33 has begun, before the closing verse,34

3. he consecrates one of the ways, but the other is lacking. As a person Walking on one foot, or a chariot running on one wheel, comes to harm, his sacrifice comes to harm. When the sacrifice comes to harm, the patron of the sacrifice comes to harm with it. By sacrificing, he becomes more evil.

4. But when the Brahmā does not break the silence once the morning recitation has begun, before the closing verse, they consecrate both the ways, and neither of them is lacking. As a person travelling on both feet, or a chariot running on both wheels, remains steady (prati-sthā-), his sacrifice remains steady. When the sacrifice remains steady, the patron of the sacrifice remains steady with it. By sacrificing, he becomes better.

CHAPTER 17

1. Prajāpati heated up the worlds. As they were heated up, he extracted35 the essences from them: fire from earth, air from middle-air, the sun from sky.

2. He heated up these three deities. As they were heated up, he extracted the essences from them: ṛc verses from fire, yajus verses from air, sāman verses from the sun.

3. He heated up this threefold knowledge. As it was heated up, he extracted the essences from it: BHŪḥ from the ṛc verses, BHUVAḥ from the yajus verses, SVAḥ from the sāman verses.

4. If it should come to harm from the ṛc verses, one should make an offering into the Gārhapatya fire, saying, ‘BHŪḥ SVĀHĀ!’ Then one repairs the harm to the sacrifice from the ṛc verses with the essence of the ṛc verses, with the power of the ṛc verses.

5. And if it should come to harm from the yajus verses, one should make an offering into the Daksināgni fire, saying, ‘BHUVAḥ SVĀHĀ!’ Then one repairs the harm to the sacrifice from the yajus verses with the essence of the yajus verses, with the power of the yajus verses.

6. And if it should come to harm from the sāman verses, one should make an offering into the Āhavanī fire, saying, ‘SVAḥ SVĀHĀ!’ Then one repairs the harm to the sacrifice from the sāman verses with the essence of the sāman verses, with the power of the sāman verses.

7. Just as one would repair gold with salt,36 silver with gold, tin with silver, lead with tin, iron with lead, timber with iron, or timber with leather,

8. one repairs the harm to the sacrifice with the power of the three worlds, the three deities, the threefold knowledge. The sacrifice is healed, where one who knows this is the Brahmā.

9. The sacrifice slopes to the north,37 where one who knows this is the Brahmā. There is a song about the Brahmā who knows this:

Wherever it turns back,

There goes Manu’s son.

10. The Brahmā priest alone

Is the mare who protects the Kurus.38

The Brahmā who knows this protects the sacrifice, the patron of the sacrifice, and all the priests. So one should choose as Brahmā one who knows this, not one who does not know this: not one who does not know this.

BOOK

V

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. The one who knows the eldest and best becomes the eldest and best. Breath is the eldest and best.1

2. The one who knows the finest becomes the finest of his own folk. Speech is the finest.2

3. The one who knows the support stands firm both in this world and in that world. The eye is the support.

4. The one who knows prosperity attains his desires, both divine and human.3 The ear is prosperity.

5. The one who knows the dwelling-place becomes the dwelling-place of his own folk. Mind is the dwelling-place.

6. Now the bodily functions (prāṇa) argued about who was the best.4 ‘I am the best!’ ‘I am the best!’

7. The bodily functions said to father Prajāpati, ‘Blessed one, who is the best of us?’

He said to them, ‘The best of you is the one after whose departure the body seems to be in worst case.’

8. Speech departed. It stayed away for a year, and when it returned it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

‘Like the dumb, not speaking, but breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, thinking with the mind. That is how we lived.’

Then speech went back in.

9. The eye departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

‘Like the blind, not seeing, but breathing with the breath.speaking with speech, hearing with the ear, thinking with the mind. That is how we lived.’

Then the eye went back in.

10. The ear departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

‘Like the deaf, not hearing, but breathing with the breath, speaking with speech, seeing with the eye, thinking with the mind. That is how we lived.’

Then the ear went back in.

11. The mind departed and stayed away for a year. When it came back it asked, ‘How were you able to live without me?’

‘Like the foolish, without mind, but breathing with the breath, speaking with speech, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, not

thinking with the mind. That is how we lived.'

Then the mind went back in.

12. The breath (prāṇa), intending to depart, dragged together the

other bodily functions (prāṇa) as a fine stallion might drag its

tethering-pegs.

They said, 'Blessed one, do not go. You are the best of us. Do not

leave.'

13. Speech said to it, 'In that I am the finest, you are the finest.'

The eye said to it, 'In that I am the support, you are the support.'

14. The ear said to it, 'In that I am prosperity, you are prosperity.'

The mind said to it, 'In that I am the dwelling, you are the

dwelling.'

15. Folk do not call them 'speeches', 'eyes', 'ears' or 'minds'. They

call them 'breaths'. The breath becomes all these.

CHAPTER 2

1. It said, ‘What will be my food?’

They said, ‘Whatever there is, down to dogs and birds.’

This is the food (anna) of the breath (ana). Ana is its simple name.

For the one who knows this, there is nothing that is not food.

2. It said, ‘What will be my clothing?’

They said, ‘Water.’

Therefore when folk are about to eat, both before and after, they clothe it with water. It becomes a recipient of garments: it becomes not-naked (anagna).

3. Satyakāma Jābāla taught this to Gośruti Vaiyāghrapadya, and said, ‘If one were to say this even to a dried-up stump, branches would grow on it, and leaves would sprout.’5

4. If one should aspire to greatness, one should undergo initiation on the new-moon day; then on the full-moon night one should prepare a stirred mixture of all herbs with yoghurt and honey. Saying, ‘To the eldest, to the best, SVĀHĀ!’, one should make an offering of ghee into the fire and pour the remainder into the stirred mixture.

5. Saying, ‘To the finest, SVĀHĀ!’, one should make an offering of ghee into the fire and pour the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To the support, SVĀHĀ!’, one should make an offering of ghee into the fire and pour the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To prosperity, SVĀHĀ!’, one should make an offering of ghee into the fire and pour the remainder into the stirred mixture.

Saying, ‘To the dwelling-place, SVĀHĀ!’, one should make an offering of ghee into the fire and pour the remainder into the stirred mixture.

6. Then, moving quietly away, holding the stirred mixture between one’s two hands, one mutters ‘Amo nāmāsy amā hi te sarvam idam;6 this is the eldest, the best, the king, the overlord; may he make me the eldest, the best, the king, the overlord! May I become all this!’

7. Then he sips with a ṛc verse, foot by foot.

‘We ask for the food’ - he sips -

‘Of the god Savitṛ’ - he sips -

‘Best and most sustaining for all;7’ - he sips -

‘Swiftly we meditate on Bhaga’s might’8 - he drinks it all.

After washing the bowl or ladle, he lies down behind the fire-altar,

either on a hide or on the bare ground, restraining his speech and not careless. If he sees a woman,9 he knows that his work is successful.

8. There is a verse about it:

When, in works concerned with desire,

One sees a woman in dreams,

One should know success there,

In the seeing of that dream,

In the seeing of that dream.

CHAPTER 3

1. Śvetaketu Āruneya went to a meeting of the Pañcālas. Jaivali Pravāhana said to him, ‘Young man, has your father educated you?’10

‘He has, blessed one.’

2. ‘Do you know where people go on to from here?’

‘No, blessed one.’

‘Do you know how they come back again?’ he cried.11

‘No, blessed one.’

‘Do you know the parting of the ways between the path of the gods and the path of the ancestors?’

‘No, blessed one.’

3. ‘Do you know how that world does not become full?’

‘No, blessed one.’

‘Do you know how, in the fifth offering, the waters take on human speech?’

‘No indeed, blessed one.’

4. ‘So why did you call yourself educated? How can someone who does not know these things call himself educated?’

Distressed, Śvetaketu went to his father’s home. He said to him, ‘Blessed one, you said you had educated me when you had not educated me.’

5. ‘A princeling asked me five questions, and I could not answer a single one of them…’12

His father said, ‘As you told them to me then, I do not know a single one of them. If I had known them, how would I not have told you?’

6. Gautama went to the king’s home. When he got there, the king treated him as an honoured guest. In the morning he went to the assembly and approached him. The king said, ‘Blessed Gautama, choose a boon from my human wealth.’

He said, ‘O king, human wealth belongs to you. Tell me the words you spoke in the presence of the young man.’

The king was troubled.

7. He invited him to stay for a long time. He said, ‘Gautama, since you have said that, you should know that13 before you the knowledge has not previously gone to Brāhmanas. So in all worlds, rulership has belonged to Ksatriyas.’ He told him:

CHAPTER 4

1. ‘That world is a fire, Gautama. The sun is its fuel; the rays its smoke; the day its flame; the moon its embers; the constellations its sparks.

2. ‘In that fire the gods offer faith. From that offering King Soma arises.

CHAPTER 5

1. ‘Parjanya is a fire, Gautama. Air is his fuel; cloud his smoke; the lightning his flame; the thunderbolt his embers; the hailstones his sparks.

2. ‘In that fire the gods offer King Soma. From that offering rain arises.

CHAPTER 6

1. ‘The earth is a fire, Gautama. The year is its fuel; space its smoke; the night its flame; the directions its embers; the intermediate directions its sparks.

2. ‘In that fire the gods offer rain. From that offering food arises.

CHAPTER 7

1. ‘A man (purusa) is a fire, Gautama. Speech is his fuel; the breath his smoke; the tongue his flame; the eye his embers; the ear his sparks.

2. ‘In that fire the gods offer food. From that offering the seed arises.

CHAPTER 8

1. ‘A young woman is a fire, Gautama. The loins are her fuel; when one invites her, her smoke; the vagina her flame; what one does within, her embers; the pleasures her sparks.

2. ‘In that fire the gods offer the seed. From that offering a foetus arises.

CHAPTER 9

1. ‘And so, in the fifth offering, the waters take on human speech. The foetus, covered by the amnion,14 sleeps inside for ten months or nine or however long it is, and then is born.

2. ‘When he is born, he lives out his span of life, and, when he has passed away at the appointed time, they take him from here to the fire from which he came, from which he came to be.

CHAPTER 10

1. ‘Those who know this, and those who in the forest contemplate faith, asceticism,15 go into the flame, from the flame into the day, from the day into the waxing fortnight, from the waxing fortnight into the six months in which the sun goes northward,

2. ‘from the months into the year, from the year into the sun, from the sun into the moon, from the moon into the lightning. Then a person who is not human takes them to brahman. This is called the way of the gods.

3. ‘But those who in the village contemplate the gift in stored-up merit16 go into the smoke, from the smoke into the night, from the night into the waning fortnight, from the waning fortnight into the six months in which the sun goes southward: they do not reach the year.

4. ‘From the months into the world of the ancestors, from the world of the ancestors into space, from space into the moon. This is King Soma: this is the food of the gods. The gods partake of him.

5. ‘They live in it until their fall. Then they return by the same road that they came, into space; from space into the air: having become air it becomes smoke; having become smoke, it becomes cloud.

6. ‘Having become cloud it becomes rain-cloud; having become rain-cloud it rains. Here they are born as rice and barley, herbs and trees, sesame and black beans.17 It is very hard indeed to escape from this. But whenever someone eats the food and emits seed, one again comes into being.

7. ‘Those who here are of delightful conduct will quickly attain a delightful womb – a Brāhmaṇa womb, a Ksatriya womb or a Vaiśya womb. But those who here are of foul conduct will quickly attain a foul womb – a dog’s womb, a pig’s womb, or a Caṇḍāla womb.

8. ‘But the little beings that travel round many times go by neither of these paths, but to a third state: ‘Be born! Die!’ So that world is not filled up. Therefore one should be on one’s guard. There is a verse about it:

9. A gold-thief, a wine-drinker, One who enters his guru’s bed,18 a Brāhmaṇa-slayer – These four fall, and fifth The one who associates with these.

10. ‘But the one who knows the five fires does not become smeared even if he associates with these. He becomes pure, cleansed, possessor of a meritorious world – the one who knows this: the one who knows

this.’

CHAPTER 11

1. Prācīnaśāla Aupamanyava, Satyayajña Paulusi, Indradyumna Bhāllaveya, Jana Śārkarāksya and Buḍila Āśvatarāsvi, great householders and great scholars, came together and held a discussion: ‘What is the self? What is brahman?’

2. They decided, ‘Blessed ones, Uddālaka Āruni has direct knowledge of the self of all men.19 Come, let us approach him!’ And they approached him.

3. He decided, ‘These great householders and great scholars will question me, and I will not be able to answer everything. Come, let me recommend someone else.’

4. He said to them, ‘Blessed ones, Aśvapati Kaikeya has direct knowledge of the self of all men. Come, let us approach him!’ And they approached him.

5. When they arrived, he had each one individually welcomed as an honoured guest. In the morning he got up and said:

‘There is in my country no thief,

No miser, no drinker of wine,

None who has not lit a fire, none ignorant,

No unchaste man, how then an unchaste woman?

‘Blessed ones, I am about to offer a sacrifice. I will give you, blessed ones, as much wealth as I will give to every single priest. Blessed ones, please stay.’

6. They said, ‘A man should state the business on which he comes. You have direct knowledge of the self of all men. Teach us about that!’

7. He said to them, ‘I will answer in the morning.’ Early next day they approached him with fuel in their hands. Without initiating them, he said to them:

1. ‘Aupamanyava, what do you worship20 as the self?’

‘Sky, blessed king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, this is the self of all men as ‘Radiant’. Since you worship

the self as such, in your family it is seen that Soma is pressed, re-

pressed, and pressed again.21

2. ‘You eat food and see what is pleasant. The one who worships the

self of all men as such eats food and sees what is pleasant, and in his

family is the radiance of brahman. This is the head of the self,’ he said.

‘Your head would have split apart if you had not come to me.’

CHAPTER 13

1. Then he said to Satyayajña Paulusi, ‘Prācīnayogya, what do you worship as the self?’

‘The sun, blessed king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, this is the self of all men as “Having All Shapes”.Since you worship the self as such, in your family is plenty, of all shapes.

2. ‘You have at hand a chariot drawn by she-mules, slave-women, a gold chain. You eat food and see what is pleasant. The one who worships the self of all men as such eats food and sees what is pleasant, and in his family is the radiance of brahman. This is the eye of the self,’ he said. ‘You would have gone blind if you had not come to me.’

CHAPTER 14

1. Then he said to Indradyumna Bhāllaveya, ‘Vaiyāghrapadya, what do you worship as the self?’

‘Air, blessed king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, this is the self of all men as “Travelling Far and Wide”.

Since you worship the self as such, tribute comes to you from far and wide, and ranks of chariots follow you far and wide.

2. ‘You eat food and see what is pleasant. The one who worships the self of all men as such eats food and sees what is pleasant, and in his family is the radiance of brahman. This is the breath of the self,’ he said. ‘Your breath would have gone up out of you if you had not come to me.’

CHAPTER 15

1. Then he said to Jana, ‘Śākarāksya, what do you worship as the self?’

‘Space, blessed king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, this is the self of all men as “Abundant”. Since you worship the self as such, you abound in offspring and in wealth.

2. ‘You eat food and see what is pleasant. The one who worships the self of all men as such eats food and sees what is pleasant, and in his family is the radiance of brahman. This is the body of the self,’ he said.

‘Your body would have wasted away if you had not come to me.’

CHAPTER 16

1. Then he said to Buḍila Āśvatarāśvi, ‘Vaiyāghrapadya, what do you worship as the self?’

‘The waters, blessed king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, this is the self of all men as “Wealth”. Since you worship the self as such, you are wealthy and prosperous.

2. ‘You eat food and see what is pleasant. The one who worships the self of all men as such eats food and sees what is pleasant, and in his family is the radiance of brahman. This is the bladder of the self,’ he said. ‘Your bladder would have burst if you had not come to me.’

CHAPTER 17

1. Then he said to Uddālaka Āruni, ‘Gautama, what do you worship as the self?’

‘Earth, blessed king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, this is the self of all men as “Support” (pratisthā). Since you worship the self as such, you are supported with offspring and with animals.

2. ‘You eat food and see what is pleasant. The one who worships the self of all men as such eats food and sees what is pleasant, and in his family is the radiance of brahman. This is the feet of the self,’ he said. ‘Your feet would have withered away if you had not come to me.’

CHAPTER 18

1. He said to them, ‘You seem to know the self of all men in different ways, and you eat food. But the one who worships the self of all men limb by limb, as identified with himself,22 eats food in all worlds, in all beings, in all selves.

2. ‘The head of the self of all men is “Radiant”; his eye is “Having All Shapes”; his breath is the self as “Travelling Far and Wide”; his body is “Abundant”; his bladder is “Wealth”; the earth is his feet;23 his chest is the altar; his body-hair is the grass-strewing; his heart is the Gārhapatya fire; his mind is the Anvāhāryapacana fire; his mouth is the Āhavanīya fire.

CHAPTER 19

1. ‘The food which comes first should be given in offering. The first offering one makes one should offer with the words “To the breath, SVĀHĀ!” Then the breath is content.

2. ‘When the breath is content, the eye is content; when the eye is content, the sun is content; when the sun is content, the sky is content; when the sky is content, whatever the sun and the sky rule over is content; with the contentment of that, one is content, with offspring, animals, good food, brightness, and the radiance of brahman.

CHAPTER 20

1. ‘And the second offering one makes one should offer with the words

“To the diffused breath, SVĀHĀ!” Then the diffused breath is content.

2. ‘When the diffused breath is content, the ear is content; when the

ear is content, the moon is content; when the moon is content, the

directions are content; when the directions are content, whatever the

directions and the moon rule over is content; with the contentment of

that, one is content, with offspring, animals, good food, brightness,

and the radiance of brahman.

CHAPTER 21

1. ‘And the third offering one makes one should offer with the words “To the lower breath, SVĀHĀ!” Then the lower breath is content.

2. ‘When the lower breath is content, speech is content; when speech is content, fire is content; when fire is content, earth is content; when earth is content, whatever earth and fire rule over is content; with the contentment of that, one is content, with offspring, animals, good food, brightness, and the radiance of brahman.

CHAPTER 22

1. ‘And the fourth offering one makes one should offer with the words

“To the central breath, SVĀHĀ!” Then the central breath is content.

2. ‘When the central breath is content, the mind is content; when

the mind is content, Parjanya is content; when Parjanya is content, the

lightning is content; when the lightning is content, whatever the

lightning and Parjanya rule over is content; with the contentment of

that, one is content, with offspring, animals, good food, brightness,

and the radiance of brahman.

CHAPTER 23

1. ‘And the fifth offering one makes one should offer with the words

“To the up-breath, SVĀHĀ!” Then the up-breath is content.

2. ‘When the up-breath is content, the skin is content; when the skin

is content, air is content; when air is content, space is content; when

space is content, whatever air and space rule over is content; with the

contentment of that, one is content, with offspring, animals, good

food, brightness, and the radiance of brahman.

CHAPTER 24

1. 'If one performs the Agnihotra without knowing this, it will be just the same as if one performed it by casting embers on to ashes.

2. 'But if one performs the Agnihotra knowing this, it will have been offered in all worlds, in all beings, in all selves.

3. 'Just as the tip of a reed, when poked in a fire, is burnt up, all one's evils are burnt up if one performs the Agnihotra knowing this.

4. 'So, knowing this, even if one offers leftovers to a Canḍāla, it will have been offered to the self of all men in him. There is a verse about it:

5. Just as here hungry children

Wait around24 their mother,

So all beings attend

Upon the Agnihotra:

Upon the Agnihotra.'

BOOK

VI

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. There once was a boy called Śvetaketu Āruneya.1 His father said to him, ‘Śvetaketu, go and live as a brahmacārin. Good lad, there is no one in our family who is just a Brāhmaṇa by birth, without learning.’

2. So at twelve years old he went, and at twenty-four years old he returned, having learned all the Vedas, haughty, proud of his learning, and opinionated. His father said to him, ‘Śvetaketu, good lad, since you are haughty, proud of your learning, and opinionated, did you ask for the symbolic statement

3. ‘by which the unheard becomes heard, the unthought thought, and the unknown known?’

‘Blessed one, what sort of symbolic statement is that?’

4. ‘Good lad, just as through one lump of clay everything made of clay is known, so difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: “clay” is the reality.2

5. ‘Good lad, just as through one copper ornament everything made of copper is known, so difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: “copper” is the reality.

6. ‘Good lad, just as through one nail-clipper everything made of iron is known, so difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: “iron” is the reality. Such, good lad, is the symbolic statement.’

7. ‘The blessed ones certainly did not know this, for, if they had known it, how would they not have told me? Blessed one, you tell me about it.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 2

1. ‘In the beginning, good lad, this was being, one alone without a second. Some say, “In the beginning this was not-being, one alone without a second. From that not-being, being was produced.”3

2. ‘But, good lad, how could that be?’ he said. “How could being be produced from not-being? In the beginning, good lad, surely this was being, one alone without a second.

3. ‘It thought, “Let me become many; let me be born.” It created heat.4 Heat thought, “Let me become many; let me be born.” It created the waters. So when and wherever a person grieves or sweats, the waters are born from heat.

4. ‘The waters thought, “Let us become many; let us be born.” They created food. So when and wherever it rains, food becomes more abundant. So good food is born from the waters.

CHAPTER 3

1. ‘Beings have three seeds: the egg-born, the live-born, the shoot-born.

2. ‘The deity thought, “Come, I must enter these three deities with life, with the self”, and created differences of name and form.5

3. ‘Thinking, “I must make each one of them threefold – each one threefold”,6 the deity entered the three deities with the life, with the self, and created differences of name and form.

4. ‘He made each one of them threefold – each one threefold. Good lad, learn from me how those three deities each became threefold – each one threefold.

CHAPTER 4

1. ‘The red form of fire is the form of heat; the white is that of water; the black is that of food. The “fire-ness” of fire has disappeared. Difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.

2. ‘The red form of the sun is the form of heat; the white is that of water; the black is that of food. The “sun-ness” of the sun has disappeared. Difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.

3. ‘The red form of the moon is the form of heat; the white is that of water; the black is that of food. The “moon-ness” of the moon has disappeared. Difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.

4. ‘The red form of lightning is the form of heat; the white is that of water; the black is that of food. The “lightning-ness” of lightning has disappeared. Difference of shape is just name, dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.

5. ‘Knowing this, of old, great householders and great scholars said, “No one of ours will speak of ‘the unheard, the unthought, the unknown’”, for they knew it through these –

6. ‘What seemed red they knew as the form of heat; what seemed white they knew as the form of water; and what seemed black they knew as the form of food.

7. ‘What seemed unknown they knew as the combination of these deities. Good lad, learn from me how those three deities become threefold – each one threefold – when they come into contact with the person.

CHAPTER 5

1. ‘Food, once eaten, is divided into three. The grossest dement

becomes faeces; the middling, flesh; the subtlest, mind.

2. ‘Water, once drunk, is divided into three. The grossest dement

becomes urine; the middling blood; the subtlest, breath.

3. ‘Heat, once consumed,7 is divided into three. The grossest

element becomes bone; the middling, marrow; the subtlest, speech.

4. ‘Good lad, the mind is made of food, the breath is made of water,

the speech is made of heat.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 6

1. ‘Good lad, when soured milk is churned, the subtle part of it rises to the top. That becomes butter.

2. ‘In the same way, good lad, when food is eaten, the subtle part of it rises to the top. That becomes mind.

3. ‘Good lad, when water is drunk, the subtle part of it rises to the top. That becomes breath.

4. ‘Good lad, when heat is consumed, the subtle part of it rises to the top. That becomes speech.

5. ‘Good lad, the mind is made of food, the breath is made of water, the speech is made of heat.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 7

1. ‘Good lad, the person has sixteen fractions.8 Do not eat for fifteen days, but drink water as you wish. The breath is made of water. If you do not drink, your breath will be cut off.’

2. For fifteen days he did not eat. Then he approached him, saying, ‘Father, what shall I say?’

‘rc verses, yajus verses and sāman verses, good lad,’ he said.

‘They do not come clear to me, father.’

3. He said to him, ‘Good lad, just as when only one ember,the size of a firefly, is left of a great fire it cannot burn anything big, now that you, good lad, have only one fraction left of your sixteen fractions you have not the strength for the Vedas. Eat, and you will understand me.’

4. He ate, then approached him. Then he understood whatever he asked him.

5. He said to him, ‘Good lad, just as when only one ember, the size of a firefly, is left of a great fire one can make it blaze up by feeding it with grass, and then it can burn something big,

6. ‘so, good lad, one fraction was left of your sixteen fractions: when fed with food it blazed up, and so you have the strength for the Vedas. Good lad, the mind is made of food, the breath is made of water, the speech is made of heat.’

Then he understood his teaching: he understood.

CHAPTER 8

1. Uddālaka Āruni once said to his son, Śvetaketu, ‘Good lad, learn from me about the state of sleep. When a person “sleeps”, as it is called, then, good lad, he has entered into being; he is merged with his own. That is why they say of him, “He sleeps” (svapiti), for he is merged with his own (svam apita).

2. ‘Just as a bird, tied by a thread, flies in every direction but, failing to reach a home elsewhere, returns to its bondage, so, good lad, the mind flies in every direction but, failing to reach a home elsewhere, returns to the breath. For, good lad, the mind is bound to breath.

3. ‘Good lad, learn from me about hunger and thirst. When a person here “is hungry”, as it is called, then water leads the food (aśitaR nayante). So they call water “the leader of food” (aśanāyā = hunger),9 just like a leader of cows (gonāya), a leader of horses (aśvanāya), a leader of men (pursanāya). Good lad, learn from me where this shoot has sprung from: it cannot be rootless.

4. ‘Where else could its root be, but in food? Good lad, through food as the shoot seek for water as the root. Good lad, through water as the shoot seek for heat as the root. Good lad, through heat as the shoot seek for being as the root. Good lad, all creatures have being as their root, being as their home, being as their base.

5. ‘When a person “is thirsty”, as it is called, then heat leads the drink. So they call heat “leader of water” (udanyā = thirst),10 just like a leader of cows, a leader of horses, a leader of men. Good lad, learn from me where this shoot has sprung from: it cannot be rootless.

6. ‘Where else could its root be, but in water? Good lad, through water as the shoot seek for heat as the root. Good lad, through heat as the shoot seek for being as the root. Good lad, all creatures have being as their root, being as their home, being as their base.

‘Good lad, I have said before how those three deities each become threefold – each one threefold – when they come into contact with the person. Good lad, when the person departs, his speech enters into mind, his mind into breath, his breath into heat, his heat into the highest deity.

7. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self.11 It is truth: it is the self. You are that.12 Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 9

1. ‘Good lad, just as bees secrete honey by collecting the nectars from different kinds of trees, and combine the nectar into oneness,

2. ‘and just as there they do not keep any distinction, so as to be able to say, “I am the nectar of that tree”, “I am the nectar of that tree”, so, good lad, all creatures, once they have entered into being, do not know that they have entered into being.

3. ‘Whatever they are here - a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a boar, a worm, a flying thing, a gnat or a mosquito - they become that.

4. This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 10

1. ‘Good lad, the eastern rivers flow east and the western rivers flow

west, and from the sea merge into the sea. That is just sea. Just as

there they do not know “I am that river”, “I am that river”,

2. ‘so, good lad, all creatures, once they have come forth from

being, do not know that they have come forth from being. Whatever

they are here – a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a boar, a worm, a flying thing, a

gnat or a mosquito – they become that.

3. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the

self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 11

1. ‘Good lad, if someone were to strike at the root of this great tree, it

would ooze sap but live. If someone were to strike at the middle, it

would ooze sap but live. If someone were to strike at the top, it would

ooze sap but live. Pervaded by the life, by the self, it stands, happy,

ever drinking.

2. ‘If the life leaves one branch of it, that branch dries up. If it

leaves a second, that dries up. If it leaves a third, that dries up. If it

leaves the whole tree, the whole dries up. Good lad, know that this is

the same,’ he said.

3. ‘When separated from the life, it dies, but the life does not die.

This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You

are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 12

1. ‘Bring a banyan-fruit from this tree.’

‘Here it is, blessed one.’

‘Break it.’

‘I have broken it, blessed one.’

‘What do you see there?’

‘Tiny seeds, blessed one.’

‘Now break one of them.’

‘I have broken it, blessed one.’

‘What do you see there?’

‘Nothing, blessed one.’

2. He said to him, ‘Good lad, on this subtle part – the subtle part which you do not see – rests the great banyan-tree. Good lad, have faith.

3. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 13

1. ‘Put this salt in water, and come to me in the morning.’

He did so. His father said to him, ‘Now, bring me the salt that you

put in water last night.’

He felt for it, but did not find it.

2. ‘Quite,’ said his father, ‘for it has dissolved. But sip from the side

of it. What is it like?’

‘Salt.’

‘Sip from the middle of it. What is it like?’

‘Salt.’

‘Sip from the other side of it. What is it like?’

‘Salt.’

‘Throw it away, then come to me.’

He did so, and said, ‘It is there all the time.’

His father said to him, ‘You do not see being here, but it is here.

3. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the

self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 14

1. ‘Suppose, good lad, that someone were to lead a man blindfold from Gandhāra and then release him in a deserted place; and suppose that he were to be blown to east, north, south or west, crying, “I have been led blindfold and released blindfold!”

2. ‘And suppose that someone were to undo the blindfold and tell him, “Gandhāra is in this direction. Walk in this direction.” And he, being wise and intelligent, by asking from village to village would reach Gandhāra. In the same way a person who has a teacher knows, “It is only so long until I am released. Then I will reach my goal.”13

3. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 15

1. ‘Good lad, if a man is ill, his relatives wait around him saying, “Do you know me? Do you know me?” So long as his speech has not entered into mind, his mind into breath, his breath into heat, his heat into the highest deity, he knows them.

2. ‘But when his speech has entered into mind, his mind into breath, his breath into heat, his heat into the highest deity, he does not know them.

3. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’

‘I will, good lad,’ he said.

CHAPTER 16

1. ‘Good lad, suppose they bring a man with his hands bound, saying, “He has stolen! He has committed a theft! Heat up an axe for him.” If he is the culprit he makes himself false.14 Joined with falsehood, hiding himself behind falsehood, when he seizes the heated axe he is burnt, and then he is executed.

2. ‘But if he is not the culprit he makes himself true. Joined with truth, hiding himself behind truth, when he seizes the heated axe he is not burnt, and then he is set free.

3. ‘As he would not then be burnt…15 It is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Śvetaketu.’

Then he understood his teaching: he understood.

BOOK

VII

CHAPTER 1

1. OṂ. Nārada came to Sanatkumāra saying, ‘Teach me, blessed one.’

Sanatkumāra said to him, ‘Come to me with what you know, and I will tell you of something higher than that.’

He said,

2. ‘Blessed one, I know the ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the Atharvan which is the fourth,1 and history and legend the fifth; I know the Veda of Vedas,2 the ancestral rites,3 arithmetic,4 portents,5 treasure-finding,6 disputation,7 the single way,8 the knowledge of the gods,9 the knowledge of priesthood,10 the knowledge of ghosts,11 the knowledge of royalty,12 the knowledge of the constellations,13 and the knowledge of the divine people who are serpents.14

3. ‘But I am a knower of the mantras, not a knower of the self. I have heard from folk like yourself, blessed one, that “the knower of self crosses beyond sorrow”. I am sorrowful, blessed one. Blessed one, take me across to the other shore of sorrow.’

Sanatkumāra said to him, ‘All this that you have learned is name.

4. ‘The ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the Atharvan which is the fourth, and history and legend the fifth; the Veda of Vedas, the ancestral rites, arithmetic, portents, treasure-finding, disputation, the single way, the knowledge of the gods, the knowledge of priesthood, the knowledge of ghosts, the know ledge of royalty, the knowledge of the constellations, and the knowledge of the divine people who are serpents, are name. All this is name. Worship15 name.

5. ‘The one who worships name as brahman wins freedom to move as far as name can go – the one who worships name as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than name?’

‘There is something greater than name.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 2

1. ‘Speech is greater than name. Speech makes known the ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the Atharvan which is the fourth, and history and legend the fifth; the Veda of Vedas, the ancestral rites, arithmetic, portents, treasure-finding, disputation, the single way, the knowledge of the gods, the knowledge of priesthood, the knowledge of ghosts, the knowledge of royalty, the knowledge of the constellations, the knowledge of the divine people who are serpents; sky, earth, air, space, water, heat;16 gods, human beings, domestic animals, birds, grass and trees, and wild animals, all the way down to worms, flying things and ants; right (dharma) and wrong (adharma), truth and falsehood, good and bad, attractive and unattractive. If there had been no speech, then right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and bad, attractive and unattractive would not have been made known. Speech makes known all this. Worship speech.

2. ‘The one who worships speech as brahman wins freedom to move as far as speech can go – the one who worships speech as brahman.’ ‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than speech?’ ‘There is something greater than speech.’ ‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 3

1. 'Mind is greater than speech. Just as a fist encloses two myrobalan or two jujubes or two terminalia seeds, mind encloses both speech and name. When one thinks with the mind, “Let me recite mantras”, one chants; when one thinks, “Let me perform actions (karman)”, one performs actions; when one thinks, “Let me wish for sons and animals”, one wishes for sons and animals; when one thinks, “Let me wish for this world and that one”, one wishes for this world and that one. Mind is the self; mind is the world; mind is brahman. Worship mind.

2. 'The one who worships mind as brahman wins freedom to move as far as mind can go – the one who worships mind as brahman.'

'Blessed one, is there anything greater than mind?'

'There is something greater than mind.'

'Tell me about it, blessed one.'

CHAPTER 4

1. ‘Will (saṅkalpa)17 is greater than mind. When one wills (saṅkalpayate), one thinks; then one utters speech – one utters it as names. In name the mantras become one, and in the mantras actions become one.

2. ‘These have will as their sole end, will as their self, and are established on will. Sky and earth have been formed (sam-klp-), air and space have been formed, the waters and heat have been formed, and rain is formed according to their will (saṅkḷpti). Food is formed according to the will of rain. The breaths are formed according to the will of food. The mantras are formed according to the will of the breaths. Actions are formed according to the will of the mantras. The world is formed according to the will of the actions. Everything is formed according to the will of the world. This is will. Worship will.

3. ‘The one who worships will as brahman wins worlds that are fitting (klpta): being constant, he wins constant worlds; being established, established worlds; being sorrowless, sorrowless worlds. He wins freedom to move as far as will can go – the one who worships will as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than will?’

‘There is something greater than will.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 5

1. ‘Intelligence (citta)18 is greater than will. When one reflects (cetayati), one wills; then one thinks; then one utters speech – one utters it as names. In name the mantras become one, and in the mantras actions become one.

2. ‘These have intelligence as their sole end, intelligence as their self, and are established on intelligence. So even if someone knows much, but is without intelligence, folk say of him, “He is nobody.19 If he had learned, or knew, he would not be without intelligence like this.” But if someone knows little, but has intelligence, folk wish to hear him. Intelligence is the sole end of these; intelligence is their self; intelligence is their basis. Worship intelligence.

3. ‘The one who worships intelligence as brahman wins worlds that are longed for (citta): being constant, he wins constant worlds; being established, established worlds; being sorrowless, sorrowless worlds. He wins freedom to move as far as intelligence can go – the one who worships intelligence as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than intelligence?’

‘There is something greater than intelligence.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 6

1. ‘Meditation20 is greater than intelligence. Earth seems to meditate. Sky seems to meditate. The waters seem to meditate. The mountains seem to meditate. Gods and human beings seem to meditate. So those among human beings who achieve greatness here seem to share in the reward of meditation. Those who are small are quarrelsome, spiteful, slanderous: those who are powerful seem to share in the reward of meditation. Worship meditation.

2. ‘The one who worships meditation as brahman wins freedom to move as far as meditation can go - the one who worships meditation as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than meditation?’

‘There is something greater than meditation.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 7

1. ‘Understanding21 is greater than meditation. By understanding one knows the ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda, the Atharvan which is the fourth, and history and legend the fifth; the Veda of Vedas, the ancestral rites, arithmetic, portents, treasure-finding, disputation, the single way, the knowledge of the gods, the knowledge of priesthood, the knowledge of ghosts, the knowledge of royalty, the knowledge of the constellations, the knowledge of the divine people who are serpents; sky, earth, air, space, water, heat; gods, human beings, domestic animals, birds, grass and trees, and wild animals, all the way down to worms, flying things and ants; right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and bad, attractive and unattractive, food, flavour, this world, and that world. One knows them through understanding. Worship understanding.

2. ‘The one who worships understanding as brahman attains worlds full of understanding, full of knowledge. He wins freedom to move as far as understanding can go - the one who worships understanding as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than understanding?’

‘There is something greater than understanding.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 8

1. ‘Strength is greater than understanding. One man with strength

causes a hundred with understanding to tremble. When one becomes

strong one can stand up; standing up, one can go about; going about,

one can pay attention;22 paying attention, one can see, can hear, can

think, can be aware, can do, can understand. Through strength, the

earth stands; through strength, middle-air stands; through strength,

the sky stands; through strength, the mountains stand; through

strength, gods and human beings stand; through strength, domestic

animals, birds, grass and trees, and wild animals, all the way down to

worms, flying things and ants stand; through strength, the worlds

stand. Worship strength.

2. ‘The one who worships strength as brahman wins freedom to

move as far as strength can go - the one who worships strength as

brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than strength?’

‘There is something greater than strength.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 9

1. ‘Food is greater than strength. So if one does not eat for ten nights,23 even if one lives one cannot see, cannot hear, cannot think, cannot be aware, cannot do, cannot understand. But with the coming of food one can see, can hear, can think, can be aware, can do, can understand. Worship food.

2. ‘The one who worships food as brahman achieves worlds full of food and full of drink. He wins freedom to move as far as food can go - the one who worships food as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than food?’

‘There is something greater than food.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 10

1. ‘The waters are greater than food. So when there is not a good rainfall, living things24 suffer, thinking, “Food will be short.” When there is a good rainfall, living things are happy, thinking, “Food will be plentiful.” All these are the waters, shaped: earth, middle-air, sky, mountains, gods and human beings, domestic animals, birds, grass and trees, and wild animals, all the way down to worms, flying things and ants. All these are the waters, shaped. Worship the waters.

2. ‘The one who worships the waters (āpaḥ) as brahman obtains (āp-) all desires and becomes contented. He wins freedom to move as far as the waters can go – the one who worships the waters as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than the waters?’

‘There is something greater than the waters.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 11

1. 'Heat (tejas) is greater than the waters. By seizing hold of the air, it heats up middle-air. Then folk say, “It is burning! It is boiling! It is going to rain!” It first foreshows and then creates the waters. It travels along as claps of thunder, with flashes of lightning going upward and across. Then folk say, “It lightens! It thunders! It is going to rain!” It first foreshows and then creates the waters. Worship heat.

2. 'The one who worships heat as brahman, bright (tejasvin), achieves bright worlds, blazing (tejasvat), free from darkness. He wins freedom to move as far as heat can go - the one who worships heat as brahman.'

'Blessed one, is there anything greater than heat?'

'There is something greater than heat.'

'Tell me about it, blessed one.'

CHAPTER 12

1. ‘Space is greater than heat. In it are both the sun and the moon, lightning, the constellations, and fire. Through space one calls, through space one hears, through space one replies; in space one takes pleasure, in space one does not take pleasure, in space one is born, into space one grows. Worship space.

2. ‘The one who worships space as brahman achieves spacious worlds, clear, unobstructed, with plenty of room to move. He wins freedom to move as far as space can go – the one who worships space as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than space?’

‘There is something greater than space.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 13

1. ‘Memory is greater25 than space. So even if many people were to sit together who did not remember, they would not hear anyone, think of anyone, or know anyone. When they remembered, then they would hear, would think, would know. By memory one knows one’s sons; by memory one knows one’s animals. Worship memory.

2. ‘The one who worships memory as brahman wins freedom to move as far as memory can go - the one who worships memory as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than memory?’

‘There is something greater than memory.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 14

1. ‘Hope is greater than memory. Kindled by hope the memory recites mantras, performs actions, wishes for offspring and animals, wishes for this world and that one. Worship hope.

2. ‘For the one who worships hope as brahman, all his desires are prospered by hope, and his prayers are never in vain. He wins freedom to move as far as hope can go – the one who worships hope as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than hope?’

‘There is something greater than hope.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

CHAPTER 15

1. ‘Breath is greater than hope. Just as spokes are held together in a wheel-hub, everything is held together in the breath. Breath moves by breath. Breath gives breath, gives it to breath. Breath is father, breath is mother, breath is brother, breath is sister, breath is teacher, breath is Brāhmana.

2. ‘If one says something slightly harsh to father, mother, brother, sister, teacher or Brāhmana, folk say to one, “Shame on you! You are killing your father! You are killing your mother! You are killing your brother! You are killing your sister! You are killing your teacher! You are killing a Brāhmana!”26

3. ‘But once breath has left them, even if one burns them in a heap, turning them with a spear, folk do not then say to one, “You are killing your father! You are killing your mother! You are killing your brother! You are killing your sister! You are killing your teacher! You are killing a Brāhmana!”

4. ‘For the breath becomes all these. The one who sees this, thinks this, knows this, speaks boldly.27 If folk should say to him, “You speak boldly”, he would say, “I do speak boldly.” He would not deny it.

CHAPTER 16

1. ‘He who speaks boldly through truth speaks boldly indeed.’

‘Blessed one, let me speak boldly through truth!’

‘Then you must seek to know truth.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know truth.’

CHAPTER 17

1. ‘When one understands, one speaks truth. If one does not understand, one does not speak truth. If one understands, one does speak truth. You must seek to know understanding.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know understanding.’

CHAPTER 18

1. ‘When one thinks, one understands. If one has not thought, one

does not understand. If one has thought, one does understand. You

must seek to know thought.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know thought.’

CHAPTER 19

1. ‘When one has faith, one thinks. If one has no faith, one does not think. If one has faith, one does think. You must seek to know faith.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know faith.’

CHAPTER 20

1. ‘When one serves, one has faith. If one does not serve, one has no faith. If one serves, one has faith. You must seek to know service.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know service.’

CHAPTER 21

1. ‘When one acts, one serves. If one has not acted, one does not serve.

If one has acted, one does serve. You must seek to know action.’28

‘Blessed one, I seek to know action.’

CHAPTER 22

1. ‘When one attains happiness, one acts. If one has not attained happiness, one does not act. If one has attained happiness one does act. You must seek to know happiness.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know happiness.’

CHAPTER 23

1. ‘Abundance is happiness. There is no happiness in smallness. Abundance is happiness. You must seek to know abundance.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know abundance.’

CHAPTER 24

1. ‘Where one does not see another, does not hear another, does not know another, that is abundance. Where one sees another, hears another, knows another, that is smallness. Abundance is immortal: smallness is mortal.’

‘Blessed one, on what does it rest (prati-sthā-)?’

‘On its own greatness – or perhaps not on greatness.

2. ‘What folk here call greatness is cows and horses, elephants and gold, slaves and wives, fields and houses. That is not what I am saying. I say’, he said, ‘that it is other, and rests on something other.

CHAPTER 25

1. 'It is below, it is above, it is in the west, it is in the east, it is in the south, it is in the north. It is all this. Hence the symbolic statement on “I”: “I am above, I am in the west, I am in the east, I am in the south, I am in the north. I am all this.”

2. 'Hence the symbolic statement on “self”: “The self is below, the self is above, the self is in the west, the self is in the east, the self is in the south, the self is in the north. The self is all this.” Seeing this, thinking this, knowing this - taking pleasure in the self, playing in the self, making love with the self, delighting in the self - one becomes one's own ruler, and wins freedom to move in all worlds. But those who know it in other ways are ruled by others, live in perishable worlds, and win no freedom to move in all worlds.

CHAPTER 26

1. ‘When one sees this, thinks this, knows this, one’s breath is of the self; one’s hope is of the self; one’s memory is of the self; one’s space is of the self; one’s heat is of the self; one’s waters are of the self; one’s appearance and disappearance are of the self; one’s food is of the self; one’s strength is of the self; one’s understanding is of the self; one’s meditation is of the self; one’s intelligence is of the self; one’s will is of the self; one’s mind is of the self; one’s speech is of the self; one’s name is of the self; one’s mantras are of the self; one’s actions are of the self; all this is of the self.

2. There is a verse about it:

The seer29 does not see death,

Nor disease, nor suffering:

The seer sees everything,

Wins everything, everywhere.

‘It is onefold, threefold, fivefold, sevenfold, ninefold; again, it is traditionally called “eleven”, “a hundred and ten and one”, and “twenty thousand”. In purity of food is purity of being; in purity of being is constant memory; in the finding of memory is the undoing of all knots.’

To the one whose impurities have been wiped away,30 the blessed Sanatkumāra reveals the farther shore of darkness. They call him Skanda: they call him Skanda.31

BOOK

VIII

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. Within the tiny lotus-house1 which is in the city of brahman there is a tiny space. That which is in it one must seek for, one must want to know.

2. If folk were to ask him, ‘Within the tiny lotus-house which is in the city of brahman there is a tiny space. What is found there that one must seek for, one must want to know?’, the sage would say:2

3. ‘The space within the heart is as big as this space. Both sky and earth are concentrated within it: both fire and air, both sun and moon, both lightning and constellations, what one has here and what one does not have here – everything is concentrated within it.’

4. If they were to ask him, ‘If all this, and all beings, and all desires, are concentrated within the city of brahman, when old age seizes it or it perishes, what is left of it?’

5. He would say, ‘It does not grow old with the ageing of this, nor is it slain with the slaying of this. It is the true city of brahman. Desires are concentrated within it. The self is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, without hunger, without thirst, of true desire,3 of true resolve.4 Just as here people follow at command, and live in whatever place, whatever country, whatever share of land they wish for…

6. ‘Just as here worlds won through action perish, there worlds won through merit perish.5 While those here who pass on without having known the self and the true desires do not gain freedom to move in all worlds, those here who pass on having known the self and the true desires do gain freedom to move in all worlds.

CHAPTER 2

1. 'If one desires a world of fathers,6 at one's will fathers appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of fathers.

2. 'If one desires a world of mothers, at one's will mothers appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of mothers.

3. 'If one desires a world of brothers, at one's will brothers appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of brothers.

4. 'If one desires a world of sisters, at one's will sisters appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of sisters.

5. 'If one desires a world of friends, at one's will friends appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of friends.

6. 'If one desires a world of perfumes and garlands, at one's will perfumes and garlands appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of perfumes and garlands.

7. 'If one desires a world of food and drink, at one's will food and drink appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of food and drink.

8. 'If one desires a world of singing and music, at one's will singing and music appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of singing and music.

9. 'If one desires a world of women,7 at one's will women appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of women.

10. 'Whatever place one longs for, whatever desire one desires, at one's will it appears and one triumphs, blessed with it.

CHAPTER 3

1. ‘These true desires are hidden by falsehood. Falsehood is what hides desires that are true, for when any of one’s folk passes on from here one is no longer able to see him.

2. ‘By going there8 one finds everything, both those of one’s folk who are alive here and those who have passed away, and whatever else one cannot get by desiring: for here one’s true desires are hidden by falsehood. Just as those who do not know the land would not find a golden treasure, though they might walk over it again and again, so all these creatures do not find the world of brahman, though they go to it every day;9 for they are kept away by falsehood.

3. This self is in the heart. This is the derivation of it: “this in the heart” (hṛdy ayam), hence “heart” (hṛdayam). The one who knows this goes every day to a heavenly world.

4. ‘The blissful one10 that, leaving this body and entering the light beyond, appears in its own form is the self,’ he said. ‘This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman. The name of this brahman is “truth” (satya).’

5. ‘There are three syllables: sa-tī-yam.11 What is sat (being) is immortal. What is tī is mortal. By that which is yam one controls (yam-) them both. Since one controls both by it, it is yam. The one who knows this goes every day to a heavenly world.’

CHAPTER 4

1. The self is a dam, a separation between worlds so that they do not run together.12 Day and night do not cross it, nor old age nor death nor grief, nor good action nor bad action. All evils turn back from it, for the world of brahman is freed from evil.

2. On crossing this dam, one who was blind is blind no longer; one who was wounded is wounded no longer; one who was suffering suffers no longer. On crossing this dam, night turns into day, for the world of brahman is always bright.

3. The world of brahman belongs to those who through studentship13 find the world of brahman. They win freedom to move in all worlds.

CHAPTER 5

1. What folk call ‘sacrifice’ is studentship, for only through studentship does the knower find it. What they call ‘offering’ (isti) is studentship, for only by seeking (istvā)14 through studentship does one find the self.

2. What they call ‘a sequence of sacrifices’ (sattrāyana)15 is studentship, for only through studentship does one find protection (trāṇa) of the self which is being (sat). What they call ‘silent practice’ (mauna)16 is studentship, for only by finding the self through studentship does one think (man-).

3. What they call ‘a period of fasting’ (anāśakāyana) is studentship, for the self that one finds through studentship does not perish (na nāśyati).17 What they call ‘going to the forest’ (aranyāyana) is studentship, for there are two oceans, Ara and ṇya, in the world of brahman, in the sky, the third from here.18 There is a lake called AiraRmadiya;19 there is a fig-tree called Somasavana;20 there is a citadel of brahman called Aparājitā;21 there is a golden palace, Prabhu.22

4. The world of brahman belongs to those who through studentship find the two oceans, Ara and ṇya. They win freedom to move in all worlds.

CHAPTER 6

1. There exist channels of the heart, of a subtle essence, tawny, white, blue, yellow, red.23 The sun, too, is tawny, white, blue, yellow, red.

2. Just as a highway reaches both villages, this one and that one, so the rays of the sun go to both worlds, this one and that one. They spread out from the sun, slipping into these channels: they spread out from these channels, slipping into the sun.

3. So when, asleep, withdrawn and perfectly calm, one knows no dream, one has slipped into these channels. No evil touches one, for one is endowed with light (tejas).

4. Now when someone is brought to weakness, folk sit around him and say, ‘Do you know me? Do you know me?’ As long as he has not left the body, he knows them.

5. When he leaves the body, he goes upward by these rays. Chanting OM, he passes upward: otherwise not. In the time that it would take to throw the mind there, he goes to the sun. For those who know, this is the door of the world, a way onward, but for those who do not know, it is an obstruction.24

6. There is a verse about it:

A hundred and one are the channels of the heart.

Of them, one flows out through the head.

Going up by it, one reaches immortality.

Others, on departing, go in all directions -

On departing.25

CHAPTER 7

1. 'One must seek for and want to know the self, which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, without hunger, without thirst, of true desire, of true resolve. The one who has found and knows the self attains all worlds and all desires.' So said Prajāpati.

2. Both gods and demons came to know of this. They said, 'Come, we will seek for the self, since by knowing the self one attains all worlds and all desires.' Of the gods, Indra set forth, and of the demons, Virocana, and unbeknown to one another they came into Prajāpati's presence with firewood in their hands.

3. For thirty-two years they lived as brahmacārins. Then Prajāpati asked them, 'What did you want, that you came to stay here?'

They said, 'Folk report your saying, blessed one, “One must seek for and want to know the self, which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, without hunger, without thirst, of true desire, of true resolve. The one who has found and knows the self attains all worlds and all desires.” That is what we wanted, that we came to stay here.'

4. Prajāpati said to them, 'The person who is seen in the eye is the self.' He said, 'This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.'

'Then, blessed one, which is it, the one that is discerned in water, or the one that is discerned in a mirror?'

'It is discerned in all places,' he said.

CHAPTER 8

1. ‘Look at yourselves (ātman) in a dish of water, then tell me what you do not understand about the self.’ They looked in a dish of water. Prajāpati asked them, ‘What do you see?’

They said, ‘Blessed one, we see ourselves in reflection, from hair to nails.’

2. Prajāpati said to them, ‘Make yourselves smart,26 well-dressed and elegant, and look in a dish of water.’ They made themselves smart, well-dressed and elegant, and looked in a dish of water. Prajāpati asked them, ‘What do you see?’

3. They said, ‘Blessed one, just as we are smart, well-dressed and elegant, so these, blessed one, are smart, well-dressed and elegant.’

‘This is the self,’ he said. ‘This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.’ And they left, their hearts at peace.

4. Seeing them, Prajāpati said, ‘They are leaving without attaining or knowing the self. Those who have this as their inner teaching,27 whether gods or demons, will be defeated.’

Virocana went to the demons, his heart at peace, and taught them this inner teaching:

‘The self must be glorified, the self must be served here.28 Glorifying and serving the self here, one attains both worlds, this one and that one.’

5. So even here, today, they say of one who does not give, does not have faith, does not sacrifice, ‘Alas! He is demonic!’, for this inner teaching belongs to the demons. Folk make ready the body of the departed with alms,29 clothing and adornments, and think that they will win that world by means of this one.

CHAPTER 9

1. But, before he had reached the gods, Indra saw the danger: ‘When the body is smart, it is smart. When the body is well-dressed, it is well-dressed. When the body is elegant, it is elegant. But, in the same way, when the body is blind, it is blind. When the body is lame, it is lame. When the body is mutilated, it is mutilated. On the destruction of the body, it is destroyed. I see no satisfaction here.’

2. He went back with firewood in his hands. Prajāpati said to him, ‘Maghavan, you went away with Virocana, your heart at peace. So what did you want, that you came back?’

He said, ‘Blessed one, when the body is smart, it is smart. When the body is well-dressed, it is well-dressed. When the body is elegant, it is elegant. But, in the same way, when the body is blind, it is blind. When the body is lame, it is lame. When the body is mutilated, it is mutilated. On the destruction of the body, it is destroyed. I see no satisfaction here.’

3. ‘Just so, Maghavan,’ he said. ‘I will explain it to you further. Stay another thirty-two years.’ He stayed another thirty-two years. Then he said to him:

CHAPTER 10

1. ‘The one that, triumphing, moves about in dream is the self,’ he said. ‘This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.’

He went away, his heart at peace, but, before he had reached the gods, he saw the danger: ‘Though the body becomes blind, it is not blind. Though the body is lame, it is not lame. It is not flawed by its flaws.

2. ‘It is not slain with its slaying, nor lamed with its laming. But it seems to be killed; it seems to be stripped.30 It seems to experience unpleasant things; it seems to weep. I see no satisfaction here.’

3. He went back with firewood in his hands. Prajāpati said to him, ‘Maghavan, you went away, your heart at peace. So what did you want, that you came back?’

He said, ‘Blessed one, though the body becomes blind, it is not blind. Though the body is lame, it is not lame. It is not flawed by its flaws.

4. ‘It is not slain with its slaying, nor lamed with its laming. But it seems to be killed; it seems to be stripped. It seems to experience unpleasant things; it seems to weep. I see no satisfaction here.’

‘Just so, Maghavan,’ he said. ‘I will explain it to you further. Stay another thirty-two years.’ He stayed another thirty-two years. Then he said to him:

CHAPTER 11

1. ‘When, asleep, withdrawn and perfectly calm, one knows no dream, this is the self,’ he said. ‘This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.’

He went away, his heart at peace, but, before he had reached the gods, he saw the danger: ‘Surely this does not directly know itself (ātman) as “I am this”, nor does it know beings. It merges and dissolves.31 I see no satisfaction here.’

2. He went back with firewood in his hands. Prajāpati said to him, ‘Maghavan, you went away, your heart at peace. So what did you want, that you came back?’

He said, ‘Blessed one, surely this does not directly know itself as “I am this”, nor does it know beings. It merges and dissolves. I see no satisfaction here.’

3. ‘Just so, Maghavan,’ he said. ‘I will explain it to you further, this and nothing else. Stay another five years.’ He stayed another five years. Altogether it came to a hundred and one years. So folk say, ‘Maghavan lived as a brahmacārin with Prajāpati for a hundred and one years.’ Then he said to him:

CHAPTER 12

1. ‘Maghavan, the body is mortal. It has been taken by death. But it is the support of the self, which is immortal and bodiless. The embodied has been taken by the pleasant and the unpleasant. For the embodied, there is no escaping the pleasant and the unpleasant. But that which is bodiless the pleasant and the unpleasant do not touch.

2. ‘Air is bodiless. Cloud, lightning and thunder – these are bodiless. Just as they, rising up from space and reaching the light beyond, appear in their own form,

3. ‘so the blissful one, leaving this body and entering the light beyond, appears in its own form. That is the highest person.32 Here he moves about, feasting, playing, or taking pleasure with women, chariots or kin, not remembering this appendage, the body. Just as a draught animal is yoked to a carriage, the breath is yoked to the body.

4. ‘Where the eye is fixed upon space, that is the person of the eye.33 The eye is for seeing. The one who experiences “Let me smell this” is the self. The nose34 is for smelling. The one who experiences “Let me say this” is the self. The speech is for talking. The one who experiences “Let me hear this” is the self. The ear is for hearing.

5. ‘The one who experiences “Let me think this” is the self. Mind is its divine eye. It takes pleasure, seeing with this divine eyes, the mind, the desires

6. ‘which are in the world of brahman. The gods worship the self as such, so all worlds and all desires have been taken by them. The one who has found and knows the self attains all worlds and all desires.’ So said Prajāpati. So said Prajāpati.

CHAPTER 13

1. From the dark I take refuge in the dappled,

From the dappled I take refuge in the dark.35

Shaking off evil, as a horse shakes its mane,

Shaking off the body, as the moon breaks free from Rāhu’s mouth,36

With self achieved (krtāman), I reach,

I reach the unmade (akṛta) world of brahman.

CHAPTER 14

1. Space, as it is called, is the bringer into being of name and form.

That which contains them37 is brahman, the immortal: that is the self.

I reach the house, the court of Prajāpati.

I become glory. I have attained

The glory of the Brāhmanas, glory of the kings, glory of the people.38

The glory of glories, may I not go

To the white, toothless,

Toothless, white and slimy39 –

May I not go to the slimy!

CHAPTER 15

1. Brahmā taught this to Prajāpati, Prajāpati to Manu, and Manu to his offspring. If one studies the Veda, according to the rule, in the time left over from one’s guru’s work; if, after returning from the teacher’s house into the family, one recites it to oneself in a clean place; if one brings up virtuous children;40 if one establishes all one’s faculties in the self; and if one does no harm to any beings, other than at the due times;41 if one conducts oneself like this as long as one lives, one attains the world of brahman, and does not return – and does not return.

OṂ. May my limbs, speech, breath, eye, ear, strength and all senses grow strong. Everything is the brahman of the Upanisads. May I not reject brahman. May brahman not reject me. May there be no rejecting of me. May there be no rejecting. May all the dharmas which are in the Upanisads be in me, who delight in the self. May they be in me.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

TAITTIRĪYA UPANIṢAD

The Taittirīyas’ Teaching

OṂ. May Mitra be kind,1 may Varuna be kind,

May Aryaman be kind to us.

May Indra and Bṛhaspati be kind,

May wide-striding Viṣṇu be kind to us.

Homage to brahman,2 homage to you, Vāyu:

You are brahman manifest:

I will speak of you as brahman manifest.

I will speak law (ṛta): I will speak truth3

May that protect me: may that protect the speaker.4

May it protect me: may it protect the speaker.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

BOOK

I:

PRONUNCIATION

5

CHAPTER 1

1. OṂ. May Mitra be kind, may Varuna be kind,

May Aryaman be kind to us.

May Indra and Bṛhaspati be kind,

May wide-striding Visnu be kind to us.

Homage to brahman, homage to you, Vāyu:

You are brahman manifest;

I will speak of you as brahman manifest.

I will speak law: I will speak truth.

May that protect me: may that protect the speaker.

May it protect me: may it protect the speaker.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

CHAPTER 2

1. We will explain pronunciation. Letter, accent, length, stress, intonation, sequence:6 so the teaching on pronunciation is told.

CHAPTER 3

1. May glory, may the radiance of brahman be with us two.7

Now we will explain the inner teaching (upanisad) on connection, under five headings: regarding worlds, regarding lights, regarding knowledge, regarding offspring, regarding oneself. Folk call these the great connections.

Regarding worlds: earth is the prior form, sky the latter form, space the connection,

2. air the connector.8 So much regarding worlds.

Regarding lights: fire is the prior form, the sun the latter form, the waters the connection, lightning the connector. So much regarding lights.

Regarding knowledge: the teacher is the prior form,

3. the student the latter form, knowledge the connection, teaching the connector. So much regarding knowledge.

Regarding offspring: the mother is the prior form, the father the latter form, the offspring the connection, begetting the connector. So much regarding offspring.

4. Regarding oneself: the lower jaw is the prior form, the upper jaw the latter form, speech the connection, the tongue the connector. So much regarding oneself.

These are the great connections. The one who knows the great connections, explained in this way, is connected with offspring, animals, the radiance of brahman, good food, a heavenly world.

CHAPTER 4

1. May he who is the bull of the metres, of all forms,

Who has come into being from immortality over the metres,

Indra, save me by intelligence.

God, may I become a bearer of immortality.

May my body be very active,

My tongue be most honeyed:

May I hear widely with my ears!

You are the sheath of brahman, hidden by intelligence.

Protect what I have heard.

She9 comes, bringing, increasing,

2. Soon10 making her own for ever

My clothing and cattle

And food and drink.

So bring prosperity, wool-clad,11

With animals, to me. SVĀHĀ!

May brahmacārins come towards me, SVĀHĀ!

May brahmacārins come by different ways to me, SVĀHĀ!

May brahmacārins come forth to me, SVĀHĀ!

May brahmacārins be self-controlled, SVĀHĀ!

May brahmacārins come in peace,12 SVĀHĀ!

3. May I be glory among the people, SVAHA!

May I be greater than the richest, SVĀHĀ!

May I enter you, Bhaga, SVĀHĀ!

Enter me, Bhaga, SVĀHĀ!

In you, the thousand-branched,

I cleanse myself, Bhaga. SVĀHĀ!

Just as the waters flow downhill,

Just as the months (while days grow old),13

May brahmacārins come to me,

Dhātṛ, from every side. SVĀHĀ!

You are my neighbour. Appear to me. Take refuge in me.14

4. Increasing, may brahmacārins come in peace, SVĀHĀ!

1. BHŪḥ, BHUVAḥ, SUVAḥ: these are the three utterances.15 Māhācamasya makes known the fourth of them: MAHAḥ.16 That is brahman: that is the self. The other gods are limbs of it. BHŪḥ is this world. BHUVAḥ is middle-air. SUVAḥ is that world.

2. MAHAḥ is the sun. All the worlds grow great through the sun. BHŪḥ is fire. BHUVAḥ is air. SUVAḥ is the sun. MAHAḥ is the moon. All the lights grow great through the moon. BHŪḥ is the ṛc verses. BHUVAḥ is the sāman verses. SUVAḥ is the yajus verses.

3. MAHAḥ is brahman. All the Vedas grow great through brahman. BHŪḥ is the breath. BHUVAḥ is the lower breath. SUVAḥ is the diffused breath. MAHAḥ is food. All the breaths grow great through food. These are fourfold, in four ways. The four utterances are fourfold. The one who knows them knows brahman: all the gods bring tribute to him.

CHAPTER 6

1. There is a space within the heart. In it is the person made of mind, immortal and golden. The nipple-like thing that hangs down between the two halves of the palate17 is the birthplace18 of Indra. He exists where the root of the hair is, dividing the two halves of the skull of the head.19 As BHŪḥ he rests in fire, as BHUVAḥ in air,

2. as SUVAḥ in the sun, as MAHAḥ in brahman. He wins independence, he wins the lord of the mind: he is lord of speech, lord of the eye, lord of the ear, lord of knowledge. From that comes this: brahman, with space as its body, truth as its self, breath as its dwelling, mind as its joy, pervaded by peace, immortal. Worship it as such, Prācīnayogya.

CHAPTER 7

1. Earth, middle-air, sky, directions, intermediate directions; fire, air, sun, moon, constellations; the waters, plants, trees, space, self: so much regarding beings. Now regarding oneself: breath, diffused breath, lower breath, up-breath, central breath; eye, ear, mind, speech, skin; cuticle,20 flesh, sinews, bone, marrow. Dividing them up in this way, the ṛsi has said, ‘All this is fivefold. By the fivefold, one wins the fivefold.’

CHAPTER 8

1. OM is brahman. OM is all this. OM: this is compliance. Indeed, with the words21 ‘O, recite!’, they recite. With ‘OM’ they chant the sāman verses. With ‘OM SOM’ they recite the recitations.22 With ‘OM’ the Adhvaryu utters the response.23 With OM the Brahmā sets it going.24 With OM one25 authorizes the Agnihotra. With OM a Brāhmaṇa, about to recite, says, ‘May I win brahman.’ He wins brahman.

CHAPTER 9

1. Law (ṛta) and study and teaching. Truth and study and teaching. Asceticism (tapas) and study and teaching. Self-control and study and teaching. Peace and study and teaching. The fires and study and teaching. The Agnihotra and study and teaching. Guests and study and teaching. Humanity and study and teaching. Offspring and study and teaching. Begetting and study and teaching. Procreation and study and teaching.

'Truth,' said Satyavacas26 Rāthītara.

'Asceticism,' said Taponitya27 Pauruśisti.

'Just study and teaching,' said Nāka Maudgalya. 'That is asceticism. That is asceticism.'

CHAPTER 10

1. I am the mover of the tree,

Fame, like the top of the mountain.

As the purifier above,

I am true nectar in the racehorse,28

A radiant treasure,

Truly intelligent, immortal, indestructible.

Such is Triśaṅku's teaching on the Veda.

CHAPTER 11

1. After teaching him the Veda, the teacher tells the student, ‘Speak truth. Do not neglect study. Once you have brought your teacher a fee that is pleasing to him, do not cut off the thread of offspring. You must not neglect truth. You must not neglect dharma. You must not neglect what is beneficial.29 You must not neglect prosperity. You must not neglect study and teaching.

2. ‘You must not neglect your duty to gods and ancestors. Hold your mother as a god. Hold your father as a god. Hold your teacher as a god. Hold your guest as a god. You must practise whatever other actions are irreproachable - no others. You must honour whatever actions of ours are good -

3. ‘no others. Those Brāhmaṇas who are better than us, you must make comfortable with a seat. You should give with faith; you should not give without faith; you should give with largesse;30 you should give with modesty; you should give with fear; you should give with fellow-feeling. If there should be doubt about actions, or doubt about behaviour,

4. ‘you should behave in those circumstances as Brāhmaṇas would behave who were judicious, restrained,31 dedicated,32 not stern, lovers of dharma. And towards folk who are spoken against, you should behave as Brāhmanas would behave who were judicious, restrained, dedicated, not stern, lovers of dharma.

‘This is the symbolic statement; this is the teaching; this is the inner meaning of the Veda; this is the instruction. You should contemplate (upās-) it in this way; you must contemplate it in this way.’

CHAPTER 12

1. OṂ. May Mitra be kind, may Varuna be kind,

May Aryaman be kind to us.

May Indra and Bṛhaspati be kind,

May wide-striding Visnu be kind to us.

Homage to brahman, homage to you, Vāyu:

You are brahman manifest:

I have spoken law: I have spoken truth.

That has protected me: that has protected the speaker.

It has protected me: it has protected the speaker.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

OṂ. May Mitra be kind, may Varuna be kind,

May Aryaman be kind to us.

May Indra and Bṛhaspati be kind,

May wide-striding Visnu be kind to us.

Homage to brahman, homage to you, Vāyu:

You are brahman manifest:

I will speak of you as brahman manifest.

I will speak law: I will speak truth.

May that protect me: may that protect the speaker.

May it protect me: may it protect the speaker.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

BOOK II: BRAHMAN

OM. Together may it protect us two.33

Together may it profit us two:

Together may we do a hero’s work.

May we learn intelligently:

May we never hate one another.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

CHAPTER 1

1. OM. The knower of brahman wins the highest. This is said about it:

The one who knows brahman

As truth, as knowledge, as the endless,

Hidden in the secret place and in the highest heaven34

Wins all desires,

With brahman, the wise one.35

Space is born from this self, air from space, fire from air, the waters

from fire, earth from the waters, plants from earth, food from plants, a

person from food. The person is made of the essence of food. This is

his head; this is his right wing; this is his left wing; this is his self.36

This is his tail, his support. There is this verse about it:

CHAPTER 2

1. Whatever creatures depend on earth

Are born from food.

By food they live,

And into it go in the end.

Food is the eldest of beings,

So it is called ‘the panacea’.37

Those who worship food as brahman

Win all food.

Food is the eldest of beings,

So it is called ‘the panacea’.

Beings are born from food:

Born, they grow by food.

It is eaten and it eats (ad-) beings,

Hence it is called food (anna).

Different from and inside the self that is made of the essence of food is

the self that is made of breath. This one is filled by it. It, too, is man-

shaped. This, in its man-shape, matches the man-shape of that one.38

The breath is its head; the diffused breath is its right wing; the lower

breath is its left wing; space is its self; earth is its tail, its support.

There is this verse about it:

CHAPTER 3

1. Along with breath breathe gods,

Human beings and animals.

Breath is the life of beings,

So it is called ‘life of all’.

Those who worship breath as brahman

Reach their full lifespan.

Breath is the life of beings,

So it is called ‘life of all’.

It is the bodily self of the previous one.39

Different from and inside the self that is made of the breath is the

self that is made of mind. This one is filled by it. It, too, is man-

shaped. This, in its man-shape, matches the man-shape of that one.

The yajus verse is its head; the ṛc verse is its right wing; the sāman

verse is its left wing; symbolic statement is its self; the hymns of the

Atharvans and Aṅgirases are its tail, its support. There is this verse

about it:

CHAPTER 4

1. The one who knows the joy of brahman

From which speech, along with mind,

Turns back without winning it,

Is never afraid.

It is the bodily self of the previous one.

Different from and inside the self that is made of mind is the self

that is made of knowledge.40 This one is filled by it. It, too, is man-

shaped. This, in its man-shape, matches the man-shape of that one.

Faith is its head; law is its right wing; truth is its left wing; yoga is its

self; MAHĀḥ is its tail, its support. There is this verse about it:

CHAPTER 5

1. Knowledge spreads out the sacrifice;

It spreads out actions, too.

All the gods worship knowledge

As brahman, the eldest.

If one knows knowledge as brahman

And is not neglectful of it,

Abandoning evils in the body

One attains all desires.

It is the bodily self of the previous one.

Different from and inside the self that is made of knowledge is the

self that is made of joy. This one is filled by it. It, too, is man-shaped.

This, in its man-shape, matches the man-shape of that one. Dearness is

its head; happiness is its right wing; delight is its left wing; joy is its

self; brahman is its tail, its support. There is this verse about it:

CHAPTER 6

1. One becomes not-being

If one knows brahman as not-being.

If one knows that brahman is,

Folk know one as being.41

It is the bodily self of the previous one.

Now for further questions:

If someone departs, not knowing that world, does he go to it?

If someone departs, knowing that world, does he win it?42

He desired: ‘Let me become many! Let me be born!’ He raised heat.

When he had raised heat, he created all this, whatever there is. He

entered into it. When he had entered into it, he became the present

and the beyond:43 he became the explained and the unexplained, the

based and the unbased, the knowing and the unknowing, truth and

falsehood. As truth (satya), he became whatever there is: folk call it

‘reality’ (satya). There is this verse about it:

CHAPTER 7

1. In the beginning all this was not-being.

From not-being, being was born.44

It made itself a self: So it is called, ‘Well done’.45

What was well done is essence, for by getting an essence one becomes joyful. Who would breathe, who would draw breath,46 if there were not this joy in space? It makes one joyful. When one finds the fearless, the support, in this invisible, selfless, unexplained, unresting, then one has reached the fearless. When one makes in it a cavity, a gap, one has fear. This is the fear of one who thinks himself a knower.47 There is this verse about it:

CHAPTER 8

1. From this fear, wind blows.

From fear, Sūrya rises.

From this fear both Agni and Indra,

And Death, as fifth, run on.48

This is the enquiry into joy:

Let there be a young man, a good young man, one who studies, very

swift, very steadfast, very strong. Let the whole earth, filled with

riches, be his. That is one human joy.49 A hundred human joys make

one joy of the human gandharvas, and of one who is learned and not

afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of the human gandharvas make one

joy of the divine gandharvas, and of one who is learned and not

afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of the divine gandharvas make one

joy of the ancestors who long abide in their world, and of one who is

learned and not afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of the ancestors

who long abide in their world make one joy of the gods who are born

there by birth, and of one who is learned and not afflicted by desire. A

hundred joys of the gods who are born there by birth make one joy of

the gods by action, who reach the gods through action, and of one

who is learned and not afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of the gods

by action make one joy of the gods, and of one who is learned and not

afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of the gods make one joy of Indra,

and of one who is learned and not afflicted by desire. A hundred joys

of Indra make one joy of Bṛhaspati, and of one who is learned and not

afflicted by desire. A hundred joys of Bṛhaspati make one joy of

Prajāpati, and of one who is learned and not afflicted by desire. A

hundred joys of Prajapati make one joy of Brahma, and of one who is

learned and not afflicted by desire. This one who is in the person and

that one who is in the sun are one: and the one who leaves this world

knowing this goes up to the self made of food, goes up to the self

made of breath, goes up to the self made of mind, goes up to the self

made of knowledge, goes up to the self made of joy. There is this verse

about it:

CHAPTER 9

1. The one who knows the joy of brahman

From which speech, along with mind,

Turns back without reaching it,

Is afraid of nothing.50

The thought ‘Have I not done good? Have I done evil?’ does not burn him. The one who knows this saves himself (ātmānam) from these. The one who knows this saves himself from both. This is the inner teaching.

OM. Together may it protect us two:

Together may it profit us two:

Together may we do a hero’s work.

May we learn intelligently:

May we never hate one another.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

BOOK III: BHṛGU

HARI OM. Together may it protect us two:

Together may it profit us two:

Together may we do a hero’s work.

May we learn intelligently:

May we never hate one another.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

CHAPTER 1

1. Bhṛgu Vāruni approached his father, Varuna, saying, ‘Blessed one, teach me about brahman.’

He taught him this: food, breath, the eye, the ear, mind, speech. He said to him, ‘That from which beings are born; by which, being born, they live; into which they enter when they pass on – seek to know that as brahman.’

He practised asceticism. After practising asceticism

CHAPTER 2

1. he realized, ‘Food is brahman. For from food beings are born; by food, being born, they live; into food they enter when they pass on.’ On realizing that, he approached his father, Varuna, again saying, ‘Blessed one, teach me about brahman.’

He said to him, ‘Seek to know brahman by asceticism. Asceticism is brahman.’

He practised asceticism. After practising asceticism

CHAPTER 3

1. he realized, ‘Breath is brahman. For from breath beings are born; by

breath, being born, they live; into breath they enter when they pass

on.’ On realizing that, he approached his father, Varuna, again saying,

‘Blessed one, teach me about brahman.’

He said to him, ‘Seek to know brahman by asceticism. Asceticism is

brahman.’

He practised asceticism. After practising asceticism

CHAPTER 4

1. he realized, ‘Mind is brahman. For from mind beings are born; by mind, being born, they live; into mind they enter when they pass on.’ On realizing that, he approached his father, Varuna, again saying, ‘Blessed one, teach me about brahman.’

He said to him, ‘Seek to know brahman by asceticism. Asceticism is brahman.’

He practised asceticism. After practising asceticism

CHAPTER 5

1. he realized, ‘Knowledge is brahman. For from knowledge beings are born; by knowledge, being born, they live; into knowledge they enter when they pass on.’ On realizing that, he approached his father, Varuna, again saying, ‘Blessed one, teach me about brahman.’

He said to him, ‘Seek to know brahman by asceticism. Asceticism is brahman.’

He practised asceticism. After practising asceticism

CHAPTER 6

1. he realized, ‘Joy is brahman. For from joy beings are born; by joy, being born, they live; into joy they enter when they pass on.’ This is the wisdom of Bhr̥gu, of Varuṇa, which stands firm in the highest heaven.52 The one who knows this stands firm: he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food; becomes great in offspring and animals and the radiance of brahman, great in fame.53

CHAPTER 7

1. One should not speak ill of food: that should be the vow. Breath is food: the body is the eater of food. The body stands firm on breath: breath stands firm on the body. So food stands firm on food. The one who knows food as standing firm on food stands firm: he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food; becomes great in offspring and animals and the radiance of brahman, great in fame.

CHAPTER 8

1. One should not reject food: that should be the vow. The waters are food: light is the eater of food. Light stands firm on the waters: the waters stand firm on light. So food stands firm on food. The one who knows food as standing firm on food stands firm: he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food;becomes great in offspring and animals and the radiance of brahman, great in fame.

CHAPTER 9

1. One should make much of food: that should be the vow. The earth is food: space is the eater of food. Space stands firm on the earth: the earth stands firm on space. So food stands firm on food. The one who knows food as standing firm on food stands firm: he becomes a possessor of food, an eater of food; becomes great in offspring and animals and the radiance of brahman, great in fame.

CHAPTER 10

1. One should not refuse anyone in one’s house: that should be the vow. So one should get food by any means possible.54 Folk say, ‘Food is prepared for him.’ This food is prepared for him first,55 This food is prepared for another first, so it is prepared for him first. This food is prepared for another in the middle, so it is prepared for him in the middle. This food is prepared for another last, so it is prepared for him last –

2. the one who knows this.

‘Enjoying’ in speech; ‘getting and enjoying’56 in the breath and the lower breath; ‘action’ in the hands; ‘movement’ in the feet; ‘excretion’ in the anus: these are its human titles. As for its divine titles:

3. ‘glory’ in animals; ‘light’ in the constellations; ‘procreation, immortality and joy’ in the loins; ‘all’ in space. One should worship it as the support: one becomes supported. One should worship it as MAHĀḥ: one becomes great (mahat). One should worship it as mind (manas): one becomes respected (mānāvat).

4. One should worship it as homage: desires pay one homage. One should worship it as brahman: one becomes endowed with brahman. One should worship it as the dying-around57 of brahman: rivals who hate one die around one, and so do those adversaries58 who are not dear. This one who is in the person, and that one who is in the sun, are one:

5. and the one who leaves this world knowing this goes up to the self made of food, goes up to the self made of breath, goes up to the self made of mind, goes up to the self made of knowledge, goes up to the self made of joy. He moves about the worlds, with food at his desire, with forms at his desire. He continually sings this sāman: ‘Oh, bliss...! Oh, bliss...! Oh, bliss...!59 I am food, I am food, I am food. I am the eater of food… I am the eater of food… I am the eater of food… I am the maker of verse. I am the maker of verse. I am the maker of verse. I am the first-born of law…, before the gods, in the navel… of immortality. You protect… the one who gives to me. I eat… food and the one who eats food. I have overcome… the whole universe.60 I am light like the sun.’61

– The one who knows this. This is the inner teaching.

OM. Together may it protect us two:

Together may it profit us two:

Together may we do a hero’s work.

May we learn intelligently:

May we never hate one another.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

OṂ. May Mitra be kind, may Varuna be kind,

May Aryaman be kind to us.

May Indra and Bṛhaspati be kind,

May wide-striding Viṣnu be kind to us.

Homage to brahman, homage to you, Vāyu:

You are brahman manifest:

I will speak of you as brahman manifest.

I will speak law: I will speak truth.

May that protect me: may that protect the speaker.

May it protect me: may it protect the speaker.

OṂ. Peace, peace, peace.

AITAREYA UPANIṢAD

Aitareya’s Teaching

OṀ. My speech stands firm on mind:

My mind stands firm on speech.

Appear, appear to me.

Be to me a nail for the Veda1

Do not harm my learning.

With this study I hold days and nights together.2

I will speak law (ṛta,): I will speak truth.3

May that protect me: may that protect the speaker.

May it protect me: may it protect the speaker, may it protect the speaker.

OṀ. Peace, peace, peace.

BOOK I

1. OM. In the beginning this was the self, just one, nothing else blinking.4 He thought, ‘Let me create worlds.’

2. He created these worlds: the heavenly water,5 light-rays, death, the waters. That is the heavenly water, beyond the sky. Sky is the base. Middle-air is the light-rays. The earth is death. What is below is the waters.

3. He thought, ‘Here are the worlds: let me create protectors of the worlds.’ From the waters he drew out and shaped a man.6

4. He heated him up.7 When he was heated up, a mouth broke out of him, like an egg.8 From the mouth came speech; from speech, fire. Nostrils broke out. From the nostrils came breath; from breath, air. Eyes broke out. From the eyes came sight;9 from sight, the sun. Ears broke out. From the ears came hearing; from hearing, the directions. A skin broke out. From the skin came the body-hairs; from the body-hairs, the plants and trees. A heart broke out. From the heart came mind; from the mind, the moon. A navel broke out. From the navel came the lower breath; from the lower breath, death. A phallus broke out. From the phallus came seed; from the seed, the waters.

BOOK II

1. Once the deities had been created, they flew down on to this great ocean.10 The self afflicted the man with hunger and thirst.11 They said to him, ‘Find us a place where we can settle and eat food.’

2. He brought a cow to them. They said, ‘This is not enough for us.’ He brought a horse to them. They said, ‘This is not enough for us.’

3. He brought a man to them. They said, ‘Hurrah! Well done!’12 A man is something well done.12 He said to them, ‘Enter, each to your place.’

4. Fire became speech and entered the mouth. Air became breath and entered the nostrils. The sun became sight and entered the eyes. The directions became hearing and entered the ears. The plants and trees became body-hairs and entered the skin. The moon became mind and entered the heart. Death became the lower breath and entered the navel. The waters became seed and entered the phallus.

5. Hunger and thirst said to him, ‘Find a place for us, too.’

He said to them, ‘I allot you a share among these deities. I make you sharers with them.’ So, whenever an offering is assigned to any deity, hunger and thirst become sharers with that deity.

BOOK III

1. He thought, ‘Here are worlds and world-protectors. Let me create food for them.’

2. He heated up the the waters. When they were heated up a shape was produced from them. The shape that was produced was food.

3. As soon as it had been created, it tried to escape behind him.13 He tried to seize it with speech. He was not able to seize it with speech. If he had seized it with speech, one would now14 be able to enjoy food just by uttering it.

4. He tried to seize it with the breath (prāṇa). He was not able to seize it with the breath. If he had seized it with the breath, one would now be able to enjoy food just by breathing over it.

5. He tried to seize it with sight. He was not able to seize it with sight. If he had seized it with sight, one would now be able to enjoy food just by seeing it.

6. He tried to seize it with hearing. He was not able to seize it with hearing. If he had seized it with hearing, one would now be able to enjoy food just by hearing about it.

7. He tried to seize it with the skin. He was not able to seize it with the skin. If he had seized it with the skin, one would now be able to enjoy food just by touching it.

8. He tried to seize it with the mind. He was not able to seize it with the mind. If he had seized it with the mind, one would now be able to enjoy food just by thinking about it.

9. He tried to seize it with the phallus. He was not able to seize it with the phallus. If he had seized it with the phallus, one would now be able to enjoy food just by ejaculating it.

10. He tried to seize it with the lower breath.15 He got it. This is the seizer of food – air. Air (vāyu) is the life of food (annāyu).

11. He thought, ‘How could this be without me?’ He thought, ‘Which way shall I enter it?’ He thought, ‘If uttering is done by speech,16 if breathing is done by the breath, if seeing is done by the sight, if hearing is done by the hearing, if touching is done by the skin, if thinking is done by the mind, if down-breathing17 is done by the lower breath, if ejaculating is done by the seed, then who am I?’

12. Opening up (vi-dr-) the parting,18 he entered by it as a door. This is the door called the fontanelle (vidṛti). It is the bringer of joy. It

has three states, three kinds of sleep:19 this state, this state and this state.20

13. Once he was born, he looked at the beings, thinking, ‘What here has desired to converse with another?’21 He saw the person, very brahman. He cried,22 ‘I have seen it (idam adarśam)!’

14. So he is called Idandra: Idandra is his name. Though he is Idandra, folk call him Indra, mysteriously, because the gods seem to love the mysterious: the gods seem to love the mysterious.23

BOOK IV

1. In a person, he first becomes an embryo. What the seed is is energy (tejas), come together from all the limbs. One carries a self in oneself (ātman). When one sprinkles it in a woman, one begets it. That is one’s first birth.

2. It becomes own self to the woman, just like a limb of her own, so it does not harm her. She nurtures one’s self when it has come here.

3. She, the nurturer, becomes one to be nurtured. The woman carries the embryo. He nourishes the boy before and after birth. When he nourishes the boy before and after birth, he nourishes himself (ātman), for the continuance of the worlds: for so the worlds continue. That is one’s second birth.

4. He, being one’s self, is set in one’s place for meritorious actions. Then one’s other self, having done what was to be done and reached his age, departs.24 Departing from here, he is born again. That is one’s third birth.

5. It was said by the ṛsi:

While in the womb I fully knew

The births of all the gods.

A hundred citadels of iron surrounded me.

A hawk, I flew out with speed.25

Vāmadeva said that while lying in the womb.

6. Knowing this, from the break-up of this body he rose upward; he won in that heavenly world all desires; and he became immortal, became immortal,

BOOK V

1. ‘Who is he?’

‘We worship him as the self.’

‘Which one is the self?’

‘The one by whom one sees, by whom one hears, by whom one smells smells, by whom one utters speech, by whom one discriminates what is sweet and not sweet –

2. ‘Who is the heart, the mind: consciousness, perception, discrimination, knowledge,26 intelligence,27 vision, steadfastness, thought,28 consideration,29 swiftness,30 memory,31 resolve, intention, life, desire, will.32 All these are names for knowledge.

3. He is Brahmā, he is Indra, he is Prajāpati and all the gods; the five elements,33 earth, air, space, the waters, light; those which are, as it were, finely mixed;34 the various other kinds of seeds, the egg-born, the womb-born, the sweat-born,35 the shoot-born; horses, cattle, human beings (purusa), elephants. All that has breath, both Walking and flying, and all that is still, is led by knowledge,36 based on knowledge. The world is led by knowledge. Knowledge is the basis. Knowledge is brahman.

4. By the wise37 self he38 rose upward; he won in that heavenly world all desires; and he became immortal, became immortal. So it is. OM.

OM. My speech stands firm on mind:

My mind stands firm on speech.

Appear, appear to me.

Be to me a nail for the Veda.

Do not harm my learning.

With this study I hold days and nights together.

I will speak law: I will speak truth.

May that protect me: may that protect the speaker.

May it protect me: may it protect the speaker, may it protect the speaker.

OM. Peace, peace, peace.

KAUṢĪTAKĪ UPANIṢAD

Kausitaki’s Teaching

OM. My speech stands firm on mind:

My mind stands firm on speech.1

May you appear, appear as a youth.2

By knowledge that nail has held the law (ṛta) in place.3

Do me no harm.

With this study I hold days and nights together.4

Homage to Agni with the libation.

With the libation homage to the ṛṣis.

Makers of the mantras, lords of the mantras.

Homage to you, O gods.

Gracious lady, be most healing to us, compassionate Sarasvatī.

May we not be separated from your sight.5

Unerring mind, quick eye is the sun, best of lights.

Initiation, do me no harm.6

BOOK I

1. OṀ. Citra Gāṅgyāyani,1 about to offer a sacrifice, chose Āruni as priest. Āruni sent his son, Śvetaketu, telling him to perform the sacrifice.

When he had arrived,2 Gāṅgyāyani asked him, ‘Son of Gautama, is there3 a closed place in the world in which you will set me? Or is there some other path there, by which you will set me in a world?’4

He said, ‘I do not know this: come, I must ask my teacher.’ He approached his father and asked him, ‘He asked me such-and-such: how should I reply?’

He said, ‘I do not know this either. Let us study at his house and take what others give us. Come, we both will go.’ With fuel in hand he went up to Citra Gāṅgyāyani saying, ‘I must come to you as a student.’5

Gāṅgyāyani said, ‘You are worthy of the sacred knowledge (brahman), Gautama, for you have not fallen into conceit. Come, I will explain it to you.’

2. He said, ‘All those who depart from this world go to the moon. In the former half of the month it waxes by their breaths, and with its latter half it causes them to be born again.6 This, the moon, is the door to the heaven-world: the one who answers it it sends onward, but the one who does not answer becomes rain here, and it rains him down. He is reborn here in one place after another as a worm, a flying thing, a fish, a bird, a Hon, a boar, a snake, a tiger, a person,7 or something else, according to his actions, according to his knowledge.

‘When he gets there, the moon asks him, “Who are you?”

‘He should answer it,

‘ “From the shining, O seasons, the seed was brought,

From the fifteenfold begotten, from the ancestors’ realm.8

You caused me to arise in a male as agent:

Through a male as agent, sprinkle me in a mother.

‘As such I was born, being reborn9 as the twelfth or thirteenth succeeding month through a twelve- or thirteenfold father.10 I know the reverse of that.11 Seasons, you have brought me to immortality.12 By that truth, by that asceticism, I am a season: I am of the seasons. Who am I? I am you.’ It sends him onward.

3. ‘Entering the path that leads to the gods, he comes to Agni’s world; to Vāyu’s world;13 to Varuna’s world; to Indra’s world; to Prajāpati’s world; to Brahmā’s world.14 This world has the lake, Āra;15 watchmen, the Muhūrtas;16 the river, Vijarā;17 the tree, Ilya;18 the public square, Sālajya;19 the dwelling, Aparājita;20 the two door-guardians, Indra and Prajāpati; the palace, Vibhu;21 the throne, Vicaksanā;22 the couch, Amitaujas;23 the beloved, Mānasī, and her pair, Cāksusī, who take flowers and weave the two worlds;24 the apsarases, the Ambās and the Ambāyavīs;25 the rivers, Ambayā.26 The one who knows this arrives there. Brahmā27 says, “Run to him! By my glory he has reached the river Vijarā, and he will not grow old.”

4. ‘Five hundred apsarases approach him, a hundred with fruit in their hands, a hundred with unguents in their hands, a hundred with garlands in their hands, a hundred with garments in their hands, a hundred with perfumed powders in their hands. They adorn him with the adornment of Brahmā. Once adorned with the adornment of Brahmā, the knower of brahman approaches brahman. He comes to the lake, Āra, and crosses it by mind. When they get there, those who know only what is in front of them sink. He comes to the watchmen, the Muhūrtas, and they run away from him.28 He comes to the river, Vijarā, and crosses it, too, by mind.

‘Then he shakes off his good deeds and bad deeds. His dear relations get his good deeds, and those who are not dear his bad deeds. Then, just as one driving a chariot looks down on the two chariot-wheels, he looks down on day and night, good deeds and bad deeds, and all dualities. Free from good deeds, free from bad deeds, the knower of brahman approaches brahman.

5. ‘He comes to the tree, Ilya, and the smell of Brahmā enters him. He comes to the public square, Sālajya, and the taste of Brahmā enters him. He comes to the dwelling, Aparājita, and the brightness of Brahmā enters him. He comes to the two door-guardians, Indra and Prajāpati, and they run away from him. He comes to the hall, Vibhu, and the glory of Brahmā enters him.

‘He comes to the throne, Vicaksanā. The Bṛhat and Rathantara sāmans are its front feet; the Śyaita and Naudhasa its back feet; the Vairūpa and Vairāja its side-pieces; the Śākvara and Raivata its cross-pieces. It is awareness, for by awareness one discerns.29

‘He comes to the couch, Amitaujas. That is the breath. What has been and what is to be are its front feet; splendour (śrī) and refreshment (irā) its back feet; the Bhadra and Yajñāyajñīya its head-pieces; the Bṛhat and Rathantara its side-pieces; the ṛc verses and sāman verses its lengthwise cords; the yajus verses its crosswise ones;

the Soma-stems30 its mattress; the Udgītha its coverlet; and glory its

pillow. On it Brahmā sits. The one who knows this at first sets just one

foot on it.31

‘Brahmā asks him, “Who are you?”

‘He should reply to him:

6. “I am a season: I am of the seasons. From space as womb I came

into being as seed for a wife:32 as the brightness of the year; as the

self of being after being. You are the self of being after being. What

you are, I am.”

‘He says to him, “Who am I?”

‘He should say, “Truth (satya).”

‘ “What is that truth?”

‘ “What is other than the gods and the breaths is being (sat), and

what is the gods and the breaths is yonder (tyam), which is why ‘truth’

is called by this name. So much is all this. You are all this.” This is

what he tells him. This is taught in a verse:

7. He whose belly is the yajus, whose head is the sāman,

Whose form is the ṛc, unfailing one,

Should be known as Brahmā,

Great ṛsi, made of brahman33

‘He says to him, “By what does one win my masculine names?”

‘He should say, “By the breath (prāṇa, masc.).”

‘ “By what my neuter names?”34

‘ “By mind (manas, neut.).”

‘ “By what my feminine names?”

‘ “By speech (vāc, fem.).”

‘ “By what my smells?”

‘ “By the breath.”35

‘ “By what my forms?”

‘ “By the eye.”

‘ “By what my sounds?”

‘ “By the ear.”

‘ “By what my tastes of food?”

‘ “By the tongue.”

‘ “By what my actions?”

‘ “By the hands.”

‘ “By what my joy and sorrow?”

‘ “By the body.”

"By what my delight, pleasure and procreation?"

"By the loins."

"By what my movements?"

"By the feet."

"By what my thoughts, that which is to be known, and desires?"

“He should say, “By awareness.”

“Brahmā says to him, “The waters36 are my world: that world is yours.” He wins as his victory the victory, the attainment, that is Brahmā's - the one who knows this, the one who knows this.'

BOOK II

1. OM. ‘Breath is brahman’: so said Kausītaki. Mind is the messenger of the breath, of brahman: the eye is its watchman, the ear its herald, speech its maid.1

The one who knows the mind as the messenger of the breath, of brahman, comes to have a messenger.2 The one who knows the eye as the watchman comes to have a watchman. The one who knows the ear as the herald comes to have a herald. The one who knows speech as the maid comes to have a maid.

All these deities bring tribute to the breath, to brahman, without its asking: likewise all beings bring tribute to it, without its asking. The secret teaching (upanisad) for the one who knows this is that one should not ask, just as one who had begged in a village without getting anything might sit down, saying, ‘I would not eat anything from here if it were given.’ Those who refused him before now invite him, saying, ‘Let us give to you.’

2. ‘Breath is brahman’: so said Paiṅgya. The eye of the breath, of brahman, is shut behind speech; the ear is shut behind the eye; the mind is shut behind the ear; the breath is shut behind the mind. All these deities bring tribute to the breath, to brahman, without its asking: likewise all beings bring tribute to it, without its asking. The secret teaching for the one who knows this is that one should not ask, just as one who had begged in a village without getting anything might sit down, saying, ‘I would not eat anything from here if it were given.’ Those who refused him before now invite him. This is the dharma of the one who does not ask: givers of food invite him, saying, ‘Let us give to you.’

3. Now the claiming of a special treasure:

If someone longs for a special treasure, then at one of these junctures4 – the full-moon day, the new-moon day, or an auspicious constellation in the bright fortnight – he builds a fire, sweeps around, strews, and sprinkles;5 bending the right knee, he makes offerings of melted butter with the spoon,6 saying: ‘The deity named “Speech” is the Claimer. May it claim this for me from . To it, SVĀHĀ!

‘The deity named “Breath” is the Claimer. May it claim this for me from . To it, SVĀHĀ!

‘The deity named “Eye” is the Claimer. May it claim this for me

from . To it, SVĀHĀ!

‘The deity named “Ear” is the Claimer. May it claim this for me from . To it, SVĀHĀ!

‘The deity named “Mind” is the Claimer. May it claim this for me from . To it, SVĀHĀ!

‘The deity named “Awareness” is the Claimer. May it claim this for me from . To it, SVĀHĀ!’

Then he should smell the scent of the smoke, anoint his limbs with an ointment of melted butter, and go forth restraining his speech. He should state his purpose, or send a messenger: and he gets his wish.

4. Now the longing that belongs to the gods:7

If someone wishes to become beloved of any man, or woman, or persons, then at one of these same junctures, by the same method, he makes offerings of melted butter,8 saying: ‘I offer up your speech in me, . SVĀHĀ!

‘I offer up your breath in me, . SVĀHĀ!

‘I offer up your eye in me, . SVĀHĀ!

‘I offer up your ear in me, . SVĀHĀ!

‘I offer up your mind in me, . SVĀHĀ!

‘I offer up your awareness in me, . SVĀHĀ!’

Then he should smell the scent of the smoke, anoint his limbs with an ointment of melted butter, and go forth restraining his speech. He should seek to touch the person or stand to windward, conversing with them. He becomes beloved, and they long for him.

5. Now Pratardana’s method of self-restraint – folk call it the ‘inner Agnihotra’:

So long as a person is speaking, he cannot breathe: at that time he offers up the breath in speech. So long as a person is breathing, he cannot speak: at that time he offers up speech in the breath. Waking or sleeping, one constantly9 makes these two unending, immortal offerings. Other offerings have an end, for they are made of actions. The ancients, knowing this, used not to offer the Agnihotra.

6. ‘The Uktha is brahman’:10 so said Śuskabhrṅgāra. One should worship it as ṛc: then all beings praise (ṛc-) one, to one’s betterment. One should worship it as yajus: then all beings are yoked (yuj-) to one, to one’s betterment. One should worship it as sāman: all beings then bow (sam-nam-) to one, to one’s betterment. One should worship it as splendour; one should worship it as fame; one should worship it as brightness. As it is the most splendid, the most famous, the brightest among the recitations,11 the one who knows this becomes the most splendid, the most famous, the brightest among all beings.

The Adhvaryu makes ready the self of the sacrifice,12 which is

made of actions. On it he weaves that which is made of the yajus. On that which is made of the yajus, the Hotṛ weaves that which is made of the ṛc. On that which is made of the ṛc, the Udgāṭṛ weaves that which is made of the sāman. This is the self of the threefold knowledge. The one who knows this becomes the self of Indra.

7. Now there are three contemplations (upāsana) of the all-conquering Kausītaki.

The all-conquering Kausītaki14 used to worship (upās-) the sun at rising, having put on the sacred thread,15 fetched water16 and three times sprinkled with the water-pot, saying, ‘You are the drawer:17 draw evil from me.’ By the same method he worshipped it in the middle of its course, saying, ‘You are the drawer-up: draw up evil from me.’ By the same method he worshipped it at setting, saying, ‘You are the drawer-together: draw together evil from me.’ So it draws together whatever evil he has done by day or by night.18 In the same way, the one who knows this worships the sun by this method:19 it draws together whatever evil he does, by day or by night.

8. Now each month, when the new-moon night comes round,20 when the moon appears in the west, one should worship it by this method, or cast two green grass-blades at it,21 saying,

‘Since my well-formed heart

Rests in the moon in the sky,

I think myself a knower of it.

May I not mourn for harm to a son.’22

Then his offspring do not pass away before him. That is for one to whom a son has been born. Now for one to whom a son has not yet been born: after muttering the three ṛc verses,

‘Wax! May well-being come to you!...’23

‘May Juices, may strength come to you...’24

‘Stem that the Ādityas cause to wax!...’25

he says, ‘Do not wax by our breath, offspring, animals, of the one who hates us, of the one that we hate. I turn the turn of Indra:26 I turn with the sun’s turn.’ And he turns towards the right hand.

9. Now on the full-moon night, when the moon appears in the east, one should worship it by this method, saying, ‘You are King Soma, the shining.27 You are the five-mouthed Prajāpati.

‘The Brāhmaṇa is one mouth of you. With that mouth you eat the kings. With that mouth make me an eater of food.

'The king is one mouth of you. With that mouth you eat the people.'28 With that mouth make me an eater of food.

'The hawk is one mouth of you. With that mouth you eat the birds. With that mouth make me an eater of food.

'Fire is one mouth of you. With that mouth you eat this world. With that mouth make me an eater of food.

'There is a fifth mouth in you. With that mouth you eat all beings. With that mouth make me an eater of food.

'Do not wane with our breath, off spring, animals. Wane with the breath, offspring, animals, of the one who hates us, of the one we hate. I turn the turn of the gods: I turn with the sun's turn.' And he turns towards the right hand.

10. Now when one is about to lie with one's wife, one should stroke her heart, saying,

'O well-formed one, by that which rests In your heart, in Prajāpati, Mistress of immortality, May you not endure suffering from a son.'

Then her offspring do not pass away before her.29

11. On Coming back when one has been away, one should sniff one's son's head,30 saying,

'You arise from every limb: You spring from the heart. Indeed, son, you are my self. Live a hundred autumns, . '31

He utters his name, saying:

'Be a rock, be an axe, Be invincible gold. Indeed, son, you are brightness. Live a hundred autumns, .'

He speaks his name, then embraces him,32 saying, 'As Prajāpati has embraced his creatures for their safety, I embrace you, . '33

Then he mutters in his right ear:

'Give to him, Maghavan, who receive the remnant...'34 and in his left:

'Bestow on him, Indra, the finest goods...35

'Do not be cut off. Do not suffer. Live a hundred autumns of life. Son, with your name I sniff your head.' So saying, he sniffs his head three times. 'I low over you with the lowing of cows.' So saying, he lows over his head three times.

12. Now the dying-around (parimara) of the gods:

Brahman shines when fire burns, and it dies when it doesnot burn. Its brightness (tejas) goes to the sun, its breath to the air. Brahman shines when the sun is seen, and it dies when it is not seen. Its brightness goes to the moon, its breath to the air. Brahman shines when the moon is seen, and it dies when it is not seen. Its brightness goes to lightning, its breath to the air.Brahman shines when lightning lightens, and it dies when it does not lighten. Its brightness goes to the air,36 its breath to the air. Though all these deities enter the air and die in the air, they do not perish, and so they arise again.

So much regarding deities. Now regarding oneself:

13. Brahman shines when one speaks with speech, and it dies when one does not speak. Its brightness goes to the eye, its breath to the breath. Brahman shines when one sees with the eye, and it dies when one does not see. Its brightness goes to the ear, its breath to the breath. Brahman shines when one hears with the ear, and it dies when one does not hear. Its brightness goes to the mind, its breath to the breath. Brahman shines when one thinks with the mind, and it dies when one does not think. Its brightness goes to the breath, its breath to the breath. Though all these deities enter the breath and die in the breath, they do not perish, and so they arise again. So when someone knows this, even if both mountains, the southern and the northern,37 were to roll towards him intending to crush him, they would not crush him. But those who hate him, and those whom he himself hates, die around (pari-mṛ-) him.

14. Now the attaining of supremacy:38

The deities, disputing over who was the best, left the body. It lay there, not breathing, dry, become a log.39 Speech entered it, and it still lay there, speaking with speech. The eye entered it, and it still lay there, speaking with speech, seeing with the eye. The ear entered it, and it still lay there, speaking with speech, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear. The mind entered it, and it still lay there, speaking with speech, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, thinking with the mind. The breath entered it, and it at once stood up.

All the deities, having acknowledged supremacy in the breath, and understood the breath as the self of awareness, left the body, all of them together.40 Entering the air,41 with space as self, they went to heaven.

In the same way, the one who knows this, having acknowledged

supremacy in the breath, and understood the breath as the self of

awareness, leaves the body with all of them together. Entering the air,

with space as self, he goes to heaven. He goes where the gods are.

Reaching that, he becomes immortal as the gods are immortal: the one

who knows this.42

15. Now the Father-and-Son Ceremony – folk call it the handing-on.43

When the father is about to depart, he calls his son. Having strewn

the house with fresh grass, built a fire and placed nearby a water-pot

with a dish, and covered himself with a new garment, the father lies

there.44 The son comes and lies down over him.45

The father should hand on to him, either by touching faculties with

faculties or with the son sitting facing him.46 Then he hands on to

him:

The father says, ‘I must place my speech in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your speech in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my breath in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your breath in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my eye in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your eye in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my ear in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your ear in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my tastes of food in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your tastes of food in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my actions in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your actions in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my joy and sorrow in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your joy and sorrow in me.’ The father says, ‘I

must place my delight, pleasure and procreation in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your delight, pleasure and procreation in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my movement in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your movement in me.’

The father says, ‘I must place my mind in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your mind in me.’47

The father says, ‘I must place my awareness in you.’

The son says, ‘I place your awareness in me.’48

But if he is not able to say much, the father should say in brief, ‘I

must place my breaths in you.’

The son should say, ‘I place your breaths in me.’

Then the son gets up and goes out,49 turning to the right. The

father calls after him, ‘May glory, may the radiance of brahman,50

may fame favour you!’

The other looks back over his left Shoulder, hiding his face with his

hand or covering it with the end of his garment, and says, ‘Win

heavenly worlds and desires!’

If he gets well, the father should either live under his son’s authority

or go forth.51 If he passes away, they should provide him with those

funeral rites with which he ought to be provided – with which he

ought to be provided.52

BOOK III

1. OM. Pratardana Daivodāsi reached the beloved home of Indra through battle and manly deeds.1 Indra said to him, ‘Pratardana, choose a boon (vara).’

Pratardana said, ‘You choose for me what you think best for a human being.’

Indra said to him, ‘A superior (vara) does not choose for an inferior (avara). You choose.’

Pratardana said, ‘That is no favour (avara) to me.’

But Indra did not depart from truth, for Indra is truth. Indra said to him, ‘Know me: I think this is best for a human being, that he should know me. I slew the three-headed son of Tvaṣṭṛ;2 I gave the Arunmukha sorcerers up to the wolves;3 breaking many treaties, I destroyed the Prahlādīyas4 in the sky, the Paulomas5 in middle-air, and the Kālakāñjas6 on earth: yet, such though I was, not a hair of mine grows less. If someone knows me, his world does not grow less by any action of his, not by theft, not by murder,7 not by the killing of his mother, not by the killing of his father. Though he has committed any evil, the dark colour does not leave his face.’8

2. He said, ‘I am the breath, the self of awareness: so worship me as immortal life.9 The life is the breath, the breath is the life. As long as the breath dwells in the body, there is life. By the breath one attains immortality in this world:10 by awareness one attains true resolve.11 The one who worships me as immortal life attains a full lifespan in this world: he attains immortality, imperishability, in the heavenly world.’

Some say, ‘The breaths become a unity, or no one would be able at once to be made aware of12 a name with speech, a form with the eye, a sound with the ear, a thought with the mind: but, becoming a unity, the breaths make one aware of all these, one by one. When the speech speaks, all the breaths speak with it; when the eye sees, all the breaths see with it; when the ear hears, all the breaths hear with it; when the mind thinks, all the breaths think with it; when the breath breathes, all the breaths breathe with it.’

‘So it is,’ said Indra, ‘but there is a supremacy among the breaths.

3. ‘One lives without speech, for we see the dumb. One lives without the eye, for we see the blind. One lives without the ear, for we see the deaf. One lives without the mind, for we see the foolish.

One lives with arms cut off, one lives with legs cut off, for we see it is so. But when the breath, the self of awareness, seizes the body, it causes it to stand up (ut-thā-): so one should contemplate it as the Uktha. This is all-attainment in the breath.13 What the breath is, awareness is; and what awareness is, the breath is: they dwell in the body together, and they leave it together.'

This is the seeing of it, this is the knowing of it:

When the person, asleep, sees no dream, he becomes unified in the breath. Speech enters it with all names; the eye enters it with all forms; the ear enters it with all sounds; the mind enters it with all thoughts. When he wakes up, just as sparks from a burning fire might scatter in all directions, the breaths scatter from the self, each to its proper place;14 the gods from the breaths, the worlds from the gods.

But when the breath, the self of awareness, seizes the body, it makes it stand up, so one should contemplate it as the Uktha. This is all-attainment in the breath. What the breath is, awareness is; and what awareness is, the breath is.15

This is the proof of it, this is the understanding of it:

When the person, ailing and about to die, becomes weak and falls into unconsciousness, folk say of him, 'His consciousness16 has left him: he does not hear, he does not see, he does not speak with speech, he does not think.' He becomes unified in the breath. Speech enters it with all names; the eye enters it with all forms; the ear enters it with all sounds; the mind enters it with all thoughts.17 When it leaves the body, it leaves with all these together.

4. Speech releases all names into it: by speech it attains all names. The breath releases all smells into it: by the breath it attains all smells. The eye releases all forms into it: by the eye it attains all forms. The ear releases all sounds into it: by the ear it attains all sounds. The mind releases all thoughts into it: by the mind it attains all thoughts. This is all-attainment in the breath. What the breath is, awareness is; and what awareness is, the breath is.18 These two live in the body together, and they leave it together.

Now we will explain how all beings become one with this awareness.

5. Speech is one part taken out of it, and name is the external element of being which corresponds to it.19 The breath is one part taken out of it, and smell is the external element of being which corresponds to it. The eye is one part taken out of it, and form is the external element of being which corresponds to it. The ear is one part taken out of it, and sound is the external element of being which corresponds to it. The tongue is one part taken out of it, and the taste of food is the external element of being which corresponds to it. The

hands are one part taken out of it, and action is the external element of being which corresponds to them. The body is one part taken out of it, and joy and sorrow are the external element of being which corresponds to it. The loins are one part taken out of it, and delight, pleasure and procreation are the external element of being which corresponds to them. The feet are one part taken out of it, and movements are the external element of being which corresponds to them. The mind is one part taken out of it, and thoughts and desires are the external element of being which corresponds to it.

6. Rising to speech through awareness, by speech one wins all names.21 Rising to the breath through awareness, by the breath one wins all smells. Rising to the eye through awareness, by the eye one wins all forms. Rising to the ear through awareness, by the ear one wins all sounds. Rising to the tongue through awareness, by the tongue one wins all tastes of food. Rising to the hands through awareness, by the hands one wins all actions. Rising to the body through awareness, by the body one wins all joy and sorrow. Rising to the loins through awareness, by the loins one wins all delight, pleasure and procreation. Rising to the feet through awareness, by the feet one wins all movements. Rising to the mind through awareness, by the mind one wins all thoughts.22

7. Without awareness, speech cannot make one aware of any name. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this name.’ Without awareness, the breath cannot make one aware of any smell. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this smell.’ Without awareness, the eye cannot make one aware of any form. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this form.’ Without awareness, the ear cannot make one aware of any sound. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this sound.’ Without awareness, the tongue cannot make one aware of any taste of food. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this taste of food.’ Without awareness, the hands cannot make one aware of any action. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this action.’23 Without awareness, the body cannot make one aware of any joy or sorrow. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this joy or sorrow.’ Without awareness, the loins cannot make one aware of any delight, pleasure or procreation. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this delight, pleasure or procreation.’ Without awareness, the feet cannot make one aware of any movement. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this movement.’ Without awareness, thought cannot be effective, or be aware of that of which it should be aware.

8. One should not seek to know speech: one should know the Speaker. One should not seek to know smell: one should know the

smeller. One should not seek to know form: one should know the seer.24 One should not seek to know sound: one should know the hearer. One should not seek to know the taste of food: one should know the knower of the taste of food. One should not seek to know action: one should know the doer. One should not seek to know joy and sorrow: one should know the knower of joy and sorrow. One should not seek to know delight, pleasure or procreation: one should know the knower of delight, pleasure and procreation. One should not seek to know movement: one should know the mover. One should not seek to know mind: one should know the thinker.

Those are the ten elements of being in relation to awareness. There are ten elements of awareness in relation to being. For if there were no elements of being there would be no elements of awareness, and if there were no elements of awareness there would be no elements of being, since form cannot be realized from either one of them alone.

It is not various. Just as the rim is fixed to the spokes of a chariot-wheel, and the spokes are fixed to the hub, the elements of being are fixed to the elements of awareness, and the elements of awareness are fixed to the elements of being. Breath is the self of awareness, delight, unageing, immortal.

It does not grow greater by right action or less by wrong action. The one that it wishes to lead up out of these worlds it impels to right action, and the one it wishes to lead down it impels to wrong action. It is the guardian of the world, the overlord of the world, the ruler of the world.25 One should know: it is my self. One should know: it is my self.

BOOK IV

1. OṂ. Gāṛgya Bālāki was famed as being learned, since he had lived among the Uśīnaras, among the Matsyas, among the Kurus and Pañcālas, and among the Kāśis and Videhas. He approached Ajātaśatru of Kāśī and said to him, ‘I must teach you about brahman.’1

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘We will give you a thousand cows.’ He thought, ‘On such a teaching, people will run crying, “A Janaka, a Janaka!” ’

2. In the sun, the great; in the moon, food; in lightning, truth; in thunder, sound; in the air, Indra Vaikuṇṭha; in Space, the full; in fire, the courageous; in the waters, brightness: so much regarding deities. Regarding oneself: in the mirror, likeness; in the shadow, the companion; in the echo, life; in sound, death; in sleep, Yama; in the body, Prajāpati; in the right eye, the self of Speech; in the left eye, the self of truth.2

3. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the sun.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship him as the topmost, the great one dressed in white, the head of all beings. Whoever worships him as such becomes the topmost, the head of all beings.’

4. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the moon.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship him as King Soma,3 the self of food. Whoever worships him as such becomes the self of food.’

5. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the lightning.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship him as the self of truth. Whoever worships him as such becomes the self of truth.’4

6. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the thunder.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship him as the self of sound. Whoever worships him as such becomes the self of sound.’

7. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the air.’5

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship him as Indra Vaikuṇṭha, the unvanquished army. Whoever worships him as such becomes victorious, unvanquished, a conqueror of foes.’

8. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in space.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as the full, the unmoving. Whoever worships him as such is filled

with offspring, with animals,6 with fame, with the radiance of

brahman, with the heavenly world: he attains his full lifespan.'

9. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in fire.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as the courageous. Whoever worships him as such becomes

courageous among others.’7

10. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the waters.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as the self of brightness. Whoever worships him as such becomes

the self of brightness.’8

So much regarding deities. Now regarding oneself:

11. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the mirror.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as likeness. For, whoever worships him as such, likeness is born in

his offspring, not unlikeness.’

12. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the shadow.’9

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as the companion who never leaves us. Whoever worships him as

such gets offspring from a companion and has a companion.’10

13. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the echo.’11

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as life.12 Whoever worships him as such does not fall into

unconsciousness before his time.’

14. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in sound.’13

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as death. Whoever worships him as such does not pass away

before his time.’14

15. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who, asleep, moves about in

dream.’15

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as King Yama. For, whoever worships him as such, all this is

controlled (yam-) for his betterment.’

16. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the body.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as Prajāpati. Whoever worships him as such becomes fruitful in

offspring, in animals, in fame, in the glory of brahman, in a heavenly

world: he attains his full lifespan.’16

17. Bālāki said, ‘I worship the person who is in the right eye.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship

him as the self of speech,17 the self of fire, the self of light. Whoever

worships him as such becomes the self of all these.

18. Bālākī said, ‘I worship the person who is in the left eye.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Do not make me talk about him. I worship him as the self of truth, the self of lightning, the self of brightness. Whoever worships him as such becomes the self of all these.’

19. Then Bālākī fell silent. Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘Is that all, Bālākī?’

Bālākī said, ‘That is all.’

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘You make me talk to no purpose. I must teach you about brahman. What one needs to know, Bālākī, is who is the maker of these persons, whose work it is.’

Then Bālākī approached him, fuel in hand, and said, ‘I must come to you as your Student.’18

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘I think it contrary to the proper form19 that a Ksatriya should initiate a Brāhmana. But come, I shall make it known to you.’ He seized him by the hand and set off. They came to a person who was asleep, and Ajātaśatru called him: ‘O great King Soma, dressed in white!’ He just lay there. But then Ajātaśatru prodded him with a stick, and he got up. Ajātaśatru said to Bālākī, ‘Where did the person lie then, Bālākī? Where was he? Where has he come from?’

Bālākī did not know.

Ajātaśatru said to him, ‘As to where the person lay then, Bālākī, where he was, and where he has come from: the channels of a person,20 called hitā, Stretch from the heart to the citadel of the heart. As subtle as a hair a thousandfold divided, they exist on a subtle essence of tawny, white, black, yellow and red. When, asleep, he sees no dream, he is in those channels.

20. ‘He becomes unified in the breath. Speech enters it with all names; the eye enters it with all forms; the ear enters it with all sounds; the mind enters it with all thoughts. When he wakes up, just as sparks from a burning fire might scatter in all directions, the breaths scatter from the self, each to its proper place; the gods from the breaths, the worlds from the gods. The breath, the self of awareness, enters the self that is the body right to the hairs and the nails.21 Like a razor hidden in a razor-case, or a scorpion in a scorpion’s nest,22 the breath, the self of awareness, enters the self that is the body right to the hairs and the nails. These selves depend on that self just as his people receive benefit from a chief. Just as a chief receives benefit from his people or his people receive benefit from a chief, these selves receive benefit from that self.’

As long as Indra did not understand the self, the demons used to

overcome him. When he understood it, slaying and conquering the

demons he encompassed chiefship, sovereignty and overlordship over

all gods and all beings. Likewise, knowing this, defeating all evils, one

encompasses chiefship, sovereignty and overlordship over all beings -

the one who knows this: the one who knows this.

I will speak law (ṛta): I will speak truth.

My Speech Stands firm on mind: My mind Stands firm on speech.

May you appear, appear as a youth.

By knowledge that nall has held the law in place.

Do me no harm.

With this study I hold days and nights together.

Homage to Agni with the libation.

With the libation homage to the ṛsis,