Aruni (Aruneyi)
Upanishad
Om ! Let my limbs and speech, Prana, eyes,
ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishads.
May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishads be in me,
Who am devoted to the Atman; may they reside in me.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
1. Om. Aruna’s son went to the sphere of Brahma, the Creator, and
reaching there said, “Lord, in what way can I relinquish work altogether
?” Brahma said to him: You must give up your sons, brothers, friends,
and the rest, your hair-tuft and the holy thread, your sacrifices and
books regulating them, your scriptures; must give up the (seven upper)
spheres entitled Bhur, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Jana, Tapas, and Satya, and
the (seven nether) spheres, viz., Atala, Patala, Vitala, Sutala,
Rasatala, Talatala and Mahatala, together with the (whole) universe; and
must take on the staff and the scanty clothing of the Sannyasin; you
must renounce everything else, aye, everything else.
2. The householder, or the Brahmachari, or the Vanaprashta should commit
the fires that lead to the different spheres to the fire that is in the
stomach, and consign the sacred Mantra, Gayatri, to the fire that is in
his own speech, should throw the holy thread on the ground or into
water. The Kutichara living a Brahmachari’s life should give up his
relatives, and discard his begging bowl, and the straining-cloth, should
give up his triple staves, and the fires that lead to particular
spheres. (So said Prajapati). Henceforward he should behave like one who
has got no Mantra to repeat, should give up the desire to go to the
higher spheres, bathe at the beginning of the three meeting-points of
the day, viz., morning, noon, and evening, should effect a union with
his Atman through the highest concentration, and from amongst the (whole
range of the) Vedas should repeat only the Aranyakas, only the
Upanishads, aye, nothing but the Upanishads.
3. Verily I am Brahman, the Sutra; the Sutra is Brahman for It
originates (the cosmos); I myself am the sutra because I am a man of
realisation – the wise one who has realised this should give up his
triple holy thread. “I have renounced, I have renounced, I have
renounced” – uttering this thrice he should declare – “From me there is
no fear (in word, thought, or deed) to any being, for from me everything
has proceeded”. Uttering the Mantra – “That art my friend, so protect me
(from cows, serpents, etc.), thou art strength and my friend, in all
seen and unseen danger thou art the Thunder of the Lord of the
Universe”, etc., he should hold up high the bamboo staff and put on the
loin-cloth. He should take food as if it were medicine, aye, as if it
were medicine. Carefully guard (oh, ye all who are concerned) your
chastity (in thought, word and deed), non-injury, non-acceptance of
(superfluous) gifts, non-thieving and truthfulness – guard them by all
means, aye, do guard !
4. Now then the duties of the highest class of itinerant monks – the
Paramahamsa Parivrajakas (are as follows): They must sit and lie down on
the ground. Those having already taken the vow of chastity etc., should
use an earthen bowl or one made of gourd, or a wooden bowl; they should
give up lust anger, avarice, infatuation, ostentation, haughtiness,
jealousy, attachment to objects, egotism, falsehood and the like. The
Sannyasin should stay at one place during the four months of the rainy
season and during the remaining eight months wander alone, or with a
single companion, aye, a single companion.
5. Verily one who has realised the (true) import of the Vedas may give
up those things (previously enumerated) after the investiture with the
holy thread, or he may do so even before that ceremony – (give up) his
father, son, his sacrificial fires, and the holy thread, his works, his
wife and all else that he may possess. Sannyasins enter a village for
begging purposes only, with their palms or their stomach as the
receptacle for food. Uttering “Om” “Om” “Om”, they should mentally place
this Mantra, the Upanishad, in the different parts of their body. He who
realises the Truth in this manner is really the wise one. He who knows
this (and is a Brahmachari taking on the monastic vow) should give up
the staff made of the wood of the Palasha (Dhak), Bilva (Marmelos), or
Audumbara (Fig) trees, his skin and girdle and the holy thread, etc.,
and thus be a hero. “That supreme state of the all-pervading Deity the
sages realise for all time like the eye pervading from one end of the
sky to the other.” “Sages purged of all impurities like anger etc., who
have awakened from the sleep (of ignorance), kindle that Truth (in the
minds of the enquirers), that supreme state of the all-pervading Deity.”
Such indeed is the injunction of the scriptures leading to liberation –
the injunction of the Vedas, aye, of the Vedas.
Om ! Let my limbs and speech, Prana, eyes, ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishads.
May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishads be in me,
Who am devoted to the Atman; may they reside in me.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
Here ends the Arunyupanishad, included in the Sama-Veda.
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