Maha
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 !
I-1-4. Then we shall expound the Mahopanishad. They say Narayana was
alone. There were not Brahma, Shiva, Waters, Fire and Soma, Heaven and
Earth, Stars, Sun and Moon. He could not be happy.
From the (desire of) the Paramatman, the Yajnastoma (hymn known as
Avyakta) is said to have arisen.
I-5-6. In it arose fourteen Purushas (Brahman, Vishnu, Rudra, Isana,
Sadashiva and nine Prajapatis like Daksha), one maiden (Mula-Prakriti),
the ten organs (five of perception and five of action), Mind as the
eleventh, bright intellect as the 12th, ego as the 13th, Prana as 14th,
Atma as 15th, Buddhi, Kama, Karma and Tamas, five Tanmatras, along with
gross elements and the Being was the 25th (Sutratman).
Employing him in creation, the supreme Being remained detached. From him
do all things come into being.
I-7. Again, Narayana, desiring something else, thought. From his
forehead a person arose with three eyes and a trident, having glory,
fame, truth, celibacy, austerity, detachment, mind, lordship, seven
Vyahritis (Bhur etc.,) along with Pranava, Rik and other Vedas, all
metres is his body – so, he is the great Lord.
I-8-9. Then again, desiring something else, he thought – From his
forehead, sweat fell and became the wide waters: from it a bright golden
egg – in it was born the four-headed Brahma facing east. Narayana became
the Vyahriti, Bhur, the chandas Gayatri, the Rig-Veda and the deity,
Agni. Facing west he became Bhuvar, the chandas Tristubh, the Yajur-Veda
and deity, Vayu. Facing north, he became Vyahriti Suvar, Jagati-chandas,
Sama-Veda and the deity Surya. Facing south he became Mahar, chandas
Anustubh, Atharva-Veda and Soma.
I-10-13. (Meditate upon) the god of a thousand heads and eyes, source of
cosmic well-being, beyond all, eternal Narayana – the universe subsists
in Him. Like a lotus calyx, the human heart hangs down, dripping drops
of cold water for sustaining life. In its midst is a great flame, facing
everywhere, subtle and facing upwards; the great being is present – He
is Brahma, Shiva, Indra, undying and self-shining.
II-1-11. Suka, of great lustre, devoted to Natural Bliss, the prince of
sages, realised Truth even at birth (without instruction). So also a
person may get certain knowledge of the self by himself by long
self-analysis. (This is because) the self is beyond description, un-realisable
(by worldly means) by the mind and the sense organs; Pure Bliss, atomic,
subtler then even ether. The millions of particles undergo generation,
subsistence and dissolution inside the supreme Being by rotation of the
power.
The supreme being is Ether because there is nothing outside it and yet
not the ether, because it is all pure consciousness – it is nothing
which can be pointed out (specified such and such) as a thing, reality
etc.
He is conscious, being lustrous, yet like rock, because he cannot be
(normally) known; causing the picture-like awakening (existence) of the
world in himself, the pure ether.
This cosmos is only the manifestation of that being; there is nothing
other than that; the differences in the universe are also his
manifestation.
Present everywhere, connected with every thing, yet He does not move as
there is nowhere to go; He does not exist as there is nowhere
(substratum) to exist, yet exists because he is Existence by nature.
Brahman is knowledge, Bliss and the resort (source) of the giver of
Jivanmukti. Giving up of all mental desires is the way (to that
knowledge). The wise say that the understanding of that Being is the
absence of worldly conceptions. The dissolution and creation of the
universe are due to the contraction and expansion, respectively, of the
Power.
The basis of Vedantic statements, yet beyond words, It is ‘I Reality,
knowledge, bliss and nothing else’.
II-12-13. Suka knew all this by his own subtle intellect; then remained
with his mind ceaselessly rapt in it.
He did not have the conception that the Atman is real; his mind simply
turned away from worldly temptations, the many (material) worldly
enjoyments which break very much, like the satisfied Chataka bird from
torrent water.
II-14-37. (He knew all but out of respect for tradition, passed at this
stage).
Once Suka of pure knowledge asked with devotion, of his father Vyasa,
the seer seated alone at Meru mountain, ‘O Seer, how did this elaborate
(pomp of) worldly life arise, how does this become dissolved, how much
and when ?’
Being thus asked, Vyasa instructed everything to his son.
Having already known all this, Suka did not value the verbal statement.
Sage Vyasa, knowing the son’s thought said, ‘I do not know the truth;
you can know all from Janaka, the king of Mithila who knows it
correctly. Being told this, Suka went from there, to the earth and the
city of Videha, ruled by Janaka.
He was announced to Janaka by the ushers ‘O King, Suka, the son of Vyasa,
waits at the entrance’. Desiring of knowing Suka, Janaka said ‘Let him
wait’ and tarried for seven days. Then he permitted him into the court
and Janaka regaled Suka with women and other luxuries. They did not
attract Suka, just as gentle breeze cannot shake a mountain. He simply
remained pure, like the full moon, equable, silent and composed. Janaka
looked at him and bowed knowing his nature. He said ‘You have (adjured)
all worldly actions and for all your desires, what (more) do you desire
? Suka replied ‘this grandiose world – how did this arise and how
dissolved ? Janaka narrated all correctly – the same as was spoken by
father Vyasa.
‘I myself knew this already; the same was told to me by my father; also
by you, most eloquent speaker; this is also the matter seen in the
Shastras. The mass of mental fancies dies away by the death of the
fancies; worldly life is also buried away – this is certain. So
great-armed Janaka, pray tell me the truth, firmly – the world gets
peace for the reeling mind from you’.
(Janaka) replied): ‘O Suka, listen to what I speak, the details of
knowledge, the essence of wisdom, by knowing which one can get the
status of Liberation in life’.
II-38-41. When there is generated a wiping away of visible phenomena by
the mind realizing that there is no (real) visible object, then arises
the great joy of Nirvana (Extinction – Liberation).
The best, total adjuration of mental impressions (tendencies) is said by
the good (people) to be liberation – it is a pure procedure (whereas)
those people whose tendencies are (not given up but) purified, not
subject to the danger of re-birth – these wise ones are said to be the
enlightened, Liberated-in-life. Strong (intense) brooding over objects
is said to be bondage; its thinning out is, Oh Brahman, liberation.
II-42-62. He is said to be ‘Liberated while living’ who has lost taste
for enjoyment by means of penance etc., and no other cause.
Who does not rejoice, nor languish, being detached when joy and grief
befall (him) according to time (destiny);
n Who is untouched in the mind, by exaltation, anger, fear, lust and
meanness;
n Who gives up (as if) playfully, the egotist tendency and remains
giving up brooding;
n Who is free from desire and non-desire as he is introvert and behaves
as in deep sleep;
n Who is seated delighting in the spirit, replete, pure in mind having
got excellent repose and desires nothing in the material world and lives
without unction;
n Who is un-smeared in the region of the heart with (objects of)
knowledge and whose consciousness is not inert;
n Who performs without expectation, likes and dislikes (actions) (acts
of) joy and grief, virtue and vice, success and failure;
n Who is silent, egoless, prideless, avoiding jealousy and does actions
without agitation;
n Who exists like a detached onlooker and functions without attachment
and desire everywhere;
n Who has given up internally all of Dharma and Adharma, thought and
desire;
n Who has given up fully the (worldly) view;
n Who eats with equal detachment what is bitter, sour, salty,
astringent, seasoned and unseasoned;
n Who has given up Dharma and Adharma, joy and grief, death and birth;
n Who, free from tension and joy, does not get depressed or elated, with
a pure intellect;
n Who has given up all desires, all doubts, all conation, all rigid
thoughts;
n Who is equal towards birth, existence and death, rise and fall.
n Who does not dislike or hanker after anything and enjoys incidental
pleasure.
n Whose thought of worldly life has quietened down, who has aspects and
yet is aspect-less, having mind – yet mindless.
n Who is active towards all objects, yet is desireless as if they are
alien objects, is full in spirit.
II-63-69. He gives up the state of Jivanmukta when this body is
consigned to time (death) and enters the state of Adehamukta (liberated
without body), like wind which does not move.
Such a person does not rise or set, is neither real nor unreal, nor is
he far away, nor ‘I’ nor ‘another’. Other, than him, there is no lustres
nor darkness which is steady and profound, ineffable and unmanifest. Not
empty vacuum, not having form, neither visible nor vision; nor a mass of
creations but existing infinitely.
Undesignated in nature, fuller than the fullest, neither real nor
unreal, neither being nor coming into being, pure consciousness; not the
Chaitya (world created by mind), endless, ageless, auspicious, having no
beginning, middle or end, having no ailment in mind or body. That which
is considered as the vision amidst the seer, seeing and object of
seeing. O sage, there is surely nothing beyond this.
II-70-73. It is known by yourself as well as heard from a preceptor: –
one is bound by one’s own fancy and released by being rid of it –
detachment towards enjoyment of all visible (external) objects has
arisen (in you); all that is to be got has been got by you with a
perfect mind; you feel (erred) in regard to your own nature but now
being liberated, give up error; you see that you are Brahman itself
beyond what is external and internal – you see but you do not see; you
are the sole and perfect onlooker (un-involved).
II-74-77. Suka, reposed silently (passively) in the Supreme Being in the
own normal state, devoid of grief, fear and strain. Then he went to the
peak of Meru mountain, unimpeded, for trance. There, for thousands of
years he remained in ‘unqualified trance’ and attained rest in himself,
like a flame without oil.
Purified of the blemish of manifold thought, in the pristine and pure
condition, he became one, with all (worldly) tendencies melting away
like water-drop in the ocean.
III-1-15. A lad, Nidagha, prince of seers and enlightened, permitted by
his father to go on a pilgrimage, had ablution in three and a half
Crores of sacred places, then told Ribhu about himself. ‘After bathing
in so many places an enquiry (question) has arisen there in my mind:
The world is born only to die and dies only to be reborn – all the
actions of the moving and unmoving things are ephemeral; Things such are
sources of splendour are sinful and give place to all calamities;
unconnected with each other, like iron-stakes, they come together, only
by mental fancy. I have lost taste in various things, like a traveller
in deserts my mind is tormented as to how this suffering will die down;
riches please me not but give only cycles of worries just as houses with
children and women cause danger.
This (material) glory in the world is delicate, cause only delusion,
does not give happiness. Life is unsteady like a drop of water hanging
on to the top of a tender leaf; like an insane person it goes away,
leaving the body suddenly. Life causes strain to those whose mind is
shattered by contact with the poison from the snake of worldly objects
and who lack mature discrimination of the self.
It is (possible) reasonable to envelop wind and to cut into (empty)
space, to string together watery waves but not give up attachment to
(worldly) life.
(In contrast) by attaining Brahman, what is to be got is got, which
causes no grief; it is the place of highest joy.
Even trees live, so do animals and birds – only he (really) lives, whose
mind is sustained by contemplation; the others who have no (spiritual)
rebirth are only old donkeys.
Shastra is a burden to one who lacks (spiritual) discrimination,
knowledge is a burden to one attached (to life); mind is a burden to one
without security, body is a burden to one ignorant of the self.
II-16-26. From ego does danger arise, so do bad mental ailments and
desire – there is no enemy more dangerous than Ego; whatever in the
moving and unmoving world was enjoyed by Ego – all that is unreal; only
freedom from Ego is real. The mind runs hither and tither, in vain and
with zeal, like a dog in the village. O Brahman, I have been made inert
by the pursuit of thirst and eaten by my mind as by a dog.
Containment of the mind is impossible even by drinking up the ocean
uprooting Meru and eating fire. Mind is the cause of objects; when it
exists, the three worlds exist; when it does not, so do they, so it
should be cured with effort.
Whatever wealth of merit I acquire, that Thirst cuts down, like a mouse
cutting a string. Thirst is a fickle monkey – it sets foot in impassable
places, hankers after fruits even when filled with them; never rests
long in a place.
Throat is a bee in the lotus-heart. One moment, it goes to Patala;
another, the sky; and another, it hovers in the bush of space; of all
the griefs of worldly life, only thirst gives the longest grief; a
person (well-guarded) in the harem it involves in great trouble.
Abandonment of brooding is the (preventive) chant for the cholera of
Thirst.
II-27-38. There is nothing as pitiable as the body, low and meritless;
it exults over a little and suffers over a little. The body is the great
abode of the house-holder i.e. the Ego. Let it roll about or be steady –
what is it to me, O Preceptor !
This body pleases me not – the senses (animals) are bound by six ropes
(vices) – in its yard, Ego leaps about, it is crowded with the servants
– the mind. It is frightening with the entrance held by the monkey
(tongue) – in it are seen the (bared) teeth and bones. Tell me, what is
attractive in the body which is made of blood and flesh, in and out, and
which is only to perish – let him trust the body, who sees steadiness in
lightnings, autumn clouds, and cities in the sky (illusions). Childhood
is the abode of fear from the teacher, mother, father, other people and
older children.
One is overwhelmed by the goblin of lust which exists in the cave of
one’s mind and causes many delusions. Slaves, sons, women, relatives and
friends laugh at a man shaken by old age as at a mad man. Desire is full
of the defect of helplessness, grows long in old age, the sole friend of
all danger and confuse foment is the heart.
The attribution of happiness to worldly life – even this is cut by time
like grass by a rat. Time tries to possess selfishly (every thing from)
grass and dust (to) Indra and gold, which is the dust of Meru – destroys
all and all the three worlds are occupied by it.
III-39-48. What is auspicious about woman – a puppet of flesh – moved by
a machine in the cage of the body – having nerves, bones and knots ?
Why are you deluded; separate the skin, flesh, blood and tears and then
look at the body. Is it attractive ?
The pearl necklace on the breast is like the current of Ganga on Meru
(fleeting and ephemeral) – the same breast is eaten by dogs at the due
time like a lump of food, in the cemetery and corners of the directions.
Women are the flame of sin, have the soot of hair, pleasing to the eye
but not to be touched; they burn man like grass.
Women are the fuel lovely, yet harmful, of the fires of all blazing at a
distance whether they have taste (attachment) or not.
Women are the traps to catch the birds – men, spread by the hunter,
Manmatha, the lump of bait, the string of wickedness to men who are the
fish in the pond of birth (life) and moving in the mud of mind.
I will have none of this woman who is the basket of all defects – gems –
the chain of misery. Only he with a woman has desire for enjoyment;
where is enjoyment for one who has no woman ? Giving up women means
giving up the world; by this one shall be happy.
III-49-54. Even the Quarters (like North) are not seen, regions give
other (wrong) instruction; even the oceans and the stars dry up, even
the permanent becomes impermanent, even Yogins (Siddhas) perish, demons
and others decay; Brahma is reduced (to nothing), the unborn Vishnu too;
Shiva becomes non-existent, the lords of the quarters decay. Brahma,
Vishnu, Rudra and all classes of creatures run towards destruction, like
water-streams towards the marine fire. Dangers come for a moment, so
does wealth; birth and death are only for a moment – everything dies.
The brave ones are killed by those not brave – a hundred are killed by
one. Poison changes its scope (effect) – poison is not poison !
III-55-57. Objects (of the world) destroy (only) one more birth, poison
destroys life only once; it is time my mind is burnt in the forest fire
of defects. Desires for enjoyment do not flash even in the illusory
fatamorgana; so, oh preceptor, waken me quickly with the knowledge of
truth. If you do not, I shall take to silence, without pride and
jealousy, contemplating Vishnu with the mind like one turned into a
painting.
IV-1-24. Nidagha, there is nothing else to be known by you, you are the
best of the of the enlightened – you know by your intellect, with God’s
grace – I shall wipe away the error caused by the impurity of the mind:
Control of inner and outer senses, enquiry, contentment and the fourth,
contact with good people – resort to one at least of these giving up
everything, with all effort – when one is achieved, the others also are
achieved.
One shall develop wisdom only at first; first liberation from worldly
life, by means of scripture, contact with good people, penance and
self-control. One’s own experience (of the self), Shastra and the
preceptor form one statement (they yield a single purpose) by practising
(the teachings of) which the self is ever looked at (realized).
If you do (achieve) every moment, the avoidance of the sustained fancy
and desire, then you will have reached the sacred, mindless state.
Samadhi is said to be the freedom of the mind from agency (activity).
That itself is oneness, that is the highest and auspicious joy.
You should remain, like a dumb, blind and deaf person, giving up with
your mind, the thought of all things as the self.
The vision got through words of (Vedanta) that you are composed, unborn,
beginningless and endless, shining, taste (bliss) alone, devoid of
symptoms of mind – all this is for the (lower) knowledge and wasteful –
only Om is real.
All the visible things in the world are nothing more than the
consciousness without vibration – contemplate this.
Or, with mind ever enlightened and performing worldly functions, you
remain knowing the oneness of the self, like the calm ocean.
Only the knowledge of Truth is the fire to the grass of mental
impressions – this is said to be Samadhi, not mere silence.
Just as the world is active when the much desired sun has arisen (Mani –
gem of the day, the sun), so also do the creatures of the world, when
the supreme reality is present. So, oh sage, the agentship and non-agentship
in the self arise: -- the spirit is a non-agent when there is no desire
– an agent by his mere presence.
These two exist in the Supreme Being – agency and non-agency – Resort to
it firmly which is the (ultimate) cause of the two. So, by the thoughts,
well kindled, that I am always a non-agent, the remains only the state
of equality called the supreme immortality.
Listen, O Nidagha, there are born in the world, men of noble qualities
in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, ever in the ascendant and happy like
(autumnal) moons in the sky; not depressed during danger, like a gold
lotus at night, nor aspiring beyond what is destined, delighting in the
path of the good people. They shine through this firm (personality) with
merits in the friendship; even-minded and reconciled, pleasing, ever
good in conduct. They are within limits like the ocean, placid in mind,
do not give up discipline, like the sun.
A wise person should enquire fully ‘What am I ? How did this blemish of
Samsara develop ?’ One should not take to wrong deeds nor live with a
low person. Death, the killer of all, should not be looked up in
mockery. One should look only at the pure consciousness, avoiding the
body, the bone, flesh and blood which are inauspicious, the
consciousness being the string that holds together all the creatures
like a necklace. Pursuing what is acceptable and avoiding totally what
is not – this is the (proper) nature (attitude) of the mind. The seer
shall be rid of grief knowing that he is Brahman with his own
realization by the path prescribed by the preceptor.
IV-25. Enlightenment arises in the state of detachment wherein the fall
of a hundred sharp swords is borne like strokes with lilies, burning
with fire like drenching with snow, charcoal like sandalwood, endless
fall of arrows like a fall of cool water to relieve summer heat, cutting
one’s own head like happy sleep, the deprivation of speech like silence,
deafness like a blessing.
IV-26-27. The self as always observed by the practice of realization
which arises from the instruction of the preceptor. Just as the
directions once again as before the delusion, so the world – delusion
goes away destroyed by knowledge – consider this.
IV-28. Riches do not help, nor friends nor kinsmen, nor the strain of
the body, nor resorting to sacred waters and temples, but only through
the conquest of the mind is that condition reached.
IV-29-38. All the miseries, hankerings, unbearable mental pain are lost
in people with a calm mind, like darkness in the sun. All creatures
subside (attain calmness) in a serene person like children mischievous
or soft, in their mother.
Not by drinking elixirs, nor by the embrace of wealth does a person get
so much joy as by inner peace.
He is said to be a serene person, who does not exult or feel depressed
on hearing, touching, eating, seeing and knowing the good or the bad.
Whose mind is not agitated, clear like the moon’s disc, in death,
festival as well as in battle.
Only the serene person shines among ascetics, knowers, sacrificers,
kings, men of strength and of virtue.
The calm persons are great who have attained contentment with the drink
of Amrita and delight in the self.
He is the contented one who gives up (longing for) what is not got and
is even towards what is got, not seeing (i.e. ignoring) grief and joy,
who does not admire what is not got, enjoys according to desire what is
(actually) got and is benign in his conduct.
Liberation while alive arises when the thought delights in what is got,
like a good woman in a harem and this gives the joy of the spirit’s own
nature.
IV-39-43. The wise person should reflect about the path to liberation,
every moment, in the manner of the Shastras, according to the place,
convenience and contact with good people, until he achieves repose in
the spirit. A person having repose in the fourth state (liberation) and
released from the ocean of worldly life, whether he lives or not, be he
house-holder or recluse, has no purpose (meaning) in what is done or not
done, nor by the delusion of Veda and Smriti; he remains in his pristine
condition like the ocean without being churned by the mountain (he is in
a transcendental state).
When there arises the pure realization of all as the spirit, then shines
the ‘body’ in the form of the consciousness, beyond origin, space and
time.
IV-44-49. The visible cosmos of un-moving and moving things melts away
like dream in a (dreamless) sleep. The wise people have attributed, for
empirical purposes, names for the supreme Being, such as, Rita Atma,
Para Brahma, Truth etc. Just as armlets etc., are only words and
meanings, not different from gold, so also is the magical illusion of
the cosmos extended by the supreme being.
The perceived being inside the visible world is called bondage, in the
absence (dissolution) of the visible, he is realized. What is called the
visible is the projection like, ‘The universe is you, and I’. The
illusion of the world is spread only by the mind – as long as it
happens, this is no liberation.
IV-50-57. The cosmos is spread (generated) through the mind by the
self-born supreme being. So the visible cosmos is mental in nature.
There is no real mind; it is only the flash of things. Know the mind to
be only ideation. Understand that where there is ideation there is Mind.
Mind and ideation are never different – when the mass of ideations slips
away only the (pristine) nature remains.
When the excitement of the visible, viz., ‘I and you are the cosmos’
dies down, only the sole condition (pristineness) remains. At the
achievement of the great dissolution, when all the visible creation
etc., become (i.e. known to be) non-existent, only tranquillity remains.
There exists the unborn, divine un-ailing, shining being, the unsetting
sun, forever, the maker of all, declared to be the supreme self. From
whom words turn away (un-reaching), who is realized (only) by the
liberated person, whose names like (individual) selves are assumed, not
natural.
IV-58-63. O great sage, of the three kinds of ether (space) namely the
mental, spiritual and gross, know the spiritual one to be (emptier)
subtler than the other two. When the perception passes from one place to
another, the interval is to be known as the spiritual region in a moment
when you reach the stage where all ideations are rejected, then surely
you will reach the state of All Quiet.
That condition (state) is Samadhi which excludes bliss and contains the
essence of detachment of Nobility and Beauty – when joy arises strongly
by the realization of the falseness of the visible world and like and
dislike thin away.
This realization is indeed the knowledge and its object, spiritual in
nature – only that is the sole state – all else is false.
Iv-64-69. Nidagha, know the world to be an illusion, Airavata in rut is
confined to a corner of a mustard, a mosquito fights with groups of
lions inside an atom, Meru put inside a lotus is pat out by a bee.
Only the mind made impure by involvement etc., is worldly life. The same
mind is said to be the end of (worldly) existence when freed from them.
An embodied being attained that condition being brooded over by the mind
– freed from bodily tendencies, it (he) is not smeared (affected) by the
body’s attributes.
I am that (the mind) which turns an aeon into a moment and vice versa.
One cannot attain (realize) (truth) without desisting from bad conduct,
without calmness and concentration but only through Enlightenment.
IV-70-72. One fears never (and from nothing) on knowing the nature of
the self as Bliss unequalled, attributeless and one mass of truth and
consciousness. That is beyond all that is beyond, greater than the
greatest, lustrous and eternal in nature, wise, ancient Being,
worshipped by all gods. As a rule ‘I (am) Brahman’ these two words are
for the liberation of the great. Whereas ‘Not Mine’ and ‘Mine’ give
liberation and bondage (respectively).
IV-73-75. The creation (of the world) is assumed (projected) by God
starting from the vision and ending with Entry (from Generation to
Dissolution) in the form of Jiva, Ishvara etc. The nature of the animate
and the inanimate worldly life from waking to liberation is projected by
Jiva.
Schools from the Trinachiketa to the Yoga depend on Ishvara’s illusion
(on the still lower level); from the Lokayata to Sankhya the schools
depend on Jiva’s illusion. Hence, the aspirants to liberation should not
consider these schools (being illusory) but the (essential) truth about
Brahman is to be considered with steadiness.
IV-76-82. Only one who looks upon everything in relation to
consciousness is the knower proper, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Without a
good preceptor’s grace it is hard to give up objects, to see truth and
(to realize) the pristine state. The pristine state is naturally
realized by a Yogin who has power generated in him and has given up all
(worldly) activity.
When a man perceives even a little difference (between these) then,
there will be fear for him, doubtless. A person with wisdom as the eye
sees the supreme as present everywhere – one without wisdom does not,
like a blind man, the sun.
The supreme being is knowledge alone – so a mortal becomes immortal only
by vision of Brahman. When the Great beyond is seen, the knot of the
heart snaps, all doubts are smashed and all (worldly) actions die away.
Iv-83-87. Be devoted to Samvid, with single attention, giving up the
non-spiritual attitude and unaffected by the condition of the world. In
a desert all the water (in mirages) is an illusion – only the desert is
real; (similarly) on reflection all the three worlds are nothing more
than chit.
He who remains giving up what is implied and expressed is Shiva himself,
the best of the Brahman-Knowers. That un-decaying being is the
substratum (of all), without comparison beyond words and mind, eternal,
omnipotent, omnipresent and subtle.
The mind and the world are (only) the blooming of the supreme being;
worldly life is reduced by the restraint (of the mind) and non-restraint
(of the spirit).
IV-88-106. I shall tell you the means of curing mental ills – giving up
whatever object is attractive, one attains liberation. Pity that worm of
a man who cannot do this giving up which is absolutely good and
dependent on oneself.
The auspicious path cannot be got without subduing the mind which is
giving up desires and which can be achieved by one’s own effort. When
the mind is cut by the weapon of non-projection, then is achieved
(realized) the Brahman, omnipresent and tranquil. Hold yourself,
un-excited, released from thought of worldly existence, having great
wisdom – the swallowed (controlled) mind is the place of knowledge.
Resorting to great effort, making the mind non-mind, meditating in the
heart, with the edge of the wheel of consciousness. Kill the mind
without hesitation; your (internal) enemies will not bind you.
‘I am he, this is mine’, the mind is only so much – this is cut down by
the knife of non-projection. The mind is blown away only by the wind of
non-projection, like the bank of clouds in the autumn sky. Let the winds
of deluge blow, let the oceans become one (to destroy the world), let
all the twelve suns blaze; the mind is not affected.
You remain intent upon that state of the empire of truth which can only
be non-projection and which gives all success.
Nowhere is the mind seen to be without fickleness – it is the nature of
mind, just as heat is that of fire. This power of pulsation existing as
mind – know this to be the power which is the ostentatious world. The
mind without wavering is said to be Amrita. The same is said to be
liberation in the Shastraic doctrine.
This wavering which is another name for ignorance – destroy this with
reflection. Sinless one, be free from projections (vikalpas) attaining
that position with which the mind becomes united by means of human
effort.
Hence, resorting to (human) effort, possessing (i.e. Controlling) the
mind with the mind, be form and free from anxiety, in the place without
grief. Only the mind can control the mind firmly – who can control a
king except another king ?
For those grasped by the crocodile of desire and fallen into the ocean
of worldly life and carried away (tossed about) by the whirlpools, only
the mind is the life-boat. Break the mind, with the mind, the rope,
uplift yourself from worldly life – which cannot be crossed by another.
IV-117-115. Whatever propensity called the mind arises from previous
(other) impulses, these a wise one is to avoid and from this there will
be reduction of ignorance. Give up the tendency to differentiate; giving
up the instinct for (worldly) enjoyment – then giving up both positive
and negative (tendencies), be blissful without mental projection.
The avoidance of desire towards whatever is seen is the destruction of
the mind, of ignorance. Freedom from desire is extinction (liberation),
acceptance of desire is misery.
In the un-enlightened people ignorance is seen to exist. How can it
exist in a person of sound wisdom, being accepted only in name.
Ignorance swings a person on the steep rocks of samsara, having the
thorny bushes of misery, not when ignorance dies away leading to the
desire for perception of the self, reducing delusions. When everything
is seen, this desire too melts away.
This ignorance is only desire, its destruction is said to be liberation
– this results by the destruction of projections. The intense darkness,
ignorance, is reduced when, in the sky of the mind, the night of
propensities fades away, by the sight of the sun of consciousness.
Iv-116-121. The supreme lord is the ineffable conscious principle
present every where and devoid of mental misery. All this (cosmos) is
Brahman, eternally conscious, undecaying. The other thing namely mental
projections, does not really exist.
Nothing is really born, dies in this triad of worlds, nor is there any
reality in various stages of things; only Pure Consciousness is real,
which is aloof, shining by itself common to all and free from mental
torment.
When this is ever realized as pure, untroubled, serene, calm and
unchanging, this mind realizes through reflection – the mind is called
so because of reflection.
IV-122-125. So, this thought caused by force, is destroyed by
resolution. The mind is bound strongly by the resolution ‘I am not
Brahman’; it is released by the resolve ‘I am Brahman’; it is bound by
the concept in keeping with the thought ‘I am, lean, bound by misery; I
have hands, feet etc.’ Whereas, it is released by the conviction
following the thought ‘I am not miserable, I have no body, the soul is
not bound’. One is liberated when ignorance dies away, by the internal
conviction. ‘I am not the flesh, the bones; I am beyond the body’.
IV-126-131. ‘This ignorance is due to imagination, by conceiving the
non-spirit as spirit. Resorting to great effort, with supreme resolve,
and abandoning desire at a distance, be blissful without fancy.
My son, my wealth, he is mine – such propensity leaps about by the
tangle of senses. Do not be ignorant, be wise; give up involvement is
samsara – why do you wail like an ignorant person by such attachment ?
What is this body of yours, dull, dumb, impure lump of flesh, for which
you are overpowered by worldly pleasure and pain ?
It is strange that the true Brahman is forgotten by people ! May you not
be smeared by attachment when you are active.
Strange also that mountains are bound by lotus fibre ! This universe is
perturbed by the ignorance which is non-existent ! Mere grass has become
adamant !
V-1-7. Then I shall speak truly of the seven steps of ignorance, seven
of wisdom. The stages between are countless and produced otherwise.
Liberation is existence in natural (spiritual) condition; lapse from it
is the concept of ‘I’ – attributes like desire and hate, born of
ignorance, are not for those who do not swerve from their nature as a
result of the realization of pure consciousness.
The fall from spiritual nature, the drowning of consciousness in mental
matters; there is no other delusion, now or in future, than this.
The existence in spiritual nature is said to be the destruction of
mental activity, being in the middle (unaffected), when the mind goes
from object to object. The existence-supreme in nature is remaining like
stone, all ideation dying out, free from waking and sleep.
That is one’s own (spiritual) nature which is not inert, the
non-pulsating (placid) mind, when the ego-aspect is dead.
V-8-20. Waking in seed state, (simple) waking, great waking, etc., the
seven-fold delusion -when these combine among themselves, they become
manifold; hear of its nature.
The first stage is the consciousness undesirable, pure condition, taking
the name of mind, Jiva etc., which will come into existence. Waking
existing as seed (potential) is said to be waking-in-seed – this is the
new or first condition of consciousness.
The waking state (second): after the new stage, the (subtle) concept
‘I’, ‘Mine’ arising purely – this is waking, non-existent earlier.
The great waking: the broad (gross) concept arising in a previous birth
as ‘I’ and ‘Mine’.
The Waking-Dream: The ‘kingdom’ of the mind, which has developed or not,
as identifying one’s self with these.
The dream state: it is of many kinds arising from the waking state, in
the form of two-moons, shell-silver, mirage etc. The reflection by the
awakened person ‘this was seen only a short time, it will not arise –
Because of not seeing for long, it is like the working state.’
The dream-waking state: the inert condition of Jiva, giving up the six
conditions.
The deep sleep is filled with the future misery – in which condition the
world is merged in darkness.
The seven stages have been spoken by me of ignorance – each of these has
hundreds of varieties with various splendours.
V-21-35. By knowing the seven stages of knowledge, one will not be
sub-merged in the mire of illusions. Many schools speak variously of the
stages of Yoga but only the following are acceptable to me: liberation
follows after the seven stages.
The first stage of knowledge – is auspicious desire, the second is
reflection, the third is thinning of the mind, the fourth is attainment
of Sattva, then detachment, the sixth is reflection on objects and the
seventh is of the Turiya.
Their explanation: The wise say that the auspicious desire is the desire
following detachment –meditation ‘why do I remain like a fool, being
looked upon by good people ?’
Reflection is good activity (tendency) after the practice of detachment
and contact with scriptures and good people.
Thinning of the Mind is the condition where the attachment to
sense-objects is reduced by means of auspicious desire and reflection.
Sattvapatti is the mind in the pure Sattva condition by the practice of
the above three stages.
The Asamsakti stage is the developed condition, without even a trace of
involvement, by means of the practice of the four stages.
Padarthabhavana is the sixth stage resulting from the five stages,
delighting in the spirit firmly by the non-contemplation of objects
internal and external.
The ‘Fourth’ (Transcendental) condition (here the seventh) is
concentration on one’s nature, seeing no real difference, by the long
practice of the six stages – this is the stage of Jivanmukti.
The stage ‘Beyond the Fourth’ is the stage of liberation without the
body.
V-36-40. Nidagha, those who have reached the seventh stage, delight in
the spirit – they do not drown in pleasure and pain. They do (or not do)
whatever is only relevant and minimal. They perform actions following
the past, awakened (impelled) by those nearby, like one waking from
sleep.
These seven stages can be known only by the enlightened – reaching which
condition, even animals, barbarians etc., are liberated with or without
the body surely.
Wisdom indeed is the breaking of the knot and the liberation – the dying
of the illusion of mirage.
V-41. But those who have crossed the ocean of illusion – they have
reached the high position.
V-42-43. The means of calming the mind is said to be Yoga. This is to be
known as having seven stages which lead to the status of Brahman.
V-44. There, there is no feeling of ‘you’ and ‘I’, one’s own and
another, nor the perception of existence or non-existence.
V-45. All is calm (needing) no support, existing in the ether (of the
heart), eternal, auspicious, devoid of ailment and illusion, name and
cause.
V-46. Neither existent nor-existent, nor in between, nor the negation of
all; beyond the grasp of mind and words, fuller than the fullest, more
joyful than joy.
V-47. Beyond (worldly) perception, the limit of one’s hope (horizon)
extensive, there is no existence of any thing other than pure cognition.
V-48. The body exists only when there is the relationship of the
perceiver, the perceived and the vision connecting them, whereas this
position (of liberation) is devoid of such relation (of the distinct)
Perceiver, Perception and object.
V-49. ‘In between the movement of the mind from object to object there
is the unqualified essence of intelligence. This is immaterial
perception, reflection; always identify yourself with That.
V-50. ‘Your eternal essence (is), devoid of states like wakefulness,
dream and deep sleep or Equalities like intelligence and inertness;
always identify yourself with that.
V-51. ‘Excluding that heart of stone, inertness, always identify
yourself with that which is beyond the mind. Discarding the mind in the
far distance (you see) you are that which is; be established as That.
V-52. ‘First the mind was formed from the principle of the supreme Self;
by the mind has this world, with its multitudinous details, been spread
out. Wise men ! The nihil, alluringly named, shines forth from the nihil
as the blue does from the sky.
V-53. ‘When the mind is dissolved, through the attenuation of mental
constructions, the mist of cosmic fancies will stand dissolved. The one,
infinite, unborn, pristine and pure Spirit shines forth within as the
cloudless sky in autumn.
V-54. ‘In the sky has sprung up a picture without a painter or a basis
(i.e. canvas). It has no perceiver; (it is) one’s own experience without
the medium of sleep or dream.
V-55. ‘In the conscious Self that is the witness, common, transparent
and indisputable, as a mirror, are reflected all the worlds without
willing (of any kind).
V-56. ‘For curing the mind of its fickleness, deliberately reflect that
the one Brahman is the Sky of the Spirit, the impartite Self of the
cosmos.
V-57. ‘As an immense rock, covered with main lines and sub-lines, learn
to regard the one Brahman with the three worlds superposed on It.
V-58. ‘Now it has been known that this problem world is not produced, as
there is no second entity to serve as a cause. This alluring (world) may
be looked upon as a marvel.
V-59. ‘Long agitated (as I have been, now) I am at rest; there is
nothing other than pure Spirit. Laying aside all doubts, discarding all
sense of wonder, behold !
V-60(a). ‘Repudiating all mental constructions, the principle of
mindlessness (may be seen to be) the highest status.
V-60(b). ‘(The sages), having liquidated their sins, have attained
infinitude --
V-61(a). ‘Those (sages) whose intellects are great and tranquil and who
have risen above the mind.
V-61(b)-62. ‘One who has reasoned out (the nature of things according to
the Vedanta), the modifications of whose mind (objectively induced) have
ceased, who has given up all reasoning (vis-à-vis objects), who has
dismissed the objective realm, empty of values but has seized on what
alone has eternal value, has a mind that conforms to the eternal
Reality.
V-63-66. ‘When the net of deep-seated impressions of empirical life is
split as a fowler’s net by a rat, when, due to dispassion’s power, the
knots of the heart are loosened, one’s nature as Brahman becomes crystal
clear owing to the experiential Knowledge (of Brahman) even as muddy
water treated with the Kataka-powder. Now one experiences the eternal
Witness; no longer one beholds the inert (non-Seen). While (yet) living
one is awakened to the supreme Truth that alone is to be realized. One
is totally oblivious of the ways of the world, shrouded in the thick
gloom of delusion; and due to an eminent degree of mature dispassion,
one ceases to have any relish for even the so-called delectables that
are (in fact) dry and tasteless.
V-67. ‘Like a bird from its cage, from delusions flies forth the mind
devoid of attachments, frailties, dualities and props.
V-68. ‘The mind filled with (Truth) shines like the full-moon
vanquishing all meanness born of perplexities and dismissing all
dilemmas due to (idle) curiosities.
V-69. ‘Neither I nor aught else exists here; I am but Brahman that is
Peace’ – thus perceives he who beholds the link between the existent and
the non-existent.
V-70. ‘As the mind indifferently contacts objects of the senses of
sight, etc.; when encountered by chance, so does the man of steadfast
intellect regard (courses of) action (in his daily life).
V-71. ‘Experience lived through Knowledgeably alone proves satisfactory.
The thief recognised and befriended is no longer a thief but turns out
to be a friend.
V-72. ‘As an unplanned journey to a village, when accomplished, is
treated (without) elation) by the travellers, so is the splendour of
enjoyment (that may fall to their lot) deemed by those who know.
V-73. ‘Even a little diversion of the well-controlled mind is reckoned
quite ample; no elaboration of it is sought as such (elaboration) is a
source of (future) afflictions.
V-74. A King liberated from detention is glad to eat (but) a morsel. One
unattacked and undetained hardly cares for his (entire) kingdom.
V-75. ‘Locking one arm in the other, setting one row of teeth on the
other and putting some limbs against others, conquer the mind.
V-76. ‘From this sea of empirical life there is no way out except
victory over the mind. In this vast empire of hell, hard to subdue are
one’s and adversaries – the sense-organs – who ride on the unruly
elephants, the sins, and are armed with the long arrows of cravings.
V-77. ‘In the case of one whose egoistic vigour has been attenuated and
who has vanquished his foes, the sense-organs, latent impressions,
intent on enjoyments, wear off as lotuses do in winter.
V-78. ‘Like no eternal spirits; latent impressions cut capers only as
long as the mind remains unvanquished for lack of intense cultivation of
the non-dual truth.
V-79. ‘Of the men of discrimination, the mind, I deem, is a servant as
it accomplishes what is sought; a minister as it proves the cause of all
gains; and a loyal chieftain as it regulates the assailing sense-organs.
V-80. ‘The mind of the wise, I deem, is a loving spouse as it pleases; a
protective parent as it guards and a friend as it marshals the best
(arguments)
V-81. ‘The paternal mind, well studied with the eye of the Shastras and
realized in (the light of) one’s own reason; abolishes itself in
yielding supreme perfection.
V-82. ‘Extremely perverse and inveterate (in itself), (once)
well-awakened and controlled and purged, the delightful mind-gem shines
(in one’s heart) powered by its own virtues.
V-83. ‘O Brahmin ! To win perfection be luminous after washing clean, in
the waters of discrimination, the mind-gem steeped in the mire of many
flaws.
V-84. ‘By wholly overcoming the inimical senses, resorting to sovereign
discrimination, and beholding the Truth with the intellect, cross the
sea of empirical existence.
V-85. ‘The wise know that concern, as such, is the abode of endless
pains; they also know that un-concern is the home of joys, both here and
hereafter.
V-86. ‘Bound by the cords of latent impressions this world revolves
(constituting empirical life). In manifestation, they agonise; when
obliterated they make for well-being.
V-87. ‘Though intellectual, though extremely and variously learned,
though high-born and eminent, one is bound by cravings as a lion is with
a chain.
V-88. ‘resorting to supreme personal endeavour and perseverance and
conforming to Shastraic conduct unwaveringly, who may not win perfection
?
V-89. ‘I am this entire cosmos; I am the supreme Self that lapses not.
Nothing other than me is – this vision is the supreme assertion of the
Self as ‘I’ (or, the first level of self-assertion).
V-90. ‘I transcend all; I am subtler than a hair’s tip’ – such, O
Brahmin, is the second and beneficent mode of self -assertion.
V-91. ‘This (mode) promotes liberation and not bondage. (Witness) the
case of the Liberated in-life.
V-92. ‘The conviction that I am no more than a bundle of parts like
hands, feet, etc.; is the third mode of self-assertion – it is empirical
and petty.
V-93. ‘This root of the evil tree of empirical life is wicked and must
be renounced. Smitten by this, the worldly man rapidly falls ever lower.
V-94. ‘Discarding this wicked mode of self-assertion from one’s life, in
due course, by virtue of the beneficent mode, one achieves liberation in
peace.
V-95. ‘Resorting to the first two non-worldly modes of self-assertion,
the third worldly mode that occasions pain must be renounced.
V-96. ‘Next discarding even the first two, one becomes free from all
modes of self-assertion and thus ascends to the transcendent status (of
freedom).
V-97. ‘Bondage is nothing but craving for objective enjoyment; its
renunciation is said to be liberation. Mind’s affirmation is perilous;
its negation is great good fortune. The mind of the Knower tends to
negation; the mind of the ignorant is the chain (of bondage).
V-98. ‘The (timeless) mind of the Knower is either blissful nor
blissless; neither fickle nor stirless. It neither is nor is not. Nor
does it occupy a mind position among all these – so maintain the wise.
V-99. ‘Just as, due to subtlety ether, illumined by the Spirit, is not
(objectively) perceived, so the impartite Spirit, though all perceiving,
is not observed.
V-100. ‘The imperishable Spirit, free from all imaginings and beyond
nomenclature, has been assigned designations like one’s Self, etc.
V-101-102. ‘Transparent like a hundredth part of ether, partless as
manifested in those who know, ever aware of the sole Self of all that is
pure in empirical life, this Spirit neither sets nor rises; neither
rises up nor lies (low); neither goes nor returns; it is neither present
nor absent here.
V-103. ‘This Spirit has a flawless mode (of its own), indubitable and
propless.
V-104. ‘At the very outset, purify the disciple through excellence such
as mind’s tranquillity, restraint of sense-organs, etc. Next impart to
him the teaching that all this (world) is Brahman, viz., the purified
Thou.
V-105. ‘One who teaches an ignoramus or half-awakened (disciple) that
‘all this is Brahman’ will (in effect) plunge him in an endless series
of hells.
V-106. ‘But a disciple whose intellect has been well-awakened, whose
craving for objective enjoyments has been extinguished, and who is free
from all ‘expectations’ is rid of all impurities born of nescience; the
wise teacher may instruct him.
V-107. ‘Like its effulgence where there is light, like the day where
there is the sun, like the fragrance where there is a flower, so is
there a world where there is the Spirit.
V-108. ‘When the view-point of Knowledge is purged, when (the dawn of)
awakening spreads vastly, this very world will cease to appear as real.
V-109. ‘Established in yourself, you will realize aright the strength
and weakness of the flood of my words (of instruction) – (you will
realize it) by the highest mode of nescience that spurs the effort to
wipe out the sphere of the petty Self.
V-100. ‘By it (the highest mode of nescience) is won the knowledge that
consumes all errors, O Brahmin ! One missile puts another out of action;
one flaw destroys its opposite.
V-111. ‘One poison may be neutralised by another; an enemy may destroy
another. Such is the wonderful riddle of elements that pleases through
self-destruction !
V-112. ‘The real nature of this riddle is not perceived. As it is
observed, it perishes – observed with the flaming imagination whose
content is: ‘in Truth it exists not at all’.
V-113. ‘He who cherishes with the (creative) and liberating imagination
(the thought that) all this is spirit, that the perception of difference
is nescience, should renounce this (nescience) in all possible ways.
V-114. ‘sage ! That ultimate Status which is said to be imperishable is
(in truth) not won. Twice-born sage ! Speculate not as to whence this
(nescience) has arisen.
V-115. ‘Speculate rather on: ‘how shall I destroy it ? Once it is
dissipated and dispelled you will (renunciation-)cognise that status.
V-116. ‘That integral status (includes the knowledge) ‘Whence this Maya
has come and how it has perished. Therefore try to treat (with remedies)
this abode of diseases (i.e. Maya).
V-117-118(a). ‘So that she may not subject you again to the sufferings
of birth (etc.,). ‘The sea of the Spirit shines forth in one’s Self with
its splendid inner vibrations. With certitude meditate inwardly that is
homogeneous and infinite.
V-118(b). ‘The power of the Spirit in the sea of the Spirit is a
slightly agitated state of the latter.
V-119. Like a wave in the sea, that pure Power shines forth there, just
as the wind automatically blows in the sky.
V-120. ‘In the same way, the Self in itself, by its own power, becomes
mobile. That omnipotent Deity flashes forth for a moment.
V-121. ‘Whose potencies of space, time and action are not enhanced (by
any means); who is pre-eminently established in her infinitude, being
fully conscious of her own essential nature.
V-122. Un-comprehended, She brings into being a finite form. When that
supremely enchanting Deity brings forth that (finite) form.
V-123-124(a). Other ideas (views), names, number, etc.; follow her. The
individual self (‘Knower of the field’) is the designation of this form
of the Spirit, O Brahmin; it is the basis of space, time and activity,
and its forms are rooted in manifold (mental) constructions.
V-124(b). ‘He (‘the Knower of the field’) generating latent impressions,
again, assumes the form of egoism.
V-125. ‘The tainted egoism, as determiner, is called intellect, which,
imagining forms, becomes the base for cogitation (or mind).
V-126. ‘With its profuse imaginings the mind slowly is (transmuted into)
sense-organs. The wise deem the body with its hands and feet (nothing
but) the senses.
V-127. ‘Thus, indeed, in stages descends the Jiva, bound by the cords of
imaginings and impressions, and encompassed by a multitude of
sufferings.
V-128. ‘The potent Spirit, thus degenerating into dense egoism, passes
voluntarily into bondage as a silk-worm in its cocoon.
V-129. ‘And, like a lion in chains, becomes totally dependent finding
itself within a net of its own imaginings and nothing more.
V-130. ‘Sometimes (it operates as) mind, sometimes as intellect;
sometimes as cognition; sometimes as (pure) action. Sometimes it is
egoism and sometimes it is held to be what is thought.
V-131. ‘Sometimes it is called Prakriti and sometimes it is held to be
Maya. Sometimes it is designated a ‘flaw’ and sometimes referred to as
‘action’.
V-132. ‘Sometimes it is proclaimed as bondage and sometimes accounted
the ‘eight-fold case’. Sometimes it is said to be avidya and sometimes
it is identified with ‘desire’.
V-133. ‘Bearing within itself, as its seeds the fig-tree, this entire
empirical sphere that fashions the cords of cravings, the Jiva is verily
a tree sans fruits.
V-134-135(a). O Brahmin ! Like an elephant stuck in the morass, is the
mind consumed in the flames of worries, crushed by the python of rage,
attached to the waves of the sea of lust, and oblivious of its own grand
progenitor (the Spirit): -- rescue it.
V-135(b)-136. ‘Thus are the Jivas (living beings) phases of the Spirit
and established through bringing the empirical sphere into being. Their
forms, in lakhs and Crores, have been assigned by Brahma. Numberless (Jivas)
were born in the past and even now are being brought forth on all sides.
V-137. ‘Others also will be born like multitudes of water-drops from a
water-fall. Some of them are in their first birth; others have (already)
had more than a hundred births.
V-138. ‘Yet others have (already) had countless births. Some will have
two or more births, besides. Some are born as sub-human and super-human
beings, gifted with music and Knowledge; some as mighty reptiles.
V-139. ‘Some of (these living beings) are (to be identified with) the
sun, the moon and the lord of waters; others with Shiva, Vishnu and
Brahma. Some divided themselves as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas,
Sudras.
V-140. ‘Others with grass, herbs, trees, with their fruits, roots and
winged insects. Jivas are (also to be identified with) trees like the
Kadamba, the Jambira, the Sama, Tala and Tamala.
V-141. ‘And with mounts like Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Mandara and Meru;
and with the seas of salt water, milk, ghee and sugarcane-juice.
V-142. ‘And with the vast quarters, and fast-running rivers; some of
these sport high above (the earth); some descend and again fly upwards.
V-143-144(a). ‘Hit ceaselessly by death, as though they are balls hit by
the hands, these Jivas are ceaselessly struck down by death as balls are
by the hand. Having undergone thousands of births, again, some unwise
ones despite (a degree of) discrimination, fall into the turmoils of
worldly life.
V-144(b)-145. ‘The principle of the Self, undetermined by space, time,
etc.; by virtue of Its power, just sportively assumes a body spatial and
temporal. Possessed of innate tendencies (to manifest) various orders of
living beings, Itself is the supreme (Lord and Creator) that becomes the
mind, that is unstable and inclined to construction and dissolution.
V-146-148(a). ‘In the beginning in a moment, the Constructive Power of
the Mind fashions the transparent (image of) space inclined to own, as
its essence, the seed of sound. Then, becoming dense, by the process of
gross vibrations, that mind brings forth the vibrations of air inclined
to own the seed of touch.
V-148(b)-149(a). ‘Of these two space and air, the bases of sound and
touch, by intense repetitive frictions, is generated the fire.
V-149(b)-150. ‘Then the mind enriched by these three including
rudimentary form proceeds to the notion of pure liquidity and,
instantaneously, becomes aware of the coolness of water followed by the
perception of water.
V-151. ‘The mind thus enriched by such attributes meditates all at once
on rudimentary smell; thence arises the perception of the earth-element.
V-152. ‘Next this body encompassed by the rudimentary elements discards
its subtleness beholding in the sky a flash like a spark of fire.
V-153. ‘Conjoined to the element of egoism and the seed of the
intellect, this bee in the lotus of the elemental heart is (now) styled
the Puryashtaka.
V-154. ‘Due to intensity of yearning in it, by meditating on a
resplendent embodiment, the mind grows grosser as a Bilva-fruit does
through the process of ripening.
V-155. ‘That effulgence in the sky, shining like liquid gold in a
crucible, assumes a form with definite contours by virtue of its
inherent nature.
V-156. ‘Upwards is the round head; downwards the feet. Of the two sides
are the hands and in the middle what functions as the belly.
V-157(a). ‘In course of time the body (indwelt by the mind) gets fully
developed and becomes flawless.
V-157(b)-158(a). ‘That same divine Brahma, the grandfather of the entire
world, gets established in intelligence, purity, strength, energy, forms
of knowledge and lordship.
V-158(b)-160(a). ‘Beholding his own attractive and pre-eminent body, the
blessed Lord, the range of whose perception embraces all the three
divisions of time, wondered what first would make its appearance in this
supreme space whose essence is pure Spirit and whose limits are nowhere.
V-160(b). ‘Thus wondered Brahma whose vision was as flawless as that of
Shiva.
V-161. ‘In large groups he behold bygone orders of (cosmic)
manifestation. Next he recollected them all in the due order of all
their attributes.
V-162. ‘(Then) sportively he fashioned, by (sheer) imagination,
variegated living beings with their unique patterns of behaviour – the
whole constituting, as it were, a city in the sky.
V-163. ‘For securing their happy state as well as liberation, for
attaining righteousness, love and wealth, he set up Shastras endless and
varied.
V-164. ‘As the existence of the world has been set up by mind in the
form of Brahma, it lasts only as long as Brahma; with his destruction,
the world too perishes.
V-165. ‘O best of Brahmins, in reality nothing anywhere, at any time, is
born or is destroyed. All that is seen is unreal (neither is nor is
not).
V-166. ‘Give up the idle show of empirical life, a very pit of the
serpents of cravings. Knowing this to be unreal, reduce them all to the
status of their ground.
V-167. Vis-à-vis ‘the city in the sky’, whether adorned or not, or the
parts of its constitutive case (the nescience), progeny etc., what
rationale is there for pleasures and pains ?
V-168. ‘Sorrow – and not a sense of gratification – is in order as
regards wealth and spouse in their nourishing state. Who can have a
sense of reassurance here as the nescience of delusion gets more and
more entrenched ?
V-169. ‘Those very (empirical) experiences which, in their abundance,
cause a fool to get attached (to this world) are the source, in the case
of a wise man, of his dispassion.
V-170. ‘Therefore, Nidagha, with your awareness of Truth, cultivate
indifference to whatever has perished among the activities of empirical
life and accept whatever offers itself.
V-171. ‘The marks of a man of discrimination are spontaneous
indifference to experiences that do not come of their own accord and
hearty acceptance of those that do.
V-172. ‘Knowing and resorting to the untarnished middle status between
the real and the unreal, neither cling to nor fly from the objective
realm, external or internal.
V-173. ‘The intelligence of a wise and active man, free from attachment
and aversion, remains untarnished like a lotus leaf unmoistened by
water.
V-174. ‘O twice-born (sage), if the glamour of objects charms not your
heart, then, having grasped what ought to be known (achieved true
wisdom), you have crossed the sea of empirical life.
V-175. ‘In order to win the pre-eminent Status separate, by means of
supreme wisdom, the functioning mind from (all) latent impressions as
one does a strong scent from the flower.
V-176. ‘The superior men of discrimination who board the Ship of Wisdom
cross this sea of empirical life full of the waters of latent
impressions.
V-177. ‘Those men who know this world as well as what is beyond conform
to all things. They neither shun nor seek the ways of the world.
V-178. ‘The sprouting of mental construction consists in Spirits’
proneness to objects (‘knowables’) – the Spirit that is infinite, that
is the Truth of the Self, and that is Universal Being.
V-179. ‘That very sprouting having lightly come into being gradually
fills out, developing into the mind; then it promotes inertness like a
cloud.
V-180. ‘Imagining objects as other than the Self, as it were, the Spirit
is transformed into a constructive process, as it were; just as a seed
is into a sprout.
V-181. (Mental) construction is indeed the process of putting together
(of constituents); it comes automatically into being and waxes fast unto
pain, never unto delight.
V-182. ‘Indulge not in mental construction; in a state of stability,
dwell not on positive existence. Persevere in stopping mental
construction. Thus one never again pursues the trail of construction.
V-183. ‘By the mere absence of imagination, (the process of) mental
construction dwindles automatically. (One act of) construction leads to
another. Mind battens on itself, O sage !
V-184. ‘Getting (off construction) abide in the Self. Once this is done,
what can prove difficult ? Just as this sky is empty, so is the entire
cosmos.
V-185. ‘Wise Brahmin ! Just as a paddy husk or the black coating on
copper, through effort, is destroyed so also may the mental impurities
of man.
V-186. ‘As a grain of paddy, the innate impurity of a Jiva, too, can be
destroyed in ample measure. There is no doubt in that. Therefore,
strive’.
VI-1. ‘Giving up the deeply felt and seductive glamour, consisting in
imagination, of empirical life, you remain what you (really) are; O
sinless one ! Sportively roam the world.
VI-2. ‘By means of the trenchant and creative thought, "I am a non-agent
in all contexts", there remains but the (perception of) sameness,
called, "supreme immortality".
VI-3. ‘In regard to all elaborations of pain due solely to one’s sense
of agency, (finally) there remains but sameness when one’s mental
constructions dwindle away.
VI-4. ‘This sameness, amidst all emotional moods, is the status grounded
in Truth. Anchored in it the mind is no more reborn.
VI-5. ‘O, sage ! Renouncing all forms of agency and non-agency and
abolishing the mind, you remain what you (really) are; be steadfast.
VI-6-7. ‘Stead-fast in the final stability, give up the very tendency to
renunciation. Giving up everything together with its cause – the
dichotomy between Spirit and mind, light and darkness, etc.; the latent
impressions and what generates them – as well as the vibrations of vital
breath, (be you) sky-like with a stilled intellect.
VI-8. ‘Having totally wiped out from the heart the massed rows of latent
impression, one who remains free from all anxiety is the liberated, is
the supreme Deity.
VI-9. ‘I have seen all that is worth seeing; through delusion have I
wandered in all the ten directions of space. For the ignorant who roams,
through reasoning, (the regions of) empirical existence, the latter
shrinks into the dimensions of a cow’s hoof.
VI-10. ‘In the body with its ins and outs, up and down, in the regions
between, here and there, there is the Self; there is no world that is
not the Self through and through.
VI-11. ‘There is nothing in which I am not; there is nothing which is
not That, through and through. What more do I want ? All things are
essentially Being and Spirit, pervaded by That.
VI-12. ‘All this is indeed Brahman; all this extended reality is the
Self. I am one and this is another – give up this delusion, O sinless
one !
VI-13. ‘The superimposed (objects) cannot possibly be in the eternal,
extended and undivided Brahman. There is neither sorrow, delusion, old
age nor birth.
VI-14. ‘What (in reality) is here only That exists. Always be calm,
experiencing things as they occur and entertaining no desire whatsoever.
VI-15(a). Neither shunning nor grasping, be always calm.
VI-15(b)-16. ‘Magnanimous one ! Flawless cognitions swiftly fly to him
who finds himself in his last birth, just as pure pearls lodge
themselves in the best bamboo. This example has been offered to suit
best those who develop dispassion.
VI-17. ‘The certitude of the joy of cognition (results from) intimate
contact of the perceiver and the object. We duly meditate on that stable
Self, manifest in the truth of one’s self (the source of the joy of
cognition).
VI-18. ‘Giving up the seer’s perception and the object together with
latent impressions, we duly meditate on the Self that manifests Itself
first as perception.
VI-19. ‘We duly meditate on the eternal Self, the illumination of all
lights, that occupies the middle ground between the "is" and the "is
not".
VI-20. ‘Discarding the Lord who reigns in the heart, those who run after
(some other) God are in fact seeking a gem after casting away the
Kaustubha already in their possession.
VI-21. ‘As Indra smites mountain peaks with his thunder-bolt, so should
one strike, with the rod of discrimination, these adversaries in the
form of sense-organs, both active and passive.
VI-22. ‘In the evil dream (seen) in the night of empirical life – in
this empty illusion of the body – everything experienced (as the
extended) delusion of empirical) life is impure.
VI-23. ‘In childhood one is stupefied by ignorance; in youth one in
vanquished by woman. In the period that remains one is worried by one’s
wife. What can one – the meanest of men – accomplish ?
VI-24. ‘(But wail as follows): Unreality rides on the top of existence;
ugliness on the top of things lovely; pains ride on the top of
pleasures. What single entity may I resort to ?
VI-25. ‘Even those men pass away on the closing and opening of whose
eyes depends world’s disaster or prosperity. Of what account are folk
like my (humble) self ?
VI-26. ‘Empirical life is said to be the very limit of sufferings. When
(one’s) body has slipped into its depths, how can pleasure be won ?
VI-27. ‘I am awake ! I am awake ! ! Here is the wicked thief (who has
been pestering me, viz.,) the mind. I shall destroy him; I have long
been under his assault.
VI-28. ‘Don’t be depressed. Seek not to seize what is fit only to be
eschewed. Giving up (ideas of both) rejection and seizure, remain rooted
in what is neither to be rejected nor seized; be wholly firm.
VI-29-30. ‘The Knower rid of things to be rejected or seized has,
without latent impressions, qualities (such as): freedom from desire and
fear, conation and action; eternity, equality, wisdom, gentleness,
certitude, steadfastness, amiability, contentment, charity and soft-spokenness.
VI-31-32. ‘With the sharp needle of (penetrating) intelligence, tear up
the nest cast by the fisher-woman of Craving in the waters of
transmigratory life – a net made of the cords of (variegated) thoughts,
even as a strong wind scatters (the vast) net of clouds. Then abide in
the vast status (as immutable Brahman).
VI-33. ‘Cleaving the mind with the mind itself as one does a tree with
an axe, and attaining the holy status, at once, be steadfast.
VI-34. ‘Standing or moving, sleeping or walking, dwelling in a place,
flying aloft or falling down, inwardly sure that (all) this is but
unreal, eschew (all) clinging.
VI-35. ‘If you depend on this objective (world), you have a mind and are
in bondage. If you reject the objective (world), you have no mind; you
are liberated.
VI-36. ‘"Neither am I nor is this real" – so thinking remain absolutely
immovable, in the intervals of subjective and objective awareness.
VI-37. Rid of what enjoys and what is enjoyed, set in the middle ground
between the object and its enjoyer, be ever given to the contemplation
of your Self as (pure) awareness.
VI-38. ‘Dwelling on "the taste", be filled with the supreme Self;
resorting to the propless, steady yourself off and on.
VI-39. ‘Those who are bound by ropes are released: (but) none in the
grip of craving may be released by anyone. Therefore, Nidagha, shed
craving by renouncing all mental constructions.
VI-40. ‘Cutting through this innate and sinful craving whose essence is
egoism with the needle of self-abnegation, be stationed in the border
land of the future and the present, entirely quelling all fear
whatsoever.
VI-41-43. ‘Rejecting the inveterate idea. "I am (the very) life of these
objects and these objects are my (very) life !" "without these I am
nothing and they are nothing without me" and reflecting, "I do not
belong to (any) object and no object belongs to me", the intellect
becomes tranquillised and the actions are performed in a sporting
spirit. Latent impression (of such an agent) stand renounced. This
renunciation, O Brahmin, is extolled as worthy of profound meditation !
VI-44. ‘Due to the equilibrium of the intellect, total obliteration of
latent impressions is acquired. That (indeed) should be deemed the
obliteration of latent impressions, having won which one gives up (even)
the body as one is free from all sense of possessions.
VI-45. ‘He is called the Jivanmukta (Liberated-in-life) who lives after
giving up all conceivable objects; for he has recreatively given up all
latent egoistic impressions.
VI-46. ‘Having given up all baseless (mental) constructions and the
latent impressions, he who has won tranquillity is the best among the
Knowers of Brahman; he is the liberated. His renunciation may only be
deduced.
VI-47-48. ‘These two fearless ones, unconcerned about pleasures and
pains that occur in the due course of time, have achieved the status as
Brahman – the (passive) renouncer and (the active) Yogin, both of whom
are self-disciplined and tranquillised. O Lord of sages ! For they
neither strive for nor reject anything amidst the inner, mental
modifications.
VI-49-50(a). ‘He is called the Jivanmukta who lives as one in dreamless
sleep, who is neither lifted up nor depressed by the emotions of joy,
intolerance, fear, anger, lust and helplessness and who is free from all
objective pre-occupations.
VI-50(b). ‘the craving born of latent impressions, oriented towards
external objects, is said to be bound.
VI-51-52(a). ‘The same freed from latent impressions bound up with
objects, as such, is said to be liberated. Know that the desire
culminating in the prayerful thought, "let this be mind", to be a strong
chain that spawns suffering, birth and fear.
VI-52(b)-53(a). ‘The magnanimous man renounces (this enchaining desire)
vis-à-vis objects both real and unreal and wins the status that is
sublime.
VI-53(b)-54(a). ‘Then outgrowing the attachment both to bondage and
liberation and the states of pain and pleasure – attachment both to the
real and unreal – remains unshaken like the unagitated ocean.
VI-54(b). ‘Good Sir, man may have a four-fold certitude.
VI-55. ‘Engendered by (my) mother and father, I am (the body) from the
foot to the head. This particular certitude, O Brahmin, results from the
observation of the worries of bondage !
VI-56. ‘Good men have second kind of certitude that promotes liberation
– viz.: "I am beyond all objects and beings; I am subtler than the tip
of a hair".
VI-57. ‘Best of Brahmins, a third kind of certitude has been affirmed
promotive of liberation alone (consisting in the thought) " All this
objective world, the entire indestructible universe, is but myself".
VI-58. ‘Also there is a fourth certitude, yielding liberation (that
consists of the assertion) "I and the entire world are empty and
sky-like at all times".
VI-59. ‘Of these the first is said (to result from) the craving that
earns bondage. Those having the last three are sportive, extremely pure
and are liberated in this (very) life. Their cravings have been (wholly)
purified.
VI-60. ‘Great-souled (sage), the mind seized with the certitude "I am
everything" is never born again to taste of sorrow !
VI-61. ‘that Brahman has been (identified with) emptiness, Prakriti,
Maya and also consciousness. It has also been said to be "Shiva, pure
Spirit, the Lord, the eternal and the self".
VI-62. ‘There flourishes but the non-dual Power that is the supreme Self
through and through; it sportively builds up the universe with (factors)
born of (both) duality and non-duality.
VI-63. ‘He who resorts to the status beyond all objects, who is through
and through the Spirit that is perfect, who is neither agitated, nor
complacent, never suffers in this empirical life.
VI-64. ‘Who performs the actions that fall to his lot, ever viewing foe
and friend alike, who is liberated from both likes and dislikes is
neither sad nor hopeful.
VI-65. ‘Who utters what pleases all; speaks pleasantly when asked; and
who is conversant with the thoughts of all beings never suffers in this
empirical life.
VI-66. ‘Resorting to the primeval vision (of Reality) marked by the
renunciation of all objects and Self-established, fearlessly roam the
world, as a (veritable) Jivanmukta.
VI-67. ‘Inwardly shedding all cravings, free from attachment, rid of
a(all) latent impressions, (but) externally conforming to established
patterns of conduct, fearlessly roam the world.
VI-68. ‘Externally simulating enthusiastic activity, but, at heart, free
from it all, apparently an agent (but) really a non-agent, roam the
world with a purified understanding.
VI-69. ‘Renouncing egoism, with an apparent reason, shining like the
sky, untarnished, roam the world with a purified understanding.
VI-70. ‘Elevated, clean of conduct, conforming to established norms of
conduct, free from all inner clinging, leading, as it were, an empirical
life.
VI-71. ‘Resorting to the inner Spirit of renunciation, apparently he
acts to achieve (some) aim (or other). Only small men discriminate
saying: One is a relative; the other is a stranger.
VI-72-73(a). ‘For those who live magnanimously the entire world
constitutes but a family. Resort to the status free from all
considerations of empirical life, beyond old age and death, who are all
mental constructions are extinguished and where no attachments finds
lodgement.
VI-73(b). ‘This is the status of Brahman, absolutely pure, beyond all
cravings and sufferings.
VI-74(a). ‘Equipped thus and roaming (the earth), one is not vanquished
by crisis.
VI-74(b)-75. ‘By the prop of detachment and excellences like
magnanimity, lift up your mind yourself perseveringly in order to enjoy
the fruit of Brahmic freedom.
Through detachment, it achieves perfection along the path of negation
(of the object).
VI-76-77(a). ‘(The mind, then) is emptied of all cravings as the pure
lake is (of water) in the season of autumn.
Why is not an intelligent man ashamed of clinging to the same dry
routine of insipid actions, day after day ?
VI-77(b). ‘Bondage is fashioned by consciousness (as subject) and its
objects; once free from these, liberation follows.
VI-78. ‘"Consciousness (Spirit) is never an object; all is Self" – this
is the essence of all Vedantic doctrines. Resorting to this sure
doctrine, behold (the world), intellectually and freely.
VI-79. ‘You will independently achieve the Self, the status of bliss
(holding): I am Spirit, these worlds are Spirit, the directions (in
Space) are Spirit; these manifested beings are Spirit.
VI-80-81. ‘"I am the glory (mahas), devoid of objects and perceptions,
wholly pure of form, eternally manifest, rid of all appearances, seer,
witness, spirit, free from all objects, the full-orbed light in essence,
for which no knowables exist, Knowledge pure and simple".
VI-82. "King of sages ! With all mental constructions wiped out, all
yearnings abolished, resort to the status of certitude and be
self-established in the Self.
VI-83. The Brahmin seeker after Truth who dwells upon the Mahopanishad
becomes a well versed Vedic scholar. (If) uninitiated, he becomes
initiated; he becomes purified by fire, by air, by the sun, by the moon,
by Truth, by all agents of purification. He becomes known to all gods;
is cleaned (as if he has dipped) in all sacred waters. He dwells in the
thoughts of all gods. He has (as it were) performed all sacrifices. To
him accrue the fruits of having repeated the Gayatri sixty thousand
times; of having repeated Itihasa and Puranas and Srirudra a Lac of
times; of having repeated Omkara ten thousand times. He hollows the rows
(of living beings) as far as the eye reaches; and seven generations both
in the past and in the future. So declares Hiranyagarbha. ‘Through
repetition of sacred utterances one wins immortality’ – this is the
Mahopanishad.
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 Mahopanishad, included in the Sama-Veda.
|