2024/01/11

Full text of "The Upanishads , translated by Juan Mascaro"

Full text of "The Upanishads , translated by Juan Mascaro"

Full text of "The Upanishads , translated by Juan Mascaro"
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THE PENGUIN CLASSICS 

FOUNDER EDITOR ( 1 944-64) : E.V. RIEU 

Present Editors: 

BETTY RADICE AND ROBERT BALDICK 























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THE UPANISHADS 


TRANSLATIONS FROM THE SANSKRIT 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

JUAN MASCARO 



PENGUIN BOOKS 

BALTIMORE • MARYLAND 






Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England 
Penguin Books Inc., 3300 Clipper Mill Road, Baltimore 11, Md, U.S.A* 
Penguin Books Pty Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia 


First published 196^ 


Copyright © Juan Mascar6, 1965: 


Made and printed in Great Britain 
by C. Nicholls & Company Ltd 
Set in Linotype Pilgrim 


This book is sold subject to the condition 
that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent, 
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise disposed 
of without the publisher’s consent 
in any form of binding or cover 
other than that in which 
it is published 


CONTENTS 


Introduction 


Note on the Translations 

45 

Acknowledgements 

46 

THE UPANISHADS 

47 

Isa 

49 

Kena 

5i 

Katha 

55 

Prasna 

67 

Mundaka 

75 

Mandukya 

83 

Svetasvatara 

85 

From the Maitri 

99 

From the Kaushitaki 

105 

From the Taittiriya 

109 

From the Chandogya 

113 

From the Brihad-aranyaka 

127 

The Supreme Teaching 

133 


To the Spirit of 

RABINDRANATH TAGORE, 

1861 -I 94 I 


And in Memory of 

PROFESSOR MILLICENT MACKENZIE 

1862 - I942 



INTRODUCTION 


The Sanskrit word Upanishad , Upa-ni-shad, comes from the 
verb sad, to sit, with upa, connected with Latin s-ub, 
under; and ni, found in English be-neath and ne-ther. 
The whole would mean a sitting, an instruction, the sitting 
at the feet of a master. When we read in the Gospels that 
Jesus 4 went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his 
disciples came unto him’ we can imagine them sitting at 
the feet of their Master and the whole Sermon on the Mount 
might be considered an Upanishad. 

The Upanishads are spiritual treatises of different length, 
the oldest of which were composed between 800 and 400 b.c. 
Their number increased with time and about 112 Upanishads 
have been printed in Sanskrit. Some were composed as 
late as the fifteenth century a.d. These repeat most of the 
ideas of the older Upanishads, using them for a particular 
school of thought or religious instruction. The longest and 
perhaps the oldest Upanishads are the Brihad-aranyaka and 
the Chandogya which cover about one hundred pages each, 
while the Isa Upanishad, one of the most important, not far 
in age from the Bhagavad Gita, has only eighteen verses. 

If all the known Upanishads were collected in one volume, 
they would make an Anthology about the length of the 
Bible. The spirit of the Upanishads can be compared with 
that of the New Testament summed up in the words * I and 
my Father are one’ and ‘The kingdom of God is within 
you*, the seed of which is found in the words of the Psalms 
T have said: Ye are gods; and all of you are the children of 
the most High*. 

The Bhagavad Gita could be considered an Upanishad; and 
at the end of each chapter we find a note added in later times 
which begins with the words: ‘Here in the Upanishad of the 
glorious Bhagavad Gita\ 




INTRODUCTION 


In theory, an Upanishad could even be composed in the 
present day: a spiritual Upanishad that would draw its life 
from the One source of religions and humanism and apply 
it to the needs of the modern world. 

When prince Dara Shukoh, the son of the emperor Shah 
Jahan who built the Taj Mahal, was in Kashmir in 1640, he 
heard about the Upanishads and he had fifty of them trans¬ 
lated into Persian. This translation was finished in 1657, and 
it was much later put into Latin by Anquetil Duperron and 
published in Paris in 1802. This was read by Schopenhauer, 
who said of the Upanishads: their reading ‘has been the con¬ 
solation of my life, and will be of my death’ - ‘Sie ist der 
Trost meines Lebens gewesen und wird der meines Sterbens 
sein.' 

In the songs of the Vedas we find the wonder of man 
before nature: fire and water, the winds and the storms, the 
sun and the rising of the sun are sung with adoration. They 
sometimes remind us of the love of nature of St Francis 
when he sings: 

Glory be to thee, my God, for the gift of thy creation, and 
especially for our brother, the sun, who gives us the day and by 
whom thou givest us light. He is beautiful and radiant and of 
great glory, and bears witness to thee, O most High. 

Glory be to thee, my God, for our brother the wind and the 
air, serene or in clouds and in all weathers, by which thou dost 
sustain all creatures. 

Glory be to thee, my God, for our sister water, which is very 
useful and humble, and precious and pure. 

Glory be to thee, my God, for our brother fire, by whom thou 
dost illumine the night; and he is beautiful, and joyful, and 
strong and full of power. 

The songs of the Vedas cannot begin with ‘Glory be to 
thee, my God ’, as the song of St Francis does, nor reach the 
sublime end of the song: ‘Glory be to thee, my God, for 
those who forgive for love of thee* - ‘ Laudato si', mi Signore , 
per quelli che perdonano per lo tuo amore' The ascension 



INTRODUCTION 


from the many to the One was not yet complete in the 
Vedas , nor do we find in them the Spirit of love revealed in 
the Svetasvatara Upanishad, in Buddha, and in the Bhagavad 
Gita . 

When in the Vedas , however, the soul of the poet is one 
with the god he is praising, we often find a sense of oneness, 
as if there were one God above all the gods, as when we 
hear these words to Varuna, the god of mercy : 

We praise thee with our thoughts, O God. We praise thee even 
as the sun praises thee in the morning: may we find joy in being 
thy servants. 

Keep us under thy protection. Forgive our sins and give us thy 
love. 

God made the rivers to flow. They feel no weariness, they 
cease not from flowing. They fly swiftly like birds in the air. 

May the stream of my life flow into the river of righteousness. 
Loose the bonds of sin that bind me. Let not the thread of my 
song be cut while I sing; and let not my work end before its 
fulfilment. Rig Veda n. 28 

In one of the latest songs of the Vedas , the song to Vurusha, 
we find that the god is described in words that remind us of 
the Brahman of the Upanishads: 

Purusha is the whole universe: what has been and what is 
going to be. One fourth of him is all beings, three fourths of him 
is immortal heaven. 

And when the poet of the Vedas sings the glory of Vata, 
the god of the winds, he says: ‘Spirit of the gods, seed of all 
the worlds’, ‘Atma devanam, bhuvanasya garbho\ 

We also find in the Vedas some of those supreme ques¬ 
tions, asked by man when he considers the meaning of this 
great All, which were to be answered later on in the Upani¬ 
shads : 

There was not then what is nor what is not. There was no sky, 
and no heaven beyond the sky. What power was there ? Where ? 
Who was that power ? Was there an abyss of fathomless waters ? 




INTRODUCTION 


There was neither death nor immortality then. No signs were 
there of night or day. The one was breathing by its own power, 
in infinite peace. Only the one was: there was nothing beyond. 

Darkness was hidden in darkness. The all was fluid and form¬ 
less. Therein, in the void, by the fire of fervour arose the one. 

And in the one arose love: Love the first seed of the soul. The 
truth of this the sages found in their hearts: seeking in their 
hearts with wisdom, the sages found that bond of union between 
Being and non-being. 

Who knows the truth? Who can tell whence and how arose 
this universe ? The gods are later than its beginning: who knows 
therefore whence comes this creation ? 

Only that god who sees in highest heaven: he only knows 
whence came this universe, and whether it was made or un¬ 
created. He only knows, or perhaps he knows not. 

Rig Veda x. 129 

The ritual of adoration in the Vedas, when men felt the 
glory of this world and prayed for light, must in time have 
become the routine of prayers of darkness for the riches of 
this world. We find in the Upanishads a reaction against ex¬ 
ternal religion; and when ideas of the Vedas are accepted 
they are given a spiritual interpretation. It is the permanent 
struggle between the letter that kills and the spirit that gives 
life. We thus read in the Mundaka Upanishad . 

But unsafe are the boats of sacrifice to go to the farthest shore; 
unsafe are the eighteen books where the lower actions are ex¬ 
plained. 

In the B hagavad Gita the same idea is even more power¬ 
fully expressed; 

As is the use of a well of water where water everywhere over¬ 
flows, such is the use of all the Vedas to the seer of the Supreme. 

In different words the Svetasvatara Upanishad tells us: 

Of what use is the Rig Veda to one who does not know the 
Spirit from whom the Rig Veda comes ? 



10 


INTRODUCTION 


The composers of the Upanishads were thinkers and poets, 
they had the vision of the poet; and the poet knows well 
that if poetry takes us away from a lower reality of daily 
life it is only to lead us to the vision of a higher Reality even 
in this daily life, where limitations give way for the poet to 
the joy of liberation. 

These compositions are as much above the mere archaeo¬ 
logical curiosity of some scholars as light is above its defini¬ 
tion. Scholarship is necessary to bring us the fruits of ancient 
wisdom, but only an elevation of thought and emotion can 
help us to enjoy them and transform them into life. 

One of the messages of the Upanishads is that the Spirit 
can only be known through union with him, and not through 
mere learning. And can any amount of learning make us feel 
love, or see beauty or hear the ‘unheard melodies’? Some 
have only seen the variety of thought in the Upanishads, not 
their underlying unity. To them the words in the sacred 
texts might be applied: ‘Who sees variety and not the unity 
wanders on from death to death’. 

The spirit of the Upanishads is the Spirit of the Universe. 
Brahman, God himself, is their underlying spirit. The Christ¬ 
ian must feel that Brahman is God, and the Hindu must feel 
that God is Brahman. Unless a feeling of reverence indepen¬ 
dent of the barriers of names can be felt for the Ineffable, 
the saying of the Upanishads is true: ‘Words are weariness’, 
the same idea expressed by the prophet that ‘Of making 
many books there is no end’. 

‘The Holy Spirit’ may be the nearest translation of Brah¬ 
man in Christian language. Whilst God the Father and God 
the Son are in the foreground of the mind of many Christ¬ 
ians, the Holy Spirit seems to receive less adoration. And in 
India the Brahman of the Upanishads is not as popular as 
Siva, Vishnu, or Krishna. Even Brahma, the manifestation 
of Brahman as creator, and not to be confused with him, is 
not living in the daily devotions of the Hindu, as are the 
two other gods of the trinity, Siva and Vishnu. The UpanU 
shad doctrine is not a religion of the many; but rather the 


ii 


INTRODUCTION 


Spirit behind all religions is their central theme repeated in 
such a wonderful variety of ways. 

Brahman in the Universe, God in his transcendence and 
immanence is also the Spirit of man, the Self in every one 
and in all, Atman. Thus the momentous statement is made in 
the Upanishads that God must not be sought as something 
far away, separate from us, but rather as the very inmost of 
us, as the higher Self in us above the limitations of our little 
self. In rising to the best in us we rise to the Self in us, to 
Brahman, to God himself. Thus when the sage of the Upani¬ 
shads is pressed for a definition of God, he remains silent, 
meaning that God is silence. When asked again to express 
God in words, he says: ‘Neti, neti’, ‘Not this, not this’; but 
when pressed for a positive explanation he utters the sub¬ 
limely simple words: ‘tat tvam asT, ‘Thou art That’. 

According to the Upanishads , the reality of God can only 
be apprehended in a consciousness of joy that is beyond 
ordinary consciousness. The silent voice of the Eternal is 
perpetually whispering in us his melodies everlasting. The 
radiance of the Infinite is everywhere, but our ears cannot 
hear and our eyes cannot see: the Eternal cannot be grasped 
by the transient senses or the transient mind. This is beauti¬ 
fully expressed in the Taittiriya Upanishad : ‘Words and 
mind go to him, but reach him not and return. But he who 
knows the joy of Brahman fears no more.* 

Only the Eternal in us can lead us to the Eternal, only 
when the transient has become Eternal can a man say: ‘I 
am He\ 

Brahman is described as immanent and transcendent, with¬ 
in all and outside all. If the All is imagined as a triangle, the 
apex might be imagined as God transcendent, who in his 
expansion creates matter out of himself, not out of nothing, 
and thus becomes immanent until the end of evolution when 
the immanent has all again become transcendent in an 
ascension of evolution towards him. Why? For the joy of 
creation. Why is there evil ? For the joy of good arising from 
it. Why darkness? That light may shine the more. Why 


12 


INTRODUCTION 


suffering? For the instruction of the soul and the joy of 
sacrifice. Why the infinite play of creation and evolution? 
For Anandam , pure joy. 

In the rising from non-Self to Self, from unconsciousness 
to consciousness, and from this to supreme Consciousness, 
there is a process of unselfishness. The more the lower self 
is forgotten in good works, and in the realization of the 
beautiful and the true, the quicker becomes the process of 
evolution. 

The self-training for the vision of the unity of Atman and 
Brahman is called Yoga. Later on it was developed with 
such a wealth of detail and observation that its study should 
offer much deep interest to the Western psychologist. In 
the Upanishads is found the conception of a fourth state of 
consciousness, above waking, dreaming and deep sleep. 

The law of evolution called Karma explains the apparent 
injustice in the world with sublime simplicity. There is 
a law of cause and effect in the moral world. We are the 
builders of our own destiny, and the results are not limited 
to one life, since our Spirit that was never bom and will 
never die must come again and take to itself a body, that 
the lower self may have the reward of its works. Good shall 
lead to good, and evil to evil. From good, joy shall come, 
and from evil shall come suffering. And thus the great evolu¬ 
tion flows on towards perfection. 

There are two points that seem to have puzzled readers 
of these sacred texts: the problem of personality, and of the 
final union with Brahman. 

It has been thought that because matter and the lower 
personality have only a relative reality, later on to be 
called may a - illusion, something that passes away and is 
not eternal reality - our personality, that personality so dear 
to us, has been considered unimportant and neglected. 

Does it mean, because Shakespeare transformed his mind 
into a thousand minds, because in his all-embracing sym¬ 
pathy he became for a time a Hamlet or a Falstaff, that his 
personality is forgotten ? In the process of creation the little 


13 


INTRODUCTION 


self is forgotten, only to emerge much greater in the march 
towards the Eternal; the transient is left behind, but the 
transient becomes Eternal. ‘Who knows God becomes God’, 
says the Mundaka Upanishad. 

And when all the transient has been left behind, when 
final liberation has been attained, when our little self is lost 
in the greater Self in us and in all, as a drop of water is lost 
in the sea, does it mean that all consciousness is lost? After 
the death of the lower self, when the small drop of human 
consciousness has become one with the ocean of Conscious¬ 
ness, when in the suggestive words of the Brihad-aranyaka 
Upanishad the seer is alone in an ocean, 1 Salila eko drastdd- 
vaito bhavati’, does it mean that consciousness is lost? Yes, 
says Yajnavalkya to his wife in the same Upanishad ; for 
‘How can the Knower be known?* But does not this mean 
that the little self has then become the Self supreme and not 
only has the consciousness of his long experience, but has 
access to the Consciousness of all, not only has the book of 
his own past, but also the Book of the Universe ? 

How could the union with God be unconsciousness, unless 
God was unconsciousness? In the image of St Teresa, the 
silkworm has died and has become a beautiful butterfly. Free 
from its limitations, the little self forgets its limited life in 
the boundless ocean of life. It is not a death, but a victory 
over death, a rising and a resurrection. 

So little is this our life neglected in the Upanishads that 
on our actions during this life depends all our future life, and 
even life everlasting. So important is this life that in the 
Katha Upanishad it is stated that the Spirit can only be seen 
in this life, or in the highest heaven, but not in the regions 
of the departed or in the lower heavens. The importance 
given to this life is clear behind the symbolism. 

The joy of the final union is felt by St John of the Cross 
when he describes the Beloved as the ‘silent music* and ‘the 
sound of solitude’. And this final union is described by St 
Teresa in words that remind us of the Upanishads two thous¬ 
and years before. It is like ‘water falling from heaven into a 


14 


INTRODUCTION 


river or fountain, when all becomes water, and it is not pos¬ 
sible to divide or separate the water of the river from that 
which fell from heaven; or when a little stream enters the 
sea so that henceforth there shall be no means of separation/ 
And in a different way it is the joy felt by Wordsworth, or 
by the greatest poet of the Catalan literary renaissance, 
Maragall, when he exclaims : 

Tot semblava un m6n en flor 
i r&nima n’era jo. 

‘All seemed a world in flower, and I was the soul of this 
world/ * 

As the visions of the Upanishads are based on a conscious¬ 
ness of our own being in relation to the Being of the universe, 
whatever may be the mental progress of man upon this 
earth he can never go beyond the visions of the Upanishads: 
he can never go beyond himself, his own consciousness, his 
own life. Could he think if he were not alive ? 

Each one of us is a centre of life, a unique event in the 
universe, and whatever our external relations to people and 
things may be, the absolute fact remains that we have to live 
our inner life alone even as we have to die our own death : 
no one can live our own inner life for us; and no one can 
go through our own death. In the infinite struggle of man 
to know this world and the universe around him, and also 
to know the mind that allows him to think, he comes before 
the simple fact that life is above thought: when he sees a 
fruit he can think about the fruit, but in the end he must eat 
it if he wants to know its taste: the pleasure and nourish¬ 
ment he may get from eating the fruit is not an act of thought. 

If we consider that food is necessary for life, that food is 
something material and that we do not live in a world of 
incorporeal spirits, we may think that the basis of life is 
material, that ‘It rests on a material basis’, and that before 
man can enjoy life he must eat and be alive. This is true, but 
many in power forgot this truth and piously thought that 
instead of bread they could give the stones of religious 


IS 


INTRODUCTION 


dogmas and pious consolations. It is no wonder that thinkers 
arose in fury and prophetic indignation, and believing that 
the material violence of power can only be fought by 
violence and power they gave a material gospel of faith in 
life, against the gospel of an external religion based, accord¬ 
ing to them, on fanaticism and selfish self-deception. Can we 
wonder? The words of Shylock may come to our mind: Tf 
a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? revenge: if 
a Christian wrong a Jew what should his sufferance be by 
Christian example? why, revenge/ Or, as Macbeth said: ‘It 
will have blood; they say, blood will have blood/ 

We thus have the old law of an eye for an eye, and a 
tooth for a tooth, and violence against violence. This law is 
so much consciously or unconsciously accepted that when a 
historian writes about past events of men or nations we 
often feel that he takes this law for granted; and he there¬ 
fore does not write from a point of view which is free in 
that love which breaks the old law, in that love which is 
infinite liberty. 

A material view of the universe seems therefore quite 
possible, so much so that we might call it the general view 
of modem man, ruled by a modern mechanism based on 
scientific materialism. 

But is this all ? Is a rationalistic interpretation of the uni¬ 
verse quite reasonable? Is a scientific humanism quite human 
or quite scientific ? 

The answer of the Upanishads is quite definite: atman, 
the mystery of our life, the light of our soul, the love which 
is the source of infinite joy, the vision of the good and the 
beautiful which is the source of everything beautiful or 
good that man can create upon this earth, is something 
which is above reason and therefore it can never be attained 
by reason alone. And we hear the words of the Upani¬ 
shads : 

Not through much learning is the Atman reached, not through 
the intellect and sacred teaching. Katha Up. 

He comes to the thought of those who know him beyond 

16 


INTRODUCTION 


thought, not to those who imagine he can be attained by 
thought: he is unknown to the learned and known to the 
simple. Kena Up. 

Or, in the words of Jesus, seeds of spiritual life: ‘Except 
ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not 
enter into the kingdom of heaven/ 

What does all this mean? That besides a material view 
of the universe that in the end reduces all to matter, or elec¬ 
trons, or energy, and our brain to a machine, a wonderful 
machine indeed but a part of a material body; and which 
reduces consciousness to an energy merely emanating from 
the brain, and of course non-existent in the universe apart 
from it; and which reduces the universe to a universe of 
quantity and intellectual abstractions where in the end all 
things are dust and fall into dust and death, we have a uni¬ 
verse of spiritual radiance from which this universe of mat¬ 
ter is only a reflection, a world of Spirit so much more 
wonderful to the soul than the physical universe is to the 
mind, the universe of eternal beauty which has been felt 
by all the greatest seers and poets and spiritual men of all 
times, where all things are in life and go into life. This led 
Bradley to say: 

That the glory of this world in the end is appearance leaves 
the world more glorious, if we feel it is a show of some fuller 
splendour; but the sensuous curtain is a deception and a cheat, 
if it hides some colourless movement of atoms, some spectral 
woof of impalpable abstractions. 

And Rabindranath Tagore can write with faith: 

For the world is not atoms or molecules or radio-activity or 
other forces, the diamond is not carbon, and light is not vibra¬ 
tions of ether. You can never come to the reality of creation by 
contemplating it from the point of view of destruction. 

And Shelley, speaking of poetry, can say: 

It is at once the centre and circumference of knowledge; it is 
that which comprehends all science, and that to which all science 


17 


INTRODUCTION 


must be referred. It is as the odour and the colour of the rose 
to the texture of the elements which compose it, as the form 
and splendour of unfaded beauty to the secrets of anatomy and 
corruption. 

The world of modem science is becoming more and more 
interesting, more poetical, and therefore more spiritual: but 
it is still concerned with matter. We are on the threshold of 
this great world of science and who knows the wonders the 
mind of man can discover? But however far the mind of 
man can go there will still be the tremendous assertion of 
the Taittiriya Upanishad : ‘Words and mind go to Him, but 
reach Him not and return. But he who knows the joy of 
Brahman, fears no more.’ Or, in the words of the Kaushitaki 
Upanishad: ‘It is not thought which we should want to 
know: we should know the thinker.’ 

A flower can be an object of trade: something to buy and 
sell for money. This is its lowest value. It can also be an 
object of intellectual interest, but then it becomes an ab 
straction and from a purely intellectual point of view a 
nettle may sometimes be more interesting than a flower. But 
to the soul the flower is an object of joy, and to the poet it 
can be a thing of beauty and truth: a window from which 
we may look in wonder into the Beauty and Truth of the 
universe, and the Truth and Beauty in our own souls. Blake 
saw this when he wrote: 

To see a World in a grain of sand. 

And a Heaven in a wild flower. 

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand. 

And Eternity in an hour. 

All things on earth, from a flower to a human being, can 
be an object of love or contemplation, an object of intel¬ 
lectual interest, and an object of possession. In the first case 
they give us the freedom of joy in the Infinite; in the sec¬ 
ond they give us that knowledge which is power; in the 
third they give us the chains that bind us to matter, drag us 

18 


INTRODUCTION 


down to the darkness of death, to the miseries of competi¬ 
tion for selfish power, instead of cooperation for unselfish 
joy. Those three attitudes of mind, those three types of 
knowledge, are well described in the Bhagavad Gita: 

When one sees Eternity in things that pass away and Infinity 
in finite things, then one has pure knowledge. 

But if one merely sees the diversity of things, with their 
divisions and limitations, then one has impure knowledge. 

And if one selfishly sees a thing as if it were everything, inde¬ 
pendent of the one and the many, then one is in the darkness of 
ignorance. xviii. 20-22 

What a wonderful relation do we establish with a human 
being when in spite of his limitations we see his Infinity! 
But if we merely consider him as an object of intellectual 
curiosity, a fixed number in static statistics, or even as a 
mere machine whose work we can buy and sell, we degrade 
both him and ourselves. 

‘Know thyself’ is supreme wisdom; but how can we 
know ourselves ? Is it a mere intellectual knowledge that we 
want? Modern psychology may explain a good many of the 
workings of the mind and make interesting and helpful 
guesses; but this is a study of the mind as an object. How 
can the mind be known as a subject, except by experience? 
We all know different values in our inner life: the differ¬ 
ence of inner life when the routine of daily tribulations, 
great or small, makes us feel that we are not really living, 
or when we hear a symphony of Beethoven, or read Shakes¬ 
peare or Dante or the Upanishads, if we can read or listen; 
but can we know what allows us to be conscious of our 
own consciousness ? Can we know that essence of our life 
which allows us to live and to feel and to think? If we did, 
we would then know ourselves, our Atman, we would know 
God. We could then know, even as we know that we are 
alive but with a far greater intensity, that there is a centre 
in us which gives us that oneness which we call conscious- 


19 



INTRODUCTION 


ness and that can be one with the one, the invisible link 
that gives the unity of our little lives and is the oneness of 
this vast universe. 

This is the great adventure and the great discovery. No 
one can do it for us. Until we have reached the top of the 
mountain we cannot see in full glory the view that lies be¬ 
yond ; but glimpses of light illumine our path to the moun¬ 
tain. These glimpses of light give us faith, because then we 
know, not with the external knowledge of reading books, 
but with that certainty of faith that comes from moments 
of inner life. But if in intellectual pride or in the laziness of 
dullness we deny the light, thereby denying ourselves, how 
can we avoid being in darkness ? 

This is why the greatest prayers of men have always been 
prayers for light and love. We cannot buy light and love in 
the market place of men; but they are given to us ‘without 
money and without price’. 

In the external world where our body moves and has its 
life we are not free. We have to obey the laws of nature, the 
laws of God, or we suffer; and it is the task of our intellect 
gradually to discover those laws. But there is our little 
world of inner life. Here we have limited freedom, but we 
are free enough to deny the light and even to deny God. 
Here in our inner world there is something which is not 
bound by the laws of nature, by the laws of time and space. 
In the inmost of our soul there is the world of the Spirit and 
the world of the Spirit is free: ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord 
is, there is liberty.’ But the more we deny the Spirit of the 
Lord, our Atman, our own Self, the more are we bound. We 
could live in the centre of our soul and thus feel the infinite 
joy of Brahman, but instead of yearning towards the centre 
we make infinite centres of selfishness in the circumference 
of our souls. The farther those centres are from the Centre, 
the farther we are from the light: selfishness becomes 
stronger and stronger, the chains that bind us and which we 
so laboriously make with our thoughts and works are more 
and more difficult to break. In the struggle for goods that 


20 



INTRODUCTION 


can give pleasure and power we clash with others who also 
want power and pleasure, and instead of a cooperation in 
love that would lead to the joy of light we have the vast 
competition that leads down to darkness and destruction. 
Why should men worry about the ‘why?’ of evil and ugli¬ 
ness when so much of the ugliness and evil of this world is 
the work of man? This is why Buddha refused to answer 
metaphysical questions: he gave the path of love that leads 
to Nirvana, the Kingdom of Heaven, where all questions 
shall be answered, and the answer will be life. 

Our Masters of the spiritual life want us to be at least 
as practical in the work that leads to joy as others are ‘prac¬ 
tical’ in the work that leads to the illusion of self-exaltation. 
‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; 
and all these things shall be added unto you’, says Jesus 
whose words are Truth, and he also says, ‘Behold the king¬ 
dom of God is within you’. We pray ‘Thy kingdom come’, 
and the kingdom of heaven is at hand; but we also pray 
‘Thy will be done’, and what is the will but the will of 
love ? The Truth of the Spirit is not found by the arguing of 
philosophical or metaphysical questions. How can we ask 
a question about something so near at hand? It is as if we 
were asking whether we are alive; and in fact we might 
well ask this question since so much of our life is mere 
vegetable or animal life. We know that we are alive, but 
not alive to the Highest Life. If, however, we are tempted to 
argue about the supreme problems, forgetting the words of 
Indian wisdom that ‘Those things which are beyond thought 
should not be subjected to argument’ and that ‘When we 
can argue about a thing it shows that it is not worth argu¬ 
ing about’, we may listen to the words of Buddha: 

Imagine a man that has been pierced by an arrow well soaked 
in poison, and his relatives and friends go at once to fetch a 
physician or a surgeon. Imagine now that this man says: 

‘I will not have this arrow pulled out until I know the name 
of the man who shot it, and the name of his family, and whether 
he is tall or short or of medium height; until I know whether he 


21 


INTRODUCTION 


is black or dark or yellow; until I know his village or town. 1 
will not have the arrow pulled out until I know about the bow 
that shot it, whether it was a long bow or a cross bow. 

I will not have this arrow pulled out until I know about the 
bow-string, and the arrow, and the feathers of the arrow, 
whether they are feathers of vulture, or kite or peacock. 

I will not have the arrow pulled out until I know whether the 
tendon which binds it is of an ox, or deer, or monkey. 

I will not have this arrow pulled out until I know whether 
it is an arrow, or the edge of a knife, or a splinter, or the tooth 
of a calf, or the head of a javelin.’ 

Well, that man would die, but he would die without having 
found out all these things. 

In the same way, any one who would say: ‘ I will not follow 
the holy life of Buddha until he tells me whether the world is 
eternal or not; whether the life and the body are two things, or 
one thing; whether the one who has reached the Goal is beyond 
death or not; whether he is both beyond death and not beyond 
death; whether he is neither beyond death nor is not beyond 
death.’ 

Well, that man would die, but he would die without Buddha 
having told these things. 

Because I am one who says: Whether the world is eternal or 
not, there is birth, and death, and suffering, and woe, and lamen¬ 
tation, and despair. And what I do teach is the means that lead 
to the destruction of these things. 

Remember therefore that what I have said, I have said; and 
that what I have not said, I have not said. And why have I not 
given an answer to these questions ? Because these questions are 
not profitable, they are not a principle of the holy life, they lead 
not to peace, to supreme wisdom, to Nirvana. 

Majjhima Nikaya i. 63 

Yes, our spiritual life is a vision and a creation: doubts 
and unprofitable questions do not help. We have to build 
our inner house. Blake who saw, as perhaps no one else has 
better seen, the relation between spiritual vision and poetry, 
expressed this idea in these words: 

1 must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s; 

I will not reason and compare; my business is to create. 


22 


INTRODUCTION 


Our spiritual life must be a work of creation. Whether 
we are within a religion, or outside a religion, or against re¬ 
ligion, we can only live by faith, a burning faith in the 
spiritual values of man. This faith can only come from life, 
from the deep fountain of life within us, the Atman of the 
Upanishads, Nirvana, the Kingdom of Heaven. A deep faith 
in life cannot but be spiritual, even if only partially 
spiritual. That is why the faith in science and in man that 
makes men speak of ‘One for all and all for one’; ‘Man is 
to man a friend and a brother*; ‘Honesty and truthfulness, 
moral purity and modesty* is a faith that cannot be material 
because it comes from the Spirit within us. A scientific 
humanism based on science, if illumined by love and the 
light of beauty, is bound to lead to the Atman of the 
Upanishads , to the glory of the Spirit in man. The path of 
Truth may not be a path of parallel lines but a path that 
follows one circle: by going to the right and climbing the 
circle, or by going to the left and climbing the circle we are 
bound to meet at the top, although we started in apparently 
contrary directions. This is bound to be in the end, because 
Truth is one. This is expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, the 
Song of God: 

In any way that men love me in that same way they find my 
love: for many are the paths of men, but they all in the end 
come to me. 

And when Keats was only twenty-two years old he could 
write deep thoughts that have a curious similarity to ideas 
in the Mundaka Upanishad and the verse of the Gita just 
quoted: 

Now it appears to me that almost any Man may like the spider 
spin from his own inwards his own airy Citadel - the points 
of leaves and twigs on which the spider begins her work are 
few, and she fills the air with a beautiful circuiting. Man should 
be content with as few points to tip with the fine Web of his 
Soul, and weave a tapestry empyrean - full of symbols for his 

23 


INTRODUCTION 


spiritual eye, of softness for his spiritual touch, of space for his 
wanderings, of distinctness for his luxury. But the minds of mor¬ 
tals are so different and bent on such diverse journeys that it may 
at first appear impossible for any common taste and fellowship 
to exist between two or three under these suppositions. It is 
however quite the contrary. Minds would leave each other in 
contrary directions, traverse each other in numberless points, 
and at last greet each other at the journey’s end. An old man and 
a child would talk together and the old man be led on his path 
and the child left thinking. Man should not dispute or assert, but 
whisper results to his Neighbour, and thus by every germ of 
spirit sucking the sap from mould ethereal every human might 
become great, and humanity instead of being a wide heath of 
furze and briars, with here and there a remote Oak or Pine, 
would become a great democracy of forest trees. 

All men of good will are bound to meet if they follow the 
wisdom of the words of Shakespeare in Hamlet where, if we 
write self for self , we find the doctrine of the Upanishads: 

This above all, - to thine own self be true; 

And it must follow, as the night the day. 

Thou canst not then be false to any man. 


There are two ideas around which the deepest problems of 
thought and of all spiritual vision and life revolve: the idea 
of Being and the idea of Love. 

The central vision of the Upanishads is Brahman, and 
although Brahman is beyond thoughts and words, he can 
be felt by each one of us as Atman, as our own being. The 
words of Hamlet, which are applied to a definite dramatic 
situation but which have, as so often in Shakespeare, a 
meaning far beyond their context, express the great problem: 

TO BE, OR NOT TO BE : THAT IS THE QUESTION. 

That is the question. Is there an infinite Being in the uni¬ 
verse within and beyond the vastness of space and the revo¬ 
lutions of the stars? Is there an eternal Being behind the 




INTRODUCTION 


perpetual movement of our minds and the beatings of our 
heart of life ? Because if there were not this Being we could 
never be: we could only be a perpetual becoming until our 
end in dust. 

The answer of the Upanishads is yes, and this means that 
the essence of the universe and of ourselves is positive: it is 
the holy word of the Upanishads, om, one of the meanings 
of which is yes. How can we know? This Truth can be 
known in the silence of the soul. We are told again and again 
that in the deep silence of the soul man can be in union with 
himself: not with his transitory consciousness, not with the 
apparent nothingness of deep sleep, not with the vagueness 
of dreams; but when man is in union with the background 
of his consciousness, the centre of his soul, then he is in 
union with himself, his own Self: only when man is in union 
with God is he in union with himself, one with himself and 
with all creation. Then he sees by that inner light which is in 
the secret place of his soul, in that place where, in the words 
found in the Katha, Mundaka and Svetasvatara Upanishads: 

There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; light¬ 
nings shine not there and much less earthly fire. From his light 
all these give light, and his radiance illumines all creation. 

Then the words of Isaiah become true for that soul; 

The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for bright¬ 
ness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be 
unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 

Glimpses of this joy of Being are found in all great poets, 
and Wordsworth can say: 

Our noisy years seem moments in the being 
Of the eternal silence. 

The joy that irradiates the poetry of the great modem 
Spanish poet Jorge Guillen springs from the joy of Being : 

Ser, nada mds. Y basta. 

Es la absolute dicha. 

‘To be. No more. This is all. This is the joy supreme/ 

25 


INTRODUCTION 


Wordsworth felt the Brahman of the Upanishads. That is 
why he can write in the first edition of The Vrelude : 

I felt the sentiment of Being spread 

O’er all that moves, and all that seemeth still, 

... Wonder not 

If such my transports were; for in all things now 
I saw one life and felt that it was joy. 

This is the pure spirit of the Upanishads . Later on he des¬ 
cended to a less poetical religion and suppressing what is 
perhaps the most sublime verse in all his poetry - T saw 
one life, and felt that it was joy * - he wrote: 

Wonder not 

If high the transport, great the joy I felt. 

Communing in this sort through earth and heaven 
With every form of creature, as it looked 
Towards the Uncreated with a countenance 
Of adoration, with an eye of love. 

The two versions reveal that the truly spiritual is always 
poetical: the Lord wants to be worshipped in the beauty 
of holiness. The words of the prayer which Jesus taught, 
‘Hallowed be thy name’, express this truth. 

The two versions also reveal that the truly spiritual comes 
from the power of a high Imagination, not from weak pious 
beliefs, nor from intellectual activities of the mind. Theo¬ 
logy may help to make clear our thoughts, but its relation 
to spiritual vision is that of grammar to living language, or 
of poetics to soul-uplifting poetry. The spiritual vision, like 
the poetical vision, is not an analysis, it is not even a syn¬ 
thesis : it is the joy of truth revealed to a living soul. 

Every spiritual and poetical vision comes from imagina¬ 
tion: because imagination is the light of the soul. Without 
imagination we cannot have faith, because ‘Faith is the sub¬ 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’: 
things not seen of course by reason or by the eyes of the 
body, but seen by the spirit. Without imagination there is 
no vision and no creation. Most of the miseries of man, such 


2 6 


INTRODUCTION 


as selfishness, injustice, and cruelty, have their root in a lack 
of imagination. But imagination is not fancy. As Rabin¬ 
dranath Tagore says, ‘The stronger is the imagination, the 
less imaginary it is*. Fancies disturb the mind and they may 
lead to destruction; but imagination is an inner light which 
with the help of reason leads to construction. All faith 
comes from true imagination, but fancy, or distorted imag¬ 
ination, is the source of all fanaticism and superstition. 
Since faith and fanaticism, imagination and fancy, vision and 
superstition are so much intermingled in the history of 
religions, it is no wonder that those who, through lack of 
spiritual discrimination, cannot see the difference between 
faith based on vision and fear based on superstition may be 
bound by a merely external religion or condemn all religion. 

It was the splendour of a poetical imagination that in¬ 
spired the greatest poetry of Blake and Wordsworth, of 
Coleridge and Shelley and Keats. Wordsworth could say 
that ‘Spiritual love acts not nor can exist without imagina¬ 
tion’ and in The Vrelude when he describes the crossing of 
the Alps he can give us a splendid vision where imagination 
and faith are one: 

Imagination - here the Power so-called 
Through sad incompetence of human speech. 

That awful Power rose from the mind’s abyss 
Like an unfathered vapour that enwraps. 

At once, some lonely traveller. I was lost ,* 

Halted without an effort to break through; 

But to my conscious soul I now can say - 
‘I recognize thy glory’; in such strength 
Of usurpation, when the light of sense 
Goes out, but with a flash that has revealed 
The invisible world, doth greatness make abode. 

There harbours; whether we be young or old. 

Our destiny, our being’s heart and home. 

Is with infinitude, and only there; 

With hope it is, hope that can never die. 

Effort, and expectation, and desire, 

And something evermore about to be. 

27 


INTRODUCTION 


Coleridge describes Imagination in words that could be 
applied to the Brahman of the Upanishads : 

The primary Imagination I hold to be the living power and 
prime agent of all human perception, and as a repetition in the 
finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM. 

And his description of ‘secondary Imagination* might be 
applied to the Atman, our soul: 

The secondary Imagination I consider an echo of the former, 
co-existing with the conscious will, yet still as identical with 
the primary in the kind of its agency, and differing only in 
degree , and in the mode of its operation. 

Coleridge’s description of fancy as ‘a mode of memory* 
with ‘fixities and definites* shows us how visions which 
are creations of faith can become in minds without imagina¬ 
tion the ‘fixities and definites’ of fanaticism: 

Fancy, on the contrary, has no other counters to play with, 
but fixities and definites. The fancy is indeed no other than a 
mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and space. 

How can we know the true light of the higher Imagina¬ 
tion from the distorted wanderings of fancies? This is the 
task of wisdom, of a wisdom that is not taught in schools. 
‘Watch and pray* can lead us on our path. When we watch 
in inner silence and our prayer is love, light shines, since 
the light of our Atman is ever in us. Just as in literary criti¬ 
cism we slowly learn to distinguish the true from the false, 
the good from the less good, our spiritual criticism can be 
developed so that we can distinguish true spiritual values 
from their imitations; and then we can choose the guides 
of our spiritual life. The Upanishads and all great spiritual 
masters warn us of the wrong teachers. ‘He cannot be 
taught by one who has not reached Him*, says the Katha 
Upanishad; and Jesus repeatedly warns us against false 
teachers and pharisees: ‘If the blind lead the blind, both 
shall fall into the ditch.’ All help from outside, whether 
from books or from men, must pass the test of our reason 

28 


INTRODUCTION 


and of our own spiritual watch and prayer. A Master is 
ever in us, as Ramanuja says: 

Thou my mother, and my father Thou. 

Thou my friend, and my teacher Thou. 

Thou my wisdom, and my riches Thou. 

Thou art all to me, O God of all gods. 


From the idea of Brahman found in its most pure form in 
the oldest Upanishads, we find in the Isa Upanishad, and 
especially in the Svetasvatara Upanishad , an evolution to¬ 
wards that idea of God afterwards to be developed in full 
splendour in the Bhagavad Gita. When Krishna, as God, 
speaks to Arjuna in the Gita he says. 

By love he knows me in truth, who I am and what I am. And 
when he knows me in truth he enters into my Being. 18. 55 

He uses in Sanskrit the words ‘visate Tad Anantaram*, 
‘enters into That Eternal - my Being’ and this reminds us 
of the ‘tat tvam asT, ‘That thou art’ of the Upanishads . 
The suggestion is that Brahman is the Being of God, even as 
God is the centre of our Being. God beyond creation is 
Brahman. Brahman in the universe is God. In the first case 
Brahman is beyond the historical ever-changing process of 
the universe, even as our Atman is beyond our ‘childhood, 
youth and old age’, as the Gita sings. In the second case 
Brahman is the God of the universe, ever watching and 
helping the work of creation, the God who is in the centre 
of our hearts, whom we can move and, what is even more 
wonderful, whose love we can feel. 

And what is love? We know that it cannot be defined. 
The words of Lao Tzu remind us of this truth, if instead of 
his word tao we use the word god or love. 

People think that Tao is foolishness because it lacks definition: 
But Tao lacks definition because it is infinite. 

If Tao could be defined, it would be small and not great. 

29 


INTRODUCTION 


And if we want to argue about the nature of love, the 
words of Lao Tzu also come to our mind: 

He who loves does not dispute: 

He who disputes does not love. 

That is why we find love expressed by contradictions, by 
those efforts of the human mind when words cannot be 
found for the Ineffable. Ramon Llull, the great medieval 
spiritual thinker and poet of the Island of Majorca, 1235- 
1316, who knew what love is, could say: 

Love is that which places the free in bondage and to those in 
bondage gives freedom. 

We think we are free, but in our darkness 

The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to 

keep us in perpetual bondage; and all the longing and 
yearning expressed by the German word Sehnsucht or the 
Catalan word anyoranga are an expression of this bondage. 
Our soul longs for freedom, for the mukti of the Upanishads, 
for liberation. And where can the finite find freedom except 
in the Infinite? Where can the bird in a cage find freedom 
except in the infinite sky? 

The light of Truth is the End of the journey. The path 
of the Upanishads is essentially the path of Light, the con¬ 
sciousness of Brahman which is far beyond all mental con¬ 
sciousness. This has been considered in the Upanishads the 
highest path and even in the Bhagavad Gita which is a 
gospel of love, and of works in love, the J NAN I, the man of 
vision, is placed above all men, because as Krishna says, 
‘The man of vision and I are one’, ‘ Jhdni tv Atma eva me 
matam' When by love the full communion of man with 
God has taken place, when man sees God in all and all in 
God, then that man is one with Brahman, he has crossed the 
river of life and he has heard the songs of immortality wel¬ 
coming him on the other shore. This is what all the masters 
of the Spirit tell us. 


30 


INTRODUCTION 


When the End of wisdom is described in the Bhagavad 
Gita some of the words of the Isa Upanishad are used: 

Now I shall tell thee of the End of Wisdom. When a man 
knows this he goes beyond death. It is Brahman, beginningless, 
supreme: beyond what is and beyond what is not. 

He is invisible: he cannot be seen. He is far and he is near, he 
moves and he moves not, he is within all and he is outside all. 

He is the Light of all lights which shines beyond all darkness. 
It is vision, the end of vision, to be reached by vision, dwelling 
in the hearts of all. xm. 12, 15, 17 

And in the full spirit of the Upanishads the Gita says in 
words sublime: 

He who sees that the Lord of all is ever the same in all that is, 
immortal in the field of mortality - he sees the truth. 

And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God 
in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others: then he 
goes indeed to the highest Path. xm. 27-28 

In this way, as Paul Deussen says, the doctrine of the 
Upanishads explains and complements the doctrine of the 
Gospels, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’. Why? 
Because our Atman, our higher Self, dwells in us and dwells 
in our neighbour: if we love our neighbour, we love the 
God who is in us all and in whom we all are; and if we hurt 
our neighbour, in thought or in words or in deeds, we hurt 
ourselves, we hurt our soul: this is the law of spiritual 
gravitation. 

Love is undefinable, but we know that love is joy: not in¬ 
deed a transient pleasure, but an eternal joy of the soul. The 
Katha Upanishad speaks of the two paths: 

There is the path of joy and there is the path of pleasure. Both 
attract the soul. The two paths lie in front of man. Pondering 
on them, the wise chooses the path of joy: the fool takes the 
path of pleasure. 

It is the law of Karma, suggested in Omar Khayydm, 
where amongst the loveliness of roses and wine and earthly 
love we can find glimpses of the unearthly beauty found 
in the Sufis. 


3i 


INTRODUCTION 


The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ. 

Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit 
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 

Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 

One of the tasks of education is to reveal the joy of the 
Infinite which is the joy of love. It is well expressed in the 
Chandogya Upanishad : 

Where there is creation there is progress. Where there is no 
creation there is no progress: know the nature of creation. 

Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy 
there is no creation: know the nature of joy. 

Where there is the Infinite there is joy. There is no joy in the 
finite. 

All true progress is an inner creation that leads to the joy 
of the Infinite. When in the progress of our soul our God 
of love has been found then the words of beauty of the 
Sufis come true : 

In this world I feel joyful because He is the source of joy: I 
am in love with all creation because He is the Creator. 

I shall drink with joy the cup of sorrow because my Beloved 
is the cup-bearer: I will bear pain with gladness, because 
through Him I shall be healed. sadi 1193-1291 

Bergson compares the love of God for his creation to 
the love of creation that moves the soul of the artist. It is 
worth considering that whilst science makes concrete things 
abstract, art makes abstract things concrete: in the art of 
loving God the Upanishads lead us to a concrete God, so 
concrete that He is ever the very centre of our soul, the 
permanent background of our consciousness, the Life that 
gives life to our life. The passage of Bergson is interesting, 
because it is in the mystic, the poet of the Infinite, that we 
get a concrete God: 

If the thinker wanted to use the words of the mystic, he could 
soon define the nature of God. God is love and also the end of 
love: herein we find the whole contribution of mysticism. The 
mystic will never grow tired of speaking of this twofold love. 

32 


INTRODUCTION 


His descriptions have no end, because what he wants to describe 
is undescribable. But he is definite on one point: that divine love 
is not something belonging to God: it is God Himself. 

The thinker who holds God to be a person, and yet wishes to 
avoid anything like a gross assimilation with man, will do well 
to fasten on this point. He will think, for example, of the en¬ 
thusiasm that can set a soul on fire, that can burn whatever is 
within, and henceforth only fill it wholly with itself. The person 
and the emotion are then one; and yet the person had never 
been his own self so much; and he is more simple, more unified, 
more himself. 

Is there anything of more perfect structure, more elaborate, 
than a symphony of Beethoven ? And yet all through the labour 
of arranging, rearranging, and selecting that took place on the 
intellectual plane the composer was striving towards a point be¬ 
yond his intellectual plane where he could feel a sense of accep¬ 
tance or rejection, a sense of direction, an inspiration. An indi¬ 
visible emotion was living in that plane. No doubt the intellect 
was trying to express it in music, but the emotion itself was 
more than mere intellect and more than music. In contrast to a 
lower emotion which is below the intellect, that higher emotion 
was under the control of the will. An emotion of this kind 
doubtless resembles, however remotely, the sublime love which 
is for the mystic the very essence of God. 

All mystics are unanimous in declaring that God has need of 
us, even as we have need of God. Why should God need us, un¬ 
less it were to give us His love ? 

This is the conclusion to which the philosopher who accepts 
the mystical experience must come. The whole creation will 
then appear to him as a vast work of God for the creation of 
creators, for the possession of beings co-workers with Him and 
worthy of His love. henri bergson 1859-1941 

A song of love is heard as a background to all great 
prayers. Chaitanya, the great Indian mystic, a.d. 1500, pours 
out his heart in these words : 

I pray not for wealth, I pray not for honours, I pray not for 
pleasures, or even the joys of poetry. I only pray that during all 
my life I may have love: that I may have pure love to love 
Thee. 


33 


INTRODUCTION 


And Kabir, 1440-1518, the Indian saint and poet, tells 11s: 
‘Listen to me, friend: he understands who loves.’ For love is 
a beauty which is joy: a beauty which is truth. The truth 
of love is the Truth of the universe: it is the lamp of the 
soul that reveals the secrets of darkness. 

And this love must be found in this life: that is the real 
message of the spiritual teachers. ‘The kingdom of heaven 
is at hand*, says Jesus. And in Ecclesiastes we find these 
words of wisdom: 

Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for 
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
grave, whither thou goest. 9. 10 

In the Maitri Upanishad we find a striking passage that 
shows that the idea of rebirth or reincarnation had already 
found a spiritual interpretation: 

Samsara, the transmigration of life, takes place in one’s mind. 
Let one therefore keep the mind pure, for what a man thinks 
that he becomes. 

From a spiritual point of view what matters is not trans¬ 
migration, or an after-death: what matters is immortality, 
and this is not a long life, or many lives, or a life after death. 
Immortality is Atman, the Spirit of Eternity within our 
mortal body and our mortal consciousness. Only in God 
there is immortality, ‘beyond the birth and rebirth of life*. 
That is why the spiritual masters always give us a sense of 
practical wisdom. They do not want words: they want life, 
immortal life. When an Indian sage was asked, 'What is 
death?’ he answered, 'I should ask: what is life?* Kabir 
expresses these thoughts in his simple and sublime way: 

0 friend ! hope for Him whilst you live, know whilst you live, 
understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides. 

If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of deliv¬ 
erance in death ? 

It is but an empty dream, that the soul shall have union with 
Him because it has passed from the body: 


34 


INTRODUCTION 


If He is found now. He is found then. If not, we do but go to 
dwell in death. 

Yes, this love which is the joy of the Infinite, the ananda 
of Brahman, this love that is God, is here and now. In the 
Taittiriya Upanishad Bhrigu Varuni asks his father to ex¬ 
plain to him the mystery of Brahman, the mystery of the 
universe. His father speaks to him of the earth and the 
food of the earth, of life and the breath of life, of the mind 
and of reason, and of consciousness behind reason and 
mind. In the end Bhrigu Varuni saw the Truth expressed in 
these words sublime: 




AND THEN HE SAW THAT BRAHMAN WAS JOY: FOR FROM 
JOY ALL BEINGS HAVE COME, BY JOY THEY ALL LIVE, AND 
UNTO JOY THEY ALL RETURN. 


God is love, and love is joy. All the universe has come 
from love and unto love all things return. 




Those who found light and love give us their help for our 
journey. They speak to us of a path. According to the Katha 
Upanishad , the path is ‘narrow as the edge of a razor’ or, 
in the words of Jesus, ‘Narrow is the way which leadeth 
unto life’. And yet they all tell us that this narrow path 
leads to infinite freedom. Every step of light and love is a 
step towards a new life, a new view from the path that 
leads up to the mountain. The narrow path leads us safely 
through the jungle of life; but a moment comes when St 
John of the Cross can say: ‘Ya por aqui no hay camino. Que 
para el justo no hay ley\ - ‘And now there is no path here; 
since for the pure man there is no law.’ 

We find in the Upanishads more inspiration than definite 
teaching; but we find the beginnings of Yoga, of that com¬ 
munion of love and light which was going to be the main 
subject of the Bhagavad Gita and of a vast spiritual litera¬ 
ture in India. Thus the Katha Upanishad tells us: 


ZS 



INTRODUCTION 


When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself 
rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme. 

This calm steadiness of the senses is called Yoga. Then one 
should become watchful, because Yoga comes and goes. 

In those two verses there is a suggestion of the prayer 
of recollection as described by St Teresa, leading to the 
prayer of quietness and the final prayer of union. 

In the Svetasvatara Upanishad we find verses that sound 
very similar to those found in Chapter VI of the Bhagavad 
Gita : 

With upright body, head and neck lead the mind and its pow¬ 
ers into the heart; and the o m of Brahman will then be thy boat 
with which to cross the rivers of fear. 

The om of Brahman is here the love of God. In the Gita , 
devotion to Krishna, to God, is the chief means of concen¬ 
tration ; and the silence of the soul is described in an image 
of beauty: 

Then his soul is a lamp whose light is steady, for it burns in 
a shelter where no winds come. 6. 19 

Just as the living words of Shakespeare are far above all 
the books that critics or scholars have written or may ever 
write on Shakespeare - critics have to write books on poets 
but poets do not write poems on critics - the living words 
of sacred books are infinitely above those of their commen¬ 
tators: the words of the Upanishads are far above those of 
the writers on Yoga. Analysis is of course necessary, since 
by analysis we ‘observe, collect and classify', in fact we 
become clearly conscious of what may be a vague general 
impression; but we can only analyse by making abstrac¬ 
tions, and we must ever return to life. Many intellectual 
books could be written on love by a man of keen intellect; 
but they would be merely intellectual books, and the writer 
might never have felt a flash of universal love. Most works 
on Yoga, beginning with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, those 
short definitions and spiritual rules worked out by a sup¬ 
remely great analytical mind, have their use; but we cannot 

36 


INTRODUCTION 


see a country by merely looking at maps of the country, we 
cannot go on a journey if we merely stop at reading guides 
about the journey. 

When the power of the intellect was applied to the spirit¬ 
ual ideas of the Upanishads and the Gita , it was found that 
there is a great relation between the mind and the body: 
that certain postures of the physical body helped concen¬ 
tration, and others hindered it, that our breath varies with 
our emotions, and that a deep quiet silent breath is a re¬ 
flection of a quiet mind; and then the elaborate rules found 
in the teachings of Yoga were composed. All these teachings 
can be useful, but they can mislead the most sincere seeker 
of a spiritual path; because the path is the path of love, 
of love that leads to light. Once a single flash of love or 
light has illumined our darkness, there is one and only one 
thing to do, and this is summed up by St John of the Cross 
in the words ‘Silence and work’. In one of his spiritual 
letters we read : 

What is wanting, if indeed anything be wanting, is not writing 
or speaking - whereof ordinarily there is more than enough - but 
silence and work. For whereas speaking distracts, silence and ac¬ 
tion collect the thoughts, and strengthen the spirit. As soon 
therefore as a person understands what has been said to him 
for his good, he has no further need to hear or to discuss; but to 
set himself in earnest to practise what he has learnt with silence 
and attention. 

Later in the letter he writes these words of light: ‘Never 
fail, whatever may befall you, be it good or evil, to keep 
your heart quiet and calm in the tenderness of love.’ 

With this one sentence St John of the Cross explains the 
doctrine of the Bhagavad Gita. When in the Gita we read 
again and again that a man must be the same in heat or in 
cold, in pleasure or in pain, in victory or defeat, the meaning 
is, of course, that whatever may be the events of our outer 
or inner life we must ever have the peace of love: in fact 
that our life should perpetually breathe the air of love, 
since love is the living breath of the soul. And far from an 


37 


INTRODUCTION 


evenness of love making us insensitive, it is that love which 
leads to that sublime state described in the Bhagavad Gita: 

And he is the greatest Yogi he whose vision is ever one: when 
the pleasure and pain of others is his own pleasure and pain. 

Although love is the very first condition for entering the 
path, how can the waters of love be given to one who is not 
thirsty? That is why we find that meditation, longing and 
sorrow are the first prayers of the soul: 

As the hart panteth after the water brooks. 

So panteth my soul after thee, O God. 

My soul is athirst for God, for the living God : 

When shall I come and appear before God ? 

In the spirit of this longing we find the lovely prayer of 
Rabindranath Tagore: 

Day after day, O lord of my life, shall I stand before thee face 
to face? With folded hands, O lord of all worlds, shall I stand 
before thee face to face ? 

Under thy great sky in solitude and silence, with humble 
heart shall I stand before thee face to face ? 

In this laborious world of thine, tumultuous with toil and with 
struggle, among hurrying crowds, shall I stand before thee face 
to face ? 

And when my work shall be done in this world, O king of 
kings, alone and speechless shall I stand before thee face to face ? 

There may be moments of desolation on the path of love 
but if even Jesus could say ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death’, need we be afraid? The words of the 
Hebrew prophet Habakkuk give expression to this faith: 

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be 
in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall 
yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there 
shall be no herd in the stalls: 

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my 
salvation. 


38 


INTRODUCTION 


It is in the inner battle for concentrating on the higher, 
and thus rejecting the lower, that Yoga, psychology, philo¬ 
sophy, and wisdom can help. In his unequalled power of 
language Shakespeare can give us in Hamlet a vision of the 
man who is master of his fate: 

Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice. 

And could of men distinguish, her election 
Hath seal’d thee for herself: for thou hast been 
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; 

A man that fortune’s buffets and rewards 

Hast ta’en with equal thanks: and blest are those 

Whose blood and judgement are so well commingled. 

That they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger 
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man 
That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him 
In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart. 

As I do thee. 

When this power of self-control, and intelligence and 
mental energy are at the service of a good will, at the 
service of love, then a man can make quick progress on the 
path that leads to Brahman. When mental powers, and 
energy and self-control are not at the service of a good will, 
then history, literature, wisdom, and the daily events of the 
present world, tell us what are the results. 

Any interest in Yoga, in miracles or psychic powers, not 
based on that humbleness of the soul which is the beginning 
and the end of all true spiritual light and love is at its best 
something of scientific interest, and at its worst it is that 
pride and desire for power which are the surest signs of 
spiritual darkness. 

Let us take an interesting psychological experiment: 
thought-transmission or thought-reading. A person who 
knows something about hypnosis can easily ask a group of 
people to practise an exercise of relaxation whilst standing 
and then induce them to imagine that they are falling back¬ 
wards or forwards. This quickly gives him an idea of those 
who are sensitive to auto-suggestion - all suggestion is 


39 



INTRODUCTION 


auto-suggestion - and then the suggestions leading to a deep 
hypnotic sleep can be given. In the state of deep sleep a 
word or a number can be written on a paper and the person 
in deep sleep can be asked to read the word or the number 
placed behind him. The person in deep sleep reads accurate¬ 
ly what is written, and when the same experiment is re¬ 
peated with success several times with different words and 
numbers not the slightest doubt is left in the mind of the 
operator that thought-transmission, or thought-reading, is a 
fact. And when he hears long arguments to the contrary 
by those who of course have not practised the experiment 
he cannot but smile. 

Well, what does the experiment prove? Only that, to 
quote Hamlet again. 

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 

But supposing that after this experiment we could attain 
all the psychic powers promised in Yoga, does this mean 
that we have advanced a single step on the spiritual path? 
Of course not. We have learnt something of amazing psy¬ 
chological interest; but we have not advanced on the path 
of love. We may even have gone backwards if the slightest 
pride or self-satisfaction has infected our mind. 

Those who rely on physical miracles to prove the truth 
of spiritual things forget the ever-present miracle of the 
universe and of our own lives. The lover of the physical 
miracle is in fact a materialist: instead of making material 
things spiritual, as the poet or the spiritual man does, he 
simply makes spiritual things material, and this is the source 
of all idolatry and superstition. Leaving aside the question 
that matter and spirit may simply be ‘different modes, or de¬ 
grees in perfection, of a common substractum ’, as Coleridge 
says, and the Upanishads suggest, there is the far greater ques¬ 
tion that in everything spiritual there is an element of beauty 
which is truth, and which we find in faith, but which is lack¬ 
ing in fanaticism and superstition. The noble longing for 


40 


INTRODUCTION 


truth of the scientist is exactly the same as the longing of the 
spiritual man for God, because God is Truth. The difference is 
that the scientist is busy finding facts in the outer world, 
whether in the stars that are millions of light-years from 
our little earth, or in the world discovered by the micro¬ 
scope; whilst the spiritual man is trying by the experience 
of Being and of Love to find the Truth of his inner world, 
the same Truth in the inner world of us all. 

The external events of the world and the inner events of 
our minds are spiritually all external to our Atman, to our 
higher Self. They are things that happen in time and space. 
The nearer we are to that centre in us which is beyond time 
and space, the better can we watch those events and say 
‘They happen*, as the Gita tells us, or as Jesus sums up in 
the eternal words ‘Watch and pray*. 

According to the mystics, it is important to know in 
prayer the difference between meditation and contempla¬ 
tion: meditation is a movement of thought limited within 
a circle, but in contemplation there is a silence of thought. 
Meditation is the mental activity of the thinker; contempla¬ 
tion is the silence of the poet. St Peter of Alcantara, 1499- 
1562, the Spanish saint who helped St Teresa, gives us in 
clear words the difference between the two : 

In meditation we consider carefully divine things, and we pass 
from one to another, so that the heart may feel love. It is as 
though we should strike a flint, to draw a spark of fire. 

But in contemplation the spark is struck: the love we were 
seeking is here. The soul enjoys silence and peace, not by many 
reasonings, but by simply contemplating the Truth. 

Meditation is the means, contemplation is the end: the one 
is the path, the other is the end of the path. Even as the vessel 
is still and at rest when it has arrived in port, when the soul has 
reached contemplation through meditation it should cease its 
toils and inquiries; and happy in the vision of God, even as if 
He were present, be one in feelings of love, of wonder, of joy, 
or other such. 

Let a man return into his own self, and there in the centre of 

41 


INTRODUCTION 


his soul, let him wait upon God, as one who listens to another 
speaking from a high tower, as though he had God in his heart, 
as though in the whole creation there was only God and his soul. 

It has been said that ‘Prayer is perfect, when he who prays, 
remembers not that he is praying ’. 

Those beginners who try inner silence should, however, 
be careful to listen to the words of the true spiritual teach¬ 
ers. St Teresa, in her delightful human way, says that some 
people close their eyes and keep quiet and they think that 
this is ‘ecstasy’. ‘I do not call this ecstasy, arrobamiento', 
she says, ‘ call it stupidity, abobamiento\ And she makes 
clear that the most sure sign of love is to do works of love. 
In her wonderful book ‘Interior Castle’ she writes: 

When I see people very anxious to know what sort of prayer 
they practise, covering their faces and afraid to move or think, 
lest they should lose any slight tenderness and devotion they feel, 
I know now how little they understand how to obtain union 
with God, since they think it consists in such things as these. 

No, sisters, no; our Lord expects works of us. 

I have often spoken on this subject elsewhere, because, my 
sisters, if we fail in this I know all is lost; please God this may 
never be our case. If you possess fraternal charity, I assure 
you that you will certainly obtain the union I have described. 
If you are conscious that you are wanting in this charity, al¬ 
though you may feel devotion and sweetness and a short ab¬ 
sorption in the prayer of quiet - which makes you think you 
have obtained the union with God - believe me you have not 
yet reached it. Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love for your 
neighbour, and leave the rest to Him. He will give you more 
than you know how to desire. 

Amongst the signs that a nun who had ‘visions' was 
simply in a state of abobamiento, St John of the Cross gives 
these: i. Too much desire to enjoy visions. 2. Too much 
self-assurance. 3. A desire to convince others that she has a 
great good. 4. That those ‘visions’ have not given her a 
great sense of humbleness; and 3. That the style of her 
language shows that it is not the language of truth. And St 

42 




INTRODUCTION 


John of the Cross ends by saying: ‘And all that she says 
that she said to God and God said to her seems absolute 
nonsense/ 

A seeker of the Truth of life will seek the Truth of Being 
and of Love, since a single flash of this Truth gives us faith 
far stronger than life. This faith is confirmed by the words 
of sacred books, by the life of those whose life was a book 
of life, and by the inner whisperings of our soul. 

Amongst the sacred books of the past, the Upanishads 
can be called in truth Himalayas of the Soul. Their passion¬ 
ate wanderings of discovery to find that sun of the Spirit in 
us, from whom we have the light of our consciousness and 
the fire of our life; the greatness of their questions, and the 
sublime simplicity of their answers; their radiance of joy 
when the revelation of the Supreme comes to their soul, 
and one of their poets can say, ‘The light of the sun is my 
light’; their paradoxes and contradictions where we find a 
living truth; their simple stories where with concrete ex¬ 
amples the greatest metaphysical truths are explained in the 
language of a child; their flashes of vision that reveal to us 
the infinite greatness of our inner world; their great variety 
and yet their absolute unity in the awe-inspiring concep¬ 
tion of Brahman; their burning uplifting faith in the soul 
of man which is one with the Soul of the universe; their 
tolerance of the Vedas , but their spiritual and therefore sym¬ 
bolical interpretation of external ritual, thus showing the 
true path of spiritual upliftment to all men in times to 
come; their seeds of great psychological and philosophical 
ideas; the vast harmonies that ring through their words; 
their spiritual wisdom that can satisfy different minds in 
their search for light; their simple images which we find 
again in saints and poets of other ages who had never 
known of the Upanishads , and thus confirm to us the unity 
of all spiritual vision and life; the splendour of their roman¬ 
tic imagination that makes their creators brothers in spirit 
with the creators of beauty of all times, and which show us 
how to make our life a work of beauty: are all like trumpets 

43 


INTRODUCTION 


sounding the glory of light and love and, over the darkness 
of doubts and death, proclaiming the victory of life. 

The Retreat , Juan Mascaro 

Comber ton, Cambridge 
Summer 1964 


NOTE ON THE TRANSLATIONS 


There is much in the Upanishads which belongs to their 
own time. This has a historical interest, but not the spiritual 
value that belongs to all times. The same could be said of the 
Old Testament of the Bible. 

That is why the spirit of the Upanishads can better be 
felt in a selection. I have translated the greatest Upanishads 
that happen not to be too long, and I have given the great¬ 
est passages of other Upanishads , including the sublime 
parts of the Chandogya and Brihad-aranyaka Upanishads . 
These are at the end of the book because, although in time 
they are the earliest, they lead the work to a culmination of 
greatness. The chronological order of the chief Upanishads 
is probably as follows: Brihad-aranyaka, Chandogya, Tail - 
tiriya, Kaushitaki, Kena, Katha, Isa, Mundaka, Trasna, Man - 
dukya, Svetasvatara, and Maitri . I followed an Indian tradi¬ 
tion by placing the Isa Upanishad at the beginning. 

I took infinite pains to make the translations clear and 
simple. When an expression ‘How can the Knower be 
known?’ is a literal translation of the Sanskrit ‘Vijnataram 
are kena vijaiyat?’ how a translator could say, ‘Lo, where¬ 
by would one understand the understander?’ is beyond my 
understanding! 

This leads me to an earnest request to the reader of these 
translations: that they should be read aloud, whether orally 
or mentally. Unless they are, the meaning intended by the 
sound will be missed. This of course should always be done 
when one reads literature: if we say, for instance, 2 + 2 = 4, 
our intellect grasps the inner meaning, and this is all that 
is necessary; but the words of Housman cannot be written 
in numbers: 

To think that two and two are four 
And neither five nor three 


NOTE ON THE TRANSLATIONS 

The heart of man has long been sore 
And long ’tis like to be. 

The sound of the numbers is in this case essential, since 
the sound is part of the meaning. 

A good many of these translations were done over twenty- 
five years ago when I was living above Tintern Abbey, not 
far from the place that inspired Wordsworth’s immortal 
poem. To the eighteen verses of the Isa Upanishad I devoted 
a whole month of thought and work. 

The whole of the Svetasvatara Upanishad and other selec¬ 
tions have been done during the last two years. 

A few pages of the Introduction belong to the earlier 
work. As I could not improve them, I left them as they 
were. They are the second part of the five parts of the 
Introduction. 

I hope that I have been true to the Spirit of the Upani - 
shads , and thus to our own Spirit. 


J.M. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 


I wish to tender grateful acknowledgements to Messrs John 
Murray for so generously allowing me to use the transla¬ 
tions from the Upanishads I made for them in the ‘Wisdom 
of the East’ series, and which were published in 1938 under 
the title Himalayas of the Soul. My gratitude is very sincere, 
as I do not think that I could have done the work again. 


J.M. 


THE UPANISHADS 








ISA UPANISHAD 


Behold the universe in the glory of God: and all that lives 
and moves on earth. Leaving the transient, find joy in the 
Eternal: set not your heart on another’s possession. 

Working thus, a man may wish for a life of a hundred 
years. Only actions done in God bind not the soul of man. 

There are demon-haunted worlds, regions of utter dark¬ 
ness. Whoever in life denies the Spirit falls into that dark¬ 
ness of death. 

The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the mind; the 
senses cannot reach him: He is ever beyond them. Standing 
still, he overtakes those who run. To the ocean of his being, 
the spirit of life leads the streams of action. 

He moves, and he moves not. He is far, and he is near. He 
is within all, and he is outside all. 

Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in 
all beings, loses all fear. 

When a sage sees this great Unity and his Self has be¬ 
come all beings, what delusion and what sorrow can ever 
be near him ? 

The Spirit filled all with his radiance. He is incorporeal 
and invulnerable, pure and untouched by evil. He is the 
supreme seer and thinker, immanent and transcendent. He 
placed all things in the path of Eternity. 

Into deep darkness fall those who follow action. Into 
deeper darkness fall those who follow knowledge. 

One is the outcome of knowledge, and another is the 
outcome of action. Thus have we heard from the ancient 
sages who explained this truth to us. 

He who knows both knowledge and action, with action 
overcomes death and with knowledge reaches immortality. 

Into deep darkness fall those who follow the immanent. 
Into deeper darkness fall those who follow the transcendent. 


49 


THE UPANISHADS 


One is the outcome of the transcendent, and another is 
the outcome of the immanent. Thus have we heard from the 
ancient sages who explained this truth to us. 

He who knows both the transcendent and the immanent, 
with the immanent overcomes death and with the transcen¬ 
dent reaches immortality. 

The face of truth remains hidden behind a circle of gold. 
Unveil it, O god of light, that I who love the true may see! 

O life-giving sun, off-spring of the Lord of creation, soli¬ 
tary seer of heaven! Spread thy light and withdraw thy 
blinding splendour that I may behold thy radiant form: 
that Spirit far away within thee is my own inmost Spirit. 

May life go to immortal life, and the body go to ashes. 
om. O my soul, remember past strivings, remember! O my 
soul, remember past strivings, remember! 

By the path of good lead us to final bliss, O fire divine 
thou god who knowest all ways. Deliver us from wandering 
evil. Prayers and adoration we offer unto thee. 



KENA UPANISHAD 


PART I 

Who sends the mind to wander afar? Who first drives life 
to start on its journey ? Who impels us to utter these words ? 
Who is the Spirit behind the eye and the ear ? 

It is the ear of the ear, the eye of the eye, and the Word 
of words, the mind of mind, and the life of life. Those who 
follow wisdom pass beyond and, on leaving this world, 
become immortal. 

There the eye goes not, nor words, nor mind. We know 
not, we cannot understand, how he can be explained: He 
is above the known and he is above the unknown. Thus 
have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this 
truth to us. 

What cannot be spoken with words, but that whereby 
words are spoken: Know that alone to be Brahman, the 
Spirit; and not what people here adore. 

What cannot be thought with the mind, but that whereby 
the mind can think: Know that alone to be Brahman, the 
Spirit; and not what people here adore. 

What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the 
eye can see: Know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; 
and not what people here adore. 

What cannot be heard with the ear, but that whereby the 
ear can hear: Know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; 
and not what people here adore. 

What cannot be indrawn with breath, but that whereby 
breath is indrawn: Know that alone to be Brahman, the 
Spirit; and not what people here adore. 

PART 2 

Master . If you think T know well’, little truth you know. 

5i 



THE UPANISHADS 


You only perceive that appearance of Brahman that lies in 
the senses and is in you. Pursue your meditation. 

Disciple. I mean to know. 

I do not imagine *1 know him weir, and yet I cannot say 
‘I know him not’. Who of us knows this, knows him; and 
not who says ‘I know him not'. 

He comes to the thought of those who know him beyond 
thought, not to those who imagine he can be attained by 
thought. He is unknown to the learned and known to the 
simple. 

He is known in the ecstasy of an awakening which opens 
the door of life eternal. By the Self we obtain power, and 
by vision we obtain Eternity. 

For a man who has known him, the light of truth shines; 
for one who has not known, there is darkness. The wise 
who have seen him in every being, on leaving this life, 
attain life immortal. 


PART 3 

Once upon a time. Brahman, the Spirit Supreme, won a vict¬ 
ory for the gods. And the gods thought in their pride: 
‘We alone attained this victory, ours alone is the glory.’ 

Brahman saw it and appeared to them, but they knew him 
not. ‘Who is that being that fills us with wonder?' they 
cried. 

And they spoke to Agni, the god of fire: ‘O god all¬ 
knowing, go and see who is that being that fills us with 
wonder.' 

Agni ran towards him and Brahman asked: ‘Who are you?' 
‘I am the god of fire,’ he said, ‘the god who knows all 
things.' 

‘What power is in you?’ asked Brahman. ‘I can bum all 
things on earth.' 

And Brahman placed a straw before him, saying: ‘Bum 
this.’ The god of fire strove with all his power, but was 
unable to bum it. He then returned to the other gods and 


KENA UPANISHAD 


said: ‘I could not find out who was that being that fills us 
with wonder.’ 

Then they spoke to Vayu, the god of the air. *0 Vayu, go 
and see who is that being that fills us with wonder.’ 

Vayu ran towards him and Brahman asked: ‘Who are 
you?’ ‘I am Vayu, the god of the air,’ he said, ‘Matarisvan, 
the air that moves in space.’ 

‘What power is in you?’ asked Brahman. ‘In a whirlwind 
I can carry away all there is on earth.’ 

And Brahman placed a straw before him saying: ‘Blow 
this away.' The god of the air strove with all his power, but 
was unable to move it. He returned to the other gods and 
said: ‘I could not find out who was that being that fills 
us with wonder.’ 

Then the gods spoke to Indra, the god of thunder: ‘O 
giver of earthly goods, go and see who is that being that 
fills us with wonder.’ And Indra ran towards Brahman, the 
Spirit Supreme, but he disappeared. 

Then in the same region of the sky the god saw a lady of 
radiant beauty. She was Uma, divine wisdom, the daughter 
of the mountains of snow. ‘Who is that being that fills us 
with wonder?’ he asked. 


PART 4 

‘He is Brahman, the Spirit Supreme’, she answered. ‘Rejoice 
in him, since through him you attained the glory of victory.’ 

And the gods Agni, Vayu and Indra excelled the other 
gods, for they were the first that came near Brahman and 
they first knew he was the Spirit Supreme. 

And thus Indra, the god of thunder, excelled all other 
gods, for he came nearest to Brahman and he first knew 
that he was the Spirit Supreme. 

Concerning whom it is said : 

He is seen in Nature in the wonder of a flash of lightning. 
He comes to the soul in the wonder of a flash of vision. 
His name is Tadvanam, which translated means ‘the End 

S3 



THE UPANISHADS 

of love-longing’. As Tadvanam he should have adoration. 
All beings will love such a lover of the Lord. 

Master . You asked me to explain the Upanishad, the 
sacred wisdom. The Upanishad has been explained to you. 
In truth I have been telling you the sacred teaching concern¬ 
ing Brahman. 



KATHA UPANISHAD 


PART I 

Vajasravasa gave away all his possessions at a sacrifice; 
but it was out of desire for heaven. 

He had a son called Nachiketas who, although he was 
only a boy, had a vision of faith when the offerings were 
given and thus he thought : 

‘This poor offering of cows that are too old to give milk 
and too weak to eat grass or drink water must lead to a 
world of sorrow/ 

And he thought of offering himself, and said to his father: 
‘Father, to whom will you give me?’ He asked once, and 
twice, and three times; and then his father answered in 
anger: ‘ I will give you to Death/ 

Nachiketas. At the head of many I go, and I go in the 
midst of many. What may be the work of Death that today 
must be done through me ? 

Remember how the men of old passed away, and how 
those of days to come will also pass away: a mortal ripens 
like corn, and like corn is born again. 

Nachiketas had to wait three nights without food in the abode 
of yam a, the god of death. 

A Voice. As the spirit of fire a Brahmin comes to a house: 
bring the offering of water, O god of Death. 

How unwise is the man who does not give hospitality to 
a Brahmin! He loses his future hopes, his past merits, his 
present possessions: his sons and his all. 

Death. Since you have come as a sacred guest to my 
abode, and you have had no hospitality for three nights, 
choose then three boons. 

Nachiketas. May my father’s anger be appeased, and may 

55 


THE UPANISHADS 

he remember me and welcome me when I return to him. Let 
this be my first boon. 

Death. By my power your father will remember you and 
love you as before; and when he sees you free from the 
jaws of death, sweet will be his sleep at night. 

Nachiketas. There is no fear in heaven: old age and death 
are not there. The good, beyond both, rejoice in heaven, 
beyond hunger and thirst and sorrow. 

And those in heaven attain immortality. You know, O 
Death, that sacred fire which leads to heaven. Explain it to 
me, since I have faith. Be this my second boon. 

Death. I know, Nachiketas, that sacred fire which leads 
to heaven. Listen. That fire which is the means of attaining 
the infinite worlds, and is also their foundation, is hidden 
in the sacred place of the heart. 

And Death told him of the fire of creation, the beginning of 
the worlds, and of the altar of the fire-sacrifice, of how many 
bricks it should be built and how they should be placed. Nachi¬ 
ketas repeated the teaching. Death was pleased and went on: 

A further boon I give you today. This fire of sacrifice 
shall be known by your name. Take also from me this chain 
of many forms. 

One who lights three times this sacred fire, and attains 
union with the Three, and performs the three holy actions, 
passes beyond life and death; for then he knows the god of 
fire, the god who knows all things, and through knowledge 
and adoration he attains the peace supreme. 

He who, knowing the Three, builds up the altar of fire- 
sacrifice and performs three times the sacrifice of Nachi¬ 
ketas, casts off the bonds of death and, passing beyond sor¬ 
row, finds joy in the regions of heaven. 

This is the fire that leads to heaven which you chose as 
the second gift. Men will call it the fire-sacrifice of Nachi¬ 
ketas. Choose now the third boon. 

Nachiketas. When a man dies, this doubt arises: some 
say ‘he is’ and some say ‘he is not’. Teach me the truth. 

56 


KATHA UPANISHAD 


Death . Even the gods had this doubt in times of old; for 
mysterious is the law of life and death. Ask for another 
boon. Release me from this. 

Nachiketas . This doubt indeed arose even to the gods, 
and you say, O Death, that it is difficult to understand; but 
no greater teacher than you can explain it, and there is no 
other boon so great as this. 

Death . Take horses and gold and cattle and elephants; 
choose sons and grandsons that shall live a hundred years. 
Have vast expanses of land, and live as many years as you 
desire. 

Or choose another gift that you think equal to this, and 
enjoy it with wealth and long life. Be a ruler of this vast 
earth. I will grant you all your desires. 

Ask for any wishes in the world of mortals, however hard 
to obtain. To attend on you I will give you fair maidens 
with chariots and musical instruments. But ask me not, 
Nachiketas, the secrets of death. 

Nachiketas . All these pleasures pass away, O End of all! 
They weaken the power of life. And indeed how short is all 
life! Keep thy horses and dancing and singing. 

Man cannot be satisfied with wealth. Shall we enjoy 
wealth with you in sight? Shall we live whilst you are in 
power ? I can only ask for the boon I have asked. 

When a mortal here on earth has felt his own immortal¬ 
ity, could he wish for a long life of pleasures, for the lust 
of deceitful beauty ? 

Solve then the doubt as to the great beyond. Grant me 
the gift that unveils the mystery. This is the only gift Nachi¬ 
ketas can ask. 


PART 2 

Death. There is the path of joy, and there is the path 
of pleasure. Both attract the soul. Who follows the first 
comes to good; who follows pleasure reaches not the 
End. 

The two paths lie in front of man. Pondering on them, 

57 


THE UPANISHADS 


the wise man chooses the path of joy; the fool takes the 
path of pleasure. 

You have pondered, Nachiketas, on pleasures and you 
have rejected them. You have not accepted that chain of 
possessions wherewith men bind themselves and beneath 
which they sink. 

There is the path of wisdom and the path of ignorance. 
They are far apart and lead to different ends. You are, 
Nachiketas, a follower of the path of wisdom: many pleas¬ 
ures tempt you not. 

Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves 
wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither, like 
blind led by the blind. 

What lies beyond life shines not to those who are child¬ 
ish, or careless, or deluded by wealth. ‘This is the only 
world: there is no other’, they say; and thus they go from 
death to death. 

Not many hear of him; and of those not many reach him. 
Wonderful is he who can teach about him; and wise is he 
who can be taught. Wonderful is he who knows him when 
taught. 

He cannot be taught by one who has not reached him; 
and he cannot be reached by much thinking. The way to 
him is through a Teacher who has seen him: He is higher 
than the highest thoughts, in truth above all thought. 

This sacred knowledge is not attained by reasoning; but 
it can be given by a true Teacher. As your purpose is steady 
you have found him. May I find another pupil like you! 

I know that treasures pass away and that the Eternal is 
not reached by the transient. I have thus laid the fire of 
sacrifice of Nachiketas, and by burning in it the transient I 
have reached the Eternal. 

Before your eyes have been spread, Nachiketas, the fulfil¬ 
ment of all desire, the dominion of the world, the eternal 
reward of ritual, the shore where there is no fear, the great¬ 
ness of fame and boundless spaces. With strength and wis¬ 
dom you have renounced them all. 

58 


* TH* SpjAXT OP VSAtAfd 

KATHA UPANISHAD 

When the wise rests his mind in contemplation on our 
God beyond time, who invisibly dwells in the mystery of 
things and in the heart of man, then he rises above pleasures 
and sorrow. 

When a man has heard and has understood and, finding 
the essence, reaches the Inmost, then he finds joy in the 
Source of joy. Nachiketas is a house open for thy Atman, 
thy God. 

Nachiketas. Tell me what you see beyond right and wrong, 
beyond what is done or not done, beyond past and future. 

Death . I will tell you the Word that all the Vedas glorify, 
all self-sacrifice expresses, all sacred studies and holy life 
seek. That Word is om. 

That Word is the everlasting Brahman: that Word is the 
highest End. When that sacred Word is known, all longings 
are fulfilled. 

It is the supreme means of salvation: it is the help sup¬ 
reme. When that great Word is known, one is great in the 
heaven of Brahman. 

Atman, the Spirit of vision, is never born and never dies. 

Before him there was nothing, and he is one for evermore. 
Never-born and eternal, beyond times gone or to come, he 
does not die when the body dies. 

If the slayer thinks that he kills, and if the slain thinks 
that he dies, neither knows the ways of truth. The Eternal 
in man cannot kill: the Eternal in man cannot die. 

Concealed in the heart of all beings is the Atman, the 
Spirit, the Self; smaller than the smallest atom, greater 
than the vast spaces. The man who surrenders his human 
will leaves sorrows behind, and beholds the glory of the 
Atman by the grace of the Creator. 

Resting, he wanders afar; sleeping, he goes everywhere. 

Who else but my Self can know that God of joy and of 
sorrows ? 

When the wise realize the omnipresent Spirit, who rests 
invisible in the visible and permanent in the impermanent, 
then they go beyond sorrow. 


59 


THE UPANISHADS 


Not through much learning is the Atman reached, not 
through the intellect and sacred teaching. It is reached by 
the chosen of him - because they choose him. To his chosen 
the Atman reveals his glory. 

Not even through deep knowledge can the Atman be 
reached, unless evil ways are abandoned, and there is rest 
in the senses, concentration in the mind and peace in one's 
heart. 

Who knows in truth where he is? The majesty of his 
power carries away priests and warriors, and death itself is 
carried away. 


PART 3 

In the secret high place of the heart there are two beings 
who drink the wine of life in the world of truth. Those who 
know Brahman, those who keep the five sacred fires and 
those who light the three-fold fire of Nachiketas call them 
Tight' and ‘shade'. 

May we light the sacred fire of Nachiketas, the bridge 
to cross to the other shore where there is no fear, the 
supreme everlasting Spirit! 

Know the Atman as Lord of a chariot; and the body as 
the chariot itself. Know that reason is the charioteer; and 
the mind indeed is the reins. 

The horses, they sav f are the senses : and th eir patKg-arq 
t he objects of sense. When the soul becomes one with the 
mind and the senses he is called ‘one who has joys and 
sorrows'. 

He who has not right understanding and whose mind is 
never steady is not the ruler of his life, like a bad driver with 
wild horses. 

But he who has right understanding and whose mind is 
ever steady is the ruler of his life, like a good driver with 
well-trained horses. 

He who has not right understanding, is careless and never 
pure, reaches not the End of the journey; but wanders on 
from death to death. 


60 





KATHA UPANISHAD 


But he who has understanding, is careful and ever pure, 
reaches the End of the journey, from which he never re¬ 
turns. 

The man whose chariot is driven by reason, who watches 
and holds the reins of his mind, reaches the End of the 
journey, the supreme everlasting Spirit. 

Beyond the senses are their objects, and beyond the ob¬ 
jects is the mind. Beyond the mind is pure reason, and be¬ 
yond reason is the Spirit in man. 

Beyond the Spirit in man is the Spirit of the universe, 
and beyond is Purusha, the Spirit Supreme. Nothing is be¬ 
yond Purusha: He is the End of the path. 

The light of the Atman, the Spirit, is invisible, concealed 
in all beings. It is seen by the seers of the subtle, when their 
vision is keen and is clear. 

The wise should surrender speech in mind, mind in the 
knowing self, the knowing self in the Spirit of the universe, 
and the Spirit of the universe in the Spirit of peace. 

Awake, arise! Strive for the Highest, and be in the Light! 
Sages say the path is narrow and difficult to tread, narrow 
as the edge of a razor. 

The Atman .is beyond sound and form. .without touch and 

taste fl)nd..perfiMie-.Tt k gfer-nal anrj 

beginning, pt ,end ^ove xeapnin^ . When conscious¬ 

ness of the Atman manifests itself, man becomes free from 
the jaws of death. 

The wise who can learn and can teach this ancient story 
of Nachiketas, taught by Yama, the god of death, finds glory 
in the world of Brahman. 

He who, filled with devotion, recites this supreme mys¬ 
tery at the gathering of Brahmins, or at the ceremony of the 
Sradha for the departed, prepares for Eternity, he prepares 
in truth for Eternity. 

PART 4 

The Creator made the senses outward-going: they go to 
the world of matter outside, not to the Spirit within. But 

61 





THE UPANISHADS 


a sage who sought immortality looked within himself and 
found his own Soul. 

The foolish run after outward pleasures and fall into the 
snares of vast-embracing death. But the wise have found 
immortality, and do not seek the Eternal in things that pass 
away. 

This by which we perceive colours and sounds, perfumes 
and kisses of love; by which alone we attain knowledge; 
by which verily we can be conscious of anything: 

This in truth is That. 

When the wise knows that it is through the great and 
omnipresent Spirit in us that we are conscious in waking 
or in dreaming, then he goes beyond sorrow. 

When he knows the Atman, the Self, the inner life, who 
enjoys like a bee the sweetness of the flowers of the senses, 
the Lord of what was and of what will be, then he goes 
beyond fear: 

This in truth is That. 

The god of creation, who in the beginning was born from 
the fire of thought before the waters were; who appeared in 
the elements and rests, having entered the heart : 

This in truth is That. 

The goddess of Infinity who comes as Life-power and 
Nature; who was born from the elements and rests, having 
entered the heart: 

This in truth is That. 

Agni, the all-knowing god of fire, hidden in the two 
friction fire-sticks of the holy sacrifice, as a seed of life in the 
womb of a mother, who receives the morning adoration of 
those who follow the path of light or the path of work: 

This in truth is That. 

Whence the rising sun does come, and into which it sets 
again; wherein all the gods have their birth, and beyond 
which no man can go : 

This in truth is That. 

What is here is also there, and what is there is also here. 

62 


KATHA UPANISHAD 

Who sees the many and not the one, wanders on from 
death to death. 

Even by the mind this truth is to be learned: there are 
not many but only one. Who sees variety and not the 
unity wanders on from death to death. 

The soul dwells within us, a flame the size of a thumb. 
When it is known as the Lord of the past and the future, 
then ceases all fear: 

This in truth is That. 

Like a flame without smoke, the size of a thumb, is the 
soul; the Lord of the past and the future, the same both 
today and tomorrow: 

This in truth is That. 

As water raining on a mountain-ridge runs down the rocks 
on all sides, so the man who only sees variety of things runs 
after them on all sides. 

But as pure water raining on pure water becomes one and 
the same, so becomes, O Nachiketas, the soul of the sage 
who knows. 


PAP.T 5 

The pure eternal Spirit dwells in the castle of eleven gates 
of the body. By ruling this castle, man is free from sorrows 
and, free from all bondage, attains liberation. 

‘In space he is the sun, and he is the wind and the sky; 
at the altar he is the priest, and the Soma wine in the jar. 
He dwells in men and in gods, in righteousness and in the 
vast heavens. He is in the earth and the waters and in the 
rocks of the mountains. He is Truth and Power. * 

The powers of life adore that god who is in the heart, 
and he rules the breath of life, breathing in and breathing 
out. 

When the ties that bind the Spirit to the body are un¬ 
loosed and the Spirit is set free, what remains then? 

This in truth is That. 

A mortal lives not through that breath that flows in and 

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THE UPANISHADS 

that flows out. The source of his life is another and this 
causes the breath to flow. 

I will now speak to you of the mystery of the eternal 
Brahman; and of what happens to the soul after death. 

The soul may go to the womb of a mother and thus ob¬ 
tain a new body. It even may go into trees or plants, accord¬ 
ing to its previous wisdom and work. 

There is a Spirit who is awake in our sleep and creates 
the wonder of dreams. He is Brahman, the Spirit of Light, 
who in truth is called the Immortal. All the worlds rest on 
that Spirit and beyond him no one can go: 

This in truth is That. 

As fire, though one, takes new forms in all things that 
burn, the Spirit, though one, takes new forms in all things 
that live. He is within all, and is also outside. 

As the wind, though one, takes new forms in whatever it 
enters, the Spirit, though one, takes new forms in all things 
that live. He is within all, and is also outside. 

As the sun that beholds the world is untouched by earthly 
impurities, so the Spirit that is in all things is untouched by 
external sufferings. 

There is one Ruler, the Spirit that is in all things, who 
transforms his own form into many. Only the wise who see 
him in their souls attain the joy eternal. 

He is the Eternal among things that pass away, pure Con¬ 
sciousness of conscious beings, the one who fulfils the 
prayers of many. Only the wise who see him in their souls 
attain the peace eternal. 

‘This is That’ - thus they realize the ineffable joy sup¬ 
reme. How can ‘This’ be known ? Does he give light or does 
he reflect light? 

There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; 
lightnings shine not there and much less earthly fire. From 
his light all these give light, and his radiance illumines all 
creation. 


64 


KATHA UPANISHAD 


PART 6 

The Tree of Eternity has its roots in heaven above and its 
branches reach down to earth. It is Brahman, pure Spirit, 
who in truth is called the Immortal. All the worlds rest on 
that Spirit and beyond him no one can go: 

This in truth is That. 

The whole universe comes from him and his life burns 
through the whole universe. In his power is the majesty of 
thunder. Those who know him have found immortality. 

From fear of him fire burns, and from fear of him the 
sun shines. From fear of him the clouds and the winds, and 
death itself, move on their way. 

If one sees him in this life before the body passes away, 
one is free from bondage; but if not, one is born and dies 
again in new worlds and new creations. 

Brahman is seen in a pure soul as in a mirror clear, and 
also in the Creator’s heaven as clear as light; but in the 
land of shades as remembrance of dreams, and in the world 
of spirits as reflections in trembling waters. 

When the wise man knows that the material senses come 
not from the Spirit, and that their waking and sleeping 
belong to their own nature, then he grieves no more. 

Beyond the senses is the mind, and beyond mind is reason, 
its essence. Beyond reason is the Spirit in man, and beyond 
this is the Spirit of the universe, the evolver of all. 

And beyond is Purusha, all-pervading, beyond definitions. 
When a mortal knows him, he attains liberation and reaches 
immortality. 

His form is not in the field of vision: no one sees him 
with mortal eyes. He is seen by a pure heart and by a mind 
and thoughts that are pure. Those who know him attain life 
immortal. 

When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason 
itself rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme. 

This calm steadiness of the senses is called Yoga. Then 

65 





At MM. S4F> * TH« ScPtP 

THE UPANISHADS 

one should become watchful, because Yoga comes and 
goes. 

Words and thoughts cannot reach him and he cannot be 
seen by the eye. How can he then be perceived except by 
him who says ‘He is’ ? 

In the faith of ‘He is* his existence must be perceived, 
and he must be perceived in his essence. When he is per¬ 
ceived as ‘He is’, then shines forth the revelation of his 
essence. 

When all d esires iharxlinZ-t o the h^art are sjiTTp.nd^ jgj. 
then ajnojj fll herpm es immor tal, and even in t his world he 
is one with Brahman . 

When all the ties that bind the heart are unloosened, 
then a mortal becomes immortal. This is the sacred teach¬ 
ing. 

One hundred and one subtle ways come from the heart. 
One of them rises to the crown of the head. This is the way 
that leads to immortality; the others lead to different ends. 

Always dwelling within all beings is the Atman, the 
Purusha, the Self, a little flame in the heart. Let one with 
steadiness withdraw him from the body even as an inner 
stem is withdrawn from its sheath. Know this pure immor- 
tal light; k now in truth this pure immortal ligh t. 

And Nachiketas learnt the supreme wisdom taught by the 
god of after-life, and he learnt the whole teaching of 
inner-union, of Yoga. Then he reached Brahman, the Spirit 
Supreme, and became immortal and pure. So in truth will 
anyone who knows his Atman, his higher Self. 







PRASNA UPANISHAD 


FIRST QUESTION 

Sukesa Bharadvaja, Saibya Satyakama, Sauryayani Gar- 
gya, Kausalya Asvalayana, Bhargava Vaidarbhi and Kaban- 
dhi Katyayana were students filled with devotion for Brah¬ 
man, the Supreme Spirit; their minds rested on Brahman, 
and they were in search of the Highest Brahman. Once they 
said: The holy Pippalada can explain all the sacred teach¬ 
ing’; and, thus thinking, they approached him, bringing as 
a sign of reverence fuel for the sacred fire. 

The sage said to them: Remain another year in steadi¬ 
ness, purity and faith. Ask then anything you desire and, if 
I know, I will tell you all. 

When the time came, Kabandhi Katyayana approached 
the sage and said: Master, whence came all created beings? 

The sage replied: In the beginning, the Creator longed 
for the joy of creation. He remained in meditation, and 
then came Rayi, matter, and Prana, life. These two', 
thought he, ‘will produce beings for me*. 

The sun is life and the moon is matter. All that has form, 
solid or subtle, is matter: therefore form is matter. 

When the rising morning sun enters the eastern skies, 
then he bathes in his light all life that is in the East. And 
then the South and the West and the North and all the 
sky are illumined by that light that gives life to all that 
lives. 

Thus rises the sun as fire, as life in its infinite variety. It 
was said in a verse of the Rig Veda: 

The sun is rising in golden radiance! The sun of a thous¬ 
and rays in a hundred regions abiding; the god omniscient, 
the aim of all prayers; the light and fire supreme, the infinite 
life of all beings.’ 

The Lord of Creation is in truth the time of the year. 

67 



THE UPANISHADS 


This has two paths: the way of the South and the way of 
the North. Those who worship thinking, 4 We have done 
sacrifices and pious works 4 , attain only the regions of the 
moon and return to life and death. That is why those sages 
who desire children and the life of the family follow the path 
of the South. This is the path that leads to the ancestors. 

But those who in search of the inner Spirit follow the 
spiritual path of the North with steadiness, purity, faith, 
and wisdom attain the regions of the sun. And there is the 
ocean of life, the refuge supreme, the land of immortality 
where there is no fear. From there they do not return again : 
it is the end of the journey. There is a verse of the Rig Veda 
that says : 

‘Some speak of a Father who sends rain from the heaven 
of the North, resting on the seasons and showing himself in 
twelve ways. Others speak of a sage in the heaven of the 
South with a chariot of seven wheels and six spokes. 4 

The day and night are the Lord of Creation. Day is life 
and night is matter. Those who join in love by day waste 
life; but they follow the good path, those who join in love 
by night. 

The dark fortnight is indeed matter, and the bright fort¬ 
night is life. Some sages perform their rituals in the bright 
fortnight; but some in the time of darkness. 

Food is in truth the Lord of Creation. From food seed 
is produced and from this beings are bom. 
f Those who obey the Law of the Lord of Creation, they 
in turn become creators and like him produce a pair. They 
^attain the pale regions of the moon. 

But those in whom there is no deceit, untruth or bad 
faith, who live in steadiness, purity, and truth, theirs are 
the radiant regions of the sun. 


SECOND QUESTION 

Then Bhargava Vaidarbhi asked: Master, what are the pow¬ 
ers that keep the union of a being, how many keep bum- 

68 


PRASNA UPANISHAD 

ing the lamps of life, and which amongst them is supreme? 

The sage replied: The powers are space, air, fire, water, 
and earth; and voice, mind, the eye, and the ear. These 
powers light the lamps of life and say: ‘We keep the union 
of this being and we are its foundation'. 

But Life, the power supreme, said to them: ‘Do not fall 
into delusion. It is I who, in my fivefold division, keep the 
union of this being and I am its foundation.’ But they be¬ 
lieved him not. 

Life was offended and rose aloft to leave the body, and 
all the powers of life had to rise and. Life coming again to 
rest, all the powers had to rest. As when a queen-bee arises, 
all the bees with her arise, and when she comes to rest 
again, then all again come to rest, even so it happened to 
the powers of the voice, the mind, the eye, and the ear. 
The powers then understood and sang in joy this song of 
life: 

‘Life is the fire that bums and is the sun that gives light. 
Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. 
Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and 
what beyond is in Eternity. 

On Life all things are resting, as spokes in the centre of a 
wheel. On Life are resting the Vedas and prayers and war¬ 
riors and priests. 

To thee, resting with thy powers, 0 Life, all beings offer 
adoration. As Lord of Creation thou movest in the womb of 
the mother, thence to be reborn. 

Thou art the chief bearer of gifts to the gods, the first 
offering made to the departed; thou art the poetry of the 
seers, the truth of ancient sages. 

Thou art Rudra, the god of protection; thou art Indra 
in thy radiance, O Life. As the sun that wanders in heaven, 
thou art Lord of all heavenly lights. 

When the rain pours down from heaven, O Life, all thy 
creatures rejoice and they say: ‘Food for us shall be in 
abundance'. 

Thou art pure, O Life, supreme seer, lord and consumer 

69 


THE UPANISHADS 


of all. We, the givers of what thou enjoyest, thou, our father, 
the breath of all life. 

Be favourable unto us, O Life, with that invisible form 
of thine which is in the voice, the eye, and the ear, and 
which lives in the mind. Go not from us. 

In thy power is all this world and even the third most 
sacred heaven. As a mother her child, protect us, O Life: 
give us glory and give us wisdom.* 


THIRD QUESTION 

Then Kausalya Asvalayana asked: Master, this life, whence 
does it arise? How does it come to this body? How, after 
diffusing itself, does it abide here? How does it leave the 
body? How does it sustain the universe without and the 
universe within? 

The sage replied: Great are the questions you ask from 
me, but you are a great lover of Brahman: I will answer. 

Life comes from the Spirit. Even as a man casts a shadow, 
so the Spirit casts the shadow of life, and, as a shadow of 
former lives, a new life comes to this body. 

As when a ruler commands his officials and appoints 
them cities to be ruled, in his name, even so Prana, the 
power of life, rules the other living powers of the body. 

Apana rules its lower regions. Prana itself lives in the 
eye and the ear and moves through the nose and the mouth. 
Samana rules the middle regions, and distributes the life- 
giving offering of food. From Samana come the seven flames. 

In the heart dwells the Atman, the Self. It is the centre 
of a hundred and one little channels. From each one of them 
come a hundred channels more. Seventy-two thousand smal¬ 
ler channels branch from each one of these. In all these 
millions of little channels moves the power of Vyana. 

Rising by one of them, the living power of Udana leads 
to the heaven of purity by good actions, to the hell of evil 
by evil actions, and if by both again to this land of man. 

The sun is Prana, the life of this universe, and he rises 


70 


PRASNA UPANISHAD 

giving joy to the life in human eyes. The divinity of the 
earth rules the lower regions of Apana. Between the sun 
and the earth there is space or Samana. Air is Vyana. 

Fire is Udana. When that fire of life is gone, senses are 
absorbed in mind, and man comes to life again. His last 
thoughts lead him to Prana and, accompanied by the living 
fire of Udana and led by Atman, the Spirit himself, he goes 
to the regions deserved and desired in imagination. 

He who thus knows the meaning of life, his off-spring 
never dies and attains life everlasting. There is a verse that 
says: 

‘He who knows the rising of life and how it comes to 
the body, how it abides there in its fivefold division, and 
knows its relation to the inner Spirit, enjoys eternal life, in 
truth enjoys eternal life.’ 

FOURTH QUESTION 

Then Sauryayani Gargya asked: Master, how many powers 
sleep in man and how many remain awake? Who is that 
Spirit that beholds the wonder of dreams? Who enjoys the 
mystery of sleep with no dreams? Who is that Spirit on 
whom all the others find rest? 

The sage replied: As when, before darkness falls, the 
rays of the setting sun seem all to become one in its circle 
of light, though at the hour of sunrise they all spread out 
again, even so all the powers of the senses become one in 
the higher power of the mind. Then a person does not see, 
hear, smell, taste or touch; does not speak, receive or give, 
move, or enjoy joys of love. Then people say ‘he sleeps*. 

But in the city of the body the fires of life are burning: 
they sleep not. Apana is like the sacred home-fire for ever 
kept burning from father to son. Vyana is like the fire of 
the South for offerings to the ancestors. Prana is like the 
fire of the East lit up by the home-fire. 

Samana is like the Hotri priest evenly distributing the 
two offerings of expiration and inspiration. The mind is 


71 


THE UPANISHADS 


the performer of the sacrifice; and Udana is its fruit, since 
every day it takes the mind in sleep to Brahman, the Al¬ 
mighty. 

And in dreams the mind beholds its own immensity. 
What has been seen is seen again, and what has been heard 
is heard again. What has been felt in different places or far¬ 
away regions returns to the mind again. Seen and unseen, 
heard and unheard, felt and not felt, the mind sees all, 
since the mind is all. 

But when the mind is overcome by its own radiance, 
then dreams are no longer seen: joy and peace come to the 
body. 

Even as birds, O beloved, return to their tree for rest, 
thus all things find their rest in Atman, the Supreme Spirit. 

All things find their final peace in their inmost Self, the 
Spirit: earth, water, fire, air, space, and their invisible ele¬ 
ments; sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and their various 
fields of sense; voice, hands, and all powers of actioi mind, 
reason, the sense of T, thought, inner light, and their ob¬ 
jects ; and even life and all that life sustains. 

It is the Spirit of man who sees, hears, feels perfumes, 
touches and tastes, thinks and acts and has all conscious¬ 
ness. And the Spirit of man finds peace in the Spirit Supreme 
and Eternal. 

He who knows, O my son, that Eternal Spirit, incorpo¬ 
real and shadowless, luminous and everlasting, attains that 
Eternal Spirit. He knows the All and becomes the All. A 
verse there is that says: 

‘He who knows, O my beloved, that Eternal Spirit where¬ 
in consciousness and the senses, the powers of life and the 
elements find final peace, knows the All and has gone into 
the All.* 


FIFTH QUESTION 

Then Saibya Satyakama asked: Master, that man who until 
the end of his life rests on om his meditation, where does 
he go after life? 


72 


PRASNA UPANISHAD 


The sage replied: The Word om, O Satyakama, is the 
transcendent and the immanent Brahman, the Spirit Sup¬ 
reme. With the help of this sacred Word the wise attains 
the one or the other. 

om, or aum, has three sounds. He who rests on the 
first his meditation is illumined thereby and after death 
returns speedily to this world of men led by the harmonies 
of the Rig Veda. Remaining here in steadiness, purity, and 
truth he attains greatness. 

And if he rests his mind in meditation on the first two 
sounds, he is led by the harmonies of the Yajur Veda to the 
regions of the moon. After enjoying their heavenly joys, he 
returns to earth again. 

But if, with the three sounds of the eternal om, he places 
his mind in meditation upon the Supreme Spirit, he comes 
to the regions of light of the sun. There he becomes free 
from all evil, even as a snake sheds its old skin, and with 
the harmonies of the Sama Veda he goes to the heaven of 
Brahma wherefrom he can behold the Spirit that dwells in 
the city of the human body and which is above the highest 
life. There are two verses that say: 

‘The three sounds not in union lead again to life that 
dies; but the wise who merge them into a harmony of 
union in outer, inner and middle actions becomes steady: 
he trembles no more/ 

With the harmonies of the Rdg Veda unto this world of 
man, and with those of the Yajur Veda to the middle heaven¬ 
ly regions; but, with the help of om, the sage goes to those 
regions that the seers know in the harmonies of the Sama 
Veda . There he finds the peace of the Supreme Spirit where 
there is no dissolution or death and where there is no fear. 


SIXTH QUESTION 

Then Sukesa Bharadvaja said: Master, Prince Hiranyanabha 
Kausalya came once to me and asked this question: ‘Do 
you know the Spirit of sixteen forms?’ ‘I know him not’. 


73 


THE UPANISHADS 


I answered the young prince. ‘If I knew him, how could I 
say that I knew him not ? For he who speaks untruth withers 
like a tree to the roots: I will not speak untruth.’ The 
prince became silent and, mounting his chariot, departed. 
And now I ask you. Where is that Spirit? 

The sage replied: O my son, the Spirit in whom sixteen 
forms arise is here within this body. 

The Spirit thought: ‘In whose going out shall I go out, 
and in whose staying shall I stay ? ’ 

And he created life, and from life faith and space and 
air, light, water, and earth, the senses and the mind. He 
created food and from food strength, austerity, sacred 
poems, holy actions, and even the worlds. And in the 
worlds, name was created. 

As when rivers flowing towards the ocean find there 
final peace, their name and form disappear, and people 
speak only of the ocean, even so the sixteen forms of the 
seer of all flow towards the Spirit and find there final peace, 
their name and form disappear and people speak only of 
Spirit. There is a verse that says: 

‘These forms in him find rest like spokes in the centre 
of a wheel. Know ye the Spirit that should be known that 
death may afflict you not.* 

Then the sage said to the disciples: Thus far I know the 
Supreme Spirit. There is nothing beyond. 

Bowing to him in adoration, the disciples said: You are 
in truth our father who has saved us from ignorance and 
has led us to the shore beyond. 

Adoration to the supreme seers! Adoration to the sup¬ 
reme seers! 



MUNDAKA UPANISHAD 


PART I 
CHAPTER I 

Brahma was before the gods were, the Creator of all, the 
Guardian of the Universe. The vision of Brahman, the foun¬ 
dation of all wisdom, he gave in revelation to his first-born 
son Atharvan. 

That vision and wisdom of Brahman given to Atharvan, 
he in olden times revealed to Angira. And Angira gave it to 
Satyavaha, who in succession revealed it to Angiras. 

Now there was a man whose name was Saunaka, owner 
of a great household, who, approaching one day Angiras 
with reverence, asked him this question: ‘Master, what is 
that which, when known, all is known?’ The Master replied: 
Sages say that there are two kinds of wisdom, the higher 
and the lower. 

The lower wisdom is in the four sacred Vedas , and in the 
six kinds of knowledge that help to know, to sing, and to 
use the Vedas: definition and grammar, pronunciation and 
poetry, ritual and the signs of heaven. But the higher 
wisdom is that which leads to the Eternal. 

He is beyond thought and invisible, beyond family and 
colour. He has neither eyes nor ears; he has neither hands 
nor feet. He is everlasting and omnipresent, infinite in the 
great and infinite in the small. He is the Eternal whom the 
sages see as the source of all creation. 

Even as a spider sends forth and draws in its thread, even 
as plants arise from the earth and hairs from the body of 
man, even so the whole creation arises from the Eternal. 

By Tapas , the power of meditation. Brahman attains 
expansion and then comes primeval matter. And from this 


75 



THE UPANISHADS 


comes life and mind, the elements and the worlds and the 
immortality of ritual action. 

From that Spirit who knows all and sees all, whose Tapas 
is pure vision, from him comes Brahma, the creator, name 
and form and primal matter. 

CHAPTER 2 

This is the truth: The actions of devotion that sages heard 
in sacred verses were told in many ways in the three Vedas. 
Perform them always, O lovers of the true: they are your 
path of holy action in this world. 

When the flames of the sacred fire are rising, place then 
in faith the sacred offerings. 

If at the sacred fire of Agnihotra no heed is taken of the 
new moon, or of the full moon, or of the seasons of the 
year, or of the first fruits of spring; if no guests are present, 
if the offering of the sacrifice is left undone, or not done 
according to rule, or the offering to all the gods is forgotten, 
then the offerer does not attain the reward of the seven 
worlds. 

The dancing flames of the sacred fire are seven: the black, 
the terrific, that which is swift as the mind, that which is 
dark with smoke, the deep red, the spark-blazing and the 
luminous omniformed flame. 

If a man begins his sacrifice when the flames are lumin¬ 
ous, and considers for the offerings the signs of heaven, then 
the holy offerings lead him on the rays of the sun where 
the Lord of all gods has his high dwelling. 

And when on the rays of sunlight the radiant offerings 
raise him, then they glorify him in words of melody: 
‘Welcome’, they say, ‘welcome here. Enjoy the heaven of 
Brahma won by pure holy actions.’ 

But unsafe are the boats of sacrifice to go to the farthest 
shore; unsafe are the eighteen books where the lower 
actions are explained. The unwise who praise them as the 
highest end go to old age and death again. 

76 


MUNDAKA UPANISHAD 


Abiding in the midst of ignorance, but thinking them¬ 
selves wise and learned, fools aimlessly go hither and 
thither, like blind led by the blind. 

Wandering in the paths of unwisdom, ‘We have attained 
the end of life', think the foolish. Clouds of passion conceal 
to them the beyond, and sad is their fall when the reward 
of their pious actions has been enjoyed. 

Imagining religious ritual and gifts of charity as the final 
good, the unwise see not the Path supreme. Indeed they have 
in high heaven the reward of their pious actions; but thence 
they fall and come to earth or even down to lower regions. 

But those who in purity and faith live in the solitude of 
the forest, who have wisdom and peace and long not for 
earthly possessions, those in radiant purity pass through 
the gates of the sun to the dwelling-place supreme where 
the Spirit is in Eternity. 

Beholding the worlds of creation, let the lover of God 
attain renunciation: what is above creation cannot be at¬ 
tained by action. In his longing for divine wisdom, let him 
go with reverence to a Teacher, in whom live the sacred 
words and whose soul has peace in Brahman. 

To a pupil who comes with mind and senses in peace the 
Teacher gives the vision of Brahman, of the Spirit of truth 
and eternity. 


PART 2 

CHAPTER I 

This is the truth: As from a fire aflame thousands of sparks 
come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings 
have life and to him return again. 

But the spirit of light above form, never-born, within all, 
outside all, is in radiance above life and mind, and beyond 
this creation’s Creator. 

From him comes all life and mind, and the senses of all 
life. From him comes space and light, air and fire and water, 
and this earth that holds us all. 


77 


THE UPANISHADS 


The head of his body is fire, and his eyes the sun and the 
moon; his ears, the regions of heaven, and the sacred Vedas 
his word. His breath is the wind that blows, and this whole 
universe is his heart. This earth is his footstool. He is the 
Spirit that is in all things. 

From him comes the sun, and the source of all fire is the 
sun. 

From him comes the moon, and from this comes the rain 
and all herbs that grow upon earth. And man comes from 
him, and man unto woman gives seed; and thus an infinity 
of beings come from the Spirit supreme. 

The verses of the Rig Veda and songs of the Sama Veda , 
prayers of the Yajur Veda and rites of initiation, sacrifices 
and offerings and gifts, the offerer of the sacrifice, the year 
and the worlds purified by the light from the sun and the 
moon, all come from the Spirit. 

From him the oceans and mountains; and all rivers come 
from him. And all herbs and the essence of all whereby 
the Inner Spirit dwells with the elements: all come from 
him. 

The spirit in truth is all: action, and the power of Tapas, 
and Brahma the creator, and immortality. He who knows 
him dwelling in the secret place of the heart cuts asunder 
the bonds of ignorance even in this human life. 

CHAPTER 2 

Radiant in his light, yet invisible in the secret place of the 
heart, the Spirit is the supreme abode wherein dwells all 
that moves and breathes and sees. Know him as all that is, 
and all that is not, the end of love-longing beyond under¬ 
standing, the highest in all beings. 

He is self-luminous and more subtle than the smallest; 
but in him rest all the worlds and their beings. He is the 
everlasting Brahman, and he is life and word and mind. He 
is truth and life immortal. He is the goal to be aimed at: 
attain that goal, O my son! 


78 


MUNDAKA UPANISHAD 

Take the great bow of the Upanishads and place in it an 
arrow sharp with devotion. Draw the bow with concentra¬ 
tion on him and hit the centre of the mark, the same ever¬ 
lasting Spirit. 

The bow is the sacred om, and the arrow is our own soul. 
Brahman is the mark of the arrow, the aim of the soul. Even 
as an arrow becomes one with its mark, let the watchful 
soul be one in him. 

In him are woven the sky and the earth and all the regions 
of the air, and in him rest the mind and all the powers of 
life. Know him as the one and leave aside all other words. 
He is the bridge of immortality. 

Where all the subtle channels of the body meet, like 
spokes in the centre of a wheel, there he moves in the heart 
and transforms his one form unto many. Upon om, Atman, 
your Self, place your meditation. Glory unto you in your 
far-away journey beyond darkness! 

He who knows all and sees all, and whose glory the 
universe shows, dwells as the Spirit of the divine city of 
Brahman in the region of the human heart. He becomes 
mind and drives on the body and life, draws power from 
food and finds peace in the heart. There the wise find him 
as joy and light and life eternal. 

And when he is seen in his immanence and transcendence, 
then the ties that have bound the heart are unloosened, the 
doubts of the mind vanish, and the law of Karma works no 
more. 

In the supreme golden chamber is Brahman indivisible 
and pure. He is the radiant light of all lights, and this knows 
he who knows Brahman. 

There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; 
lightnings shine not there and much less earthly fire. From 
his light all these give light; and his radiance illumines all 
creation. 

Far spreading before and behind and right and left, and 
above and below, is Brahman, the Spirit eternal. In truth 
Brahman is all. 


79 


THE UPANISHADS 


PART 3 
CHAPTER I 

There are two birds, two sweet friends, who dwell on the 
self-same tree. The one eats the fruits thereof, and the other 
looks on in silence. 

The first is the human soul who, resting on that tree, 
though active, feels sad in his unwisdom. But on beholding 
the power and glory of the higher Spirit, he becomes free 
from sorrow. 

When the wise seer beholds in golden glory the Lord, the 
Spirit, the Creator of the god of creation, then he leaves 
good and evil behind and in purity he goes to the unity 
supreme. 

In silent wonder the wise see him as the life flaming in all 
creation. This is the greatest seer of Brahman, who, doing all 
his work as holy work, in God, in Atman, in the Self, finds 
all his peace and joy. 

This Atman is attained by truth and tapas whence come 
true wisdom and chastity. The wise who strive and who are 
pure see him within the body in his pure glory and light. 

Truth obtains victory, not untruth. Truth is the way that 
leads to the regions of light. Sages travel therein free from 
desires and reach the supreme abode of Truth. 

He is immeasurable in his light and beyond all thought, 
and yet he shines smaller than the smallest. Far, far away is 
he, and yet he is very near, resting in the inmost chamber 
of the heart. 

He cannot be seen by the eye, and words cannot reveal 
him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by austerity or 
sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, 
he can be seen indivisible in the silence of contemplation. 

This invisible Atman can be seen by the mind, wherein 
the five senses are resting. All mind is woven with the 
senses; but in a pure mind shines the light of the Self. 

Whatever regions the pure in heart may see in his mind, 

80 


w£w-Z£ 


AauSUUT^ 

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD 

whatever desires he may have in his heart, he attains those 
regions and wins his desires: let one who wishes for success 
reverence the seers of the Spirit. 

CHAPTER 2 

Then he knows the supreme dwelling of Brahman wherein 
the whole universe shines in radiance. The wise who, free 
from desires, adore the Spirit pass beyond the seed of life in 
death. 

A man whose mind wanders among desires, and is long¬ 
ing for objects of desire, goes again to life and death accord¬ 
ing to his desires. But he who possesses the End of all 
longing, and whose self has found fulfilment, even in this 
life his desires will fade away. 

Not through much learning is the Atman reached, not 
through the intellect or sacred teaching. He is reached by 
the chosen of him. To his chosen the Atman reveals his glory. 

The Atman is not reached by the weak, or the careless, or 
those who practise wrong austerity; but the wise who strive 
in the right way lead their soul into the dwelling of 
Brahman. 

Having reached that place supreme, the seers find joy in 
wisdom, their souls have fulfilment, their passions have 
gone, they have peace. Filled with devotion, they have 
found the Spirit in all and go into the All. 

Those ascetics who know well the meaning of the 
Vedanta , whose minds are pure by renunciation, at the 
hour of departing find freedom in the regions of Brahman, 
and attain the supreme everlasting life. 

The fifteen forms return to their sources and the senses 
to their divinities. Actions and the self and his knowledge 
go into the Supreme everlasting. 

As rivers flowing into the ocean find their final peace and 
their name and form disappear, even so the wise become 
free from name and form and enter into the radiance of the 
Supreme Spirit who is greater than all greatness. 

In truth who knows God becomes God. 


81 


























MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 


om. This eternal Word is all: what was, what is and what 
shall be, and what beyond is in eternity. All is om. 

Brahman is all and Atman is Brahman. Atman, the Self, 
has four conditions. 

The first condition is the waking life of outward-moving 
consciousness, enjoying the seven outer gross elements. 

The second condition is the dreaming life of inner-moving 
consciousness, enjoying the seven subtle inner elements in 
its own light and solitude. 

The third condition is the sleeping life of silent conscious¬ 
ness when, a person has no desires and beholds no dreams. 
That condition of deep sleep is one of oneness, a mass of 
silent consciousness made of peace and enjoying peace. 

This silent consciousness is all-powerful, all-knowing, 
the inner ruler, the source of all, the beginning and end of 
all beings. 

The fourth condition is Atman in his own pure state: the 
awakened life of supreme consciousness. It is neither outer 
nor inner consciousness, neither semi-consciousness, nor 
sleeping-consciousness, neither consciousness nor uncon¬ 
sciousness. He is Atman, the Spirit himself, that cannot be 
seen or touched, that is above all distinction, beyond thought 
and ineffable. In the union with him is the supreme proof 
of his reality. He is the end of evolution and non-duality. He 
is peace and love. 

This Atman is the eternal Word om. Its three sounds, a, 
u, and m, are the first three states of consciousness, and 
these three states are the three sounds. 

The first sound a is the first state of waking conscious¬ 
ness, common to all men. It is found in the words Apti , 
‘attaining’, and Adimatvam, 'being first’. Who knows this 

33 


THE UPANISHADS 

attains in truth all his desires, and in all things becomes 
first. 

The second sound u is the second state of dreaming con¬ 
sciousness. It is found in the words Utkarsha, ‘uprising’, and 
Ubhayatvam, ‘bothness’. Who knows this raises the tradi¬ 
tion of knowledge and attains equilibrium. In his family is 
never born any one who knows not Brahman. 

The third sound m is the third state of sleeping conscious¬ 
ness. It is found in the words Miti, ‘measure’, and in the 
root Mi, ‘to end’, that gives Apiti, ‘final end’. Who knows 
this measures all with his mind and attains the final End. 

The word om as one sound is the fourth state of supreme 
consciousness. It is beyond the senses and is the end of 
evolution. It is non-duality and love. He goes with his self 
to the supreme Self who knows this, who knows this. 



SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 


PART i 

The lovers of Brahman ask: 

What is the source of this universe? What is Brahman? 
From where do we come? By what power do we live? 
Where do we find rest? Who rules over our joys and sor¬ 
rows, O seers of Brahman ? 

Shall we think of time, or of the own nature of things, or 
of a law of necessity, or of chance, or of the elements, or of 
the power of creation of woman or man? Not a union of 
these, for above them is a soul who thinks. But our soul is 
under the power of pleasure and pain! 

By the Yoga of meditation and contemplation the wise 
saw the power of God, hidden in his own creation. It is he 
who rules over all the sources of this universe, from time to 
the soul of man. 

And they saw the Wheel of his power made of one circle, 
three layers, sixteen parts, fifty spokes, twenty counter¬ 
spokes, six groups of eight, three paths, one rope of innu¬ 
merable strands, and the great illusion: 

‘Three layers’ - the three constituents of nature: light, fire and 
darkness; ‘sixteen parts or segments of the rim of the Wheel’ - 
the five elements, five means to know, five means to do, and the 
mind; ‘fifty spokes’- fifty states of consciousness as taught 
in the Sankhya wisdom: five kinds of error, twenty-eight of 
weakness, nine of joy and eight of achievement; ‘twenty coun¬ 
terspokes’ - ten senses and their ten objects; ‘six groups of 
eight’ - forms of nature, constituents of the body, powers of 
Yoga, modes of feeling, gods, and virtues; ‘three paths’ - the 
Yoga of light, of love, and of life; ‘one rope of innumerable 
strands - desire of innumerable forms; ‘the great illusion’ - 
the illusion which sees the one as two. 

85 


THE UPANISHADS 


They also saw the river of life impetuously rushing with 
the five streams of sense-feelings which come from five 
sources, the five elements. Its waves are moved by five 
breathing winds, and its origin is a fivefold fountain of 
consciousness. This river has five whirlpools, and the violent 
waves of five sorrows. It has five stages of pain and five 
dangerous windings and turnings. 

In this vast Wheel of creation wherein all things live and 
die, wanders round the human soul like a swan in restless 
flying, and she thinks that God is afar. But when the love of 
God comes down upon her, then she finds her own immortal 
life. 

Exalted in songs has been Brahman. In him are God and 
the world and the soul, and he is the imperishable supporter 
of all. When the seers of Brahman see him in all creation, 
they find peace in Brahman and are free from all sorrows. 

God upholds the oneness of this universe: the seen and 
the unseen, the transient and the eternal. The soul of man 
is bound by pleasure and pain; but when she sees God she 
is free from all fetters. 

There is the soul of man with wisdom and unwisdom, 
power and powerlessness; there is nature, Prakriti, which 
is creation for the sake of the soul; and there is God, in¬ 
finite, omnipresent, who watches the work of creation. 
When a man knows the three he knows Brahman. 

Matter in time passes away, but God is for ever in Etern¬ 
ity, and he rules both matter and soul. By meditation on 
him, by contemplation of him, and by communion with 
him, there comes in the end the destruction of earthly 
delusion. 

When a man knows God, he is free: his sorrows have an 
end, and birth and death are no more. When in inner union 
he is beyond the world of the body, then the third world, 
the world of the Spirit, is found, where the power of the 
All is, and man has all: for he is one with the one. 

Know that Brahman is for ever in thee, and nothing 
higher is there to be known. When one sees God and the 

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SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 

world and the soul, one sees the Three: one sees Brahman. 

Even as fire is not seen in wood and yet by power it comes 
to light as fire, so Brahman in the universe and in the soul 
is revealed by the power of om. 

The soul is the wood below that can bum and be fire, 
and om is the whirling friction-rod above. Prayer is the 
power that makes om turn round and then the mystery of 
God comes to light. 

God is found in the soul when sought with truth and 
self-sacrifice, as fire is found in wood, water in hidden 
springs, cream in milk, and oil in the oil-fruit. 

There is a Spirit who is hidden in all things, as cream is 
hidden in milk, and who is the source of self-knowledge and 
self-sacrifice. This is Brahman, the Spirit Supreme. This is 
Brahman, the Spirit Supreme. 


PART 2 

Savitri, the god of inspiration, sent the mind and its powers 
to find truth. He saw the light of the god of fire and spread 
it over the earth. 

By the grace of god Savitri, our mind is one with him 
and we strive with all our power for light. 

Savitri gives life to our souls and then they shine in great 
light. He makes our mind and its powers one and leads our 
thoughts to heaven. 

The seers of the god who sees all keep their mind and 
their thoughts in oneness. They sing the glory of god Savitri 
who has given every man his work. 

I sing the songs of olden times with adoration: may my 
own songs follow the path of the sun. Let all the children 
of immortality hear me, even those who are in the highest 
heaven. 

Where the fire of the Spirit burns, where the wind of the 
Spirit blows, where the Soma-wine of the Spirit overflows, 
there a new soul is born. 

Inspired then by Savitri let us find joy in the prayers of 

87 


THE UPANISHADS 

olden times: for if we make them our rock we shall be 
made pure of past sins. 

With upright body, head, and neck lead the mind and its 
powers into thy heart; and the om of Brahman will then 
be thy boat with which to cross the rivers of fear. 

And when the body is in silent steadiness, breathe rhyth¬ 
mically through the nostrils with a peaceful ebbing and 
flowing of breath. The chariot of the mind is drawn by wild 
horses, and those wild horses have to be tamed. 

Find a quiet retreat for the practice of Yoga, sheltered 
from the wind, level and clean, free from rubbish, smoulder¬ 
ing fires, and ugliness, and where the sound of waters and 
the beauty of the place help thought and contemplation. 

These are the imaginary forms that appear before the 
final vision of Brahman : a mist, a smoke, and a sun; a wind, 
fire-flies, and a fire; lightnings, a clear crystal, and a moon. 

When the Yogi has full power over his body composed 
of the elements of earth, water, fire, air, and ether, then he 
obtains a new body of spiritual fire which is beyond illness, 
old age, and death. 

The first fruits of the practice of Yoga are: health, little 
waste matter, and a clear complexion; lightness of the 
body, a pleasant scent, and a sweet voice; and an absence 
of greedy desires. 

Even as a mirror of gold, covered by dust, when cleaned 
well shines again in full splendour, when a man has seen 
the Truth of the Spirit he is one with him, the aim of his 
life is fulfilled and he is ever beyond sorrow. 

Then the soul of man becomes a lamp by which he finds 
the Truth of Brahman. Then he sees God, pure, never-born, 
everlasting; and when he sees God he is free from all bond¬ 
age. 

This is the God whose light illumines all creation, the 
Creator of all from the beginning. He was, he is and for ever 
he shall be. He is in all and he sees all. 

Glory be to that God who is in the fire, who is in the 
waters, who is in plants and in trees, who is in all things 

88 


SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 


in this vast creation. Unto that Spirit be glory and glory. 


PART 3 

There is one in whose hands is the net of Maya, who rules 
with his power, who rules all the worlds with his power. He 
is the same at the time of creation and at the time of dis¬ 
solution. Those who know him attain immortality. 

He is Rudra, he alone is the one who governs the worlds 
with his power. He watches over all beings and rules over 
their creation and their destruction. 

His eyes and mouths are everywhere, his arms and feet 
are everywhere. He is God who made heaven and earth, 
who gave man his arms and who gave to the birds their wings. 

May Rudra, the seer of Eternity, who gave to the gods 
their birth and their glory, who keeps all things under his 
protection, and who in the beginning created the Golden 
Seed, grant us the grace of pure vision. 

Come down to us, Rudra, who art in the high mountains. 
Come and let the light of thy face, free from fear and evil, 
shine upon us. Come to us with thy love. 

Let not the arrow in thy hand hurt man or any living 
being: let it be an arrow of love. 

Greater than all is Brahman, the Supreme, the Infinite. 
He dwells in the mystery of all beings according to their 
forms in nature. Those who know him who knows all, and 
in whose glory all things are, attain immortality. 

I know the Spirit supreme, radiant like the sun beyond 
darkness. He who knows him goes beyond death, for he is 
the only path to life immortal. 

His infinity is beyond what is great or small, and greater 
than him there is nothing. Like a tree everlasting he stands 
in the centre of heaven, and his radiance illumines all 
creation. 

Those who know him who is greater than all, beyond 
form and beyond pain, attain immortality: those who know 
not go to the worlds of sorrow. 

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THE UPANISHADS 


All this universe is in the glory of God, of Siva the god of 
love. The heads and faces of men are his own and he is in 
the hearts of all. 

He is indeed the Lord supreme whose grace moves the 
hearts of men. He leads us unto his own joy and to the 
glory of his light. 

He is the inmost soul of all, which like a little flame the 
size of a thumb is hidden in the hearts of men. He is the 
master of wisdom ever reached by thought and love. He is 
the immortality of those who know him. 

He has innumerable heads and eyes and feet, and his 
vastness enfolds the universe, and even a measure of ten 
beyond. 

God is in truth the whole universe: what was, what is, 
and what beyond shall ever be. He is the god of life im¬ 
mortal, and of all life that lives by food. 

His hands and feet are everywhere, he has heads and 
mouths everywhere: he sees all, he hears all. He is in all and 
he is. 

The Light of consciousness comes to him through infinite 
powers of perception, and yet he is above these powers. He 
is God, the ruler of all, the infinite refuge of all. 

The wandering swan of the soul dwells in the castle of 
nine gates of the body and flies away to enjoy the outer 
world. He is the master of the universe: of all that moves 
and of all that moves not. 

Without hands he holds all things, without feet he runs 
everywhere. Without eyes he sees all things, without ears 
all things he hears. He knows all, but no one knows him, 
the Spirit before the beginning, the Spirit Supreme everlast¬ 
ing. 

Concealed in the heart of all beings lies the Atman, the 
Spirit, the Self; smaller than the smallest atom, greater than 
the greatest spaces. When by the grace of God man sees 
the glory of God, he sees him beyond the world of desire 
and then sorrows are left behind. 

I know that Spirit whose infinity is in all, who is ever one 

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SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 

beyond time. I know the Spirit whom the lovers of Brahman 
call eternal, beyond the birth and rebirth of life. 

PART 4 

May God, who in the mystery of his vision and power trans¬ 
forms his white radiance into his many-coloured creation, 
from whom all things come and into whom they all return, 
grant us the grace of pure vision. 

He is the sun, the moon, and the stars. He is the fire, the 
waters, and the wind. He is Brahma the creator of all, and 
Prajapati, the Lord of creation. 

Thou this boy, and thou this maiden; Thou this man, and 
thou this woman; Thou art this old man who supports him¬ 
self on a staff; Thou the God who appears in forms infinite. 

Thou the blue bird and thou the green bird; Thou the 
cloud that conceals the lightning and thou the seasons and 
the oceans. Beyond beginning, thou art in thy infinity, and 
all the worlds had their beginning in thee. 

There is nature, never-born, who with her three elements 
- light, fire, and darkness - creates all things in nature. There 
is the never-born soul of man bound by the pleasures of 
nature; and there is the Spirit of man, never-born, who has 
left pleasures behind in the joy of the Beyond. 

There are two birds, two sweet friends, who dwell on the 
self-same tree. The one eats the fruits thereof, and the other 
looks on in silence. 

The first is the human soul who, resting on that tree, 
though active, feels sad in his unwisdom. But on beholding 
the power and the glory of the higher Spirit, he becomes free 
from sorrow. 

Of what use is the Rig Veda to one who does not know 
the Spirit from whom the Rig Veda comes, and in whom all 
things abide? For only those who have found him have 
found peace. 

For all the sacred books, all holy sacrifice and ritual and 
prayers, all the words of the Vedas , and the whole past and 

9i 


THE UPANISHADS 


present and future, come from the Spirit. With Maya, his 
power of wonder, he made all things, and by Maya the 
human soul is bound. 

Know therefore that nature is Maya, but that God is the 
ruler of Maya; and that all beings in our universe are parts 
of his infinite splendour. 

He rules over the sources of creation. From him comes 
the universe and unto him it returns. He is the Lord, the 
giver of blessings, the one God of our adoration, in whom 
there is perfect peace. 

May Rudra, the seer of Eternity, who gave to the gods 
their birth and their glory, who keeps all things under his 
protection, and who in the beginning saw the Golden Seed, 
grant us the grace of pure vision. 

Who is the God to whom we shall offer adoration? The 
God of gods, in whose glory the worlds are, and who rules 
this world of man and all living beings. 

He is the God of forms infinite in whose glory all things 
are, smaller than the smallest atom, and yet the Creator of 
all, everliving in the mystery of his creation. In the vision 
of this God of love there is everlasting peace. 

He is the Lord of all who, hidden in the heart of things, 
watches over the world of time. The gods and the seers of 
Brahman are one with him; and when a man knows him he 
cuts the bonds of death. 

When one knows God who is hidden in the heart of all 
things, even as cream is hidden in milk, and in whose glory 
all things are, he is free from all bondage. 

This is the God whose work is all the worlds, the supreme 
Soul who dwells for ever in the hearts of men. Those who 
know him through their hearts and their minds become 
immortal. 

There is a region beyond darkness where there is neither 
day nor night, nor what is, nor what is not. Only Siva, the 
god of love, is there. It is the region of the glorious splen¬ 
dour of God from whom came the light of the sun, and 
from whom the ancient wisdom came in the beginning. 

92 


SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 

The mind cannot grasp him above, or below, or in the 
space in between. With whom shall we compare him whose 
glory is the whole universe ? 

Far beyond the range of vision, he cannot be seen by 
mortal eyes; but he can be known by the heart and the 
mind, and those who know him attain immortality. 

A man comes to thee in fearful wonder and says: ‘Thou 
art God who never was born. Let thy face, Rudra, shine 
upon me, and let thy love be my eternal protection. 

‘Hurt not my child, nor the child of my child; hurt not 
my life, my horses, or my cows. Kill not in anger our brave 
men, for we ever come to thee with adorations/ 


PART 5 

Two things are hidden in the mystery of infinity of Brah¬ 
man : knowledge and ignorance. Ignorance passes away and 
knowledge is immortal; but Brahman is in Eternity above 
ignorance and knowledge. 

He is the one in whose power are the many sources of 
creation, and the root and the flower of all things. The 
Golden Seed, the Creator, was in his mind in the beginning; 
and he saw him born when time began. 

He is God who spreads the net of transmigration and 
then withdraws it in the field of life. He is the Lord who 
created the lords of creation, the supreme Soul who rules 
over all. 

Even as the radiance of the sun shines everywhere in 
space, so does the glory of God rule over all his creation. 

In the unfolding of his own nature he makes all things 
blossom into flower and fruit. He gives to them all their 
fragrance and colour. He, the one, the only God who rules 
the universe. 

There is a Spirit hidden in the mystery of the Upanishads 
and the Vedas ; and Brahma, the god of creation, owns him as 
his own Creator. It is the Spirit of God, seen by gods and seers 
of olden times who, when one with him, became immortal. 


93 


THE UPANISHADS 


When a man is bound by the three powers of nature, he 
works for a selfish reward and in time he has his reward. 
His soul then becomes the many forms of the three powers, 
strays along the three paths, and wanders on through life 
and death. 

The soul is like the sun in splendour. When it becomes 
one with the self-conscious ‘I am* and its desires, it is a 
flame the size of a thumb; but when one with pure reason 
and the inner Spirit, it becomes in concentration as the 
point of a needle. 

The soul can be thought as the part of a point of a hair 
which divided by a hundred were divided by a hundred 
again; and yet in this living soul there is the seed of Infinity. 

The soul is not a man, nor a woman, nor what is neither 
a woman nor a man. When the soul takes the form of a 
body, by that same body the soul is bound. 

The soul is born and unfolds in a body, with dreams and 
desires and the food of life. And then it is reborn in new 
bodies, in accordance with its former works. 

The quality of the soul determines its future body: earth¬ 
ly or airy, heavy or light. Its thoughts and its actions can 
lead it to freedom, or lead it to bondage, in life after life. 

But there is the God of forms infinite, and when a man 
knows God he is free from all bondage. He is the Creator of 
all, everliving in the mystery of his creation. He is beyond 
beginning and end, and in his glory all things are. 

He is an incorporeal Spirit, but he can be seen by a heart 
which is pure. Being and non-being come from him and he 
is the Creator of all. He is God, the God of love, and when 
a man knows him then he leaves behind his bodies of trans¬ 
migration. 

PART 6 

Some sages speak of the nature of things as the cause of 
the world, and others, in their delusion, speak of time. But 
it is by the glory of God that the Wheel of Brahman re¬ 
volves in the universe. 


94 


SVETAS VAT AR A UPANISHAD 

The whole universe is ever in his power. He is pure con¬ 
sciousness, the creator of time: all-powerful, all-knowing. 
It is under his rule that the work of creation revolves in its 
evolution, and we have earth, and water, and ether, and 
fire and air. 

God ended his work and he rested, and he made a bond 
of love between his soul and the soul of all things. And the 
one became one with the one, and the two, and the three 
and the eight, and with time and with the subtle mystery 
of the human soul. 

His first works are bound by the three qualities, and he 
gives to each thing its place in nature. When the three are 
gone, the work is done, and then a greater work can begin. 

His Being is the source of all being, the seed of all things 
that in this life have their life. He is beyond time and space, 
and yet he is the God of forms infinite who dwells in our 
inmost thoughts, and who is seen by those who love him. 

He is beyond the tree of life and time, and things seen 
by mortal eyes; but the whole universe comes from him. 
He gives us truth and takes away evil, for he is the Lord of 
all good. Know that he is in the inmost of thy soul and that 
he is the home of thy immortality. 

May we know the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the 
God of gods: God, the God of love, the Lord of all. 

We cannot see how he works, or what are the tools of his 
work. Nothing can be compared with him, and how can 
anything be greater than he is? His power is shown in in¬ 
finite ways, and how great is his work and wisdom! 

No one was before he was, and no one has rule over him; 
because he is the source of all, and he is also the ruler of all. 

May God who is hidden in nature, even as the silkworm 
is hidden in the web of silk he made, lead us to union with 
his own Spirit, with Brahman. 

He is God, hidden in all beings, their inmost soul who is 
in all. He watches the works of creation, lives in all things, 
watches all things. He is pure consciousness, beyond the 
three conditions of nature, the one who rules the work of 


95 


THE UPANISHADS 


silence of many, the one who transforms one seed into 
many. Only those who see God in their soul attain the joy 
eternal. 

He is the Eternal among things that pass away, pure Con¬ 
sciousness of conscious beings, the one who fulfils the 
prayers of many. By the vision of Sankhya and the har¬ 
mony of Yoga a man knows God, and when a man knows 
God he is free from all fetters. 

There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; 
lightnings shine not there and much less earthly fire. From 
his light all these give light; and his radiance illumines all 
creation. 

He is the wandering swan everlasting, the soul of all in the 
universe, the Spirit of fire in the ocean of life. To know him 
is to overcome death, and he is the only Path to life eternal. 

He is the never-created Creator of all: he knows all. He is 
pure consciousness, the creator of time: all-powerful, all¬ 
knowing. He is the Lord of the soul and of nature and of the 
three conditions of nature. From him comes the transmigra¬ 
tion of life and liberation: bondage in time and freedom in 
Eternity. 

He is the God of light, immortal in his glory, pure con¬ 
sciousness, omnipresent, the loving protector of all. He is 
the everlasting ruler of the world: could there be any ruler 
but he? 

Longing therefore for liberation, I go for refuge to God 
who by his grace reveals his own light; and who in the 
beginning created the god of creation and gave to him the 
sacred Vedas. 

I go for refuge to God who is one in the silence of 
Eternity, pure radiance of beauty and perfection, in whom 
we find our peace. He is the bridge supreme which leads to 
immortality, and the Spirit of fire which bums the dross of 
lower life. 

If ever for man it were possible to fold the tent of the 
sky, in that day he might be able to end his sorrow without 
the help of God. 


96 


SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 


By the power of inner harmony and by the grace of God 
Svetasvatara had the vision of Brahman. He then spoke to 
his nearest hermit-students about the supreme purification, 
about Brahman whom the seers adore. 

This supreme mystery of the Vedanta which was revealed 
in olden times must only be given to one whose heart is 
pure and who is a pupil or a son. 

If one has supreme love for God and also loves his master 
as God, then the light of this teaching shines in a great soul: 
it shines indeed in a great soul. 



























From the 

MAITRI UPANISHAD 


This is the knowledge of Brahman as found in all the 
Upanishads and as revealed by the sage Maitri. 

The glorious Valakhilyas were pure and good, and once 
they asked Kratu Prajapati: 

‘Since this body is like a chariot without consciousness, 
who is the Spirit who has the power to make it conscious? 
Who is the driver of the chariot ? ’ 

Prajapati answered: 

‘There is a Spirit who is amongst the things of this world 
and yet he is above the things of this world. He is clear and 
pure, in the peace of a void of vastness. He is beyond the 
life of the body and the mind, never-born, never-dying, 
everlasting, ever one in his own greatness. He is the Spirit 
whose power gives consciousness to the body: he is the 
driver of the chariot.* 

Then the Valakhilyas said: 

‘Master, how does this pure Being give consciousness to 
the unconscious body? How is he the driver of the char¬ 
iot?’ 

Kratu Prajapati answered: 

‘Even as a man who is asleep awakes, but when he is 
asleep does not know that he is going to awake, so a part of 
the subtle invisible Spirit comes as a messenger to the body 
without the body being conscious of his arrival. 

A part of Infinite Consciousness becomes our own finite 
consciousness with powers of discrimination and definition, 
and with false conceptions. He is in truth Prajapati and 
Visva, the Source of creation and the Universal in us all. 

This Spirit is consciousness and gives consciousness to 
the body: he is the driver of the chariot.* 2. 3-5 


99 


THE UPANISHADS 


The poets say that this is the Spirit who wanders on 
this earth from body to body, free from the light and dark¬ 
ness which follow our works. He is free because he is free 
from selfishness, and he is invisible, incomprehensible, hid¬ 
den in darkness. He seems to work and not to be; but in 
truth he works not, and he is. He is in his own Being, pure, 
never-changing, never-moving, unpollutable; and in peace 
beyond desires he watches the drama of the universe. He is 
hidden behind the veil of the three conditions and consti¬ 
tuents of the universe; but in the joy of his law of righteous¬ 
ness he is ever one, he is ever one. 2. 7 



The Valakhilyas said: 

‘Master, you have spoken to us of the greatness of the 
Atman, the Spirit, the Supreme Soul; but what is the soul 
who is bound by the light or darkness which follow works, 
and who, born again from good and evil, rises or falls in its 
wanderings, under the impulse of two contrary powers?* 

Prajapati answered: 

‘There is indeed the other soul composed of the elements 
of the body, the bhutatman, who is bound by the light or 
darkness which follow works and who, born again from 
good and evil, rises or falls in its wanderings under the im¬ 
pulse of two contrary powers. 

And this is the explanation: 

There are five subtle elements, tan-matras, and these are 
called elements. There are also five gross elements, maha - 
bhutas, and these are also called elements. The union of these 
is called the human body. The human soul rules the body; 
but the immortal spiritual Soul is pure like a drop of water 
on a lotus leaf. The human soul is under the power of the 
three constituents and conditions of nature, and thus it falls 
into confusion. Because of this confusion the soul cannot 
become conscious of the God who dwells within and whose 
power gives us power to work. The soul is thus whirled 
along the rushing stream of muddy waters of the three con- 


100 


FROM THE MAITRI UPANISHAD 


ditions of nature, and becomes unsteady and wavering, filled 
with confusion and full of desires, lacking concentration and 
disturbed with pride. Whenever the soul has thoughts of 
44 I” and “mine” it binds itself with its lower self, as a bird 
with the net of a snare.’ 3. 2 


‘Brahman is’, thus says the seer of Brahman. 

‘Brahman is the door’, thus speaks the man of austere 
harmony whose sins have been washed away. 

‘om is the glory of Brahman’, says the man of contempla¬ 
tion for ever thinking on Brahman. 

It is therefore by vision, by harmony, and by contempla¬ 
tion that Brahman is attained. 4. 4 


♦ 

In the beginning all was Brahman, one and infinite. He is 
beyond north and south, and east and west, and beyond what 
is above or below. His infinity is everywhere. In him there 
is neither above, nor across, nor below; and in him there is 
neither east nor west. 

The Spirit supreme is immeasurable, inapprehensible, be¬ 
yond conception, never-born, beyond reasoning, beyond 
thought. His vastness is the vastness of space. 

At the end of the worlds, all things sleep: he alone is 
awake in Eternity. Then from his infinite space new worlds 
arise and awake, a universe which is a vastness of thought. 
In the consciousness of Brahman the universe is, and into 
him it returns. 

He is seen in the radiance of the sun in the sky, in the 
brightness of fire on earth, and in the fire of life that burns 
the food of life. Therefore it has been said : 

He who is in the sun, and in the fire and in the heart of 
man is one. He who knows this is one with the one. 

6.17 


101 


THE UPANISHADS 


When a wise man has withdrawn his mind from all things 
without, and when his spirit of life has peacefully left inner 
sensations, let him rest in peace, free from the movements of 
will and desire. Since the living being called the spirit of life 
has come from that which is greater than the spirit of life, 
let the spirit of life surrender itself into what is called turya, 
the fourth condition of consciousness. For it has been said: 

There is something beyond our mind which abides in silence 
within our mind. It is the supreme mystery beyond thought. 
Let one’s mind and one’s subtle body rest upon that and not rest 
on anything else. 6. 19 


There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in 
sound and in silence. By sound we go to silence. The sound 
of Brahman is om. With om we go to the End: the silence 
of Brahman. The End is immortality, union and peace. 

Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of 
its own thread, the man of contemplation by means of om 
reaches freedom. 6. 22 


The sound of Brahman is om. At the end of om there is 
silence. It is a silence of joy. It is the end of the journey 
where fear and sorrow are no more: steady, motionless, 
never-falling, ever-lasting, immortal. It is called the omni¬ 
present Vishnu. 

In order to reach the Highest, consider in adoration the 
sound and the silence of Brahman. For it has been said: 

God is sound and silence. His name is om. Attain therefore 
contemplation - contemplation in silence on him. ^ ^ 


Even as fire without fuel finds peace in its resting-place, 
when thoughts become silence the soul finds peace in its 
own source. 


102 


FROM THE MAITRI UPANISHAD 

And when a mind which longs for truth finds the peace of 
its own source, then those false inclinations cease which 
were the result of former actions done in the delusion of the 
senses. 

Samsara, the transmigration of life, takes place in one’s 
own mind. Let one therefore keep the mind pure, for what 
a man thinks that he becomes: this is a mystery of Etern¬ 
ity. 

A quietness of mind overcomes good and evil works, and 
in quietness the soul is one: then one feels the joy of Etern¬ 
ity. 

If men thought of God as much as they think of the world, 
who would not attain liberation ? 

The mind of man is of two kinds, pure and impure: im¬ 
pure when in the bondage of desire, pure when free from 
desire. 

When the mind is silent, beyond weakness or non-concen¬ 
tration, then it can enter into a world which is far beyond 
the mind: the highest End. 

The mind should be kept in the heart as long as it has not 
reached the Highest End. This is wisdom, and this is libera¬ 
tion. Everything else is only words. 


Words cannot describe the joy of the soul whose impuri¬ 
ties are cleansed in deep contemplation - who is one with his 
Atman, his own Spirit. Only those who feel this joy know 
what it is. 

Even as water becomes one with water, fire with fire, and 
air with air, so the mind becomes one with the Infinite Mind 
and thus attains final freedom. 


103 


THE UPANISHADS 


Mind is indeed the source of bondage and also the source 
of liberation. To be bound to things of this world: this is 
bondage. To be free from them: this is liberation. 

from 6. 24 

Glory be unto Agni, the god of fire, who dwells in the 
earth, who remembers the world. Give this world to him 
who adores thee. 

Glory be unto Vayu, the god of the wind, who dwells in 
the air, who remembers this world. Give this world to him 
who adores thee. 

Glory be unto Aditya, the god of the sun, who dwells in 
the sky, who remembers this world. Give this world to him 
who adores thee. from 6. 35 



From the 

KAUSHITAKI UPANISHAD 


When a man is speaking, he cannot be breathing: this is the 
sacrifice of breath to speech. And when a man is breathing 
he cannot be speaking: this is the sacrifice of speech to breath. 

These are the two never-ending immortal offerings of man, 
whether he is awake or whether he is asleep. 2. 5 

These are the three adorations of the all-conquering Kau- 
shitaki: 

At the rising of the sun he said, ‘You who give liberty, 
make me free from my sins’. 

When the sun was mid-way in heaven he said, ‘You who 
are on high and give liberty, set me on high and make me 
free from my sins’. 

At the hour of sunset he uttered this prayer, ‘You who 
give full liberty, make me fully free from my sins’. 2. 7 

When the fire burns. Brahman shines; and when the fire 
dies. Brahman goes. Its light goes to the sun, and its breath 
of life to the wind. 

When the sun shines. Brahman shines; and when the sun 
sets. Brahman goes. Its light goes to the moon, and its breath 
of life to the wind. 

When the moon shines. Brahman shines; and when the 
moon sets. Brahman goes. Its light goes to a flash of lightning, 
and its breath of life to the wind. 

When a flash of lightning shines, Brahman shines; and 
when it goes. Brahman goes. Its light goes to the regions of 
heaven, and its breath of life to the wind. 2. 12 

♦ 


105 



THE UPANISHADS 


Pratardana, the son of Devadasa, fought the inner fight 
with all his soul and thus he reached the house of Indra, the 
house of the love of God. 

Indra said to him: ‘Pratardana, ask for a gift.' To this 
Pratardana replied: ‘I ask for that gift which you think is 
best for mankind.' 

‘A master imposes not a gift upon his pupil/ said Indra, 
‘ask for any gift you like/ 

‘I shall then not have a gift/ said Pratardana. 

But Indra left not the path of truth, for God is truth. He 
thus said to Pratardana: ‘Know me, for this is the best for 
man: to know God.’ 3. 1 

Then Indra spoke: 

I am the breath of life, and I am the consciousness of life. 
Adore me and think of me as life and immortality. 

The breath of life is one: 

When we speak, life speaks. 

When we see, life sees. 

When we hear, life hears. 

When we think, life thinks. 

When we breathe, life breathes. 

And there is something greater than the breath of life. 

For one can live without speech: we can see the dumb. 

One can live without sight: we can see the blind. 

One can live without hearing: we can see the deaf. 

One can live without a right mind: we can see those who 
are mad. 

But it is the consciousness of life which becomes the 
breath of life and gives life to a body. The breath of life is 
the consciousness of life, and the consciousness of life is 
the breath of life. 3. 2-3 

When consciousness rules speech, with speech we can 
speak all words. 

When consciousness rules breath, with inbreath we can 
smell all perfumes. 


106 


FROM THE KAUSHITAKI UPANISHAD 


When consciousness rules the eye, with the eye we can 
see all forms. 

When consciousness rules the ear, with the ear we can 
hear all sounds. 

When consciousness rules the tongue, with the tongue we 
can savour all tastes. 

When consciousness rules the mind, with the mind we 

can think all thoughts. 3. 6 


It is not speech which we should want to know: we 
should know the speaker. 

It is not things seen which we should want to know: 
we should know the seer. 

It is not sounds which we should want to know: we 
should know the hearer. 

It is not mind which we should want to know: we 
SHOULD KNOW THE THINKER. 3. 8 









■ 









From the 

TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD 


I will speak words of truth and the words of the divine law 
shall be on my lips. i. i 

Master and disciple . 

May the light of sacred knowledge illumine us, and may 
we attain the glory of wisdom. i. 3 

O Lord, let me come unto thee and come thou unto me, 
O Lord. In thy waters, O my Lord, may I wash my sins away. 

i-4 


What is needful ? 

Righteousness, and sacred learning and teaching. 

Truth, and sacred learning and teaching. 

Meditation, and sacred learning and teaching. 

Self-control, and sacred learning and teaching. 

Peace, and sacred learning and teaching. 

Ritual, and sacred learning and teaching. 

Humanity, and sacred learning and teaching. 


Satyavacas, the Truthful, says: ‘Truth/ 

Taponitya, the Austere, says: ‘Austerity/ 

But Naka, who is beyond pain, says: ‘Learning and teach¬ 
ing. For they are austerity, for they are austerity/ 1. 9 


He who knows Brahman who is Truth, consciousness, and 
109 


THE UPANISHADS 


infinite joy, hidden in the inmost of our soul and in the 
highest heaven, enjoys all things he desires in communion 
with the all-knowing Brahman. From Atman - Brahman - 
in the beginning came space. From space came air. From air, 
fire. From fire, water. From water came solid earth. From 
earth came living plants. From plants food and seed; and 
from seed and food came a living being, man. 2. i 

Who denies God, denies himself. Who affirms God, affirms 
himself. 2. 6 

Joy comes from God. Who could live and who could 
breathe if the joy of Brahman filled not the universe ? 

2.7 

If a man places a gulf between himself and God, this gulf 
will bring fear. But if a man finds the support of the In¬ 
visible and Ineffable, he is free from fear. 2. 7 

Words and mind go to him, but reach him not and re¬ 
turn. But he who knows the joy of Brahman, fears no more. 

2. 9 



Once Bhrigu Varuni went to his father Varuna and said: 
‘Father, explain to me the mystery of Brahman.’ 

Then his father spoke to him of the food of the earth, 
of the breath of life, of the one who sees, of the one who 
hears, of the mind that knows, and of the one who speaks. 
And he further said to him: ‘Seek to know him from whom 
all beings have come, by whom they all live, and unto whom 
they all return. He is Brahman.’ 

So Bhrigu went and practised tapas, spiritual prayer. Then 
he thought that Brahman was the food of the earth: for 
from the earth all beings have come, by food of the earth 
they all live, and unto the earth they all return. 

After this he went again to his father Varuna and said: 


no 


FROM THE TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD 

‘Father, explain further to me the mystery of Brahman.* To 
him his father answered: ‘Seek to know Brahman by tapas, 
by prayer, because Brahman is prayer.’ 

So Bhrigu went and practised tapas , spiritual prayer. Then 
he thought that Braham was life: for from life all beings 
have come, by life they all live, and unto life they all return. 

After this he went again to his father Varuna and said: 
‘Father, explain further to me the mystery of Brahman.* To 
him his father answered: ‘Seek to know Brahman by tapas, 
by prayer, because Brahman is prayer.* 

So Bhrigu went and practised tapas, spiritual prayer. Then 
he thought that Brahman was mind: for from mind all be¬ 
ings have come, by mind they all live, and unto mind they all 
return. 

After this he went again to his father Varuna and said: 
‘Father, explain further to me the mystery of Brahman.* To 
him his father answered: ‘Seek to know Brahman by tapas, 
by prayer, because Brahman is prayer.* 

So Bhrigu went and practised tapas, spiritual prayer. Then 
he thought that Brahman was reason: for from reason all 
beings have come, by reason they all live, and unto reason 
they all return. 

He went again to his father, asked the same question, and 
received the same answer. 

So Bhrigu went and practised tapas, spiritual prayer. And 
then he saw that Brahman is joy: for from joy all 

BEINGS HAVE COME, BY JOY THEY ALL LIVE, AND 
UNTO JOY THEY ALL RETURN. 

This was the vision of Bhrigu Varuni which came from 
the Highest; and he who sees this vision lives in the Highest. 

3-1-6 


Oh, the wonder of joy! 

I am the food of life, and I am he who eats the food of 
life: I am the two in one. 

I am the first-born of the world of truth, bom before the 
gods, born in the centre of immortality. 


hi 


THE UPANISHADS 


He who gives me is my salvation. 

I am that food which eats the eater of food. 

I have gone beyond the universe, and the light of the sun 
is my light. 3. 10. 6 



From the 

CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 


Wherefrom do all these worlds come? They come from 
space. All beings arise from space, and into space they re¬ 
turn : space is indeed their beginning, and space is their final 
end. 2.9.1 


Prajapati, the Creator of all, rested in life-giving medita¬ 
tion over the worlds of his creation; and from them came 
the three Vedas. He rested in meditation and from those 
came the three sounds: bhur, bhuvas, svar, earth, 
air, and sky. He rested in meditation and from the three 
sounds came the sound om. Even as all leaves come from a 
stem, all words come from the sound om. om is the whole 
universe, om is in truth the whole universe. 2. 23. 2 


Great is the Gayatri, the most sacred verse of the Vedas; 
but how much greater is the Infinity of Brahman! A quarter 
of his being is this whole vast universe: the other three 
quarters are his heaven of Immortality. 3. 12. 5 


There is a Light that shines beyond all things on earth, 
beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the 
very highest heavens. This is the Light that shines in our 
heart. 3. 13. 7 

♦ 

213 



THE UPANISHADS 


All this universe is in truth Brahman. He is the beginning 
and end and life of all. As such, in silence, give unto him 
adoration. 

Man in truth is made of faith. As his faith is in this life, so 
he becomes in the beyond: with faith and vision let him 
work. 

There is a Spirit that is mind and life, light and truth and 
vast spaces. He contains all works and desires and all per¬ 
fumes and all tastes. He enfolds the whole universe, and in 
silence is loving to all. 

This is the Spirit that is in my heart, smaller than a grain 
of rice, or a grain of barley, or a grain of mustard-seed, or a 
grain of canary-seed, or the kernel of a grain of canary-seed. 
This is the Spirit that is in my heart, greater than the earth, 
greater than the sky, greater than heaven itself, greater than 
all these worlds. 

He contains all works and desires and all perfumes and 
all tastes. He enfolds the whole universe and in silence is 
loving to all. This is the Spirit that is in my heart, this is 
Brahman. 

To him I shall come when I go beyond this life. And to 
him will come he who has faith and doubts not. Thus said 
Sandilya, thus said Sandilya. 3. 14 




I go to the Imperishable Treasure: by his grace, by his 
grace, by his grace. 

I go to the Spirit of life: by his grace, by his grace, by his 
grace. 

I go to the Spirit of the earth: by his grace, by his grace, 
by his grace. 

I go to the Spirit of the air: by his grace, by his grace, by 
his grace. 

I go to the Spirit of the heavens: by his grace, by his grace, 
by his grace. 3.15. 3 


FROM THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 

A man is a living sacrifice. The first twenty-four years of 
his life are the morning offering of the Soma-wine; because 
the holy Gayatri has twenty-four sounds, and the chanting 
of the Gayatri is heard in the morning offering. The Vasus, 
the gods of the earth, rule this offering. If a man should be ill 
during that time, he should pray: ‘With the help of the 
Vasus, the powers of my life, may my morning offering last 
until my midday offering and may not my sacrifice perish 
whilst the Vasus are the powers of my life/ 

The next forty-four years of his life are the midday offer¬ 
ing of the Soma-wine; because the holy Trishtubh has forty- 
four sounds, and the chanting of the Trishtubh is heard with 
the midday offering. The Rudras, the gods of the air, rule this 
offering. If a man should be ill during that time, he should 
pray: ‘With the help of the Rudras, the powers of my life, 
may my midday offering last until my evening offering, and 
may not my sacrifice perish whilst the Rudras are the powers 
of my life.’ 

The next forty-eight years of his life are the evening offer¬ 
ing ; because the holy Jagati has forty-eight sounds, and the 
chanting of the Jagati is heard with the evening offering. 
The Adityas, the gods of light, rule this offering. If a man 
should be ill during that time, he should pray: ‘With the 
help of the Adityas, the powers of my life, let my evening 
offering last until the end of a long life; and may not my 
sacrifice perish whilst the Adityas are the powers of my 
life/ 

Mahidasa Aitareya knew this when he used to say: ‘Why 
should I suffer an illness when I am not going to die?’ And 
he lived one hundred and sixteen years. 3. 16 



We should consider that in the inner world Brahman is 
consciousness; and we should consider that in the outer 
world Brahman is space. These are the two meditations. 

3.18.1 


«5 


THE UPANISHADS 


Once Satyakama went to his mother and said: ‘Mother, I 
wish to enter upon the life of a religious student. Of what 
family am I?’ 

To him she answered: ‘I do not know, my child, of what 
family thou art. In my youth, I was poor and served as a 
maid many masters, and then I had thee: I therefore do not 
know of what family thou art. My name is Jabala and thy 
name is Satyakama. Thou mayest call thyself Satyakama 
Jabala/ 

The boy went to the Master Haridrumata Gautama and 
said: ‘I want to become a student of sacred wisdom. May I 
come to you. Master?* 

To him the Master asked: ‘Of what family art thou, my 
son?* 

T do not know of what family I am/ answered Satyakama. 
‘I asked my mother and she said: “I do not know, my child, 
of what family thou art. In my youth, I was poor and served 
as a maid many masters, and then I had thee: I therefore do 
not know of what family thou art. My name is Jabala and thy 
name is Satyakama/' I am therefore Satyakama Jabala, Master/ 

To him Master Gautama said: ‘Thou art a Brahman, since 
thou hast not gone away from truth. Come, my son, I will 
take thee as a student/ 4. 4 


om. There lived once a boy, Svetaketu Aruneya by name. 
One day his father spoke to him in this way: ‘Svetaketu, go 
and become a student of sacred wisdom. There is no one in 
our family who has not studied the holy Vedas and who 
might only be given the name of Brahman by courtesy/ 

The boy left at the age of twelve and, having learnt the 
Vedas, he returned home at the age of twenty-four, very 
proud of his learning and having a great opinion of himself. 

His father, observing this, said to him: ‘Svetaketu, my 
boy, you seem to have a great opinion of yourself, you think 
you are learned, and you are proud. Have you asked for 
that knowledge whereby what is not heard is heard, what is 

116 


FROM THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 

not thought is thought, and what is not known is known?’ 
‘What is that knowledge, father?’ asked Svetaketu. 

‘Just as by knowing a lump of clay, my son, all that is 
clay can be known, since any differences are only words and 
die reality is clay; 

Just as by knowing a piece of gold all that is gold can 
be known, since any differences are only words and the 
reality is only gold; 

And just as by knowing a piece of iron all that is iron is 
known, since any differences are only words and the reality 
is only iron.’ 

Svetaketu said: ‘Certainly my honoured masters knew not 
this themselves. If they had known, why would they not 
have told me ? Explain this to me, father/ 

‘So be it, my child/ 6. i 


‘Bring me a fruit from this banyan tree/ 

‘Here it is, father/ 

‘Break it/ 

‘It is broken. Sir/ 

‘What do you see in it?' 

‘Very small seeds. Sir/ 

‘Break one of them, my son/ 

‘It is broken. Sir/ 

‘What do you see in it?' 

‘Nothing at all. Sir/ 

Then his father spoke to him: ‘My son, from the very es¬ 
sence in the seed which you cannot see comes in truth this 
vast banyan tree. 

Believe me, my son, an invisible and subtle essence is 
the Spirit of the whole universe. That is Reality. That is 
Atman, thou art that/ 

‘Explain more to me, father/ said Svetaketu. 

‘So be it, my son. 

Place this salt in water and come to me tomorrow 
morning/ 


ii 7 


THE UPANISHADS 


Svetaketu did as he was commanded, and in the morning 
his father said to him: ‘Bring me the salt you put into the 
water last night.’ 

Svetaketu looked into the water, but could not find it, for 
it had dissolved. 

His father then said: ‘Taste the water from this side. 
How is it?’ 

‘It is salt.* 

‘Taste it from the middle. How is it?' 

‘It is salt.’ 

‘Taste it from that side. How is it?* 

‘It is salt.* 

‘Look for the salt again and come again to me/ 

The son did so, saying: T cannot see the salt. I only see 
water/ 

His father then said: ‘In the same way, O my son, you 
cannot see the Spirit. But in truth he is here. 

An invisible and subtle essence is the Spirit of the 
whole universe. That is Reality. That is Truth, thou art 
that/ 

‘Explain more to me, father/ 

‘So be it, my son. 

Even as a man, O my son, who had been led blindfolded 
from his land of the Gandharas and then left in a desert 
place, might wander to the East and North and South, be¬ 
cause he had been taken blindfolded and left in an unknown 
place, but if a good man took off his bandage and told him 
“In that direction is the land of the Gandharas, go in that 
direction,” then, if he were a wise man, he would go asking 
from village to village until he would have reached his land 
of the Gandharas; so it happens in this world to a man who 
has a Master to direct him to the land of the Spirit. Such a 
man can say: “I shall wander in this world until I attain 
liberation; but then I shall go and reach my Home.” 

This invisible and subtle essence is the Spirit of the whole 
universe. That is Reality. That is Truth, thou art that/ 

6.12-14 


118 


FROM THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 

Is there anything higher than thought? 

Meditation is in truth higher than thought. The earth 
seems to rest in silent meditation; and the waters and the 
mountains and the sky and the heavens seem all to be in 
meditation. Whenever a man attains greatness on this earth, 
he has his reward according to his meditation. 7.6 


When a man speaks words of truth he speaks words of 
greatness: know the nature of truth. 

When a man knows, he can speak truth. He who does 
not know cannot speak truth: know the nature of know¬ 
ledge. 

When a man thinks then he can know. He who does not 
think does not know: know the nature of thought. 

When a man has faith then he thinks. He who has not 
faith does not think: know the nature of faith. 

Where there is progress one sees and has faith. Where 
there is no progress there is no faith: know the nature of 
progress. 

Where there is creation there is progress. Where there is 
no creation there is no progress: know the nature of cre¬ 
ation. 

Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no 
joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy. 

Where there is the Infinite there is joy. There is no joy 
in the finite. Only in the Infinite there is joy: know the 
nature of the Infinite. 

Where nothing else is seen, or heard, or known there is 
the Infinite. Where something else is seen, or heard, or 
known there is the finite. The Infinite is immortal; but the 
finite is mortal. 

‘Where does the Infinite rest?* On his own greatness, or 
not even on his own greatness. 

In this world they call greatness the possession of cattle 
and horses, elephants and gold, servants and wives, lands and 


THE UPANISHADS 


houses. But I do not call this greatness, for here one thing 
depends upon another. 

But the Infinite is above and below. North and South and 
East and West. The Infinite is the whole universe. 

I am above and below. North and South and East and 
West. I am the whole universe. 

Atman is above and below. North and South and East and 
West. Atman is the whole universe. 

He who sees, knows, and understands this, who finds in 
Atman, the Spirit, his love and his pleasure and his union 
and his joy, becomes a Master of himself. His freedom then 
is infinite. 

But those who see not this become the servants of other 
masters and in the worlds that pass away attain not their 
liberation. 7. 16-25 


om. In the centre of the castle of Brahman, our own body, 
there is a small shrine in the form of a lotus-flower, and 
within can be found a small space. We should find who 
dwells there, and we should want to know him. 

And if anyone asks, ‘Who is he who dwells in a small 
shrine in the form of a lotus-flower in the centre of the 
castle of Brahman? Whom should we want to find and to 
know ? * we can answer : 

‘The little space within the heart is as great as this vast 
universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun, 
and the moon, and the stars; fire and lightning and winds are 
there; and all that now is and all that is not: for the whole 
universe is in Him and He dwells within our heart/ 

And if they should say, ‘If all things are in the castle of 
Brahman, all beings and all desires, what remains when old 
age overcomes the castle or when the life of the body is 
gone?’ we can answer: 

‘The Spirit who is in the body does not grow old and does 
not die, and no one can ever kill the Spirit who is ever¬ 
lasting. This is the real castle of Brahman wherein dwells all 


120 


FROM THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 

the love of the universe. It is Atman, pure Spirit, beyond sor¬ 
row, old age, and death; beyond evil and hunger and thirst. 
It is Atman whose love is Truth, whose thoughts are Truth. 

Even as here on earth the attendants of a king obey their 
king, and are with him wherever he is and go with him 
wherever he goes, so all love which is Truth and all thoughts 
of Truth obey the Atman, the Spirit. And even as here on 
earth all work done in time ends in time, so in the worlds to 
come even the good works of the past pass away. Therefore 
those who leave this world and have not found their soul, 
and that love which is Truth, find not their freedom in other 
worlds. But those who leave this world and have found their 
soul and that love which is Truth, for them there is the 
liberty of the Spirit, in this world and in the worlds to come/ 

8.1 



There is a bridge between time and Eternity; and this 
bridge is Atman, the Spirit of man. Neither day nor night 
cross that bridge, nor old age, nor death nor sorrow. 

Evil or sin cannot cross that bridge, because the world 
of the Spirit is pure. This is why when this bridge has been 
crossed, the eyes of the blind can see, the wounds of the 
wounded are healed, and the sick man becomes whole from 
his sickness. 

To one who goes over that bridge, the night becomes like 
unto day; because in the worlds of the Spirit there is a Light 
which is everlasting. 8. 4. 1 

♦ 

‘There is a Spirit which is pure and which is beyond old 
age and death; and beyond hunger and thirst and sorrow. 
This is Atman, the Spirit in man. All the desires of this Spirit 
are Truth. It is this Spirit that we must find and know: man 
must find his own Soul. He who has found and knows his 
Soul has found all the worlds, has achieved all his desires/ 
Thus spoke Prajapati. 


121 



THE UPANISHADS 


The gods and the devils heard these words and they said: 
‘Come, let us go and find the Atman, let us find the Soul, so 
that we may obtain all our desires/ 

Then Indra amongst the gods and Virochana amongst the 
devils went without telling each other to see Prajapati, carry¬ 
ing fuel in their hands as a sign that they wanted to be his 
pupils. 

And so for thirty-two years they both lived with Prajapati 
the life of religious students. At the end of that time Praja¬ 
pati asked them: ‘Why have you been living the life of 
religious students ? * 

Indra and Virochana answered: ‘People say that you know 
the Atman, a Spirit which is pure and which is beyond old 
age and death, and beyond hunger and thirst and sorrow, a 
Spirit whose desires are Truth and whose thoughts are 
Truth; and that you say that this Spirit must be found and 
known, because when he is found all the worlds are found 
and all desires are obtained. This is why we have been 
living here as your pupils/ 

Prajapati said to them: ‘What you see when you look into 
another person’s eyes, that is the Atman, immortal, beyond 
fear, that is Brahman/ 

‘And who is he whom we see when we look in water or in 
a mirror?’ they asked. 

‘The same is seen in all/ he answered. And then he said 
to them: ‘Go and look at yourselves in a bowl of water and 
ask me anything you want to know about the Atman, your 
own self/ 

The two went and looked in a bowl of water. ‘What do 
you see?* asked Prajapati. 

‘We see ourselves clearly from our hair down to our 
nails/ they said. 

‘Adorn yourselves and dress in clothes of beauty/ said 
Prajapati, ‘and look at yourselves again in a bowl of 
water/ 

They did so and looked again in the bowl of water. ‘What 
do you see?’ asked Prajapati. 


122 


FROM THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 

‘We see ourselves as we are/ they answered, ‘adorned and 
dressed in clothes of beauty/ 

‘This is the Immortal beyond all fear: this is Brahman/ 
said Prajapati. 

Then they left with peace in their hearts. 

Prajapati looked at them and said: ‘They have seen but 
they have not understood. They have not found the Atman, 
their soul. Anyone who holds their belief, be he god or 
devil, shall perish/ 

Then Virochana went to the devils full of self-satisfaction, 
and gave them this teaching: ‘We ourselves are our own 
bodies, and those must be made happy on earth. It is our 
bodies that should be in glory, and it is for them that we 
should have servants. He who makes his body happy, he 
who for his body has servants, he is well in this world and 
also in the world to come/ 

That is why when here on earth a man will not give any 
gifts, when a man has no faith and will not sacrifice, people 
say ‘This man is a devil’; for this is in truth their devilish 
doctrine. They dress their dead bodies with fine garments, 
and glorify them with perfumes and ornaments, thinking 
that thereby they will conquer the other world. 

But before Indra had returned to the gods he saw the dan¬ 
ger of this teaching and he thought: ‘If our self, our Atman, 
is the body, and is dressed in clothes of beauty when the 
body is, and is covered with ornaments when the body is, 
then when the body is blind the self is blind, and when the 
body is lame the self is lame; and when the body dies, our 
self dies. I cannot find any joy in this doctrine/ 

He therefore went back to Prajapati with fuel in hand as 
a sign that he wanted to be his pupil. 

‘Why have you returned, great Maghavan?’ asked Praja¬ 
pati. ‘You went away with Virochana with peace in your 
heart/ 

Indra replied: ‘Even as the Atman, the self, our soul, is 
dressed in clothes of beauty when the body is, and is covered 
with ornaments when the body is, when the body is blind 

123 



THE UPANISHADS 


the self is blind, and when the body is lame the self is lame, 
and when the body dies the self dies. I cannot find any joy 
in this doctrine.’ 

’It is even so, Maghavan,’ said Prajapati. ‘I will teach you 
a higher doctrine. Live with me for another thirty-two 
years.’ 

Indra was with Prajapati for another thirty-two years, and 
then Prajapati said: ’The spirit that wanders in joy in the 
land of dreams, that is the Atman, that is the Immortal be¬ 
yond fear: that is Brahman.’ 

Then Indra left with peace in his heart; but before he had 
returned to the gods he saw the danger of this teaching and 
he thought: ‘Even if in dreams when the body is blind the 
self is not blind, or when the body is lame the self is not 
lame, and does not indeed suffer the limitations of the body, 
so that when the body is killed the self is not killed; yet in 
dreams the self may seem to be killed and to suffer, and to 
feel much pain and weep. I cannot find any joy in this 
doctrine.’ 

He therefore went with fuel in hand back to Prajapati, 
who said to him: ‘You left, Maghavan, with peace in your 
heart; why have you returned?’ 

Indra replied: ‘Even if in dreams when the body is blind 
the Atman is not blind, or when the body is lame the Atman 
is not lame, and indeed does not suffer the limitations of the 
body, so that when the body is killed the self is not killed; 
yet in dreams the self may seem to be killed and suffer, and 
to feel much pain and weep. I cannot find any joy in this 
doctrine.’ ' 

‘What you say is true, Maghavan,’ said Prajapati. ‘I will 
teach you a higher doctrine. Live with me for another thirty- 
two years.’ 

Indra was with Prajapati another thirty-two years. 

And then Prajapati said: 

‘The spirit who is sleeping without dreams in the silent 
quietness of deep sleep, that is the Atman, that is the Im¬ 
mortal beyond fear: that is Brahman.’ 

124 


FROM THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 

Then Indra left with peace in his heart, but before he had 
reached the gods he saw the danger of this teaching and he 
thought: ‘If a man is in deep sleep without dreams he 
cannot even say “I am” and he cannot know anything. He 
in truth falls into nothingness. I cannot find any joy in this 
doctrine/ And he went again to Prajapati with fuel in hand. 

‘Why have you returned, Maghavan? You left with peace 
in your heart/ asked Prajapati. 

Indra replied: ‘If a man is in deep sleep without dreams 
he cannot even say ‘‘I am” and he cannot know anything. 
He in truth falls into nothingness. I cannot find any joy in 
this doctrine/ 

‘What you say is true, Maghavan/ said Prajapati. ‘I will 
teach you a higher doctrine, the highest that can be taught. 
Live with me now for five years/ 

And Indra lived with Prajapati for five years. He lived 
with Prajapati a total of years one hundred and one. This 
is why people say: ‘Great Indra lived with Prajapati the life 
of chastity of a Brahmacharya spiritual student for one hun¬ 
dred and one years/ 

Prajapati then spoke to Indra: 

‘It is true that the body is mortal, that it is under the 
power of death; but it is also the dwelling of Atman, the 
Spirit of immortal life. The body, the house of the Spirit, is 
under the power of pleasure and pain; and if a man is ruled 
by his body then this man can never be free. But when a 
man is in the joy of the Spirit, in the Spirit which is ever 
free, then this man is free from all bondage, the bondage of 
pleasure and pain. 

The wind has not a body, nor lightning, nor thunder, nor 
clouds; but when those rise into the higher spheres then 
they find their body of light. In the same way, when the 
soul is in silent quietness it arises and leaves the body, and 
reaching the Spirit Supreme finds there its body of light. It 
is the land of infinite liberty where, beyond its mortal body, 
the Spirit of man is free. There can he laugh and sing of his 
glory with ethereal women and friends. He enjoys ethereal 

12 5 


THE UPANISHADS 


chariots and forgets the cart of his body on earth. For as 
a beast is attached to a cart, so on earth the soul is attached 
to a body. 

Know that when the eye looks into space it is the Spirit 
of man that sees: the eye is only the organ of sight. When 
one says “I feel this perfume,” it is the Spirit that feels: 
he uses the organ of smell. When one says ”1 am speaking,” 
it is the Spirit that speaks: the voice is the organ of speech. 
When one says “I am hearing,” it is the Spirit that hears: 
the ear is the organ of hearing. And when one says ”1 
think,” it is the Spirit that thinks: the mind is the organ 
of thought. It is because of the light of the Spirit that the 
human mind can see, and can think, and enjoy this world. 

All the gods in the heaven of Brahman adore in contem¬ 
plation their Infinite Spirit Supreme. This is why they have 
all joy, and all the worlds and all desires. And the man who 
on this earth finds and knows Atman, his own Self, has all 
his holy desires and all the worlds and all joy.* 

Thus spoke Prajapati. Thus in truth spoke Prajapati. 

8.7-12 



From the 

BRIHAD-ARANYAKA UPANISHAD 


From delusion lead me to Truth. 

From darkness lead me to Light. 

From death led me to immortality. i. 3. 28 

This universe is a trinity and this is made of name, form, 
and action. 

The source of all names is the word, for it is by the word 
that all names are spoken. The word is behind all names, 
even as Brahman is behind the word. 

The source of all forms is the eye, for it is by the eye that 
all forms are seen. The eye is behind all forms, even as 
Brahman is behind the eye. 

The source of all actions is the body, for it is by the body 
that all actions are done. The body is behind all actions, even 
as Brahman is behind the body. 

Those three are one, atman, the Spirit of life; and 
atman, although one, is those three. 

The Immortal is veiled by the real. The Spirit of life is the 
immortal. Name and form are the real, and by them the 
Spirit is veiled. 1. 6 


Once Gargya, a Brahmin proud of his learning, went to 
Ajatasatru, the king of Benares and said: I am willing to 
teach you about Brahman. 

I will give you a thousand gifts, if you can, said the king, 
and then the people will run and say: ‘Our king’s bounty 
is as great as that of king Janaka.’ 

So Gargya began and said: There is a spirit in the sun high 
above, and that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

How can you say that? replied Ajatasatru. I only consider 

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THE UPANISHADS 


the sun as the ruler of radiance, the source of all beings on 
earth. 

Then Gargya said: There is a spirit in the moon far away, 
and that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

Ajatasatru answered: I only consider the moon as the 
ruler of the sacred Soma-wine dressed in whiteness. 

There is a spirit in lightning, then said Gargya, and that 
spirit I adore as Brahman. 

I only consider lightning, said Ajatasatru, as a thing of 
brightness. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in the ethereal spaces, and 
that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

How can you say that? replied Ajatasatru. I only consider 
the ethereal space as a non-evolving fulness. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in the wind, and that spirit 
I adore as Brahman. 

Ajatasatru answered: I only consider the winds as the 
unconquerable army of powerful Indra. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in fire, and that spirit I 
adore as Brahman. 

I only consider fire, said Ajatasatru, as a great power. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in water, and that spirit I 
adore as Brahman. 

Ajatasatru answered: I only consider water as a beautiful 
reflection. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in a mirror, and that spirit 
I adore as Brahman. 

I only consider a mirror, said Ajatasatru, as something 
brilliant. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in the sound of the steps 
of man, and that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

How can you say that? said Ajatasatru. I only consider 
that sound as a sign of life. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in the quarters of heaven, 
and that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

I only consider the quarters of heaven, said Ajatasatru, 
as friends who are ever with us. 


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FROM THE BRIHAD-ARANYAKA UPANISHAD 

There is a spirit which is a shadow, said Gargya, and 
that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

How can you say that? said Ajatasatru. I only consider 
this shadow as death. 

Gargya said: There is a spirit in the human body, and 
that spirit I adore as Brahman. 

I only consider a body, said Ajatasatru, as the covering 
of a soul. 

Is this all ? asked Ajatasatru. 

Gargya replied: This is all. 

If this is all, we know nothing, said Ajatasatru. 

On hearing this, Gargya said: Allow me to be your pupil. 

It is indeed contrary to custom, said Ajatasatru, that a 
Brahmin should go to a Kshatriya for instruction. But come, 
I will in truth teach you about Brahman. 

And he arose and took him by the hand, and the two walk¬ 
ing together came up to a man who was in deep sleep. They 
called him by different names such as ‘You great man dress¬ 
ed in whiteness, you Soma the king', but he did not rise. 
Then Ajatasatru shook him with his hand and he awoke. 

When this man was asleep, said Ajatasatru, where had 
his consciousness gone; and when he awoke, wherefrom did 
it return ? But Gargya did not know. 

Then spoke Ajatasatru: 

When a man is asleep his soul takes the consciousness of 
the several senses and goes to rest with them on the Supreme 
Spirit who is in the human heart. When all the senses are 
quiet the man is said to be asleep. Then the soul holds the 
powers of life - breath, voice, eye, ear, and mind - and they 
rest in quietness. 

When the soul is in the land of dreams, then all the 
worlds belong to the soul. A man can be a great king or a 
great Brahmin, and live in conditions high or low. And even 
as a great king of this earth takes his attendants with him 
and goes about his dominions wherever he desires, so the 
soul of man takes the powers of life with him and wanders 
in the land of dreams according to his desires. 

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THE UPANISHADS 


When a man is in deep sleep and all consciousness is 
gone through the seventy-two thousand little channels which 
lead to the centre of the heart from its circumference, then 
the soul rests in the covering around the heart. And as a 
prince, or a king, or a great Brahmin might find the peace of 
a fulness of joy, so the soul of man has now found peace. 

Even as airy threads come from a spider, or small sparks 
come from a fire, so from Atman, the Spirit in man, come all 
the powers of life, all the worlds, all the gods: all beings. To 
know the Atman is to know the mystery of the Upanishads : 
the Truth of truth. The powers of life are truth and their 
Truth is Atman, the Spirit. 2. i. i-2o 



‘Maitreyi/ said one day Yajnavalkya to his wife, T am 
going to leave this present life, and retire to a life of medita¬ 
tion. Let me settle my possessions upon you and Katya- 
yani/ 

‘If all the earth filled with riches belonged to me, O my 
Lord/ said Maitreyi, ‘should I thereby attain life eternal?* 

‘Certainly not/ said Yajnavalkya, ‘your life would only 
be as is the life of wealthy people. In wealth there is no hope 
of life eternal/ 

Maitreyi said: ‘What should I then do with possessions 
that cannot give me life eternal? Give me instead your 
knowledge, o my Lord/ 

On hearing this Yajnavalkya exclaimed: ‘Dear you are 
to me, beloved, and dear are the words you say. Come, sit 
down and I will teach; but hear my words with deep atten¬ 
tion/ 

Then spoke Yajnavalkya: 

‘In truth, it is not for the love of a husband that a husband 
is dear; but for the love of the Soul in the husband that a 
husband is dear. 

It is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear; but for 
the love of the Soul in the wife that a wife is dear. 


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FROM THE BRIHAD-ARANYAKA UPANISHAD 

It is not for the love of children that children are dear; 
but for the love of the Soul in children that children are 
dear. 

It is not for the love of riches that riches are dear; but for 
the love of the Soul in riches that riches are dear. 

It is not for the love of religion that religion is dear; but 
for the love of the Soul in religion that religion is dear. 

It is not for the love of power that power is dear; but 
for the love of the Soul in power that power is dear. 

It is not for the love of the heavens that the heavens are 
dear; but for the love of the Soul in the heavens that the 
heavens are dear. 

It is not for the love of the gods that the gods are dear; 
but for the love of the Soul in the gods that the gods are 
dear. 

It is not for the love of creatures that creatures are dear; 
but for the love of the Soul in creatures that creatures are 
dear. 

It is not for the love of the all that the all is dear; but for 
the love of the Soul in the all that the all is dear. 

It is the Soul, the Spirit, the Self, that must be seen and 
be heard and have our thoughts and meditation, O Maitreyi. 
When the Soul is seen and heard, is thought upon and is 
known, then all that is becomes known. 

Religion will abandon the man who thinks that religion 
is apart from the Soul. 

Power will abandon the man who thinks that power is 
apart from the Soul. 

The gods will abandon the man who thinks that the gods 
are apart from the Soul. 

Creatures will abandon the man who thinks that creatures 
are apart from the Soul. 

And all will abandon the man who thinks that the all is 
apart from the Soul. 

Because religion, power, heavens, beings, gods and all rest 
on the Soul. 

As when a drum is being beaten its sounds cannot be 


THE UPANISHADS 


holden, but by seizing the drum or the beater of the drum 
the sounds are holden; 

As when a conch is being blown its sounds cannot be 
holden, but by seizing the conch or the blower of the conch 
the sounds are holden; 

As when a lute is being played its sounds cannot be 
holden, but by seizing the lute or the player of the lute the 
sounds are holden; 

So it is with the Spirit, the Soul. 

As when a lump of salt is thrown into water and therein 
being dissolved it cannot be grasped again, but wherever 
the water is taken it is found salt, in the same way, O 
Maitreyi, the supreme Spirit is an ocean of pure conscious¬ 
ness boundless and infinite. Arising out of the elements, into 
them it returns again: there is no consciousness after death/ 

Thus spoke Yajnavalkya. 

Thereupon Maitreyi said: 'I am amazed, O my Lord, to 
hear that after death there is no consciousness/ 

To this Yajnavalkya replied: T am not speaking words of 
amazement; but sufficient for wisdom is what I say. 

For where there seems to be a duality, there one sees an¬ 
other, one hears another, one feels another’s perfume, one 
thinks of another, one knows another. But when all has 
become Spirit, one’s own Self, how and whom could one see? 
How and whom could one hear? How and of whom could 
one feel the perfume? How and to whom could one speak? 
How and whom could one know? How can one know him 
who knows all? How can the Knower be known?’ 2. 4 



THE SUPREME TEACHING 


PROLOGUE 

To Janaka king of Videha came once Yajnavalkya meaning 
to keep in silence the supreme secret wisdom. But once, 
when Janaka and Yajnavalkya had been holding a discussion 
at the offering of the sacred fire, Yajnavalkya promised to 
grant the king any wish and the king chose to ask questions 
according to his desire. Therefore Janaka, king of Videha, be¬ 
gan and asked this question: 

Yajnavalkya, what is the light of man? 

The sun is his light, O king, he answered. It is by the 
light of the sun that a man rests, goes forth, does his work, 
and returns. 

This is so in truth, Yajnavalkya. And when the sun is set, 
what is then the light of man ? 

The moon then becomes his light, he replied. It is by 
the light of the moon that a man rests, goes forth, does his 
work, and returns. 

This is so in truth, Yajnavalkya. And when the sun and 
the moon are set, what is then the light of man ? 

Fire then becomes his light. It is by the light of fire that 
a man rests, goes forth, does his work, and returns. 

And when the sun and the moon are set, Yajnavalkya, 
and the fire has sunk down, what is then the light of man ? 

Voice then becomes his light; and by the voice as his 
light he rests, goes forth, does his work and returns. There¬ 
fore in truth, O king, when a man cannot see even his own 
hand, if he hears a voice after that he wends his way. 

This is so in truth, Yajnavalkya. And when the sun is set, 
Yajnavalkya, and the moon is also set, and the fire has 
sunk down, and the voice is silent, what is then the light of 
man? 


133 


THE UPANISHADS 


The Soul then becomes his light; and by the light of the 
Soul he rests, goes forth, does his work, and returns. 

What is the Soul ? asked then the king of Videha. 

WAKING AND DREAMING 

Yajnavalkya spoke: 

It is the consciousness of life. It is the light of the heart. 
For ever remaining the same, the Spirit of man wanders in 
the world of waking life and also in the world of dreams. He 
seems to wander in thought. He seems to wander in joy. 

But in the rest of deep sleep he goes beyond this world 
and beyond its fleeting forms. 

For in truth when the Spirit of man comes to life and 
takes a body, then he is joined with mortal evils; but when 
at death he goes beyond, then he leaves evil behind. 

The Spirit of man has two dwellings: this world and the 
world beyond. There is also a third dwelling-place: the land 
of sleep and dreams. Resting in this borderland the Spirit of 
man can behold his dwelling in this world and in the other 
world afar, and wandering in this borderland he beholds 
behind him the sorrows of this world and in front of him he 
sees the joys of the beyond. 

DREAMS 

When the Spirit of man retires to rest, he takes with him 
materials from this all-containing world, and he creates and 
destroys in his own glory and radiance. Then the Spirit of 
man shines in his own light. 

In that land there are no chariots, no teams of horses, nor 
roads; but he creates his own chariots, his teams of horses, 
and roads. There are no joys in that region, and no pleasures 
nor delights; but he creates his own joys, his own pleasures 
and delights. In that land there are no lakes, no lotus-ponds, 
nor streams; but he creates his own lakes, his lotus-ponds, 
and streams. For the Spirit of man is Creator. 

It was said in these verses: 

Abandoning his body by the gate of dreams, the Spirit be- 

134 


THE SUPREME TEACHING 


holds in awaking his senses sleeping. Then he takes his own light 
and returns to his home, this Spirit of golden radiance, the 
wandering swan everlasting. 

Leaving his nest below in charge of the breath of life, the 
immortal Spirit soars afar from his nest. He moves in all regions 
wherever he loves, this Spirit of golden radiance, the wander¬ 
ing swan everlasting. 

And in the region of dreams, wandering above and below, 
the Spirit makes for himself innumerable subtle creations. 
Sometimes he seems to rejoice in the love of fairy beauties, 
sometimes he laughs or beholds awe-inspiring terrible visions. 

People see his field of pleasure; but he can never be seen. 

So they say that one should not wake up a person sud¬ 
denly, for hard to heal would he be if the Spirit did not 
return. They say also that dreams are like the waking state, 
for what is seen when awake is seen again in a dream. What 
is true is that the Spirit shines in his own light. 

‘I give you a thousand gifts/ said then the king of Videha, 
‘but tell me of the higher wisdom that leads to liberation/ 

When the Spirit of man has had his joy in the land of 
dreams, and in his wanderings there has beholden good and 
evil, he then returns to this world of waking. But whatever 
he has seen does not return with him, for the Spirit of man 
is free. 

And when he has had his joy in this world of waking and 
in his wanderings here has beholden good and evil, he re¬ 
turns by the same path again to the land of dreams. 

Even as a great fish swims along the two banks of a 
river, first along the eastern bank and then the western bank, 
in the same way the Spirit of man moves along beside his 
two dwellings: this waking world and the land of sleep and 
dreams. 


DEEP SLEEP 

Even as a falcon or an eagle, after soaring in the sky, folds 
his wings for he is weary, and flies down to his nest, even so 
the Spirit of man hastens to that place of rest where the 
soul has no desires and the Spirit sees no dreams. 


135 


THE UPANISHADS 


What was seen in a dream, all the fears of waking, such 
as being slain or oppressed, pursued by an elephant or falling 
into an abyss, is seen to be a delusion. But when like a king 
or a god the Spirit feels ‘ I am all/ then he is in the highest 
world. It is the world of the Spirit, where there are no de¬ 
sires, all evil has vanished, and there is no fear. 

As a man in the arms of the woman beloved feels only 
peace all around, even so the Soul in the embrace of Atman, 
the Spirit of vision, feels only peace all around. All desires 
are attained, since the Spirit that is all has been attained, no 
desires are there, and there is no sorrow. 

There a father is a father no more, nor is a mother there 
a mother; the worlds are no longer worlds, nor the gods are 
gods any longer. There the Vedas disappear; and a thief is 
not a thief, nor is a slayer a slayer; the outcast is not an out¬ 
cast, nor the base-born a base-born; the pilgrim is not a 
pilgrim and the hermit is not a hermit; because the Spirit of 
man has crossed the lands of good and evil, and has passed 
beyond the sorrows of the heart. 

There the Spirit sees not, but though seeing not he sees. 
How could the Spirit not see if he is the All ? But there is no 
duality there, nothing apart for him to see. 

There the Spirit feels no perfumes, yet feeling no per¬ 
fumes he feels them. How could the Spirit feel no perfumes 
if he is the All ? But there is no duality there, no perfumes, 
apart for him to feel. 

There the Spirit tastes not, yet tasting not he tastes. How 
could the Spirit not taste if he is the All? But there is no 
duality there, nothing apart for him to taste. 

There the Spirit speaks not, yet speaking not he speaks. 
How could the Spirit not speak if he is the All ? But there is 
no duality there, nothing apart for him to speak to. 

There the Spirit hears not, yet hearing not he hears. How 
could the Spirit not hear if he is the All? But there is no 
duality there, nothing apart for him to hear. 

There the Spirit thinks not, yet thinking not he thinks. 

136 


THE SUPREME TEACHING 

How could the Spirit not think if he is the All ? But there is 
no duality there, nothing apart for him to think. 

There the Spirit touches not, yet touching not he touches. 
How could the Spirit not touch if he is the All? But there 
is no duality there, nothing apart for him to touch. 

There the Spirit knows not, yet knowing not he knows. 
How could the Spirit not know if he is the All ? But there is 
no duality there, nothing apart for him to know. 

For only where there seems to be a duality, there one 
sees another, one feels another’s perfume, one tastes another, 
one speaks to another, one listens to another, one touches 
another and one knows another. 

But in the ocean of Spirit the seer is alone beholding his 
own immensity. 

This is the world of Brahman, O king. This is the path 
supreme. This is the supreme treasure. This is the world 
supreme. This is the supreme joy. On a portion of that joy 
all other beings live. 

He who in this world attains success and wealth, who is 
Lord of men and enjoys all human pleasures, has reached the 
supreme human joy. 

But a hundred times greater than the human joy is the 
joy of those who have attained the heaven of the ancestors. 

A hundred times greater than the joy of the heaven of the 
ancestors is the joy of the heaven of the celestial beings. 

A hundred times greater than the joy of the heaven of the 
celestial beings is the joy of the gods who have attained 
divinity through holy works. 

A hundred times greater than the joy of the gods who 
have attained divinity through holy works is the joy of the 
gods who were bom divine, and of him who has sacred wis¬ 
dom, who is pure and free from desire. 

A hundred times greater than the joy of the gods who 
were bom divine is the joy of the world of the Lord of 
Creation, and of him who has sacred wisdom, who is pure 
and free from desire. 


137 


THE UPANISHADS 


And a hundred times greater than the joy of the Lord of 
Creation is the joy of the world of Brahman, and of him who 
has sacred wisdom, who is pure and free from desire. 

This is the joy supreme, this is the world of the Spirit, O 
king. 

*1 give you a thousand gifts/ said then the king of Videha: 
‘but tell me of the higher wisdom that leads to liberation/ 

And Yajnavalkya was afraid and thought: Intelligent is 
the king. He has cut me off from all retreat. 

When the Spirit of man has had his joy in the land of 
dreams, and in his wanderings there has beholden good and 
evil, he returns once again to this the world of waking. 


DEATH 

Even as a heavy-laden cart moves on groaning, even 
so the cart of the human body, wherein lives the Spirit, 
moves on groaning when a man is giving up the breath of 
life. 

When the body falls into weakness on account of old age 
or disease, even as a mango-fruit, or the fruit of the holy 
fig-tree, is loosened from its stem, so the Spirit of man is 
loosened from the human body and returns by the same way 
to Life, wherefrom he came. 

As when a king is coming, the nobles and officers, the 
charioteers and heads of the village prepare for him food and 
drink and royal lodgings, saying ‘The king is coming, the 
king is approaching/ in the same way all the powers of life 
wait for him who knows this and say: ‘The Spirit is com¬ 
ing, the Spirit is approaching/ 

And as when a king is going to depart, the nobles and 
officers, the charioteers and the heads of the village assemble 
around him, even so all the powers of life gather about the 
soul when a man is giving up the breath of life. 

When the human soul falls into weakness and into seem¬ 
ing unconsciousness all the powers of life assemble around. 
The soul gathers these elements of life-fire and enters into 

138 


THE SUPREME TEACHING 

the heart. And when the Spirit that lives in the eye has re¬ 
turned to his own source, then the soul knows no more 
forms. 

Then a person’s powers of life become one and people 
say: ‘he sees no more.’ His powers of life become one and 
people say: ‘he feels perfumes no more.’ His powers of 
life become one and people say: ‘he tastes no more.’ His 
powers of life become one and people say: ‘he speaks no 
more.’ His powers of life become one and people say: ‘he 
hears no more.’ His powers of life become one and people 
say: ‘he thinks no more.’ His powers of life become one and 
people say: ‘he touches no more.’ His powers of life become 
one and people say: ‘he knows no more.’ 

Then at the point of the heart a light shines, and this light 
illumines the soul on its way afar. When departing, by the 
head, or by the eye or other parts of the body, life arises and 
follows the soul, and the powers of life follow life. The 
soul becomes conscious and enters into Consciousness. His 
wisdom and works take him by the hand, and the knowledge 
known of old. 

Even as a caterpillar, when coming to the end of a blade 
of grass, reaches out to another blade of grass and draws it¬ 
self over to it, in the same way the Soul, leaving the body 
and unwisdom behind, reaches out to another body and 
draws itself over to it. 

And even as a worker in gold, taking an old ornament, 
moulds it into a form newer and fairer, even so the Soul, 
leaving the body and unwisdom behind, goes into a form 
newer and fairer: a form like that of the ancestors in heaven, 
or of the celestial beings, or of the gods of light, or of the 
Lord of Creation, or of Brahma the Creator supreme, or a 
form of other beings. 

The Soul is Brahman, the Eternal. 

It is made of consciousness and mind: it is made of life 
and vision. It is made of the earth and the waters: it is made 
of air and space. It is made of light and darkness: it is made 
of desire and peace. It is made of anger and love: it is made 


139 



THE UPANISHADS 

of virtue and vice. It is made of all that is near: it is made of 
all that is afar. It is made of all. 


KARMA 

According as a man acts and walks in the path of life, so 
he becomes. He that does good becomes good; he that does 
evil becomes evil. By pure actions he becomes pure; by evil 
actions he becomes evil. 

And they say in truth that a man is made of desire. As his 
desire is, so is his faith. As his faith is, so are his works. As 
his works are, so he becomes. It was said in this verse: 

A man comes with his actions to the end of his determination. 

Reaching the end of the journey begun by his works on 
earth, from that world a man returns to this world of human 
action. 

Thus far for the man who lives under desire. 


LIBERATION 

Now as to the man who is free from desire. 

He who is free from desire, whose desire finds fulfilment, 
since the Spirit is his desire, the powers of life leave him not 
He becomes one with Brahman, the Spirit, and enters into 
the Spirit. There is a verse that says: 

When all desires that cling to the heart disappear, then a 
mortal becomes immortal, and even in this life attains Libera¬ 
tion. 

As the slough of a snake lies dead upon an ant-hill, even 
so the mortal body; but the incorporeal immortal Spirit is 
life and light and Eternity. 

Concerning this are these verses: 

I have found the small path known of old that stretches far 

140 


THE SUPREME TEACHING 

away. By it the sages who know the Spirit arise to the regions 
of heaven and thence beyond to liberation. 

It is adorned with white and blue, yellow and green and red. 
This is the path of the seers of Brahman, of those whose actions 
are pure and who have inner fire and light. 

Into deep darkness fall those who follow action. Into 
deeper darkness fall those who follow knowledge. 

There are worlds of no joy, regions of utter darkness. To 
those worlds go after death those who in their unwisdom 
have not wakened up to light. 

When awake to the vision of the Atman, our own Self, 
when a man in truth can say: T am He’, what desires could 
lead him to grieve in fever for the body ? 

He who in the mystery of life has found the Atman, the 
Spirit, and has awakened to his light, to him as creator be¬ 
longs the world of the Spirit, for he is this world. 

While we are here in this life we may reach the light of 
wisdom; and if we reach it not, how deep is the darkness. 
Those who see the light enter life eternal: those who live in 
darkness enter into sorrow. 

When a man sees the Atman, the Self in him, God him¬ 
self, the Lord of what was and of what shall be, he fears no 
more. 

Before whom the years roll and all the days of the years, 
him the gods adore as the Light of all lights, as Life im¬ 
mortal ; 

In whom the five hosts of beings rest and the vastness of 
space, him I know as Atman immortal, him I know as eternal 
Brahman. 

Those who know him who is the eye of the eye, the ear 
of the ear, the mind of the mind and the life of life, they 
know Brahman from the beginning of time. 

Even by the mind this truth must be seen: there are not 
many but only One. Who sees variety and not the Unity 
wanders on from death to death. 

Behold then as One the infinite and eternal One who is 
in radiance beyond space, the everlasting Soul never bom. 

141 


THE UPANISHADS 


Knowing this, let the lover of Brahman follow wisdom. 
Let him not ponder on many words, for many words are 
weariness. 

Yajnavalkya went on: 

This is the great Atman, the Spirit never bom, the con¬ 
sciousness of life. He dwells in our own hearts as ruler of all, 
master of all, lord of all. His greatness becomes not greater 
by good actions nor less great by evil actions. He is the Lord 
supreme, sovereign and protector of all beings, the bridge 
that keeps the worlds apart that they fall not into con¬ 
fusion. 

The lovers of Brahman seek him through the sacred 
Vedas, through holy sacrifices, charity, penance and abstin¬ 
ence. He who knows him becomes a Muni, a sage. Pilgrims 
follow their life of wandering in their longing for his king¬ 
dom. 

Knowing this, the sages of old desired not offspring. 
‘What shall we do with offspring/ said they, ‘we who 
possess the Spirit, the whole world ? ’ Rising above the desire 
of sons, wealth, and the world they followed the life of the 
pilgrim. For the desire of sons and wealth is the desire of the 
world. And this desire is vanity. 

But the Spirit is not this, is not this. He is incomprehen¬ 
sible, for he cannot be comprehended. He is imperishable, 
for he cannot pass away. He has no bonds of attachment, for 
he is free; and free from all bonds he is beyond suffering and 
fear. 

A man who knows this is not moved by grief or exulta¬ 
tion on account of the evil or good he has done. He goes be¬ 
yond both. What is done or left undone grieves him not. 

This was said in this sacred verse : 

The everlasting greatness of the seer of Brahman is not 
greater or less great by actions. Let man find the path of the 
Spirit: who has found this path becomes free from the bonds 
of evil. 

Who knows this and has found peace, he is the lord 
of himself, his is a calm endurance, and calm concentra- 


142 


THE SUPREME TEACHING 

tion. In himself he sees the Spirit, and he sees the Spirit as 
all. 

He is not moved by evil: he removes evil. He is not burn¬ 
ed by sin: he burns all sin. And he goes beyond evil, beyond 
passion, and beyond doubts, for he sees the Eternal. 

This is the world of the Spirit, O king. Thus spoke 
Yajnavalkya. 

O Master. Yours is my kingdom and I am yours, said 
then the king of Videha. 


EPILOGUE 

This is the great never-born Spirit of man, enjoyer of the 
food of life, and giver of treasure. He finds this treasure who 
knows this. 

This is the great never-born Spirit of man, never old and 
immortal. This is the Spirit of the universe, a refuge from 
all fear. Brihad. Up. 4. 3-4 



THE PENGUIN CLASSICS 


The Most Recent Volumes 
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Classics 


THE UPANISHADS 

TRANSLATED AND SELECTED BY JUAN MASCARO 


The Upanishads represent for the Hindu approxi¬ 
mately what the New Testament represents for the 
Christian. The earliest of these spiritual treatises, 
which vary greatly in length, were put down in 
Sanskrit between 800 and 400 B.C. 

This selection from twelve Upanishads, with its 
illuminating introduction by Juan Mascaro, whose 
translation of the Bhagavad Gita is already in the 
Penguin Classics, reveals the paradoxical variety and 
unity, the great questions and simple answers, the 
spiritual wisdom and romantic imagination of these 
‘Himalayas of the Soul’. 

‘Your translation . . . has caught from those great 
words the inner voice that goes beyond the 
boundaries of words’ Rabindranath Tagore in a 
letter to the translator 

The cover shows an architectural detail ( Udayapur) 
of the period between the ninth and thirteenth 
centuries, in the Gwalior Archaeological Museum, 
India (Snark International)