Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Bahvricha Upanishad

Om ! Speech is rooted in my thought (mind) and my thought is rooted in my speech. Be manifest, patent, to me; be ye two, for me, the lynch-pins of the Veda. Let not Vedic lore desert me. With this mastered lore, I join day with night. I shall speak what is right; I shall speak what is true. Let that protect me; let that protect the speaker. Let that protect me. Let that protect the speaker, protect the speaker ! Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

   1. Om. The Goddess was indeed one in the beginning. Alone she emitted the world-egg. (She) is known as Love’s Part (IM). (She) is known as the half-syllabic instant after OM.

   2. Of Her was Brahma born; was Vishnu born; was Rudra born. All wind-gods were born, celestial minstrels, nymphs, semi-human beings playing on instruments, were born (of Her), all around. What is enjoyed was born; everything was born (of Her). Everything of Power was born (of Her). The egg-born, the sweat-born, the seed-born, the womb-born, whatever breathes here, the stationary as well as the moving, and man were born (of Her).

   3. She, here, is the Power supreme. She, here, is the science of Sambhu, (known) either as the science beginning with ka, or as the science beginning with ha, or as the science beginning with sa. This is the secret Om grounded in the word Om.

   4. Pervading the three cities, the three bodies, illuminating within and without, She, the Consciousness within, becomes the Maha-Tripura-Sundari, being associated with space, time and objects.

   5. She alone is Atman. Other than Her is untruth, non-self. Hence is She Brahman-Consciousness, free from (even) a tinge of being and non-being. She is the Science of Consciousness, non-dual Brahman Consciousness, a wave of Being-Consciousness-Bliss. The Beauty of the three-great-cities, penetrating without and within, is resplendent, non-dual, self-subsisting. What is, is pure Being; what shines is pure Consciousness; what is dear is Bliss. So here is the Maha-Tripura-Sundari who assumes all forms. You and I and all the world and all divinities and all besides are the Maha-Tripura-Sundari. The sole Truth is the thing named ‘the Beautiful’. It is the non-dual, integral, supreme Brahman.

   6. The fivefold form relinquished And effects like space transcended, Remains the one, the great being, The supreme Ground, the only Truth.

   7. It is declared either that ‘Brahman is Consciousness’ or that ‘I am Brahman’. In dialogue it is said: ‘Thou art That’; or ‘This Atman is Brahman’; or ‘I am Brahman’; or ‘Brahman alone am I’.

   8. She who is contemplated as ‘That which I am’ or ‘I am He’ or ‘What He is that I am’, is the Sodasi, the Science of Sri, the fifteen-syllabled (science), the sacred Maha-Tripura-Sundari, the Virgin, the Mother, Bagala, the Matangi, the auspicious one who chooses her own Partner, the Mistress of the world, Chamunda, Chanda, the Power of the Boar, She who veils, the royal Matangi, dark like a parrot, light dark, mounted on a horse; opposed to Angiras; smoke-bannered; Power of Savitur, Sarasvati, Gayatri, part of Brahmic bliss.

   9. The songs of praise dwell in the highest sphere Where dwell all gods; With Ric what will he do who knows not this ? They who know this well, they dwell all right; This is the secret science.

Here ends the Bahvrichopanishad, included in the Rig-Veda.

Translated by Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier
Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai