Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

XVII-1: I take refuge in Sadyojata. Verily I salute Sadyojata again and again. O Sadyojata, do not consign me to repeated birth; lead me beyond birth, into the state of bliss and liberation. I bow down to Him who is the source of transmigratory existence.

XVIII-1: Salutation to Vamadeva [the beautiful and shining One or the generous God]. Salutation to Jyestha [the Eldest, existing before creation]. Salutation to Srestha [the most worthy and excellent]. Salutation to Rudra [He who causes creatures to weep at the time of dissolution]. Salutation to Kala [He who is the Power of time responsible for the evolution of Nature]. Salutation to Kalavikarana [He who causes changes in the evolution of the universe beginning with Prakriti]. Salutation to Balavikarana [He who is the producer of varieties and degrees of strength]. Salutation to Bala [He who is the source of all strength]. Salutation to Balapramathana [He who suppresses all power at the time of retraction]. Salutation to Sarvabhutadamana [the Ruler of all the created beings]. Salutation to Manonmana [He who is the kindler of the light of the soul].

XIX-1: Now, O Sarva, my salutations be at all times and all places to Thy Rudra forms, benign, terrific, more terrific and destructive.

XX-1: May we know or realize the Supreme Person. For that, may we meditate upon Mahadeva and to that meditation may Rudra impel us.

XXI-1: May the Supreme who is the ruler of all knowledge, controller of all created beings, the preserver of the Vedas and the one overlord of Hiranyagarbha, be benign to me. I am the Sadasiva described thus and denoted by Pranava.

XXII-1: Salutations again and again to Hiranyabahu [One who has ornaments of gold on the arms or possessing a form having the golden hue], Hiranyavarna [He who is the source of the syllables of the Vedas which are as precious as gold], Hiranyarupa [He who is shining in splendour], Hiranyapati [the Lord of riches wholesome and charming], Ambikapati [the consort of Ambika, the Mother of the universe], Umapati [The master of Uma, Brahma-vidya personified as such], Pasupati [the Lord of all created beings].

XXIII-1: Supreme Brahman, the Absolute Reality, has become an androgynous Person in the form of Umamaheshvara, dark blue and reddish brown in hue, absolutely chaste and possessing uncommon eyes. Salutations to Him alone who is the Soul of the universe or whose form is the universe.

XXIV-1: All this verily is Rudra. To Rudra who is such we offer our salutation. We salute again and again that Being, Rudra, who alone is the light and the Soul of creatures. The material universe the created beings and whatever there is manifoldly and profusely created in the past and in the present in the form of the world, all that is indeed this Rudra. Salutations be to Rudra who is such.

XXV-1: We sing a hymn that confers on us happiness in the highest degree to Rudra who is worthy of praise, who is endowed with the highest knowledge, who rains objects to the worshippers most excellently, who is more powerful and who is dwelling in the heart. Indeed all this is Rudra. Salutations be to Rudra who is such.

XXVI-1: He who has the sacrificial ladle made of Vikankata (Flacourtia Spida) tree for his Agnihotra rite offers oblations effective in producing the desired fruit. Further, these oblations contribute to establish (his spiritual knowledge through the generation of mental purity).

XXVII-1: Krinushva paja iti panja.
[Five mantras commencing with the lemma krinushva paja are only indicated in the texts by reference to index words. They are recited for effecting the destruction of hostile influences. They are from the Taittiriya-Samhita I-ii-14. Originally they are from the Rig-Veda IV-iv-1-5.]

XXVIII-1: The sage Vasistha declared that Aditi is the mother and protector of gods, of celestial minstrels, of men, of departed ancestors, of demons and others; that she is possessed of hardness or cohesiveness, that she is excellent and honoured, that she belongs to the Divine Spirit, that she is fit to be praised, contingent and supporting all, that she is rich in crops, broad and possessing a wealth of objects, that she is universal and comprising of the primary element, that she is exceedingly blissful, transformed into the bodies of creatures, illustrious, enduring and hence immortal.

XXIX-1: Verily all this is water. All the created beings are water. The vital breaths in the body are water. Quadrupeds are water. Edible crops are water. Ambrosia is water. Samrat [perpetually shining] is water. Virat [manifoldly shining] is water. Svarat [self-luminous] is water. The metres are water. The luminaries are water. Vedic formulas are water. Truth is water. All deities are water. The three worlds denoted by Bhuh, Bhuvah and Suvah are water. The source of all these is the Supreme denoted by the syllable ‘Om’.

XXX-1-2: May this water cleanse my physical body that is made of earthy substances. Thus purified, may the earthy body purify me, the Soul within. May this water purify the guardian of the Vedas, my preceptor. May the purified Vedas taught by the purified teacher purify me. (Or may the Supreme purify me. May the water purified by the Supreme purify me). My defilement, repast on prohibited food and misconduct if any, and the sin accruing from the acceptance of gifts from persons disapproved by the scripture – from all these may I be absolved. May the waters purify me. Hail !

XXXI-1: May fire, Anger and Guardians of anger guard me from the sins resulting from anger. May the Day efface completely whatever sin I have committed on this day by thought, word, hands, feet, stomach and the procreative organ. Further whatever sinful deed has been committed by me, all that and myself I offer as an oblation into the Self-luminous Truth, the source of Immortality. Hail !

XXXII-1: May the Sun, Anger and the Guardians of anger guard me from the sins resulting from anger. May the Night efface completely whatever sin I have committed during the last night by thought, word, hands, feet, stomach and the procreative organ. Further, whatever sinful deed has been committed by me all that and myself I offer as an oblation into the Supreme Light represented by the sun, the source of Immortality. Hail !

XXXIII-1: The one syllable ‘Om’ is Brahman. Agni is its Deity. Its Rishi also is Brahman. Its metre is Gayatri. Its use is for the union with Paramatman who exists as the manifold universe.

XXXIV-1: May the boon-conferring discrimination Gayatri come to us (in order to instruct us about) the imperishable Brahman who is determined by the Vedanta. May Gayatri, the mother of metres, favour us with the Supreme just mentioned.
XXXIV-2: O thou who art the source of all letters, O thou the great Deity, O thou the object of meditation at twilight, O thou Sarasvati, may thy devotee be liberated from the sin which he commits during the day by the same day and the sin which he commits during the night by the same night.

XXXV-1: O Gayatri, Thou art the essence of strength. Thou art patience, or the subduing power. Thou art physical capacity. Thou art splendour. Thou art the abode of gods and their name. Thou art the insentient universe. Thou art the full span of life or the Lord of all. Thou art every living thing. Thou art the life span of all. Thou art the vanquisher of all that is hostile to us. Thou art the Truth denoted by the Pranava. I invoke Gayatri, (into my heart). I invoke Savitri. I invoke Sarasvati. I invoke the metres, the Rishis (and the gods). I invoke the splendour (of all the gods). Of Gayatri the metre is Gayatri, the Rishi is Vishvamitra and the Deity is Savitur. Fire represents the mouth; the four-faced Brahma, the head; Vishnu, the heart; Rudra, the crown-hair; Earth, the source; the in-breath, the out-breath, the diffused breath, the up-breath and the middle breath, the breath. Gayatri is fair in hue and is of the same family as Paramatman attained by the Sankhyas – the illumined sages. The deity Gayatri (explained further as a formula) has twenty-four syllables, comprised in three feet, six sheaths or cavities and five heads. It is employed in Upanayana, or initiation into Vedic studentship.
XXXV-2: Om Earth. Om Sky. Om Heaven. Om Middle Region. Om Place of Birth. Om Mansion of the Blessed. Om Abode of Truth. Om may we meditate on the Adorable Light of that Divine Generator who quickens our understandings. Om He is water, light, flavour, ambrosia and also the three worlds. He who is denoted by Pranava is all these.

XXXVI-1: O Goddess, Thou mayest go and remain at Thy pleasure on the highest and holiest peak on the earth, or in any high place until the brahmanas remember Thee gain.
XXXVI-2: May the boon-conferring Mother of the Vedas, who has been magnified by me, who impels the created beings like wind and who has two places of birth, depart to the excellently produced world of Brahman having conferred on me, here on the earth, long life, wealth and power of Vedic learning.

XXXVII-1: The imperishable Aditya who is the giver of lustre and the creator of the universe moves in the sky like his own rays. The essence of him in the form of sweet water flows in the shape of rivers. He is the Truth. Aditya, the supreme cause of the universe, is the giver of light and water and is the source of all energy. He is denoted by the syllable Om. Gods worship Him as Tapas and Truth. (Being worshipped thus) He grants bliss to the worshippers. (Or the worshippers offer honey and sweet offerings to Him). That form of the sun is Brahman. That is the pervading cause of all. That is water, fire, flavour and ambrosia. The three Vyahritis representing the three worlds and the Pranava representing the cause of the universe denote that Brahman.

XXXVIII-1: May the Supreme reach me. May the Blissful reach me. May the Supreme alone that is blissful reach me. O Lord, being one among Thy creatures I am Thy child. Suppress the dreary dream of the empirical existence that I experience. For that I offer myself as an oblation into Thee. O Lord, and the vital and mental powers. Thou hast kept in me
XXXVIII-2: One may impart Trisuparna to a Brahmana unsolicited. Those brahmanas who recite Trisuparna indeed destroy even the sin of brahminicide. They attain to the fruit of the performance of Soma sacrifice. They purify all those who sit in a row of a thousand (while at dinner) and attain union with Pranava, i.e., the Deity of this mantra.

   XXXIX-1: That Brahman is attained through the power of intelligence. That Bliss is attained through the power of intelligence. The Bliss which is indeed Brahman is attained through the power of intelligence.
   XXXIX-2: O God, O Thou Creator, vouchsafe to us today the prosperity consisting of progeny. Turn away from us this bad dream (of the world).
   XXXIX-3: O God, O Creator, turn away from me all the sins. Bring to me that which is beneficial.
   XXXIX-4: To me, who is the devotee of the Supreme Truth let the wind blow sweetly. Let the rivers run sweetly. Let the herbs be to us sweet and beneficial.
   XXXIX-5: Let there be sweetness day and night. Let the particles of the earth be sweetness bearing. Let heaven, our father, be sweet to us.
   XXXIX-6: Let the fruit-bearing trees be sweet to us. Let the sun be sweet and beneficial to us. Let the cows be sweetness-bearing to us.
   XXXIX-7: One may impart Trisuparna to a Brahmana unsolicited. Those brahmanas who recite Trisuparna indeed destroy even the sin of feticide or hurting a Brahmana well versed in the Vedas and in their auxiliaries. They attain to the fruit of the performance of Soma sacrifice. They purify all those who sit in a row of a thousand (while at dinner) and attain union with Pranava, i.e., the Deity of this mantra.

   XXXX-1: That Brahman is attained through the power of sacrifice. That Bliss is attained through the power of sacrifice. The Bliss which is indeed Brahman is attained through the power of sacrifice.
   XXXX-2: The Supreme having become the four-faced Brahma among gods, the master of right words among the composers, the seer among the intelligent people, the buffalo among animals, the kite among the birds, the cutting axe among the destructive tools and soma among the sacrificers, transcends all purifying agencies accompanied by the sound (of holy chant).
   XXXX-3: That which is the sun who abides in the clear sky, is the Vasu (the air that moves) in the mid-region, is the fire that dwells in the sacrificial altar and in the domestic hearth as the guest, is the fire that shines in men and in the gods, as the Soul, is the fire that is consecrated in the sacrifice, is dwelling in the sky as air, is born in water as submarine heat, is born in the rays of the sun, is the fire that is directly seen as the luminary, and is born on the mountain as the rising sun – that is the Supreme Truth, the Reality underlying all.
   XXXX-4: I pile fuel in the consecrated fire with a view to acquire the Vedas necessary for Thy worship, meditating on Thee in the form of Rig-Veda. The unbroken currents of clarified butter offered into the kindled fire – rendered sacred by cordial and hearty thoughts – flow like rivers, the water of which is potable for Gods. By this I kindly the splendour of the holy fire.
   XXXX-5: In that Ahavaniya Fire, amidst those currents of clarified butter offered as oblation, abides the profusely rich and splendid Supreme Being who is magnified in the Trisuparna, who dwells in the nest of the bodies of created beings, who confers bliss on creatures according to their merit, and who shares with gods sweet ambrosia in the form of oblations offered by worshippers in Fire. In His proximity are seated the seven sages who destroy sins by mere remembrance and who continuously pour oblations in the form of a current of nectar keeping in mind the various gods for whom they are meant.
   XL-6: This Trisuparna may be imparted to a Brahmana unsolicited. Those brahmanas who recite Trisuparna indeed destroy even the sin of slaying a worthy Brahmana or an anointed king. They attain to the fruit of the performance of Soma sacrifice. They purify all those who sit in a row of a thousand (while at dinner) and attain union with Pranava, i.e., the Deity of this mantra.

Maha-Narayana Upanishad - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6