Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Maha Upanishad Part 3

IV-1-24. Nidagha, there is nothing else to be known by you, you are the best of the of the enlightened – you know by your intellect, with God’s grace – I shall wipe away the error caused by the impurity of the mind:

   Control of inner and outer senses, enquiry, contentment and the fourth, contact with good people – resort to one at least of these giving up everything, with all effort – when one is achieved, the others also are achieved.

   One shall develop wisdom only at first; first liberation from worldly life, by means of scripture, contact with good people, penance and self-control. One’s own experience (of the self), Shastra and the preceptor form one statement (they yield a single purpose) by practising (the teachings of) which the self is ever looked at (realized).

   If you do (achieve) every moment, the avoidance of the sustained fancy and desire, then you will have reached the sacred, mindless state. Samadhi is said to be the freedom of the mind from agency (activity). That itself is oneness, that is the highest and auspicious joy.

   You should remain, like a dumb, blind and deaf person, giving up with your mind, the thought of all things as the self.

   The vision got through words of (Vedanta) that you are composed, unborn, beginningless and endless, shining, taste (bliss) alone, devoid of symptoms of mind – all this is for the (lower) knowledge and wasteful – only Om is real.

   All the visible things in the world are nothing more than the consciousness without vibration – contemplate this.

   Or, with mind ever enlightened and performing worldly functions, you remain knowing the oneness of the self, like the calm ocean.

   Only the knowledge of Truth is the fire to the grass of mental impressions – this is said to be Samadhi, not mere silence.

   Just as the world is active when the much desired sun has arisen (Mani – gem of the day, the sun), so also do the creatures of the world, when the supreme reality is present. So, oh sage, the agentship and non-agentship in the self arise: -- the spirit is a non-agent when there is no desire – an agent by his mere presence.

   These two exist in the Supreme Being – agency and non-agency – Resort to it firmly which is the (ultimate) cause of the two. So, by the thoughts, well kindled, that I am always a non-agent, the remains only the state of equality called the supreme immortality.

   Listen, O Nidagha, there are born in the world, men of noble qualities in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, ever in the ascendant and happy like (autumnal) moons in the sky; not depressed during danger, like a gold lotus at night, nor aspiring beyond what is destined, delighting in the path of the good people. They shine through this firm (personality) with merits in the friendship; even-minded and reconciled, pleasing, ever good in conduct. They are within limits like the ocean, placid in mind, do not give up discipline, like the sun.

   A wise person should enquire fully ‘What am I ? How did this blemish of Samsara develop ?’ One should not take to wrong deeds nor live with a low person. Death, the killer of all, should not be looked up in mockery. One should look only at the pure consciousness, avoiding the body, the bone, flesh and blood which are inauspicious, the consciousness being the string that holds together all the creatures like a necklace. Pursuing what is acceptable and avoiding totally what is not – this is the (proper) nature (attitude) of the mind. The seer shall be rid of grief knowing that he is Brahman with his own realization by the path prescribed by the preceptor.

   IV-25. Enlightenment arises in the state of detachment wherein the fall of a hundred sharp swords is borne like strokes with lilies, burning with fire like drenching with snow, charcoal like sandalwood, endless fall of arrows like a fall of cool water to relieve summer heat, cutting one’s own head like happy sleep, the deprivation of speech like silence, deafness like a blessing.

   IV-26-27. The self as always observed by the practice of realization which arises from the instruction of the preceptor. Just as the directions once again as before the delusion, so the world – delusion goes away destroyed by knowledge – consider this.

   IV-28. Riches do not help, nor friends nor kinsmen, nor the strain of the body, nor resorting to sacred waters and temples, but only through the conquest of the mind is that condition reached.

   IV-29-38. All the miseries, hankerings, unbearable mental pain are lost in people with a calm mind, like darkness in the sun. All creatures subside (attain calmness) in a serene person like children mischievous or soft, in their mother.

   Not by drinking elixirs, nor by the embrace of wealth does a person get so much joy as by inner peace.

   He is said to be a serene person, who does not exult or feel depressed on hearing, touching, eating, seeing and knowing the good or the bad.

    Whose mind is not agitated, clear like the moon’s disc, in death, festival as well as in battle.

   Only the serene person shines among ascetics, knowers, sacrificers, kings, men of strength and of virtue.

   The calm persons are great who have attained contentment with the drink of Amrita and delight in the self.

   He is the contented one who gives up (longing for) what is not got and is even towards what is got, not seeing (i.e. ignoring) grief and joy, who does not admire what is not got, enjoys according to desire what is (actually) got and is benign in his conduct.

   Liberation while alive arises when the thought delights in what is got, like a good woman in a harem and this gives the joy of the spirit’s own nature.

   IV-39-43. The wise person should reflect about the path to liberation, every moment, in the manner of the Shastras, according to the place, convenience and contact with good people, until he achieves repose in the spirit. A person having repose in the fourth state (liberation) and released from the ocean of worldly life, whether he lives or not, be he house-holder or recluse, has no purpose (meaning) in what is done or not done, nor by the delusion of Veda and Smriti; he remains in his pristine condition like the ocean without being churned by the mountain (he is in a transcendental state).

   When there arises the pure realization of all as the spirit, then shines the ‘body’ in the form of the consciousness, beyond origin, space and time.

   IV-44-49. The visible cosmos of un-moving and moving things melts away like dream in a (dreamless) sleep. The wise people have attributed, for empirical purposes, names for the supreme Being, such as, Rita Atma, Para Brahma, Truth etc. Just as armlets etc., are only words and meanings, not different from gold, so also is the magical illusion of the cosmos extended by the supreme being.

   The perceived being inside the visible world is called bondage, in the absence (dissolution) of the visible, he is realized. What is called the visible is the projection like, ‘The universe is you, and I’. The illusion of the world is spread only by the mind – as long as it happens, this is no liberation.

   IV-50-57. The cosmos is spread (generated) through the mind by the self-born supreme being. So the visible cosmos is mental in nature. There is no real mind; it is only the flash of things. Know the mind to be only ideation. Understand that where there is ideation there is Mind. Mind and ideation are never different – when the mass of ideations slips away only the (pristine) nature remains.

   When the excitement of the visible, viz., ‘I and you are the cosmos’ dies down, only the sole condition (pristineness) remains. At the achievement of the great dissolution, when all the visible creation etc., become (i.e. known to be) non-existent, only tranquillity remains. There exists the unborn, divine un-ailing, shining being, the unsetting sun, forever, the maker of all, declared to be the supreme self. From whom words turn away (un-reaching), who is realized (only) by the liberated person, whose names like (individual) selves are assumed, not natural.

   IV-58-63. O great sage, of the three kinds of ether (space) namely the mental, spiritual and gross, know the spiritual one to be (emptier) subtler than the other two. When the perception passes from one place to another, the interval is to be known as the spiritual region in a moment when you reach the stage where all ideations are rejected, then surely you will reach the state of All Quiet.

   That condition (state) is Samadhi which excludes bliss and contains the essence of detachment of Nobility and Beauty – when joy arises strongly by the realization of the falseness of the visible world and like and dislike thin away.

   This realization is indeed the knowledge and its object, spiritual in nature – only that is the sole state – all else is false.

   IV-64-69. Nidagha, know the world to be an illusion, Airavata in rut is confined to a corner of a mustard, a mosquito fights with groups of lions inside an atom, Meru put inside a lotus is pat out by a bee.

   Only the mind made impure by involvement etc., is worldly life. The same mind is said to be the end of (worldly) existence when freed from them. An embodied being attained that condition being brooded over by the mind – freed from bodily tendencies, it (he) is not smeared (affected) by the body’s attributes.

   I am that (the mind) which turns an aeon into a moment and vice versa. One cannot attain (realize) (truth) without desisting from bad conduct, without calmness and concentration but only through Enlightenment.

   IV-70-72. One fears never (and from nothing) on knowing the nature of the self as Bliss unequalled, attributeless and one mass of truth and consciousness. That is beyond all that is beyond, greater than the greatest, lustrous and eternal in nature, wise, ancient Being, worshipped by all gods. As a rule ‘I (am) Brahman’ these two words are for the liberation of the great. Whereas ‘Not Mine’ and ‘Mine’ give liberation and bondage (respectively).

   IV-73-75. The creation (of the world) is assumed (projected) by God starting from the vision and ending with Entry (from Generation to Dissolution) in the form of Jiva, Ishvara etc. The nature of the animate and the inanimate worldly life from waking to liberation is projected by Jiva.

   Schools from the Trinachiketa to the Yoga depend on Ishvara’s illusion (on the still lower level); from the Lokayata to Sankhya the schools depend on Jiva’s illusion. Hence, the aspirants to liberation should not consider these schools (being illusory) but the (essential) truth about Brahman is to be considered with steadiness.

   IV-76-82. Only one who looks upon everything in relation to consciousness is the knower proper, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Without a good preceptor’s grace it is hard to give up objects, to see truth and (to realize) the pristine state. The pristine state is naturally realized by a Yogin who has power generated in him and has given up all (worldly) activity.

   When a man perceives even a little difference (between these) then, there will be fear for him, doubtless. A person with wisdom as the eye sees the supreme as present everywhere – one without wisdom does not, like a blind man, the sun.

   The supreme being is knowledge alone – so a mortal becomes immortal only by vision of Brahman. When the Great beyond is seen, the knot of the heart snaps, all doubts are smashed and all (worldly) actions die away.

   IV-83-87. Be devoted to Samvid, with single attention, giving up the non-spiritual attitude and unaffected by the condition of the world. In a desert all the water (in mirages) is an illusion – only the desert is real; (similarly) on reflection all the three worlds are nothing more than chit.

   He who remains giving up what is implied and expressed is Shiva himself, the best of the Brahman-Knowers. That un-decaying being is the substratum (of all), without comparison beyond words and mind, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent and subtle.

   The mind and the world are (only) the blooming of the supreme being; worldly life is reduced by the restraint (of the mind) and non-restraint (of the spirit).

   IV-88-106. I shall tell you the means of curing mental ills – giving up whatever object is attractive, one attains liberation. Pity that worm of a man who cannot do this giving up which is absolutely good and dependent on oneself.

   The auspicious path cannot be got without subduing the mind which is giving up desires and which can be achieved by one’s own effort. When the mind is cut by the weapon of non-projection, then is achieved (realized) the Brahman, omnipresent and tranquil. Hold yourself, un-excited, released from thought of worldly existence, having great wisdom – the swallowed (controlled) mind is the place of knowledge.

   Resorting to great effort, making the mind non-mind, meditating in the heart, with the edge of the wheel of consciousness. Kill the mind without hesitation; your (internal) enemies will not bind you.

   ‘I am he, this is mine’, the mind is only so much – this is cut down by the knife of non-projection. The mind is blown away only by the wind of non-projection, like the bank of clouds in the autumn sky. Let the winds of deluge blow, let the oceans become one (to destroy the world), let all the twelve suns blaze; the mind is not affected.

   You remain intent upon that state of the empire of truth which can only be non-projection and which gives all success.

   Nowhere is the mind seen to be without fickleness – it is the nature of mind, just as heat is that of fire. This power of pulsation existing as mind – know this to be the power which is the ostentatious world. The mind without wavering is said to be Amrita. The same is said to be liberation in the Shastraic doctrine.

   This wavering which is another name for ignorance – destroy this with reflection. Sinless one, be free from projections (vikalpas) attaining that position with which the mind becomes united by means of human effort.

   Hence, resorting to (human) effort, possessing (i.e. Controlling) the mind with the mind, be form and free from anxiety, in the place without grief. Only the mind can control the mind firmly – who can control a king except another king ?

   For those grasped by the crocodile of desire and fallen into the ocean of worldly life and carried away (tossed about) by the whirlpools, only the mind is the life-boat. Break the mind, with the mind, the rope, uplift yourself from worldly life – which cannot be crossed by another.

   IV-117-115. Whatever propensity called the mind arises from previous (other) impulses, these a wise one is to avoid and from this there will be reduction of ignorance. Give up the tendency to differentiate; giving up the instinct for (worldly) enjoyment – then giving up both positive and negative (tendencies), be blissful without mental projection.

   The avoidance of desire towards whatever is seen is the destruction of the mind, of ignorance. Freedom from desire is extinction (liberation), acceptance of desire is misery.

   In the un-enlightened people ignorance is seen to exist. How can it exist in a person of sound wisdom, being accepted only in name. Ignorance swings a person on the steep rocks of samsara, having the thorny bushes of misery, not when ignorance dies away leading to the desire for perception of the self, reducing delusions. When everything is seen, this desire too melts away.

This ignorance is only desire, its destruction is said to be liberation – this results by the destruction of projections. The intense darkness, ignorance, is reduced when, in the sky of the mind, the night of propensities fades away, by the sight of the sun of consciousness.

   IV-116-121. The supreme lord is the ineffable conscious principle present every where and devoid of mental misery. All this (cosmos) is Brahman, eternally conscious, undecaying. The other thing namely mental projections, does not really exist.

   Nothing is really born, dies in this triad of worlds, nor is there any reality in various stages of things; only Pure Consciousness is real, which is aloof, shining by itself common to all and free from mental torment.

   When this is ever realized as pure, untroubled, serene, calm and unchanging, this mind realizes through reflection – the mind is called so because of reflection.

IV-122-125. So, this thought caused by force, is destroyed by resolution. The mind is bound strongly by the resolution ‘I am not Brahman’; it is released by the resolve ‘I am Brahman’; it is bound by the concept in keeping with the thought ‘I am, lean, bound by misery; I have hands, feet etc.’ Whereas, it is released by the conviction following the thought ‘I am not miserable, I have no body, the soul is not bound’. One is liberated when ignorance dies away, by the internal conviction. ‘I am not the flesh, the bones; I am beyond the body’.

IV-126-131. ‘This ignorance is due to imagination, by conceiving the non-spirit as spirit. Resorting to great effort, with supreme resolve, and abandoning desire at a distance, be blissful without fancy.

   My son, my wealth, he is mine – such propensity leaps about by the tangle of senses. Do not be ignorant, be wise; give up involvement is samsara – why do you wail like an ignorant person by such attachment ? What is this body of yours, dull, dumb, impure lump of flesh, for which you are overpowered by worldly pleasure and pain ?

   It is strange that the true Brahman is forgotten by people ! May you not be smeared by attachment when you are active.

   Strange also that mountains are bound by lotus fibre ! This universe is perturbed by the ignorance which is non-existent ! Mere grass has become adamant !

Maha Upanishad - Part1, Part2, Part4, Part5, Part6