Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Maha Upanishad Part 6

VI-1. ‘Giving up the deeply felt and seductive glamour, consisting in imagination, of empirical life, you remain what you (really) are; O sinless one ! Sportively roam the world.

   VI-2. ‘By means of the trenchant and creative thought, "I am a non-agent in all contexts", there remains but the (perception of) sameness, called, "supreme immortality".

   VI-3. ‘In regard to all elaborations of pain due solely to one’s sense of agency, (finally) there remains but sameness when one’s mental constructions dwindle away.

   VI-4. ‘This sameness, amidst all emotional moods, is the status grounded in Truth. Anchored in it the mind is no more reborn.

   VI-5. ‘O, sage ! Renouncing all forms of agency and non-agency and abolishing the mind, you remain what you (really) are; be steadfast.

   VI-6-7. ‘Stead-fast in the final stability, give up the very tendency to renunciation. Giving up everything together with its cause – the dichotomy between Spirit and mind, light and darkness, etc.; the latent impressions and what generates them – as well as the vibrations of vital breath, (be you) sky-like with a stilled intellect.

   VI-8. ‘Having totally wiped out from the heart the massed rows of latent impression, one who remains free from all anxiety is the liberated, is the supreme Deity.

   VI-9. ‘I have seen all that is worth seeing; through delusion have I wandered in all the ten directions of space. For the ignorant who roams, through reasoning, (the regions of) empirical existence, the latter shrinks into the dimensions of a cow’s hoof.

   VI-10. ‘In the body with its ins and outs, up and down, in the regions between, here and there, there is the Self; there is no world that is not the Self through and through.

   VI-11. ‘There is nothing in which I am not; there is nothing which is not That, through and through. What more do I want ? All things are essentially Being and Spirit, pervaded by That.

   VI-12. ‘All this is indeed Brahman; all this extended reality is the Self. I am one and this is another – give up this delusion, O sinless one !

  VI-13. ‘The superimposed (objects) cannot possibly be in the eternal, extended and undivided Brahman. There is neither sorrow, delusion, old age nor birth.

   VI-14. ‘What (in reality) is here only That exists. Always be calm, experiencing things as they occur and entertaining no desire whatsoever.

   VI-15(a). Neither shunning nor grasping, be always calm.

   VI-15(b)-16. ‘Magnanimous one ! Flawless cognitions swiftly fly to him who finds himself in his last birth, just as pure pearls lodge themselves in the best bamboo. This example has been offered to suit best those who develop dispassion.

   VI-17. ‘The certitude of the joy of cognition (results from) intimate contact of the perceiver and the object. We duly meditate on that stable Self, manifest in the truth of one’s self (the source of the joy of cognition).

   VI-18. ‘Giving up the seer’s perception and the object together with latent impressions, we duly meditate on the Self that manifests Itself first as perception.

   VI-19. ‘We duly meditate on the eternal Self, the illumination of all lights, that occupies the middle ground between the "is" and the "is not".

   VI-20. ‘Discarding the Lord who reigns in the heart, those who run after (some other) God are in fact seeking a gem after casting away the Kaustubha already in their possession.

   VI-21. ‘As Indra smites mountain peaks with his thunder-bolt, so should one strike, with the rod of discrimination, these adversaries in the form of sense-organs, both active and passive.

   VI-22. ‘In the evil dream (seen) in the night of empirical life – in this empty illusion of the body – everything experienced (as the extended) delusion of empirical) life is impure.

   VI-23. ‘In childhood one is stupefied by ignorance; in youth one in vanquished by woman. In the period that remains one is worried by one’s wife. What can one – the meanest of men – accomplish ?

   VI-24. ‘(But wail as follows): Unreality rides on the top of existence; ugliness on the top of things lovely; pains ride on the top of pleasures. What single entity may I resort to ?

   VI-25. ‘Even those men pass away on the closing and opening of whose eyes depends world’s disaster or prosperity. Of what account are folk like my (humble) self ?

   VI-26. ‘Empirical life is said to be the very limit of sufferings. When (one’s) body has slipped into its depths, how can pleasure be won ?

   VI-27. ‘I am awake ! I am awake ! ! Here is the wicked thief (who has been pestering me, viz.,) the mind. I shall destroy him; I have long been under his assault.

   VI-28. ‘Don’t be depressed. Seek not to seize what is fit only to be eschewed. Giving up (ideas of both) rejection and seizure, remain rooted in what is neither to be rejected nor seized; be wholly firm.

   VI-29-30. ‘The Knower rid of things to be rejected or seized has, without latent impressions, qualities (such as): freedom from desire and fear, conation and action; eternity, equality, wisdom, gentleness, certitude, steadfastness, amiability, contentment, charity and soft-spokenness.

   VI-31-32. ‘With the sharp needle of (penetrating) intelligence, tear up the nest cast by the fisher-woman of Craving in the waters of transmigratory life – a net made of the cords of (variegated) thoughts, even as a strong wind scatters (the vast) net of clouds. Then abide in the vast status (as immutable Brahman).

   VI-33. ‘Cleaving the mind with the mind itself as one does a tree with an axe, and attaining the holy status, at once, be steadfast.

   VI-34. ‘Standing or moving, sleeping or walking, dwelling in a place, flying aloft or falling down, inwardly sure that (all) this is but unreal, eschew (all) clinging.

   VI-35. ‘If you depend on this objective (world), you have a mind and are in bondage. If you reject the objective (world), you have no mind; you are liberated.

   VI-36. ‘"Neither am I nor is this real" – so thinking remain absolutely immovable, in the intervals of subjective and objective awareness.

   VI-37. Rid of what enjoys and what is enjoyed, set in the middle ground between the object and its enjoyer, be ever given to the contemplation of your Self as (pure) awareness.

   VI-38. ‘Dwelling on "the taste", be filled with the supreme Self; resorting to the propless, steady yourself off and on.

   VI-39. ‘Those who are bound by ropes are released: (but) none in the grip of craving may be released by anyone. Therefore, Nidagha, shed craving by renouncing all mental constructions.

   VI-40. ‘Cutting through this innate and sinful craving whose essence is egoism with the needle of self-abnegation, be stationed in the border land of the future and the present, entirely quelling all fear whatsoever.

   VI-41-43. ‘Rejecting the inveterate idea. "I am (the very) life of these objects and these objects are my (very) life !" "without these I am nothing and they are nothing without me" and reflecting, "I do not belong to (any) object and no object belongs to me", the intellect becomes tranquillised and the actions are performed in a sporting spirit. Latent impression (of such an agent) stand renounced. This renunciation, O Brahmin, is extolled as worthy of profound meditation !

   VI-44. ‘Due to the equilibrium of the intellect, total obliteration of latent impressions is acquired. That (indeed) should be deemed the obliteration of latent impressions, having won which one gives up (even) the body as one is free from all sense of possessions.

   VI-45. ‘He is called the Jivanmukta (Liberated-in-life) who lives after giving up all conceivable objects; for he has recreatively given up all latent egoistic impressions.

   VI-46. ‘Having given up all baseless (mental) constructions and the latent impressions, he who has won tranquillity is the best among the Knowers of Brahman; he is the liberated. His renunciation may only be deduced.

   VI-47-48. ‘These two fearless ones, unconcerned about pleasures and pains that occur in the due course of time, have achieved the status as Brahman – the (passive) renouncer and (the active) Yogin, both of whom are self-disciplined and tranquillised. O Lord of sages ! For they neither strive for nor reject anything amidst the inner, mental modifications.

   VI-49-50(a). ‘He is called the Jivanmukta who lives as one in dreamless sleep, who is neither lifted up nor depressed by the emotions of joy, intolerance, fear, anger, lust and helplessness and who is free from all objective pre-occupations.

   VI-50(b). ‘the craving born of latent impressions, oriented towards external objects, is said to be bound.

   VI-51-52(a). ‘The same freed from latent impressions bound up with objects, as such, is said to be liberated. Know that the desire culminating in the prayerful thought, "let this be mind", to be a strong chain that spawns suffering, birth and fear.

   VI-52(b)-53(a). ‘The magnanimous man renounces (this enchaining desire) vis-à-vis objects both real and unreal and wins the status that is sublime.

   VI-53(b)-54(a). ‘Then outgrowing the attachment both to bondage and liberation and the states of pain and pleasure – attachment both to the real and unreal – remains unshaken like the unagitated ocean.

   VI-54(b). ‘Good Sir, man may have a four-fold certitude.

   VI-55. ‘Engendered by (my) mother and father, I am (the body) from the foot to the head. This particular certitude, O Brahmin, results from the observation of the worries of bondage !

   VI-56. ‘Good men have second kind of certitude that promotes liberation – viz.: "I am beyond all objects and beings; I am subtler than the tip of a hair".

   VI-57. ‘Best of Brahmins, a third kind of certitude has been affirmed promotive of liberation alone (consisting in the thought) " All this objective world, the entire indestructible universe, is but myself".

   VI-58. ‘Also there is a fourth certitude, yielding liberation (that consists of the assertion) "I and the entire world are empty and sky-like at all times".

   VI-59. ‘Of these the first is said (to result from) the craving that earns bondage. Those having the last three are sportive, extremely pure and are liberated in this (very) life. Their cravings have been (wholly) purified.

   VI-60. ‘Great-souled (sage), the mind seized with the certitude "I am everything" is never born again to taste of sorrow !

   VI-61. ‘that Brahman has been (identified with) emptiness, Prakriti, Maya and also consciousness. It has also been said to be "Shiva, pure Spirit, the Lord, the eternal and the self".

   VI-62. ‘There flourishes but the non-dual Power that is the supreme Self through and through; it sportively builds up the universe with (factors) born of (both) duality and non-duality.

   VI-63. ‘He who resorts to the status beyond all objects, who is through and through the Spirit that is perfect, who is neither agitated, nor complacent, never suffers in this empirical life.

   VI-64. ‘Who performs the actions that fall to his lot, ever viewing foe and friend alike, who is liberated from both likes and dislikes is neither sad nor hopeful.

   VI-65. ‘Who utters what pleases all; speaks pleasantly when asked; and who is conversant with the thoughts of all beings never suffers in this empirical life.

   VI-66. ‘Resorting to the primeval vision (of Reality) marked by the renunciation of all objects and Self-established, fearlessly roam the world, as a (veritable) Jivanmukta.

   VI-67. ‘Inwardly shedding all cravings, free from attachment, rid of a(all) latent impressions, (but) externally conforming to established patterns of conduct, fearlessly roam the world.

   VI-68. ‘Externally simulating enthusiastic activity, but, at heart, free from it all, apparently an agent (but) really a non-agent, roam the world with a purified understanding.

   VI-69. ‘Renouncing egoism, with an apparent reason, shining like the sky, untarnished, roam the world with a purified understanding.

   VI-70. ‘Elevated, clean of conduct, conforming to established norms of conduct, free from all inner clinging, leading, as it were, an empirical life.

   VI-71. ‘Resorting to the inner Spirit of renunciation, apparently he acts to achieve (some) aim (or other). Only small men discriminate saying: One is a relative; the other is a stranger.

   VI-72-73(a). ‘For those who live magnanimously the entire world constitutes but a family. Resort to the status free from all considerations of empirical life, beyond old age and death, who are all mental constructions are extinguished and where no attachments finds lodgement.

   VI-73(b). ‘This is the status of Brahman, absolutely pure, beyond all cravings and sufferings.

   VI-74(a). ‘Equipped thus and roaming (the earth), one is not vanquished by crisis.

   VI-74(b)-75. ‘By the prop of detachment and excellences like magnanimity, lift up your mind yourself perseveringly in order to enjoy the fruit of Brahmic freedom.
   Through detachment, it achieves perfection along the path of negation (of the object).

   VI-76-77(a). ‘(The mind, then) is emptied of all cravings as the pure lake is (of water) in the season of autumn.
   Why is not an intelligent man ashamed of clinging to the same dry routine of insipid actions, day after day ?

   VI-77(b). ‘Bondage is fashioned by consciousness (as subject) and its objects; once free from these, liberation follows.

   VI-78. ‘"Consciousness (Spirit) is never an object; all is Self" – this is the essence of all Vedantic doctrines. Resorting to this sure doctrine, behold (the world), intellectually and freely.

   VI-79. ‘You will independently achieve the Self, the status of bliss (holding): I am Spirit, these worlds are Spirit, the directions (in Space) are Spirit; these manifested beings are Spirit.

   VI-80-81. ‘"I am the glory (mahas), devoid of objects and perceptions, wholly pure of form, eternally manifest, rid of all appearances, seer, witness, spirit, free from all objects, the full-orbed light in essence, for which no knowables exist, Knowledge pure and simple".

   VI-82. "King of sages ! With all mental constructions wiped out, all yearnings abolished, resort to the status of certitude and be self-established in the Self.

   VI-83. The Brahmin seeker after Truth who dwells upon the Mahopanishad becomes a well versed Vedic scholar. (If) uninitiated, he becomes initiated; he becomes purified by fire, by air, by the sun, by the moon, by Truth, by all agents of purification. He becomes known to all gods; is cleaned (as if he has dipped) in all sacred waters. He dwells in the thoughts of all gods. He has (as it were) performed all sacrifices. To him accrue the fruits of having repeated the Gayatri sixty thousand times; of having repeated Itihasa and Puranas and Srirudra a Lac of times; of having repeated Omkara ten thousand times. He hollows the rows (of living beings) as far as the eye reaches; and seven generations both in the past and in the future. So declares Hiranyagarbha. ‘Through repetition of sacred utterances one wins immortality’ – this is the Mahopanishad.

Om ! Let my limbs and speech, Prana, eyes, ears, vitality And all the senses grow in strength. All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishads. May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me. Let there be no denial at all: Let there be no denial at least from me. May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishads be in me, Who am devoted to the Atman; may they reside in me.

Om ! Let there be Peace in me ! Let there be Peace in my environment ! Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !

Here ends the Mahopanishad, included in the Sama-Veda.

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

Maha Upanishad - Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5