Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Mantrika Upanishad

Om ! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. (Then) taking the infinitude of the infinite (universe), It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.

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 !

   1. The eight-footed immaculate Swan, bound with three cords, subtle and imperishable, to whom three ways lead, I see not though I see it everywhere.

   2. At the time all living beings are confounded (in the darkness of nescience) when (however) the pileless darkness is shattered (by the sun of saving knowledge). The sages established in Sattva behold the Absolute beyond Gunaa (right) in the sphere of gunas.

   3 (a). Contemplated by sages like Kumara, etc.; the Absolute is not otherwise capable of being perceived (at all).

   3(b)-4. The agent of superimposition the Unborn (Maya), the nescient eight-fold inveterate mother of modifications; thus it is extended and again prodded. The world under such power and guidance gives rise to the values of man.

   5. The Lord’s mighty Maya, having both a beginning and end, the creatrix, brings beings into existence; white, black and red (She) fulfils all desires.

   6. (The ignorant) experiences this non-objective Maya (whose real nature is) unknown (even) to sages like Kumara. The Lord alone freely following (Her) enjoys Maya (as Her Lord and Companion).

   7. He enjoys (Her) through both contemplation and action. He, the omnipresent one, sustains (Her) who is common to one and all, the yielder (of desired objects) and is enjoyed by the sacrificers.

   8. The magnanimous (sages) behold in (the sphere of) Maya the bird eating the fruits (of Karmas). The priests who have completed their Vedic training have declared the Other to be detached.

   9. The masters of the Rig-Veda, well-versed in the Shastras repeat what the Yajur-Vedins have declared. The adepts in Sama-Veda singing Brhatsama and Rathantara also (reaffirm this truth).

   10. (Vedic) sages like Bhrigu and the Bhargavas – these followers of the Atharva-Veda, practising the Veda, the mantras and the secret doctrines, in the sequence on Words, (all set forth the same doctrine).

   11-13. The faithful co-disciple, firm and accomplished, the red Bull, the sacrificial Remainder – as all these, in regard to Its immensity; and as Time, Life, the divine wrath, the Destroyer, the great Lord, the Becoming, Rudra, the Protector of Jivas, the Rewarder of the virtuous, the Lord of living beings, the Virat, the sustainer and the Waters (of life), is the all-Pervader lauded by beings magnified in the mantras and well-known to the Atharva-Veda.

   14. Some aver Him (the great Lord) as the twenty sixth (Principle); others as the twenty seventh; the masters of the Atharva-Veda and the Atharva Upanishads know the Spirits beyond qualities, as set forth in the Sankhya.

   15. The manifest and the unmanifest have been counted (together) as twenty four. (Some) declare Him non-dual; as dual; as three-fold; and similarly as five-fold.

   16. Those who see with the eye of wisdom, the twice-born, perceive Him as comprising everything from Brahma to sticks, as one only, pure through and through, all pervading.

   17. That in which this might manifold, moving and unmoving, is woven – in that very thing it also merges as the rivers do in the sea.

   18. In That in which the objects are dissolved, and, having been dissolved, become unmanifest, once more they attain manifestation; they are again born like bubbles.

   19. They come into being by virtue of causes supervised by individual selves that know ‘the field’. Such is the blessed Lord, so others repeatedly, declare.

   20. Those Brahmanas who (just) know Brahman – here only they are dissolved; and being dissolved they exist in the Avyakta. Having been dissolved they exist in the Avyakta – this is the secret doctrine.

Here ends the Mantrikopanishad belonging to the Sukla-Yajur-Veda.

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