Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Narada-Parivrajaka Upanishad - Part 3

   III-50. Even if total ruin faces one, this (identifying the body with the Self) should be abandoned by every effort; it should not be touched (accepted) by a nobly-born person just as a (low born) tribal woman carrying dog’s meat.

   III-51. Abandoning (both) virtuous acts towards one’s dear ones and evil deeds towards unfriendly people, (a person) attains the eternal Brahman by the practice of deep meditation (Dhyana-yoga).

   III-52. By this method, abandoning all attachments gradually, and freed from (the influence of) all the pairs (of opposites, such as pleasure and pain) one gets established in Brahman alone.

   III-53. (The ascetic) shall journey alone without any helper for attaining final beatitude; for, seeing the perfection of the one (Brahman) he neither abandons it nor is he abandoned (by it).

   III-54. A skull (for an alms bowl), (shelter under) the shade of trees, ragged garments, solitude and equanimity in all (things) - such is the characteristic of the liberated.

   III-55. Benign to all beings, calm, wearing three-fold (emblematic) staff, (carrying) a water-pot, delighting in the one (Brahman) – having become a mendicant monk (thus) he may enter a village for alms.

   III-56. The mendicant monk shall be alone as stated before; two together are declared to be a pair (having attachment to each other); three together are said to constitute a village (with their bickerings); more than these (three) become a city (of bustle and confusion).

   III-57. The city (of ascetics) should not be created, nor the village nor the pair; an ascetic doing (forming part of) these three falls off his rightful duty.

   III-58. Due to their close association there will doubtless be talks on royal personages, etc., mutual luck in alms, and (also) affection, tale-bearing and rivalry among them.

   III-59. He shall remain alone and without desires; he shall not converse with any one. He shall utter ‘Narayana’ alone as the reply always (to other’s statements).

   III-60. In solitude he shall contemplate on Brahman (whole heartedly) in thought, word and deed. He shall not by any means either welcome death or (rejoice in) life.

   III-61. He shall only mark time (when practising asceticism) till the allotted span of life is completed; he shall neither welcome death nor rejoice in living. He shall await the time (of death) alone as an employee awaits orders.

   III-62. A mendicant monk gets liberation when he possesses the following six characteristics: he is tongueless (in relishing food and speech), a eunuch (in sex), lame (in push), blind (in seeing sense objects), deaf (in hearing praise or curse) and innocent (like a child). There is no doubt about it.

   III-63. That ascetic is said to be tongueless who, while eating food is not conscious of its being savoury or otherwise and who speaks words beneficial and truthful in moderation.

   III-64. He is a eunuch who is unaffected on seeing a female whether newly born, sixteen year old or one of a hundred years.

   III-65. When an ascetic goes about (only) for alms and answering calls of nature and does not exceed (a distance of) thirteen or fourteen kilometres (in a day) he is by all means a lame person.

   III-66. That mendicant monk is said to be blind whose eyes, (being modestly lowered) while standing still or walking, do not see far excepting sixteen cubits of ground (before him).

   III-67. Hearing words beneficial or otherwise, pleasing to the mind or causing grief, he seems not to hear them (i.e. remains equanimous); such a sage is said to be deaf.

   III-68. That mendicant monk is said to be childlike who always remains as if asleep in the presence of objects of sensory pleasures, (though) his senses are efficient and unimpaired.

   III-69. Show by dancers, etc., gambling, lady friend (of former days), eatables (heaped temptingly), (other) enjoyable things and a woman in her courses – these an ascetic shall always avoid.

   III-70. An ascetic shall never even think of in his mind these six – love, hatred, intoxication, bamboozling, hurting and deluding others.

   III-71. A bedstead, white clothes, talk on women, unsteadiness, daytime sleep and a carriage – these six cause the fall of ascetics.

   III-72. One who thinks on the Self shall painstakingly avoid long journeys. The ascetic shall always be practising the lore of the Upanishads which is the means for liberation.

   III-73. The ascetic shall not always be resorting to a place of pilgrimage nor be undergoing fasts frequently; he shall not be studying the scripture all the time nor be expounding them exclusively.

   III-74. He shall always conduct himself without (committing) sin, deceit and devious acts, restraining his senses in every way as a tortoise does its limbs.

   III-75-76. He will be released (from worldly bondage) when the functioning of his senses and the mind has become quiescent; is free of hopes (of gain) and possessions; is indifferent to the pairs (of opposites, pleasure and pain, etc.,), reverential salutation and the exercise of his will (nihsvadhakara); is free from ‘mine-ness’, egotism, expectations and blessings; and sticks to solitude. There is no doubt about it. Thus (are the duties of ascetics).

   III-77. A disciplined celibate student, a householder or a forest-dweller (Vanaprastha) may renounce worldly life when he is ever vigilant in leading a righteous life, possesses (proficiency in) action, has devotion and wisdom, and comes to possess dispassion of his own accord. If he is chiefly interested (in the particular stage of his life) he shall complete the stage of studentship and become a householder; from (the stage of a householder) becoming a forest-dweller, he shall (thereafter) renounce the world.

Or otherwise he may renounce worldly life from the stage of a student or householder or forest dweller. But then a person may renounce, that very day on which he gets disillusioned with the world, whether he is one who observes not vows (before the stage of renunciation) or observes them, whether he has undergone the prescribed ablution on completing the disciplined studentship or not, whether he is one who has discontinued maintaining the ritual fire at the death of his wife (utsannagni) or is one who does not maintain (for other causes) the ritual fire (anagnika).

Some (law-givers) prescribe the sacrifice called Prajapatya (of which god Brahma is the presiding deity, to a twice-born before he embraces renunciation). But (though thus said) he may not do so. He shall only perform the Agneyi sacrifice (whose presiding deity is Agni, the god of fire). For Agni is the vital breath (Prana). Thereby he does (strengthen) the vital breath. (Then) he shall perform the Traidhataviya sacrifice (whose presiding deity is the god Indra). By this (sacrifice) the three vital fluids (become strong like fire), namely the Sattva (semen), rajas (blood) and Tamas (the dark one).

III-78. (Having performed the sacrifice in the prescribed manner he shall smell the holy fire, reciting the following mantra): ‘Oh Fire, this (vital breath) is your source; as you are born at the proper time (of the year) you put on effulgence. Knowing him (the Atman, your ultimate source) may you merge (with the Prana, your source). May you increase our wealth (of transcendent knowledge)’. Thus reciting the mantra he shall smell the fire. This is the source of fire, this vital air. May you go unto Prana, may you go unto your source. Svaha. Thus alone this (mantra) says. Having secured the ritual fire from the Ahavaniya (sacred fire) he shall smell it as before.

If he is unable to procure the ritual fire he shall offer the oblation in the waters. For water is (presided over by) all the gods. Reciting (the mantra) ‘I offer the oblation to all the gods, Svaha, he shall tender the oblation, and picking up (a small portion left over of) the offered oblation which is mixed with ghee, he shall eat it (mixed) with water. The oblation mixed with ghee is beneficial and gives (leads to) liberation. Thus (it has been declared). Only after discarding the tuft of hair, sacred thread, parents, son, wife, (normal) work, study, mantras (other than those prescribed for ascetics), a wise man (knower of spiritual knowledge) renounces worldly life. By the mantras of liberation pertaining to the Traidhataviya sacrifice he shall attain (final beatitude). That is Brahman; that should reverently be resorted to. Thus alone is this (liberation attained). Thus.

   III-79. Narada again asked of the grandfather (Brahma): ‘How is he, (being now) without the sacred thread, a Brahmana ?’ The god Brahma said to him (as follows).

   III-80. Taking a shave with the (removal of the) tuft, a wise man shall discard the external (sacred) thread. He shall wear as the thread (i.e. he shall always be conscious of) the transcendent Brahman which is indestructible.

   III-81. The sutra is so called as it indicates (Brahman). The sutra is indeed the supreme state. That Brahmana (alone) has completely mastered the Vedas who has realized that sutra.

   III-82. The Yogin, the knower of yoga and the perceiver of the truth, shall possess that sutra (Brahman) by which everything is held together (sustained), as a group of gems by a thread.

   III-83. Established in the highest yoga a wise man shall abandon the external (Sacred) thread. He is wise who possesses the sutra, the state of Brahman. Possessing that sutra he becomes neither unholy or impure.

   III-84. Those who have the sutra inwardly and possess the sacred thread of wisdom, are indeed the knowers of the sutra; they wear the (true) sacred thread.

   III-85. Those who wear a tuft of hair in the form of wisdom (Jnana), whose fundamental condition is wisdom, who possess the sacred thread of wisdom, to whom wisdom alone is supreme, have, it is said, pure knowledge.

   III-86. That wise man whose tuft consists of wisdom, like the flame in the case of fire, and no other, is said to be the possessor of sikha (tuft; pre-eminence); not others who (merely) bear a lock of hair on the crown of the head.

   III-87. The Brahmana and such others who are engaged in Vedic rites are to wear this (sacred) thread; for it is declared to be part of the ceremony.

   III-88. He whose tuft consists of wisdom as also his sacred thread (of that wisdom), has all the requisites of a Brahmana; so understand the knowers of the Veda. Thus.

   III-89. Knowing thus (the duties of ascetics), a Brahmana, having renounced worldly life, becomes a mendicant monk, wearing a single garment and shaven-headed, he receives no gifts (other than simple food for bare sustenance), if he is unable to bear bodily privation (of an unclad, unsoliciting Avadhuta ascetic). Or, according to prescribed rules, becoming unclad (lit. possessing a form as when newly born), renouncing his children, friends, wife, close kinsmen, etc., his Vedic study and rituals, abandoning the entire world, his loin cloth, emblematic staff and (warm) garment; being capable of putting up with the pairs (of opposites, pleasure and pain, etc.) and unmindful of cold and heat, pleasure and pain, sleep, honour and dishonour, and the six human infirmities (hunger, etc.); leaving off censuring, egotism, rivalry, pride, false airs, jealousy, envy, desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, love, anger, covetousness, delusion, etc.; remembering his body as a corpse; not conscious of anything other than the Self both inwardly and outwardly; not bowing to anyone, having neither the utterance of Svaha (in worshipping the gods) nor the utterance of Svadha (in honour of the manes); indulging neither in praise nor blame; he thus becomes independent of extraneous influences.

   Contented with (food alone) that comes unsolicited, he shall not accept (gifts of) gold, etc.    He does neither the invocation of deities nor utter mantras to send them back; he has not mantra or non-mantra, meditation or worship, aim or non-aim, separation or union; and being of firm mind (in regard to residence) has no home (to sleep in at night) other than a deserted house, the shade of a tree, a temple, a clump of (tall) grass, a potter’s shed, a hut where ritual fire is kept, the Southeast quarter, the sandy bank of a river, a cellar, cave or grounds near water falls or in a forest.

He may have no distinctive emblem of an ascetic (like the great sages of yore) such as Svetaketu, Ribhu, Nidagha, Rishabha, Durvasas, Samvartaka, Dattatreya and Raivataka. His conduct is incomprehensible (to ordinary people) like the conduct of children, mad men and ghosts. Though (perfectly) sane he behaves like an insane person. Muttering Svaha he shall discard all these in the waters – the threefold (emblematic) staff, sling (to carry his effects), (alms) bowl, (water) vessel, waist band and loin-cloth.

III-90. He shall journey (as a mendicant monk) unclad, leaving in the waters all these – the waistband, loin-cloth, the (emblematic) staff, garment and water vessel.

III-91. He shall seek the (realization of the) Self. Remaining unclad, free from (the influence of) the pairs (of opposites), receiving no gifts, well established in the path of the reality of Brahman, with his mind pure, eating food to sustain life at the prescribed hour with his hand or otherwise (placed in the mouth) without begging, equanimous in gain or denial (of food), without ‘mine-ness’, deeply interested in meditating on the pure effulgence (i.e. Brahman), devoted to the supreme spirit (manifested as the individual Self), deeply engaged in rooting out the effect of good and bad actions, he shall renounce (all other than the Self); having only one thought, namely of supreme bliss, ever recollecting Brahman in the form of Pranava (Om) and that he is Brahman alone, he shall give up the threefold body according to the maxim of the wasp (to become one with Brahman) and abandon the body by renunciation alone. He becomes one who has fulfilled himself (i.e. he attains liberation in the disembodied state). Thus (ends the third Upadesha of) the Upanishad.

Narada-Parivrajaka Upanishad - 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8