Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Narada-Parivrajaka Upanishad - Part 8

    IX-1. Then Narada inquired: ‘How is the real form of Brahman ?’ The god Brahma answered (expounding) the real form of Brahman. Those who consider that He (the transcendent Brahman) is one and himself (the individual self) as another are beasts, though not beasts in their (true) nature. The wise (sage) having realized thus (that the individual Self and Brahman are identical) is released from the jaws of death (i.e. belief in duality results in death and renunciation-birth; that in non-duality, in immortality). There is no other path known to reach the goal (of final beatitude).

   IX-2. Time (is the root-cause of worldly life, say some philosophers), Nature (say the Mimamsakas), chance (say the atheists), the (five) elements (say the Jainas who believe in the eternality of the world), Matter (Prakriti) (say the Saktas), the Purusha (Hiranyagarbha) (say the Yogins) – thus the speculation (on the cause of worldly life). The combination of these is not (the cause) on account of the existence of the Self. The Self too is incapable (of being the cause) on account of its being subject to happiness and misery.

   IX-3. They (the knowers of Brahman) resorting to the Yoga of deep meditation perceived the power (Maya) of the self-luminous Atman, well hidden by its own attributes (of Sattva, etc.,), who, alone, governs all these causes including Time and the individual Self.

   IX-4. (Maya, under the guidance of the Saguna-Brahman – Ishvara – created the universe. Brahman itself does not perform any action as it is nishkriya). (They perceived) that (world resembling the wheel of a chariot) in one felly (Maya), covered with three (the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, possessing the power of creation, sustenance and withdrawal of the world, due to the association with the three gunas), possessing sixteen powers (kalas), having fifty spokes with twenty nails (in the form of the senses and their objects), having six groups of eight (astakas) with one fetter (desire) of many forms, with three kinds of paths, and having delusion which is the cause of the two (goodness and sin, based on love and hatred).

   IX-5. We think of that (river) the water of which flows in five ways (currents), which has five fierce mouths due to five causes, the waves of which are the five vital airs, whose source is (the ego) which controls the five senses of perception, which has five whirlpools, whose speed of flow consists of the five miseries, which has fifty divisions and which has five junctures.

   IX-6. In this wheel of Brahman which is (the cause of) the life of all, (the substratum of) the dissolution of all and extensive (far vaster than the sky), the Hamsa (the Paramatman in the form of the individual Self) is revolved. Having considered himself as separate (as the individual Self, as the ether in the pot with reference to the all-pervading ether), and Brahman as the controlling Self (he is revolved in the wheel of worldly life); and then becoming beloved by Him (on realizing the truth in 'Thou art That', and ‘I am Brahman’) (the individual soul) attains immortality.

   IX-7. This (described before as different from the Saguna Brahman, or Ishvara) has indeed been sung (in the Upanishads) as the supreme Brahman; on Him (the essence of the Pranava) the triad (is super-imposed) and it is the support (of the phenomenal world) which is in itself; it is imperishable. Knowers of the Veda realizing the difference (between the Self and Brahman to be false) and being completely devoted to Him are absorbed in the transcendent Brahman.

   IX-8. The Lord sustains the universe unified (by cause and effect), the perishable (phenomenal world) and the imperishable (Maya), the manifested (Nature) and the unmanifested (cause, Maya). The individual Atman is considered to be powerless due to its nature of being an experiencer (of pleasure and pain); having realized the self-effulgent Being, he becomes free of all bonds.

   IX-9. The omniscient and the ignorant are the two uncreated beings; the (former) is the Lord and (the other) the powerless (anisha); there is indeed the one uncreated (Prakriti) which is intended for the things of experience and the experiencer The (transcendent) Atman is unlimited and omnipresent and is not an agent (of actions). When (one) realizes these three (Ishvara, the individual Self and Prakriti) to be Brahman (one becomes Brahman).

   IX-10. Prakriti (Pradhana) is perishable; the Lord (Hara, who dispels ignorance) is immortal and imperishable. The one self-effulgent Being rules over the perishable (Prakriti) and the individual Atman. By repeated deep meditation on Him and concentration of the mind (in Yoga, ‘I am He’) and by the realization of true reality, (there shall be) the disappearance of the universal illusion (Maya) at the end (of one’s ignorance).

   IX-11. Having realized the self-effulgent Lord (as identical with the Self) one is released from all bonds; with all miseries destroyed there will be an end to births and deaths. By deeply meditating on that (that he is no other than that reality) and when the difference between the body (and the Self has disappeared) (the sage) realizes the third supreme state (of the Parameshvara) and (therein) final beatitude (kevala), and (thus) has fulfilled himself.

   IX-12. This (Brahman) should be realized (as oneself), it is everlasting and present as the individual Atman; for there is nothing other than that that is worthy of realization. Having considered (with illusory vision) the experiencer (individual Atman), the objective world (of experience) and the Ishvara (ruler) (as different), (know) that all this triad has been well declared (by the knowers of the Vedanta) to be Brahman (alone).

   IX-13. The means of realizing this Brahman is the Brahma-Vidya (the teaching of the Upanishads) and penance (i.e. deep meditation); it is solely dependent on the Upanishads (for its realization).

   IX-14. To one who thus understands and meditates on one’s Self alone, ‘What delusion is there, what sorrow, to one who beholds oneness ?’ Hence (the separateness of) Viraj, the past, the present and the future (disappears and they) become of the form of the indestructible (Brahman).

   IX-15. Subtler than the atom, greater than the great, the Self is situated in the heart of this (every) creature. One sees this transcendent Lord who is free from passions by the grace of the creator and (thus) becomes freed from sorrow.

   IX-16. Having no hands and feet, (the Lord) moves fast and grasps (objects); without eyes He sees; without ears He hears. He knows things to be known (without a mind, as he is omniscient); no one knows Him. (knowers of the Vedanta) speak of Him as the foremost transcendental Purusha (the supreme Consciousness).

   IX-17. The wise (Yogin) does not feel sorrow, having realized the Atman who is bodiless, transcendent and all pervading and who is present in (all) bodies which are impermanent.

   IX-18. This transcendent (Being) the prop of all (as Vishnu), whose powers are beyond (the reach of) thought, who is to be realized by the esoteric meaning of all the Upanishads, and who is greater than the (indestructible) great, ought to be realized; at the end of everything (phenomenal) the emancipator (lit. the harbinger of death to avidya) ought to be known.

   IX-19. The (all-)wise, the (most) ancient, the most exalted of sentient beings, the Lord of all, the one adored by all gods, and devoid of beginning, middle and end, the infinite, the indestructible and the prop (lit. the mountain) to (the gods) Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma (should be realized).

   IX-20. All this Universe made up of the five elements and remaining in the five, which becomes endless in variety by their quintuplication is pervaded by him (the Atman as Antaryamin, etc.,); but it is unencompassable by the parts (thus) quintuplicated; (for) it is the highest of the high and greater than the great, and eternal auspiciousness by the effulgence of its own form. (Thus the seeker after liberation should realize the Self as Brahman).

   IX-21. Neither one who has not refrained from bad conduct, nor one who is not peaceful, nor one without concentrated meditation, nor one whose mind is not quiescent can realize him (Brahman) by (mere) knowledge (of the scripture). (By the one gaining true knowledge (Prajnana) by refraining from the evils described above realizes Brahman).

   IX-22. The Self (remaining in oneself) reveals itself neither to one (who considers it) as inwardly wise, nor as outwardly wise, nor as gross, nor as subtle, nor as knowledge, nor as ignorance, nor as knowledge of both (external and internal), nor as conceivable, nor as directly connected with worldly activities. He who realizes it thus becomes liberated; he becomes liberated. Thus said the god Brahma.

   IX-23. The mendicant monk is a knower of the real nature of the Self. The mendicant monk journeys alone (as duality is foreign to him even in a crowd). Like a deer timid through fear, he remains (without mixing with company). He does not stand in the way (of others’ progress). Discarding everything other than his (bare) body, sustaining his life in the manner of a bee (by collecting food from different places) and deeply meditating on his Self and without seeing any difference in all things from his own Self, he becomes liberated. This mendicant monk abstaining from being the agent of all (worldly) actions, freed from (duties of) the preceptor, disciple, scripture, etc., and discarding all bands of the phenomenal world, is untouched by delusions. How can the mendicant monk devoid of wealth be happy ? He is rich (as he has the wealth of Brahman), beyond both knowledge and ignorance, beyond pleasure and pain, illumined by self-effulgence, celebrated among all (people), omniscient, the giver of all great powers, the lord of all – thus he considers himself. That is the highest place of Lord Vishnu where the Yogins, having reached it never return (therefrom). The sun shines not there, nor does the moon. He never again returns (to worldly life), he never returns. That is final beatitude (Kaivalya). Thus (ends) the Upanishad. End of the ninth chapter (and the Upanishad).

Om ! O Devas, may we hear with our ears what is auspicious; May we see with our eyes what is auspicious, O ye worthy of worship ! May we enjoy the term of life allotted by the Devas, Praising them with our body and limbs steady ! May the glorious Indra bless us ! May the all-knowing Sun bless us ! May Garuda, the thunderbolt for evil, bless us ! May Brihaspati grant us well-being !
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 Narada-Parivrajakopanishad, included in the Atharva-Veda.

Translated by Prof. A. A. Ramanathan
Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai

Narada-Parivrajaka Upanishad - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7