Principal Upanishads

Minor Upanishads

Tejo-Bindu Upanishad - CHAPTER - VI

   1-9(a). Ribhu continued again: “Know everything as Sachchinmaya (full of sat and consciousness). It pervades everything. Sachchidananda is non-dual, decayless, alone and other than all. It is ‘I’. It alone is Akasa and ‘thou’. It is I. There is (in it) no Manas, no Buddhi, no Ahankara, no Chitta, or the collection of these – neither ‘thou’ nor I, nor anything else nor everything. Brahman alone is. Sentence, words, Vedas, letters, beginning, middle or end, truth, law, pleasure, pain, existence, Maya, Prakriti, body, face, nose, tongue, palate, teeth, lip, forehead, expiration and inspiration, sweat, bone, blood, urine, distance, proximity, limb, belly, crown, the movement of hands and feet, Shastras, command, the knower, the known and the knowledge, the waking, dreaming and dreamless sleeping and the fourth state – all these do not belong to me. Everything is Sachchinmaya interwoven.

   9(b)-29. No attributes pertaining to body, elements and spirit, no root, no vision, no taijasa, no Prajna, no Virat, no Sutratma, no Ishvara and no going or coming, neither gain nor loss, neither the acceptable nor the rejectable, nor the censurable, neither the pure nor the impure, neither the stout nor the lean, no sorrow, time, space, speech, all, fear, duality, tree, grass or mountain, no meditation, no Siddhi of Yoga, no Brahmana, Kshatriya or Vaishya, no bird or beast, or limb, no greed, delusion, pride, malice, passion, anger or others, no woman, Sudra, castes or others, nothing that is eatable or enjoyable, no increase or decrease, no belief in the Vedas, no speech, no worldliness or unworldliness, no transaction, no folly, no measure or measured, no enjoyment or enjoyed, no friends, son, etc., father, mother, or sister, no birth or death, no growth, body or ‘I’, no emptiness or fullness, no internal organs or mundane existence, no night, no day, no Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva, no week, fortnight, month, or year, no unsteadiness, no Brahmaloka, Vaikuntha, Kailasa and others, no Swarga, Indra, Agniloka, Agni, Yamaloka, Yama, Vayuloka, guardians of the world, three worlds – Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svah, Patala or surface of earth, no science, nescience, Maya, Prakriti, inertness, permanency, transience, destruction, movement, running, object of meditation, bathing, Mantra or object, no adorable object, anointment or sipping with water, no flower, fruit, sandal, light waved before god, praise, prostrations or circumambulation, no entreaty conception of separateness even, oblation of food, offered food, sacrifice, actions, abuse, praise, Gayatri and Sandhi (period of junction, such as twilight, etc.,), no mental state, calamity, evil desire, bad soul, Chandala (low caste person), Pulkasa, unbearableness, unspeakableness, Kirata (hunter), Kaitava (demon), partiality, partisanship, ornament, chief, or pride, no manyness, no oneness, durability, triad, tetrad, greatness, smallness, fullness, or delusion, no Kaitava, Benares, Tapas, clan, family, Sutra, greatness, poverty, girl, old woman or widow, no pollution, birth, introvision or illusion, no sacred sentences, identity, or the Siddhis, Anima, etc.

   30. Everything being consciousness alone, there is no fault in anything. Everything being of the nature of Sat alone, is Sachchidananda only.

   31. Brahman alone is everything and there is nothing else. So ‘That’ is ‘I’, ‘That’ is ‘I’, ‘That’ alone is ‘I’. ‘That’ alone is ‘I’. ‘That‘ alone is ‘I’. The eternal Brahman alone is ‘I’.

   32-33. I am Brahman alone without being subject to mundane existence. I am Brahman alone without any Manas, any Buddhi, organs or body. I am Brahman alone not perceivable. I am Brahman alone and not Jiva. I am Brahman alone and not liable to change.

   34. I am Brahman alone and not inert. I am Brahman alone and have no death. I am Brahman alone and have no Pranas. I am Brahman alone and greater than the great.

   35. This is Brahman. Great is Brahman. Truth is Brahman. It is all-pervading. Time is Brahman. Kala is Brahman. Happiness is Brahman. It is self-shining.

   36. One is Brahman. Two is Brahman. Delusion is Brahman. Sama and others are Brahman. Badness is Brahman. Goodness is Brahman. It is of the form of restraint, quiescence, the all-pervading and the all-powerful.

   37. The Loka (world) is Brahman. Guru is Brahman. Disciple is Brahman. It is Sadashiva. (That which) is before is Brahman. (That which will be) hereafter is Brahman. Purity is Brahman. Auspiciousness and inauspiciousness are Brahman.

   38. Jiva always is Brahman. I am Sachchidananda. All are of the nature of Brahman. The universe is said to be of the nature of Brahman.

   39. Brahman is Itself (Svayam). There is no doubt of it. There is nothing out of itself. The letter Om of the form of consciousness is Brahman alone. Everything is itself.

   40-45. I alone am the whole universe and the highest seat, have crossed the Gunas and am greater than the great, the supreme Brahman, Guru of Gurus, the support of all and the bliss of bliss. There is no universe besides Atman. The universe is of the nature of Atman.

   46-52(a). There is nowhere (or no place) without Atman. There is not even grass different from Atman. There is not husk different from Brahman. The whole universe is of the nature of Atman. All this is of the nature of Brahman. Asat is not of the nature of Brahman. There is not a grass different from Brahman. There is not a seat different from Brahman; there is not a Guru different from Brahman; there is nor a body different from Brahman. There is nothing different from Brahman like I-ness or you-ness.

   52(b)-57. Whatever is seen in this world, whatever is spoken of by the people, whatever is enjoyed everywhere – all these are Asat (unreal) only. The differences arising from the actor, action, qualities, likes, taste and gender – all these arise from Asat and are (but) pleasurable. The differences arising from time, objects, actions, success or defeat and whatever else – all these are simply Asat. The internal organ is Asat. The organs are Asat. All the Pranas, the collections of all these, the five sheaths, the five deities, the six changes, the six enemies, the six seasons and the six tastes are Asat.

   58. I am Sachchidananda. The universe is rootless. I am Atman alone, Chit and Ananda. The scenes of mundane existence are not different.

   59. I am the Truth of the nature of Ananda and the nature of the imponderable Chit.

   60. All this is of the nature of Jnana. I am the secondless, having Jnana and bliss. I am of the nature of an illuminator of all things. I am of the nature of all non-being.

   61-63. I alone shine always. Therefore how can I with such a nature become Asat ? That which is called ‘thou’ is the great Brahman of the nature of the bliss of consciousness and of the nature of Chit having Chidakasha and Chit alone as the great bliss. Atman alone is ‘I’. Asat is not ‘I’. I am Kutastha, the great guru and Sachchidananda alone. I am this born universe. No time, no universe, no Maya, no Prakriti (in me).

   64. I alone am the Hari. Personally, I alone am the Sadashiva. I am of the nature of pure consciousness. I am the enjoyer of pure Sattva.

   65-71. I am the only essence full of Chit. Everything is Brahman and Brahman alone. Everything is Brahman and is Chit alone. I am of the nature of the all-latent and the all-witness. I am the supreme Atman, the supreme Jyotis, the supreme wealth, the supreme goal, the essence of all Vedantas, the subject discussed in all the Shastras the nature of Yogic bliss, the ocean of the chief bliss, the brightness of all wisdom, of the nature of chief wisdom, the brightness of the fourth state and the non-fourth but devoid of them, the indestructible Chit, truth, Vasudeva, the birthless and the deathless Brahma, Chidakasha, the unconditioned, the stainless, the immaculate, the emancipated, the utterly emancipated, the soulless, the formless and of the nature of the non-created universe. The universe which is assumed as truth and non-truth does not really exist.

   72. Brahman is of the nature of eternal bliss and is even by itself. It is endless, decayless, quiescent and of one nature only.

   73-75. If anything is other than myself, then it is as unreal as the mirage in an oasis. If one should be afraid of the son of a barren woman, or if a powerful elephant be killed by means of the horns of a hare, then the world (really is). If one (person) can quench his thirst by drinking the waters of the mirage, or if one should be killed by the horns of a man, then the universe really is. The universe exists always in the true Gandharva city (merely unreal).

   76-98. When the blueness of the sky really exists in it, then the universe really is. When the silver in mother-of pearl can be used in making an ornament, when a man is bitten by (the conception of) a snake in a rope, when the flaming fire is quenched by means of a golden arrow, when milky food is obtained in the (barren) forest of Vindhya (mountains), when cooking can take place by means of the fuel of (wet) plantain trees, when a female (baby) just born begins to cook, when curds resume the state of milk, or when the milk (milked) goes back through the teats of a cow, then will the universe really be. When the dust of the earth shall be produced in the ocean, when the maddened elephant is tied by means of the hair of a tortoise, when (mountain) Meru is shaken by the thread in the stalk of a lotus, when the ocean is bound by its rows of tides, when the fire flames downwards, when flame shall become (really) cold, when the lotus shall grow out of flaming fire, when Indranila (sapphire) arises in the great mountains, when Meru comes and sits in the lotus-eye, when a mountain can become the offspring of a black bee, when Meru shall shake, when a lion is killed by goat, when the three worlds can be found in the space of the hollow of an atom, when the fire which burns a straw shall last for a long time, when the objects seen in a dream shall come in the waking state, when the current of a river shall stand still (of itself), when the delivery of a barren woman shall be fruitful, when the crow shall walk like a swan, when the mule shall fight with a lion, when a great ass shall walk like an elephant, when the full moon shall become a sun, when Rahu (one of the nodes) shall abandon the sun and the moon, when a good crop shall arise out of the waste (burnt) seeds, when the poor shall enjoy the happiness of the rich, when the lions shall be conquered by the bravery of dogs, when the heart of Jnanis is known by fools, when the ocean is drunk by the dogs without any remainder, when the pure Akasa shall fall upon men, when heaven shall fall on the earth, when the flower in the sky shall emit fragrance, when a forest appearing in pure Akasa shall move and when reflection shall arise in a glass simply (without mercury or anything else in its back), then the world really is.

   99. There is no universe in the womb of Aja (the unborn Brahman) – there is no universe in the womb of Atman. Duality and non-duality, which are but the results of differentiation, are really not.

   100. All this is the result of Maya. Therefore, there should be Brahma-Bhavana. If misery should arise from the conception of ‘I am the body’, then it is certain ‘I am Brahman’.

   101. The knot of the heart is the wheel of Brahman, which cuts asunder the knot of existence. When doubt arises in one, he should have faith in Brahman.

   102. That non-dual Brahman, which is eternal and of the form of unconditioned bliss, is the guard of Atman against the chief of the form of not-Atman.

   103. Through instances like the above is established the nature of Brahman. Brahman alone is the all-abode. Abandon the name even of the universe.

   104. Knowing for certain ‘I am Brahman’, give up the ‘I’. Everything disappears as the flower from the hands of a sleeping person.

   105. There is neither body nor Karma. Everything is Brahman alone. There are neither objects, nor actions, nor the four states.

   106. Everything which has the three characteristics of Vijnana is Brahman alone. Abandoning all action, contemplate:

   107. ‘I am Brahman’, ‘I am Brahman’. There is no doubt of this. I am Brahman of the nature of Chit. I am of the nature of Sachchidananda.

   108. This great science of Shankara should never be explained to any ordinary person, to an atheist or to a faithless, ill-behaved or evil-minded person.

   109. It should be, after due examination, given to the high-souled ones whose minds are purified with devotion to their gurus. It should be taught for a year and a half.

   110. Leaving off thoroughly and entirely the practice recommended by the (other) Upanishads, one should study the Tejobindu Upanishad always with delight.

   111. By once studying it, he becomes one with Brahman.
   Thus ends the sixth chapter.

Om ! May He protect us both together; may He nourish us both together; May we work conjointly with great energy, May our study be vigorous and effective; May we not mutually dispute (or may we not hate any).

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 Tejobindu Upanishad, as contained in the Krishna-Yajur-Veda.

Translated by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar

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