Home » 108 Upanishads » Maha Upanishad


V-1-7. Then I shall speak truly of the seven steps of ignorance, seven of wisdom. The stages between are countless and produced otherwise.
Liberation is existence in natural (spiritual) condition; lapse from it is the concept of ‘I’ – attributes like desire and hate, born of ignorance, are not for those who do not swerve from their nature as a result of the realization of pure consciousness.
The fall from spiritual nature, the drowning of consciousness in mental matters; there is no other delusion, now or in future, than this.
The existence in spiritual nature is said to be the destruction of mental activity, being in the middle (unaffected), when the mind goes from object to object. The existence-supreme in nature is remaining like stone, all ideation dying out, free from waking and sleep.
That is one’s own (spiritual) nature which is not inert, the non-pulsating (placid) mind, when the ego-aspect is dead.
V-8-20. Waking in seed state, (simple) waking, great waking, etc., the seven-fold delusion -when these combine among themselves, they become manifold; hear of its nature.
The first stage is the consciousness undesirable, pure condition, taking the name of mind, Jiva etc., which will come into existence. Waking existing as seed (potential) is said to be waking-in-seed – this is the new or first condition of consciousness.
The waking state (second): after the new stage, the (subtle) concept ‘I’, ‘Mine’ arising purely – this is waking, non-existent earlier.
The great waking: the broad (gross) concept arising in a previous birth as ‘I’ and ‘Mine’.
The Waking-Dream: The ‘kingdom’ of the mind, which has developed or not, as identifying one’s self with these.
The dream state: it is of many kinds arising from the waking state, in the form of two-moons, shell-silver, mirage etc. The reflection by the awakened person ‘this was seen only a short time, it will not arise – Because of not seeing for long, it is like the working state.’
The dream-waking state: the inert condition of Jiva, giving up the six conditions.
The deep sleep is filled with the future misery – in which condition the world is merged in darkness.
The seven stages have been spoken by me of ignorance – each of these has hundreds of varieties with various splendours.
V-21-35. By knowing the seven stages of knowledge, one will not be sub-merged in the mire of illusions. Many schools speak variously of the stages of Yoga but only the following are acceptable to me: liberation follows after the seven stages.
The first stage of knowledge – is auspicious desire, the second is reflection, the third is thinning of the mind, the fourth is attainment of Sattva, then detachment, the sixth is reflection on objects and the seventh is of the Turiya.
Their explanation: The wise say that the auspicious desire is the desire following detachment –meditation ‘why do I remain like a fool, being looked upon by good people ?’
Reflection is good activity (tendency) after the practice of detachment and contact with scriptures and good people.
Thinning of the Mind is the condition where the attachment to sense-objects is reduced by means of auspicious desire and reflection.
Sattvapatti is the mind in the pure Sattva condition by the practice of the above three stages.
The Asamsakti stage is the developed condition, without even a trace of involvement, by means of the practice of the four stages.
Padarthabhavana is the sixth stage resulting from the five stages, delighting in the spirit firmly by the non-contemplation of objects internal and external.
The ‘Fourth’ (Transcendental) condition (here the seventh) is concentration on one’s nature, seeing no real difference, by the long practice of the six stages – this is the stage of Jivanmukti.
The stage ‘Beyond the Fourth’ is the stage of liberation without the body.
V-36-40. Nidagha, those who have reached the seventh stage, delight in the spirit – they do not drown in pleasure and pain. They do (or not do) whatever is only relevant and minimal. They perform actions following the past, awakened (impelled) by those nearby, like one waking from sleep.
These seven stages can be known only by the enlightened – reaching which condition, even animals, barbarians etc., are liberated with or without the body surely.
Wisdom indeed is the breaking of the knot and the liberation – the dying of the illusion of mirage.
V-41. But those who have crossed the ocean of illusion – they have reached the high position.
V-42-43. The means of calming the mind is said to be Yoga. This is to be known as having seven stages which lead to the status of Brahman.
V-44. There, there is no feeling of ‘you’ and ‘I’, one’s own and another, nor the perception of existence or non-existence.
V-45. All is calm (needing) no support, existing in the ether (of the heart), eternal, auspicious, devoid of ailment and illusion, name and cause.
V-46. Neither existent nor-existent, nor in between, nor the negation of all; beyond the grasp of mind and words, fuller than the fullest, more joyful than joy.
V-47. Beyond (worldly) perception, the limit of one’s hope (horizon) extensive, there is no existence of any thing other than pure cognition.
V-48. The body exists only when there is the relationship of the perceiver, the perceived and the vision connecting them, whereas this position (of liberation) is devoid of such relation (of the distinct) Perceiver, Perception and object.
V-49. ‘In between the movement of the mind from object to object there is the unqualified essence of intelligence. This is immaterial perception, reflection; always identify yourself with That.
V-50. ‘Your eternal essence (is), devoid of states like wakefulness, dream and deep sleep or Equalities like intelligence and inertness; always identify yourself with that.
V-51. ‘Excluding that heart of stone, inertness, always identify yourself with that which is beyond the mind. Discarding the mind in the far distance (you see) you are that which is; be established as That.
V-52. ‘First the mind was formed from the principle of the supreme Self; by the mind has this world, with its multitudinous details, been spread out. Wise men ! The nihil, alluringly named, shines forth from the nihil as the blue does from the sky.
V-53. ‘When the mind is dissolved, through the attenuation of mental constructions, the mist of cosmic fancies will stand dissolved. The one, infinite, unborn, pristine and pure Spirit shines forth within as the cloudless sky in autumn.
V-54. ‘In the sky has sprung up a picture without a painter or a basis (i.e. canvas). It has no perceiver; (it is) one’s own experience without the medium of sleep or dream.
V-55. ‘In the conscious Self that is the witness, common, transparent and indisputable, as a mirror, are reflected all the worlds without willing (of any kind).
V-56. ‘For curing the mind of its fickleness, deliberately reflect that the one Brahman is the Sky of the Spirit, the impartite Self of the cosmos.
V-57. ‘As an immense rock, covered with main lines and sub-lines, learn to regard the one Brahman with the three worlds superposed on It.
V-58. ‘Now it has been known that this problem world is not produced, as there is no second entity to serve as a cause. This alluring (world) may be looked upon as a marvel.
V-59. ‘Long agitated (as I have been, now) I am at rest; there is nothing other than pure Spirit. Laying aside all doubts, discarding all sense of wonder, behold !
V-60(a). ‘Repudiating all mental constructions, the principle of mindlessness (may be seen to be) the highest status.
V-60(b). ‘(The sages), having liquidated their sins, have attained infinitude --
V-61(a). ‘Those (sages) whose intellects are great and tranquil and who have risen above the mind.
V-61(b)-62. ‘One who has reasoned out (the nature of things according to the Vedanta), the modifications of whose mind (objectively induced) have ceased, who has given up all reasoning (vis-à-vis objects), who has dismissed the objective realm, empty of values but has seized on what alone has eternal value, has a mind that conforms to the eternal Reality.
V-63-66. ‘When the net of deep-seated impressions of empirical life is split as a fowler’s net by a rat, when, due to dispassion’s power, the knots of the heart are loosened, one’s nature as Brahman becomes crystal clear owing to the experiential Knowledge (of Brahman) even as muddy water treated with the Kataka-powder. Now one experiences the eternal Witness; no longer one beholds the inert (non-Seen). While (yet) living one is awakened to the supreme Truth that alone is to be realized. One is totally oblivious of the ways of the world, shrouded in the thick gloom of delusion; and due to an eminent degree of mature dispassion, one ceases to have any relish for even the so-called delectables that are (in fact) dry and tasteless.
V-67. ‘Like a bird from its cage, from delusions flies forth the mind devoid of attachments, frailties, dualities and props.
V-68. ‘The mind filled with (Truth) shines like the full-moon vanquishing all meanness born of perplexities and dismissing all dilemmas due to (idle) curiosities.
V-69. ‘Neither I nor aught else exists here; I am but Brahman that is Peace’ – thus perceives he who beholds the link between the existent and the non-existent.
V-70. ‘As the mind indifferently contacts objects of the senses of sight, etc.; when encountered by chance, so does the man of steadfast intellect regard (courses of) action (in his daily life).
V-71. ‘Experience lived through Knowledgeably alone proves satisfactory. The thief recognised and befriended is no longer a thief but turns out to be a friend.
V-72. ‘As an unplanned journey to a village, when accomplished, is treated (without) elation) by the travellers, so is the splendour of enjoyment (that may fall to their lot) deemed by those who know.
V-73. ‘Even a little diversion of the well-controlled mind is reckoned quite ample; no elaboration of it is sought as such (elaboration) is a source of (future) afflictions.
V-74. A King liberated from detention is glad to eat (but) a morsel. One unattacked and undetained hardly cares for his (entire) kingdom.
V-75. ‘Locking one arm in the other, setting one row of teeth on the other and putting some limbs against others, conquer the mind.
V-76. ‘From this sea of empirical life there is no way out except victory over the mind. In this vast empire of hell, hard to subdue are one’s and adversaries – the sense-organs – who ride on the unruly elephants, the sins, and are armed with the long arrows of cravings.
V-77. ‘In the case of one whose egoistic vigour has been attenuated and who has vanquished his foes, the sense-organs, latent impressions, intent on enjoyments, wear off as lotuses do in winter.
V-78. ‘Like no eternal spirits; latent impressions cut capers only as long as the mind remains unvanquished for lack of intense cultivation of the non-dual truth.
V-79. ‘Of the men of discrimination, the mind, I deem, is a servant as it accomplishes what is sought; a minister as it proves the cause of all gains; and a loyal chieftain as it regulates the assailing sense-organs.
V-80. ‘The mind of the wise, I deem, is a loving spouse as it pleases; a protective parent as it guards and a friend as it marshals the best (arguments)
V-81. ‘The paternal mind, well studied with the eye of the Shastras and realized in (the light of) one’s own reason; abolishes itself in yielding supreme perfection.
V-82. ‘Extremely perverse and inveterate (in itself), (once) well-awakened and controlled and purged, the delightful mind-gem shines (in one’s heart) powered by its own virtues.
V-83. ‘O Brahmin ! To win perfection be luminous after washing clean, in the waters of discrimination, the mind-gem steeped in the mire of many flaws.
V-84. ‘By wholly overcoming the inimical senses, resorting to sovereign discrimination, and beholding the Truth with the intellect, cross the sea of empirical existence.
V-85. ‘The wise know that concern, as such, is the abode of endless pains; they also know that un-concern is the home of joys, both here and hereafter.
V-86. ‘Bound by the cords of latent impressions this world revolves (constituting empirical life). In manifestation, they agonise; when obliterated they make for well-being.
V-87. ‘Though intellectual, though extremely and variously learned, though high-born and eminent, one is bound by cravings as a lion is with a chain.
V-88. ‘resorting to supreme personal endeavour and perseverance and conforming to Shastraic conduct unwaveringly, who may not win perfection ?
V-89. ‘I am this entire cosmos; I am the supreme Self that lapses not. Nothing other than me is – this vision is the supreme assertion of the Self as ‘I’ (or, the first level of self-assertion).
V-90. ‘I transcend all; I am subtler than a hair’s tip’ – such, O Brahmin, is the second and beneficent mode of self -assertion.
V-91. ‘This (mode) promotes liberation and not bondage. (Witness) the case of the Liberated in-life.
V-92. ‘The conviction that I am no more than a bundle of parts like hands, feet, etc.; is the third mode of self-assertion – it is empirical and petty.
V-93. ‘This root of the evil tree of empirical life is wicked and must be renounced. Smitten by this, the worldly man rapidly falls ever lower.
V-94. ‘Discarding this wicked mode of self-assertion from one’s life, in due course, by virtue of the beneficent mode, one achieves liberation in peace.
V-95. ‘Resorting to the first two non-worldly modes of self-assertion, the third worldly mode that occasions pain must be renounced.
V-96. ‘Next discarding even the first two, one becomes free from all modes of self-assertion and thus ascends to the transcendent status (of freedom).
V-97. ‘Bondage is nothing but craving for objective enjoyment; its renunciation is said to be liberation. Mind’s affirmation is perilous; its negation is great good fortune. The mind of the Knower tends to negation; the mind of the ignorant is the chain (of bondage).
V-98. ‘The (timeless) mind of the Knower is either blissful nor blissless; neither fickle nor stirless. It neither is nor is not. Nor does it occupy a mind position among all these – so maintain the wise.
V-99. ‘Just as, due to subtlety ether, illumined by the Spirit, is not (objectively) perceived, so the impartite Spirit, though all perceiving, is not observed.
V-100. ‘The imperishable Spirit, free from all imaginings and beyond nomenclature, has been assigned designations like one’s Self, etc.
V-101-102. ‘Transparent like a hundredth part of ether, partless as manifested in those who know, ever aware of the sole Self of all that is pure in empirical life, this Spirit neither sets nor rises; neither rises up nor lies (low); neither goes nor returns; it is neither present nor absent here.
V-103. ‘This Spirit has a flawless mode (of its own), indubitable and propless.
V-104. ‘At the very outset, purify the disciple through excellence such as mind’s tranquillity, restraint of sense-organs, etc. Next impart to him the teaching that all this (world) is Brahman, viz., the purified Thou.
V-105. ‘One who teaches an ignoramus or half-awakened (disciple) that ‘all this is Brahman’ will (in effect) plunge him in an endless series of hells.
V-106. ‘But a disciple whose intellect has been well-awakened, whose craving for objective enjoyments has been extinguished, and who is free from all ‘expectations’ is rid of all impurities born of nescience; the wise teacher may instruct him.
V-107. ‘Like its effulgence where there is light, like the day where there is the sun, like the fragrance where there is a flower, so is there a world where there is the Spirit.
V-108. ‘When the view-point of Knowledge is purged, when (the dawn of) awakening spreads vastly, this very world will cease to appear as real.
V-109. ‘Established in yourself, you will realize aright the strength and weakness of the flood of my words (of instruction) – (you will realize it) by the highest mode of nescience that spurs the effort to wipe out the sphere of the petty Self.
V-100. ‘By it (the highest mode of nescience) is won the knowledge that consumes all errors, O Brahmin ! One missile puts another out of action; one flaw destroys its opposite.
V-111. ‘One poison may be neutralised by another; an enemy may destroy another. Such is the wonderful riddle of elements that pleases through self-destruction !
V-112. ‘The real nature of this riddle is not perceived. As it is observed, it perishes – observed with the flaming imagination whose content is: ‘in Truth it exists not at all’.
V-113. ‘He who cherishes with the (creative) and liberating imagination (the thought that) all this is spirit, that the perception of difference is nescience, should renounce this (nescience) in all possible ways.
V-114. ‘sage ! That ultimate Status which is said to be imperishable is (in truth) not won. Twice-born sage ! Speculate not as to whence this (nescience) has arisen.
V-115. ‘Speculate rather on: ‘how shall I destroy it ? Once it is dissipated and dispelled you will (renunciation-)cognise that status.
V-116. ‘That integral status (includes the knowledge) ‘Whence this Maya has come and how it has perished. Therefore try to treat (with remedies) this abode of diseases (i.e. Maya).
V-117-118(a). ‘So that she may not subject you again to the sufferings of birth (etc.,). ‘The sea of the Spirit shines forth in one’s Self with its splendid inner vibrations. With certitude meditate inwardly that is homogeneous and infinite.
V-118(b). ‘The power of the Spirit in the sea of the Spirit is a slightly agitated state of the latter.
V-119. Like a wave in the sea, that pure Power shines forth there, just as the wind automatically blows in the sky.
V-120. ‘In the same way, the Self in itself, by its own power, becomes mobile. That omnipotent Deity flashes forth for a moment.
V-121. ‘Whose potencies of space, time and action are not enhanced (by any means); who is pre-eminently established in her infinitude, being fully conscious of her own essential nature.
V-122. Un-comprehended, She brings into being a finite form. When that supremely enchanting Deity brings forth that (finite) form.
V-123-124(a). Other ideas (views), names, number, etc.; follow her. The individual self (‘Knower of the field’) is the designation of this form of the Spirit, O Brahmin; it is the basis of space, time and activity, and its forms are rooted in manifold (mental) constructions.
V-124(b). ‘He (‘the Knower of the field’) generating latent impressions, again, assumes the form of egoism.
V-125. ‘The tainted egoism, as determiner, is called intellect, which, imagining forms, becomes the base for cogitation (or mind).
V-126. ‘With its profuse imaginings the mind slowly is (transmuted into) sense-organs. The wise deem the body with its hands and feet (nothing but) the senses.
V-127. ‘Thus, indeed, in stages descends the Jiva, bound by the cords of imaginings and impressions, and encompassed by a multitude of sufferings.
V-128. ‘The potent Spirit, thus degenerating into dense egoism, passes voluntarily into bondage as a silk-worm in its cocoon.
V-129. ‘And, like a lion in chains, becomes totally dependent finding itself within a net of its own imaginings and nothing more.
V-130. ‘Sometimes (it operates as) mind, sometimes as intellect; sometimes as cognition; sometimes as (pure) action. Sometimes it is egoism and sometimes it is held to be what is thought.
V-131. ‘Sometimes it is called Prakriti and sometimes it is held to be Maya. Sometimes it is designated a ‘flaw’ and sometimes referred to as ‘action’.
V-132. ‘Sometimes it is proclaimed as bondage and sometimes accounted the ‘eight-fold case’. Sometimes it is said to be avidya and sometimes it is identified with ‘desire’.
V-133. ‘Bearing within itself, as its seeds the fig-tree, this entire empirical sphere that fashions the cords of cravings, the Jiva is verily a tree sans fruits.
V-134-135(a). O Brahmin ! Like an elephant stuck in the morass, is the mind consumed in the flames of worries, crushed by the python of rage, attached to the waves of the sea of lust, and oblivious of its own grand progenitor (the Spirit): -- rescue it.
V-135(b)-136. ‘Thus are the Jivas (living beings) phases of the Spirit and established through bringing the empirical sphere into being. Their forms, in lakhs and Crores, have been assigned by Brahma. Numberless (Jivas) were born in the past and even now are being brought forth on all sides.
V-137. ‘Others also will be born like multitudes of water-drops from a water-fall. Some of them are in their first birth; others have (already) had more than a hundred births.
V-138. ‘Yet others have (already) had countless births. Some will have two or more births, besides. Some are born as sub-human and super-human beings, gifted with music and Knowledge; some as mighty reptiles.
V-139. ‘Some of (these living beings) are (to be identified with) the sun, the moon and the lord of waters; others with Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Some divided themselves as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras.
V-140. ‘Others with grass, herbs, trees, with their fruits, roots and winged insects. Jivas are (also to be identified with) trees like the Kadamba, the Jambira, the Sama, Tala and Tamala.
V-141. ‘And with mounts like Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Mandara and Meru; and with the seas of salt water, milk, ghee and sugarcane-juice.
V-142. ‘And with the vast quarters, and fast-running rivers; some of these sport high above (the earth); some descend and again fly upwards.
V-143-144(a). ‘Hit ceaselessly by death, as though they are balls hit by the hands, these Jivas are ceaselessly struck down by death as balls are by the hand. Having undergone thousands of births, again, some unwise ones despite (a degree of) discrimination, fall into the turmoils of worldly life.
V-144(b)-145. ‘The principle of the Self, undetermined by space, time, etc.; by virtue of Its power, just sportively assumes a body spatial and temporal. Possessed of innate tendencies (to manifest) various orders of living beings, Itself is the supreme (Lord and Creator) that becomes the mind, that is unstable and inclined to construction and dissolution.
V-146-148(a). ‘In the beginning in a moment, the Constructive Power of the Mind fashions the transparent (image of) space inclined to own, as its essence, the seed of sound. Then, becoming dense, by the process of gross vibrations, that mind brings forth the vibrations of air inclined to own the seed of touch.
V-148(b)-149(a). ‘Of these two space and air, the bases of sound and touch, by intense repetitive frictions, is generated the fire.
V-149(b)-150. ‘Then the mind enriched by these three including rudimentary form proceeds to the notion of pure liquidity and, instantaneously, becomes aware of the coolness of water followed by the perception of water.
V-151. ‘The mind thus enriched by such attributes meditates all at once on rudimentary smell; thence arises the perception of the earth-element.
V-152. ‘Next this body encompassed by the rudimentary elements discards its subtleness beholding in the sky a flash like a spark of fire.
V-153. ‘Conjoined to the element of egoism and the seed of the intellect, this bee in the lotus of the elemental heart is (now) styled the Puryashtaka.
V-154. ‘Due to intensity of yearning in it, by meditating on a resplendent embodiment, the mind grows grosser as a Bilva-fruit does through the process of ripening.
V-155. ‘That effulgence in the sky, shining like liquid gold in a crucible, assumes a form with definite contours by virtue of its inherent nature.
V-156. ‘Upwards is the round head; downwards the feet. Of the two sides are the hands and in the middle what functions as the belly.
V-157(a). ‘In course of time the body (indwelt by the mind) gets fully developed and becomes flawless.
V-157(b)-158(a). ‘That same divine Brahma, the grandfather of the entire world, gets established in intelligence, purity, strength, energy, forms of knowledge and lordship.
V-158(b)-160(a). ‘Beholding his own attractive and pre-eminent body, the blessed Lord, the range of whose perception embraces all the three divisions of time, wondered what first would make its appearance in this supreme space whose essence is pure Spirit and whose limits are nowhere.
V-160(b). ‘Thus wondered Brahma whose vision was as flawless as that of Shiva.
V-161. ‘In large groups he behold bygone orders of (cosmic) manifestation. Next he recollected them all in the due order of all their attributes.
V-162. ‘(Then) sportively he fashioned, by (sheer) imagination, variegated living beings with their unique patterns of behaviour – the whole constituting, as it were, a city in the sky.
V-163. ‘For securing their happy state as well as liberation, for attaining righteousness, love and wealth, he set up Shastras endless and varied.
V-164. ‘As the existence of the world has been set up by mind in the form of Brahma, it lasts only as long as Brahma; with his destruction, the world too perishes.
V-165. ‘O best of Brahmins, in reality nothing anywhere, at any time, is born or is destroyed. All that is seen is unreal (neither is nor is not).
V-166. ‘Give up the idle show of empirical life, a very pit of the serpents of cravings. Knowing this to be unreal, reduce them all to the status of their ground.
V-167. Vis-à-vis ‘the city in the sky’, whether adorned or not, or the parts of its constitutive case (the nescience), progeny etc., what rationale is there for pleasures and pains ?
V-168. ‘Sorrow – and not a sense of gratification – is in order as regards wealth and spouse in their nourishing state. Who can have a sense of reassurance here as the nescience of delusion gets more and more entrenched ?
V-169. ‘Those very (empirical) experiences which, in their abundance, cause a fool to get attached (to this world) are the source, in the case of a wise man, of his dispassion.
V-170. ‘Therefore, Nidagha, with your awareness of Truth, cultivate indifference to whatever has perished among the activities of empirical life and accept whatever offers itself.
V-171. ‘The marks of a man of discrimination are spontaneous indifference to experiences that do not come of their own accord and hearty acceptance of those that do.
V-172. ‘Knowing and resorting to the untarnished middle status between the real and the unreal, neither cling to nor fly from the objective realm, external or internal.
V-173. ‘The intelligence of a wise and active man, free from attachment and aversion, remains untarnished like a lotus leaf unmoistened by water.
V-174. ‘O twice-born (sage), if the glamour of objects charms not your heart, then, having grasped what ought to be known (achieved true wisdom), you have crossed the sea of empirical life.
V-175. ‘In order to win the pre-eminent Status separate, by means of supreme wisdom, the functioning mind from (all) latent impressions as one does a strong scent from the flower.
V-176. ‘The superior men of discrimination who board the Ship of Wisdom cross this sea of empirical life full of the waters of latent impressions.
V-177. ‘Those men who know this world as well as what is beyond conform to all things. They neither shun nor seek the ways of the world.
V-178. ‘The sprouting of mental construction consists in Spirits’ proneness to objects (‘knowables’) – the Spirit that is infinite, that is the Truth of the Self, and that is Universal Being.
V-179. ‘That very sprouting having lightly come into being gradually fills out, developing into the mind; then it promotes inertness like a cloud.
V-180. ‘Imagining objects as other than the Self, as it were, the Spirit is transformed into a constructive process, as it were; just as a seed is into a sprout.
V-181. (Mental) construction is indeed the process of putting together (of constituents); it comes automatically into being and waxes fast unto pain, never unto delight.
V-182. ‘Indulge not in mental construction; in a state of stability, dwell not on positive existence. Persevere in stopping mental construction. Thus one never again pursues the trail of construction.
V-183. ‘By the mere absence of imagination, (the process of) mental construction dwindles automatically. (One act of) construction leads to another. Mind battens on itself, O sage !
V-184. ‘Getting (off construction) abide in the Self. Once this is done, what can prove difficult ? Just as this sky is empty, so is the entire cosmos.
V-185. ‘Wise Brahmin ! Just as a paddy husk or the black coating on copper, through effort, is destroyed so also may the mental impurities of man.
V-186. ‘As a grain of paddy, the innate impurity of a Jiva, too, can be destroyed in ample measure. There is no doubt in that. Therefore, strive’.

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.

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