Home » 108 Upanishads » Tripura Tapini Upanishad

IV-1: The gods, verily, said to the blessed Lord: Lord ! The heart of the most excellent Gayatri pertaining to Tripura has been expounded to us.
IV-2: In the hymn of jatavedas
Tripura’s eight (vidyas) are limned.
Thus adoring Her, from the bonds
Of life the Yogin is released.
IV-3: Now tell us about Mrityumjaya (victory over death). Hearing the words of all the gods speaking thus, the victory over Death is revealed through the hymn on Tryambaka in the Anustubh metre.
IV-4: Whence is the word Tryambaka derived ? Being master of the three cities, he is Tryambaka.
IV-5: Why say: ‘Let us sacrifice’ ? ‘Sacrifice’ means ‘worship’, ‘extol’ the real, by the two syllables mahe. By the immutable single letter kam (after Tryamba) victory over Death is expressed. So it is said: ‘Let us sacrifice’.
IV-6: Now, why say ‘fragrant’ ? He attains renown on all sides. Hence it is said ‘fragrant’.
IV-7: Why say ‘increases growth’ ? He creates all the worlds, saves all the worlds, pervades all the worlds. Hence He is said to increase growth.
IV-8: Why say ‘like cucumber fruit … let me find freedom’ ? As the cucumber is fast held by the stalk, so is (man) bound fast, and he is released from death, the bondage of transmigration; he becomes free.
IV-9: Why say ‘unto immortality’ ? One achieves immortality, achieves the imperishable; one becomes Rudra.
IV-10: The gods verily said to the blessed Lord: Everything has been expounded to us. Now tell us all those mantras pertaining to Siva, Vishnu, Surya, Ganesha, by lauding with which Bhagavati will reveal Herself.
IV-11: The blessed Lord said:
With ‘Tryambaka’ in sloka-metre
Worship the Conqueror of Death;
It is laid down that the single letter
Is pervaded, as shown afore.
IV-12: One who worships with the mantra of the Yajus, ‘Om, Obeisance to Siva’ attains the status of Rudra and achieves blessedness. He who knows thus (does so).
IV-13: That supreme abode of Vishnu,
Like an eye across the heavens,
The wise always behold.
IV-14: Vishnu faces all quarters. As oil surrounds and fills a ball of sesamum, He pervades (all things). His supreme abode is the high sky. The wise, namely gods like Brahma, behold it, i.e., hold it for ever in the heart. Hence, Vishnu’s own form is derived from His abiding, existing, in all beings. He is Vasudeva (the god who dwells in all).
IV-15: Om Namah consists of three syllables. Bhagavate has four syllables. Vasudevaya has five syllables. This is the twelve-syllabled mantra of Vasudeva. He (who knows this) surmounts all hardships, lives a full life, achieves mastery over beings, and enjoys possession of wealth and cattle.
IV-16: The letters a, u and meditation constituting the Pranava denote the inward bliss, the all-pervading Brahman. Putting them together, (there is formed) Om.
IV-17: Swan sailing in the pure sky,
Dweller in the atmosphere,
Sacrificer near the altar,
Guest walking into the house,
Dweller in men, in noble things,
In the right and in sky; in water born,
Born in the light, in the right, in mounts;
The Right, the great – (He is the Lord).
IV-18: All fruits he wins who repeats the previous mantra of the sun together with the Powers, namely the dawn, the dusk, the intellect, which are the true, ordered, embodied Light. By each of the other luminous words in the mantra of the Surya is it upheld. Words like, ‘in water born’, etc., denote the Powers. He dwells in the high abode, the heavens, pertaining to the sun.
IV-19: Worshipping the Lord of hosts with the mantra given previously (III-14), ‘We invoke you, Leader of hosts’, etc., in the traistubha metre, together with the monosyllable, one achieves the status of Ganesha.
IV-20: Next have been laid down the Gayatri, the Savitri, the unuttered mantra (ajapa), that of Sarasvati, the matrika (or alphabet): By It, all this has been pervaded.
IV-21: Aim, the Goddess of speech ! We know; klim, the Goddess of desire ! We meditate; sau, May the Power inspire us. Thus, in the morn, Gayatri; at midday, Savitri; and at dusk, Sarasvati. The ajapa, ‘hamsa’, the unuttered (is chanted) without break. The matrika, comprising fifty letters, from a to ksa, pervades all words, all Shastras, all Vedas. The Goddess pervades all things. Obeisance, obeisance, unto Her !
IV-22: The blessed Lord said to them: Whoso perpetually lauds the Goddess with these mantras beholds all things. He attains immortality – whoso knows this. This is the Upanishad.

V-1: The gods, verily, said to the blessed Lord: Clearly has been explained to us the section on activities and what pertains to Tripura with all related topics. Next tell us about the attributeless Supreme.
V-2: The blessed Lord spoke to them: By means of the fourth and final Maya (avidya, jnana, vijnana and samyagjnana), has the supreme Brahman been indicated, the supreme Person, the supreme Self, whose essence is consciousness. The hearer, the thinker, the seer, the teacher, the toucher, the proclaimer, the cognizer, the supreme knower, the inner person in all persons – that Self must be cognized.
V-3: In that there are neither worlds seen nor unseen; no gods or demons; beasts or non-beasts; ascetics or non-ascetics; outcastes or non-outcastes; brahmins or non-brahmins. Alone and single, the supreme Brahman, all-quiet, shines forth. Gods, seers, manes, prevail not there. The awakened knower, the all-knower is Brahman.
V-4: In this context there are the following verses:
Hence the seeker after liberation
Must from object his mind withdraw;
For, liberation is indeed
Mind’s detachment from objects.
V-5: Two kinds of minds there are:
Pure and impure;
Impure the mind, desire-ridden,
The pure of desires freed.
V-6: Mind alone is cause of man’s
Bondage and release; bondage is
Clinging to objects; the mind
Withdrawn therefrom promotes release.
V-7: Shorn of attachment to objects,
And restricted to the heart,
Mind thus ceases to be mind –
Such is the state supreme.
V-8: Control the mind until
It quiescence reaches in the heart.
This is knowledge and meditation;
The rest is naught but words.
V-9: Brahman is not thinkable alone,
Nor unthinkable; think not;
Yet, only think; thus, surely,
Become Brahman, the same to all.
V-10: Yogin dissolves himself with self
In Being, through meditation (high);
Meditation on non-self is deemed
No meditation at all.
V-11: That Brahman has no parts
Is beyond concepts, without blemish.
Knowing ‘I am That’, by slow degrees
One Brahman does become.
V-12: Knowing It as beyond concepts,
Endless, without cause or parallel;
Immeasurable and beginningless,
The man of wisdom is released.
V-13: There is no restriction, no origin;
None in bondage: none who strives;
None seeks liberation; aye, none
Liberated – this is truth.
V-14: In wakeful state, in dreams, in sleep
Know that the Self is only one;
For one who passes beyond these states
Rebirth there is none.
V-15: One real Self alone exists
In diverse beings; as one,
Or many is It seen, like
Moon in water’s sheen.
V-16: As when a pot is moved,
The sky, pot-bound moves not –
So is the living Self unmoved,
Like sky when only pot has moved.
V-17: When repeated in different forms,
Like pot from pot distinct,
He knows not in these divisions,
And yet at all times knows.
V-18: As long as illusions of words
Encompass one, difference lasts;
When darkness is scattered,
It is unity one sees.
V-19: The lower Brahman is the Word;
The Eternal, when that wears off,
Remains; Its knower shall, for peace of mind,
On the Eternal meditate.
V-20: Two Brahman-s are to be pondered on:
The Word and Brahman Supreme;
In the Word well versed, one attains
Brahman Supreme.
V-21: The acute mind, after study of texts,
On knowledge and wisdom intent,
Must forsake all, as one who seeks grain
Forsakes the husk perforce.
V-22: Milk has but a single colour
Though drawn from diverse cows;
As milk is knowledge known,
Its sources are like cows.
V-23: Focussing the eye of knowledge
Evoke the thought: ‘I am Brahman,
The great, supreme abode without
Parts or movement, the quiescent One.’
V-24: Whoso knows thus the one supreme form of Brahman, the Fourth, abiding in all beings, dwells in the imperishable supreme abode.
V-25: I seek refuge, for the sake of life, in this fourth Power of Knowledge, the cause of the manifestation of Brahman.
V-26: In the order of Akasa, etc. Akasa is the supreme source of all these elements. All these beings, verily, are born of Akasa, and they merge in Akasa. Because of it they live, once they are born. So, know Akasa to be the seed.
V-27: That very thing, know as the seat of Akasa, of air, of fire, of water, of precious stones. Whoso knows this attains immortality.
V-28: Therefore, whoever knows this fourth (Wisdom or vidya) pertaining to the glory of Kamaraja (the Self in liberation) with its elevenfold form as the imperishable Brahman attains the fourth state – whoever knows this. This is the great Upanishad.

Om ! Gods ! With ears let us hear what is good;
Adorable ones ! With eyes let us see what is good.
With steady limbs, with bodies, praising,
Let us enjoy the life allotted by the gods.
May Indra, of wide renown, grant us well-being;
May Pusan, and all-gods, grant us well-being.
May Tarksya, of unhampered movement, grant us well-being.
May Brihaspati grant us well-being.
Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

Here ends the Tripura-Tapini Upanishad, included in the Atharva-Veda.

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