Upanishads Part II · 110 of 112

Maitrayana Upanishad: Sixth Prapathaka (Part 2)

He who knows this becomes one with the one.

18.This is the rule for achieving it (viz. concentration of the mind on the object of meditation): restraint of the breath, restraint of the senses, meditation, fixed attention, investigation, absorption, these are called the sixfold Yoga 2. When beholding by this Yoga, he beholds the gold-coloured maker, the lord, the person, Brahman, the cause, then the sage, leaving behind good and evil, makes everything (breath, organs of sense, body, &c.) to be one in the Highest Indestructible (in the pratyagâtman or Brahman). And thus it is said:

‘As birds and deer do not approach a burning mountain, so sins never approach those who know Brahman.’

19.And thus it is said elsewhere: When he who knows has, while he is still Prâna (breath), restrained his mind, and placed all objects of the senses far away from himself, then let him remain without any conceptions. And because the living person, called Prâna (breath), has been produced here on earth from that which is not Prâna (the thinking Self), therefore let this Prâna merge the Prâna (himself) in what is called the fourth 1. And thus it is said:

‘What is without thought, though placed in the centre of thought, what cannot be thought, the hidden, the highest—let a man merge his thought there: then will this living being (liṅga) be without attachment 2.’

20.And thus it has been said elsewhere: There is the superior fixed attention (dhâranâ) for him, viz. if he presses the tip of the tongue down the palate and restrains voice, mind, and breath, he sees

Brahman by discrimination (tarka). And when, after the cessation of mind 1, he sees his own Self, smaller than small, and shining, as the Highest Self 2, then having seen his Self as the Self, he becomes Self-less, and because he is Self-less, he is without limit, without cause, absorbed in thought. This is the highest mystery, viz. final liberation. And thus it is said:

‘Through the serenity of the thought he kills all actions, good or bad; his Self serene, abiding in the Self, obtains imperishable bliss.’

2 1. And thus it has been said elsewhere: The artery, called Sushumnâ, going upwards (from the heart to the Brahmarandhra), serving as the passage of the Prâna, is divided within the palate. Through that artery, when it has been joined by the breath (held in subjection), by the sacred syllable Om, and by the mind (absorbed in the contemplation of Brahman), let him proceed upwards 3, and after turning the tip of the tongue to the palate, without 4 using any of the organs of sense, let greatness perceive greatness 5. From thence he goes to selflessness, and through selflessness he ceases to be an enjoyer of pleasure and pain, he obtains aloneness (kevalatva, final deliverance). And thus it is said:

‘Having successively fixed the breath, after it had been restrained, in the palate, thence having crossed the limit (the life), let him join himself afterwards to the limitless (Brahman) in the crown of the head.’

22.And thus it has been said elsewhere: Two Brahmans have to be meditated on, the word and the non-word. By the word alone is the non-word revealed. Now there is the word Om. Moving upward by it (where all words and all what is meant by them ceases), he arrives at absorption in the non-word (Brahman). This is the way, this is the immortal, this is union, and this is bliss. And as the spider, moving upward by the thread, gains free space, thus also he who meditates, moving upward by the syllable Om, gains independence.

Other teachers of the word (as Brahman) think otherwise. They listen to the sound of the ether within the heart while they stop the ears with the thumbs. They compare it to seven noises, like rivers, like a bell, like a brazen vessel, like the wheels of a carriage, like the croaking of frogs, like rain, and as if a man speaks in a cavern. Having passed beyond this variously apprehended sound, and having settled in the supreme, soundless (non-word), unmanifested Brahman, they become undistinguished and undistinguishable, as various flavours of the flowers are lost in the taste of honey. And thus it is said:

‘Two Brahmans are to be known, the word-Brahman and the highest Brahman; he who is perfect in the word-Brahman attains the highest Brahman 1.’

23.And thus it has been said elsewhere: The syllable Om is what is called the word. And its end is the silent, the soundless, fearless, sorrowless, joyful, satisfied, firm, unwavering, immortal, immovable, certain (Brahman), called Vishnu. Let him worship these two, that he may obtain what is higher than everything (final deliverance). For thus it is said:

‘He who is the high and the highest god 1, by name Om-kâra, he is soundless and free from all distinctions: therefore let a man dwell on him in the crown of his head.’

24.And thus it has been said elsewhere: The body is the bow, the syllable Om is the arrow, its point is the mind. Having cut through the darkness, which consists of ignorance 2, it approaches that which is not covered by darkness 3. Then having cut through that which was covered (the personal soul), he saw Brahman, flashing like a wheel on fire, bright like the sun, vigorous, beyond all darkness, that which shines forth in yonder sun, in the moon, in the fire, in the lightning 4. And having seen him, he obtains immortality. And thus it has been said:

‘Meditation is directed to the highest Being (Brahman) within, and (before) to the objects (body, Om, mind); thence the indistinct understanding becomes distinct.

And when the works of the mind are dissolved, then that bliss which requires no other witness, that is Brahman (Âtman), the immortal, the brilliant, that is the way, that is the (true) world.’

25.And thus it has been said elsewhere: He who has his senses hidden as in sleep, and who, while in the cavern of his senses (his body), but no longer ruled by them, sees, as in a dream, with the purest intellect, Him who is called Pranava (Om), the leader 1, the bright, the sleepless, free from old age, from death, and sorrow, he is himself also called Pranava, and becomes a leader, bright, sleepless, free from old age, from death, and sorrow. And thus it is said:

‘Because in this manner he joins the Prâna (breath), the Om, and this Universe in its manifold forms, or because they join themselves (to him), therefore this (process of meditation) is called Yoga (joining).

The oneness of breath, mind, and senses, and then the surrendering of all conceptions, that is called Yoga.’

26.And thus it has also been said elsewhere: As a sportsman, after drawing out the denizens of the waters with a net, offers them (as a sacrifice) in the fire of his stomach, thus are these Prânas (vital airs), after they have been drawn out with the syllable Om, offered in the faultless fire (Brahman) 2.

Hence he is like a heated vessel (full of clarified butter); for as the clarified butter in the heated vessel lights up, when touched with grass and sticks, thus does this being which is called Not-breath (Âtman) light up, when touched by the Prânas (the vital airs) 1. And that which flares up, that is the manifest form of Brahman, that is the highest place of Vishnu 2, that is the essence of Rudra. And this, dividing his Self in endless ways, fills all these worlds. And thus it is said:

‘As the sparks from the fire, and as the rays from the sun, thus do his Prânas and the rest in proper order again and again proceed from him here on earth 3.’

27.And thus it has also been said elsewhere: This is the heat of the highest, the immortal, the incorporeal Brahman, viz. the warmth of the body. And this body is the clarified butter (poured on it, by which the heat of Brahman, otherwise invisible, is lighted up). Then, being manifest, it is placed in the ether (of the heart). Then by concentration they thus remove that ether which is within the heart, so that its light appears, as it were 4. Therefore the worshipper becomes identified with that light without much delay. As a ball of iron, if placed in the earth, becomes earth without much delay, and as, when it has once become a clod of earth, fire and smiths have nothing more to do with that ball of iron, thus does thought (without delay) disappear, together with its support 5. And thus it is said:

‘The shrine which consists of the ether in the heart, the blissful, the highest retreat, that is our own, that is our goal, and that is the heat and brightness of the fire and the sun.’

28.And thus it has been said elsewhere: After having left behind the body, the organs of sense, and the objects of sense (as no longer belonging to us), and having seized the bow whose stick is fortitude and whose string is asceticism, having struck down also with the arrow, which consists in freedom from egotism, the first guardian of the door of Brahman (for if man looks at the world egotistically, then, taking the diadem of passion, the earrings of greed and envy, and the staff of sloth, sleep, and sin, and having seized the bow whose string is anger, and whose stick is lust, he destroys with the arrow which consists of wishes, all beings)—having therefore killed that guardian, he crosses by means of the boat Om to the other side of the ether within the heart, and when the ether becomes revealed (as Brahman), he enters slowly, as a miner seeking minerals in a mine, into the Hall of Brahman. After that let him, by means of the doctrine of his teacher, break through the shrine of Brahman, which consists of the four nets (of food, breath, mind, knowledge, till he reaches the last shrine, that of blessedness and identity with Brahman). Thenceforth pure, clean, undeveloped, tranquil, breathless, bodiless, endless, imperishable, firm, everlasting, unborn and independent, he stands on his own greatness 1, and having seen (the Self), standing in his own greatness, he looks on the wheel of the world as one (who has alighted from a chariot) looks on its revolving wheel. And thus it is said:

‘If a man practises Yoga for six months and is thoroughly free (from the outer world), then the perfect Yoga (union), which is endless, high, and hidden, is accomplished.

But if a man, though well enlightened (by instruction), is still pierced by (the gunas of) passion and darkness, and attached to his children, wife, and house, then perfect Yoga is never accomplished 2.’

29.After he had thus spoken (to Brihadratha), Sâkâyanya, absorbed in thought, bowed before him, and said: ‘O King, by means of this Brahma-knowledge have the sons of Pragâpati (the Vâlakhilyas) gone to the road of Brahman. Through the practice of Yoga a man obtains contentment, power to endure good and evil, and tranquillity. Let no man preach this most secret doctrine to any one who is not his son or his pupil 3, and who is not of a serene mind. To him alone who is devoted to his teacher only, and endowed with all necessary qualities, may he communicate it 4.

30.Om! Having settled down in a pure place let him, being pure himself, and firm in goodness, study the truth, speak the truth, think the truth, and offer sacrifice to the truth 1. Henceforth he has become another; by obtaining the reward of Brahman his fetters are cut asunder, he knows no hope, no fear from others as little as from himself, he knows no desires; and having attained imperishable, infinite happiness, he stands blessed in the true Brahman, who longs for a true man 2. Freedom from desires is, as it were, the highest prize to be taken from the best treasure (Brahman). For a man full of all desires, being possessed of will, imagination, and belief, is a slave; but he who is the opposite, is free.

Here some say, it is the Guna 3 (i. e. the so-called Mahat, the principle of intellect which, according to the Sâṅkhyas, is the result of the Gunas or qualities), which, through the differences of nature (acquired in the former states of existence), goes into bondage to the will, and that deliverance takes place (for the Guna) when the fault of the will has been removed. (But this is not our view), because (call it guna, intellect, buddhi, manas, mind, ahaṅkâra, egotism, it is not the mind that acts, but) he sees by the mind (as his instrument), he hears by the mind; and all that we call desire, imagination, doubt, belief, unbelief, certainty, uncertainty, shame, thought, fear, all that is but mind (manas). Carried along by the waves of the qualities, darkened in his imaginations, unstable, fickle, crippled, full of desires, vacillating, he enters into belief, believing I am he, this is mine, and he binds his Self by his Self, as a bird with a net 1. Therefore a man, being possessed of will, imagination, and belief, is a slave, but he who is the opposite is free. For this reason let a man stand free from will, imagination, and belief—this is the sign of liberty, this is the path that leads to Brahman, this is the opening of the door, and through it he will go to the other shore of darkness. All desires are there fulfilled. And for this they quote a verse:

“ When the five instruments of knowledge stand still together with the mind, and when the intellect does not move, that is called the highest state 2.”’

Having thus said, Sâkâyanya became absorbed in thought. Then Marut (i.e. the King Brihadratha) 3, having bowed before him and duly worshipped him, went full of contentment to the Northern Path 4, for there is no way thither by any side-road. This is the path to Brahman. Having burst open the solar door, he rose on high and went away. And here they quote:

‘There are endless rays (arteries) for the Self who, like a lamp, dwells in the heart: white and black, brown and blue, tawny and reddish 5.

One of them (the Sushumnâ) leads upwards, piercing the solar orb: by it, having stepped beyond the world of Brahman, they go to the highest path.

The other hundred rays 1 rise upwards also, and on them the worshipper reaches the mansions belonging to the different bodies of gods.

But the manifest rays of dim colour which lead downwards, by them a man travels on and on helplessly, to enjoy the fruits of his actions here.’

Therefore it is said that the holy Âditya (sun) is the cause of new births (to those who do not worship him), of heaven (to those who worship him as a god), of liberty (to those who worship him as Brahman) 2.

31.Some one asks: ‘Of what nature are those organs of sense that go forth (towards their objects)? Who sends them out here, or who holds them back?’

Another answers: ‘Their nature is the Self; the Self sends them out, or holds them back; also the Apsaras (enticing objects of sense), and the solar rays (and other deities presiding over the senses).’

Now the Self devours the objects by the five rays (the organs of sense); then who is the Self?

He who has been defined by the terms pure, clean, undeveloped, tranquil 3, &c., who is to be apprehended independently by his own peculiar signs. That sign of him who has no signs, is like what the pervading heat is of fire, the purest taste of water; thus say some 1. It is speech, hearing, sight, mind, breath; thus say others 2. It is intellect, retention, remembering, knowledge; thus say others 3. Now all these are signs of the Self in the same sense in which here on earth shoots are the signs of seed, or smoke, light, and sparks of fire. And for this they quote 4:

‘As the sparks from the fire, and as the rays from the sun, thus do his Prânas and the rest in proper order again and again proceed from him here on earth.’

32.From this very Self, abiding within his Self, come forth all Prânas (speech, &c.), all worlds, all Vedas, all gods, and all beings; its Upanishad (revelation) 5 is that it is ‘the true of the true.’ Now as from a fire of green wood, when kindled, clouds of smoke come forth by themselves (though belonging to the fire), thus from that great Being has been breathed forth all this which is the Rig-veda, the Yagur-veda, the Sama-veda, the Atharvâṅgirasas (Atharva-veda), the Itihâsa (legendary stories), the Purâna (accounts of the creation, &c.), Vidyâ (ceremonial doctrines), the Upanishads, the Slokas (verses interspersed in the Upanishads, &c.), the Sûtras (compendious statements), the Anuvyâkhyânas (explanatory notes), the Vyâkhyânas (elucidations) 6—all these things are his.

33.This fire (the Gârhapatya-fire) with five bricks is the year. And its five bricks are spring, summer, rainy season, autumn, winter; and by them the fire has a head, two sides, a centre, and a tail. This earth (the Gârhapatya-fire) here is the first sacrificial pile for Pragâpati, who knows the Purusha (the Virâg). It presented the sacrificer to Vâyu, (the wind) by lifting him with the hands to the sky. That Vâyu is Prâna (Hiranyagarbha).

Prâna is Agni (the Dakshinâgni-fire), and its bricks are the five vital breaths, Prâna, Vyâna, Apâna, Samâna, Udâna; and by them the fire has a head, two sides, a centre, and a tail. This sky (the Dakshinâgni-fire) here is the second sacrificial pile for Pragâpati, who knows the Purusha. It presented the sacrificer to Indra, by lifting him with the hands to heaven. That Indra is Âditya, the sun.

That (Indra) is the Agni (the Âhavanîya-fire), and its bricks are the Rik, the Yagush, the Sâman, the Atharvâṅgirasas, the Itihâsa, and the Purâna; and by them the fire has a head, two sides, a tail, and a centre. This heaven (Âhavanîya-fire) is the third sacrificial pile for Pragâpati, who knows the

Purusha. With the hands it makes a present of the sacrificer to the Knower of the Self (Pragâpati); then the Knower of the Self, lifting him up, presented him to Brahman. In him he becomes full of happiness and joy.