Anandavalli

(from Taittiriya Upanishad) in Roman Sanskrit script & English translation.

ananda_v.mp3, 13:41, 3212 KB

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Anandavalli
(English translation)

1. May He (Brahman) protect us both together (Teacher and student); may He nourish us both together; may we work con jointly with great energy; may our study be vigorous and effective; may we not dispute (or hate any). Let there be peace, peace, and peace.

2. He who realises Brahman attains the Supreme. It is said 'Brahman is the immutable existence, awareness and infinitude'. When one realises Him who resides in the cave of one's own heart, all His desires find fulfillment.

3. The sky emerges from that very Atman (Brahman). From the sky came air, from air came fire, from fire came water, from water came the Earth, from the earth came the herbs, from herbs came the food, from food came all the beings. He indeed is the man consisting of the essence of food. This indeed is His head; this is His right wing; this is His left wing; this is His trunk and this is the hind part forming the support and foundation.

4. Whatsoever beings are there in the earth, truly, all of them are born from food; likewise by food and food alone they remain alive; moreover they return into it in the end. Surely food is the first and preeminent among all that is created; hence it is regarded as the support of all. Those who contemplate on food as Brahman obtain all food. For food is the first among beings; hence it is called a panacea. Living beings are born from food; having been born they are nourished by food; food is called 'Annam' because creatures both consume it and are consumed by it.

5. The food sheath (Annamaya) i.e. the gross body is supported by the life sheath or vital energy (Pranamaya). This life sheath like the food sheath is also in the form of a person; Prana is his head, Vyana is his right wing, Apana is his left wing, Samana is his trunk and Udana is his support and foundation.

6. Whatever angels or men or animals exist, all of them depend on Prana for their life. Truly Prana is the life-duration of the animate world; on that ground it is regarded as the universal life (Sarvayusam). Those who contemplate on Prana as Brahman assuredly attain the full span of life. For Prana is the life of creatures and is therefore called the entire duration of life, (Sarvayusam). The embodied Self of the former one is, verily, this one.

7. Other than that self consisting of Prana there is within it another self consisting of Manas by which this Pranamaya self is filled. This one also is of the form of a person. Yajus is his head, Rk is his right wing, Sama is his left wing, the injuctive part of the Vedas (the Brahmanas) is his trunk, and the hymns of the Atharva-Veda are his support and foundation.

8. One who knows the bliss of the Brahman whom the mind cannot comprehend and the words cannot describe, sheds fear completely for all time.

9. Beyond the mind sheath (Manomaya) is the intelligence sheath (Vijnanamaya). This one is also of the form of a person in the same way as the earlier one. Shraddha is his head; Right Conduct is his right wing; Truth is his left wing; Yoga is his trunk; Maha is his support and foundation.

10. The agent possessing intelligence performs sacrifice, and also accomplishes the various deeds. All Gods worship Vijnana as Brahman, the eldest. If one contemplates on Vijnana as Brahman, and never grows heedless about it, one lays aside all sins in the body and attains all desires. This one, verily, is the embodied self of the former one. Within the Vijnanamaya Self and apart from it is the Self consisting of bliss (Anandamaya) by which the former is filled. This one also, truly, is of the form of a person. Love is his head, joy is his right wing, delight is his left wing, bliss is his trunk, and Brahman is his support and foundation.

11. If a person takes Brahman for an unreality, truly he becomes a non-entity. If he understands that Brahman is reality, in consequence of that, the wise will consider him right and good. The Self embodied in that one - the Vijnanamaya Self - is indeed this one, i.e. the Anandamaya Self.

12. Now therefore the following questions arise in respect of what has been taught: Does anyone who has not known Brahman attain It, after having departed from this world? Whether anyone who has known Brahman, departing from here, attain It?

13. He, the Atman, desired: May I become many; let Me procreate Myself. He brooded over Himself. Having brooded. He projected all this - whatever there is here. Having brought it forth, verily. He entered into it; Having entered it. He became both the Being and the Beyond. He became the defined and the undefined, the founded and the foundationless, the conscious and the unconscious, the real and the unreal; whatever else there is. He became the entire Reality. For that reason sages declare that all this is Real.

14. 'In the beginning this was indeed Non-Being. From that, Being sprang up. That of itself assumed a self. Therefore It is called the self-made, or the well-made.' He, truly, is the flavour, which is the essence of existance. Surely, by grasping the flavour this, one, the individual soul, becomes blessed. Who, indeed, would breathe, who would remain alive, if this Bliss were not in the sky! Indeed it is He and He alone that causes blessedness. Now, the individual soul becomes fearless only when it obtains a firm and peaceful ground on that invisible, self-less, unutterable, support-less. Reality. Whenever it assumes the smallest interval in that state of identity, then it has fear. That is why even a wise man has fear when he is not reflective.

15. Out of fear for Him the wind blows, through fear of Him the Sun rises, through fear of Him Agni and Indra, and Death, the fifth, speed!

16. Now, this is an enquiry into Bliss: Let it be supposed that there is a youth, a noble youth, in the prime of his age, most swift and alert, perfectly whole and resolute, most vigorous and of good learning, and that to him belongs the entire earth laden with all riches. Then we have in him one measure of human joy.

17. One hundred such units of human joy make a single unit of joy which the human genii (gandharva) possess. A sage full of Revelation and free from all cravings also possess the same joy. One hundred such units of joy which the human genii possess make the joy of heavenly genii (Deva gandharva); one hundred such units of joy which the heavenly genii possess make the joy of the MANES (Pitri) who inhabit the long-enduring world.

18. One hundred such units of joy which the MANES inhabiting the long-enduring world possess make the joy of those gods who are so by birth in the Ajana heaven; one hundred such units of joy which the Ajana-born gods possess make the joy of those who have become gods by their deeds.

19. One hundred such units of joy which those who have become gods by their deeds make the joy of the highest gods; one hundred such units of the joy of the highest gods make the joy of Indra; one hundred such units of Indra's joy make the joy of Brhaspati ; one hundred such units of Brhaspati's joy make the joy of Prajapati; one hundred such units of Prajapati's joy make the bliss of Brahma.

20. A sage who is a realized soul and free from all cravings possesses all these various measures of joy severally and progressively. And this Bliss which is in the human being and in the yonder Sun are the same. He who comprehends fully as stated above, after departing from this world, transcends the Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vijnanamaya, and Anandamaya Self's.

21. A man who knows Brahman or who has realized Brahman who is beyond the comprehension of the mind and description by words, fears nothing. The dilema and dichotomy of right and wrong do not torment him. He transcends the oscillation between the right and the wrong because truly he has found his redemption. This is the injunction of the upanishads.

ananda_v.mp3, 11:38, 2730 KB