Upanishads

AKSHI UPANISHAD

Krishnayajurveda
a group of Upanishads - pure Vedanta

Om! May He protect us both; may He nourish us both; may we work together with great energy, may our studies be powerful and effective, may we not bicker (and hate anyone).

Om! Shanti, shanti, shanti!

Part 1

Then Sri Samkriti came to the solar world. Having bowed to the Sun, he glorified the Sun as the Sages teach:

Om, Salutations to Sri Bhagavan, the glorious Sun, the Power of the eye (i.e. sight).

Om, Salutations to the Wanderer in the sky.

Om, Salutations to the Commander of the Army (of light).

Om, Salutations to the darkness (surpassing all light).

Om, Salutations to the Power.

Om, Salutations to the Light.

Lead me from the unreal to the Real; lead me from the darkness to the Light; lead me from death to Immortality.

The essence of Purity itself, the blessed God burns away (the sins of sinners). The blessed Swan, the essence of Purity, is the Prototype (of the bound soul, jiva). Here arises the Sun, thousand-rayed, manifesting in countless ways, the life of all living beings. (I meditate on Him who is) all-formed, compassionate, omniscient, nectarean, consisting essentially of Light, the Burning One.

Om, Salutations to the blessed Lord, the Sun, the Origin of Infinity, the Power of sight. O Stream of rays! O Stream of rays!! Salutations (to you)!

Thus glorified by the science of the Sages, the Sun-God was greatly pleased. He said: If a Brahmin constantly (i.e. without interruption) studies this science of the Sages, he will never be afflicted with any eye disease. No one will be born blind in his family. By teaching this to eight Brahmins, one becomes perfect in this science. He who is proficient in this science becomes powerful.

Part 2

1. Then Samkriti said to the Sun: Blessed One, teach me Brahma-vidya.

The Sun said to him: Listen, Samkriti. I shall expound the knowledge of Reality, so difficult to attain; by this knowledge alone will you become free-in-life (i.e. a jivanmukta).

2. All is One, unborn, calm, infinite, motionless, unchanging (Consciousness). Know that the real Reality is Spirit; be ever calm and free from anxiety.

3. (The sages) say that Yoga is freedom from all distinctions/differentiations, (it is) the natural effacement/destruction of the (objectified, scattered) mind. Rooted in Yoga, perform your deeds, or, if you feel disgust for karmic activity, stop it altogether.

4. We feel disgust every day at our innate tendencies (to perform some karmic actions); however, everyone is inclined to engage in noble activity with pleasure.

5-6. The wise do not trust spiritually immature people; the wise never compromise others, but rejoice in their righteous deeds. The wise perform good deeds that do not cause pain to any living being; the wise fear sin and always avoid it - therefore they are not attracted by sensual pleasures.

7. The speech of the wise is useful and pleasant; it is always in accordance with time and place (i.e. the wise never speak superfluously).

8. With right/sattvic thought, action and speech, one serves the sadhu. One studies the Shastras, intensively accumulating wisdom.

9-10(a). Then one attains the first stage of Yoga. He who strives with all his soul to cross the ocean of samsara, and makes right efforts for this, (he) is called one who has attained the state of Yoga. The rest are called simply noble (arya).

10(b)-11. Passing to the next stage of Yoga, called Self-analysis (vichara), the sadhaka becomes a disciple of the best pandits, who are known for their serious interpretations of the Shruti and Smriti, their good conduct, concentrated attention, deep contemplation and good deeds.

12. As a householder (knows) his farm, (so too), having mastered all that has to be learned, the sadhak knows the categories and doctrines (of the Vedanta), and also all that has to be done and what has to be avoided.

13. As a snake sheds its (old) skin, so the sadhak casts off even the slightest partiality/attachment to external objects. The sadhak struggles strenuously with his pride, vanity, intolerance, greed and delusion (i.e. with all his vices).

14. With a mind disciplined by devotion to the Shastras, the Guru and the company of saints/sadhus, he unerringly masters the whole complex of spiritual knowledge, including the secret doctrines (the Upanishads).

15. Then the pure sadhak naturally passes from the second stage (Yoga) to the third, called Non-attachment (i.e. Vairagya).

16-17. Concentrating his steady mind on the true meaning of the Shastras and reciting spiritual texts useful for ascetics, he spends his long life, sitting on a rock or a slab, entertaining himself with walks in the forest, transforming it (i.e. the forest) with his peaceful mind into a place of amazing beauty.

18. As a reward for his righteous deeds, the pure sadhak spends his time in the rapture of renunciation, constantly studying the best Shastras/Upanishads.

19. And only as a result of persistent sadhana does one gain direct experience of the true Reality/Atman/Brahman. The enlightened one, having reached the third stage, experiences this (the experience of Reality) on himself.

20. Non-attachment is of two types: general/ordinary and supreme; hear from me about their difference.

21. General non-attachment is when a person has distanced himself from material objects. It is based on the realization: "I do not act and do not enjoy; I do not kill and do not perish myself.

22. Everything, whether pleasure or pain, is conditioned by external actions (of material nature); or else, everything (that happens) happens by the will of God, and I play no role in all this, since I do nothing, but God Himself does everything, being (both the material and the operative) cause of everything.

23. Enjoyment and non-enjoyment are mere diseases; private property is a great calamity. Every contact foretells inevitable separation. Suffering is a disease of the mind."

24. Time continually shapes (i.e. creates) all things - such is the general non-attachment of the sadhaka who has realized the meaning of the Shastras, which consists in renunciation of material objects and non-reflection on them.

25-26. Passing through this sequence (of stages), the magnanimous (sadhak) attains the highest non-attachment. It is called silence, rest and peace. Both speech and everything else are cast far and forever at the moment when the realization arises: "I do not perform any actions; the only performer of all actions is God, or my previous actions, that is, karma."

27. At the first stage, the sadhak feels the bliss of joy and satisfaction. The sadhak has just entered the path that consistently leads him to Perfection. First, the sprout of nectarean bliss appears.

28. The first stage is internal, pure, the birthplace of other stages. From here (i.e. from the first stage) a person passes to the second and third stages.

29. Among them (i.e. these three), the all-pervading third (stage) surpasses all the others. Being at it, the sadhak can no longer be caught in the trap of his imagination.

30. Those who reach the fourth (stage) after removing ignorance, having passed through the three stages, look at everything that happens with complete disinterest and indifference.

31. When Non-duality/Advaita is established (in the consciousness of the sadhak) and duality is removed, then the phenomenal world is seen as a mere illusion from the point of view of the fourth state.

32. The first three states of consciousness are considered as sleep; the fourth is called the Awakened state. And the mind then dissolves like wisps of an autumn cloud.

33. One who reaches the fifth stage continues to live, as it were, but in the form of pure Being/Sat. Due to the dissolution of the mind, the multiple world no longer manifests at all.

34. Reaching the fifth stage is called "deep sleep in Waking"; the sadhak at this stage abides in the form of pure Non-dual Being. Then all the particulars and problems of this material world disappear.

35. Having reached the fifth stage, a person from the external/worldly point of view seems to be asleep, but in reality he abides in the deepest bliss, in inner Awakening - all dualistic ideas are eliminated.

36. Always looking only inward, even when showing attention to external things, he is always directed/concentrated inward, being completely indifferent to what is happening in the external/phenomenal world.

37. Having established himself in this fifth stage, free from all innate tendencies, he, after some time, attains Turiya.

38. There, in that supreme/ultimate state, there is neither non-existent nor existent, neither 'I' nor not-'I'; all wandering reason dissolves, one abides in absolute fearlessness, unattached to anything, rooted in Non-duality.

39. All knots of the heart are untied, all doubts are conquered, all fantasies cease forever, alive, but independent of life or death, he is like a painted flame of fire (which, though it appears to be burning, does not actually burn).

40. Having been in the sixth stage, he then attains the seventh. The state of disembodied Liberation is called the seventh stage of Yoga.

41-42 (a). This is the highest point (i.e. the culmination) of all stages, (it is) beyond words, peaceful. Having gone beyond the paths of this perishable material world and the paths of bodily life, independent of any prescriptions, free from all impositions/superimpositions on the Self-Essence/Atman/Brahman.

42(b). All that manifests (here) as vishva, taijasa, etc., is nothing but OM/AUM.

43. (Why?) Because here (in OM) there is no difference between the meaning and the expression (of this meaning), and also because here no difference is felt between vishva and taijasa, since vishva is simply the letter "a", and taijasa is simply the letter "u".

44. Prajna is the symbol "m". Know them in order, with great diligence, and then you will be established in Samadhi/Concentration.

45-46. Thus the gross and subtle (elements) have to be dissolved in the spiritual Substance/Atman, and then the Atman itself has to be dissolved in the awareness: "I am that very OM Vasudeva, ever pure, awake, free, real, non-dual Parabrahman, full of ineffable bliss; and this whole (phenomenal world) is only suffering in the beginning, middle and end.

47-48. And therefore, you, sinless one, having renounced everything, be constantly devoted to Truth alone. Always think thus: "I am Brahman, pure Consciousness and Bliss, I am free from all impurities, I am spiritual, I am beyond mind and words, beyond the darkness of ignorance, beyond all illusory notions."

Such is the secret doctrine of the Upanishad.

Om! May He protect us both; may He nourish us both; may we work together with great energy, may our studies be powerful and effective, may we not quarrel (and hate anyone).

Om! Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!

Thus ends the Akshi Upanishad of the Krishnayajurveda.