Upanishads

Atmabodha Upanishad

Rigveda
group of Upanishads – pure Vedanta

Oh! Let my speech be in accordance with the mind;
Let my mind be based on speech.
O Radiant One, reveal Thyself to me.
May both of them^[1] bring to me the knowledge of the Vedas.
May all that I have learned not leave me.
I will join the day to the night^[2] by these studies.
I will utter what is verbally true;
I will utter what is mentally true.
May That^[3] protect me;
May That protect the speaker^[4], may That protect me;
May That protect the speaker – may That protect the speaker.

Om! May there be Peace in me!
May there be Peace in my neighbors!
May there be Peace in the forces acting on me!

1. The deepest Brahman is A, U, M – by pronouncing this, the yogi becomes free from the cycle of birth. Om, worship Narayana with the Shankha^[5], Chakra^[6], and Gada^[7]. The Upasaka^[8] will go to Vaikuntha^[9].

2-4. Brahmapura is a lotus shining like lightning and a lamp. Devaki's son Brahmanya^[10]; also Madhusudana, Pundarikaksa, Vishnu and Acyuta. Narayana, existing in all creations, is the causal Person, Himself without cause.

5. He who meditates on Vishnu without suffering, grief and illusion, lives without fear; he who sees here the multiplicity, goes from death to death.

6-8. In the center of the heart lotus lives He^[11] with the eye of knowledge; the world, knowledge are established in Brahman. He, the seeker, departs from this world with this knowledge, having obtained all that is desired in the other world, becomes immortal. Where there is always light and meaning, the personality achieves immortality – Om Namah.

1-10. Maya has left me, I am pure sight; my ego has disappeared, as well as the distinctions between the world, God and the soul. I am the inner self, without positive and negative rules; I am open Bliss; I am the witness, independent, influential in my greatness; without old age and decay, opposites, pure knowledge, an ocean of liberation; I am subtle and beyond qualities.

I am beyond the three qualities, all worlds exist in my belly; unchanging consciousness, beyond cause and action, partless, unborn, pure reality.

I am infinite knowledge, auspicious, indivisible, faultless, unlimited reality. I am to be known as Agamasu, attractive to all worlds. I am pure joy; purity, alone, ever-shining, beginningless; I have established the highest Truth.

I know myself without another, with discrimination. Then Bondage and Liberation are still experienced. The world is gone, as real as a snake and a rope are identical; Brahman alone exists as the basis of the world; therefore the world does not exist; like sugar impregnated with the taste of its can, I am impregnated with Bliss. All the three worlds, from Brahma to the smallest worm, are represented in me.

In the ocean there are many objects, from bubbles to waves; but the ocean does not desire them – so I have no desire for worldly things; I am like a rich man who does not desire poverty. The wise refuse poison and accept nectar. The sun that makes the pot shine does not perish with the pot; so the spirit does not perish with the body.

I have neither bondage nor liberation, neither Shastra nor Guru. I have gone beyond Maya – let life go and let the mind be attached – I have no grief, for I am filled with joy, I know myself; Ignorance has fled somewhere – I have no work, no duties, no family, no community. All this pertains to the gross body, not to me, distinct from it. Hunger, thirst, blindness, etc. belong only to the Linga-Deha. Vacancy, desire, etc. belong only to the Karana-Deha.

As the sun is darkness to an owl, so the Brahman is dark to the ignorant. When clouds obscure his vision, he thinks that there is no sun. As nectar, distinct from poison, is not affected by its defects, so I am not affected by the defects of inertia. Even a small lamp can remove great darkness; so even a little knowledge destroys great ignorance.

As there is never a snake in a rope, so there is no peace in me.

Even doing this for one muhurta^[12], they do not return (to this world).

Om! Let my speech be in accordance with the mind;
Let my mind be based on speech.
O Radiant One, reveal Thyself to me.
May both of them^[1] bring to me the knowledge of the Vedas.
May all that I have learned not leave me.
I will join the day to the night^[2] by these studies.
I will utter what is verbally true;
I will utter what is mentally true.
May That^[3] protect me;
May That protect the speaker^[4], may That protect me;
May That protect the speaker – may That protect the speaker.

Om! May there be Peace in me!
May there be Peace in my neighbors!
May there be Peace in the forces acting on me!

Thus ends the Atmabodha Upanishad of the Rigveda.