Upanishads

Mantrik Upanishad

Shuklayadjurveda, a group of Upanishads - pure Vedanta

Om! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.
The infinite comes from the infinite.
(Then) accepting the infinity of the infinite (universe),
It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.
Om! Let there be Peace in me!
Let there be Peace in my surroundings!
Let there be Peace in the forces that act upon me!

1. The eight-legged, immaculate Swan, bound by three ropes, subtle and imperishable, to which three paths lead, I do not see, though I see it everywhere.

2. At the time when all living beings are bewildered (in the darkness of ignorance), when (yet) the boundless darkness is destroyed (by the sun of saving knowledge). The sages, established in Sattva, contemplate the Absolute beyond the Guna (correctly) in the sphere of the gunas.

3 (a). Contemplated by sages like Kumara, etc.; the Absolute cannot otherwise be perceived (at all).

3 (b)-4. The agent of superposition is the Unborn (Maya), the ignorant eightfold inveterate mother of modifications; thus it expands and again pushes. The world under such power and guidance generates the values of man.

5. The powerful Maya of the Lord, having both a beginning and an end, the creator, calls beings into existence; white, black and red (She) fulfills all desires.

6. (The ignorant) experiences this non-objective Maya (whose true nature) is unknown (even) to sages like Kumara. The Lord alone, who follows (Her) freely, enjoys Maya (as Her Lord and Companion).

7. He enjoys (Her) both in contemplation and in action. He, the omnipresent, supports (Her) who is common to all and everyone, the giver (of desired objects) and enjoys the sacrificers.

8. The magnanimous (sages) see in (the sphere of) Maya a bird eating the fruits (of Karmas). The priests who have completed their Vedic studies have declared the Other to be unattached.

9. The masters of the Rigveda, learned in the Shastras, repeat what the Yajurveda has declared. The adepts of the Samaveda, who sing the Brihatsama and Rathantara, also (confirm this truth).

10. (Vedic) sages like Bhrigu and Bhargavas - these followers of Atharvaveda, practicing Veda, mantras and secret teachings, in sequence in Words, (all expounding the same teaching).

11-13. The faithful fellow disciple, firm and perfect, the red Bull, the sacrificial Remnant - as all of them, in regard to His immensity; and as Time, Life, divine wrath, the Destroyer, the great Lord, Becoming, Rudra, the Protector of the Jivas, the Rewarder of the virtuous, the Lord of living beings, the Virat, the supporter and the Waters (of life), is the All-pervading, praised by beings, extolled in the mantras and well known to the Atharvaveda.

14. Some state Him (the great Lord) as the twenty-sixth (Principle); others as the twenty-seventh; the masters of the Atharvaveda and the Atharva Upanishad know the Spirits beyond qualities, as stated in the Sankhya.

15. The manifested and the unmanifested have been counted (together) as twenty-four. (Some) declare Him to be non-dual; as dual; as threefold; and similarly as fivefold.

16. Those who see with the eye of wisdom, the twice-born, perceive Him as containing everything from Brahma to the sticks, as one, pure through and through, all-pervading.

17. That in which it could be manifold, moving and unmoving, is woven - in that very thing it also merges, as rivers merge in the sea.

18. In That in which objects dissolve and, having dissolved, become unmanifest, they again attain manifestation; they are again born like bubbles.

19. They arise by causes controlled by the individual selves who know the "field." Such is the blessed Lord, as others have repeatedly declared.

20. Those Brahmins who (alone) know Brahman, here they dissolve; and having dissolved, they exist in Avyakta. Having dissolved, they exist in Avyakta — this is the secret doctrine.

Om! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.
The infinite proceeds from the infinite.
(Then) accepting the infinity of the infinite (universe),
It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.
Om! Let there be Peace in me!
Let there be Peace in my surroundings!
Let there be Peace in the forces that act upon me!

Thus ends the Mantrikopanishad belonging to the Shuklayajurveda.