Upanishads

Mundaka Upanishad

Atharvaveda
group of Upanishads – 10 main Upanishads, pure Vedanta

PART ONE

Chapter One

1. Brahman was the first of the gods to arise, the creator of everything, the preserver of the world.

He imparted to [his] eldest son Atharvan the knowledge of Brahman, the basis of all knowledge.

2. That knowledge of Brahman which Brahman imparted to Atharvan, Atharvan imparted to Angira,

He imparted [it] to Satyavaha Bharadvaja, Bharadvaja [imparted] to Angiras the highest and lowest [knowledge].

3. And so, verily, Shaunaka, the great householder, having duly approached Angiras, asked: "By the recognition of what, venerable sir, does all this become recognized?"

4. And he said to him: "Two knowledges must be known," say the experts in Brahman, "the higher and the lower."

5. The lower here is the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, the Atharvaveda, [knowledge] of pronunciation, rites, grammar, interpretation of words, metrics, the science of the luminaries.

The higher is that by which the imperishable is comprehended.

6. That which is invisible, incomprehensible, without gender, colorless, without eyes and ears, without hands and feet,

Eternal, all-pervading, omnipresent, subtlest; that imperishable in which the wise see the source of beings.

7. As a spider releases and draws in [a thread], so plants arise on the earth,

As hair [grows] on the head and body of a living person, so everything arises from the imperishable.

8. By the power of asceticism Brahman grows, from it food is born,

From food – breath, mind, reality, worlds, [actions] and in actions – the immortal.

9. From him who is all-knowing, omniscient, whose asceticism consists of knowledge, this Brahman, name, form and food are born.

Chapter Two

1. This is the truth:

The actions that the sages saw in the sacred words are diversely spread in the triad.

Constantly perform them, lovers of truth, - this is your path to the world of good deeds.

2. When the sacrificial fire is lit and the flames play,

Then let the [offeringer] make the offering with faith between two portions of the libation of melted butter.

3. Whose Agnihotra is not accompanied by the sacrifices of the new moon, the full moon, the four-monthly offering of the first [fruits of the harvest] and is performed without guests,

Deprived of the libation, the offering to the Vishvedevas, is not performed properly - [for him it] destroys his worlds, even to the seventh.

4. Black, terrible, swift as thought, very red, the color of thick smoke,

Sparkling and a goddess in all forms - these are the seven playing tongues [of flame].

5. Whoever performs [deeds] in the radiance of these [tongues of flame] and makes offerings in time,

Him, [like] the rays of the sun, they lead [there], where is the abode of the one lord of the gods.

6. "Come, come!" - [say] to him those who make offerings and with the rays of the sun lead the sacrificer,

Praising [him] and addressing [him] with pleasant speech: "This is your pure world of Brahman, [earned] by good deeds!"

7. Yet these boats in the form of sacrifices, eighteen in number, in which the lower actions abide, are unstable;

Those fools who rejoice in them, [as if] something good, again reach old age and death.

8. Being in the depths of ignorance, [but] considering themselves intelligent and learned,

Tormented fools wander, like blind men led by a blind man.

9. Being in diverse ignorance, the ignorant think: "We have reached the goal";

Those who perform rites do not comprehend [the truth] and therefore, suffering from attachments, perish when the worlds are exhausted.

10. Considering sacrifices and [other] pious deeds to be the most important, the blinded know no other good;

Having enjoyed the heights of heaven through good deeds, they [again] enter this or a still lower world.

11. Those who with faith devote themselves to asceticism in the forest, calm, knowledgable, leading the life of mendicant monks,

Go, sinless, through the gate of the sun [there], where is that immortal purusha, the imperishable Atman.

12. Having considered the worlds acquired by actions, let the Brahmin attain indifference - there is no uncreated due to the created.

For the sake of this recognition, let him approach the teacher, enlightened, established in Brahman, with fuel in hand.

13. To him, having approached in due form, calm in thoughts, peaceful, that knowing

Let him truthfully convey that knowledge of Brahman, thanks to which one knows the indestructible purusha - the truth.

PART TWO

Chapter One

1. This is the truth:

As from a blazing fire sparks similar to [it] arise in thousands,

So, my dear, various beings are born from the indestructible and return to it.

2. For the purusha is divine, incorporeal; for he is both outside and within, unborn;

For [he] is without breath, without mind, pure, above the highest, imperishable.

3. From him are born breath, mind and all senses;

Space, wind, light, water, earth are the universal support.

4. Fire is [his] head, eyes are the moon and the sun, the cardinal points are the ears, speech is the revealed Vedas,

Wind is breath, heart is the whole [world], from his feet is the earth, for he is the Atman of all beings.

5. From him [comes] fire, whose fuel is the sun, from the moon the rain, plants on the earth;

A man pours out his family into a woman - [thus] numerous creations are born from Purusha.

6. From him [come] the Riches, Samanas, Yajus, initiation rites and all sacrifices, ceremonies and all gifts to the priests;

And the year, and the sacrificer, and the worlds where the moon shines, where the sun.

7. And from him are born numerous gods, sadhyas, men, cattle, birds;

Inhalation and exhalation, rice and barley, penance and faith, truth, abstinence, law.

8. The seven breaths come from him, the seven fires, the fuel, the seven libations;

These seven worlds in which the breaths move, hidden seven by seven in the secret place [of the heart].

9. From him are all the seas and mountains, from him flow rivers of all kinds;

From him are also all plants and juices; for, having arisen through him, this inner Atman exists together with the elements.

10. Purusha is all this; action, penance, Brahman; [it] is beyond death,

Whoever knows this, hidden in the secret place [of the heart], he, O dear one, cuts here the knot of ignorance.

Chapter Two

1. Manifest, established, abiding in the secret place [of the heart]; the truly great place where [all] this is concentrated;

Moving, breathing and blinking - know that it is the existing, non-existent, desired, the highest;

That [it is] surpassing [all] recognition of beings.

2. That which shines and which is smaller than the small, in which the worlds and the inhabitants of the worlds are hidden,

This is the imperishable Brahman, it is the breath, it is speech and the mind,

This is the truth, this is immortality, this should be known - know [this], my dear!

3. Taking the great weapon - the bow of the Upanishads, place on it an arrow sharpened by reverence;

Having pulled [the bowstring] with the thought of the lord, know, my dear, that the goal is the imperishable.

4. Pranava is the bow, the arrow is Atman, This goal is called Brahman;

One should, without distraction, know it. Let [man] unite with this [Brahman], as an arrow [with the goal].

5. On what are the heavens, the earth and the air woven together with the mind and all the breaths

Know that one thing alone is the Atman. Leave other speeches. It is the bridge [leading] to immortality.

6. Becoming many, it moves there, within, where the veins converge, like the spokes in the hub of a wheel.

"Om" - thus meditate on the Atman. May you be happy in crossing to that shore of darkness!

7. He who is omniscient, omniscient, who has this greatness on earth,

He is the Atman, established in the space [of the heart], in the divine city of Brahman.

8. Consisting of the mind, leading the breath and the body, established in food, concentrated in the heart

The wise comprehend it by recognition - [it is] the image of bliss, immortality, that shines.

9. The knot of the heart is cut, all doubts are dispelled,

The actions of the one who has seen in it the highest and the lowest are completed.

10. In the golden highest casket is the unblemished, partless Brahman.

He is pure, the lamp of lamps - this is what those who know the Atman know.

11. Neither the sun nor the moon nor the stars shine there, these lightnings do not shine - from where [can there be] this fire?

Everything shines only after it, the shining one; this whole [world] reflects its light.

12. Verily, Brahman is the immortal, Brahman is in front, Brahman is behind, to the right and to the left,

It extends downwards and upwards; verily, Brahman is all this, the greatest.

PART THREE

Chapter One

1. Two birds, joined together, friends, cling to the same tree,

One of them eats a sweet berry, the other looks [at it], without eating.

2. On the same tree – a man, immersed [in the sorrows of the world], blinded, grieves over [his] powerlessness;

When he sees another – the beloved lord and his greatness, then he is freed from sorrow.

3. When the seer sees the golden-colored creator, the lord, the purusha, the source of Brahman,

Then the learned, having shaken off [himself] good and evil, unstained, he attains the supreme unity.

4. For this is the breath that shines in all beings; the discerning learned does not talk about [anything] else;

Disporting himself in the Atman, enjoying in the Atman, performing [actions], he is the best of the knowers of Brahman.

5. For this Atman is attained by truth, austerities, right knowledge, constant abstinence;

For [it] is within the body, consists of light, pure - [that] which is seen by ascetics. devoid of vices.

6. Truth alone wins, not falsehood. The path leading to the gods is prepared by truth,

By which the rishis who have attained the desired ascend [there], where [is] that highest refuge of truth.

7. It is great and divine, of inconceivable form, and it, subtler than subtle, shines;

It is further than the distant and here near, in those who see [it] is hidden here in the secret [of the heart].

8. [It] is not perceived by the eye, nor by speech, nor by other senses, nor by asceticism or action,

But [when] the being is purified by the light of knowledge, then the reflecting one sees it, devoid of parts.

9. This subtle Atman should be known by thought, into which the fivefold breath has penetrated.

All thought of people is permeated with breaths; when it is purified, this Atman manifests.

10. Whatever world [a person] may conceive in his mind, whose being is purified, and whatever desires he may have,

He attains that world and [the fulfillment of] those desires. Let him therefore who desires the good worship the knower of the Atman.

Chapter Two

1. He knows that supreme abode of Brahman, where all [beings] hidden [in it] shine brightly;

Those sages who worship the purusha, free from desires, overcome the seed [of birth].

2. He who nourishes desires, thinking [about them], is reborn here and there because of desires,

But for one who has satisfied desires and realized the Atman, already here [on earth] all desires disappear.

3. This Atman is not comprehended by interpretation, nor by reason, nor by careful study;

Whom this [Atman] chooses, by him it is comprehended; to him this Atman reveals its nature.

4. This Atman is not comprehended by [a person] deprived of strength, nor by careless or aimingless asceticism,

But whoever, endowed with knowledge, is diligent in these means, his Atman penetrates into the abode of Brahman.

5. Having attained it, the Rishis, satisfied with knowledge, having realized the Atman, free from passions, peaceful,

Having attained the omnipresent in all, united by the Atman, these sages penetrate into everything.

6. The ascetics, having thoroughly comprehended the meaning of the Vedanta discernment, having purified [their] being by renunciation,

At the end of time, all are liberated, [having attained] the supreme immortality in the worlds of Brahman.

7. The fifteen parts have gone to [their] bases, and all the senses to their respective deities;

Actions and the Atman, consisting of discernment, all become one in the supreme, imperishable [being].

8. As rivers flow and disappear into the sea, losing name and form,

Thus the knower, freed from name and form, ascends to the divine purusha, higher than the high.

9. Verily, he who knows this supreme Brahman becomes Brahman. There is no one in his family who does not know Brahman.

He overcomes sorrow, overcomes evil; freed from the bonds in the secret [of the heart], he becomes immortal.

10. This is said in the Rik:

To those who perform the rites, enlightened, established in Brahman, with faith themselves making an offering to the one, the Rishi,

To them alone let the teaching of Brahman be imparted - [those] who, according to the prescription, have performed the rite [of carrying fire] on the head.

11. This is the truth that Rishi Angiras proclaimed before. Let no one read it who has not performed the ritual.

Worship to the highest Rishis, worship to the highest Rishis!