The Upanishads
                                             Further Translations

                [Image]                        Chandogya, Ch. 5
                                               Chandogya, Ch. 8
                                            Svetashvatara, Ch. 2-3
                                                Isa (complete)

 Image: Inscription recording the establishment of the Sharvan Nath Temple,
                                  Haridwar

Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 5

The following story contains the first known reference to reincarnation.
Note the differences between the two paths (the way of the Gods and theWay
of the ancestors) and the results coming from each. Note too that the
person revealing this secret knowledge is not a brahmin, but a member of
the princely class.]

5.3.1. Svetaketu Aruneya once went to an assembly of the Panchalas, and
Pravahana Jaibali adressed him thus: "Young man, has your father instructed
you?"
"Yes indeed sir, he said"

2. Do you know where living creatures go [when they depart] from here?
"No sir."
"Do you know how they come back again?"
"No sir."
"Do you know the partings of the two paths, the way of the gods and the way
of the ancestors?"
"No sir."

3. "Do you know how it is that the world up there is not filled up?"
"No sir."
"Do you know how it is that at the fifth offering water comes to have a
human voice?"
"No sir."

4. "Then, how could you say that you had been instructed? How indeed could
anyone who does not know these things consider themselves instructed?"
Much depressed, he returned to his father's house, and said to him: "You
have not instructed me at all, and yet, sir, you claimed that you had done
so. Some fellow of the princely class asked me five questions, and I was
unable to answer even one of them."
The father said, "I do not know the answer to even one of these questions
you have repeated to me. Had I known, would I not have told you?"

6. Then Gautama (the father) went off to the king's house, and on his
arrival [the king] paid him due respect. The next morning the king went up
to Gautama as he was entering the assembly-hall, and said: "Venerable
Gautama, ask for whatever you would like."
Gautama said, "Keep such things for yourself, your majesty. Rather, tell me
what you asked this young man."

7. The king was troubled. Then he bade Gautama stay with him for awhile and
said: "As for what you have asked, this wisdom has never reached the
brahmins before you, and that is why in all the worlds ruling power has
belonged to the princely class alone." Then he said to him.....

[SECTIONS 5.4-5.8 DESCRIBE, USING THE METAPHOR OF SACRIFICE, THE CONCEPTION
OF A HUMAN BEING. THE FIFTH "OFFERING" MENTIONED IS THE SEMEN THAT BRINGS
ABOUT CONCEPTION].

5.9.1 "Thus at the fifth oblation water comes to have a human voice.
Enveloped in the womb the embryo lies for nine, ten, or however many
months, and is then born.

2. "Once born he lives out his allotted span. When dead he is carried from
here to the [cremation] pyre to go to the allotted place from which he
came, from which he arose.

5.10.1. "Those who know thus as well as those who worship in the forest,
knowing that self-mortification is the same as faith, merge into the flame
(of the pyre), from the flame they pass on to the day, from the day to the
waxing moon, from the waxing moon to the six months when the sun is moving
northwards, (2) from those months into the year, from the year into the
sun, from the sun into the moon, from the moon into the lightning. There,
there is a non-human Person. He leads them on to Brahman. This path is the
"way of the gods."

3. "But those who in their villages lay great store by sacrifice, good
works, and giving alms, merge into smoke, from the smoke they go to the
night, from the night to the waning moon, from the waning moon to the six
months when the sun moves southwards. These do not reach the year. (4) From
those months they go to the world of the ancestors, from the world of the
ancestors into space, from space into the moon which is King Soma, the food
of the gods. This the gods eat up.

5. There they remain until the merit (from their good deeds) is exhausted,
and then they once again return on the same path. They merge into space,
from space to wind, from wind to smoke, from smoke to mist, (6) from mist
they become a cloud, after which they pour forth as rain. Then they are
born here as rice or barley, herbs or trees, sesame or beans. To emerge
from these is difficult, only if someone or other eats him as food and
pours him out as semen can he be reborn.

7. Those whose conduct on earth has given pleasure, can hope to enter a
pleasant womb, that is, the womb of a Brahmin, or a woman of the princely
class, or a woman of the peasant class; but those whose conduct on earth
has been foul can expect to enter a foul and stinking womb, such as the
womb of a dog or a pig or an outcast.

8. But those small and continually returning creatures (like flies and
worms) are not to be found on either of these two paths: theirs is a third
condition, "Be born and die."
That is why the world up there is not filled up, and that is why a man
should carefully watch his actions. On this there is the following verse:

9. "Stealer of gold, drinker of wine, defiler of his teacher's bed, slayer
of Brahmins,
These four are the greatest sinners, as is one who associates with them.

10. But whoever knows these five fires is not defiled by evil, even though
he associates with such people. Pure and clean, he reaches the world of the
good and the pure.

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Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 8

[This particular story is still centered on the search for the Self, but
with different characters, and a different understanding of the Self (this
latter point shows that the understanding of the Self in the Upanishads was
still speculative, and not yet philosophically fixed.]

8.7.1. Prajapati (the creator) declared: "That Self which is free from
evil, ageless, deathless, without hunger or thirst, whose desires and
declarations are true--that is to be sought after, to be discerned. One who
thoroughly investigates and realizes that Self obtains all the worlds,
attains all desires."

2. Both the gods and demons heard that, and they said: "Alas! Let us seek
after that Self, the Self which having sought after one obtains all the
worlds and attains all desires!" And Indra from the gods and Virochana from
the demons went forth, the two without consulting each other, and came,
fuel in hand, to Prajapati.

3. They lived as students for 32 years, and Prajapati said to them:
"Desiring what have you lived thus?"
They said: "That Self which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, without
hunger or thirst, whose desires and declarations are true--that is to be
sought after, to be discerned. One who thoroughly investigates and realizes
that Self obtains all the worlds, attains all desires. Such do people
declare to be your words, and desiring that have we [lived] in this
manner."

4. And Prajapati said to them: "That person seen by the eye, that is the
Self of which I spoke, that is the deathless, without fear, that is
Brahman."
"But sir, that which one perceives in water and that which [one sees in] a
mirror, which one is he?"
"That very One, That One is perceived in all of these" he (Prajapati) said.

8.8.1. Prajapati said "Look at yourself in a pan of water, and tell me
anything you do not understand about the Self."
The two of them looked in a pan of water, and Prajapati said to them, "What
do you see?"
They said "We see a reflection, sir, that corresponds exactly to ourselves,
down to the hair and fingernails."

2. And then Prajapati said to them: "Become well-ornamented, well-dressed,
and adorned, and look in a pan of water."
They became well-ornamented, well-dressed, and adorned, and looked in a pan
of water. And Prajapati said to them "What do you see?"

3. And they said "Just as it is with us, sir, well-ornamented,
well-dressed, and adorned, in the same way those two are well-ornamented,
well-dressed, and adorned."
"This is the Self," he said, "this is the deathless, without fear, this is
Brahman." And the two set out with tranquil hearts. 4. Having glanced after
them, Prajapati said: "They are going without having comprehended, without
having obtained the Self. Whoever upholds this doctrine (upanisad) will
perish, [whether] gods or demons."
And Virochana went to the demons with tranquil heart, and to them spoke
this doctrine: "Oneself alone is to be made happy here on earth, oneself
alone is to be served! By making oneself happy and serving oneself, one
attains both worlds, this one and the next."

5. And therefore even now, here on this earth, they say of one who gives no
alms, has no faith, and performs no sacrifice "Alas! Demonic!," for this is
the doctrine of the demons. Thus they adorn a dead body with ornaments and
clothes [obtained] by begging, thinking [that] by this they will win the
next world.

8.9.1. But then Indra, even before he had returned to the gods, saw this
danger: "Truly, just as this [Self] is well-ornamented when the body is
well-ornamented, well-clothed when it is well-clothed, adorned when it is
adorned, in the same way when this [body] is blind it becomes blind, when
lame it becomes lame, when maimed it becomes maimed, and it is destroyed
with the destruction of the body. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

2. Then he went back, fuel in hand, and Prajapati said to him: "O Maghavan
(Indra), since you and Virochana just departed with tranquil hearts,
desiring what have you returned?"
And he said: "Verily, sir, just as the Self is well-ornamented when this
body is well-ornamented, well-clothed when it is well-clothed, adorned when
it is adorned, in the same way it is blind when the body is blind, lame
when it is lame, maimed when it is maimed, and it is destroyed with the
destruction of the body. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

3. "He (the Self) is even so, O Maghavan," he said to him, "but I will
explain it to you further. Live with me 32 more years." He lived with him
for 32 more years, and Prajapati spoke to him.

8.10.1. Prajapati said "He who wanders rejoicing in a dream, he is the
Self. That is the deathless, without fear, that is Brahman," said he. And
he (Indra) departed with tranquil heart. But even before reaching the gods,
he saw this danger. "Even if this body is blind, that [Self] is not blind,
it is not lame if [the body] is lame, it is not blemished by any defect of
this [body].

2. It is not killed when the body is slain, not lame with [the body's]
lameness, yet it is as if they kill it, as if they unclothe it, as if it
experiences unpleasant things, as if it weeps. I see nothing enjoyable in
this."

3. So he returned, fuel in hand, and Prajapati said to him: "O Maghavan,
since you departed with tranquil heart, seeking what have you returned?"
He said "Sir, even if this body is blind, that [Self] is not blind, it is
not lame if [the body] is lame, it is not blemished by any of its defects.

4. It is not killed with the body's slaying, nor not lame with its
lameness, yet it is as if they kill it, as if they unclothe it, as if it
experiences unpleasant things, even as if it weeps. I see nothing enjoyable
in this."
"It is exactly so, O Maghavan," he said to him, "but I will explain it to
you further. Live with me 32 more years." He lived with him for 32 more
years, and Prajapati spoke to him.

8.11.1. He said "[that which one perceives] when one is sound asleep,
composed, soothed, and knows no dream--that is the Self, that is the
deathless, without fear, that is Brahman! And he (Indra) departed with
tranquil heart. But even before reaching the gods, he saw this danger:
"Alas! Surely this [sort of Self] is not aware of itself, having the
thought `I am he,' nor of these [other] living beings, hence it too is
merely destroyed. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

2. He went back, fuel in hand, and Prajapati said to him, "O Maghavan,
since you departed with tranquil heart, desiring what have you returned?"
He said, "Alas! Surely, sir, such a self is not aware of itself, having the
thought `I am he,' nor of these [other] living beings, hence it too is
merely destroyed. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

3. "It is exactly so, O Maghavan," he said to him, "but I will explain it
to you further. Live with me five more years. He dwelt there for five years
more--that makes 101 years--and thus it is they say that Maghavan lived for
101 years in Prajapati's house as a student. And he (Prajapati) said to
him:

8.12.1. "O Maghavan, verily this body is mortal, food for death, [but] it
is the dwelling-place (adhisthanam) of the deathless, bodiless Self. An
embodied person is subject to [both] the pleasant and the unpleasant, and
for one embodied there is no escape from the pleasant and the unpleasant.
But the pleasant and unpleasant do not touch (affect) one without a body.

2. The wind is bodiless, cloud, lightning, and thunder--these are bodiless.
Now as these, having risen above this space and having attained the highest
light, appear each in their own form,

3. even so the Soul, perfectly quiet, having risen above this body and
attained the highest light, appears in its own form. He is the supreme
person, he roams about there eating, playing, diverting himself with women
and chariots, or with friends, not remembering this appendage [which is] a
body. As a draft animal is yoked to a cart, in the same way the breath is
yoked to this body.

4. Now when the eye is directed thus into space, [the One who directs it]
is the seeing person, the eye is [the organ] for seeing. The one who knows
`I am smelling this,' that is the Self, the nose is [the organ] for
smelling. The one who knows `I am speaking this,' that is the Self, the
voice is [the organ] for speaking. The one who knows `I am hearing this,'
that is the Self, the ear is [the organ] for hearing.

5. The one who knows `I am thinking thus,' that is the Self, the mind is
the divine eye. Truly, he who sees desires with this divine eye, the mind,
enjoys them.

6. Truly, those gods in the realm of Brahman worship that Self, and because
of this they have enjoyed all worlds and all desires. One who searches
after that Self and realizes it attains all the realms and all desires."
Thus spoke Prajapati, thus Prajapati spoke.

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The Svetashvatara Upanishad, Chapters 2 and 3

{The Svetashvatara Upanishad is generally considered the latest of the
classical Upanishads. While the Mandukya Upanishad makes a concise case for
monins, the Svetashvatara Upanishad propounds theism, the belief in the
Supreme Being as the god Rudra, who has been identified with the classical
Hindu god Shiva. The Svetashvatara is also noteworthy for its description,
in the second chapter, of the process of yoga and the fruits of yogic
practice. The second chapter begins, however, with seven verses of
invocation to Savitr, the sun, using verses drawn directly from the Vedas
and the Brahmanas, texts composed over a thousand years earlier. These
verses are full of sacrificial images that are completely incongrous in the
Upanishads. I include them here partly as a way to give you a "taste" of
the earlier texts, but more as a way to help you realize that although
historians speak of "distinct" textual periods in Hindu religious
history--Vedic, Brahmanic, and Upanishadic--the reality is far more
complex. These divisions are made based on the overall tendencies of a
text, but it is not at all uncommon to find one type of text "embedded" in
another.]

CHAPTER TWO

1. The [deity] Savitr, controlling the mind and thoughts for the Truth,
first perceived the light of Agni (Fire) [and] drew it out from the Earth.

2. With mind controlled, we are inspired toward the heavens by the power of
the divine Savitr.

3. Controlling through the mind the senses [that go] to radiant heaven
through thought, may Savitr inspire them (the senses) that they may create
a great light!

4. The seers of the great learned seer control [their] minds and control
[their] thoughts. The One [who] knows the rules established the libations
to the gods [performed] the sacrificial priest, great is the praise of the
divine Savitr!

5. With reverential salutations I join [your] ancient prayer! The verses go
forth [like] suns in their course. [May] all the sons of the deathless hear
[me], they [who] reside in the divine dwellings!

6. Where the fire is kindled, where conjoined is the breath (of speech),
where flows the Soma copiously, there arises understanding.

7. Through Savitr, the Inspirer, may one enjoy the ancient prayer! They
[who] make their source there, [their] former [deeds] do not destroy
[them]!

8. Holding the body steady, the three (head, neck, and chest) held
straight, withdrawing into the heart the senses with the mind, the wise man
through the Brahma-boat should cross over all the frightful streams [of
this life].

9. With movements controlled and suppressing the breath here, he should
breathe with shallow breaths through [his] nostrils. The wise man should
vigilantly restrain his mind, as [one restrains] a chariot yoked to vicious
horses.

10. One should practice yoga in a secluded place protected from the wind,
[which is] clean, level, free from pebbles, fire, and gravel, with the
sound of water and other such things, agreeable to the mind but not
offensive to the eye.

11. Fog, smoke, rays of light, fire, wind, sun, lightning, crystal, the
moon--in yoga these are the preliminary forms heralding the manifestation
of Brahman.

12. When the fivefold quality of yoga is manifest, rising up from earth,
water, fire, wind, and ether, there is no sickness, old age, of death, for
him who has obtained a body made from the fire of yoga.

13. Lightness, freedom from disease, lack of desire, a pleasing complexion
and melodious voice, a pure odor, and scanty excretions--these are named as
the first signs of yogic progress.

14. Just as a mirror clouded with dust shines brilliantly when
well-cleaned, even so the embodied one, perceiving the true nature of the
Self, becomes One, [his] end accomplished, [all] sorrow gone.

15. When through the true nature of the Self, as by a lamp, the disciplined
one perceives here the true nature of Brahman, unborn, steadfast, free from
all nature, by knowing God one is released from all fetters!

16. Verily, this god faces all the directions. He is born, and he is in the
womb. He alone is born, he is going to be born, he stands before all
creatures, facing in all directions.

17. That god who is in fire, who is in water, who has entered the entire
universe, who is in plants, who is in trees--to that god adoration,
adoration!

CHAPTER THREE

1. That One who wields the net [of illusion], he rules by his ruling
powers, he rules all worlds through his ruling powers. The one who is alone
in their arising and existence, those who know this become immortal.

2. Rudra is the only One, they (the worlds) depend on no other, he rules
these worlds with his ruling powers. The Protector, he stands opposite
creatures, [and] having created all beings, gathers them together at the
end of time.

3. Having an arm on every side and a face on every side, an arm on every
side and a foot on every side, the One god, forging with his hands, with
wings, creates heaven and earth.

4. He who is the source and origin of the gods, the Ruler of the universe,
Rudra, the great seer, of old he produced the golden Seed (which was the
source of the universe), may he endow us with pure discernment!

5. O Rudra, thy form which is auspicious (shiva), not terrifying, without
semblance of evil, O mountain-dweller, appear to us here in that most
peaceful form!

6. O mountain-dweller, the arrow which you carry in your hand to throw,
make [it] kind, O mountain-protector! Harm not man [nor] beast!

7. Higher than this [world] is Brahman, the Higher, the Great, hidden in
all beings according to the body, those [who] know that Lord, the
surrounder of all things, become immortal.

8. I know that Person, the Great, colored like the sun, beyond darkness.
Knowing Him alone, one passes beyond death, there is no other path for
going.

9. Than whom nothing is higher or lower, than whom nothing is smaller or
greater, the One stands in the heavens, fixed like a tree, by that Person
this universe is pervaded.

10. What is still higher than this is without form, without illness. Those
who know this become immortal, but the others attain only sorrow.

11. Who is the face and head and neck of all, who dwells in the secret
place of all beings, he, the Lord, is all-pervading, therefore omnipresent
and benevolent.

12. That person is verily a mighty lord, setting existence in motion, unto
this purest attainment, the Lord, an imperishable light!

13. [That] thumb-sized person [is] the inner Self, eternally lodged in the
hearts of all creatures. The Lord is gained through the heart, the mind,
and thought, those who know this become immortal.....[skip to verse 18]

18. The embodied person is [trapped] in the nine-gated city, the soul
continually hovers outside, the master of the entire world, of the moving
and unmoving.

19. Without hands and feet, he is swift and seizes! Without eyes, he sees,
without ears, he hears. He knows what is to be known, but of him there is
no knower, they call him the First, the Great Person.

20. Smaller than the small, greater than the great, the Self is placed in
the heart of this creature. Through the Creator's grace one sees him as
free from desire, one sees the Lord and his greatness, [and] goes beyond
all sorrow.

21. I know this [Lord] as undecaying and ancient, the Self of all things,
omnipresent through [his] all-pervasiveness, of whom the speakers on
Brahman call the cessation of birth, [of whom] they call the eternal!

Thus ends the third chapter of the Svetashvatara Upanisad.

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The Isa Upanishad

[As with many of the Upanishads, the Isa Upanishad takes its name from the
first word of the text, (Isa="Lord"). The Isa Upanishad is a composite
piece, in which several of the verses have been lifted from other, earlier
Upanishads, and reading through it the breaks in the text become clear.
There is speculation that the verses at the end represent the prayer of a
dying man, at the moment of final liberation.]

1. This entire universe is pervaded by the lord, and whatever moves within
it; abandon it and enjoy, do not covet the wealth of anyone.

2. Performing [ritual] actions here, one may desire to live one hundred
years. Whatever you desire, it is the same for others, thus one's actions
do not cling to one.

3. Those worlds are called demonic, covered with blind darkness, and those
people who destroy themselves go to them after death.

4. Unmoving, it is swifter than the mind. Though going before it, the gods
could not overtake it. Standing, it overtakes those who are running, in it
water placed fire.

5. It moves, it moves not. It is far, it is near. It is inside all things,
and it is outside all things.

6. Once one perceives all beings as one's very self, and oneself in all
beings, then one will not want to conceal oneself.

7. When one has recognized that all beings are one's own self, for one
perceiving this unity, then where is delusion, where is sorrow?

8. He encircles all things: brilliant, bodiless, unscathed, without sinews,
pure, untouched by evil, a seer, wise, all-pervasive, self-born; he
arranged things as they are since endless years.

9. Into blind darkness go those who serve ignorance (avidya), yet into
greater darkness still go those who delight in wisdom (vidya).

10. It is different, they say, from wisdom, and different too from
ignorance--thus we have heard from the wise who have described it to us.

11. One who knows together wisdom and ignorance transcends death through
ignorance, through wisdom gains deathlessness.

12. Into blind darkness go those who serve non-becoming, yet into greater
darkness still go those who delight in becoming.

13. It is different, they say, from becoming, and different too from
nonbecoming--thus we have heard from the wise who have described it to us.

14. One who knows together becoming and destruction transcends death
through destruction, through becoming gains deathlessness.

15. The face of truth is covered with a golden bowl. Open it, O Pushan,
that we may behold the true path.

16. O Pushan, the only seer, O sun, son of Prajapati, scatter your rays and
gather them. I see the light that is your fairest form, and that man in
there, I am he.

17. My breath to the immortal winds, this body ends in ashes. Remember the
sacrifices, remember the actions.

18. O Agni, lead us on the straight path to prosperity, O god who knows all
the ways. Keep us far from crookedness, we would render to you the highest
praise.

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