5. It moves. It moves not. It is far, and It is near. It is within all this, And It is outside of all this.' 6. Now, he who on all beings Looks as just (eva) in the Self (Atman), 7. In whom all beings Have become just (eva) the Self of the discerner- Characteristics of the world-ruler 8. He has environed. The bright, the bodiless, the scatheless, The sinewless, the pure (suddha), unpierced by evil (a-pāpaviddha)! Wise (kavi), intelligent (manīṣin), encompassing (paribhū), selfexistent (svayambhū), Appropriately he distributed objects (artha) through the eternal years. Transcending, while involving, the antithesis of knowing 9. Into blind darkness enter they That worship ignorance; Into darkness greater than that, as it were, they That delight in knowledge.* 10. Other, indeed, they say, than knowledge! Other, they say, than non-knowledge!" -Thus we have heard from the wise (dhira) 1 The very same ideas as in this stanza, though not all the same words, recur at BhG. 13. 15 a, b, d. 2 This universal presence is claimed by Krishna for himself at BhG. 6. 30 a, b. 3 The indefinite word tatas may mean from these beings,' or 'from this Self,' or from this time on,' or pregnantly all these.-The whole line recurs at Bṛih. 4. 4. 15 d; Katha 4. 5 d; 4. 12 d. 4 This stanza is identical with Brih. 4. 4. 10. 5 The point here made is that both knowledge and lack of knowledge are inadequate for apprehending the Ultimate. 6 A somewhat more concrete, and perhaps earlier, form of this stanza occurs as Kena 3 e-h. 11. Knowledge and non-knowledge— He who this pair conjointly (saha) knows, The inadequacy of any antithesis of being 12. Into blind darkness enter they Who worship non-becoming (a-sambhūti); Into darkness greater than that, as it were, they 13. Other, indeed-they say than origin (sambhava)! Becoming and destruction a fundamental duality With becoming wins the immortal. A dying person's prayer 15. With a golden vessel 2 The Real's face is covered o'er. That do thou, O Pūshan, uncover For one whose law is the Real to see.1 16. O Nourisher (pușan), the sole Scer (ekarși), O Controller (yama), O Sun (sūrya), offspring of Prajāpati, spread forth thy rays! Gather thy brilliance (tejas) !5 What is thy 1 This stanza occurs again in Maitri 7. 9. 2 The sun. 3 For the petitioner (who calls himself ‘satya-dharma') to see through; or 'For Him whose law is Truth (or, true) to be seen,' [as, e. g., for Savitri in RV. 10. 34. 8; 10. 139. 3; or the Unknown Creator, RV. 10. 121. 9; VS. 10. 103; or Agni, RV. 1. 12. 7]; or, 'For that [neuter] which has the Real as its nature [or, essence; or, law] to be seen.' • These lines occur with slight variations at Maitri 6. 35 and Bṛih. 5. 15. I. According to this translation the idea is entirely honorific of the effulgence of the sun. Or, with a different grouping of words, the meaning might possibly be the petition: Spread apart thy rays [that I may enter through the sun (as well as see through-according to the previous petition) into the Real; then] gather [thy rays together again, as normal]. The brilliance which is thy fairest form,...' At best the passage is of obscure mystical significance. fairest form-that of thee I see. He who is yonder, yonder Person (puruşa)-I myself am he! 17. [My] breath (vāyu) to the immortal wind (anila)!1o This body then ends in ashes! Om! O Purpose (kratu 2), remember! The deed (kṛta) remember! O Purpose, remember! The deed remember! General prayer of petition and adoration 18. O Agni, by a goodly path to prosperity (rai) lead us, Thou god who knowest all the ways! Keep far from us crooked-going sin (enas)!3 Most ample expression of adoration to thee would we render! 1 This formula recurs at Bṛih. 5. 15. The idea that at death the several parts of microcosmic man revert to the corresponding elements of the macrocosm is expressed several times in Sanskrit literature. With the specific mention here, compare his spirit (ātman) to the wind (vāta)' in the Cremation Hymn, RV. 10. 16. 3a; 'with his breath (prāna) to wind (vāyu),' Śat. Br. 10. 3. 3. 8; his breath (prāna) to wind (vāta),' Bṛih. 3. 2. 13; and even of the sacrificial animal, its breath (prāṇa) to wind (vāta),' Ait. Br. 2. 6. 2 Compare the statement in Chand. 3. 14. 1, Now, verily, a person consists of purpose (kratu-maya).' 3 Other prayers for freedom from sin (enas, compare also agas) are at RV. 1. 24. 9d; 3. 7. 10d; 7. 86. 3 a, 4d; 7. 88. 6c; 7. 89. 5 c, d ; 7. 93. 7 c, d; 8.67 (56). 17; 10. 35. 3a, c; 10. 37. 12; AV. 6. 97. 2 d; 6. 115. 1, 2, 3; 6. 116. 2, 3; 6. 117; 6. 118; 6. 119; 6. 120. This stanza is identical with RV. 1. 189. 1, and the second line also with AV. 4. 39. 10 b. MUNDAKA UPANISHAD FIRST MUNDAKA Preparation for the knowledge of Brahma The line of tradition of this knowledge from 1. Brahma arose as the first of the gods The maker of all, the protector of the world. He told the knowledge of Brahma (brahma-vidya), the founda tion of all knowledge, To Atharva[n], his eldest son. 2. What Brahma taught to Atharvan, Even that knowledge of Brahma, Atharvan told in ancient time to Angir. He told it to Bhāradvāja Satyavāha ; Bhāradvāja, to Angiras-both the higher and the lower [knowledge]. Saunaka's quest for the clue to an understanding of the world 3. Śaunaka, verily, indeed, a great householder, approached Angiras according to rule, and asked: Through understanding of what, pray, does all this world become understood, Sir?'1 Two kinds of knowledge: the traditions of religion, and the knowledge of the eternal 4. To him then he said: 'There are two knowledges to be known as indeed the knowers of Brahma are wont to say: a higher (para) and also a lower (apara). 1 The very same knowledge which Yajnavalkya declared to Maitreyi, Bṛih. 2.4. 5 (end). 2 Cf. Maitri 6. 22. 5. Of these, the lower is the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sāma-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, Pronunciation (śikṣā), Ritual (kalpa), Grammar (vyākaraṇa), Definition (nirukta), Metrics (chandas), and Astrology (jyotiṣa).1 Now, the higher is that whereby that Imperishable (akṣara) is apprehended. The imperishable source of all things 6. That which is invisible, ungraspable, without family, without caste (a-varna) Without sight or hearing is It, without hand or foot, Eternal, all-pervading, omnipresent, exceedingly subtile; That is the Imperishable, which the wise perceive as the source of beings. 7. As a spider emits and draws in [its thread], As herbs arise on the earth, As the hairs of the head and body from a living person, So from the Imperishable arises everything here. 8. By austerity (tapas) Brahma becomes built up. From food-life-breath, mind, truth, The worlds, immortality too in works. 9. He who is all-knowing, all-wise, Whose austerity consists of knowledge- SECOND KHANDA All the ceremonies of religion scrupulously to be practised 1. This is the truth :- The works which the sages (kavi) saw in the sacred sayings (mantra, i.e. Vedic hymns) Are manifoldly spread forth in the triad [of the Vedas]. Follow them (acaratha) constantly, ye lovers of truth (satyakāma)! This is your path to the world of good deeds. 1 The six subsidiary Vedāngas, 'Limbs-of-the-Vedas,' later elaborated as explanatory of the Vedas. 2 A Sanskrit idiom for the modern term 'individuality.' |