1. ‘As one might lead a person with his eyes covered away from the Gandharas %, and leave him
* Read abhiprasya, which is evidently intended by the com- mentary: abhiprayasya parityagya. See B. R. Sanskrit Dic- tionary, s. v.
* The question here asked is: The salt, though no longer per- ceptible by means of sight or touch, could be discovered by taste. Then how can the Sat be discovered, although it is imperceptible -by all the senses?
* The Gandharas, but rarely mentioned in the Rig-veda and the Ait. Brahmama, have left their name in Kdvdapo: and Candahar. The fact of their name being evidently quite familiar to the author of the Upanishad might be used to prove either its antiquity or its Northern origin.
106 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
then in a place where there are no human beings;
and as that person would turn towards the east, or
the north, or the west, and shout, “I have been
brought here with my eyes covered, I have been
left here with my eyes covered,”
2. ‘And as thereupon some one might loose his
bandage and say to him, “Go in that direction, it
is Gandh4ra, go in that direction;” and as there-
upon, having been informed and being able to judge
for himself, he would by asking his way from village
to village arrive at last at Gandhdra,—in exactly the
same manner does a man, who meets with a teacher
to inform him, obtain the true knowledge}. For him
“1 Tedious as the commentator is in general, he is sometimes almost eloquent in bringing out all that is implied or supposed to be implied in the sacred text. He explains the last simile as follows: A man was carried away by robbers from hisown country. After his eyes had been covered, he was taken to a forest full of terrors and dangers arising from tigers, robbers, &c. Not knowing where he was, and suffering from hunger and thirst, he began to cry, wishing to be de- livered from his bonds. Then a man took pity on him and removed his bonds, and when he had returned to his home, he was happy. Next follows the application. Our real home is the True (Sat), the Self of the world. The forest into which we are driven is the body, made of the three elements, fire, water, earth, consisting of blood, flesh, bones, &c., and liable to cold, heat, and many other evils. ‘The bands with which our eyes are covered are our desires for many things, real or unreal, such as wife, children, cattle, &c., while the robbers by whom we are driven into the forest are our good and evil deeds. Then we cry and say: ‘I am the son of so and so, these are my relatives, ] am happy, I am miserable, I am foolish, I am wise, I am just, I am born, I am dead, I am old, I am wretched, my son is dead, my fortune is gone, I am undone, how shall I live, where shall I go, who will save me?’ These and hundreds and thousands of other evils are the bands which blind us. Then, owing to some supererogatory good works we may have done, we suddenly meet a man who knows the Self of Brahman, whose own bonds have been broken, who takes pity on us and shows us the way to see the evil which attaches to all
Vi Prapathaka, I5 Khanda, I. 107
there is only delay so long as he is not delivered (from the body) ; then he will be perfect 1.
3. ‘That which is the subtile essence, in it all
that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the
Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.’
‘Please, Sir, inform me still more,’ said the son.
‘Be it so, my child,’ the father replied.
FIFTEENTH KHAWDA 2,
1. ‘If a man is ill, his relatives assemble round
him and ask: ‘“ Dost thou know me? Dost thou
know me?” Now as long as his speech is not
that we love in this world. We then withdraw ourselves from all worldly pleasures. We learn that we are not mere creatures of the world, the son of so and so, &c., but that we are that which is the True (Sat).. The bands of our ignorance and blindness are removed, and, like the man of Gandhara, we arrive at our own home, the Self, or the True. Then we are happy and blessed.
' The last words are really—‘ for him there is only delay so long as I shall not be delivered; then I shall be perfect.’ This requires some explanation. First of all, the change from the third to the first person, is best explained by assuming that at the point where all individuality vanishes, the father, as teacher, identifies himself with the person of whom he is speaking.
The delay (the Aira or kshepa) of which he speaks is the time which passes between the attainment of true knowledge and death, or freedom from the effects of actions performed before the at- tainment of knowledge. The actions which led to our present embodiment must be altogether consumed, before the body can perish, and then only are we free. As to any actions performed after the attainment of knowledge, they do not count; otherwise there would be a new embodiment, and the attainment of even true knowledge would never lead to final deliverance.
* The question supposed to be asked is: By what degrees a man, who has been properly instructed in the knowledge of Brahman, obtains the Sat, or returns to the True. To judge from the text both he who knows the True and he who does not, reach, when they die, the Sat, passing from speech to mind and breath and heat (fire). But whereas he who knows, remains in the Sat ; they who do not
108 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
merged in his mind, his mind in breath, breath in
heat (fire), heat in the Highest Being (devata), he
knows them.
2. ‘But when his speech is merged in his mind,
his mind in breath, breath in heat (fire), heat in the
Highest Being, then he knows them not.
‘That which is the subtile essence, in it all that
exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self,
and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.’
‘Please, Sir, inform me still more,’ said the son. _.
‘Be it so, my child,’ the father replied.
SIXTEENTH. KHANDA}.
1. ‘My child, they bring a man hither whom they
have taken by the hand, and they say: “He has
taken something, he has committed a theft.”. (When
know, return again to a new form of existence. It is important to observe that the commentator denies that he who knows, passes at his death through the artery of the head to the sun, and then to the Sat. He holds that with him who knows there is no further cause for delay, and that as soon as he dies, he returns to the Sat.
1 The next question is: Why does he who knows, on obtaining the Sat, not return, while he who does not know, though obtaining the Sat in death, returns? An illustration is chosen which is intended to show how knowledge produces a material effect. The belief in the efficacy of ordeals must have existed at the time, and appealing to that belief, the teacher says that the man who. knows himself guilty, is really burnt by the heated iron, while the man who knows himself innocent, is not. In the same manner the man who knows his Self to be the true Self, on approaching after death the true Self, is not repelled and sent back into a new existence, while he who does not know, is sent back into a new round of births and deaths. The man who tells a falsehood about himself, loses his true Self and is burnt; the man who has a false concep- tion about his Self, loses likewise his true Self, and not knowing the true Self, even though approaching it in death, he has to suffer till he acquires some day the true knowledge.
Vii Prapathaka, I Khanda, 2. 109
he denies, they say), “ Heat the hatchet for him.”
If he committed the theft, then he makes himself to
be what he is not. Then the false-minded, having
covered his true Self by a falsehood, grasps the
heated hatchet—he is burnt, and he is killed.
2. ‘But if he did not commit the theft, then he
makes himself to be what he is. Then the true-
minded, having covered his true Self by truth,
grasps the heated hatchet—he is not burnt, and he
is delivered. .;
‘As that (truthful) man is not burnt, thus has all
that exists its self in That. It is the True. It is
the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it. He under-
stood what he said, yea, he understood it.
SEVENTH PRAPA7AAKA.
First KHANDA.
1. N&rada approached Sanatkumféra and said,
‘Teach me, Sir!’ Sanatkumd4ra said to him: ‘ Please
to tell me what you know; afterward I shall tell you
what is beyond.’
110 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
vidya (the science of weapons) ; the Nakshatra-vidya
(astronomy); the Sarpa and Devagana-vidya (the
science of serpents or poisons, and the sciences of
the genii, such as the making of perfumes, dancing,
singing, playing, and other fine arts)'. All this
I know, Sir.
3. ‘ But, Sir, with all this I know the Mantras only,
the sacred books, I do not know the Self. I have
heard from men like you, that he who knows the
Self overcomes grief. Iam in grief. Do, Sir, help
me over this grief of mine.’
Sanatkuméra said to him: ‘Whatever you have read, is only a name.
4. ‘A name is the Azg-veda, Yagur-veda, Sama-
veda, and as the fourth the Atharvaza, as the fifth
the Itihdsa-puraza, the Veda of the Vedas, the
Pitrya, the Rasi, the Daiva, the Nidhi, the Vako-
vakya, the Ekayana, the Deva-vidya, the Brahma-
vidya, the Bhita-vidy4, the Kshatra-vidya, the Na-
kshatra-vidya, the Sarpa and Devagana-vidy4. All
these are a name only. Meditate on the name:
5. ‘He who meditates on the name as Brahman ?,
1 This passage, exhibiting the sacred literature as known at the time, should be compared with the Brzhadaramyaka, Il, 4,10. The explanation of the old titles rests on the authority of Sankara, and he is not always consistent. See Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays, 1873, Il, p. ro.
* Why a man who knows the Veda should not know the Self, while in other places it is said that the Veda teaches the Self, is well illustrated by the commentary. If a royal procession ap- proaches, he says, then, though we do not see the king, because he is hidden by flags, parasols, &c., yet we say, there is the. king. And if we ask who is the king, then again, though we cannot see him and point him out, we can say, at least, that he is different from all that is seen. The Self is hidden in the Veda as a king is hidden in a royal procession.
Vii Prapathaka, 2 Khanda, 2. Iti
is, as it were, lord and master as far as the name
reaches—he who meditates on the name as Brah-
man.’ a
‘Sir, is there something better than a name ?’
‘Yes, there is something better than a name.’
‘Sir, tell it me.’
SECOND KHANWDA.
1. ‘Speech is better than a name. Speech makes
us understand the Azg-veda, Yagur-veda, SAma-veda,
and as the fourth the Atharvama, as the fifth the
Itihdsa-puradvza, the Veda of the Vedas, the Pitrya,
the Rasi, the Daiva, the Nidhi, the Vakovakya, the
Ekayana, the Deva-vidya, the Brahma-vidya, the
Kshatra-vidya, the Nakshatra-vidya, the Sarpa and
Devagana-vidyA; heaven, earth, air, ether, water,
fire, gods, men, cattle, birds, herbs, trees, all
beasts down to worms, midges, and ants; what is
right and what is wrong; what is true and what
is false; what is good and what is bad; what is
pleasing and what is not pleasing. For if there
were no speech, neither right nor wrong would be
known !, neither the true nor the false, neither the
good nor the bad, neither the pleasant nor the
unpleasant. Speech makes us understand all this.
Meditate on speech.
2. ‘He who meditates on speech as Brahman, is,
as it were, lord and master as far as speech reaches—
he who meditates on speech as Brahman.’
‘Sir, is there something better than speech ?’
‘Yes, there is something better than speech.’
‘Sir, tell it me.’
* The commentator explains vyagfidpayishyat by avigfatam abhavishyat. Possibly hrzdayagfio stands for hridayagfam.
II2 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
Tuirp KHANDA.
1. ‘Mind (manas) is better than speech. For as
the closed fist holds two amalaka or two kola or two
aksha fruits, thus does mind hold speech and name.
For if a man is minded in his mind to read the
sacred hymns, he reads them; if he is minded in
his mind to perform any actions, he performs them ;
if he is minded to wish for sons and cattle, he
wishes for them; if he is minded to wish for this
world and the other, he wishes for them. For mind
is indeed the self}, mind is the world, mind is Brah-
man. Meditate on the mind.
2. ‘He who meditates on the mind as Brahman,
is, as it were, lord and master as far as the mind
reaches—he who meditates on the mind as Brahman.’