Viii Prapathaka, 3 Khanda, 4. 129
Turrp KHANDA.
1. ‘These true desires, however, are hidden by
what is false; though the desires be true, they have
a covering which is false. Thus, whoever belonging
to us has departed this life, him we cannot gain
back, so that we should see him with our eyes.
2. ‘Those who belong to us, whether living or
departed, and whatever else there is which we wish
for and do not obtain, all that we find there (if
we descend into our heart, where Brahman dwells,
in the ether of the heart). There are all our true
desires, but hidden by what is false'. As people who
do not know the country, walk again and again over
a gold treasure that has been hidden somewhere in
the earth and do not discover it, thus do all these
creatures day after day go into the Brahma-world
(they are merged in Brahman, while asleep), and yet
do not discover it, because they are carried away by
untruth (they do not come to themselves, i.e. they
do not discover the true Self in Brahman, dwelling
in the heart).
3. ‘ That Self abides in the heart. And this is the
etymological explanation. The heart is called hvzd-
ayam, instead of hvzdy-ayam, i.e. He who is in the
heart. He who knows this, that He is in the heart,
goes day by day (when in sushupti, deep sleep) into
heaven (svarga), i.e. into the Brahman of the heart.
4. ‘Now that serene being? which, after having
1 All the desires mentioned before are fulfilled, if we find their fulfilment in our Self, in the city of Brahman within our heart. There we always can possess those whom we have loved, only we must not wish to see them with our eyes; that would be a false covering to a true desire.
A CIAER. U0 YL hea
130 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
risen from out this earthly body, and having reached
the highest light (self-knowledge), appears in its true
form, that is the Self, thus he spoke (when asked
by his pupils). This is the immortal, the fearless,
this is Brahman. And of that Brahman the name
is the True, Satyam.
5. This name Sattyam consists of three sylla-
bles, sat-ti-yam?. Sat signifies the immortal, t, the
mortal, and with yam he binds both. Because he
binds both, the immortal and the mortal, therefore
it is yam. He who knows this goes day by day
into heaven (svarga).
FourtH KHANWDA.
1. That Self is a bank ?, a boundary, so that these
worlds may not be confounded. Day and night do
not pass that bank, nor old age, death, and grief;
neither good nor evil deeds. All evil-doers turn back
from it, for the world of Brahman is free from all evil.
2. Therefore he who has crossed that bank, if
blind, ceases to be blind; if wounded, ceases to be
wounded; if afflicted, ceases to be afflicted. There-
fore when that bank has been crossed, night becomes
day indeed, for the world of Brahman is lighted up
once for all *.
3. And that world of Brahman belongs to those
* We ought probably to read Sattyam, and then Sat-tf-yam. The f in ti would then be the dual of an anubandha i. Instead of yaddhi, I conjecture yatti. See Ait. Aranyaka HS, i
? Setu, generally translated by bridge, was originally a bank of earth (mrzdadimaya), thrown up to serve as a pathway (pons) through water or a swamp. Such banks exist stiil in many places, and they serve at the same time as boundaries (maryada) between fields belonging to different properties. Cf. Mait. Up. VII, 7; Kath. Up. III, 2; Talav. Up. comm. p. 59; Muzd. Up. II, 2, 5.
© KAR Op lL A i;3.
Viii Prapathaka, 5 Khanda, 3. 131
only who find it by abstinence—for them there is freedom in all the worlds.
FirtH Kuawpa.
1. What people call sacrifice (yagiia), that is really
abstinence (brahmafarya). For he who knows,
obtains that (world of Brahman, which others obtain
by sacrifice), by means of abstinence.
What people call sacrifice (ish¢a), that is really
abstinence, for by abstinence, having searched (ish-
tva), he obtains the Self.
2. What people call sacrifice (sattrayaza), that is
really abstinence, for by abstinence he obtains from
the Sat (the true), the safety (trava) of the Self.
What people call the vow of silence (mauna), that
is really abstinence, for he who by abstinence has
found out the Self, meditates (manute).
3. What people call fasting (andsak4yana), that
is really abstinence, for that Self does not perish
(na nasyati), which we find out by abstinence.
What people call a hermit’s life (arazyAyana), that
is really abstinence. Ara‘ and /Vya are two lakes in
the world of Brahman, in the third heaven from hence:
and there is the lake Airammadftya, and the Asvattha
tree, showering down Soma, and the city of Brahman
(Hirazyagarbha) Aparagit4 ?, and the golden Prabhu-
vimita (the hall built by Prabhu, Brahman).
Now that world of Brahman belongs to those who
find the lakes Ara and VVya in the world of Brahman
by.means of abstinence; for them there is freedom
in all the worlds *.
1 In the Kaush. Br. Up. I, 3, the lake is called Ara, at least according to the commentator. 2 In the Kaush. Br. Up. Aparagita is not pfiz, but 4yatanam. > The fifth khazda is chiefly meant to recommend brahmaarya K 2
132 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
SixtH KHANDA.
1. Now those arteries of the heart consist of a brown substance, of a white, blue, yellow, and red
or abstinence from all worldly enjoyments, enjoined on the brah- mafarin, the student, as @ means of obtaining a knowledge of Brahman. But instead of showing that such abstinence is indis- pensable for a proper concentration of our intellectua) faculties we are told that abstinence is the same as certain sacrifices; and this is shown, not by arguments, but by a number of very far-fetched plays on words. These it is impossible to render in any transla- tion, nay, they hardly deserve being translated. Thus abstinence is said to be identical with sacrifice, yagfia, because yo g/fiata, ‘he who knows,’ has a certain similarity with yagfia. Ish/#a, another kind of sacrifice, is compared with eshaza, search; sattra- yaa with Sat, the True, the Brahman, and tra yama, protection ; mauna, silence, with manana, meditating (which may be right) ; andsakayana, fasting, with nas, to perish, and aramyagana, a hermit’s life, with ara, mya, and ayana, going to the two lakes Ara and JVya, which are believed to exist in the legendary world of Brahman. Nothing can be more absurd. Having once struck the note of Brahmanic legends, such as we find it, for instance, in the Kaushitaki-brahmama-upanishad, the author goes on. Besides the lakes Ara and JVya (in the Kaushitaki-brahmama-upanishad we have only one lake, called Ara), he mentions the Airammadiya lake, and explains it as aira (ira annam, tanmaya airo mandas, tena pfirzam airam) and madtya, delightful, The Asvattha tree, which pours down Soma, is not tortured into anything else, except that Soma is explained as the immortal, or nectar. Apardgita becomes the city of Brahman, because it can be conquered by no one except those who have practised abstinence. And the hall which elsewhere is called Vibhu-pramita becomes Prabhu- vimitam, or Prabhu-vinirmita, made by Prabhu, i.e. Brahman. All the fulfilled desires, as enumerated in khamdas 2-5, whether the finding again of our fathers and mothers, or entering the Brahmaloka with its lakes and palaces, must be taken, not as material (sthfila), but as mental only (manasa). On that account, however, they are by no means considered as false or unreal, as little as dreams are. Dreams are false and unreal, relatively only, 1.e. relatively to what we see, when we awake; but not in them- selves. Whatever we see in waking, also, has been shown to be
VIII PRAPATHAKA, 6 KHANDA, 5. a5
substance, and so is the sun brown, white, blue, yellow, and red.
2. As a very long highway goes to two places, to
one at the beginning, and to another at the end, so
do the rays of the sun go to both worlds, to this
one and to the other. They start from the sun,
and enter into those arteries; they start from those
arteries, and enter into the sun.
3. And when a man is asleep, reposing, and at
perfect rest, so that he sees no dream}, then he has
entered into those arteries. Then no evil touches
him, for he has obtained the light (of the sun).
4. And when a man falls ill, then those who sit
round him, say, ‘Do you know me? Do you know
me?’ As long as he has not departed from this
body, he knows them.
5. But when he departs from this body, then he
departs upwards by those very rays (towards the
worlds which he has gained by merit, not by know-
ledge); or he goes out while meditating on Om”
(and thus securing an entrance into the Brahma-
false; because it consists of forms and names only; yet these forms and names have a true element in them, viz. the Sat. Before we know that Sat, all the objects we see in waking seem true; as dreams seem true in dreaming. But when once we awake from our waking by true knowledge, we see that nothing is true but the Sat. When we imagine we see a serpent, and then discover that it is a rope, the serpent disappears as false, but what was true in it, the rope, remains true.
1 Svapna in Sanskrit is both somnus and somnium. Hence one might translate also, ‘so that he is not aware that he is asieep,’ which in some respects would seem even more appropriate in our passage; cf. VIII, 11, 1.
? According to the explanation given of the Om in the Upani- shads, and more particularly in the Dahara-vidy4 contained in this Prapasthaka.
134 KHANDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
loka). And while his mind is failing, he is going to
the sun. For the sun is the door of the world (of
Brahman). Those who know, walk in; those who
do not know, are shut out. There is this verse’:
‘There are a hundred and one arteries of the heart;
one of them penetrates the crown of the head;
moving upwards by it a man reaches the immortal ;
the others serve for departing in different directions,
yea, in different directions?’
SEVENTH KHANDA 3,
1. Pragdpati said: ‘ The Self which is free from sin,
free from old age, from death and grief, from hunger
and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought
to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to
imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it
is which we must try to understand. He who has
searched out that Self and understands it, obtains
all worlds and all desires.’
2. The Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons) both
heard these words, and said: ‘ Well, let us search
for that Self by which, if one has searched it out,
all worlds and all desires are obtained.’
Thus saying Indra went from the Devas, Virofana
from the Asuras, and both, without having com-
municated with each other, approached Pragdpati,
? Prasna Up. II, 1.
? The same verse occurs in the Ka/ha 6, 16, and is frequently quoted elsewhere, for instance, Mait. comm. p. 164. For vishvann, the right reading would seem to be vishvak. In the Mait. Up. VI, 30, the Trishfubh are reduced to Anush/ubh verses. See also Prasna Up. III, 6-7; Muzd. Up. II, 2.
* Here the highest problem is treated again, the knowledge of the true Self, which leads beyond the world of Brahma (masc.), and enables the individual self to return into the Highest Self.
Viii Prapathaka, 7 Khanda, 3. 135
holding fuel in their hands, as-is the custom for pupils approaching their master.
3- They dwelt there as pupils for thirty-two
years. Then Pragdpati asked them: ‘For what
purpose have you both dwelt here ?’
They replied: ‘A saying of yours is being re-
peated, viz. “the Self which is free from sin, free
from old age, from death and grief, from hunger
and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought
to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to
imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it
is which we must try to understand. He who has
searched out that Self and understands it, obtains all
worlds and all desires.” Now we both have dwelt
here because we wish for that Self.’
Pragapati said to them: ‘ The person that is seen
in the eye’, that is the Self. This is what I have
said. This is the immortal, the fearless, this is
Brahman.’
They asked: ‘Sir, he who is perceived in the
water, and he who is perceived in a mirror, who
is he?’
He replied: ‘He himself indeed is seen in all these 2.’