The Upanishads

1. The Discovery of the Absolute Brahman

The idea of transcendental Unity, Oneness, and Stability behind all the flux and variety of phenomenal life is the basal idea of the Upanishads: this is the pivot of all Indian metaphysics, the sum and goal of our spiritual experience. To the phenomenal world around us stability and singleness seem at first to be utterly alien; nothing but passes and changes, nothing but has its counterparts, contrasts, harmonised and dissident parts; and all are perpetually shifting and rearranging their relative positions and affections. Yet if one thing is certain, it is that the sum of all this change and motion is absolutely stable, fixed and unvarying, that all this heterogeneous multitude of animate and inanimate things are fundamentally homogeneous and one. Otherwise nothing could endure, nor could there be any certainty in existence. And this unity, stability, unvarying fixity which reason demands, and ordinary experience points to is being ascertained slowly but surely by the investigations of Science. We can no longer escape from the growing conviction that however the parts may change and shift and appear to perish, yet the sum and the whole remains unchanged, undiminished and imperishable; however multitudinous, mutable and mutually irreconcilable forms and compounds may be, yet the grand substratum is one, simple and enduring; death itself is not a reality but a seeming, for what appears to be destruction, is merely transformation and a preparation for rebirth. Science may not have appreciated the full import of her own discoveries; she may shrink from an unflinching acceptance of the logical results to which they lead; and certainly she is as yet far from advancing towards the great converse truths which they for the present conceal,—for instance the wonderful fact that not only is death a seeming, but life itself is a seeming, and beyond life and death there lies a condition which is truer and

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therefore more permanent than either. But though Science dreams not as yet of her goal her feet are on the road from which there is no turning back,—the road which Vedanta on a different plane has already trod before it.

Here then is a great fundamental fact which demands from philosophy an adequate explanation of itself,—that all variations resolve themselves into an unity; that within the flux of things and concealed by it is an indefinable, immutable Something, at once the substratum and sum of all, which Time cannot touch, motion perturb, nor variation increase or diminish, and that this substratum and sum has been from all eternity and will be for all eternity. A fundamental fact to which all thought moves, and yet is it not, when narrowly considered, an acute paradox? For how can the sum of infinite variations be a sempiternally fixed amount which has never augmented or decreased and can never augment or decrease? How can that whole be fixed and eternal of which every smallest part is eternally varying and perishing? Given a bewildering whirl of motion, how does the result come to be not merely now or as a result, but from beginning to end a perfect fixity? Impossible, unless either there be a guiding Power, for which at first sight there seems to be no room in the sempiternal chain of causation; or unless that sum and substratum be the one reality, imperishable because not conditioned by Time, indivisible because not conditioned by Space, immutable because not conditioned by causality,—in a word absolute and transcendent and therefore eternal, unalterable and undecaying. Motion and change and death and division would then be merely transitory phenomena, marks and seemings of the One and Absolute, the as yet undefined and perhaps indefinable It which alone is.

To such a conclusion Indian speculation had turned at a very early period of its conscious strivings—uncertainly at first and with many gropings and blunders. The existence of some Oneness which gives order and stability to the multitudinous stir of the visible world, the Aryan thinkers were from the first disposed to envisage and they sought painfully to arrive at the knowledge of that Oneness in its nature or its essentiality. The living Forces of the Cosmos which they had long worshipped,

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yet always with a floating but persistent perception of an Unity in their multitude, melted on closer analysis into a single concept, a single Force or Presence, one and universal. The question then arose, was that Force or Presence intelligent or non-intelligent? God or Nature? "He alone," hazarded the Rig-veda, "knoweth, or perhaps He knoweth not." Or might it not be that the Oneness which ties together and governs phenomena and rolls out the evolution of the worlds, is really the thing we call Time, since of the three original conditions of phenomenal existence, Time, Space and Causality, Time is a necessary part of the conception of Causality and can hardly be abstracted from the conception of Space, but neither Space nor Causality seems necessary to the conception of Time? Or if it be not Time, might it not be svabhāva, the essential nature of things taking various conditions and forms? Or perhaps Chance, some blind principle working out an unity and law in things by infinite experiment,—this too might be possible. Or since from eternal uncertainty eternal certainty cannot come, might it not be Fate, a fixed and unalterable law in things in subjection to which this world evolves itself in a preordained procession of phenomena from which it cannot deviate? Or perhaps in the original atomic fountain of things certain Elements might be discovered which by perpetual and infinite combinations and permutations keep the universe to its workings? But if so, these elements must themselves proceed from something which imposes on them the law of their being, and what could that be but the Womb, the matrix of original and indestructible matter, the plasm which moulds the universe and out of which it is moulded? And yet in whatever scheme of things the mind might ultimately rest, some room surely must be made for these conscious, thinking and knowing Egos of living beings, of whom knowledge and thought seem to be the essential selves and without whom this world of perceivable and knowable things could not be perceived and known;—and if not perceived and known, might it not be that without them it could not even exist?

Such were the gurges of endless speculation in which the old Aryan thinkers tossed and, perplexed, sought for some firm standing-ground, some definite clue which might save them from

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being beaten about like stumbling blind men led by a guide as blind. They sought at first to liberate themselves from the tyranny of appearances by the method which Kapila, the ancient prehistoric Master of Thought, had laid down for mankind, the method called Sankhya or the law of Enumeration. The method of Kapila consisted in guidance by pure discriminative reason and it took its name from one of its principal rules, the law of enumeration and generalisation. They enumerated first the immediate Truths-in-Things which they could distinguish or deduce from things obviously phenomenal, and from these by generalisation they arrived at a much smaller number of ulterior Truths-in-Things of which the immediate were merely aspects. And then having enumerated these ulterior Truths-in-Things, they were able by generalisation to reduce them to a very small number of ultimate Truths-in-Things, the Tattwas (literally That-nesses) of the developed Sankhya philosophy. And these Tattwas once enumerated with some approach to certainty, was it not possible to generalise yet one step farther? The Sankhya did so generalise and by this supreme and final generalisation arrived at the very last step on which, in its own unaided strength, it could take safe footing. This was the great principle of Prakriti, the single eternal indestructible principle and origin of Matter which by perpetual evolution rolls out through aeons and aeons the unending panorama of things.¹ And for whose benefit? Surely for those conscious knowing and perceiving Egos, the army of witnesses, who, each in his private space of reasoning and perceiving Mind partitioned off by an enveloping medium of gross matter, sit for ever as spectators in the theatre of the Universe! For ever, thought the Sankhyas, since the Egos, though their partitions are being continually broken down and built anew and the spaces occupied never remain permanently identical, yet seem themselves to be no less eternal and indestructible than Prakriti.

This then was the wide fixed lake of ascertained philosophical knowledge into which the method of Sankhya, pure intellectual

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reasoning on definite principles, led in the mind of ancient India. Branchings-off, artificial canals from the reservoir were not, indeed, wanting. Some, by resolving that army of witnesses into a single Witness, arrived at the dual conception of God and Nature, Purusha and Prakriti, Spirit and Matter, Ego and Non-ego. Others, more radical, perceived Prakriti as the creation, shadow or aspect of Purusha, so that God alone remained, the spiritual or ideal factor eliminating by inclusion the material or real. Solutions were also attempted on the opposite side; for some eliminated the conscious Egos themselves as mere seemings; not a few seem to have thought that each ego is only a series of successive shocks of consciousness and the persistent sense of identity no more than an illusion due to the unbroken continuity of the shocks. If these shocks of consciousness are borne on the brain from the changes of Prakriti in the multitudinous stir of evolution, then is consciousness one out of the many terms of Prakriti itself, so that Prakriti alone remains as the one reality, the material or real factor eliminating by inclusion the spiritual or ideal. But if we deny, as many did, that Prakriti is an ultimate reality apart from the perceptions of Purushas and yet apply the theory of a false notion of identity created by successive waves of sensation, we arrive at the impossible and sophistic position of the old Indian Nihilists whose reason by a singular suicide landed itself in Nothingness as the cradle and bourne, nay, the very stuff and reality of all existence. And there was a third direction in which thought tended and which led it to the very threshold of Vedanta; for this also was a possible speculation that Prakriti and Purusha might both be quite real and yet not ultimately different aspects or sides of each other and so, after all, of a Oneness higher than either. But these speculations plausible or imperfect, logical or sophistic, were yet mere speculations; they had no basis either in observed fact or in reliable experience. Two certainties seemed to have been arrived at, Prakriti was testified to by a close analysis of phenomenal existence; it was the basis of the phenomenal world which without a substratum of original matter could not be accounted for and without a fundamental oneness and indestructibility in that substratum could not be what observation showed it to be, subject,

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namely, to fixed laws and evidently invariable in its sum and substance. On the other hand, Purushas were testified to by the eternal persistence of the sense of individuality and identity whether during life or after death² and by the necessity of a perceiving cause for the activity of Prakriti; they were the receptive and contemplative Egos within the sphere of whose consciousness Prakriti, stirred to creative activity by their presence, performed her long drama of phenomenal Evolution.

But meanwhile the seers of ancient India had, in their experiments and efforts at spiritual training and the conquest of the body, perfected a discovery which in its importance to the future of human knowledge dwarfs the divinations of Newton and Galileo; even the discovery of the inductive and experimental method in Science was not more momentous; for they discovered down to its ultimate processes the method of Yoga and by the method of Yoga they rose to three crowning realisations. They realised first as a fact the existence under the flux and multitudinousness of things of that supreme Unity and immutable Stability which had hitherto been posited only as a necessary theory, an inevitable generalisation. They came to know that It is the one reality and all phenomena merely its seemings and appearances, that It is the true Self of all things and phenomena are merely its clothes and trappings. They learned that It is absolute and transcendent and, because absolute and transcendent, therefore eternal, immutable, imminuable and indivisible. And looking back on the past progress of speculation they perceived that this also was the goal to which pure intellectual reasoning would have led them. For that which is in Time must be born and perish; but the Unity and Stability of things is eternal and must therefore transcend Time. That which is in Space must increase and diminish, have parts and relations, but the Unity and Stability of things is imminuable, not augmentable, independent of the changefulness of its parts and untouched by the shifting of their relations, and must therefore transcend

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Space;—and if it transcends Space, cannot really have parts, since Space is the condition of material divisibility; divisibility therefore must be, like death, a seeming and not a reality. Finally that which is subject to Causality, is necessarily subject to Change; but the Unity and Stability of things is immutable, the same now as it was aeons ago and will be aeons hereafter, and must therefore transcend Causality.

This then was the first realisation through Yoga, nityo'nityānām, the One Eternal in many transient.

At the same time they realised one truth more,—a surprising truth; they found that the transcendent absolute Self of things was also the Self of living beings, the Self too of man, that highest of the beings living in the material plane on earth. The Purusha or conscious Ego in man which had perplexed and baffled the Sankhyas, turned out to be precisely the same in his ultimate being as Prakriti the apparently non-conscious source of things; the non-consciousness of Prakriti, like so much else, was proved a seeming, and no reality, since behind the inanimate form a conscious Intelligence at work is to the eyes of the Yogin luminously self-evident.

This then was the second realisation through Yoga, cetanaścetanānām, the One Consciousness in many Consciousnesses.

Finally at the base of these two realisations was a third, the most important of all to our race,—that the Transcendent Self in individual man is as complete because identically the same as the Transcendent Self in the Universe; for the Transcendent is indivisible and the sense of separate individuality is only one of the fundamental seemings on which the manifestation of phenomenal existence perpetually depends. In this way the Absolute which would otherwise be beyond knowledge, becomes knowable; and the man who knows his whole Self knows the whole Universe. This stupendous truth is enshrined to us in the two famous formulae of Vedanta, so'ham, He am I, and aham brahma asmi, I am Brahman, the Eternal.

Based on these four grand truths, nityo'nityānām, cetanaścetanānām, so'ham, aham brahma asmi, as upon four mighty pillars the lofty philosophy of the Upanishads raised its front among the distant stars.

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2. Nature of the Absolute Brahman

Viewed in the light of these four great illuminations the utterances of the Upanishads arrange themselves and fall into a perfect harmony. European scholars like Max Müller have seen in these Scriptures a mass of heterogeneous ideas where the sublime jostles the childish, the grandiose walks arm-in-arm with the grotesque, the most petty trivialities feel at home with the rarest and most solemn philosophical intuitions, and they have accordingly declared them to be the babblings of a child humanity; inspired children, idiots endowed with genius, such to the Western view are the great Rishis of the Aranyaka. But the view is suspect from its very nature. It is not likely that men who handle the ultimate and most difficult intellectual problems with such mastery, precision and insight, would babble mere folly in matters which require the use of much lower faculties. Their utterances in this less exalted sphere may be true or they may be erroneous, but, it may fairly be assumed, they gave them forth with a perfectly clear idea of their bearing and signification. To an understanding totally unacquainted with the methods by which they are arrived at, many of the established conclusions of modern Science would seem unutterably grotesque and childish,—the babblings if not of a child humanity at least of humanity in its dotage; and yet only a little accurate knowledge is needed to show that these grotesque trivialities are well-ascertained and irrefragable truths.

In real truth the Upanishads are in all their parts, allowing for imaginative language and an occasional element of symbolism, quite rational, consistent and homogeneous. They are not concerned indeed to create an artificial impression of consistency by ignoring the various aspects of this manifold Universe and reducing all things to a single denomination; for they are

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not metaphysical treatises aiming at mathematical abstractness or geometrical precision and consistency. They are a great store of observations and spiritual experiences with conclusions and generalisations from those observations and experiences, set down without any thought of controversial caution or any anxiety to avoid logical contradictions. Yet they have the consistency of all truthful observation and honest experience; they arrange themselves naturally and without set purpose under one grand universal truth developed into a certain number of wide general laws within whose general agreement there is room for infinite particular variations and even anomalies. They have in other words a scientific rather than a logical consistency.

To the rigorous logician bound in his narrow prison of verbal reasoning, the Upanishads seem indeed to base themselves on an initial and fundamental inconsistency. There are a number of passages in these Scriptures which dwell with striking emphasis on the unknowableness of the Absolute Brahman. It is distinctly stated that neither mind nor senses can reach the Brahman and that words return baffled from the attempt to describe It; more—that we do not discern the Absolute and Transcendent in Its reality, nor can we discriminate the right way or perhaps any way of teaching the reality of It to others; and it is even held, that It can only be properly characterised in negative language and that to every challenge for definition the only true answer is neti neti, It is not this, It is not that. Brahman is not definable, not describable, not intellectually knowable. And yet in spite of these passages the Upanishads constantly declare that Brahman is the one true object of knowledge and the whole Scripture is in fact an attempt not perhaps to define, but at least in some sort to characterise and present an idea, and even a detailed idea, of the Brahman.

The inconsistency is more apparent than real. The Brahman in Its ultimate reality is transcendent, absolute, infinite; but the senses and the intellect, which the senses supply with material, are finite; speech also is limited by the deficiencies of the intellect; Brahman must therefore in Its very nature be unknowable to the intellect and beyond the power of speech to describe,—yet only in Its ultimate reality, not in Its aspects or manifestations.

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The Agnostic Scientist also believes that there must be some great ultimate Reality unknown and probably unknowable to man (ignoramus et ignorabimus) from which this Universe proceeds and on which all phenomena depend, but his admission of Unknowableness is confined to the ultimate Nature of this supreme Ens and not to its expression or manifestation in the Universe. The Upanishad, proceeding by a profounder method than material analysis, casts the net of knowledge wider than the modern Agnostic, yet in the end its attitude is much the same; it differs only in this important respect that it asserts even the ultimate Brahman to be, although inexpressible in the terms of finite knowledge, yet realisable and attainable.

The first great step to the realisation of the Brahman is by the knowledge of Him as manifested in the phenomenal Universe; for if there is no reality but Brahman, the phenomenal Universe which is obviously a manifestation of something permanent and eternal, must be a manifestation of Brahman and of nothing else, and if we know it completely, we do to a certain extent and in a certain way know Him, not as an Absolute Existence, but under the conditions of phenomenal manifestation. While, however, European Science seeks only to know the phenomena of gross matter, the Yogin goes farther. He asserts that he has discovered an universe of subtle matter penetrating and surrounding the gross; this universe to which the spirit withdraws partially and for a brief time in sleep but more entirely and for a longer time through the gates of death, is the source whence all psychic processes draw their origin; and the link which connects this universe with the gross material world is to be found in the phenomena of life and mind. His assertion is perfectly positive and the Upanishad proceeds on it as on an ascertained and indisputable fact quite beyond the limits of mere guess-work, inference or speculation. But he goes yet farther and declares that there is yet a third universe of causal matter penetrating and surrounding both the subtle and the gross, and that this universe to which the spirit withdraws in the deepest and most abysmal states of sleep and trance and also in a remote condition beyond the state of man after death, is the source whence all phenomena take their rise. If we are to understand the Upanishads

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we must accept these to us astounding statements, temporarily at least; for on them the whole scheme of Vedanta is built. Now Brahman manifests Himself in each of these Universes, in the Universe of causal matter as the Cause, Self and Inspirer, poetically styled, Prajna the Wise One; in the universe of subtle matter as the Creator, Self and Container, styled Hiranyagarbha the Golden Embryo of life and form, and in the universe of gross matter as the Ruler, Guide, Self and Helper, styled Virat the Shining and mighty One. And in each of these manifestations He can be known and realised by the spirit of man.

Granted the truth of these remarkable assertions, what then is the relation between the Supreme Self and man? The position has already been quite definitely taken that the transcendent Self in man is identically the same as the transcendent Self in the Universe and that this identity is the one great key to the knowledge of the Absolute Brahman. Does not this position rule out of court any such differences between the Absolute and the human Self as is implied in the character of the triple manifestation of Brahman? On the one hand completest identity of the Supreme Self and the human is asserted as an ascertained and experienced fact, on the other hand widest difference is asserted as an equally well-ascertained and experienced fact; there can be no reconciliation between these incompatible statements. Yet are they both facts, answers Vedanta; identity is a fact in the reality of things; difference is a fact in the appearance of things, the world of phenomena; for phenomena are in their essence nothing but seemings and the difference between the individual Self and the Universal Self is the fundamental seeming which makes all the rest possible. This difference grows as the manifestation of Brahman proceeds. In the world of gross matter, it is complete; the difference is so acute, that it is impossible for the material sensual being to conceive of the Supreme Soul as having any point of contact with his own soul and it is only by a long process of evolution that he arrives at the illumination in which some kind of identity becomes to him conceivable. The basal conception for Mind as conditioned by gross matter is Dualistic; the knower here must be different from the known and his whole intellectual development consists in the discovery,

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development and perfected use of ever new media and methods of knowledge. Undoubtedly the ultimate knowledge he arrives at brings him to the fundamental truth of identity between himself and the Supreme Self, but in the sphere of gross phenomena this identity can never be more than an intellectual conception, it can never be verified by personal realisation. On the other hand it can be felt, by the supreme sympathy of love and faith, either through love of humanity and of all other fellow-beings or directly through love of God. This feeling of identity is very strong in religions based largely on the sentiment of Love and Faith. I and my Father are One, cried the Founder of Christianity; I and my brother man and my brother beast are One, says Buddhism; St. Francis spoke of Air as his brother and Water as his sister; and the Hindu devotee when he sees a bullock lashed falls down in pain with the mark of the whip on his own body. But the feeling of Oneness remaining only a feeling does not extend into knowledge and therefore these religions while emotionally pervaded with the sense of identity, tend in the sphere of intellect to a militant Dualism or to any other but always unmonistic standpoint. Dualism is therefore no mere delusion; it is a truth, but a phenomenal truth and not the ultimate reality of things.

As it proceeds in the work of discovering and perfecting methods of knowledge, the individual self finds an entry into the universe of subtle phenomena. Here the difference that divides it from the Supreme Self is less acute; for the bonds of matter are lightened and the great agents of division and disparity, Time and Space, diminish in the insistency of their pressure. The individual here comes to realise a certain unity with the great Whole; he is enlarged and aggrandised into a part of the Universal Self, but the sense of identity is not complete and cannot be complete. The basal conception for mind in this subtle Universe is Dualo-Monistic; the knower is not quite different from the known; he is like and of the same substance but inferior, smaller and dependent; his sense of oneness may amount to similarity and co-substantiality but not to coincidence and perfect identity.

From the subtle Universe the individual self rises in its evolution

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until it is able to enter the universe of causal matter, where it stands near to the fountain-head. In this universe media and methods of knowledge begin to disappear, Mind comes into almost direct relations with its source and the difference between the individual and the Supreme Self is greatly attenuated. Nevertheless there is here too a wall of difference, even though it wears eventually thin as the thinnest paper. The knower is aware that he is coeval and coexistent with the Supreme Self, he is aware of a sense of omnipresence, for wherever the Supreme Self is, there also he is; he is, moreover, on the other side of phenomena and can see the Universe at will without him or within him; but he has still not necessarily realised the supreme as utterly himself, although this perfect realisation is now for the first time in his grasp. The basal perception for Mind in this Universe is Monism with a difference, but the crowning perception of Monism becomes here possible.

And when it is no longer only possible but grasped? Then the individual Self entering into full realisation, ceases in any sense to be the individual Self, but merges into and becomes again the eternal and absolute Brahman, without parts, unbeginning, undecaying, unchanging. He has passed beyond causality and phenomena and is no longer under the bondage of that which is only by seeming. This is the Laya or utter Absorption of Hinduism, the highest nirvāṇa or extinction from phenomena of the Upanishads and of Buddhist metaphysics. It is obviously a state which words fail to describe, since words which are created to express relations and have no meaning except when they express relations, cannot deal successfully with a state which is perfectly pure, absolute and unrelated; nor is it a condition which the bounded and finite intellect of man on this plane can for a moment envisage. This unintelligibility of the supreme state is naturally a great stumbling-block to the undisciplined imagination of our present-day humanity which, being sensuous, emotional and intellectual, inevitably recoils from a bliss in which neither the senses, emotions nor intellect have any place. Surely, we cry, the extinction or quietude of all these sources and means of sensation and pleasure imply not supreme bliss but absolute nothingness, blank annihilation. "An error," answers the

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Vedanta, "a pitiful, grovelling error! Why is it that the senses cease in that supreme condition? Because the senses were evolved in order to sense external being and where externality ceases, they having no action cease to exist. The emotions too are directed outwards and need another for their joy, they can only survive so long as we are incomplete. The intellect similarly is and works only so long as there is something external to it and ungrasped. But to the Most High there is nothing ungrasped, the Most High depends on none for His joy. He has therefore neither emotions nor intellect, nor can he either, who merges in and becomes the Most High, possess them for a moment after that high consummation. The deprivation of the limited senses in His boundlessness is not a loss or an extinction, but must be a fulfilment, a development into Being which rejoices in its own infinity. The disappearance of our broken and transient emotions in His completeness must bring us not into a cold void but rather into illimitable bliss. The culmination of knowledge by the supersession of our divided and fallible intellect must lead not to utter darkness and blank vacuity but to the luminous ecstasy of an infinite Consciousness. Not the annihilation of Being, but utter fullness of Being is our Nirvana." And when this ecstatic language is brought to the touch-stone of reason, it must surely be declared just and even unanswerable. For the final absolution of the intellect can only be at a point where the Knower, Knowledge and the Known become one, Knowledge being there infinite, direct and without media. And where there is this infinite and flawless knowledge, there must be, one thinks, infinite and flawless existence and bliss. But by the very conditions of this stage, we can only say of it that it is, we cannot define it in words, precisely because we cannot realise it with the intellect. The Self can be realised only with the Self; there is no other instrument of realisation.

Granted, it may be said, that such a state is conceivably possible,—as certainly it is, starting from your premises, the only and inevitable conclusion,—but what proof have we that it exists as a reality? What proof can even your Yoga bring to us that it exists? For when the individual Self becomes identified with the Supreme, its evolution is over and it does not return

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into phenomena to tell its experiences. The question is a difficult one to handle, partly because language, if it attempts to deal with it at all precisely, must become so abstract and delicate as to be unintelligible, partly because the experiences it involves are so far off from our present general evolution and attained so rarely that dogmatism or even definite statement appears almost unpardonable. Nevertheless with the using of metaphorical language, or, in St. Paul's words, speaking as a fool, one may venture to outline what there is at all to be said on the subject. The truth then seems to be that there are even in this last or fourth State of the Self, stages and degrees, as to the number of which experience varies; but for practical purposes we may speak of three, the first when we stand at the entrance of the porch and look within; the second when we stand at the inner extremity of the porch and are really face to face with the Eternal; the third when we enter into the Holy of Holies. Be it remembered that the language I am using is the language of metaphor and must not be pressed with a savage literalness. Well, then, the first stage is well within the possible experience of man and from it man returns to be a Jivanmukta, one who lives and is yet released in his inner self from the bondage of phenomenal existence; the second stage once reached, man does not ordinarily return unless he is a supreme Buddha,—or perhaps as a world Avatar; from the third stage none returns, nor is it attainable in the body. Brahman as realised by the Jivanmukta, seen from the entrance of the porch, is that which we usually term Parabrahman, the Supreme Eternal and the subject of the most exalted descriptions of the Vedanta. There are therefore five conditions of Brahman. Brahman Virat, Master of the Waking Universe; Brahman Hiranyagarbha, of the Dream Universe; Brahman Prajna or Avyakta of the Trance Universe of Unmanifestation; Parabrahman, the Highest; and that which is higher than the highest, the Unknowable. Now of the Unknowable it is not profitable to speak, but something of Parabrahman can be made intelligible to the human understanding because,—always if the liberal use of loose metaphors is not denied,—it can be partially brought within the domain of speech.

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3. Parabrahman

So far the great Transcendent Reality has been viewed from the standpoint of the human spirit as it travels on the upward curve of evolution to culminate in the Supreme. It will now be more convenient to view the Absolute from the other end of the cycle of manifestation where, in a sense, evolution begins and the great Cause of phenomena stands with His face towards the Universe He will soon create. At first of course there is the Absolute, unconditioned, unmanifested, unimaginable, of Whom nothing can be predicated except negatives. But as the first step towards manifestation the Absolute—produces, shall we say? let the word serve for want of a better!—produces in Itself a luminous Shadow of Its infinite inconceivable Being,—the image is trivial and absurd, but one can find none adequate,—which is Parabrahman or, if we like so to call Him, God, the Eternal, the Supreme Spirit, the Seer, Witness, Wisdom, Source, Creator, Ancient of Days. Of Him Vedanta itself can only speak in two great trilogies, subjective and objective, saccidānandam, Existence, Consciousness, Bliss; satyam, jñānam, anantam, Truth, Knowledge, Infinity.

Saccidānandam. The Supreme is Pure Being, Absolute Existence, sat. He is Existence because He alone Is, there being nothing else which has any ultimate reality or any being independent of His self-manifestation. And He is Absolute Existence because since He alone is and nothing else exists in reality, He must necessarily exist by Himself, in Himself and to Himself. There can be no cause for His existence, nor object to His existence; nor can there be any increase or diminution in Him, since increase can only come by addition from something external and diminution by loss to something external, and there is nothing external to Brahman. He cannot change, in any way, for then He would be subject to Time and Causality; nor have parts, for then

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He would be subject to the law of Space. He is beyond the conceptions of Space, Time and Causality which He creates phenomenally as the conditions of manifestation but which cannot condition their Source. Parabrahman, then, is Absolute Existence.

The Supreme is also Pure Awareness, Absolute Consciousness, cit. We must be on our guard against confusing the ultimate consciousness of Brahman with our own modes of thought and knowledge, or calling Him in any but avowedly metaphorical language the Universal Omniscient Mind and by such other terminology; Mind, Thought, Knowledge, Omniscience, Partial Science, Nescience are merely modes in which Consciousness figures under various conditions and in various receptacles. But the Pure Consciousness of the Brahman is a conception which transcends our modes of thinking. Philosophy has done well to point out that consciousness is in its essence purely subjective. We are not conscious of external objects; we are only conscious of certain perceptions and impressions in our brains which by the separate or concurrent operation of our senses we are able to externalise into name and form; and in the very nature of things and to the end of Time we cannot be conscious of anything except these impressions and perceptions. The fact is indubitable, though Materialism and Idealism explain it in diametrically opposite directions. We shall eventually know that this condition is imperative precisely because consciousness is the fundamental thing from which all phenomenal existence proceeds, so much so that all phenomena have been called by a bold metaphor distortions or corruptions (vikāras) of the absolute consciousness. Monistic philosophers tell us however that the true explanation is not corruption but illation (adhyāropa), first of the idea of not-self into the Self, and of externality into the internal, and then of fresh and ever more complex forms by the method of Evolution. These metaphysical explanations it is necessary indeed to grasp, but even when we have mastered their delicate distinctions, refined upon refinement and brought ourselves to the verge of infinite ideas, there at least we must pause; we are moored to our brains and cannot in this body cut the rope in order to spread our sails over the illimitable ocean.

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It is enough if we satisfy ourselves with some dim realisation of the fact that all sentience is ultimately self-sentience.

The Upanishads tell us that Brahman is not a blind universal Force working by its very nature mechanically, nor even an unconscious Cause of Force; He is conscious or rather is Himself Consciousness, cit, as well as sat. It necessarily follows that sat and cit are really the same; Existence is Consciousness and cannot be separated from Consciousness. Phenomenally we may choose to regard existence as proceeding from sentience or culminating in it or being in and by it; but culmination is only a return to a concealed source, an efflorescence already concealed in the seed. So that from all these three standpoints sentience is eventually the condition of existence; they are only three different aspects of the mental necessity which forbids us to imagine the great Is as essentially unaware that He Is. We may of course choose to believe that things are the other way about, that existence proceeds from insentience through sentience back again to insentience; sentience is then merely a form of insentience, a delusion or temporary corruption (vikāra) of the eternal and insentient. In this case Sentience, Intelligence, Mind, Thought and Knowledge, all are Maya and either insentient Matter or Nothingness the only eternal reality. But the Nihilist's negation of existence is a mere reductio ad absurdum of all thought and reason, a metaphysical hara-kiri by which Philosophy rips up her own bowels with her own weapons. The Materialist's conclusion of eternal insentient Matter seems to stand on firmer ground; for we have certainly the observed fact that evolution seems to start from inanimate matter, and consciousness presents itself in matter as a thing that appears for a short time only to disappear, a phenomenon or temporary seeming. To this argument also Vedanta can marshal a battalion of replies. The assertion of eternally insentient Matter (prakṛti) without any permanently sentient reality (puruṣa) is, to begin with, a paradox far more startling than the monistic paradox of Maya and lands us in a conclusion mentally inconceivable. Nor is the materialistic conclusion indisputably proved by observed facts; rather facts seem to lead us to a quite different conclusion, since the existence of anything really insentient behind which there is

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no concealed Sentience is an assumption (for we cannot even positively say that inanimate things are absolutely inanimate), and the one fact we surely and indisputably know is our own sentience and animation. In the workings of inanimate Matter we everywhere see Intelligence operating by means and adapting means to an end and the intelligent use of means by an unconscious entity is a thing paradoxical in itself and unsupported by an atom of proof; indeed the wider knowledge of the Universe attainable to Yoga actually does reveal such a Universal Intelligence everywhere at work.

Brahman, then, is Consciousness, and this once conceded, it follows that He must be in His transcendental reality Absolute Consciousness. His Consciousness is from itself and of itself like His existence, because there is nothing separate and other than Him; not only so but it does not consist in the knowledge of one part of Himself by another, or of His parts by His whole, since His transcendental existence is one and simple, without parts. His consciousness therefore does not proceed by the same laws as our consciousness, does not proceed by differentiating subject from object, knower from known, but simply is, by its own right of pure and unqualified existence, eternally and illimitably, in a way impure and qualified existences cannot conceive.

The Supreme is, finally, Pure Ecstasy, Absolute Bliss, ānanda. Now just as sat and cit are the same, so are sat and cit not different from ānanda; just as Existence is Consciousness and cannot be separated from Consciousness, so Conscious Existence is Bliss and cannot be separated from Bliss. I think we feel this even in the very finite existence and cramped consciousness of life on the material plane. Conscious existence at least cannot endure without pleasure; even in the most miserable sentient being there must be pleasure in existence though it appear small as a grain of mustard seed; blank absolute misery entails suicide and annihilation as its necessary and immediate consequence. The will to live,—the desire of conscious existence and the instinct of self-preservation, is no mere teleological arrangement of Nature with a particular end before it, but is fundamental and independent of end or object; it is merely a body and form to that pleasure of existence which is essential

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and eternal; and it cannot be forced to give way to anything but that will to live more fully and widely which is the source on one side of all personal ambition and aspiration, on the other of all love, self-sacrifice and self-conquest. Even suicide is merely a frenzied revolt against limitation, a revolt not the less significant because it is without knowledge. The pleasure of existence can consent to merge only in the greater pleasure of a widened existence, and religion, the aspiration towards God, is simply the fulfilment of this eternal elemental force, its desire to merge its separate and limited joy in the sheer bliss of infinite existence. The will to live individually embodies the pleasure of individual existence which is the outer phenomenal self of all creatures; but the will to live infinitely can only proceed straight from the transcendent, ultimate Spirit in us which is our real Self; and it is this that availeth towards immortality. Brahman, then, being infinity of conscious existence, is also infinite bliss and the bliss of Brahman is necessarily absolute both in its nature and as to its object. Any mixture or coexistence with pain would imply a cause of pain either the same or other than the cause of bliss, and with the immediate admission of division, struggle, opposition, of something inharmonious and self-annulling in Brahman; but division and opposition which depend upon relation cannot exist in the unrelated Absolute. Pain is, properly considered, the result of limitation. When the desires and impulses are limited in their satisfaction or the matter, physical or mental, on which they act is checked, pressed inward, divided or pulled apart by some thing alien to itself, then only can pain arise. Where there is no limitation, there can be no pain. The Bliss of Brahman is therefore absolute in its nature.

It is no less absolute with regard to its object; for the subject and object are the same. It is inherent in His own existence and consciousness and cannot possibly have any cause within or without Him who alone Is and Is without parts or division. Some would have us believe that a self-existent bliss is impossible; that bliss, like pain, needs an object or cause different from the subject and therefore depends on limitation. Yet even in this material or waking world any considerable and deep experience will show us that there is a pleasure which is independent of surroundings

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and does not rely for its sustenance on temporary or external objects. The pleasure that depends on others is turbid, precarious and marred by the certainty of diminution and loss; it is only as one withdraws deeper and deeper into oneself that one comes nearer and nearer to the peace that passeth understanding. An equally significant fact is to be found in the phenomena of satiety, of which this is the governing law that the less limited and the more subjective the field of pleasure, the farther is it removed from the reach of satiety and disgust. The body is rapidly sated with pleasure; the emotions, less limited and more subjective, can take in a much deeper draught of joy; the mind, still wider and more capable of internality, has a yet profounder gust and untiring faculty of assimilation; the pleasures of the intellect and higher understanding, where we move in a very rare and wide atmosphere, seldom pall and, even then, soon repair themselves; while the infinite spirit, the acme of our subjectiveness, knows not any disgust of spiritual ecstasy and will be content with nothing short of infinity in its bliss. The logical culmination of this ascending series is the transcendent and absolute Parabrahman whose bliss is endless, self-existent and pure.

This then is the Trinity of the Upanishads, Absolute Existence; which is therefore Absolute Consciousness; which is therefore Absolute Bliss.

And then the second Trinity satyaṁ jñānam anantam. This Trinity is not different from the first but merely its objective expression. Brahman is satyam, Truth or Reality because Truth or Reality is merely the subjective idea of existence viewed objectively. Only that which fundamentally exists is real and true, and Brahman being absolute existence is also absolute truth and reality. All other things are only relatively real, not indeed false in every sense since they are appearances of a Reality, but impermanent and therefore not in themselves ultimately true.

Brahman is also jñānam, Knowledge; for Knowledge is merely the subjective idea of consciousness viewed objectively. The word jñāna as a philosophic term has an especial connotation. It is distinguished from saṁjñāna which is awareness by contact; from ājñāna which is perception by receptive and

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central Will and implies a command from the brain; from prajñāna which is Wisdom, teleological will or knowledge with a purpose; and from vijñāna or knowledge by discrimination. Jñāna is knowledge direct and without the use of a medium. Brahman is absolute jñāna, direct and self-existent, without beginning, middle or end, in which the Knower is also the Knowledge and the Known.

Finally, Brahman is anantam, Endlessness, including all kinds of Infinity. His Infinity is of course involved in His absolute existence and consciousness; but it arises directly from His absolute bliss, since bliss as we have seen, consists objectively in the absence of limitation. Infinity therefore is merely the subjective idea of bliss viewed objectively. It may be otherwise expressed by the word Freedom or by the word Immortality. All phenomenal things are bound by laws and limitations imposed by the triple idea of Time, Space and Causality; in Brahman alone there is absolute Freedom, for He has no beginning, middle or end in Time or Space nor, being immutable, in Causality. Regarded from the point of view of Time, Brahman is Eternity or Immortality; regarded from the point of view of Space, He is Infinity or Universality; regarded from the point of view of Causality, He is absolute Freedom. In one word He is anantam, Endlessness, absence of Limitation.

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4. Maya: The Principle of Phenomenal Existence

Brahman then, let us suppose, has projected in Itself this luminous shadow of Itself and has in the act (speaking always in the language of finite beings with its perpetual taint of Time, Space and Causality) begun to envisage Itself and consider Its essentialities in the light of attributes. He who is Existence, Consciousness, Bliss envisages Himself as existent, conscious, blissful. From that moment phenomenal manifestation becomes inevitable; the Unqualified chooses to regard Himself as qualified. Once this fundamental condition is granted, everything else follows by the rigorous logic of evolution; it is the one postulate which Vedanta demands. For this postulate once granted, we can see how the Absolute when it projects in itself this luminous Shadow called the Parabrahman, prepares the way for and as it were necessitates the evolution of this manifest world,—by bringing into play the great fundamental principle of Maya or Illusion. Under the play of that one principle translating itself into motion, the great transformation spoken of by the Upanishad becomes possible,—the One becomes the Many.

(But this one fundamental postulate is not easily conceived. The question which will at once spring up armed and gigantic in the European mind is the teleological objection, Why? All action implies a purpose; with what purpose did Brahman regard Himself as qualified? All Evolution is prompted by a desire, implies development, moves to an intelligible goal. What did Brahman who, being Absolute, is self-sufficing, desire, of what development did He stand in need or to what goal does He move? This is, from the teleological standpoint, the great crux of any theory of the Universe which tries to start from an essential and original Unity; a gulf is left which the intellect finds it

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impossible to bridge. Certain philosophies do indeed attempt to bridge it by a teleological explanation. The Absolute One, it is argued, passes through the cycle of manifestation, because He then returns to His original unity enriched with a new store of experiences and impressions, richer in love, richer in knowledge, richer in deed. It is truly amazing that any minds should be found which can seriously flatter themselves with the serene illusion that this is philosophy. Anything more unphilosophical, more vicious in reasoning cannot be imagined. When the Veda, speaking not of the Absolute but of Brahman Hiranyagarbha, says that He was alone and grew afraid of His loneliness, it passes, as a daring poetical fancy; and this too might pass as a poetical fancy, but not as serious reasoning. It is no more than an unreasoning recoil from the European idea of absolute, impersonal Unity as a blank and empty Negation. To avoid this appalling conclusion, an Unity is imagined which can be at the same time, not phenomenally but in its ultimate reality, manifold, teeming with myriad memories. It is difficult to understand the precise argumentation of the idea, whether the One when He has re-entered His unity, preserves His experiences in detail or in the mass, say, as a pulp or essence. But at any rate several radical incoherences are in its conception. The Absolute is imagined as a thing incomplete and awaking to a sense of Its incompleteness which It proceeds in a businesslike way to remedy; subject therefore to Desire and subject also to Time in which It is now contained! As to the source whence these new impressions are derived which complete the incompleteness of Brahman, that is a still greater mystery. If it was out of Himself, then it was latent in Him, already existing unknown to Himself. One therefore presumes He produced in Himself, since there was no other place to produce them from, things which had no existence previously but now are; that which was not, became; out of nothing, something arose. This is not philosophy but theology; not reasoning, but faith. As faith it might pass; that God is omnipotent and can therefore literally create something out of nothing, is a dogma which one is at liberty to believe or reject, but it is outside the sphere of reasoning).

There seems at first to be a fatal objection to the concession

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of this postulate; it seems really to evade the fundamental question of the problem of Existence or merely carry the beginning of the problem two steps farther back. For the great crux of the Universe is precisely the difficulty of understanding How and Why the One became Many, and we do not get rid of the difficulty by saying that it proceeds from the Unqualified willing to regard Himself as qualified. Even if the question How were satisfactorily met by the theory of Maya, the Why of the whole process remains. The goal of Evolution may have been determined,—it is, let us concede, the return of the Infinite upon Itself through the cycle of manifestation; but the beginning of Evolution is not accounted for, its utility is not made manifest. Why did the Absolute turn His face towards Evolution? There seems to be no possible answer to this inquiry; it is impossible to suggest any teleological reason why the Unqualified should will to look on Himself as qualified and so set the wheel of Evolution rolling,—at any rate any reason which would not be hopelessly at variance with the essential meaning of Absoluteness: and it is only an unphilosophic or imperfectly philosophic mind which can imagine that it has succeeded in the attempt. But the impossibility does not vitiate the theory of Maya; for the Vedantist parries this question of the Why with an unanswerable retort. The question itself, he says, as directed to the Brahman, is inadmissible and an impertinence. He, being Absolute, is in His very nature beyond Causality on which all ideas of need, utility, purpose depend, and to suppose purpose in Him is to question His transcendent and absolute nature: That which is beyond Causality has no need to act on a purpose. To catechise the Mighty Infinite as to why It chose to veil Its infinity in Maya, or to insist that the Universe shall choose between being utilitarian or not being at all, is absurd; it betrays a want of perfect intellectual lucidity. The question Why simply cannot arise.

But even when the question of utility is set aside, the intelligibility of the process is not established. The Unqualified willing to regard Himself as qualified is, you say, His Maya. But what is the nature of the process, intellectual or volitional, and how can an intellectual or volitional process be consistently attributed to the Absolute?—on this head at least one expects

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intellectual satisfaction. But the Vedantist strenuously denies the legitimacy of the expectation. If the "Will to regard" were put forward as a literal statement of a definable fact and its terms as philosophically precise, then the expectation would be justifiable. But the terms are avowedly poetical and therefore logically inadequate; they were merely intended to present the fact of Maya to the intellect in the imperfect and totally inadequate manner which is alone possible to finite speech and thought in dealing with the infinite. No intellectual or volitional process as we conceive will and intellect has really taken place. What then has happened ? What is Maya ? How came it into existence?

The Vedanta answers this question with its usual uncompromising candour and imperturbable clearness of thought;—We cannot tell, it says, for we do not and cannot know; at least we cannot intelligibly define; and this for the simple reason that the birth of Maya, if it had any birth, took place on the other side of phenomena, before the origin of Time, Space and Causality; and is therefore not cognisable by the intellect which can only think in terms of Time, Space and Causality. A little reflection will show that the existence of Maya is necessarily involved even in the casting of the luminous shadow called Parabrahman. A thing so far removed in the dark backward and abysm before Time, a state, force or process (call it what we will) operating directly in the Absolute who is but cannot be thought of, may be perceived as a fact, but cannot be explained or defined. We say therefore that Maya is a thing anirdeśyam, impossible to define, of which we cannot say that it is,—for it is Illusion,—and we cannot say that it is not,—for it is the Mother of the Universe; we can only infer that it is a something inherent in the being of Brahman and must therefore be not born but eternal, not in Time, but out of Time. So much arises from our premises; more it would be dishonest to pretend to know.

Still Maya is no mere assumption or its existence unprovable! Vedanta is prepared to prove that Maya is; prepared to show What it is, not ultimately but as involved in Parabrahman and manifested in the Universe; prepared to describe How it set about the work of Evolution, prepared to present Maya in terms of the intellect as a perfectly possible explanation of the

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entire order of the Universe; prepared even to contend that it is the only explanation perfectly consistent with the nature of being and the recognised bases of scientific and philosophical truth. It is only not prepared to represent the ultimate infinite nature and origin of Maya in precise terms comprehensible to finite mind; for to attempt philosophical impossibilities constitutes an intellectual pastime in which the Vedantist is too much attached to clear thinking to indulge.

What then is Maya? It is, intellectually envisaged, a subjective necessity involved in the very nature of Parabrahman. We have seen that Parabrahman is visible to us in the form of three subjective conceptions with three corresponding objective conceptions, which are the essentialities of His being. But Parabrahman is the Brahman as envisaged by the individual self in the act of returning to its source; Brahman externalised by His own will in the form of Maya is looking at Himself with the curtains of Maya half-lifted but not yet quite thrown back. The forms of Maya have disappeared, but the essentiality stands behind the returning Self at the entrance of the porch, and it is only when he reaches the inner end of the porch that he passes utterly out of the control of Maya. And the essentiality of Maya is to resolve Existence, Consciousness and Bliss which are really one, into three, the Unity appearing as a Trinity and the single Essentiality immediately breaking up into manifold properties or attributes. The absolute Brahman at the inner entrance is the bright triune Parabrahman, absolute also, but cognisable; at the threshold of the porch He is Parabrahman envisaging Maya, and the next step carries Him into Maya, where Duality begins, Purusha differentiates from Prakriti, Spirit from Matter, Force from Energy, Ego from Non-Ego; and as the descent into phenomena deepens, single Purusha differentiates itself into multitudinous receptacles, single Prakriti into innumerable forms. This is the law of Maya.

But the first step, speaking in the terms of pure intellect, is the envisaging of the Essentiality as possessing Its three subjective and three objective properties,—Existence, Consciousness, Bliss; Truth, Knowledge, Infinity. The moment this happens, by inevitable necessity, the opposite attributes, Nothingness, Non-Sentience, Pain, present themselves as inseparable

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shadows of the three substances, and with them come the objective triad, Falsehood, Ignorance, Limitation; Limitation necessitates Divisibility, Divisibility necessitates Time and Space; Time and Space necessitate Causality, Causality, the source from which definite phenomena arise, necessitates Change. All the fundamental laws of Duality have sprung into being, necessitated in a moment by the appearance of Saguna Brahman, the Unqualified Infinite become Qualified. They do not really or ultimately exist, because they are inconsistent with the absolute nature of Parabrahman, for even in the sphere of phenomena we can rise to the truth that annihilation is an illusion and only form is destroyed; nothingness is an impossibility, and the Eternal cannot perish; nor can He become non-sentient in whose being sentience and non-sentience are one; nor can He feel pain who is infinite and without limitation. Yet these things, which we know cannot exist, must be conceived and therefore have phenomenally an existence and a reality in impermanence. For this is the paradox of Maya and her works that we cannot say they exist, because they are in reality impossible, and we cannot say they do not exist, because we must conceive them subjectively and, knowledge being now turned outward, envisage them objectively.

Surely this is to land ourselves in a metaphysical morass! But the key of the tangle is always in our hands;—it is to remember that Parabrahman is Himself only the aspect of the indefinable Absolute who is beyond Science and Nescience, Existence and Non-existence, Limitation and Infinity, and His sixfold attributes are not really six but one, not really attributes of Brahman, but in their unity Brahman Himself. It is only when we conceive of them as attributes that we are driven to regard Annihilation, Non-sentience and Limitation and their correspondings, subjective or objective, as realities. But we are driven so to conceive them by something datelessly inherent in the infinite Will to live, in Brahman Himself. To leave for a moment the difficult language of metaphysics which, on this dizzy verge of infinity eludes and bewilders our giddy understanding and to use the trenchant symbolic style of the Upanishads, Parabrahman is the luminous shadow of the Absolute projected in Itself by Itself, and Maya is similarly the dark shadow projected by the Absolute

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in Parabrahman; both are real because eternal, but sheer reality is neither the light nor the darkness but the Thing-in-itself which they not merely like phenomena represent, but which in an inexplicable way they are. This, then, is Maya in its subjective relation to Parabrahman.

In phenomena Maya becomes objectivised in a hundred elusive forms, amid whose complex variety we long strive vainly to find the one supreme clue. The old thinkers long followed various of the main threads, but none led them to the mysterious starting-point of her motions. "Then," says the Shwetashwatara, "they followed after concentration of Yoga and saw the Might of the Spirit of the Lord hidden deep in the modes of workings of its own nature;" devātmaśakti, the Energy of the Divine Self, Parabrahman, is Maya; and it is in another passage stated to have two sides, obverse and reverse, Vidya and Avidya, Science and Nescience. Nescience eternally tends to envelop Science, Science eternally tends to displace Nescience. Avidya or Nescience is Parabrahman's power of creating illusions or images, things which seem but are not in themselves; Vidya or Science is His power of shaking off His own imaginations and returning upon His real and eternal Self. The action and reaction of these two great Energies doing work upon each other is the secret of Universal activity. The power of Nescience is evident on every plane of existence; for the whole Universe is a series of images. The sun rises up in the morning, mounts into the cusp of the blue Heavens and descends at evening trailing behind it clouds of glory as it disappears. Who could doubt this irrefragable, overwhelmingly evidenced fact? Every day, through myriads of years, the eyes of millions of men all over the world have borne concurrent and unvarying testimony to the truth of these splendid voyagings. Than such universal ocular testimony, what evidence can be more conclusive? Yet it all turns out to be an image created by Nescience in the field of vision. Science comes and undeterred by prison and the stake tells us that the sun never voyages through our heavens, is indeed millions of miles from our heavens, and it is we who move round the sun, not the sun round us. Nay, those Heavens themselves, the blue firmament into which poetry and religion have read so much beauty and wonder,

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is itself only an image, in which Nescience represents our atmosphere to us in the field of vision. The light too which streams upon us from our sun and seems to us to fill Space turns out to be no more than an image. Science now freely permitted to multiply her amazing paradoxes, forces us at last to believe that it is only motion of matter affecting us at a certain pitch of vibration with that particular impression on the brain. And so she goes on resolving all things into mere images of the great cosmic ether which alone is. Of such unsubstantialities is this marvellous fabric of visible things created! Nay, it would even appear that the more unsubstantial a thing seems, the nearer it is to ultimate reality. This, which Science proves, says the Vedantist, is precisely what is meant by Maya.

Never dream, however, that Science will end here and that we have come to the last of her unveilings. She will yet go on and tell us that the cosmic ether itself is only an image, that this universe of sensible things and things inferable from sense is only a selection of translations from a far vaster universe of forms built out of subtler matter than our senses can either show or imply to us. And when she has entered into that subtler world with fit instruments of observation and analysis, that too she will relentlessly resolve into mere images of the subtler ether out of which it is born. Behind that subtler universe also there looms a profounder and vaster, but simpler state of existence where there is only the undetermined universality of things as yet involved in their causes. Here Science must come to her latest dealings with matter and show us that this indeterminate universality of things is after all only an image of something in our own self. Meanwhile with that very self she is busy, continually and potently trying to persuade us that all which we believe to be ourselves, all in which our Nescience would have us contentedly dwell, is mere imagery and form. The animal in us insists that this body is the real Self and the satisfaction of its needs our primal duty; but Science (of whom Prof. Haeckel's Riddle of the Universe is not the concluding utterance) bids us beware of identifying our Self with a mere mass of primitive animal forms associated together by an aggregating nucleus of vital impulses; this surely is not the reality of Shakespeare and Newton, Buddha and St. Francis!

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Then in those vital impulses we seek the bedrock of our being. But these too Science resolves into a delusion or image created by Nescience; for in reality these vital impulses have no existence by themselves but are merely the link established between that material aggregation of animal forms and something within us which we call Mind. Mind too she will not permit us long to mistake for anything more than an image created by the interaction of sensations and response to sensations between the material aggregation of the body and something that governs and informs the material system. This governing power in its action upon mind reveals itself in the discriminating, selecting, ordering and purposeful entity called by Vedanta the Buddhi, of which reason is only one aspect, intellect only one image. Buddhi also turns out eventually to be no entity, only an image, and Science must end by showing us that body, vitality, mind, Buddhi are all images of what Philosophy calls Ananda, the pleasure of existence or Will to live; and she reveals to us at last that although this Will divides itself into innumerable forms which represent themselves as individual selves, yet all these are images of one great Cosmic Will to live, just as all material forms are merely images of one great undifferentiated Universality of cosmic matter, causal ether, if we so choose to describe it. That Will is Purusha, that Universality is Prakriti; and both are but images of Parabrahman.

So, very briefly and inadequately stated in some of its main principles, runs the Vedantic theory of Maya, for which analytic Science is, without quite knowing it, multiplying a stupendous mass of evidence. Every fresh certainty which this Science adds, swells the mass, and it is only where she is incomplete and therefore should be agnostic, that Vedanta finds no assistance from her analysis. The completion of Science means the final conquest over Nescience and the unveiling of Maya.

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5. Maya: The Energy of the Absolute

Maya then is the fundamental fact in the Universe, her dualistic system of balanced pairs of opposites is a necessity of intellectual conception; but the possibility of her existence as an inherent energy in the Absolute, outside phenomena, has yet to be established. So long as Science is incomplete and Yoga a secret discipline for the few, the insistent questions of the metaphysician can never be ignored, nor his method grow obsolete. The confident and even arrogant attempt of experimental Science to monopolise the kingdom of mind, to the exclusion of the metaphysical and all other methods, was a rash and premature aggression,—rash because premature; successful at first, its victorious usurping onrush is beginning to stagger and fail, even to lose hold on positions once thought to be permanently secured. The slow resurgence of metaphysics has already begun. Certainly, no metaphysics can be admissible which does not take count of the standards and undoubted results of Science; but until experimental analysis has solved the whole mystery of the Universe, not by speculation through logic (a method stolen from metaphysics with which Science has no business) but by experimental proof and hypotheses checked and confirmed by experimental proof, leaving no phenomenon unaccounted for and no fact ignored,—until then metaphysics must reign where analytic experiment leaves a void. Vedanta, though it bases itself chiefly on the subjective experimental methods of Yoga, and admits no metaphysical hypothesis as valid which is not in agreement with its results, is yet willing to submit its own conclusions to the tests of metaphysical logic. The Vedantic Yogin shrinks at present, because of certain moral scruples, from divulging his arcana to the crowd, but he recognises that so long as he refuses, he has no right to evade the inquisition of the metaphysical logician. Atharvan and Shwetashwatara

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having spoken, Shankara and Ramanuja must be allowed their arena of verbal discussion.

The metaphysical question involved turns upon the nature of Avidya, Nescience, and its possibility in Parabrahman who is, after all, absolute,—Absolute Consciousness and therefore Absolute Knowledge. It is not sound to say that Parabrahman envisaging Maya, becomes capable of Avidya; for envisagement of Maya is simply a metaphorical expression for Avidya itself. Neither can the Vedantist take refuge in the theologian's evasion of reason by an appeal to lawless Omnipotence, to the credo quia impossibile. The Eternal is undoubtedly in His own nature free and unlimited, but, as undoubtedly, He has deliberately bound Himself in His relation to phenomena by certain fundamental principles; He has willed that certain things shall not and cannot be, and to use a human parallel He is like a King who having promulgated a certain code is as much bound by His own laws as the meanest subject, or like a poet whose imaginations, in themselves free, are limited by laws the moment they begin to take shape. We may say, theoretically, that God being Omnipotent can create something out of nothing, but so long as no single clear instance can be given of a something created out of nothing, the rule of ex nihilo nihil fit remains an universal and fundamental law and to suppose that God has based the Universe on a violation of a fundamental law of the Universe, is to kick Reason out of the house and slam the door against her return. Similarly, if the coexistence of Avidya with Vidya in the same field and as it were interpenetrating each other is against the Law, it does by that very fact become impossible and the theory of Maya will then be proved an error; no appeal to Omnipotence will save it.

The objection to Avidya may be stated thus that Absolute Knowledge cannot at the same time not know, cannot imagine a thing to be real which is not real; for such imagination involves an element of self-deception, and self-deception is not possible in the Absolute. But is it really a law of consciousness—for there lies the point—that things can in no sense be at the same time real and unreal, that you cannot by any possibility imagine things to be real which at the same time you know perfectly well

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to be unreal? The dualist objectors may contend that this impossibility is a law of consciousness. The Vedantin replies at once negatur, your statement is refuted by a host of examples; it is inconsistent with Universal experience. The most utter and avowed unrealities can be and are firmly imaged as realities, seen as realities, sensed as realities, conceived as realities without the mind for a moment admitting that they are indeed real. The mirage of the desert we know after a time to be unreal, but even then we see and firmly image it as a reality, admire the green beauty of those trees and pant for the cool shining delight of those waters. We see dreams and dreams are unrealities, and yet some of them at least are at the same time not positive unrealities, for they image, and sometimes very exactly, events which have happened, are happening or will happen in the future. We see the juggler throw a rope in the air, climb up it, kill the boy who has preceded him and throw down his bleeding limbs piecemeal on the earth; every detail and circumstance of the unreal event corresponding to the event as it would have been, were it real; we do not imagine it to be unreal while it lasts, and we cannot so imagine it; for the visualisation is too clear and consistent, the feelings it awakes in us are too vivid, and yet all the time we perfectly well know that no such thing is happening. Instances of this sort are not easily numbered.

But these are distant, unimmediate things and for some of them the evidence may not be considered ample. Let us come nearer to our daily life. We see a stone and we note its properties of solidity and immobility, nor can we by any persuasion be induced to imagine it as anything else but solid and immobile; and we are right, for it is both: and yet we know that its immobility and solidity are not real, that it is, and to a vision sensible of the infinitesimal would appear, a world of the most active motion, of myriads of atoms with spaces between them. Again, if there is one thing that is real to me, it is this, that I am vertical and upright, whatever the people at the Antipodes may be and that I walk in all directions horizontally along the earth; and yet alas! I know that I am in reality not vertical but nearer the horizontal, walking often vertically up and down the earth like a fly on the wall. I know it perfectly, yet if I were constantly to translate

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my knowledge into imagination, a padded room in bedlam would soon be the only place for me. This is indeed the singular and amazing law of our consciousness that it is perfectly capable of holding two contradictory conceptions at the same time and with equal strength. We accept the knowledge which Science places at our disposal, but we perpetually act upon the images which Nescience creates. I know that the sun does not rise or set, does not move round the earth, does not sail through the heavens marking the time of day as it proceeds, but in my daily life I act precisely on the supposition that this unreality really happens; I hourly and momently conceive it and firmly image it as real and sometimes regulate on it my every movement. The eternal belligerents, Science and Nescience, have come in this matter of the sun's motion, as in so many others, to a working compromise. To me as an untrammelled Will to live who by the subtle intellectual part of me, can wander through Eternity and place myself as a spectator in the centre of the sun or even outside the material Universe the better to observe its motions, the phenomenon of the earth's movement round the sun is the reality, and even Nescience consents that I shall work on it as an acknowledged fact in the operations of pure intellect; but to me as a trammelled body unable to leave the earth and bound down in my daily life to the ministry of my senses, the phenomenon of the sun's movement round the earth is the reality and to translate my intellectual knowledge into the stuff of my daily imaginations would be intolerably inconvenient; it would take my secure resting-place, the earth, from under my feet and make havoc of my life in sensation; even Science therefore consents that I shall work on the evidence of my senses as an acknowledged fact in my material life of earth-bounded existence. In this duplicity of standpoint we see as in a glass darkly some image of the manner in which the Absolute wills to be phenomenally conditioned; at once knows perfectly what is, yet chooses to image what is not, having infinite Science, yet makes room for self-limiting Nescience. It is not necessary to labour the point, or to range through all scientific knowledge for instances; in the light of modern knowledge the objection to the co­existence of Vidya and Avidya cannot stand; it is a perpetual

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fact in the daily economy of Consciousness.

Yes, it may be argued, but this does not establish it as anything more than a possibility in regard to the Absolute. A state of things true throughout the range of phenomenal existence, may cease to operate at the point where phenomena themselves cease. The possibility, however, once granted, Vedanta is entitled to put forward Maya as the one successful explanation yet advanced of this manifold existence; first, because Maya does explain the whole of existence metaphysically and is at the same time a universal, scientifically observable fact ranging through the whole Universe and fundamentally present in every operation of Consciousness; secondly, because it does transcend phenomena as well as inform them, it has its absolute as well as its conditioned state and is therefore not only possible in the Absolute but must be the Absolute Himself in manifestation; and thirdly, because no other possible explanation can logically contain both the truth of sheer transcendent Absoluteness of the Brahman and the palpable, imperative existence of the phenomenal Universe.¹ Illogical theories, theories which part company with reason, theories which, instead of basing themselves in observed laws, take their stand in the void, may be had in plenty. Maya is no theory but a fact; no mere result of logic or speculation, but of careful observation and yet unassailable by logic and unsurpassable by speculation.

One of the most remarkable manifestations of Avidya in human consciousness, presenting in its nature and laws of working a close analogy to its parent is the power of imagination,—the power of bodying forth images which may either be reabsorbed into the individual consciousness which gave them forth or outlast it. Of the latter kind poetical creation is a salient example. At a certain time in a certain country one named Shakespeare created a new world by the force of his Avidya, his faculty of imagining what is not. That world is as real and unreal today as it was when Shakespeare created it or in more accurate Vedantic language asṛjata, loosed it forth, from the causal

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world within him. Within the limits of that world, Iago is real to Othello, Othello to Desdemona, and all are real to any and every consciousness which can for a time abstract itself from this world, its self-created surroundings and enter the world of Shakespeare. We are aware of them, observe them, grow in knowledge about them, see them act, hear them speak, feel for their griefs and sorrows; and even when we return to our own world, they do not always leave us, but sometimes come with us and influence our actions. The astonishing power of poetical creation towards moulding life and history, has not yet been sufficiently observed; yet it was after all Achilles, the swift-footed son of Peleus, who thundered through Asia at the head of his legions, dragged Batis at his chariot-wheels and hurled the Iranian to his fall,—Achilles, the son of Peleus, who never lived except as an image,—nay, does not omniscient learning tell us, that even his creator never lived, or was only a haphazard assortment of poets who somehow got themselves collectively nicknamed Homer? Yet these images, which we envisage as real and confess by our words, thoughts, feelings, and sometimes even by our actions to be real, are all the time and we know them perfectly well to be as mythical as the dream, the mirage and the juggler on his rope. There is no Othello, no Iago, no Desdemona but all these are merely varieties of name and form, not of Shakespeare, but in which Shakespeare is immanent and which still exist merely because Shakespeare is immanent in them. Nevertheless he who best succeeds in imaging forth these children of illusion, this strange harmonic Maya, is ever adjudged by us to be the best poet, Creator or Maker, even though others may link words more sweetly together or dovetail incidents more deftly. The parallel between this work of imagination and the creation of phenomena and no less between the relation of the author to his creatures and the relation of the Conditioned Brahman to His creatures is astonishingly close in most of their details no less than in their general nature. Observe, for instance, that in all that multitude of figures vicious and virtuous, wise and foolish, he their creator who gave them forth, their Self and reality without whom they cannot exist, is unaffected by their crimes and virtues, irresponsible and free. The Lord.... What then? Is this analogy anything

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more than poetic fancy, or is not after all, the whole idea of Brahman and Maya itself a mere poetic fancy? Perhaps, but not more fanciful or unreal, in that case, than the Universe itself and its motions; for the principle and working of the two are identical.

Let us ask ourselves, what it is that has happened when a great work of creation takes place and how it is that Shakespeare's creatures are still living to us, now that Shakespeare himself is dead and turned to clay. Singular indeed that Shakespear's creations should be immortal and Shakespeare himself a mere shortlived conglomeration of protoplasmic cells! We notice first that Shakespeare's dramatic creatures are only a selection or anthology from among the teeming images which peopled that wonderful mind; there were thousands of pictures in that gallery which were never produced for the admiration of the ages. This is a truth to which every creator whether he use stone or colour or words for his thought-symbols will bear emphatic testimony. There was therefore a subtler and vaster world in Shakespeare than the world we know him to have bodied forth into tangible material of literature. Secondly we note that all these imaginations already existed in Shakespeare unmanifested and unformed before they took shape and body; for certainly they did not come from outside. Shakespeare took his materials from this legend or that play, this chronicle or that history? His framework possibly, but not his creations; Hamlet did not come from the legend or the play, nor Cassius or King Henry from the history or the chronicle. No, Shakespeare contained in himself all his creatures, and therefore transcended and exceeded them; he was and is more than they or even than their sum and total; for they are merely limited manifestations of him under the conditions of time and space, and he would have been the same Shakespeare, even if we had not a scene or a line of him to know him by; only the world of imagination would have remained latent in him instead of manifest, avyakta instead of vyakta. Once manifest, his creatures are preserved immortally, not by print or manuscript, for the Veda has survived thousands of years without print or manuscript,—but, by words, shall we say? no, for words or sounds are only the physical

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substance, the atoms out of which their shapes are built, and can be entirely rearranged,—by translation, for example,—without our losing Othello and Desdemona, just as the indwelling soul can take a new body without being necessarily changed by the transmigration. Othello and Desdemona are embodied in sounds or words, but thought is their finer and immortal substance. It is the subtler world of thought in Shakespeare from which they have been selected and bodied forth in sounds, and into the world of thought they originally proceeded from a reservoir of life deeper than thought itself, from an ocean of being which our analysis has not yet fathomed.

Now, let us translate these facts into the conceptions of Vedanta. Parabrahman self-limited in the name and form of Shakespeare, dwells deepest in him invisible to consciousness as the unmanifest world of that something more elemental than thought (may it not be causal, elemental Will?), in which Shakespeare's imaginations lie as yet unformed and undifferentiated; then he comes to a surface of consciousness visible to Shakespeare as the inwardly manifest world of subtle matter or thought in which those imaginations take subtle thought-shapes and throng; finally, he rises to a surface of consciousness visible to others besides Shakespeare as the outwardly manifest world, manifest in sound, in which a select number of these imaginations are revealed to universal view. These mighty images live immortally in our minds because Parabrahman in Shakespeare is the same as Parabrahman in ourselves; and because, Shakespeare's thought is, therefore, water of the same etheric ocean as that which flows through our brains; thought, in fact, is one, although to be revealed to us, it has to be bodied forth and take separate shapes in sound forms which we are accustomed to perceive and understand. Brahman-Brahma as Thought-Creative in Shakespeare brings them forth, Brahman-Vishnu as Thought-Preservative in us maintains them, Brahman-Rudra as Thought-Destructive or Oblivion will one day destroy them; but in all these operations Brahman is one, Thought is one, even as all the Oceans are one. Shakespeare's world is in every way a parable of ours. There is however a distinction—Shakespeare could not body forth his images into forms palpable

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in gross matter either because, as other religions believe, that power is denied to man, or because, as Vedantism suggests, mankind has not risen as yet to that pitch of creative force.

There is one class of phenomena however in which this defect of identity between individual Imagination and universal Avidya seems to be filled up. The mind can create under certain circumstances images surviving its own dissolution or departure, which do take some kind of form in gross matter or at least matter palpable to the gross senses. For the phenomena of apparitions there is an accumulating mass of evidence. Orthodox Science prefers to ignore the evidence, declines to believe that a prima facie case has been made out for investigation and shuts the gate on farther knowledge with a triple polysyllabic key, mysticism, coincidence, hallucination. Nevertheless, investigated or not, the phenomena persist in occurring. Hauntings, for example, for which there are only scattered indications in Europe, are in India owing to the more strenuous psychical force and more subtle psychical sensitiveness of our physical organisation, fairly common. In these hauntings we have a signal instance of the triumph of imagination. In the majority of cases they are images created by dying or doomed men in their agony which survive the creator, some of them visible, some audible, some both visible and audible, and in rare cases in an unearthly, insufficient, but by no means inefficient manner, palpable. The process of their creation is in essence the same as attends the creation of poetry or the creation of the world; it is tapas or tapasyā,—not penance as English scholars will strangely insist on translating it, but HEAT, and tremendous concentration of will, which sets the whole being in a flame, masses all the faculties in closed ranks and hurls them furiously on a single objective. By tapas the world was created; by tapas, says the Moondaca, creative Brahman is piled up, cīyate, gathered and intensified; by tapas the rush of inspiration is effected. This tapas may be on the material plane associated with purpose or entirely dissociated from purpose. In the case of intense horror or grief, fierce agony or terrible excitement on the verge of death it is totally dissociated from any material purpose, it is what would be ordinarily called involuntary, but it receives from its origin an intensity so unparalleled as to create

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living images of itself which remain and act long after the source has been dissolved or stilled by death. Such is the ultimate power of imagination, though at present it cannot be fully used on the material plane except in a random, fortuitous and totally unpurposed manner.

In the manner of its working, then, Imagination is a carefully executed replica of Avidya; and if other marks of her essential identity with Avidya are needed, they can be found. Both are, for instance, preponderatingly purposeless. The workings of Imagination are often totally dissociated, on the material plane at least, from any intelligible purpose and though it is quite possible that the latent part of our consciousness which works below the surface, may have sometimes a purpose of which the superficial part is not aware, yet in the most ordinary workings of Imagination, an absolute purposelessness is surely evident. Certainly, if not purposelessness there is colossal waste. A few hundreds of images were selected from Shakespeare's mind for a definite artistic purpose, but the thousands that never found verbal expression, many of them with as splendid potentialities as those which did materialise in Hamlet and Macbeth seem to have risen and perished without any useful purpose. The same wastefulness is shown by Nature in her works; how many millions of lives does she not shower forth that a few may be selected for the purposes of evolution! Yet when she chooses to work economically and with set purpose, she like Imagination can become a scrupulous miser of effort and show herself possessed of a magical swiftness and sureness in shaping the means to the end. Neither Nature nor Imagination, therefore, can be supposed to be blind, random energies proceeding from an ungoverned force and teleological only by accident. Their operations are obviously guided by an Intelligence as perfectly capable, when it so wills, of purposing, planning, fitting its means to its ends, economising its materials and labour as any intelligent and careful workman in these days of science and method. We need therefore some explanation why this great universal Intelligence should not be, as a careful workman, always, not occasionally, economical of its materials and labour. Is not the truth this that Nature is not universally and in all her works teleological, that

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purpose is only one minor part of existence more concentrated than most and therefore more intense and triumphant, while for the greater part of her universal operation we must find another explanation than the teleological? or rather will at once contain and exceed the teleological? If it had only been Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Edison, Beethoven, Napoleon, Schopenhauer, the creators in poetry, art, science, music, life or thought, who possessed imagination, we might then have found an use for their unused imaginations in the greater preparatory richness they gave to the soil from which a few exquisite flowers were to spring. The explanation might not be a good one, little more indeed than a poetical fancy, but it could have passed for want of a better. But every human being possesses the divine faculty, more or less developed; every mind is a teeming world of imaginations; and indeed, imagination for imagination the opium-smoker's is more vivid, fertile and gorgeous than Shakespeare's. Yet hardly in one case out of a thousand are these imaginations of use to the world or anything but a practical hindrance or at best a purposeless pastime to the dreamer. Imagination is a fundamental energy of consciousness, and this marvellous, indomitable energy works on without caring whether she is put to use or misuse or no use at all; she exists merely for the sake of delight in her own existence. Here I think we touch bottom. Imagination is outside purpose, sometimes above, sometimes below it, sometimes united with it, because she is an inherent energy not of some great teleological Master-Workman, but of Ananda, the Bliss of existence or Will to live; and beyond this delight in existence she has no reason for being. In the same way Maya, the infinite creative energy which peoples the phenomenal Universe, is really some force inherent in the infinite Will to be; and it is for this reason that her operations seem so wasteful from the standpoint of utilitarian economy; for she cares nothing about utilitarianism or economy and is only obeying her fundamental impulse towards phenomenal existence, consciousness, and the pleasure of conscious existence. So far as she has a purpose, it is this, and all the teleologic element in Nature has simply this end, to find more perfect surroundings or more exquisite means or wider opportunities or a grander gust and scope for the pleasure of

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conscious phenomenal existence. Yet the deepest bliss is after all that which she left and to which she will return, not the broken and pain-bounded bliss of finite life, but the perfect and infinite Bliss of transcendent undivided and illimitable consciousness. She seeks for a while to find that perfect bliss by finite means and in finite things, the heaven of the socialist or anarchist, the heaven of the artist, the heaven of knowledge, the heaven of thought, or a heaven in some other world; but one day she realises that great truth, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you", and to that after all she returns. This is Maya.

One metaphysical test remains to be satisfied before we can be sure that Avidya and Vidya, the outcurve and incurve of Maya, go back to something eternally existent in the Absolute and are not created by phenomenal causes. If inherent in the Absolute, Maya must culminate in conceptions that are themselves absolute, infinite and unconditioned. Vidya tapers off into infinity in the conceptions, sat or Pure Existence, cit or Pure Consciousness, ānanda or Pure Bliss; Avidya rises at her apex into asat, Nothingness, acetanam, Non-sentience, nirānandam, Blisslessness or Misery. Nothingness and Non-sentience are certainly absolute conceptions, infinite and unconditioned; but the third term of the negative Trinity gives us pause. Absolute pain, blank infinite unconditioned and unrelieved Misery is a conception which Reason shies at and Consciousness refuses, violently refuses to admit as a possibility. A cypher if you like to make metaphysical calculations with, but by itself sheer nought, nowhere discoverable as existing or capable of existence. Yet if infinite misery could be, it would in the very act of being merge into Nothingness, it would lose its name in the very moment of becoming absolute. As a metaphysical conception we may then admit Absolute Blisslessness as a valid third term of the negative Trinity, not as a real or possible state, for no one of the three is a real or possible state. The unreality comes home to us most in the third term, just as reality comes home to us most in the third term of the positive Trinity, because Bliss and its negative blisslessness appeal to us on the material plane vividly and sensibly; the others touch us more indirectly, on the psychic and causal planes. Yet the nothingness

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of nothingness is taught us by Science, and the unreality of non-sentience will become clear when the nature of sentience is better understood.

It will be said that the escape from pleasure as well as pain is after all the common goal of Buddhism and Vedanta. True, escape from limited pleasure which involves pain, escape from pain which is nothing but the limitation of pleasure. Both really seek absolute absence of limitation which is not a negative condition, but a positive infinity and its unspeakable, unmixed bliss; their escape from individuality does not lead them into nothingness, but into infinite existence, their escape from sensation does not purpose the annihilation of sentience but pure absolute consciousness as its goal. Not asat, acetanam, nirānandam, but saccidānandam is the great Reality to which Jivatman rises to envisage, the tat or sole Thing-in-itself to whom by the force of Vidya he tends ever to return.

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6. The Triple Brahman

Parabrahman is now on the way to phenomenal manifestation; the Absolute Shakespeare of Existence, the infinite Kavi, Thinker and Poet, is, by the mere existence of the eternal creative force Maya, about to shadow forth a world of living realities out of Himself which have yet no independent existence. He becomes phenomenally a Creator, and Container of the Universe, though really He is what He ever was, absolute and unchanged. To understand why and how the Universe appears what it is, we have deliberately to abandon our scientific standpoint of transcendental knowledge and speaking the language of Nescience, represent the Absolute as limiting Itself, the One becoming the Many, the pure ultra-Spiritual unrefining Itself into the mental and material. We are like the modern astrologer who, knowing perfectly well that the earth moves round the sun, must yet persist in speaking of the Sun as moving and standing in this part of the heavens or that other, because he has to do with the relative positions of the Sun and planets with regard to men living on the earth and not with the ultimate astronomical realities.

From this point of view we have to begin with a dualism of the thing and its shadow, Purusha and Prakriti, commonly called spirit and matter. Properly speaking, the distinction is illusory, since there is nothing which is exclusively spirit or exclusively matter, nor can the Universe be strictly parcelled out between these; from the point of view of Reality spirit and matter are not different but the same. We may say, if we like, that the entire Universe is matter and spirit does not exist; we may say, if we like that the entire Universe is spirit and matter does not exist. In either case we are merely multiplying words without counsel, ignoring the patent fact visible through the Universe that both spirit and matter exist and are indissolubly welded,

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precisely because they are simply one thing viewed from two sides. The distinction between them is one of the primary dualisms and a first result of the great Ignorance. Maya works out in name and form as material; Maya works out in the conceiver of name and form as spiritual. Purusha is the great principle or force whose presence is necessary to awake creative energy and send it out working into and on shapes of matter. For this reason Purusha is the name usually applied to the conditioned Brahman in His manifestations; but it is always well to remember that the Primal Existence turned towards manifestation has a double aspect, Male and Female, positive and negative. He is the origin of the birth of things and He is the receptacle of the birth and it is to the Male aspect of Himself that the word Purusha predominatingly applies. The image often applied to these relations is that of the man casting his seed into the woman; his duty is merely to originate the seed and deposit it, but it is the woman's duty to cherish the seed, develop it, bring it forth and start it on its career of manifested life. The seed, says the Upanishad, is the self of the Male, it is spirit, and being cast into the Female, Prakriti, it becomes one with her and therefore does her no hurt; spirit takes the shaping appearance of matter and does not break up the appearances of matter, but develops under their law. The Man and the Woman, universal Adam and Eve, are really one and each is incomplete without the other, barren without the other, inactive without the other. Purusha the Male, God, is that side of the One which gives the impulse toward phenomenal existence; Prakriti the Female, Nature, is that side which is and evolves the material of phenomenal existence; both of them are therefore unborn and eternal. The Male is Purusha, he who lurks in the Wide; the Female is Prakriti, the working of the Male, and sometimes called Rayi, the universal movement emanating from the quiescent Male. Purusha is therefore imaged as the Enjoyer, Prakriti as the enjoyed; Purusha as the Witness, Prakriti as the phenomena he witnesses; Purusha as begetter or father of things, Prakriti as their bearer or mother. And there are many other images the Upanishad employs, Purusha, for instance, symbolising Himself in the Sun, the father of life, and Prakriti in the Earth, the bearer of life. It is necessary

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thus clearly to define Purusha from the first in order to avoid confusion in endeavouring to grasp the development of Maya as the Upanishads describe it.

Parabrahman in the course of evolving phenomena enters into three states or conditions which are called in one passage His three habitations and, by a still more suggestive figure, His three states of dream. The first condition is called avyakta, the state previous to manifestation, in which all things are involved, but in which nothing is expressed or imaged, the state of ideality, undifferentiated but pregnant of differentiation, just as the seed is pregnant of the bark, sap, pith, fibre, leaf, fruit and flower and all else that unites to make the conception of a tree; just as the protoplasm is pregnant of all the extraordinary variations of animal life. It is, in its objective aspect, the seed-state of things. The objective possibility, and indeed necessity of such a condition of the whole Universe, cannot be denied; for this is the invariable method of development which the operations of Nature show to us. Evolution does not mean that out of protoplasm as a material so many organisms have been created or added by an outside power, but that they have been developed out of the protoplasm; and if developed, they were already there existent and have been manifested by some power dwelling and working in the protoplasm itself. But open up the protoplasm, as you will, you will not find in it the rudiments of the organs and organisms it will hereafter develop. So also though the protoplasm and everything else is evolved out of ether, yet no symptoms of them would yield themselves up to an analytical research into ether. The organs and organisms are in the protoplasm, the leaf, flower, fruit in the seed and all forms in the ether from which they evolve, in an undifferentiated condition and therefore defy the method of analysis which is confined to the discovery of differences. This is the state called involution. So also ether itself, gross or subtle, and all that evolves from ether is involved in Avyakta; they are present but they can never be discovered there because there they are undifferentiated. Plato's world of ideas is a confused attempt to arrive at this condition of things, confused because it unites two incompatible things, the conditions of Avyakta and those of the next state presided over by Hiranyagarbha.

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The question then arises, what is the subjective aspect of Parabrahman in the state of Avyakta? The organs and organisms are evolved out of protoplasm and forms out of ether by a power which resides and works in them, and that power must be intelligent consciousness unmanifested; must, because it is obviously a power that can plan, arrange and suit means to ends; must because otherwise the law of subtler involving grosser cannot obtain. If matter is all, then from the point of view of matter, the gross is more real because more palpable than the subtle and unreality cannot develop reality; it is intelligent consciousness and nothing else we know of that not only has the power of containing at one and the same time the gross and the subtle, but does consistently proceed in its method of creation or evolution from vagueness to precision, from no form to form and from simple form to complex form. If the discoveries of Science mean anything and are not a chaos, an illusion or a chimera, they can only mean the existence of an intelligent consciousness present and working in all things. Parabrahman therefore is present subjectively even in the condition of Avyakta no less than in the other conditions as intelligent consciousness and therefore as bliss.

For the rest, we are driven to the use of metaphors, and since metaphors must be used, one will do as well as another, for none can be entirely applicable. Let us then image Avyakta as an egg, the golden egg of the Puranas full of the waters of undifferentiated existence and divided into two halves, the upper or luminous half filled with the upper waters of subjective ideation, the lower or tenebrous half with the lower waters of objective ideation. In the upper half Purusha is concealed as the final cause of things; it is there that is formed the idea of undifferentiated, eternal, infinite, universal Spirit. In the lower half he is concealed as Prakriti, the material cause of things; it is there that is formed the idea of undifferentiated, eternal, infinite, universal matter, with the implications Time, Space and Causality involved in its infinity. It is represented mythologically by Vishnu on the causal Ocean sitting on the hood of Ananta, the infinite snake whose endless folds are Time, and are also Space and are also Causality, these three being fundamentally one,—a Trinity. In the upper

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half Parabrahman is still utterly Himself, but with a Janus face, one side contemplating the Absolute Reality which He is, the other envisaging Maya, looking on the endless procession of her works not yet as a reality, but as a phantasmagoria. In the lower half if we may use a daring metaphor, Parabrahman forgets Himself. He is subjectively in the state corresponding to utter sleep or trance from which when a man awakes he can only realise that he was and that he was in a state of bliss resulting from the complete absence of limitation; that he was conscious in that state, follows from his realisation of blissful existence; but the consciousness is not a part of his realisation. This concealment of Consciousness is a characteristic of the seed-state of things and it is what is meant by saying that when Parabrahman enters into matter as Prakriti, He forgets Himself.

Of such a condition, the realisations of consciousness do not return to us, we can have no particular information. The Yogin passes through it on his way to the Eternal, but he hastens to this goal and does not linger in it; not only so, but absorption in this stage is greatly dreaded except as a temporary necessity; for if the soul finally leaves the body in that condition, it must recommence the cycle of evolution all over again; for it has identified itself with the seed-state of things and must follow the nature of Avyakta which is to start on the motions of Evolution by the regular order of universal manifestation. This absorption is called the prakṛti laya or absorption in Prakriti. The Yogin can enter into this state of complete Nescience or Avidya and remain there for centuries, but if by any chance his body is preserved and he returns to it, he brings nothing back to the store of our knowledge on this side of Avyakta.

Parabrahman in the state of Avyakta Purusha is known as prājña, the Master of prajñā, Eternal Wisdom or Providence, for it is He that orders and marshals before Himself, like a great poet planning a wonderful masterpiece in his mind, the eternal laws of existence and the unending procession of the worlds. Vidya and Avidya are here perfectly balanced, the former still and quiescent though comprehensive, the latter not yet at active work, waiting for the command, "Let there be darkness." And then the veil of darkness, Vidya seems to be in

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abeyance, and from the disturbance of the balance results inequality; then out of the darkness Eternal Wisdom streams forth to its task of creation and Hiranyagarbha, the Golden Child, is born....

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On Translating the Upanishads

This translation of a few of the simpler and more exoteric Upanishads to be followed by other sacred and philosophical writings of the Hindus not included in the Revealed Scriptures, all under the one title of the Book of God, has been effected on one definite and unvarying principle, to present to England and through England to Europe the religious message of India only in those parts of her written thought which the West is fit to hear and to present these in such a form as should be attractive and suggestive to the Occidental intellect. The first branch of this principle necessitated a rigid selection on definite lines, the second dictated the choice of a style and method of rendering which should be literary rather than literal.

The series of translations called the Sacred Books of the East, edited by the late Professor Max Müller, was executed in a scholastic and peculiar spirit. Professor Max Müller, a scholar of wide attainments, great versatility and a refreshingly active, ingenious and irresponsible fancy, has won considerable respect in India by his attachment to Vedic studies, but it must fairly be recognised that he was more of a grammarian and philologist, than a sound Sanskrit scholar. He could construe Sanskrit well enough, but he could not feel the language or realise the spirit behind the letter. Accordingly he committed two serious errors of judgment; he imagined that by sitting in Oxford and evolving new meanings out of his own brilliant fancy he could understand the Upanishads better than Shankaracharya or any other Hindu of parts and learning; and he also imagined that what was important for Europe to know about the Upanishads was what he and other European scholars considered they ought to mean. This, however, is a matter of no importance to anybody but the scholars themselves. What it is really important for Europe to know is in the first place what the Upanishads really do mean, so far as their exoteric teaching extends, and in a less degree what philosophic Hinduism took them to mean. The latter knowledge

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may be gathered from the commentaries of Shankaracharya and other philosophers which may be studied in the original or in their translations which the Dravidian Presidency, ignorantly called benighted by the materialists, has been issuing with a truly noble learning and high-minded enterprise. The former this book makes some attempt to convey.

But it may be asked, why these particular Upanishads alone, when there are so many others far larger in plan and of a not inferior importance? In answer I may quote a sentence from Professor Max Müller's Preface to the Sacred Books of the East. "I confess," he says, "it has been for many years a problem to me, aye, and to a great extent is so still, how the Sacred Books of the East should, by the side of so much that is fresh, natural, simple, beautiful and true, contain so much that is not only unmeaning, artificial and silly, but even hideous and repellent." Now, I myself being only a poor coarse-minded Oriental and therefore not disposed to deny the gross physical facts of life and nature or able to see why we should scuttle them out of sight and put on a smug, respectable expression which suggests while it affects to hide their existence, this perhaps is the reason why I am somewhat at a loss to imagine what the Professor found in the Upanishads that is hideous and repellent. Still I was brought up almost from my infancy in England and received an English education, so that I have glimmerings. But as to what he intends by the unmeaning, artificial and silly elements, there can be no doubt. Everything is unmeaning in the Upanishads which the Europeans cannot understand, everything is artificial which does not come within the circle of their mental experience and everything is silly which is not explicable by European science and wisdom. Now this attitude is almost inevitable on the part of an European, for we all judge according to our lights and those who keep their minds really open, who can realise that there may be lights which are not theirs and yet as illuminating or more illuminating than theirs, are in any nation a very small handful. For the most part men are the slaves of their associations.

Let us suppose that the ceremonies and services of the Roman Catholic Church were not mere ceremonies and formularies,

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borrowed for the most part from Eastern occultisms without understanding them,—that they had been arranged so as to be perfect symbols of certain deep metaphysical truths and to produce certain effects spiritual and material according to a scientific knowledge of the power of sound over both mind and matter; let us suppose that deep philosophical works had been written in the terminology of these symbols and often in a veiled allusive language; and let us suppose finally that these were translated into Bengali or Hindustani and presented to an educated Pundit who had studied both at Calcutta and at Nuddia or Benares, what would he make of them ? It will be as well to take a concrete instance. Jesus Christ was a great thinker, a man who had caught, apparently by his unaided power, though this is not certain, something of the divine knowledge, but the writers who recorded his sayings were for the most part ordinary men of a very narrow culture and scope of thought and they seem grossly to have misunderstood his deepest sayings. For instance, when he said "I and my Father are one", expressing the deep truth that the human self and the divine self are identical, they imagined that he was setting up an individual claim to be God; hence the extraordinary legend of the Virgin Mary and all that followed from it. Well, we all know the story of the Last Supper and Jesus' marvellously pregnant utterance as he broke the bread and gave of the wine to his disciples "This is my body and this is my blood", and the remarkable rite of the Eucharist and the doctrine of Transubstantiation which the Roman Catholic Church have founded upon it. "Corruption! superstition! blasphemous nonsense!" cries the Protestant, "Only a vivid Oriental metaphor and nothing more." If so, it was certainly an "unmeaning, artificial and silly" metaphor, nay, "even a hideous and repellent" one. But I prefer to believe that Jesus' words had always a meaning, generally a true and beautiful one. On the other hand, the Transubstantiation doctrine is one which the Catholics themselves do not understand, it is to them a "mystery". And yet how plain the meaning is to the Oriental intelligence! The plasm of matter, the food-sheath of the universe to which bread and wine belong, is rendered the blood and body of God and typifies the great primal sacrifice by which God crucified

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himself so that the world might exist. The Infinite had to become finite, the Unconditioned to condition himself, Spirit to evolve Matter. In the bread and the wine which the communicant eats, God actually is, but he is not present to our consciousness, and he only becomes so present (here to our consciousness) by an act of faith; this is the whole doctrine of Transubstantiation. For, as the Upanishad says, we must believe in God before we can know him; we must realise him as the "He is" before we realise him in his essential. And indeed if the child had not believed in what his teacher or his book told him, how could the grown man know anything? But if a deep philosophical work were written on the Eucharist hinting at great truths but always using the symbol of the bread and wine and making its terminology from the symbol and from the doctrine of Transubstantiation based upon the symbol, what would our Hindu Pundit make of it? Being a scholar and philosopher, he would find there undoubtedly much that was "fresh, natural, simple, beautiful and true" but also a great deal that was "unmeaning, artificial and silly" and to his vegetarian imagination "even hideous and repellent". As for the symbol itself, its probable effect on the poor vegetarian would be to make him vomit. "What hideous non­sense," says the Protestant, "we are to believe that we are eating God!" How shall such a one know of Him where He abideth?

Many of the Upanishads similarly are written round symbols and in a phraseology and figures which have or had once a deep meaning and a sacred association to the Hindus but must be unintelligible and repellent to the European. What possible use can be served by presenting to Europe such works as the Chhandogya or Aitareya Upanishad in which even the majority of Hindus find it difficult or impossible to penetrate every symbol to its underlying truth? Only the few Upanishads have been selected which contain the kernel of the matter in the least technical and most poetical form; the one exception is the Upanishad of the Questions which will be necessarily strange and not quite penetrable to the European mind. It was, however, necessary to include it for the sake of a due presentation of Upanishad philosophy in some of its details as well as in its main ideas, and its technical element has a more universal appeal than

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that of the Chhandogya and Aitareya.

An objection may be urged to the method of translation that has been adopted. Professor Max Müller in his translation did not make any attempt to render into English the precise shades of Aryan philosophical terms like Atman and Prana which do not correspond to any philosophical conception familiar to the West; he believed that the very unfamiliarity of the terms he used, to translate them, would be like a bracing splash of cold water to the mind forcing it to rouse itself and think. In this I think the Professor was in error; his proposition may be true of undaunted philosophical intellects such as Schopenhauer's or of those who are already somewhat familiar with the Sanskrit language, but to the ordinary reader the unfamiliar and unexplained terminology forms a high and thick hedge of brambles shutting him off from the noble palace and beautiful gardens of the Upanishads. Moreover, the result of a scholastic faithfulness to the letter has been to make the style of the translation intolerably uncouth and unworthy of these great religious poems. I do not say that this translation is worthy of them, for in no other human tongue than Sanskrit is such grandeur and beauty possible. But there are ways and their degrees. For instance, etad vai tat, the refrain of the Katha Upanishad has a deep and solemn ring in Sanskrit because etad and tat so used have in Sanskrit a profound and grandiose philosophical signification which everybody at once feels; but in English "This truly is that" can be nothing but a juggling with demonstrative pronouns; it renders more nearly both rhythm and meaning to translate "This is the God of your seeking", however inadequate such a translation may be.

It may, however, fairly be said that a version managed on these lines cannot give a precise and accurate idea of the meaning. It is misleading to translate Prana sometimes by life, sometimes by breath, sometimes by life-breath or breath of life, because breath and life are merely subordinate aspects of the Prana. Atman again rendered indifferently by soul, spirit and self, must mislead, because what the West calls the soul is really the Atman yoked with mind and intelligence, and spirit is a word of variable connotation often synonymous with soul; even self

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cannot be used precisely in that way in English. Again the Hindu idea of "immortality" is different from the European; it implies not life after death, but freedom from both life and death; for what we call life is after all impossible without death. Similarly Being does not render puruṣa, nor "matter" rayi, nor askesis the whole idea of tapas. To a certain extent all this may be admitted, but at the same time I do not think that any reader who can think and feel will be seriously misled, and at any rate he will catch more of the meaning from imperfect English substitutes than from Sanskrit terms which will be a blank to his intelligence. The mind of man demands, and the demand is legitimate, that new ideas shall be presented to him in words which convey to him some associations with which he will not feel like a foreigner in a strange country where no one knows his language, nor he theirs. The new must be presented to him in the terms of the old; new wine must be put to some extent in old bottles. What is the use of avoiding the word "God" and speaking always of the Supreme as "It" simply because the Sanskrit usually,—but not, be it observed, invariably,—employs the neuter gender? The neuter in Sanskrit applies not only to what is inanimate, not only to what is below gender but to what is above gender. In English this is not the case. The use of "It" may therefore lead to far more serious misconceptions than to use the term "God" and the pronoun "He". When Matthew Arnold said that God was a stream of tendency making towards righteousness, men naturally scoffed because it seemed to turn God into an inanimate force; yet surely such was not Arnold's meaning. On the other side, if the new ideas are presented with force and power, a reader of intelligence will soon come to understand that something different is meant by "God" from what ideas he attaches to that word. And in the meanwhile we gain this distinct advantage that he has not been repelled at the outset by what would naturally seem to him bizarre, repulsive or irreverent.

It is true, however, that this translation will not convey a precise, full and categorical knowledge of the truths which underlie the Upanishads. To convey such knowledge is not the object of this translation, neither was it the object of the Upanishads themselves. It must always be remembered that these

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great treatises are simply the gate of the Higher Knowledge; there is much that lies behind the gate. Sri Krishna has indeed said that the knowledge in the Vedas is sufficient for a holy mind that is capable of knowing God, just as the water in a well is sufficient for a man's purpose though there may be whole floods of water all around. But this does not apply to ordinary men. The ordinary man who wishes to reach God through knowledge, must undergo an elaborate training. He must begin by becoming absolutely pure, he must cleanse thoroughly his body, his heart and his intellect, he must get himself a new heart and be born again; for only the twice-born can understand or teach the Vedas. When he has done this he needs yet four things before he can succeed, the Sruti or recorded revelation, the Sacred Teacher, the practice of Yoga and the Grace of God. The business of the Sruti and especially of the Upanishads is to seize the mind and draw it into a magic circle, to accustom it to the thoughts and aspirations of God (after the Supreme), to bathe it in certain ideas, surround it with a certain spiritual atmosphere; for this purpose it plunges and rolls the mind over and over in an ocean of marvellous sound through which a certain train of associations goes ever rolling. In other words it appeals through the intellect, the ear and the imagination to the soul. The purpose of the Upanishad cannot therefore be served by a translation; a translation at best prepares him for and attracts him to the original. But even when he has steeped himself in the original, he may have understood what the Upanishad suggested, but he has not understood all that it implies, the great mass of religious truth that lies behind, of which the Upanishad is but a hint or an echo. For this he must go to the Teacher. "Awake ye, arise and learn of God, seeking out the Best who have the knowledge." Hard is it in these days to find the Best, for the Best do not come to us, we have to show our sincerity, patience and perseverance by seeking them. And when we have heard the whole of the Brahmavidya from the Teacher, we still know of God by theory only; we must further learn from a preceptor the practical knowledge of God, the vision of Him and attainment of Him which is Yoga and the goal of Yoga. And even in that we cannot succeed unless we have the Grace of God; for Yoga is beset with

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temptations not the least of which are the powers it gives us, powers which the ignorant call supernatural. "Then must a man be very vigilant for Yoga, as it hath a beginning, so hath it an ending." Only the Grace of God can keep us firm and help us over the temptations. "The spirit is not to be won" etc...—the blessing of triumphant self-mastery that comes from long and patient accumulation of soul experience. Truly does the Upanishad say, "Sharp as a razor's edge is the path, difficult and hard to traverse, say the seers." Fortunately it is not necessary and indeed it is not possible for all to measure the whole journey in a single life, nor can we or should we abandon our daily duties like the Buddha and flee into the mountain or the forest. It is enough for us to make a beginning.

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Isha Upanishad

ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्व यत् किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्य स्विद्दनम् ॥१॥

1) All this is for habitation¹ by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not after any man's possession.

कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छताँ समाः ।
एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥२॥

2) Doing verily² works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man.³

असूर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः ।
ताँस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥३॥

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3) Sunless⁴ are those worlds and enveloped in blind gloom whereto all they in their passing hence resort who are slayers of their souls.

अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन् पूर्वमर्षत् ।
तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत् तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥४॥

4) One unmoving that is swifter than Mind, That the Gods reach not, for It progresses ever in front. That, standing, passes beyond others as they run. In That the Master of Life⁵ establishes the Waters.⁶

तदेजति तन्नैजति तद् दूरे तद्वन्तिके ।
तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥५॥

5) That moves and That moves not; That is far and the same is near; That is within all this and That also is outside all this.

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यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥६॥

6) But he who sees everywhere the Self in all existences and all existences in the Self, shrinks not thereafter from aught.

यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मैवाभूद् विजानतः ।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥७॥

7) He in whom it is the Self-Being that has become all existences that are Becomings,⁷ for he has the perfect knowledge, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have grief who sees everywhere oneness?

स पर्यगाच्छुकमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम् ।
कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान् व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥८॥

8) It is He that has gone abroad—That which is bright, bodiless, without scar of imperfection, without sinews, pure, unpierced by evil. The Seer, the Thinker,⁸ the One who becomes everywhere, the Self-existent has ordered objects perfectly according to their nature from years sempiternal.

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥९॥

9) Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone.

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अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥१०॥

10) Other, verily,⁹ it is said, is that which comes by the Knowledge, other that which comes by the Ignorance; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.

विद्याञ्चाविद्याञ्च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतमश्नुते ॥११॥

11) He who knows That as both in one, the Knowledge and the Ignorance, by the Ignorance crosses beyond death and by the Knowledge enjoys Immortality.

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥१२॥

12) Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Non-Birth, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Birth alone.

अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥१३॥

13) Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by the Birth, other that which comes by the Non-Birth; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.

सम्भूतिञ्च विनाशञ्च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्याऽमृतमश्नुते ॥१४॥

14) He who knows That as both in one, the Birth and the dissolution

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of Birth, by the dissolution crosses beyond death and by the Birth enjoys Immortality.

हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।
तत् त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥१५॥

15) The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer,¹⁰ for the law of the Truth, for sight.

पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन् समूह ।
तेजो यत् ते रुपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥१६॥

16) O Fosterer, O sole Seer, O Ordainer, O illumining Sun, O power of the Father of creatures, marshal thy rays, draw together thy light; the Lustre which is thy most blessed form of all, that in Thee I behold. The Purusha there and there, He am I.

वायुरनिलममृतथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।
ॐ कतो स्मर कृतं स्मर कतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥१७॥

17) The Breath of things¹¹ is an immortal Life, but of this body

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ashes are the end. OM! O Will,¹² remember, that which was done remember! O Will, remember, that which was done, remember.

अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान् विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।
युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नमउक्तिं विधेम ॥१८॥

18) O god Agni, knowing all things that are manifested, lead us by the good path to the felicity; remove from us the devious attraction of sin.¹³ To thee completest speech of submission we would dispose.¹⁴

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PREFATORY

Plan of the Upanishad

The Upanishads, being vehicles of illumination and not of instruction, composed for seekers who had already a general familiarity with the ideas of the Vedic and Vedantic seers and even some personal experience of the truths on which they were founded, dispense in their style with expressed transitions of thought and the development of implied or subordinate notions.

Every verse in the Isha Upanishad reposes on a number of ideas implicit in the text but nowhere set forth explicitly; the reasoning also that supports its conclusions is suggested by the words, not expressly conveyed to the intelligence. The reader, or rather the hearer, was supposed to proceed from light to light, confirming his intuitions and verifying by his experience, not submitting the ideas to the judgment of the logical reason.

To the modern mind this method is invalid and inapplicable; it is necessary to present the ideas of the Upanishad in their completeness, underline the suggestions, supply the necessary transitions and bring out the suppressed but always implicit reasoning.

The central idea of the Upanishad, which is a reconciliation and harmony of fundamental opposites, is worked out symmetrically in four successive movements of thought.

First Movement

In the first, a basis is laid down by the idea of the one and stable Spirit inhabiting and governing a universe of movement and of the forms of movement. (Verse 1, line 1)

On this conception the rule of a divine life for man is founded,—enjoyment of all by renunciation of all through the exclusion of desire. (Verse 1, line 2)

There is then declared the justification of works and of the

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physical life on the basis of an inalienable freedom of the soul, one with the Lord, amidst all the activity of the multiple movement. (Verse 2)

Finally, the result of an ignorant interference with the right manifestation of the One in the multiplicity is declared to be an involution in states of blind obscurity after death. (Verse 3)

Second Movement

In the second movement the ideas of the first verse are resumed and amplified.

The one stable Lord and the multiple movement are identified as one Brahman of whom, however, the unity and stability are the higher truth and who contains all as well as inhabits all. (Verses 4,5)

The basis and fulfilment of the rule of life are found in the experience of unity by which man identifies himself with the cosmic and transcendental Self and is identified in the Self, but with an entire freedom from grief and illusion, with all its becomings. (Verses 6,7)

Third Movement

In the third movement there is a return to the justification of life and works (the subject of Verse 2) and an indication of their divine fulfilment.

The degrees of the Lord's self-manifestation in the universe of motion and in the becomings of the one Being are set forth and the inner law of all existences declared to be by His conception and determination. (Verse 8)

Vidya and Avidya, Becoming and Non-becoming are reconciled by their mutual utility to the progressive self-realisation which proceeds from the state of mortality to the state of Immortality. (Verses 9-14)

Fourth Movement

The fourth movement returns to the idea of the worlds and under the figures of Surya and Agni the relations of the Supreme Truth and Immortality (Verses 15,16), the activities of this life (Verse 17), and the state after death (Verse 18) are symbolically indicated.

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FIRST MOVEMENT

The Inhabiting Godhead: Life and Action

Verses 1-3

1) All this is for habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not after any man's possession.

2) Doing verily works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man.

3) Sunless are those worlds and enveloped in blind gloom whereto all they in their passing hence resort who are slayers of their souls.

The Basis of Cosmic Existence

God and the world, Spirit and formative Nature are confronted and their relations fixed.

Cosmos

All world is a movement of the Spirit in itself and is mutable and transient in all its formations and appearances; its only eternity is an eternity of recurrence, its only stability a semblance caused by certain apparent fixities of relation and grouping.

Every separate object in the universe is, in truth, itself the whole universe presenting a certain front or outward appearance of its movement. The microcosm is one with the macrocosm.

Yet in their relation of principle of movement and result of movement they are continent and contained, world in world, movement in movement. The individual therefore partakes of the nature of the universal, refers back to it for its source of activity, is, as we say, subject to its laws and part of cosmic Nature.

Spirit

Spirit is lord of its movement, one, immutable, free, stable and eternal.

The Movement with all its formed objects has been created in order to provide a habitation for the Spirit who, being One,

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yet dwells multitudinously in the multiplicity of His mansions.

It is the same Lord who dwells in the sum and the part, in the Cosmos as a whole and in each being, force or object in the Cosmos.

Since He is one and indivisible, the Spirit in all is one and their multiplicity is a play of His cosmic consciousness.

Therefore each human being is in his essence one with all others, free, eternal, immutable, lord of Nature.

Transitional Thought

Avidya

The object of habitation is enjoyment and possession; the object of the Spirit in Cosmos is, therefore, the possession and enjoyment of the universe. Yet, being thus in his essence one, divine and free, man seems to be limited, divided from others, subject to Nature and even its creation and sport, enslaved to death, ignorance and sorrow. His object in manifestation being possession and enjoyment of his world, he is unable to enjoy because of his limitation. This contrary result comes about by Avidya, the Ignorance of oneness: and the knot of the Ignorance is egoism.

Ego

The cause of ego is that while by Its double power of Vidya and Avidya the Spirit dwells at once in the consciousness of multiplicity and relativity and in the consciousness of unity and identity and is therefore not bound by the Ignorance, yet It can, in mind, identify Itself with the object in the movement, absorbingly, to the apparent exclusion of the Knowledge which remains behind, veiled at the back of the mentality. The movement of Mind in Nature is thus able to conceive of the object as the reality and the Inhabitant as limited and determined by the appearances of the object. It conceives of the object, not as the universe in one of its frontal appearances, but as itself a separate existence standing out from the Cosmos and different in being from all the rest of it. It conceives similarly of the Inhabitant. This is the illusion of ignorance which falsifies all realities. The illusion is called ahaṁkāra, the separative ego-sense which

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makes each being conceive of itself as an independent personality.

The result of the separation is the inability to enter into harmony and oneness with the universe and a consequent inability to possess and enjoy it. But the desire to possess and enjoy is the master impulse of the Ego which knows itself obscurely to be the Lord, although owing to the limitations of its relativity, it is unable to realise its true existence. The result is discord with others and oneself, mental and physical suffering, the sense of weakness and inability, the sense of obscuration, the straining of energy in passion and in desire towards self-fulfilment, the recoil of energy exhausted or disappointed towards death and disintegration.

Desire is the badge of subjection with its attendant discord and suffering. That which is free, one and lord, does not desire, but inalienably contains, possesses and enjoys.

The Rule of the Divine Life

Enjoyment of the universe and all it contains is the object of world-existence, but renunciation of all in desire is the condition of the free enjoyment of all.

The renunciation demanded is not a moral constraint of self-denial or a physical rejection, but an entire liberation of the spirit from any craving after the forms of things.

The terms of this liberation are freedom from egoism and, consequently, freedom from personal desire. Practically, this renunciation implies that one should not regard anything in the universe as a necessary object of possession, nor as possessed by another and not by oneself, nor as an object of greed in the heart or the senses.

This attitude is founded on the perception of unity. For it has already been said that all souls are one possessing Self, the Lord; and although the Lord inhabits each object as if separately, yet all objects exist in that Self and not outside it.

Therefore by transcending Ego and realising the one Self, we possess the whole universe in the one cosmic consciousness and do not need to possess physically.

Having by oneness with the Lord the possibility of an infinite free delight in all things, we do not need to desire.

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Being one with all beings, we possess, in their enjoyment, in ours and in the cosmic Being's, delight of universal self-expression. It is only by this Ananda at once transcendent and universal that man can be free in his soul and yet live in the world with the full active Life of the Lord in His universe of movement.

The Justification of Works

This freedom does not depend upon inaction, nor is this possession limited to the enjoyment of the inactive Soul that only witnesses without taking part in the movement.

On the contrary, the doing of works in this material world and a full acceptance of the term of physical life are part of its completeness.

For the active Brahman fulfils Itself in the world by works and man also is in the body for self-fulfilment by action. He cannot do otherwise, for even his inertia acts and produces effects in the cosmic movement. Being in this body or any kind of body, it is idle to think of refraining from action or escaping the physical life. The idea that this in itself can be a means of liberation, is part of the Ignorance which supposes the soul to be a separate entity in the Brahman.

Action is shunned because it is thought to be inconsistent with freedom. The man when he acts, is supposed to be necessarily entangled in the desire behind the action, in subjection to the formal energy that drives the action and in the results of the action. These things are true in appearance, not in reality.

Desire is only a mode of the emotional mind which by ignorance seeks its delight in the object of desire and not in the Brahman who expresses Himself in the object. By destroying that ignorance one can do action without entanglement in desire.

The Energy that drives is itself subject to the Lord, who expresses Himself in it with perfect freedom. By getting behind Nature to the Lord of Nature, merging the individual in the Cosmic Will, one can act with the divine freedom. Our actions are given up to the Lord and our personal responsibility ceases in His liberty.

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The chain of Karma only binds the movement of Nature and not the soul which, by knowing itself, ceases even to appear to be bound by the result of its works.

Therefore the way of freedom is not inaction, but to cease from identifying oneself with the movement and recover instead our true identity in the Self of things who is their Lord.

The other Worlds

By departing from the physical life one does not disappear out of the Movement, but only passes into some other general state of consciousness than the material universe.

These states are either obscure or illuminated, some dark or sunless.

By persisting in gross forms of ignorance, by coercing perversely the soul in its self-fulfilment or by a wrong dissolution of its becoming in the Movement, one enters into states of blind darkness, not into the worlds of light and of liberated and blissful being.

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SECOND MOVEMENT

1. Brahman: Oneness of God and the World

Verses 4-5

4) One unmoving that is swifter than Mind; That the Gods reach not, for It progresses ever in front. That, standing, passes beyond others as they run. In That the Master of Life establishes the Waters.

5) That moves and That moves not; That is far and the same is near; That is within all this and That also is outside all this.

Brahman - The Unity

The Lord and the world, even when they seem to be distinct, are not really different from each other; they are one Brahman.

"One Unmoving"

God is the one stable and eternal Reality. He is One because there is nothing else, since all existence and non-existence are He. He is stable or unmoving, because motion implies change in Space and change in Time, and He, being beyond Time and Space, is immutable. He possesses eternally in Himself all that is, has been or ever can be, and He therefore does not increase or diminish. He is beyond causality and relativity and therefore there is no change of relations in His being.

"Swifter than Mind"

The world is a cyclic movement (saṁsāra) of the Divine Consciousness in Space and Time. Its law and, in a sense, its object is progression; it exists by movement and would be dissolved by cessation of movement. But the basis of this movement is not material; it is the energy of active consciousness which, by its motion and multiplication in different principles (different in appearance, the same in essence), creates oppositions of unity and multiplicity, divisions of Time and Space, relations and groupings of circumstance and Causality. All these things are real in consciousness, but only symbolic of the Being, somewhat as the imaginations of a creative Mind are true representations

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of itself, yet not quite real in comparison with itself, or real with a different kind of reality.

But mental consciousness is not the Power that creates the universe. That is something infinitely more puissant, swift and unfettered than the mind. It is the pure omnipotent self-awareness of the Absolute unbound by any law of the relativity. The laws of the relativity, upheld by the gods, are Its temporary creations. Their apparent eternity is only the duration, immeasurable to us, of the world which they govern. They are laws regularising motion and change, not laws binding the Lord of the movement. The gods, therefore, are described as continually running in their course. But the Lord is free and unaffected by His own movement.

"That Moves, that Moves Not"

The motion of the world works under the government of a perpetual stability. Change represents the constant shifting of apparent relations in an eternal Immutability.

It is these truths that are expressed in the formulae of the one Unmoving that is swifter than Mind, That which moves and moves not, the one Stable which outstrips in the speed of its effective consciousness the others who run.

Transitional Thought

If the One is pre-eminently real, "the others", the Many are not unreal. The world is not a figment of the Mind.

Unity is the eternal truth of things, diversity a play of the unity. The sense of unity has therefore been termed Knowledge, Vidya, the sense of diversity Ignorance, Avidya. But diversity is not false except when it is divorced from the sense of its true and eternal unity.

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Brahman is one, not numerically, but in essence. Numerical oneness would either exclude multiplicity or would be a pluralistic and divisible oneness with the Many as its parts. That is not the unity of Brahman, which can neither be diminished nor increased, nor divided.

The Many in the universe are sometimes called parts of the universal Brahman as the waves are parts of the sea. But, in truth, these waves are each of them that sea, their diversities being those of frontal or superficial appearances caused by the sea's motion. As each object in the universe is really the whole universe in a different frontal appearance, so each individual soul is all Brahman regarding Itself and world from a centre of cosmic consciousness.

For That is identical, not single. It is identical always and everywhere in Time and Space, as well as identical beyond Time and Space. Numerical oneness and multiplicity are equally valid terms of its essential unity.

These two terms, as we see them, are like all others, representations in Chit, in the free and all-creative self-awareness of the Absolute regarding itself variously, infinitely, innumerably and formulating what it regards. Chit is a power not only of knowledge, but of expressive will, not only of receptive vision, but of formative representation; the two are indeed one power. For Chit is an action of Being, not of the Void. What it sees, that becomes. It sees itself beyond Space and Time; that becomes in the conditions of Space and Time.

Creation is not a making of something out of nothing or of one thing out of another, but a self-projection of Brahman into the conditions of Space and Time. Creation is not a making, but a becoming in terms and forms of conscious existence.

In the becoming each individual is Brahman variously represented and entering into various relations with Itself in the play of the divine consciousness; in being, each individual is all Brahman.

Brahman as the Absolute or the Universal has the power of standing back from Itself in the relativity. It conceives, by a subordinate movement of consciousness, the individual as other than the universal, the relative as different from the Absolute. Without

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this separative movement, the individual would always tend to lose itself in the universal, the relative to disappear into the Absolute. Thus, It supports a corresponding reaction in the individual who regards himself as "other" than the transcendent and universal Brahman and "other" than the rest of the Many. He puts identity behind him and enforces the play of Being in the separate Ego.

The individual may regard himself as eternally different from the One, or as eternally one with It, yet different, or he may go back entirely in his consciousness to the pure Identity.¹ But he can never regard himself as independent of some kind of Unity, for such a view would correspond to no conceivable truth in the universe or beyond it.

These three attitudes correspond to three truths of the Brahman which are simultaneously valid and none of them entirely true without the others as its complements. Their co-existence, difficult of conception to the logical intellect, can be experienced by identity in consciousness with Brahman.

Even in asserting Oneness, we must remember that Brahman is beyond our mental distinctions and is a fact not of Thought that discriminates, but of Being which is absolute, infinite and escapes discrimination. Our consciousness is representative and symbolic; it cannot conceive the thing-in-itself, the Absolute, except by negation, in a sort of void, by emptying it of all that it seems in the universe to contain. But the Absolute is not a void or negation. It is all that is here in Time and beyond Time.

Even oneness is a representation and exists in relation to multiplicity. Vidya and Avidya are equally eternal powers of the supreme Chit. Neither Vidya nor Avidya by itself is the absolute knowledge. (Verses 9-11)

Still, of all relations oneness is the secret base, not multiplicity. Oneness constitutes and upholds the multiplicity, multiplicity does not constitute and uphold the oneness.

Therefore we have to conceive of oneness as our self and the essential nature of Being, multiplicity as a representation of Self and a becoming. We have to conceive of the Brahman as One

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Self of all and then return upon the Many as becomings of the One Being (bhūtāni...ātmānam). But both the Self and the becomings are Brahman; we cannot regard the one as Brahman and the others as unreal and not Brahman. Both are real, the one with a constituent and comprehensive, the others with a derivative or dependent reality.

The Running of the Gods

Brahman representing Itself in the universe as the Stable, by Its immutable existence (Sat), is Purusha, God, Spirit; representing Itself as the Motional, by Its power of active Consciousness (Chit), is Nature, Force or World-Principle (Prakriti, Shakti, Maya).² The play of these two principles is the Life of the universe.

The Gods are Brahman representing Itself in cosmic Personalities expressive of the one Godhead who, in their impersonal action, appear as the various play of the principles of Nature.

The "others" are sarvāṇi bhūtāni of a later verse, all becomings, Brahman representing itself in the separative consciousness of the Many.

Everything in the universe, even the Gods, seems to itself to be moving in the general movement towards a goal outside itself or other than its immediate idea of itself. Brahman is the goal; for it is both the beginning and the end, the cause and the result of all movement.

But the idea of a final goal in the movement of Nature itself is illusory. For Brahman is Absolute and Infinite. The Gods, labouring to reach him, find, at every goal that they realise, Brahman still moving forward in front to a farther realisation. Nothing in the appearances of the universe can be entirely That to the relative consciousness; all is only a symbolic representation

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of the Unknowable.

All things are already realised in Brahman. The running of the Others in the course of Nature is only a working out (Prakriti), by Causality, in Time and Space, of something that Brahman already possesses.

Even in Its universal being Brahman exceeds the Movement. Exceeding Time, It contains in Itself past, present and future simultaneously and has not to run to the end of conceivable Time. Exceeding Space, It contains all formations in Itself coincidently and has not to run to the end of conceivable Space. Exceeding Causality, It contains freely in Itself all eventualities as well as all potentialities without being bound by the apparent chain of causality by which they are linked in the universe. Everything is already realised by It as the Lord before it can be accomplished by the separated Personalities in the movement.

The Principle of Life

What then is Its intention in the movement?

The movement is a rhythm, a harmony which That, as the Universal Life, works out by figures of Itself in the terms of conscious Being. It is a formula symbolically expressive of the Unknowable,—so arranged that every level of consciousness really represents something beyond itself, depth of depth, continent of continent. It is a play³ of the divine Consciousness existing for its own satisfaction and adding nothing to That, which is already complete. It is a fact of conscious being, justified by its own existence, with no purpose ulterior to itself. The idea of purpose, of a goal is born of the progressive self-unfolding by the world of its own true nature to the individual Souls inhabiting its forms; for the Being is gradually self-revealed within its own becomings, real Unity emerges out of the Multiplicity and changes entirely the values of the latter to our consciousness.

This self-unfolding is governed by conditions determined by the complexity of consciousness in its cosmic action.

For consciousness is not simple or homogeneous, it is septuple.

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That is to say, it constitutes itself into seven forms or grades of conscious activity descending from pure Being to physical being. Their interplay creates the worlds, determines all activities, constitutes all becomings.

Brahman is always the continent of this play or this working. Brahman self-extended in Space and Time is the universe.

In this extension Brahman represents Itself as formative Nature, the universal Mother of things, who appears to us, first, as Matter, called pṛthivī, the Earth-Principle.

Brahman in Matter or physical being represents Itself as the universal Life-Power, Matarishwan, which moves there as a dynamic energy, prāṇa, and presides effectively over all arrangement and formation.

Universal Life establishes, involved in Matter, the septuple consciousness; and the action of prāṇa, the dynamic energy, on the Matrix of things evolves out of it its different forms and serves as a basis for all their evolutions.

Transitional Thought

There are, then, seven constituents of Chit active in the universe.

We are habitually aware of three elements in our being, Mind, Life and Body. These constitute for us a divided and mutable existence which is in a condition of unstable harmony and works by a strife of positive and negative forces between the two poles of Birth and Death. For all life is a constant birth or becoming (sambhava, sambhūti of Verses 12-14). All birth entails a constant death or dissolution of that which becomes, in order that it may change into a new becoming. Therefore this state of existence is called mṛtyu, Death, and described as a stage which has to be passed through and transcended. (Verses 11-14)

For this is not the whole of our being and, therefore, not our pure being. We have, behind, a superconscious existence which has also three constituents, sat, cit-tapas and ānanda.

Sat is essence of our being, pure infinite and undivided, as opposed to this divisible being which founds itself on the constant changeableness of physical substance. Sat is the divine counterpart

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of physical substance.

Chit-Tapas is pure energy of Consciousness, free in its rest or its action, sovereign in its will, as opposed to the hampered dynamic energies of Prana which, feeding upon physical substances, are dependent on and limited by their sustenance.⁴ Tapas is the divine counterpart of this lower nervous or vital energy.

Ananda is Beatitude, the bliss of pure conscious existence and energy, as opposed to the life of the sensations and emotions which are at the mercy of the outward touches of Life and Matter and their positive and negative reactions, joy and grief, pleasure and pain. Ananda is the divine counterpart of the lower emotional and sensational being.

This higher existence, proper to the divine Sachchidananda, is unified, self-existent, not confused by the figures of Birth and Death. It is called, therefore, amṛtam, Immortality, and offered to us as the goal to be aimed at and the felicity to be enjoyed when we have transcended the state of death. (Verses 11, 14, 17, 18)

The higher divine is linked to the lower mortal existence by the causal Idea⁵ or supramental Knowledge-Will, vijñāna. It is the causal Idea which, by supporting and secretly guiding the confused activities of the Mind, Life and Body, ensures and compels the right arrangement of the universe. It is called in the Veda the Truth because it represents by direct vision the truth of things both inclusive and independent of their appearances; the Right or Law, because, containing in itself the effective power of Chit, it works out all things according to their nature with a perfect knowledge and prevision; the Vast, because it is of the nature of an infinite cosmic Intelligence comprehensive of all particular activities.

Vijnana, as the Truth, leads the divided consciousness back to the One. It also sees the truth of things in the multiplicity.

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Vijnana is the divine counterpart of the lower divided intelligence.

These seven powers of Chit are spoken of by the Vedic Rishis as the Waters, they are imaged as currents flowing into or rising out of the general sea of Consciousness in the human being.⁶

They are all co-existent in the universe eternally and inseparably, but capable of being involved and remanifested in each other. They are actually involved in physical Nature and must necessarily evolve out of it. They can be withdrawn into pure infinite Being and can again be manifested out of it.

The infolding and unfolding of the One in the Many and the Many in the One is therefore the law of the eternally recurrent cosmic Cycles.

The Vision of the Brahman

The Upanishad teaches us how to perceive Brahman in the universe and in our self-existence.

We have to perceive Brahman comprehensively as both the Stable and the Moving. We must see It in eternal and immutable Spirit and in all the changing manifestations of universe and relativity.

We have to perceive all things in Space and Time, the far and the near, the immemorial Past, the immediate Present, the infinite Future with all their contents and happenings as the One Brahman.

We have to perceive Brahman as that which exceeds, contains and supports all individual things as well as all universe, transcendentally of Time and Space and Causality. We have to perceive It also as that which lives in and possesses the universe and all it contains.

This is the transcendental, universal and individual Brahman, Lord, Continent and Indwelling Spirit, which is the object of all knowledge. Its realisation is the condition of perfection and the way of Immortality.

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SECOND MOVEMENT

2. Self-Realisation

Verses 6-7

6) But he who sees everywhere the Self in all existences and all existences in the Self, shrinks not thereafter from aught.

7) He in whom it is the Self-Being that has become all existences that are Becomings, for he has the perfect knowledge, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have grief who sees everywhere oneness?

Self-Realisation

Brahman is, subjectively, Atman, the Self or immutable existence of all that is in the universe. Everything that changes in us, mind, life, body, character, temperament, action, is not our real and unchanging self, but becomings of the Self in the movement, jagatī.

In Nature, therefore, all things that exist, animate or inanimate, are becomings of the one Self of all. All these different creatures are one indivisible existence. This is the truth each being has to realise.

When this unity has been realised by the individual in every part of his being, he becomes perfect, pure, liberated from ego and the dualities, possessed of the entire divine felicity.

Atman

Atman, our true self, is Brahman; it is pure indivisible Being, self-luminous, self-concentrated in consciousness, self-concentrated in force, self-delighted. Its existence is light and bliss. It is timeless, spaceless and free.

The Threefold Purusha

Atman represents itself to the consciousness of the creature in three states, dependent on the relations between puruṣa and prakṛti, the Soul and Nature. These three states are akṣara, unmoving or immutable; kṣara, moving or mutable; and para or uttama, Supreme or Highest.

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Kshara Purusha is the Self reflecting the changes and movements of Nature, participating in them, immersed in the consciousness of the movement and seeming in it to be born and die, increase and diminish, progress and change. Atman, as the Kshara, enjoys change and division and duality; controls secretly its own changes but seems to be controlled by them; enjoys the oppositions of pleasure and pain, good and bad, but appears to be their victim; possesses and upholds the action of Nature, by which it seems to be created. For, always and inalienably, the Self is Ishwara, the Lord.

Akshara Purusha is the Self, standing back from the changes and movements of Nature, calm, pure, impartial, indifferent, watching them and not participating, above them as on a summit, not immersed in these Waters. This calm Self is the sky that never moves and changes looking down upon the waters that are never at rest. The Akshara is the hidden freedom of the Kshara.

Para Purusha or Purushottama is the Self containing and enjoying both the stillness and the movement, but conditioned and limited by neither of them. It is the Lord, Brahman, the All, the Indefinable and Unknowable.

It is this supreme Self that has to be realised in both the unmoving and the mutable.

Purusha in Prakriti

Atman, the Self, represents itself differently in the sevenfold movement of Nature according to the dominant principle of the consciousness in the individual being.

In the physical consciousness Atman becomes the material being, annamaya puruṣa.

In the vital or nervous consciousness Atman becomes the vital or dynamic being, prāṇamaya puruṣa.

In the mental consciousness Atman becomes the mental being, manomaya puruṣa.

In the supra-intellectual consciousness, dominated by the Truth or causal Idea (called in Veda satyam ṛtam bṛhat, the True, the Right, the Vast), Atman becomes the ideal being or

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great Soul, vijñānamaya puruṣa or mahat ātman.¹

In the consciousness proper to the universal Beatitude, Atman becomes the all-blissful being or all-enjoying and all-productive Soul, ānandamaya puruṣa.

In the consciousness proper to the infinite divine self-awareness which is also the infinite all-effective Will (cit-tapas), Atman is the all-conscious Soul that is source and lord of the universe, caitanya puruṣa.

In the consciousness proper to the state of pure divine existence, Atman is sat puruṣa, the pure divine Self.

Man, being one in his true Self with the Lord who inhabits all forms, can live in any of these states of the Self in the world and partake of its experiences. He can be anything he wills from the material to the all-blissful being. Through the Anandamaya he can enter into the Chaitanya and Sat Purusha.

Sachchidananda

Sachchidananda is the manifestation of the higher Purusha; its nature of infinite being, consciousness, power and bliss is the higher Nature, parā prakṛti. Mind, life and body are the lower nature, aparā prakṛti.

The state of Sachchidananda is the higher half of universal existence, parārdha, the nature of which is Immortality, amṛtam. The state of mortal existence in Matter is the lower half, aparārdha, the nature of which is death, mṛtyu.

Mind and life in the body are in the state of Death because by Ignorance they fail to realise Sachchidananda. Realising perfectly Sachchidananda, they can convert themselves, Mind into the nature of the Truth, vijñāna, Life into the nature of caitanya, Body into the nature of sat, that is, into the pure essence.

When this cannot be done perfectly in the body, the soul realises its true state in other forms of existence or worlds, the "sunlit" worlds and states of felicity, and returns upon material existence to complete its evolution in the body.

A progressively perfect realisation in the body is the aim of human evolution.

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It is also possible for the soul to withdraw for an indefinable period into the pure state of Sachchidananda.

The realisation of the Self as Sachchidananda is the aim of human existence.

The Condition of Self-Realisation

Sachchidananda is always the pure state of Atman; it may either remain self-contained as if apart from the universe or overlook, embrace and possess it as the Lord.

In fact, it does both simultaneously. (Verse 8)

The Lord pervades the universe as the Virat Purusha, the Cosmic Soul (paribhūḥ of the eighth verse, the One who becomes everywhere); He enters into each object in the movement, to the Knowledge as Brahman supporting individual consciousness and individual form, to the Ignorance as an individualised and limited being. He manifests as the Jivatman or individual self in the living creature.

From the standpoint of our lower state in the kingdom of death and limitation Atman is Sachchidananda, supra-mental, but reflected in the mind. If the mind is pure, bright and still, there is the right reflection; if it is unpurified, troubled and obscured, the reflection is distorted and subjected to the crooked action of the Ignorance.

According to the state of the reflecting mind we may have either purity of self-knowledge or an obscuration and distortion of knowledge in the dualities of truth and error; a pure activity of unegoistic Will or an obscuration and deflection of Will in the dualities of right and wrong action, sin and virtue; a pure state and unmixed play of beatitude or an obscuration and perversion of it in the dualities of right and wrong enjoyment, pleasure and pain, joy and grief.

It is the mental ego-sense that creates this distortion by division and limitation of the Self. The limitation is brought about through the Kshara Purusha identifying itself with the changeable

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formations of Nature in the separate body, the individual life and the egoistic mind, to the exclusion of the sense of unity with all existence and with all existences.

This exclusion is a fixed habit of the understanding due to our past evolution in the movement, not an ineffugable law of human consciousness. Its diminution and final disappearance are the condition of self-realisation.

The beginning of wisdom, perfection and beatitude is the vision of the One.

The Stages of Self-Realisation

The Vision of the All

The first movement of self-realisation is the sense of unity with other existences in the universe. Its early or crude form is the attempt to understand or sympathise with others, the tendency of a widening love or compassion or fellow-feeling for others, the impulsion of work for the sake of others.

The oneness so realised is a pluralistic unity, the drawing together of similar units resulting in a collectivity or solidarity rather than in real oneness. The Many remain to the consciousness as the real existences; the One is only their result.

Real knowledge begins with the perception of essential oneness,—one Matter, one Life, one Mind, one Soul playing in many forms.

When this Soul of things is seen to be Sachchidananda, then knowledge is perfected. For we see Matter to be only a play of Life, Life a play of Mind energising itself in substance, Mind a play of Truth or causal Idea representing truth of being variously in all possible mental forms, Truth a play of Sachchidananda, Sachchidananda the self-manifestation of a supreme Unknowable, Para-Brahman or Para-Purusha.

We perceive the soul in all bodies to be this one Self or Sachchidananda multiplying itself in individual consciousness. We see also all minds, lives, bodies to be active formations of the same existence in the extended being of the Self.

This is the vision of all existences in the Self and of the Self in all existences which is the foundation of perfect internal liberty and perfect joy and peace.

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For by this vision, in proportion as it increases in intensity and completeness, there disappears from the individual mentality all jugupsā, that is to say, all repulsion, shrinking, dislike, fear, hatred and other perversions of feeling which arise from division and personal opposition to other beings or to the objectivities that surround us. Perfect equality² of soul is established.

The Vision of the Self in Its Becomings

Vision is not sufficient; one must become what inwardly one sees. The whole inner life must be changed so as to represent perfectly in all parts of the being what is understood by the intellect and seen by the inner perception.

In the individual soul extending itself to the All by the vision of unity (ekatvam anupaśyataḥ, seeing everywhere oneness) arranging its thoughts, emotions and sensations according to the perfect knowledge of the right relation of things which comes by the realisation of the Truth (vijānataḥ, having the perfect knowledge), there must be repeated the divine act of consciousness by which the one Being, eternally self-existent, manifests in itself the multiplicity of the world (sarvāṇi bhūtāni ātmaiva abhūt, the Self-Being became all Becomings).

That is to say, the human or egoistic view is that of a world of innumerable separate creatures each self-existent and different from the others, each trying to get its utmost possible profit out of the others and the world, but the divine view, the way in which God sees the world, is Himself, as the sole Being, living in innumerable existences that are Himself, supporting all, helping all impartially, working out to a divine fulfilment and under terms fixed from the beginning, from years sempiternal, a great progressive harmony of Becoming whose last term is Sachchidananda or Immortality. This is the viewpoint of the Self as Lord inhabiting the whole movement. The individual soul has to change the human or egoistic for the divine, supreme and universal view and live in that realisation.

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It is necessary, therefore, to have the knowledge of the transcendent Self, the sole unity, in the equation so'ham, I am He, and in that knowledge to extend one's conscious existence so as to embrace the whole Multiplicity.

This is the double or synthetic ideal of the Isha Upanishad; to embrace simultaneously Vidya and Avidya, the One and the Many; to exist in the world, but change the terms of the Death into the terms of the Immortality; to have the freedom and peace of the Non-Birth simultaneously with the activity of the Birth. (Verses 9-14).

All parts of the lower being must consent to this realisation; to perceive with the intellect is not enough. The heart must consent in a universal love and delight, the sense-mind in a sensation of God and self everywhere, the life in the comprehension of all aims and energies in the world as part of its own being.

The Active Beatitude

This realisation is the perfect and complete Beatitude, embracing action, but delivered from sorrow and self-delusion.

There is no possibility of self-delusion (moha); for the soul, having attained to the perception of the Unknowable behind all existence, is no longer attached to the Becoming and no longer attributes an absolute value to any particularity in the universe, as if that were an object in itself and desirable in itself. All is enjoyable and has a value as the manifestation of the Self and for the sake of the Self which is manifested in it, but none for its own.³ Desire and illusion are removed; illusion is replaced by knowledge, desire by the active beatitude of universal possession.

There is no possibility of sorrow; for all is seen as Sachchidananda and therefore in the terms of the infinite conscious existence, the infinite will, the infinite felicity. Even pain and grief are seen to be perverse terms of Ananda, and that Ananda which they veil here and for which they prepare the lower existence (for all suffering in the evolution is a preparation of strength and bliss) is already seized, known and enjoyed by the soul thus liberated and perfected. For it possesses the eternal Reality of which they are the appearances.

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Thus it is possible, by the realisation of the unity of God and the world (īś and jagat) in the complete knowledge of the Brahman, to renounce desire and illusion through the ascent to the pure Self and the Non-Becoming and yet to enjoy by means of all things in the manifestation God in the universe through a free and illuminated self-identification with Sachchidananda in all existences.

Conclusion

We have, therefore, in the second movement the explanation of the first verse of the Upanishad. The first line, asserting that all souls are the one Lord inhabiting every object in the universe and that every object is universe in universe, movement in the general movement, has been explained in the terms of complete oneness by the Brahman, transcendental and universal even in the individual, One in the Many, Many in the One, Stable and Motional, exceeding and reconciling all opposites. The second line, fixing as the rule of divine life universal renunciation of desire as the condition of universal enjoyment in the spirit, has been explained by the state of self-realisation, the realisation of the free and transcendent Self as one's own true being, of that Self as Sachchidananda and of the universe seen as the Becoming of Sachchidananda and possessed in the terms of the right Knowledge and no longer in the terms of the Ignorance which is the cause of all attraction and repulsion, self-delusion and sorrow.

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THIRD MOVEMENT

I. The Lord

Verse 8

8) It is He that has gone abroad—That which is bright, bodiless, without scar of imperfection, without sinews, pure, unpierced by evil. The Seer, the Thinker, the One who becomes everywhere, the Self-existent has ordered objects perfectly according to their nature from years sempiternal.

"He"

In its third movement the Upanishad takes up the justification of works already stated in general terms in its second verse and founds it more precisely upon the conception of Brahman or the Self as the Lord,—īś, īśvara, para puruṣa, saḥ (He)—who is the cause of personality and governs by His law of works the rhythm of the Movement and the process of the worlds that He conceives and realises throughout eternal Time in His own self-existence.

It is an error to conceive that the Upanishads teach the true existence only of an impersonal and actionless Brahman, an impersonal God without power or qualities. They declare rather an Unknowable that manifests itself to us in a double aspect of Personality and Impersonality. When they wish to speak of this Unknowable in the most comprehensive and general way, they use the neuter and call it tat, That; but this neuter does not exclude the aspect of universal and transcendent Personality acting and governing the world (cf. Kena Upanishad III). Still, when they intend to make prominent the latter idea they more often prefer to use the masculine saḥ, He, or else they employ the term Deva, God or the Divine, or Purusha, the conscious Soul, of whom Prakriti or Maya is the executive Puissance, the Shakti.

The Isha Upanishad, having declared the Brahman as the sole reality manifesting itself in many aspects and forms, having presented this Brahman subjectively as the Self, the one Being of whom all existences are Becomings, and as that which we have

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to realise in ourselves and in all things and beyond all things, now proceeds to assert the same Brahman more objectively as the Lord, the Purusha who both contains and inhabits the universe.

It is He that went abroad. This Brahman, this Self is identical with the Lord, the Ish, with whose name the Upanishad opens, the Inhabitant of all forms: and, as we shall find, identical with the universal Purusha of the 16th verse,—"The Purusha there and there, He am I." It is He who has become all things and beings,—a conscious Being, the sole Existent and Self-existent, who is Master and Enjoyer of all He becomes. And the Upanishad proceeds to formulate the nature and manner, the general law of that becoming of God which we call the world. For on this conception depends the Vedic idea of the two poles of death and immortality, the reason for the existence of Avidya, the Ignorance, and the justification of works in the world.

Transitional Thought

The Vedantic idea of God, "He", Deva or Ishwara, must not be confused with the ordinary notions attached to the conception of a Personal God. Personality is generally conceived as identical with individuality and the vulgar idea of a Personal God is a magnified individual like man in His nature but yet different, greater, more vast and all-overpowering. Vedanta admits the human manifestation of Brahman in man and to man, but does not admit that this is the real nature of the Ishwara.

God is Sachchidananda. He manifests Himself as infinite existence of which the essentiality is consciousness, of which again the essentiality is bliss, is self-delight. Delight cognising variety of itself, seeking its own variety, as it were, becomes the universe. But these are abstract terms; abstract ideas in themselves cannot produce concrete realities. They are impersonal states; impersonal states cannot in themselves produce personal activities.

This becomes still clearer if we consider the manifestation of Sachchidananda. In that manifestation Delight translates itself into Love; Consciousness translates itself into double terms, conceptive Knowledge, executive Force; Existence translates

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itself into Being, that is to say, into Person and Substance. But Love is incomplete without a Lover and an object of Love, Knowledge without a Knower and an object of Knowledge, Force without a Worker and a Work, Substance without a Person cognising and constituting it.

This is because the original terms also are not really impersonal abstractions. In delight of Brahman there is an Enjoyer of delight, in consciousness of Brahman a Conscient, in existence of Brahman an Existent; but the object of Brahman's delight and consciousness and the term and stuff of Its existence are Itself. In the divine Being Knowledge, the Knower and the Known and, therefore, necessarily also Delight, the Enjoyer and the Enjoyed are one.

This Self-Awareness and Self-Delight of Brahman has two modes of its Force of consciousness, its Prakriti or Maya,—intensive in self-absorption, diffusive in self-extension. The intensive mode is proper to the pure and silent Brahman; the diffusive to the active Brahman. It is the diffusion of the Self-existent in the term and stuff of His own existence that we call the world, the becoming or the perpetual movement (bhuvanam, jagat). It is Brahman that becomes; what He becomes is also the Brahman. The object of Love is the self of the Lover; the work is the self-figuration of the Worker; Universe is body and action of the Lord.

When, therefore, we consider the abstract and impersonal aspect of the infinite existence, we say, "That"; when we consider the Existent self-aware and self-blissful, we say, "He". Neither conception is entirely complete. Brahman itself is the Unknowable beyond all conceptions of Personality and Impersonality. We may call it "That" to show that we exile from our affirmation all term and definition. We may equally call it "He", provided we speak with the same intention of rigorous exclusion. Tat and saḥ̣ are always the same, One that escapes definition.

In the universe there is a constant relation of Oneness and Multiplicity. This expresses itself as the universal Personality and the many Persons, and both between the One and the Many and among the Many themselves there is the possibility of an infinite variety of relations. These relations are determined by

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the play of the divine existence, the Lord, entering into His manifested habitations. They exist at first as conscious relations between individual souls; they are then taken up by them and used as a means of entering into conscious relation with the One. It is this entering into various relations with the One which is the object and function of Religion. All religions are justified by this essential necessity; all express one Truth in various ways and move by various paths to one goal.

The Divine Personality reveals Himself in various forms and names to the individual soul. These forms and names are in a sense created in the human consciousness; in another they are eternal symbols revealed by the Divine who thus concretises Himself in mind-form to the multiple consciousness and aids it in its return to its own Unity.¹

He that went Abroad

It is He that has extended Himself in the relative consciousness whose totality of finite and changeable circumstances dependent on an equal, immutable and eternal Infinity is what we call the Universe. Sa paryagāt. In this extension we have, therefore, two aspects, one of pure infinite relationless immutability, another of a totality of objects in Time and Space working out their relations through causality. Both are different and mutually complementary expressions of the same unknowable "He".

To express the infinite Immutability the Upanishad uses a series of neuter adjectives, "Bright, bodiless, without scar, without sinews, pure, unpierced by evil." To express the same Absolute as cause, continent and governing Inhabitant of the totality of objects and of each object in the totality (jagatyām jagat) it uses four masculine epithets, "The Seer, the Thinker, the One who becomes everywhere, the Self-existent" or "the Self-Becoming".

The Immutable is the still and secret foundation of the play and the movement, extended equally, impartially in all things, samam brahma,² lending its support to all without choice or

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active participation. Secure and free in His eternal immutability the Lord projects Himself into the play and the movement, becoming there in His self-existence all that the Seer in Him visualises and the Thinker in Him conceives. Kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūḥ.

The Pure Immutable

The pure immutability of the Lord is "bright". It is luminosity of pure concentrated Self-awareness, not broken by refractions, not breaking out into colour and form. It is the pure self-knowledge of the Purusha, the conscious Soul, with his Power, his executive Force contained and inactive.

It is "bodiless",—without form, indivisible and without appearance of division. It is one equal Purusha in all things, not divided by the divisions of Space and Time,—a pure self-conscious Absolute.

It is without scar, that is, without defect, break or imperfection. It is untouched and unaffected by the mutabilities. It supports their clash of relations, their play of more and less, of increase and diminution, of irruption and interpenetration. For Itself is without action, acalaḥ sanātanaḥ,³ "motionless, sempiternal."

It is without sinews. The reason for Its being without scar is that It does not put out Power, does not dispense Force in multiple channels, does not lose it here, increase it there, replenish its loss or seek by love or by violence its complementary or its food. It is without nerves of force; It does not pour itself out in the energies of the Pranic dynamism, of Life, of Matarishwan.

It is pure, unpierced by evil. What we call sin or evil, is merely excess and defect, wrong placement, inharmonious action and reaction. By its equality, by its inaction even while it supports all action, the conscious Soul retains its eternal freedom and eternal purity. For it is unmodified; It watches as the Sakshi, the witness, the modifications effected by Prakriti, but does not partake of them, does not get clogged with them, receives not their impression. Na lipyate.

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The Soul Inalienably Free

What is the relation of the active Brahman and of the human soul to this pure Inactive? They too are That. Action does not change the nature of the Self, but only the nature of the diverse forms. The Self is always pure, blissful, perfect, whether inactive or participating in action.

The Self is all things and exceeds them. It exceeds always that in which the mind is engrossed, that which it takes in a particular time and space as a figure of itself. The boundless whole is always perfect. The totality of things is a complete harmony without wound or flaw. The viewpoint of the part taken for a whole, in other words the Ignorance, is the broken reflection which creates the consciousness of limitation, incompleteness and discord. We shall see that this Ignorance has a use in the play of the Brahman; but in itself it appears at first to be only a parent of evil.

Ignorance is a veil that separates the mind, body and life from their source and reality, Sachchidananda. Thus obscured the mind feels itself pierced by the evil that Ignorance creates. But the Active Brahman is always Sachchidananda using for its self-becoming the forms of mind, body and life. All their experiences are therefore seen by It in the terms of Sachchidananda. It is not pierced by the evil. For It also is the One and sees everywhere Oneness. It is not mastered by the Ignorance that It uses as a minor term of its conception.

The human soul is one with the Lord; it also is in its completeness Sachchidananda using Ignorance as the minor term of its being. But it has projected its conceptions into this minor term and established there in limited mind its centre of vision, its viewpoint. It assumes to itself the incompleteness and the resultant sense of want, discord, desire, suffering. The Real Man behind is not affected by all this confusion; but the apparent or exterior Man is affected. To recover its freedom it must recover its completeness; it must identify itself with the divine Inhabitant within, its true and complete self. It can then, like the Lord, conduct the action of Prakriti without undergoing the false impression of identification with the results of its action. It is this idea on which the Upanishad bases the assertion, "Action cleaveth not to a man."

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To this end it must recover the silent Brahman within. The Lord possesses always His double term and conducts the action of the universe, extended in it, but not attached to or limited by His works. The human soul, entangled in mind, is obscured in vision by the rushing stream of Prakriti's works and fancies itself to be a part of that stream and swept in its currents and in its eddies. It has to go back in its self-existence to the silent Purusha even while participating in its self-becoming in the movement of Prakriti. It becomes then, not only like the silent Purusha, the witness and upholder, but also the Lord and the free enjoyer of Prakriti and her works. An absolute calm and passivity, purity and equality within, a sovereign and inexhaustible activity without is the nature of Brahman as we see it manifested in the universe.

There is therefore no farther objection to works. On the contrary, works are justified by the participation or self-identification of the soul with the Lord in His double aspect of passivity and activity. Tranquillity for the Soul, activity for the energy, is the balance of the divine rhythm in man.

The Law of Things

The totality of objects (arthān) is the becoming of the Lord in the extension of His own being. Its principle is double. There is consciousness; there is Being. Consciousness dwells in energy (tapas) upon its self-being to produce Idea of itself (vijñāna) and form and action inevitably corresponding to the Idea. This is the original Indian conception of creation, self-production or projection into form (sṛṣṭi, prasava). Being uses its self-awareness to evolve infinite forms of itself governed by the expansion of the innate Idea in the form. This is the original Indian conception of evolution, prominent in certain philosophies such as the Sankhya (pariṇāma, vikāra, vivarta). It is the same phenomenon diversely stated.

In the idea of some thinkers the world is a purely subjective evolution (vivarta), not real as objective facts; in the idea of others it is an objective fact, a real modification (pariṇāma), but one which makes no difference to the essence of Being. Both notions claim to derive from the Upanishads as their authority,

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and their opposition comes in fact by the separation of what in the ancient Vedanta was viewed as one,—as we see in this passage.

Brahman is His own subject and His own object, whether in His pure self-existence or in His varied self-becoming. He is the object of His own self-awareness; He is the Knower of His own self-being. The two aspects are inseparable, even though they seem to disappear into each other and emerge again from each other. All appearance of pure subjectivity holds itself as an object implicit in its very subjectivity; all appearance of pure objectivity holds itself as subject implicit in its very objectivity.

All objective existence is the Self-existent, the Self-becoming, svayambhū, becoming by the force of the Idea within it. The Idea is, self-contained, the Fact that it becomes. For svayambhū sees or comprehends Himself in the essence of the Fact as kavi, thinks Himself out in the evolution of its possibilities as manīṣī, becomes form of Himself in the movement in Space and Time as paribhū. These three are one operation appearing as successive in the relative, temporal and spatial Consciousness.

It follows that every object holds in itself the law of its own being eternally, śāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ, from years sempiternal, in perpetual Time. All relations in the totality of objects are thus determined by their Inhabitant, the Self-existent, the Self-becoming, and stand contained in the nature of things by the omnipresence of the One, the Lord, by His self-vision which is their inherent subjective Truth, by His self-becoming which, against a background of boundless possibilities, is the Law of their inevitable evolution in the objective Fact.

Therefore all things are arranged by Him perfectly, yāthā-tathyataḥ, as they should be in their nature. There is an imperative harmony in the All, which governs the apparent discords of individualisation. That discord would be real and operate in eternal chaos, if there were only a mass of individual forms and forces, if each form and force did not contain in itself and were not in its reality the self-existent All, the Lord.

The Process of Things

The Lord appears to us in the relative notion of the process

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of things first as Kavi, the Wise, the Seer. The Kavi sees the Truth in itself, the truth in its becoming, in its essence, possibilities, actuality. He contains all that in the Idea, the Vijnana, called the Truth and Law, satyam ṛtam. He contains it comprehensively, not piecemeal; the Truth and Law of things is the bṛhat, the Large. Viewed by itself, the realm of Vijnana would seem a realm of predetermination, of concentration, of compelling seed-state. But it is a determination not in previous Time, but in perpetual Time; a Fate compelled by the Soul, not compelling it, compelling rather the action and result, present in the expansion of the movement as well as in the concentration of the Idea. Therefore the truth of the Soul is freedom and mastery, not subjection and bondage. Purusha commands Prakriti, Prakriti does not compel Purusha. Na karma lipyate nare.

The Manishi takes his stand in the possibilities. He has behind him the freedom of the Infinite and brings it in as a background for the determination of the finite. Therefore every action in the world seems to emerge from a balancing and clashing of various possibilities. None of these, however, are effective in the determination except by their secret consonance with the Law of that which has to become. The Kavi is in the Manishi and upholds him in his working. But viewed by itself the realm of the Manishi would seem to be a state of plasticity, of free-will, of the interaction of forces, but of a free-will in thought which is met by a fate in things.

For the action of the Manishi is meant to eventuate in the becoming of the Paribhu. The Paribhu, called also Virat, extends Himself in the realm of eventualities. He fulfils what is contained in the Truth, what works out in the possibilities reflected by the mind, what appears to us as the fact objectively realised. The realm of Virat would seem, if taken separately, to be that of a Law and Predetermination which compels all things that evolve in that realm,—the iron chain of Karma, the rule of mechanical necessity, the despotism of an inexplicable Law.

But the becoming of Virat is always the becoming of the self-existent Lord,—paribhūḥ svayambhūḥ. Therefore to realise the truth of that becoming we have to go back and re-embrace all that stands behind;—we have to return to the full truth of the

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free and infinite Sachchidananda.

This is the truth of things as seen from above and from the Unity. It is the divine standpoint; but we have to take account of the human standpoint which starts from below, proceeds from the Ignorance, and perceives these principles successively, not comprehensively, as separate states of consciousness. Humanity is that which returns in experience to Sachchidananda, and it must begin from below, in Avidya, with the mind embodied in matter, the Thinker imprisoned and emerging from the objective Fact. This imprisoned Thinker is Man, the "Manu".

He has to start from death and division and arrive at unity and immortality. He has to realise the universal in the individual and the Absolute in the relative. He is Brahman growing self-conscious in the objective multiplicity. He is the ego in the cosmos vindicating himself as the All and the Transcendent.

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THIRD MOVEMENT

2. Knowledge and Ignorance

Verses 9-11

9) Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone.

10) Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by the Knowledge, other that which comes by the Ignorance; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.

11) He who knows That as both in one, the Knowledge and the Ignorance, by the Ignorance crosses beyond death and by the Knowledge enjoys Immortality.

Vidya and Avidya

All manifestation proceeds by the two terms, Vidya and Avidya, the consciousness of Unity and the consciousness of Multiplicity. They are the two aspects of the Maya, the formative self-conception of the Eternal.

Unity is the eternal and fundamental fact, without which all multiplicity would be unreal and an impossible illusion. The consciousness of Unity is therefore called Vidya, the Knowledge.

Multiplicity is the play or varied self-expansion of the One, shifting in its terms, divisible in its view of itself, by force of which the One occupies many centres of consciousness, inhabits many formations of energy in the universal Movement. Multiplicity is implicit or explicit in unity. Without it the Unity would be either a void of non-existence or a powerless, sterile limitation to the state of indiscriminate self-absorption or of blank repose.

But the consciousness of multiplicity separated from the true knowledge in the many of their own essential oneness,—the viewpoint of the separate ego identifying itself with the divided form and the limited action,—is a state of error and delusion. In man this is the form taken by the consciousness of multiplicity. Therefore it is given the name of Avidya, the Ignorance.

Brahman, the Lord, is one and all-blissful, but free from limitation by His unity; all-powerful, He is able to conceive Himself from multiple centres in multiple forms from which and upon

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which flow multiple currents of energy, seen by us as actions or play of forces. When He is thus multiple, He is not bound by His multiplicity, but amid all variations dwells eternally in His own oneness. He is Lord of Vidya and Avidya. They are the two sides of His self-conception (Maya), the twin powers of His Energy (Chit-Shakti).

Brahman, exceeding as well as dwelling in the play of His Maya, is īś, lord of it and free. Man, dwelling in the play, is anīś, not lord, not free, subject to Avidya. But this subjection is itself a play of the Ignorance, unreal in essential fact (paramārtha), real only in practical relation (vyavahāra), in the working out of the actions of the divine Energy, the Chit-Shakti. To get back to the essential fact of his freedom he must recover the sense of Oneness, the consciousness of Brahman, of the Lord, realise his oneness in Brahman and with the Lord. Recovering his freedom, realising his oneness with all existences as becomings of the One Being who is always himself (so'ham asmi, He am I), he is able to carry out divine actions in the world, no longer subject to the Ignorance, because free in the Knowledge.

The perfection of man, therefore, is the full manifestation of the Divine in the individual through the supreme accord between Vidya and Avidya. Multiplicity must become conscious of its oneness, Oneness embrace its multiplicity.

The Extreme Paths

The purpose of the Lord in the world cannot be fulfilled by following Vidya alone or Avidya alone.

Those who are devoted entirely to the principle of multiplicity and division and take their orientation away from oneness enter into a blind darkness of Ignorance. For this tendency is one of increasing contraction and limitation, disaggregation of the gains of knowledge and greater and greater subjection to the mechanical necessities of Prakriti and finally to her separative and self-destructive forces. To turn away from the progression towards Oneness is to turn away from existence and from light.

Those who are devoted entirely to the principle of indiscriminate Unity and seek to put away from them the integrality of the Brahman, also put away from them knowledge and completeness

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and enter as if into a greater darkness. They enter into some special state and accept it for the whole, mistaking exclusion in consciousness for transcendence in consciousness. They ignore by choice of knowledge, as the others are ignorant by compulsion of error. Knowing all to transcend all is the right path of Vidya.

Although a higher state than the other, this supreme Night is termed a greater darkness, because the lower is one of chaos from which reconstitution is always possible, the higher is a conception of Void or Asat, an attachment to non-existence of Self from which it is more difficult to return to fulfilment of Self.

The Gains in Either Path

Pursued with a less entire attachment the paths of Vidya and Avidya have each their legitimate gains for the human soul, but neither of these are the full and perfect thing undertaken by the individual in the manifestation.

By Vidya one may attain to the state of the silent Brahman or the Akshara Purusha regarding the universe without actively participating in it or to His self-absorbed state of Chit in Sat from which the universe proceeds and towards which it returns. Both these states are conditions of serenity, plenitude, freedom from the confusions and sufferings of the world.

But the highest goal of man is neither fulfilment in the movement as a separate individual nor in the Silence separated from the movement, but in the Uttama Purusha, the Lord, He who went abroad and upholds in Himself both the Kshara and the Akshara as modes of His being. The self of man, the Jivatman, is here in order to realise in the individual and for the universe that one highest Self of all. The ego created by Avidya is a necessary mechanism for affirming individuality in the universal as a starting-point for this supreme achievement.

By Avidya one may attain to a sort of fullness of power, joy, world-knowledge, largeness of being, which is that of the Titans or of the Gods, of Indra, of Prajapati. This is gained in the path of self-enlargement by an ample acceptance of the multiplicity in all its possibilities and a constant enrichment of the individual by all the materials that the universe can pour into him. But this

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also is not the goal of man; for though it brings transcendence of the ordinary human limits, it does not bring the divine transcendence of the universe in the Lord of the universe. One transcends confusion of Ignorance, but not limitation of Knowledge,—transcends death of the body, but not limitation of being,—transcends subjection to sorrow, but not subjection to joy,—transcends the lower Prakriti, but not the higher. To gain the real freedom and the perfect Immortality one would have to descend again to all that had been rejected and make the right use of death, sorrow and ignorance.

The real knowledge is that which perceives Brahman in His integrality and does not follow eagerly after one consciousness rather than another, is no more attached to Vidya than to Avidya. This was the knowledge of the ancient sages who were dhīra, steadfast in the gaze of their thought, not drawn away from the completeness of knowledge by one light or by another and whose perception of Brahman was consequently entire and comprehensive and their teaching founded on that perception equally entire and comprehensive (vicacakṣire). It is the knowledge handed down from these Ancients that is being set forth in the Upanishad.

The Complete Path

Brahman embraces in His manifestation both Vidya and Avidya and if they are both present in the manifestation, it is because they are both necessary to its existence and its accomplishment. Avidya subsists because Vidya supports and embraces it; Vidya depends upon Avidya for the preparation and the advance of the soul towards the great Unity. Neither could exist without the other; for if either were abolished, they would both pass away into something which would be neither the one nor the other, something inconceivable and ineffable beyond all manifestation.

In the worst Ignorance there is some point of the knowledge which constitutes that form of Ignorance and some support of Unity which prevents it in its most extreme division, limitation, obscurity from ceasing to exist by dissolving into nothingness. The destiny of the Ignorance is not that it should be dissolved out

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of existence, but that its elements should be enlightened, united, that which they strive to express delivered, fulfilled and in the fulfilment transmuted and transfigured.

In the uttermost unity of which knowledge is capable the contents of the Multiplicity are inherent and implicit and can any moment be released into activity. The office of Vidya is not to destroy Avidya as a thing that ought never to have been manifested but to draw it continually towards itself, supporting it the while and helping it to deliver itself progressively from that character of Ignorance, of the oblivion of its essential Oneness, which gives it its name.

Avidya fulfilled by turning more and more to Vidya enables the individual and the universal to become what the Lord is in Himself, conscious of His manifestation, conscious of His non-manifestation, free in birth, free in non-birth.

Man represents the point at which the multiplicity in the universe becomes consciously capable of this turning and fulfilment. His own natural fulfilment comes by following the complete path of Avidya surrendering itself to Vidya, the Multiplicity to the Unity, the Ego to the One in all and beyond all, and of Vidya accepting Avidya into itself, the Unity fulfilling the Multiplicity, the One manifesting Himself unveiled in the individual and in the universe.

Mortality and Immortality

Mortality

By Avidya fulfilled man passes beyond death, by Vidya accepting Avidya into itself he enjoys immortality.

By death is meant the state of mortality which is a subjection to the process of constant birth and dying as a limited ego bound to the dualities of joy and sorrow, good and evil, truth and error, love and hatred, pleasure and suffering.

This state comes by limitation and self-division from the One who is all and in all and beyond all and by attachment of the idea of self to a single formation in Time and Space of body, life and mind, by which the Self excludes from its view all that it verily is with the exception of a mass of experiences flowing out from and in upon a particular centre and limited by the capacities of a

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particular mental, vital and bodily frame. This mass of experiences it organises around the ego-centre in the mind and linking them together in Time by a double action of memory, passive in state, active in work, says continually, "This is I."

The result is that the soul attributes to itself a certain portion only of the play of Prakriti or Chit-Shakti and consequently a certain limited capacity of force of consciousness which has to bear all the impact of what the soul does not regard as itself but as a rush of alien forces; against them it defends its separate formation of individuality from dissolution into Nature or mastery by Nature. It seeks to assert in the individual form and by its means its innate character of Ish or Lord and so to possess and enjoy its world.

But by the very definition of the ego its capacity is limited. It accepts as itself a form made of the movement of Nature which cannot endure in the general flux of things. It has to form it by the process of the movement and this is birth, it dissolves it by the process of the movement and this is death.

It can master by the understanding only so much of its experiences as assimilate with its own viewpoint and in a way which must always be imperfect and subject to error because it is not the view of all or the viewpoint of the All. Its knowledge is partly error and all the rest it ignores.

It can only accept and harmonise itself with a certain number of its experiences, precisely because these are the only ones it can understand sufficiently to assimilate. This is its joy; the rest is sorrow or indifference.

It is only capable of harmonising with the force in its body, nerves and mind a certain number of impacts of alien forces. In these it takes pleasure. The rest it receives with insensibility or pain.

Death therefore is the constant denial by the All of the ego's false self-limitation in the individual frame of mind, life and body.

Error is the constant denial by the All of the ego's false sufficiency in a limited knowledge.

Suffering of mind and body is the constant denial by the All of the ego's attempt to confine the universal Ananda to a false and self-regarding formation of limited and exclusive enjoyments.

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It is only by accepting the oneness of the All that the individual can escape from this constant and necessary denial and attain beyond. Then All-being, All-force, All-consciousness, All-truth, All-delight take possession of the individual soul. It changes mortality for immortality.

Mortality and Avidya

But the way of attaining to immortality is not by the self-dissolution of the individual formation into the flux of Prakriti, neither is it by prematurely dissolving it into the All-soul which Prakriti expresses. Man moves towards something which fulfils the universe by transcending it. He has to prepare his individual soul for the transcendence and for the fulfilment.

If Avidya is the cause of mortality, it is also the path out of mortality. The limitation has been created precisely in order that the individual may affirm himself against the flux of Prakriti in order eventually to transcend, possess and transform it.

The first necessity is therefore for man continually to enlarge himself in being, knowledge, joy, power in the limits of the ego so that he may arrive at the conception of something which progressively manifests itself in him in these terms and becomes more and more powerful to deal with the oppositions of Prakriti and to change, individually, more and more the terms of ignorance, suffering and weakness into the terms of knowledge, joy and power and even death into a means of wider life.

This self-enlargement has then to awaken to the perception of something exceeding itself, exceeding the personal manifestation. Man has so to enlarge his conception of self as to see all in himself and himself in all (Verse 6). He has to see that this "I" which contains all and is contained in all, is the One, is universal and not his personal ego. To That he has to subject his ego, That he has to reproduce in his nature and become, That is what he has to possess and enjoy with an equal soul in all its forms and movements.

He has to see that this universal One is something entirely transcendent, the sole Being, and that the universe and all its forms, actions, egos are only becomings of that Being (Verse 7). World is a becoming which seeks always to express in motion of

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Time and Space, by progression in mind, life and body what is beyond all becoming, beyond Time and Space, beyond mind, life and body.

Thus Avidya becomes one with Vidya. By Avidya man passes beyond that death, suffering, ignorance, weakness which were the first terms he had to deal with, the first assertions of the One in the birth affirming Himself amid the limitations and divisions of the Multiplicity. By Vidya he enjoys even in the birth the Immortality.

Immortality

Immortality does not mean survival of the self or the ego after dissolution of the body. The Self always survives the dissolution of the body, because it always pre-existed before the birth of the body. The self is unborn and undying. The survival of the ego is only the first condition by which the individual soul is able to continue and link together its experiences in Avidya so as to pursue with an increasing self-possession and mastery that process of self-enlargement which culminates in Vidya.

By immortality is meant the consciousness which is beyond birth and death, beyond the chain of cause and effect, beyond all bondage and limitation, free, blissful, self-existent in conscious-being, the consciousness of the Lord, of the supreme Purusha, of Sachchidananda.

Immortality and Birth

On this realisation man can base his free activity in the universe.

But having so far attained, what further utility has the soul for birth or for works? None for itself, everything for God and the universe.

Immortality beyond the universe is not the object of manifestation in the universe, for that the Self always possessed. Man exists in order that through him the Self may enjoy Immortality in the birth as well as in the non-becoming.

Nor is individual salvation the end; for that would only be the sublime of the ego, not its self-realisation through the Lord in all.

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Having realised his own immortality, the individual has yet to fulfil God's work in the universe. He has to help the life, the mind and the body in all beings to express progressively Immortality and not mortality.

This he may do by the becoming in the material body which we ordinarily call birth, or from some status in another world or even, it is possible, from beyond world. But birth in the body is the most close, divine and effective form of help which the liberated can give to those who are themselves still bound to the progression of birth in the lowest world of the Ignorance.

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THIRD MOVEMENT

3. Birth and Non-Birth

Verses 12-14

12) Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Non-Birth, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Birth alone.

13) Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by the Birth, other that which comes by the Non-Birth; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.

14) He who knows That as both in one, the Birth and the dissolution of Birth, by the dissolution crosses beyond death and by the Birth enjoys Immortality.

The Birth and the Non-Birth

The Self outside Nature does not become; it is immutable as well as eternal. The Self in Nature becomes, it changes its states and forms. This entry into various states and forms in the succession of Time is Birth in Nature.

Because of these two positions of the Self, in Nature and out of Nature, moving in the movement and seated above the movement, active in the development and eating the fruits of the tree of Life or inactive and simply regarding, there are two possible states of conscious existence directly opposed to each other of which the human soul is capable, the state of Birth, the state of Non-Birth.

Man starts from the troubled state of Birth, he arrives at that tranquil poise of conscious existence liberated from the movement which is the Non-Birth. The knot of the Birth is the ego-sense; the dissolution of the ego-sense brings us to the Non-Birth. Therefore the Non-Birth is also called the Dissolution (vināśa).

Birth and Non-Birth are not essentially physical conditions, but soul-states. A man may break the knot of the ego-sense and yet remain in the physical body; but if he concentrates himself solely in the state of dissolution of ego, then he is not born again in the body. He is liberated from birth as soon as the present impulse of Nature which continues the action of the mind and body has been exhausted. On the other hand if he attaches himself

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to the Birth, the ego-principle in him seeks continually to clothe itself in fresh mental and physical forms.

The Evil of the Extremes

Neither attachment to Non-Birth nor attachment to Birth is the perfect way. For all attachment is an act of ignorance and a violence committed upon the Truth. Its end also is ignorance, a state of blind darkness.

Exclusive attachment to Non-Birth leads to a dissolution into indiscriminate Nature or into the Nihil, into the Void, and both of these are states of blind darkness. For the Nihil is an attempt not to transcend the state of existence in birth, but to annul it, not to pass from a limited into an illimitable existence, but from existence into its opposite. The opposite of existence can only be the Night of negative consciousness, a state of ignorance and not of release.

On the other hand, attachment to Birth in the body means a constant self-limitation and an interminable round of egoistic births in the lower forms of egoism without issue or release. This is, from a certain point of view, a worse darkness than the other; for it is ignorant even of the impulse of release. It is not an error in the grasping after truth, but a perpetual contentment with the state of blindness. It cannot lead even eventually to any greater good, because it does not dream of any higher condition.

The Good of the Extremes

On the other hand each of these tendencies, pursued with a certain relativeness to the other, has its own fruit and its own good. Non-Birth pursued as the goal of Birth and a higher, fuller and truer existence may lead to withdrawal into the silent Brahman or into the pure liberty of the Non-Being. Birth, pursued as a means of progress and self-enlargement, leads to a greater and fuller life which may, in its turn, become a vestibule to the final achievement.

The Perfect Way

But neither of these results is perfect in itself nor the true goal of humanity. Each of them brings its intended portion into

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the perfect good of the human soul only when it is completed by the other.

Brahman is both Vidya and Avidya, both Birth and Non-Birth. The realisation of the Self as the unborn and the poise of the soul beyond the dualities of birth and death in the infinite and transcendent existence are the conditions of a free and divine life in the Becoming. The one is necessary to the other. It is by participation in the pure unity of the Immobile (Akshara) Brahman that the soul is released from its absorption in the stream of the movement. So released it identifies itself with the Lord to whom becoming and non-becoming are only modes of His existence and is able to enjoy immortality in the manifestation without being caught in the wheel of Nature's delusions. The necessity of birth ceases, its personal object having been fulfilled; the freedom of becoming remains. For the Divine enjoys equally and simultaneously the freedom of His eternity and the freedom of His becoming.

It may even be said that to have had the conscious experience of a dissolution of the very idea of Being into the supreme Non-Being is necessary for the fullest and freest possession of Being itself. This would be from the synthetic standpoint the justification of the great effort of Buddhism to exceed the conception of all positive being even in its widest or purest essentiality.

Thus by dissolution of ego and of the attachment to birth the soul crosses beyond death; it is liberated from all limitation in the dualities. Having attained this liberation it accepts becoming as a process of Nature subject to the soul and not binding upon it and by this free and divine becoming enjoys Immortality.

The Justification of Life

Thus, the third movement of the Upanishad is a justification of life and works, which were enjoined upon the seeker of the Truth in its second verse. Works are the essence of Life. Life is a manifestation of the Brahman; in Brahman the Life Principle arranges a harmony of the seven principles of conscious being by which that manifestation works out its involution and evolution. In Brahman Matarishwan disposes the waters, the sevenfold movement of the divine Existence.

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That divine Existence is the Lord who has gone abroad in the movement and unrolled the universe in His three modes as All-Seer of the Truth of things, Thinker-out of their possibilities, Realiser of their actualities. He has determined all things sovereignly in their own nature, development and goal from years sempiternal.

That determination works out through His double power of Vidya and Avidya, consciousness of essential unity and consciousness of phenomenal multiplicity.

The Multiplicity carried to its extreme limit returns upon itself in the conscious individual who is the Lord inhabiting the forms of the movement and enjoying first the play of the Ignorance. Afterwards by development in the Ignorance the soul returns to the capacity of Knowledge and enjoys by the Knowledge Immortality.

This Immortality is gained by the dissolution of the limited ego and its chain of births into the consciousness of the unborn and undying, the Eternal, the Lord, the ever-free. But it is enjoyed by a free and divine becoming in the universe and not outside the universe; for there it is always possessed, but here in the material body it is to be worked out and enjoyed by the divine Inhabitant under circumstances that are in appearance the most opposite to its terms, in the life of the individual and in the multiple life of the universe.

Life has to be transcended in order that it may be freely accepted; the works of the universe have to be over-passed in order that they may be divinely fulfilled.

The soul even in apparent bondage is really free and only plays at being bound; but it has to go back to the consciousness of freedom and possess and enjoy universally not this or that but the Divine and the All.

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FOURTH MOVEMENT

1. The Worlds - Surya

Verses 15-16

15) The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer, for the law of the Truth, for sight.

16) O Fosterer, O sole Seer, O Ordainer, O illumining Sun, O power of the Father of creatures, marshal thy rays, draw together thy light; the Lustre which is thy most blessed form of all, that in Thee I behold. The Purusha there and there, He am I.

The Worlds after Death

In the third verse the Upanishad has spoken of sunless worlds enveloped in blind gloom. In its third movement it also speaks twice of the soul entering into a blind gloom, but here it is a state of consciousness that seems to be indicated and not a world. Nevertheless, the two statements differ little in effect; for in the Vedantic conception a world is only a condition of conscious being organised in the terms of the seven constituent principles of manifested existence. According to the state of consciousness which we reach here in the body, will be our state of consciousness and the surroundings organised by it when the mental being passes out of the body. For the individual soul out of the body must either disappear into the general constituents of its existence, merge itself into Brahman or persist in an organisation of consciousness other than the terrestrial and in relations with the universe other than those which are appropriate to life in the body. This state of consciousness and the relations belonging to it are the other worlds, the worlds after death.

The Three States

The Upanishad admits three states of the soul in relation to the manifested universe,—terrestrial life by birth in the body, the survival of the individual soul after death in other states and the immortal existence which being beyond birth and death, beyond manifestation can yet enter into forms as the Inhabitant and embrace Nature as its lord. The two former conditions appertain to the Becoming; Immortality stands in the Self, in the

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Non-Birth, and enjoys the Becoming.

The Upanishad, although it does not speak expressly of rebirth in an earthly body, yet implies that belief in its thought and language,—especially in the 17th verse. On the basis of this belief in rebirth man may aim at three distinct objects beyond death,—a better or more fortunate life or lives upon earth, eternal enjoyment of bliss in an ultra-terrestrial world of light and joy or a transcendence exclusive of all universal existence, merged in the Supreme as in one's true self, but having no relation with the actual or possible contents of its infinite consciousness.

Rebirth

The attainment of a better life or lives upon earth is not the consummation offered to the soul by the thought of the Upanishad. But it is an important intermediate object so long as the soul is in a state of growth and self-enlargement and has not attained to liberation. The obligation of birth and death is a sign that the mental being has not yet unified itself with its true supramental self and spirit, but is dwelling "in Avidya and enclosed within it".¹ To attain that union the life of man upon earth is its appointed means. After liberation the soul is free, but may still participate in the entire movement and return to birth no longer for its own sake but for the sake of others and according to the will in it of its divine Self, the Lord of its movement.

Heaven and Hell

The enjoyment of beatitude in a heaven beyond is also not the supreme consummation. But Vedantic thought did not envisage rebirth as an immediate entry after death into a new body; the mental being in man is not so rigidly bound to the vital and physical,—on the contrary, the latter are ordinarily dissolved together after death, and there must therefore be, before the soul is attracted back towards terrestrial existence, an interval in which it assimilates its terrestrial experiences in order to be able to constitute a new vital and physical being upon

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earth. During this interval it must dwell in states or worlds beyond and these may be favourable or unfavourable to its future development. They are favourable in proportion as the light of the Supreme Truth of which Surya is a symbol enters into them, but states of intermediate ignorance or darkness are harmful to the soul in its progress. Those enter into them, as has been affirmed in the third verse, who do hurt to themselves by shutting themselves to the light or distorting the natural course of their development. The Vedantic heavens are states of light and the soul's expansion; darkness, self-obscuration and self-distortion are the nature of the Hells which it has to shun.

In relation to the soul's individual development, therefore, the life in worlds beyond, like the life upon earth, is a means and not an object in itself. After liberation the soul may possess these worlds as it possesses the material birth, accepting in them a means towards the divine manifestation in which they form a condition of its fullness, each being one of the parts in a series of organised states of conscious being which is linked with and supports all the rest.

Transcendence

Transcendence is the goal of the development, but it does not exclude the possession of that which is transcended. The soul need not and should not push transcendence so far as to aim at its own extinction. Nirvana is extinction of the ego-limitations, but not of all possibility of manifestation, since it can be possessed even in the body.

The desire of the exclusive liberation is the last desire that the soul in its expanding knowledge has to abandon; the delusion that it is bound by birth is the last delusion that it has to destroy.

Surya and Agni

On the basis of this conception of the worlds and the relation of these different soul-states to each other the Upanishad proceeds to indicate the two lines of knowledge and action which lead to the supreme vision and the divine felicity. This is done under the form of an invocation to Surya and Agni, the

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Vedic godheads, representative one of the supreme Truth and its illuminations, the other of the divine Will raising, purifying and perfecting human action.

The Order of the Worlds

To understand entirely the place and function of Surya we must enter a little more profoundly into the Vedic conception of the seven worlds and the principles of consciousness they represent.

All conscious being is one and indivisible in itself, but in manifestation it becomes a complex rhythm, a scale of harmonies, a hierarchy of states or movements. For what we call a state is only the organisation of a complex movement. This hierarchy is composed by a descending or involutive and an ascending or evolutive movement of which Spirit and Matter are the highest and lowest terms.

Spirit is Sat or pure existence, pure in self-awareness (Chit), pure in self-delight (Ananda). Therefore Spirit can be regarded as a triune basis of all conscious being. There are three terms, but they are really one. For all pure existence is in its essence pure self-conscience and all pure self-conscience is in its essence pure self-delight. At the same time our consciousness is capable of separating these three by the Idea and the Word and even of creating for itself in its divided or limited movements the sense of their apparent opposites.

An integral intuition into the nature of conscious being shows us that it is indeed one in essence but also that it is capable of an infinite potential complexity and multiplicity in self-experience. The working of this potential complexity and multiplicity in the One is what we call from our point of view manifestation or creation or world or becoming—(bhuvana, bhāva). Without it no world-existence is possible.

The agent of this becoming is always the self-conscience of the Being. The power by which the self-conscience brings out of itself its potential complexities is termed Tapas, Force or Energy, and, being self-conscious, is obviously of the nature of Will. But not Will as we understand it, something exterior to its object, other than its works, labouring on material outside itself, but Will

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inherent in the Being, inherent in the becoming, one with the movement of existence,—self-conscious Will that becomes what it sees and knows in itself, Will that is expressed as Force of its own work and formulates itself in the result of its work. By this Will, Tapas or Chit-Shakti, the worlds are created.

The Higher Worlds

All organisation of self-conscient being which takes as its basis the unity of pure existence belongs to the world of the highest creation, parārdha,—the worlds of the Spirit.

We can conceive three principal formations.

When tapas or energy of self-conscience dwells upon sat or pure existence as its basis, the result is satyaloka or world of true existence. The soul in satyaloka is one with all its manifestations by oneness of essence and therefore one in self-conscience and in energy of self-conscience and one also in bliss.

When tapas dwells upon active power of cit as its basis, the result is tapoloka or world of energy of self-conscience. The soul in tapoloka is one with all manifestations in this Energy and therefore enjoys oneness also in the totality of their bliss and possesses equally their unity of essence.

When tapas dwells upon active Delight of being as its basis, the result is janaloka, world of creative Delight. The soul in janaloka is one in delight of being with all manifestation and through that bliss one also in conscious energy and in essence of being.

All these are states of consciousness in which unity and multiplicity have not yet been separated from each other. All is in all, each in all and all in each, inherently, by the very nature of conscious being and without effort of conception or travail of perception. There is no night, no obscurity. Neither is there, properly speaking, any dominant action of illuminating Surya. For the whole of consciousness there is self-luminous and needs no light other than itself. The distinct existence of Surya is lost in the oneness of the Lord or Purusha; that luminous oneness is Surya's most blessed form of all.

The Lower Creation

In the lower creation also there are three principles, Matter,

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Life, and Mind. Sat or pure existence appears there as extended substance or Matter; Will or Force appears as Life which is in its nature creative or manifesting Force and that Force is in its nature a self-conscient will involved and obscure in the forms of its creation. It is liberated from the involution and obscurity by delight of being struggling to become conscious of itself in desire and sensation; the result is the emergence of Mind. So at least it appears to us in the ascending or evolutive movement.

Wherever there is Matter, Life and Mind are present involved or evolving. So also, Life and Mind have some kind of material form as the condition of their activities. These three appear not as triune, owing to their domination by the dividing principle of Avidya, but as triple.

In the organisation of consciousness to which we belong, Tapas dwells upon Matter as its basis. Our consciousness is determined by the divisibility of extended substance in its apparent forms. This is Bhurloka, the material world, the world of formal becoming.

But we may conceive of a world in which dynamic Life-force with sensation emergent in it is the basis and determines without the gross obstacle of Matter the forms that it shall take. This organisation of consciousness has for its field Bhuvarloka, the world of free vital becoming in form.

We may conceive also of an organised state of consciousness in which Mind liberates itself from subjection to material sensation and becoming dominant determines its own forms instead of being itself determined by the forms in which it finds itself as a result of life-evolution. This formation is Swarloka or world of free, pure and luminous mentality.

In these lower worlds consciousness is normally broken up and divided. The light of Surya, the Truth, is imprisoned in the night of the subconscient or appears only reflected in limited centres or with its rays received by those centres and utilised according to their individual nature.

The Intermediate World

Between these two creations, linking them together, is the world or organisation of consciousness of which the infinite Truth

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of things is the foundation. There dominant individualisation no longer usurps the all-pervading soul and the foundation of consciousness is its own vast totality arranging in itself individualised movements which never lose the consciousness of their integrality and total oneness with all others. Multiplicity no longer prevails and divides, but even in the complexity of its movements always refers back to essential unity and its own integral totality. This world is therefore called Maharloka or world of large consciousness.

The principle of Maharloka is Vijnana, the Idea. But this Vijnana is intuitional or rather gnostic Idea,² not intellectual conception. The difference is that intellectual conception not only tends towards form, but determines itself in the form of the idea and once determined distinguishes itself sharply from other conceptions. But pure intuitional or gnostic Idea sees itself in the Being as well as in the Becoming. It is one with the existence which throws out the form as a symbol of itself and it therefore carries with it always the knowledge of the Truth behind the form. It is in its nature self-conscience of the being and power of the One, aware always of its totality, starting therefore from the totality of all existence and perceiving directly its contents. Its nature is dṛṣṭi, seeing, not conceiving. It is the vision at once of the essence and the image. It is this intuition or gnosis which is the Vedic Truth, the self-vision and all-vision of Surya.

The Law of the Truth

The face of this Truth is covered as with a brilliant shield, as with a golden lid; covered, that is to say, from the view of our human consciousness. For we are mental beings and our highest ordinary mental sight is composed of the concepts and percepts of the mind, which are indeed a means of knowledge, rays of the Truth, but not in their nature truth of existence, only truth of form. By them we arrange our knowledge of the appearances of things and try to infer the truth behind. The true knowledge is

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truth of existence, satyam, not mere truth of form or appearance.

We can only arrive at the true Truth, if Surya works in us to remove this brilliant formation of concepts and percepts and replaces them by the self-vision and all-vision.

For this it is necessary that the law and action of the Truth should be manifested in us. We must learn to see things as they are, see ourselves as we are. Our present action is one in which self-knowledge and will are divided. We start with a fundamental falsehood, that we have a separate existence from others and we try to know the relations of separate beings in their separateness and act on the knowledge so formed for an individual utility. The law of the Truth would work in us if we saw the totality of our existence containing all others its forms created by the action of the totality, its powers working in and by the action of the totality. Our internal and external action would then well naturally and directly out of our self-existence, out of the very truth of things and not in obedience to an intermediate principle which is in its nature a falsifying reflection.

The Fulfilment of Surya in Man

Nevertheless even in our ordinary action there is the beginning or at least the seed of the Truth which must liberate us. Behind every act and perception there is an intuition, a truth which, if it is continually falsified in the form, yet preserves itself in the essence and works to lead us by increasing light and largeness to truth in the manifestation. Behind all this travail of differentiation and division there is an insistent unifying tendency which is also continually falsified in the separate result, but yet leads persistently towards our eventual integrality in knowledge, in being and in will.

Surya is Pushan, fosterer or increaser. His work must be to effect this enlargement of the divided self-perception and action of will into the integral will and knowledge. He is sole seer and replacing other forms of knowledge by his unifying vision enables us to arrive finally at oneness. That intuitive vision of the totality, of one in All and All in one, becomes the ordainer of the right law of action in us, the law of the Truth. For Surya is Yama, the Ordainer or Controller who assures the law, the

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Dharma. Thus we arrive at the fullness of action of the Illuminer in us, accomplish the entirety of the Truth-Consciousness. We are then able to see that all that is contained in the being of Surya, in the Vijnana which builds up the worlds is becoming of existence in the one existence and one Lord of all becoming, the Purusha, Sachchidananda. All becoming is born in the Being who himself exceeds all becomings and is their Lord, Prajapati.

By the revelation of the vision of Surya the true knowledge is formed. In this formation the Upanishad indicates two successive actions. First, there is an arrangement or marshalling of the rays of Surya, that is to say, the truths concealed behind our concepts and percepts are brought out by separate intuitions of the image and the essence of the image and arranged in their true relations to each other. So we arrive at totalities of intuitive knowledge and can finally go beyond to unity. This is the drawing together of the light of Surya. This double movement is necessitated by the constitution of our minds which cannot, like the original Truth-Consciousness, start at once from the totality and perceive its contents from within. The mind can hardly conceive unity except as an abstraction, a sum or a void. Therefore it has to be gradually led from its own manner to that which exceeds it. It has to carry out its own characteristic action of arrangement, but with the help and by the operation of the higher faculty, no longer arbitrarily, but following the very action of the Truth of existence itself. Afterwards, by thus gradually correcting the manner of its own characteristic action it can succeed in reversing that characteristic action itself and learn to proceed from the whole to the contents instead of proceeding from "parts"³ mistaken for entities to an apparent whole which is still a "part" and still mistaken for an entity.

The One Existent

Thus by the action of Surya we arrive at that light of the supreme superconscient in which even the intuitive knowledge of the truth of things based upon the total vision passes into the self-luminous self-vision of the one existent, one in all infinite

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complexities of a self-experience which never loses its unity or its self-luminousness. This is Surya's godliest form of all. For it is the supreme Light, the supreme Will, the supreme Delight of existence.

This is the Lord, the Purusha, the self-conscient Being. When we have this vision, there is the integral self-knowledge, the perfect seeing, expressed in the great cry of the Upanishad, so'ham. The Purusha there and there, He am I. The Lord manifests Himself in the movements and inhabits many forms, but it is One who inhabits all. This self-conscient being, this real "I" whom the mental being individualised in the form is aware of as his true self—it is He. It is the All; and it is that which transcends the All.

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FOURTH MOVEMENT

2. Action and the Divine Will

Verses 17-18

17) The Breath of things is an immortal life, but of this body ashes are the end—OM! O Will, remember, that which was done remember! O Will, remember, that which was done remember.

18) O god Agni, knowing all things that are manifested, lead us by the good path to the felicity; remove from us the devious attraction of sin. To thee completest speech of submission we address.

The Side of Action

Through Surya then, through the growth of the illumination in the mind which enables it eventually to pass beyond itself, we have the first principle of progress from mortality to immortality. It is by the Sun as a door or gate¹ that the individual, the limited consciousness attains to the full consciousness and life in the one, supreme and all-embracing Soul.

Both consciousness and life are included in the formula of Immortality; Knowledge is incomplete without action. Chit fulfils itself by Tapas, Consciousness by energy. And as Surya represents the divine Light, so Agni to the ancient Rishis represented divine Force, Power or Will-in-Consciousness. The prayer to Agni completes the prayer to Surya.

The Individual Will

As in knowledge, so in action, unity is the true foundation. The individual, accepting division as his law, isolating himself in his own egoistic limits, is necessarily mortal, obscure and ignorant in his workings. He follows in his aims and in his methods a knowledge that is personal, governed by desire, habits of thought, obscure subconscious impulses or, at best, a broken partial and shifting light. He lives by rays and not in the full blaze of the Sun. His knowledge is narrow in its objectivity, narrow in its subjectivity, in neither one with the integral knowledge

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and the total working and total will in the universe. His action, therefore, is crooked, many-branching, hesitating and fluctuating in its impulsion and direction; it beats about among falsehoods to find the Truth, tosses or scraps fragments together to piece out the whole, stumbles among errors and sins to find the right. Being neither one-visioned nor whole-visioned, having neither the totality of the universal Will nor the concentrated oneness of the transcendent, the individual will cannot walk straight on the right or good path towards the Truth and the Immortality. Governed by desire, exposed to the shock of the forces around it with which its egoism and ignorance forbid it to put itself in harmony, it is subject to the twin children of the Ignorance, suffering and falsehood. Not having the divine Truth and Right, it cannot have the divine Felicity.

Agni, the Divine Will

But as there is in and behind all the falsehoods of our material mind and reason a Light that prepares by this twilight the full dawn of the Truth in man, so there is in and behind all our errors, sins and stumblings a secret Will, tending towards Love and Harmony, which knows where it is going and prepares and combines our crooked branchings towards the straight path which will be the final result of their toil and seeking. The emergence of this Will and that Light is the condition of immortality.

This Will is Agni. Agni is in the Rig-veda, from which the closing verse of the Upanishad is taken, the flame of the Divine Will or Force of Consciousness working in the worlds. He is described as the immortal in mortals, the leader of the journey, the divine Horse that bears us on the road, the "son of crookedness" who himself knows and is the straightness and the Truth. Concealed and hard to seize in the workings of this world because they are all falsified by desire and egoism, he uses them to transcend them and emerges as the universal in Man or universal Power, Agni Vaishwanara, who contains in himself all the gods and all the worlds, upholds all the universal workings and finally fulfils the godhead, the immortality. He is the worker of the divine Work. It is these symbols which govern the sense of the two final verses of the Upanishad.

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The Immortal Life-Principle

Life is the condition from which the Will and the Light emerge. It is said in the Veda that Vayu or Matarishwan, the Life-principle, is he who brings down Agni from Surya in the high and far-off supreme world. Life calls down the divine Will from the Truth-Consciousness into the realm of mind and body to prepare here, in Life, its own manifestation. Agni, enjoying and devouring the things of Life, generates the Maruts, nervous forces of Life that become forces of thought; they, upheld by Agni, prepare the action of Indra, the luminous Mind, who is for our life-powers their Rishi or finder of the Truth and Right. Indra slays Vritra, the Coverer, dispels the darkness, causes Surya to rise upon our being and go abroad over its whole field with the rays of the Truth. Surya is the Creator or manifester, Savitri, who manifests in this mortal world the world or state of immortality, dispels the evil dream of egoism, sin and suffering and transforms Life into the immortality, the good, the beatitude. The Vedic gods are a parable of human life emerging, mounting, lifting itself towards the Godhead.

Life, body, action, will, these are our first materials. Matter supplies us with the body; but it is only a temporary knot of the movement, a dwelling-place of the Purusha in which he presides over the activities generated out of the Life-principle. Once it is thrown aside by the Life-principle it is dissolved; ashes are its end. Therefore the body is not ourselves, but only an outer tool and instrument. For Matter is the principle of obscurity and division, of birth and death, of formation and dissolution. It is the assertion of death. Immortal man must not identify himself with the body.

The Life-principle in us survives. It is the immortal Breath² or, as the phrase really means, the subtle force of existence which is superior to the principle of birth and death. At first sight it may appear that birth and death are attributes of the Life, but it is not really so: birth and death are processes of Matter, of the body. The Life-principle is not formed and dissolved in the formulation and dissolution of the body; if that were so, there could be no continuity of the individual existence and all would go back

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at death into the formless. Life forms body, it is not formed by it. It is the thread upon which the continuity of our successive bodily lives is arranged, precisely because it is itself immortal. It associates itself with the perishable body and carries forward the mental being, the Purusha in the mind, upon his journey.

Will and Memory

This journey consists in a series of activities continued from life to life in this world with intervals of life in other states. The Life-principle maintains them; it supplies their material in the formative energy which takes shape in them. But their presiding god is not the Life-principle; it is the Will. Will is Kratu, the effective power behind the act. It is of the nature of consciousness; it is energy of consciousness, and although present in all forms, conscious, subconscious or superconscious, vital, physical or mental, yet comes into its kingdom only when it emerges in Mind. It uses the mental faculty of memory to link together and direct consciously the activities towards the goal of the individual.

In man the use of consciousness by the mental will is imperfect, because memory is limited. Our action is both dispersed and circumscribed because mentally we live from hour to hour in the current of Time, holding only to that which attracts or seems immediately useful to our egoistic mind. We live in what we are doing, we do not control what has been done, but are rather controlled by our past works which we have forgotten. This is because we dwell in the action and its fruits instead of living in the soul and viewing the stream of action from behind it. The Lord, the true Will, stands back from the actions and therefore is their lord and not bound by them.

The Upanishad solemnly invokes the Will to remember the thing that has been done, so as to contain and be conscious of the becoming, so as to become a power of knowledge and self-possession and not only a power of impulsion and self-formulation. It will thus more and more approximate itself to the true Will and preside over the co-ordination of the successive lives with a conscious control. Instead of being carried from life to life in a crooked path, as by winds, it will be able to proceed more and more straight in an ordered series, linking life to life

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with an increasing force of knowledge and direction until it becomes the fully conscious Will moving with illumination on the straight path towards the immortal felicity. The mental will, kratu, becomes what it at present only represents, the divine Will, Agni.

Will and Knowledge

The essentiality of the divine Will is that in it Consciousness and Energy, Knowledge and Force are one. It knows all manifestations, all things that take birth in the worlds. It is Jatavedas, that which has right knowledge of all births. It knows them in the law of their being, in their relation to other births, in their aim and method, in their process and goal, in their unity with all and their difference from all. It is this divine Will that conducts the universe; it is one with all the things that it combines and its being, its knowledge, its action are inseparable from each other. What it is, it knows; what it knows, that it does and becomes.

But as soon as egoistic consciousness emerges and interferes, there is a disturbance, a division, a false action. Will becomes an impulsion ignorant of its secret motive and aim, knowledge becomes a dubious and partial ray not in possession of the will, the act and the result, but only striving to possess and inform them. This is because we are not in possession of our self,³ our true being, but only of the ego. What we are, we know not; what we know, we cannot effect. For knowledge is real and action in harmony with true knowledge only when they proceed naturally out of the conscious, illumined and self-possessing soul, in which being, knowledge and action are one movement.

Surrender to the Divine Will

This is the change that happens when, the mental will approximating more and more to the divine, Agni burns out in us. It is that increasing knowledge and force which carries us finally into the straight or good path out of the crookedness. It is the divine will, one with the divine knowledge, which leads us towards felicity, towards the state of Immortality. All that belongs to the deviations of the ego, all that obscures and drives or

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draws us into this or that false path with its false lures and stumblings are put away from us by it. These things fall away from the divinised Will and cease to find lodging in our consciousness.

Therefore the sign of right action is the increasing and finally the complete submission of the individual to the divine Will which the illumination of Surya reveals in him. Although manifested in his consciousness, this Will is not individual. It is the will of the Purusha who is in all things and transcends them. It is the will of the Lord.

Knowledge of the Lord as the One in the fully self-conscious being, submission to the Lord as the universal and transcendent in the fully self-conscious action, are the two keys of the divine gates, the gates of Immortality.

And the nature of the two united is an illuminated Devotion which accepts, aspires to and fulfils God in the human existence.

Conclusion

Thus the fourth movement indicates psychologically the double process of that attainment of Immortality which is the subject of the third movement, the state of bliss and truth within and the worlds of Light after death culminating in the identity of the self-luminous One. At the same time it particularises under the cover of Vedic symbols the process of that self-knowledge and identification with the Self and all its becomings which is the subject of the second movement and of that liberated action in the assertion of which the first culminates. It is thus a fitting close and consummation to the Upanishad.

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Conclusion and Summary

The Isha Upanishad is one of the more ancient of the Vedantic writings in style, substance and versification, subsequent certainly to the Chhandogya, Brihadaranyaka and perhaps to the Taittiriya and Aitareya, but certainly the most antique of the extant metrical Upanishads. Upanishadic thought falls naturally into two great periods; in one, the earlier, it still kept close to its Vedic roots, reflected the old psychological system of the Vedic Rishis and preserved what may be called their spiritual pragmatism; in the other and later, in which the form and thought became more modern and independent of early symbols and origins, some of the principal elements of Vedic thought and psychology begin to be omitted or to lose their previous connotation and the foundations of the later ascetic and anti-pragmatic Vedanta begin to appear. The Isha belongs to the earlier or Vedic group. It is already face to face with the problem of reconciling human life and activity with the Monistic standpoint and its large solution of the difficulty is one of the most interesting passages of Vedantic literature. It is the sole Upanishad which offered almost insuperable difficulties to the extreme illusionism and anti-pragmatism of Shankaracharya and it was even, for this reason, excised from the list of authoritative Upanishads by one of his greatest followers.

The Principle of the Upanishad

The principle it follows throughout is the uncompromising reconciliation of uncompromising extremes. Later thought took one series of terms,—the World, Enjoyment, Action, the Many, Birth, the Ignorance,—and gave them a more and more secondary position, exalting the opposite series, God, Renunciation, Quietism, the One, Cessation of Birth, the Knowledge until this trend of thought culminated in Illusionism and the idea of existence in the world as a snare and a meaningless burden imposed inexplicably on the soul by itself, which must be cast aside as

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soon as possible. It ended in a violent cutting of the knot of the great enigma. This Upanishad tries instead to get hold of the extreme ends of the knots, disengage and place them alongside of each other in a release that will be at the same time a right placing and relation. It will not qualify or subordinate unduly any of the extremes, although it recognises a dependence of one on the other. Renunciation is to go to the extreme, but also enjoyment is to be equally integral; Action has to be complete and ungrudging, but also freedom of the soul from its works must be absolute; Unity utter and absolute is the goal, but this absoluteness has to be brought to its highest term by including in it the whole infinite multiplicity of things.

So great is this scruple in the Upanishad that having so expressed itself in the formula "By the Ignorance having crossed over death by the knowledge one enjoys Immortality" that Life in the world might be interpreted as only a preliminary to an existence beyond, it at once rights the balance by reversing the order in the parallel formula "By dissolution having crossed over death by birth one enjoys Immortality", and thus makes life itself the field of the immortal existence which is the goal and aspiration of all life. In this conclusion it agrees with the early Vedic thought which believed all the worlds and existence and non-existence and death and life and immortality to be here in the embodied human being, there evolvent, there realisable and to be possessed and enjoyed, not dependent either for acquisition or enjoyment on the renunciation of life and bodily existence. This thought has never entirely passed out of Indian philosophy, but has become secondary and a side admission not strong enough to qualify seriously the increasing assertion of the extinction of mundane existence as the condition of our freedom and our sole wise and worthy aim.

The Opposites

The pairs of opposites successively taken up by the Upanishad and resolved are, in the order of their succession:

1) The Conscious Lord and phenomenal Nature.

2) Renunciation and Enjoyment.

3) Action in Nature and Freedom in the Soul.

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4) The One stable Brahman and the multiple Movement.

5) Being and Becoming.

6) The Active Lord and the indifferent Akshara Brahman.

7) Vidya and Avidya.

8) Birth and Non-Birth.

9) Works and Knowledge.

These discords are thus successively resolved:

God and Nature

1) Phenomenal Nature is a movement of the conscious Lord. The object of the movement is to create forms of His consciousness in motion in which He as the one soul in many bodies can take up his habitation and enjoy the multiplicity and the movement with all their relations.¹

Enjoyment and Renunciation

2) Real integral enjoyment of all this movement and multiplicity in its truth and in its infinity depends upon an absolute renunciation; but the renunciation intended is an absolute renunciation of the principle of desire founded on the principle of egoism and not a renunciation of world-existence.² This solution depends on the idea that desire is only an egoistic and vital deformation of the divine Ananda or delight of being from which the world is born; by extirpation of ego and desire Ananda again becomes the conscious principle of existence. This substitution is the essence of the change from life in death to life in immortality. The enjoyment of the infinite delight of existence free from ego, founded on oneness of all in the Lord, is what is meant by the enjoyment of Immortality.

Action and Freedom

3) Actions are not inconsistent with the soul's freedom. Man is not bound by works, but only seems to be bound. He has

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to recover the consciousness of his inalienable freedom by recovering the consciousness of unity in the Lord, unity in himself, unity with all existence.³ This done, life and works can and should be accepted in their fullness; for the manifestation of the Lord in life and works is the law of our being and the object of our world-existence.

The Quiescence and the Movement

4) What then of the Quiescence of the Supreme Being and how is persistence in the Movement compatible with that Quiescence which is generally recognised as an essential condition of the supreme Bliss?

The Quiescence and the Movement are equally one Brahman and the distinction drawn between them is only a phenomenon of our consciousness. So it is with the idea of space and time, the far and the near, the subjective and the objective, internal and external, myself and others, one and many. Brahman, the real existence, is all these things to our consciousness, but in itself ineffably superior to all such practical distinctions. The Movement is a phenomenon of the Quiescence, the Quiescence itself may be conceived as a Movement too rapid for the gods, that is to say, for our various functions of consciousness to follow in its real nature. But it is no formal, material, spatial, temporal movement, only a movement in consciousness. Knowledge sees it all as one, Ignorance divides and creates oppositions where there is no opposition but simply relations of one consciousness in itself. The ego in the body says, "I am within, all else is outside; and in what is outside, this is near to me in Time and Space, that is far." All this is true in present relation; but in essence it is all one indivisible movement of Brahman which is not material movement but a way of seeing things in the one consciousness.

Being and Becoming

5) Everything depends on what we see, how we look at existence in our soul's view of things. Being and Becoming, One and Many are both true and are both the same thing: Being

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is one, Becomings are many; but this simply means that all Becomings are one Being who places Himself variously in the phenomenal movement of His consciousness. We have to see the One Being, but we have not to cease to see the many Becomings, for they exist and are included in Brahman's view of Himself. Only, we must see with knowledge and not with ignorance. We have to realise our true self as the one unchangeable, indivisible Brahman. We have to see all becomings as developments of the movement in our true self and this self as one inhabiting all bodies and not our body only. We have to be consciously, in our relations with this world, what we really are,—this one self becoming everything that we observe. All the movement, all energies, all forms, all happenings we must see as those of our one and real self in many existences, as the play of the Will and Knowledge and Delight of the Lord in His world-existence.

We shall then be delivered from egoism and desire and the sense of separate existence and therefore from all grief and delusion and shrinking; for all grief is born of the shrinking of the ego from the contacts of existence, its sense of fear, weakness, want, dislike, etc.; and this is born from the delusion of separate existence, the sense of being my separate ego exposed to all these contacts of so much that is not myself. Get rid of this, see oneness everywhere, be the One manifesting Himself in all creatures; ego will disappear; desire born of the sense of not being this, not having that, will disappear; the free inalienable delight of the One in His own existence will take the place of desire and its satisfactions and dissatisfactions.⁴ Immortality will be yours, death born of division will be overcome.

The Active and Inactive Brahman

6) The Inactive and the Active Brahman are simply two aspects of the one Self, the one Brahman, who is the Lord. It is He who has gone abroad in the movement. He maintains Himself free from all modifications in His inactive existence. The inaction is the basis of the action and exists in the action; it is His

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freedom from all He does and becomes and in all He does and becomes. These are the positive and negative poles of one indivisible consciousness. We embrace both in one quiescence and one movement, inseparable from each other, dependent on each other. The quiescence exists relatively to the movement, the movement to the quiescence. He is beyond both. This is a different point of view from that of the identity of the Movement and Quiescence which are one in reality; it expresses rather their relation in our consciousness once they are admitted as a practical necessity of that consciousness. It is obvious that we also by becoming one with the Lord would share in this biune conscious existence.⁵

Vidya and Avidya

7) The knowledge of the One and the knowledge of the Many are a result of the movement of the one consciousness, which sees all things as One in their truth-Idea but differentiates them in their mentality and formal becoming. If the mind (manīṣī) absorbs itself in God as the formal becoming (paribhū) and separates itself from God in the true Idea (kavi), then it loses Vidya, the knowledge of the One, and has only the knowledge of the Many which becomes no longer knowledge at all but ignorance, Avidya. This is the cause of the separate ego-sense.

Avidya is accepted by the Lord in the Mind (manīṣī) in order to develop individual relations to their utmost in all the possibilities of division and its consequences and then through these individual relations to come back individually to the knowledge of the One in all. That knowledge has remained all along unabrogated in the consciousness of the true seer or Kavi. This seer in ourselves stands back from the mental thinker; the latter, thus separated, has to conquer death and division by a developing experience as the individual Inhabitant and finally to recover by the reunited knowledge of the One and the Many the state of Immortality. This is our proper course and not either to devote ourselves exclusively to the life of Avidya or to reject it entirely for motionless absorption in the One.

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Birth and Non-Birth

8) The reason for this double movement of the Thinker is that we are intended to realise immortality in the Birth. The self is uniform and undying and in itself always possesses immortality. It does not need to descend into Avidya and Birth to get that immortality of Non-Birth; for it possesses it always. It descends in order to realise and possess it as the individual Brahman in the play of world-existence. It accepts Birth and Death, assumes the ego and then dissolving the ego by the recovery of unity realises itself as the Lord, the One, and Birth as only a becoming of the Lord in mental and formal being; this becoming is now governed by the true sight of the Seer and, once this is done, becoming is no longer inconsistent with Being, birth becomes a means and not an obstacle to the enjoyment of immortality by the lord of this formal habitation.⁶ This is our proper course and not to remain for ever in the chain of birth and death, nor to flee from birth into a pure non-becoming. The bondage does not consist in the physical act of becoming, but in the persistence of the ignorant sense of the separate ego. The Mind creates the chain and not the body.

Works and Knowledge

9) The opposition between works and knowledge exists as long as works and knowledge are only of the egoistic mental character. Mental knowledge is not true knowledge; true knowledge is that which is based on the true sight, the sight of the Seer, of Surya, of the Kavi. Mental thought is not knowledge, it is a golden lid placed over the face of the Truth, the Sight, the divine Ideation, the Truth-Consciousness. When that is removed, sight replaces mental thought, the all-embracing truth-ideation, mahas, veda, dṛṣṭi, replaces the fragmentary mental activity. True Buddhi (vijñāna) emerges from the dissipated action of the Buddhi which is all that is possible on the basis of the sense-mind, the Manas. Vijnana leads us to pure knowledge (jñāna),

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pure consciousness (cit). There we realise our entire identity with the Lord in all at the very roots of our being.

But in Chit, Will and Seeing are one. Therefore in Vijnana or truth-ideation also which comes luminously out of Chit, Will and Sight are combined and no longer as in the mind separated from each other. Therefore, when we have the sight and live in the Truth-Consciousness, our will becomes the spontaneous law of the truth in us and, knowing all its acts and their sense and objective, leads straight to the human goal, which was always the enjoyment of the Ananda, the Lord's delight in self-being, the state of Immortality. In our acts also we become one with all beings and our life grows into a representation of oneness, truth and divine joy and no longer proceeds on the crooked path of egoism full of division, error and stumbling. In a word, we attain to the object of our existence which is to manifest in itself whether on earth in a terrestrial body and against the resistance of Matter or in the worlds beyond or enter beyond all world the glory of the divine Life and the divine Being.

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The Kena Upanishad

First Part

केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः । केन प्राणः प्रथमः प्रैति युक्तः ।
केनेषितां वाचमिमां वदन्ति । चक्षुः श्रोत्रं क उ देवो युनक्ति ॥१॥

1) By whom missioned falls the mind shot to its mark? By whom yoked moves the first life-breath forward on its paths? By whom impelled is this word that men speak? What god set eye and ear to their workings?

श्रोत्रस्य श्रोत्रं मनसो मनो यत् । वाचो ह वाचं स उ प्राणस्य प्राणः ।
चक्षुषश्चक्षुरतिमुच्य धीराः । प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति ॥२॥

2) That which is hearing of our hearing, mind of our mind, speech of our speech, that too is life of our life-breath and sight of our sight. The wise are released beyond and they pass from this world and become immortal.

न तत्र चक्षुर्गच्छति न वाग् गच्छति नो मनो
न विद्मो न विजानीमो यथैतदनुशिष्यात् ।
अन्यदेव तद्विदितादथो अविदितादधि ।
इति शुश्रुम पूर्वेषां ये नस्तद्वयाचचक्षिरे ॥३॥

3) There sight travels not, nor speech, nor the mind. We know It not nor can distinguish how one should teach of It: for It is other than the known; It is there above the unknown. It is so we have heard from men of old who declared That to our understanding.

यद्वाचानभ्युदितं येन वागभ्युद्यते ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥४॥

4) That which is unexpressed by the word, that by which the

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word is expressed, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.

यन्मनसा न मनुते येनाहुर्मनो मतम् ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥५॥

5) That which thinks not by the mind,¹ that by which the mind is thought, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.

यच्चक्षुषा न पश्यति येन चक्षूंषि पश्यति ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥६॥

6) That which sees not with the eye,² that by which one sees the eye's seeings, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.

यच्छ्रोत्रेण न शृणोति येन श्रोत्रमिदं श्रुतम् ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥७॥

7) That which hears not with the ear,³ that by which the ear's hearing is heard, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.

यत्प्राणेन न प्राणिति येन प्राणः प्रणीयते ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥८॥

8) That which breathes not with the breath,⁴ that by which the life-breath is led forward in its paths, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.

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Second Part

यदि मन्यसे सुवेदेति दभ्रमेवापि नूनं त्वं वेत्थ ब्रह्मणो रुपम् ।
यदस्य त्वं यदस्य देवेष्वथ नु मीमांस्यमेव ते मन्ये विदितम् ॥१॥

1) If thou thinkest that thou knowest It well, little indeed dost thou know the form of the Brahman. That of It which is thou, that of It which is in the gods, this thou hast to think out. I think It known.

नाहं मन्ये सुवेदेति नो न वेदेति वेद च ।
यो नस्तद्वेद तद्वेद नो न वेदेति वेद च ॥२॥

2) I think not that I know It well and yet I know that It is not unknown to me. He of us who knows It, knows That; he knows that It is not unknown to him.

यस्यामतं तस्य मतं मतं यस्य न वेद सः ।
अविज्ञातं विजानतां विज्ञातमविजानताम् ॥३॥

3) He by whom It is not thought out, has the thought of It; he by whom It is thought out, knows It not. It is unknown to the discernment of those who discern of It, by those who seek not to discern of It, It is discerned.

प्रतिबोधविदितं मतममृतत्वं हि विन्दते ।
आत्मना विन्दते वीर्य विद्यया विन्दतेऽमृतम् ॥४॥

4) When It is known by perception that reflects It, then one has the thought of It, for one finds immortality; by the self one finds the force to attain and by the knowledge one finds immortality.

इह चेदवेदीदथ सत्यमस्ति ।
न चेदिहावेदीन्महती विनष्टिः ।
भूतेषु भूतेषु विचित्य धीराः ।
प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति ॥५॥

5) If here one comes to that knowledge, then one truly is; if here one comes not to the knowledge, then great is the perdition.

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The wise distinguish That in all kinds of becomings and they pass forward from this world and become immortal.

Third Part

ब्रह्म ह देवेभ्यो विजिग्ये तस्य ह ब्रह्मणो विजये देवा अमहीयन्त ।
त ऐक्षन्तास्माकमेवायं विजयोऽस्माकमेवायं महिमेति ॥१॥

1) The Eternal conquered for the gods and in the victory of the Eternal the gods grew to greatness. This was what they saw: "Ours the victory, ours the greatness."

तद्धैषां विजज्ञौ तेभ्यो ह प्रादुर्बभूव तन्न व्यजानत किमिदं यक्षमिति ॥२॥

2) The Eternal knew their thought and appeared before them; and they knew not what was this mighty Daemon.

तेऽग्निमब्रुवन् जातवेद एतद्विजानीहि किमेतद्यक्षमिति तथेति ॥३॥

3) They said to Agni, "O thou that knowest all things born, learn of this thing, what may be this mighty Daemon," and he said, "So be it."

तदभ्यद्रवत्तमभ्यवदत्कोऽसीत्यग्निर्वा अहमस्मीत्यब्रवीज्जातवेदा वा अहमस्मीति ॥४॥

4) He rushed toward the Eternal and It said to him, "Who art thou?" "I am Agni," he said, "I am he that knows all things born."

तस्मिस्त्वयि किं वीर्यमित्यपीदं सर्व दहेयं यदिदं पृथिव्यामिति ॥५॥

5) "Since such thou art, what is the force in thee?" "Even all this I could burn, all that is upon the earth."

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तस्मै तृणं निदधावेतद्दहेति तदुपप्रेयाय सर्वजवेन तन्न शशाक दग्धुं
स तत एव निववृते नैतदशकं विज्ञातुं यदेतद्यक्षमिति ॥६॥

6) The Eternal set before him a blade of grass: "This burn," and he made towards it with all his speed, but he could not burn it. There he ceased, and turned back; "I could not know of It, what might be this mighty Daemon."

अथ वायुमब्रुवन् वायवेतद्विजानीहि किमेतद्यक्षमिति तथेति ॥७॥

7) Then they said to Vayu, "O Vayu, this discern, what is this mighty Daemon." He said, "So be it."

तदभ्यद्रवत्तमभ्यवदत् कोऽसीति वायुर्वा अहमस्मीत्यब्रवीन्मातरिश्वा वा अहमस्मीति ॥८॥

8) He rushed upon That; It said to him, "Who art thou?" "I am Vayu," he said, "and I am he that expands in the Mother of things."

तस्मिंस्त्वयि किं वीर्यमित्यपीदं सर्वमाददीय यदिदं पृथिव्यामिति ॥९॥

9) "Since such thou art, what is the force in thee?" "Even all this I can take for myself, all this that is upon the earth."

तस्मै तृणं निदधावेतदादत्स्वेति तदुपप्रेयाय सर्वजवेन तन्न शशाकादातुं
स तत एव निववृते नैतदशकं विज्ञातुं यदेतद्यक्षमिति ॥१०॥

10) That set before him a blade of grass, "This take." He went towards it with all his speed and he could not take it. Even there he ceased, even thence he returned: "I could not discern of That, what is this mighty Daemon."

अथेन्द्रमब्रुवन्मघवन्नेतद्विजानीहि किमेतद्यक्षमिति तथेति तदभ्यद्रवत् तस्मात्तिरोदधे ॥११॥

11) Then they said to Indra, "Master of plenitudes, get thou the knowledge, what is this mighty Daemon." He said, "So be

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it." He rushed upon That. That vanished from before him.

स तस्मिन्नेवाकाशे स्त्रियमाजगाम बहुशोभमानामुमां हैमवतीं तां होवाच किमेतद्यक्षमिति ॥१२॥

12) He in the same ether came upon the Woman, even upon Her who shines out in many forms, Uma daughter of the snowy summits. To her he said, "What was this mighty Daemon?"

Fourth Part

सा ब्रह्मेति होवाच ब्रह्मणो वा एतद्विजये महीयध्वमिति ततो हैव विदाञ्चकार ब्रह्मेति ॥१॥

1) She said to him, "It is the Eternal. Of the Eternal is this victory in which ye shall grow to greatness." Then alone he came to know that this was the Brahman.

तस्माद्वा एते देवा अतितरामिवान्यान्देवान्यदग्निर्वायुरिन्द्रस्ते ह्येननेदिष्ठं पस्पर्शुस्ते ह्येनत्प्रथमो विदाञ्चकार ब्रह्मेति ॥२॥

2) Therefore are these gods as it were beyond all the other gods, even Agni and Vayu and Indra, because they came nearest to the touch of That....⁵

तस्माद् वा इन्द्रोऽतितरामिवान्यान्देवान्स ह्येनन्नेदिष्ठं पस्पर्श स ह्येनत्प्रथमो विदाञ्चकार ब्रह्मेति ॥३॥

3) Therefore is Indra as it were beyond all the other gods because he came nearest to the touch of That, because

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he first knew that it was the Brahman.

तस्यैष आदेशो यदेतद्विद्युतो व्यद्युतदा इतीन्न्यमीमिषदा इत्यधिदैवतम् ॥४॥

4) Now this is the indication of That,—as is this flash of the lightning upon us or as is this falling of the eyelid, so in that which is of the gods.

अथाध्यात्मं यदेतद् गच्छतीव च मनोऽनेन चैतदुपस्मरत्यभीक्ष्णं सङ्कल्पः ॥५॥

5) Then in that which is of the Self,—as the motion of this mind seems to attain to That and by it afterwards the will in the thought continually remembers It.

तद्ध तद्वनं नाम तद्वनमित्युपासितव्यं स य एतदेवं वेदाभि हैनं सर्वाणि भूतानि संवाञ्छन्ति ॥६॥

6) The name of That is "That Delight"; as That Delight one should follow after It. He who so knows That, towards him verily all existences yearn.

उपनिषदं भो ब्रूहीत्युक्ता त उपनिषद् ब्राह्मीं वाव त उपनिषदमब्रूमेति ॥७॥

7) Thou hast said "Speak to me Upanishad";⁶ spoken to thee is Upanishad. Of the Eternal verily is the Upanishad that we have spoken.

तस्यै तपो दमः कर्मेति प्रतिष्ठा वेदाः सर्वाङ्गानि सत्यमायतनम् ॥८॥

8) Of this knowledge austerity and self-conquest and works are the foundation, the Vedas are all its limbs, truth is its dwelling place.

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यो वा एतामेवं वेदापहत्य पाप्मानमनन्ते स्वर्गो लोके ज्येये प्रतितिष्ठति प्रतितिष्ठति ॥९॥

9) He who knows this knowledge, smites evil away from him and in that vaster world and infinite heaven finds his foundation, yea, he finds his foundation.

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Commentary - I

The twelve great Upanishads are written round one body of ancient knowledge; but they approach it from different sides. Into the great kingdom of the Brahmavidya each enters by its own gates, follows its own path or detour, aims at its own point of arrival. The Isha Upanishad and the Kena are both concerned with the same grand problem, the winning of the state of Immortality, the relations of the divine, all-ruling, all-possessing Brahman to the world and to the human consciousness, the means of passing out of our present state of divided self, ignorance and suffering into the unity, the truth, the divine beatitude. As the Isha closes with the aspiration towards the supreme felicity, so the Kena closes with the definition of Brahman as the Delight and the injunction to worship and seek after That as the Delight. Nevertheless there is a variation in the starting-point, even in the standpoint, a certain sensible divergence in the attitude.

For the precise subject of the two Upanishads is not identical. The Isha is concerned with the whole problem of the world and life and works and the human destiny in their relation to the supreme truth of the Brahman. It embraces in its brief eighteen verses most of the fundamental problems of Life and scans them swiftly with the idea of the supreme Self and its becomings, the supreme Lord and His workings as the key that shall unlock all gates. The oneness of all existences is its dominating note.

The Kena Upanishad approaches a more restricted problem, starts with a more precise and narrow inquiry. It concerns itself only with the relation of mind-consciousness to Brahman-consciousness and does not stray outside the strict boundaries of its subject. The material world and the physical life are taken for granted, they are hardly mentioned. But the material world and the physical life exist for us only by virtue of our internal self and our internal life. According as our mental instruments represent to us the external world, according as our vital force in obedience to the mind deals with its impacts and objects, so

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will be our outward life and existence. The world is for us what our mind and senses declare it to be; life is what our mentality determines that it shall become. The question is asked by the Upanishad, what then are these mental instruments? what is this mental life which uses the external? Are they the last witnesses, the supreme and final power? Is mind all or is this human existence only a veil of something greater, mightier, more remote and profound than itself?

The Upanishad replies that there is such a greater existence behind, which is to the mind and its instruments, to the life-force and its workings what they are to the material world. Matter does not know Mind, Mind knows Matter; it is only when the creature embodied in Matter develops mind, becomes the mental being that he can know his mental self and know by that self Matter also in its reality to Mind. So also Mind does not know That which is behind it, That knows Mind; and it is only when the being involved in Mind can deliver out of its appearances his true Self that he can become That, know it as himself and by it know also Mind in its reality to that which is more real than Mind. How to rise beyond the mind and its instruments, enter into himself, attain to the Brahman becomes then the supreme aim for the mental being, the all-important problem of his existence.

For given that there is a more real existence than the mental existence, a greater life than the physical life, it follows that the lower life with its forms, and enjoyments which are all that men here ordinarily worship and pursue, can no longer be an object of desire for the awakened spirit. He must aspire beyond; he must free himself from this world of death and mere phenomena to become himself in his true state of immortality beyond them. Then alone he really exists when here in this mortal life itself he can free himself from the mortal consciousness and know and be the immortal and eternal. Otherwise he feels that he has lost himself, has fallen from his true salvation.

But this Brahman-consciousness is not represented by the Upanishad as something quite alien to the mental and physical world, aloof from it and in no way active or concerned with its activities. On the contrary, it is the Lord and ruler of all the

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world; the energies of the gods in the mortal consciousness are its energies; when they conquer and grow great, it is because Brahman has fought and won. This world therefore is an inferior action, a superficial representation of something infinitely greater, more perfect, more real than itself.

What is that something? It is the All-Bliss which is infinite being and immortal force. It is that pure and utter bliss and not the desires and enjoyments of this world which men ought to worship and to seek. How to seek it is the one question that matters; to follow after it with all one's being is the only truth and the only wisdom.

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Commentary - II

Mind is the agent of the lower or phenomenal consciousness; vital force or the life-breath, speech and the five senses of knowledge are the instruments of the mind. Prana, the life-force in the nervous system, is indeed the one main instrument of our mental consciousness; for it is that by which the mind receives the contacts of the physical world through the organs of knowledge, sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste, and reacts upon its object by speech and the other four organs of action; all these senses are dependent upon the nervous Life-force for their functioning. The Upanishad therefore begins by a query as to the final source or control of the activities of the Mind, Life-Force, Speech, Senses.

The question is, kena, by whom or what? In the ancient conception of the universe our material existence is formed from the five elemental states of Matter, the ethereal, aerial, fiery, liquid and solid; everything that has to do with our material existence is called the elemental, adhibhūta. In this material there move non-material powers manifesting through the Mind-Force and Life-Force that work upon Matter, and these are called Gods or Devas; everything that has to do with the working of the non-material in us is called adhidaiva, that which pertains to the Gods. But above the non-material powers, containing them, greater than they is the Self or Spirit, ātman, and everything that has to do with this highest existence in us is called the spiritual, adhyātma. For the purpose of the Upanishads the adhidaiva is the subtle in us; it is that which is represented by Mind and Life as opposed to gross Matter; for in Mind and Life we have the characteristic action of the Gods.

The Upanishad is not concerned with the elemental, the adhibhūta; it is concerned with the relation between the subtle existence and the spiritual, the adhidaiva and adhyātma. But the Mind, the Life, the speech, the senses are governed by cosmic powers, by Gods, by Indra, Vayu, Agni. Are these subtle cosmic powers the beginning of existence, the true movers of mind and life, or is

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there some superior unifying force, one in itself behind them all?

By whom or what is the mind missioned and sent on its errand so that it falls on its object like an arrow shot by a skilful archer at its predetermined mark, like a messenger, an envoy sent by his master to a fixed place for a fixed object? What is it within us or without us that sends forth the mind on its errand? What guides it to its object?

Then there is the Life-force, the Prana, that works in our vital being and nervous system. The Upanishad speaks of it as the first or supreme Breath; elsewhere in the sacred writings it is spoken of as the chief Breath or the Breath of the mouth, mukhya, āsanya; it is that which carries in it the Word, the creative expression. In the body of man there are said to be five workings of the life-force called the five Pranas. One specially termed Prana moves in the upper part of the body and is preeminently the breath of life, because it brings the universal Life-force into the physical system and gives it there to be distributed. A second in the lower part of the trunk, termed Apana, is the breath o£ death; for it gives away the vital force out of the body. A third, the Samana, regulates the interchange of these two forces at their meeting-place, equalises them and is the most important agent in maintaining the equilibrium of the vital forces and their functions. A fourth, the Vyana, pervasive, distributes the vital energies throughout the body. A fifth, the Udana, moves upward from the body to the crown of the head and is a regular channel of communication between the physical life and the greater life of the spirit. None of these are the first or supreme Breath, although the Prana most nearly represents it; the Breath to which so much importance is given in the Upanishads, is the pure life-force itself,—first, because all the others are secondary to it, born from it and only exist as its special functions. It is imaged in the Veda as the Horse; its various energies are the forces that draw the chariots of the Gods. The Vedic image is recalled by the choice of the terms employed in the Upanishad, yukta, yoked, praiti, goes forward, as a horse driven by the charioteer advances in its path.

Who then has yoked this Life-force to the many workings of existence or by what power superior to itself does it move forward

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in its paths? For it is not primal, self-existent or its own agent. We are conscious of a power behind which guides, drives, controls, uses it.

The force of the vital breath enables us to bring up and speed outward from the body this speech that we use to express, to throw out into a world of action and new-creation the willings and thought-formations of the mind. It is propelled by Vayu, the life-breath; it is formed by Agni, the secret will-force and fiery shaping energy in the mind and body. But these are the agents. Who or what is the secret Power that is behind them, the master of the word that men speak, its real former and the origin of that which expresses itself?

The ear hears the sound, the eye sees the form; but hearing and vision are particular operations of the life-force in us used by the mind in order to put itself into communication with the world in which the mental being dwells and to interpret it in the forms of sense. The life-force shapes them, the mind uses them, but something other than the life-force and the mind enables them to shape and to use their objects and their instruments. What God sets eye and ear to their workings? Not Surya, the God of light, not Ether and his regions; for these are only conditions of vision and hearing.

The Gods combine, each bringing his contribution, the operations of the physical world that we observe as of the mental world that is our means of observation; but the whole universal action is one, not a sum of fortuitous atoms; it is one, arranged in its parts, combined in its multiple functionings by virtue of a single conscient existence which can never be constructed or put together (akṛta) but is anterior to all these workings. The Gods work only by this Power anterior to themselves, live only by its life, think only by its thought, act only for its purposes. We look into ourselves and all things and become aware of it there, an "I", an "Is", a Self, which is other, firmer, vaster than any separate or individual being.

But since it is not anything that the mind can make its object or the senses throw into form for the mind, what then is it—or who? What absolute Spirit? What one, supreme and eternal Godhead? Ko devaḥ.

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Commentary - III

The eternal question has been put which turns man's eyes away from the visible and the outward to that which is utterly within, away from the little known that he has become to the vast unknown he must yet grow into and be, because that is his Reality and out of all masquerade of phenomenon and becoming the Real Being must eventually deliver itself. The human soul once seized by this compelling direction can no longer be satisfied with looking forth at mortalities and seemings through those doors of the mind and sense which the Self-existent has made to open outward upon a world of forms; it is driven to gaze inward into a new world of realities.

Here in the world that man knows, he possesses something which, however imperfect and insecure, he yet values. For he aims at and to some extent he procures enlarged being, increasing knowledge, more and more joy and satisfaction and these things are so precious to him that for what he can get of them he is ready to pay the price of continual suffering from the shock of their opposites. If then he has to abandon what he here pursues and clasps, there must be a far more powerful attraction drawing him to the Beyond, a secret offer of something so great as to be a full reward for all possible renunciation that can be demanded of him here. This is offered,—not an enlarged becoming, but infinite being; not always relative piecings of knowledge mistaken in their hour for the whole of knowledge, but the possession of our essential consciousness and the flood of its luminous realities; not partial satisfactions, but the delight. In a word, Immortality.

The language of the Upanishad makes it strikingly clear that it is no metaphysical abstraction, no void Silence, no indeterminate Absolute which is offered to the soul that aspires, but rather the absolute of all that is possessed by it here in the relative world of its sojourning. All here in the mental is a growing light, consciousness and life; all there in the supramental is an infinite life, light and consciousness. That which is here shadowed,

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is there found; the incomplete here is there the fulfilled. The Beyond is not an annullation, but a transfiguration of all that we are here in our world of forms; it is sovran Mind of this mind, secret Life of this life, the absolute Sense which supports and justifies our limited senses.

We renounce ourselves in order to find ourselves; for in the mental life there is only a seeking, but never an ultimate finding till mind is overpassed. Therefore there is behind all our mentality a perfection of ourselves which appears to us as an antinomy and contrast to what we are. For here we are a constant becoming; there we possess our eternal being. Here we conceive of ourselves as a changeful consciousness developed and always developing by a hampered effort in the drive of Time; there we are an immutable consciousness of which Time is not the master but the instrument as well as the field of all that it creates and watches. Here we live in an organisation of mortal consciousness which takes the form of a transient world; there we are liberated into the harmonies of an infinite self-seeing which knows all world in the light of the eternal and immortal. The Beyond is our reality; that is our plenitude; that is the absolute satisfaction of our self-existence. It is immortality and it is "That Delight".

Here in our imprisoned mentality the ego strives to be master and possessor of its inner field and its outer environment, yet cannot hold anything to enjoy it, because it is not possible really to possess what is not-self to us. But there in the freedom of the eternal our self-existence possesses without strife by the sufficient fact that all things are itself. Here is the apparent man, there the real man, the Purusha: here are gods, there is the Divine: here is the attempt to exist, Life flowering out of an all-devouring death, there Existence itself and a dateless immortality.

The answer that is thus given is involved in the very form of the original question. The Truth behind Mind, Life, Sense must be that which controls by exceeding it; it is the Lord, the all-possessing Deva. This was the conclusion at which the Isha Upanishad arrived by the synthesis of all existences; the Kena arrives at it by the antithesis of one governing self-existence to all this that exists variously by another power of being than

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its own. Each follows its own method for the resolution of all things into the one Reality, but the conclusion is identical. It is the All-possessing and All-enjoying, who is reached by the renunciation of separate being, separate possession and separate delight.

But the Isha addresses itself to the awakened seeker; it begins therefore with the all-inhabiting Lord, proceeds to the all-becoming Self and returns to the Lord as the Self of the cosmic movement, because it has to justify works to the seeker of the Uncreated and to institute a divine life founded on the joy of immortality and on the unified consciousness of the individual made one with the universal. The Kena addresses itself to the soul still attracted by the external life, not yet wholly awakened nor wholly a seeker; it begins therefore with the Brahman as the Self beyond Mind and proceeds to the Brahman as the hidden Lord of all our mental and vital activities, because it has to point this soul upward beyond its apparent and outward existence. But the two opening chapters of the Kena only state less widely from this other viewpoint the Isha's doctrine of the Self and its becomings; the last two repeat in other terms of thought the Isha's doctrine of the Lord and His movement.

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Commentary - IV

The Upanishad first affirms the existence of this profounder, vaster, more puissant consciousness behind our mental being. That, it affirms, is Brahman. Mind, Life, Sense, Speech are not the utter Brahman; they are only inferior modes and external instruments. Brahman-consciousness is our real self and our true existence.

Mind and body are not our real self; they are mutable formations or images which we go on constructing in the drive of Time as a result of the mass of our past energies. For although those energies seem to us to lie dead in the past because their history is behind us, yet are they still existent in their mass and always active in the present and the future.

Neither is the ego-function our real self. Ego is only a faculty put forward by the discriminative mind to centralise round itself the experiences of the sense-mind and to serve as a sort of lynch-pin in the wheel which keeps together the movement. It is no more than an instrument, although it is true that so long as we are limited by our normal mentality, we are compelled by the nature of that mentality and the purpose of the instrument to mistake our ego-function for our very self.

Neither is it the memory that constitutes our real self. Memory is another instrument, a selective instrument for the practical management of our conscious activities. The ego-function uses it as a rest and support so as to preserve the sense of continuity without which our mental and vital activities could not be organised for a spacious enjoyment by the individual. But even our mental self comprises and is influenced in its being by a host of things which are not present to our memory, are subconscious and hardly grasped at all by our surface existence. Memory is essential to the continuity of the ego-sense, but it is not the constituent of the ego-sense, still less of the being.

Neither is moral personality our real self. It is only a changing formation, a pliable mould framed and used by our subjective life in order to give some appearance of fixity to the

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constantly mutable becoming which our mental limitations successfully tempt us to call ourselves.

Neither is the totality of that mutable conscious becoming, although enriched by all that subconsciously underlies it, our real self. What we become is a fluent mass of life, a stream of experience pouring through time, a flux of Nature upon the crest of which our mentality rides. What we are is the eternal essence of that life, the immutable consciousness that bears the experience, the immortal substance of Nature and mentality.

For behind all and dominating all that we become and experience, there is something that originates, uses, determines, enjoys, yet is not changed by its origination, not affected by its instruments, not determined by its determinations, not worked upon by its enjoyings. What that is, we cannot know unless we go behind the veil of our mental being which knows only what is affected, what is determined, what is worked upon, what is changed. The mind can only be aware of that as something which we indefinably are, not as something which it definably knows. For, the moment our mentality tries to fix this something, it loses itself in the flux and the movement, grasps at parts, functions, fictions, appearances which it uses as planks of safety in the welter or tries to cut out a form from the infinite and say, "This is I." In the words of the Veda, "when the mind approaches That and studies it, That vanishes."

But behind the Mind is this other or Brahman-consciousness, Mind of our mind, Sense of our senses, Speech of our speech, Life of our life. Arriving at that, we arrive at Self; we can draw back from mind the image into Brahman the Reality.

But what differentiates that real from this apparent self? Or—since we can say no more than we have said already in the way of definition, since we can only indicate that "That" is not what "this" is, but is the mentally inexpressible absolute of all that is here,—what is the relation of this phenomenon to that reality? For it is the question of the relation that the Upanishad makes its starting-point; its opening question assumes that there is a relation and that the reality originates and governs the phenomenon.

Obviously, Brahman is not a thing subject to our mind,

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senses, speech or life-force; it is no object seen, heard, expressed, sensed, formed by thought, nor any state of body or mind that we become in the changing movement of the life. But the thought of the Upanishad attempts to awaken deeper echoes from our gulfs than this obvious denial of the mental and sensuous objectivity of the Brahman. It affirms that not only is it not an object of mind or a formation of life, but it is not even dependent on our mind, life and senses for the exercise of its lordship and activity. It is that which does not think by the mind, does not live by the life, does not sense by the senses, does not find expression in the speech, but rather makes these things themselves the object of its superior, all-comprehending, all-knowing consciousness.

Brahman thinks out the mind by that which is beyond mind; it sees the sight and hears the hearing by that absolute vision and audition which are not phenomenal and instrumental but direct and inherent; it forms our expressive speech out of its creative word; it speeds out this life we cling to from that eternal movement of its energy which is not parcelled out into forms but has always the freedom of its own inexhaustible infinity.

Thus the Upanishad begins its reply to its own question. It first describes Brahman as Mind of the mind, Sight of the sight, Hearing of the hearing, Speech of the speech, Life of the life. It then takes up each of these expressions and throws them successively into a more expanded form so as to suggest a more definite and ample idea of their meaning, so far as that can be done by words. To the expression "Mind of the mind" corresponds the expanded phrase "That which thinks not with the mind, that by which the mind is thought" and so on with each of the original descriptive expressions to the closing definition of the Life behind this life as "That which breathes not with the life-breath, that by which the life-power is brought forward into its movement".

And each of these exegetic lines is emphasised by the reiterated admonition, "That Brahman seek to know and not this which men follow after here." Neither Mind, Life, Sense and Speech nor their objects and expressions are the Reality which we have to know and pursue. True knowledge is of That which forms

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these instruments for us but is itself independent of their utilities. True possession and enjoyment is of that which, while it creates these objects of our pursuit, itself makes nothing the object of its pursuit and passion, but is eternally satisfied with all things in the joy of its immortal being.

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Commentary - V

The Upanishad, reversing the usual order of our logical thought which would put Mind and Sense first or Life first and Speech last as a subordinate function, begins its negative description of Brahman with an explanation of the very striking phrase, Speech of our speech. And we can see that it means a Speech beyond ours, an absolute expression of which human language is only a shadow and as if an artificial counterfeit. What idea underlies this phrase of the Upanishad and this precedence given to the faculty of speech?

Continually, in studying the Upanishads, we have to divest ourselves of modern notions and to realise as closely as possible the associations that lay behind the early Vedantic use of words. We must recollect that in the Vedic system the Word was the creatrix; by the Word Brahma creates the forms of the universe. Moreover, human speech at its highest merely attempts to recover by revelation and inspiration an absolute expression of Truth which already exists in the Infinite above our mental comprehension. Equally, then, must that Word be above our power of mental construction.

All creation is expression by the Word; but the form which is expressed is only a symbol or representation of the thing which is. We see this in human speech which only presents to the mind a mental form of the object; but the object it seeks to express is itself only a form or presentation of another Reality. That reality is Brahman. Brahman expresses by the Word a form or presentation of himself in the objects of sense and consciousness which constitute the universe, just as the human word expresses a mental image of those objects. That Word is creative in a deeper and more original sense than human speech and with a power of which the utmost creativeness of human speech can be only a far-off and feeble analogy.

The word used here for utterance means literally a raising up to confront the mind. Brahman, says the Upanishad, is that which cannot be so raised up before the mind by speech.

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Human speech, as we see, raises up only the presentation of a presentation, the mental figure of an object which is itself only a figure of the sole Reality, Brahman. It has indeed a power of new creation, but even that power only extends to the creation of new mental images, that is to say, of adaptive formations based upon previous mental images. Such a limited power gives no idea of the original creative puissance which the old thinkers attributed to the divine Word.

If, however, we go a little deeper below the surface, we shall arrive at a power in human speech which does give us a remote image of the original creative Word. We know that vibration of sound has the power to create—and to destroy—forms; this is a commonplace of modern Science. Let us suppose that behind all forms there has been a creative vibration of sound.

Next, let us examine the relation of human speech to sound in general. We see at once that speech is only a particular application of the principle of sound, a vibration made by pressure of the breath in its passage through the throat and mouth. At first, beyond doubt, it must have been formed naturally and spontaneously to express the emotions created by an object or occurrence and only afterwards seized upon by the mind to express first the idea of the object and then ideas about the object. The value of speech would therefore seem to be only representative and not creative.

But, in fact, speech is creative. It creates forms of emotion, mental images and impulses of action. The ancient Vedic theory and practice extended this creative action of speech by the use of the Mantra. The theory of the Mantra is that it is a word of power born out of the secret depths of our being where it has been brooded upon by a deeper consciousness than the mental, framed in the heart and not constructed by the intellect, held in the mind, again concentrated on by the waking mental consciousness and then thrown out silently or vocally—the silent word is perhaps held to be more potent than the spoken—precisely for the work of creation. The Mantra can not only create new subjective states in ourselves, alter our psychical being, reveal knowledge and faculties we did not before possess, can not only produce similar results in other minds than that of the user, but can produce

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vibrations in the mental and vital atmosphere which result in effects, in actions and even in the production of material forms on the physical plane.

As a matter of fact, even ordinarily, even daily and hourly we do produce by the word within us thought-vibrations, thought-forms which result in corresponding vital and physical vibrations, act upon ourselves, act upon others and end in the indirect creation of actions and of forms in the physical world. Man is constantly acting upon man both by the silent and the spoken word and he so acts and creates, though less directly and powerfully, even in the rest of Nature. But because we are stupidly engrossed with the external forms and phenomena of the world and do not trouble to examine its subtle and non-physical processes, we remain ignorant of all this field of science behind.

The Vedic use of the Mantra is only a conscious utilisation of this secret power of the word. And if we take the theory that underlies it together with our previous hypothesis of a creative vibration of sound behind every formation, we shall begin to understand the idea of the original creative Word. Let us suppose a conscious use of the vibrations of sound which will produce corresponding forms or changes of form. But Matter is only, in the ancient view, the lowest of the planes of existence. Let us realise then that a vibration of sound on the material plane presupposes a corresponding vibration on the vital without which it could not have come into play; that, again, presupposes a corresponding originative vibration on the mental; the mental presupposes a corresponding originative vibration on the supramental at the very root of things. But a mental vibration implies thought and perception and a supramental vibration implies a supreme vision and discernment. All vibration of sound on that higher plane is, then, instinct with and expressive of this supreme discernment of a truth in things and is at the same time creative, instinct with a supreme power which casts into forms the truth discerned and eventually, descending from plane to plane, reproduces it in the physical form or object created in Matter by etheric sound. Thus we see that the theory of creation by the Word which is the absolute expression of the Truth, and the theory of the material creation by sound-vibration in the ether

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correspond and are two logical poles of the same idea. They both belong to the same ancient Vedic system.

This, then, is the supreme Word, Speech of our speech. It is vibration of pure Existence, instinct with the perceptive and originative power of infinite and omnipotent consciousness, shaped by the Mind behind mind into the inevitable word of the Truth of things; out of whatever substance on whatever plane, the form or physical expression emerges by its creative agency. The Supermind using the Word is the creative Logos.

The Word has its seed-sounds—suggesting the eternal syllable of the Veda, A U M, and the seed-sounds of the Tantriks—which carry in them the principles of things; it has its forms which stand behind the revelatory and inspired speech that comes to man's supreme faculties, and these compel the forms of things in the universe; it has its rhythms,—for it is no disordered vibration, but moves out into great cosmic measures,—and according to the rhythm is the law, arrangement, harmony, processes of the world it builds. Life itself is a rhythm of God.

But what is it that is expressed or raised up before the consciousness by the Word in the world? Not Brahman, but forms and phenomena of Brahman. Brahman is not, cannot be expressed by the Word; he does not use the word to express himself, but is known to his own self-awareness and even the truths of himself that stand behind the forms of cosmic things are always self-expressed to his eternal vision. Speech creates, expresses, but is itself only a creation and expression. Brahman is not expressed by speech, but speech is itself expressed by Brahman.

Therefore it is not the happenings and phenomena of the world that we have to accept finally as our object of pursuit, but That which brings out from itself the Word by which they were thrown into form for our observation by the consciousness and for our pursuit by the will. In other words, the supreme Existence that has originated all.

Human speech is only a secondary expression and at its highest a shadow of the divine Word, of the seed-sounds, the satisfying rhythms, the revealing forms of sound that are the

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omniscient and omnipotent speech of the eternal Thinker, Harmonist, Creator. The highest inspired speech to which the human mind can attain, the word most unanalysably expressive of supreme truth, the most puissant syllable or mantra can only be its far-off representation.

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Commentary - VI

As the Upanishad asserts a speech behind this speech, which is the expressive aspect of the Brahman-consciousness, so it asserts a Mind behind this mind which is its cognitive aspect. And as we asked ourselves what could be the rational basis for the theory of the divine Word superior to our speech, so we have now to ask ourselves what can be the rational basis for this theory of a cognitive faculty or principle superior to Mind. We may say indeed that if we grant a divine Word creative of all things, we must also grant a divine Mind cognitive of the Word and of all that it expresses. But this is not a sufficient foundation; for the theory of the divine Word presents itself only as a rational possibility. A cognition higher than Mind presents itself on the other hand as a necessity which arises from the very nature of Mind itself, a necessity from which we cannot logically escape.

In the ancient system which admitted the soul's survival of the body, Mind was the man, in a very profound and radical sense of the phrase. It is not only that the human being is the one reasoning animal upon earth, the thinking race; he is essentially the mental being in a terrestrial body, the manu. Quite apart from the existence of a soul or self one in all creatures, the body is not even the phenomenal self of man; the physical life also is not himself; both may be dissolved, man will persist. But if the mental being also is dissolved, man as man ceases to be; for this is his centre and the nodus of his organism.

On the contrary, according to the theory of a material evolution upheld by modern Science, man is only Matter that has developed mind by an increasing sensibility to the shocks of its environment; and Matter being the basis of existence, there is nothing, except the physical elements, that can survive the dissolution of the body. But this formula is at most the obverse and inferior side of a much larger truth. Matter could not develop Mind if in or behind the force that constitutes physical forms there were not already a principle of Mind striving towards self-manifestation.

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The will to enlighten and consciously govern the life and the form must have been already existent in that which appears to us inconscient before mind was evolved. For, if there were no such necessity of Mind in Matter, if the stuff of mentality were not there already and the will to mentalise, Mind could not possibly have evolved.

But in the mere chemical elements which go to constitute material forms or in electricity or in any other purely physical factor, whatever unconscious will or sensation they may be possessed by or possess, we can discover nothing which could explain the emergence of conscious sensation, which could constitute a will towards the evolution of thought or which could impose the necessity of such an evolution on inconscient physical substance. It is not then in the form of Matter itself, but in the Force which is at work in Matter, that we must seek the origin of Mind. That Force must either be itself conscient or contain the grain of mental consciousness inherent in its being and therefore the potentiality and indeed the necessity of its emergence. This imprisoned consciousness, though originally absorbed in the creation first of forms and then of physical relations and reactions between physical forms, must still have held in itself from the beginning, however long kept back and suppressed, a will to the ultimate enlightenment of these relations by the creation of corresponding conscious or mental values. Mind is then a concealed necessity which the subconscient holds in itself from the commencement of things; it is the thing that must emerge once the attractions and repulsions of Matter begin to be established; it is the suppressed secret and cause of the reactions of life in the metal, plant and animal.

If, on the other hand, we say that Mind in some such secret and suppressed form is not already existent in Matter, we must then suppose that it exists outside Matter and embraces it or enters into it. We must suppose a mental plane of existence which presses upon the physical and tends to possess it. In that case the mental being would be in its origin an entity which is formed outside the material world; but it prepares in that world bodies which become progressively more and more able to house and express Mind. We may image it forming, entering into and

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possessing the body, breaking into it, as it were,—as the Purusha in the Aitareya Upanishad is said to form the body and then to enter in by breaking open a door in Matter. Man would in this view be a mental being incarnate in the living body who at its dissolution leaves it with full possession of his mentality.

The two theories are far from being incompatible with each other; they can be viewed as complements forming a single truth. For the involution of Mind, its latency in the material Force of the physical universe and in all its movements does not preclude the existence of a mental world beyond and above the reign of the physical principle. In fact, the emergence of such a latent Mind might well depend upon and would certainly profit by the aid and pressure of forces from a supraphysical kingdom, a mental plane of existence.

There are always two possible views of the universe. The one supposes, with modern Science, Matter to be the beginning of things and studies everything as an evolution from Matter; or, if not Matter, then, with the Sankhya philosophy, an indeterminate inconscient active Force or Prakriti of which even mind and reason are operations,—the conscious soul, if any exists, being a quite different and, although conscient, yet inactive entity. The other supposes the conscious soul, the Purusha, to be the material as well as the cause of the universe and Prakriti to be only its Shakti or the Force of its conscious being which operates upon itself as the material of forms.¹ The latter is the view of the Upanishads. Certainly, if we study the material world only, excluding all evidence of other planes as a dream or a hallucination, if we equally exclude all evidence of operations in mind which exceed the material limitation and study only its ordinary equation with Matter, we must necessarily accept the theory of Matter as the origin and as the indispensable basis and continent. Otherwise, we shall be irresistibly led towards the early Vedantic conclusions.

However this may be, even from the standpoint of the sole material world Man in the substance of his manhood is a mind occupying and using the life of the body—a mind that is greater

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than the Matter in which it has emerged. He is the highest expression of the Will in the material universe; the Force that has built up the worlds, so far as we are able to judge of its intention from its actual operations as we see them in their present formula upon earth, arrives in him at the thing it was seeking to express. It has brought out the hidden principle of Mind that now operates consciously and intelligently on the life and the body. Man is the satisfaction of the necessity which Nature bore secretly in her from the very commencement of her works; he is the highest possible Name or Numen on this planet; he is the realised terrestrial godhead.

But all this is true only if we assume that for Nature's terrestrial activities Mind is the ultimate formula. In reality and when we study more deeply the phenomena of consciousness, the facts of mentality, the secret tendency, aspiration and necessity of man's own nature, we see that he cannot be the highest term. He is the highest realised here and now; he is not the highest realisable. As there is something below him, so there is something, if even only a possibility, above. As physical Nature concealed a secret beyond herself which in him she has released into creation, so he too conceals a secret beyond himself which he in turn must deliver to the light. That is his destiny.

This must necessarily be so because Mind too is not the first principle of things and therefore cannot be their last possibility. As Matter contained Life in itself, contained it as its own secret necessity and had to be delivered of that birth, and as Life contained Mind in itself, contained it as its own secret necessity and had to be delivered of the birth it held, so Mind too contains in itself that which is beyond itself, contains it as its own secret necessity and presses to be delivered, it also, of this supreme birth.

What is the rational necessity which forbids us to suppose Mind to be Nature's last birth and compels us to posit something beyond it of which itself is the indication? A consideration of the nature and working of mentality supplies us with the answer. For mentality is composed of three principal elements, thought, will and sensation. Sensation may be described as an attempt of divided consciousness to seize upon its object and enjoy it,

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thought as its attempt to seize upon the truth of the object and possess it, will as its attempt to seize upon the potentiality of the object and use it. At least these three things are such an attempt in their essentiality, in their instinct, in their subconscious purpose. But obviously the attempt is imperfect in its conditions and its success; its very terms indicate a barrier, a gulf, an incapacity. As Life is limited and hampered by the conditions of its synthesis with Matter, so Mind is limited and hampered by the conditions of its synthesis with Life in Matter. Neither Matter nor Life has found anything proper to their own formula which could help to conquer or sufficiently expand its limitations; they have been compelled each to call in a new principle, Matter to call into itself Life, Life to call into itself Mind. Mind also is not able to find anything proper to its own formula which can conquer or sufficiently expand the limitations imposed upon its workings, Mind also has to call in a new principle beyond itself, freer than itself and more powerful.

In other words, Mind does not exhaust the possibilities of consciousness and therefore cannot be its last and highest expression. Mind tries to arrive at Truth and succeeds only in touching it imperfectly with a veil between; there must be in the nature of things a faculty or principle which sees the Truth unveiled, an eternal faculty of knowledge which corresponds to the eternal fact of the Truth. There is, says the Veda, such a principle; it is the Truth-Consciousness which sees the Truth directly and is in possession of it spontaneously. Mind labours to effect the will in it and succeeds only in accomplishing partially, with difficulty and insecurely the potentiality at which it works; there must be a faculty or principle of conscious effective force which corresponds to the unconscious automatic principle of self-fulfilment in Nature, and this principle must be sought for in the form of consciousness that exceeds Mind. Mind, finally, aspires to seize and enjoy the essential delight-giving quality, the rasa of things, but it succeeds only in attaining to it indirectly, holding it in an imperfect grasp and enjoying it externally and fragmentarily; there must be a principle which can attain directly, hold rightly, enjoy intimately and securely. There is, says the Veda, an eternal Bliss-consciousness which

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corresponds to the eternal rasa or essential delight-giving quality of all experience and is not limited by the insecure approximations of the sense in Mind.

If, then, such a deeper principle of consciousness exists, it must be that and not mind which is the original and fundamental intention concealed in Nature and which eventually and somewhere must emerge. But is there any reason for supposing that it must emerge here and in Mind, as Mind has emerged in Life and Life in Matter? We answer in the affirmative because Mind has in itself, however obscurely, that tendency, that aspiration and, at bottom, that necessity. There is one law from the lowest to the highest. Matter, when we examine it closely, proves to be instinct with the stuff of Life—the vibrations, actions and reactions, attractions and repulsions, contractions and expansions, the tendencies of combination, formation and growth which are the very substance of life; but the visible principle of life can only emerge when the necessary material conditions have been prepared which will permit it to organise itself in Matter. So also Life is instinct with the stuff of Mind, abounds with an unconscious² sensation, will, intelligence, but the visible principle of Mind can only emerge when the necessary vital conditions have been prepared which will permit it to organise itself in living Matter. Mind too is instinct with the stuff of Supermind—sympathies, unities, intuitions, emergences of pre-existent knowledge, inherent self-effectivities of will which disguise themselves in a mental form; but the visible principle of Supermind can only emerge when the necessary mental conditions are prepared which will permit it to organise itself in man, the mental living creature.

This necessary preparation is proceeding in human development as the corresponding preparations were developed in the lower stages of the evolution,—with the same gradations, retardations, inequalities; but still it is more enlightened, increasingly self-conscious, nearer to a conscious sureness. And the very fact that this progress is attended by less carefulness in details, less timidity of error, a less conservative attachment to the step gained gives us the hope and almost the assurance that when the

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new principle emerges it will not be by the creation of a new and quite different type which will leave the rest of mankind in the same position to it as are the animals to man, but by the elevation of humanity as a whole to a higher level. For Man, first among Nature's children, has shown the capacity to change himself by his own effort and the conscious aspiration to transcend.

These considerations justify to the reason the idea of a Mind beyond our mind, but only as a final evolution out of Matter. The Upanishad, however, enthrones it as the already existing creator and ruler of Mind; it is a secret principle already conscient and not merely contained inconsciently in the very stuff of things. But this is the natural conclusion—even apart from spiritual experience—from the nature of the supramental principle. For it is at its highest an eternal knowledge, will, bliss and conscious being and it is more reasonable to conclude that it is eternally conscious, though we are not conscious of it, and the source of the universe, than that it is eternally inconscient and only becomes conscient in Time as a result of the universe. Our inconscience of it is no proof that it is inconscient of us: and yet our incapacity is the only real basis left for the denial of an eternal Mind beyond mind superior to its creations and originative of the cosmos.

All other foundations for the rejection of this ancient wisdom have disappeared or are disappearing before the increasing light of modern knowledge.

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Commentary - VII

We arrive then at this affirmation of an all-cognitive principle superior to Mind and exceeding it in nature, scope and capacity. For the Upanishad affirms a Mind beyond mind as the result of intuition and spiritual experience and its existence is equally a necessary conclusion from the facts of the cosmic evolution. What then is this Mind beyond mind? how does it function? or by what means shall we arrive at the knowledge of it or possess it?

The Upanishad asserts about this supreme cognitive principle, first, that it is beyond the reach of mind and the senses; secondly, that it does not itself think with the mind; thirdly, that it is that by which mind itself is thought or mentalised; fourthly, that it is the very nature or description of the Brahman-consciousness.

When we say, however, that "Mind of mind" is the nature or description of the Brahman-consciousness, we must not forget that the absolute Brahman in itself is unknowable and therefore beyond description. It is unknowable, not because it is a void and capable of no description except that of nothingness, nor because, although positive in existence, it has no content or quality, but because it is beyond all things that our knowledge can conceive and because the methods of ideation and expression proper to our mentality do not apply to it. It is the absolute of all things that we know and of each thing that we know and yet nothing nor any sum of things can exhaust or characterise its essential being. For its manner of being is other than that which we call existence; its unity resists all analysis, its multiple infinities exceed every synthesis. Therefore it is not in its absolute essentiality that it can be described as Mind of the mind, but in its fundamental nature in regard to our mental existence. Brahman-consciousness is the eternal outlook of the Absolute upon the relative.

But even of this outlook we may say that it is beyond the reach of mind and speech and senses. Yet mind, speech and

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senses seem to be our only available means for acquiring and expressing knowledge. Must we not say then that this Brahman-consciousness also is unknowable and that we can never hope to know it or possess it while in this body? Yet the Upanishad commands us to know this Brahman and by knowledge to possess it,—for the knowledge intended by the words viddhi, avedīt, is a knowledge that discovers and takes possession,—and it declares later on that it is here, in this body and on this earth that we must thus possess Brahman in knowledge, otherwise great is the perdition. A good deal of confusion has been brought into the interpretation of this Upanishad by a too trenchant dealing with the subtlety of its distinctions between the knowability and the unknowability of the Brahman. We must therefore try to observe exactly what the Upanishad says and especially to seize the whole of its drift by synthetic intuition rather than cut up its meaning so as to make it subject to our logical mentality.

The Upanishad sets out by saying that this Ruler of the mind, senses, speech and life is Mind of our mind, Life of our life, Sense of our senses, Speech of our speech; and it then proceeds to explain what it intends by these challenging phrases. But it introduces between the description and the explanation a warning that neither the description nor the explanation must be pushed beyond their proper limits or understood as more than guide-posts pointing us towards our goal. For neither Mind, Speech nor Sense can travel to the Brahman; therefore Brahman must be beyond all these things in its very nature, otherwise it would be attainable by them in their function. The Upanishad, although it is about to teach of the Brahman, yet affirms, "we know not nor can discern how one should teach of it." The two Sanskrit words that are here used, vidmaḥ and vijānīmaḥ, seem to indicate the one a general grasp and possession in knowledge, the other a total comprehension in whole and detail, by synthesis and analysis. The reason of this entire inability is next given, "because Brahman is other than the known and is there over the unknown", possessing it and, as it were, presiding over it. The known is all that we grasp and possess by our present mentality; it is all that is not the supreme Brahman but only form and phenomenon of it to our sense and mental cognition. The unknown

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is that which is beyond the known and though unknown, is not unknowable if we can enlarge our faculties or attain to others that we do not yet possess.

Yet the Upanishad next proceeds to maintain and explain its first description and to enjoin on us the knowledge of the Brahman which it so describes. This contradiction is not at once reconciled; it is only in the second chapter that the difficulty is solved and only in the fourth that the means of knowledge are indicated. The contradiction arises from the nature of knowledge itself which is a relation between the consciousness that seeks and the consciousness that is sought; where that relation disappears, knowledge is replaced by sheer identity. In what we call existence, the highest knowledge can be no more than the highest relation between that which seeks and that which is sought, and it consists in a modified identity through which we may pass beyond knowledge to the absolute identity. This metaphysical distinction is of importance because it prevents us from mistaking any relation in knowledge for the absolute and from becoming so bound by our experience as to lose or miss the fundamental awareness of the absolute which is beyond all possible description and behind all formulated experience. But it does not render the highest relation in knowledge, the modified identity in experience worthless or otiose. On the contrary, it is that we must aim at as the consummation of our existence in the world. For if we possess it without being limited by it,—and if we are limited by it we have not true possession of it,—then in and through it we shall, even while in this body, remain in touch with the Absolute.

The means for the attainment of this highest knowledge is the constant preparation of the mind by the admission into it of a working higher than itself until the mind is capable of giving itself up to the supramental action which exceeds it and which will finally replace it. In fact, Mind also has to follow the law of natural progression which has governed our evolution in this world from Matter into Life and Life into Mind. For just as Life-consciousness is beyond the imprisoned material being and unattainable by it through its own instruments, so this supramental consciousness is beyond the divided and dividing nature

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of Mind and unattainable by it through its own instruments. But as Matter is constantly prepared for the manifestation of Life until Life is able to move in it, possess it, manage in it its own action and reaction, and as Life is constantly prepared for the manifestation of Mind until Mind is able to use it, enlighten its actions and reactions by higher and higher mental values, so must it be with Mind and that which is beyond Mind.

And all this progression is possible because these things are only different formations of one being and one consciousness. Life only reveals in Matter that which is involved in Matter, that which is the secret meaning and essence of Matter. It reveals, as it were, to material existence its own soul, its own end. So too Mind reveals in Life all that Life means, all that it obscurely is in essence but cannot realise because it is absorbed in its own practical motion and its own characteristic form. So also Supermind must intervene to reveal Mind to itself, to liberate it from its absorption in its own practical motion and characteristic form and enable the mental being to realise that which is the hidden secret of all its formal practice and action. Thus shall man come to the knowledge of that which rules within him and missions his mind to its mark, sends forth his speech, impels the life-force in its paths and sets his senses to their workings.

This supreme cognitive principle does not think by the mind. Mind is to it an inferior and secondary action, not its own proper mode. For Mind, based on limitation and division, can act only from a given centre in the lower and obscured existence; but Supermind is founded on unity and it comprehends and pervades; its action is in the universal and is in conscious communion with a transcendent source eternal and beyond the formations of the universe. Supermind regards the individual in the universal and does not begin with him or make of him a separate being. It starts from the Transcendent and sees the universal and individual as they are in relation to it, as its terms, as its formulas; it does not start from the individual and universal to arrive at the Transcendent. Mind acquires knowledge and mastery; it reaches it by a constant mentalising and willing: Supermind possesses knowledge and mastery; possessing, it throws itself out freely in various willing and knowing. Mind gropes

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by divided sensation; it arrives at a sort of oneness through sympathy: Supermind possesses by a free and all-embracing sense; it lives in the unity of which various love and sympathy are only a secondary play of manifestation. Supermind starts from the whole and sees in it its parts and properties, it does not build up the knowledge of the whole by an increasing knowledge of the parts and properties; and even the whole is to it only a unity of sum, only a partial and inferior term of the higher unity of infinite essence.

We see, then, that these two cognitive principles start from two opposite poles and act in opposite directions by opposite methods. Yet it is by the higher cognitive that the lower is formed and governed. Mind is thought by that which is beyond Mind; the mentalising consciousness shapes and directs its movement according to the knowledge and impulse it receives from this higher Supermind and even the stuff of which it is formed belongs to that Principle. Mentality exists because that which is beyond Mind has conceived an inverse action of itself founded upon its self-concentration on different points in its own being and in different forms of its own being. Supermind fixes these points, sees how consciousness must act from them on other forms of itself and in obedience to the pressure of those other forms, once a particular rhythm or law of universal action is given; it governs the whole action of mentality according to what it thus fixes and sees. Even our ignorance is only the distorted action of a truth projected from the Supermind and could not exist except as such a distortion; and so likewise all our dualities of knowledge, sensation, emotion, force proceed from that higher vision, obey it and are a secondary and, as one might say, perverse action of the concealed Supermind itself which governs always this lower action in harmony with its first conception of a located consciousness, divided indeed and therefore not in possession of its world or itself, but feeling out towards that possession and towards the unity which, because of the Supermind in us, it instinctively, if obscurely, knows to be its true nature and right.

But, for this very reason, the feeling out, the attempt at acquisition can only succeed in proportion as the mental being abandons his characteristic mentality and its limitations in order

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to rise beyond to that Mind of the mind which is his origin and his secret governing principle. His mentality must admit Supramentality as Life has admitted Mind. So long as he worships, follows after, adheres to all this that he now accepts as the object of his pursuit, to the mind and its aims, to its broken methods, its constructions of will and opinion and emotion dependent on egoism, division and ignorance, he cannot rise beyond this death to that immortality which the Upanishad promises to the seeker. That Brahman we have to know and seek after and not this which men here adore and pursue.

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Commentary - VIII

The Upanishad is not satisfied with the definition of the Brahman-consciousness as Mind of the mind. Just as it has described it as Speech of the speech, so also it describes it as Eye of the eye Ear of the ear. Not only is it an absolute cognition behind the play of expression, but also an absolute Sense behind the action of the senses. Every part of our being finds its fulfilment in that which is beyond its present forms of functioning and not in those forms themselves.

This conception of the all-governing supreme consciousness does not fall in with our ordinary theories about sense and mind and the Brahman. We know of sense only as an action of the organs through which embodied mind communicates with external Matter, and these sense-organs have been separately developed in the course of evolution; the senses therefore are not fundamental things, but only subordinate conveniences and temporary physical functionings of the embodied mind. Brahman, on the other hand, we conceive of by the elimination of all that is not fundamental, by the elimination even of the Mind itself. It is a sort of positive zero, an X or unknowable which corresponds to no possible equation of physical or psychological quantities. In essence this may be true; but we have now to think not of the Unknowable but of its highest manifestation in consciousness; and this we have described as the outlook of the Absolute on the relative and as that which is the cause and governing power of all that we and the universe are. There in that governing cause there must be something essential and supreme of which all our fundamental functionings here are a rendering in the terms of embodied consciousness.

Sense, however, is not or does not appear to be fundamental; it is only an instrumentation of Mind using the nervous system. It is not even a pure mental functioning, but depends so much upon the currents of the Life-force, upon its electric energy vibrating up and down the nerves, that in the Upanishads the senses are called Pranas, powers or functionings of the Life-force. It is

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true that Mind turns these nervous impressions when communicated to it into mental values, but the sense-action itself seems to be rather nervous than mental. In any case there would, at first sight, appear to be no warrant in reason for attributing a Sense of the sense to that which is not embodied, to a supramental consciousness which has no need of any such instrumentation.

But this is not the last word about sense; this is only its outward appearance behind which we must penetrate. What, not in its functioning, but in its essence, is the thing we call sense? In its functioning, if we analyse that thoroughly, we see that it is the contact of the mind with an eidolon of Matter,—whether that eidolon be of a vibration of sound, a light-image of form, a volley of earth-particles giving the sense of odour, an impression of rasa or sap that gives the sense of taste, or that direct sense of disturbance of our nervous being which we call touch. No doubt, the contact of Matter with Matter is the original cause of these sensations; but it is only the eidolon of Matter, as for instance the image of the form cast upon the eye, with which the mind is directly concerned. For the mind operates upon Matter not directly, but through the Life-force; that is its instrument of communication and the Life-force, being in us a nervous energy and not anything material, can seize on Matter only through nervous impressions of form, through contactual images, as it were, which create corresponding values in the energy-consciousness called in the Upanishads the Prana. Mind takes these up and replies to them with corresponding mental values, mental impressions of form, so that the thing sensed comes to us after a triple process of translation, first the material eidolon, secondly the nervous or energy-image, third the image reproduced in stuff of mind.

This elaborate process is concealed from us by the lightning-like rapidity with which it is managed,—rapidity in our impressions of Time; for in another notation of Time by a creature differently constituted each part of the operation might be distinctly sensible. But the triple translation is always there, because there are really three sheaths of consciousness in us, the material, annakoṣa, in which the physical contact and image are received and formed, the vital or nervous, prāṇakoṣa, in which there is a nervous contact and formation, the mental, manaḥkoṣa, in which

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there is mental contact and imaging. We dwell centred in the mental sheath and therefore the experience of the material world has to come through the other two sheaths before it can reach us.

The foundation of sense, therefore, is contact, and the essential contact is the mental without which there would not be sense at all. The plant, for instance, feels nervously, feels in terms of life-energy, precisely as the human nervous system does, and it has precisely the same reactions; but it is only if the plant has rudimentary mind that we can suppose it to be sensible of these nervous or vital impressions and reactions. For then it would feel not only nervously, but in terms of mind. Sense, then, may be described as in its essence mental contact with an object and the mental reproduction of its image.

All these things we observe and reason of in terms of this embodiment of mind in Matter; for these sheaths or koṣas are formations in a more and more subtle substance reposing on gross Matter as their base. Let us imagine that there is a mental world in which Mind and not Matter is the base. There sense would be quite a different thing in its operation. It would feel mentally an image in Mind and throw it out into form in more and more gross substance; and whatever physical formations there might already be in that world would respond rapidly to the Mind and obey its modifying suggestions. Mind would be masterful, creative, originative, not as with us either obedient to Matter and merely reproductive or else in struggle with it and only with difficulty able to modify a material predetermined and dully reluctant to its touch. It would be, subject to whatever supramental power might be above it, master of a ductile and easily responsive material. But still Sense would be there, because contact in mental consciousness and formation of images would still be part of the law of being.

Mind, in fact, or active consciousness generally has four necessary functions which are indispensable to it wherever and however it may act and of which the Upanishads speak in the four terms, vijñāna, prajñāna, saṁjñāna and ājñāna. Vijnana is the original comprehensive consciousness which holds an image of things in its essence, totality and parts and properties; it is the original, spontaneous, true and complete view of it which belongs

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properly to the supermind and of which mind has only a shadow in the highest operations of the comprehensive intellect. Prajnana is the consciousness which holds an image of things before it as an object with which it has to enter into relations and to possess by apprehension and analytic and synthetic cognition. Sanjnana is the contact of consciousness with an image of things by which there is a sensible possession of it in its substance; if Prajnana can be described as the outgoing of apprehensive consciousness to possess its object in conscious energy, to know it, Sanjnana can be described as the in bringing movement of apprehensive consciousness which draws the object placed before it back to itself so as to possess it in conscious substance, to feel it. Ajnana is the operation by which consciousness dwells on an image of things so as to govern and possess it in power. These four, therefore, are the basis of all conscious action.

As our human psychology is constituted, we begin with Sanjnana, the sense of an object in its image; the apprehension of it in knowledge follows. Afterwards we try to arrive at the comprehension of it in knowledge and the possession of it in power. There are secret operations in us, in our subconscient and superconscient selves, which precede this action, but of these we are not aware in our surface being and therefore for us they do not exist. If we knew of them, our whole conscious functioning would be changed. As it is what happens is a rapid process by which we sense an image and have of it an apprehensive percept and concept, and a slower process of the intellect by which we try to comprehend and possess it. The former process is the natural action of the mind which has entirely developed in us; the latter is an acquired action, an action of the intellect and the intelligent will which represent in Mind an attempt of the mental being to do what can only be done with perfect spontaneity and mastery by something higher than Mind. The intellect and intelligent will form a bridge by which the mental being is trying to establish a conscious connection with the supramental and to prepare the embodied soul for the descent into it of a supramental action. Therefore the first process is easy, spontaneous, rapid, perfect; the second slow, laboured, imperfect. In proportion as the intellectual action becomes associated with and dominated

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by a rudimentary supramental action,—and it is this which constitutes the phenomenon of genius,—the second process also becomes more and more easy, spontaneous, rapid and perfect.

If we suppose a supreme consciousness, master of the world, which really conducts behind the veil all the operations the mental gods attribute to themselves, it will be obvious that that consciousness will be the entire Knower and Lord. The basis of its action or government of the world will be the perfect, original and all-possessing Vijnana and Ajnana. It will comprehend all things in its energy of conscious knowledge, control all things in its energy of conscious power. These energies will be the spontaneous inherent action of its conscious being creative and possessive of the forms of the universe. What part then will be left for the apprehensive consciousness and the sense? They will be not independent functions, but subordinate operations involved in the action of the comprehensive consciousness itself. In fact, all four there will be one rapid movement. If we had all these four acting in us with the unified rapidity with which the Prajnana and Sanjnana act, we should then have in our notation of Time some inadequate image of the unity of the supreme action of the supreme energy.

If we consider, we shall see that this must be so. The supreme consciousness must not only comprehend and possess in its conscious being the images of things which it creates as its self-expression, but it must place them before it—always in its own being, not externally—and have a certain relation with them by the two terms of apprehensive consciousness. Otherwise the universe would not take the form that it has for us; for we only reflect in the terms of our organisation the movements of the supreme Energy. But by the very fact that the images of things are there held in front of an apprehending consciousness within the comprehending conscious being and not externalised as our individual mind externalises them, the supreme Mind and supreme Sense will be something quite different from our mentality and our forms of sensation. They will be terms of an entire knowledge and self-possession and not terms of an ignorance and limitation which strives to know and possess.

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In its essential and general term our sense must reflect and be the creation of this supreme Sense. But the Upanishad speaks of a Sight behind our sight and a Hearing behind our hearing, not in general terms of a Sense behind our sense. Certainly eye and ear are only taken as typical of the senses, and are chosen because they are the highest and subtlest of them all. But still the differentiation of sense which forms part of our mentality is evidently held to correspond with a differentiation of some kind in the supreme Sense. How is this possible? It is what we have next to unravel by examining the nature and source of the functioning of the senses in ourselves,—their source in our mentality and not merely their functioning in the actual terms of our life-energy and our body. What is it in Mind that is fundamental to sight and hearing? Why do we see and hear and not simply sense with the mind?

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Commentary - IX

Mind was called by Indian psychologists the eleventh and ranks as the supreme sense. In the ancient arrangement of the senses, five of knowledge and five of action, it was the sixth of the organs of knowledge and at the same time the sixth of the organs of action. It is a common-place of psychology that the effective functioning of the senses of knowledge is inoperative without the assistance of the mind; the eye may see, the ear may hear, all the senses may act, but if the mind pays no attention, the man has not heard, seen, felt, touched or tasted. Similarly, according to psychology, the organs of action act only by the force of the mind operating as will or, physiologically, by the reactive nervous force from the brain which must be according to materialistic notions the true self and essence of all will. In any case, the senses or all senses, if there are other than the ten,—according to a text in the Upanishad there should be at least fourteen, seven and seven,—all senses appear to be only organisations, functionings, instrumentations of the mind-consciousness, devices which it has formed in the course of its evolution in living Matter.

Modern psychology has extended our knowledge and has admitted us to a truth which the ancients already knew but expressed in other language. We know now or we rediscover the truth that the conscious operation of mind is only a surface action. There is a much vaster and more potent subconscious mind which loses nothing of what the senses bring to it; it keeps all its wealth in an inexhaustible store of memory, akṣtam śravaḥ. The surface mind may pay no attention, still the sub-conscious mind attends, receives, treasures up with an infallible accuracy. The illiterate servant-girl hears daily her master reciting Hebrew in his study; the surface mind pays no attention to the unintelligible gibberish, but the subconscious mind hears, remembers and, when in an abnormal condition it comes up to the surface, reproduces those learned recitations with a portentous accuracy which the most correct and retentive scholar might

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envy. The man or mind has not heard because he did not attend; the greater man or mind within has heard because he always attends, or rather sub-tends, with an infinite capacity. So too a man put under an anaesthetic and operated upon has felt nothing; but release his subconscious mind by hypnosis and he will relate accurately every detail of the operation and its appropriate sufferings; for the stupor of the physical sense-organ could not prevent the larger mind within from observing and feeling.

Similarly we know that a large part of our physical action is instinctive and directed not by the surface but by the subconscious mind. And we know now that it is a mind that acts and not merely an ignorant nervous reaction from the brute physical brain. The subconscious mind in the catering insect knows the anatomy of the beetle it intends to immobilise and make food for its young and it directs the sting accordingly, as unerringly as the most skilful surgeon, provided the mere limited surface mind with its groping and faltering nervous action does not get in the way and falsify the inner knowledge or the inner will-force.

These examples point us to truths which western psychology, hampered by past ignorance posing as scientific orthodoxy, still ignores or refuses to acknowledge. The Upanishads declare that the Mind in us is infinite; it knows not only what has been seen but what has not been seen, not only what has been heard but what has not been heard, not only what has been discriminated by the thought but what has not been discriminated by the thought. Let us say, then, in the tongue of our modern knowledge that the surface man in us is limited by his physical experiences; he knows only what his nervous life in the body brings to his embodied mind; and even of those bringings he knows, he can retain and utilise only so much as his surface mind-sense attends to and consciously remembers; but there is a larger subliminal consciousness within him which is not thus limited. That consciousness senses what has not been sensed by the surface mind and its organs and knows what the surface mind has not learned by its acquisitive thought. That in the insect knows the anatomy of its victim; that in the man outwardly insensible not only feels and remembers the action of the surgeon's knife, but knows the appropriate reactions of suffering which were in the

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physical body inhibited by the anaesthetic and therefore non-existent; that in the illiterate servant-girl heard and retained accurately the words of an unknown language and could, as Yogic experience knows, by a higher action of itself understand those superficially unintelligible sounds.

To return to the Vedantic words we have been using, there is a vaster action of the Sanjnana which is not limited by the action of the physical sense-organs; it was this which sensed perfectly and made its own through the ear the words of the unknown language, through the touch the movements of the unfelt surgeon's knife, through the sense-mind or sixth sense the exact location of the centres of locomotion in the beetle. There is also associated with it a corresponding vaster action of Prajnana, Ajnana and Vijnana not limited by the smaller apprehensive and comprehensive faculties of the external mind. It is this vaster Prajnana which perceived the proper relation of the words to each other, of the movement of the knife to the unfelt suffering of the nerves and of the successive relation in space of the articulations in the beetle's body. Such perception was inherent in the right reproduction of the words, the right narration of the sufferings, the right successive action of the sting. The Ajnana or Knowledge-Will originating all these actions was also vaster, not limited by the faltering force that governs the operations directed by the surface mind. And although in these examples the action of the vaster Vijnana is not so apparent, yet it was evidently there working through them and ensuring their co-ordination.

But at present it is with the Sanjnana that we are concerned. Here we should note, first of all, that there is an action of the sense-mind which is superior to the particular action of the senses and is aware of things even without imaging them in forms of sight, sound, contact, but which also as a sort of subordinate operation, subordinate but necessary to completeness of presentation, does image in these forms. This is evident in psychical phenomena. Those who have carried the study and experimentation of them to a certain extent, have found that we can sense things known only to the minds of others, things that exist only at a great distance, things that belong to another plane than the terrestrial but have here their effects; we can both sense them in

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their images and also feel, as it were, all that they are without any definite image proper to the five senses.

This shows, in the first place, that sight and the other senses are not mere results of the development of our physical organs in the terrestrial evolution. Mind, subconscious in all Matter and evolving in Matter, has developed these physical organs in order to apply its inherent capacities of sight, hearing, etc. on the physical plane by physical means for a physical life; but they are inherent capacities and not dependent on the circumstance of terrestrial evolution and they can be employed without the use of the physical eye, ear, skin, palate. Supposing that there are psychical senses which act through a psychical body, and we thus explain these psychical phenomena, still that action also is only an organisation of the inherent functioning of the essential sense, the Sanjnana, which in itself can operate without bodily organs. This essential sense is the original capacity of consciousness to feel in itself all that consciousness has formed and to feel it in all the essential properties and operations of that which has form, whether represented materially by vibration of sound or images of light or any other physical symbol.

The trend of knowledge leads more and more to the conclusion that not only are the properties of form, even the most obvious such as colour, light, etc. merely operations of Force, but form itself is only an operation of Force. This Force again proves to be self-power of conscious-being¹ in a state of energy and activity. Practically, therefore, all form is only an operation of consciousness impressing itself with presentations of its own workings. We see colour because that is the presentation which consciousness makes to itself of one of its own operations; but colour is only an operation of Force working in the form of Light, and Light again is only a movement, that is to say an operation of Force. The question is what is essential to this operation of Force taking on itself the presentation of form? For it is this that must determine the working of Sanjnana or Sense on whatever plane it may operate.

Everything begins with vibration or movement, the original

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kṣobha or disturbance. If there is no movement of the conscious being, it can only know its own pure static existence. Without vibration² or movement of being in consciousness there can be no act of knowledge and therefore no sense; without vibration or movement of being in force there can be no object of sense. Movement of conscious being as knowledge becoming sensible of itself as movement of force, in other words the knowledge separating itself from its own working to watch that and take it into itself again by feeling,—this is the basis of universal Sanjnana. This is true both of our internal and external operations. I become anger by a vibration of conscious force acting as nervous emotion and I feel the anger that I have become by another movement of conscious force acting as light of knowledge. I am conscious of my body because I have myself become the body; that same force of conscious being which has made this form of itself, this presentation of its workings knows it in that form, in that presentation. I can know nothing except what I myself am; if I know others, it is because they also are myself, because my self has assumed these apparently alien presentations as well as that which is nearest to my own mental centre. All sensation, all action of sense is thus the same in essence whether external or internal, physical or psychical.

But this vibration of conscious being is presented to itself by various forms of sense which answer to the successive operations of movement in its assumption of form. For first we have intensity of vibration creating regular rhythm which is the basis or constituent of all creative formation; secondly, contact or intermiscence of the movements of conscious being which constitute the rhythm; thirdly, definition of the grouping of movements which are in contact, their shape; fourthly, the constant welling up of the essential force to support in its continuity the movement that has been thus defined; fifthly, the actual enforcement and compression of the force in its own movement which maintains the form that has been assumed. In Matter these five constituent operations are said by the Sankhyas to represent themselves as five elemental conditions of substance, the etheric, atmospheric,

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igneous, liquid and solid; and the rhythm of vibration is seen by them as śabda, sound, the basis of hearing, the intermiscence as contact, the basis of touch, the definition as shape, the basis of sight, the upflow of force as rasa, sap, the basis of taste, and the discharge of the atomic compression as gandha, odour, the basis of smell. It is true that this is only predicated of pure or subtle Matter; the physical matter of our world being a mixed operation of force, these five elemental states are not found there separately except in a very modified form. But all these are only the physical workings or symbols. Essentially all formation, to the most subtle and most beyond our senses such as form of mind, form of character, form of soul, amount when scrutinised to this fivefold operation of conscious-force in movement.

All these operations, then, the Sanjnana or essential sense must be able to seize, to make its own by that union in knowledge of knower and object which is peculiar to itself. Its sense of the rhythm or intensity of the vibrations which contain in themselves all the meaning of the form, will be the basis of the essential hearing of which our apprehension of physical sound or the spoken word is only the most outward result; so also its sense of the contact or intermiscence of conscious force with conscious force must be the basis of the essential touch; its sense of the definition or form of force must be the basis of the essential sight; its sense of the upflow of essential being in the form, that which is the secret of its self-delight, must be the basis of the essential taste; its sense of the compression of force and the self-discharge of its essence of being must be the basis of the essential inhalation grossly represented in physical substance by the sense of smell. On whatever plane, to whatever kind of formation these essentialities of sense will apply themselves and on each they will seek an appropriate organisation, an appropriate functioning.

This various sense will, it is obvious, be in the highest consciousness a complex unity, just as we have seen that there the various operation of knowledge is also a complex unity. Even if we examine the physical senses, say, the sense of hearing, if we observe how the underlying mind receives their action, we shall

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see that in their essence all the senses are in each other. That mind is not only aware of the vibration which we call sound; it is aware also of the contact and interchange between the force in the sound and the nervous force in us with which that intermixes; it is aware of the definition or form of the sound and of the complex contacts or relations which make up the sound; it is aware of the essence or outwelling conscious force which constitutes and maintains the sound and prolongs its vibrations in our nervous being; it is aware of our own nervous inhalation of the vibratory discharge proceeding from the compression of force which makes, so to speak, the solidity of the sound. All these sensations enter into the sensitive reception and joy of music which is the highest physical form of this operation of force,—they constitute our physical sensitiveness to it and the joy of our nervous being in it; diminish one of them and the joy and the sensitiveness are to that extent dulled. Much more must there be this complex unity in a higher than the physical consciousness and most of all must there be unity in the highest. But the essential sense must be capable also of seizing the secret essence of all conscious being in action, in itself and not only through the results of the operation; its appreciation of these results can be nothing more than itself an outcome of this deeper sense which it has of the Thing behind its appearances.

If we consider these things thus subtly in the light of our own deeper psychology and pursue them beyond the physical appearances by which they are covered, we shall get to some intellectual conception of the sense behind our senses or rather the Sense of our senses, the Sight of our sight and the Hearing of our hearing. The Brahman-consciousness of which the Upanishad speaks is not the Absolute withdrawn into itself, but that Absolute in its outlook on the relative; it is the Lord, the Master-Soul, the governing Transcendent and All, He who constitutes and controls the action of the gods on the different planes of our being. Since it constitutes them, all our workings can be no more than psychical and physical results and representations of something essential proper to its supreme creative outlook, our sense a shadow of the divine Sense, our sight of the divine Sight, our hearing of the divine Hearing. Nor is that divine Sight and

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Hearing limited to things physical, but extend themselves to all forms and operations of conscious being.

The supreme Consciousness does not depend on what we call sight and hearing for its own essential seeing and audition. It operates by a supreme Sense, creative and comprehensive, of which our physical and psychical sight and hearing are external results and partial operations. Neither is it ignorant of these, nor excludes them; for since it constitutes and controls, it must be aware of them but from a supreme plane, pararṁ dhāma, which includes all in its view; for its original action is that highest movement of Vishnu which, the Veda tells us, the seers behold like an eye extended in heaven. It is that by which the soul sees its seeings and hears its hearings; but all sense only assumes its true value and attains to its absolute, its immortal reality when we cease to pursue the satisfactions of the mere external and physical senses and go beyond even the psychical being to this spiritual or essential which is the source and fountain, the knower, constituent and true valuer of all the rest.

This spiritual sense of things, secret and superconscient in us, alone gives their being, worth and reality to the psychical and physical sense; in themselves they have none. When we attain to it, these inferior operations are, as it were, taken up into it and the whole world and everything in it changes to us and takes on a different and a non-material value. That Master-consciousness in us senses our sensations of objects, sees our seeings, hears our hearings no longer for the benefit of the senses and their desires, but with the embrace of the self-existent Bliss which has no cause, beginning or end, eternal in its own immortality.

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Commentary - X

But the Brahman-consciousness is not only Mind of our mind, Speech of our speech, Sense of our sense; it is also Life of our life. In other words, it is a supreme and universal energy of existence of which our own material life and its sustaining energy are only an inferior result, a physical symbol, an external and limited functioning. That which governs our existence and its functionings, does not live and act by them, but is their superior cause and the supra-vital principle out of which they are formed and by which they are controlled.

The English word life does duty for many very different shades of meaning; but the word Prana familiar in the Upanishad and in the language of Yoga is restricted to the life-force whether viewed in itself or in its functionings. The popular sense of Prana was indeed the breath drawn into and thrown out from the lungs and so, in its most material and common sense, the life or the life-breath; but this is not the philosophic significance of the word as it is used in the Upanishads. The Prana of the Upanishads is the life-energy itself which was supposed to occupy and act in the body with a fivefold movement, each with its characteristic name and each quite as necessary to the functioning of the life of the body as the act of respiration. Respiration in fact is only one action of the chief movement of the life-energy, the first of the five,—the action which is most normally necessary and vital to the maintenance and distribution of the energy in the physical frame, but which can yet be suspended without the life being necessarily destroyed.

The existence of a vital force or life-energy has been doubted by western Science, because that Science concerns itself only with the most external operations of Nature and has as yet no true knowledge of anything except the physical and outward. This Prana, this life-force is not physical in itself; it is not material energy, but rather a different principle supporting Matter and involved in it. It supports and occupies all forms and without it no physical form could have come into being or could remain in

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being. It acts in all material forces such as electricity and is nearest to self-manifestation in those that are nearest to pure force; no material force could exist or act without it, for from it they derive their energy and movement and they are its vehicles. But all material aspects are only field and form of the Prana which is in itself a pure energy, their cause and not their result. It cannot therefore be detected by any physical analysis; physical analysis can only resolve for us the combinations of those material happenings which are its results and the external signs and symbols of its presence and operation.

How then do we become aware of its existence? By that purification of our mind and body and that subtilisation of our means of sensation and knowledge which become possible through Yoga. We become capable of analysis other than the resolution of forms into their gross physical elements and are able to distinguish the operations of the pure mental principle from those of the material and both of these from the vital or dynamic which forms a link between them and supports them both. We are then able to distinguish the movements of the Pranic currents not only in the physical body which is all that we are normally aware of, but in that subtle frame of our being which Yoga detects underlying and sustaining the physical. This is ordinarily done by the process of Pranayama, the government and control of the respiration. By Pranayama the Hathayogin is able to control, suspend and transcend the ordinary fixed operation of the Pranic energy which is all that Nature needs for the normal functioning of the body and of the physical life and mind, and he becomes aware of the channels in which that energy distributes itself in all its workings and is therefore able to do things with his body which seem miraculous to the ignorant, just as the physical scientist by his knowledge of the workings of material forces is able to do things with them which would seem to us magic if their law and process were not divulged. For all the workings of life in the physical form are governed by the Prana and not only those which are normal and constant and those which, being always potential, can be easily brought forward and set in action, but those which are of a more remote potentiality and seem to our average experience difficult or impossible.

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But the Pranic energy supports not only the operatios of our physical life, but also those of the mind in the living body. Therefore by the control of the Pranic energy it is not only possible to control our physical and vital functionings and to transcend their ordinary operation, but to control also the workings of the mind and to transcend its ordinary operations. The human mind in fact depends always on the Pranic force which links it with the body through which it manifests itself, and it is able to deploy its own force only in proportion as it can make that energy available for its own uses and subservient to its own purposes. In proportion, therefore, as the Yogin gets back to the control of the Prana, and by the direction of its batteries opens up those nervous centres (Chakras) in which it is now sluggish or only partially operative, he is able to manifest powers of mind, sense and consciousness which transcend our ordinary experience. The so-called occult powers of Yoga are such faculties which thus open up of themselves as the Yogin advances in the control of the Pranic force and, purifying the channels of its movement, opens up communication between the consciousness of his subtle, subliminal being and the consciousness of his gross, physical and superficial existence.

Thus the Prana is vital or nervous force which bears the operations of mind and body, is yoked by them as it were like a horse to a chariot and driven by the mind along the paths on which it wishes to travel to the goal of its desire. Therefore it is described in this Upanishad as yoked and moving forward and again as being led forward, the images recalling the Vedic symbol of the Horse by which the Pranic force is constantly designated in the Rig-veda. It is in fact that which does all the action of the world in obedience to conscious or subconscious mind and in the conditions of material force and material form. While the mind is that movement of Nature in us which represents in the mould of our material and phenomenal existence and within the triple term of the Ignorance the knowledge aspect of the Brahman, the consciousness of the knower, and body is that which similarly represents the being of the existent in the mask of phenomenally divisible substance, so Prana or life-energy represents in the flux of phenomenal things the force, the active dynamis of the Lord

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who controls and enjoys the manifestation of His own being. It is a universal energy present in every atom and particle of the universe, and active in every stirring and current of the constant flux and interchange which constitutes the world.

But just as mind is only an inferior movement of the supreme Conscious-Being and above mind there is a divine and infinite principle of consciousness, will and knowledge which controls the ignorant action of mind, and it is by this superior principle and not by mind that Brahman cognises His own being whether in itself or in its manifestation, so also it must be with this Life-force. The characteristics of the life-force as it manifests itself in us are desire, hunger, an enjoyment which devours the object enjoyed and a movement and activity which gropes after possession and seeks to pervade, embrace, take into itself the object of its desire.¹ It is not in this breath of desire and mortal enjoyment that the true life can consist or the highest divine energy act, any more than the supreme knowledge can think in the terms of ignorant, groping, limited and divided mind. As the movements of mind are merely representations in the terms of the duality and the ignorance, reflections of a supreme consciousness and knowledge, so the movements of this life-force can only be similar representations of a supreme energy expressing a higher and truer existence possessed of that consciousness and knowledge and therefore free from desire, hunger, transient enjoyment and hampered activity. What is desire here must there be self-existent Love; what is hunger here must there be desireless satisfaction; what is here enjoyment must there be self-existent delight; what is here a groping action, must be there self-possessing energy,—such must be the Life of our life by which this inferior action is sustained and led to its goal. Brahman does not breathe with the breath, does not live by this Life-force and its dual terms of birth and death.

What then is this Life of our life ? It is the supreme Energy² which is nothing but the infinite force in action of the supreme

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conscious Being in His own illumined self. The Self-existent is luminously aware of Himself and full of His own delight; and that self-awareness is a timeless self-possession which in action reveals itself as a force of infinite consciousness omnipotent as well as omniscient; for it exists between two poles, one of eternal stillness and pure identity, the other of eternal energy and identity of All with itself, the stillness eternally supporting the energy. That is the true existence, the Life from which our life proceeds; that is the immortality, while what we cling to as life is "hunger that is death". Therefore the object of the wise must be to pass in their illumined consciousness beyond the false and phenomenal terms of life and death to this immortality.

Yet is this Life-force, however inferior its workings, instinct with the being, will, light of that which it represents, of that which transcends it; by That it is "led forward" on its paths to a goal which its own existence implies by the very imperfection of its movements and renderings. This death called life is not only a dark figure of that light, but it is the passage by which we pass through transmutation of our being from the death-sleep of Matter into the spirit's infinite immortality.

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Commentary - XI

The thought of the Upanishad, as expressed in its first chapter in the brief and pregnant sentences of the Upanishadic style, amounts then to this result that the life of the mind, senses, vital activities in which we dwell is not the whole or the chief part of our existence, not the highest, not self-existent, not master of itself. It is an outer fringe, a lower result, an inferior working of something beyond; a superconscient Existence has developed, supports and governs this partial and fragmentary, this incomplete and unsatisfying consciousness and activity of the mind, life and senses. To rise out of this external and surface consciousness towards and into that superconscient is our progress, our goal, our destiny of completeness and satisfaction.

The Upanishad does not assert the unreality, but only the incompleteness and inferiority of our present existence. All that we follow after here is an imperfect representation, a broken and divided functioning of what is eternally in an absolute perfection on that higher plane of existence. This mind of ours unpossessed of its object, groping, purblind, besieged by error and incapacity, its action founded on an external vision of things, is only the shadow thrown by a superconscient Knowledge which possesses, creates and securely uses the truth of things because nothing is external to it, nothing is other than itself, nothing is divided or at war within its all-comprehensive self-awareness. That is the Mind of our mind. Our speech, limited, mechanical, imperfectly interpretative of the outsides of things, restricted by the narrow circle of the mind, based on the appearances of sense is only the far-off and feeble response, the ignorant vibration returned to a creative and revelatory Word which has built up all the forms which our mind and speech seek to comprehend and express. Our sense, a movement in stuff of consciousness vibratory to outward impacts, attempting imperfectly to grasp them by laboured and separately converging reactions, is only the faulty image of a supreme Sense which at once, fully, harmoniously unites itself with and enjoys all that the supreme Mind and

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Speech create in the self-joyous activity of the divine and infinite existence. Our life, a breath of force and movement and possession attached to a form of mind and body and restricted by the form, limited in its force, hampered in its movement, besieged in its possession and therefore a thing of discords at war with itself and its environment, hungering and unsatisfied, moving inconstantly from object to object and unable to embrace and retain their multiplicity, devouring its objects of enjoyment and therefore transient in its enjoyments is only a broken movement of the one, undivided, infinite Life which is all-possessing and ever satisfied because in all it enjoys its eternal self unimprisoned by the divisions of Space, unoccupied by the moments of Time, undeluded by the successions of Cause and Circumstance.

This superconscient Existence, one, conscious of itself, conscious both of its eternal peace and its omniscient and omnipotent force is also conscious of our cosmic existence which it holds in itself, inspires secretly and omnipotently governs. It is the Lord of the Isha Upanishad who inhabits all the creations of His Force, all form of movement in the ever mobile principle of cosmos. It is our self and that of which and by which we are constituted in all our being and activities, the Brahman. The mortal life is a dual representation of That with two conflicting elements in it, negative and positive. Its negative elements of death, suffering, incapacity, strife, division, limitation are a dark figure which conceal and serve the development of that which its positive elements cannot yet achieve,—immortality hiding itself from life in the figure of death, delight hiding itself from pleasure in the figure of suffering, infinite force hiding itself from finite effort in the figure of incapacity, fusion of love hiding itself from desire in the figure of strife, unity hiding itself from acquisition in the figure of division, infinity hiding itself from growth in the figure of limitation. The positive elements suggest what the Brahman is, but never are what the Brahman is, although their victory, the victory of the gods, is always the victory of the Brahman over its own self-negations, always the self-affirmation of His vastness against the denials of the dark and limiting figure of things. Still, it is not this vastness merely, but the absolute infinity which is Brahman itself. And therefore within this dual figure of things

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we cannot attain to our self, our Highest; we have to transcend in order to attain. Our pursuit of the positive elements of this existence, our worship of the gods of the mind, life, sense is only a preparatory to the real travail of the soul, and we must leave this lower Brahman and know that Higher if we are to fulfil ourselves. We pursue, for instance, our mental growth, we become mental beings full of an accomplished thought-power and thought-acquisition, dhīrāḥ̣, in order that we may by thought of mind go beyond mind itself to the Eternal. For always the life of mind and senses is the jurisdiction of death and limitation; beyond is the immortality.

The wise, therefore, the souls seated and accomplished in luminous thought-power put away from them the dualities of our mind, life and senses and go forward from this world; they go beyond to the unity and the immortality. The word used for going forward is that which expresses the passage of death; it is also that which the Upanishad uses for the forward movement of the Life-force yoked to the car of embodied mind and sense on the paths of life. And in this coincidence we can find a double and most pregnant suggestion.

It is not by abandoning life on earth in order to pursue immortality on other more favourable planes of existence that the great achievement becomes possible. It is here, ihaiva, in this mortal life and body that immortality must be won, here in this lower Brahman and by this embodied soul that the Higher must be known and possessed. "If here one find it not, great is the perdition." This Life-force in us is led forward by the attraction of the supreme Life on its path of constant acquisition through types of the Brahman until it reaches a point where it has to go entirely forward, to go across out of the mortal life, the mortal vision of things to some Beyond. So long as death is not entirely conquered, this going beyond is represented in the terms of death and by a passing into other worlds where death is not present, where a type of immortality is tasted corresponding to that which we have found here in our soul-experience; but the attraction of death and limitation is not overpassed because they still conceal something of immortality and infinity which we have not yet achieved; therefore there is a necessity of return, an insistent

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utility of farther life in the mortal body which we do not overcome until we have passed beyond all types to the very being of the Infinite, One and Immortal.

The worlds of which the Upanishad speaks are essentially soul-conditions and not geographical divisions of the cosmos. This material universe is itself only existence as we see it when the soul dwells on the plane of material movement and experience in which the spirit involves itself in form, and therefore all the framework of things in which it moves by the life and which it embraces by the consciousness is determined by the principle of infinite division and aggregation proper to Matter, to substance of form. This becomes then its world or vision of things. And to whatever soul-condition it climbs, its vision of things will change and correspond to that condition, and in that framework it will move in its living and embrace it in its consciousness. These are the worlds of the ancient tradition.

But the soul that has entirely realised immortality passes beyond all worlds and is free from frameworks. It enters into the being of the Lord; like this supreme superconscient Self and Brahman, it is not subdued to life and death. It is no longer subject to the necessity of entering into the cycle of rebirth, of travelling continually between the imprisoning dualities of death and birth, affirmation and negation; for it has transcended name and form. This victory, this supreme immortality it must achieve here as an embodied soul in the mortal framework of things. Afterwards, like the Brahman, it transcends and embraces the cosmic existence without being subject to it. Personal freedom, personal fulfilment is then achieved by the liberation of the soul from imprisonment in the form of this changing personality and by its ascent to the One that is the All. If afterwards there is any assumption of the figure of mortality, it is an assumption and not a subjection, a help brought to the world and not a help to be derived from it, a descent of the ensouled superconscient existence not from any personal necessity, but from the universal need in the cosmic labour for those yet unfree and unfulfilled to be helped and strengthened by the force that has already described the path up to the goal in its experience and achieved under the same conditions the Work and the Sacrifice.

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Commentary - XII

Before we can proceed to the problem how, being what we are and the Brahman being what it is, we can effect the transition from the status of mind, life and senses proper to man over to the status proper to the supreme Consciousness which is master of mind, life and senses, another and prior question arises. The Upanishad does not state it explicitly, but implies and answers it with the strongest emphasis on the solution and the subtlest variety in its repetition of the apparent paradox that is presented.

The Master-Consciousness of the Brahman is that for which we have to abandon this lesser status of the mere creature subject to the movement of Nature in the cosmos; but after all this Master-Consciousness, however high and great a thing it may be, has a relation to the universe and the cosmic movement; it cannot be the utter Absolute, Brahman superior to all relativities. This Conscious-Being who originates, supports and governs our mind, life, senses is the Lord; but where there is no universe of relativities, there can be no Lord, for there is no movement to transcend and govern. Is not then this Lord, as one might say in a later language, not so much the creator of Maya as himself a creation of Maya? Do not both Lord and cosmos disappear when we go beyond all cosmos? And is it not beyond all cosmos that the only true reality exists? Is it not this only true reality and not the Mind of our mind, the Sense of our sense, the Life of our life, the Word behind our speech, which we have to know and possess? As we must go behind all effects to the Cause, must we not equally go beyond the Cause to that in which neither cause nor effects exist? Is not even the immortality spoken of in the Veda and Upanishads a petty thing to be overpassed and abandoned? and should we not reach towards the utter Ineffable where mortality and immortality cease to have any meaning?

The Upanishad does not put to itself the question in this form and language which only became possible when Nihilistic Buddhism and Vedantic Illusionism had passed over the face

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of our thought and modified philosophical speech and concepts. But it knows of the ineffable Absolute which is the utter reality and absoluteness of the Lord even as the Lord is the absolute of all that is in the cosmos. Of That it proceeds to speak in the only way in which it can be spoken of by the human mind.

Its answer to the problem is that That is precisely the Unknowable¹ of which no relations can be affirmed² and about which therefore our intellect must for ever be silent. The injunction to know the utterly Unknowable would be without any sense or practical meaning. Not that That is a Nihil, a pure Negative, but it cannot either be described by any of the positives of which our mind, speech or perception is capable, nor even can it be indicated by any of them. It is only a little that we know; it is only in the terms of the little that we can put the forms of our knowledge. Even when we go beyond to the real form of the Brahman which is not this universe, we can only indicate, we cannot really describe. If then we think we have known it perfectly, we betray our ignorance; we show that we know very little indeed, not even the little that we can put into the forms of knowledge. For the universe is the little, the divided, the parcelling out of existence and consciousness in which we know and express things by fragments, and we can never really cage in our intellectual and verbal fictions that infinite totality. Yet it is through the principles manifested in the universe that we have to arrive at That, through the life, the mind and that knowledge which grasps at the fundamental Ideas that are like doors concealing behind them the Brahman and yet seeming to reveal Him.

Much less, then, if we can only thus know the Master-Consciousness which is the form of the Brahman, can we pretend to know its utter ineffable reality which is beyond all knowledge. But if this were all, there would be no hope for the soul and a resigned Agnosticism would be the last word of wisdom. The truth is that though thus beyond our mentality and our knowledge, the Supreme does give Himself to both knowledge and mentality in the way proper to each and by following that way we can arrive at Him, but only on condition that we do not take our mentalising by the mind and our knowing by the higher

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thought for the full knowledge and rest in that with a satisfied possession.

The way is to use our mind rightly for such knowledge as is open to its highest, purified capacity. We have to know the form of the Brahman, the Master-Consciousness of the Lord through and yet beyond the universe in which we live. But first we must put aside what is mere form and phenomenon in the universe; for that has nothing to do with the form of the Brahman, the body of the Self, since it is not His form, but only His most external mask. Our first step therefore must be to get behind the forms of Matter, the forms of Life, the forms of Mind and go back to that which is essential, most real, nearest to actual entity. And when we have gone on thus eliminating, thus analysing all forms into the fundamental entities of the cosmos, we shall find that these fundamental entities are really only two, ourselves and the gods.

The gods of the Upanishad have been supposed to be a figure for the senses, but although they act in the senses, they are yet much more than that. They represent the divine power in its great and fundamental cosmic functionings whether in man or in mind and life and Matter in general; they are not the functionings themselves but something of the Divine which is essential to their operation and its immediate possessor and cause. They are, as we see from other Upanishads, positive self-representations of the Brahman leading to good, joy, light, love, immortality as against all that is a dark negation of these things. And it is necessarily in the mind, life, senses and speech of man that the battle reaches its height and approaches to its full meaning. The gods seek to lead these to good and light; the Titans, sons of darkness, seek to pierce them with ignorance and evil.³ Behind the gods is the Master-Consciousness of which they are the positive cosmic self-representations.

The other entity which represents the Brahman in the cosmos is the self of the living and thinking creature, man. This self also is not an external mask; it is not form of the mind or form of the life or form of the body. It is something that supports these and makes them possible, something that can say positively like the

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gods, "I am" and not only "I seem". We have then to scrutinise these two entities and see what they are in relation to each other and to the Brahman; or, as the Upanishad puts it, "That of it which is thou, that of it which is in the gods, this is what thy mind has to resolve." Well, but what then of the Brahman is myself? and what of the Brahman is in the Gods? The answer is evident. I am a representation in the cosmos, but for all purposes of the cosmos a real representation of the Self; and the gods are a representation in the cosmos,—a real representation since without them the cosmos could not continue,—of the Lord. The one supreme Self is the essentiality of all these individual existences; the one supreme Lord is the Godhead in the gods.

The Self and the Lord are one Brahman, whom we can realise through our self and realise through that which is essential in the cosmic movement. Just as our self constitutes our mind, body, life, senses, so that Self constitutes all mind, body, life, senses; it is the origin and essentiality of things. Just as the gods govern, supported by our self, the cosmos of our individual being, the action of our mind, senses and life, so the Lord governs as Mind of the mind, Sense of the sense, Life of the life, supporting His active divinity by His silent essential self-being, all cosmos and all form of being. As we have gone behind the forms of the cosmos to that which is essential in their being and movement and found our self and the gods, so we have to go behind our self and the gods and find the one supreme Self and the one supreme Godhead. Then we can say, "I think that I know."

But at once we have to qualify our assertion. I think not that I know perfectly, for that is impossible in the terms of our instruments of knowledge. I do not think for a moment that I can know the Unknowable, that That can be put into the forms through which I must arrive at the Self and Lord; but at the same time I am no longer in ignorance, I know the Brahman in the only way in which I can know Him, in His self-revelation to me in terms not beyond the grasp of my psychology, manifest as the Self and the Lord. The mystery of existence is revealed in a way that utterly satisfies my being because it enables me first to comprehend it through these figures as far as it can be comprehended by me and, secondly, to enter into, to live in, to be one in law and

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being with and even to merge myself in the Brahman.

If we fancy that we have grasped the Brahman by the mind and in that delusion fix down our knowledge of Him to the terms our mentality has found, then our knowledge is no knowledge; it is the little knowledge that turns to falsehood. So, too, those who try to fix Him into our notion of the fundamental ideas in which we discern Him by the thought that rises above ordinary mental perception, have no real discernment of the Brahman, since they take certain idea-symbols for the Reality. On the other hand, if we recognise that our mental perceptions are simply so many clues by which we can rise beyond mental perception and if we use these idea-symbols and the arrangement of them which our thought makes in order to go beyond the symbol to that reality, then we have rightly used mind and the higher discernment for their supreme purpose. Mind and the higher discernment are satisfied of the Brahman even in being exceeded by Him.

The mind can only reflect in a sort of supreme understanding and awakening the form, the image of the Supreme as He shows Himself to our mentality. Through this reflection we find, we know; the purpose of knowledge is accomplished, for we find immortality, we enter into the law, the being, the beatitude of the Brahman-consciousness. By self-realisation of Brahman as our self we find the force, the divine energy which lifts us beyond the limitation, weakness, darkness, sorrow, all-pervading death of our mortal existence; by the knowledge of the one Brahman in all beings and in all the various movement of the cosmos we attain beyond these things to the infinity, the omnipotent being, the omniscient light, the pure beatitude of that divine existence.

This great achievement must be done here in this mortal world, in this limited body; for if we do it, we arrive at our true existence and are no longer bound down to our phenomenal becoming; but if here we find it not, great is the loss and perdition; for we remain continually immersed in the phenomenal life of the mind and body and do not rise above it into the true supramental existence. Nor, if we miss it here, will death give it to us by our passage to another and less difficult world. Only those who use their awakened and enlightened thought to distinguish

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and discover that One and Immortal in all existences, the all-originating self, the all-inhabiting Lord, can make the real passage which transcends life and death, can pass out of this mortal status, can press beyond and rise upward into a world-transcending immortality.

This, then, and no other is the means to be seized on and the goal to be reached. "There is no other path for the great journey." The Self and the Lord are that indeterminable, unknowable, ineffable Parabrahman and when we seek rather that which is indeterminable and unknowable to us, it is still the Self and the Lord always that we find, though by an attempt which is not the straight and possible road intended for the embodied soul seeking here to accomplish its true existence.⁴ They are the self-manifested Reality which so places itself before man as the object of his highest aspiration and the fulfilment of all his activities.

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Commentary - XIII

From its assertion of the relative knowableness of the unknowable Brahman and the justification of the soul's aspiration towards that which is beyond its present capacity and status the Upanishad turns to the question of the means by which that high-reaching aspiration can put itself into relation with the object of its search. How is the veil to be penetrated and the subject consciousness of man to enter into the master-consciousness of the Lord? What bridge is there over this gulf? Knowledge has already been pointed out as the supreme means open to us, a knowledge which begins by a sort of reflection of the true existence in the awakened mental understanding. But Mind is one of the gods; the Light behind it is indeed the greatest of the gods, Indra. Then, an awakening of all the gods through their greatest to the essence of that which they are, the one Godhead which they represent. By the mentality opening itself to the Mind of our mind, the sense and speech also will open themselves to the Sense of our sense and to the Word behind our speech and the life to the Life of our life. The Upanishad proceeds to develop this consequence of its central suggestion by a striking parable or apologue.

The gods, the powers that affirm the Good, the Light, the Joy and Beauty, the Strength and Mastery have found themselves victorious in their eternal battle with the powers that deny. It is Brahman that has stood behind the gods and conquered for them; the Master of all who guides all has thrown His deciding will into the balance, put down His darkened children and exalted the children of Light. In this victory of the Master of all, the gods are conscious of a mighty development of themselves, a splendid efflorescence of their greatness in man, their joy, their light, their glory, their power and pleasure. But their vision is as yet sealed to their own deeper truth; they know of themselves, they know not the Eternal; they know the godheads, they do not know God. Therefore they see the victory as their own, the greatness as their own. This opulent efflorescence of the gods and

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uplifting of their greatness and light is the advance of man to his ordinary ideal of a perfectly enlightened mentality, a strong and sane vitality, a well-ordered body and senses, a harmonious, rich, active and happy life, the Hellenic ideal which the modern world holds to be our ultimate potentiality. When such an efflorescence takes place whether in the individual or the kind, the gods in man grow luminous, strong, happy; they feel they have conquered the world and they proceed to divide it among themselves and enjoy it.

But such is not the full intention of Brahman in the universe or in the creature. The greatness of the gods is His own victory and greatness, but it is only given in order that man may grow nearer to the point at which his faculties will be strong enough to go beyond themselves and realise the Transcendent. Therefore Brahman manifests Himself before the exultant gods in their well-ordered world and puts to them by His silence the heart-shaking, the world-shaking question, "If ye are all, then what am I? for see, I am and I am here." Though He manifests, He does not reveal Himself, but is seen and felt by them as a vague and tremendous presence, the Yaksha, the Daemon, the Spirit, the unknown Power, the Terrible beyond good and evil for whom good and evil are instruments towards His final self-expression. Then there is alarm and confusion in the divine assembly; they feel a demand and a menace, on the side of the evil the possibility of monstrous and appalling powers yet unknown and unmastered which may wreck the fair world they have built, upheave and shatter to pieces the brilliant harmony of the intellect, the aesthetic mind, the moral nature, the vital desires, the body and senses which they have with such labour established, on the side of the good the demand of things unknown which are beyond all these and therefore are equally a menace, since the little which is realised cannot stand against the much that is unrealised, cannot shut out the vast, the infinite that presses against the fragile walls we have erected to define and shelter our limited being and pleasure. Brahman presents itself to them as the Unknown; the gods knew not what was this Daemon.

Therefore Agni first arises at their bidding to discover its nature, limits, identity. The gods of the Upanishad differ in one

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all-important respect from the gods of the Rig-veda; for the latter are not only powers of the One, but conscious of their source and true identity; they know the Brahman, they dwell in the supreme Godhead, their origin, home and proper plane is the superconscient Truth. It is true they manifest themselves in man in the form of human faculties and assume the appearance of human limitations, manifest themselves in the lower cosmos and assume the mould of its cosmic operations; but this is only their lesser and lower movement and beyond it they are for ever the One, the Transcendent and Wonderful, the Master of Force and Delight and Knowledge and Being. But in the Upanishads the Brahman idea has grown and cast down the gods from this high pre-eminence so that they appear only in their lesser human and cosmic workings. Much of their other Vedic aspects they keep. Here the three gods Indra, Vayu, Agni represent the cosmic Divine on each of its three planes, Indra on the mental, Vayu on the vital, Agni on the material. In that order, therefore, beginning from the material they approach the Brahman.

Agni is the heat and flame of the conscious force in Matter which has built up the universe; it is he who has made life and mind possible and developed them in the material universe where he is the greatest deity. Especially he is the primary impeller of speech of which Vayu is the medium and Indra the lord. This heat of conscious force in Matter is Agni Jatavedas, the knower of all births; of all things born, of every cosmic phenomenon he knows the law, the process, the limit, the relation. If then it is some mighty Birth of the cosmos that stands before them, some new indeterminate developed in the cosmic struggle and process, who shall know him, determine his limits, strength, potentialities if not Agni Jatavedas?

Full of confidence he rushes towards the object of his search and is met by the challenge, "Who art thou? What is the force in thee?" His name is Agni Jatavedas, the Power that is at the basis of all birth and process in the material universe and embraces and knows their workings and the force in him is this that all that is thus born, he as the flame of Time and Death can devour. All things are his food which he assimilates and turns into material of new birth and formation. But this all-devourer

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cannot devour with all his force a fragile blade of grass so long as it has behind it the power of the Eternal. Agni is compelled to return, not having discovered. One thing only is settled that this Daemon is no Birth of the material cosmos, no transient thing that is subject to the flame and breath of Time; it is too great for Agni.

Another god rises to the call. It is Vayu Matarishwan, the great Life-Principle, he who moves, breathes, expands infinitely in the mother element. All things in the universe are the movement of this mighty Life; it is he who has brought Agni and placed him secretly in all existence; for him the worlds have been upbuilded that Life may move in them, that it may act, that it may riot and enjoy. If this Daemon be no birth of Matter, but some stupendous Life-force active whether in the depths or on the heights of being, who shall know it, who shall seize it in his universal expansion if not Vayu Matarishwan?

There is the same confident advance upon the object, the same formidable challenge, "Who art thou? What is the force in thee?" This is Vayu Matarishwan and the power in him is this that he, the Life, can take all things in his stride and growth and seize on them for his mastery and enjoyment. But even the veriest frailest trifle he cannot seize and master so long as it is protected against him by the shield of the Omnipotent. Vayu too returns, not having discovered. One thing only is settled that this is no form or force of cosmic Life which operates within the limits of the all-grasping vital impulse; it is too great for Vayu.

Indra next arises, the Puissant, the Opulent. Indra is the power of the Mind; the senses which the Life uses for enjoyment, are operations of Indra which he conducts for knowledge and all things that Agni has upbuilt and supports and destroys in the universe are Indra's field and the subject of his functioning. If then this unknown Existence is something that the senses can grasp or, if it is something that the mind can envisage, Indra shall know it and make it part of his opulent possessions. But it is nothing that the senses can grasp or the mind envisage, for as soon as Indra approaches it, it vanishes. The mind can only envisage what is limited by Time and Space and this Brahman is that which, as the Rig-veda has said, is neither today nor

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tomorrow and though it moves and can be approached in the conscious being of all conscious existences, yet when the mind tries to approach it and study it in itself, it vanishes from the view of the mind. The Omnipresent cannot be seized by the senses, the Omniscient cannot be known by the mentality.

But Indra does not turn back from the quest like Agni and Vayu; he pursues his way through the highest ether of the pure mentality and there he approaches the Woman, the many-shining, Uma Haimavati; from her he learns that this Daemon is the Brahman by whom alone the gods of mind and life and body conquer and affirm themselves, and in whom alone they are great. Uma is the supreme Nature from whom the whole cosmic action takes its birth; she is the pure summit and highest power of the One who here shines out in many forms. From this supreme Nature which is also the supreme Consciousness the gods must learn their own truth; they must proceed by reflecting it in themselves instead of limiting themselves to their own lower movement. For she has the knowledge and consciousness of the One, while the lower nature of mind, life and body can only envisage the many. Although therefore Indra, Vayu and Agni are the greatest of the gods, the first coming to know the existence of the Brahman, the others approaching and feeling the touch of it, yet it is only by coming into contact with the supreme consciousness and reflecting its nature and by the elimination of the vital, mental, physical egoism so that their whole function shall be to reflect the One and Supreme that Brahman can be known by the gods in us and possessed. The conscious force that supports our embodied life must become simply and purely a reflector of that supreme Consciousness and Power of which its highest ordinary action is only a twilight figure; the Life must become a passively potent reflection and pure image of that supreme Life which is greater than all our utmost actual and potential vitality; the Mind must resign itself to be no more than a faithful mirror of the image of the superconscient Existence. By this conscious surrender of mind, life and senses to the Master of our senses, life and mind who alone really governs their action, by this turning of the cosmic existence into a passive reflection of the eternal being and a faithful reproductor of the nature of the Eternal we

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may hope to know and through knowledge to rise into that which is superconscient to us; we shall enter into the Silence that is master of an eternal, infinite, free and all-blissful activity.

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Commentary - XIV

The means of the knowledge of Brahman are, we have seen, to get back behind the forms of the universe to that which is essential in the cosmos,—and that which is essential is twofold, the gods in Nature and the self in the individual,—and then to get behind these to the Beyond which they represent. The practical relation of the gods to Brahman in this process of divine knowledge has been already determined. The cosmic functionings through which the gods act, mind, life, speech, senses, body, must become aware of something beyond them which governs them, by which they are and move, by whose force they evolve, enlarge themselves and arrive at power and joy and capacity; to that they must turn from their ordinary operations; leaving these, leaving the false idea of independent action and self-ordering which is an egoism of mind and life and sense they must become consciously passive to the power, light and joy of something which is beyond themselves. What happens then is that this divine Unnameable reflects Himself openly in the gods. His light takes possession of the thinking mind, His power and joy of the life, His light and rapture of the emotional mind and the senses. Something of the supreme image of Brahman falls upon the world-nature and changes it into divine nature.

All this is not done by a sudden miracle. It comes by flashes, revelations, sudden touches and glimpses; there is as if a leap of the lightning of revelation flaming out from those heavens for a moment and then returning into its secret source; as if the lifting of the eyelid of an inner vision and its falling again because the eye cannot look long and steadily on the utter light. The repetition of these touches and visitings from the Beyond fixes the gods in their upward gaze and expectation, constant repetition fixes them in a constant passivity; not moving out any longer to grasp at the forms of the universe mind, life and senses will more and more be fixed in the memory, in the understanding, in the joy of the touch and vision of that transcendent glory which they have

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now resolved to make their sole object; to that only they will learn to respond and not to the touches of outward things. The silence which has fallen on them and which is now their foundation and status will become their knowledge of the eternal silence which is Brahman; the response of their functioning to a supernal light, power, joy will become their knowledge of the eternal activity which is Brahman. Other status, other response and activity they will not know. The mind will know nothing but the Brahman, think of nothing but the Brahman, the Life will move to, embrace, enjoy nothing but the Brahman, the eye will see, the ear hear, the other senses sense nothing but the Brahman.

But is then a complete oblivion of the external the goal? Must the mind and senses recede inward and fall into an unending trance and the life be for ever stilled? This is possible, if the soul so wills, but it is not inevitable and indispensable. The Mind is cosmic, one in all the universe; so too are the Life, and the Sense, so too is Matter of the body; and when they exist in and for the Brahman only, they will not only know this but will sense, feel and live in that universal unity. Therefore to whatever thing they turn which to the individual sense and mind and life seems now external to them, there also it is not the form of things which they will know, think of, sense, embrace and enjoy, but always and only the Brahman. Moreover, the external will cease to exist for them, because nothing will be external but all things internal to us, even the whole world and all that is in it. For the limit of ego, the wall of individuality will break; the individual Mind will cease to know itself as individual, it will be conscious only of universal Mind one everywhere in which individuals are only knots of the one mentality; so the individual life will lose its sense of separateness and live only in and as the one life in which all individuals are simply whirls of the indivisible flood of Pranic activity; the very body and senses will be no longer conscious of a separated existence, but the real body which the man will feel himself to be physically will be the whole Earth and the whole universe and the whole indivisible form of things wheresoever existent, and the senses also will be converted to this principle of sensation so that even in what we call the external, the eye will see Brahman only in every sight, the ear will hear Brahman only in

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every sound, the inner and outer body will feel Brahman only in every touch and the touch itself as if internal in the greater body. The soul whose gods are thus converted to this supreme law and religion, will realise in the cosmos itself and in all its multiplicity the truth of the One besides whom there is no other or second. Moreover, becoming one with the formless and infinite, it will exceed the universe itself and see all the worlds not as external, not even as commensurate with itself, but as if within it.

And in fact, in the higher realisation it will not be Mind, Life, Sense of which even the mind, life and sense themselves will be originally aware, but rather that which constitutes them. By this process of constant visiting and divine touch and influence the Mind of the mind, that is to say, the superconscient Knowledge will take possession of the mental understanding and begin to turn all its vision and thinking into luminous stuff and vibration of light of the Supermind. So too the sense will be changed by the visitings of the Sense behind the sense and the whole sense-view of the universe itself will be altered so that the vital, mental and supramental will become visible to the sense with the physical only as their last, outermost and smallest result. So too the Life will become a conscious movement of the infinite Conscious-Force; it will be impersonal, unlimited by any particular acts and enjoyment, unbound to their results, untroubled by the dualities or the touch of sin and suffering, grandiose, boundless, immortal. The material world itself will become for these gods a figure of the infinite, luminous and blissful Superconscient.

This will be the transfiguration of the gods, but what of the self? For we have seen that there are two fundamental entities, the gods and the self, and the self in us is greater than the cosmic Powers, its Godward destination more vital to our perfection and self-fulfilment than any transfiguration of these lesser deities. Therefore not only must the gods find their one Godhead and resolve themselves into it; that is to say, not only must the cosmic principles working in us resolve themselves into the working of the One, the Principle of all principles, so that they shall become only a unified existence and single action of That in spite of all play of differentiation, but also and with a more fundamental necessity the self in us which supports the action of the gods must

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find and enter into the one Self of all individual existences, the indivisible Spirit to whom all souls are no more than dark or luminous centres of its consciousness.

This the self of man, since it is the essentiality of a mental being, will do through the mind. In the gods the transfiguration is effected by the Superconscient itself visiting their substance and opening their vision with its flashes until it has transformed them; but the mind is capable of another action which is only apparently movement of mind, but really the movement of the self towards its own reality. The mind seems to go to That, to attain to it; it is lifted out of itself into something beyond and although it falls back, still by the mind the will of knowledge in the mental thought continually and at last continuously remembers that into which it has entered. On this the Self through the mind seizes and repeatedly dwells and so doing it is finally caught up into it and at last able to dwell securely in that transcendence. It transcends the mind, it transcends its own mental individualisation of the being, that which it now knows as itself; it ascends and takes foundation in the Self of all and in the status of self-joyous infinity which is the supreme manifestation of the Self. This is the transcendent immortality, this is the spiritual existence which the Upanishads declare to be the goal of man and by which we pass out of the mortal state into the heaven of the Spirit.

What then happens to the gods and the cosmos and all that the Lord develops in His being? Does it not all disappear? Is not the transfiguration of the gods even a mere secondary state through which we pass towards that culmination and which drops away from us as soon as we reach it? And with the disappearance of the gods and the cosmos does not the Lord too, the Master-Consciousness, disappear so that nothing is left but the one pure indeterminate Existence self-blissful in an eternal inaction and non-creation? Such was the conclusion of the later Vedanta in its extreme monistic form and such was the sense which it tried to read into all the Upanishads; but it must be recognised that in the language whether of the Isha or the Kena Upanishad there is absolutely nothing, not even a shade or a nuance pointing to it. If we want to find it there, we have to put it in by force, for the actual language used favours instead the

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conclusion of other Vedantic systems, which considered the goal to be the eternal joy of the soul in a Brahmaloka or world of the Brahman in which it is one with the infinite existence and yet in a sense still a soul able to enjoy differentiation in the oneness.

In the next verse we have the culmination of the teaching of the Upanishad, the result of the great transcendence which it has been setting forth and afterwards the description of the immortality to which the souls of knowledge attain when they pass beyond the mortal status. It declares that Brahman is in its nature "That Delight", tad vanam. "Vana" is the Vedic word for delight or delightful, and "tad vanam" means therefore the transcendent Delight, the all-blissful Ananda of which the Taittiriya Upanishad speaks as the highest Brahman from which all existences are born, by which all existences live and increase and into which all existences arrive in their passing out of death and birth. It is as this transcendent Delight that the Brahman must be worshipped and sought. It is this beatitude therefore which is meant by the immortality of the Upanishads. And what will be the result of knowing and possessing Brahman as the supreme Ananda? It is that towards the knower and possessor of the Brahman is directed the desire of all creatures. In other words, he becomes a centre of the divine Delight shedding it on all the world and attracting all to it as to a fountain of joy and love and self-fulfilment in the universe.

This is the culmination of the teaching of the Upanishad; there was a demand for the secret teaching that enters into the ultimate truth, the Upanishad, and in response this doctrine has been given. It has been uttered, the Upanishad of the Brahman, the hidden ultimate truth of the supreme Existence; its beginning was the search for the Lord, Master of mind, life, speech and senses in whom is the absolute of mind, the absolute of life, the absolute of speech and senses and its close is the finding of Him as the transcendent Beatitude and the elevation of the soul that finds and possesses it into a living centre of that Delight towards which all creatures in the universe shall turn as to a fountain of its ecstasies.

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The Upanishad closes with two verses which seem to review and characterise the whole work in the manner of the ancient writings when they have drawn to their close. This Upanishad or gospel of the inmost Truth of things has for its foundation, it is said, the practice of self-mastery, action and the subdual of the sense-life to the power of the Spirit. In other words, life and works are to be used as a means of arriving out of the state of subjection proper to the soul in the ignorance into a state of mastery which brings it nearer to the absolute self-mastery and all-mastery of the supreme Soul seated in the knowledge. The Vedas, that is to say, the utterances of the inspired seers and the truths they hold, are described as all the limbs of the Upanishad; in other words, all the convergent lines and aspects, all the necessary elements of this great practice, this profound psychological self-training and spiritual aspiration are set forth in these great Scriptures, channels of supreme knowledge and indicators of a supreme discipline. Truth is its home; and this Truth is not merely intellectual verity,—for that is not the sense of the word in the Vedic writings,—but man's ultimate human state of true being, true consciousness, right knowledge, right works, right joy of existence, all indeed that is contrary to the falsehood of egoism and ignorance. It is by these means, by using works and self-discipline for mastery of oneself and for the generation of spiritual energy, by fathoming in all its parts the knowledge and repeating the high example of the great Vedic seers and by living in the Truth that one becomes capable of the great ascent which the Upanishad opens to us.

The goal of the ascent is the world of the true and vast existence of which the Veda speaks as the Truth that is the final goal and home of man. It is described here as the greater infinite heavenly world, (Swargaloka—Swarloka of the Veda), which is not the lesser Swarga of the Puranas or the lesser Brahmaloka of the Mundaka Upanishad, its world of the sun's rays to which the soul arrives by works of virtue and piety, but falls from them by the exhaustion of their merit; it is the higher Swarga or Brahman-world of the Katha which is beyond the dual symbols of birth and death, the higher Brahman-worlds of the Mundaka which the soul enters by knowledge and renunciation.

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It is therefore a state not belonging to the Ignorance, but to Knowledge. It is, in fact, the infinite existence and beatitude of the soul in the being of the all-blissful existence; it is too the higher status, the light of the Mind beyond the mind, the joy and eternal mastery of the Life beyond the life, the riches of the Sense beyond the senses. And the soul finds in it not only its own largeness but finds and possesses the infinity of the One and it has firm foundation in that immortal state because there a supreme Silence and eternal Peace are the secure foundation of eternal Knowledge and absolute Joy.

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Commentary - XV

We have now completed our review of this Upanishad; we have considered minutely the bearings of its successive utterances and striven to make as precise as we can to the intelligence the sense of the puissant phrases in which it gives us its leading clues to that which can never be entirely expressed by human speech. We have some idea of what it means by that Brahman, by the Mind of mind, the Life of life, the Sense of sense, the Speech of speech, by the opposition of ourselves and the gods, by the Unknowable who is yet not utterly unknowable to us, by the transcendence of the mortal state and the conquest of immortality.

Fundamentally its teaching reposes on the assertion of three states of existence, the human and mortal, the Brahman-consciousness which is the absolute of our relativities, and the utter Absolute which is unknowable. The first is in a sense a false status of misrepresentation because it is a continual term of apparent opposites and balancings where the truth of things is a secret unity; we have here a bright or positive figure and a dark or negative figure and both are figures, neither the Truth; still in that we now live and through that we have to move to the Beyond. The second is the Lord of all this dual action who is beyond it; He is the truth of Brahman and not in any way a falsehood or misrepresentation, but the truth of it as attained by us in our eternal supramental being; in Him are the absolutes of all that here we experience in partial figures. The Unknowable is beyond our grasp because though it is the same Reality, yet it exceeds even our highest term of eternal being and is beyond Existence and Non-existence; it is therefore to the Brahman, the Lord who has a relation to what we are that we must direct our search if we would attain beyond what temporarily seems to what eternally is.

The attainment of the Brahman is our escape from the mortal status into Immortality, by which we understand not the survival of death, but the finding of our true self of eternal being and

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bliss beyond the dual symbols of birth and death. By immortality we mean the absolute life of the soul as opposed to the transient and mutable life in the body which it assumes by birth and death and rebirth and superior also to its life as the mere mental being who dwells in the world subjected helplessly to this law of death and birth or seems at least by his ignorance to be subjected to this and to other laws of the lower Nature. To know and possess its true nature, free, absolute, master of itself and its embodiments is the soul's means of transcendence, and to know and possess this is to know and possess the Brahman. It is also to rise out of mortal world into immortal world, out of world of bondage into world of largeness, out of finite world into infinite world. It is to ascend out of earthly joy and sorrow into a transcendent Beatitude.

This must be done by the abandonment of our attachment to the figure of things in the mortal world. We must put from us its death and dualities if we would compass the unity and immortality. Therefore it follows that we must cease to make the goods of this world or even its right, light and beauty our object of pursuit; we must go beyond these to a supreme Good, a transcendent Truth, Light and Beauty in which the opposite figures of what we call evil disappear. But still, being in this world, it is only through something in this world itself that we can transcend it; it is through its figures that we must find the absolute. Therefore, we scrutinise them and perceive that there are first these forms of mind, life, speech and sense, all of them figures and imperfect suggestions, and then behind them the cosmic principles through which the One acts. It is to these cosmic principles that we must proceed and turn them from their ordinary aim and movement in the world to find their own supreme aim and absolute movement in their own one Godhead, the Lord, the Brahman; they must be drawn to leave the workings of ordinary mind and find the superconscient Mind, to leave the workings of ordinary speech and sense and find the supramental Sense and original Word, to leave the apparent workings of mundane Life and find the transcendent Life.

Besides the gods, there is our self, the spirit within who supports all this action of the gods. Our spirit too must turn from

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its absorption in its figure of itself as it sees it involved in the movement of individual life, mind, body and subject to it and must direct its gaze upward to its own supreme Self who is beyond all this movement and master of it all. Therefore the mind must indeed become passive to the divine Mind, the sense to the divine Sense, the life to the divine Life and by receptivity to constant touches and visitings of the highest be transfigured into a reflection of these transcendences; but also the individual self must through the mind's aspiration upwards, through upliftings of itself beyond, through constant memory of the supreme Reality in which during these divine moments it has lived, ascend finally into that Bliss and Power and Light.

But this will not necessarily mean the immersion into an all-oblivious Being eternally absorbed in His own inactive self-existence. For the mind, sense, life going beyond their individual formations find that they are only one centre of the sole Mind, Life, Form of things and therefore they find Brahman in that also and not only in an individual transcendence; they bring down the vision of the superconscient into that also and not only into their own individual workings. The mind of the individual escapes from its limits and becomes the one universal mind, his life the one universal life, his bodily sense the sense of the whole universe and even more as his own indivisible Brahman-body. He perceives the universe in himself and he perceives also his self in all existences and knows it to be the one, the omnipresent, the single-multiple all-inhabiting Lord and Reality. Without this realisation he has not fulfilled the conditions of immortality. Therefore it is said that what the sages seek is to distinguish and see the Brahman in all existences; by that discovery, realisation and possession of Him everywhere and in all they attain to their immortal existence.

Still although the victory of the gods, that is to say, the progressive perfection of the mind, life, body in the positive terms of good, right, joy, knowledge, power is recognised as a victory of the Brahman and the necessity of using life and human works in the world as a means of preparation and self-mastery is admitted, yet a final passing away into the infinite heavenly world or status of the Brahman-consciousness is held out as the goal.

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And this would seem to imply a rejection of the life of the cosmos. Well then may we ask, we the modern humanity more and more conscious of the inner warning of that which created us, be it Nature or God, that there is a work for the race, a divine purpose in its creation which exceeds the salvation of the individual soul, because the universal is more real than the individual, we who feel more and more, in the language of the Koran, that the Lord did not create heaven and earth in a jest, that Brahman did not begin dreaming this world-dream in a moment of aberration and delirium,—well may we ask whether this gospel of individual salvation is all the message even of this purer, earlier, more catholic Vedanta. If so, then Vedanta at its best is a gospel for the saint, the ascetic, the monk, the solitary, but it has not a message which the widening consciousness of the world can joyfully accept as the word for which it was waiting. For there is evidently something vital that has escaped it, a profound word of the riddle of existence from which it has turned its eyes or which it was unable or thought it not worth while to solve.

Now certainly there is an emphasis in the Upanishads increasing steadily as time goes on into an over-emphasis, on the salvation of the individual, on his rejection of the lower cosmic life. This note increases in them as they become later in date, it swells afterwards into the rejection of all cosmic life whatever and that becomes finally in later Hinduism almost the one dominant and all-challenging cry. It does not exist in the earlier Vedic revelation where individual salvation is regarded as a means towards a great cosmic victory, the eventual conquest of heaven and earth by the superconscient Truth and Bliss, and those who have achieved the victory in the past are the conscious helpers of their yet battling posterity. If this earlier note is missing in the Upanishads, then,—for great as are these Scriptures, luminous, profound, sublime in their unsurpassed truth, beauty and power, yet it is only the ignorant soul that will make itself the slave of a book,—then in using them as an aid to knowledge we must insistently call back that earlier missing note, we must seek elsewhere a solution for the word of the riddle that has been ignored. The Upanishad alone of extant scriptures gives us without veil or stinting, with plenitude and a noble catholicity the truth of the

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Brahman; its aid to humanity is therefore indispensable. Only, where anything essential is missing, we must go beyond the Upanishads to seek it,—as for instance, when we add to its emphasis on divine knowledge the indispensable ardent emphasis of the later teachings upon divine love and the high emphasis of the Veda upon divine works.

The Vedic gospel of a supreme victory in heaven and on earth for the divine in man, the Christian gospel of a kingdom of God and divine city upon earth, the Puranic idea of progressing Avataras ending in the kingdom of the perfect and the restoration of the Golden Age, not only contain behind their forms a profound truth, but they are necessary to the religious sense in mankind. Without it the teaching of the vanity of human life and of a passionate fleeing and renunciation can only be powerful in passing epochs or else on the few strong souls in each age that are really capable of these things. The rest of humanity will either reject the creed which makes that its foundation or ignore it in practice while professing it in precept or else must sink under the weight of its own impotence and the sense of the illusion of life or of the curse of God upon the world as mediaeval Christendom sank into ignorance and obscurantism or later India into stagnant torpor and the pettiness of a life of aimless egoism. The promise for the individual is well, but the promise for the race is also needed. Our father Heaven must remain bright with the hope of deliverance, but also our mother Earth must not feel herself for ever accursed.

It was necessary at one time to insist even exclusively on the idea of individual salvation so that the sense of a Beyond might be driven into man's mentality, as it was necessary at one time to insist on a heaven of joys for the virtuous and pious so that man might be drawn by that shining bait towards the practice of religion and the suppression of his unbridled animality. But as the lures of earth have to be conquered, so also have the lures of heaven. The lure of a pleasant Paradise of the rewards of virtue has been rejected by man; the Upanishads belittled it ages ago in India and it is now no longer dominant in the mind of the people; the similar lure in popular Christianity and popular Islam has no meaning for the conscience of modern humanity.

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The lure of a release from birth and death and withdrawal from the cosmic labour must also be rejected, as it was rejected by Mahayanist Buddhism which held compassion and helpfulness to be greater than Nirvana. As the virtues we practise must be done without demand of earthly or heavenly reward, so the salvation we seek must be purely internal and impersonal; it must be the release from egoism, the union with the Divine, the realisation of our universality as well as our transcendence, and no salvation should be valued which takes us away from the love of God in humanity and the help we can give to the world. If need be, it must be taught, "Better hell with the rest of our suffering brothers than a solitary salvation."

Fortunately, there is no need to go to such lengths and deny one side of the truth in order to establish another. The Upanishad itself suggests the door of escape from any over-emphasis in its own statement of the truth. For the man who knows and possesses the supreme Brahman as the transcendent Beatitude becomes a centre of that delight to which all his fellows shall come, a well from which they can draw the divine waters. Here is the clue that we need. The connection with the universe is preserved for the one reason which supremely justifies that connection; it must subsist not from the desire of personal earthly joy as with those who are still bound, but for help to all creatures. Two then are the objects of the high-reaching soul, to attain the Supreme and to be for ever for the good of all the world,—even as Brahman Himself; whether here or elsewhere, does not essentially matter; still where the struggle is thickest, there should be the hero of the spirit, that is surely the highest choice of the son of Immortality; the earth calls most, because it has most need of him, to the soul that has become one with the universe.

And the nature of the highest good that can be done is also indicated,—though other lower forms of help are not therefore excluded. To assist in the lesser victories of the gods which must prepare the supreme victory of the Brahman may well be and must be in some way or other a part of our task; but the greatest helpfulness of all is this, to be a human centre of the Light, the Glory, the Bliss, the Strength, the Knowledge of the Divine

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Existence through whom it shall communicate itself lavishly to other men and attract by its magnet of delight their souls to that which is the Highest.

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Katha Upanishad

First Cycle: First Chapter

ऊँ उशन् ह वै वाजश्रवसः सर्ववेदसं ददौ ।
तस्य ह नचिकेता नाम पुत्र आस ॥१॥

1) Vajashravasa, desiring, gave all he had. Now Vajashravasa had a son named Nachiketas.

तं ह कुमारं सन्तं दक्षिणासु नीयमानासु श्रद्धाऽऽविवेश ।
सोऽमन्यत ॥२॥

2) As the gifts were led past, faith took possession of him who was yet a boy unwed and he pondered:

पीतोदका जग्धतृणा दुग्धदोहा निरिन्द्रियाः ।
अनन्दा नाम ते लोकास्तान्स गच्छति ता ददत् ॥३॥

3) "Cattle that have drunk their water, eaten their grass, yielded their milk, worn out their organs, of undelight are the worlds which he reaches who gives such as these."

स होवाच पितरं तत कस्मै मां दास्यसीति ।
द्वितीयं तृतीयं तं होवाच मृत्यवे त्वा ददामीति ॥४॥

4) He said to his father, "Me, O my father, to whom wilt thou give?" A second time and a third he said it, and he replied, "To Death I give thee."

बहूनामेमि प्रथमो बहूनामेमि मध्यमः ।
किं स्विद्यमस्य कर्तव्यं यन्मयाद्य करिष्यति ॥५॥

5) "Among many I walk the first, among many I walk the mid-most; something Death means to do which today by me he will accomplish.

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अनुपश्य यथा पूर्वे प्रतिपश्य तथाऽपरे ।
सस्यमिव मर्त्यः पच्यते सस्यमिवाजायते पुनः ॥६॥

6) "Look back and see, even as were the men of old,—look round!—even so are they that have come after. Mortal man withers like the fruits of the field and like the fruits of the field he is born again."

वैश्वानरः प्रविशत्यतिथिर्ब्राह्मणो गृहान् ।
तस्यैतां शान्तिं कुर्वन्ति हर वैवस्वतोदकम् ॥७॥

His attendants say to Yama:

7) "Fire is the Brahmin who enters as a guest the houses of men; him thus they appease. Bring, O son of Vivasvan,¹ the water of the guest-rite.

आशाप्रतीक्षे संगतं सूनृतां चेष्टापूर्ते पुत्रपशूंश्च सर्वान् ।
एतद् वृङक्ते पुरुषस्याल्पमेधसो यस्यानश्नन्वसति ब्राह्मणो गृहे ॥८॥

8) "That man of little understanding in whose house a Brahmin dwells fasting, all his hope and his expectation and all he has gained and the good and truth that he has spoken and the wells he has dug and the sacrifices he has offered and all his sons and his cattle are torn from him by that guest unhonoured."

तिस्रो रात्रीर्यदवात्सीर्गृहे मेऽनश्नन्ब्रह्मन्नतिथिर्नमस्यः ।
नमस्तेऽस्तु ब्रह्मन्स्वस्ति मेऽस्तु तस्मात्प्रति त्रीन्वरान्वृणीष्व ॥९॥

Yama speaks:

9) "Because for three nights thou hast dwelt in my house, O Brahmin, a guest worthy of reverence,—salutation to thee, O Brahmin, on me let there be the weal,—therefore three boons do thou choose, for each night a boon."

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शान्तसंकल्पः सुमना यथा स्याद्वीतमन्युर्गौ तमो माभि मृत्यो ।
त्वत्प्रसृष्टं माभिवदेत्प्रतीत एतत्त्रयाणां प्रथमं वरं वृणे ॥१०॥

Nachiketas speaks:

10) "Tranquillised in his thought and serene of mind be the Gautama, my father, let his passion over me pass away from him; assured in heart let him greet me from thy grasp delivered; this boon I choose, the first of three."

यथा पुरस्ताद् भविता प्रतीत औद्दालकिरारुणिर्मत्प्रसृष्टः ।
सुखं रात्रीः शयिता वीतमन्युस्त्वां ददृशिवान्मृत्युमुखात्प्रमुक्तम् ॥११॥

Yama speaks:

11) "Even as before assured in heart and by me released shall he be, Auddalaki Aruni, thy father; sweetly shall he sleep through the nights and his passion shall pass away from him, having seen thee from death's jaws delivered."

स्वर्गे लोके न भयं किंचनास्ति न तत्र त्वं न जरया विभेति ।
उभे तीर्त्वाऽशनायापिपासे शोकातिगो मोदते स्वर्गलोके ॥१२॥

Nachiketas speaks:

12) "In heaven fear is not at all, in heaven, O Death, thou art not, nor old age and its terrors; crossing over hunger and thirst as over two rivers, leaving sorrow behind the soul in heaven rejoices.

स त्वाग्निं स्वर्ग्यमध्येषि मृत्यो प्रब्रूहि त्वं श्रद्दधानाय मह्यम् ।
स्वर्गलोका अमृतत्वं भजन्त एतद् द्वितीयेन वृणे वरेण ॥१३॥

13) "Therefore that heavenly Flame² which thou, O Death, studiest, expound unto me, for I believe. They who win their world of heaven, have immortality for their portion. This for the second boon I have chosen."

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प्र ते ब्रवीमि तदु मे निबोध स्वर्ग्यमग्निं नचिकेतः प्रजानन् ।
अनन्तलोकाप्तिमथो प्रतिष्ठां विद्धि त्वमेतं निहितं गुहायाम् ॥१४॥

Yama speaks:

14) "Hearken to me and understand, O Nachiketas; I declare to thee that heavenly Flame, for I know it. Know this to be the possession of infinite existence and the foundation and the thing hidden in the secret cave of our being."

लोकादिमग्निं तमुवाच तस्मै या इष्टका यावतीर्वा यथा वा ।
स चापि तत्प्रत्यवदद्यथोक्तमथास्य मृत्युः पुनरेवाह तुष्टः ॥१५॥

15) Of the Flame that is the world's beginning³ he told him and what are the bricks to him and how many and the way of their setting; and Nachiketas too repeated it even as it was told; then Death was pleased and said to him yet farther;

तमब्रवीत्प्रीयमाणो महात्मा वरं तवेहाद्य ददामि भूयः ।
तवैव नाम्ना भवितायमग्निः सृङ्कां चेमामनेकरुपां गृहाण ॥१६॥

16) Yea, the Great Soul was gratified and said to him, "Yet a farther boon today I give thee; for even by thy name shall this Fire be called; this necklace also take unto thee, a necklace⁴ of many figures.

त्रिणाचिकेतस्त्रिभिरेत्य सन्धिं त्रिकर्मकृत्तरति जन्ममृत्यू ।
ब्रह्मजज्ञं देवमीडयं विदित्वा निचाय्येमां शान्तिमत्यन्तमेति ॥१७॥

17) "Whoso lights the three fires⁵ of Nachiketas and comes to union with the Three⁶ and does the triple works,⁷ beyond

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birth and death he crosses; for he finds the God of our adoration, the Knower⁸ who is born from the Brahman, whom having beheld he attains to surpassing peace.

त्रिणाचिकेतस्त्रयमेतद्विदित्वा य एवं विद्वाँश्चिनुते नाचिकेतम् ।
स मृत्युपाशान्पुरतः प्रणोद्य शोकातिगो मोदते स्वर्गलोके ॥१८॥

18) "When a man has the three flames of Nachiketas and knows this that is Triple, when so knowing he beholds the Flame of Nachiketas, then he thrusts from in front of him the meshes of the snare of death; leaving sorrow behind him he in heaven rejoices.

एष तेऽग्निर्नचिकेतः स्वर्ग्यो यमवृणीथा द्वितीयेन वरेण ।
एतमग्निं तवैव प्रवक्ष्यन्ति जनासस्तृतीयं वरं नचिकेतो वृणीष्व ॥१९॥

19) "This is the heavenly Flame, O Nachiketas, which thou hast chosen for the second boon; of this Flame the peoples shall speak that it is thine indeed. A third boon choose, O Nachiketas."

येयं प्रेते विचिकित्सा मनुष्येऽस्तीत्येके नायमस्तीति चैके ।
एतद्विद्यामनुशिष्टस्त्वयाऽहं वराणामेष वरस्तृतीयः ॥२०॥

Nachiketas speaks:

20) "This debate that there is over the man who has passed and some say 'This he is not' and some that 'he is', that, taught by thee, I would know; this is the third boon of the boons of my choosing."

देवैरत्रापि विचिकित्सितं पुरा न हि सुविज्ञेयमणुरेष धर्मः ।
अन्यं वरं नचिकेतो वृणीष्व मा मोपरोत्सीरति मा सृजैनम् ॥२१॥

Yama speaks:

21) "Even by the gods was this debated of old; for it is not

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easy of knowledge, since very subtle is the law of it. Another boon choose, O Nachiketas; importune me not, nor urge me; this, this abandon."

देवैरत्रापि विचिकित्सितं किल त्वं च मृत्यो यन्न सुज्ञेयमात्थ ।
वक्ता चास्य त्वादृगन्यो न लभ्यो नान्यो वरस्तुल्य एतस्य कश्चित् ॥२२॥

Nachiketas speaks:

22) "Even by the gods was this debated, it is sure, and thou thyself hast said that it is not easy of knowledge; never shall I find another like thee⁹ to tell of it, nor is there any other boon that is equal."

शतायुषः पुत्रपौत्रान्वृणीष्व बहून्पशून्हस्तिहिरण्यमश्वान् ।
भूमेर्महदायतनं वृणीष्व स्वयं च जीव शरदो यावदिच्छसि ॥२३॥

Yama speaks:

23) "Choose sons and grandsons who shall live each a hundred years, choose much cattle and elephants and gold and horses; choose a mighty reach of earth and thyself live for as many years as thou listest.

एतत्तुल्यं यदि मन्यसे वरं वृणीष्व वित्तं चिरजीविकां च ।
महाभूमौ नचिकेतस्त्वमेधि कामानां त्वा कामभाजं करोमि ॥२४॥

24) "This boon if thou deemest equal to that of thy asking, choose wealth and long living; possess thou; O Nachiketas, a mighty country; I give thee thy desire of all desirable things for thy portion.

ये ये कामा दुर्लभा मर्त्यलोके सर्वान्कामाँश्छन्दतः प्रार्थयस्व ।
इमा रामाः सरथाः सतूर्या नहीदृशा लम्भनीया मनुष्यैः ।
आभिर्मत्प्रत्ताभिः परिचारयस्व नचिकेतो मरणं मानुप्राक्षीः ॥२५॥

25) "Yea, all desires that are hard to win in the world of mortals, all demand at thy pleasure; lo, these delectable women with

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their chariots and their bugles, whose like are not to be won by men, these I will give thee, live with them for thy hand-maidens. But of death question not, O Nachiketas."

श्वोभावा मर्त्यस्य यदन्तकैतत्सर्वेन्द्रियाणां जरयन्ति तेजः ।
अपि सर्व जीवितमल्पमेव तवैव वाहास्तव नृत्यगीते ॥२६॥

Nachiketas speaks:

26) "Until the morrow mortal man has these things, O Ender, and they wear away all this keenness and glory of his senses; nay, all life is even for a little. Thine are these chariots and thine the dancing of these women and their singing.

न वित्तेन तर्पणीयी मनुष्यो लप्स्यामहे वित्तमद्राक्ष्म चेत्त्वा ।
जीविष्यामो यावदीशिष्यसि त्वं वरस्तु मे वरणीयः स एव ॥२७॥

27) "Man is not to be satisfied by riches, and riches we shall have if we have beheld thee and shall live as long as thou shalt be lord of us.¹⁰ This boon and no other is for my choosing.

अजीर्यताममृतानामुपेत्य जीर्यन्मर्त्यः क्वधःस्थः प्रजानन् ।
अभिध्यायन्वर्णरतिप्रमोदानतिदीर्घे जीविते को रमेत ॥२८॥

28) "Who that is a mortal man and grows old and dwells down upon the unhappy earth, when he has come into the presence of the ageless Immortals and knows, yea, who when he looks very close at beauty and enjoyment and pleasure, can take delight in overlong living?

यस्मिन्निदं विचिकित्सन्ति मृत्यो यत्साम्पराये महति ब्रूहि नस्तत् ।
योऽयं वरो गूढमनुप्रविष्टो नान्यं तस्मान्नचिकेता वृणीते ॥२९॥

29) "This of which they thus debate, O Death, declare to me, even that which is in the great passage; than this boon which enters in into the secret that is hidden from us, no other chooses Nachiketas."

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First Cycle: Second Chapter

अन्यछ्रेयोऽन्यदुतैव प्रेयस्ते उभे नानार्थे पुरुषं सिनीतः ।
तयोः श्रेय आददानस्य साधु भवति हीयतेऽर्थाद्य उ प्रेयो वृणीते ॥१॥

Yama speaks:

1) "One thing is the good and quite another thing is the pleasant, and both seize upon a man with different meanings. Of these whoso takes the good, it is well with him; he falls from the aim of life who chooses the pleasant.

श्रेयश्च प्रेयश्च मनुष्यमेतस्तौ सम्परीत्य विविनक्ति धीरः ।
श्रेयो हि धीरोऽभि प्रेयसो वृणीते प्रेयो मन्दो योगक्षेमाद्वृणीते ॥२॥

2) "The good and the pleasant come to a man and the thoughtful mind turns all around them and distinguishes. The wise chooses out the good from the pleasant, but the dull soul chooses the pleasant rather than the getting of his good and its having.

स त्वं प्रियान्प्रियरुपाँश्च कामानभिध्यायन्नचिकेतोऽत्यस्त्राक्षीः ।
नैतां सृङ्कां वित्तमयीमवाप्तो यस्यां मज्जन्ति बहवो मनुष्याः ॥३॥

3) "And thou, O Nachiketas, hast looked close at the objects of desire, at pleasant things and beautiful, and thou hast cast them from thee: thou hast not entered into the net of riches in which many men sink to perdition.

दूरमेते विपरीते विषूची अविद्या या च विद्येति ज्ञाता ।
विद्याभीप्सिनं नचिकेतसं मन्ये न त्वा कामा बहवोऽलोलुपन्त ॥४॥

4) "For far apart are these, opposite, divergent, the one that is known as the Ignorance and the other the Knowledge. But Nachiketas I deem truly desirous of the knowledge whom so many desirable things could not make to lust after them.

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अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः स्वयं धीराः पण्डितंमन्यमानाः ।
दन्द्रम्यमाणाः परियन्ति मूढा अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः ॥५॥

5) "They who dwell in the ignorance, within it, wise in their own wit and deeming themselves very learned, men bewildered are they who wander about stumbling round and round helplessly like blind men led by the blind.

न साम्परायः प्रतिभाति बालं प्रमाद्यन्तं वित्तमोहेन मूढम् ।
अयं लोको नास्ति पर इति मानी पुनः पुनर्वशमापद्यते मे ॥६॥

6) "The childish wit bewildered and drunken with the illusion of riches cannot open its eyes to see the passage to heaven: for he that thinks this world is and there is no other, comes again and again into Death's thraldom.

श्रवणायापि बहुभिर्यो न लभ्यः शृण्वन्तोऽपि बहवो यं न विद्युः ।
आश्चर्यो वक्ता कुशलोऽस्य लब्धाश्चर्यो ज्ञाता कुशलानुशिष्टः ॥७॥

7) "He that is not easy to be heard of by many, and even of those that have heard, they are many who have not known Him,—a miracle is the man that can speak of Him wisely or is skilful to win Him, and when one is found, a miracle is the listener who can know Him even when taught of Him by the knower.

न नरेणावरेण प्रोक्त एष सुविज्ञेयो बहुधा चिन्त्यमानः ।
अनन्यप्रोक्ते गतिरत्र नास्त्यणीयान् ह्यतर्क्यमणुप्रमाणात् ॥८॥

8) "An inferior man cannot tell you of Him; for thus told thou canst not truly know Him, since He is thought of in many aspects. Yet unless told of Him by another thou canst not find thy way to Him; for He is subtler than subtlety and that which logic cannot reach.

नैषा तर्केण मतिरापनेया प्रोक्तान्येनैव सुज्ञानाय प्रेष्ठ ।
यां त्वमापः सत्यधृतिर्बतासि त्वादृङ् नो भूयान्नचिकेतः प्रष्टा ॥९॥

9) "This wisdom is not to be had by reasoning, O beloved

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Nachiketas; only when told thee by another it brings real knowledge,—the wisdom which thou hast gotten. Truly thou art steadfast in the Truth! Even such a questioner as thou art may I meet with always."

जानाम्यहं शेवधिरित्यनित्यं न ह्यध्रुवैः प्राप्यते हि ध्रुवं तत् ।
ततो मया नाचिकेतश्चितोऽग्निरनित्यैर्द्रव्यैः प्राप्तवानस्मि नित्यम् ॥१०॥

Nachiketas speaks:

10) "I know of treasure that it is not for ever; for not by things unstable shall one attain That One which is stable; therefore I heaped the fire of Nachiketas, and by the sacrifice of momentary things I won the Eternal."

कामस्याप्ति जगतः प्रतिष्ठां कतोरानन्त्यमभयस्य पारम् ।
स्तोममहदुरुगायं प्रतिष्ठां दृष्ट्वा धृत्या धीरो नचिकेतोऽत्यस्त्राक्षीः ॥११॥

Yama speaks:

11) "When thou hast seen in thy grasp, O Nachiketas, the possession of desire and the firm foundation of this world and an infinity of power and the other shore of security and great praise and wide-moving foundation,¹¹ wise and strong in steadfastness thou didst cast these things from thee.

तं दुर्दशँ गूढमनुप्रविष्टं गुहाहितं गह्वरेष्ठम् पुराणम् ।
अध्यात्मयोगाधिगमेन देवं मत्वा धीरो हर्षशोकौ जहाति ॥१२॥

12) "Realising the God by attainment to Him through spiritual Yoga, even the Ancient of Days who hath entered deep into that which is hidden and is hard to see, for he is established in our secret being and lodged in the cavern heart of things, the wise and steadfast man casts away from him joy and sorrow.

एतच्छ्रुत्वा सम्परिगृह्य मर्त्यः प्रवृह्य धर्म्यमणुमेतमाप्य ।
स मोदते मोदनीयं हि लब्ध्वा विवृतं सद्म नचिकेतसं मन्ये ॥१३॥

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13) "When a mortal man has heard, when he has grasped, when he has forcefully separated the Righteous One from his body and won that subtle Being, then he has delight, for he has got that which one can indeed delight in. Verily, I deem of Nachiketas as a house wide open."

अन्यत्र धर्मादन्यत्राधर्मादन्यत्रास्मात्कृतात् ।
अन्यत्र भूताच्च भव्याच्च यत्तत्पश्यसि तद्वद ॥१४॥

Nachiketas speaks:

14) "Tell me of That which thou seest otherwhere than in virtue and otherwhere than in unrighteousness, otherwhere than in this created and this uncreated, otherwhere than in that which has been and that which shall be."

सर्वे वेदा यत्पदमामनन्ति तपांसि सर्वाणि च यद्वदन्ति ।
यदिच्छन्तो ब्रह्मचर्य चरन्ति तत्ते पदं संग्रहेण ब्रवीम्योमित्येतत् ॥१५॥

Yama speaks:

15) "The seat or goal that all the Vedas glorify and which austerities declare, for the desire of which men practise holy living, of That will I tell thee in brief compass. OM is that goal, O Nachiketas.

एतद्धयेवाक्षरं ब्रह्म एतद्धयेवाक्षरं परम् ।
एतद्धयेवाक्षरं ज्ञात्वा यो यदिच्छति तस्य तत् ॥१६॥

16) "For this Syllable is Brahman, this Syllable is the Most High: this Syllable if one knows, whatsoever one shall desire, it is his.

एतदालम्बनं श्रेष्ठमेतदालम्बनं परम् ।
एतदालम्बनं ज्ञात्वा ब्रह्मलोके महीयते ॥१७॥

17) "This support is the best, this support is the highest, knowing this support one grows great in the world of the Brahman.

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न जायते म्रियते वा विपश्चिन्नायं कुतश्चिन्न बभूव कश्चित् ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥१८॥

18) "The Wise One is not born, neither does he die: he came not from anywhere, neither is he any one: he is unborn, he is everlasting, he is ancient and sempiternal: he is not slain in the slaying of the body.

हन्ता चेन्मन्यते हन्तुं हतश्चेन्मन्यते हतम् ।
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥१९॥

19) "If the slayer think that he slays, if the slain think that he is slain, both of these have not the knowledge. This slays not, neither is He slain.

अणोरणीयान्महतो महीयानात्मास्य जन्तोर्निहितो गुहायाम् ।
तमकतुः पश्यति वीतशोको धातुप्रसादान्महिमानमात्मनः ॥२०॥

20) "Finer than the fine, huger than the huge the self hides in the secret heart of the creature: when a man strips himself of will and is weaned from sorrow, then he beholds Him; purified from the mental elements he sees the greatness of the Self-being.

आसीनो दूरं व्रजति शयानो याति सर्वतः ।
कस्तं मदामदं देवं मदन्यो ज्ञातुमर्हति ॥२१॥

21) "Seated He journeys far off, lying down he goes everywhere. Who other than I is fit to know God, even Him who is rapture and the transcendence of rapture?

अशरीरं शरीरेष्वनवस्थेष्ववस्थितम् ।
महान्तं विभुमात्मानं मत्वा धीरो न शोचति ॥२२॥

22) "Realising the Bodiless in bodies, the Established in things unsettled, the Great and Omnipresent Self, the wise and steadfast soul grieves no longer.

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नायमात्मा प्रवचनेन लभ्यो न मेधया न बहुना श्रुतेन ।
यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यस्तस्यैष आत्मा विवृणुते तनूं स्वाम् ॥२३॥

23) "The Self is not to be won by eloquent teaching, nor by brain power, nor by much learning: but only he whom this Being chooses can win Him; for to him this Self bares His body.

नाविरतो दुश्चरितान्नाशान्तो नासमाहितः ।
नाशान्तमानसो वापि प्रज्ञानेनैनमाप्नुयात् ॥२४॥

24) "None who has not ceased from doing evil, or who is not calm, or not concentrated in his being, or whose mind has not been tranquillised, can by wisdom attain to Him.

यस्य ब्रह्म च क्षत्रं च उभे भवत ओदनः ।
मृत्युर्यस्योपसेचनं क इत्था वेद यत्र सः ॥२५॥

25) "He to whom the sages are as meat and heroes as food for his eating and Death is an ingredient of His banquet, how thus shall one know of Him where He abides?"

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First Cycle: Third Chapter

ऋतं पिबन्तौ सुकृतस्य लोके गुहां प्रविष्टौ परमे परार्धे ।
छायातपौ ब्रह्मविदो वदन्ति पञ्चाग्नयो ये च त्रिणाचिकेताः ॥१॥

Yama speaks:

1) "There are two that drink deep of the truth in the world of work well accomplished: they are lodged in the secret plane of being, in the highest kingdom of the most High: as of light and shade the knowers of Brahman speak of them, and those of the five fires and those who kindle thrice the fire of Nachiketas.

यः सेतुरीजानानामक्षरं ब्रह्म यत्परम् ।
अभयं तितीर्षतां पारं नाचिकेतं शकेमहि ॥२॥

2) "May we have strength to kindle the Agni of Nachiketas for he is the bridge of those who do sacrifice and he is Brahman Supreme and imperishable, and the far shore of security to those who would cross this Ocean.

आत्मानं रथिनं विद्धि शरीरं रथमेव तु ।
बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च ॥३॥

3) "Know the body for a chariot and the soul for the master of the chariot: know Reason for the charioteer and the mind for the reins only.

इन्द्रियाणि हयानाहुर्विषयाँस्तेषु गोचरान् ।
आत्मेन्द्रियमनोयुक्तं भोक्ते्त्याहुर्मनीषिणः ॥४॥

4) "The senses they speak of as the steeds and the objects of sense as the paths in which they move; and One yoked with self and the mind and the senses, as the enjoyer, say the thinkers.

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यस्त्वविज्ञानवान्भवत्ययुक्तेन मनसा सदा ।
तस्येन्द्रियाण्यवश्यानि दुष्टाश्वा इव सारथेः ॥५॥

5) "Now he that is without knowledge with his mind ever unapplied, his senses are to him as wild horses and will not obey their driver of the chariot.

यस्तु विज्ञानवान्भवति युक्तेन मनसा सदा ।
तस्येन्द्रियाणि वश्यानि सदश्वा इव सारथेः ॥६॥

6) "But he that has knowledge with his mind ever applied, his senses are to him as noble steeds and they obey the driver.

यस्त्वविज्ञानवान्भवत्यमनस्कः सदाऽशुचिः ।
न स तत्पदमाप्नोति संसारं चाधिगच्छति ॥७॥

7) "Yea, he that is without knowledge and is unmindful and is ever unclean, reaches not that goal, but wanders in the cycle of phenomena.

यस्तु विज्ञानवान्भवति समनस्कः सदा शुचिः ।
स तु तत्पदमाप्नोति यस्माद् भूयो न जायते ॥८॥

8) "But he that has knowledge and is mindful, pure always, reaches that goal whence he is not born again.

विज्ञानसारथिर्यस्तु मनःप्रग्रहवान्नरः ।
सोऽध्वनः पारमाप्नोति तद्विष्णोः परमं पदम् ॥९॥

9) "That man who uses the mind for reins and the knowledge for the driver, reaches the end of his road, the highest seat of Vishnu.

इन्द्रियेभ्यः परा ह्यर्था अर्थेभ्यश्च परं मनः ।
मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्बुद्धेरात्मा महान्परः ॥१०॥

10) "Than the senses the objects of sense are higher: and higher than the objects of sense is the Mind: and higher than the

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Mind is the faculty of knowledge: and than that the Great-Self is higher.

महतः परमव्यक्तमव्यक्तात्पुरुषः परः ।
पुरुषान्न परं किञ्चित्सा काष्ठा सा परा गतिः ॥११॥

11) "And higher than the Great-Self is the Unmanifest and higher than the Unmanifest is the Purusha: than the Purusha there is none higher: He is the culmination, He is the highest goal of the journey.

एष सर्वेषु भूतेषु गूढोत्मा न प्रकाशते ।
दृश्यते त्वग्रयया बुद्धया सूक्ष्मया सूक्ष्मदर्शिभिः ॥१२॥

12) "He is the secret Self in all existences and does not manifest Himself to the vision: yet is He seen by the seers of the subtle by a subtle and perfect understanding.

यच्छेद्वाङमनसी प्राज्ञस्तद्यच्छेज्ज्ञान आत्मनि ।
ज्ञानमात्मनि महति नियच्छेत्तद्यच्छेच्छान्त आत्मनि ॥१३॥

13) "Let the wise man restrain speech in his mind and mind in Self, and knowledge in the Great-Self, and that again let him restrain in the Self that is at peace.

उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत ।
क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया दुर्ग पथस्तत्कवयो वदन्ति ॥१४॥

14) "Arise, awake, find out the great ones and learn of them: for sharp as a razor's edge, hard to traverse, difficult of going is that path, say the sages.

अशब्दमस्पर्शमरुपमव्ययं तथाऽरसं नित्यमगन्धवच्च यत् ।
अनाद्यनन्तं महतः परं ध्रुवं निचाय्य तन्मृत्युमुखात्प्रमुच्यते ॥१५॥

15) "That in which sound is not, nor touch, nor shape, nor diminution, nor taste nor smell, that which is eternal, and It is without end or beginning, higher than the Great-Self, the

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stable; that having seen, from the mouth of death there is deliverance."

नाचिकेतमुपाख्यानं मृत्युप्रोक्तं सनातनम् ।
उक्त्वा श्रुत्वा च मेधावी ब्रह्मलोके महीयते ॥१६॥

16) The man of intelligence having spoken or heard the eternal story of Nachiketas wherein Death was the speaker, grows great in the world of the Brahman.

य इमं परमं गुह्यं श्रावयेद् ब्रह्मसंसदि ।
प्रयतः श्राद्धकाले वा तदानन्त्याय कल्पते
तदानन्त्याय कल्पत इति ॥१७॥

17) He who being pure recites this supreme secret at the time of the Shraddha in the assembly of the Brahmins, that turns for him to infinite existence.

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Second Cycle: First Chapter

पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत्स्वयम्भूस्तस्मात्पराङ् पश्यति नान्तरात्मन् ।
कश्चिद्धीरः प्रत्यगात्मानमैक्षदावृत्तचक्षुरमृतत्वमिच्छन् ॥१॥

Yama speaks:

1) "The self-born has set the doors of the body to face outwards, therefore the soul of a man gazes outward and not at the Self within: hardly a wise man here and there, desiring immortality, turns his eyes inward and sees the Self within him.

पराचः कामाननुयन्ति बालास्ते मृत्योर्यन्ति विततस्य पाशम् ।
अथ धीरा अमृतत्वं विदित्वा ध्रुवमध्रुवेष्विह न प्रार्थयन्ते ॥२॥

2) "The rest childishly follow after desire and pleasure and walk into the snare of Death that gapes wide for them. But calm souls, having learned of immortality, seek not for permanence in the things of this world that pass and are not.

येन रुपं रसं गन्धं शब्दान्स्पर्शाश्च मैथुनान् ।
एतेनैव विजानाति किमत्र परिशिष्यते । एतद्वै तत् ॥३॥

3) "By the Self one knows form and taste and smell, by the Self one knows sound and touch and the joy of man with woman: what is there left in this world of which the Self not knows?

This is That thou seekest.

स्वप्नान्तं जागरितान्तं चोभौ येनानुपश्यति ।
महान्तं विभुमात्मानं मर्त्वा धीरो न शोचति ॥४॥

4) "The calm soul having comprehended the great Lord, the omnipresent Self by whom one beholds both to the end of dream and to the end of waking, ceases from grieving.

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य इमं मष्वदं वेद आत्मानं जीवमन्तिकात् ।
ईशानं भूतभव्यस्य न ततो विजुगुप्सते । एतद्वै तत् ॥५॥

5) "He that has known from the very close this Eater of sweetness, the Jiva, the self within that is lord of what was and what shall be, shrinks not thereafter from aught nor abhors any.

This is That thou seekest.

यः पूर्व तपसो जातमद्भयः पूर्वमजायत ।
गुहां प्रविश्य तिष्ठन्तं यो भूतेभिर्व्यपश्यत । एतद्वै तत् ॥६॥

6) "He is the seer that sees Him who came into being before austerity and was before the waters: peep in the heart of the creature he sees Him, for there He stands by the mingling of the elements.

This is That thou seekest.

या प्राणेन सम्भवत्यदितिर्देवतामयी ।
गुहां प्रविश्य तिष्ठन्तीं या भूतेभिर्व्यजायत । एतद्वै तत् ॥७॥

7) "This is Aditi, the mother of the Gods, who was born through the Prana and by the mingling of the elements had her being: deep in the heart of things she has entered, there she is seated.

This is That thou seekest.

अरण्योर्निहितो जातवेदा गर्भ इव सुभृतो गर्भिणीभिः ।
दिवे दिव ईडयो जागृवद्भिर्हविष्मद्भिर्मनुष्येभिरग्निः । एतद्वै तत् ॥८॥

8) "As a woman carries with care the unborn child in her womb, so is the Master of Knowledge lodged in the tinders: and day by day should men worship him, who live the waking life and stand before him with sacrifices; for he is that Agni.

This is That thou seekest.

यतश्चोदेति सूर्योऽस्तं यत्र च गच्छति ।
तं देवाः सर्वेऽर्पितास्तदु नात्येति कश्चन । एतद्वै तत् ॥९॥

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9) "He from whom the sun arises and to whom the sun returns, and in Him are all the Gods established; none passes beyond Him.

This is That thou seekest.

यदेवेह तदमुत्र यदमुत्र तदन्विह ।
मृत्योः स मृत्युमाप्नोति य इह नानेव पश्यति ॥१०॥

10) "What is in this world, is also in the other: and what is in the other, that again is in this: who thinks he sees difference here, from death to death he goes.

मनसैवेदमाप्तव्यं नेह नानास्ति किञ्चन ।
मृत्योः स मृत्युं गच्छति य इह नानेव पश्यति ॥११॥

11) "Through the mind must we understand that there is nothing in this world that really varies: who thinks he sees difference here, from death to death he goes.

अङ्गुष्ठमात्रः पुरुषो मध्य आत्मनि तिष्ठति ।
ईशानो भूतभव्यस्य न ततो विजुगुप्सते । एतद्वै तत् ॥१२॥

12) "The Purusha who is seated in the midst of our self is no larger than the finger of a man; He is the Lord of what was and what shall be. Him having seen one shrinks not from aught, nor abhors any.

This is That thou seekest.

अङ्गुष्ठमात्रः पुरुषो ज्योतिरिवाधूमकः ।
ईशानो भूतभव्यस्य स एवाद्य स उ श्वः । एतद्वै तत् ॥१३॥

13) "The Purusha that is within us is no larger than the finger of a man: He is like a blazing fire that is without smoke, He is lord of His past and His future. He alone is today and He alone shall be tomorrow.

This is That thou seekest.

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यथोदकं दुर्गे वृष्टं पर्वतेषु विधावति ।
एवं धर्मान्पृथक् पश्यंस्तानेवानुविधावति ॥१४॥

14) "As water that rains in the rough and difficult places, runs to many sides on the mountain tops, so he that sees separate law and action of the One Spirit, follows in the track of what he sees.

यथोदकं शुद्धे शुद्धमासिक्तं तादृगेव भवति ।
एवं मुनेर्विजानत आत्मा भवति गौतम ॥१५॥

15) "But as pure water that is poured into pure water, even as it was such it remains, so is it with the soul of the thinker who knows God, O seed of Gautama."

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Second Cycle: Second Chapter

पुरमेकादशद्वारमजस्यावकचेतसः ।
अनुष्ठाय न शोचति विमुक्तश्च विमुच्यते । एतद्वै तत् ॥१॥

Yama speaks:

1) "The unborn who is not devious-minded has a city with eleven gates: when he takes up his abode in it, he grieves not, but when he is set free from it, that is his deliverance.

This is That thou seekest.

हंसः शुचिषद्वसुरन्तरिक्षसद्धोता वेदिषदतिथिर्दुरोणसत् ।
नृषद्वरसदृतसद्वयोमसदब्जा गोजा ऋतजा अद्रिजा ऋतं बृहत् ॥२॥

2) "Lo, the Swan whose dwelling is in the purity, He is the Vasu in the inter-regions, the Sacrificer at the altar, the Guest in the vessel of the drinking: He is in man and in the Great Ones and His home is in the law, and His dwelling is in the firmament: He is all that is born of water and all that is born of earth and all that is born on the mountains. He is the Truth and He is the Mighty One.

ऊर्ध्व प्राणमुन्नयत्यपानं प्रत्यगस्यति ।
मध्ये वामनमासीनं विश्वे देवा उपासते ॥३॥

3) "This is He that draws the main breath upward and casts the lower breath downward. The Dwarf that sits in the centre, to Him all the Gods do homage.

अस्य विस्त्रंसमानस्य शरीरस्थस्य देहिनः ।
देहाद्विमुच्यमानस्य किमत्र परिशिष्यते । एतद्वै तत् ॥४॥

4) "When this encased Spirit that is in the body, falls away from it, when He is freed from its casing, what is there then that remains?

This is That thou seekest.

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न प्राणेन नापानेन मर्त्यो जीवति कश्चन ।
इतरेण तु जीवन्ति यस्मिन्नेतावुपाश्रितौ ॥५॥

5) "Man that is mortal lives not by the breath, no, nor by the lower breath; but by something else we live in which both these have their being.

हन्त त इदं प्रवक्ष्यामि गुह्यं ब्रह्म सनातनम् ।
यथा च मरणं प्राप्य आत्मा भवति गौतम ॥६॥

6) "Surely, O Gautama, I will tell thee of this secret and eternal Brahman and likewise what becomes of the soul when one dies.

योनिमन्ये प्रपद्यन्ते शरीरत्वाय देहिनः ।
स्थाणुमन्येऽनुसंयन्ति यथाकर्म यथाश्रुतम् ॥७॥

7) "For some enter a womb to the embodying of the Spirit and others follow after the Immovable: according to their deeds is their goal and after the measure of their revealed knowledge.

य एष सुप्तेषु जागति कामं कामं पुरुषो निर्मिमाणः ।
तदेव शुकं तद् ब्रह्म तदेवामृतमुच्यते ।
तस्मिँल्लोकाः श्रिताः सर्वे तदु नात्येति कश्चन । एतद्वै तत् ॥८॥

8) "This that wakes in the sleepers creating desire upon desire, this Purusha, Him they call the Bright One, Him Brahman, Him Immortality, and in Him are all the worlds established: none goes beyond Him.

This is That thou seekest.

अग्निर्यथैको भुवनं प्रविष्टो रुपं रुपं प्रतिरुपो बभूव ।
एकस्तथा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा रुपं रुपं प्रतिरुपो बहिश्च ॥९॥

9) "Even as one Fire has entered into the world, but it shapes itself to the forms it meets, so there is one Spirit within all creatures, but it shapes itself to form and form: it is likewise outside these.

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वायुर्यथैको भुवनं प्रविष्टो रुपं रुपं प्रतिरुपो बभूव ।
एकस्तथा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा रुपं रुपं प्रतिरुपो बहिश्च ॥१०॥

10) "Even as one Air has entered into the world, but it shapes itself to the forms it meets, so there is one Spirit within all creatures, but it shapes itself to form and form: it is likewise outside these.

सूर्यो यथा सर्वलोकस्य चक्षुर्न लिप्यते चाक्षुषैर्बाह्यदोषैः ।
एकस्तथा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा न लिप्यते लोकदुःखेन बाह्यः ॥११॥

11) "Even as the Sun is the eye of all this world, yet is not soiled by the outward blemishes of the visual, so there is one Spirit within all creatures, but the sorrow of this world soils it not: for it is beyond grief and danger.

एको वशी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा एकं रुपं बहुधा यः करोति ।
तमात्मस्थं येऽनुपश्यन्ति षीरास्तेषां सुखं शाश्वतं नेतरेषाम् ॥१२॥

12) "One calm and controlling Spirit within all creatures that makes one form into many fashions: the calm and strong who see Him in their self as in a mirror, theirs is eternal felicity and 'tis not for others.

नित्योऽनित्यानां चेतनश्चेतनानामेको बहूनां यो विदधाति कामान् ।
तमात्मस्थं येऽनुपश्यन्ति धीरास्तेषां शान्तिः शाश्वती नेतरेषाम् ॥१३॥

13) "The One Eternal in the transient, the One consciousness in many conscious beings, who being One orders the desires of many: the calm and strong who behold Him in their self as in a mirror, theirs is eternal peace and 'tis not for others.

तदेतदिति मन्यन्तेऽनिर्देश्यं परमं सुखम् ।
कथं नु तद्विजानीयां किमु भाति विभाति वा ॥१४॥

14) "'This is He' is all they can realise of Him, a highest felicity which none can point to nor any define it. How shall I know of Him whether He shines or reflects one light and another?

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न तत्र सूर्यो भाति न चन्द्रतारकं नेमा विद्युतो भान्ति कुतोऽयमग्निः ।
तमेव भान्तमनुभाति सर्व तस्य भासा सर्वमिदं विभाति ॥१५॥

15) "There the sun cannot shine and the moon has no lustre: all the stars are blind: there our lightnings flash not, neither any earthly fire. For all that is bright is but the shadow of His brightness and by His shining all this shines."

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Second Cycle: Third Chapter

ऊर्ध्वमूलोऽवाक्शाख एषोऽश्वत्थः सनातनः ।
तदेव शुकं तद् ब्रह्म तदेवामृतमुच्यते ।
तस्मिँल्लोकाः श्रिताः सर्वे तदु नात्येति कश्चन । एतद्वै तत् ॥१॥

Yama speaks:

1) "This is an eternal Ashwattha-tree whose root is above, but its branches are downward. It is He that is called the Bright One and Brahman, and Immortality, and in Him are all the worlds established, none goes beyond Him.

This is That thou seekest.

यदिवं किञ्च जगत्सर्व प्राण एजति निःसृतम् ।
महद् भयं वज्रमुद्यतं य एतद्विदुरमृतास्ते भवन्ति ॥२॥

2) "All this universe of motion moves in the Prana and from the Prana also it proceeded: a mighty terror is He, yea, a thunderbolt uplifted. Who know Him, are the immortals.

भयादस्याग्निस्तपति भयात्तपति सूर्यः ।
भयादिन्द्रश्च वायुश्च मृत्युर्धावति पञ्चमः ॥३॥

3) "For fear of Him the Fire burns: for fear of Him the Sun gives heat: for fear of Him Indra and Vayu and Death hasten in their courses.

इह चेदशकद्वोद्धुं प्राक् शरीरस्य विस्त्रसः ।
ततः सर्गेषु लोकेषु शरीरत्वाय कल्पते ॥४॥

4) "If in this world of men and before thy body fall from thee, thou wert able to apprehend it, then thou availeth for embodiment in the worlds that He creates.

यथाऽऽदर्शे तथात्मनि यथा स्वप्ने तथा पितृलोके ।
यथाप्सु परीव ददृशे तथा गन्धर्वलोके छायातपयोरिव ब्रह्मलोके ॥५॥

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5) "In the self one sees God as in a mirror, but as in a dream in the world of the Fathers: and as in water one sees the surface of an object, so one sees Him in the world of the Gandharvas. But He is seen as light and shade in the heaven of the Spirit.

इन्द्रियाणां पृथग्भावमुदयास्तमयौ च यत् ।
पृथगुत्पद्यमानानां मत्वा धीरो न शोषति ॥६॥

6) "The calm soul having comprehended the separateness of the senses and the rising of them and their setting and their separate emergence, puts from him pain and sorrow.

इन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनो मनसः सत्त्वमुत्तमम् ।
सत्त्वादधि महानात्मा महतोऽव्यक्तमुत्तमम् ॥७॥

7) "The mind is higher than the senses, and higher than the mind is the genius, above the genius is the Mighty Spirit, and higher than the Mighty One is the Unmanifested.

अव्यक्तात्तु परः पुरुषो व्यापकोऽलिङ्ग एव च ।
यं ज्ञात्वा मुच्यते जन्तुरमृतत्वं च गच्छति ॥८॥

8) "But highest above the Unmanifested is the Purusha who pervades all and alone has no sign nor feature. Mortal man knowing Him is released into immortality.

न संदृशे तिष्ठति रुपमस्य न चक्षुषा पश्यति कश्चनैनम् ।
हृदा मनीषा मनसाभिक्लृप्तो य एतद्विदुरमृतास्ते भवन्ति ॥९॥

9) "God has not set His body within the ken of seeing, neither does any man with the eye behold Him, but to the heart and the mind and the super-mind He is manifest. Who know Him are the immortals.

यदा पञ्चावतिष्ठन्ते ज्ञानानि मनसा सह ।
बुद्धिश्च न विचेष्टति तामाहुः परमां गतिम् ॥१०॥

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10) "When the five senses cease and are at rest and the mind rests with them and the higher mind ceases from its workings, that is the highest state, say thinkers.

तां योगमिति मन्यन्ते स्थिरामिन्द्रियधारणाम् ।
अप्रमत्तस्तदा भवति योगो हि प्रभवाप्ययौ ॥११॥

11) "The state unperturbed when the senses are imprisoned in the mind, of this they say 'It is Yoga'. Then man becomes very vigilant, for Yoga is the birth of things and their ending.¹²

नैव वाचा न मनसा प्राप्तुं शक्यो न चक्षुषा ।
अस्तीति ब्रुवतोऽन्यत्र कथं तदुपलभ्यते ॥१२॥

12) "Not with the mind has man the power to get God, no, nor through speech, nor by the eye. Unless one says 'He is', how can one become sensible of Him?

अस्तीत्येवोपलब्धव्यस्तत्त्वभावेन चोभयोः ।
अस्तीत्येवोपलब्धस्य तत्त्वभावः प्रसीदति ॥१३॥

13) "One must apprehend God in the concept 'He Is' and also in His essential: but when he has grasped Him as the 'Is', then the essential of God dawns upon a man.

यदा सर्वे प्रमुच्यन्ते कामा येऽस्य हृदि श्रिताः ।
अथ मर्त्योऽमृतो भवत्यत्र ब्रह्म समश्नुते ॥१४॥

14) "When every desire that finds lodging in the heart of man, has been loosened from its moorings, then this mortal puts on immortality: even here he tastes God, in this human body.

यदा सर्वे प्रभिद्यन्ते हृदयस्येह ग्रन्थयः ।
अथ मर्त्योऽमृतो भवत्येतावद्धयनुशासनम् ॥१५॥

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15) "Yea, when all the strings of the heart are rent asunder, even here, in this human birth, then the mortal becomes immortal. This is the whole teaching of the Scriptures.

शतं चैका च हृदयस्य नाडयस्तासां मूर्धानमभिनिःसृतैका ।
तयोर्ध्वमायन्नमृतत्वमेति विश्वङङन्या उत्क्रमणे भवन्ति ॥१६॥

16) "A hundred and one are the nerves of the heart, and of all these only one issues out through the head of a man: by this his soul mounts up to its immortal home, but the rest lead him to all sorts and conditions of births in his passing.

अङ्गुष्ठमात्रः पुरुषोऽन्तरात्मा सदा जनानां हृदये सन्निविष्टः ।
तं स्वाच्छरीरात्प्रवृहेन्मुञ्जादिवेषीकां धैर्येण ।
तं विद्याच्छुकममृतं तं विद्याच्छुकममृतमिति ॥१७॥

17) "The Purusha, the Spirit within, who is no larger than the finger of a man is seated for ever in the heart of creatures: one must separate Him with patience from one's own body as one separates from a blade of grass its main fibre. Thou shalt know Him for the Bright Immortal, yea, for the Bright Immortal."

मृत्युप्रोक्तां नचिकेतोऽथ लब्ध्वा विद्यामेतां योगविधिं च कृत्स्नम् ।
ब्रह्मप्राप्तो विरजोऽभूद्विमृत्युरन्योऽप्येवं यो विदध्यात्ममेव ॥१८॥

18) Thus did Nachiketas with Death for his teacher win the God-knowledge: he learned likewise the whole ordinance of Yoga: thereafter he obtained God and became void of stain and void of death. So shall another be who comes likewise to the Science of the Spirit.

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Mundaka Upanishad

Chapter One: Section I

ब्रह्मा देवानां प्रथमः सम्बभूव विश्वस्य कर्त्ता भुवनस्य गोप्ता ।
स ब्रह्मविद्यां सर्वविद्याप्रतिष्ठामथर्वाय ज्येष्ठपुत्राय प्राह ॥१॥

1) Brahma first of the Gods was born, the creator of all, the world's protector, he to Atharvan, his eldest son, declared the God-knowledge in which all sciences have their foundation.

अथर्वणे यां प्रवदेत ब्रह्माथर्वा तां पुरोवाचाङ्गिरे ब्रह्मविद्याम् ।
स भारद्वाजाय सत्यवहाय प्राह भारद्वाजोऽङ्गिरसे परावराम् ॥२॥

2) The God-knowledge by Brahma declared to Atharvan, Atharvan of old declared to Angir; he to Satyavaha the Bharadwaja told it, the Bharadwaja to Angiras, both the higher and the lower knowledge.

शौनको ह वै महाशालोऽङ्गिरसं विधिवदुपसन्नः पप्रच्छ ।
कस्मिन् नु भगवो विज्ञाते सर्वमिदं विज्ञातं भवतीति ॥३॥

3) Shaunaka, the great house-lord, came to Angiras in the due way of the disciple and asked of him, "Lord, by knowing what does all this that is become known?"

तस्मै स होवाच—द्वे विद्ये वेदितव्ये इति ह स्म यद् ब्रह्मविदो वदन्ति परा चैवापरा च ॥४॥

4) To him thus spoke Angiras: Twofold is the knowledge that must be known of which the knowers of the Brahman tell, the higher and the lower knowledge.

तत्रापरा ऋग्वेदो यजुर्वेदः सामवेदोऽथर्ववेदः शिक्षा कल्पो व्याकरणं निरुक्तं छन्दो ज्योतिषमिति ।
अथ परा यया तदक्षरमधिगम्यते ॥५॥

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5) Of which the lower, the Rig-veda and the Yajur-veda, and the Sama-veda and the Atharva-veda, chanting, ritual, grammar, etymological interpretation, and prosody and astronomy. And then the higher by which is known the Immutable.

यत् तदद्रेश्यमग्राह्यमगोत्रमवर्णमचक्षुःश्रोत्रं तदपाणिपादम् ।
नित्यं विभुं सर्वगतं सुसूक्ष्मं तदव्ययं यद् भूतयोनिं परिपश्यन्ति धीराः ॥६॥

6) That the invisible, that the unseizable, without connections, without hue, without eye or ear, that which is without hands or feet, eternal, pervading, which is in all things and impalpable, that which is Imperishable, that which is the womb of creatures sages behold everywhere.

यथोर्णनाभिः सृजते गृह्लते च यथा पृथिव्यामोषधयः सम्भवन्ति ।
यथा सतः पुरुषात् केशलोमानि तथाक्षरात् सम्भवतीह विश्वम् ॥७॥

7) As the spider puts out and gathers in, as herbs spring up upon the earth, as hair of head and body grow from a living man, so here all is born from the Immutable.

तपसा चीयते ब्रह्म ततोऽन्नमभिजायते ।
अन्नात् प्राणो मनः सत्यं लोकाः कर्मसु चामृतम् ॥८॥

8) Brahman grows by his energy at work, and then from Him is Matter born, and out of Matter life, and mind and truth and the worlds, and in works immortality.

यः सर्वज्ञः सर्वविद् यस्य ज्ञानमयं तपः ।
तस्मादेतद् ब्रह्म नाम रुपमत्रं च जायते ॥९॥

9) He who is the Omniscient, the all-wise, He whose energy is all made of knowledge, from Him is born this that is Brahman here, this Name and Form and Matter.

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Chapter One: Section II

तदेतत् सत्यं मन्त्रेषु कर्माणि कवयो
    यान्यपश्यंस्तानि त्रेतायां बहुधा सन्ततानि ।
तान्याचरथ नियतं सत्यकामा
    एष वः पन्थाः सुकृतस्य लोके ॥१॥

1) This is That, the Truth of things: works which the sages beheld in the Mantras¹ were in the Treta² manifoldly extended. Works do ye perform religiously with one passion for the Truth; this is your road to the heaven of good deeds.

यदा लेलायते ह्यर्चिः समिद्धे हव्यवाहने ।
तदाज्यभागावन्तरेणाहुतीः प्रतिपादयेच्छ्रद्धयाहुतम् ॥२॥

2) When the fire of the sacrifice is kindled and the flame sways and quivers, then between the double pourings of butter cast therein with faith thy offerings.

यस्याग्निहोत्रमदर्शमपौर्णमास-
    मचातुर्मास्यमनाग्रयणमतिथिवर्जितं च ।
अहुतमवैश्वदेवमविधिना हुत-
    मासप्तमांस्तस्य लोकान् हिनस्ति ॥३॥

3) For he whose altar-fires are empty of the new-moon offering and the full-moon offering, and the offering of the rains and the offering of the first fruits, or unfed, or fed without right ritual, or without guests or without the dues to the Vishwa-Devas, destroys his hope of all the seven worlds.

काली कराली च मनोजवा च सुलोहिता या च सुधूम्रवर्णा ।
स्फुलिङ्गिनी विश्वरुची च देवी लेलायमाना इति सप्त जिह्वाः ॥४॥

4) Kali, the black, Karali, the terrible, Manojava, thought-swift, Sulohita, blood-red, Sudhumravarna, smoke-hued, Sphulingini, scattering sparks, Vishwaruchi, the all-beautiful,

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these are the seven swaying tongues of the fire.

एतेषु यश्चरते भ्राजमानेषु यथाकालं चाहुतयो ह्याददायन् ।
तं नयन्त्येताः सूर्यस्य रश्मयो यत्र देवानां पतिरेकोऽधिवासः ॥५॥

5) He who in these when they are blazing bright performs the rites, in their due season, him his fires of sacrifice take and they lead him, these rays of the sun, there where the Over-lord of the Gods is the Inhabitant on high.

एह्येहीति तमाहुतयः सुवर्चसः सूर्यस्य रश्मिभिर्यजमानं वहन्ति ।
प्रियां वाचमभिवदन्त्योऽर्चयन्त्य एव वः पुण्यः सुकृतो ब्रह्मलोकः ॥६॥

6) "Come with us", "Come with us", they cry to him, these luminous fires of sacrifice and they bear him by the rays of the sun speaking to him pleasant words of sweetness, doing him homage, "This is your holy world of Brahman and the heaven of your righteousness."

प्लवा ह्येते अदृढा यज्ञरुपा अष्टादशोक्तमवरं येषु कर्म ।
एतच्छ्रेयो येऽभिनन्दन्ति मूढा जरामृत्युं ते पुनरेवापि यन्ति ॥७॥

7) But frail are the ships of sacrifice, frail these forms of sacrifice, all the eighteen of them, in which are declared the lower works; fools are they who hail them as the highest good and they come yet again to this world of age and death.

अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः स्वयं धीराः पण्डितं मन्यमानाः ।
जङ्घन्यमानाः परियन्ति मूढा अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः ॥८॥

8) They who dwell shut within the ignorance and they hold themselves for learned men thinking, "We, even we are the wise and the sages"—fools are they and they wander around beaten and stumbling like blind men led by the blind.

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अविद्यायां बहुधा वर्तमाना वयं कृतार्था इत्यभिमन्यन्ति बालाः ।
यत् कर्मिणो न प्रवेदयन्ति रागात् तेनातुराः क्षीणलोकाश्च्यवन्ते ॥९॥

9) They dwell in many bonds of the Ignorance, children thinking, "We have achieved our aim of Paradise"; for when the men of works are held by their affections, and arrive not at the Knowledge, then they are overtaken by anguish, then their Paradise wastes by enjoying and they fall from their heavens.

इष्टापूर्त मन्यमाना वरिष्ठं नान्यच्छ्रेयो वेदयन्ते प्रमूढाः ।
नाकस्य पृष्ठे ते सुकृतेऽनुभूत्वेमं लोकं हीनतरं वा विशन्ति ॥१०॥

10) Minds bewildered who hold the oblation offered and the well dug for the greatest righteousness and know not any other highest good, on the back of heaven they enjoy the world won by their righteousness and enter again this or even a lower world.

तपःश्रद्धे ये ह्युपवसन्त्यरण्ये शान्ता विद्वांसो भैक्ष्यचर्यां चरन्तः ।
सूर्यद्वारेण ते विरजाः प्रयान्ति यत्रामृतः स पुरुषो ह्यव्ययात्मा ॥११॥

11) But they who in the forest follow after faith and self-discipline, calm and full of knowledge, living upon alms, cast from them the dust of their passions, and through the gate of the Sun they pass on there where is the Immortal, the Spirit, the Self undecaying and imperishable.

परीक्ष्य लोकान् कर्मचितान् ब्राह्मणो निर्वेदमायान्नास्त्यकृतः कृतेन ।
तद्विज्ञानार्थ स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत् समित्पाणिः श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम् ॥१२॥

12) The seeker of the Brahman, having put to the test the worlds piled up by works, arrives at world-distaste, for³ not by work done is reached He who is Uncreated. For the knowledge of That, let him approach, fuel in hand, a Guru, one who is learned in the Veda and is devoted to contemplation of the Brahman.

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तस्मै स विद्वानुपसन्नाय सम्यक् प्रशान्तचित्ताय शमान्विताय ।
येनाक्षरं पुरुषं वेद सत्यं प्रोवाच तां तत्त्वतो ब्रह्मविद्याम् ॥१३॥

13) To him because he has taken entire refuge with him, with a heart tranquillised and a spirit at peace, that man of knowledge declares in its principles the science of the Brahman by which one comes to know the Immutable Spirit, the True and Real.

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Chapter Two: Section I

तदेतत् सत्यं यथा सुदीप्तात् पावकाद्
    विस्फुलिङ्गाः सहस्त्रशः प्रभवन्ते सरुपाः ।
तथाक्षराद् विविधाः सोम्य भावाः
    प्रजायन्ते तत्र चैवापि यन्ति ॥१॥

1) This is That, the Truth of things: as from one high-kindled fire thousands of different sparks are born and all have the same form of fire, so, O fair son, from the immutable manifold becomings are born and even into that they depart.

दिव्यो ह्यमूर्तः पुरुषः स बाह्यभ्यन्तरो ह्यजः ।
अप्राणो ह्यमनाः शुभ्रो ह्यक्षरात् परतः परः ॥२॥

2) He, the divine, the formless Spirit, even He is the outward and the inward and he the Unborn; He is beyond life, beyond mind, luminous, Supreme beyond the immutable.

एतस्माज्जायते प्राणो मनः सर्वेन्द्रियाणि च ।
खं वायुर्ज्योतिरापः पृथिवी विश्वमस्य धारिणी ॥३॥

3) Life and mind and the senses are born from Him and the sky, and the wind, and light, and the waters and earth upholding all that is.

अग्निर्मूर्धा चक्षुषी चन्द्रसूर्यो दिशः श्रोत्रे वाग् विवृताश्च वेदाः ।
वायुः प्राणो हृदयं विश्वमस्य पद्भ्यां पृथिवी ह्येष सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा ॥४॥

4) Fire is the head of Him and His eyes are the Sun and Moon, the quarters His organs of hearing and the revealed Vedas are his voice, air is His breath, the universe is His heart, Earth lies at His feet. He is the inner Self in all beings.

तस्मादग्निः समिधो यस्य सूर्यः सोमात् पर्जन्य ओषधयः पृथिव्याम् ।
पुमान् रेतः सिञ्चति योषितायां बह्वीः प्रजाः पुरुषात् सम्प्रसूताः ॥५॥

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5) From Him is fire, of which the Sun is the fuel, then rain from the Soma, herbs upon the earth, and the male casts his seed into woman: thus are these many peoples born from the Spirit.

तस्मादृचः साम यजूंषि दीक्षा यज्ञाश्च सर्वे कतवो दक्षिणाश्च ।
संवत्सरश्च यजमानश्च लोकाः सोमो यत्र पवते यत्र सूर्यः ॥६॥

6) From Him are the hymns of the Rig-veda, the Sama and the Yajur, initiation, and all sacrifices and works of sacrifice, and dues given, the year and the giver of the sacrifice and the worlds, on which the moon shines and the sun.

तस्माच्च देवा बहुधा सम्प्रसूताः साध्या मनुष्याः पशवो वयांसि ।
प्राणापानी व्रीहियवौ तपश्च श्रद्धा सत्यं ब्रह्मचर्यं विधिश्च ॥७॥

7) And from Him have issued many gods, and demi-gods and men and beasts and birds, the main breath and downward breath, and rice and barley, and askesis and faith and Truth, and chastity and rule of right practice.

सप्त प्राणाः प्रभवन्ति तस्मात् सप्तार्चिषः समिधः सप्त होमाः ।
सप्त इमे लोका येषु चरन्ति प्राणा गुहाशया निहिताः सप्त सप्त ॥८॥

8) The seven breaths are born from Him and the seven lights and kinds of fuel and the seven oblations and these seven worlds in which move the life-breaths set within with the secret heart for their dwelling-place, seven and seven.

अतः समुद्रा गिरयश्च सर्वेऽस्मात् स्यन्दन्ते सिन्धवः सर्वरुपाः ।
अतश्च सर्वा ओषधयो रसश्च येनैष भूतैस्तिष्ठते ह्यन्तरात्मा ॥९॥

9) From Him are the oceans and all these mountains and from Him flow rivers of all forms, and from Him are all plants, and sensible delight which makes the soul to abide with the material elements.

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पुरुष एवेदं विश्वं कर्म तपो ब्रह्म परामृतम् ।
एतद् यो वेद निहितं गुहायां
सोऽविद्याग्रन्थिं विकिरतीह सोम्य ॥१०॥

10) The Spirit is all this universe; he is works and askesis and the Brahman, supreme and immortal. O fair son, he who knows this hidden in the secret heart, scatters even here in this world the knot of the Ignorance.

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Chapter Two: Section II

आविः सन्निहितं गुहाचरं नाम
    महत् पदमत्रैतत् समर्पितम् ।
एजत् प्राणन्निमिषच्च यदेतज्जानथ सदस-
    द्वरेण्यं परं विज्ञानाद् यद् वरिष्ठं प्रजानाम् ॥१॥

1) Manifested, it is here set close within, moving in the secret heart, this is the mighty foundation and into it is consigned all that moves and breathes and sees. This that is that great foundation here, know, as the Is and Is-not, the supremely desirable, greatest and the Most High, beyond the knowledge of creatures.

यदर्चिमद् यदणुभ्योऽणु च
    यस्मिँल्लोका निहिता लोकिनश्च ।
तदेतदक्षरं ब्रह्म स प्राणस्तदु वाङ्मनः
    तदेतत् सत्यं तदमृतं तद् वेद्धव्यं सोम्य विद्धि ॥२॥

2) That which is the Luminous, that which is smaller than the atoms, that in which are set the worlds and their peoples, That is This,—it is Brahman immutable: life is That, it is speech and mind. That is This, the True and Real, it is That which is immortal: it is into That that thou must pierce, O fair son, into That penetrate.

धनु र्गृहीत्वौपनिषदं महास्त्रं शरं ह्युपासानिशितं सन्धयीत ।
आयम्य तद्भावगतेन चेतसा लक्ष्यं तदेवाक्षरं सोम्य विद्धि ॥३॥

3) Take up the bow of the Upanishad, that mighty weapon, set to it an arrow sharpened by adoration, draw the bow with a heart wholly devoted to the contemplation of That, and O fair son, penetrate into That as thy target, even into the Immutable.

प्रणवो धनुः शरो ह्यात्मा ब्रह्म तल्लक्ष्यमुच्यते ।
अप्रमत्तेन वेद्धव्यं शरवत् तन्मयो भवेत् ॥४॥

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4) OM is the bow and the soul is the arrow, and That, even the Brahman, is spoken of as the target. That must be pierced with an unfaltering aim; one must be absorbed into That as an arrow is lost in its target.

यस्मिन् द्यौः पृथिवी चान्तरिक्षमोतं मनः सह प्राणैश्च सर्वैः ।
तमेवैकं जानथ आत्मानमन्या वाचो विमुञ्चथामृतस्यैष सेतुः ॥५॥

5) He in whom are inwoven heaven and earth and the mid-region, and mind with all the life-currents, Him know to be the one Self; other words put away from you: this is the bridge to immortality.

अरा इव रथनाभौ संहता यत्र नाडयः
    स एषोऽन्तश्चरते बहुधा जायमानः ।
ओमित्येवं ध्यायथ आत्मानं
    स्वस्ति वः पाराय तमसः परस्तात् ॥६॥

6) Where the nerves are brought close together like the spokes in the nave of a chariot-wheel, this is He that moves within,—there is He manifoldly born. Meditate on the Self as OM and happy be your passage to the other shore beyond the darkness.

यः सर्वज्ञः सर्वविद् यस्यैव महिमा भुवि ।
दिव्ये ब्रह्मपुरे ह्येष व्योम्न्यात्मा प्रतिष्ठितः ॥७॥

7) The Omniscient, the All-wise, whose is this might and majesty upon the earth, is this self enthroned in the Divine city of the Brahman, in his ethereal heaven.

मनोमयः प्राणशरीरनेता
    प्रतिष्ठितोऽन्ने हृदयं सन्निधाय ।
तद् विज्ञानेन परिपश्यन्ति धीरा
    आनन्दरुपममृतं यद् विभाति ॥८॥

8) A mental being, leader of the life and the body, has set a heart in matter, in matter he has taken his firm foundation.

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By its knowing the wise see everywhere around them That which shines in its effulgence, a shape of Bliss and Immortal.

भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः ।
क्षीयन्ते चास्य कर्माणि तस्मिन् दृष्टे परावरे ॥९॥

9) The knot of the heart strings is rent, cut away are all doubts, and a man's works are spent and perish, when is seen That which is at once the being below and the Supreme.

हिरण्मये परे कोशे विरजं ब्रह्म निष्कलम् ।
तच्छुभ्रं ज्योतिषां ज्योतिस्तद् यदात्मविदो विदुः ॥१०॥

10) In a supreme golden sheath the Brahman lies, stainless, without parts. A Splendour is That, It is the Light of Lights, It is That which the self-knowers know.

न तत्र सूर्यो भाति न चन्द्रतारकं
    नेमा विद्युतो भान्ति कुतोऽयमग्निः ।
तमेव भान्तमनुभाति सर्व
    तस्य भासा सर्वमिदं विभाति ॥११॥

11) There the sun shines not and the moon has no splendour and the stars are blind; there these lightnings flash not, how then shall burn this earthly fire? All that shines is but the shadow of his shining; all this universe is effulgent with his light.

ब्रह्मैवेदममृतं पुरस्ताद् ब्रह्म पश्चाद् ब्रह्म दक्षिणतश्चोत्तरेण ।
अधश्चोर्ध्वं च प्रसृतं ब्रह्मैवेदं विश्वमिदं वरिष्ठम् ॥१२॥

12) All this is Brahman immortal, naught else; Brahman is in front of us, Brahman behind us, and to the south of us and to the north of us⁴ and below us and above us; it stretches everywhere. All this is Brahman alone, all this magnificent universe.

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Chapter Three: Section I

द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते ।
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥१॥

1) Two birds, beautiful of wing, close companions, cling to one common tree: of the two one eats the sweet fruit of the tree, the other eats not but watches his fellow.

समाने वृक्षे पुरुषो निमग्नोऽनीशया शोचति मुह्यमानः ।
जुष्टं यदा पश्यत्यन्यमीशमस्य महिमानमिति वीतशोकः ॥२॥

2) The soul is the bird that sits immersed on the one common tree; but because he is not lord he is bewildered and has sorrow. But when he sees that other who is the Lord and beloved, he knows that all is His greatness and his sorrow passes away from him.

यदा पश्यः पश्यते रुक्मवर्ण कर्तारमीशं पुरुषं ब्रह्मयोनिम् ।
तदा विद्वान् पुण्यपापे विधूय निरञ्जनः परमं साम्यमुपैति ॥३॥

3) When, a seer, he sees the Golden-hued, the maker, the Lord, the Spirit who is the source of Brahman⁵, then he becomes the knower and shakes from his wings sin and virtue; pure of all stain he reaches the supreme identity.⁶

प्राणो ह्येष यः सर्वभूतैर्विभाति
    विजानन् विद्वान् भवते नातिवादी ।
आत्मकीड आत्मरतिः
    कियावानेष ब्रह्मविदां वरिष्ठः ॥४॥

4) This is the life in things that shines manifested by all these beings; a man of knowledge coming wholly to know this, draws back from creeds and too much disputings. In the

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Self his delight, at play in the Self, doing works,—the best is he among the knowers of the Eternal.

सत्येन लभ्यस्तपसा ह्येष आत्मा
    सम्यग्ज्ञानेन ब्रह्मचर्येण नित्यम् ।
अन्तःशरीरे ज्योतिर्मयो हि शुभ्रो
    यं पश्यन्ति यतयः क्षीणदोषाः ॥५॥

5) The Self can always be won by truth, by self-discipline, by integral knowledge, by a life of purity,—this Self that is in the inner body, radiant, made all of light whom, by the perishing of their blemishes, the doers of askesis behold.

सत्यमेव जयते नानृतं सत्येन पन्था विततो देवयानः ।
येनाकमन्त्यृषयो ह्याप्तकामा यत्र तत् सत्यस्य परमं निधानम् ॥६॥

6) It is Truth that conquers and not falsehood; by Truth was stretched out the path of the journey of the gods, by which the sages winning their desire ascend there where Truth has its Supreme abode.

बृहच्च तद् दिव्यमचिन्त्यरुपं सूक्ष्माच्च तत् सूक्ष्मतरं विभाति ।
दूरात् सुदूरे तदिहान्तिके च पश्यत्स्विहैव निहितं गुहायाम् ॥७॥

7) Vast is That, divine, its form unthinkable; it shines out subtler than the subtle,⁷ very far and farther than farness, it is here close to us, for those who have vision it is even here in this world; it is here, hidden in the secret heart.

न चक्षुषा गृह्यते नापि वाचा नान्यैर्देवैस्तपसा कर्मणा वा ।
ज्ञानप्रसादेन विशुद्धसत्त्वस्ततस्तु तं पश्यते निष्कलं ध्यायमानः ॥८॥

8) Eye cannot seize, speech cannot grasp Him, nor these other godheads; not by austerity can he be held nor by works: only when the inner being is purified by a glad serenity of

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knowledge, then indeed, meditating, one beholds the Spirit indivisible.

एषोऽणुरात्मा चेतसा वेदितव्यो
    यस्मिन् प्राणः पञ्चधा संविवेश ।
प्राणैश्चित्तं सर्वमोतं प्रजानां
    यस्मिन् विशुद्धे विभवत्येष आत्मा ॥९॥

9) This self is subtle and has to be known by a thought-mind into which the life-force has made its fivefold entry: all the conscious heart of creatures is shot through and inwoven with the currents of the life-force and only when it is purified can this Self manifest its power⁸.

यं यं लोकं मनसा संविभाति
    विशुद्धसत्त्वः कामयते यांश्च कामान् ।
तं तं लोकं जयते तांश्च कामां-
    स्तस्मादात्मज्ञं ह्यचर्येद् भूतिकामः ॥१०॥

10) Whatever world the man whose inner being is purified sheds the light of his mind upon, and whatsoever desires he cherishes, that world he takes by conquest, and those desires. Then, let whosoever seeks for success and well-being approach with homage a self-knower.

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Chapter Three: Section II

स वेदैतत् परमं ब्रह्म धाम यत्र विश्वं निहितं भाति शुभ्रम् ।
उपासते पुरुषं ये ह्यकामास्ते शुकमेतदतिवर्तन्ति धीराः ॥१॥

1) He knows this supreme Brahman as the highest abiding place in which shines out, inset, the radiant world. The wise who are without desire and worship the Spirit pass beyond this sperm⁹.

कामान् यः कामयते मन्यमानः स कामभिर्जायते तत्र तत्र ।
पर्याप्तकामस्य कृतात्मनस्तु इहैव सर्वे प्रविलीयन्ति कामाः ॥२॥

2) He who cherishes desires and his mind dwells with his longings, is by his desires born again wherever they lead him, but the man who has won all his desire¹⁰ and has found his soul, for him even here, in this world vanish away all desires.

नायमात्मा प्रवचनेन लभ्यो न मेधया न बहुना श्रुतेन ।
यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यस्तस्यैष आत्मा विवृणुते तनुं स्वाम् ॥३॥

3) This Self is not won by exegesis, nor by brain-power, nor by much learning of Scripture. Only by him whom It chooses can it be won; to him this Self unveils its own body.

नायमात्मा बलहीनेन लभ्यो न च प्रमादात् तपसो वाप्यलिङ्गात् ।
एतैरुपायैर्यतते यस्तु विद्वांस्तस्यैष आत्मा विशते ब्रह्मधाम ॥४॥

4) This Self cannot be won by any who is without strength, nor with error in the seeking, nor by an askesis without the true mark: but when a man of knowledge strives by these means his Self enters into Brahman, his abiding place.

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संप्राप्यैनमृषयो ज्ञानतृप्ताः कृतात्मानो वीतरागाः प्रशान्ताः ।
ते सर्वगं सर्वतः प्राप्य धीरा युक्तात्मानः सर्वमेवाविशन्ति ॥५॥

5) Attaining to him, seers glad with fullness of knowledge, perfected in the self, all passions cast from them, tranquillised,—these, the wise, come to the all-pervading from every side, and, uniting themselves with him enter utterly the All.

वेदान्तविज्ञानसुनिश्चितार्थाः सन्न्यासयोगाद् यतयः शुद्धसत्त्वाः ।
ते ब्रह्मलोकेषु परान्तकाले परामृताः परिमुच्यन्ति सर्वे ॥६॥

6) Doers of askesis who have made sure of the aim¹¹ of the whole-knowledge of Vedanta, the inner being purified by the Yoga of renunciation, all in the hour of their last end passing beyond death are released into the worlds of the Brahman.

गताः कलाः पञ्चदश प्रतिष्ठा देवाश्च सर्वे प्रतिदेवतासु ।
कर्माणि विज्ञानमयश्च आत्मा परेऽव्यये सर्व एकीभवन्ति ॥७॥

7) The fifteen parts return into their foundations, and all the gods pass into their proper godheads, works and the Self of Knowledge,—all become one in the Supreme and Imperishable.

यथा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रेऽस्तं गच्छन्ति नामरुपे विहाय ।
तथा विद्वान् नामरुपाद् विमुक्तः परात्परं पुरुषमुपैति दिव्यम् ॥८॥

8) As rivers in their flowing reach their home¹² in the ocean and cast off their names and forms, even so one who knows is delivered from name and form and reaches the Supreme beyond the Most High, even the Divine Person.

स यो ह वै तत् परमं ब्रह्म वेद
    ब्रह्मैव भवति नास्याब्रह्मवित् कुले भवति ।

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तरति शोकं तरति पाप्मानं
    गुहाग्रन्थिभ्यो विमुक्तोऽमृतो भवति ॥९॥

9) He, verily, who knows that Supreme Brahman becomes himself Brahman; in his lineage none is born who knows not the Brahman. He crosses beyond sorrow, he crosses beyond sin, he is delivered from the knotted cord of the secret heart and becomes immortal.

तदेतदृचाभ्युक्तम्
    क्रियावन्तः श्रोत्रिया ब्रह्मनिष्ठाः
        स्वयं जुह्वत एकर्षि श्रद्धयन्तः ।
    तेषामेवैतां ब्रह्मविद्यां वदेत
        शिरोव्रतं विधिवद् यैस्तु चीर्णम् ॥१०॥

10) This is That declared by the Rig-veda. Doers of works, versed in the Veda, men absorbed in the Brahman, who putting their faith in the sole-seer offer themselves to him sacrifice,—to them one should speak this Brahman-Knowledge, men by whom the Vow of the Head has been done according to the rite.

तदेतत् सत्यमृषिरङ्गिराः पुरोवाच नैतदचीर्णव्रतोऽधीते ।
नमः परमऋषिभ्यो नमः परमऋषिभ्यः ॥११॥

11) This is That, the Truth of things which the seer Angiras spoke of old. This none learns who has not performed the Vow of the Head. Salutation to the seers supreme! Salutation to the seers supreme!

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Mandukya Upanishad

ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं, भूतं भवद् भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एष ।
यच्चान्यत् त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव ॥१॥

1) OM is this imperishable Word, OM is the Universe, and this is the exposition of OM. The past, the present and the future, all that was, all that is, all that will be, is OM. Likewise all else that may exist beyond the bounds of Time, that too is OM.

सर्व ह्येतद् ब्रह्म, अयमात्मा ब्रह्म, सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात् ॥२॥

2) All this Universe is the Eternal Brahman, this Self is the Eternal, and the Self is fourfold.

जागरितस्थानो बहिष्प्रज्ञः सप्ताङग एकोनविंशतिमुखः स्थूलभुग् वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः ॥३॥

3) He whose place is the wakefulness, who is wise of the outward, who has seven limbs, to whom there are nineteen doors, who feels and enjoys gross objects, Vaishwanara, the Universal Male, He is the first.

स्वप्नस्थानोऽन्तःप्रज्ञः सप्ताङग एकोनविंशतिमुखः प्रविविक्तभुक् तैजसो द्वितीयः पादः ॥४॥

4) He whose place is the dream, who is wise of the inward, who has seven limbs, to whom there are nineteen doors, who feels and enjoys subtle objects, Taijasa, the Inhabitant in Luminous Mind, He is the second.

यत्र सुप्तो न कञ्चन कामं कामयते, न कञ्चन स्वप्नं पश्यति, तत् सुषुप्तम् ।
सुषुप्तस्थान एकीभूतः प्रज्ञानघन एवानन्दमयो ह्यानन्दभुक् चेतोमुखः प्राज्ञस्तृतीयः पादः ॥५॥

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5) When one sleeps and yearns not with any desire, nor sees any dream, that is the perfect slumber. He whose place is the perfect slumber, who is become Oneness, who is wisdom gathered into itself, who is made of mere delight, who enjoys delight unrelated, to whom conscious mind is the door, Prajna, the Lord of Wisdom, He is the third.

एष सर्वेश्वर एष सर्वज्ञ एषोऽन्तर्याम्येष योनिः सर्वस्य प्रभवाप्ययौ हि भूतानाम् ॥६॥

6) This is the Almighty, this is the Omniscient, this is the Inner Soul, this is the Womb of the Universe, this is the Birth and Destruction of creatures.

नान्तःप्रज्ञं न बहिष्प्रज्ञं नोभयतःप्रज्ञं न प्रज्ञानघनं न प्रज्ञं नाप्रज्ञम् ।
अदृष्टमव्यवहार्यमग्राह्यमलक्षणमचिन्त्यमव्यपदेश्यमेकात्मप्रत्ययसारं
प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं चतुर्थ मन्यन्ते स आत्मा स विज्ञेयः ॥७॥

7) He who is neither inward-wise, nor outward-wise, nor both inward- and outward-wise, nor wisdom self-gathered, nor possessed of wisdom, nor unpossessed of wisdom, He Who is unseen and incommunicable, unseizable, featureless, unthinkable, and unnameable, Whose essentiality is awareness of the Self in its single existence, in Whom all phenomena dissolve, Who is Calm, Who is Good, Who is the One than Whom there is no other, Him they deem the fourth: He is the Self, He is the object of Knowledge.

सोऽयमात्माध्यक्षरमोङकारोऽधिमात्रं पादा मात्रा मात्राश्च पादा अकार उकारो मकार इति ॥८॥

8) Now this the Self, as to the imperishable Word, is OM: and as to the letters, His parts are the letters and the letters are His parts, namely, A U M.

जागरितस्थानो वैश्वानरोऽकारः प्रथमा मात्रा, आप्तेरादिमत्त्वाद् वा,
वा, आप्नोति ह वै सर्वान् कामानादिश्च भवति य एवं वेद ॥९॥

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9) The Waker, Vaishwanara, the Universal Male, He is A, the first letter, because of Initiality and Pervasiveness: he that knows Him for such pervades and attains all his desires: he becomes the source and first.

स्वप्नस्थानस्तैजस उकारो द्वितीया मात्रा, उत्कर्षादुभयत्वाद् वा,
उत्कर्षति ह वै ज्ञानसन्तति समानश्च भवति; नास्याब्रह्मवित् कुले
भवति य एवं वेद ॥१०॥

10) The Dreamer, Taijasa, the Inhabitant in Luminous Mind, He is U, the second letter, because of Advance and Centrality: he that knows Him for such, advances the bounds of his knowledge and rises above difference: nor of his seed is any born that knows not the Eternal.

सुषुप्तस्थानः प्राज्ञो मकारस्तृतीया मात्रा, मितेरपीतेर्वा, मिनोति ह
वा इदं सर्वमपीतिश्च भवति य एवं वेद ॥११॥

11) The Sleeper, Prajna, the Lord of Wisdom, He is M, the third letter, because of Measure and Finality: he that knows Him for such measures with himself the Universe and becomes the departure into the Eternal.

अमात्रश्चतुर्थोऽव्यवहार्यः प्रपञ्चोपशमः शिवोऽद्वैत एवमोङकार आत्मैव,
संविशत्यात्मनात्मानं य एवं वेद य एवं वेद ॥१२॥

12) Letterless is the fourth, the Incommunicable, the end of phenomena, the Good, the One than Whom there is no other: thus is OM. He that knows is the Self and enters by his self into the Self, he that knows, he that knows.

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Prashna Upanishad

Being the Upanishad of the Six Questions

First Question

ॐ नमः परमात्मने । हरिः ॐ ॥ सुकेशा च भारद्वाजः, शैब्यश्च
सत्यकामः, सौर्यायणी च गार्ग्यः, कौसल्यश्चाश्वलायनः, भार्गवो
वैदर्भिः, कबन्धी कात्यायनस्ते हैते ब्रह्मपरा ब्रह्मनिष्ठाः परं
ब्रह्मान्वेषमाणा एष ह वै तत्सर्व वक्ष्यतीति, ते ह समित्पाणयो
भगवन्तं पिप्पलादमुपसन्नाः ॥१॥

1) OM! Salutation to the Supreme Spirit. The Supreme is OM.

Sukesha the Bharadwaja; the Shaibya, Satyakama; Gargya, son of the Solar race; the Koshalan, son of Ashwala; the Bhargava of Vidarbha; and Kabandhi Katyayana;—these sought the Most High God, believing in the Supreme and to the Supreme devoted. Therefore they came to the Lord Pippalada, for they said: "This is he that shall tell us of that Universal."

तान् ह स ऋषिरुवाच,—भूय एव तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण श्रद्धया
संवत्सरं संवत्स्यथ, यथाकामं प्रश्नान् पृच्छत, यदि विज्ञास्यामः
सर्व ह वो वक्ष्याम इति ॥२॥

2) The Rishi said to them: "Another year do ye dwell in holiness and faith and askesis: then ask what ye will, and if I know, surely I will conceal nothing."

अथ कबन्धी कात्यायन उपेत्य पप्रच्छ, भगवन् कुतो ह वा इमाः प्रजाः प्रजायन्त इति ॥३॥

3) Then came Kabandhi, son of Katya, to him and asked: "Lord, whence are all these creatures born?"

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तस्मै स होवाच—प्रजाकामो वै प्रजापतिः, स तपोऽतप्यत, स तपस्तप्त्वा,
स मिथुनमुत्पादयते रयिञ्च प्राणञ्चेति, एतौ मे बहुधा प्रजाः करिष्यत इति ॥४॥

4) To him answered the Rishi Pippalada: "The Eternal Father desired children, therefore he put forth his energy and by the heat of his energy produced twin creatures, Prana the Life, who is Male, and Rayi the Matter, who is Female. 'These,' said he, 'shall make for me children of many natures.'

आदित्यो ह वै प्राणः, रयिरेव चन्द्रमाः, रयिर्वा एतत् सर्व यन्मूर्त्त चामूर्त्त च, तस्मान्मूर्त्तिरेव रयिः ॥५॥

5) "The Sun verily is Life and the Moon is no more than Matter: yet truly all this Universe formed and formless is Matter: therefore Form and Matter are One.

अथादित्य उदयन् यत् प्राचीं दिशं प्रविशति तेन प्राच्यान् प्राणान्
रश्मिषु सन्निधत्ते । यद्दक्षिणां यत्प्रतीचीं यदुदीचीं यदधो यदूर्घ्व
यदन्तरा दिशो यत्सर्व प्रकाशयति तेन सर्वान् प्राणान् रश्मिषु सन्निधत्ते ॥६॥

6) "Now when the Sun rising enters the East, then absorbs he the eastern breaths into his rays. But when he illumines the south and west and north, and below and above and all the angles of space, yea, all that is, then he takes all the breaths in his rays.

स एष वैश्वानरो विश्वरुपः प्राणोऽग्निरुदयते । तदेतदृचाभ्युक्तम् ॥७॥

7) "Therefore is this fire that rises, this Universal Male, of whom all things are the bodies, Prana the breath of existence. This is that which was said in the Rig-veda:—

विश्वरुपं हरिणं जातवेदसं परायणं ज्योतिरेकं तपन्तम् ।
सहस्त्ररश्मिः शतधा वर्तमानः प्राणः प्रजानामुदयत्येष सूर्यः ॥८॥

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8) "'Fire is this burning and radiant Sun, he is the One lustre and all-knowing Light, he is the highest heaven of spirits. With a thousand rays he burns and exists in a hundred existences; lo this Sun that rises, he is the Life of all his creatures.'

संवत्सरो वै प्रजापतिः, तस्यायने दक्षिणञ्चोत्तरं च ।
तद्ये ह वै तदिष्टापूर्त्ते कृतमित्युपासते, ते चान्द्रमसमेव लोकमभिजयन्ते, त एव पुनरावर्त्तन्ते ।
तस्मादेत ऋषयः प्रजाकामा दक्षिणं प्रतिपद्यन्ते ।
एष ह वै रयिर्यः पितृयाणः ॥९॥

9) "The year also is that Eternal Father and of the year there are two paths, the northern solstice and the southern. Now they who worship God with the well dug and the oblation offered, deeming these to be righteousness, conquer their heavens of the Moon: these return again to the world of birth. Therefore do the souls of sages who have not yet put from them the desire of offspring, take the way of the southern solstice which is the road of the Fathers. And this also is Matter, the Female.

अथोत्तरेण तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण श्रद्धया विद्ययात्मानमन्विष्यादित्यमभिजयन्ते ।
एतद्वै प्राणानामायतनमेतदमृतमभयमेतत् परायणमेतस्मान्न पुनरावर्त्तन्त इत्येष निरोधः ।
तदेष श्लोकः ॥१०॥

10) "But by the way of the northern solstice go the souls that have sought the Spirit through holiness and knowledge and faith and askesis: for they conquer their heavens of the Sun. There is the resting place of the breaths, there immortality casts out fear, there is the highest heaven of spirits: thence no soul returns: therefore is the wall and barrier. Whereof this is the Scripture:—

पञ्चपादं पितरं द्वादशाकृतिं दिव आहुः परे अर्धे पुरीषिणम् ।
अथेमे अन्य उ परे विचक्षणं सप्तचक्रे षडर आहुरर्पितमिति ॥११॥

11) "'Five-portioned, some say, is the Father and has twelve figures and he flows in the upper hemisphere beyond the

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heavens: but others speak of him as the Wisdom who stands in a chariot of six spokes and seven wheels'.

मासो वै प्रजापतिस्तस्य कृष्णपक्ष एव रयिः शुक्लः प्राणस्तस्मादेत
ऋषयः शुक्ल इष्टं कुर्वन्तीतर इतरस्मिन् ॥१२॥

12) "The month also is that Eternal Father, whereof the dark fortnight is Matter, the Female and the bright fortnight is Life, the Male. Therefore do one manner of sages offer sacrifice in the bright fortnight and another in the dark.

अहोरात्रौ वै प्रजापतिस्तस्याहरेव प्राणो रात्रिरेव रयिः ।
प्राणं वा एते प्रस्कन्दन्ति ये दिवा रत्या संयुज्यन्ते,
ब्रह्मचर्यमेव तद्यद्रात्रौ रत्या संयुज्यन्ते ॥१३॥

13) "Day and night also are the Eternal Father, whereof the day is Life and the night is Matter. Therefore do they offend against their own life who take joy with woman by day: by night who take joy, enact holiness.

अन्नं वै प्रजापतिस्ततो ह वै तद्रेतस्तस्मादिमाः प्रजाः प्रजायन्त इति ॥१४॥

14) "Food is the Eternal Father: for of this came the seed and of the seed is the world of creatures born.

तद्ये ह वै तत्प्रजापतिव्रतं चरन्ति ते मिथुनमुत्पादयन्ते ।
तेषामेवैष ब्रह्मलोको येषां तपो ब्रह्मचर्य येषु सत्यं प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥१५॥

15) "They therefore who perform the vow of the Eternal Father produce the twin creature. But theirs is the heaven of the spirit in whom are established askesis and holiness and in whom Truth has her dwelling.

तेषामसौ विरजो ब्रह्मलोको न येषु जिह्यमनृतं न माया चेति ॥१६॥

16) "Theirs is the heaven of the Spirit, the world all spotless, in whom there is neither crookedness nor lying nor any illusion."

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Second Question

अथ हैनं भार्गवो वैदर्भिः पप्रच्छ ।
भगवन् कत्येव देवाः प्रजां विधारयन्ते ?
कतर एतत्प्रकाशयन्ते ?
कः पुनरेषां वरिष्ठः? इति ॥१॥

1) Then the Bhargava, the Vidarbhan, asked him: "Lord, how many Gods maintain this creature, and how many illumine it, and which of these again is the mightiest?"

तस्मै स होवाचाकाशो ह वा एष देवो वायुरग्निरापः पृथिवी वाङमनश्चक्षुः श्रोत्रं च ।
ते प्रकाश्याभिवदन्ति वयमेतद्वाणमवष्टभ्य विधारयामः ॥२॥

2) To him answered the Rishi Pippalada: "These are the Gods, even Ether and Wind and Fire and Water and Earth and Speech and Mind and Sight and Hearing. These nine illumine the creature: therefore they vaunted themselves, 'We, even we support this harp of God and we are the preservers.'

तान् वरिष्ठः प्राण उवाच । मा मोहमापद्यथ अहमेवैतत्पञ्चधात्मानं
प्रविभज्यैतद्वाणमवष्टभ्य विधारयामीति; तेऽश्रद्दधाना वभूवुः ॥३॥

3) "Then answered Breath, their mightiest: 'Yield not unto delusion: I dividing myself into this fivefold support this harp of God, I am its preserver.' But they believed him not.

सोऽभिमानादूर्ध्वमुत्कमत इव; तस्मिन्नुत्कामत्यथेतरे सर्व एवोत्कामन्ते,
तस्मिँश्च प्रतिष्ठमाने सर्व एष प्रातिष्ठन्ते ।
तद्यथा मक्षिका मधुकरराजानमुत्कामन्तं सर्वा एवोत्कामन्ते,
तस्मिँश्च प्रतिष्ठमाने सर्वा एष प्रातिष्ठन्त एवं वाङमनश्चक्षुःश्रोत्रं च,
ते प्रीताः प्राणं स्तुन्वन्ति ॥४॥

4) "Therefore offended he rose up, he was issuing out from the body. But when the Breath goes out, then go all the others with him, and when the Breath abides all the others abide: therefore as bees with the king bee: when he goes

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out all go out with him, and when he abides all abide, even so was it with Speech and Mind and Sight and Hearing: then were they well-pleased and hymned the Breath to adore him.

एषोऽग्निस्तपत्येष सूर्य एष पर्जन्यो मघवानेष वायुः ।
एष पृथिवी रयिर्देवः सदसच्चामृतं च यत् ॥५॥

5) "'Lo this is he that is Fire and the Sun that burns, Rain and Indra and Earth and Air, Matter and Deity, Form and Formless, and Immortality.

अरा इव रथनाभौ प्राणे सर्व प्रतिष्ठितम् ।
ऋचो यजूंषि सामानि यज्ञः क्षत्रं ब्रह्म च ॥६॥

6) "'As the spokes meet in the nave of a wheel, so are all things in the Breath established, the Rig-veda and the Yajur and the Sama, and Sacrifice and Brahminhood and Kshatriyahood.

प्रजापतिश्चरसि गर्भे त्वमेव प्रतिजायसे ।
तुभ्यं प्राण प्रजास्त्विमा बलिं हरन्ति यः प्राणैः प्रतितिष्ठसि ॥७॥

7) "'As the Eternal Father thou movest in the womb and art born in the likeness of the parents. To thee, O Life, the world of creatures offers the burnt offering, who by the breaths abidest.

देवानामसि वह्नितमः पितृणां प्रथमा स्वधा ।
ऋषीणां चरितं सत्यमथर्वाङ्गिरसामसि ॥८॥

8) "'Of all the Gods thou art the strongest and fiercest and to the fathers thou art the first oblation: thou art the truth and virtue of the sages and thou art Atharvan among the sons of Angiras.

इन्द्रस्त्वं प्राण तेजसा रुद्रोऽसि परिरक्षिता ।
त्वमन्तरिक्षे चरसि सूर्यस्त्वं ज्योतिषां पतिः ॥९॥

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9) "'Thou art Indra, O Breath, by thy splendour and energy art Rudra because thou preservest: thou walkest in the welkin as the Sun, that imperial lustre.

यदा त्वमभिवर्षस्यथेमाः प्राण ते प्रजाः ।
आनन्दरुपास्तिष्ठन्ति कामायान्नं भविष्यतीति ॥१०॥

10) "'When thou, O Breath, rainest, thy creatures stand all joy because there shall be grain to the heart's desire.

व्रात्यस्त्वं प्राणैकर्षिरत्ता विश्वस्य सत्पतिः ।
वयमाद्यस्य दातारः पिता त्वं मातरिश्व नः ॥११॥

11) "'Thou art, O Breath, the unpurified and thou art Fire, the only purity, the devourer of all and the lord of existences. We are the givers to thee of thy eating: for thou, O Matarishwan, art our Father.

या ते तनूर्वाचि प्रतिष्ठिता या श्रोत्रे या च चक्षुषि ।
या च मनसि सन्तता शिवां तां कुरु मोत्कमीः ॥१२॥

12) "'That body of thine which is established in the speech, sight and hearing, and in the mind is extended, that make propitious: O Life, go not out from our midst!

प्राणस्येदं वशे सर्वं त्रिदिवे यत् प्रतिष्ठितम् ।
मातेव पुत्रान् रक्षस्व श्रीश्च प्रज्ञां च विधेहि न इति ॥१३॥

13) "'For all this Universe, yea, all that is established in the heavens to the Breath is subject: guard us as a mother watches over her little children: give us fortune and beauty, give us Wisdom.'"

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Third Question

अथ हैनं कौसल्यश्चाश्वलायनः पप्रच्छ ।
भगवन् कुत एष प्राणो जायते कथमायात्यस्मिञ्शरीरे,
आत्मानं वा प्रविभज्य कथं प्रातिष्ठते केनोत्कमते कथं
बाह्यमभिषत्ते कथमध्यात्ममिति ॥१॥

1) Then the Koshalan, the son of Ashwala, asked him: "Lord, whence is this Life born? How comes it in this body or how stands by self-division? By what departs, or how maintains the outward and how the inward spiritual?"

तस्मै स होवाचातिप्रश्नान् पृच्छसि ब्रह्मिष्ठोऽसीति तस्मात्तेऽहं ब्रवीमि ॥२॥

2) To him answered the Rishi Pippalada: "Many and difficult things thou askest: but because thou art very holy, therefore will I tell thee.

आत्मन एष प्राणो जायते ।
यथैषा पुरुषे छायैतस्मिन्नेतदाततं मनोकृतेनायात्यस्मिञ्शरीरे ॥३॥

3) "Of the Spirit is this breath of Life born: even as a shadow is cast by a man, so is this Life extended in the Spirit and by the action of the Mind it enters into this body.

यथा सम्राडेवाधिकृतान् विनियुङक्ते ।
एतान् ग्रामानेतान् ग्रामानधितिष्ठस्वेत्येवमेवैष प्राण इतरान्
प्राणान् पृथक्पृथगेव सन्निधत्ते ॥४॥

4) "As an emperor commands his officers and he says to one, 'Govern for me these villages', and to another 'Govern for me these others', so this breath, the Life, appoints the other breaths each in his province.

पायूपस्थेऽपानं चक्षुःश्रोत्रे मुखनासिकाभ्यां प्राणः स्वयं प्रातिष्ठते मध्ये तु समानः ।
एष ह्येतद्धुतमन्नं समं नयति तस्मादेताः सप्तार्चिषो भवन्ति ॥५॥

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5) "In the anus and the organ of pleasure is the lower breath, and the eyes and the ears, the mouth and the nose, the main breath itself is seated; but the medial breath is in the middle. This is he that equally distributes the burnt offering of food: for from this are the seven fires born.

हृदि ह्येष आत्मा । अत्रैतदेकशतं नाडीनां तासां शतं शतमेकैकस्यां
द्वासप्ततिर्द्वासप्ततिः प्रतिशाखानाडीसहस्त्राणि भवन्त्यासु व्यानश्चरति ॥६॥

6) "The Spirit in the heart abides, and in the heart there are one hundred and one nerves, and each nerve has a hundred branch-nerves and each branch-nerve has seventy-two thousand sub-branch-nerves: through these the breath pervasor moves.

अथैकयोर्ध्व उदानः पुण्येन पुण्यं लोकं नयति ।
पापेन पापमुभाभ्यामेव मनुष्यलोकम् ॥७॥

7) "Of these many there is one by which the upper breath departs that by virtue takes to the heaven of virtue, by sin to the hell of sin, and by mingled sin and righteousness back to the world of men restores.

आदित्यो ह वै बाह्यः प्राण उदयत्येष ह्येनं चाक्षुषं प्राणमनुगृह्रानः ।
पृथिव्यां या देवता सैषा पुरुषस्यापानमवष्टभ्यान्तरा यदाकाशः स समानो वायुर्व्यानः ॥८॥

8) "The Sun is the main breath outside this body, for it cherishes the eye in its rising. The divinity in the earth, she attracts the lower breath of man, and the ether between is the medial breath; air is the breath pervasor.

तेजो ह वा उदानस्तस्मादुपशान्ततेजाः पुनर्भवमिन्द्रियैर्मनसि सम्पद्यमानैः ॥९॥

9) "Light, the primal energy, is the upper breath: therefore when the light and heat in a man has dwindled, his senses

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retire into the mind and with these he departs into another birth.

यच्चित्तस्तेनैष प्राणमायाति प्राणस्तेजसा युक्तः ।
सहात्मना यथासङ्कल्पितं लोकं नयति ॥१०॥

10) "Whatsoever be the mind of a man, with that mind he seeks refuge with the breath when he dies, and the breath and the upper breath lead him with the Spirit within him to the world of his imaginings.

य एवं विद्वान् प्राणं वेद ।
न हास्य प्रजा हीयतेऽमृतो भवति तदेष श्लोकः ॥११॥

11) "The wise man that knows thus of the breath, his progeny wastes not and he becomes immortal. Whereof this is the Scripture:—

उत्पत्तिमायतिं स्थानं विभुत्वं चैव पञ्चषा ।
अध्यात्मं चैव प्राणस्य विज्ञायामृतमश्नुते विज्ञायामृतमश्नुत इति ॥१२॥

12) "'By knowing the origin of the Breath, his coming and his staying and his lordship in the five provinces, likewise his relation to the Spirit, one shall taste immortality.'"

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Fourth Question

अथ हैनं सौर्यायणी गार्ग्यः पप्रच्छ । भगवन्नेतस्मिन् पुरुषे कानि स्वपन्ति ?
कान्यस्मिञ्जाग्रति ? कतर एष देवः स्वप्नान् पश्यति ?
कस्यैतत्सुखं भवति ? कस्मिन्नु सर्वे संप्रतिष्ठिता भवन्तीति ॥१॥

1) Then Gargya of the Solar race asked him, "Lord, what are they that slumber in this Existing and what that keep vigil? Who is this god who sees dreams or whose is this felicity? Into whom do they all vanish?"

तस्मै स होवाच । यथा गार्ग्य मरीचयोऽर्कस्यास्तं गच्छतः सर्वा एतस्मिँस्तेजोमण्डल एकीभवन्ति ।
ताः पुनः पुनरुदयतः प्रचरन्त्येवं ह वै तत् सर्व परे देवे मनस्येकीभवति ।
तेन तर्ह्येष पुरुषो न शृणोति न पश्यति न जिघ्रति न रसयते न स्पृशते
नाभिवदते नादत्ते नानन्दयते न विसृजते नेयायते स्वपितीत्याचक्षते ॥२॥

2) To him answered the Rishi Pippalada: "O Gargya, as are the rays of the sun in its setting, for they retire and all become one in yonder circle of splendour, but when he rises again once more they walk abroad, so all the man becomes one in the highest god, even the mind. Then indeed this being sees not, neither hears, nor does he smell, nor taste, nor touch, nor speaks he aught, nor takes in or gives out, nor comes nor goes: he feels not any felicity. Then they say of him, 'He sleeps.'

प्राणाग्नय एवैतस्मिन् पुरे जाग्रति । गार्हपत्यो ह वा एषोऽपानो व्यानोऽन्वाहार्यपचनो
यद् गार्हपत्यात् प्रणीयते प्रणयनादाहवनीयः प्राणः ॥३॥

3) "But the fires of the breath keep watch in that sleeping city. The lower breath is the householder's fire and the breath pervasor the fire of the Lares that burns to the southward. The main breath is the orient fire of the sacrifice: and even as the eastern fire takes its fuel from the western, so in the

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slumber of a man the main breath takes from the lower.

यदुच्छ्वासनिःश्वासावेतावाहुती समं नयतीति स समानः ।
मनो ह वाव यजमानः इष्टफलमेवोदानः स एनं यजमानमहरहर्ब्रह्म गमयति ॥४॥

4) "But the medial breath is the priest, the sacrificant: for he equalises the offering of the inbreath and the offering of the outbreath. The Mind is the giver of the sacrifice and the upper breath is the fruit of the sacrifice, for it takes the sacrificer day by day into the presence of the Eternal.

अत्रैष देवः स्वप्ने महिमानमनुभवति । यद् दृष्टं दृष्टमनुपश्यति श्रुतं श्रुतमेवार्थमनुशृणोति
देशदिगन्तरैश्च प्रत्यनुभूतं पुनः पुनः प्रत्यनुभवति, दृष्टं चादृष्टं च श्रुतं
चाश्रुतं चानुभूतं चाननुभूतं च सच्चासच्च सर्व पश्यति सर्वः पश्यति ॥५॥

5) "Now the Mind in dream revels in the glory of his imaginings. All that it has seen it seems to see over again, and of all that it has heard it repeats the hearing: yea, all that it has felt and thought and known in many lands and in various regions, these it lives over again in its dreaming. What it has seen and what it has not seen, what it has heard and what it has not heard, what it has known and what it has not known, what is and what is not, all, all it sees: for the Mind is the Universe.

स यदा तेजसाभिभूतो भवत्यत्रैष देवः स्वप्नान् न पश्यत्यथ तदैतस्मिञ्शरीर एतत्सुखं भवति ॥६॥

6) "But when he is overwhelmed with light, then Mind, the God, dreams no longer: then in this body he has felicity.

स यथा सोम्य वयांसि वासोवृक्षं संप्रतिष्ठन्ते, एवं ह वै तत् सर्व पर आत्मनि संप्रतिष्ठते ॥७॥

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7) "O fair son, as birds wing towards their resting tree, so do all these depart into the Supreme Spirit:

पृथिवी च पृथिवीमात्रा चापश्चापोमात्रा च, तेजश्च तेजोमात्रा च वायुश्च वायुमात्रा चाकाशश्चाकाशमात्रा च चक्षुश्च द्रष्टव्यं च श्रोत्रं च श्रोतव्यं च घ्राणं च घ्रातव्यं च रसश्च रसयितव्यं च त्वक्च स्पर्शयितव्यं च वाक्च वक्तव्यं च हस्तौ चादातव्यं चोपस्थश्चानन्दयितव्यं च पायुश्च विसर्जयितव्यं च पादौ च गन्तव्यं च मनश्च मन्तव्यं च बुद्धिश्च बोद्धव्यं चाहंकारश्चाहंकर्त्तव्यं च, चित्तं च चेतयितव्यं च तेजश्च विद्योतयितव्यं च प्राणश्च विधारयितव्यं च ॥८॥

8) "Earth and the inner things of earth: water and the inner things of water: light and the inner things of light: air and the inner things of air: ether and the inner things of ether: the eye and its seeings: the ear and its hearings: smell and the objects of smell: taste and the objects of taste: the skin and the objects of touch: speech and the things to be spoken: the two hands and their takings: the organ of pleasure and its enjoyings: the anus and its excretions: the feet and their goings: the mind and its feelings: the intelligence and what it understands: the sense of Ego and that which is felt to be Ego: the conscious heart and that of which it is conscious: light and what it lightens: Life and the things it maintains.

एष हि द्रष्टा स्प्रष्टा श्रोता घ्राता रसयिता मन्ता बोद्धा कर्त्ता विज्ञानात्मा पुरुषः ।
स परेऽक्षर आत्मनि सम्प्रतिष्ठते ॥९॥

9) "For this that sees and touches, hears, smells, tastes, feels, understands, acts, is the reasoning self, the Male within. This too departs into the Higher Self which is Imperishable.

परमेवाक्षरं प्रतिपद्यते स यो ह वै तदच्छायमशरीरमलोहितं शुभ्रमक्षरं वेदयते यस्तु सोम्य स सर्वज्ञः सर्वो भवति तदेष श्लोकः ॥१०॥

10) "He that knows the shadowless, colourless, bodiless, luminous and imperishable Spirit, attains to the Imperishable,

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even to the Most High. O fair son, he knows the All and becomes the All. Whereof this is the Scripture:—

विज्ञानात्मा सह देवैश्च सर्वैः प्राणा भूतानि संप्रतिष्ठन्ति यत्र ।
तदक्षरं वेदयते यस्तु सोम्य स सर्वज्ञः सर्वमेवाविवेशेति ॥११॥

11) "'He, O fair son, that knows the Imperishable into whom the understanding self departs, and all the Gods, and the life-breaths and the elements, he knows the Universe...!'"

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Fifth Question

अथ हैनं शैब्यः सत्यकामः पप्रच्छ—स यो ह वै तद् भगवन् मनुष्येषु प्रायणान्तमोङ्कारमभिध्यायीत कतमं वाव स तेन लोकं जयतीति ॥१॥

1) Then the Shaibya Satyakama asked him: "Lord, he among men that meditate unto death on OM the syllable, which of the worlds does he conquer by its puissance?"

तस्मै स होवाच एतद् वै सत्यकाम परं चापरं च ब्रह्म यदोङकारः ।
तस्माद् विद्वानेतेनैवायतनेनैकतरमन्वेति ॥२॥

2) To him answered the Rishi Pippalada: "This imperishable Word that is OM, O Satyakama, is the Higher Brahman and also the Lower. Therefore the wise man by making his home in the Word, wins to one of these.

स यद्येकमात्रमभिध्यायीत स तेनैव संवेदितस्तूर्णमेव जगत्यामभिसम्पद्यते ।
तमृचो मनुष्यलोकमुपनयन्ते, स तत्र तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण श्रद्धया सम्पन्नो महिमानमनुभवति ॥३॥

3) "If he meditate on the one letter of OM the syllable, by that enlightened he attains swiftly in the material universe, and the hymns of the Rig-veda escort him to the world of men: there endowed with askesis and faith and holiness he experiences majesty.

अथ यदि द्विमात्रेण मनसि सम्पद्यते सोऽन्तरिक्षं यजुर्भिरुन्नीयते सोमलोकम् ।
स सोमलोके विभूतिमनुभूय पुनरावर्तते ॥४॥

4) "Now if by the two letters of the syllable he in the mind attains, to the skies he is exalted and the hymns of the Yajur escort him to the Lunar World. In the heavens of the Moon he feels his soul's majesty: then once more he returns.

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यः पुनरेतं त्रिमात्रेणौमित्येतेनैवाक्षरेण परं पुरुषमभिध्यायीत स तेजसि सूर्ये सम्पन्नः । यथा पादोदरस्त्वचा विनिर्मुच्यत एवं ह वै स पाप्मना विनिर्मुक्तः स सामभिरुन्नीयते ब्रह्मलोकं स एतस्माज्जीवघनात्परात्परं पुरिशयं पुरुषमीक्षते तदेतौ श्लोकौ भवतः ॥५॥

5) "But he who by all the three letters meditates by this syllable. even by OM on the Most High Being, he in the Solar world of light and energy is secured in his attainings: as a snake casts off its slough, so he casts off sin, and the hymns of the Sama-veda escort him to the heaven of the Spirit. He from that Lower who is the density of existence beholds the Higher than the Highest of whom every form is one city. Whereof these are the verses:—

तिस्त्रो मात्रा मृत्युमत्यः प्रयुक्ता अन्योन्यसक्ता अनविप्रयुक्ताः ।
क्रियासु बाह्यान्तरमध्यमासु सम्यक्प्रयुक्तासु न कम्पते ज्ञः ॥६॥

6) "'Children of death are the letters when they are used as three, the embracing and the inseparable letters: but the wise man is not shaken: for there are three kinds of works, outward deed and inward action and another which is blended of the two, and all these he does rightly without fear and without trembling.

ऋग्भिरेतं यजुर्भिरन्तरिक्षं सामभिर्यत्तत्कवयो वेदयन्ते ।
तमोङ्कारेणैवायतनेनान्वेति विद्वान् यत्तच्छान्तमजरममृतमभयं परं
चेति ॥७॥

7) "'To the earth the Rig-veda leads, to the skies the Yajur, but the Sama to That of which the sages know. Thither the wise man by resting on OM the syllable attains, even to that Supreme Quietude where age is not and fear is cast out by immortality'."

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Sixth Question

अथ हैनं सुकेशा भारद्वाजः पप्रच्छ । भगवान् हिरण्यनाभः कौसल्यो राजपुत्रो मामुपेत्यैतं प्रश्नमपृच्छत—षोडशकलं भारद्वाज पुरुषं वेत्थ? तमहं कुमारमब्रुवं नाहमिमं वेद यद्यहमिममवेदिषं कथं ते नावक्ष्यमिति । समूलो वा एष परिशुष्यति योऽनृतमभिवदति । तस्मान्नार्हाम्यनृतं वक्तुम् । स तूष्णीं रथमारुह्य प्रवव्राज। तं त्वा पृच्छामि क्वासौ पुरुष इति ॥१॥

1) Then Sukesha the Bharadwaja asked him: "Lord, Hiranyanabha of Koshala, the king's son, came to me and put me this question, 'O Bharadwaja, knowest thou the Being and the sixteen parts of Him?' and I answered the boy, 'I know Him not: for if I knew Him, surely I should tell thee of Him: but I cannot tell thee a lie: for from the roots he shall wither who speaks falsehood.' But he mounted his chariot in silence and departed from me. Of Him I ask thee, who is the Being?"

तस्मै स होवाच । इहैवान्तःशरीरे सोम्य स पुरुषो यस्मिन्नेताः षोडश कलाः प्रभवन्तीति ॥२॥

2) To him answered the Rishi Pippalada: "O fair son, even here is that Being, in the inner body of every creature, for in Him are the sixteen members born.

स ईक्षांचके । कस्मिन्नहमुत्कान्त उत्कान्तो भविष्यामि कस्मिन् वा प्रतिष्ठिते प्रतिष्ठास्यामीति ॥३॥

3) "He bethought Him: 'What shall that be in whose issuing forth I shall issue forth from the body and in his abiding I shall abide?'

स प्राणमसृजत । प्राणाच्छ्रद्धां खं वायुर्ज्योतिरापः पृथिवीन्द्रियं मनोऽन्नमन्नाद्वीयं तपो मन्त्राः कर्म लोका लोकेषु च नाम च ॥४॥

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4) "Then he put forth the Life, and from the Life faith, next ether and then air, and then light, and then water, and then earth, the senses and mind and food, and from food virility and from virility askesis, and from askesis the mighty verses, and from these action, and the worlds from action and name in the worlds: in this wise were all things born from the Spirit.

स यथेमा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रायणाः समुद्रं प्राप्यास्तं गच्छन्ति भिद्येते तासां नामरुपे समुद्र इत्येवं प्रोच्यते । एषमेवास्य परिद्रष्टुरिमाः षोडश कलाः पुरुषायणाः पुरुषं प्राप्यास्तं गच्छन्ति; भिद्येते चासां नामरुपे पुरुष इत्येवं प्रोच्यते स एषोऽकलोऽमृतो भवति तदेष श्लोकः ॥५॥

5) "Therefore as all these flowing rivers move towards the sea, but when they reach the sea they are lost in it and name and form break away from them and all is called only the sea, so all the sixteen members of the silent witnessing Spirit move towards the Being, and when they have attained the Being they are lost in Him and name and form break away from them and all is called only the Being: then is He without members and immortal. Whereof this is the Scripture:—

अरा इव रथनाभौ कला यस्मिन् प्रतिष्ठिताः ।
तं वेद्यं पुरुषं वेद यथा मा वो मृत्युः परिव्यथा इति ॥६॥

6) "'He in whom the members are set as the spokes of a wheel are set in its nave, Him know for the Being Who is the goal of Knowledge, so shall death pass away from you and his anguish.'"

तान् होवाचैतावदेवाहमेतत् परं ब्रह्म वेद । नातः परमस्तीति ॥७॥

7) And Pippalada said to them: "Thus far do I know the Most High God: than He there is none Higher."

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ते तमर्चयन्तस्त्वं हि नः पिता योऽस्माकमविद्यायाः परं पारं तारयसीति ।
नमः परमऋषिभ्यो नमः परमऋषिभ्यः ॥८॥

8) And they worshipping him: "For thou art our father who has carried us over to the other side of the Ignorance." Salutation to the mighty sages, salutation!

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Shikshavalli

Chapter One

हरिः ॐ ॥ शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः । शं नो भवत्वर्यमा । शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः । शं नो विष्णुरुरुकमः ॥ नमो ब्रह्मणे । नमस्ते वायो । त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि । त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि । ऋतं वदिष्यामि । सत्यं वदिष्यामि । तन्मामवतु । तद्वक्तारमवतु । अवतु माम् । अवतु वक्तारम् । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Hari OM. Be peace to us Mitra. Be peace to us Varuna. Be peace to us Aryaman. Be peace to us Indra and Brihaspati. May far-striding Vishnu be peace to us. Adoration to the Eternal. Adoration to thee, O Vayu. Thou, thou art the visible Eternal and as the visible Eternal I will declare thee. I will declare Righteousness! I will declare Truth! May that protect me! May that protect the speaker! Yea, may it protect me! May it protect the speaker. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!

Chapter Two

ॐ शीक्षां व्याख्यास्यामः । वर्णः स्वरः । मात्रा बलम् । साम सन्तानः । इत्युक्तः शीक्षाध्यायः ॥

OM. We will expound Shiksha, the elements. Syllable and Accent, Pitch and Effort, Even Tone and Continuity; in these six we have declared the chapter of the elements.

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Chapter Three

सह नौ यशः । सह नौ ब्रह्मवर्चसम् । अथातः संहिताया उपनिषदं व्याख्यास्यामः । पञ्चस्वधिकरणेषु । अधिलोकमधिज्यौतिषमधिविमधिप्रजमध्यात्मम् । ता महसंहिता इत्याचक्षते ।

अथाधिलोकम् । पृथिवी पूर्वरुपम् । द्यौरुत्तररुपम् । आकाशः सन्धिः । वायुः सन्धानम् । इत्यधिलोकम् ॥

अथाधिज्यौतिषम् । अग्निः पूर्वरुपम् । आदित्य उत्तररुपम् । आपः सन्धिः । वैद्युतः सन्धानम् । इत्यधिज्यौतिषम् ।

अथाधिविद्यम् । आचार्यः पूर्वरुपम् । अन्तेवास्युत्तररुपम् । विद्या सन्धिः । प्रवचनं सन्धानम् । इत्यधिविद्यम् ।

अथाधिप्रजम् । माता पूर्वरुपम् । पितोत्तररुपम् । प्रजा सन्धिः । प्रजननं सन्धानम् । इत्यधिप्रजम् ।

अथाध्यात्मम् । अधरा हनुः पूर्वरुपम् । उत्तरा हनुरुत्तररुपम् । वाक् सन्धिः । जिह्वा सन्धानम् । इत्यध्यात्मम् ।

इतीमा महासंहिताः । य एवमेता महासंहिता व्याख्याता वेद । सन्धीयते प्रजया पशुभिः । ब्रह्मवर्चसेनान्नाद्येन सुवर्ग्येण लोकेन ॥

Together may we attain glory, together to the radiance of holiness. Hereupon we will expound next the secret meaning of Sanhita whereof there are five capitals. Concerning the Worlds: Concerning the Shining Fires: Concerning the Knowledge: Concerning Progeny: Concerning Self. These are called the great Sanhitas.

Now concerning the Worlds. Earth is the first form, the heavens are the second form; ether is the linking; air is joint of the linking. Thus far concerning the Worlds.

Next concerning the Shining Fires. Fire is the first form, the Sun is the latter form; the waters are the linking; electricity is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning the Shining Fires.

Next concerning the Knowledge. The Master is the first form, the disciple is the latter form. Knowledge is the linking. Exposition is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning the Knowledge.

Next concerning Progeny. The mother is the first form; the father is the latter form, Progeny is the linking, act of procreation is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning Progeny.

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Next concerning Self. The upper jaw is the first form; the lower jaw is the latter form; speech is the linking; the tongue is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning Self.

These are the great Sanhitas. He who knows thus the great Sanhitas as we have expounded them, to him are linked progeny and wealth of cattle and the radiance of holiness and food and all that is of food and the world of his high estate in heaven.

Chapter Four

यश्छन्दसामृषभो विश्वरुपः । छन्दोभ्योऽध्यमृतात्सम्बभूव । स मेन्द्रो मेधया स्पृणोतु । अमृतस्य देव धारणो भूयासम् । शरीरं मे विचर्षणम् । जिह्वा मे मधुमत्तमा । कर्णाभ्यां भूरि विश्रुवम् । ब्रह्मणः कोशोऽसि मेधया पिहितः । श्रुतं मे गोपाय ।

आवहन्ती वितन्वाना । कुर्वाणा चीरमात्मनः । वासांसि मम गावश्च । अन्नपाने च सर्वदा । ततो मे श्रियमावह । लोमशां पशुभिः सह स्वाहा ।

आ मा यन्तु ब्रह्मचारिणः स्वाहा ।
वि मा यन्तु ब्रह्मचारिणः स्वाहा ।
प्र मा यन्तु ब्रह्मचारिणः स्वाहा ।
दमायन्तु ब्रह्मचारिणः स्वाहा ।
शमायन्तु ब्रह्मचारिणः स्वाहा ।
यशो जनेऽसानि स्वाहा ।
श्रेयान् वस्यसोऽसानि स्वाहा ।
तं त्वा भग प्रविशानि स्वाहा ।
स मा भग प्रविश स्वाहा ।
तस्मिन् सहस्त्रशाखे । नि भगाहं त्वयि मृजे स्वाहा ।
यथापः प्रवता यन्ति । यथा मासा अहर्जरम् । एवं मां ब्रह्मचारिणोः धातरायन्तु सर्वतः स्वाहा ।
प्रतिवेशोऽसि । प्र मा भाहि । प्र मा पद्यस्व ।

The bull of the hymns of Veda whose visible form is all this Universe, he above the Vedas who sprang from that which is deathless, may Indra increase unto me intellect for my strengthening. O God, may I become a vessel of immortality. May my

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body be swift to all works, may my tongue drop pure honey. May I hear vast and manifold lore with my ears. O Indra, thou art the sheath of the Eternal and the veil that the workings of brain have drawn over Him; preserve whole unto me the sacred lore that I have studied.

She brings unto me wealth and extends it, yea, she makes speedily my own raiment and cattle and drink and food now and always; therefore carry to me Fortune of much fleecy wealth and cattle with her. Swaha!

May the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha!

From here and there may the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha!

May the Brahmacharins set forth unto me. Swaha!

May the Brahmacharins attain self-mastery. Swaha!

May the Brahmacharins attain to peace of soul. Swaha!

May I be a name among the folk! Swaha!

May I be the first of the wealthy! Swaha!

O Glorious Lord, into that which is thou may I enter. Swaha!

Do thou also enter into me, O shining One. Swaha!

Thou art a river with a hundred branching streams, O Lord of Grace, in thee may I wash me clean. Swaha!

As the waters of a river pour down the steep, as the months of the year hasten to the old age of days, O Lord that cherisheth, so may the Brahmacharins come to me from all the regions. Swaha!

O Lord, thou art my neighbour, thou dwellest very near me. Come to me, be my light and sun.

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Chapter Five

भूर्भुवः सुवरिति वा एतास्तिस्त्रो व्याहृतयः । तासामु ह स्मैतां चतुर्थी माहाचमस्यः प्रवेदयते । मह इति । तद् ब्रह्म । स आत्मा । अङ्गान्यन्या देवताः ।

भूरिति वा अयं लोकः । भुव इत्यन्तरिक्षम् । सुवरित्यसौ लोकः । मह इत्यादित्यः । आदित्येन वाव सर्वे लोका महीयन्ते ।

भूरिति वा अग्निः । भुव इति वायुः । सुवरित्यादित्यः । मह इति चन्द्रमाः । चन्द्रमसा वाव सर्वाणि ज्योतींषि महीयन्ते ।

भूरिति वा ऋचः । भुव इति सामानि । सुवरिति यजूंषि । मह इति ब्रह्म । ब्रह्मणा वाव सर्वे वेदा महीयन्ते ।

भूरिति वै प्राणः । भुव इत्यपानः । सुवरिति व्यानः । मह इत्यन्नम् । अन्नेन वाव सर्वे प्राणा महीयन्ते ।

ता वा एताश्चतस्त्रश्चतुर्धा । चतस्त्रश्चतस्त्रो व्याहृतयः । ता यो वेद । स वेद ब्रह्म । सर्वेऽस्मै देवा बलिमावहन्ति ॥

Bhur, Bhuvar and Suvar, these are the three Words of His naming. Verily, the Rishi Mahachamasya made known a fourth to these, which is Mahas. It is Brahman, it is the Self, and the other gods are his members.

Bhur, it is this world; Bhuvar, it is the sky; Suvar, it is the other world: but Mahas is the Sun. By the Sun all these worlds increase and prosper.

Bhur, it is Fire; Bhuvar, it is Air; Suvar, it is the Sun; but Mahas is the Moon. By the Moon all these lights of heaven¹ increase and prosper.

Bhur, it is the hymns of the Rig-veda; Bhuvar, it is the hymns of the Sama; Suvar, it is the hymns of the Yajur; but Mahas is the Eternal. By the Eternal all these Vedas increase and prosper.

Bhur, it is the main breath; Bhuvar, it is the lower breath; Suvar, it is the breath pervasor; but Mahas is food. By food all these breaths increase and prosper.

These are the four and they are fourfold;—four Words of His naming and each is four again. He who knows these knows the Eternal, and to him all the Gods carry the offering.

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Chapter Six

स य एषोन्तर्हृदय आकाशः । तस्मिन्नयं पुरुषो मनोमयः । अमृतो हिरण्मयः । अन्तरेण तालुके । य एष स्तन इवावलम्बते । सेन्द्रयोनिः । यत्रासौ केशान्तो विवर्तते । व्यपोह्य शीर्षकपाले ।

भूरित्यग्नौ प्रतितिष्ठति । भुव इति वायौ । सुवरित्यादित्ये । मह इति ब्रह्मणि । आप्नोति स्वाराज्यम् । आप्नोति मनसस्पतिम् । वाक्पतिश्चक्षुष्पतिः । श्रोत्रपतिर्विज्ञानपतिः । एतत्ततो भवति । आकाशशरीरं ब्रह्म । स्तायत्म प्राणारामं मन आनन्दम् । शान्तिसमृद्धममृतम् । इति प्राचीनयोग्योपास्स्व॥

Lo, this heaven of ether which is in the heart within, there dwells the Being who is all Mind, the radiant and golden Immortal. Between the two palates, this that hangs down like the breast of a woman, is the womb of Indra; yea, where the hair at its end whirls round like an eddy, there it divides the skull and pushes through it.

As Bhur He is established in Agni, as Bhuvar in Vayu, as Suvar in the Sun, as Mahas in the Eternal. He attains to the kingdom of Himself; He attains to the Lord of Mind; He becomes Lord of Speech, Lord of Sight, Lord of Hearing, Lord of the Knowledge. Thereafter this too He becomes,—the Eternal whose body is all ethereal space, whose soul is Truth, whose bliss is in Mind, who takes His ease in Prana, the Rich in Peace, the Immortal. As such, 0 son of the ancient Yoga, do thou adore Him.

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Chapter Seven

पृथिव्यन्तरिक्षं द्यौर्दिशोऽवान्तरदिशः । अग्निर्वायुरादित्यश्चन्द्रमा नक्षत्राणि । आप ओषधयो वनस्पतय आकाश आत्मा । इत्यधिभूतम् ।

अथाध्यात्मम् । प्राणो व्यानोऽपान उदानः समानः ।

चक्षुः श्रोत्रं मनो वाक्त्वक् । चर्म मांसं स्नावास्थि मज्जा । एतदधिविधायऋषिरवोचत् । पाङक्तं वा इदं सर्वम् । पाङ्क्तेनैव पाङ्क्तं स्पृणोतीति ॥

Earth, sky, heaven, the quarters and the lesser quarters; Fire, Air, Sun, Moon and the Constellations; Waters, herbs of healing, trees of the forest, ether and the Self in all; these three concerning this outer creation.

Then concerning the Self. The main breath, the middle breath, the nether breath, the upper breath and the breath pervasor;

Eye, ear, mind, speech and the skin; hide, flesh, muscle, bone and marrow. Thus the Rishi divided them and said, "In sets of five is this universe; five and five with five and five He relates."

Chapter Eight

ओमिति ब्रह्म । ओमितीदं सर्वम् । ओमित्येतदनुकृति र्ह स्म वा अप्यो श्रावयेत्याश्रावयन्ति । ओमिति सामानि गायन्ति । ओम् शोमिति शस्त्राणि शंसन्ति । ओमित्यघ्वर्युः प्रतिगरं प्रतिगृणाति । ओमिति ब्रह्मा प्रसौति । ओमित्यग्निहोत्रमनुजानाति । ओमिति ब्राह्मणः प्रवक्ष्यन्नाह ब्रह्मोपाप्नवानीति । ब्रह्मैवोपाप्नोति ॥

OM is the Eternal, OM is all this universe. OM is the syllable of assent: saying, 'OM! let us hear,' they begin the citation. With OM they sing the hymns of the Sama; with OM SHOM they pronounce the Shastra. With OM the priest officiating at the sacrifice says the response. With OM Brahma begins creation.² With OM one sanctions the burnt offering. With OM the Brahmin ere he expound the Knowledge, cries "May I attain the Eternal." The Eternal verily he attains.

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Chapter Nine

ऋतं च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । सत्यं च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । तपश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । दमश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । शमश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । अग्नयश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । अग्निहोत्रं च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । अतिथयश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । मानुषं च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । प्रजा च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । प्रजनश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । प्रजातिश्च स्वाध्यायप्रवचने च । सत्यमिति सत्यवचा राथीतरः । तप इति तपोनित्यः पौरुशिष्टिः । स्वाध्यायप्रवचने एवेति नाको मौद्गल्यः । तद्धि तपस्तद्धि तपः ॥

Righteousness with the study and teaching of Veda; Truth with the study and teaching of Veda; askesis with the study and teaching of Veda; self-mastery with the study and teaching of Veda. Peace of soul with the study and teaching of Veda. The household fires with the study and teaching of Veda. The burnt offering with the study and teaching of Veda. Progeny with the study and teaching of Veda. Joy of thy child's mother³ with the study and teaching of Veda. Children of thy children with the study and teaching of Veda—these duties. "Truth is first," said the truth-speaker, the Rishi, son of Rathitara. "Askesis is first," said the constant in austerity, the Rishi, son of Purushishta. "Study and teaching of Veda is first," said Naka, son of Mudgala. For this too is austerity and this too is askesis.

Chapter Ten

अहं वृक्षस्य रेरिवा । कीर्तिः पृष्ठं गिरेरिव । ऊर्ध्वपवित्रो वाजिनीव स्वमृतमस्मि । द्रविणं सवर्चसम् । सुमेधा अमृतोक्षितः । इति त्रिशङ्कोर्वेदानुवचनम् ॥

"I am He that moves the Tree of the Universe and my glory is like the shoulders of a high-mountain. I am lofty and pure like sweet nectar in the strong, I am the shining riches of the world, I am the deep thinker, the deathless One who decays not from the beginning." This is Trishanku's voicing of Veda and the hymn of his self-knowledge.

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Chapter Eleven

वेदमनूच्याचार्योऽन्तेवासिनमनुशास्ति ।

सत्यं वद । धर्म चर । स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः । आचार्याय प्रियं धनमाहृत्य प्रजातन्तुं मा व्यवच्छेत्सीः । सत्यान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । धर्मान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । कुशलान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । भूत्यै न प्रमदितव्यम् । स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ।

देवपितृकार्याभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । मातृदेवो भव । पितृदेवो भव । आचार्यदेवो भव । अतिथिदेवो भव । यान्यनवद्यानि कर्माणि । तानि सेवितव्यानि । नो इतराणि । यान्यस्माकं सुचरितानि । तानि त्वयोपास्यानि । नो इतराणि ।

ये के चास्मच्छ्रेयांसो ब्राह्मणाः । तेषां त्वयासनेन प्रश्वसितव्यम् । श्रद्धया देयम् । अश्रद्धयाऽदेयम् । श्रिया देयम् । ह्रिया देयम् । भिया देयम् । संविदा देयम् ।

अथ यदि ते कर्मविचिकित्सा वा वृत्तविचिकित्सा वा स्यात् । ये तत्र ब्राह्मणाः सम्मर्शिनः । युक्ता आयुक्ताः । अलूक्षा धर्मकामाः स्युः । यथा ते तत्र वर्तेरन् । तथा तत्र वर्तेथाः । अथाभ्याख्यातेषु । ये तत्र ब्राह्मणाः सम्मर्शिनः । युक्ता आयुक्ताः । अलूक्षा धर्मकामाः स्युः । यथा ते तेषु वर्तेरन् । तथा तेषु वर्तेथाः ।

एष आदेशः । एष उपदेशः । एषा वेदोपनिषत् । एतदनुशासनम् । एवमुपासितव्यम् । एवमु चैतदुपास्यम् ॥

When the Master has declared Veda, then he gives the commandments to his disciple.

Speak truth, walk in the way of thy duty, neglect not the study of Veda. When thou hast brought to thy Master the wealth that he desires, thou shalt not cut short the long thread of thy race. Thou shalt not be negligent of truth; thou shalt not be negligent of thy duty, thou shalt not be negligent of welfare; thou shalt not be negligent towards thy increase and thy thriving; thou shalt not be negligent of the study and teaching of Veda.

Thou shalt not be negligent of thy works unto the Gods or thy works unto the Fathers. Let thy father be unto thee as thy God and thy mother as thy Goddess whom thou adorest. Serve the Master as a God and as a God the stranger within thy dwelling. The works that are without blame before the people, thou shalt do these with diligence and no others. The deeds we have

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done that are good and righteous, thou shalt practise these as a religion and no others.

Whosoever are better and nobler than we among the Brahmins, thou shalt refresh with a seat to honour them. Thou shalt give with faith and reverence; without faith thou shalt not give. Thou shalt give with shame, thou shalt give with fear; thou shalt give with fellow-feeling.

Moreover if thou doubt of thy course or of thy action, then to whatsoever Brahmins be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they do in that thing, so do thou. Then as to men accused and arraigned by their fellows, whatsoever Brahmins be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they are towards these; so be thou.

This is the law and the teaching. These are the Commandments. In such wise shalt thou practise religion yea, verily, in such wise do ever religiously.

Chapter Twelve

शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः । शं नो भवत्वर्यमा । शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः । शं नो विष्णुरुरुकमः । नमो ब्रह्मणे । नमस्ते वायो । त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि । त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मावादिषम् । ऋतमवादिषम् । सत्यमवादिषम् । तन्मामावीत् । तद्वक्तारमावीत् । आवीन्माम् । आवीद्वक्तारम् । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Be peace to us Mitra. Be peace to us Varuna. Be peace to us Aryaman. Be peace to us Indra and Brihaspati. May far-striding Vishnu be peace to us. Adoration to the Eternal. Adoration to thee, O Vayu. Thou, thou art the visible Eternal and as the visible Eternal I have declared thee. I have declared Righteousness; I have declared Truth. That has protected me. That has protected the speaker. Yea, it protected me; it protected the speaker. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!

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Brahmanandavalli

Chapter One

हरिः ॐ । सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्य करवावहै । तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु । मा विद्विषावहै । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

ॐ ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परम् । तदेषाभ्युक्ता । सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म । यो वेद निहितं गुहायां परमे व्योमन् । सोऽश्नुते सर्वान् कामान् सह ब्रह्मणा विपश्चितेति ।

तस्माद्वा एतस्मादात्मन आकाशः सम्भूतः । आकाशाद्वायुः । वायोरग्निः । अग्नेरापः । अद्भ्यः पृथिवी । पृथिव्या ओषधयः । ओषधीभ्योऽन्नम् । अन्नात्पुरुषः । स वा एष पुरुषोऽन्नरसमयः । तस्येदमेव शिरः । अयं दक्षिणः पक्षः । अयमुत्तरः पक्षः । अयमात्मा । इदं पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

Hari OM. Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility. May our study be full to us of light and power. May we never hate. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!

OM. The knower of Brahman attains the Highest; for this is the verse that was declared of old, "Brahman is Truth, Brahman is Knowledge, Brahman is the Infinite, he finds Him hidden in the cavern heart of being; in the highest heaven of His creatures, lo, he enjoys all desire and he abides with the Eternal, ever with that cognisant and understanding Spirit."

This is the Self, the Spirit, and from the Spirit ether was born; and from the ether, air; and from the air, fire; and from the fire, the waters; and from the waters, earth; and from the earth, herbs and plants; and from the herbs and plants, food; and from food man was born. Verily, man, this human being, is made of the essential substance of food. And this that we see is the head of him, and this is his right side and this is his left; and this is his spirit and the self of him; and this is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Two

अन्नाद्वै प्रजाः प्रजायन्ते । याः काश्च पृथिवीं श्रिताः । अथो अन्नेनैव जीवन्ति । अथैनदपियन्त्यन्ततः । अन्नं हि भूतानां ज्येष्ठम् । तस्मात् सर्वौषधमुच्यते । सर्व वै तेऽन्नमाप्नुवन्ति येऽन्नं ब्रह्मोपासते । अन्नं हि भूतानां ज्येष्ठम् । तस्मात्सर्वौषधमुच्यते । अन्नाद् भूतानि जायन्ते । जातान्यन्नेन वर्धन्ते । अद्यतेऽत्ति च भूतानि । तस्मादन्नं तदु च्यत इति ।

तस्माद्वा एतस्मादन्नरसमयात् । अन्योऽन्तर आत्मा प्राणमयः । तेनैष पूर्णः । स वा एष पुरुषविध एव । तस्य पुरुषविधताम् । अन्वयं पुरुषविधः । तस्य प्राण एष शिरः । व्यानो दक्षिणः पक्षः । अपान उत्तरः पक्षः । आकाश आत्मा । पृथिवी पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

Verily, all sorts and races of creatures that have their refuge upon earth, are begotten from food; thereafter they live also by food and it is to food again that they return at the end and last. For food is the eldest of created things and therefore they name it the Green Stuff of the universe. Verily, they who worship the Eternal as food, attain the mastery of food to the uttermost; for Food is the eldest of created things and therefore they name it the Green Stuff of the universe. From food all creatures are born and being born they grow¹ by food. Lo, it is eaten and it eats; yea, it devours the creatures that feed upon it, therefore it is called food from the eating.

Now there is a second and inner Self which is other than this that is of the substance of food; and it is made of the vital stuff called Prana. And the Self of Prana fills the Self of food. Now the Self of Prana is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. The main Breath is the head of him, the breath pervasor is his right side and the lower breath is his left side; ether is his spirit which is the self of him, earth is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Three

प्राणं देवा अनु प्राणन्ति । मनुष्याः पशवश्च ये । प्राणो हि भूतानामायुः । तस्मात्सर्वायुषमुच्यते । सर्वमेव त आयुर्यन्ति ये प्राणं ब्रह्मोपासते । प्राणो हि भूतानामायुः । तस्मात्सर्वायुषमुच्यत इति । तस्यैष एव शारीर आत्मा यः पूर्वस्य ।

तस्माद्वा एतस्मात्प्राणमयात् । अन्योऽन्तर आत्मा मनोमयः । तेनैष पूर्णः । स वा एष पुरुषविध एव । तस्य पुरुषविधताम् । अन्वयं पुरुषविधः । तस्य यजुरेव शिरः । ऋग् दक्षिणः पक्षः । सामोत्तरः पक्षः । आदेश आत्मा । अथर्वाङ्गिरसः पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

The Gods live and breathe under the dominion of Prana and men and all these that are beasts; for Prana is the life of created things and therefore they name it the Life-Stuff of the All. Verily, they who worship the Eternal as Prana, reach² Life to the uttermost; for Prana is the life of created things and therefore they name it the Life-Stuff of the All. And this Self of Prana is the soul in the body of the former one which was of food.

Now there is yet a second and inner Self which is other than this that is of Prana, and it is made of Mind. And the Self of Mind fills the Self of Prana. Now the Self of Mind is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. Yajur is the head of him and the Rig-veda is his right side and the Sama-veda is his left side: the Commandment is his spirit which is the self of him, Atharvan Angiras is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Four

यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते । अप्राप्य मनसा सह । आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान् । न बिभेति कदाचनेति । तस्यैष एष शारीर आत्मा यः पूर्वस्य ।

तस्माद्वा एतस्मान्मनोमयात् । अन्योऽन्तर आत्मा विज्ञानमयः । तेनैष पूर्णः । स वा एष पुरुषविध एष । तस्य पुरुषविधताम् । अन्वयं पुरुषविधः । तस्य श्रद्धैव शिरः । ऋतं दक्षिणः पक्षः । सत्यमुत्तरः पक्षः । योग आत्मा । महः पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

The delight of the Eternal from which words turn away without attaining and the mind also returns baffled: who knows the delight of the Eternal, he shall fear nought now or hereafter. And this Self of Mind is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Prana.

Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Mind and it is made of Knowledge. And the Self of Knowledge fills the Self of Mind. Now the Knowledge Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. Faith is the head of him, Law is his right side, Truth is his left side; Yoga is his spirit which is the self of him; Mahas³ is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Five

विज्ञानं यज्ञं तनुते । कर्माणि तनुतेऽपि च । विज्ञानं देवाः सर्वे । ब्रह्म ज्येष्ठमुपासते । विज्ञानं ब्रह्म चेद्वेद । तस्माच्चेन्न प्रमाद्यति । शरीरे पाप्मनो हित्वा । सर्वान् कामान् समश्नुत इति । तस्यैष एष शारीर आत्मा यः पूर्वस्य ।

तस्माद्वा एतस्माद्विज्ञानमयात् । अन्योऽन्तर आत्माऽऽनन्दमयः । तेनैष पूर्णः । स वा एष पुरुषविध एष । तस्य पुरुषविधताम् । अन्वयं पुरुषविधः । तस्य प्रियमेव शिरः । मोदो दक्षिणः पक्षः । प्रमोद उत्तरः पक्षः । आनन्द आत्मा । ब्रह्म पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

Knowledge spreads the feast of sacrifice and knowledge spreads also the feast of works; all the gods offer adoration to him as to Brahman and the Elder of the Universe. For if one worship Brahman as the knowledge and if one swerve not from it neither falter, then he casts sin from him in this body and tastes all desire. And this Self of Knowledge is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Mind.

Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Knowledge and it is fashioned out of Bliss. And the Self of Bliss fills the Self of Knowledge. Now the Bliss Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it made in the image of the man. Love is the head of him; Joy is his right side; pleasure is his left side; Bliss is his spirit which is the self of him; the Eternal is his lower member wherein he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Six

असन्नेव स भवति । असद् ब्रह्मेति वेद चेत् । अस्ति ब्रह्मेति चेद्वेद । सन्तमेनं ततो विदुरिति ॥ तस्यैष एव शारीर आत्मा यः पूर्वस्य । अथातोऽनुप्रश्नाः । उताविद्वानमुं लोकं प्रेत्य । कश्चन गच्छती ३। आहो विद्वानमुं लोकं प्रेत्य । कश्चित्समश्नुता ३ उ।

सोऽकामयत । बहु स्यां प्रजायेयेति । स तपोऽतप्यत । स तपस्तप्त्वा । इदं सर्वमसृजत । यदिदं किंच । तत् सृष्ट्वा तदेवानुप्राविशत् । तदनुप्रविश्य । सच्च त्यच्चाभवत् । निरुक्तं चानिरुक्तं च । निलयनं चानिलयनं च । विज्ञानं चाविज्ञानं च । सत्यं चानृतं च सत्यमभवत् । यदिदं किंच । तत्सत्यमित्याचक्षते । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

One becomes as the unexisting, if he knows the Eternal as negation; but if one knows of the Eternal that He is, then men know him for the saint and the one reality. And this Self of Bliss is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Knowledge. And thereupon there arise these questions. "When one who has not the Knowledge, passes over to that other world, does any such travel farther? Or when one who knows, has passed over to the other world, does any such enjoy possession?"

The Spirit desired of old, "I would be manifold for the birth of peoples." Therefore He concentrated all Himself⁴ in thought, and by the force of His brooding He created all this universe, yea, all whatsoever exists. Now when He had brought it forth, He entered into that He had created, He entering in became the Is here and the May Be there; He became that which is defined and that which has no feature; He became this housed thing and that houseless; He became Knowledge and He became Ignorance; He became Truth and He became falsehood. Yea, He became all truth, even whatsoever here exists. Therefore they say of Him that He is Truth. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Seven

असद् वा इदमग्र आसीत् । ततो वै सदजायत । तदात्मानं स्वयमकुरुत । तस्मात् तत्सुकृतमुच्यत इति । यद् वै तत् सुकृतम् । रसो वै सः । रसं ह्येवायं लब्ध्वानन्दी भवति । को ह्येवान्यात् कः प्राण्यात् । यदेष आकाश आनन्दो न स्यात् । एष ह्येवानन्दयाति । यदा ह्येवैष एतस्मिन्नदृश्येऽनात्म्येऽनिरुक्तेऽनिलयनेऽभयं प्रतिष्ठां विन्दते । अथ सोऽभयं गतो भवति । यदा ह्येवैष एतस्मिन्नुदरमन्तरं कुरुते । अथ तस्य भयं भवति । तत्त्वेव भयं विदुषो मन्वानस्य । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

In the beginning all this Universe was Non-Existent and Unmanifest, from which this manifest Existence was born. Itself created itself; none other created it. Therefore they say of it the well and beautifully made. Lo, this that is well and beautifully made, verily, it is no other than the delight behind existence. When he has got him this delight, then it is that this creation becomes a thing of bliss; for who could labour to draw in the breath or who could have strength to breathe it out, if there were not that Bliss in the heaven of his heart, the ether within his being? It is He that is the fountain of bliss; for when the Spirit that is within us finds the Invisible, Bodiless, Undefinable and Unhoused Eternal his refuge and firm foundation, then he has passed beyond the reach of Fear. But when the Spirit that is within us makes for himself even a little difference in the Eternal, then he has fear, yea, the Eternal himself becomes a terror to such a knower who thinks not. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Eight

भीषाऽस्माद्वातः पवते । भीषोदेति सूर्यः । भीषाऽस्मादग्निश्चेन्द्रश्च । मृत्युर्धावति पञ्चम इति ॥ सैषाऽऽनन्दस्य मीमांसा भवति । युया स्यात् साधुयुवाऽध्यायकः । आशिष्ठो द्रढिष्ठो बलिष्ठः । तस्येयं पृथिवी सर्वा वित्तस्य पूर्णा स्यात् । स एको मानुष आनन्दः । ते ये शतं मानुषा आनन्दाः । स एको मनुष्यगन्धर्वाणामानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतं मनुष्यगन्धर्वाणामानन्दाः । स एको देवगन्धर्वाणामानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतं देवगन्धर्वाणामानन्दाः । स एकः । पितृणां चिरलोकलोकानामानन्दाः । स एक आजानजानां देवानामानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतमाजानजानां देवानामानन्दाः । स एकः कर्मदेवानां देवानामानन्दः । ये कर्मणा देवानपियन्ति । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतं कर्मदेवानां देवानामानन्दाः । स एको देवानामानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतं देवानामानन्दाः । स एक इन्द्रस्यानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतमिन्द्रस्यानन्दाः । स एको बृहस्पतेरानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतं बृहस्पतेरानन्दाः । स एकः प्रजापतेरानन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य । ते ये शतं प्रजापतेरानन्दाः । स एको ब्रह्मण आनन्दः । श्रोत्रियस्य चाकामहतस्य ।

स यश्चायं पुरुषे । यश्चासावादित्ये । स एकः । स य एवंवित् । अस्माल्लोकात् प्रेत्य । एतमन्नमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कामति । एतं प्राणमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कामति । एतं मनोमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कामति । एतं विज्ञानमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कामति । एतमानन्दमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कामति । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥

Through the fear of Him the Wind blows; through the fear of Him the Sun rises; through the fear of Him Indra and Agni and Death hasten in their courses. Behold this exposition of the Bliss to which ye shall hearken. Let there be a young man, excellent and lovely in his youth, a great student; let him have fair manners, and a most firm heart and great strength of body, and let all this wide earth be full of wealth for his enjoying. That is the measure of bliss of one human being. Now a hundred and a hundredfold of the human measure of bliss, is the one bliss of men that have become angels in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A

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hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of angelic bliss is one bliss of Gods that are angels in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of divine angelic bliss is one bliss of the Fathers whose world of heaven is their world for ever. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundred­fold of this measure of bliss of the Fathers whose worlds are for ever, is one bliss of the Gods who are born as Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the firstborn in heaven, is one bliss of the Gods of work who are Gods, for by their strength of their deeds they depart and are Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the Gods of work, is one bliss of the great Gods who are Gods for ever. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of divine bliss, is one bliss of Indra, the King in Heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Indra's bliss is one bliss of Brihaspati, who taught the Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Brihaspati's bliss, is one bliss of Prajapati, the Almighty Father. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Prajapati's bliss, is one bliss of the Eternal Spirit. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not.

The Spirit who is here in a man and the Spirit who is there in the Sun, it is one Spirit and there is no other. He who knows this, when he has gone away from this world, passes to this Self which is of food; he passes to this Self which is of Prana; he passes to this Self which is of Mind; he passes to this Self which is of Knowledge; he passes to this Self which is of Bliss. Whereof this is the Scripture.

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Chapter Nine

यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते । अप्राप्य मनसा सह । आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान् । न विभेति कुतश्चनेति । एतं ह वाव न त्रपति । किमहं साधु नाकरवम् । किमहं पापमकरवमिति । स य एवं विद्वानेते आत्मानं स्पृणुते । उभे ह्येवैष एते आत्मानं स्पृणुते । य एवं वेद । इत्युपनिषत् ।

सह नाववस्तु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्यं करवावहै । तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु । मा विद्विषावहै । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

The Bliss of the Eternal from which words turn back without attaining and mind also returns baffled: who knows the Bliss of the Eternal, he fears not for aught in this world or elsewhere. Verily, to him comes not remorse and her torment saying, "Why have I left undone the good and why have I done that which was evil?" For he who knows the Eternal, knows these⁵ and delivers from them his Spirit; yea, he knows both evil and good for what they are and delivers his Spirit, who knows the Eternal. And this is Upanishad, the secret of the Veda.

Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility. May our reading be full of light and power. May we never hate. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!

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Bhriguvalli

हरिः ॐ । सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्य करवावहै । तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु । मा विद्विषावहै॥ ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Hari OM. Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us force and virility! May our reading be full of light and power! May we never hate! OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!

Chapter One

भृगुर्वे वारुणिः । वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति । तस्मा एतत् प्रोवाच । अन्नं प्राणं चक्षुः श्रोत्रं मनो वाचमिति । तं होवाच । यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । येन जातानि जीवन्ति । यत् प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति । तद् विजिज्ञासस्व । तद् ब्रह्मेति । स तपोऽतप्यत । स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥

Bhrigu, Varuna's son, came unto his father Varuna and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." And his father declared it unto him thus, "Food and Prana and Eye and Ear and Mind—even these." Verily he said unto him, "Seek thou to know that from which these creatures are born, whereby being born they live and to which they go hence and enter again; for that is the Eternal." And Bhrigu concentrated himself in thought and by the askesis of his brooding

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Chapter Two

अन्नं ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । अन्नाद्धयेव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । अन्नेन जातानि जीवन्ति । अन्नं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति । तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति । स तपोऽतप्यत॥ स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥

He knew food for the Eternal. For from food alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by food, and into food they depart and enter again. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." And his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for askesis¹ is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding

Chapter Three

प्राणो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । प्राणाद्धयेव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । प्राणेन जातानि जीवन्ति । प्राणं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति । तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति । स तपोऽतप्यत । स तपस्तप्त्वा ।

He knew Prana for the Eternal. For from Prana alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Prana and to Prana they go hence and return. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." But his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for askesis in thought is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding

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Chapter Four

मनो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । मनसो ह्येव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । मनसा जातानि जीवन्ति । मनः प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति । तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति । स तपोऽतप्यत । स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥

He knew mind for the Eternal. For from mind alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by mind, and to mind they go hence and return. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." But his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for concentration in thought² is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding

Chapter Five

विज्ञानं ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । विज्ञानाद्धयेव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । विज्ञानेन जातानि जीवन्ति । विज्ञानं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति । तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति । स तपोऽतप्यत । स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥

He knew Knowledge for the Eternal. For from Knowledge alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Knowledge and to Knowledge they go hence and return. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." But his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for concentration of force is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding

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Chapter Six

आनन्दो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । आनन्दाद्धयेव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । आनन्देन जातानि जीवन्ति । आनन्दं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ सैषा भार्गवी वारुणी विद्या । परमे व्योमन्प्रतिष्ठिता । स य एवं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति । अन्नवानन्नादो भवति । महान् भवति प्रजया पशुभिर्ब्रह्मवर्चसेन । महान् कीर्त्या ॥

He knew Bliss for the Eternal. For from Bliss alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Bliss and to Bliss they go hence and return. This is the lore of Bhrigu, the lore of Varuna who hath his firm base in the highest heaven. Who knows, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the splendour of holiness, great in glory.

Chapter Seven

अन्नं न निन्द्यात् । तद् व्रतम् । प्राणो वा अन्नम् । शरीरमन्नादम् । प्राणे शरीरं प्रतिष्ठितम् । शरीरे प्राणः प्रतिष्ठितः । तदेतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितम् । स य एतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति । अन्नवानन्नावो भवति । महान् भवति प्रजया पशुभिर्ब्रह्मवर्चसेन । महान् कीर्त्या ॥

Thou shalt not blame food; for that is thy commandment unto labour. Verily, Prana also is food, and the body is the eater. The body is established upon Prana and Prana is established upon the body. Therefore food here is established upon food. He who knows this food that is established upon food, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the radiance of holiness, great in glory.

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Chapter Eight

अन्नं न परिचक्षीत । तद् व्रतम् । आपो वा अन्नम् । ज्योतिरन्नादम् । अप्सु ज्योतिः प्रतिष्ठितम् । ज्योतिष्यापः प्रतिष्ठिताः । तदेतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितम् । स य एतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति । अन्नवानन्नादो भवति । महान् भवति प्रजया पशुभिर्ब्रह्मवर्चसेन । महान् कीर्त्या ॥

Thou shalt not reject food; for that too is the vow of thy labour. Verily, the waters also are food, and the bright fire is the eater. The fire is established upon the waters and the waters are established upon the fires. Here too is food established upon food. He who knows this food that is established upon food, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the radiance of holiness, great in glory.

Chapter Nine

अन्नं बहु कुर्वीत । तद् व्रतम् । पृथिवी वा अन्नम् । आकाशोऽन्नादः । पृथिव्यामाकाशः प्रतिष्ठितः । आकाशे पृथिवी प्रतिष्ठिता । तदेतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितम् । स य एतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति । अन्नवानन्नादो भवति । महान् भवति प्रजया पशुभिर्ब्रह्मावर्चसेन । महान् कीर्त्या ॥

Thou shalt increase and amass food; for that too is thy commandment unto labour. Verily, earth also is food and ether is the eater. Ether is established upon earth and earth is established upon ether. Here too is food established upon food. He who knows this food that is established upon food, gets his firm base. He becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the radiance of holiness, great in glory.

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Chapter Ten

न कञ्चन वसतौ प्रत्याचक्षीत । तद् व्रतम् । तस्माद् यया कया च विषया बह्वन्नं प्राप्नुयात् । अराध्यस्मा अन्नमित्याचक्षते । एतद् वै मुखतोऽन्नं राद्धम् । मुखतोऽस्मा अन्नं राध्यते । एतद् वै मध्यतोऽन्नं राद्धम् । मध्यतोऽस्मा अन्नं राध्यते । एतद् वा अन्ततोऽन्नं राद्धम् । अन्ततोऽस्मा अन्नं राध्यते । य एवं वेद । क्षेम इति वाचि । योगक्षेम इति प्राणापानयोः कर्मेति हस्तयोः । गतिरिति पादयोः । विमुक्तिरिति पायौ । इति मानुषीः समाज्ञाः ॥ अथ दैवीः । तृप्तिरिति वृष्टौ । बलमिति विद्युति । यश इति पशुषु । ज्योतिरिति नक्षत्रेषु । प्रजातिरमृतमानन्द इत्युपस्थे । सर्वमित्याकाशे । तत्प्रतिष्ठेत्युपासीत । प्रतिष्ठावान् भवति । तन्मह इत्युपासीत । महान् भवति । तन्मन इत्युपासीत । मानवान् भवति । तन्नम इत्युपासीत । नम्यन्तेऽस्मै कामाः । तद् ब्रह्मेत्युपासीत । ब्रह्मवान् भवति । तद् ब्रह्मणः परिमर इत्युपासीत । पर्येणं म्रियन्ते द्विषन्तः सपत्नाः । परि येऽप्रिया भ्रातृव्याः । स यश्चायं पुरुषे । यश्चासावादित्ये । स एकः । स य एवंवित् । अस्माल्लोकात् प्रेत्य । एतमन्नमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कम्य । एतं प्राणमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कम्य । एतं मनोमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कम्य । एतं विज्ञानमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कम्य । एतमानन्दमयमात्मानमुपसङ्कम्य । इमाँल्लोकान् कामान्नी कामरुप्यनुसञ्चरन् । एतत् साम गायन्नास्ते । हा३वु हा३वु हा३वु । अहमन्नमहमन्नमहमन्नम् । अहमन्नादो३ऽहमन्नादो३ऽहमन्नादः । अहं श्लोककृदहं श्लोककृदहं श्लोककृत् । अहमस्ति प्रथमजा ऋता३स्य । पूर्व देवेभ्योऽमृतस्य ना३भायि । यो मा ददाति स इदेव मा३वाः । अहमन्नमन्नमदन्तमा३द्मि । अहं विश्वं भुवनमभ्यभवा३म् । सुवर्न ज्योतीः । य एवं वेद । इत्युपनिषत् ॥

सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्य करवावहै । तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु । मा विद्विषावहै । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Thou shalt not reject any man in thy habitation, for that too is thy commandment unto labour. Therefore in whatsoever sort do thou get thee great store of food. They say unto the stranger in the dwelling, "Arise, the food is ready." Was the food made ready at the beginning? To him also is food made ready in the beginning. Was the food made ready in the middle ? To him also is food made ready in the middle. Was the food made ready at the end and last? To him also is the food made ready at the end and last, who has this knowledge. As prosperity in speech, as

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getting and having in the main breath and the nether, as work in the hands, as movement in the feet, as discharge in the anus, these are the cognitions in the human. Then in the divine; as satisfaction in the rain, as force in the lightning, as splendour in the beasts, as brightness in the constellations, as procreation and bliss and death conquered in the organ of pleasure, as the All in Ether. Pursue thou Him as the firm foundation of things and thou shalt get thee firm foundation. Pursue Him as Mahas, thou shalt become Mighty; pursue Him as Mind, thou shalt become full of mind; pursue Him as adoration, thy desires shall bow down before thee; pursue Him as the Eternal, thou shalt become full of the Spirit. Pursue Him as the destruction of the Eternal that ranges abroad, thou shalt get thy rivals and thy haters perish thick around thee and thy kin who loved thee not. The Spirit who is here in man and the Spirit who is there in the Sun, lo, it is One Spirit and there is no other. He who has this knowledge, when he goes from this world having passed to the Self which is of food; having passed to the Self which is of Prana; having passed to the Self which is of Mind; having passed to the Self which is of Knowledge; having passed to the Self which is of Bliss, lo, he ranges about the worlds, he eats what he will, and takes what shape he will and ever he sings the mighty Sama. "Ho! ho! ho! I am food! I am food! I am food! I am the eater of food! I am the eater! I am the eater! I am he who makes Scripture! I am he who makes! I am he who makes! I am the first-born of the Law; before the gods were, I am, yea, at the very heart of immortality. He who gives me, verily, he preserves me; for I being food, eat him that eats. I have conquered the whole world and possessed it, my light is as the sun in its glory." Thus he sings, who has the knowledge. This, verily, is Upanishad, the secret of the Veda.

Together may he protect us, together may he possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility! May our study be full of light and power! May we never hate! OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!

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The Knowledge of Brahman

The knower of Brahman reacheth that which is supreme.

This is that verse which was spoken; "Truth, Knowledge, Infinity the Brahman,

"He who knoweth that hidden in the secrecy in the supreme ether,

Enjoyeth all desires along with the wise-thinking Brahman."

This is the burden of the opening sentences of the Taittiriya Upanishad's second section; they begin its elucidation of the highest truth. Or in the Sanskrit,

ब्रह्मविद् आप्नोति परम्—
तद् एषाभ्युक्ता—सत्यं ज्ञानम् अनन्तं ब्रह्मा—यो वेद निहितं
गुहायां—परमे व्योमन्—सोऽश्नुते सर्वान् कामान्—सह ब्रह्मणा
विपश्चितेति ।

brahmavid āpnoti param—
tad eṣābhyuktā—satyam jñānam anantam brahma—
yo veda nihitam guhāyām—parame vyoman—
so'śnute sarvān kāmān—saha brahmaṇā vipaściteti.

But what is Brahman?

Whatever reality is in existence, by which all the rest subsists, that is Brahman. An Eternal behind all instabilities, a Truth of things which is implied, if it is hidden, in all appearances, a Constant which supports all mutations, but is not increased, diminished, abrogated,—there is such an unknown X which makes existence a problem, our own self a mystery, the universe a riddle. If we were only what we seem to be to our normal self-awareness, there would be no mystery; if the world were only what it can be made out to be by the perceptions of the senses and their strict analysis in the reason, there would be no riddle; and if to take our life as it is now and the world as it has so far developed to our experience were the whole possibility of our knowing and

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doing, there would be no problem. Or at best there would be but a shallow mystery, an easily solved riddle, the problem only of a child's puzzle. But there is more, and that more is the hidden head of the Infinite and the secret heart of the Eternal. It is the highest and this highest is the all; there is none beyond and there is none other than it. To know it is to know the highest and by knowing the highest to know all. For as it is the beginning and source of all things, so everything else is its consequence; as it is the support and constituent of all things, so the secret of everything else is explained by its secret; as it is the sum and end of all things, so everything else amounts to it and by throwing itself into it achieves the sense of its own existence.

This is the Brahman.

If this unknown be solely an indecipherable, only an indefinable X, always unknown and unknowable, the hidden never revealed, the secret never opened to us, then our mystery would for ever remain a mystery, our riddle insoluble, our problem intangible. Its existence, even while it determines all we are, know and do, could yet make no practical difference to us; for our relation to it would then be a blind and helpless dependence, a relation binding us to ignorance and maintainable only by that ignorance. Or again, if it be in some way knowable, but the sole result of knowledge were an extinction or cessation of our being, then within our being it could have no consequences; the very act and fructuation of knowledge would bring the annihilation of all that we now are, not its completion or fulfilment. The mystery, riddle, problem would not be so much solved as abolished, for it would lose all its data. In effect we should have to suppose that there is an eternal and irreconcilable opposition between Brahman and what we now are, between the supreme cause and all its effects or between the supreme source and all its derivations. And it would then seem that all that the Eternal originates, all he supports, all he takes back to himself is a denial or contradiction of his being which, though in itself a negative of that which alone is, has yet in some way become a positive. The two could not co-exist in consciousness; if he allowed the world to know him, it would disappear from being.

But the Eternal is knowable, He defines himself so that we

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may seize him, and man can become, even while he exists as man and in this world and in this body, a knower of the Brahman.

The knowledge of the Brahman is not a thing luminous but otiose, informing to the intellectual view of things but without consequence to the soul of the individual or his living; it is a knowledge that is a power and a divine compulsion to change; by it his existence gains something that now he does not possess in consciousness. What is this gain? It is this that he is conscious now of a lower state only of his being, but by knowledge he gains his highest being.

The highest state of our being is not a denial, contradiction and annihilation of all that we now are; it is a supreme accomplishment of all things that our present existence means and aims at, but in their highest sense and in the eternal values.

To live in our present state of self-consciousness is to live and to act in ignorance. We are ignorant of ourselves, because we know as yet only that in us which changes always, from moment to moment, from hour to hour, from period to period, from life to life, and not that in us which is eternal. We are ignorant of the world because we do not know God; we are aware of the law of appearances, but not of the law and truth of being.

Our highest wisdom, our minutest most accurate science, our most effective application of knowledge can be at most a thinning of the veil of ignorance, but not a going beyond it, so long as we do not get at the fundamental knowledge and the consciousness to which that is native. The rest are effective for their own temporal purposes, but prove ineffective in the end, because they do not bring to the highest good; they lead to no permanent solution of the problem of existence.

The ignorance in which we live is not a baseless and wholesale falsehood, but at its lowest the misrepresentation of a Truth, at its highest an imperfect representation and translation into inferior and to that extent misleading values. It is a knowledge of the superficial only and therefore a missing of the secret essential which is the key to all that the superficial is striving for; a knowledge of the finite and apparent, but a missing of all that the apparent symbolises and the finite suggests; a knowledge

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of inferior forms, but a missing of all that our inferior life and being has above it and to which it must aspire if it is to fulfil its greatest possibilities. The true knowledge is that of the highest, the inmost, the infinite. The knower of the Brahman sees all these lower things in the light of the Highest, the external and superficial as a translation of the internal and essential, the finite from the view of the Infinite. He begins to see and know existence no longer as the thinking animal, but as the Eternal sees and knows it. Therefore he is glad and rich in being, luminous in joy, satisfied of existence.

Knowledge does not end with knowing, nor is it pursued and found for the sake of knowing alone. It has its full value only when it leads to some greater gain than itself, some gain of being. Simply to know the eternal and to remain in the pain, struggle and inferiority of our present way of being, would be a poor and lame advantage.

A greater knowledge opens the possibility and, if really possessed, brings the actuality of a greater being. To be is the first verb which contains all the others; knowledge, action, creation, enjoyment are only a fulfilment of being. Since we are incomplete in being to grow is our aim, and that knowledge, action, creation, enjoyment are the best which most help us to expand, grow, feel our existence.

Mere existence is not fullness of being. Being knows itself as power, consciousness, delight; a greater being means a greater power, consciousness and delight.

If by greater being we incurred only a greater pain and suffering, this good would not be worth having. Those who say that it is, mean simply that we get by it a greater sense of fulfilment which brings of itself a greater joy of the power of existence, and an extension of suffering or a loss of other enjoyment is worth having as a price for this greater sense of wideness, height and power. But this could not be the perfection of being or the highest height of its fulfilment; suffering is the seal of a lower status. The highest consciousness is integrally fulfilled in wideness and power of its existence, but also it is integrally fulfilled in delight.

The knower of Brahman has not only the joy of light, but

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gains something immense as the result of his knowledge, brahmavid apnoti.

What he gains is that highest, that which is supreme; he gains the highest being, the highest consciousness, the highest wideness and power of being, the highest delight, brahmavid āpnoti param.

The Supreme is not something aloof and shut up in itself. It is not a mere indefinable, prisoner of its own featureless absoluteness, impotent to define, create, know itself variously, eternally buried in a sleep or a swoon of self-absorption. The Highest is the Infinite and the Infinite contains the All. Whoever attains the highest consciousness, becomes infinite in being and embraces the All.

To make this clear the Upanishad has defined the Brahman as the Truth, Knowledge, Infinity and has defined the result of the knowledge of Him in the secrecy, in the cave of being, in the supreme ether as the enjoyment of all its desires by the soul of the individual in the attainment of its highest self-existence.

Our highest state of being is indeed a becoming one with Brahman in his eternity and infinity, but it is also an association with him in delight of self-fulfilment, aśnute saha brahmaṇā. And that principle of the Eternal by which this association is possible, is the principle of his knowledge, his self-discernment and all-discernment, the wisdom by which he knows himself perfectly in all the world and all beings, brahmaṇā vipaścitā.

Delight of being is the continent of all the fulfilled values of existence which we now seek after in the forms of desire. To know its conditions and possess it purely and perfectly is the infinite privilege of the eternal Wisdom.

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Aitereya Upanishad

Chapter One: Section I

हरिः ॐ॥ आत्मा वा इदमेक एवाग्र आसीन्नान्यत्किञ्चन मिषत्; स ईक्षत लोकान्नु सृजा इति ॥१॥

1) Hari OM. In the beginning the Spirit was One and all this (universe) was the Spirit; there was nought else moving.¹ The Spirit thought, "Lo, I will make me worlds from out my being."

स इमाँल्लोकानसृजत—अम्भो मरीचीर्मरमापोऽदोऽम्भः परेण दिवं द्यौः प्रतिष्ठाऽन्तरिक्षं मरीचयः । पृथिवी मरो या अधस्तात्ता आपः ॥२॥

2) These were the worlds he made; ambhaḥ, of the ethereal waters, marīcīh, of light, mara, of death and mortal things, āpaḥ, of the lower waters. Beyond the shining firmament are the ethereal waters and the firmament is their base and resting-place; Space is the world of light; the earth is the world mortal; and below the earth are the lower waters.

स ईक्षतेमे नु लोका लोकपालान्नु सृजा इति । सोऽद्भ्य एष पुरुषं समुद्धृत्यामूर्छयत् ॥३॥

3) The Spirit thought, "Lo, these are the worlds; and now will I make me guardians for my worlds." Therefore he gathered the Purusha out of the waters and gave Him shape and substance.

तमभ्यतपत्तस्याभितप्तस्य मुखं निरभिद्यत, यथाण्डं; मुखाद्वाग्वाचोऽग्नि र्नासिके निरभिद्येतां, नासिकाभ्यां प्राणः । प्राणाद्वायुरक्षिणी निरभिद्येतामक्षिभ्यां चक्षुश्चक्षुष आदित्यः कर्णौ निरभिद्येतां, कर्णाभ्यां श्रोत्रं श्रोत्राद्दिशस्त्वङ निरभिद्यत, त्वचो लोमानि लोमभ्य

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ओषधिवनस्पतयो हृदयं निरभिद्यत, हृदयान्मनो मनसश्चन्द्रमा नाभिर्निरभिद्यत नाभ्या अपानोऽपानान्मृत्युः शिश्नं निरभिद्यत, शिश्नाद्रेतो रेतस आपः ॥४॥

4) Yea, the Spirit brooded over Him and of Him thus brooded over the mouth broke forth, as when an egg is hatched and breaks; from the mouth broke Speech and of Speech fire was born. The nostrils broke forth and from the nostrils Breath and of Breath air was born. The eyes broke forth and from the eyes Sight and of Sight the Sun was born. The ears broke forth and from the ears Hearing and of Hearing the regions were born. The skin broke forth and from the skin hairs and from the hairs herbs of healing and all trees and plants were born. The heart broke forth and from the heart Mind and of Mind the moon was born. The navel broke forth and from the navel apāna and of apāna Death was born. The organ of pleasure broke forth and from the organ seed and of seed the waters were born.

Chapter One: Section II

ता एता देवताः सृष्टा अस्मिन्महत्यर्णवे प्रापतंस्तमशनापिपासाभ्यामन्ववार्जत् । ता एनमब्रुवन्नायतनं नः प्रजानीहि, यस्मिन् प्रतिष्ठिता अन्नमदामेति ॥१॥

1) These were the Gods that He created; they fell into this great Ocean, and Hunger and Thirst leaped upon them. Then they said to Him, "Command unto us an habitation that we may dwell secure and eat of food."

ताभ्यो गामानयत्ता अब्रुवन्न वै नोऽयमलमिति ताभ्योऽश्वमानयत्ता अब्रुवन्न वै नोऽयमलमिति ॥२॥

2) He brought unto them the cow, but they said, "Verily, it is not sufficient for us." He brought unto them the horse, but they said, "Verily, it is not enough for us."

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ताभ्यः पुरुषमानयत्ता अब्रुवन् सुकृतं बतेति; पुरुषो वाव सुकृतम् । ता अब्रवीद्यथायतनं प्रविशतेति ॥३॥

3) He brought unto them Man, and they said, "O well fashioned truly! Man indeed is well and beautifully made." Then the Spirit said unto them, "Enter ye in each according to his habitation."

अग्निर्वाग्भूत्वा मुखं प्राविशद्वायुः प्राणो भूत्वा नासिके प्राविशदादित्यश्चक्षुर्भूत्वाऽक्षिणी प्राविशद्दिशः श्रोत्रं भूत्वा कर्णौ प्राविशन्नोषधिवनस्पतयो लोमानि भूत्वा त्वचं प्राविशंश्चन्द्रमा मनो भूत्वा हृदयं प्राविशन्मृत्युरपानो भूत्वा नाभि प्राविशदापो रेतो भूत्वा शिश्नं प्राविशन् ॥४॥

4) Fire became Speech and entered into the mouth; Air became Breath and entered into the nostrils; the Sun became Sight and entered into the eyes; the Quarters became Hearing and entered into the ears; Herbs of healing and the plants and trees became Hairs and entered into the skin; the Moon became Mind and entered into the heart; Death became apāna, the lower breathing and entered into the navel; the Waters became Seed and entered into the organ.

तमशनापिपासे अब्रूतामावाभ्यामभिप्रजानीहीति । ते अब्रवीदेतास्वेव वां देवतास्वाभजाम्येतासु भागिन्यौ करोमीति । तस्माद्यस्यै कस्यै च देवतायै हविर्गृह्यते भागिन्यावेवास्यामशनापिपासे भवतः ॥५॥

5) Then Hunger and Thirst said unto the Spirit, "Unto us too command an habitation." But He said unto them, "Even among these gods do I apportion you; lo! I have made you sharers in their godhead." Therefore to whatever god the oblation is offered, Hunger and Thirst surely have their share in the offering.

Chapter One: Section III

स ईक्षतेमे नु लोकाश्च लोकपालाश्चान्नमेभ्यः सृजा इति ॥१॥

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1) The Spirit thought, "These verily are my worlds and their guardians; and now will I make me food for these."

सोऽपोऽभ्यतपत्; ताभ्योऽभितप्ताभ्यो मूर्तिरजायत । या वै सा मूर्तिरजायतान्नं वै तत् ॥२॥

2) The Spirit brooded in might upon the waters and from the waters brooded mightily over, Form was born. Lo, all this that was born as form, is no other than Food.

तदेनदभिसृष्टं पराङत्यजिघांसत् । तद्वाचाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्त्नोद्वाचा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनद्वाचाग्रहैष्यदभिव्याहृत्य हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥३॥

3) Food being created fled back from his grasp. By speech He would have seized it, but he could not seize it by speech. Had he seized it by speech, then would a man be satisfied by merely speaking of food.

तत् प्राणेनाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्नोत् प्राणेन ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनत् प्राणेनाग्रहैष्यदभिप्राण्य हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥४॥

4) By the breath He would have seized it, but He could not seize it by the breath. Had He seized it by the breath, then would a man be satisfied by merely breathing food.

तच्चक्षुषाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्नोच्चक्षुषा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनच्चक्षुषाग्रहैष्यद् दृष्टवा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥५॥

5) By the eye He would have seized it, but He could not seize it by the eye. Had He seized it by the eye, then would a man be satisfied by merely seeing food.

तच्छ्रोत्रेणाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्नोच्छ्रोत्रेण ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनच्छ्रोत्रेणाग्रहैष्यच्छ्रुत्वा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥६॥

6) By the ear He would have seized it, but He could not seize it by the ear. Had He seized it by the ear, then would a man be satisfied by merely hearing food.

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तत्त्वचाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्नोत्त्वचा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनत्त्वचाग्रहैष्यत्स्पृष्ट्वा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥७॥

7) By the skin He would have seized it, but He could not seize it by the skin. Had He seized it by the skin, then would a man be satisfied by merely touching food.

तन्मनसाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्नोन्मनसा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनन्मनसाग्रहैष्यद्, ध्यात्वा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥८॥

8) By the Mind He would have seized it, but He could not seize it by the mind. Had He seized it by the mind, then would a man be satisfied by merely thinking food.

तच्छिश्नेनाजिघृक्षत्, तन्नाशक्नोच्छिश्नेन ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनच्छिश्नेनाग्रहैष्यद्विसृज्य हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥९॥

9) By the organ He would have seized it, but He could not seize it by the organ. Had He seized it by the organ, then would a man be satisfied by merely emitting food.

तदपानेनाजिघृक्षत्, तदावयत् । सैषोऽन्नस्य ग्रहो यद्वायुरन्नायुर्वा एष यद्वायुः ॥१०॥

10) By the apāna He would have seized it, and it was seized. Lo, this is the seizer of food which is also Breath of the Life, and therefore all that is Breath has its life in food.

स ईक्षत कथं न्विदं मदृते स्यादिति । स ईक्षत कतरेण प्रपद्या इति । स ईक्षत यदि वाचाभिव्याहृतं, यदि प्राणेनाभिप्राणितं, यदि चक्षुषा दृष्टं, यदि श्रोत्रेण श्रुतं, यदि त्वचा स्पृष्टं, यदि मनसा घ्यातं, यद्यपानेनाभ्यपानितं, यदि शिश्नेन विसृष्टमथ कोऽहमिति ॥११॥

11) The Spirit thought, "How should all this be without me?" and He thought, "By what way shall I enter in?" He thought also, "If utterance is by Speech, if breathing is by the Breath, if sight is by the Eye, if hearing is by the Ear, if

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thought is by the Mind, if the lower workings are by apāna, if emission is by the organ, then who am I?"

स एतमेव सीमानं विदार्यैतया द्वारा प्रापद्यत । सैषा विदृतिर्नाम द्वास्तदेतन्नान्दनम् । तस्य त्रय आवसथास्त्रयः स्वप्नाः । अयमावसथोऽयमावसथोऽयमावसथ इति ॥१२॥

12) It was this bound that He cleft, it was by this door that He entered in. 'Tis this that is called the gate of the cleaving; this is the door of His coming and here is the place of His delight. He has three mansions in His city, three dreams wherein He dwells, and of each in turn He says "Lo, this is my habitation" and "This is my habitation" and "This is my habitation."

स जातो भूतान्यभिव्यैख्यत्, किमिहान्यं वावदिषदिति । स एतमेव पुरुषं ब्रह्म ततममपश्यदिदमदर्शमिती३ ॥१३॥

13) Now when He was born, He thought and spoke only of Nature and her creations; in this world of matter of what else should He speak or reason? Thereafter He beheld that Being who is the Brahman and the last Essence. He said, "Yea, this is He; verily, I have beheld Him."

तस्मादिदन्द्रो नामेदन्द्रो ह वै नाम । तमिदन्द्रं सन्तमिन्द्र इत्याचक्षते परोक्षेण । परोक्षप्रिया इव हि देवाः, परोक्षप्रिया इव हि देवाः ॥१४॥

14) Therefore is He Idandra; for Idandra is the true name of Him. But though He is Idandra, they call Him Indra because of the veil of the Unrevelation; for the gods love the veil of the Unrevelation, yea, verily, the gods love the Unrevelation.

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Chapter Two

पुरुषे ह वा अयमादितो गर्भो भवति । यदेतद्रेतः तदेतत्सर्वेभ्योऽङ्गेभ्यस्तेजः सम्भूतमात्मन्येवात्मानं विभर्ति; तद्यदा स्त्रियां सिञ्चत्यथैनज्जनयति; तदस्य प्रथमं जन्म ॥१॥

1) In the male first the unborn child becomes. This which is seed is the force and heat of him that from all parts of the creature draws together for becoming; therefore he bears himself in himself, and when he casts it into the woman, 'tis himself he begets. And this is the first birth of the Spirit.

तत् स्त्रिया आत्मभूयं गच्छति, यथा स्वमङ्ग तथा; तस्मादेनां न हिनस्ति; सास्यैतमात्मानमत्र गतं भावयति ॥२॥

2) It becomes one self with the woman, therefore it does her no hurt and she cherishes this self of her husband that has got into her womb.

सा भावयित्री भावयितव्या भवति । तं स्त्री गर्भ विभर्ति; सोऽग्र एव कुमारं जन्मनोऽग्रेऽधिभावयति । स यत् कुमारं जन्मनोऽग्रेऽधिभावयति, आत्मानमेव तद् भावयति, एषां लोकानां सन्तत्या । एवं सन्तता हीमे लोकास्तदस्य द्वितीयं जन्म ॥३॥

3) She the cherisher must be cherished. So the woman bears the unborn child and the man cherishes the boy even from the beginning ere it is born. And whereas he cherishes the boy ere it is born, 'tis verily himself that he cherishes for the continuance of these worlds and their peoples; for 'tis even thus the thread of these worlds spins on unbroken. And this is the second birth of the Spirit.

सोऽस्यायमात्मा पुण्येभ्यः कर्मभ्यः प्रतिधीयते । अथास्यायमितर आत्मा कृतकृत्यो वयोगतः प्रैति, स इतः प्रयन्नेव पुनर्जायते; तदस्य तृतीयं जन्म ॥४॥

4) Lo, this is the spirit and self of him and he makes it his vice-regent

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for the works of righteousness. Now this his other self when it has done the works it came to do and has reached its age, lo! it goes hence, and even as it departs, it is born again. And this is the third birth of the Spirit.

तदुक्तमृषिणा—गर्भे नु सन्नन्वेषामवेदमहं देवानां जनिमानि विश्वा । शतं मा पुर आयसीररक्षन्नधः श्येनो जवसा निरदीयमिति; गर्भ एवैतच्छयानो वामदेव एषमुवाच ॥५॥

5) Therefore it was said by the sage Vamadeva, "I, Vamadeva, being yet in the womb, knew all the births of these gods and their causes. In a hundred cities of iron they held me down and kept me; I broke through them all with speed² and violence, like a hawk I soared up into my heavens." While yet he lay in the womb, thus said Vamadeva.

स एवं विद्वानस्माच्छरीरभेदादूर्ध्व उत्कम्यामुष्मिन् त्स्वर्गे लोके सर्वान् कामानाप्त्वाऽमृतः समभवदमृतः समभवत् ॥६॥

6) And because he knew this, therefore when the strings of the body were snapped asunder lo, he soared forth into yonder world of Paradise and there having possessed all desires, put death behind him, yea, he put death behind him.

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Chapter Three

कोऽयमात्मेति वयमुपास्महे ? कतरः स आत्मा येन वा पश्यति, येन वा शृणोति, येन वा गन्धानाजिघ्रति, येन वा वाचं व्याकरोति, येन वा स्वादु चास्वादु च विजानाति ॥१॥

1) Who is this Spirit that we may adore Him? and which of all these is the Spirit? By whom one sees or by whom one hears or by whom one smells all kinds of perfume or by whom one utters clearness of speech or by whom one knows the sweet and bitter.

यदेतद्धृदयं मनश्चैतत् । संज्ञानमाज्ञानं विज्ञानं प्रज्ञानं मेधा दृष्टिर्धृतिर्मतिर्मनीषा जूतिः स्मृतिः संकल्पः कतुरसुः कामो वश इति सर्वाण्येवैतानि प्रज्ञानस्य नामधेयानि भवन्ति ॥२॥

2) This which is the heart, is mind also. Concept and will and analysis and wisdom and intellect and vision and continuity of purpose and feeling and understanding, pain and memory and volition and application³ of thought and vitality and desire and passion, all these, yea all, are but names of the Eternal Wisdom.

एष ब्रह्मैष इन्द्र एष प्रजापतिरेते सर्वे देवाः, इमानि च पञ्च महाभूतानि—पृथिवी वायुराकाश आपो ज्योतींषीत्येतानि, इमानि च क्षुद्रमिश्राणीव बीजानि, इतराणि चेतराणि चाण्डजानि च जारुजानि च, स्वेदजानि चोद्भिज्जानि चाश्वा गावः पुरुषा हस्तिनः, यत्किञ्चेदं प्राणि जङ्गमं च पतत्रि च यच्च स्थावरं; सर्व तत् प्रज्ञानेत्रं प्रज्ञाने प्रतिष्ठितं प्रज्ञानेत्रो लोकः, प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठा, प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म ॥३॥

3) This creating Brahman; this ruling Indra; this Prajapati, Father of his peoples; all these Gods and these five elemental substances, even earth, air, ether, water and the shining principles; and these great creatures and those small; and seeds of either sort; and things egg-born and things sweat-born and things born of the womb and plants

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that sprout; and horses and cattle and men and elephants; yea, whatsoever thing here breathes and all that moves and everything that has wings and whatso moves not; by Wisdom all these are guided and have their firm abiding in Wisdom. For Wisdom is the eye of the world, Wisdom is the sure foundation, Wisdom is Brahman Eternal.

स एतेन प्रज्ञेनात्मनास्माल्लोकादुत्कम्यामुष्मिन् स्वर्गे लोके सर्वान् कामानाप्त्वाऽमृतः समभवदमृतः समभवत् ॥४॥

4) The sage by the strength of the wise and seeing Self, the sage having soared up from this world ascended into this other world of Paradise; and there having possessed desire, put death behind him, yea, he put death behind him.

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From

Shwetashwatara Upanishad

Chapter Four

य एकोऽवर्णो बहुधा शक्तियोगाद्वर्णाननेकान्निहितार्थो दधाति ।
वि चैति चान्ते विश्वमादौ स देवः स नो बुद्धया शुभया संयुनक्तु ॥१॥

1) The One was without form and hue; and He, by Yoga of His own might, became manifold; He weareth many forms and hues, but hath no object nor interest therein; God into Whom all the universe breaketh up and departeth at the end of all and He alone was in the beginning. May He yoke us with a bright and gracious understanding.

तदेवाग्निस्तदादित्यस्तद्वायुस्तदु चन्द्रमाः ।
तदेव शुकं तद् ब्रह्म तदापस्तत्प्रजापतिः ॥२॥

2) God is fire that burneth and the Sun in heaven and the Wind that bloweth: He too is the Moon. His is the seed and Brahma and the waters and He is Prajapati, the Father of his peoples.

त्वं स्त्री त्वं पुमानसि त्वं कुमार उत वा कुमारी ।
त्वं जीर्णो दण्डेन वञ्चसि त्वं जातो भवसि विश्वतोमुखः ॥३॥

3) Thou art woman and Thou art man also; Thou art the boy, or else Thou art the young virgin, and Thou art yonder worn and aged man that walkest bending upon a staff. Lo, Thou becomest born and the universe groweth full of Thy faces.

नीलः पतङ्गो हरितो लोहिताक्षस्तडिद्गर्भ ऋतवः समुद्राः ।
अनादिमत्त्वं विभुत्वेन वर्तसे यतो जातानि भुवनानि विश्वा ॥४॥

4) Thou art the blue bird and the green and the scarlet-eyed; Thou art the womb of Lightning and the Seasons and the Oceans. Spirit without beginning, because Thou hast

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poured thyself manifoldly into all forms, therefore the worlds have being.

अजामेकां लोहितशुक्लकृष्णां बह्वीः प्रजाः सृजमानां सरुपाः ।
अजो ह्येको जुषमाणोऽनुशेते जहात्येनां भुक्तभोगामजोऽन्यः ॥५॥

5) There is one Unborn Mother; she is white, she is black, she is blood-red of hue; having taken shape, lo, how she giveth birth to many kinds of creatures; for One of the two Unborn taketh delight in her and lieth with her, but the Other hath exhausted all her sweets and casteth her from him.

द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते ।
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥६॥

6) They are two birds that cling to one common tree; beautiful of plumage, yoke-fellows are they, eternal companions; and one of them eateth the delicious fruit of the tree and the Other eateth not, but watcheth His fellow.

समाने वृक्षे पुरुषो निमग्नोऽनीशया शोचति मुह्यमानः ।
जुष्टं यदा पश्यत्यन्यमीशमस्य महिमानमिति वीतशोकः ॥७॥

7) Man is the bird that dwelleth on one common tree with God, but he is lost in its sweetness and the slave of its sweetness and loseth hold of God; therefore he hath grief, therefore he is bewildered. But when he seeth that other bird who is God, then he knoweth that nothing is but God's greatness, and his grief passeth away from him.

ऋचो अक्षरे परमे व्योमन् यस्मिन्देवा अधि विश्वे निषेदुः ।
यस्तं न वेद किमृचा करिष्यति य इत्तद्विदुस्त इमे समासते ॥८॥

8) In that highest and undying Heaven where all the Gods have taken their session, there are the verses of the Rig-veda; and he who knoweth not its abiding place, how shall the Rig-veda help him? They who know it, lo! they are here, they have their firm seat for ever.

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छन्दांसि यज्ञाः कतवो व्रतानि भूतं भव्यं यच्च वेदा वदन्ति ।
अस्मान्मायी सृजते विश्वमेतत्तस्मिंश्चान्यो मायया संनिरुद्धः ॥९॥

9) Holiness and sacrifices and vows and all offerings and what was and what shall be and what the Vedas tell of, all this is the stuff whence the Lord of the Illusion fashioneth for Himself his various Universe, and in them, as with a wall, that Other by His Illusion is prisoned and fettered.

मायां तु प्रकृतिं विद्यान्मायिनं तु महेश्वरम् ।
तस्यावयवभूतैस्तु व्याप्तं सर्वमिदं जगत् ॥१०॥

10) Know Nature for the Illusion and Maheshwara, the Almighty, for the Lord of the Illusion: this whole moving world is filled in with created things as with His members.

यो योनिं योनिमधितिष्ठत्येको यस्मिन्निदं सं च वि चैति सर्वम् ।
तमीशानं वरदं देवमीडयं निचाय्येमां शान्तिमत्यन्तमेति ॥११॥

11) He being One entereth upon womb and womb, in Him all this manifest world cometh together and breaketh up again, lo, the Master, the Giver, the Lord Adorable: whom having increased within himself man goeth to unutterable peace.

यो देवानां प्रभवश्चोद्भवश्च विश्वाधिपो रुद्रो महर्षिः ।
हिरण्यगर्भ पश्यत जायमानं स नो बुद्धया शुभया संयुनक्तु ॥१२॥

12) He is the birth of their Gods and He is their passing, Master of the Universe, Rudra, the mighty Seer, He beheld Hiranyagarbha shaping: may He yoke us with a bright and gracious understanding.

यो देवानामधिपो यस्मिँल्लोका अधिश्रिताः ।
य ईशे अस्य द्विपदश्चतुष्पदः कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥१३॥

13) The Master and King of the Gods, in Him the worlds have their abiding place; He lordeth over the two-footed and the four-footed creature. For what God shall we order the offering?

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सूक्ष्मातिसूक्ष्मं कलिलस्य मध्ये विश्वस्य स्रष्टारमनेकरुपम् ।
विश्वस्यैकं परिवेष्टितारं ज्ञात्वा शिवं शान्तिमत्यन्तमेति ॥१४॥

14) Finer beyond fineness, He hath hidden him in the midmost of this hustling chaos, He hath created this universe by taking many figures and as the One He encompasseth it around and girdeth it;¹ having known Shiva, the Blessed One, man goeth to unutterable peace.

स एव काले भुवनस्य गोप्ता विश्वाधिपः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः ।
यस्मिन्युक्ता ब्रह्मर्षयो देवताश्च तमेवं ज्ञात्वा मृत्युपाशांश्छिनत्ति ॥१५॥

15) He protecteth His World in its allotted season, yea, the Master of the Universe watcheth hidden in all his creatures: by Yoga, in Him the holy sages and the Gods knew and tore asunder Death and his meshes.

घृतात्परं मण्डमिवातिसूक्ष्मं ज्ञात्वा शिवं सर्वभूतेषु गूढम् ।
विश्वस्यैकं परिवेष्टितारं ज्ञात्वा देवं मुच्यते सर्वपाशैः ॥१६॥

16) As the rare and fine cream in clarified butter, and it is richer than the butter, so Shiva the Blessed One hath hidden Him in every one of all His creatures; but as the One He encompasseth this whole world and girdeth it around. Know God and thou breakest every bondage.

एष देवो विश्वकर्मा महात्मा सदा जनानां हृदये संनिविष्टः ।
हृदा मनीषा मनसाभिक्लृप्तो य एतद्विदुरमृतास्ते भवन्ति ॥१७॥

17) This God, the Great Soul, the World-Builder, sitteth for ever in the heart of his peoples; and with the heart and with the mind and with the understanding the soul envisageth Him. They who know this are the immortals.

यदाऽतमस्तन्न दिवा न रात्रिर्न सन्न चासञ्छिव एष केवलः ।
तदक्षरं तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं प्रज्ञा च तस्मात्प्रसृता पुराणी ॥१८॥

18) When darkness is not and day dawneth not nor night

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cometh, nor reality nor unreality, but all is Shiva, the Blessed One pure and absolute, that verily is the Imperishable and the Sun, more glorious than Savita and from Him Wisdom, the Ancient Goddess, was poured in the beginning.²

नैनमूर्ध्व न तिर्यञ्चं न मध्ये परिजग्रभत् ।
न तस्य प्रतिमा अस्ति यस्य नाम महद्यशः ॥१९॥

19) Not on high have any laid hold of Him, nor shalt thou take Him on the level nor seize Him; but lo, He hath no likeness nor image, whose glory verily is great among the nations.

न संदृशे तिष्ठति रुपमस्य न चक्षुषा पश्यति कश्चनैनम् ।
हृदा हृदिस्थं मनस य एनमेवं विदुरमृतास्ते भवन्ति ॥२०॥

20) The Eternal hath not form that He should stand in the dominion of the Eye, neither by vision doth any man behold Him but with heart and mind who truly know This which is in the heart, they become deathless.

अजात इत्येवं कश्चिद्भीरुः प्रपद्यते ।
रुद्र यत्ते दक्षिणं मुखं तेन मां पाहि नित्यम् ॥२१॥

21) Knowing Thee unborn, one cometh to Thee and his heart is full of fear. O Rudra, O thou Terrible, Thou hast that other kind and smiling face, with that sweet smile protect me.

मा नस्तोके तनये मा न आयुषि मा नो गोषु मा नो अश्वेषु रीरिषः ।
वीरान्मा नो रुद्र भामितो वधीर्हविष्मन्तः सदमित्त्वा हवामहे ॥२२॥

22) O Rudra, smite not our sons nor our little children, nor our lives nor our horses nor our cattle; slay not our heroes in thy wrath, O Terrible One; lo, we come with offerings in our hands and call Thee in the assembly of the people.

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Chapter Five

द्वे अक्षरे ब्रह्मपरे त्वनन्ते विद्याविद्ये निहिते यत्र गूढे ।
क्षरं त्वविद्या ह्यमृतं तु विद्या विद्याविद्ये ईशते यस्तु सोऽन्यः ॥१॥

1) Both of these in the Transcendent, the Knowledge and the Ignorance, yea, both have their hidden being in the Eternal and Infinite and are set in it for ever. But of these Ignorance dieth and Knowledge liveth for ever and he who is master of both is other than they.

यो योनिं योनिमधितिष्ठत्येको विश्वानि रुपाणि योनीश्चं सर्वाः ।
ऋषि प्रसूतं कपिलं यस्तमग्रे ज्ञानैर्विभर्ति जायमानं च पश्येत् ॥२॥

2) He being One entereth upon womb and womb, yea, upon all forms of being and upon all wombs of creatures; He in the beginning filled with (all) kinds of knowledge, Kapila, the Seer of old when he was born from his mother, yea, he saw Kapila in his shaping.³

एकैकं जालं बहुधा विकुर्वन्नस्मिन्क्षेत्रे संहरत्येष देवः ।
भूयः सृष्ट्वा यतयस्तथेशः सर्वाधिपत्यं कुरुते महात्मा ॥३॥

3) God weaveth Him one net or He weaveth Him another and He maketh it of manifold meshes and casteth it abroad in this field of the body; then He draweth it in again. Also he created Yatis, great Seekers, and thus the Mighty Mind, wieldeth, the sceptre of his universal Lordship.⁴

सर्वा दिश ऊर्ध्वमधश्च तिर्यक्प्रकाशयन्भ्राजते यद्वनड्वान् ।
एवं स देवो भगवान्वरेण्यो योनिस्वभावानधितिष्ठत्येषः ॥४॥

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4) Lo, the sun riseth and driveth the world's wain, then he blazeth illumining all the regions and above and below and the level grow one lustre, even so, this glorious and shining God, being One, entereth upon various natures of wombs and ruleth over them.

यच्च स्वभावं पचति विश्वयोनिः पाच्यांश्च सर्वान्परिणामयेद्यः ।
सर्वमेतद्विश्वमधितिष्ठत्येको गुणांश्च सर्वान्विनियोजयेद्यः ॥५॥

5) For He who is the Womb of the World, He bringeth each nature to its perfection and all those that are yet to be perfected He matureth. He indwelleth and presideth over all this His world and settleth all the modes of Nature to their workings.

तद्वेदगुह्योपनिषत्सु गूढं तद् ब्रह्मा वेदते ब्रह्मयोनिम् ।
ये पूर्वदेवा ऋषयश्य तद्विदुस्ते तन्मया अमृता वै वभूवुः ॥६॥

6) This is that secret mystery which is hidden in the Upanishads, for the Upanishad is the secret of the Veda; this is that which Brahma knoweth for the Womb of the Eternal. And the older Gods and the sages who knew of This, became This and were immortal.

गुणान्वयो यः फलकर्मकर्ता कृतस्य तस्यैव स चोपभोक्ता ।
स विश्वरुपस्त्रिगुणस्त्रिवर्त्मा प्राणाधिपः संचरति स्वकर्मभिः ॥७॥

7) One who is the maker of works and their fruits, because the mood-stuffs of Nature cleave to Him, He also reapeth from all work that He hath done and the World is His shape and the stuff of His working is threefold and three are the paths of His travel.⁵ Lo, the Master of Life, by the momentum of his own works He moveth in the centuries.

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अङ्गुष्ठमात्रो रवितुल्यरुपः सङ्कल्पाहंकारसमन्वितो यः ।
बुद्धेर्गुणेनात्मगुणेन चैव आराग्रमात्रो ह्यपरोऽपि दृष्टः ॥८॥

8) His size is as the size of a man's thumb, but His aspect as the Sun in its glory; and He hath Volition and He hath Personality. But there is another whom we see by virtue of the Understanding and by virtue of the Spirit, for the point of a cobbler's awl is not finer to vision.

बालाग्रशतभागस्य शतषा कल्पितस्य च ।
भागो जीवः स विज्ञेयः स चानन्त्याय कल्पते ॥९॥

9) Take thou the hundredth part of the point of a hair, divide it into a hundred parts again; then as is a part of that hundredth part of a hundredth, such shalt thou find this Spirit in man, if thou seek to separate Him; yet it is this in thee that availeth towards Infinity.

नैव स्त्री न पुमानेष न चैवायं नपुंसकः ।
यद्यच्छरीरमादत्ते तेन तेन स रक्ष्यते ॥१०॥

10) Not woman is He, nor man either, not yet sexless; but whatsoever body He take, that confineth and preserveth Him.

सङ्कल्पनस्पर्शनदृष्टिमोहैर्ग्रासाम्बुवृष्टया चात्मविवृद्धिजन्म ।
कर्मानुगान्यनुकमेण देही स्थानेषु रुपाण्यभिसम्प्रपद्यते ॥११॥

11) By the allurements of sight, by the witcheries of touch, by the magic of volition, as body is born and groweth by food and drink and plenty, so also the Spirit in body progressively attaineth to successive forms in their fit places by the allurements etc.; according to His works He progresseth and His forms shape themselves to His works.

स्थूलानि सूक्ष्माणि बहूनि चैव रुपाणि देही स्वगुणैर्वृणोति ।
कियागुणैरात्मगुणैश्च तेषां संयोगहेतुरपरोऽपि दृष्टः ॥१२॥

12) Forms gross and forms subtle, forms many,—the Spirit in

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the body evolveth them all by His own nature in its working; by the law of action of His works and the law of action of the Spirit in man, by these He evolveth them. But there is Another in whom we behold Cause whereby all these meet together.⁶

अनाद्यनन्तं कलिलस्य मध्ये विश्वस्य स्रष्टारमनेकरुपम् ।
विश्वस्यैकं परिवेष्टितारं ज्ञात्वा देवं मुच्यते सर्वपाशैः ॥१३॥

13) Without beginning, without end, in the welter and the chaos, who createth the world by taking many figures, and as the One girdeth and encompasseth it. He is the Lord and if thou know Him, thou shalt break free from all kinds of bondage.

भावग्राह्यमनीडाख्यं भावाभावकरं शिवम् ।
कलासर्गकरं देवं ये विदुस्ते जहुस्तनुम् ॥१४॥

14) Shiva, the Master of all becomings and not-becomings and from Him this whole creation floweth and it is only one part of Shiva; but He is not named after any nest of the winged Spirit, and the heart alone can apprehend Him. They who know Shiva, the Blessed One, abandon body for ever.

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Chapter Six

स्वभावमेके कवयो वदन्ति कालं तथान्ये परिमुह्यमानाः ।
देवस्यैष महिमा तु लोके येनेदं भ्राम्यते ब्रह्मचकम् ॥१॥

1) 'Tis Nature and Self-existence, say one school of the seers. Nay, 'tis Time, say another; both are deceived and bewildered. 'Tis the Majesty of the Lord in the world of His creatures whereby this Wheel of the Eternal whirleth about continually.

येनावृतं नित्यमिदं हि सर्व ज्ञः कालकारो गुणी सर्वविद्यः ।
तेनेशितं कर्म विवर्तते ह पृथ्व्यप्तेजोऽनिलखानि चिन्त्यम् ॥२॥

2) He envelopeth this whole Universe with Himself for ever, He that knoweth, Maker of Time, and the Modes of Nature dwell in Him; yea, all things He discerneth. And by His governance the law of Works revolveth in its cycle; earth, water, fire, air, ether, of these thou shalt consider (as the substance wherein it turneth).

तत्कर्म कृत्वा विनिवर्त्य भूयस्तत्त्वस्य तत्त्वेन समेत्य योगम् ।
एकेन द्वाभ्यां त्रिभिरष्टभिर्वा कालेन चैवात्मगुणैश्च सूक्ष्मैः ॥३॥

3) The Lord doeth works and resteth again from His works, He yoketh Himself with the principle of things in their essence be it one or two or three or eight and with Time He yoketh Himself, and with the Self in its subtle workings.

आरभ्य कर्माणि गुणान्वितानि भावांश्च सर्वान्विनियोजयेद्यः ।
तेषामभावे कृतकर्मनाशः कर्मक्षये याति स तत्त्वतोऽन्यः ॥४॥

4) So He beginneth works that are subject to the Modes of Nature and setteth all existences to their workings: and when these things are not, thereby cometh annihilation of work that hath been done; and with the perishing of work,

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He departeth out of them; for in His final truth He is other than they.

आदिः स संयोगनिमित्तहेतुः परस्त्रिकालादकलोऽपि दृष्टः ।
तं विश्वरुपं भवभूतमीडयं देवं स्वचित्तस्थमुपास्य पूर्वम् ॥५॥

5) We see Him to be the beginning, the Informing Cause whereby all standeth together; He dwelleth above and beyond the past, the present and the future and Time hath no part in him. Worship ye the Adorable whose shape is the whole universe and who hath become in the Universe, worship ye the Lord, the Ancient of Days in your own hearts who sitteth.⁷

स वृक्षकालाकृतिभिः परोऽन्यो यस्मात्प्रपञ्चः परिवर्ततेऽयम् ।
धर्मावहं पापनुदं भगेशं ज्ञात्वात्मस्थममृतं विश्वधाम ॥६॥

6) He is other than Time and Form and the Tree of the Cosmos and He is greater than they, from Whom this world of phenomena becometh and revolveth. Know ye the Master of Grace who bringeth virtue and driveth away sin. He dwelleth in the Spirit of man, the Immortal in whom all things have their home and dwelling-place.⁸

तमीश्वराणां परमं महेश्वरं तं देवतानां परमं च दैवतम् ।
पतिं पतीनां परमं परस्ताद्विदाम देवं भुवनेशमीडयम् ॥७॥

7) Him may we know, the Highest, Prince of Princes and King of Kings, the summit and Godhead of the Gods. The High Lord over lords above all highness; the Master of the

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worlds whom we must worship.⁹

न तस्य कार्य करणं च विद्यते न तत्समश्चाभ्यधिकश्च दृश्यते ।
परास्य शक्तिर्विविधैव श्रूयते स्वाभाविकी ज्ञानबलक्रिया च ॥८॥

8) He hath nought that He must do nor any organ of His doing; there is none like Him seeing nor any greater. His might is over all and we hear of it in diverse fashions.¹⁰ Lo, His strength and the works of Him and His knowledge, they are self-efficient and their own cause and nature.

न तस्य कश्चित्पतिरस्ति लोके न चेशिता नैव च तस्य लिङ्गम् ।
स कारणं करणाधिपाधिपो न चास्य कश्चिज्जनिता न चाधिपः ॥९॥

9) He hath no master in all this world, there is none that shall rule over Him. Verily, He hath no mark nor feature,¹¹ for He is the begetting cause and sovereign over the lords of these natural organs, but Himself hath no begetter neither any sovereign.¹²

यस्तन्तुनाभ इव तन्तुभिः प्रधानजैः स्वभावतो देव एकः स्वमावृणोत् ।
स नो दधाद् ब्रह्माप्ययम् ॥१०॥

10) As the spider fashioneth his web and its threads are from his own body, so the One God than whom nought else existeth wrapt Himself from sight in the web born of eternal matter. May He ordain to us departure into the eternal.¹³

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एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा ।
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च ॥११॥

11) One God alone is hidden in all creatures; for He pervadeth all things and is the inner Self of all beings, Master of their works and home of all that liveth, the great Witness, the Well of conscious life, Absolute, without qualities.¹⁴

एको वशी निष्क्रियाणां बहूनामेकं बीजं बहुधा यः करोति ।
तमात्मस्थं येऽनुपश्यन्ति धीरास्तेषां सुखं शाश्वतं नेतरेषाम् ॥१२॥

12) One God and alone He controlleth the many who have themselves no separate work nor purpose; and He developeth one seed into many kinds of creatures; therefore the strong who behold Him in their own self where He sitteth, for them is the bliss that endureth for ever, and not for others.¹⁵

नित्यो नित्यानां चेतनश्चेतनानामेको बहूनां यो विदधाति कामान् ।
तत्कारणं सांख्ययोगाधिगम्यं ज्ञात्वा देवं मुच्यते सर्वपाशैः ॥१३॥

13) One Eternal of all those that pass and are not, One Conscious in all consciousness, He being One ordereth the desires of many; He alone is the great Source to which Sankhya and Yoga bring us, if thou know God thou shalt break free from every sort of bondage.

न तत्र सूर्यो भाति न चन्द्रतारकं नेमा विद्युतो भान्ति कुतोऽयमग्निः ।
तमेव भान्तमनुभाति सर्व तस्य भासा सर्वमिदं विभाति ॥१४॥

14) There the Sun cannot shine and the moon has no splendour;

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the stars are blind; there our lightnings flash not neither any earthly fire; all that is bright is but the shadow of His brightness and by His shining all this shineth.

एको हंसो भुवनस्यास्य मध्ये स एवाग्निः सलिले संनिविष्टः ।
तमेव विदित्वानि मृत्युमेति नान्यः पन्था विद्यतेऽयनाय ॥१५॥

15) One Swan of Being in the heart of all this Universe and He is Fire that lieth deep in the heart of water. By this Knowledge the soul passeth beyond the pursuit of Death and there is no other road for the great passage.

स विश्वकृद्विश्वविदात्मयोनिर्ज्ञः कालकारो गुणी सर्वविद्यः ।
प्रधानक्षेत्रज्ञपतिर्गुणेशः संसारमोक्षस्थितिबन्धहेतुः ॥१६॥

16) He hath made all and knoweth all, for He is the womb out of which Self ariseth, and being possessed of the Nature Moods He becometh Time. There is eternal Matter and there is the Spirit within that knoweth his field in Matter; He is Lord of both, He ruleth over the Modes of Nature. The world and deliverance out of the world and the endurance of things and the bonds of their endurance, of all these He is the One Cause and reason.¹⁶

स तन्मयो ह्यमृत ईशसंस्थो ज्ञः सर्वगो भुवनस्यास्य गोप्ता ।
य ईशे अस्य जगतो नित्यमेव नान्यो हेतुर्विद्यत ईशनाय ॥१७॥

17) He is purely Himself, for He is the Immortal manifested in the Mighty One, the Knower who reacheth everywhere and guardeth this cosmos,¹⁷ yea, He ruleth all this moving

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world for ever and for ever, and there is no other source of greatness and lordship.

यो ब्रह्माणं विदधाति पूर्व यो वै वेदांश्च प्रहिणोति तस्मै ।
तं ह देवमात्मबुद्धिप्रकाशं मुमुक्षुर्वै शरणमहं प्रपद्ये ॥१८॥

18) He ordained Brahma the Creator from of old and sent forth unto Him the Veda, I will make haste unto God who standeth self-revealed in the spirit and in the understanding. I will take refuge in the Lord for my salvation.¹⁸

निष्कलं निष्क्रियं शान्तं निरवद्यं निरञ्जनम् ।
अमृतस्य परं सेतुं दग्धेन्धनमिवानलम् ॥१९॥

19) Without part, without act, utterly tranquil and faultless and stainless, therefore is He the one great bridge that carrieth us over to Immortality even as when a fire hath burnt up its fuel.

यदा चर्मवदाकाशं वेष्टयिष्यन्ति मानवाः ।
तदा देवमविज्ञाय दुःखस्यान्तो भविष्यति ॥२०॥

20) When the sons of men shall fold up ether like a skin and wrap the heavens round them like a garment, then alone, without knowledge of the Lord, our God, shall the misery of the world have an ending.

तपःप्रभावाद्देवप्रसादाच्च ब्रह्म ह श्वेताश्वतरोऽथ विद्वान् ।
अत्याश्रमिभ्यः परमं पवित्रं प्रोवाच सम्यगृषिसंघजुष्टम् ॥२१॥

21) By the might of his devotion and the grace of God, by the energy in his being Shwetashwatara hereafter knew the Eternal and he came to the renouncers of the worldly life and truly declared unto them the Most High and Pure God to whom the companies of seers resort for ever.

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वेदान्ते परमं गुह्यं पुराकल्पे प्रचोदितम् ।
नाप्रशान्ताय दातव्यं नापुत्रायाशिष्याय वा पुनः ॥२२॥

22) This is the great secret of the Vedanta which was declared in a former time, not on hearts untranquilled to be squandered nor on men soulless nor on one who hath no disciples.¹⁹

यस्य देवे परा भक्तिर्यथा देवे तथा गुरौ ।
तस्यैते कथिता ह्यर्थाः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः ॥२३॥

23) But whosoever hath the supreme love and adoration for the Lord and as for the Lord, likewise for the Master, to him these great matters, when they are told, become clear of themselves, yea, to the Great Soul of him they are manifest.

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Chhandogya Upanishad

Chapter One: Section I

ओमित्येतदक्षरमुद्गीथमुपासीत । ओमिति हयुद्गायति तस्योपव्याख्यानम् ॥१॥

1) Worship ye OM, the eternal syllable, OM is Udgitha, the chant of Sama-veda; for with OM they begin the chant of Sama. And this is the exposition of OM.

एषां भूतानां पृथिवी रसः पृथिव्या आपो रसः । अपामोषधयो रस ओषधीनां पुरुषो रसः पुरुषस्य वाग्रसो वाच ऋग्रस ऋचः साम रसः साम्न उद्गीथो रसः ॥२॥

2) Earth is the substantial essence of all these creatures and the waters are the essence of earth; herbs of the field are the essence of the waters, man is the essence of the herbs. Speech is the essence of man, Rig-veda the essence of Speech, Sama the essence of Rik. Of Sama OM is the essence.

स एष रसानांरसतमः परमः परार्ध्योऽष्टमो यदुद्गीथः ॥३॥

3) This is the eighth essence of the essences and the really essential, the highest and it belongs to the upper hemisphere of things.

कतमा कतमर्क् कतमत् कतमत्साम कतमः कतम उद्गीथ इति विमृष्टं भवति ॥४॥

4) Which among things and which again is Rik; which among things and which again is Sama; which among things and which again is OM of the Udgitha—this is now pondered.

वागेवर्क् प्राणः सामोमित्येतदक्षरमुद्गीथः । तद्वा एतन्मिथुनं यद्वाक्च प्राणश्चर्क् च साम च ॥५॥

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5) Speech is Rik, Breath is Sama; the Imperishable is OM of Udgitha. These are the divine lovers, Speech and Breath, Rik and Sama.

तदेतन्मिथुनमोमित्येतस्मिन्नक्षरे संसृज्यते यदा वै मिथुनौ समागच्छत आपयतो वै तावन्योन्यस्य कामम् ॥६॥

6) As a pair of lovers are these and they cling together in OM the eternal syllable; but now when the beloved and her lover meet, verily, they gratify each the desire of the other.

आपयिता ह वै कामानां भवति य एतदेवं विद्वानक्षरमुद्गीथमुपास्ते ॥७॥

7) He becomes a gratifier of the desires of men who with this knowledge worships OM the eternal syllable.

तद्वा एतदनुज्ञाक्षरं यद्धि किं चानुजानात्योमित्येव तदाह एषा एव समृद्धिर्यदनुज्ञा । समर्धयिता ह वै कामानां भवति य एतदेवं विद्वानक्षरमुद्गीथमुपास्ते ॥८॥

8) Now this OM is the syllable of Assent; for to whatsoever one assents, one says OM; and assent is blessing of increase. Verily he becomes a blesser and increaser of the desires of men who with this knowledge worships OM the eternal syllable.

तेनेयं त्रयी विद्या वर्तत ओमित्याश्रावयत्योमिति शंसत्योमित्युद्गायत्येतस्यैवाक्षरस्यापचित्यै महिम्ना रसेन ॥९॥

9) By OM the triple knowledge proceeds; with OM the priest recites the Rik, with OM he pronounces the Yajur, with OM he chants the Sama. And all this is for the heaping up of the Imperishable and by the greatness of It and the Delightfulness.

तेनोभौ कुरुतो यश्चैतदेवं वेद यश्च न वेद । नाना तु विद्या

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चाविद्या च यदेव विद्यया करोति श्रद्धयोपनिषदा तदेव वीर्यवत्तरं भवतीति खल्वेतस्यैवाक्षरस्योपव्याख्यानं भवति ॥१०॥

10) He does works by OM who has the knowledge, and he also who has it not; but these are diverse, the Knowledge and the Ignorance. Whatsoever work one does with knowledge, with faith and with the secret of Veda, it becomes to him more virile and mighty. This is the exposition of the Eternal letters.

Chapter One: Section II

देवासुरा ह वै यत्र संयेतिर उभये प्राजापत्यास्तद्ध देवा उद्गीथमाजह्नु रनेनैनानभिभविष्याम इति ॥१॥

1) The Gods and the Demons strove together and both were children of the Almighty Father. Then the Gods took up for weapon OM of Udgitha, for they said, "With this we shall overcome these Titans."

ते ह नासिक्यं प्राणमुद्गीथमुपासांचकिरे । तंहासुराः पाप्मना विविधुस्तस्मात्तेनोभयं जिघ्रति सुरभि च दुर्गन्धि च पाप्मना ह्येष विद्धः ॥२॥

2) The Gods worshipped OM as Breath in the nostrils; but the Demons came and smote it with the arrow of Evil; therefore it smells both alike, the sweet scent and the evil odour. For it is smitten through and through with Evil.

अथ ह वाचमुद्गीथमुपासांचकिरे । तांहासुराः पाप्मना विविधुस्तस्मात्तयोभयं वदति सत्यं चानृतं च पाप्मना ह्येषा विद्धा ॥३॥

3) Then the Gods worshipped OM as Speech; but the Demons came and smote it with the arrow of Evil; therefore it speaks both alike, Truth and Falsehood. For it is smitten through and through with Evil.

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अथ ह चक्षुरुद्गगीथमुपासांचकिरे । तद्धासुराः पाप्मना विविधुस्तस्मात्तेनोभयं पश्यति दर्शनीयं चादर्शनीयं च पाप्मना ह्येतद् विद्धम् ॥४॥

4) Then the Gods worshipped OM as the Eye; but the Demons came and smote it with the arrow of Evil; therefore it beholds both alike, the fair to see and the foul of favour. For it is smitten through and through with Evil.

अथ ह श्रोत्रमुद्गीथमुपासांचकिरे । तद्धासुराः पाप्मना विविधुस्तस्मात्तेनोभयं शृणोति श्रवणीयं चाश्रवणीयं च पाप्मना ह्येतद्विद्धम् ॥५॥

5) Then the Gods worshipped OM as the Ear; but the Demons came and smote it with the arrow of Evil; therefore it hears both alike, that which is well to hear and that which is harsh and unseemly. For it is smitten through and through with Evil.

अथ ह मन उद्गीथमुपासांचकिरे । तद्धासुराः पाप्मना विविधुस्तस्मात्तेनोभयंसंकल्पयते संकल्पनीयं चासंकल्पनीयं च पाप्मना ह्येतद्विद्धम् ॥६॥

6) Then the Gods worshipped Udgitha as Mind but the Demons came and smote it with the arrow of Evil; therefore it conceives both alike, right thoughts and unlawful imaginations. For it is smitten through and through with Evil.

अथ ह य एवायं मुख्यः प्राणस्तमुद्गीथमुपासांचकिरे । तंहासुरा ऋत्वा विदध्वंसुर्यथाश्मानमाखणमृत्वा विध्वंसेत ॥७॥

7) Then the Gods worshipped OM as this which is Breath in the mouth and the Demons rushing against it dashed themselves to pieces; as when an object strikes against firm and solid rock, it dashes to pieces upon the rock.

एवं यथाश्मानमाखणमृत्वा विध्वंसत एवंहैव स विध्वंसते य एवंविदि पापं कामयते यश्चैनमभिदासति स एषोऽश्माखणः ॥८॥

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8) And even as an object hurling against firm and solid rock dashes itself to pieces, so he hurls himself upon destruction whoso desires evil against the Knower or whoso does him hurt; for the Knower is as that firm and solid rock.

नैवैतेन सुरभि न दुर्गन्धि विजानात्यपहतपाप्मा ह्येष तेन यदश्नाति यत्पिवति तेनेतरान्प्राणानवति । एतमु एवान्ततोऽवित्त्वोत्कामति व्याददात्येवान्तत इति ॥९॥

9) With this Breath one cognises neither sweet scent nor ill odour, for it has flung Evil from it. Whatsoever one eats with this or drinks, thereby it cherishes the other breaths. At the end and last when he finds not the breath, the Spirit goes out from the body; verily he opens wide the mouth as he goes.

तंहाङ्गिरा उद़्गीथमुपासांचक एतमु एवाङ्गिरसं मन्यन्तेऽङ्गानां यद्रसः ॥१०॥

10) Angiras worshipped OM of Udgitha as Breath in the mouth and men think of Breath in the mouth as Angiras because it is essence of the members of the body.

तेन तंह बृहस्पतिरुद्गीथमुपासांचक एतमु एष बृहस्पतिं मन्यन्ते वाग्धि बृहती तस्या एष पतिः ॥११॥

11) By the strength of Angiras, Brihaspati worshipped OM as Breath in the mouth, and men think of the Breath as Brihaspati, because Speech is the great goddess and Breath is the lord of Speech.

तेन तंहायास्य उद्गीथमुपासांचक एतमु एवायास्यं मन्यन्त आस्याद्यदयते ॥१२॥

12) By the strength of Brihaspati, Ayasya worshipped OM as Breath in the mouth and men think of the Breath as Ayasya, because 'tis from the mouth it comes.

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तेन तंह बको दाल्भ्यो विदांचकार । स ह नैमिशीयानामुद्गाता बभूव स ह स्मैभ्यः कामानागायति ॥१३॥

13) By the strength of Ayasya, Baka the son of Dalbha knew the Breath. And he became the Chanter of the Sama among the Naimishiyas and he chants their desires for them unto fulfilment.

आगाता ह वै कामानां भवति य एतदेवं विद्वानक्षरमुद्गीथमुपास्त इत्यध्यात्मम् ॥१४॥

14) Verily, he becomes a chanter unto fulfilment of the desires of men who with this knowledge worships OM of Udgitha, the eternal syllable. Thus far concerning Self is the exposition.

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A Note on the Chhandogya Upanishad

First Adhyaya

ओमित्येतदक्षरमुद्गीथामुपासीत । ओमिति ह्युद्गायति तस्योपव्याख्यानम् ॥१॥

OM is the syllable (the Imperishable One); one should follow after it as the upward song (movement); for with OM one sings (goes) upwards; of which this is the analytical explanation.

So literally translated in its double meaning, both its exoteric, physical and symbolic sense and its esoteric symbolised reality, runs the initial sentence of the Upanishad. These opening lines or passages of the Vedanta are always of great importance; they are always so designed as to suggest or even sum up, if not all that comes afterwards, yet the essential and pervading idea of the Upanishad. The īṣā vāsyam of the Vajasaneyi, the keneṣitaṁ...manas of the Talavakara, the Sacrificial Horse of the Brihad Aranyaka, the solitary Atman with its hints of the future world vibrations in the Aitareya are of this type. The Chhandogya, we see from its first and introductory sentences, is to be a work on the right and perfect way of devoting oneself to the Brahman; the spirit, the methods, the formulae are to be given to us. Its subject is the Brahman, but the Brahman as symbolised in the OM, the sacred syllable of the Veda; not, therefore, the pure state of the universal existence only, but that existence in all its parts, the waking world and the dream self and the sleeping, the manifest, half-manifest and hidden, Bhurloka, Bhuvar and Swar,—the right means to win all of them, enjoy all of them, transcend all of them, is the subject of the Chhandogya. OM is the symbol and the thing symbolised. It is this symbol, akṣaram.

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The Great Aranyaka (Brihadaranyaka)

A COMMENTARY ON
THE BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD

Foreword

The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, at once the most obscure and the profoundest of the Upanishads, offers peculiar difficulties to the modern mind. If its ideas are remote from us, its language is still more remote. Profound, subtle, extraordinarily rich in rare philosophical suggestions and delicate psychology, it has preferred to couch its ideas in a highly figurative and symbolical language, which to its contemporaries, accustomed to this suggestive dialect, must have seemed a noble frame for its riches, but meets us rather as an obscuring veil. To draw aside this curtain, to translate the old Vedic language and figures into the form contemporary thought prefers to give to its ideas is the sole object of this commentary. The task is necessarily a little hazardous. It would have been easy merely to reproduce the thoughts and interpretations of Shankara in the modern tongue; if there were an error, one could afford to err with so supreme an authority. But it seems to me that both the demands of truth and the spiritual need of mankind in this age call for a restoration of old Vedantic truth rather than for the prolonged dominion of that single side of it systematised by the mediaeval thinker. The great Shankaracharya needs no modern praise and can be hurt by no modern disagreement. Easily the first of metaphysical thinkers, the greatest genius in the history of philosophy, his commentary has also done an incalculable service to our race by bridging the intellectual gulf between the sages of the Upanishads and ourselves. It has protected them from the practical oblivion in which our ignorance and inertia have allowed the Veda to rest for so many centuries, only to be dragged out by the rude hands of the daringly speculative Teuton. It has kept these ancient grandeurs of thought, these high repositories of spirituality under the safeguard of that temple of metaphysics, the Adwaita philosophy—a little in the background, a little too much veiled and shrouded, but nevertheless safe from

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the iconoclasm and the restless ingenuities of modern scholarship. Nevertheless, it remains true that Shankara's commentary is interesting not so much for the light it sheds on the Upanishad as for its digressions into his own philosophy. I do not think that Shankara's rational intellect, subtle indeed to the extreme, but avid of logical clearness and consistency, could penetrate far into that mystic symbolism and that deep and elusive flexibility which is characteristic of all the Upanishads, but rises to an almost unattainable height in the Brihad Aranyaka. He has done much, has shown often a readiness and quickness astonishing in so different a type of intellectuality, but more is possible and needed. The time is fast coming when the human intellect will be aware of the mighty complexity of the universe, more ready to learn and less prone to dispute and dictate; we shall be willing then to read ancient documents of knowledge for what they contain instead of attempting to force into them our own truth or get them to serve our philosophic or scholastic purposes. To enter passively into the thoughts of the old Rishis, allow their words to sink into our souls, mould them and create their own reverberations in a sympathetic and responsive material—submissiveness, in short, to the Sruti—was the theory the ancients themselves had of the method of Vedic knowledge—girām upaśrutim cara, stomān abhi svara, abhi gṛṇīhi a ruva. To listen in soul to the old voices and allow the Sruti in the soul to respond, to vibrate, first obscurely, in answer to the Vedantic hymn of knowledge, to give the response, the echo and last to let that response gain in clarity, intensity and fullness—this is the principle of interpretation that I have followed—mystical perhaps, but not necessarily more unsound than the insistences and equally personal standards of the logician and the scholar. And for the rest, where no inner experience of truth sheds light on the text, to abide faithfully by the wording of the Upanishad and trust my intuitions. For I hold it right to follow the intuitions especially in interpreting the Upanishad, even at the risk of being accused of reading mysticism into the Vedanta, because the early Vedantists, it seems to me, were mystics not in the sense of being vague and loose-thoughted visionaries, but in the sense of being intuitional symbolists—men who regarded the world as a movement

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of consciousness and all material forms and energies as external symbols and shadows of deeper and deeper internal realities. It is not my intention here nor is it in my limits possible to develop the philosophy of the Great Aranyaka Upanishad, but only to develop with just sufficient amplitude for entire clearness the ideas contained in its language and involved in its figures. The business of my commentary is to lay a foundation; it is for the thinker to build the superstructure.

The Horse of the Worlds

The Upanishad begins with a grandiose abruptness in an impetuous figure of the Horse of the Ashwamedha. "OM," it begins, "Dawn is the head of the horse sacrificial. The sun is his eye, his breath is the wind, his wide open mouth is Fire, the universal energy, Time is the self of the horse sacrificial. Heaven is his back and the mid-region is his belly, Earth is his footing, the quarters are his flanks and these intermediate regions are his ribs; the seasons are his members, the months and the half-months are that on which he stands, the stars are his bones and the sky is the flesh of his body. The strands are the food in his belly, the rivers are his veins, the mountains are his liver and lungs, herbs and plants are the hairs of his body; the rising day is his front portion, and the setting day is his hinder portion. When he stretches himself, then it lightens; when he shakes himself, then it thunders; when he urines, then it rains. Speech verily is the voice of him. Day was the grandeur that was born before the horse as he galloped, the Eastern Ocean gave it birth. Night was the grandeur that was born in his rear and its birth was in the Western waters. These were the grandeurs that arose into being on either side of the horse. He became Haya and carried the Gods,—Vajin and bore the Gandharvas,—Arvan and bore the Titans,—Ashwa and carried mankind. The sea was his brother and the sea his birthplace."

This passage, full of gigantic imagery, sets the key to the Upanishad and only by entering into the meaning of its symbolism can we command the gates of this many-mansioned city

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of Vedantic thought. There is never anything merely poetic or ornamental in the language of the Upanishads. Even in this passage which would at first sight seem to be sheer imagery, there is a choice, a selecting eye, an intention in the images. They are all dependent not on the author's unfettered fancy, but on the common ideas of the early Vedantic theosophy. It is fortunate, also, that the attitude of the Upanishad to the Vedic sacrifices is perfectly plain from this opening. We shall not stand in danger of being accused of reading modern subtleties into primitive minds or of replacing barbarous superstitions by civilised mysticism. The Ashwamedha or Horse-Sacrifice is, as we shall see, taken as the symbol of a great spiritual advance, an evolutionary movement, almost, from out of the dominion of apparently material forces into a higher spiritual freedom. The Horse of the Ashwamedha is, to the author, a physical figure representing, like some algebraical symbol, an unknown quantity of force and speed. From the imagery it is evident that this force, this speed is something world-wide, something universal; it fills the regions with its being, it occupies Time, it gallops through Space, it bears on in its speed men and Gods and the Titans. It is the Horse of the Worlds,—and yet the Horse sacrificial.

Let us regard first the word Ashwa and consider whether it throws any light on the secret of this image. For we know that the early Vedantins attached great importance to words in both their apparent and their hidden meaning and no one who does not follow them in this path, can hope to enter into the associations with which their minds were full. Yet the importance of associations in colouring and often in determining our thoughts, determining even philosophic and scientific thought when it is most careful to be exact and free, should be obvious to the most superficial psychologist. Swami Dayananda's method with the Vedas, although it may have been too vigorously applied and more often out of the powerful mind of the modern Indian thinker than out of the recovered mentality of the old Aryan Rishis, would nevertheless, in its principle, have been approved by these Vedantins. Now the word aśva must originally have implied strength or speed or both before it came to be applied to a horse. In its first or root significance it means to exist pervadingly and

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so to possess, have, obtain or enjoy. It is the Greek echo (old Sanskrit aś), the ordinary word in Greek for "I have". It means, also and even more commonly, to eat or enjoy. Besides this original sense inherent in the roots of its family, it has its own peculiar significance, existence in force,—of strength, solidity, sharpness, speed,—in aśan and aśma, a stone, aśani, a thunderbolt, aśri, a sharp edge or corner (Latin acer, acris, sharp, acus, point etc.), and finally aśva, the strong, swift horse. Its fundamental meanings are, therefore, pervading existence, enjoyment, strength, solidity, speed. Shall we not say, therefore, that aśva to the Rishis meant the unknown power made up of force, strength, solidity, speed and enjoyment that pervades and constitutes the material world?

But there is a danger that etymological fancies may mislead us. It is necessary, therefore, to test our provisional conclusions from philology by a careful examination of the images of this parable. Yet before we proceed to this enquiry, it is as well to note that in the very opening of his second Brahmana, the Rishi passes on immediately from Ashwa the Horse to aśanāyā mṛtyuḥ̣, Hunger that is death, and assigns this hunger that is death as the characteristic, indeed the very nature of the Force that has arranged and developed,—evolved, as the moderns would say,—the material world.

"Dawn," says the Rishi, "is the head of the Horse Sacrificial." Now, the head is the front, the part of us that faces and looks out upon our world,—and Dawn is that part to the Horse of the worlds. This goddess must therefore be the opening out of the world to the eye of Being—for as day is the symbol of a time of activity, night of a time of inactivity, so dawn images the imperfect but pregnant beginnings of regular cosmic action; it is the Being's movement forward, thus its impulse to look out at the universe in which it finds itself and waking to yearn towards it, to desire to enter upon its possession of a world which looks so bright because of the brightness of the gaze that is turned upon it. The word Ushas means etymologically coming into manifested being; and it could mean also desire or yearning. Ushas or Dawn, to the early thinker, was the impulse towards manifest existence, no longer a vague movement in the depths of

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the Unmanifest, but already emerging and on the brink of its satisfaction. For we must remember that we are dealing with a book full of mystical imagery which starts with looking on psychological and philosophical truths in the most material things and we shall miss its meaning altogether, if in our interpretation we are afraid of mysticism.

The sun is the eye of this great Force, the wind is its life-breath or vital energy, Fire is its open mouth. We are here in the company of very familiar symbols. We shall have to return to them hereafter but they are, in their surface application obvious and lucid. By themselves they are almost sufficient to reveal the meaning of the symbol,—yet not altogether sufficient. For, taken by themselves, they might mislead us into supposing the Horse of the Worlds to be an image of the material universe only, a figure for those movements of matter and in matter with which modern Science is so exclusively preoccupied. But the next image delivers us from passing by this side-gate into materialism. "Time in its period is the self of the Horse Sacrificial." If we accept for the word ātmā a significance which is also common and is, indeed, used in the next chapter, if we understand by it, as I think we ought here to understand by it, "substance" or "body", the expression, in itself remarkable, will become even more luminous and striking. Not Matter then, but Time, a mental circumstance, is the body of this force of the material universe whose eye is the sun and his breath the wind. Are we then to infer that the Seer denies the essential materiality of matter? does he assert it to be, as Huxley admitted it to be, "a state of consciousness"? We shall see. Meanwhile it is evident already that this Horse of the worlds is an image of the power which pervades and constitutes the material universe, as we had already supposed it to be, not an image merely of matter or material force. We get also from this image of true Time the idea of it as an unknown Power—for Time which is its self or body, is itself an unknown quantity. The reality which expresses itself to us through Time—its body—but remains itself ungrasped, must be still what men have always felt it to be, the unknown God.

In the images that immediately follow we have the conception

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of Space added to the conception of Time. Both are brought together side by side as constituents of the being of the Horse. For the sky is the flesh of his body,—the quarters his flanks and the intermediate regions his ribs,—the sky, nabhas, the ether above us in which the stellar systems are placed; and these stellar systems themselves, concentrations of ether, are the bones which support the flesh and of which life in this spatial infinity takes advantage in order more firmly to place and organise itself in matter. But side by side with this spatial image is that of the seasons reminding us immediately and intuitionally of the connection of Time and Space. The seasons, determined for us by the movements of the sun and stars, are the flanks of the horse and he stands upon the months and the fortnights—the lunar divisions. Space, then, is the flesh constituting materially this body of Time which the sage attributes to his Horse of the Worlds,—by movement in Space its periods are shaped and determined. Therefore we return always to the full idea of the Horse—not as an image of matter, not as a symbol of the unknown supra-material Power in its supra-material reality, but of that Power expressing itself in matter, materially, we might almost say, pervading and constituting the universe. Time is its body,—yes, but saṁvatsara not kāla, Time in its periods determined by movement in Space, not Time in its essentiality.

Moreover, it is that Power imaging itself in Cosmos, it is the Horse of the Worlds. For, we read, "Heaven is its back, the mid-region is its belly, earth is its footing"—pājasyam, the four feet upon which it stands. We must be careful not to confuse the ancient Seer's conception of the universe with our modern conception. To us nothing exists except the system of gross material world—annamayam jagat—this earth, this moon, this sun and its planets, these myriad suns and their systems. But to the Vedantic thinkers, the universe, the manifest Brahman, was a harmony of worlds within worlds; they beheld a space within our space but linked with it, they were aware of a time connected with our time but different from it. This earth was Bhur. Rising in soul into the air above the earth, the antarikṣam, they thought, they came into contact with other sevenfold earths in which just as here matter is the predominant principle, so there nervous

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or vital energy is the main principle or else manas, still dependent upon matter and vital energy; these earths they called Bhuvar. And rising beyond this atmosphere into the ethereal void they believed themselves to be aware of other worlds which they called Swar or heaven, where again, in its turn, mind, free, blithe, delivered from its struggle to impose itself in a world not its own, upon matter and nerve-life, is the medium of existence and the governing Force. If we keep in mind these ideas, we shall easily understand why the images are thus distributed in the sentence I have last quoted. Heaven is the back of the Horse, because it is on the mind that we rest, mind that bears up the Gods and Gandharvas, Titans and men; the mid-region is the belly, because vital energy is that which hungers and devours, moves restlessly everywhere seizing everything and turning it into food; earth is the footing, because matter, outward form, is the fundamental condition for the manifestation of life, mind and all higher forces. On Matter we rest and have our firm stand; out of Matter we rise to our fulfilment in Spirit.

Then once again, after these higher and more remote suggestions, we are reminded that it is Force manifesting in matter which the Horse symbolises; the material manifestation constitutes the essence of its symbolism. The images used are of an almost gross materiality. Some of them are at the same time of a striking interest to the practical student of Yoga, for he recognises in them allusions to certain obscure but exceedingly common Yogic phenomena. The strands of the rivers are imaged as the undigested food in the Horse's belly—earth not yet assimilated or of sufficient consistency for the habitual works of life; the rivers distributing the water that is the life-blood of earth's activities are his veins; the mountains, breathing in health for us from the rarer altitudes and supporting by the streams born from them the works of life, are his lungs and liver; herbs and plants, springing up out of the sap of earth, are the hairs covering and clothing his body. All that is clear enough and designedly superficial. But then the Upanishad goes on to speak no longer of superficial circumstances but of the powers of the Horse. Some of these are material powers, the thunder, the lightning, the rain. "When he stretches himself, then it lightens, when he shakes himself, then

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it thunders; when he urines, then it rains." Vijṛmbhate—extends himself in intensity, makes the most of his physical bulk and force; vidhūnute—throws himself out in energy, converts his whole body into a motion and force; these two words are of a great impetuosity and vehemence and, taken in conjunction with the image, extremely significant. The Yogin will at once recognise the reference to the electrical manifestations, visible or felt, which accompany so often the increase of concentration, thought and inner activity in the waking condition,—electricity, Vidyutas, the material symbol, medium and basis of all activities of knowledge sarvāṇi vijñāna-vijṛmbhitāni. He will recognise also the meghadhvani, one of the characteristic sounds heard in the concentration of Yoga, symbolical of kṣātratejas and physically indicative of force gathering itself for action. The first image is therefore an image of knowledge expressing itself in matter, the second is an image of power expressing itself in matter. The third, the image of the rain, suggests that it is from the mere waste matter of his body that this great Power is able to fertilise the world and produce sustenance for the myriad nations of his creatures. "Speech verily is the voice of him." Vāgevāsya vāk. Speech, with its burden of definite thought, is the neighing of this mighty Horse of sacrifice; by that this great Power in matter expresses materially the uprush of his thought and yearning and emotion, the visible sparks of the secret universal fire that is in him—guhāhitam.

But the real powers, the wonderful fundamental greatnesses of the Horse are, the sage would have us remember, not the material. What are they then? The sunrise and sunset, day and night are their symbols, not the magnitudes of Space, but the magnitudes of Time,—Time, that mysterious condition of universal mind which alone makes the ordering of the universe in Space possible, although its own particular relations to matter are necessarily determined by material events and movements—for itself subtle as well as infinite it offers no means by which it can be materially measured. Sunrise and sunset, that is to say, birth and death, the front and hind are part of the body of the Horse, Time expressed in matter. But on Day and Night the sage fixes a deeper significance. Day is the symbol of the continual

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manifestation of material things the vyākṛta, the manifest or fundamentally in Sat, in infinite being; Night is the symbol of their continual disappearance into avyākṛta, the Unmanifest or finally into asat, into infinite non-being. They appear according to the swift movement of this Horse of the Worlds, anu ajāyata, or as I have written, translating the idea and rhythm of the Upanishads rather than the exact words, as he gallops. Day is the greatness that appears in his front, Night in his rear,—whatever this Time-Spirit, this Zeitgeist or the greatness that appears, turns his face towards or arrives at, as he gallops through Time, that appears or, as we say, comes into being, whatever he passes away from and leaves, that disappears out of being or, as we say, perishes. Not that things are really destroyed, for nothing that is can be destroyed—na abhāvo vidyate sataḥ—but they no longer appear, they are swallowed up in this darkness of his refusal of consciousness; for the purposes of manifestation they cease to exist. All things exist already in Parabrahman, but all are not here manifest. They are already there in Being, not in Time. The universal Thought expressing itself as Time reaches them, they seem to be born. It passes away from them, they seem to perish, but there they still are, in Being, but not in Time. These two greatnesses of the appearance of things in Time and Space and their disappearance in Time and Space act always and continuously so long as the Horse is galloping, are his essential greatnesses. Etau vai mahimānau. The birth of one is in the Eastern Ocean, of the other in the Western, that is to say, in sat and asat, in the ocean of Being and the ocean of denial of Being or else in vyākṛta prakṛti and avyākṛta prakṛti, occult sea of Chaos, manifest sea of Cosmos.

Then the sage throws out briefly a description, not exhaustive but typical, of the relations of the Horse to the different natural types of being that seem to possess this universe. For all of them He is the vāhana, He bears them upon His infinite strength and speed and motion. He bears all of them without respect of differences, samabhāvena, with the divine impartiality and equality of soul—samam hi brahma. To the type of each individual being this Universal Might adapts himself and seems to take upon himself their image. He is Haya to the gods, Arvan to the

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Asura, Vajin to the Gandharvas, Ashwa to men. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante.... In reality they are made in His image, not He in theirs, and though He seems to obey them and follow their needs and impulses, though they have the whip, ply the spur and tug the reins, it is He who bears them on in the course of Yugas that are marked out for Him by His hidden Self; He is free and exulting in the swiftness of His galloping.

But what are these names, Haya, Vajin, Arvan, Ashwa? Certainly, they must suggest qualities which fit the Horse in each case to the peculiar type of its rider; but the meaning depends on associations and on etymology which in modern Sanskrit have gone below the surface and are no longer easily seizable. Haya is especially difficult. For this reason Shankara, relying too much on scholarship and intellectual inference and too little on his intuitions, is openly at a loss in this passage. He sees that the word haya for horse must arise from the radical sense of motion borne by the root hi; but every horse has motion for his chief characteristic activity, Arvan and Vajin no less than Haya. Why then should Haya alone be suitable for riding by the gods, why Arvan for the Asuras? He has, I think, the right intuition when he suggests that it is some peculiar and excelling kind of motion (viśiṣṭagati) which is the characteristic of Haya. But then, unable to fix on that peculiarity, unable to read any characteristic meaning in the names that follow, he draws back from his intuition and adds that after all, these names may have merely indicated particular kinds of horses attributed mythologically to these various families of riders. But this suggestion would make the passage mere mythology; but the Upanishads, always intent on their deeper object, never waste time over mere mythology. We must therefore go deeper than Shankara and follow out the intuition he himself has abandoned.

I am dwelling on this passage at a length disproportionate to its immediate importance, not only because Shankara's failure in handling it shows the necessity and fruitfulness of trusting our intuitions...in contact with the Upanishads, but because the passage serves two other important uses. It illustrates the Vedantic use of the etymology of words and it throws light on the precise notions of the old thinkers about those super-terrestrial

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beings with whom the vision of the ancient Hindus peopled this universe. The Vedantic writers, we continually find, dwelt deeply and curiously on the innate and on the concealed meaning of words; vyākaraṇa, always considered essential to the interpretation of the Vedas, they used not merely as scholars, but much more as intuitive thinkers. It was not only the actual etymological sense or the actual sense in use but the suggestions of the sound and syllables of the words which attracted them; for they found that by dwelling on them new and deep truths arose into their understandings. Let us see how they use this method in assigning the names assumed by the sacrificial Horse.

Here modern philology comes to our help, for, by the clue it has given, we can revive in its principle the Nirukta of our ancestors and discover by induction and inference the old meaning of the Vedic vocables. I will leave haya alone for the present; because philology unaided does not help us very much in getting at the sense of its application,—in discovering the viśiṣṭagati which the word conveyed to the mind of the sage. But vājin and arvan are very illuminative. Vāja and vājin are common Vedic words; they recur perpetually in the Rig-veda. The sense of vāja is essentially substantiality of being attended with plenty, from which it came to signify full force, copiousness, strength and, by an easy transition, substance and plenty in the sense of wealth and possessions. There can be no doubt about vājin. But European scholarship has confused for us this approach to the sense of arvan. Ar is a common Sanskrit root, the basis of ari, arya, aryamā and a number of well-known words. But the scholars tell us that it means to till or plough and the Aryans so called themselves because they were agriculturists and not nomads or hunters. Starting from this premiss one may see in arvan a horse for ploughing as opposed to a draught-animal or a war-horse, and support the derivation instancing the Latin arvum, a tilled field. But even if the Aryans were ploughmen, the Titans surely were not—Hiranyakashipu and Prahlada did not pride themselves on the breaking of the glebe and the honest sweat of their brow! There is no trace of such an association in arvan here,—I know not where there is any elsewhere in the Vedas. Indeed, this agriculturist theory of the Aryans seems one of the worst of

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the many irresponsible freaks which scholastic fancifulness has perpetrated in the field of Sanskrit language. No ancient race would be likely so to designate itself. Ar signifies essentially any kind of pre-eminence in fact or force in act. It means therefore to be strong, high, swift in action, to be pre-eminent, noble, excellent, be first; to raise, lead, begin or rule; it means also to struggle, to fight, to drive, to labour, to plough. The sense of struggle and combat appears in ari, an enemy. The Greek Ares, war-god, aretē, virtue, meaning originally like the Latin virtus, valour; the Latin arma, weapons. Arya means strong, high, noble or worthier, as its...use in literature constantly indicates. The word asura also means the strong or mighty one. We can now discover the true force of Arvan,—it is the strong one, it is the stallion or the bull, the master of the herd, the leader, master or the fighter. The Gandharvas are mentioned here briefly, so as to suit the rapidity of the passage, as the type of a particular class of beings, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Kinnaras whose unifying characteristic is material ease, prosperity and a beautiful, happy and undisturbed self-indulgence; they are the angels of joy, ease, art, beauty and pleasure. For them the Horse becomes full of ease and plenty, the support of these qualities, the vāhana of the Gandharvas. The Asuras are, similarly, angels of might and force and violent struggle,—self-will is their characteristic, just as an undisciplined fury of self-indulgence is the characteristic of their kindred Rakshasas. It is a self-will capable of discipline, but always huge and impetuous, even in discipline, always based on a colossal egoism. They struggle gigantically to impose that egoism on their surroundings. It is for these mighty but imperfect beings that the Horse adapts himself to their needs, becomes full of force and might and bears up their gigantic struggle, their increasing effort. And Haya ? In the light of these examples we can hazard a suggestion. The root meaning is motion; but from certain kindred words, hil to swing, hind to swing, hinḍ to roam about freely and from another sense of hi to exhilarate or gladden, we may, perhaps, infer that haya indicated to the sage a swift, free, joyous, bounding motion, fit movement for the bearer of the gods. For the Aryan gods were devas, angels of joy and brightness, fulfilled in being, in harmony with their functions and surroundings,

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not like the Titans imperfect, dispossessed, struggling. Firmly seated on the bounding joy of the Horse, they deliver themselves confidently to the exultation of his movements. The sense here is not so plain and certain as with Vajin and Arvan; but Haya must certainly have been one in character with the Deva in order to be his vāhana; the sense I have given certainly belongs to the word and that this brightness and joyousness was the character of the Aryan gods, the devas, is discoverable in Haya from its root, I think every reader of Veda and Purana must feel and admit. Last of all, the Horse becomes Ashwa for men. But is he not Ashwa for all? Why particularly for men? The answer is that the Rishi is already moving forward in thought to the idea of aśanāyā mṛtyuḥ with which he opens the second Brahmana of the Upanishad. Man, one and supreme type of terrestrial creature, is most of all subject to this mystery of wasting and death which the Titans bear with difficulty and the Gods and Gandharvas entirely overcome. For in man that characteristic of enjoyment which by enjoying devours and wastes both its object and itself is especially developed and he bears that consequent pressure of aśanāyā mṛtyuḥ which can only lighten and disappear if we rise upward in the scale of Being towards Brahman and become truly sons of immortality, amṛtasya putrāḥ.

Finally, there comes a consummation to the parable in which the thought of the Upanishad opens out to that ultimate idea for which the image of the Horse is only a pratiṣṭhā and a preface,—the liberation from aśanāyā mṛtyuḥ. To this Horse of the Worlds, who bears up all beings, the sea is the brother and the sea is the birthplace. There can be no doubt of the meaning of the symbol. It is the upper Ocean of the Veda in which it imaged the superior and divine existence, the waters of supramaterial causality. From that this lower Ocean of our manifestation derives its waters, its flowing energies, apas; from that, when the Vritras are slain, the firmaments opened, it is perpetually replenished, prati samudram syandamānāḥ, and of that it is the shadow, the reproduction of its circumstances under the conditions of mental illusion—Avidya, mother of limitation and death. This image not only consummates this passage but opens a door of escape from that which is to follow. Deliverance from the dominion of aśanāyā mṛtyuḥ is

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possible because of this circumstance that this sea of divine being is kin (bandhu) and friend to the Horse. The aparārdha proves to be of the same essential nature as the parārdha; our mortal part, in its essence, a kin to our unlimited and immortal part and partakes of its nature. The Horse of the Worlds comes to us from that divine source and from what other except this Ocean can the Horse of the Worlds, who is material yet supramaterial, be said to have derived his being? We appearing bound, mortal, limited, are manifestations of a free and infinite reality and from that from which we were born comes friendship and assistance for that which we are, towards making us that which we shall be. From our kindred heavens the Love descends always that works to raise up the lower to its brother, the higher.

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Kaivalya Upanishad

THE FIRST MANTRA

ॐ अथाश्वलायनो भगवन्तं परमेष्ठिनमुपसमेत्योवाच । अधीहि भगवन् ब्रह्मविद्यां वरिष्ठां सदा सद्भिः सेव्यमानां निगूढाम् । यथाऽचिरात्सर्वपापं व्यपोह्य परात्परं पुरुषं याति विद्वान् ॥१॥

Om. Ashwalayana to the Lord Parameshthi came and said, "Teach me, Lord, the highest knowledge of Brahman, the secret knowledge ever followed by the saints, how the wise man swiftly putting from him all evil goeth to the Purusha who is higher than the highest."

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Commentary

The Lord Parameshthi is Brahma—not the creator Hiranyagarbha, but the soul who in this Kalpa has climbed up to be the instrument of creation, the first in time of the Gods, the Pitamaha or original and general Prajapati; the Pitamaha, because all the fathers or special Prajapatis, Daksha and others, are his mind-born children. The confusion between the grandsire and the Creator, who is also called Brahma, is common; but the distinction is clear. Thus in the Mundaka Upanishad, brahmā devānām prathamaḥ sambabhūva, it is the first of Gods, the earliest birth of Time, the father of Atharva, and not the unborn eternal Hiranyagarbha. In the Puranas Brahma is described as in fear of his life from Madhu and Kaitabha, and cannot be the fearless and immortal Hiranyagarbha. Nor would it be possible for Ashwalayana to come to Hiranyagarbha and say, "Teach me, Lord", for Hiranyagarbha has no form, nor is He approachable nor does He manifest Himself to man as Shiva and Vishnu do. He is millionfold, Protean, intangible, and for that reason He places in each cycle a Brahma or divine Man between Him and the search and worship of men. It is Brahma or divine Man who is called Parameshthi,—or the one full of Parameshtham that which is superlative and highest,—Hiranyagarbha. The power of Hiranyagarbha is in Brahma and created through him the nāma and rūpa of things in this cycle.

To Brahma Parameshthi Ashwalayana comes as a disciple to Master and says to him, "Lord, teach me the Brahmavidya." He specifies the kind of knowledge he requires. It is variṣṭha, the best or highest, because it goes beyond the triple Brahman to the Purushottama or Most High God; it is secret, because even in the ordinary teaching of Vedanta, Purana and Tantra it is not expressed, it is always followed by the saints, the initiate. The santaḥ or saints are those who are pure of desire and full of knowledge and it is to these that the secret knowledge has been given sadā, from the beginning. He makes his meaning yet clearer

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by stating the substance of the knowledge—yathā, how, by what means won by knowledge, vidvān, one can swiftly put sin from him and reach Purushottama.

There are three necessary elements of the path to Kaivalya,—first, the starting-point, vidyā, right knowledge, implying the escape from ignorance, from non-knowledge and false knowledge; next the process or means, escape from sarvapāpam, all evil, i.e. sin, pain and grief; last, the goal, Purushottama, the being who is beyond the highest, that is, beyond turīya, Turiya being the Highest. By the escape from sin, pain and grief one attains absolute ānanda, the last term of existence, we reach that in which Ananda exists. What is that? It is not Turiya who is śivam, śāntam, advaitam, saccidānandam, but that which is beyond śivam and aśivam, good and evil, śantam and kalilam, calm and chaos, dvaitam and advaitam, duality and unity. Sat, Chit and Ananda are in their Highest, but He is neither Sat, Chit nor Ananda nor any combination of these. He is all and yet He is neti, neti. He is One and yet He is many. He is Parabrahman and He is Parameshwara. He is Male and He is Female. He is tat and He is sa. This is the Higher than the Highest. He is the Purusha, the Being in whose image the world and all the Jivas are made, who pervades all and underlies all the workings of Prakriti as its reality and self. It is this Purusha that Ashwalayana seeks.

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Nilarudra Upanishad

ॐ अपश्यं त्वाऽवरोहन्तं दिवितः पृथिवीमवः ।
अपश्यमस्यन्तं रुद्रं नीलग्रीवं शिखण्डिनम् ॥१॥

1) Om. Thee I beheld in thy descending down from the heavens to the earth, I saw Rudra, the Terrible, the azure-throated, the peacock-feathered, as he hurled.

दिव उग्रोऽवारुक्षत्प्रत्यष्ठाद् भूम्यामधि ।
जनासः पश्यतेमं नीलग्रीवं विलोहितम् ॥२॥

2) Fierce he came down from the sky, he stood facing me on the earth as its lord; the people behold a mass of strength, azure-throated, scarlet-hued.

एष एत्यवीरहा रुद्रो जलासभेषजीः ।
वि तेऽक्षेममनीनशद्वातीकारोऽप्येतु ते ॥३॥

3) This that cometh is he that destroyeth evil, Rudra the Terrible, born of the tree that dwelleth in the waters; let the globe of the storm winds come too, that destroyeth for thee all things of evil omen.

नमस्ते भव भामाय नमस्ते भव मन्यवे ।
नमस्ते अस्तु बाहुभ्यामुतोत इषवे नमः ॥४॥

4) Salutation to thee who bringeth the world into being, salutation to thee, the passionate with mighty wrath. Salutation be to thy arms of might, salutation be to thy angry shaft.

यामिषुं गिरिशन्त हस्ते बिभर्ष्यस्तवे ।
शिवां गिरित्र तां कृणु मा हिंसीः पुरुषान्मम ॥५॥

5) The arrow thou bearest in thy hand for the hurling, O thou that liest on the mountains, make an arrow of blessing, O keeper of the hills, let it not slay my armed men.

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शिवेन वचसा त्वा गिरिशाच्छा वदामसि ।
यथा नः सर्वमिज्जगदयक्ष्मं सुमना असत् ॥६॥

6) With fair speech, O mountain-dweller, we sue to thee in the assembly of the folk, that the whole world may be for us a friendly and sinless place.

या त इषुः शिवतमा शिवं बभूव ते धनुः ।
शिवा शरव्या या तव तया नो मृड जीवसे ॥७॥

7) That thy arrow which is the kindliest of all and thy bow which is well omened and that thy quiver which beareth blessing, by that thou livest for us, O lord of slaughter.

या ते रुद्र शिवा तनूरघोरा पापनाशिनी ।
तया नस्तन्वा शंतमया गिरिशन्ताभिचाकशत् ॥८॥

8) That thy body, O terrible One, which is fair and full of kindness and destroyeth sin, not thy shape of terror, in that thy body full of peace, O mountaineer, thou art wont to be seen among our folk.

असौ यस्ताम्रो अरुण उत बभ्रुर्विलोहितः ।
ये चेमे अभितो रुद्रा दिक्षु श्रिताः सहस्त्रशो वैषां हेड ईमहे ॥९॥

9) This Aruna of the dawn that is tawny and copper-red and scarlet-hued, and these thy Violent Ones round about that dwell in the regions in their thousands, verily, it is these whom we desire.

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Commentary

1) Apaśyam, I beheld. The speaker is the author of the Upanishad, a prince of the Aryan people, as we see from the fifth verse. He records a vision of Rudra descending from the heavens to the earth.

Avaḥ, down, is repeated for the sake of vividness. In the second half of the śloka the Murti or image in which he beheld the Divine Manifestation is described, Rudra, the God of might and wrath, the neck and throat blue, peacock's feather as a crest, in the act of hurling a shaft.

2) He proceeds to describe the descent. He descended fiercely, that is, with wrath in his face, gesture and motion and stood facing the seer, pratyaṣṭhāt, on the earth, and over it, adhi, in a way expressive of command or control. This image of Divine Power, seen by the prince in Yoga, becomes visible to the people in general as a mass of strength, maha, scarlet in colour, deep blue in the neck and throat. Maha is strength, bulk, greatness. The manifestation is that of wrath and might. The people see Rudra as a mass of brilliance, scarlet-ringed and crested with blue, the scarlet in Yoga denoting violent passion of anger or desire, the blue śraddhā, bhakti, piety or religion.

3) Rudra, whom we know as the slayer of evil, comes. The Rajarshi describes him as born of the tree that is in the waters. Bheṣa is by philology identical with the Latin ficus or fig-tree, aśvattha. The aśvattha is the Yogic emblem of the manifested world, as in the Gita, the tree of the two birds in the Shwetashwatara Upanishad, the single tree in the blue expanse of the Song of Liberation. The jala is the āpaḥ or waters from which the world rises. The Rishi then prays that the vātī mass of winds of which Rudra is lord and which in the tempest of their course blow away all calamity, such as pestilence etc. may come with him.

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4) In the fourth verse he salutes the God. Rudra is the Supreme Ishwara, Creator of the World, He is the dreadful, wrathful and destroying Lord, swift to slay and punish. Bhāma is passionate anger, and the word manyu denotes a violent disturbed state of mind, passion, either of grief or of anger. Bhāmāyamanyave therefore means, one who is full of the passion of violent anger. Rudra is being saluted as a God of might and wrath, it is therefore to the arms as the seat of strength and the arrow as the weapon of destruction that salutation is made.

5) Rudra is coming in a new form of wrath and destruction in which the Aryans are not accustomed to see him. Apprehensive of the meaning of this vision, the King summons the people and in assembly prayer is offered to Rudra to avert possible calamity. The shaft is lifted to be hurled from the bow; it is prayed that it may be turned into a shaft of blessings not of wrath. In this verse the Prince prays the God not to slay his men, meaning evidently, the armed warriors of the clan.

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The Karikas of Gaudapada

The Karikas of Gaudapada are a body of authoritative verse maxims and reasonings setting forth in a brief and closely-argued manual the position of the extreme Monistic School of Vedanta philosophy. The monumental aphorisms of the Vedanta Sutra are meant rather for the master than the learner. Gaudapada's clear, brief and businesslike verses are of a wider utility; they presuppose only an elementary knowledge of philosophic terminology and the general trend of Monistic and Dualistic discussion—this preliminary knowledge granted, they provide the student with an admirably lucid pregnant nucleus of reasoning which enables him at once to follow the Monistic train of thought and to keep in memory its most notable positions. It has also had the advantage, due no doubt to its pre-eminent merit and the long possession of authority and general use, of a full and powerful commentary by the great Master himself and a further exposition by the Master's disciple, the clear-minded and often suggestive Anandagiri. To modern students there can be no better introduction to Vedanta philosophy—after some brooding over the sense of the Upanishads—than a study of Gaudapada's Karikas and Shankara's commentary with Deussen's System of the Vedanta in one hand and any brief and popular exposition of the six Darshanas in the other. It is only after the Monistic School has been thoroughly understood that the Modified-Monistic and Dualistic-Monistic with their intermediary shades can be profitably studied. When the Vedantic theory has been mastered, the Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya and Vaisheshika can in its light be easily mastered in succession with Vijnanabhikshu's work and the great synthesis of the Bhagvadgita to crown the whole structure. The philosophical basis will then be properly laid and the Upanishads can be studied with new interest, verifying or modifying as one goes one's original interpretation of the Sacred Books. This will bring to a close the theoretical side of the Jnanakanda; its practical and

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more valuable side can only be mastered in the path of Yoga and under the guidance of a Sadguru.

Gaudapada begins his work by a short exposition in clear philosophical terms of the poetical and rhythmic phraseology of the Upanishads. He first defines precisely the essential character of the Triune nature of the Self as manifested in the macrocosm and the microcosm, the Waker, the Dreamer and the Sleeper, who all meet and disappear in the Absolute.

बहिःप्रज्ञो विभुर्विश्वो ह्यन्तःप्रज्ञस्तु तैजसः ।
घनप्रज्ञस्तथा प्राज्ञ एक एव त्रिधा स्थितः ॥१॥

1) The Vishwa being the Lord who pervades and is conscious of the external, Taijasa he who is conscious of the internal, Prajna he in whom consciousness is (densified and) drawn into itself, the Self presents himself to the memory as One under three conditions.

अत्र एतस्मिन्यथोक्तेऽर्थे एते श्लोका भवन्ति—बहिःप्रज्ञ इति । पर्यायेण त्रिस्थानत्वात् सोऽहमिति स्मृत्या प्रतिसंघानाच्च स्थानत्रयव्यतिरिक्तत्वमेकत्वं शुद्धत्वमसङ्गत्वं च सिद्धमित्यभिप्रायः, महामत्स्यादिदृष्टान्तश्रुतेः ॥

Shankara: The position taken is that, as the entity which cognizes enters into three conditions one after another and not simultaneously, and is moreover in all three connected by the memory which persists in feeling "This is I" "This is I" "This is I", it is obvious that it is something beyond and above the three conditions and therefore one, absolute and without attachment to its conditions. And this is supported by the illustrations like that of the large fish given in the Scripture.

दक्षिणाक्षिमुखे विश्वो मनस्यन्तस्तु तैजसः ।
आकाशे च हृदि प्राज्ञस्त्रिधा देहे व्यवस्थितः ॥२॥

2) Vishwa in the gate of the right eye, Taijasa within the mind, Prajna in the ether, the heart, this is its threefold station in the body.

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जागरितावस्थामामेव विश्वादीनां त्रयाणामनुभवप्रदर्शनार्थोऽयं श्लोकः—दक्षिणाक्षीति । दक्षिणमक्ष्येव मुखम्, तस्मिन्प्राधान्येन द्रष्टा स्थूलानां विश्वः अनुभूयते, 'इन्धो ह वै नामैष योऽयं दक्षिणेऽक्षन्पुरुषः' इति श्रुतेः । इन्धो दीप्तिगुणो वैश्वानर आदित्यान्तर्गतो वैराज आत्मा चक्षुषि च द्रष्टैकः । नन्वन्यो हिरण्यगर्भः, क्षेत्रज्ञो दक्षिणेऽक्षिण्यक्ष्णोर्नियन्ता द्रष्टा चान्यो देहस्वामी; न, स्वतो भेदानभ्युपगमात्; 'एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः' इति श्रुतेः, 'क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत', 'अविभक्तं च भूतेषु विभक्तमिव च स्थितम्' इति स्मृतेश्च; सर्वेषु करणेष्वविशेषेष्वपि दक्षिणाक्षिण्युपलब्धिपाटवदर्शनात्तत्र विशेषेण निर्देशोऽस्य विश्वस्य । दक्षिणाक्षिगतो दृष्ट्वा रुपं निमीलिताक्षस्तदेव स्मरन्मनस्यन्तः स्वप्न इव तदेव वासनारुपाभिव्यक्तं पश्यति । यथा तत्र तथा स्वप्ने; अतः मनसि अन्तस्तु तैजसोऽपि विश्व एव । आकाशे च हृदि स्मरणाख्यव्यापारोपरमे प्राज्ञ एकीभूतो घनप्रज्ञ एव भवति, मनोव्यापाराभावात् । दर्शनस्मरणे एव हि मनःस्पन्दितम्; तदभावे हृद्येवाविशेषेण प्राणात्मनावस्थानम्, 'प्राणो ह्येवैतान् सर्वान्संवृङक्ते' इति श्रुतेः । तैजसः हिरण्यगर्भः, मनःस्थत्वात्; 'लिङ्ग मनः', 'मनोमयोऽयं पुरुषः' इत्यादिश्रुतिभ्यः । ननु, व्याकृतः प्राणः सुषुप्ते; तदात्मकानि करणानि भवन्ति; कथमव्याकृतता? नैष दोषः, अव्याकृतस्य देशकालविशेषाभावात् । यद्यपि प्राणाभिमाने सति व्याकृततैव प्राणस्य; तथापि पिण्डपरिच्छिन्नविशेषाभिमाननिरोधः प्राणे भवतीत्यव्याकृत एव प्राणः सुषुप्ते परिच्छिन्नाभिमानवताम् । यथा प्राणलये परिच्छिन्नाभिमानिनां प्राणोऽव्याकृतः, तथा प्राणाभिमानिनोऽप्यविशेषापत्तावव्याकृतता समाना, प्रसवबीजात्मकत्वं च । तदध्यक्षश्चैकोऽव्याकृतावस्थः । परिच्छिन्नाभिमानिनामध्यक्षाणां च तेनैकत्वमिति पूर्वोक्तं विशेषणमेकीभूतः प्रज्ञानघन इत्याद्युपपन्नम् । तस्मिन्नेतस्मिन्नुक्तहेतुसत्त्वाच्च । कथं प्राणशब्दत्वमव्याकृतस्य? 'प्राणबन्धनं हि सोम्य मनः' इति श्रुतेः । ननु, तत्र 'सदेव सोम्य' इति प्रकृतं सद् ब्रह्म प्राणशब्दवाच्यम्; नैष दोषः, बीजात्मकत्वाभ्युपगमात्सतः । यद्यपि सद्ब्रह्म प्राणशब्दवाच्यं तत्र, तथापि जीवप्रसवबीजात्मकत्वमपरित्यज्यैव प्राणशब्दत्वं सतः सच्छब्दवाच्यता च । यदि हि निर्बीजरुपं विवक्षितं ब्रह्माभविष्यत्, 'नेति नेति', 'यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते', 'अन्यदेव तद्विदितादथो अविदितादधि' इत्यवक्ष्यत्; 'न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते' इति स्मृतेः । निर्बीजतयैव चेत्, सति प्रलीनानां संपन्नानां सुषुप्तिप्रलययोः पुनरुत्थानानुपपत्तिः स्यात्; मुक्तानां च पुनरुत्पत्तिप्रसङ्गः, बीजाभावा-विशेषात्, ज्ञानदाह्यबीजाभावे च ज्ञानानर्थक्यप्रसङ्गः; तस्मात्सबीजत्वाभ्युपगमेनैव सतः प्राणत्वव्यपदेशः, सर्वश्रुतिषु च कारणत्वव्यपदेशः । अत एव 'अक्षरात्परतः परः', 'सबाह्याभ्यन्तरो ह्यजः', 'यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते', 'नेति नेति' इत्यादिना बीजत्वापनयनेन व्यपदेशः । तामबीजावस्थां तस्यैव प्राज्ञशब्दवाच्यस्य तुरीयत्वेन देहादिसंबन्धजाग्रदादिरहितां पारमार्थिकीं पृथग्वक्ष्यति । बीजावस्थापि 'न किञ्चिदवेदिषम्' इत्युत्थितस्य प्रत्ययदर्शनाद्देहेऽनुभूयत एवेति त्रिधा देहे व्यवस्थित इत्यच्यते ॥

Shankara: 1) The object of this verse is to show that these three, Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna, are experienced even in the waking state. The right eye is the door, the means, through which especially Vishwa, the seer of gross objects, becomes subject to experience. The Sruti saith, "Verily and of a truth Indha is he, even his Being as he standeth here in the right eye." Vaishwanara is

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Indha because his essential principle is light and is at once the macrocosmic Self within the Sun and the seer in the eye.

2) "But," it will be objected, "Hiranyagarbha is one and the cognizer of the material field, the guide and seer in the right eye is quite another, the master of the body." Not so; for in itself—if we look into the real nature of our perceptions—we do not realise any difference between them. And the Scripture saith, "One God hidden in all creatures" and the Smriti also:

"Know me, O son of Bharat, for the Knower of the body in all bodies. I stand undivided in all creatures and only seem to be divided."

3) Be it noted that though Vishwa works indeed in all the organs of sense without distinction yet because the perceptions of the right eye are noticed to be superior in acuteness and clearness it is for that reason only specifically mentioned as his abiding place. After this Vishwa then dwelling in the right eye has seen a shape or appearance, if he remembers it when he has closed his eyes, he still sees within in the mind, as if in a dream, the same shape or appearance as manifested in the form of the idea or impression it has left. And it is just the same in a dream, the impression or idea preserved by memory reproduces in sleep the same shape or appearance that was seen in waking. It follows that this Taijasa who is within in the mind is no other than Vishwa himself.

4) Then by cessation of the process called memory Prajna in the ether or heart becomes unified or as it is said densified consciousness drawn into itself. And this happens because the processes of the mind are absent; for sight and memory are vibrations of the mind and in their absence the Self in the form of Prana takes its abode in the ether or heart without possibility of separation or distinction. For the Scripture saith, "It is Prana that swalloweth up all these into itself." Taijasa is the same as Hiranyagarbha because it has its abode in the mind, and the mind is the subtle part of the body, as is clear from the verse, "This puruṣa is all mind," and from other like sayings of the Scripture.

5) It may be objected that Prana in the state of Sleep is

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really differenced and manifest and the senses become one with Prana, so how do you predicate of it absence of manifestation and differentia by saying it becomes One? But there is no real fault in the reasoning; since in the undifferenced the particularising conditions of space and time are absent and the same is the case with Prana in the state of Sleep. Although indeed the Prana is in a sense differenced because the idea of separate existence as Prana remains, yet the more special sense of separate existence as circumscribed by the body is brought to a stop in Prana and Prana is therefore undifferenced and unmanifest in the Sleep in relation at least to the possessors of this circumscribed egoism. And just as the Prana of those who have the circumscribed bodily egoism becomes undifferenced when it is absorbed at the end of the world, so it is with him who has the sense of existence as Prana only in the condition of sleep which is in reality precisely the same as that of the temporary disappearance of phenomena at the end of a world; both states alike are void of differentia and manifestation and both alike are pregnant with seeds of future birth. The Self governing either state is one and the same, it is Self in an undifferenced and unmanifest condition. It follows that the governing Self in each case and the experiences of the circumscribed bodily egoism are one and the same; therefore the descriptions previously given of Prajna become One or become densified and self-concentrated consciousness etc. are quite applicable; and the arguments already advanced support the same conclusion.

6) "But," you will say, "why is the name Prana given to the undifferenced?" On the ground of the Scripture, "For, O fair son, the cord and fastening of the mind is Prana." "O but," you answer, "there the words 'O fair son, Existence itself is prāṇa' show that it is Brahma Existent which being the subject of the verses must be intended by the word Prana." However, my reasoning is not thereby vitiated, because we all understand the Existent to be pregnant with the seed of future birth. Although, then, it is Brahma Existent which is meant by Prana, all the same the name Prana is given to the Existent because the idea of pregnancy with the seed from which the Jiva or life-conditioned spirit is to be born, has not been eliminated from it and indeed

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it is only when this idea is not eliminated from the idea of Brahma that he can be called Brahma Existent. For if [it] were the absolute seedless Brahma of which the Scripture had meant to speak, it would have used such expressions as "He is not this, not that nor anything which we can call him"; "From whom words return baffled"; "He is other than the known and different from the Unknown". The Smriti also says, "He (the Absolute) is called neither Existent nor non-Existent." Besides if the Existent be seedless, then there would be no ground for supposing that those who have coalesced with and become absorbed into the Existent or the state of Sleep or the destruction of a world can again awake out of either of these conditions. Or, if they can, then we should immediately have the contingency of liberated souls again coming into phenomenal existence; for on this hypothesis, the condition of souls liberated into the absolute and those absorbed into the existent would be alike, neither having seed or cause of future phenomenal existence. And if to remove this objection you say that it is the seed of ignorance which has to be burnt away in the fire of knowledge that is absent in the case of liberated souls and some other seed of things in the other case, you are in danger of proving that Knowledge (of the Eternal) is without use or unnecessary as a means of salvation.

7) It is clear then that it is on the understanding that the Existent is pregnant with the seed of phenomenal life that in all the Scripture it is represented as Prana and the cause of things. Consequently it is by elimination of this idea of the seed that it is designated by such phrases as "He is the unborn in whom the objective and subjective are One", "From whom words return baffled", "He is not this nor that nor anything we can call him", and the rest. Our author will speak separately of this seedless condition of the Same Self which has been designated by the term Prajna, this condition being the fourth or Absolute is devoid of all relations such as body, prāṇa etc. and is alone finally and transcendentally true. Now the condition of undifferenced seedfulness also like the two others is experienced in this body, in the form of the idea of the awakened man which tells him, "For so long I felt and knew nothing." Thus then the Self is said to have a threefold station in the body.

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विश्वो हि स्थूलभुङ् नित्यं तैजसः प्रविविक्तभुक् ।
आनन्दभुक्तथा प्राज्ञस्त्रिधा भोगं निबोधत ॥३॥

3) Vishwa is the enjoyer of gross objects, Taijasa of subtle, and Prajna of pure (unrelated) pleasures; thus shall ye understand the threefold enjoyment of the Self in the body.

स्थूलं तर्पयते विश्वं प्रविविक्तं तु तेजसम् ।
आनन्दश्च तथा प्राज्ञं त्रिधा तृप्तिं निबोधत ॥४॥

4) The gross utterly satisfieth Vishwa, but the subtle Taijasa and pure pleasure satisfieth Prajna, thus shall ye understand the threefold satisfaction of the Self in the body.

उक्तार्थौ हि श्लोकौ॥

Shankara: The meaning of these two verses has been explained.

त्रिषु धामसु यद्भोज्यं भोक्ता यश्च प्रकीर्तितः ।
वेदैतदुभयं यस्तु स भुञ्जानो न लिप्यते ॥५॥

5) That which is enjoyed in the three conditions and that which is the enjoyer, he who knows both these as one enjoyeth and receiveth no stain.

त्रिषु धामसु जाग्रदादिषु स्थूलप्रविविक्तानन्दाख्यं यद्भोज्यमेकं त्रिधाभूतम्; यश्च विश्वतैजसप्राज्ञाख्यो भोक्तैकः 'सोऽहम्' इत्येकत्वेन प्रतिसंधानात् दृष्टृत्वाविशेषाच्च प्रकीर्तितः; यो वेद एतदुभयं भोज्यभोक्तृतया अनेकधा भिन्नम्, स भुञ्जानः न लिप्यते, भोज्यस्य सर्वस्यैकभोक्तृभोज्यत्वात् । न हि यस्य यो विषयः, स तेन हीयते वर्धते वा । न ह्यग्निः स्वविषयं दग्ध्वा काष्ठादि, तद्वत् ॥

Shankara: That which is enjoyed under the name of gross objects, subtle objects and pure pleasure in the three conditions, waking, dream and sleep is one and the same thing although it has taken a threefold aspect. And that which enjoys under the names of Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna has been declared to be one because they are connected by the sense of oneness expressed in the continual feeling "This is I, This is I" and because the nature of cognition is one and without difference throughout. Whoever knows both these to be one though split up into multiplicity by the

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sense of being enjoyer or enjoyed does not receive any stain from enjoyment, because the subject of enjoyment is the One universal and the enjoyer too is not different from the enjoyed. For note that whoever be the enjoyer or whatever his object of enjoyment, he does not increase with it or diminish with it, just as in the case of fire when it has burnt up its object in the shape of wood or other fuel; it remains no less or greater than it was before.

प्रभवः सर्वभावानां सतामिति विनिश्चयः ।
सर्व जनयति प्राणश्चेतोंशून्पुरुषः पृथक् ॥६॥

6) It is a certain conclusion that all existences which take birth are already in being; Prana brings the All into phenomenal being, it is this prāṇa or puruṣa which sends forth its separate rays of consciousness abroad.

सतां विद्यमानानां स्वेन अविद्याकृतनामरुपमायास्वरुपेण सर्वभावानां विश्वतैजसप्राज्ञभेदानां प्रभवः उत्पत्तिः । वक्ष्यति च—'वन्ध्यापुत्रो न तत्त्वेन मायया वापि जायते' इति । यदि ह्यसतामेव जन्म स्यात्, ब्रह्मणोऽव्यवहार्यस्य ग्रहणद्वाराभावादसत्त्वप्रसङ्गः । दृष्टं च रज्जुसर्पादीनामविद्याकृतमायाबीजोत्पन्नानां रज्ज्वाद्यात्मना सत्त्वम् । न हि निरास्पदा रज्जुसर्पमृगतृष्णिकादयः क्वचिदुपलभ्यन्ते केनचित् । यथा रज्ज्वां प्राक्सर्पोत्पत्तेः रज्ज्वात्मना सर्पः सन्नेवासीत्, एवं सर्वभावानामुत्पत्तेः प्राक्प्राणबीजात्मनैव सत्त्वमिति । श्रुतिरपि वक्ति 'ब्रह्मैवेदम्,' 'आत्मैवेदमग्र आसीत्' इति । अतः सर्वं जनयति प्राणः चेतोंशून्, अंशव इव रवेश्चिदात्मकस्य पुरुषस्य चेतोरुपा जलार्कसमाः प्राज्ञतैजसविश्वभेदेन देवमनुष्यतिर्यगादिदेहभेदेषु विभाव्यमानाश्चेतोंशवो ये, तान् पुरुषः पृथक् सृजति विषयभावविलक्षणानग्निविस्फुलिङ्गवत्सलक्षणान् जलार्कवच्च जीवलक्षणांस्त्वितरान्सर्वभावान् प्राणो बीजात्मा जनयति, 'यथोर्णनाभिः', 'यथाग्नेः क्षुद्रा विस्फुलिङ्गाः' इत्यादिश्रुतेः ॥

Shankara: All existences (divided as Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna) are already in being, that is, they existed before and it is only by their own species and nature and illusion of name and form created by Ignorance that they take birth or in other words put forth into phenomenal existences. As indeed the writer says later on, "A son from a barren woman is not born either in reality or by illusion." For if birth of the in-existent—that is something coming out of nothing—were possible, then there would be no means of grasping this world of usage and experience and the Eternal itself would become an unreality. Moreover we have

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seen that the snake in the rope and other appearances born of the seed of illusion created by Ignorance do really exist as the self of the rope—or other substratum in the case. For the snake in the rope, the mirage and other hallucinations of the sort are never experienced by anybody unless there is some substratum. Just as before the coming into being of the snake it existed already in the rope as the rope's self, so before the coming to birth of all phenomenal existences, they already existed as the self of the seed of things called Prana. And the Scripture also saith, "This universe is the Eternal", "In the beginning all this was the Spirit". The Prana gives birth to the All as separate rays of consciousness;—just as the rays of the Sun, so are these consciousness-rays of the Purusha who is Chit or conscious existence and they are clearly distinguished in different bodies of gods, animals, etc. under three different lights as Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna, in the same way as reflections of the sun are clearly seen in different pieces of water; they are thrown from the Purusha and though they differ according to the separate existences which are their field of action and enjoyment, yet they are all alike like sparks from a fire being all Jiva or conditioned Self. Thus the Prajna or causal Self gives phenomenal birth to all other existences as the spider to his web. Compare the Scripture, "As a fire sendeth forth sparks."

विभूति प्रसवं त्वन्ये मन्यन्ते सृष्टिचिन्तकाः ।
स्वप्नमायासरुपेति सृष्टिरन्यैर्विकल्पिता ॥७॥

7) Some who concern themselves with the cause of creation think that Almighty Power is the origin of things and by others creation is imagined as like to illusion or a dream.

विभूतिर्विस्तार ईश्वरस्य सृष्टिरिति सृष्टिचिन्तका मन्यन्ते; न तु परमार्थचिन्तकानां सृष्टावादर इत्यर्थः, 'इन्द्रो मायाभिः पुरुरुप ईयते' इति श्रुतेः । न हि मायाविनं सूत्रमाकाशे निःक्षिप्य तेन सायुधमारुह्य चक्षुर्गोचरतामतीत्य युद्धेन खण्डशश्छिन्नं पतितं पुनरुत्थितं च पश्यतां तत्कृतमायादिसत्त्वचिन्तायामादरो भवति । तथैवायं मायाविनः सूत्रप्रसारणसमः सुषुप्तस्वप्नादिविकासः; तदारुढमायाविसमश्च तत्स्थप्राज्ञतैजसादिः; सूत्रतदारुढाभ्यामन्यः परमार्थ-मायावी । स एव भूमिष्ठो मायाच्छन्नः अदृश्यमान एव स्थितो यथा, तथा तुरीयाख्यं परमार्थतत्त्वम् । अतस्तच्चिन्तायामेवादरो मुमुक्षूणामार्याणाम्, न निष्प्रयोजनायां सृष्टावादर इत्यतः सृष्टिचिन्तकानामेवैते विकल्पा इत्याह—स्वप्नमायासरुपेति । स्वप्नसरुपा मायासरुपा चेति ॥

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Shankara: Those who concern themselves with creation think that creation is the pervading Power, the extension, so to speak, of God; but it is implied, those who concern themselves with final and transcendental truth do not care about speculations on creation. For when men see a conjurer throw a rope into the air and ascend it armed and accoutred and then after he has climbed out of sight fall hewn to pieces in battle and rise again whole, they do not care about inquiring into the illusion he has created with all its properties and origins. Just so this evolution of the Sleep, Dream and Waking conditions is just like the self-lengthening of the juggler's rope and the Prajna, Taijasa and Vishwa self abiding in the three conditions is like the conjurer climbing up the rope, but the real conjurer is other than the rope or its climber. Just as he stands on the ground invisible and hidden in illusion, so is it with the real and transcendental fact called the Fourth. Therefore it is for Him that the Aryan-minded care, those who follow after salvation and they do not care for speculations about creation which are of no importance to them. Accordingly the writer implies that all these theories are only imaginations of those who concern themselves with the origin of creation and then goes on to say that by others creation is imagined as like to an illusion or again as like to a dream.

इच्छामात्रं प्रभोः सृष्टिरिति सृष्टौ विनिश्चिताः ।
कालात्प्रसूतिं भूतानां मन्यन्ते कालचिन्तकाः ॥८॥

8) Those who have made up their minds on the subject of creation say it is merely the Will of the Lord; those who concern themselves about Time think that from Time is the birth of creatures.

इच्छामात्रं प्रभोः सत्यसंकल्पत्वात् सृष्टिः घटादीनां संकल्पनामात्रम्, न संकल्पनातिरिक्तम् । कालादेव सृष्टिरिति केचित् ॥

Shankara: Creation is the Will of the Lord because the divine ideas must be true facts—pots etc. are ideas only and nothing more than ideas. Some say that creation is the result of Time.

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भोगार्थं सृष्टिरित्यन्ये कीडार्थमिति चापरे ।
देवस्यैष स्वभावोऽयमाप्तकामस्य का स्पृहा ॥९॥
इति ।

9) Others say that creation is for the sake of enjoyment, yet others say it is for play. Really, this is the very nature of the Lord; as for other theories, well, He has all He can desire and why should He crave for anything?

भोगार्थम् कीडार्थमिति च अन्ये सृष्टि मन्यन्ते । अनयोः पक्षयोर्दूषणं देवस्यैष स्वभावोऽयमिति देवस्य स्वभावपक्षमाश्रित्य, सर्वेषां वा पक्षाणाम्—आप्तकामस्य का स्पृहेति । न हि रज्ज्वादीनामविद्यास्वभावव्यतिरेकेण सर्पाद्याभासत्वे कारणं शक्यं वक्तुम् ॥

Shankara: Others think creation was made for enjoyment or for play. These two theories are criticised by the line "This is the very nature of the Lord." Or, it may be, that the theory of Divine Nature is resorted to in order to criticise all other theories by the argument He has all He can desire and why should He crave for anything? For no cause can be alleged for the appearance of the snake etc. in the rope and other substrata except the very nature of Ignorance.

निवृत्तेः सर्वदुःखानामीशानः प्रभुरव्ययः ।
अद्वैतः सर्वभावानां देवस्तुर्यो विभुः स्मृतः ॥१०॥

10) He who is called the Fourth is the Master of the cessation of all ills, the Strong Lord and undecaying, the One without a Second of all existences, the Shining One who pervadeth.

अत्रैते श्लोका भवन्ति । प्राज्ञतैजसविश्वलक्षणानां सर्वदुःखानां निवृत्तेः ईशानः तुरीय आत्मा । ईशान इत्यस्य पदस्य व्याख्यानं प्रभुरिति; दुःखनिवृत्तिं प्रति प्रभुर्भवतीत्यर्थः, तद्विज्ञाननिमित्तत्त्वाद् दुखनिवृत्तेः । अव्ययः न व्येति, स्वरुपान्न व्यभिचरति न च्यवत इत्येतत् । कुतः? यस्मात् अद्वैतः, सर्वभावानाम्—सर्पादीनां रज्जुरद्वया सत्या च; एवं तुरीयः, 'न हि द्रष्टुर्दृष्टेर्विपरिलोपो विद्यते' इति श्रुतेः—अतो रज्जुसर्पवन्मृषात्वात् । स एष देवः द्योतनात् तुर्यः चतुर्थः विभुः व्यापी स्मृतः ॥

Shankara: The Self, Fourth or transcendental is the master of the cessation of all ills, which belong to the conditions of Prajna, Taijasa and Vishwa. The expression Strong Lord is an explanation of the word Master; it is implied that His strength and lordship are in relation to the cessation of ills, because the

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cessation of ills results from the knowledge of Him. Undecaying, because He does not pass away, swerve or depart, i.e., from his essential nature. How is this? Because he is the One without a second owing to the vanity¹ of all phenomenal existences. He is also called God, the Shining One because of effulgence, the Fourth and He who pervades, exists everywhere.

कार्यकारणबद्धौ ताविष्येते विश्वतेजसौ ।
प्राज्ञः कारणबद्धस्तु द्वौ तौ तुर्ये न सिध्यतः ॥११॥

11) Vishwa and Taijasa are acknowledged to be bound by cause and effect. Prajna is bound by cause only; both of these are held not to exist in the Fourth.

विश्वादीनां सामान्यविशेषभावो निरुप्यते तुर्ययाथात्म्यावधारणार्थम्—कार्य क्रियत इति फलभावः, कारणं करोतीति बीजभावः । तत्त्वाग्रहणान्यथाग्रहणाभ्यां बीजफलभावाभ्यां तौ यथोक्तौ विश्वतैजसो बद्धौ संगृहीतौ इष्येते । प्राज्ञस्तु बीजभावेनैव बद्धः । तत्त्वाप्रतिबोधमात्रमेव हि बीजं प्राज्ञत्वे निमित्तम् । ततः द्वौ तौ बीजफलभावौ तत्त्वाग्रहणान्यथाग्रहणे तुरीये न सिध्यतः न विद्यते, न संभवत इत्यर्थः ॥

Shankara: The common and particular characteristics of Vishwa and the two others are now determined in order that the real self of the Fourth may become clear. Effect, that which is made or done, is existence as result. Cause, that which makes or does, is existence as seed. By inapprehension and misapprehension of the Truth the aforesaid Vishwa and Taijsa are, it is agreed, bound or imprisoned by existence as result and seed. But Prajna is bound by existence as seed only. For the seed state which lies in unawakening to the Truth alone (and not in misreading of Him), is the reason of the state of Prajna. Therefore both of these, existence as cause and existence as effect, inapprehension and misapprehension of the Truth are held not to apply to the Fourth, i.e., do not exist and cannot happen in Him.

नात्मानं न परं चैव न सत्यं नापि चानृतम् ।
प्राज्ञः किंचन संवेत्ति तुर्य तत्सर्वदृक्सदा ॥१२॥

12) Prajna cogniseth nought, neither self nor others, neither

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truth nor falsehood; the fourth seeth all things for ever.

कथं पुनः कारणबद्धत्वं प्राज्ञस्य तुरीये वा तत्त्वाग्रहणान्यथा—ग्रहणलक्षणौ बन्धौ न सिध्यत इति ? यस्मात्—आत्मविलक्षणम्, अविद्याबीजप्रसूतं वेद्यं बाह्यं द्वैतम्—प्राज्ञो न किंचन संवेत्ति, यथा विश्वतैजसौ; ततश्चासौ तत्त्वाग्रहणेन तमसा अन्यथाग्रहणबीजभूतेन बद्धो भवति । यस्मात् तुर्यं तत्सर्वदृक्सदा तुरीयादन्यस्याभावात् सर्वदा सदैव भवति, सर्वं च तद्दृक्चेति सर्वदृक्; तस्मान्न तत्त्वाग्रहणलक्षणं बीजम् । तत्र तत्प्रसूतस्यान्यथाग्रहणस्याप्यत एवाभावः । न हि सवितरि सदाप्रकाशात्मके तद्विरुद्धमप्रकाशनमन्यथाप्रकाशनं वा संभवति, 'न हि द्रष्टुर्दृष्टेर्विपरिलोपो विद्यते' इति श्रुतेः । अथवा, जाग्रत्स्वप्नयोः सर्वभूतावस्थः सर्ववस्तुदृगाभासस्तुरीय एवेति सर्वदृक्सदा, 'नान्यदतोऽस्ति द्रष्टृ' इत्यादिश्रुतेः ॥

Shankara: But how then is Prajna bound by Cause, while in the Fourth the two kinds of bondage conditioned by inapprehension and misapprehension of the Truth is said to be impossible. Because Prajna does not cognise at all this duality of an outside universe even from Ignorance and conditioned as distinct from Self, so that like Vishwa and Taijasa he also is bound by inapprehension of the Truth, by that darkness which becomes the seed of misapprehension; and because the Fourth blindeth all things for ever. That is to say, since nothing really exists except the Fourth, He is necessarily in seeing of all that is, Omniscient and all-cognisant at all times and for ever; in him therefore the seed state of which the conditioning feature is inapprehension of the Truth, cannot possibly exist. Absence of the misapprehension which arises out of inapprehension naturally follows. The Sun is for ever illuminative by its nature and non-illumination or misillumination as contrary to its nature cannot happen to it; and the same train of reasoning applies to the Omniscience of the [seer]. The Scripture also says, "For of the Sight of the Seer there is no annihilation." Or indeed, since it is that in the Waking and Dream State dwelling in all creatures is the light or reflection in them to which all objects present themselves as visible, cognisable objects, it is in this way too the seer of all things for ever. The Scripture says, "There is nought else than This that seeth."

NOTE: Words underlined in the manuscript are printed here in italics.

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Sadananda's Essence of Vedanta

Invocation

To the Absolute

अखण्डं सच्चिदानन्दम् अवाङ्मनसगोचरम् ।
आत्मानमखिलाधारम् आश्रयेऽभीष्टसिद्धये ॥१॥

1) I take refuge with Him who is sheer Existence, Intelligence and Bliss, impartible, beyond the purview of speech and mind, the Self in whom the whole Universe exists—may my desire and purpose attain fulfilment.

To the Masters

अर्थतोऽप्यद्वयानन्दान् अतीतद्वैतभानतः ।
गुरुनाराध्य वेदान्त-सारं वक्ष्ये यथामति ॥२॥

2) After homage to the Masters who in deed as well as word delight in the One without second and from whom the seemings of duality have passed away, I will declare the Essence of Vedanta according to my intellectual capacity.

Preliminary Statement

The Training of the Vedantin

वेदान्तो नाम उपनिषत्प्रमाणम्, तदुपकारीणि शारीरक-सूत्रादीनि च ॥३॥

3) By Vedanta is meant the Upanishads as authoritative basis of the philosophy and as useful supplementary inquiries the Aphoristic Books that treat of the Embodied Soul.

अस्य वेदान्तप्रकरणत्वात् तदीयैरेवानुबन्धैस्तद्वत्तासिद्धेर्न ते पृथगालोचनीयाः ॥४॥

4) Now since Vedanta is the subject of this work, its circumstantia

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—the conclusions sought to be established being similar in both—are the same as those of the Vedanta and need not be separately discussed.

तत्र अनुबन्धो नाम अधिकारिविषयसम्बन्धप्रयोजनानि ॥५॥

5) In circumstantia we include four things, the fit hearer, the subject, the logic of relation, the object of the work.

अधिकारी तु विधिवदधीतवेदवेदाङ्गत्वेन आपाततोऽधिगताखिलवेदार्थः अस्मिन् जन्मनि जन्मान्तरे वा काम्यनिषिद्धवर्जनपुरःसरं नित्य-नैमित्तिकप्रायश्चित्तो-पासनानुष्ठानेन निर्गत-निखिल-कल्मषतया नितान्त-निर्मलस्वान्तः-साधनचतुष्टय-सम्पन्नः प्रमाता ॥६॥

6) Now the fit hearer of Vedanta must be one who is competent to form a right judgment of it. He must therefore have mastered by proper study of Veda and its accessory sciences the entire meaning of Veda, he must in this life or another have begun by abandoning forbidden actions and actions prompted by desire and then by the performance of daily observances, occasional observances, penance and adoration freed himself from all sin and stain and attained to perfect purity of the mind and heart; and he must be in possession of the four Ways and Means.

काम्यानि स्वर्गादीष्टसाधनानि ज्योतिष्टोमादीनि ॥७॥

7) By actions of desire is understood all ways and means by which we pursue various kinds of happiness from Paradise downward—the Jyotishtoma sacrifice for example.

निषिद्धानि नरकाद्यनिष्टसाधनानि ब्रह्म-हननादीनि ॥८॥

8) By forbidden actions is meant all ways and means by which we compass all our ills from the torments of Hell downward,—Brahminicide for example and other sins and disobediences.

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नित्यानि अकरणे प्रत्यवायसाधनानि सन्ध्यावन्दनादीनि ॥९॥

9) By regular observances is meant ceremonies like the evening prayer etc., the non-performance of which turns them into means of offence and stumbling-blocks.

नैमित्तिकानि पुत्रजन्माद्यनुबन्धीनि जातेष्टयादीनि ॥१०॥

10) By occasional observances is understood ceremonies circumstantial to particular occasions, such as the Blessing of the New-born attendant on the birth of a son.

प्रायश्चित्तानि पापक्षयमात्रसाधनानि चान्द्रायणादीनि ॥११॥

11) By penances is understood vows and forms of self-discipline such as the Chandrayan vow which are means only towards the purging away of sin.

उपासनानि सगुणब्रह्मविषयक-मानसव्यापाररुपाणि शाण्डिल्यविद्यादीनि ॥१२॥

12) By adoration is understood the various forms of mental working which have for their whole subject and purpose the Eternal in His aspect as a Personal Deity—Shandilya's Art of Divine Love, for example.

एतेषां नित्यादीनां बुद्धिशुद्धिः परं प्रयोजनम्, उपासनानान्तु चित्तैकाग्रयम् ।
तमेतमात्मानं वेदानुवचनेन ब्राह्मणा विविदिषन्ति यज्ञेनेत्यादिश्रुतेः,
तपसा कल्मषं हन्ति इत्यादिस्मृतेश्च ॥१३॥

13) The main object of the first three, observances regular and occasional and penances, is the purification of the Understanding; but the main object of adoration is singleness of heart and mind towards one object. This is proved by such passages as these from the Revealed Scripture, "This is that Self of whom the Brahmins shall seek to know by exposition of Veda and by Sacrifice shall they seek to know Him"—and by other passages from the Unrevealed Scripture such as "By Tapasya (energism of will) one slayeth sin."

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नित्यनैमित्तिकयोरुपासनानाञ्च अवान्तरफलं पितृलोकसत्यलोकप्राप्तिः ।
कर्मणा पितृलोको विद्यते देवलोकः इत्यादिश्रुतेः ॥१४॥

14) A secondary result of observances regular and occasional and of adoration and worship is attainment to the world of the fathers and to the world of the Living Truth. For so the Scripture says, "By action the World of the Fathers is found and the World of the Gods also."

साधनानि नित्यानित्यवस्तु-विवेकेहामुत्रफलभोगविराग-शमदमादिसम्पत्तिमुमुक्षुत्वानि ॥१५॥

15) By Ways and Means we understand Discrimination of eternal objects from the transient; Disattachment from enjoyment in this world or another; Calm, Self-Conquest and the other moral excellences; and Desire of Salvation.

नित्यानित्यवस्तु-विवेकस्तावत् ब्रह्मैव नित्यं वस्तु ततोऽन्यदखिलमनित्यमिति विवेचनम् ॥१६॥

16) By Discrimination of eternal objects from the transient we understand the discernment of Brahma as the one thing eternal and of everything other than Brahma as transient and perishable.

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The Ishavasyopanishad

With a Commentary in English

This text on ISHAVASHYOPANISHAD was found among Sri Aurobindo's early manuscripts. In some places it has been difficult to decipher the correct word. Since the manuscript was not revised the sense in a few places is not clear. However, the text is not edited and it is printed in its available form.

With God all this must be invested, even all that is world in this moving universe; abandon therefore desire and enjoy and covet no man's possession.

THE GURU
The Upanishad sets forth by pronouncing as the indispensable basis of its revelations the universal nature of God. This universal nature of Brahman the Eternal is the beginning and end of the Vedanta and if it is not accepted, nothing the Vedanta says can have any value, as all its propositions either proceed from it or at least presuppose it; deprived of this central and highest truth, the Upanishads become what mleccha scholars and philosophers think them to be,—a mass of incoherent though often sublime speculations; with this truth in your hand as a lamp to shed light on all the obscurest sayings of the Scriptures, you soon come to realise that the Upanishads are a grand harmonious and perfectly luminous whole, expressing in its various aspects the single and universal Truth; for under the myriad contradictions of phenomena (prapañca) there is one Truth and one only. All the Smritis, the Puranas, the Darshanas, the Dharmashastras, the writings of Shaktas, Shaivas, Vaishnavas, Sauras, as well as the whole of Buddhism and its Scriptures are merely so many explanations, comments and interpretations from different sides, of these various aspects of the one and only Truth. This Truth is the sole foundation on which all religions can rest as on a sure and impregnable rock;—and more than a rock, for a rock may perish but this endures for ever. Therefore is the religion of the Aryas called the Sanatana Dharma, the Law Sempiternal. Nor are the Hindus in error when they declare the Sruti to be eternal and without beginning and the Rishis who composed the hymns to be only the witnesses who saw the Truth and put it in human language; for this seeing was not mental sight, but spiritual. Therefore the Vedas are justly called the Sruti or revelation. Of

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these the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvan are the fertilising rain which gave the plant of the Truth nourishment and made it grow, the Brahmanas are the forest in which the plant is found, the Aranyakas are the soil in which it grows, the Upanishads are the plant itself, roots, stalks, leaves, calix and petals, and the flower which manifests itself once and for ever is the great saying so'ham—I am He which is the culmination of the Upanishads. Salutation to the so'ham. Salutation to the Eternal who is without place, time, cause or limit. Salutation to my Self who am the Eternal.

THE STUDENT
I salute the Eternal and my Self who am the Eternal. Svāhā!

THE GURU
The Upanishad therefore begins by saying that all this must be clothed or invested with the Lord. By this expression it is meant that the individual Jivatman or human soul in order to attain salvation must cover up all this universe with the Lord, as one might cover the body with a garment. By the Lord we mean obviously not the unknowable Parabrahman for of the unknowable we cannot speak in terms of place, time or difference but the Brahman knowable by Yoga, the luminous shadow of the One put forth by the Shakti of the One, which by dividing itself into the Male and Female, Purusha and Prakriti, has created this world of innumerable forms and names. Brahman is spoken of as the Lord; that is, we best think of Him as the Ruler and Sovereign of the universe. But still He is the ocean of spiritual force, which by its mere presence sets working the creative, preservative, and destructive Shakti or Will of the Eternal Parabrahman in the form of Prakriti, a moving ocean of energy, कारणजल: Of these two, the ocean of spiritual force and the ocean of material form, the latter is contained in the other and could not be without it. It may be said to be surrounded by it or clothed by it. The Lord himself is present on the ocean in various forms, Prajna, Hiranyagarbha and Virat, or Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara. This is what the Puranas represent as Vishnu on the Serpent of Time and Space in the Ocean and Brahma coming

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out of the lotus in his navel etc. This is the Lord, the King and Ruler. We must therefore realise all things in this universe to be the creation of that ocean of Brahman or spiritual force which surrounds them as a robe surrounds its wearer.

THE STUDENT
I do not understand. Surely all things are Brahman himself; why then should he be said to surround all things as if he were different from them?

THE GURU
It is meant by this expression that the universal and undivided consciousness which we call Brahman, surrounds and includes all the limited individual consciousnesses which present themselves to us in the shape of things.

THE STUDENT
Still I do not understand. How can the one indivisible consciousness be divided, or if it is divided, how can it at the same time remain one and surround its own parts? A thing cannot be at the same time one and indivisible and yet divisible and multifold.

THE GURU
On the contrary this is precisely the nature of consciousness to be eternally one and indivisible, and yet always divisible at will; for man's consciousness has often been split up into two states each with its own history and memory, so that when he is in one state, he does not know what he has been thinking and doing in the other. Persons ignorant of the Truth imagine from this circumstance that a man's consciousness must be not single and homogeneous but a bundle of different personalities. The Sankhyas and others imagine that there must be an infinite number of Purushas, souls and not One, for otherwise, they say, all would have the same knowledge, the same pleasure and pain etc. But this is merely Avidya, Ignorance, and when the apparently individual Purusha puts himself into the complete state of Yoga with the Eternal he discovers that all the time there was only One Purusha who was cognisant of and contained the others in the sense

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that they were simply projections (sṛṣṭi) from him. These states of split consciousness are only different states of one personality and not separate personalities. This will at once be clear if a skilful and careful hypnotiser put the man in the right state of sleep; for then a third state of personality will often evolve which has known all along what the other two were doing and saying. This is in itself sufficient proof that all along the unity of consciousness was there, submerged indeed but constant and subliminally active. The division of this one consciousness into two separate states results from a particular and unusual action of avidyā, the same universal Nescience which in its general and normal action makes men imagine that they are a different self from the Universal Consciousness and not merely states or conditions projected (sṛṣṭa) of that consciousness. We see here then established an example of the one and indivisible consciousness becoming divided and multifold, yet remaining one and indivisible all the time. This single indivisible consciousness itself, the I of the waking man, is only a division or rather a state of a still wider consciousness more independent of gross matter which gets some play in the condition of dream and of which dream hypnosis is only a particular and capricious form, but which more permanently and coherently is finally liberated from the gross body at or after death. This wider consciousness is called the Dream condition and the body or upādhi in which it works is called the subtle body. The Dream Consciousness may be said to surround the waking consciousness and its body as a robe surrounds its wearer, for it is wider and less trammelled in its nature and range; it is the selecting agency from which and by which a part is selected for waking purposes in the material life by a still wider consciousness which we call the Sleep condition or the causal Body and from this and by this it is selected for life before birth and after death. This Sleep condition is again surrounded by Brahman from whom and by whom it is selected for causal purposes,—just as a robe surrounds its wearer.

Thus you will realise that Brahman is a wide, eternally one and indivisible Consciousness which yet limits itself at will and yet remains illimitable surrounding like a robe all the various states or illusory limitations.

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THE STUDENT
True but the robe is different from its wearer.

THE GURU
Let us consider a nut with the kernel in it, we see that ether in the form or upādhi of the nut surrounds ether in the upādhi of the kernel as a robe surrounds its wearer; but the two are the same; there is one ether not two.

THE STUDENT
Now I understand.

THE GURU
Consider next what the Upanishad goes on to indicate more definitely as the thing to be clothed or invested—whatever is jagat or jagatī, or literally whatever is moving thing in her that moves. Now jagatī, she who moves, is an old name for Earth, Prithivi, and afterwards for the whole wide universe, of which the Earth with which alone we human beings are at present concerned, is the type. Why then is the universe called jagatī, she that moveth? Because it is a form of Prakriti whose essential characteristic is motion; for by motion she creates this material world, and indeed all object-matter is only a form, that is to say a visible, audible or sensible result of motion; every material object is jagat, full of infinite motion,—even the stone, even the clod. This material world, our senses tell us, is the only existing reality; but the Upanishad warns us against the false evidence of our senses and bids us realise in our hearts and minds Brahman the Ocean of spiritual force, drawing him in our imaginations like a robe round each sensible thing.

THE STUDENT
But the Upanishad does not say that the material world is itself Brahman.

THE GURU
It will yet say that. It tells us next by abandonment of this (all that is in the world) to enjoy and not covet any man's wealth.

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We are to enjoy the whole world, but not to covet the possessions of others. How is this possible? If I, Devadatta, am told to enjoy all that is in the world, but find that I have very little to enjoy while my neighbour Harischandra has untold riches, how can I fail to envy him his wealth and why should I not try to get it for my own enjoyment, if I safely can? I shall not try because I cannot, because I have realised that there is nothing in this world but Brahman manifesting the universe by his Shakti, and that there is no Devadatta, no Harischandra, but only Brahman in various states of consciousness to which these names are given. If therefore Harischandra enjoys his riches, then it is I who am enjoying them, for Harischandra is myself,—not my body in which I am imprisoned or my desires by which my body is made miserable, but my true self, the Purusha within me who is the witness and enjoyer of all this sweet, bitter, tender, grand, beautiful, terrible, pleasant, horrible and wholly wonderful and enjoyable drama of the world which Prakriti enacts for his delectation. Now if as the Sankhyas and other philosophies and the Christian and other religions, declare, there are innumerable Purushas and not one, there would be no ground for the Christian injunction to love others as oneself or for the description by the Sruti and Smriti of the perfect sage as सर्वभूतहिते रत:, busied with and delighting in the good of all creatures; for then Harischandra would be in no way connected with me and there would be no point of contact between us except the material, from which hatred and envy are far more ready to arise than love and sympathy. How then could I prefer him to myself? But from the point of view of Vedanta, such preference is natural, right and in the end inevitable. It is inevitable because as I have risen from the beast to the man, so must I rise from the man to the God. This preference is the perennial well and fountain, evolution meaning simply the wider and wider revelation of Brahman, the universal spirit, the progress from the falsehood of matter to the truth of spirit; and this progress, however slow, is inevitable. How is the preference of others to myself inevitable, natural, right? It is natural because I am not really preferring another to myself, but my true self to my false, God who is in all to my single body and mind, myself in Devadatta and Harischandra, to myself

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in Devadatta alone. It is right and inevitable because it is better for me to enjoy the enjoyment of Harischandra than to enjoy my own, since in this way I shall make my knowledge of Brahman a reality and not a mere intellectual conception or assent; I shall turn it into an experience—anubhava, and anubhava, the Smritis tell us, is the essence of true jñāna. For this reason perfect love, by which I do not mean the mere sensual impulse of man towards woman, is a great and ennobling thing, for by its means two separated conditions of the universal Consciousness come together and become one. Still nobler and more ennobling is the love of the patriot who lives and dies for his country, for in this way he becomes one with millions of divine units and still greater, nobler, more exalting the soul of the philanthropist, who without forgetting family or country lives and dies for mankind or for all creatures. He is the wisest Muni, the greatest Yogi, who not only reaches Brahman by the way of Jnana, not only soars to Him on the wings of Bhakti, but becomes He through God-devoted Karma, who gives himself up utterly for his family and friends, for his country, for all humanity, for the world, yes and when he can the solar system and systems upon systems,—for the whole universe.

Therefore the Upanishad tells us that we must enjoy by abandonment, by tyāga or renunciation. This is a curious expression, तेन त्यक्तेन भुञजीथा:; it is a curious thing to tell a man that he must abandon and what he has abandoned enjoy, by the very sacrifice. The natural man shrinks from the statement as a dangerous paradox. Yet the seer of the Upanishad is wiser than we, for his statement is literally true. Think what it means. It means that we give up our own petty personal joy and pleasure, to bathe up to the eyes in the joys of others; and the joys of one man may be as great as you please, the united joys of a hundred must needs be greater. By renunciation you can increase your enjoyments a hundredfold; if you are a true patriot, you will feel the joys, not of one man, but of three hundred millions; if you are a true philanthropist, all the joys of the countless millions of the earth will flow through your soul like an ocean of nectar. But, you say, their sorrows will flow there too? That too is an agony of sweetness which exalts the soul to Paradise, that you can turn into

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joy, unparalleled joy of reliving and turning into bliss the woes of the nation for which you sacrifice yourself or of the humanity in whom you are trying to realise God. Even the mere continuous patient resolute effort to do this is a joy unspeakable; even defeat in such a cause is a stern pleasure when it strengthens the soul for new and ceaseless endeavour and the souls worthy of the sacrifice, derive equal strength from defeat or victory. Remember that it is not the weak in spirit to whom the Eternal gives himself wholly; it is the strong heroic soul that reaches God. Others can only touch His shadow from afar. In this way the man who renounces the little he can call his own for the good of others, gets in return and can utterly enjoy all that is world in this moving universe.

If you cannot rise so high, still the words of the Upanishad are true in other ways. You are not asked necessarily to give up the objects of your enjoyments physically; it is enough if you give them up in your heart, if you enjoy them in such spirit that you will neither be overjoyed by gain nor cast down by loss. That enjoyment is clear, deep and calm; fate cannot break it, robbers cannot take it away, enemies cannot overwhelm it. Otherwise your enjoyment is chequered and broken with fear, sorrow, trouble and passion, the passion for its increase, the trouble for keeping it, the sorrow of diminution, the fear of its utter loss. It is far better by abandoning to enjoy. If you wish to abandon physically, that too is well, so long as you take care that you are not cherishing the thought of the enjoyment in your mind. Nay, it will often be a quicker road to enjoyment. Wealth and fame and success naturally flee from the man who pursues them; he breaks his heart or perishes without gaining them; or if he gains them, it is often after a very hell of difficulty, a very mountain of toil. But when a man turns his back on wealth and glory, then, unless his past actions forbid, they come crowding to lay themselves at his feet. And if they come will he enjoy or reject them? He may reject them—that is a great path and the way of the innumerable saintly sages but you need not reject them, you may take and enjoy them. How will you enjoy them then? Not for your personal pleasure, certainly not for your false self; for you have already abandoned that kind of enjoyment in your heart; but you may enjoy God in them and them for God. As a king merely

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touches the nazarānā, passes it on into the public treasury, so you may, merely touching the wealth that comes to you, pour it out for those around you, for the country, for humanity, seeing Brahman in these. His glory again he may conceal with humility but use the influence it gives him in order to lead men upwards to the Divine. Such a man will quickly rise above joy and sorrow, victory and defeat; for in sorrow as in joy he will feel himself to be near God, with God, like God and finally God himself. Therefore the Upanishads go on to say

कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः

Do thy deeds in this world and wish to live thy hundred years.

A hundred years is the full span of man's natural life according to the Vedas. The Sruti therefore tells us that we must not turn our backs on life, must not fling it from us untimely or even long for early release from our body but willingly fill out our term, even be most ready to prolong it to the full period of man's ordinary existence so that we may go on doing our deeds in this world. Mark the emphasis laid on the word कुर्वन्, by adding to it eva. Verily we must do our deeds in the world and not avoid doing them; there is no need to fly to the mountains in order to find the Self, since He is here, in you and in all around you. And if you flee there, not to find Him but to escape from the misery and misfortune of the world which you are too weak to face, then you lose the Self for this life and perhaps many to come. I repeat to you that it is not the weak and the coward who can climb up to God, but the strong and brave alone. Every individual jīvātman must become the perfect kṣatriya before he can be the brāhmaṇa.

THE STUDENT
All this is opposed to what the wisest men have taught and those we most delight to revere, still teach and practise.

THE GURU
Are you sure that it is? What do they teach?

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THE STUDENT
That vairāgya, disgust with the world is the best way and its entry into a man's soul is his first call to the way of mukti, which is not by action but by knowledge.

THE GURU
Vairāgya is a big word and it has come to mean many things, and it is because these are confused and jumbled together by the men of āryāvarta, that Tamas and Anaryan cowardice, weakness and selfishness have spread over this holy and ancient land, covering it with a thick pall of darkness. There is one vairāgya, the truest and noblest, of the strong man who having tasted the sweets of this world finds that there is in them no permanent and abiding sweetness, that they are not the true and immortal joy which his true and immortal self demands and turns to something in himself which is deeper, holier and imperishable. Then there is the vairāgya of the weakling who has lusted and panted and thirsted for the world's sweets but has been pushed and hustled from the board by fate or by stronger men than himself; and would use Yoga and Vedanta as the drunkard uses his bottle and the opium-maniac his pill or his laudanum. Not for such ignoble uses were these great things meant by the Rishis who disclosed them to the world. If such a man came to me for initiation, I would send him back with the fiery rebuke of Sri Krishna to the son of Pritha

कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम्
अनार्यजुष्टमस्वर्ग्यमकीर्तिकरमर्जुन ॥
क्लैब्यं मास्म गमः पार्थ नैतत् त्वय्युपपद्यते ।

Truly is such weakness unworthy of one who is no other than Brahma the Eternal, the Creator and the Destroyer of the worlds. Yet I would not be understood to decry the true vairāgya of sorrow and disappointment; for sometimes when men have tried in ignorance for ignoble things and failed, not from weakness but because these things were beneath their true greatness and high destiny, then their eyes are opened and they seek meditation, solitude and Samadhi not as a dram to drown their sorrows and still unsated longing, but to realise their divine strength and use

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it for divine purposes; sometimes great spirits seek the way of the Sannyasin, because in the solitude alone with God and the Guru, they can best develop Brahmatejah and once attained they pour it in a stream over the world. Such was Shankaracharya, and sometimes it is the sorrows of others or the misery of the world that finds them in ease and felicity and drives them out, as Buddha was driven out, to seek help for sufferers in the depths of their own being. True Sannyasins are the greatest of all men because they are the strongest unto work, the most mighty in God to do the work of God.

THE STUDENT
I repeat that all this is opposed to the teaching of the great Advaitavadin Acharyas, Sri Shankara and the rest.

THE GURU
It is not opposed to the teaching of Sri Krishna who is the greatest of all teachers and the best of jagat gurus. For he tells Sanjay in the Mahabharata that between the creed of salvation by works and the creed of salvation by no works, that of salvation by works is the true creed and he condemns the other as the idle talk of a weakling; and again and again in the Bhagavad Gita he lays stress on the superiority of works.

THE STUDENT
This is true, but he also says Jnana is superior to all things and there is nothing equal to it.

THE GURU
Nor is there; for Jnana is indispensable; Jnana is first and greatest. Works without Jnana will not save a man but only plunge him deeper and deeper into bondage. The works of which the Upanishad speaks are to be done after you have invested all this universe with God; after, that is to say, you have realised that all is the one Brahman and that your actions are but the dramatic illusions unrolled by Prakriti for the delight of the Purusha. You will then do your works तेन त्यक्तेन, or as Sri Krishna tells you to do, after giving up the desire for the fruits of your works

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and devoting all your actions to Him,—not to your lower not-self which feels pleasure and pain but to the Brahman in you which works only लोकसंग्रेअहार्थम् that instead of the uninstructed multitudes being bewildered and led astray by your inactivity, the world may rather be helped, strengthened and maintained by the godlike nature of your works. This is what the Upanishad goes on to say, "Thus to you there is no other way than this, action clingeth not to a man." This means that desireless action, actions performed after renunciation and devoted to God,—these and these only—do not cling to man, do not bind him in their invisible chains but fall from him as the water from the wings of the swan; and they cannot bind him, because he is freed from the woven net of causality. Causality springs from the idea of duality, the idea of sorrow and happiness, love and hate, heat and cold which arises from Avidya and he, having renounced desire and realised Unity, is above Avidya and above duality. Bondage has no meaning for him. (It is not in reality he that is doing the actions, but Prakriti inspired by the presence of the Purusha in him.)

THE STUDENT
Why then does Shankara say that it is necessary to give up works in order to attain absolute unity? Those who do works, in his opinion, only reach सालोक्य with Brahman, relative and not absolute unity.

THE GURU
There was a reason for what Shankara said and it was necessary in his age that Jnana should be exalted at the expense of works; for the great living force with which he had to struggle, was not the heresies of later Buddhism, Buddhism decayed and senescent, but the triumphant doctrines of the karmakāṇḍa which made the faithful performance of Vedic rites and ceremonies the one path and heaven the only goal. In his continual anxiety to show that works—of which these rites and ceremonies were a part,—could not be the one path to heaven, he bent the bow as far as he could the other way and argued that works were not the path to the last and greatest mukti at all. Let us, however, consider

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what the depreciation of the Karmamarga means in the mouths of Shankara and other Jnanamargis. It may mean that Karma in the sense of Vedic rites and ceremonies are not the way to Mukti and if this is the meaning, then Shankara has done his work effectually; for I think no one of authority will now try to maintain the opposite thesis. We all agree that Swarga, the sole final result of the Karmakanda, is not Mukti, is much below Mukti and ends as soon as its cause is exhausted. We all agree also that the only spiritual usefulness of Vedic ceremonies is to purify the mind and fit it for starting on the true path of Mukti which lies through Jnana. But if you say that works in the sense of कर्तव्यकर्म are not a path to Mukti, then I demur; for I say that Karma is not different from Jnana, but is Jnana, is the necessary fulfilment and completion of Jnana; that bhakti, karma and jñāna are not three but one and go inseparably together. Therefore Sri Krishna says that Sankhya (jñānayoga) and Yoga (bhakti karma yoga) are not two but one and only बाला:, undeveloped minds make a difference.

THE STUDENT
But how can Shankaracharya be called an undeveloped mind ?

THE GURU
He was not an undeveloped mind but he was dealing with undeveloped minds and had to speak their language. If he had given his sanction to Karma, however qualified, the general run of people would not have understood and would have clung to their rites and ceremonies. It is indeed to this difficulty of language, its natural imperfection and the imperfection of the minds that employ language, to which all the confusion and sense of difference in religion and philosophy is due, for religion and philosophy are one and above difference. Nor was Shankara so entirely opposed to Karma as is ordinarily imagined from the vehemence of his argument in some places. For what do you mean when you say that Karma is no path to Mukti? Is it that Karma prompted by desire is inconsistent with Mukti, because it necessarily leads to bondage and must therefore be abandoned? On this head there is no dispute. We all agree that works prompted

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by desire lead to nothing but the fulfilment of desire followed by fresh works in another life. Is it that Karma without desire is inconsistent with Mukti, prevents Mukti by fresh bondage and must be abandoned ? This is not consistent with reason, for bondage is the result of desire and ignorance and disappears with desire and ignorance. Therefore in niṣkāma karma there can be no bondage. It is inconsistent with Sruti त्रिणाचिकेतस्त्रिभिरेत्य सन्धिं त्रिकर्मकृतरति जन्ममृत्यू इत्यादि. It is inconsistent with facts for Sri Krishna did works, Janaka and others did works, but none will say that they fell into the bondage of their works; for they were जीवन्मुक्त. Is it meant that niṣkāma karma may be done as a step towards ब्रह्मप्राप्ति by Jnana but must be abandoned as soon as Jnana is acquired? This also will not stand because Janaka and the others did works after they had acquired Jnana as well as before. For the same reason Shankara's argument that Karma must cease as a matter of sheer necessity as soon as one gains Brahma, because Brahma is अकर्ता, will not stand; for Janaka gained Brahma, Sri Krishna was Brahma, and yet both did works; nay, Sri Krishna in one place speaks of him as doing works; for indeed Brahman is both अकर्ता as Purusha and कर्ता as Prakriti; and if it be said that Parabrahman the turīya ātman in whom all bheda disappears is अकर्ता, I answer that he is neither कर्ता nor अकर्ता, He is नेति नेति, the Unknowable and the Jivatman does not merge finally in Him while it is in the body though it may do so at any time by Yoga. लय takes place आदेहनिपातात्, that is to say by the muktātmā after leaving its body, not willing to return to another. The jīvanmukta is made one with the luminous shadow of Parabrahman which we call the Sachchidananda. If it be said that this is not Mukti, I answer that there can be no greater Mukti than becoming the Sachchidananda, and that laya in the Parabrahman स्वेच्छाधीन is to the Jivatman when it has ceased to be Jivatman and become Sachchidananda; for Parabrahman can always and at will draw Sachchidananda into Itself and Sachchidananda can always and at will draw into Parabrahman; since the two are in no sense two but one, in no sense subject to Avidya but on the other side of Avidya. Then if it be said that निष्काम कर्म can only lead to Brahmaloka and not Mukti, I still answer that in that case we must suppose that Sri Krishna,

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after he left his body, remained separate from the Supreme and therefore was not Bhagavan at all but only a great philosopher and devotee, not wise enough to attain Mukti, and that Janaka and other jīvanmuktas were falsely called Muktas, or only in the sense of आपेक्षिक Mukti. This however would contradict Scripture and the uniform teaching of Sruti and Smriti, and cannot therefore be upheld by any Hindu, still less by any Vedantin; for if there is no authority in Sruti, then there is no truth in Vedanta, and the doctrine of the Charvakas has as much force as any. Moreover it would contradict reason, since it would make Mukti which is a spiritual change dependent on a mere mechanical and material change like death, which is absurd. Shankara himself therefore admits that in these cases निष्काम कर्म was not inconsistent with Mukti or with being the Brahman; and he would have admitted it still more unreservedly if he had not been embarrassed by his relations of intellectual hostility to the Purvamimansa. It is proved therefore that कर्म is not inconsistent with मुक्ति but that on the contrary both the teaching and practice of the greatest Jivanmuktas and of Bhagavan himself have combined Jnana and Niskama Karma as one single path to मुक्ति.

One argument, however, remains; it may be said that Karma may be not inconsistent with mukti, may be one path to mukti, but in the last stage it is not necessary to mukti. I readily admit that particular works are not necessary to mukti; it is not necessary to continue being a householder in order to gain mukti. But no one who possesses a body, can be free of Karma. This is clearly and incontrovertibly stated by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. And this statement in the Gita is perfectly consistent with reason; for the man who leaves the world behind him and sits on a mountain top or in an Ashram has not therefore, it is quite clear, got rid of Karma; if nothing else, he has to maintain his body, to eat, to walk, to move his limbs or to sit in āsana and meditate; and all this is Karma. If he is not yet Mukta, this Karma will moreover bind him and bear its fruits in relation to himself as well as to others; even if he is Mukta, his body and mind are not free from Karma until his body is dropped off, but go on under the impulse of prārabdha until the prārabdha

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and its fruits are complete. Nay, even the greatest Yogi by his mere bodily presence in the phenomenal world, is pouring out a stream of spiritual force on all sides, and this action though it does not bind him, has a stupendous influence on others. He is सर्वभूतहिते रत: though he wills it not; he too with regard to his body is अवश: and must let the Gunas of Prakriti work. Since this is so, let every man who wishes to throw his कर्तव्यकर्म behind him, see that he is not merely postponing the completion of his प्रारब्ध to a future life and thereby condemning himself to the rebirth he wishes to avoid.

THE STUDENT
But how can this be that the Jivanmukta is still bound by his past deeds? Does not mukti burn up one's past deeds as in a fire? For how can one be at the same time free and yet bound?

THE GURU
Mukti prevents one's future deeds from creating bondage; but what of the past deeds which have already created bondage? The Jivanmukta is not indeed bound, for he is one with God and God is the master of His prakṛti, not its slave; but the Prakriti attached to this Jivatman has created causes while in the illusion of bondage and must be allowed to work out its effects, otherwise the chain of causation is snapped and the whole economy of nature is disturbed and thrown into chaos, उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका: etc. In order to maintain the worlds therefore, the Jivanmukta remains working like a prisoner on parole, not bound indeed by others, but detained by himself until the period previously appointed for his captivity shall have elapsed.

THE STUDENT
This is indeed a new light on the subject.

THE GURU
It is no new light but as old as the sun; for it is clearly laid down in the Gita and of the teaching of the Gita, Sri Krishna says that it was told by him to Vivaswan, the Vishnu of the Solar system

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and by him to Manou the original Thinker in man, and by Manou handed down to the great king-sages, his descendants. Nay, it plainly arises from the nature of things. The whole confusion on this matter proceeds from an imperfect understanding of mukti; for why do men fly from action and shun their कर्तव्यकर्म in the pursuit of mukti? It is because they dread to be cast again into bondage, to lose their chance of mukti. Yet what is मुक्ति ? It is release,—from what? From Avidya, from the great Nescience, from the belief that you are limited and bound, who are illimitable Brahman and cannot be bound. The moment you have realised that Avidya is an illusion, that there is nothing but Brahman and never was nor will be anything but Brahman, and realised it, I say, had अनुभव, of it, not merely intellectually grasped the idea, from that moment you are free and always have been free. Avidya consists precisely in this that the Jivatman thinks there is something beside himself, he himself other than Brahman, something which binds him; but in reality He, being Brahman, is not bound, never was bound nor could be bound and never will be bound. Once this is realised, the Jivatman can have no farther fear of karma; for he knows that there is no such thing as bondage. He will be quite ready to do his deeds in this world; nay, he will even be ready to be reborn, as Sri Krishna himself has promised to be reborn again and again; for of rebirth also he has no farther fear; since he knows he cannot again fall under the dominion of Avidya, unless he himself deliberately wills it; once free, always free. Even if he is reborn he will be reborn with full knowledge of what he really is, of his past lives and of the whole future and will act as a Jivanmukta.

THE STUDENT
But if this statement once free, always free holds, what of the statements about great Rishis and Yogis falling again under the dominion of Avidya?

THE GURU
A man may be a great Rishi or Yogi without being Jivanmukta. Yoga and spiritual learning are means to Mukti, not Mukti itself. For the Sruti says नायमात्मा प्रवचनेन लभ्यो न मेधया न

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बहुना श्रुतेन ।

THE STUDENT
Will then the Jivanmukta actually wish to live a hundred years, as the Sruti says? Can one who is Mukta have a desire ?

THE GURU
The Jivanmukta will be perfectly ready to live a hundred years or more if needs be; but this recommendation is given not to the Jivanmukta or to any particular class of persons but generally. You should desire to live your allotted term of life, because you in the body are the Brahman who by the force of His own Shakti is playing for Himself by Himself this līlā of creation, preservation and destruction; in this view Brahman is Isha, the Lord, Creator and Destroyer; and you also are Isha, Creator and Destroyer; only for your own amusement, to use a violent metaphor, you have imagined yourself limited by a particular body for the purposes of the play, just as an actor imagines himself to be Dushyanta or Rama or Ravana; and often the actor loses himself in the part and really feels himself to be what he is playing, forgetting that he is really not Dushyanta or Rama, but that Devadatta who plays a hundred parts besides. Still when he shakes off this illusion and remembers that he is Devadatta, he does not therefore walk off from the stage and by refusing to act, break up the play but goes on playing his best till the proper time for the curtain to fall. And so we should all do, whether as householder or Sannyasin, as Jivanmukta or as mumukṣu, remembering always that the object of this Samsara is creation and that it is our business so long as we are in this body to create. The only difference is this, that so long as we forget our Self, we create like servants under the compulsion of our Prakriti or Nature, and are, as it were, slaves and bound by her actions which we imagine to be ours; but when we know the Self and experience our true Self, then we are masters of our Prakriti and not bound by her creations; our soul becomes the sākṣi, the silent spectator, of the action of our nature; thus are we both spectator and actor, and yet because we know the whole to be merely the illusion of an action and not action itself,

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because we know that Rama is not really killing Ravana nor Ravana being killed, for indeed Ravana lives as much after the supposed death as before; so are we neither actor nor spectator but the Self only and all we see only visions of the Self—as indeed the Sruti frequently uses the word ऐक्षद्, saw, in preference to any other for those conceptions with which the Brahman peoples with Himself the universe of Himself. The mumukṣu therefore will not try or wish to leave his life before the time, just as he will not try or wish to leave actions in this life, but only the desire for their fruit. For if he breaks impatiently the thread of his life before it is spun out, he will be no Jivanmukta but a mere suicide and attain the very opposite result of what he desires. The Upanishad says

असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः ।
तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥

Shankara takes this verse in a very peculiar way. He interprets आत्महनो as slayers of the Self, and since this is obviously an absurdity, for the Self is eternal and unslayable, he says that it is a metaphor for casting the Self under the delusion of ignorance which leads to birth. Now this is a very startling and violent metaphor and quite uncalled-for, since the idea might easily have been expressed in any other natural way. Still the Sruti is full of metaphor and we shall therefore not be justified in rejecting Shankara's interpretation on that ground only. We must see whether the rest of the verse is in harmony with the interpretation. Now we find that in order to support his view Shankara is obliged to strain astonishingly the plain meaning of other words in the sentence also; for he says that Paratman is above birth and above Devahood. Asurya can only mean Asuric as opposed to Devic. Devas cannot be Asuric births as opposed to the Daiva birth of Paratman, as opposed to the Paratman; but this is a misuse of words because...means the various kinds of birth, even the Devas being considered Asuric births; and then he takes Loka as meaning various kinds of birth, so that असुर्या लोका: means the various births as man, animals etc., called आसुर, because Rajas predominates in them and

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they are accompanied with Asuric dispositions. All this is a curious and unparalleled meaning for Asuric Worlds. The expression लोका: is never applied to the various kinds of forms the Jivatman assumes, but to the various surroundings of the different conditions through which it passes of which life in the world is one; we say इहलोक or मर्त्यलोक, परलोक or स्वर्गलोक, ब्रह्मलोक, गोलोक etc. but we do not say पशुलोक, पक्षिलोक, कीटलोक. If we say आसुरलोक we can mean nothing but the region of āsuric gloom as opposed to the divine लोका: as, brahmaloka, goloka, svarga. This is the ordinary meaning when we speak of going to a world after death, and we must not take it in any other sense here just to suit our own argument. Moreover the expression ये के loses its peculiar force if we apply it to all living beings except the few who obtain Mukti partial or complete; it obviously means some out of many. We must therefore refuse to follow even Shankara, when his interpretation involves so many violences to the language of Sruti and so wide a departure from the recognised meaning of words.

The ordinary sense of the words gives a perfectly clear and consistent meaning. The Sruti tells us that it is no use taking refuge in suicide or the shortening of your life, because those who kill themselves instead of finding freedom, plunge by death into a worse prison of darkness—the Asuric worlds enveloped in blind gloom.

THE STUDENT
Are then worlds of Patala beneath the earth a reality and do the souls go down there after death? But we know now that there is no beneath to the earth, which is round and encircled by nothing worse than air.

THE GURU
Do not be misled by words. The Asuric worlds are a reality, the worlds of gloom in the nether depths of your own being. A world is not a place with hills and trees and stones, but a condition of the Jivatman, all the rest being only circumstances and details of a dream; this is clear from the language of the Sruti when it speaks of the spirits' लोके or the next world अमुष्मिन् लोके

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as being good or otherwise. Obviously लोक means state or condition. मर्त्यलोक is not essentially this earth we see, for there may and must be other abodes of mortal beings, but the condition of mortality in the gross body, svargaloka is the condition of bliss in the subtle body, naraka the condition of misery in the subtle body, brahmaloka the condition of being near to Hiranyagarbha in the causal body. Just as the Jivatman like a dreamer sees the Earth and all its features when it is in the condition of mortality, and regards itself as in a particular place, so when it is in a condition of complete Tamas in the subtle body, it believes itself to be in a place surrounded by thick darkness, a place of misery unspeakable. This world of darkness is imagined as being beneath the earth, beneath the condition of mortality, because the side of the earth turned away from the Sun is regarded as the nether side, while svarga is above the earth, because the side of earth turned to the Sun is considered the upper side, the place of light and pleasure. So the worlds of utter bliss begin from the Sun and rise above the Sun to brahmaloka. But these are all words and dreams, since Hell and Patala and Earth and Paradise and Heaven are all in the Jivatma itself and not outside it. Nevertheless while we are still dreamers, we must speak in the language and terms of the dream.

THE STUDENT
What then are these worlds of nether gloom?

THE GURU
When a man dies in great pain, or in great grief or in great agitation of mind and his last thoughts are full of fear, rage, pain or horror, then the Jivatma in the sūkṣma śarīra is unable to shake off these impressions from his mind for years, sometimes for centuries. The reason of this is the law of death; death is a moment of great concentration when the departing spirit gathers up the impression of its mortal life, as a host gathers provender for its journey, and whatever impressions are predominant at that moment, govern its condition afterwards. Hence the importance, even apart from Mukti, of living a clean and noble life and dying a calm and strong death. For if the ideas and impressions

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then uppermost are such as associate the self with this gross body and the vital functions, that is to say, with the lower upādhi, then the soul remains long in a tamasic condition of darkness and suffering, which we call Patala or in its worse form Hell. If the ideas and impressions uppermost are such as associate the self with the mind and the higher desires then the soul passes quickly through a short period of blindness to a rājaso-sāttvic condition of light and pleasure and wider knowledge which we call Paradise, svarga or behesta, from which it will return to birth in this world; if the ideas and impressions are such as to associate the self with the higher understanding and the bliss of the Self, the soul passes quickly to a sāttvic condition of highest bliss which we call Heaven or Brahmaloka and thence it does not return. But if we have learned to identify for ever the self with the Self, then before death we become God and after death we shall not be other. For there are three states of Maya, Tamasic illusion, Rajasic illusion, and Sattwic illusion; and each in succession we must shake off to reach that which is no illusion, but the one and only truth.

The Sruti says then that those who slay themselves go down into the nether world of gloom, for they have associated the self with the body and fancied that by getting rid of this body, they will be free, but they have died full of impressions of grief, impatience, disgust and pain. In that state of gloom they are continually repeating the last scene of their life, its impressions and its violent disquiet, and until they have worn off these, there is no possibility of Shanti for their minds. Let no man in his folly or impatience court such a doom.

THE STUDENT
I understand then that these three verses form a clear and connected exposition. But in the next verse the Upanishad goes on suddenly to something quite disconnected.

THE GURU
No. It says

अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन् पूर्वमर्षत् ।

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तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥

The Sruti has said that you must invest all things with the Lord. But of course that really means, you must realise how all things are already invested with Him. It now proceeds to show how this is and to indicate that the Lord is Brahman, the One who regarded in his creative activity through Purusha and Prakriti, is called the Lord. Therefore it now uses the neuter form of the pronoun, speaking of Him as That and This; because Brahman is above sex and distinction. He is One, yet he is at once unmoving and swifter than mind. He is both Purusha and Prakriti, and yet at the same time He is neither, but One and indivisible; Purusha and Prakriti being merely conceptions in His mind deliberately raised for the sake of creating multiplicity. As Prakriti, He is swifter than the mind, for Prakriti is His creative force making matter and its forms through motion. All creation is motion, all activity is motion. All this apparently stable universe is really in a state of multifold motion, everything is whirling with inconceivable rapidity through motion, and even thought which is the swiftest thing we know, cannot keep pace with the velocity of the cosmic stir. And all this motion, all this ever-revolving Cosmos and Universe is Brahman. The Gods in their swiftest movements, lords of the senses cannot reach him, for He rushes far in front. The eye, the ear, the mind, nothing material can reach or conceive the inconceivable creative activity of the Brahman. We try to follow Him pouring as light through the solar system and lo! while we are striving He is whirling universes into being far beyond the reach of eye or telescope, far beyond the farthest lights of thought itself. Material senses quail before the thought of the wondrous stir and stupendous unimaginable activity that the existence of the Universe implies. And yet all the time He who outstrips all others, is not running but standing. While we are toiling after Him, He is all the time here, at our side, before, behind us, with us, in us. Really He does not move at all; all this motion is the result of our own Avidya which by persuading us to imagine ourselves as limited, subjects our thoughts to the conditions of Time and Space. Brahman in all his creative activity is really in one place; He is at the same

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time in the Sun and here; but we in order to realise Him have to follow Him from the Sun to the Earth; and this motion of our thoughts, this sensitory impression of a space covered and a time spent we attribute not to our thought, but to Brahman, just as a man in a railway-train has a sensitory impression that everything is rushing past, but that the train is still. Vidya, Knowledge, tells him that this is not so. So that the stir of the Cosmos is really the stir of our own minds—and yet even our own mind does not really stir. What we call mind is simply the play of conception sporting with the idea of multiplicity which is in form the idea of motion. The Purusha is really unmoving; He is the motionless and silent spectator of a drama of which He Himself is the stage, the theatre, the scenery, actors and the acting. He is the poet Shakespeare watching Desdemona and Othello, Hamlet and the murderous uncle, Rosalind and Jacques and Viola and all the other hundred multiplicities of Himself acting and talking and rejoicing and suffering, all Himself and yet not himself, who sits there a silent witness, their Creator who has no part in their actions and yet without Him not one of them could exist. This is the mystery of the world and its paradox, yet its one plain, simple and easy truth.

THE STUDENT
Now I see. But what is this suddenly thrown in about mātariśvān and the waters? Shankara interprets अप: as actions. Will not this bring it more into harmony with the rest of the verse?

THE GURU
Perhaps; 'waters' is the proper sense of अप: but let us see first whether by taking it in its proper sense we cannot arrive at a clear meaning. The Sruti says that this infinitely motionless yet infinitely moving Brahman is that in which Matariswan setteth the waters. Now we know the conception which the Scripture gives us of this Universe. Everything that we call creation, putting forth, and Science calls evolution is in reality a limitation, a sṛṣṭi, as we say, that is a letting loose of a part from the whole, or a selection as the Scientists say (a natural selection they call it), or, as we should put it, selection by the action of Prakriti of a small

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portion, from a larger stock, of the particular from the general. Thus we have seen that the Sleep condition or Prajna is a letting loose or let us say selection of one part of consciousness from the wider Universal Consciousness; the Dream Consciousness or Hiranyagarbha is a selection from the wider Sleep Consciousness, and the Waking Consciousness, Virat or Vaishwanara is a selection from the wider Dream Consciousness; similarly each individual consciousness is only a selection from the wider Universal Waking Consciousness; each step involving a narrower and ever narrowing consciousness until we come to that extremely narrow bit of consciousness which is only conscious of a bit out of the material and outward world of phenomena. It is the same with the process of material creation. Out of the unformed Prakriti which the Sankhya calls Pradhana or Primary idea, substance, plasm or what you will, of matter, one aspect or force is selected which is called Akasha and of which ether is the visible manifestation; this Akasha or ether is the substratum of all form and material being. Out of ether a narrower force is selected or let loose which is called Vaiou or Matariswan, the Sleeper in the Mother because he sleeps or rests directly in the mother-principle, Ether. This is the great God who in the Brahman setteth the waters in their place.

THE STUDENT
You speak of it as a God, I think, metaphorically. Science has done away with the Gods of the old crude mythology.

THE GURU
The Gods are,—they are the Immortals and cannot be done away with by Science however vehemently she denies them; only the knowledge of the One Brahman can do away with them. For behind every great and elemental natural phenomenon there is a vast living force which is a manifestation, an aspect of Brahman and can therefore be called nothing less than a God. Of these Matariswan is one of the mightiest.

THE STUDENT
Is Air then a God or Wind a God? But it is only a conglomeration

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of gases.

THE GURU
That and nothing more in the terms of material analysis, but look beyond to the synthesis; matter is not everything and analysis is not everything. By material analysis you can prove that man is nothing but a conglomeration of animalcules, and so materialism with an obstinate and learned silliness persists in asseverating; but man will never consent to regard himself as a conglomeration of animalcules, because he knows that he is more. He looks beyond the analysis to the synthesis, beyond the house to the dweller in the house, beyond the parts to the force that holds the parts together. So with the Air, which is only one of the manifestations of Matariswan proper to this earth, one of the houses in which he dwells; but Matariswan is in all the worlds and built all the worlds; he has numberless houses for his dwelling. The principle of his being is motion materially manifested, and we know that it is by motion creation becomes possible. Matariswan therefore is the Principle of Life, the universal and all-pervading ocean of Prana, of which the most important manifestation in man is the force which presides over that distribution of gases in the body to which we give the name of Breath.

THE STUDENT
Still, most people would call this a natural force, not a God.

THE GURU
Call him what you like, only realise that Matariswan is a force of Brahman, nay, Brahman himself, who in himself setteth the waters to their places. Now just as Matariswan was a selection from Akasha or ether, so is Agni, Fire, a selection from Matariswan and the Waters a selection from Fire. Now notice that it is the plural word अप: which is used; just as often you find the Sruti, instead of the name Agni of the presiding principle, using the plural jyotīṁṣi, lights, splendours, shining things, of the various manifestations of Agni, so it uses आप: all fluidities, of the various manifestations of Varouna, the presiding force behind them. You must not think that the waters of the ocean or of the

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rain are the only manifestations of this principle, just as you must not suppose that the fire in yonder brazier or the sun in heaven is the only manifestation of the fiery principle. All the phenomena of light and everything from which heat proceeds have their immediate basis or substratum in Agni. So with the waters which are selected out of Agni by the operations of heat etc. So again all earth, all forms of solidity have their basis or substratum in Prithivi, the earth-force, which is again a selection out of Jala or Varouna, the fluid principle. Now life proceeds in this way; it arises on the substratum of ether with Matariswan or the Air-Force as its principle and essential condition, by the operation of the fiery or light principle through heat, out of the fluid to solidity which is its body. The material world is therefore often said in the Sruti to be produced out of the waters, because so long as it does not emerge from the fluid state, there is as yet no cosmos. When Science, instead of following the course of Nature upstream by analysis, resolving the solid into fluid, the fluid into the fiery, and the fiery into the aerial, shall begin to follow it downstream, imitating the processes of Prakriti, and especially studying and utilising critical stages of transition, then the secret of material creation will be solved, and Science will be able to create material life and not as now merely destroy it. We can now understand what the Sruti means when it says that Matariswan in Brahman setteth the waters to their places. Brahman is the reality behind all material life, and the operations of creation are only a limited part of His universal consciousness and cannot go on without that consciousness as its basis. Shankara is not perhaps wrong when he reads the meanings "actions" into अप:; for the purposes of mankind, actions are the most important of all the various vital operations over which Matariswan presides. Remember therefore that all you do, create, destroy, you are doing, creating and destroying in Brahman, that He is the condition of all your deeds; the more you realise and intensify in yourself Brahman as an ocean of spiritual force, the mightier will be your creation and your destruction, you will approach nearer and nearer to Godhead. For the Spirit is all and not the body, of which you should only be careful as a vehicle of the Spirit, for without the presence of Spirit which gives Prakriti the force to

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act, Prakriti would be inert, nay, could not exist. For what is Prakriti itself but the creation of the mighty Shakti, who is without end and without beginning, the Shakti of the Eternal? Without some jñāna, some knowledge and feeling of the Spirit within you, your work cannot be great; and the deeper your jñāna the greater your work. All the great creators have been men who felt powerfully God within them, whether they were Daivic of the Olympian type like Shankara, or Asuric, of the Titanic type like Napoleon; only the Asura, his jñāna being limited and muddy, is always confusing the Eternal with the grosser and temporary manifestations of Prakriti such as his own vital passions of lust and ambition; the Deva, being sattwic and a child of light, sees clearer. When Napoleon cried out, "What is the French Revolution? I am the French Revolution", he gave utterance to that sense of his being more than a mere man, of his being the very force and power of God in action, which gave him such a stupendous energy and personality; but his mind being muddied by rajas, passion and desire, he could not see that the very fact of his being the French Revolution should have pointed him to higher and grander ideals than the mere satisfaction of his vital part in empire and splendour, that it should have spurred him to be the leader of insurgent humanity, not the trampler down of the immortal spirit of nationality, which was a yet greater and more energetic manifestation of the Eternal Shakti than himself. Therefore he fell; therefore the Adya Shakti, the mighty Devi Chandi Ranarangini Nrimundamalini, withdrew from him her varābhaya and fought against him till she had crushed and torn him with the claws of her lion. Had he fallen as the leader of humanity,—he could not have fallen then, but yet if he had fallen,—his spirit would have conquered after his death and ruled and guided the nations for centuries to come. Get therefore Jnana, the pure knowledge of Brahman within you, and show it forth in Nishkamakarma, in selfless work for your people, for your country, for humanity, for the world, then will you surely become Brahman even in this mortal body and by death take upon yourself eternity.

The Sruti then having set forth the nature of the Lord and identified Him with the Brahman, proceeds to sum up the apparent

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paradoxes attending his twofold aspect as the Unknowable Parabrahman and the Master of the Universe, as the Self within the universe and the Self within your body. That moveth and That moveth not,—as has already been explained; That is far and the same That is quite near. That is within all this and the same That is without all this.

THE STUDENT
There is no difficulty in this statement.

THE GURU
No, there is no difficulty, once you have the key. But try to realise what it means. Lift your eyes towards the Sun; He is there in that wonderful heart of life and light and splendour. Watch at night the innumerable constellations glittering like so many solemn watchfires of the Eternal in the limitless silence which is no void but throbs with the presence of a single calm and tremendous existence; see there Orion with his sword and belt shining as he shone to the Aryan fathers ten thousand years ago at the beginning of the Aryan era; Sirius in his splendour, Lyra sailing billions of miles away in the ocean of space. Remember that these innumerable worlds, most of them mightier than our own, are whirling with indescribable speed at the beck of that Ancient of Days whither none but He knoweth, and yet that they are a million times more ancient than your Himalaya, more steady than the roots of your hills and shall so remain until He at his will shakes them off like withered leaves from the eternal tree of the Universe. Imagine the endlessness of Time, realise the boundlessness of Space; and then remember that when these worlds were not, He was, the Same as now, and when these are not, He shall be, still the Same; perceive that beyond Lyra He is and far away in Space where the stars of the Southern Cross cannot be seen, still He is there. And then come back to the Earth and realise who this He is. He is quite near to you. See yonder old man who passes near you crouching and bent, with his stick. Do you realise that it is God who is passing? There a child runs laughing in the sunlight. Can you hear Him in that laughter ? Nay, He is nearer still to you. He is in you, He

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is you. It is yourself that burns yonder millions of miles away in the infinite reaches of Space, that walks with confident steps on the tumbling billows of the ethereal sea; it is you who have set the stars in their places and woven the necklace of the suns not with hands but by that Yoga, that silent actionless impersonal Will which has set you here today listening to yourself in me. Look up, O child of the ancient Yoga, and be no longer a trembler and a doubter; fear not, doubt not, grieve not; for in your apparent body is One who can create and destroy worlds with a breath.

Yes, He is within all this as a limitless ocean of spiritual force; for if He were not, neither the outer you nor this outer I nor this Sun nor all these worlds could last for even a millionth part of the time that is taken by a falling eyelid. But He is outside it too. Even in His manifestation, He is outside it in the sense of exceeding it, अत्यतिष्ठद्दशाञगुलम्; in His unmanifestation, He is utterly apart from it. This truth is more difficult to grasp than the other, but it is necessary to grasp it. There is a kind of Pantheism which sees the Universe as God and not God as the Universe; but if the Universe is God, then is God material, divisible, changeable, the mere flux and reflux of things; but all these are not God in Himself, but God in His shadows and appearances; they are to repeat our figure the shadows and figments of Shakespeare's mind, Shakespeare is not only vaster than all his drama-world put together, he is not only both in it and outside it, but apart from it and other than it.

THE STUDENT
Do you mean that these are emanations from His Mind?

THE GURU
I do not. 'Emanation' is a silly word and a silly idea. God is not a body emitting vapours. If you have emanated from Him, where, pray, have they emanated to? Which is their locality and where is their habitation? You cannot go anywhere where you will be outside God; you cannot go out of your Self. For though you flee to the uttermost parts of space, He is there. Are Hamlet

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and the rest of them emanations from Shakespeare's mind? Will you tell me then where they have emanated to? Is it on to those pages, those corruptions of pulp which are made today and destroyed tomorrow ? Is it into those combinations of those letters of the English alphabet with which the pages are covered ? Put them into combinations of any other alphabet, or relate them in any language to a man who knows not what letters are, and still Hamlet will live for him. Is it in the sounds that the letters represent, sounds that are heard this moment and forgotten the next ? But Hamlet is not forgotten—he lives on in your mind for ever. Is it in the impressions made on the material brain by the forgotten sounds? Nay, the Sleep self within you, even if you have never heard or read the play of Hamlet, will, if it is liberated by any adequate process of Yoga or powerful hypnosis tell you about Hamlet. Shakespeare's drama-world never emanated from Shakespeare's mind, because it was in his mind and is in his mind; and you can know of Hamlet because your mind is part of the same universal mind as Shakespeare's—part, I say, in appearance, but in reality that mind is one and indivisible. All knowledge belongs to it by its nature perpetually and from perpetuity, and the knowledge that we get in the waking condition through such vehicles as speech and writing are mere fragments created (let loose) from it and yet within it, just as the worlds are mere fragments created (let loose) from Brahman, in the sense of being consciousness selected and set apart from the Universal Consciousness, but always within the Brahman. 'Emanation' is a metaphor like the metaphor in the Sruti about the spider and his web, convenient for certain purposes, but not the truth, very poor ground therefore on which to build a philosophy.

To realise God in the Universe and in yourself, is true Pantheism and it is the necessary step for approaching the Unknowable, but to mistake the Universe for God, is a mistaken and inverted Pantheism. This inverted Pantheism is the outer aspect of the Rig-veda, and it is therefore that the Rig-veda unlike the Upanishad may lead either to the continuation of bondage or to Brahmaloka, while the Upanishad can lead only to Brahmaloka or to the Brahman Himself.

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THE STUDENT
But the new scholarship tells us that the Rig-veda is either henotheistic or polytheistic, not real Pantheism.

THE GURU
Nay, if you seek the interpretation of your religion from Christians, atheists and agnostics, you will hear more wonderful things than that. What do you think of Charvak's interpretation of Vedic religion as neither pantheistic nor polytheistic but a pluto-theistic invention of the Brahmins? An European or his disciple in scholarship can no more enter into the spirit of the Veda than the wind can blow freely in a closed room. And pedants especially can never go beyond manipulation of words. Men like Max Müller presume to lecture us on our Veda and Vedanta because they know something of Sanskrit grammar; but when we come to them for light, we find them playing marbles on the doorsteps of the outer court of the temple. They had not the adhikāra to enter, because they came in a spirit of arrogance with preconceived ideas to teach and not to learn; and their learning was therefore not helpful towards truth, but only towards grammar. Others, ignorant of the very rudiments of Sanskrit, have seen more deeply than they,—even if some have seen more than there was to see. What for instance is this henotheism, this new word, the ill-begotten of pedantry upon error? If it is meant that various sections of the Aryas consider different gods as the God above all, and the others false or comparatively false gods there would have been inevitably violent conflicts between the various sects and perpetual wars of religion but such there were not. If on the other hand, it is meant that different worshippers prefer to worship the Lord of the Universe in different particular forms, then are we still henotheists; for there is not one of us who has not his iṣṭadevatā, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganapati, Maruti, Rama, Krishna or Shakti; yet we all recognise but one Lord of the Universe behind the form we worship. If on the other hand the same man worshipped different nature-forces, but each in its turn as the Lord of the Universe, then is this Pantheism, pure and simple. And this was indeed the outer aspect of the Vedic religion; but when the seers of the Veda left their altars to sit in meditation,

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they perceived that Brahman was neither the Viswadevas nor the synthesis of the Viswadevas but something other than they; then was the revelation made that is given in the Upanishads, ते ध्यानयोगानुगता उपश्यन् देवात्मशक्तिं स्वगुणैर्निगूढाम्. This is what is meant by saying that Brahman is outside all this, he is neither the synthesis of Nature nor anything that the Universe contains, but himself contains the Universe which is only a shadow of His own Mind, in His own mind.

THE STUDENT
I understand.

THE GURU
If you really understand, then are you ready for the next step which the Sruti takes when it draws from the unity of the Brahman, the sublimest moral principle to be found in any religion.

यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥

To man finding himself in the midst of paradoxes created by the twofold nature of the Self of himself, the Shakti that knows and the Shakti that plays at not knowing, the Sruti gives an unfailing guide, a sure staff and a perfect ideal.

See all creatures in thy Self. If thy mind fails thee, if the anguish of thy coverings still conceals the immortal Spirit within, dash away tears, ay be they very tears of blood, wipe them from thy eye and look out on the Universe. There is thy Self, that is Brahman, and all these things thyself, thy joy, thy sorrow, thy friends and enemies are in Him. तत्र क: मोह: क: शोक: एकत्वमनुपश्यत: Yes, all,—wife, children, friends, enemies, joy, sorrow, victory, defeat, beauty and ugliness, animation and inanimation—all these are but moods of One Consciousness and that consciousness is our own. If you come to think of it, you have no friends or enemies, no joys or sorrows but of your own making. Scientists tell you that it is by the will to adapt itself in a particular way to its surroundings, one species differentiates itself from another. That is but one application of an universal

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principle. The Will is the root of all things; you will to have wife and children, friends and enemies, and they arise. You will to be sick and sorry and sickness and sorrow seize you; you will to be strong and beautiful and happy and the world becomes brighter with your radiance. This whole Universe is but the result of One universal Will which having resolved to create multitude in itself has made itself into all the forms you see within it.

THE STUDENT
The idea is difficult to grasp, too vast and yet too subtle.

THE GURU
Because Avidya, the sense of difference is your natural condition in the body. Think a little. This body is built by the protoplasm multiplying itself; it does not divide itself, for by division it could not grow. It produces another itself out of itself, the same in appearance, in size, in nature and so it builds up the body which is only itself multiplied in itself. Take that as an imperfect example, which may yet help you to understand.

THE STUDENT
But it multiplies not in itself, but out of itself, as a man and woman create a son out of themselves.

THE GURU
So it appears to you because it is working in Time and Space,—for the same reason that there seem [to] you to be many Jivatmans outside each other, while deeper knowledge shows you one only, or that you imagine two separate consciousnesses in one man, while more skilful hypnosis shows you that they are one consciousness working variously within itself. In one sense the One seems to us to multiply himself, like the protoplasm because the One Jivatman is the same in all, hence the fundamental similarity of consciousness in all beings; in one sense He seems to divide Himself like the human consciousness because He is the unit and all seem to be partial expressions of the comprehensive unit; again He seems to add pieces of Himself together, because you

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the consciousness who are He add yourself to your wife the consciousness who is again He and become one, and so the process goes on till of the vyaṣṭi, analysis in parts, you get the samaṣṭi or synthesis of all; finally He seems to subtract Himself from Himself, because as I have told you, each step in creation is a letting loose or separating of parts from a wider entity. All these are however figures and appearances and whatever He does, it must be in Himself, because He has nowhere else to do it in, since He is all Space and all Time. Realise therefore that all these around you, wife, children, friends, enemies, men, animals, animate things and inanimate are in you, the Universal Mind, like actors on a stage, and seem to be outside you only for appearance' sake, for the convenience of the play. If you realise this, you will be angry with none, therefore you will hate none, and therefore you will try to injure none. For how can you be angry with any; if your enemies injure you, it is yourself who are injuring yourself; whatever they are, you have made them that; whatever they do, you are the root of their action. Nor will you injure them because you will be injuring none but yourself. Why indeed should you hate them and try to injure them any more than Shakespeare hated Iago for injuring Othello; do you think that Shakespeare shared the feelings of [Iago] when he condemned the successful villain to death and torture? If Shakespeare did hate Iago, you would at once say that it was illusion, Avidya, on the part of Shakespeare—since it is Shakespeare himself who made Iago there to injure Othello, since indeed there is no Othello or Iago, but only Shakespeare creating himself in himself. Why then should you consider your hatred of yourself made enemy more reasonable than Shakespeare's hatred of his own creation? No, all things being in yourself, are your own creation, are yourself, and you cannot hate your own creation, you cannot loathe yourself. Loathing and hatred are the children of illusion, of ignorance. This is the negative side of morality; but there is a positive for which the Sruti next proceeds to lay down the basis. You must for the purpose of withdrawing yourself from unrealities see all creatures in the Self; but if you did that only, you would soon arrive at the Nirvana of all action and ring down the curtain on an

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unfinished play. For the purpose of continuing the play till the proper time for your final exit, you must also see yourself in all creatures. The nature of the Self in a state of Vidya is bliss; now the State of Vidya is a state of self-realisation, the realisation of oneness and universality. The nature of the Self in the state of Avidya, the false sense of diversity and limitation is a state not of pure bliss but of pleasure and pain, for pleasure is different from bliss, as it is limited and involves pain, while the nature of bliss is illimitable and above duality. It is when pain itself becomes pleasure, is swallowed up in pleasure, that bliss is born. Everything therefore which removes even partially the sense of difference and helps towards the final unity, brings with it a touch of bliss by a partial oblivion of pain. But that which brings you bliss, you cannot help but delight in ecstatically, you cannot but love. If therefore you see yourself in another, you spontaneously love that other for in yourself you must delight; if you see yourself in all creatures, you cannot but love all creatures. Universal love is the inevitable consequence of the realisation of the One in Many, and with Universal Love how shall any shred of hate, disgust, dislike, loathing co-exist? They dissolve in it like the night mists in the blaze of the rising sun. Take it in another way and we get a new facet of the one Truth. All hatred and repulsion arises from the one cause, Avidya, which begot Will, called Desire, which begot Ahankar, which begot desire called Hunger. From Desire-Hunger are born liking and dislike, liking for whatever satisfies or helps us to our desire, dislike for whatever obstructs or diminishes the satisfaction of desire. This liking created in this way is the liking of the protoplasmic sheath for whatever gives it sensual gratification, the liking of the vital sheath for whatever gives it emotional gratification, the liking of the mind sheath for whatever gives it aesthetic gratification, the liking of the knowledge sheath for whatever gives it intellectual gratification. But beyond these there is something else not so intelligible, beyond my liking for the beautiful body of a woman or for a fine picture or a pleasant companion or an exciting play or a clever speaker or a good poem or an illuminative and well-reasoned argument there is my liking for somebody which has no justification or apparent reason. If sensual gratification

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were all, then it is obvious that I should have no reason to prefer one woman over another and after the brute gratification liking would cease; I have seen this brute impulse given the name of love; perhaps I myself used to give it that name when the protoplasmic animal predominated in me. If emotional gratification were all, then I might indeed cling for a time to the woman who had pleased my body, but only so long as she gave me emotional pleasure, by her obedience, her sympathy with my likes and dislikes, her pleasant speech, her admiration or her answering love. But the moment these cease, my liking also will begin to fade away. This sort of liking too is persistently given the great name and celebrated in poetry and romance. Then if aesthetic gratification were all, my liking for a woman of great beauty or great charm might well outlast the loss of all emotional gratification, but when the wrinkles began to trace the writing of age on her face or when accident marred her beauty, my liking would fade or vanish since the effect would lose the nutrition of a present cause. Intellectual gratification seldom enters into the love of a man for a woman; even if it did so, more frequently the intellectual gratification to be derived from a single mind is soon exhausted in daylong and nightlong companionship. Whence then comes that love which is greater than life and stronger than death, which survives the loss of beauty and the loss of charm, which defies the utmost pain and scorn the object of love can deal out to it, which often pours out from a great and high intellect on one infinitely below it? What again is that love of woman which nothing can surpass, which lives on neglect and thrives on scorn and cruelty, whose flames rise higher than the red tongues of the funeral pyre, which follows you into heaven or draws you out of hell ? Say not that this love does not exist and that all here is based on appetite, vanity, interest or selfish pleasure, that Rama and Sita, Ruru and Savitri are but dreams and imaginations. Human nature conscious of its divinity throws back the libel in scorn,—and poetry blesses and history confirms its verdict. That Love is nothing but the Self recognising the Self dimly or clearly and therefore seeking to realise the oneness and the bliss of oneness. What again is a friend ? Certainly I do not seek from my friend the pleasure of the body or choose him for his good looks nor

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for that similarity of tastes and pursuits I would ask in a mere comrade; nor do I love him because he loves me or admires me, as I would perhaps love a disciple; nor do I necessarily demand of him a clever brain, as if he were only an intellectual helper or teacher. All these feelings exist, but they are not the soul of friendship. No, I love my friend for the woman's reason, because I love him, because in the old imperishable phrase, he is my other self. There by intuition the old Roman hit on the utter secret of Love. Love is the turning of the Self from its false self in the mind or body to its true Self in another; I love him because I have discovered the very Self of me in him, not my body or mind or tastes or feelings, but my very Self of love and bliss, of the outer aspect of whom the Sruti has beautifully said "Love is his right side etc." So is it with the patriot; he has seen himself in his nation and seeks to lose his lower self in that higher national Self; because he can do so, we have a Mazzini, a Garibaldi, a Joan of Arc, a Washington, a Pratap Singh or a Shivaji; the lower material self could not have given us these; you do not manufacture such men in the workshop of utility, on the forge of Charvaka or grow them in the garden of Epicurus. So is it with the lover of humanity, who loses or seeks to lose his lower self in mankind; no enlightened selfishness could have given us Father Damien or Jesus or Florence Nightingale. So is it finally with the lover of the whole world, of whom the mighty type is Buddha, the one unapproachable ideal of Divine Love in man, he who turned from perfect divine bliss as he had turned from perfect human bliss that not he alone but all natures might be saved.

To see your Self in all creatures and all creatures in your Self—that is the unshakable foundation of all religion, love, patriotism, philanthropy, humanity, of everything which rises above selfishness and gross utility. For what is selfishness? It is mistaking the body and the vital impulses for your true self and seeking their gratification, a gross narrow and transient pleasure, instead of the stainless bliss of your true self which is the whole Universe and more than the Universe. Selfishness arises from Avidya, from the great fundamental ignorance which creates Ahankara, the sense of your individual existence, the preoccupation with your own individual

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existence, which at once leads to Desire, to Hunger which is Death, death to yourself and death to others. The sense that this is I and that is you, and that I must have this or that, or else you will take it, that is the basis of all selfishness; the sense that this I must eat that you, in order to live and avoid being eaten, that is the principle of material existence from which arises strife and hatred. And so long as the difference between I and you exists, hatred cannot cease, covetousness cannot cease, war cannot cease, evil and sin cannot cease, and because sin cannot cease, sorrow and misery cannot cease. This is the eternal Maya that makes a mock of all materialistic schemes for a materialistic Paradise upon earth. Paradise cannot be made upon the basis of food and drink, upon the equal division of goods or even upon the common possession of goods, for always the mine and thine, the greed, the hate, will return again if not between this man and that man, yet between this community and that community. Christianity hopes to make men live together like brothers—a happy family, loving and helping each other; perhaps it still hopes, though there is little in the state of the modern world to flatter its dreams. But that millennium too will not come, not though Christ should descend with all his angels and cut the knot, after banishing the vast majority of mankind to the outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, by setting up this united family of mankind with the meagre remnants of the pure and faithful. What a mad dream of diseased imaginations that men could be really and everlastingly happy while mankind was everlastingly suffering! And how strangely was the slight, but the sweet and gracious shadow of Buddhism distorted in the sombre and cruel minds of those fierce Mediterranean races, when they pictured the saints as drawing added bliss from the contemplation of the eternal tortures in which those they had lived with and perhaps loved were agonising. Divine love, divine pity, the nature of the Buddha, that was the message which India sent to Europe through the lips of Jesus, and this is how the European mind interpreted divine love, divine pity! The fires of Hell aptly and piously anticipated on earth by the fires of Smithfield, the glowing splendours of the Auto-da-fé, the unspeakable reek of agony that steams up through

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history from the dungeons of the Holy Office,—nay, there are wise men who find an apology for these pious torturers,—it was divine love after all seeking to save the soul at the cost of the perishable body! But the Aryan spirit of the East, the spirit of Buddha struggles for ever with European barbarism and surely in the end it shall conquer. Already Europe does homage to humanity with her lips and in the gateways of her mind; perhaps some day she will do so with her heart also. At any rate the millennium of Tertullian is out of date. But still it is the Christian ideal, the Syrian interpretation of the truth and not the truth itself, which dominates the best European thought and the Christian ideal is the ideal of the united family.

THE STUDENT
Surely it is a noble ideal.

THE GURU
Very noble and we have it among ourselves in a noble couplet वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्; but everything which implies difference is based upon Avidya and the inevitable fruits of Avidya. Have you ever watched a big united family, a joint-family in Bengal especially in days when the Aryan discipline is lost? Behind its outward show of strength and unity, what jarring, what dissensions, what petty malice and hatred, what envy and covetousness! And then finally one day a crash, a war, a case in the law-courts, a separation for ever. What the joint-family is on a small scale, that on a big scale is an united nation, Russia or Austria or Germany or the United Kingdom. Mankind as an united family would mean in practice mankind as an united nation. How much would you gain by it? You would get rid of war,—for a time—of the mangling of men's bodies by men, but the body though to be respected as the chosen vehicle or the favourite dress of Brahman, is not of the first importance. You would not get rid of the much more cruel mangling of the human Self by hatred, greed and strife. The Europeans attach too much importance to the body, shrink too much from physical sin and are far too much at their ease with mental sin. It is enough for them if a woman abstain from carrying out her desire in action, if a man abstain from physical

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violence, then is the one chaste, the other self-controlled. This if not sheer unAryanism or Mlecchahood is at best the half-baked virtue of the semi-Aryanised to you who are born in the Aryan discipline, however maimed by long bondage, an Aryan indeed, chaste in mind and spirit, and not merely careful in speech and body, gentle in heart and thought and not merely decent in words and actions. That is the true self-control and real morality. No Paradise therefore can exist, no Paradise even if it existed, can last until that which makes sin and hell is conquered. We may never have a Paradise on earth, but if it is ever to come, it will come not when all mankind are as brothers, for brothers jar and hate as much and often more than mere friends or strangers, but when all mankind has realised that it is one Self. Nor can that be until mankind has realised that all existence is one­self, for if an united humanity tyrannise over bird and beast and insect, the atmosphere of pain, hatred and fear breathing up from the lower creation will infect and soil the purity of the upper. The law of Karma is inexorable, and whatever you deal out to others, even such shall be the effect on yourself, in this life or in another. Do you think then that this strange thing will ever come about that mankind in general, will ever come to see in the dog and the vulture, nay, in the snake that bites and the scorpion that stings, their own Self, that they will say unto Death my brother and to Destruction my sister, nay that they will know these things as themselves? सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानम्, the Sruti will not spare you the meanest insect that crawls or the foulest worm that writhes.

THE STUDENT
It does not seem possible.

THE GURU
It does not; and yet the impossible repeatedly happens. At any rate, if you must have an ideal, of the far-off event to which humanity moves, cherish this. Distrust all Utopias that seek to destroy sin or scrape away part of the soil in which it grows while preserving intact the very roots of sin, Ahankara born of Ignorance and Desire. For once Ahankara is there, likes and dislikes are born, रागद्वेषौ, the primal couple of dualities, liking for what

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furthers the satisfaction of desire, dislike for what hinders it, the sense of possession, the sense of loss, attraction, repulsion, charm, repugnance, love, hatred, pity, cruelty, kindness, wrath,—the infinite and eternal procession of the dualities. Admit but one pair, and all the others come tumbling in its wake. But the man who sees himself in all creatures, cannot hate; he shrinks from none, he has neither repulsion nor fear, ततो न विजुगुप्सते. Yonder leper whom all men shun—but shall I shun him, I who know that from this strange disguise the Brahman looks out with smiling eyes? This foeman who comes with a sword to pierce me through the heart,—I look beyond the sharp threatening sword, beyond the scowling brow and the eyes of hate, and I recognise the mask of my Self; thereafter I shall neither fear the sword nor hate the bearer. O myself who foolishly callest thyself, mine enemy, how canst thou be my enemy unless I choose; friend and enemy are but creations of the Mind that myriad-working magician, that great dreamer and artist; and if I will not to regard thee as my enemy, thou canst no more be such than a dream or shadow can, as indeed thy flashing sword is but a dream and thy scowling brow but a shadow. But thou wilt divide me with thy sword, thou wilt slay me, pierce me with bullets, torture me with fire, blow me from the mouth of thy cannon? Me thou canst not pierce, for I am unslayable, unpierceable, indivisible, unburnable, immovable. Thou canst but tear this dress of me, this food-sheath or multiplied protoplasm which I wear—I am what I was before. I will not be angry with thee even, for who would trouble himself to be angry with a child because in its play or little childish wrath it has torn his dress? Perhaps I valued the dress and would not so soon have parted with it; I will try then to save it, if I may, and even punish thee without anger so that thou mayst not tear more dresses; but if I cannot—well, it was but a cloth and another can soon be had from the merchant; nay, have I not already paid the purchase-money? O my judge, thou who sittest pronouncing that I be hanged by the neck till I be dead, because I have broken thy laws perchance to give bread to starving thousands, perchance to help the men of my country whom thou wouldst keep as slaves for thy pleasure—Me wilt thou hang? When thou canst shake the sun from heaven or wrap up the skies

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like a garment, then shall power be given thee to hang me. Who or what is this thou deemest will die by hanging? A bundle of animalculae, no more. This outward thou and I are but stage masks, behind them is One who neither slayeth nor is slain. Mask, called a judge, play thou thy part; I have played mine. O son of the ancient Yoga, realise thy Self in all things; fear nothing, loathe nothing; dread none, hate none. But do thy part with strength and courage; so shalt thou be what thou truly art, God in thy victory, God in thy defeat, God in thy very death and torture,—God who will not be defeated and who cannot die. Shall God fear any? shall He despair? shall He tremble and shake? Nay, 'tis the insects that form thy body and brain which shake and tremble; Thou within them sittest looking with calm eyes at their pain and terror; for they are but shadows that dream of themselves as a reality. Realise the Self in all creatures, realise all creatures in the Self; then in the end terror shall flee from thee in terror, pain shall not touch thee, lest itself be tortured by thy touch; death shall not dare to come near to thee lest he be slain.

यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः ।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥

He who discerneth, in whom all creatures have become himSelf, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have sorrow, in whose eyes all things are One. That is the realisation of the mighty ideal, the moral and practical result of perfected Vedanta, that in us all things will become ourself. There, says the Sruti, in the man whose Self has become all creatures, what delusion can there be or what sorrow, for wherever he looks अनुपश्यत:, he sees nothing but the great Oneness, nothing but God, nothing but his own Self of love and bliss. Delusion, मोह, is the mistaking of the appearance for the reality, bewilderment by the force of Maya. "This house that my fathers had was mine and alas, I have lost it." "This was my wife whom I loved, and she is lost to me for ever." "Alas, how has my son disappointed me from whom I hoped so much." "This office for which I hoped and schemed, my rival, the man I hated has got it." All these are the

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utterances of delusion and the result of delusion is शोक, sorrow. But to one whose Self has become all creatures, there can be no delusion and therefore no sorrow. He does not say "I, Devadatta, have lost this house. What a calamity!" He says, "I, Devadatta, have lost this house, but it has gone to me Harischandra. That is fortunate." I can lose nothing except to myself. Nor shall I weep because my wife is dead and lost, who is not lost at all, but as near to me as ever, since she is still my Self, in my Self, with my Self as much after death as when her body was underneath my hands. I cannot lose my Self. My son has disappointed me? He has taken his own way and not mine but he has not disappointed himSelf who is mySelf, he has only disappointed the sheath, the case, the mental cell in which I was imprisoned. The vision of the One Self dispels all differences; an infinite calm, an infinite love, an infinite charity, an infinite tolerance is the very nature of the strong soul that has seen God. The sin, the stain, the disease, the foulness of the world cannot pollute his mind nor repel his sympathy; as he stoops to lift the sinner from the dung heap in which he wallows, he does not shrink from the ordure that stains his own hands; his eyes are not bedimmed by tears, when he lifts up the shrieking sufferer out of his pit of pain; he lifts him as a father lifts his child who has stumbled in the mire and is crying; the child chooses to think he is hurt and cries; the father knows he is not really hurt, therefore he does not grieve but neither does he chide him, rather he lifts him up and soothes the wilful imaginary pain. Such a soul has become God, mighty and loving to help and save, not weak to weep and increase the ocean of human tears with his own. Buddha did not weep when he saw the suffering of the world; he went forth to save. And surely such a soul will not grieve over the buffets the outward world seems to give to his outward self; for how can He grieve who is all this Universe? The pain of his petty personal self is no more to his consciousness than the pain of a crushed ant to a king as he walks musing in his garden bearing on his shoulders the destiny of nations. He cannot feel sorrow for himself even if he would, for he has the sorrow of a whole world to relieve; his own joy is nothing to him, for he has the joy of the whole Universe at his command.

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There are two ways of attaining to Jnana, to the Vision. One is the way of Insight, the other the way of World-Sight. There are two ways of Bhakti, one by devotion to the Self as Lord of all concentrated within you, the other by devotion to the Self as Lord of all extended in the Universe. There are two ways of Karma, one by Yoga, quiescence of the sheaths, and the ineffable, unacting, yet all enveloping omnipotence of the Self within; the other by quiescence of desire and selfless activity of the sheaths for the wider self in the Universe. For the first you must turn your eyes within instead of without, put from you the pleasures of contact and sense, hush the mind and its organs and rising above the dualities become One in yourself. आत्मतुष्टिरात्माराम:. Is this too difficult for thee? Does thy mind fail thee, the anguish of thy coverings still conceal the immortal Spirit within? Dash the tears from thine eyes; though they be tears of blood, still persist in wiping them away as they ooze out, and look out on the Universe. That is thy self, that is Brahman. Realise all this Cosmic stir, this rolling of the suns, this light, this life, this ceaseless activity. It is thou thyself that art stirring through all this Universe, thou art this Sun and this Moon and these Constellations. The Ocean rolls in thee, the storm blows in thee, the hills stand firm in thee. If thou wert not, these things would not be. Canst thou grieve over the miseries of this little speck in the Brahman, this little insect-sheath, of whose miseries thou art the maker and thou canst be the ender? Is the vision too great for thee? Look round thee then, limit the vision there. These men and women and living things that are round thee, their numberless joys and sorrows, amongst which what are thine? They are all thy Self and they are all in Thee. Thou art their Creator, Disposer and Destroyer. Thou canst break them if thou wilt and thou canst rescue them from their griefs and miseries if thou wilt, for power infinite is within thee. Thou wilt not be the Asura to injure thyself in others? Be then the Deva to help thy Self in others. Learn the sorrows of those who live near thee and remove them; thou wilt soon feel what a joy has been so long lost to thee, a joy in which thine own sorrows grow like an unsubstantial mist. Wrestle with mighty wrong-doers, succour the oppressed, free the slave and the bound and thou shalt soon know something of the

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joy that is more than any pleasure, thou shalt soon be initiated into the bliss of the One who is in all. Even in death thou shalt know that ecstasy and rejoice in the blood as it flows from thee.

THE STUDENT
These ideals are too high. Where is the strength to follow them and the way to find that strength?

THE GURU
The strength is in yourself and the way to find that strength has been laid down from the times of old. But accept that ideal first or you will have no spur to help you over the obstacles in the way.

THE STUDENT
But how many will accept the ideal, when there are so many easier ideals to give them strength and comfort?

THE GURU
But are those ideals true? Delusions may give you strength and comfort for a while, but after all they break down and leave you tumbling through Chaos. Truth alone is a sure and everlasting rock of rest, an unfailing spear of strength. The whole universe rests upon Truth, on the Is, not on the Is Not. To be comfortable in delusion is the nature of man in his Tamasic covering of gross matter-stuff; it is the business of philosophy and religion to dispel his delusion and force him to face the truth.

THE STUDENT
But many wise men are of the opinion that these smaller ideals are the truth, not religion and philosophy which are a delusion.

THE GURU
Tell me one of these new-born truths that profess to dispel the knowledge that is without end and without beginning; for you know more of the science of the West than I.

THE STUDENT
There is the doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number, which has something finite, certain and attainable about it

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—nothing metaphysical, nothing abstract.

THE GURU
We have heard something about it in this country, a system of morality by arithmetic called utilitarianism which would have man pass his life with a pair of scales in his hand weighing good and evil. It did good in its time, but it was not true, and could not last.

THE STUDENT
In what is it not true?

THE GURU
It is not true, because it is not in human nature; no human being ever made or ever will make an arithmetical calculation of the pain and pleasure to result from an action and the numbers of the people diversely affected by them, before doing the action. That sort of ethical algebra, this system of moral accounts needs a different planet for its development; a qualified accountant has yet to be born on the human plane. You cannot assess pleasure and pain, good and evil in so many ounces and pounds: human feelings, abstract emotions are elusive and variable from moment to moment. Utilitarianism with all its appearance of extreme practicality and definiteness, is really empty of any definite truth and impotent to give any sound and helpful guidance; it is in itself as barren of light as of inspiration, a creed arid, dry and lifeless, and what is worse, false. Whatever it has of value, it has copied or rather caricatured from altruism. It gives us standards of weight and measure which are utterly impossible to fix, and it fails to provide any philosophical justification for self-sacrifice nor any ardent inspiration towards it. Utilitarian hedonism—is not that the phrase—suggests, I think, that by doing good to others, we really provide a rarer and deeper pleasure for ourselves than any purely self-limited gratification can give us. Most true—and a truth we needed not to learn from either hedonist or utilitarian. The Buddhists knew it 2,000 years ago and the Aryans of India practised it before that; the whole life of Sri Krishna was a busy working for the good of others, of his friends, his

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country and the world, and Sri Krishna never knew grief or pain. But there are three kinds of pleasure to be had from charity and beneficence; there is the satisfaction of vanity, the vanity of hearing oneself praised, the vanity of feeling "How very good I am." This, I think, is at the bottom of much charity in India and more in Europe; and it is here that hedonism comes most into play, but it is a poor spring and will break down under any strain; it may lead to charity but never to self-sacrifice. Then there is the joy of having done a good work and brought oneself nearer to heaven which used to be and perhaps still is the most common incentive to beneficence in Aryaland. That is a more powerful spring, but it is narrow and does not reach the true self; its best value is that it is helpful towards purification. Then there are the natures born for love and unselfishness, who in the mere joy of helping others, of suffering for others, of seeing the joy return to tear-worn faces and pain-dimmed eyes, feel the bliss that comes from the upsurging of God within. To these hedonism is a vanity and the babbling of children. The hedonistic element in utilitarianism is an imperfect blundering effort to grope for a great truth which it has neither been able to grasp itself nor set forth with scientific accuracy. That Truth is found only in the clear and luminous teaching of the Vedanta; it is this, that the compound result we call man is a compound result and not the single simple homogeneous being our senses would believe; he is composed of several elements, corporeal, vital, mental, intellectual and essential; and his true self is none of these heterogeneous factors of the element the Self lives in, but something beyond and transcendent. Pain and pleasure, good and evil are therefore not permanent and definite entities; the former are a heterogeneous conglomeration, sometimes a warring agglomeration of the feelings and impulses belonging to the various husks in which the true Self is wrapped. Good and evil are relative and depend on the standpoint we take with reference to the true locality of Self in this little cosmos of man; if we locate that Self low down our "good" will be a poor thing, of the earth, earthy, little distinguishable from evil; if we locate it in its true place, our good will be as high, vast and pure as the heavens. All pain and pleasure, all good and evil have their birth, their existence and their end in

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the Self. It follows therefore that even the highest love and altruism are bounded by the Self. Altruism is not the sacrifice of self to others, but the sacrifice of our false self to our true Self, which unless we are Yogins we can best see in others. True love is not the love of others but the love of our Self; for we cannot possibly love what is not ourself. If we love what is not ourself, it must be as a result of contact; but we cannot love by sparśa, by mere contact; because contact is temporary in its nature and in its results, and cannot give rise to a permanent feeling such as love. Yajnavalkya well said, "We desire the wife not for the sake of the wife but for the sake of the Self." Only if we mistake things for the Self which are not the true Self, we shall, as a result, mistake things for love which are not real love. If we mistake the food-husk for Self, we shall desire the wife for corporeal gratification; if we mistake the vital emotion husk for Self we shall desire the wife for emotional gratification; if we mistake the mind husk for the Self we shall desire the wife for aesthetic gratification and pleasurable sense of her presence, her voice, looks etc. about the house; if we mistake the intellect husk for the Self, we shall desire the wife for her qualities and virtues, her capacities and mental gifts, for the gratification of the understanding. If we see the Self in the bliss sheath, where the element of error reaches the vanishing point, we shall then desire the wife for the gratification of the true Self, the bliss of the sense of Union, of becoming One. And if we have seen and understood our true Self without husk or covering, we shall not desire her at all, because we shall possess her, we shall know that she is already our Self and therefore not to be desired in her sheaths, since She is already possessed. It follows that the more inward the sheath with which we confuse the Self, the purer the pleasure, the more exalted the conception of Good, until in the real naked Self we rise beyond good and evil because we have no longer any need of good or any temptation to evil. Emotional pleasure is higher than corporeal, aesthetic than emotional, intellectual than aesthetic, ethical than intellectual, spiritual than ethical. This is the whole truth and the whole philosophy of ethics; all else is practical arrangement and balancing of forces, economising of energies for the purposes of social stability or some other important but impermanent end.

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Utilitarianism gets a partial and confused view of the truth and being unable properly to correlate it, groping about for some law, some standard and principle of order, thinks it has found it in utility. But what utility? I, this perfected animal, with desires, thoughts, sensations and a pressing need for their gratification can very well understand what is personal utility; utility for this vital, sensational, conceptual me. My utility is to get as much sensual, emotional, and intellectual gratification as I may out of life consistent with my own ease and safety; if utility is to be my standard of ethics, that is my ethics. But when you ask me in the name of utility and rationalism to sacrifice these things for some higher or wider utility, for others, for the greater number, for society, I no longer follow you. So much as is necessary to keep up government, law and order and a good police, I can understand, for these things are necessary to my safety and comfort; society has given me these and I must see to and pay for their maintenance by myself and others. That is businesslike, both utilitarian and rational. But beyond this society has not any claim on me; society exists for me, not I for society. If then I have to sacrifice what I perhaps most deeply cherish for society, my life, my goods, my domestic peace, my use for society ceases; I regard society then as a fraudulent depositor who wishes to draw from my ethical bank more than he has deposited. So might argue the average man who is neither immoral nor deeply moral but only respectable; and utilitarianism can give him no satisfactory answer.

Moreover, if I have other instincts than those of the respectable citizen, and ability to carry them out, why should I refrain? What holds me? If I can earn a huge fortune rapidly by some safe form of swindling, by gambling, by speculation or by the merciless methods of the American capitalist, why should 1 refrain? The charge of anti-social conduct; but that has no terrors for an egotist of strong character; he knows well that he can hush the disapproval of society under a shower of gold coin. Morality with the vital sensational man becomes in an utiltarian age merely the fear of social or legal punishment, and strong men do not fear; nor unless their acts shake the social framework will utilitarian society care to condemn them, for they are breaking

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no powerful sanctions, outraging no deep-rooted sentiments—utilitarianism deliberately parts company with sentiment and except force and fear it has no sanctions to replace those of religion and ancient prejudice which it has destroyed. It is useless to tell these people that they will find a deeper and truer bliss in good moral conduct and altruism than in their present selfish and anti-social career. Where is the proof or even the philosophic justification of what these philosophers allege? Their own experience? That is not valid for the average sensational man; his deepest pleasure is necessarily vital and sensational; it is only valid for the men who make the statement, they being the intellectual self with an ethical training that has survived from a dead Christianity. In order for it to be true of the sensational man, he must cease to be sensational, he must undergo a process of spiritual regeneration to which utilitarian philosophy cannot give him either the key or even the motive-impulse. For in the mouth of the utilitarian, this statement of the deeper and truer bliss is a piece of second-hand knowledge; not his own earning, but part of that store of ethical coin rifled by rationalism from the coffers of Christianity on which European civilisation is precariously living at the present day. One trembles to think of the day when that coin shall be exhausted—already we see some signs of growing moral vulgarity, coarseness, almost savagery in the European mind, which, if it increases, if the open worship of brutal force and unscrupulous strength which is rampant in politics and in commerce taint, as it must eventually do, the deeper heart of society, may lead to an orgy of the vital and sensational impulses such as has not been since the worst days of the Roman Empire.

THE STUDENT
But Lecky has proved that the moral improvement of Europe was due entirely to the rise of rationalism.

THE GURU
My son, there is one great capacity of the learned and cultured mind both in Europe and Asia which one should admire without imitating; it is the capacity of dextrous juggling with words. If

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you choose to give an extension of meaning to a particular word, a meaning it cannot and ought not to have, you can easily build on it a very glittering edifice of theory, which will charm the eye until someone comes by with a more effective word more effectively extended in meaning and knocks down the old house to build a newer and more glittering mansion. Thus the old eternal truths are overlaid by trashy superstructures until some day some salutary earthquake swallows up the building and builders and reveals the old truth which no change or chance can injure. Amid the giddy round of ever shifting theories Europe gives us, there are only two fundamental truths, often misapplied, but nevertheless true in the sphere of phenomena,—Evolution, which is taught in different ways by our Sankhya and Vedanta, and the Law of Invariable Causality, which is implied in our theories of Kala and Karma. These receive and hold fast to,—for it is by working them out not always well, but always suggestively that Europe has made her real contribution to the eternal store of knowledge. But in their isms and schisms trust not—they contain scant grain of truth hidden in a very bushelful of error.

THE STUDENT
Still, it seems to me that Lecky is not altogether wrong.

THE GURU
On the contrary he is entirely right, if we consent to lump together all enlightenment without regard to its nature and source, as rationalism; that the moral improvement of Europe was due to increasing enlightenment is entirely true, for Knowledge, by which I mean not the schoolmaster's satchelful of information or even the learning of the Universities, but Jnana, the perception and realisation of truth, is the eternal enemy and slayer of sin; for sin is descended of ignorance through her child, egoism. It is true that the so-called Christian ages in Europe were times of sin and darkness; Europe had accepted Christ only to crucify him afresh; she had entombed him alive with his pure and gracious teaching and over that living tomb she had built a thing called the Church. What we know as Christendom was a strange mixture of Roman corruption, German barbarism and fragments of ancient culture

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all bathed in the pale light that flowed upwards from the enhaloed brows of the entombed and crucified Christ. The great spiritual hoard he had opened to the West was kept locked up and unavailable except to individuals whose souls were too bright to be swallowed up in the general darkness. All knowledge was under taboo, not because there was any natural conflict between Religion and Science, but because there was natural irreconcilable antipathy between the obscurantism of political ecclesiastics and resurgent knowledge. Again Asia came to the rescue of Europe and from the liberal civilisation of the Arabs, Science was reborn into her mediaeval night, and the light of Science, persecuted and tortured, struggled up until the darkness was overpowered and wounded to death. The intellectual history of Europe has outwardly been a struggle between Science and the Church, with which has been confounded the Christian religion which the Church professed with its lips and attempted to strangle with its hands; inwardly it was the ancient struggle between Deva and Asura, Sattwa and Tamas. Now Religion is Sattwic with a natural impulse towards light, it cannot be Tamasic, it can have no dealings with the enemies of the Devas; and if something calling itself religion, attempts to suppress light, you may be sure it is not religion but an impostor masquerading in her name. Consider what were the ideas under which as under a banner, the modern spirit overthrew the mediaeval Titan; the final uprush of those ideas we see in the French Revolution. The motto of the Revolution we know: liberty, equality and fraternity; the spirit it professed but could not attain we know, humanity. In liberty, the union of the individual moral liberty of Christianity with the civic liberty of Greece; in equality, the democratic spiritual equality of Christianity applied to society; fraternity, the aspiration to universal brotherhood, which is the peculiar and distinguishing idea of Christianity; humanity, the Buddhistic spirit of mercy, pity, love of which Europe knew nothing till Christianity breathed it forth over the Mediterranean and with greater purity over Ireland, mingled with the sense of the divinity in man, borrowed from India through the old Gnostics and Platonists, these are the ideas which still profoundly influence Europe, many of which scientific materialism has been

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obliged to borrow or tolerate, none of which it has as yet availed entirely to root out. Rationalism did not create these ideas, but found and adopted them. Rationalism is the spirit which subjects all beliefs and opinions to the test of logic from observed facts, it is indeed the intellectual sheath, mostly the lower or merely logical half of the intellectual sheath, attempting to establish itself as the Self. This is what we call Science and the scientific spirit. Wherever it has been able to work in the light of pure dry intellect, not distorted by irruptions of the lower selves in the shape of interest, vanity, passions, prejudices, it has produced invaluable results; in the sphere therefore of the passionless observation, classification and correlation of facts we may follow science without distrust or fear of stumbling; but whenever it tries to theorise from what it has observed about human nature, human affairs and spiritual development Science is always tumbling into the pits of the lower selves; in attempting to range things above the material level under the law of the material self, it is trying to walk upon water, to float upon air; it is doing something essentially unscientific. Still more is this the case when it deals with the higher things of the spirit in the same terms; its theories then become so amazingly paradoxical, one stands astonished at the wilful blindness to facts to which prejudice and prepossession can lead the trained observer of facts. Follow them not there, there are the blind leading the blind who go round and round battering themselves like a blind bird at night against the same eternal walls and never seeing the window open to it for its escape.

THE STUDENT
But you have said that Evolution is an eternal truth. On the basis of Evolution the scientists have discovered a moral sanction which does replace the old religious sanction, the paramount claim of the race upon the individual.

THE GURU
What race? The English or German or Russian or the great Anglo-Saxon race, which it appears is to inherit the world, God's Englishmen and, we must now add, God's Americans—or is it

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the whole white race? To whom must the individual bow his head as the head and front of Evolution?

THE STUDENT
I mean the whole human race. The individual is ephemeral, the species endures, the genus lasts almost for ever. On this basis your duty to yourself, your duty to society, your duty to your country, your duty to mankind, all fall into a beautifully ranged, orderly and symmetrical arrangement. All morality is shown to be an historical, inevitable evolution, and you have only to recognise it and further that evolution by falling into its track instead of going backward on the track.

THE GURU
And getting called atavistic and degenerate and other terrible names? Still I should like to be better satisfied as to the basis of this symmetrical and inevitable arrangement; for if I were convinced that I am an ephemeral animal, I should like to enjoy myself during my day like other ephemeral animals and cannot see why I should trouble myself about the eternal future; and even though Science should hurl the most formidable polysyllables in its vocabulary at me, I do not know that I should greatly care; and I think Messrs Rockfeller and Jay Gould and millions more were or are in hearty agreement with me. You say the genus is eternal? But I believe this is not the teaching of Science. As I understand it, man is only an animal, a particular sort of monkey which developed suddenly for some inexplicable reason and shot forward 10,000 miles ahead of every animal yet born upon earth. If this is so, there is no reason why some other animal, say, some particular kind of ant, should not suddenly for some inexplicable reason develop and shoot forward 100,000 miles ahead and make as short work of man as man made of the mammoth. Or in some other way the human race will certainly be replaced. Now what good is it to the mammoth whose bones Science has recently disinterred, that a race has developed which can disinter him and dissertate in numerous polysyllables upon his remains? And if a scientific mammoth in his days had placed before him this prospect and bid him give up in the interest of the mammoth race, his

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unsocial and selfish ways, would that have seemed even to the most reasonable tusker a sufficient motive for his self-sacrifice? Where would his benefit in the affair come in?

THE STUDENT
It is not precisely a question of personal benefit; it is a question of inevitable law. You would be setting yourself against the inevitable law.

THE GURU
Verily? and what do I care, if my opposition to the inevitable brings me no harm, but rather content and prosperity in my day. After my death nothing can injure me, if I am but clay.

THE STUDENT
The individual may be immoral, but morality progresses inevitably.

THE GURU
Truly? I do not think the present state of Europe favourable to that conception. Why, we had thought that Science would make the cultured nations dominate and people the earth. And we find them stationary or absolutely retrograding in population, degenerating in nerve and hardiness, losing in the true imperial qualities. We had thought that sacking of cities, massacre, torture and foul rape were blotted by civilisation from the methods of war. The enlightened peoples of Europe march into China and there takes place an orgy of filth and blood and cold delight in agony which all but the most loathsome savages would shrink from in disgust. Is that the inevitable moral advance or Red Indian savagery improved upon? We had thought that with increasing education and intellectuality must come increasing chastity or at least refinement. In a great American city the police sweeps the brothels and gathers in its net hundreds of educated, cultured, gracious and stately women who had carried their education, beauty and culture there. Is that the inevitable moral advance, or rather the days of Messalina returned? These are not isolated phenomena but could be multiplied infinitely. Europe is following in

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the footsteps of ancient Rome.

THE STUDENT
There are these periods of retrogression. Evolution advances in a curve, not in a straight line.

THE GURU
And mark that these retrogressions are most inevitable when the world, abandoning religion, plunges into philosophic materialism. Not immediately do they come; while the spirit of the old religion still survives the death of its body, the nations seem perhaps to gain in strength and power; but very soon the posthumous force is exhausted. All the old nations perished because in the pride of intellect they abandoned their dharma, their religion. India, China still live. What was the force that enabled India beaten down and trampled by mailed fist and iron hoof ever to survive immortally, ever to resist, ever to crush down the conqueror of the hour at last beneath her gigantic foot, ever to raise her mighty head again to the stars. It is because she never lost hold of religion, never gave up her faith in the spirit. Therefore the promise of Sri Krishna ever holds good; therefore the Adyashakti, the mighty Chandi, ever descends when the people turn to her and tramples the Asura to pieces. Times change and a new kind of outer power rules over India in place of the Asuras of the East. But woe to India if she cast from her her eternal Dharma. The fate of the old nations shall then overtake her. Her name shall be cast out from the list of nations and her peoples become a memory and a legend upon the earth. Let her keep true to her Self and the Atmashakti, the eternal Force of the Self shall again strengthen and raise her. Modern Science has engaged itself deeply in two cardinal errors; it has built out of the Law of Causation a new and more inexorable fate than Greek or Hindu or Arab ever imagined; engrossed with that predestination, Science has come to believe that the human will is a mere servant, nay, a mere creation of eternal inanimate forces. Science is mistaken, and unless it widen its view, may easily be convinced of its mistake in a very ugly fashion before long. The Will is mightier than any law, fate or force. The Will is eternal, omnipotent,

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it has created the law of causation and governs it; it has made the laws of matter and it can override them; it is itself all the forces which seem to govern and bind it. There is no compulsion on the human will to evolve towards progression; if it chooses to regress back it will go and all the world reeling and shrieking with it into barbarism and chaos; if it chooses to go forward, no force can stop it. The other mistake Science has made, it borrows from Christianity; it is that action and emotion can be directed towards beings distinct from oneself; all action and emotion are for the self, in the self. But if Science teaches men to regard themselves as distinct and purely corporeal beings, with no connection with others except such as may be created by physical contact and the communication of the senses, it is obvious that the human Will under the obsession of this belief will inevitably shape its action and thought in accordance, passing over the more shadowy moral generalities of evolutionary theorists; and that spells in the end a colossal selfishness, an increasing sensuality, lust of power, riches, comfort and dominion, a monstrous and egoistic brutality like that of a hundred-armed Titan wielding all the arms of the Gods in those hundred hands. If man believes himself to be an animal he will act like an animal and exalt the animal impulse into his guide. That Europe does not approach more swiftly to this condition is due to the obstinate refusal of Jnana, Religion, true enlightenment, maimed and wounded though it be, to perish and make an end; it will not allow the human Will to believe that it is no more than nerve and flesh and body, animal and transitory. It persists and takes a hundred forms to elude the pursuit of materialistic Science, calling upon the Eternal Mother to come down and save; and surely before long she shall come. All bases of morality which do not go back to the original divine and sempiternal nature of man, must be erroneous and fleeting. Not from the instincts and customs of the ape and savage did the glories of religion and virtue arise; they are the perennial light of the concealed godhead revealing themselves ever with clearer lines, with floods of more beautiful rainbow lustre, to culminate at last in the pure white light of the supreme realisation; when all creatures have become our Self and our Self realises its own Unity.

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यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः ।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥

The Upanishad having posited this Unity which is at once the justification of all religion and morality and the culmination in which religion and morality disappear into something higher than either, proceeds again to sum up and describe the Eternal under this new light. In the fourth verse He has been described only as the mighty Force which creates and surrounds all this universe; He is now to be described as the mighty Unity which in its unmanifestation is the source of all existence and in its manifestation governs these innumerable worlds.

स पर्य्यगाच्छुकमकायमव्रणमस्नादिरं शुद्धमथापविद्धम् ।
कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्वान्ष्यदषाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥

This is He that went round, the brightness, unbodied, unscarred, without sinews, pure, untouched by sin; He is the Seer, the Thinker, the Self-born that pervadeth; He from years sempiternal hath ordered perfectly all things.

The verse begins by repeating the position already taken, of the Lord surrounding all things as a robe surrounds its wearer, creating all things by the appearance of motion, which is however an appearance, a phenomenon and not a reality of the Eternal. "This is He that went round." In other words, the whirl of motion which the manifested Eternal set at work created the worlds; He poured forth from himself as Prajna the Eternal Wisdom and entered and encompassed each thing as He created it. But who is this He? In answering this question the Sruti immediately reverts to the neuter gender, because it has to go back to the luminous Parabrahman who is beyond the idea of sex or characteristic. He the Creator of the worlds is in reality That Brightness, the luminous shadow of the Unknowable of which we can only speak in negatives. That has not a body or form, form being created by Him and therefore this side of Him; He has no scars or imperfections, but is one faultless and perfect light; He has no sinews or muscles; He is that side of Matter and creation is produced from Him not by physical means or

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physical strength and skill, but by the mere flowing forth of his Shakti or Will. Finally He is not only that side of Matter, but He is that side of Mind also, for He is pure and untouched by evil. It is mind that creates impurity and evil, by desire which produces duality; but the Eternal is not subject to desire. What is evil or Sin? It is merely the preference of the more gross to the more subtle, of Tamas to Rajas and of Rajas to Sattwa; it operates therefore in the sphere of the guṇas and the Eternal being above the Gunas cannot be touched by Sin. Having established the identity of the Lord who creates and rules, with the pure luminous Parabrahman, who is neither lord nor subject, the Sruti describes the Lord in his capacity of the All-wise Governor; He is the Seer and Poet, who by His illumined inspirations creates as Hiranyagarbha the whole world in His own infinite Mind, He is the Thinker, Prajna, the Wise One from whose essential mass of equipoised consciousness all existence and its laws draw their perennial strength and being and flow forth to their works, and He is also that which flows forth, He is Virat, the pervading spirit which enters into all things and encompasses. In all these capacities He is self-born; for He is Prajna who came forth by His own strength from the luminous Parabrahman and is Parabrahman, He is Hiranyagarbha who comes forth by His own strength from Prajna and is Prajna; He is Virat who comes forth by His own strength from Hiranyagarbha and is Hiranyagarbha. He is the Self born out of the Self by the Self. In other words all these are merely names of the One Spirit in different aspects or states of universal and infinite consciousness. Why then is the Lord spoken of, unlike Parabrahman, in the masculine gender? Because He is now considered in His capacity as the great ruler and ordainer, not in His capacity as the source from which all things flow. As the source, substratum and container of things He is the Trinity, Prajna-Hiranyagarbha-Virat, in whom the Male and Female, Spirit and Matter, the Soul and its Shakti are still one and undivided. He is therefore best spoken of in the neuter. But when we see Him as the Ruler and Ordainer, the Manifested Brahman dealing with a world of phenomena already created, then division has taken place, the Shakti has gone forth to its works, and the great male Trinity, Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara,

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filled with the force of that Shakti are creating, preserving and destroying the countless worlds and the innumerable myriads of their inhabiting forms. Both these Trinities are in reality one Trinity, it is only the point of view that makes the difference. From this standpoint the Sruti goes on then to describe the Lord. He is kavi, the great seer and poet in the true sense of the word poet; the kavi is he who divines things luminously and distinctly by sheer intuition and whose divinations become, by their own over-flow, creations. Paramatman as Sat-Brahma-Hiranyagarbha has this divine quality of poethood,—which men call the power of creation and it is therefore that his Shakti is described as Saraswati. Then the Lord is described as manīṣī, the Thinker. It is the thought of the Lord that is the basis or substratum of all this creation; it is therefore that the inanimate object forms faultlessly, that the tree grows unerringly, that the animal acts with infallible instinct towards his dominant needs, that the star moves in its course and the mountain holds to its base. All the creations of the great Kavi would be inconstant in their relations and clash and collide till they destroyed each other if there were not this imperative Wisdom, with stability and equipoise as its characteristics, underlying all things and keeping them to their places, actions and nature. This Wisdom, be it noted, is the very nature of things; it is no deliberate invention, no thing of after­thoughts, adjustments and alterations, but unchangeable and the essential basis of existence from the beginning. Whatever form it take, of gravitation, or of attraction and repulsion, or of evolution, it is an eternal presence and the very nature of the world प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म. This power of divine instinctive thought is one capacity of Paramatman as Chit-Mahadeva-Prajna (Tamas, Sthanu). His other capacity is that of destruction for He is the spirit of immobility to whom the deep sleep of perfect unconditioned thought is the culmination (Chit) and if it were not for the activity of the Kavi in the Eternal, if the Thinker in Him were to blot out the Poet, all this pulsating world of phenomena would be stilled and resolve by inaction into the womb of undetermined condensed existence. Then again He is paribhū, He who exists all round, the great pervading Bliss of existence (Ananda). For the works of the Poet even though upheld by the Thinker, could not last, if it were

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not that the bliss of existence poured through all created things like a stream of heavenly nectar and made life, being, their first imperative need. This is that Will to Live of the German philosopher, which because like all Europeans, he could see Truth only in one of her limbs and not as a divine whole, gave so pessimistic a note to his thought. All things are supported and eternalised by this Bliss, for it is the unchanging and eternal Paramatman. Manifesting as the will to live finitely, it must be broadened into the will to live infinitely in order to fulfil itself and recover its own deepest and essential nature. We will first to live as individuals, then to live in the family, then to live in the tribe or clan, then to live in the race or nation, then to live in mankind, then to live in the Universe, then to live in God, the one Eternal; this is the natural evolution of humanity and its course is determined by the very nature of the Self. Science, the Apara Vidya, traces for us the course and bye-laws of evolution, but it is only the Para Vidya that bases it for us, gives us its reason, source, law and culmination. This Bliss is the capacity of Vishnu-Virat who is Ananda. By his very existence in all beings the Lord preserves and saves. Remember that, though you cry out to the Heavens for help in your misery it is not the blue sky that hears, it is nothing outside you that comes to save, but He within you alone can protect. Art thou oppressed, O man, by ogre and giant, by fiend and foeman? Seek His mighty Shakti, Bhavani Mahishamardini, in yourself and She will externalise armed with sword and trident to crush the triumphing Asura. This is the law and the gospel. The Poet, the Thinker, the Pervading Presence, these three are the Swayambhu, the eternal self-born, who is born by Himself out of HimSelf into HimSelf. The Gods are not different from each other, for they are all one God, and there is no other. This is He who has ordered perfectly from eternal years all things. याथातथ्यत:, each duly as it should be and must be because of its own nature, for the nature of a thing is its origin, its law, its destiny, its end; and harmony with its nature is its perfection. All this mighty universe where various things acting according to their various natures harmonise and melt into a perfect unity, all this wonderful Kingdom of a single Law in its manifold aspects He has ordered, व्यदधात्, he has arranged diversely; he has set each thing in its own place,

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working in its own orbit and according to its own overmastering and inexorable nature. All this He has done from years eternal, not in time, not at a particular date and season, but eternally, before Time was. The Law did not spring into being, but was, is and for ever shall be. The forms of objects, it is true, vary in Time, but the law of their nature is of eternal origin. In the act you do today, you are obeying a Law which has existed during the whole of eternity. Try to realise it, and you will see Time and Space vanishing into Infinity, you will hear the boom of the eternal waters and the great voice crying for ever on the waters "Tapas, Tapas", and feel yourself in the presence of the One unchangeable and eternal God. Maya and her works have no ending, because they had no beginning, but the soul of Man can rise above Maya and her works and stand over her and free from her watching her as her master for whose joy she labours unto all eternity. For verily Man is God and as by his own Will he has cast himself into the illusory bonds of the Enchantress, so by His own will He can shake off the bonds and rule her. The play of the Soul with the Maya is the play of the lover and his beloved, one feigning to be the slave of the other, rejoicing in her favour or weeping at her feet in her anger and now resuming his rightful role of lord and master, yea, turning away from her at will to a fairer and more wonderful face; and now Krishna wears the blue dress and shining jewels and now Radha the yellow cloth and fragrant garlands of the green wood and the brilliant feather of the peacock; for He is She and She is He; they are only playing at difference, for in real truth they have been and are one to all Eternity.

THE STUDENT
Here then the first part of the Upanishad seems to be ended and some very obscure and disconnected utterances follow.

THE GURU
The utterances of the Upanishad are never disconnected, but the connection is usually beneath the surface, not openly declared by explicit statement or grammatical construction. The Upanishad has said that the Eternal has arranged all objects of the Universe

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perfectly from years eternal. Maya therefore is eternal, Avidya is eternal. The question will at once be put, what then of Vidya and Avidya? the Eternal and the Transient? the Is and the Seems to Be? If Avidya is eternal, let us rejoice in her wonders and glories and never strive to escape from her bonds. But if Vidya alone be eternal, then is Avidya a curse and a bondage, what have we to do with it, but shake it off with disgust as soon as possible? These are the extremes of the Materialist and Nihilist, the Charvak and the Sunyavadin; but the Vedanta gives its sanction to neither. The Unconditioned Brahman is, but of the Conditioned also we cannot say that He is not and the Conditioned Brahman is what we call Maya. Brahman is eternal and Maya therefore is eternal; but the Conditioned Brahman obviously rests on the Unconditioned and cannot be except in Him. As are the reverse and obverse of a coin, so are the Conditioned and Unconditioned, and the aspirant to Knowledge must know both and not one only or he will know but little indeed of the true nature of the Eternal.

THE STUDENT
The followers of Adwaita will call this rank heresy. Maya is illusion, unreality and is slain by knowledge, it cannot therefore be eternal.

THE GURU
You cannot slay Maya; you can only slay Moha, the illusion of Maya; her you can only conquer and put her under your feet. You remember that Shankara after conquering Ubhayabharati, made her living body his āsana of meditation; that is the symbol of the Yogi and the wonderful twofold Maya of the Eternal. He has conquered her and put her beneath him, but it is still upon her that his āsana is based even when unconscious of Her and in union with the Eternal. If this were not so, then the whole of phenomena would cease the moment a man becomes a Buddha and enters into Nirvana; for he and the Eternal are One. If Parabrahman therefore were limited either to Vidya or Avidya, obviously Avidya would cease the moment Vidya began and the salvation of one Jivatma would bring about the end of the world

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for all; just as the Christians say that the crucifixion of Christ saved the world. But this is not so. The power of Shakti of Brahman is twofold and simultaneous; He is able to exercise Vidya and Avidya at the same moment; he eternally realises His own transcendental nature, and at the very same time He realises this wonderful universe of His imagination. He is like a great poet who shadows forth a world of His own creation made in Himself and of himself and yet knows that He is different from it and independent of it. It is for this reason only that the salvation of a particular Jivatman does not bring the world to an end. Nor does Shankara really say anything different; for he does not assert that Maya is unreal; he says it is a mysterious something of which you cannot say that it is and yet you cannot say that it is not. This indeed is the only description that the finite mind can make of this mysterious Shakti of the Illimitable, Unconditioned, Unknowable Brahman. Maya in its forms may be unreal and transitory but Maya in its essence as a Shakti of the Eternal, must itself be eternal, from of old and for ever.

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The Upanishad in Aphorisms

The Isha Upanishad

For the Lord all this is a habitation whatsoever is moving thing in her that moves.

Why dost thou say there is a world? There is no world, only One who moves.

What thou callest world is the movement of Kali; as such embrace thy world-existence. In thy all-embracing stillness of vision thou art Purusha and inhabitest; in thy outward motion and action thou art Prakriti and the builder of the habitation. Thus envisage thy being.

There are many knots of this movement and each knot thy eyes look upon as an object; many currents and each current thy mind sees as force and tendency. Forces and objects are the forms of Kali.

To each form of her we give a name. What is this name? It is word, it is sound, it is vibration of being, the child of infinity and the father of mental idea. Before form can be, name and idea must have existed.

The half-enlightened say, "Whatever form is built, the Lord enters to inhabit"; but the Seer knows that whatever the Lord sees in His own being, becomes Idea and seeks a form and a habitation.

The universe is a rhythmic vibration in infinite existence which multiplies itself into many harmonies and holds them well ordered in the original type of motion.

Thou lookest upon a stone and sayest, "It is still." So it is, but to the sense-experience only. For the eye that sees, it is built out of motion and composed of motion. In the ordered repetition of the atomic movements that compose it, consists its appearance of stillness.

All stability is a fixed equilibrium of rhythm. Disturb the rhythm, the stability dissolves and becomes unstable.

No single rhythm can be eternally stable; therefore the universe

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is an ocean always in flow, and everything in it is mutable and transient. Each thing in Nature endures till the purpose of Kali in it is fulfilled; then it is dissolved and changed into a constituent of some other harmony.

Prakriti is eternal, but every universe passes. The fact of universe endures for ever, but no particular world of things can last; for each universe is only one rhythm out of an infinite number of possible movements. Whatsoever system in Nature or of Nature is thoroughly worked out, must give place to a new harmony.

Nevertheless all world and everything in world is eternal in its essential being; for all essential existence is Brahman without end or beginning.

Forms and names are also Brahman and eternal; but, in world, theirs is an eternity of recurrence, not of unbroken persistence. Every form and every idea that has once been, exists still and can again recur; every form or idea that is to be, already exists and was from the beginning. Time is a convention of movement, not a condition of existence.

That which inhabits the forms of Kali is Self and Lord of the Movement. Purusha is master of Prakriti, not her subject; Soul determines Form and Action and is not determined by them. Spirit reflects in its knowledge the activity of Nature, but only those activities which it has itself compelled Nature to initiate.

The soul in the body is master of body and not subject to its laws or limited by its experiences.

The soul is not constituted by mind and its activities, for these also are parts of Nature and movements only.

Mind and body are instruments of the secret all-knowing and omnipotent Self within us.

The soul in the body is not limited in space by the body or in experience by the mind; the whole universe is its habitation.

There is only one Self of things, one soul in multitudinous forms. By body and mind I am separated even from my brother or my lover but by exceeding body and mind I can become one with all things in being and in experience, even with the stone and the tree.

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My universal soul need no more be limited by my individual mind and body, than my individual consciousness is limited by the experience of a single cell in my body. The walls which imprison us have been built up by Prakriti in her movement and exist only in her inferior kingdoms. As one rises higher they become conventional boundaries which we can always stride across and, on the summits, they merely mark off compartments in our universal consciousness.

The soul does not move, but motion of Nature takes place in its perfect stillness.

The motion of Nature is not real or material motion, but vibration of the soul's self-consciousness.

Nature is Chit-Shakti, the Lord's expressive power of self-awareness, by which whatever He sees in Himself, becomes in form of consciousness.

Everything in Nature is a becoming of the one Spirit who alone is Being. We and all things in Nature are God's becomings, sarva-bhūtāni.

Although there are to world-experience multitudinous souls (Purushas) in the universe, all these are only one Purusha masked in many forms of His consciousness.

Each soul in itself is God entirely, every group of souls is collectively God; the modalities of Nature's movement create their separation and outward differences.

God transcends world and is not bound by any law of Nature. He uses laws, laws do not use Him.

God transcends world and is not bound to any particular state of consciousness in the world. He is not unity-consciousness nor multiple consciousness, not Personality nor Impersonality, not stillness nor motion, but simultaneously includes all these self-expressions of His absolute being.

God simultaneously transcends world, contains it and informs it; the soul in the body can arrive at the God-consciousness and at once transcend, contain and inform its universe.

God-consciousness is not exclusive of World-consciousness; Nature is not an outcast from Spirit, but its Image, world is not a falsity contradicting Brahman, but the symbol of a divine Existence.

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God is the reverse side of Nature, Nature the obverse side of God.

Since the soul in the body is eternally and inalienably free, its bondage to egoism, law of bodily nature, law of mental nature, law of pleasure and pain, law of life and death, can only be an apparent and not a real bondage. Our chains are either a play or an illusion or both play and illusion.

The secret of our apparent bondage is the Spirit's play by which It consents to forget God-consciousness in the absorption of Nature's movement.

The movement of Nature is a sevenfold flow, each stream subject to its own law of motion but containing latent, expressed or half-apparent in itself its six sisters or companions.

Nature is composed of Being, Will or Force, Creative Bliss, Pure Idea, Mind, Life and Matter,—Sat, Chit or Tapas, Ananda, Vijnanam, Manas, Prana and Annam.

The Soul, Purusha, can seat itself in any of these principles and according to its situation, its outlook changes and it sees a different world; all world is merely arranged and harmonised outlook of the Spirit.

What God sees, that exists; what He sees with order and harmony, becomes a world.

There are seven worlds, Satya, of pure being, Tapas, of pure will or force, Jana, of pure delight, Mahas, of pure idea, Swar, of pure mentality, Bhuvar, of pure vitality, Bhur, of pure matter.

The soul in Sat is pure truth of being and perceives itself as one in the world's multiplicity.

The soul in Tapas is pure force of divine will and knowledge and possesses universe omnisciently and omnipotently as its extended self.

The soul in Ananda is pure delight and multiplies itself in universal self-creation and unmixed joy of being.

The soul in Mahas is pure idea, perceives itself in order and arrangement of comprehensive unity in multiplicity, all things in their unity and each thing in its right place, time and circumstance. It is not subject to the tyranny of impressions, but contains and comprehends the objects it knows.

The soul in Manas is pure mentality and receives the pure

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impression of separate objects and from their sum receives the impression of the whole. It is Manas that measures, limits and divides.

The soul in Prana is pure vitality and pours itself out in various life-energy.

The soul in Annam is pure matter and forgets force of consciousness in the form of consciousness.

Matter is the lowest rung of the ladder and the soul that has descended into Matter tends by its secret nature and inevitable self-impulsion to re-emerge out of form towards the freedom of pure universal being. These are the two movements that govern world-existence, adhogati, the descent towards matter or mere form and ūrdhvagati, the ascent towards Spirit and God.

Man is a Mental being, Manu or Manomaya Purusha, who has entered into a vitalised material body and is seeking to make it capable of infinite mentality, infinite ideality so that it may become the perfect instrument, seat and temple of the manifest Sachchidananda.

Mind in the material world is attentive to two kinds of knowledge, impacts from outside, corporeal or mental, received into the individual mentality and translated into mental values and knowledge from within, spiritual, ideal or mental similarly translated.

Inert physical bodies receive all the impacts that the mind receives, but being devoid of organised mentality, retain them only in the involved mind in matter and are incapable of translating them into mental symbols.

Our bodies are naturally inert physical bodies moved by life and mind. They also receive all impacts, but not all of them are translated into mental values. Of those which are translated, some are rendered imperfectly, some perfectly, some immediately, some only after a longer or shorter incubation in the involved mind in matter. There are the same variable phenomena with the internal knowledge. All the knowledge translated here into mental values forms the stuff of our waking consciousness. This waking consciousness accepted by the manomaya puruṣa as itself and organised round a central I-sense is the waking ego.

The Jiva or embodied mental being is in its consciousness

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much wider than the waking ego; it has a wide range of knowledge and experience of the past, present and future, the near and the distant, this life and other lives, this world and other worlds which is not available to the waking ego. The waking ego fails to notice many things and forgets what it notices; the Jiva notices and remembers all experiences.

That which goes on in our life-energy and bodies below the level of waking mind is our subconscious self in the world; that which goes on in our mind and higher principles above the level of our waking mind is our superconscious self. The waking ego often receives intimations, more or less obscure, from either source which it fails to trace to their origin.

Man progresses in proportion as he widens his consciousness and renders ever wider and finer experiences available for the perception and delight of the waking consciousness and in proportion as he can ascend to higher reaches of mind and beyond mind to ideality and spirit.

The swiftest and most effective means of his advance and self-fulfilment is to dissolve his waking ego into the enjoyment of an infinite consciousness, at first mental of the universal manomaya puruṣa, but afterwards ideal and spiritual of the high Vijnana and highest Sachchidananda.

The transcendence and dissolution of the waking mental ego in the body is therefore the first object of all practical Vedanta.

This transcendence and dissolution may result either in loss of the waking self and relapse into some sleep-bound principle, undifferentiated Prakriti, Sushupta Purusha, Shunyam Brahma (Nihil), etc., or in loss of the world self in Parabrahman or in universalisation of the waking self and the joy of God's divine being in and beyond the world, Amritam. The last is the goal proposed for man by the Isha Upanishad.

The waking ego, identifying the Jiva with its body, vital and mental experiences which are part of the stream of Nature's movement and subject to Nature and the process of the movement, falsely believes the soul to be the subject of Nature and not its lord, anīśa and not īśa. This is the illusion of bondage which the manomaya puruṣa either accepts or seeks to destroy.

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Those who accept it are called baddha jīvas, soul sin bondage; those who seek to destroy it, mumukṣu jīvas, self-liberating souls; those who have destroyed it are mukta jīvas, souls free from illusion and limitation.

In reality, no soul is bound and therefore none seeking liberation or liberated from bondage; these are all conditions of the waking mind and not of the self or spirit which is īśa, eternally lord and free.

The essence of bondage is limitation and the chief circumstances of limitation are death, suffering and ignorance.

Death, suffering and ignorance are circumstances of the mind in the vitalised body and do not touch the consciousness of the soul in Vijnana, Ananda, Chit and Sat. The combination of the three lower members, mind, life and body, is called therefore aparārdha, the lower kingdom or in Christian parlance the kingdom of death and sin, the four higher members are called parārdha, the higher kingdom, or in Christian parlance, the kingdom of heaven. To liberate man from death, suffering and ignorance and impose the all-blissful and luminous nature of the higher kingdom upon the lower is the object of the Seer in the Isha Upanishad.

This liberation is to be effected by dissolving the waking ego into the Lord's divine being and experiencing entirely our unity with all other existences and with Him who is God, Atman and Brahman.

All individual existences are Jagat in Jagati, object of motion in stream of motion and obey the laws and processes of that motion.

Body is an object of motion in the stream of material consciousness, of which the principal law is birth and death. All bodies are subject therefore to formation and dissolution.

Life is a current of motion in the stream of vital consciousness composed of eternal life-energy. Life is not itself subject to death,—death not being a law of life-energy,—but only to expulsion from the form which it occupies and therefore to the physical experience of death of its body.

All matter here is filled with life-energy of a greater or less intensity of action, but the organisation of life in individual animation

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begins later in the process of the material world by the appearance first of the plant, then of the animal. This evolution of life is caused and supported by the pressure of the gods of the Bhuvar or Life-world upon Bhur.

Life entering into body is dominated partly by the laws of body; it is therefore unable to impart its own full and uninterrupted energy to its form. Consequently there is no physical immortality.

The organisation of individual animated life tends to hasten the period of dissolution by introducing shocks of an intensity of force alien to matter which wastes the material form by its activity. Therefore the plant dissolves while the stone and metal endure in their own equilibrium.

Mind entering into the vitalised body tends still farther to hasten the period of dissolution by the higher demands of its vibrations upon the body.

Mind is a knot of motion in the stream of mental consciousness. Like life, it is not itself subject to death, but only to expulsion from the vitalised body it has occupied. But because the mental ego identifies itself with the body and understands by its life only this residence in its present perishable gross corporeal body, therefore it has the mental experience of a bodily death.

The experience of death is therefore combined of the apparently mortal mind's ignorance of its own true immortal nature and of the limitation of energy in the body by which the form we inhabit wears out under the shocks of vibrating life-energy and vibrating mentality. We mean by death not dissolution of life or of mind, but dissolution of the form or body.

The dissolution of body is not true death for the mental being called man; it is only a change of media and of the surroundings of consciousness. Matter of body changes its constituents and groupings, mental being persists both in essence and personality and passes into other forms and environments.

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The Secret of the Isha

It is now several thousands of years since men ceased to study Veda and Upanishad for the sake of Veda or Upanishad. Ever since the human mind in India, more and more intellectualised, always increasingly addicted to the secondary process of knowledge by logic and intellectual rationalism, increasingly drawn away from the true and primary processes of knowledge by experience and direct perception, began to dislocate and dismember the many-sided harmony of ancient Vedic truth and paved it out into schools of thought, a system of metaphysics, its preoccupation has been rather with the opinions of later Sutras and Bhashyas than with the early truth of Scripture. The Veda and Vedanta ceased to be guides to knowledge and became merely mines and quarries from which convenient texts might be extracted regardless of context, to serve as weapons in the polemic disputes of metaphysicians. The inconvenient texts were ignored or explained away by distortion of their sense or by depreciation of their value. Those that neither helped nor hindered the polemical purpose of the exegete were briefly paraphrased or often left in a twilit obscurity. For the language of the Vedantic writers ceased to be understood; their figures, symbols of thought, shades of expression became antique and unintelligible. Hence passages which when once fathomed reveal a depth of knowledge and delicacy of subtle thought almost miraculous in its wealth and quality seem to the casual reader today is a mass of childish, obscure and ignorant fancies characteristic of an unformed and immature thinking. Rubbish and babblings of humanity's nonage, an eminent Western scholar has termed them, not perceiving that it was not the text but his understanding of it that was rubbish and the babblings of ignorance. Worst of all, the spiritual and psychological experiences of the Vedantic seekers were largely lost to India as the obscurations of the Iron Age grew upon her, as her knowledge contracted, her virtues diminished and her old

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spiritual valiancy lost its daring and its nerve. Not altogether lost indeed for its sides of knowledge and practice still lived in cave and hermitage, its sides of feeling and sensation, narrowed by a more exclusive and self-abandoned fervour, remained, quickened even in the throbbing intensity of the Bhakti Marga and the violent inner joys of countless devotees. But even here it remained dim and obscure, shorn of its fullness, dimmed in its ancient and radiant purity. Yet we think we have understood and possess however it may be half the Vedas. The Upanishads! we have understood a few principal texts and even those imperfectly; but of the mass of the Upanishads we understand less than we do of the Egyptian hieroglyphics and of the knowledge these great writings hold enshrined we possess less than we do of the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians. Dabhram evāpi tvam vettha brahmaṇo rūpam!

I have said that the increasing intellectualisation of the Indian mind has been responsible for this great national loss. Our forefathers who discovered or received Vedic truth, did not arrive at it either by intellectual speculation or by logical reasoning. They attained it by actual and tangible experience in the spirit,—by spiritual and psychological observation, as we may say, and what they thus experienced they understood by the instrumentality of the intuitive reason. But a time came when men felt an imperative need to give an account to themselves and to others of this supreme and immemorial Vedic truth in the terms of logic, in the language of intellectual ratiocination. For the maintenance of the intuitive reason as the ordinary instrument of knowledge demands as its basis an iron moral and intellectual discipline, a colossal disinterestedness of thinking,—otherwise the imagination and the wishes pollute the purity of its action, replace, dethrone it and wear flamboyantly its name and mask; Vedic knowledge begins to be lost and the practice of life and symbol based upon it are soon replaced by formalised action and unintelligent rite and ceremony. Without Tapasya there can be no Veda. This was the course that the stream of thought followed among us according to the sense of our Indian tradition. The capacity for Tapasya belongs to the Golden Age of man's first virility; it fades as humanity ages and the cycle takes its way

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towards the years that are of Iron, and with Tapasya, the basis, divine knowledge, the superstructure, also collapses or dwindles. The place of truth is there taken by superstition, by irrational error that takes its stand upon the place where truth lies buried and builds its tawdry and fantastic palace of pleasure upon lost, concealed and consecrated foundations and even the ruins of old truth as stones for its irregular building. But such an usurpation can never endure. For since the need of man's being is truth and light, the divine law, whose chief aspect it is that no just demand of the soul shall remain always unsatisfied, raises up Reason to clear away Superstition. Reason arrives as the Angel of the Lord, armed with her sword of double denial (for it is the nature of intellectual Reason that beyond truth of objective appearance she cannot confidently and powerfully affirm anything but must always remain with regard to fundamental truth agnostic and doubtful, her highest word of affirmation "probably", her lowest "perhaps"),—comes and cuts away whatever she can, often losing herself also in a fury of negation, denying superstition indeed, but doubting and denying even Truth because it has been a foundation for superstition or formed with some of its stones part of the building. But at any rate she clears the field for sounder work; she makes tabula rasa for a more correct writing. The ancient Indian mind felt instinctively—I do not say it realised or argued consciously—the necessity, as the one way to avoid such a reign of negation; the necessity of stating to the intellectual reason so much of Vedic truth as could still be grasped and justify it logically. The Six Darshanas were the result of this mighty labour. Buddhism, the inevitable rush of negation came indeed but it was prevented from destroying spirituality, as European negation destroyed it for a time in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, by the immense and unshakeable hold the work of the philosophers had taken upon the Indian temperament, so firm was this grasp that even the great Masters of negation—for Brihaspati who affirmed matter was a child and weakling in denial compared with the Buddhists,—could not wholly divest themselves of this characteristic Indian realisation that subjective experience is the basis of existence, the objective only an outward term of that existence.

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But admirable and necessary as was this vast work of intellectual systemisation, subtle, self-grasped and successful beyond parallel, supreme glory as it is now held and highest attainment of Indian mentality, it had from the standpoint of Vedantic truth three capital disadvantages.

(Incomplete)

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Ishavasyam

The Isha Upanishad in its very inception goes straight to the root of the problem the Seer has set out to resolve; he starts at once with the two supreme terms of which our existence seems to be composed and in a monumental phrase, cast with the bronze of eight brief but sufficient words, he confronts them and sets them in their right and eternal relation. Īśāvāsyamidaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat. Isha and Jagat, God and Nature, Spirit and World, are the two poles of being between which our consciousness revolves. This double or biune reality is existence, is life, is man. The Eternal seated sole in all His creations occupies the ever-shifting universe and its innumerable whorls and knots of motion, each called by us an object, in all of which one Lord is multitudinously the Inhabitant. From the brilliant suns to the rose and the grain of dust, from the God and the Titan in their dark or their luminous worlds to man and the insect that he crushes thoughtlessly under his feet, everything is His temple and mansion. His is the veiled deity in the temple, the open householder in the mansion; for Him and His enjoyment of the multiplicity and the unity of His being, all were created and they have no other reason for their existence. For habitation by the Lord is all this, everything whatsoever that is moving thing in her that moves.

The problem of a perfect life upon earth, a life free from those ills of which humanity seems to be the eternal and irredeemable prisoner and victim, can only be solved, in the belief of the Vedantins, if we go back to the fundamental nature of existence; for there alone can we find the root of the evil and the truth of the remedy. They are here in the two words Isha and Jagat. The inhabitant is the Lord; in this truth, in the knowledge of it by our minds, in the realisation of it by our whole nature and being is the way of escape for the victim of evil, the prisoner of limitation and death. On the other hand. Nature is a fleeting and inconstant motion preserved by the harmonious fixity of the laws

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which governs her particular motions. This subjection and inconstancy of Nature is the secret of our bondage, death, limitation and suffering. We who entangle ourselves in the modalities of Nature must realise, if we would escape from her confounding illusion, the other pole of our existence, unqualified Spirit or God. By rising to the God within us we become free and stand liberated from the bondage of the world and the snare of death. For God is freedom, God is immortality. Mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā amṛtam aśnute. मृत्युं तीर्त्वा अमृतम् अश्नुते. Crossing over death, we enjoy immortality.

This relation of Nature and Spirit, World and God, on which the Seer fixes, Nature the mansion, God the occupant, is their practical not their essential relation. Conscious existence is Brahman, single and indivisible, Spirit and Nature, World and God are one; anejadekaṁ manaso javīyaḥ,—they are One unmoving swifter than mind. But for life whether bound or free and for the movement from bondage to freedom, this One must always be conceived as a double or biune term in which God is the reverse side of Nature, Nature the obverse side of God, our conscious existence. The distinction has been made by Spirit itself in its own being for the object which the Seer expresses in the single word vāsyam; God has thrown out His own being in the spatial and temporal movement of the Universe, building up forms in His mobile, extended self-consciousness which He conceives as different from His still and eternal, occupying and enjoying self-consciousness, so that He as soul, the subject, may have an objective existence which it can regard, occupy and enjoy, the householder of its self-mansion, the God of its self-temple, the King of its self-empire. In this cosmic relation of Spirit to Nature the word Isha expresses the perfected and absolute freedom, eternally uninfringed with which the Spirit envisages the object and occupies its kingdom. The World is not a material shell in which Spirit is bound nor is Spirit a roving breath of things ensnared, to which the object it inspires is a prison-house. The indwelling God is the Lord of His creations and not their servant or prisoner; as a householder is lord of his dwelling-places to enter them and go forth from them at his will and to pull down what he has built up whenever it ceases to

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please him or be serviceable to his needs, so the Spirit is free to enter or go forth from its bodies and has power to build, destroy and rebuild whatever it pleases in this universe. The very universe itself It is free at any moment to destroy and recreate. God is not bound; He is the entire, free and unopposed master of His creations.

This word 'Isha', the Lord is placed designedly at the opening of this great strain of Vedantic thought to rule as with a master-tone all its rhythms. It is the key to everything that follows in the eighteen verses of the Upanishad. Not only does it contradict all mechanical theories of the Universe and assert the pre-existence, omnipotence, majesty and freedom of the transcendent Soul of things within, but by identifying the Lord of the universe with the Spirit in all bodies, it asserts the greatness, freedom and secret omnipotence of the soul of man that seems here to wander thus painfully entangled and bewildered. Behind all the veils of his nature, the soul in man also is master, not slave, not bound but free. Grief, death and limitation are instruments of some activity it is here to fulfil for its own delight, and the man is not bound to his instruments; he can modify them, he can reject, he can change. If, then, we appear as though bound, by the fixed nature of our minds and bodies, by the nature of the visible universe, by the dualities of grief and joy, pleasure and pain, by the chain of cause and effect or by any other chain, shackle or tie whatsoever, the bondage is a semblance and can be nothing more. It is Maya, a willed illusion of bondage, or it is Lila, a self-chosen play at bondage. Like a child pretending to be this or that and identifying itself with its role, the Purusha, this divine inhabitant within, may seem to forget his freedom, but even when he forgets, the freedom is still there, self-existent, therefore inalienable. Never lost except in appearance, it is recoverable even in appearance. The game of the world-existence is not a game of bondage alone, but equally of freedom and the liberation from bondage.

(Incomplete)

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Kena Upanishad

Foreword

As the Isha Upanishad is concerned with the problem of God and the world and consequently with the harmonising of spirituality and ordinary human action, so the Kena is occupied with the problem of God and the Soul, and the harmonising of our personal activity with the movement of infinite energy and the supremacy of the universal Will. We are not here in this universe as independent existences. It is evident that we are limited beings clashing with other limited beings, clashing with the forces of material Nature, clashing too with forces of immaterial Nature of which we are aware not with the senses but by the mind. The Upanishad takes for granted that we are souls, not merely life-inspired bodies—into that question it does not enter. But this soul in us is in relation with the outside world through the senses, through the vitality, through mind. It is entangled in the mesh of its instruments, thinks they alone exist or is absorbed in their action with which it identifies itself—it forgets itself in its activities. To recall it to itself, to lift it above this life of the senses, so that even while living in this world, it shall always refer itself and its actions to the high universal Self and Deity which we all are in the ultimate truth of our being—so that we may be free, may be plastic and joyous, may be immortal, that is the object of the seer in the Kena Upanishad. Briefly to explain the step by which he develops and arrives at his point and the principal philosophical positions underlying his great argument, is, as always, the purpose of this commentary. There is much that might and should be said for the full realisation of this ancient gospel of submission and self-surrender to the Infinite, but it is left to be said in a work of greater amplitude and capacity. Exegesis in faithful subordination to the strict purport and connotation of the text will be here as always my principle.

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The First Part: The Self and the Senses

"By whom controlled, by whom commissioned and sent forth falleth the mind on its object, by whom yoked to its activity goeth abroad this chief of the vital forces? By whom controlled is the word that men speak, and what God set ear and eye to their workings? That which is hearing within hearing, mind of the mind, speech behind the word, he too is the life of vitality and the sight within vision; the calm of soul are liberated from these instruments and passing beyond this world become Immortals.... There the eye goes not and speech cannot follow nor the mind; we know it not nor can we decide by reason how to teach of it; for verily it is other than the known and it is beyond the unknown; so have we heard from the men that went before us by whom to us this Brahman was declared. That which is not uttered by speech but by which speech is expressed, know thou that to be the Soul of things and not this which men here pursue. That which thinketh not by the mind but by which mind itself is realised, know thou that to be the Soul of things, not this which men here pursue. That which seeth not by sight, but by which one seeth things visible, know thou that to be the Soul of things and not this which men here pursue. That which heareth not by hearing but by which hearing becomes subject to knowledge through the ear, know thou that to be the Soul of things and not this which men here pursue. That which liveth not by the breathing but by which the breath becometh a mass of vitality, know thou that to be the Soul of things and not this which men here pursue."

I

In order to understand the question with which the Upanishad opens its train of thought, it is necessary to remember the ideas of the Vedantic thinkers about the phenomena of sensation, life, mind and ideas which are the elements of all our activity

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in the body. It is noticeable that the body itself and matter, the principle of which the body is a manifestation, are not even mentioned in this Upanishad. The problem of matter the Seer supposes to have been so far solved for the inquirer that he no longer regards the physical state of consciousness as fundamental and no longer considers it as a reality separate from consciousness. All this world is only conscious Being. Matter to the Vedantist is only one of several states—in reality movements—of this conscious being,—a state in which this universal consciousness having created forms in itself, within and out of that as substance, absorbs and loses itself by concentration in the idea of being a substance of form. It is still conscious but as form, ceases to be self-conscious. The Purusha, in matter, the Knower in the leaf, clod, stone, is involved in form, forgets himself in this movement of his Prakriti or Mode of Action, and loses hold in full self-knowledge of his self of conscious being and delight. He is not in possession of himself; he is not ātmavān. He has to get back what he has lost to become ātmavān, and that simply means that he has to become gradually aware in matter of that which He has hidden from Himself in matter. He has to evolve what He has involved. This recovery in knowledge of our full and real Self is the sole sense, meaning and purpose of evolution. In reality it is no evolution but a manifestation. We are already what we become. That which is still future in matter is already present in Spirit.

For that which we regard as matter cannot be, if the Vedantic view is right, mere matter, mere inert existence, eternally bound by its own inertness. Even in a materialistic view of the world matter cannot be what it seems, but is only a form or movement of Force which the Indians call Prakriti. This Force, according to the Upanishads, is composed in its action, and capable in its potentiality, of several principles of which matter, mind and life are those already manifest, active in this world, and where one of these principles is active, the others must also be there, involved in it; or to put it in another way, Force acting as one of its own principles, one of its movements, is inherently capable even in that movement of all the others. If in the leaf, clod, stone and metal life and mind are not active, it is not because they are not

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present, but because they are not yet brought forward (prakṛta) and organised for action. They are kept concealed, in the background of the consciousness-being which is the leaf, stone or clod; they are not yet vīḷu, as the Rig-veda would say, but guhā, not vyakta but avyakta. It is a great error to hold that that which is not manifest just now or in this or that place or active, does not there and then exist. Concealment is not annihilation; non-action is not non-being, nor does the combination of secrecy and inaction constitute non-existence.

If it is asked how we know that there is the Purusha or Knower in the leaf, clod or stone, the Vedantin answers that, apart from the perceptions of the Seer and the subjective and objective experiences by which the validity of the perceptions is firmly established in the reason, the very fact that the Knower emerges in matter shows that He must have been there all the time. And if He was there in some form of matter He must have been there generally or in all; for Nature is one and knows no essential division but only differences of form, circumstance and manifestation. There are not many substances in this world, but one substance variously concentrated in many forms, not many lives but one life variously active in many bodies, not many minds but one mind variously intelligent in many embodied vitalities.

It is, at first sight, a plausible theory that life and mind are only particular movements of matter itself under certain conditions and need not therefore be regarded as independent immaterial movements of consciousness involved in matter but only as latent material activities of which matter is capable. But this view can only be held so long as it appears that mind and life can only exist in this body and cease as soon as the body is broken up, can only know through the bodily instruments and can only operate in obedience to and as the result of certain material movements. The sages of the Upanishads had already proved by their own experience as Yogins that none of these limitations are inherent in the nature of life and mind. The mind and life which are in this body can depart from it, intact, and still organised, and act more freely outside it; mind can know even material things without the help of the physical eye, touch or ear; life itself is not conditioned necessarily, and mind not even conditioned

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usually, though it is usually affected by the states of the body or its movements. It can always and does frequently in our experience transcend them. It can entirely master and determine the conditions of the body. Therefore mind is capable of freedom from the matter in which it dwells here—freedom in being, freedom in knowledge, freedom in power.

It is true that while working in matter, every movement of mind produces some effect and consequently some state or movement in the body, but this does not show that the mind is the material result of matter any more than steam is the mechanical result of the machine. This world in which mind is at present moving, in the system of phenomena to which we are now overtly related, is a world of matter, where to start with, it is true to say, annam vai sarvam: All is matter. Mind and life awaken in it and seek to express themselves in it. Since and when they act in it, every movement they make must have an effect upon it and produce a movement in it, just as the activity of steam must produce an effect in the machine in which its force is acting. Mind and life also use particular parts of the bodily machine for particular functions and when these parts are injured the workings of life and mind are correspondingly hampered, rendered difficult or for a time impossible—and even altogether impossible unless life and mind are given time, impulse and opportunity to readjust themselves to the new circumstances and either re-create or patch up the old means or adopt a new system of function. It is obvious that such a combination of time, impulse and opportunity cannot usually or even often occur,—cannot occur at all unless men have the faith, the niṣṭhā—unless, that is to say, they know beforehand that it can be done or have accustomed themselves to seek for the means. Bodies, drowned and "lifeless",—nothing is really lifeless in the world,—can now be brought back to life because men believe and know that it can be done and have found a means to do it before the organised mind and life have had time to detach themselves entirely from the unorganised life which is present in all matter. So it is with all powers and operations. They are only impossible so long as we do not believe in their possibility and do not take the trouble or have not the clarity of mind to find their right process.

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Life and mind are sometimes believed to descend,—as the hypothesis is advanced—into this world from another where they are more at home. If by world is meant not another star or system in this material universe, but some other systematisation of universal consciousness, the Vedantin who follows the Vedas and Upanishads, will not disagree. Life and mind in another star or system of this visible universe might, it is conceivable, be more free and therefore at home; but they would still be active in a world whose basis and true substance was matter. There would therefore be no essential alteration in the circumstances of its action nor could the problem of their origin here be at all better solved. But it is reasonable to suppose that just as here Force organises itself in matter as its fundamental continent and movement, so there should be—the knowledge and experience of the ancient thinkers showed them that there are—other systems of consciousness where Force organises itself in life and in mind as its fundamental continent and movement.—It is not necessary to consider here what would be the relations in Time and Space of such worlds with ours. Life and mind might descend ready organised from such worlds and attach themselves to forms of matter here; but not in the sense of occupying physically these material forms and immediately using them, but in the sense of rousing by the shock of their contact and awakening to activity the latent life and mind in matter. That life and mind in matter would then proceed, under the superior help and impulse, to organise a nervous system for the use of life and a system of life-movements in the nerves for the use of mind fit to express in matter the superior organisations who have descended here. It was indeed the belief of the ancients that—apart from the phenomenon of each living form as a single organised personality—such help from the worlds of life and mind was necessary to maintain and support all functionings of life and mind here below because of the difficulty otherwise of expressing and perfecting them in a world which did not properly belong to them but to quite other movements. This was the basis of the idea of Devas, Daityas, Asuras, Rakshasas, Pisachas, Gandharvas, etc., with which the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Itihasa have familiarised our minds. There is no reason to suppose

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that all worlds of this material system are the home of living things—on the contrary, the very reverse is likely to be the truth. It is probably with difficulty and in a select place, that life and mind in matter are evolved.

If it were otherwise, if life and mind were to enter, organised or in full power (such as they must be in worlds properly belonging to them) into material forms, these forms would immediately begin to function perfectly and without farther trouble. We should not see this long and laborious process of gradual manifestation, so laboured, so difficult, the result of so fierce a struggle, of such a gigantic toil of the secret Will in matter. Everywhere we see the necessity of a gradual organisation of forms. What is it that is being organised? A suitable system for the operations of life, a suitable system for the operations of mind. There are stirrings similar to those that constitute life in inanimate things and in metals,—as Science has recently discovered,—vital response and failure to respond, but no system for the regular movement of vitality has been organised; therefore metals do not live. In the plant we have a vital system, one might almost say, a nervous system, but although there is what might be called an unconscious mind in plants, although in some there are even vague movements of intelligence, the life system organised is suitable only for the flow of rasa, sap, sufficient for mere life, not for prāṇa, nerve force, necessary for the operations in matter of mind. Āpaḥ is sufficient for life, vāyu is necessary for life capable of mind. In the insect life is better organised on a different plane and a nervous system capable of carrying currents of Pranic force is developed as one rises in the scale of animal creation, until it becomes perfect in man. It is, therefore, life and mind awakening in matter and manifesting with difficulty that is the truth of this material world, not the introduction of a ready-made life entirely foreign to it in its own potentiality.

If it be said that the life or mind attaching itself to matter only enters it by degrees as the system becomes more fit, putting more and more of itself into the body which is being made ready for it, that also is possible and conceivable. We are indeed led to see, as we progress in self-knowledge, that there is a great mental

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activity belonging to us only part of which is imperfectly expressed in our waking thoughts and perceptions—a subconscious or superconscious Self which stores everything, remembers everything, foresees everything, in a way knows everything knowable, has possession of all that is false, and all that is true, but only allows the waking mind into a few of its records. Similarly our life in the body is only a partial expression of the immortal life of which we are the assured possessors. But this only proves that we ourselves are not in our totality or essentiality the life and mind in the body, but are using that principle for our purpose or our play in matter. It does not prove that there is no principle of life and mind in matter. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that matter is similarly involved in mind and life and that wherever there is movement of life and mind, it tends to develop for itself some form of body in which securely to individualise itself. By analogy we must suppose life and mind to be similarly involved and latent (inherent) in matter and therefore evolvable in it and capable of manifestation.

We know then the theory of the early Vedantins with regard to the relations of life, mind and matter and we may now turn to the actual statements of the Upanishad with regard to the activities of life and mind and their relation to the Soul of things, the Brahman.

II. Mind

If the Upanishads were no more than philosophical speculations, it would be enough in commenting upon them to state the general thought of a passage and develop its implications in modern language and its bearing upon the ideas we now hold, for if they only expressed in their ancient language general conclusions of psychological experience, which are still easily accessible and familiar, nothing would be gained by any minute emphasis on the wording of our Vedantic texts. But these great writings are not the record of ideas; they are a record of experiences;

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and those experiences, psychological and spiritual, are as remote from the superficial psychology of ordinary men as are the experiments and conclusions of Science from the ordinary observation of the peasant driving his plough through a soil only superficially known or the sailor of old guiding his bark by the few stars important to his rudimentary navigation. Every word in the Upanishads arises out of a depth of psychological experience and observation we no longer possess and is a key to spiritual truths which we can no longer attain except by discipline of a painful difficulty. Therefore each word, as we proceed, must be given its due importance. We must consider its place in the thought and discover the ideas of which it was the spoken symbol.

The opening phrase of the Kena Upanishad, keneṣitaṁ patati preṣitaṁ manaḥ, is an example of this constant necessity. The sage is describing not the mind in its entirety, but that action of it which he has found the most characteristic and important, that which, besides, leads up directly to the question of the secret source of all mental action, its president and impelling power. The central idea and common experience of this action is expressed by the word patati, falls. Motion forward and settling upon an object are the very nature of mind when it acts.

Our modern conception of mind is different; while acknowledging its action of movement and forward attention, we are apt to regard its essential and common action to be rather receptivity of objects than research of objects. The scientific explanation of mental activity helps to confirm this notion. Fixing its eye on the nervous system and the brain, the physical channels of thought, Physiology insists on the double action of the afferent and the efferent nerves as constituting the action of thought. An object falls on the sense-organs,—instead of mind falling on the object,—the afferent nerves carry the impact to the brain cells, their matter undergoes modification, the trans-filaments respond to the shock, a message—the will of the cell-republic—returns through the efferent nerves and that action of perception,—whether of an object or the idea of an object or the idea of an idea, which is the essence of thinking—is accomplished. What else the mind does is merely the internal modification of the

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grey matter of the brain and the ceaseless activity of its filaments with the store of perceptions and ideas already amassed by these miraculous bits of organised matter. These movements of the bodily machine are all according to Physiology. But it has been necessary to.... The theory of thought-waves or vibrations created by those animalcular...in order to account for the results of thought.

However widely and submissively (though) this theory has been received by a hypnotised world, the Vedantist is bound to challenge it. His research has fixed not only on the physiological action, the movement of the bodily machine, but on the psychological action, its movement of the force that holds the machine,—not only on what the mind does, but on what it omits to do. His observation supported by that careful analysis and isolation in experiment of the separate mental constituents, has led him to a quite different conclusion. He upholds the wisdom of the sage in the phrase patati manaḥ. An image falls on the eye,—admittedly, the mere falling of an image on the eye will not constitute mental perception,—the mind has to give it attention; for it is not the eye that sees, it is the mind that sees through the eye as an instrument, just as it is not the telescope that sees an otherwise invisible sun, but the astronomer behind the telescope who sees. Therefore, physical reception of images is not sight; physical reception of sounds is not hearing. For how many sights and sounds besiege us, fall on our retina, touch the tympanum of the ear, yet are to our waking thought non-existent! If the body were really a self-sufficient machine, this could not happen. The impact must be admitted, the message must rush through the afferent nerve, the cells must receive the shock, the modification, the response must occur. A self-sufficient machine has no choice of action or non-action; unless it is out of order, it must do its work. But here we see there is a choice, a selection, an ample power of refusal. The practical researches of the Yogins have shown besides that the power of refusal can be (is) absolute, that something in us has a sovereign and many-sided faculty of selection or total prohibition of perception or thought, can even determine how if at all it shall respond, can even see without the eye and hear without the ear. Even European hypnotism points to

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similar phenomena. The matter cannot be settled by the rough and ready conclusions of impatient physiology eager to take a short cut to Truth and interpret the world in the light of its first astonished discoveries.

Where the image is not seen, the sound is not heard, it is because the mind does not settle on its object—na patati. But we must first go farther and inquire what it is that works in the afferent and efferent nerves and ensures the attention of the nerves. It is not, we have seen, mere physical shock, a simple vibration of the bodily matter in the nerve. For, if it were, attention to every impact would be automatically and inevitably assured. The Vedantins say that the nerve system is an immensely intricate organised apparatus for the action of life in the body; what moves in them is prāṇa, the life principle, materialised, aerial (vāyavya) in its nature and therefore invisible to the eye, but sufficiently capable of self-adaptation both to the life of matter and the life of mind to form the meeting-place or bridge of the two principles. But action of this life-principle is not sufficient in itself to create thought, for if it were mind could be organised in vegetable as readily as in animal life. It is only when prāṇa has developed a sufficient intensity of movement to form a medium for the rapid activities of mind and mind, at last possessed of a physical instrument, has poured itself into the life-movement and taken possession of it, that thought becomes possible. That which moves in the nerve system is the life-current penetrated and provided with the habitual movement of mind. When the movement of mind is involved in the life-movement, as it usually is in all forms, there is no response of mental knowledge to any contact or impression. For just as even in the metal there is life, so even in the metal there is mind; but it is latent, involved, its action secret,—unconscious, as we say, and confined to a passive reception into matter of the mind-forms created by these impacts. This will become clearer as we penetrate deeper into the mysteries of mind; we shall see that even though the clod, stone and tree do not think, they have in them the secret matrix of mind and in that matrix forms are stored which can be translated into mental symbols, into perception, idea and word. But it is only as the life-currents gain in

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intensity and rapidity and subtlety, making the body of things less durable but more capable of work, that mind-action becomes increasingly possible and once manifested more and more minutely and intricately effective. For body and life here are the pratiṣṭhā, the basis of mind. A point, however, comes at which mind has got in life all that it needs for its higher development, and from that time it goes on enlarging itself and its activities out of all proportions to the farther organisation of its bodily and vital instruments or even without any such farther organisation in the lower man.

But even in the highest forms here in this material world, matter being the basis, life an intermediary and mind the third result, the normal rule is that matter and life (where life is expressed) shall always be active, mind only exceptionally active in the body. In other words, the ordinary action of mind is subconscious and receptive, as in the stone, clod and tree. The image that touches the eye, the sound that touches the ear is immediately taken in by the mind-informed life, the mind-informed and life-informed matter and becomes a part of the experience of Brahman in that system. Not only does it create a vibration in body, a stream of movement in life but also an impression in mind. This is inevitable, because mind, life and matter are one. Where one is, the others are, manifest or latent, involved or evolved, supraliminally active or subliminally active. The sword which has struck in the battle, retains in itself the mental impression of the stroke, the striker and the stricken and that ancient event can be read centuries afterwards by the Yogin who has trained himself to translate its mind-forms into the active language of mind. Thus every thing that occurs around us leaves on us its secret stamp and impression. That this is so, the recent discoveries of European psychology have begun to prove and from the ordinary point of view, it is one of the most amazing and stupendous facts of existence; but from the Vedantist's it is the most simple, natural and inevitable. This survival of all experience in a mighty and lasting record, is not confined to such impressions as are conveyed to the brain through the senses, but extends to all that can in any way come to the mind,—to distant events, to past states of existence and old occurrences in

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which our present senses had no part, to the experiences garnered in dream and in dreamless sleep, to the activities that take place during the apparent unconsciousness or disturbed consciousness of slumber, delirium, anaesthesia and trance. Unconsciousness is an error: cessation of awareness is a delusion.

It is for this reason that the phenomenon on which the sage lays stress as the one thing important and effective in mental action and in the waking state here, is not its receptiveness, but its outgoing force—patati. In sense-activity we can distinguish three kinds of action—first, when the impact is received subconsciously and there is no message by the mind in the life current to the brain,—even if the life current itself carry the message—secondly, when the mind, aware of an impact, that is to say, falls on its object, but merely with the sensory part of itself and not with the understanding part; thirdly, when it falls on the object with both the sensory and understanding parts of itself. In the first case, there is no act of mental knowledge, no attention of eye or mind, as when we pass, absorbed in thought, through a scene of Nature, yet have seen nothing, been aware of nothing. In the second there is an act of sensory knowledge. The mind in the eye attends and observes, however slightly; the thing is perceived but not conceived or only partly conceived, as when the maidservant going about her work, listens to the Hebrew of her master, hearing all, but distinguishing and understanding nothing, not really attending except through the ear alone. In the third there is true mental perception and conception or the attempt at perception and conception, and only the last movement comes within the description given by the sage—iṣitam preṣitam patati manas. But we must observe that in all these cases somebody is attending, something is both aware and understands. The man, unconscious under an anaesthetic drug in an operation, can in hypnosis when his deeper faculties are released, remember and relate accurately everything that occurred to him in his state of supposed unconsciousness. The maidservant, thrown into an abnormal condition, can remember every word of her master's Hebrew discourse and repeat in perfect order and without a single error sentences in the language she did not understand. And, it may surely be predicted, one day we shall find that the thing our

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minds strove so hard to attend to and fathom, this passage in a new language, that new and unclassed phenomenon, was perfectly perceived, perfectly understood, automatically, infallibly, by something within us which either could not or did not convey its knowledge to the mind. We were only trying to make operative on the level of mind, a knowledge we already in some recess of our being perfectly possessed.

In this fact appears all the significance of the sage's sentence about the mind.

(Incomplete)

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Bibliographical Note

Sri Aurobindo translated a number of Upanishads and wrote commentaries and articles on them at various times. Some of these were revised, a few more than once, and were published as stated below. For the purposes of the Centenary Edition the last revised version is included wherever it is available. In other cases the edition follows the available manuscripts.

The series of six articles, comprising Philosophy of the Upanishads and one On Translating the Upanishads, are early writings and belong to the Baroda period. The first six articles appeared in the Advent in 1953. On Translating the Upanishads was used as Introduction to EIGHT UPANISHADS published in the same year.

ISHA: The translation was first published in the Karmayogin in 1909. It was revised and published again in 1914-15 in the Arya with annotations and commentary. It was issued in 1921 in book-form after minor revisions. Since then it has run into several editions.

KENA: The translation first appeared in the Karmayogin in 1909. A revised version with commentary came out in the Arya in 1915-16. It was issued in book-form in 1952. The 1970 edition contained a further revised version.

KATHA: The translation first appeared in the Karmayogin in 1909-10. It came out in book-form in 1919, and in its revised version in 1952.

MUNDAKA: The translation first appeared in the Karmayogin in 1909. A revised version appeared in the Arya in 1920. The translation included here is a further revised version.

MANDUKYA and PRASHNA: These are printed in their available forms.

TAITTIRIYA, AITEREYA, SHWETASHWATARA, CHHANDOGYA, KAIVALYA and NILARUDRA were translated in Baroda; of these TAITTIRIYA and AITEREYA are complete. Of SHWETASHWATARA, only chapters IV, V and VI are found. The rest are only in fragments. It has been revised but no final version is clearly indicated. Readings in TAITTIRIYA appeared in the Arya in 1918.

THE GREAT ARANYAKA, a commentary on the first chapter, first Brahmana of BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD, appeared in Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual, 1953.

THE KARIKAS OF GAUDAPADA and VEDANTASARA OF SADANANDA: These are incomplete unrevised translations of some Vedantic texts, and are printed here as available in the manuscript.

Sri Aurobindo wrote a number of commentaries on ISHA from different viewpoints at different periods. Here in the Supplement some of them are published for the first time in the form in which they are found in the manuscripts. An incomplete commentary on KENA is also given at the end.