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Full text of “The spirit of the Upanishads; or, The Aphorisms of the wise;”
See other formats
730
L/6,5
THE SPI
THE UPAN
GIFT OF
THE UPANISHADS
THE SPIRIT OF
THE UPANISHADS
THE APHORISMS OF THE WISE
A Collection of Texts, Aphorisms, Sayings, Proverbs, Etc., from “The
Upanishads,” or Sacred Writing! of India, Compiled and
Adapted from over Fifty Authorities, Expressing the
Cream of the Hindu Philosophical Thought.
“Hear thou even the little child, and from his words accept thou
the Truth that goeth straight to thy heart. But reject all that
doth not so go to thy heart— no matter how high the authority—
yea, even though the lotus-born creator, Brahm, himself, be the
speaker. “— YOG AVASISHTHA.
THE YOGI PUBLICATION SOCIETY
CHICAGO, ILL., U.S.A.
COPYRIOHT 1907, BY
THE YOGI PUBLICATION SOCIETY
CHICAGO, II.I,.
AH Rights Restr**?
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface ‘ 5
Part I. The Threshold 7
Part II. The Absolute 9
Part III. The Real Self 18
Part IV. The Way 22
Part V. The Student 26
Part VI. The Teacher 28
Part VII. The Lesson 34
Part VIII. The Law of Karma 40
Part IX. Devotional Worship 42
Part X. Freedom 47
Part XI. Spiritual Knowing 48
Part XII. The Four-fold Means 50
Part XIII. Union (Yoga) 57
Part XIV. Liberation . . .68
PREFACE.
This volume is a collection of texts; aphorisms, say-
ings; proverbs; etc., from “The Upanishads,” or Sacred
Writings of India; compiled and adapted from over fifty
authorities, expressing the Cream of the Hindu Philosoph-
ical Thought.
The adapter of the book acknowledges his apprecia-
tion of the work of Dr. Manil N. Dvivedi, of Bombay,
India, the original translator of many of these aphorisms,
etc., the general form of whose translation has been
followed in the majority of cases, subject to such supple-
mentary changes and rearrangement as have seemed
desirable in the present work.
The contents of this book are self-explanatory, and
need little introduction. The wonderful philosophy of
“The Upanishads,” is so generally recognized that words
of praise would be superfluous. Many can say with the
German philosopher, Schopenhauer: “In the whole world
there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of
‘The Upanishads.’ It has been the solace of my life; it
will be the solace of my death.”
One word of caution we would give to the reader who
may not be grounded in the fundamental thought of the
Hindu Philosophies. We allude to the frequent use of
the words: “The Self,” or “Self,” in many of the aph-
orisms. The student of the Oriental Teachings will, of
course, recognize the fact that the word “Self,” so used,
implies the “One Self,” or “Infinite One,” whose Essence
permeates the Universe, and in whom all living forms,
“live, and move and have their being” — and which “Self”
is the Essence of the countless personal “selves.” We
have used the Capital “S,” in the word, when so used;
the word “self,” meaning the personal self, being printed
in the usual way.
The thought and teachings underlying this entire book,
is that of this ONE SELF— the only REALITY. The
6 PREFACE.
personal self is a thing of the moment — being born;
growing old; and dying — but the Real Self, endureth
forever. The Real Self, in each of us, is the SPIRIT in
each of us, which is at One with the Father. Nearly every
aphorism in the book emphasizes this Truth, in various
words and forms of expression, and many of them are
intended to lead the reader to a Realization of The Truth.
Some of these seed-thoughts will appeal to one, and
others to another — each will draw to himself that which
is his, and will let the rest pass him by. This is the Law
of Learning: Accept only that which appeals to your
Heart, as Truth — let the rest pass you by, for the time being
— for to each comes his own; and none can gain his own,
until he is prepared for it. The words of the Yogavasishtha,
quoted on our title page, intended to convey this same
truth. Listen to this Aphorism of the Wise:
“Hear thou even the little child, and from his words
accept thou that Truth that goeth straight to thy heart.
But reject all that doth not so go to thy heart as Truth —
no matter how high the authority — yea, even though the
lotus-born creator, Brahma, himself, be the speaker.”
Therefore, accept the pearl of Truth, even though it
lie in the mud of the gutter — and reject that which does
not seem to be the real Truth, even though it be offered
you from the hand of one of the gods. Test all statement
of Truth, by the light of the Spirit within you, and you can
not stray far from The Path.
We would call the attention of our readers, to the
edition of “The Bhaga-vad Gita,” or “Message of the
Master,” published simultaneously with the present
volume. This first mentioned book, should be read by
all who enjoy the present one, for it contains the key to
the Higher Teachings, which the writers of these Aph-
orisms wished to express.
We trust that this little book will cause the minds of
many to unfold to the light.
THE YOGI PUBLICATION SOCIETY.
CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A., January 12, 1907.
The Spirit of The Upanishads.
PART I.
THE THRESHOLD.
That wherein disappears the whole of that which affects
the mind, and that which is also the background of all ; —
to THAT I bow, — the all eternal consciousness, the witness
of all exhibitions of the Intellect.
Upadesasahasri.
As is the sight of the sweetest Honey to the traveller
in the Desert, so is the perception of the ever-effulgent.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
I expound in half a verse what has been told in a
million volumes ; — THAT is the Truth, the world is illusion,
thespul is none other than THAT.
Upadesasahasri.
Action leads to incarnation, and incjrnatiOTitopleasure
and pain. Hence arise all likes and dislnces ^vhlch again
‘pTopelto action resulting in merit and demerit. These put
the ignorant wanderer, again, into the bonds of incar-
nation ; — and so on and on, for ever, rolls the wheel of this
world. Nothing but ignorance is the cause of all this ; the
remedy lies in the destruction of ignorance. Knowledge
of Brahman is the way- to find final beatitude in the destruc-
tion of this ignorance. For knowledge alone, not action
which is only a part of ignorance, is competent to accom-
plish this result. Nor is it possible to do away with likes
and dislikes so long as ignorance is not done away with.
This is therefore undertaken with the object of destroying
ignorance as well as its effects — this world, — and also of
explaining the real philosophy of Brahman.
Upadesasahasri
8 THE UPANISHADS.
From the senses finding each its own gratification in
the objects peculiar to each, there arises no real happiness,
but only a temporary allaying of the fever of the mind.
It is vain, therefore, to grope for any real happiness in the
world of objects. The deluded deceive themselves by
imagining every experience of evil to be so much good;
but in birth, death, and limitation, the wise never fail to
perceive the evil that conceals itself under the inviting
form of objects. They find no happiness in things subject
to such results. The smallest happiness, in the real sense
of the word, is no way possible in any thing ; — oh ! I should
become that Self which is all bliss, all existence, all en-
lightenment.
A tmapurana.
Knowledge_r>f the Divine dissolves all bonds, and gives
freedom from every kind of misery Jtip1iirfing_birth and
death.~
S ‘vetasvataropanishad.
The Creator (Brahma), theJProtectpr W_ishnu\ the
Destroyer (Siva) ; the Consumer~the Sun, the Moon, the
Tfiunder, the Wind, the Sacrifice, and so on, are terms
used by the sages to describe the One Eternal, as they
look at It through the multifarious forms of the intellect ;
— all my best worship to that Divine Essence, the de-
stroyer of that ignorance whose form is this world. •
S’ ankaracharya.
PART 11.
THE ABSOLUTE.
I That should be known as Brahman, which, beyond
the gaining whereof, there remains nothing to gain; be-
yond the bliss whereof there remains no possibility of
bliss ; beyond the sight whereof there remains nothing to
see; beyond becoming which there remains nothing to
become; beyond knowing which there remains nothing
to know.
Atmabodha.
This is All, and so is that ; — All comes out of the All, —
taking away the All from the All, the All remains for ever.
Isopanishad.
He is eternal among the eternal, conscious an nig the
conscious; He, ever one, produces the variety of ideas
in the many; — knowing that Divine One, as the Supreme
Cause, all bonds dissolve themselves into nothing.
S’vetas-vataropanishad.
THAT which, in the beginning, sent forth the Creator
(Brahma) and favoured him with the storehouse of all
knowledge, the Veda; — I, desirous of liberation, betake
myself to It, the ever-effulgent light, revealing Its eternal
Self through the intellect.
S’vetasvataropanishad.
As in the sun, all light, there is neither day nor night,
so in The Absolute, all light, there is neither knowledge nor
ignorance.
V ‘ padesasahasri.
The ever unchangeable is devoid of sound, touch, form,
taste or smell. It is without beginning or end, ever beyond
10 THE UPANISHADS.
the prime cause of all evolution; — knowing that, one
escapes the all-devouring jaws of death.
Kathopanishad.
The eye has no access there, nor has speech nor mind ;
we do not know It (The Absolute), nor the method
whereby we can impart It. It is other than the known
as well as the unknown; so indeed do we hear from the
sages of old who explained It thus to us.
Kenopanishad .
Try to realize (within thyself) THAT whence arise
these beings, by which they stand sustained, and unto
which they return and become naught; — that indeed is
The Absolute.
Taittiriyopanishad .
To the emperor (Janaka) thus explained Yajna-
valkya; — When there is, as it were, a second, there alone
does one see, smell or taste something other (than Self) ;
there alone does one speak to or hear, think of or touch
or know something other (than Self). But when the seer
is all alone with THAT, he is as still as an undisturbed body
of water, — this indeed is Spiritual Consciousness, the
condition of universal empire. This to the self, is the
highest end, the best riches, the supremest world, the
greatest joy ; — the rest of beings live only by a particle of
this bliss.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Father, son, mother, nay even the worlds, the Gods,
the Vedas are all naught in The Absolute ; the thief is no-
thief, the ascetic no-ascetic ; — It has no relation with good
or evil. One who has become It is beyond all desires of
the heart. It should not be supposed that (even in sleep)
It does not see, for It does not see though ever seeing;
the sight of the seer is never lost, being eternal, there is
nothing other than Itself which It can make the object of
Its seeing.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
THE ABSOLUTE. 11
The Absolute is described as “not this,” “not that,”
and so on by negatives only.
Brhadarnyakopanishad.
That is real bliss which has no conditions; in the
conditioned there can be no happiness; — the Uncon-
ditioned alone is bliss; try to realize the Unconditioned
(in thyself.)
Chhandogyopanishad.
That is the Unconditioned wherein one does not see
another, one does not hear another, one does not know
another; that wherein one sees another, hears another,
knows another, is the Conditioned. JThe Unconditioned is
niinprtal^tl;ecQnditioiied_is mortal . Oh master ! where is
verywhere or nowhere !
Chhandogyopanishad.
Hence is described the Real Self; This Self alone /t=te-*
stands above, below. jyest L,eaj&j»o.uth and_nQrth; every-
where all is this Self! H^^Eo^thus^sees, thinks and
knows, enjoys this Self, plays with this Self, has this Self
alone even for a second, finds perfect bliss in this Self,
becomes the lord of all, gains access to all worlds and
beings. Those who understand otherwise, betake them-
selves to other masters, enjoy only the mortal world of
conditions, find no access to all beings and all worlds.
Chhandogyopanishad.
THAT which is ever awake even in sleep, sending
forth the variety of ideas, is the Real Self, and all immor-
tality ; — all the worlds are held in it (as it were, in suspen-
sion), there is nothing which transcends it. It is this.
As the one fire pervading the universe appears in so many
forms in the variety of objects, so the Inner Self of all,
ever one, appears to take on so many forms, but it is ever
beyond them. As the sun who enlightens everything
has nothing whatever to do with the numerous ills the
eye may perceive, so the Inner Self of all, ever one, has
12 THE UPANISHADS.
no connection whatever with the joys and sorrows of the
world, being ever beyond them.
Kathopanishad.
THAT is the real Witness, all consciousness, who unites
in one grasp, the actor, act and the variety of objects
apart one from the other. I see, hear, smell, taste and
touch, — in this form does the Witness unite all in one
continuous consciousness, even like the lamp suspended
in a theatre. The lamp in the theatre takes in the master,
the audience, the actors and all, without distinction, in
one sweep of light, and continues to shed the same light
even when all these are not there.
Panchadasi.
The Seer of thy sight thou shalt not see; the Hearer
of thy ear thou shalt not hear ; the Thinker of thy thoughts
thou shalt not think ; the Knower of thy knowledge thou
shalt not know — this is thy Real Self, all-pervading,
everything besides is but mortal.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Without the glass there is no possibility of a sight
of the reflection; whence then could there be any possi-
bility of the knowledge of name and forms without assum-
ing that which is Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss?
Panchadasi.
He pervades the earth and yet transcends it ; the earth
knows Him not ; the earth is His body : He controls the
earth from within; — He is thy inner Self ever immortal.
He pervades water and yet transcends it; water knows
Him not; water is His body: He controls water from
within ; — He is thy inner Self ever immortal. * * * *
He is the unseen Seer ; the unheard Hearer ; the unthought
Thinker; the unknown Knower. There is no Seer other
than this; no Hearer other than this; no Thinker other
than this; no Knower other than this. THAT is thy
inner self, ever immortal; all besidtvis mortal.
Brhadaranyakopanishad,
THE ABSOLUTE. 13
/ THAT which is not spoken in speech but that whereby
) all speech is spoken. THAT which does not think in the
/ mind but that whereby the mind proceeds to think.
THAT which does not perceive with the eye but that
whereby the eye receives its sight. THAT which does not
hear with the ear but that whereby the ear hears. THAT
which does not breathe the breath of life but that whereby
life itself is kept up. Know thou that THAT is The
Absolute, not this that people worship.
“” Kenopanishad.
Immortal Spirit alone is THAT; the east, west, south
and north is all THAT : This wide expanse of the universe
above and below is indeed all THAT.
Mundakopanishad.
In the beginning, oh good one! was The Absolute
alone; all one without a second.
Chhandagyopanishad .
Brahma, Indra, Prajapati, all the gods, the five
primordial elements, and all that breathes, or moves
about, or flies above, or stands unmoved, — the whole
uniyerse^exists through Thought^ depends onjrhought^
Thought is its stayj-^he Thought of the Absolute.
A itareyopanishad.
This Real Self is all intellect, all mind, all life, all eyes,
all ears, all earth, all water, all wind, all ether, all light,
all darkness, all desires, all peacefulness, all anger, all
quiet, all religious merit, all religious demerit; It is the
All, It is this, It is THAT.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
. TJhis Real Self is causeless, without a second, having
no within Und without ; this Self is The Absolute, the
consciousness of all.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
14 THE UPANISHADS.
Oh Gar gi ! this immutable one is the unseen Seer, the
ainheard Hearer, the unthought Thinker, the unknown
Knower ; — There is no Seer beside this ; no Hearer beside
this; no Thinker; no Knower beside this. In this
immutable Essence, oh dear Gargi! is interwoven the
essence of all existence.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
He (Yajnavalkya) said, oh Gargi ! the knowers of The
Absolute thus explain the ever Immutable. It is neither
with dimensions nor atomic, neither short nor long; It
is not red, not sticky, not light, not dark; neither air,
nor ether. It has no relation, no taste, no smell, no eye,
no ear, no speech, no mind, no light, no life, no mouth,
no form, no break, no without; — It enjoys nothing or is
enjoyed by nothing.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Objects transcend the senses; the mind transcends
objects; the intellect transcends the mind; the mahat
(i. e. cosmic consciousness) transcends intellect (*’. e.
individual intellect) ; the avyakta (i. e. the undifferenced
first cause), transcends the mahat; the Real Self transcends
the avyakta; — beyond the Real Self there is nothing
which can transcend It, or prevent It from being the last
essence, the last resort of all.
Kathopanishad.
That is the Great Real Self who, though without hands
or feet, is the swiftest of approach ; though without eyes
or ears, sees and hears everything; though uncompre-
hended, comprehends everything knowable.
S’vetasvataropanishad.
\ The Absolute is never born, never dead. It comes out
of nothing and goes into nothing. — It is unborn, eternal,
immutable, ever unique, never destroyed with the destruc-
tion of the body. If the killer intends to kill, or if the
killed thinks He is killed, both of them do not Know;
they neither kill nor are killed. It is smaller than an atom,
greater than the universe, It is present in the heart of
THE ABSOLUTE. 15
all beings. The glory of this Self is realized by him the
whole of whose sensibility returns to a state of placid
calmness through absence of desire; — he alone passes to
the other side of this ocean of sin and sorrow.
Kathopanishad.
Truth alone conquers, not falsehood, the divine path
stands upheld by Truth; sages with desires put out by
satiety pass over it to the great treasure of Truth. It
(the Truth) is all-embracing yet unthinkable, all light,
minutest of the minute yet ever manifest. It is farthest
of all yet ever near in all beings, ever present in the hidden
consciousness of all which passes out in all acts of mind
and body.
Mundakopanishad.
One so freed from the bondage of senses transcends all
material relation, and becoming all supreme light, regains
his own Self. This indeed is Self. It is beyond mortality,
beyond fear, It is Truth ; — Truth is only another name of
The Absolute.
Chhandogyopanishad.
There cannot be any room for separateness in that
intransmutable, formless, characterless, Absolute Being
which is beyond the relations of subject, object, instru-
ment, etc., which is every way full to the utmost, like the
waters surging above all things at the great cyclic deluge.
In it merges the cause of illusion like darkness in light ; —
there, verily, can be nothing like separateness in It, the
highest Essence, without character, and ever one without
a second.
Vivekachudamani.
THAT is the form of the highest Self wherein the
world of subject and object though existing does not exist,
and which though all akasa has no touch with it. It is all
void and yet as if it were no void, the world is naught in
it, it continues to be completely void though full of
numberless worlds upon worlds.
Yogavasishtha.
16 THE UPANISHADS.
The whole of this cosmos is One Self, there is no room
for the idea of body and its like. THAT is all that is, all
bliss, whatever thou seest is all thought.
Yogavasishtha.
As light belongs to the sun, coldness to water, and heat
to fire, so do existence, consciousness, bliss, eternity,
immutable purity, belong by nature, to THAT.
Atmabodha.
The material cause of this illusion is none other than
THAT; the whole of the universe is, therefore, THAT, and
nothing else. THAT being the All, causality is mere
illusion; — the real Truth being thus known there can be
no room for the slightest separateness.
A parokshanubhuti.
This Real Self is the bridge, the support, of the whole
universe which, but for it, will be nowhere.
Chhandogyopanishad.
THAT is all bliss of every kind; Attaining this bliss
one realizes his nature which is all bliss.
Taittiriyopanishad.
THAT therefore is the last measure of all bliss.
Taittiriyopanishad.
The one ever-effulgent stands concealed in all beings.
It pervades every knowable object and is the Inner Self
of all. It is the witness of all action, the all-embracing
resort of beings, the unaffected seer, all thought, unique,
and without properties.
S’vetasvataropanishad.
It has neither form nor instruments. It is not seen as
equal to or greater than any thing. Its transcendent
power is heard of as unimaginably multifarious, omnis-
cience and omnipotence constitute Its very nature.
S’vetasvataropanishad.
THE ABSOLUTE. 17
It is unborn, ever awake, free from dream, having no
form or no name. It is one continuous thought, all-
knowing. There is no metaphor whatever in saying this.
Gaudapadacharya.
This oh Satyakama is THAT higher as well as lower.
Science and nescience all is THAT.
Prasnopanishad.
As above so below, as below so above : he passes from
^death to death who here”fmds the least shacTow of variety.
There is no variety in THAT. It should be grasped by the
mind alone. He, indeed, passes from death to death who
here finds the least shadow of variety.
Kathopanishad.
As a hawk or an eagle having soared high in the air,
wings its way back to its resting-place, being so far
fatigued, so does the soul, having experienced the phenom-
enal, return into Itself where it can sleep beyond all
desires, beyond all dreams.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The sun does not shine there nor the moon nor the
stars nor even these lightnings, least of all this fire ; every-
thing becomes enlightened in its light, the whole of this
shines through Its lustre.
Kathopanishad.
PART m.
THE REAL SELF.
A particle of Its bliss supplies the bliss of the whole
universe, everything becomes enlightened in Its light;
nay all else appears worthless after a sight of that essence ;
— I am indeed of this Supreme Eternal Self.
Vijnananauka .
The power of sun, moon, fire and even of speech having
exhausted itself; the senses being all extinguished. THAT
which stands self -illumined, beyond all relations, sending
forth this universe of ideas, and all thought, is shown
to be the Inner Self of all.
Svarajyasiddhi.
I am without character, without action, without
imagination, without relation, without change, without
form, without sin, all eternity, ever liberated.
A tmabodha.
If thou objectest “how I should grasp this?” Pray do
not grasp it, ; _fpr the residui^m after alljrrasping is at
Panchadasi.
Where is the man who doubts the fact of his own
existencej* If such a one be found, he should be told that
jie himself, ^^^^oJlius^dojiMsi^
Svatmanirupama .
No other knowledge is necessary in knowing one§ self,
for the Self is all knowledge; — the lamp requires not the
light of another lamp for its own illumination.
Atmabodha.
18
THE REAL SELF. 19
Setting aside every thing which becomes the object of
knowledge in this world, there yet remains a residuum,
the real essence of knowledge. The knowledge that this
ie the Real Self, is true knowledge of the Self.
Panchadasi.
It is the ear of ears, the mind of minds, the speech of
speech, the breath of breaths, the eye of eyes. The wise
transcending these (i. e. the physical ear, mind, etc.) and
renouncing this world of experience, rest in eternal
immortality.
Kenopanishad.
This Self in my heart is smaller than a grain of rice
or barley or mustard, smaller than a grain of the Syamaka
or even than a part of its part. And yet, this Self in my
heart is bigger than the earth, more extensive than the
atmosphere, wider than the sky, greater than all these
worlds together. It is all action, all desire, all smell, all
taste; It pervades all that is; It is void of speech, and
all other senses; ever indifferent to good or evil. This
indeed is the Self in my heart, this indeed is the Real Self.
He becomes this Real Self, after passing away from here,
who has faith in the Self, and has no doubt whatever.
Chhandogyopanishad.
All this is the One Self, this Self is the Universal Self.
Mandukyopanishad.
Asthe fool with eyes all bedimmed^sees the sun all
ISQ5sSli^il^IoHlL^i^£i^i^32is’B5EH^
nTbondageL onjyjto the jKicSnir^riGusion._ T am this
“plireSeTfwhose Tormis~all eternal consciousness.
Hastamalakastotra.
It is the one pervading all, but ever untouched by any,
and therefore ever pure, and all clear, like the all-pervading
Akasa. I am this pure Self whose form is all eternal
consciousness.
Hdstamalakastotra,
20 THE UPANISHADS.
It is without mind, without eyes, without any similar
means of relating itself to the objective. But neverthe-
less, it is the mind as well as the eye of all minds and all
eyes, nay the means of means; — Its form being ever
incomprehensible by the mind, the eyes and the rest.
I am this pure Self, all eternal consciousness.
Hastamalakastotra.
I am indeed that Supreme eternal Real Self which is
all bliss; all light; beyond illusion; beyond conditions;
realizable only in the idea “I AM.”
Vijnananauka.
It is this infinite atom, all this is that Self from end to
end, It is the Truth, It is the Self ;— oh S’vetaketu ! THOU
ART THAT.
Chhandogyopanishad.
As a lump of salt melted in water cannot be experienced
by the eye, but only by the tongue, so indeed the ever-
existent Real Self shining in the depth of the heart, cannot
be realized by the external senses, but only by the light
of that sympathetic awakening which comes from the word
of a teacher. THOU indeed ART this REAL SELF,
not the phenomenal that appears around.
Svarajyasiddhi.
The ocean transformed, through the action of clouds,
into the form of rivers, etc., ceases to be itself; so indeed
hast thou forgotten thyself through the power of condi-
tions. Oh friend ! remember thy full Self, THOU ART
THE REAL SELF,— the ground of existence— the ALL.
Svarajyasiddhi.
Where there is anything like duality there alone does
one see another; there alone does one smell another;
there alone does one hear another; there alone does one
speak to another ; there alone does one think of another ;
there alone does one know another. But when all is One
THE REAL SELF. 21
Self to him, what should he smell, and with what? what
should he see, and with what? what should he hear, and
with what? what should he speak of, and with what?
what should he think of, and with what? what should
he know, and with what ? By what indeed should that
be known through, which knows everything? By what
should the Knower be known?
Brhadaranyakopanishad .
It is not attainable by the most constant attendance
at lectures. For many, though hearing numerous such,
never know what It is. Strange indeed is the speaker
who speaks of It ; stranger still who obtains It ; but most
strange of all is he who, being properly instructed by a
competent teacher realizes It in himself and all.
Kathopanishad,
PART IV.
THE WAY.
f Till Study should not allay in thee the sense of separate-
\ness, the mind_cannot take on the form oT that essence^
[and tEou canst^ not realizeJThe Real SelL Four indeecL
/ are the gatekeepers at the^ entrance of the palace of
I liberation: — (1) Self-restraint, (2) Contemplation, (3)
Contentment, (4) Company of the Wise.
Yogavasishtha.
Hgalone_escapes from the web ofjllusion^in this world,
(eveiTlike the lord of beasts from the frap which holds
him fast,) who, With all acts, all pleasures, attuned to the
Supreme Aim, puts forth strong personal effort in that
behalf.
Yogai’asishtha.
Trees continue to vegetate, and so do live on beasts
and birds; he alone lives whose mind lives not in conse-
quence of taking on a variety of forms. All holy writ is
so much burden to him who has no discrimination, all
philosophy is so much burden to him whose germ of desire
IsLnot destroyed : the”mind is so much burden to him Twno
has not acquired self-control, the body is so much burden
to him who knows only the anatman (non-self.)
Yogavasishtha.
There can be no man more despicable than him who
does not put into practice the words of the proficient
teacher, who explains, with great pains, the Real Truth,
on being questioned.
Yogavasishtha.
All desire is ignorance, the destruction of desire is
liberation, and this liberation oh Rama ! is easily brought
22
THE WAY. 23
about only by ceasing to desire. The mind experiences
bondage from the firm conviction “I am not the Real
Self.” It realizes entire freedom, from the equally firm
conviction “I am the Real Self.”
Yogavasishtha.
He continually sees the Real Self, who studies to unify
philosophy, and the teacher’s explanations, with the facts
of his own consciousness.
Yogavasishtha.
The light breaking in upon the mind should not be
excluded -by that false logic which puts forth unholy
guesses of every kind up to the obliteration even of the
facts of consciousness.
Yogavasishtha.
With no confidence in the facts of his own conscious-
ness, and with the obvious endlessness of argumentation,
how would he who poses himself as a Professor of Logic,
obtain conviction of Truth? If argumentation is meant
as a help to the intellect, you are welcome to argue in
accord with the facts of your consciousness, but certainly
not to argue without aim, in any line you choose.
Panchadasi.
The sense of this can never be gathered by Intellect
alone, oh beloved one! it leads to real knowledge only
when used by one who really knows. This knowing is
that which thou, oh child of truth ! hast already acquired ;
— oh Nachiketas! there indeed can be no better questioner
than Thyself.
Kathopanishad.
This Self is not realizable by study, nay not even by
intelligence or much learning. The Self unfolds its full
essence to him alone who applies his self to Self. He
who has not given up the ways of vice, he who is not
able to control himself, he who is not at peace within,
he whose mind is not at rest, can never realize the self,
though full of all the learning in the world. That which
24 THE UPANISHADS.
lies at the root of all distinctions of caste and creed is its
food, even death itself is its drink; — who, not so prepared,
can know what It is?
Kathopanishad .
How can books enlighten that lump of clay fashioned
in the form of man, who does not in any manner realize
the Truth explained to him with all possible clearness.
Naishkarmyasiddhi.
We rejoice with those whom we recognize as centered
in Self Realization; the rest we pity; with the deluded
we do not care to argue.
Panchadasi.
Talk as much philosophy as you please, worship as
many gods as you like, observe all ceremonies, sing
devoted praises of any number of deities; — liberation
never conies, even at the end of a hundred kalpas, without
realization of the Oneness of Self.
V ‘ ivekachudamani.
Who knows Spiritual Consciousness passes beyond
death, and enters Immortality.
Isopanishad.
The Good is one thing, the Agreeable another; men
find them in a variety of objects and become bound, one
way or other. He who attaches himself to the Supreme
Good reaps the highest bliss ; he who persues the Agree-
able is cheated of the real object of existence.
Kathopanishad.
These, the Good and the Agreeable, thou knowest,
are opposed one to the other in their very nature, and
having entirely different results in store. Oh Nachikelasf
the various desires I propose to thee fail to move, thou
art really devoted to the Agreeable alone. Groping about
in its night, fools flatter themselves with wisdom and
learning, and continue to tumble about, without end, like
the blind led by the blind.
Kathopanishad; Mundakopanishad.
THE WAY. 25
The lyre with all the beauty of its make, and the
melody of its music, serves at best to please the hearer;
it cannot lead to universal empire. In the same manner
all the flow of speech, all the stream of sweet words, all the
skill expended in explaining philosophy, — all that the
learned call learning, has the senses and mind, not the
Self, for its end. Vain is the study of philosophy if it
leads not to the Essence, equally vain is all philosophy
if the Essence is. realized.
^ Vvvekachudamani.
Disease disappears not with the mere name of medi-
cine, but by actually swallowing it. Talking of the Self,
without proper realization, can never bring about libera-
tion. Till the objective is not dissolved in the subject;
till the Essence of Self is not realized; no liberation can
come from speaking Its mere name — all the fruit of such,
activity is only waste of so much breath.
Vivekachudamani,
PART V.
THE STUDENT.
The knowing intellect skilled in grasping the pros and
cons of every theme, and cleared of all dross by the means
just described, is the true aspirant after self-knowledge,
i Discrimination, “non-attachment, J self-control and its
accompaniments, Iteen desire of liberation, these make one
fit to inquire after The Real Self.
Vivekachudamani.
This Self cannot be realized by want of spiritual
strength, by indifference, by austerities unaccompanied
with renunciation. The self of that knower who applies
himself to Self with the means described enters the Great
Self. Sages having found It, stand ever content in
Spiritual Consciousness; remain centered in the Self,
being free from all attachment, and always at peace within
and without. They find the unconditioned and all-
pervading, and realizing It within, become one with the
All. With faith firmly fixed in the teaching of the
Yogis, with the mind entirely purified through renuncia-
tion and Spiritual Consciousness, ascetics, one with the
immortal, become one with the Real Self at the moment
of dissolution.
Mundakopanishad.
In the air or in water no, mark is seen of the passagejrf
bircTs or fishes \ so is entirely inscrutable the passage of the
Tchowers of ffie Self.
Sankaracharya,
The eye perceives not sound, being dissimilar by
nature ; the material eye cannot see the spiritual self.
Naishkarmyasiddhi.
26
THE STUDENT. 27
As the face is fully reflected in a clear glass, so in the
true seeker the Spirit is reflected in the intellect.
Atmapurana.
^
He knows who finds a teacher ; he then delays only so
long as he is not free from the body, for on being so free
he is one with the All.
Chhandogyopanishad.
Having obtained this priceless birth, with all the senses
in their full activity, he who does not understand the good
of Self, destroys himself.
Mahabharata.
The boat — .this body — has been chartered^ by thee at
the heaviest price — all thy good agts^to cross over to
the other side of this ocean of sin and sorrow. Pray pass
on before it breaks.
Miscellaneous.
Those who destroy their Self, go, after death, to the
sphere called Asurya (without the sun), all enveloped in
thick darkness.
Isopanishad; Brhadaranyakopanishad.
PART VI.
THE TEACHER.
Till thy mind reaches the stage of intuitive develop-
ment, follow what is assured thee by teachers, books and
the logical instruments of knowledge. When thus is burnt
j>ut all latent desire, and the Thing is realized, thou
shouldst not hesitate to give up all concern even with
these, however good or useful they be.
Yogavashitha.
By my book is meant all that is written by way of ex-
plaining the facts of nature, by great souls free from likes
and dislikes, with eyes trained to observation and reason.
Those resolute souls who are full of the highest goodness,
who are equal to all, and who are possessed of a tact
peculiar to themselves, are the really wise.
Yogavasishtha.
I, thus informed, am yet only versed in the words of
the Mantras (the sacred hymns), I know nothing of Self.
I have heard from sages of your stamp that the knowerjrf.
Self rises above all sorrow. With all my learning, I am
fulf oT discontent and sorrow, oh Lord! take me to the
other side of this ocean of misery.
Chhandogyopanishad.
This Real Self should be explained by the father to his
eldest son, or by the teacher to a properly sympathetic
pupil, and to no one else.
Chhandogyopanishad.
Oh Rama! the cause of Self-Realization is none other
than the pupil’s own intelligence.
Yogavastshtha.
THE TEACHER. 29
One course leads to success in one birth or many, by
gradual practice after the manner pointed out by the
teacher; the other leads soon to real Spiritual Conscious-
ness through the Self, aided even by intellectual develop-
ment, even like the fall of the fruit from above.
Yogavasishtha.
Having supported Self by Self, of one’s own accord,
through reflection, one should carry this deer — his own
mind — across the ocean of delusion, this world.
Yogavasishtha.
(Tell me what thou seest as other than religion and non-
religion, other than these effects or their causes, other
than that which is past and that which is yet to come.
Kathopanishad.
S’aunaka, the rich householder, approached Angirasa
in due formality, and asked oh Lord ! Teach me that whose
knowledge leads to the knowledge of all that is !
Mundakopanishad.
The ultimate aim of all the Vedas, the final result of all
austerity, the object of keeping the period of studentship,
I describe to thee in brief : — it is the syllable “AUM.” This
is the symbol of the immutable self; this is the highest
Essence. It becomes whatever he desires to him who
knows this, the ever-unchangeable. This, indeed, is the
highest support, the greatest help, betaking himself to
this he becomes glorified in THAT.
Kathopanishad.
The knower of the Self attains to the Supreme ; hence
it is said “The Self is Being, Consciousness, Limitlessness.”
He who realizes this, present in the intellect, as well as in
the highest Akasa, has access to the fruition of all desire
whatever, at one sweep, being one with all-seeing Self.
Taittiriyopanishad.
This cosmos is all Soul; all ceremonial ; all austerities ;
the highest immortal Self. He who realizes this in the
30 THE UPANISHADS.
v cavity of the heart, easily scatters into nothing, oh good
one ! the knot of Illusion, even in this life.
Mundakopanishad.
The wise knowing, through the practice of subjective
concentration, the All-effulgent One, extremely difficult
- to see; concealed deep beyond everything; shining
through all acts in every heart ; inaccessible ; and without
beginning; they transcend all pleasure and all pain.
Kathopanishad.
He who sees himself in All, and All in himself, attains
to the empire of Self, thus worshipping Self and looking on
all things with equal eye.
Manu.
Knowing the great all-pervading Self, through whom
is experienced the whole of dream and waking, the wise
never become subject to sorrow.
Kathopanishad.
As surely as water showered on a table-land seeks the
lower ground, so indeed does one seeing variety in the
attributes of Personality, become attached to them in
future. As water poured upon a clear even surface
stands ever pure and undefiled, so stands the Self of the
silent knower.
Kathopanishad.
This body is the city, with nine gates, wherein dwells
the unborn, unfailing Consciousness. He who knows
this well never comes to grief, and is liberated twice over.
Kathopanishad.
These rivers flowing to and gaining the ocean lose
themselves in it, lose even their name and form, and
become included in the name “Ocean.” So do all the
sixteen forms of the objective flowing to and gaining the
Self become lost in Him. They lose even their name and
form, and become included in the Self. This Self is the
immortal, transcending all forms of the mortal, This is
TH17 TEACHER. 31
thus summed up: — That death may not overpower thee,
know the only knowable, the Self, in whom are centred
all forms like the radii of a chariot- wheel in its hub.
Prasnopanishad.
Know that one Self alone with which are bound sky,
earth, atmosphere, mind, and all the vital breaths.
” Leave aside all other speech. This alone is the bridge
over the gulf of this world to Immortality.
Mundakopanishad.
The Brahmans disown him who knows other than Self
as a Brahman. The Ks\atriyas disown him who knows
other than Self as a Kshatriya. The people disown him
who knows other than Self as the people. The gods
disown him who knows other than Self as a god. The
spirits disown him who knows other than self as a spirit.
Everything disowns that which knows other than Self
as the thing. The Brahmans; the Kshatriyas; the peo-
ple; the gods; the spirits; everything; — is Self.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
That Self which is beyond sin, decay, dejjth, sorrow ;
which requires no food nor drink; which is all accom-
plished desire, all fulfilled thought ; should be looked for,
should be inquired after. He gains access to all worlds,
has all his desires fulfilled, who, having known this Self,
realizes It fully in himself and all.
Chhandogyopanishad.
Said Yajnavalkya to the Emperor Janaka: The
same has been explained by the Vedas as well: this,
indeed, is the eternal glory of him who has realized The
Absolute. It neither grows nor is diminished by doing,
or not doing, any act. The knower knows this very truth.
Knowing this, he is not affected by any Karma whatever,
all being as sin to him. The heat of his senses cools
down into that calmness of mind which follows on absence
of desire; All kind of latent attachment leaves him;
No conditions disturb him ; Ecstasy environs him, — who
knowing thus sees Self in Self, sees the All as Self. No
32 THE UPANISHADS.
good or evil touches him ; he transcends all good and all
evil. The fulfilment or non-fulfilment of any secular or
temporal act affects him not, he having reduced them all to
nothing. He is beyond all form; beyond all desire;
beyond all doubt. This is the real Spiritual Consciousness,
this is the real condition of Spirit.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
I know this Self to be the All, the Great Self, all
effulgence, transcending all darkness. Knowing this, one
can transcend even death ; — there surely is no other road
out of this world.
S’vetasvataropanishad.
Like and dislike do not cease to affect him who yet
relates himself to the body; these never touch him who
has disembodied himself, mentally.
Chhandogyopanishad.
As oil is found in sesamum-seeds; as ghee is found in
curds; as water is found in water-courses; or as fire is
^ found in the gram- wood: so is the Self seen in Self by him
wlio tries to realize It through universal love and perfect
control over mind and body.
S’vetasvataropanishad.
Brahmans and others desirous of knowing It, know It
by the study of the Vedas; by sacrifice : by ascetic prac-
tices unaccompanied with desire; — knowing It they be-
come the Silent Ones. Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Having explained the Vedas to his pupil, the teacher
thus enjoins him : Tell the truth ; go by religious forms ;
never disregard thy proper study; and having satisfied
thy teacher do not put an end to thy line.
Taittiriyopanishad.
Three are the stays of religion : — Sacrifice, Study, and
Charity.
Chhandogyopanishad.
THE TEACHER. 33
He who knows It the immutable Spirit thus; and he
who does not know It thus ; both perform Karma by It.
Wisdom and Ignorance admit of innumerable varieties;
that alone which is done with knowledge, faith, and
complete surrender, becomes powerful for good.
Chhandogyopanishad.
Even like the radii fixed in the hub of a chariot-wheel,
is He, the Eternal one, pervading everything, and appear-
ing as many, after the forms of the intellect. Meditate
on this thy Self as the syllable Aum. May you be ever
happy in the realization of THAT which transcends all
darkness.
Mundakopanishad.
Seeing the whole universe subject to the law of causa-
tion, the Brahmans understands that there is nothing
other than the Self which is the causeless uncreate, and
finding no use in acting up to the ideals of the world feels
supreme contempt for everything. He then repairs. wjth_
holy grass in hand, totheteacher/ well-versed in sacred
lore and full of theifealization ofSpirit, to inquire after
the Eternal. The/knower explains to him, who with
mind free from all egoism, and with the senses turned
within, repairs/to him, thus questioning, that Inner
Doctrine whic>i reveals the eternal Self, the highest Truth.
Mundakopanishad.
The ^nief help to self-realization is, however, that
reflection which comes ot one’s own~efrort~—-An the rest,
Including the teacher’s grace, and so forth, are but subor-
dinate means to the end. Attend, therefore, carefully
to the principal means.
Yogcwasishtha,
PART VII.
THE LESSON.
Beyond desire; without parts; above egoism; being
or non-being; — whatever Thou art, Thou canst not
escape from being the Self. Thou destroyest ; protectest ;
givest; shinest; speakest; though ever free from egoism ;
— wonderful is the power of Maya, illusion.
Yogavasishtha.
He thought: I may become many and multiply. He
objectified himself and evolved all this, everything
whatever. Having evolved this, he entered into it ; and
entering became all positives and all negatives, all
spirit and all matter, all infinite and all finite.
Taittiriyopanishad.
Then, when It was all Unmanifest, It, of itself, became
manifest through name and form, endowing everything
with this or that name, and this or that form. All things
even till now are defined by some name and some form.
This is all the import of Its entering in the objective
evolved from itself.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Dadhyangatharvana thus described this “Divine
Honey” to the As-vinikumaras; the seer telling what he
saw, describing It as taking on a separate form with every
form. The ever-effulgent is understood to take on many
forms through illusion solely for the purpose of self-
realization.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The one who is self-enlightened, becomes everything
from the highest to the lowest; becomes the many in
34
THE LESSON. 35
dreams, and as it were, enjoys all pleasures, laughs a
hearty laugh with friends, or feels the sense of fear on
seeing cause for it.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
In dreams there are in reality no chariots; no horses,
not even the course on which the chariot may run; and
yet all these are mentally created in a moment. There
are in reality no joys ; no pleasures ; no delights ; and yet
all are mentally seen and felt at the instant. There are
in reality no ponds, no lakes, no rivers; and yet all are
there at the merest thought. This power of evolving any
number of forms from Itself is the Creative Power of the
One.
BrahadaranyakopanisJiad.
This, therefore, is the Truth. As from fire well lighted,
fiery sparks flow off in all directions by the thousand, so
do all beings of every variety come out, oh good one ! from
the ever Immutable, and are resolved also into the same.
It is the self -illumined, formless, Spirit, all within and all
without ; unborn ; without breath ; without mind ; above
all conditions ; beyond the eternal cause of the phenomen-
al.
Mundakopanishad.
Camphor and the like never cease to emit fragrance,
though kept in any place whatever. The whole of the
phenomenal may, in the same manner, be seen in that
which is all consciousness. As the bracelet is in the gold ;
as water is in the mirage, or even as a wall stands round
the city seen in dream; so subsists the form of every
object in the subject.
Yogavasishtha.
He who generally knows everything, knows the same
particularly also; this omniscience is the only austerity
known to him.
Mundakopanishad.
As the statue pre-exists in the wood; and a statue
36 THE UPANISHADS.
exists again in every limb of that statue; and so on ad
infinitum, so does this gigantic statue — the Kosmos —
exist in the One.
Yogavasishtha.
The wise realize everywhere THAT which is beyond
sight; beyond grasp; which has no relation whatever;
which has no form ; which has no eye and no ear, no hand,
no foot; which is eternal, all-pervading, smallest of the
small, ever immutable, the source of all being. As a spider
spins out his web from within himself and draws it in
at pleasure ; or as herbs grow out of the earth ; or as hairs
grow out of the living man, so, indeed, does evolve the
Kosmos from the ever unchangeable One.
Mundakopanishad.
This Asvattha-trez, with root upward and branches
extending below, stands eternally thriving ; it is the spot-
less, it is as the Self, that verily is the Immortal ; all worlds
subsist in it, nothing can transcend It. This is THAT.
\ Through It burn fire ; through It shines the sun ; through
It thunders Indra; through It blows the wind. If thou
.fajlest in this world to see the Light before the dissolution
jpfthy body, thoiihast before{hee^a~pa^ageji^anoth^r
“body through wor!4s and creations^
Kathopanishad.
As consciousness bears witness to itself, or as separate-
ness bears out separateness, so is illusion sufficient, of
itself, to bear out itself and everything in contains. This
indeed is Illusion, capable of bringing about things and
events beyond conception; — it deludes all in the whirl
of its illusive action.
Svarajyasiddhi.
I
The Self-Existent inflicted a curse on the senses in
endowing them with a teri3ea€j£jto ob jectivize ; it is
hence that they tend to objects without, and^rfot to thc_
subject within. Some rarejSages desirous of immortality
“seeThe SelfJ turning ‘tSelrey^\^j.thint Children find
pleasure in the^bject!wrs®d~^ecomTDound in the ex-
THE LESSON. 37
pansive net of death; the wise knowing immortality as
the only thing stable, care not to desire anything of the
impermanent.
Kathopanishad.
Self is the rider on the chariot of this body guided by
the intellect as charioteer, drawn by the senses as power-
ful horses, controlled by way of the mind serving for the
reins. Thus runs the vehicle over the course of experience.
The Self thus conditioned by the senses and the mind is
called the Enjoyer by those who know. He who is for-
saken by the charioteer (intelligent discrimination), and
has no idea of guiding the reins — his mind — in the proper
manner, has no control over the senses, and is like a driver
of restive horses. He who has the intellect for his driver
and the mind for proper reins, is able to reach the other
end of the course, the highest essence of the All- Pervading.
THAT ever concealed in all, is never manifest, but is grasped
by the sharp intellect of those who are trained to minute
observation.
Kathopanishad.
Though having only three Gunas, or Qualities, Thou
art the cause of all the worlds ; even the gods fail, through
want of insight, to measure the depth of Thy immeasur-
able power. Thou art the sustainer of all, the whole of
this universe is only a particle of Thyself; — thou indeed
art the undiff erentiated first cause, the highest Prakrti. Oh
Divine Mother! thou art that supreme science of power
Inconceivably “immense, which sages desirous of liberation,
rising above every weakness, apply themselves to, with
the inner power of their senses held tight in perfect control.
The Saptasati (Markendeyapurana).
Thou art the light that shines through the sun, dis-
pelling the darkness of ignorance prevailing within ; thou
art the vein that carries the fragrant honey of the flower
of consciousness to every particle of matter ; thou art that
which becomes thousands of that jewel which satisfies
every desire of the needy; thou, Divine One ! art to those
38 THE UPANISHADS.
struggling in the ocean of incarnation, the Restorer and
Preserver.
Anandalahari.
This divine godess, the power of supreme illusion
forcibly drags away the mind even of the knower into the
web of delusion.
Saptasati (Markandeyapurana).
He who while fully attached of his body, desires to
« realize Self, prepares to cross a river on the back of a
crocodile mistaking it for a piece of wood.
Vivekachudamani.
If the Wise Man leans towards objects and enjoyments,
forge tfulness throws him off the guard, like an adulteress
her paramour, by clouding his intellect. As moss moved
from upon the face of water stands not away even for a
minute, delusion (Maya) envelopes even the knowing one,
if he is off his guard.
Vivekachudamani.
A woman may appear as a wife, daughter-in-law,
sister-in-law, brother’s-wife, mother^ and so on, respect-
ively, to the several persons related to her, but she her-
self continues ever one.
Panchadasi.
That the origin of experience is explained from evolu-
tion, after the manner of pots, etc., from clay ; instruments
etc., from iron; or sparks from fire; is only a method of
putting the matter to the learner; there is, in reality, no
distinction whatever in the All.
Gaudapadacharya .
He, who imagines a limit in the limitless, transcendant,
Self, has, of himself, put his self in bondage.
Yoga-vasishtha.
That which is naught at beginning and end, is naught
THE LESSON. 39
in the present moment also; things though fully resem-
unfeafityTare said toTbe real by a kind of metaphor.
Gaudapadacharya.
Experience known as experience tends to degrade, but
known as import of the World, it becomes all perfect bliss.
Yogavasishtha.
Thou alone eternally evolvest through the gracefulness
of thyself made up of being and non-being, having for
its embodiment the wonderful variety of endless objects.
Yogavasishtha.
As the rope, not understood as such, is mistaken, in
the dark, for a snake, so is Spirit mistaken for the variety
of this world.
Gaudapadacharya .
Experience, full of likes and dislikes, is verily a dream;
real while it lasts, all unreal on being awake.
Almabodha,
PART VIII.
HE LAW OF KARMA.
Fortitude, forbearance, self-restraint, no desire for
other’s wealth, purity, control over the senses, conscious
intelligence, spiritual culture, truthfulness, absence of
anger, — these ten make up the characteristics of all true
religion whatever.
Manu.
As the caterpillar, getting to the end of the straw,
takes itself away after finding a resting-place in advance,
so the Soul leaving this body, and finding another place in
advance, takes himself off from his original abode. As
the goldsmith taking little by little of the gold expands
it into a new form, so, indeed, does this Soul, leaving
this body, make a new and happy abode for himself.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The sacrifice of the ignorant drowns itself and those
who betake themselves to it. Those fools who imagine
any good in this, are led again and again into the wheel
of decay and death. Those men of stupid intellect who
imagine vain forms and ceremonies as the height of
religion, and know no good besides, return again into
this world or even into a lower one.
Mundakopanishad.
Therefore, as here, in this world, dies out what may
be encompassed by Action, so dies out in the world next
to this, all that may be acquired through acts of formal
religion.
Chhandogyopanishad.
40
THE LAW OF KARMA. 41
.Forms of religion but forge so many bqndsjxmnd the
individual; Spiritual^ Consciousness alonedisperses them’.
Maha-Bharata.
Formal religion has its use in purification of the
intellect, it cannot show us THAT. THAT is realized
through reflection, not at all even by a million forms of
worship.
Vivekachudamani.
Karma leads to that result alone which it can produce,
reach, evolve, or modify ; liberation is not brought about
in any of these ways ; hence Karma cannot be the means
of liberation.
Naishkarmyasiddhi.
Karma never dispels ignorance, being under the same
category. Knowledge alone destroys ignorance, even as
light dispels darkness.
A tmabodha.
Happiness or misery is not in any one’s giving, it is
all a misunderstanding of the intellect which shows
either the one or the other as coming from some one else.
Nay, the proud egoism even in the act, of the form “I do it,”
is entirely vain. Every individual is governed by his
own Karma,
Miscellaneous,
PART IX.
DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP.
All this verily is the Self, for it is of it, in it, and
through it. The self -controlled should devote himself to
this Self. The man is all Idea, whatever Idea the man
cherishes in this world that he becomes in the next. Fix
thyself, therefore, on to the Idea of the Self.
Chhandogyopanishad.
Teachers; interpretations of sacred texts; the force
of religious merit; none of these lead to the realization
of THAT which is revealed in the clear reflection of the
heart, engendered from contact with the good.
Yogavasishtha.
Clarified butter, though present in every part of the
cow, conduces naught to her nourishment. It serves as
the best nourishment to its producer, only when worked
out into its proper form. In the same manner, the highest
effulgent Self, present in all beings, even like the clarified
butter, is never of any practical use to them, till properly
realized through the force of devotion.
Yogavasishtha.
If you ask what can be the difference between Spiritual
Consciousness and devotion? pray hear; reflection is
bound up with the thing, devotion with the actor. Spirit-
ual Consciousness comes cf reflection, no opposite desire
can put it out; it burns up every appearance of reality
in the world of phenomena, in the very moment of its
birth. 0 , , .
Panchadasi.
This body is the holy Kasi; the river of Spirituality
flowing through and through the three worlds is the sacred
42
DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP. 43
Ganges; devotion and faith stand for the heavenly Gaya;
the much-coveted Prayaga is, indeed, in deep concentra-
tion at the feet of the teacher; and this inner Self, the
fourth, the witness of every one’s mind, is the God; — if
thus all holy places stand together in this body of mine,
what other place could be holier to seek?
Kasi-panchaka.
Formal objects of worship are devised for the use of
those who have not yet realized the Essence; going by
miles is devised for those who cannot go by leagues.
Yogavasishtha.
Said Prajapati: whence does come this fear! With
the thought, “why did I fear?” disappeareth all fear;
for, fear comes of duality.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Insist not on the order of steps in the process of Self-
realization ; the inverted vision which, like hunger, is the
cause of much tangible suffering, must in one way or other,
be cured.
Panchadasi.
Attend to this, the essence of all Spirituality, and
attending, digest it well. Desire alone is bondage, its
destruction is liberation.
Yoga/vasishtha.
To all ascetics whatever, the condition of Fearlessness
depends upon control of the mind, which leads also to
destruction of misery; perfect light, and inexhaustible
peace.
Gaudapadacharya .
The mind of Rama! is that which is between being and
non-being, which stands between spirit and matter, which
in fact swings to and fro between the two.
Yogavasishtha.
Thinking evolves the objective. All the three worlds
44 THE UPANI8HADS.
exist in and through thinking. The Kosmos melts away
on its dissolution. This thinking should carefully be
diagnosed.
Yogavasishtha.
All ideas come of Thinking, they disappear on sus-
pension of Thinking. Attune this Thinking, therefore,
to the highest Self, thy Inner Consciousness.
Vivekachudamani.
That which leads to false vision, sets up the Personal
Self in place of the Real Self; shadows forth a thing in no-
thing;— this oh Raghava! is that which we describe as
“thinking.”
Yogavasishtha.
Abandon all latent desire for the multitude of enjoy-
ments pressing round. Nay give up even the desire for
life as represented in the body. And finally rise above all
sense of being and non-being. Find thus full Bliss in
absolute Spiritual Knowing.
Yogavasishtha.
My mind was occupied elsewhere, and I did not see;
my mind was occupied elsewhere, and I did not hear ; it is
through the mind alone that one sees or hears. Love,
thought, doubt, belief, unbelief, patience, impatience,
intelligence, shame, fear, all make up the mind.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Mind alone is, to men, the cause of bondage or libera-
tion ; — lost in the enjoyment it leads to bondage, emptied
of the personal it leads to liberation.
Panchadasi.
The light of Spirituality breaks not in full force upon
that puny thing which is all beclouded with fear of the
world, with pride of learning ; and with love of life.
Smrti.
The father, being victim of Illusion, bewails the loss of
DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP. 45
his son, taking him for dead, though he be full of life in
some far off land. On the other hand, he does not bewail
even though his son be dead, till the information has
reached him. It is plain, the cause of bondage -lies in the
mental creaUorj,
Panchadasi.
You may drink the ocean dry; you may uproot from
its base the mountain Meru; you may swallow fire. But
more difficult than all these, oh Good One ! is control over
the mind.
Panchadasi.
As fire, not fed by fuel, subsides into its place, so, in-
deed, does all thinking die out into its source, on not being
led into modifications of any kind.
Jivanmuktiviveka.
He who understanding the mind applies himself, again
and again, to subduing it, gains no success without the
help of some consummate plan, even like one who fails to
subdue a mad elephant without the iron hook. Applica-
tion to spiritual science ; company of the good ; abandon-
ment of latent desire; restraining the flow of breath;
these are some of the most useful means to control the
mind. Those who, in face of these, try to control it
through physical practices, lose sight of the lamp, while
vainly dispelling darkness with darkness.
Yogavasishtha.
Renounce all conformity with the world, give up all
concern of the body, nay, have nothing to do with the
forms of religion and learning; — thus wear off the false
illusion that wraps thy-Self.
Vivekachudamam .
As one desirous of coming out successful in debate
applies himself closely to the study of poems, plays, logic
and the like, so must he who desires liberation reflect
constantly on himself.
Panchadasi,
46 THE UPANISHADS.
The God of the twice-born is Fire. The God of the
Silent one is his Heart. Poor intellects find their God in
idols. The even-eyed enlightened one sees God every-
where.
Uttaragita,
PART X.
FREEDOM.
That mean spirit should be avoided from a distance,
who, relying on the unseen Fate, attributes his conduct
to the unreal and false idea of some one necessitating it
from behind. He is verily a beast, constantly in another’s
power, who thinks he goes to heaven or hell as God may
wil1 k- Yogavasishtha.
Even the body being of illusion, where could there be
any room for necessity? That the Vedas speak of necessity
is only for the enlightenment of the ignorant.
A parokshanubhuti.
In this world, oh child of the Raghus! every one can
always compass everything through well-directed per-
sonal effort. Yogavasishtha.
Resort to personal effort. Hear such word of scripture
as points out some useful line of action. The rest, even
though as old as time, should be overlooked, with the eye
fixed on truth and truth alone. Yogavasishtha.
The wise, relying on necessity, should not give up free
personal effort, for even necessity works through freedom.
Yogavasishtha.
He who sets himself not at liberty by cutting the tight
bond— his mind — with his mind, can never be freed by
any one else. Yogavasishtha.
47
PART XI.
SPIRITUAL KNOWING.
Spiritual Knowing, is of all means, the only direct
means of liberation. Liberation is never accomplished
without it, as sure as food is not cooked without fire.
Atmabodha.
The Real Truth is seen by reflection engendered
through some beneficent suggestion ; it can never be seen
by constant washing, by giving gifts, nay not even by a
hundred breathing exercises.
Vwekachudamani.
The state of the Real Self is within reach of those alone
who are full of austerity, virtue, and truthfulness. Those,
indeed, find that entirely pure condition, in whom there
is not the remotest trace of fashionable lies or deliberate
falsehoods, nor any hypocrisy whatever.
Prasnopanishad.
When entirely disappear all desires rankling in the
heart, the moral becomes immortal, and fully realizes
the Self even here. When here, indeed, burst all ties that
bind the heart so fast, the mortal surely becomes immortal.
This verily is the teaching of the whole of the Vedanta.
Kathopanishad.
No means other than reflection can produce real
Spiritual Knowing. Nothing but light can ever reveal
the existence of things.
A parokshanubhuti.
Reflection may run as follows : — Who am I ? How is
this evolved? Who can be the creator of this? What
48
SPIRITUAL KNOWING. 49
may be the material cause? And it may proceed to
answer the questions thus: — I am not the body — a mere
cluster of elements, — nor even the senses. I am some-
thing quite different from the one as well as the other.
Things come out of ignorance, but die away on the rise
of Spiritual Knowing.
A parokshamtbhuti.
Reflection must be supposed to have borne fruit in
that man of good intellect, who continues to lose, from
day to day, all desire for enjoyment.
Yogavasishtha.
Depth such as of the ocean; firmness such as of the
Meru; and internal coolness such as of the moon ; — these
arise in the man devoted to reflection.
Yogavasishtha.
PART XII.
THE FOUR-FOLD MEANS.
The four means of Self-realization beginning with non-
attachment, come about from keeping all duties prescribed
for the occupation one belongs to; by austerity; and by
satisfying God with devotion.
A parokshanubhuti.
Control ; give ; sympathize ; these three must be learnt
and practised: Self-control, charity, and sympathy.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Thou longeth after unrealities such as “I” and “mine.”
Those who know wish thy activity were directed to the
highest reality. Thou never canst know the thing nor
can /. It is meet, therefore, oh mind! for thee to turn
to self-restraint.
U padesasdkasri.
Self-restraint consists in freedom from latent desire.
Control consists in checking the activity of the external
senses. That is the height of Non-attachment which
turns the mind entirely away from the objective. That
is the best of Indifference which patiently puts up with
all evils whatever. Faith is full confidence in sacred texts
and their interpreters. Constant oneness of aim is the
mind’s fixing on the Eternal Being — this is called Pacifi-
cation of the mind. Oh my fate! when and how shall
I get rid of the bonds of this world — this firm and burning
desire may be described as the Desire-for-Liberation.
A parokshanubhuti.
Where these — Non-attachment and Desire-for-libera-
tion — are as yet in the initial stage, there can but appear
50 J
THE FOUR-FOLD MEANS. 51
a mere glimpse of Self-restraint and the rest, even like a
glimpse of water in the mirage.
Vwekachudamani.
The wild mare — Desire — breaking away to the longest
distance, and running back as often, keeps roving about
up to the very dwelling of the hunters.
Yogavasishtha.
He alone sees who looks upon another’s wife as upon
his own mother; who looks upon another’s wealth aa
upon so much earth and stone; who looks upon every
being as upon his own Self.
Smrti.
To the fishes — these men — in the pond of birth and
death, wallowing in the slough of the mind, bad latent
desires serve for the line to which the woman stands
attached as the treacherous bait. He feels desire for
enjoyment who has a woman about him; there is no
place for enjoyment to the womanless. Abandon woman,
and you abandon the whole world ; abandoning the whole
world, you find supreme happiness. Yoga-vasishtha.
Wealth, ever on the move, clouds the intellect, nips
the line of virtues in the very bud, and betrays into the
net of misery. The man is warm and soft and all that
is desirable, to his own and to the world, only as long as
he is not sufficiently hardened by wealth, like water by
the cold blast. . ,
Yogavasishtha.
Misery attends the acquisition of wealth, and misery
attends the protection of wealth acquired, there is
misery in its coming, there is misery in its going; — oh!
fie upon wealth, the abode of misery out and out.
Panchatantra.
There is no hope of immortality through wealth, and
all it may accomplish of good or religion.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
52 ” THE UPANISHADS.
All growing ends in fading, all rising ends in falling,
all meeting ends in parting; — such indeed is the law of
this world.
Yogavasishtha.
Oh Yajnavalkya! what would your worship mean to
the All? which is beyond hunger and thirst, beyond
sorrow and illusion, beyond decay and death? It is this
Self knowing which, Brahmans, renouncing all contact
with world, wealth and wife, go about as religious mendi-
cants.
Brhadaranyakopanisliad,
Objects of desire, even though they should abide long,
are sure to depart. What difference does it make in the
parting, though men do not part from them of their own
accord? This is the answer: If they depart of them-
selves, they leave immeasurable mental suffering behind ;
if you part from them they confer on you the endless bliss
of self-restraint.
Vairagyasataka.
/ Death is the law of being. The wise describe it as
/4’Life.”
Miscellaneous.
To the really enlightened, this great city — his body —
like a garden, opening up a passage to liberation
through enjoyment ; thus all bliss and no pain whatever.
Yogavasishtha.
The mind only half informed, and not yet in full
realization of the spotless condition, feels the keenest
torture in tearing itself away from objects of enjoyment.
Yogavasishtha.
Wjth every connection which the poor thing binds
nearer itself, there is driven an additional spike of harm
into its heart of heart.
Mahabharata.
THE FOUR-FOLD MEANS. 63
Full of the waters of mental creations; boisterous
with the waves of latent desire ; infested with the crocodile
of attachment; the resort of the birds of imagination;
carrying along its mad stream the trees of fortitude
growing upon its bank; difficult to cross on account of
the treacherous eddies of illusion; enclosed within the
impassably high banks of anxiety; — thus supremely ter-
rible runs the river of Desire. The lords of ascetics, with
their minds purified of all dross, rejoice in eternal joy,
having crossed over to the other side.
V airagyasataka.
There is the greatest misery in hope, in hopelessness
is the height of bliss.
V airagyasataka .
Everything that depends on Self is bliss, everything
that depends on “Self” is misery.
Manu.
A mere cover of bark satisfies one ; but another seeks
satisfaction in wealth and luxury. The feeling, however,
is the same in either case, and the difference is really no
difference at all. He, indeed, is the miserable man of
poverty who has in him the most insatiable desire. The
mind being all contentment, what can make the rich
or the poor? _. .
V airagyasataka.
Oh my heart! to secure what favour dost thou enter
this slough of worry and distraction in trying to please
the mind of others ? If thou wouldst only please thy Self,
there would, indeed, dawn of itself, on thee, the power of
that jewel which is known to fulfil every desire; — what
wish, then, of thine will remain unfulfilled, on the merest
thought of the moment?.
V airagyasataka.
What can be said to the man who finds fault even with
him who values at its proper worth all rubbish and its
belongings !
Naishkarmyasiddhi.
54 THE UPANISHADS.
There is no remedy, within knowledge, which can
satisfy each and all. Attend, every way, to thy own good,
what can the many-tongued world do to thee?
J ivanmuktivvveka .
When men desirous of doing good, give up even wealth
acquired with considerable pains, for the pleasure of
others, I would consider it an unmixed good, brought
about without any trouble, if men should find satisfaction
in speaking ill of me. In this world where we stumble
upon poverty of spirit at every step, and which is devoid
of every kind of happiness, if any being should find
pleasure in speaking ill of me, let him by all means indulge
in his feeling, either in my presence or behind my back,
for, in this world, all misery, it is very hard to come across
even a single moment of such pleasure.
Jnanankusa.
If the wise man of the world who carefully picks holes
in the character of others, would but expend the same
skill on himself, what could prevent him from breaking
through the bonds of Ignorance.
Smrti.
If thou feelest anger at him who does thee the smallest
evil, why dost thou not feel anger at the passion itself
which entirely spoils the chief aim of existence : — Libera-
tion.
Jivanmuktivi’veka.
He who is full of discrimination, who sees one equal
Self in friends and foes as well as in himself and can feel
no more angry with any one, than with a part of himself.
The Vartika.
Life is as dear to all beings as it is to oneself ; feel com-
passion for every being taking thy own Self as the measure.
Smrti.
Let all be happy; let all enjoy perfect health; let all
v find the good of their heart ; let no one come to grief.
Jivanmuktiviveka.
THE FOUR-FOLD MEANS. 55
The triad of the Veda, the Sankhya, the Yoga, the
Pasupata, the Vaishnava; — the three prasthanas being
interpreted into one or other of these, men look upon this
as good and upon that as agreeable, and so on. — Of men
thus betaking themselves to a variety of ways. — straight,
easy or difficult, — on account of the difference of intellect,
THAT alone is the ultimate resort even like the ocean of all
water whatever. Pushpadantacharya.
The ass carrying a load of sandal-wood is conscious
only of the burden, not of the fragrant wood. So, indeed,
does he carry about a mere burden who having studied
the Religious Books knows not their real import and
essence. 7,,, .,
Uttaragtta.
That which is not to be, shall never be; that which is
to be shall never not be; — why dost thou not drain this
draught which will eradicate the poison of anxiety from
thyself?
Vairagyasataka.
What means the shaft of love, after youth has gone by ?
What means the lake, after the water is dried up? What
\/’ means friends and relatives, after all wealth is gone?
What means the world, after the Essence is realized?
S’ankaracharya.
The ascetic with the matted hair ; the mendicant with
the shaved head ; the Yati with the hair rooted out ; and
many others of the same class; play a variety of parts,
under the cloth dyed yellow-red. — People though seeing,
fail to See, and go through an amount of trouble for the
sake of the outward form and show.
S’ankaracharya.
Day follows upon night, evening succeeds morning,
the blast of withering cold follows the season full of
56 THE UPANISHADS.
flowers, and this over and over again. Time plays with
the life of beings thus wearing out ; and yet the whirl of
Desire does never subside.
S’ankaracharya.
One beam meets another in the dash of the great
ocean, and becomes immediately separated in the same
manner; similar indeed is the meeting of beings with
beings.
Mahabharata.
PART XIII.
UNION (YOGA).
Liberation is not on the other side of the sky, nor in
the nether world, nor on earth ; liberation lies in the mind
purified by proper Spiritual Knowing.
Y ogavasishtha .
He alone is fit to inquire after the Self, who has
acquired full discrimination; who is firm in non-attach-
ment; who has in him the qualities beginning with self-
control; and who, thus qualified, feels keen desire for
knowledge.
A parokshanubhuti.
I have studied enough of philosophy, nay I have
talked and taught it to my full ; And, now I am convinced
there is no condition higher than that Silence which comes
of the abondonment of all latent desire.
Yogavasishtha.
That is called the highest condition wherein all the
five senses and the mind remain under full control and
wherein even the intellect does not pass out to other
desires. This steadying of the senses is called Yoga ; the
Yogi is full awake in that condition, for, Yoga is creating
accompanied with giving up.
Kathopanishad.
Firm and studious application to the one Essence,
and control of mind; — this is a short statement of the
import of “Liberation.”
Yogavasishtha.
Two oh Raghava ! are the paths leading to suspension,
57
58 THE UPANISHADS.
of thinking: Yoga which consists in controlling the
thinking principle, and Spiritual Knowing which consists
in the proper eye for experience.
Yoga-vasishtha.
Yoga is the control of the thinking principle.
Patanjali.
Control of speech ; full independence ; absence of hope
and desire; and constant love of seclusion, — these open
the first door to Yoga.
Vivekachudamani.
The mind is controlled by practice and non-
attachment.
Patanjali.
Spiritual Knowing ; control of mind ; and destruction
of latent desire ; these being the reciprocal causes, one of
the other, they are the most difficult to accomplish.
Yogavasishtha.
Mind being nearest mind, those who abandoning the
true secret, apply themselves only to the body, are
described as lost in physical attachment.
Yogavasishtha.
Whatever comes to view in this world ; whatever
raises you to the sky; whatever exalts you to heaven; —
everything, oh Rama! is within reach after complete
destruction of all love and all hate.
Yogavasisktha.
Producing the Self from self, and, as often, deluding
self by the Self; inner consciousness leads itself, of its
Self, to the bliss of self-realization.
Yogavasishtha.
If Yoga consists in restraining the vital breath, this
could easily be done through non-attachment, through
constant application to the Cause, through some well-
UNION (YOGA). 59
conceived device, through the abandonment of evil habits,
or through realization of the Absolute.
Yogavasishtha.
Detach thyself from the thing tasted and from that
which tastes it, meditate on the taste alone; thus be ever
the Self.
Yogavasishtha.
The mind being full, the whole universe is filled with
the juice of nectar; the whole earth is covered with
leather to him who has put his foot in the shoe.
Yogavasishtha.
I think those Yogis will never find their efforts sending
in any good result, who without knowing spiritual yoga
address themselves only to physical exercises.
Hathapradipika.
Doing and suffering being at end, peace alone survives ;
— this expanded to the absolute limit, the wise call
“liberation.”
Yogavasishtha.
Time must elapse between sowing and harvest, nay
even in the growth of such wild grass as the holy Kusa
and the like ; reflection on the Self ripens into self-realiza-
tion by degrees, and in course of time.
Panchadasi.
Attach thyself not to Karma; but equally attach
thyself not to stupid inactivity and suspension of all
Karma whatever; — be what your are, equal in all condi-
tions.
Yogavasishtha.
That patience which would empty the ocean drop by
drop, at the tip of a straw of the Kusa-grass, will, untir-
ingly sustained, establish control over the mind.
Gaudapadacharya.
60 THE UPANISHADS.
The inner Self is the purusha as big as the man’s thumb
ever present in the heart; — him should he patiently
separate from the body like its pulp from the straw.
Kathopanishad.
The One, omnipotent, inner Self of all beings, mani-
fests himself as the manifold. None but those who see
Him in themselves, find eternal happiness. Eternal in
the eternal; conscious in the conscious; ever one; he
sends out all the variety of ideas to all. None but those
who see Him in themselves, find eternal peace.
Kathopanishad.
The interval between the mind’s passing from one
idea to another — the period of calm between the two
storms of Thought — may be described as the native
condition of Self.
Yogavasishtha.
Fix thy mind on THAT which is not smitten with the
evil eye of the Devil of Multifariousness, — causing shaki-
ness of mind.
Yogavasishtha.
one does and what he thinks, that he becomes.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
No being ever lives of Air, or Food, or Vitality, but
all beings live of the thing that transcends them — of the
thing in which they live. I shall explain to thee, once
more, the eternal, esoteric Spirit; I shall tell thee, oh
Gautama! what becomes of the soul who knows not
Spirit after death. Some of these return into the womb
of woman for further incarnation, others assimilate them-
selves with immovable things, — all in accord with the
acts they have done, the Idea they have lived.
Kathopanishad.
Neither speech nor mind, nay not even the eye, can
realize It; how can It be realized in any category other
than Being. It should be realized as pure Being, through
UNION (YOGA). 61
proper analysis of both its conditioned and unconditioned
forms. On him breaks the light of the Essence, beyond
Being as well as non-Being, who thus realizes It.
Kathopanishad.
Subject is coloured with object, and object is coloured
with subject; both again, are coloured with the sense of
“egoism,” on the destruction whereof is, therefore, realized
the oneness of All.
Naishkarmyasiddhi.
Egoism is plainly not destroyed, till all forms and
conventions which hold thee fast in bondage, as in a
cage, are annihilated to the extent of leaving absolutely
nothing for remainder.
Yogavasishtha.
Being, wisdom, bliss, name, and form, these five make
up all objects whatever; the first three make up Spirit,
the rest the material world.
Drgdrsyaviveka.
Some may cognize the ever blissful, the illuminator of
all illumination whatever, even by cognizing It without
even these attributes.
Atmapurana.
Said Yajnavalkya: — Oh love ! the husband is dear not
for himself, but for Self; the wife is dear not for herself,
but for Self No one thing is dear
for itself, but for Self. This Self should be seen, studied,
contemplated, assimilated ; oh sweet Maitreyi! the study
contemplation, and assimilation of Self leaves nothing to
know.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Said Yajnavalkya: It may be seen after the following
illustrations: The ocean is the one resort of all water; the
skin is the ultimate sphere of all touch ; the tongue is the
one ground of all taste; the nose is the one basis of all
smell; the eye is the one field of all form; the ear is the
62 THE UPANISHADS.
one place of all sound ; the mind is the one source of all
ideas; the heart is the one fountain of all knowledge;
the Word is the one truth of all the Vedas : — even thus is
It the one fact of all and every being. Put a lump of salt
in water, it melts into the water of which it came; you
can never grasp it afterwards; it is all salt, every drop
of water you may touch. So indeed, oh dear one ! is this
great, endless unlimited Being, — all thought. The
universe coming of this, melts away into this, and being
thus lost, loses all distinction whatever.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The following may serve for fit illustrations : — When a
drum is being beaten it is difficult to catch all the noise
that proceeds from it; the drum itself being seen, the
whole of the noise that follows the beating is grasped
without mistake. When the conch is being blown it is
difficult to mark all the sounds that blow themselves out
to all directions; the conch being seen the whole of the
sound that blows through it is marked without fail. When
the lyre is being played upon, it is difficult to observe the
notes passing one into the other ; the lyre being seen, the
music flowing through it is seen in a moment. As from
fire fed with wet fuel arise sparks and smoke and the like,
so is all this, oh dear one ! the mere spontaneous breath of
the great Being. The Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Sam-
•veda, the Atharvaveda, all history, all mythology, all
science, all philosophy, all poetry, all aphorisms, all com-
mentaries, all parables; — everything is Its breath.
Brhadarnyakopanishad.
Oh good one! one form of clay furnishes the clue to
all that is made of clay ; all forms and shapes being mere
names, mere play of words; the real ground of them all
being clay and nothing else. One form of gold reveals the
nature of all forms of the same metal; all forms being
mere names, mere play of words ; the real ground of them
all being gold and nothing else. One form of iron leads to
all forms whatever of the same metal; all forms being
mere names, mere play of words ; the real ground of them
all is iron and nothing else, Thus oh good one ! should be
UNION (YOGA). 63
understood what I explained to thee in the words THOU
art THAT. Chhandogyopanishad.
Who thinks the Self is naught becomes naught ; he is
all being who knows the Self to be.
Taittiriyopanishad.
The whole world is Spirit, there is no thing else in
Reality; — Betake thyself to this view of things, and rest
in peace, thus regaining thy real Self.
Yogavasishtha.
The man attached to “being,” is all being, through
total identification with the Idea; the grub full of the
idea of the bee becomes the bee.
Vivekachudamani.
Identify the mind with that which leads to good in the
end; which is all truth, which is everlasting; which is
above illusion; and which is not struck with the eye of
evil desire.
Yoga/vasishtha.
Identification with being leads to being; identification
with emptiness leads to emptiness; and identification
with the All leads to supreme Allness. Study to attain
the condition of this Allness.
A parokshanubhuti.
There is no condition either of bondage or liberation ;
there is no duality and no unity ; it is All-Being — out and
out. This is the absolute truth.
Yogavasishtha.
The wise man should fuse all speech and senses into
the mind ; the mind into the Self that discriminates ; the
discriminating Self into the great Self; and he should
fuse his Self into the Self, all peace and tranquility.
Kathopanishad.
64 THE UPANISHADS.
Having destroyed sense with Sense ; mind with Mind ;
egoism with Egoism ; I stand supreme as the Self of all.
Yogavasishtha.
Use for bow the word of glory, Aum, fix the arrow,
thy personal Self, on the string; and being all attention,
take such unerring aim as will fix the arrow in the target —
“The One Self.”
Mundukopanishad.
The emptying of the mind of the whole of its illusion,
is the true rechaka (the process of emptying the lungs of the
air they contamj ; the full realization of the idea “I am
Spirit” is the true pur oka (the process of filling the lungs
with air drawn in from without) ; and the firm steady
sustenance of the mind on this conviction is the true
Kumbhaka (the retention of the air inhaled). This is the
true Pranayamapi the enlightened ; fools find it only in
torturing tne~nose.
A parokshanubhut-i.
Him death desires to overpower, who wears on his
heart the badge of that necklace upon which the vices are
held together by the thread of unbroken “latent desires.”
Death overpowers him whom anger, the fire drying up
the waters of discrimination, has power to affect. The
oil-mill presses the mixed heap of hard sesamum-seeds
into an indiscriminate mass; — death overpowers him,
who is similarly pressed by Carnal Lust into a mass, all
indiscriminate and confused.
Yogavasishtha.
Arouse the mind if it fall into lethargy ! pacify it back
into its place if it run out ; persuade it by proper knowl-
edge if it tend to the objective ; — touch it not when it has
found the condition of Peace.
Gaudapadacharya.
Spirituality, the fire which burns up the straw of
desire, is all that is meant by the word Samadhi, not at
all the attitude of silence and contemplation.
Yogavasishtha.
UNION (YOGA). 66
Let the mind function out into the condition beyond
distraction; let it, then, take on the form of the idea “I
am Spirit;” and let it- lastly subside into entire forgetful-
ness of all personality whatever. This is the real ecstasy
of the Saint.
A parokshanubhuti.
The absolute sense of universal Being is realized only
when consciousness, void of all that it makes conscious,
loses itself in the Self, being purified of all relation to
personality.
Yogavasisktha.
When all material thinking is put out by complete
identification with the idea of non-existence, then indeed
does consciousness, the common substratum of all, ripen
into the absolute sense of universal Being.
Yogavasishtha.
Let Carnal Love and its kind by all means remain for
those who still are deluded thereby ; Their mere existence
can certainly give no offence to the Wise, for the old
she-serpent now deprived of her poisonous fangs, is
powerless to do any harm to such as these, who have
perceived the serpent-nature within her beautiful tinted
skin.
Jivanmuktimveka.
Enjoyment accompanied by Spiritual Knowing con-
duces to pure contentment. The thief, admitted into
company with knowledge of him as thief, becomes more a
friend than a foe.
Yogavasishtha.
The knower of the Essence, enjoying the pleasures
of the senses with moderation, but knowing them for -what
they are, may derive both temporal as well as spiritual
pleasure, even like one having knowledge of two languages.
Panchadasi.
I believe him liberated for ever, who performs every
66 THE UPANISHADS.
act without the idea of his personally doing it, taking it
to be only a part of the multifarious spontaneous action
of Nature.
Yogavqsishtha.
Fixed abode; desire of fine pots, etc., for use; laying
by a store; the taking of pupils; sleeping by day; vain
talk; — these six degrade the ascetic into bondage. That
ascetic falls in no time who indulges in cohabitation, or
who begins to lay by a store of wealth.
Smrti.
The loving woman never ceases to dream of her lover,
even when all intent on the discharge of her household
duties. The wise finding sweet rest in the supreme
undefiled Essence, continue for ever to enjoy it within,
though going in the ways of the world, without.
Panchadasi.
Relate thyself not with the future, nor with what has
gone by; live the present out with similing heart.
Yogavasishtha.
The consciousness of “self” implied in the “ego,” the
subject; and the consciousness of “belonging” implied
in the “mine” attached to objects; — when both these
consciousnesses so to speak are emptied of all content
whatever, then indeed does one become the knower of Self.
U padesasah asri.
Thus the arani-wood, this self, being constantly
worked upon with this other piece of wood, contemplation,
there arises the flame of Spirituality burning up all ignor-
ance whatever.
A tmabodha.
He enjoys the ecstasy of absolute bliss, who, in con-
sequence of the absorbing pleasure of Self-realization,
rises above all such means as words and objects, and ever
stands like the jet of a lamp in some place protected from
the breeze.
Drgdrsyamveka.
UNION (YOGA). 67
The liberated man thinketh ever upon that Being who
is the goal of all philosophic reasoning; who is the con-
viction of every heart; who is the All ; who is Everywhere ;
who is Everything.
Yogavasishtha.
He is liberated even against his wish who gains that
full consciousness of Self which dispels the illusion identi-
fying Self with the body; — consciousness as strong and
firm as that he had while under the illusion.
Upadesasahasri.
Capable of distinguishing good from evil, ever in
supreme peace gained through Spirituality, cured of its
native restlessness, my mind stands, oh sage! in perfect
calm.
Yogavasishtha.
Half of ignorance is destroyed by free exchange of
thought ; half of the remainder is dispelled by application
to philosophy; the rest fades away in the light of Self-
reflection.
Yogavasishtha.
Identification with ignorance resulting in obscuration
of the light of Self, disappears with the rise of Spirituality.
Panchadasi.
PART XIV.
LIBERATION.
Bow to me, this Self, void of consciousness and that
which it makes conscious; void of subject and object, of
all names whatever ; — Self -illumined for once and for ever.
Hail again to me ; all rest and peace ; the high mountain
of supreme bliss, smiKng under the sky cleared of all
clouds of egoism; fresh after complete extinction of the
wild, devastating conflagration of Desire. To the lamp
of Love burning bright with its wick of spontaneous
ideas without any material oil; — to the light of inner
consciousness, the self-sustained sustainer of the intellect
and all that depends on it; — right hearty welcome, right
joyous greeting !
Yogavasishtha.
Subject, object, instrument, time, space, categories,
being, non-being, phenomena, all are forms of THAT
which is the blessed Self.
V ‘ ogavasishtha.
Lightness, health, peace ; beauty and grace ; melodious
voice; profuse fragrance; these signify the first-fruits of
Yoga. The resplendent ball of gold encrusted with dust,
” shines in native lustre, when carefully washed; the self
having regained its Self shines alone in the eternal bliss
of supreme fulfilment.
S’vetas’vataropanishad.
As the sword flashes out of its sheath before the eye
in dream, transcending the scheme of all causation ; so is
the knower all Self -effulgent, transcending the five sheaths
and standing above all causations.
Upades’asahasri,
68
LIBERATION. 69
Thou mayest realize the distinction between this world
and Spirit, to be as like unto the distinction between
void and Ether.
Yogavasishtha.
Those are the enlightened great souls of this world
who happen to be firmly fixed in eternal unborn Calmness.
The world can not even dream of it.
Gaudapadacharya.
Sight of the Supreme breaks asunder the knot of egoism
in the heart, dispels all doubts, extinguishes all Karma.
Mundakopanishad.
The blindest sensualist finds in his mother the irre-
movable bar to the excess of his indulgence; the man
of the sharpest intellect is overcome by the ultimate
resort of all thought and all bliss — The One.
Vivekachudamani.
Therefore, the knower of The One finishing all learning,
should wish to be strong in the Self, and finishing even
this strength as well as that learning, he should try to
become the silent one. Finishing learning, and strength,
and silence, he becomes the true Brahman, the real
knower of Brahman. What, indeed, makes the Brahman?
Whatever may make the Brahman, he cannot be other
than the one thus described; all beside is vain and
worthless.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Powder of the kataka-wood put into water settles
down the mud that makes it foul. So Spirituality con-
stantly put in, drives down the ignorance which renders
the soul all turbid, leaving it in the native purity of
it-Self.
Atmabodha.
Nothing moves him to love or hate, who finds all
beings in himself and himself in all beings. What can
delusion or sorrow mean then? when to the knower
70 THE UPANISHADS.
realizing unity of the All, every particle has become his
Isopanishad.
Spiritual Consciousness having shown the absolute
non-existence of the objective; the supreme peace of
liberation is fully realized in the minds being wiped clean
of all and every object whatever.
Panchadasi.
Experience in the light of Wisdom, dissolving every
impression it may leave behind — this sleep in waking, — is
the real nature of those who know; liberation is only the
highest development of this nature.
Yogavasishtha.
Said Yajnavalkya: — This is not the Self, this is not the
Self; the incomprehensible is never comprehended; the
indissoluble is never dissolved ; the unconditioned is never
conditioned; the unpained is never pained; never put
out; — thou oh Janaka! hast realized entire fearlessness.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The bliss of Brahman! — speech and mind fall back
baffled and abashed; all fear vanishes in the knowing of
that bliss.
Taittiriyopanishad .
The silent one, the knoiver ever resting in the Self,
may walk, stand, sit, lie down, or do anything at his
sweet will.
Vivekachudamani.
I do not see, for, I have no eyes; without ears, how
can I hear? I cannot speak, for, I have no speech; with-
out mind how could I find the world of mind?
V ‘ padesasahasri.
There is none superior to me in Self-knowledge, none
inferior to me in ignorance; who knows thus, is the
greatest knower of Brahman.
Naishkarmyasiddhi,
LIBERATION. 71
Neither knowable nor unknowable ; neither spoken nor
unspoken; neither liked nor disliked; impossible of re-
taining in any mental presentation; nay not possible to
fix in contemplation even for a moment ; all bliss through
and through ; beautiful in the deep sense of ecstatic self-
realization; this my-Self wonderfully dissolves the world
in the sudden flash of its abundant light.
S-varajyasiddhi.
Separate, unique, one, multifarious, knowable, knower,
motive, mover, — these and other imaginings of the same
kind, where could they find room other than in me all
One?
U padesasahasri.
Egoism having disengaged itself from the body, and
having been dissolved in the light of Supreme Self, the
mind stands in a blissful state wherever it goes, whatever
it directs itself to.
Drgdrsyaviveka.
The native form of the subject, highly transcendent,
self-illumined for once and for ever, unborn, one, immut-
able, unconditioned, all-pervading, without a second; — I
am this, the ever liberated word of glory.
U padesasahasri.
He has had a dip in the holy waters of all sacred rivers ;
he has given the whole earth in pious gift ; he has offered
a thousand sacrifices; he has satisfied all the gods in
heaven; he has lifted his ancestors out of the circle of
birth and death; he deserves worship of all the three
worlds ; — the man whose mind has, even for a moment,
tasted of peace in the absorbing idea of Brahman.
Miscellaneous.
Neither love nor hate; neither ambition nor illusion;
neither pride nor the least tinge of jealousy; no good,
spiriutal or temporal; no desire; no liberation; — I am
none of these, I am all Bliss, the Bliss of All Eternal
Consciousness. Holiness or unholiness; happiness or
72 THE UPANISHADS
misery; incantation or holy pilgrimage; scripture or sac-
rifice; none of these belong to me; not even the en-
joyed, the enjoyer, or the sense of enjoyment; I am
all Bliss, the Bliss of All Eternal Consciousness. Death
I fear not ; caste I respect not ; father, mother, nay even
birth, I know not; relatives; friends I recognize not;
teacher and pupil I own not; — I am all Bliss, the Bliss of
All Eternal Consciousness.
S’ankaracharya.
I am Brahman, not at all of the world, never apart from
Brahman; I am not the body, nor have I any body what-
ever;— I am the unconditioned, eternal One.
S’ankaracharya .
Who, being full of unity, sees not, as in sleep, the least
trace of duality, though seeing it in entire wakefulness;
who though acting is, for the same reason, entirely at
rest ; — he and no one else is verily the true knower of Self.
Upadesasahasri.
He is all taste and refinement, yet all insipid; He is
merciless, yet fondness itself; He is cruel, yet all com-
passion ; He is beyond desire, yet deep in the whirl of all
desire. All care and anxiety without, like the rest of
Mankind, — yet all quiet and calm within, He stands as if
possessed, though ever unpossessed.
Yogavasishtha .
Regaling all content in the nectar of Bliss; fully
satisfied in superme fulfilment of every duty; there
remains nothing for the yogi to do; if anything remain,
he must be just so many removes behind Bliss.
Jivanmuktivvveka .
The least of a thing is greatest if it comes without
trouble to any one ; without seeking it of the wicked ; and
without the least pang at heart.
Mahabharata.
LIBERATION. 73
The cycle of strife and struggle will place Brahman
in the mouth of all. None, oh Maitreya! will know it,
if intent on the pleasures of sex and stomach.
Jivanmuktwiveka.
I am Brahman, I am the Creator; — those who do not
thus know me, are lost to Wisdom as also to the purifying
forms of external worship; — they are on the highway to
materialistic Atheism.
U pades’ asahasri.
Oh Gargi! who performs the sacrifice ; who undergoes
the severest penance even for several thousands of years ;
all without knowledge of this Immutable Essence, meets
only with that good which is sure to end. Who passes
away, dear Gargi! from this world, without knowledge
of this Immutable Essence, goes away, alas! with the
tight bond of narrowness about his heart; he alone who
passes away in the knowledge of this Immutable Essence
is the real Brahman,
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The heart of the wicked never melts into goodness,
even though he should be deep immersed in the Vedanta.
Jagannath.
Always at their best while talking of Brahman, but
without the heart having at all become It, being all coloured
with love of the world; — these too, are ignorant fools of
the first degree, never free from the circle of death and
birth.
A parokshanubhuti.
Who does not know, knows; who knows, does not
know; It is known to those who do not know, It is not
known to those who know.
Kenopanishad.
The ladle helps to prepare a variety of viands, but it
never knows the taste of any one of them: he knows all
74 THE UPANISHADS.
the four Vedas, and Institutes of Duty without end, but
the poor thing knows not the essence of them all —
Brahman.
Vttaragita.
Attachment to any one of the many fields which the
mind visits for exercise, is the surest sign of ignorance;
greenness is certainly impossible in the tree that conceals
a consuming fire in its hollow.
Naishkarmyasiddhi.
The swimmer, having safely carried many to the other
side of the stream, is drawn into the whirlpool, and is
carried beyond all help. Those, on the other side, who
feel grateful for his help, pity him, others pass on in
indifference. The Wise Man caught into the whirlpool of
words and technicalities, has the pity of those who having
reached the other side of all words and all forms feel yet
grateful for his help.
Atmapurana.
That knower of Self who yet deals in “give and get
returns” hath not graduated himself for Liberation.
Upades’asakasri.
The wise grieve not, having seen the unbodied Self
pervading all mortal forms, ever great, all-embracing.
Kathopanishad.
As is the being of things; the void-ness of void; or
the being with forms of forms ; so is this Universe. That
whereof comes the whole universe at the end of sleep,
and that wherein it dissolves itself at the moment of rest,
is this chidakasa.
Yogavasishtha.
The area of this cosmos can hardly suffice for the
enjoyment of the high-minded knower; the flutter of a
tiny fish can produce but a scant ruffle on the surface of
the deep.
Bhartrhari.
LIBERATION, 75
Though taking part in all affairs of every kind, like
all ordinary men, he soars constantly above all beings,
conscious or unconscious.
Yogavasishtha.
If one knows his self as the Self, what desire, what
object, should burn bis body in the fever of care and
anxiety.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
Think of It, speak of It, enlighten one another in It; —
this is full devotion to the idea of Oneness, this, the wise
call study of Brahman.
Panchadasi.
The irrevocable love which the indiscriminate have in
objects of sense; — may that very love never fade from
my heart while it yet continues to be full of thy holy
memory.
Panchadasi.
Great souls, ever at rest in the Self, all light and
standing at the height of development, are always as
firm within as mount Meru, though appearing as fickle
without as the tip of a feather.
Yogavasishtha.
Neither joy nor sorrow; neither movable nor im-
movably fixed; neither being nor non-being; nay not
even the intermediate between these opposites; — so is
described the mind of the enlightened.
Yogavasishtha.
The army engaged in close battle, in a picture, fights
all unmoved; the wise, though deep in intercourse with
the world, stands equally even in all conditions.
Yogavasishtha.
The Vedas; the constant study of the Scriptures;
close application to the subleties of philosophy; — what
do these avail ! What, indeed, is the use of that whirl of
76 THE UPANISHADS.
ceremonial worship, which at best lodges the weary soul
in some hovel of the village called Heaven! Conscious
harmony in the blissful condition of Self, the great-
pralaya-firz destroying the net of misery born of the
bondage of this world; — all, saving this, are but the toys
of spiritual pedantry.
Bhartrhari.
The Soul imagining itself into the act, takes on the
result of that act; not imagining itself into the act, it is
ever free of the result.
Yogavasisktha.
Where could THAT be invoked which fills all space?
where is the seat of THAT which is the seat of all ? Of the
Pure, what can be the wash or the offering of honour? —
what the drink that purifies within?
S’ankaracharya.
I have no distraction, and therefore no attraction;
distraction or attraction are all incidents of the mind under
power of attraction.
Upades’asahasri.
The idea which consciousness, at first, imagines, of
itself, as its own form, that it continues to be even to the
present day. The same consciousness may, by yet another
effort of greater strength, take the opposite form, and so
on and on, in proportion to the effort it should put forth.
Yogavasishtha.
Neither teacher nor book, neither pupil nor teaching,
neither you nor I, neither this nor that; — the light of
Self, intolerant of all doubt whatever, I am all pure bliss,
the one residuum of the many thus denied.
S’ankaracharya.
The patient Brahman having known It should harm-
onize himself in the Self, he should not be deluded away
by words ; it is mere waste of breath.
Brhadaranyakopanishad,
LIBERATION. 77
The wise having found the path of Wisdom indirect
and direct, from the study of books, should then cast them
away even like straw after threshing the rice out of it.
Panchadasi.
This is the truth : I know no change, for, there can be
no cause to change, there being all Oneness out and out.
No spiritual merit or demerit, no liberation or bondage,
nor have I any caste or locality, for, I have not the body
of which these are accidents.
Upades’asahasri.
None of the philosophies do I profess ; I am that pure
consciousness, the subject of distinct Self -experience ;
all pure bliss; the one residuum of the many thus denied.
5′ ankaracharya .
In the duties of Caste and Neighborhood some take
delight ; in child-like innocence, some in stupid indifference,
others find their meed ; lover, reveler, ascetic, to no one
grade of life the knower confines his choice.
Svarajyasiddhi.
A perfect fool in one place, all royal splendour in
another; at times in fond delusion, at times entire peace
and quiet; often in the slothful indifference of the boa;
the subject of the highest encomiums in one place, in
another all contempt; in a third entirely unnoticed; —
thus goes about the wise knower, ever happy in the highest
bliss.
Vivekachudamani.
The ascetic, not straying away from the path of
wisdom, should so conduct himself that foolish men, feel-
ing ill at ease, should seek not his company.
Smrti.
The ignorant set up this panorama of objects, I wipe it
out as often ; I have faith in none ; I am not afraid of the
last penalty; I hate so-called virtue; Self-satisfaction is
78 THE t/PANISHADS.
all I seek. The whole of my wonderful life spent in
escaping the World, none can understand.
Svarajyasiddhi.
What means Self-realization to me, all eternal realiza-
tion from end to end ; all duties have been done, all wishes
have been fulfilled, this is the most sure conviction of my
heart.
Panchadasi.
I neither do nor make do, I neither enjoy nor make
enjoy, I neither see nor make see ; I am the self -effulgent
Self unlike every possible name or form.
Vivekachudamani.
The knower and the ignorant are both equally subject
each to his own previous Karma; — the knower, all
patience, knows no sorrow; the ignorant, ever unsteady,
continues to grieve. Of two men passing on the road,
both being equally fatigued and the road before them
being equal, he that knows treads on patiently to the end,
the poor ignorant fool lingers behind bemoaning his lot.
Panchadasi.
Bliss here attends the extremes of Intellect ; — the
highest which transcends Intellect, and the lowest which
is far below Intellect. The way between these extremes
is the way of worry and evil. A very thin partition
divides ecstasy from madness; for, in the former, the
mind having lost all faith is quite clear of every tinge of
attachment.
Yogavasishtha.
In all acts whatever, whether of commission or omis-
sion, there is nothing, save absence of attachment, to
distinguish the fool from the man of wisdom.
Yogavasishtha.
I look with equal eye upon a poisonous snake or a
garland of flowers; upon a strong enemy or a kind friend ;
LIBERATION. 79
upon a costly jewel or a lump of earth ; a bed of flowers
or a slab of stone ; a group of beautiful women or a collec-
tion of useless straw; — thus do I spend all my days in
some holy solitude, all intent on the blissful syllable.
Bhartrhari.
Neither action nor inaction are in me, ever one and
without parts ; how can he act who is all one Self, a com-
pact mass, all-full and all-filling like the Ether?
Vivekachudamani.
He is never overjoyed though often coming to good
things ; he stands firm as Meru under the direst calamity ;
he walks the world like a god, finding Self in the bliss of
Self in everything whatever.
Svasajyasiddhi.
A Chandala; a twice-born; a S’udra; an ascetic; a
man of intellect refined by application ; the lord of Yogis;
— thus described at the top of thoughtless prattle by men
conceiving each his own fancy, sages harmonized in the
Self wend their way neither angry nor proud of the com-
pliments thus bestowed.
Bhartrhari.
The knower catches in the ecstasy of his heart the full
light of that Brahman which is indescribable, all thought,
all pure bliss, incomparable, transcending time, ever free,
beyond desire, resembling limitless Ether, having no parts
and admitting of no idea beside itself.
Vivekachudamani.
Does it make any difference in this gem of heaven, the
sun, if he is reflected in the waters of the Ganges or in the
stream flowing through the scavenger’s street? Does it
make any difference in the Ether enclosed in an earthen-
ware or in a jar of gold ? In THAT, the inner being of all,
the billowless ocean of native bliss and light, what means
this great delusion, this nightmare of separateness,
creating distinctions? The self -same Self shines plainly
in all the three conditions of waking, dream and sleep; it
80 THE UPANISHADS.
is, moreover, the inner witness of all, — pervading even
like a thread, all forms whatever from Brahma to the
tinniest ant; — He who has the firm conviction “I am this
Self,” not the form it takes, let him be a Brahman or a
low-caste, my mind points to him as the real Master.
S’ankaracharya.
Has it set? is it broken? is it shattered to pieces? is it
dissolved? is it pounded to dust? is it swallowed up? is it
suddenly gone to decay? — the mind being turned inward,
I do not find even a trace of the universe in the free depths
of myself, the indescribable ocean of the bliss of Self-
realization.
Svarajyasiddhi.
All latent desire having died out, he looks upon the
world as all destroyed; as some unreal nightmare; as a
castle-in-the-air ; or even as a painting which is nearly
washed off under a heavy downpour of rain.
Yogavasishtha.
Though ever moving about in the world of experience,
the whole of it exists not for him; — all-pervading ether-
like consciousness alone subsists. Such a one is called
Liberated. The expression of his countenance neither
flushes nor fades under pleasure or pain; he stands un-
moved whatever may come or go. Though acting after
every feeling, such as love, hate, fear and the like, he who
stands unaffected within, is said to be the liberated while
yet in this life. He whom the world finds no cause to fear,
and who is never afraid of the world, ever beyond joy, and
jealousy, and fear, is said to be the real Liberated One.
With the woes of this world laid entirely, at rest he who,
though full of all learning and art, is yet without any;
who, though with mind is without it, is said to be the real
Liberated One.
Yogavasishtha.
Trembling and other signs of fear subside, only by
degrees, even after knowledge of the snake as nothing but
a harmless piece of rope ; the same rope met with in dim
LIBERATION. 81
light, even after such knowledge, may yet become the
same terrible snake it once was. Thus previous Karma
comes gradually to end by fruition through experience
and not all at once by any obstinate remedy; nay, it is
even possible for the immortal one to temporarily feel his
mortality in moments of such fruition. This, however, is
no flaw in the condition of Spirituality once realized, for,
Liberation is no observance, it is being at harmony with
the course of nature.
*anchadasi.
When all desires infesting the heart are entirely given
up, the mortal becomes immortal and lives in Spirit even
here. The slough cast off by the serpent lies dead and
lifeless on the ant-hill; so even lies this body; and the
mortal, who is thus disembodied, while yet here, becomes
immortal, all life, all Spirit, all light.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
The highest Self, all endless bliss, unconditioned limit-
less consciousness, being realized, whether through the
great texts, or through Yoga, in all experience whatever,
let one lose himself in the ecstasy of Realization, for he
has for ever lost all touch with bondage of every descrip-
tion.
Svarajyasiddhi.
Clad in rich cloth or in the wide expanse of space,
having his skin alone for cover, or buried deep in the ample
folds of all-embracing thought, — he wanders the world
like a madman, — like a child, or even like a ghost, when
compared with the unfolded of his race.
Vwekachudamani.
Without having in one’s self the clear light of Self-
experience, no one can appreciate the phenomenal sub-
limity of another’s experience in the same line.
Yogavasishiha.
,
82 THE UPANISHADS.
As timber is carried away by the stream to places high
and low, so even is the body led by Law to whatever
awaits it at its proper time.
Vivekachudamam.
The traveller with mind firmly fixed only on the goal
he is approaching, never feels the motion of his legs along
the road he treads ; act thus in all you do.
Yogavasishtha.
The fright caused by the appearance of a thief survives
his capture, the cloth yet leaves the impress of its form
on the ashes to which it is burnt; — the world reduced of
itself to naught in the case of the Knower, lasts with his
body to bear out such fruition as previous Karma should
bring.
Svarajyasiddhi.
The knower may, oh child! let his external senses
manifest in acts and all conditions as long as his body
lasts ; but he should never let his internal sense go with
the external.
Yogavasishtha.
The Ether may appear in any condition whatever, it is
never conditioned. The Self never takes on the properties
of whatever accidents may appear to colour his Self.
Atmabodha.
The knowers of the Supreme neither avoid nor court
intercourse with the world, they go with whatever should
turn up in ordinary course. “Being in all, I am ever
inactive,” he who, with this conviction, acts in accord with
what is brought to him in the course of nature is always
inactive. He is not motionless though standing; he does
not walk though going; he is all peace though deep in
intercourse ; he is ever inactive though full of activity.
Yogavasishtha,
LIBERATION. 8S
This kind of apparent “latent desire” in those who have
found liberation while living is no desire at all ; it is that
universal sense of being which is known as pure being.
Yogavasuhtha.
Having known It thus, fill thyself with the memory of
pure Unity; having realized the Unit, walk the world
like a mass of so much dead matter. No praise, no
salute, no offerings even to the dead, no fixed or unfixed
abode, — the harmonized soul should ever live in Faith
and Trust.
Gaudapadacharya.
The fifteen rays return into their source; the divine
forces governing the senses find back the universal fountain
of their rise; the reflection in the inner sense — the em-
bodied soul — together with every action whatever, all
become one in the supreme unchangeable Essence. As
rivers flowing into the ocean lose their individual name
and form, nay thus lose even themselves, so does the
knower, freed from all name and all form, find the highest
Being, all light. He who thus knows the highest Self,
verily becomes Self; none that is born in his family has
his eye closed to Self. He soars above sin and sorrow;
freed from the ties of the heart, he becomes immortal.
Mundakopanishad.
Giving up the body in some holy place or in the house
of tlie lowly, conscious or unconscious, he finds Liberation,
all cause of sorrow being entirely destroyed, and libera-
tion being found in the very moment of the rise of Spiritual
Consciousness.
Vartika.
Water is water, whether it stands all placid or surges
up in high billows; it makes no difference to the Ocean.
Embodied or disembodied, there is no difference in the
liberation of the silent knower. What difference can
embodiment or disembodiment make in the Liberated?
Whether in tempestuous waves or in placid calm, the
sameness of Ocean undergoes no change.
Yoga-vasts htha.
84 THE UPANISHADS.
Who has no desire, who is beyond desire, who has all
desires fulfilled in the Supreme, who has Self as the object
of all and every desire ; — his breath rises not beyond him ;
being Self, he becomes Self, in truth.
Brhadaranyakopanishad.
I have no Illusion for my consort ; no serpent for my
couch; no discuss for my weapon; no round of incarna-
tions to go through, nor have I the anxiety of protecting
the world, still I am the Lord, to all intent and purpose,
in my Self.
Svarajyasiddhi.
The Absolute neither rises nor sets, nay he is never laid
at rest. He is not being nor non-being, neither near nor
distant, neither I nor thou. He shines as the sun, He
protects the three worlds appearing as Vishnu, As Sira
He destroys all. He acts the creator in the form of the
lotus-born Brahma. Whatever is, whatever has been,
whatever shall be, — every object in any one of the three
forms of Time — He is that ; He is everything. Oh best of
knowers! when He takes on the form of the three worlds
and all they contain, I believe Him to have gone through
the act of creation. If verily the three worlds do exist,
let him by all means become those words, for in Him the
“Three worlds” are, in truth, empty of all real content
whatever — mere words are they?
Yogavasishtha.
They divert themselves in the native bliss of Self-
experience, they enjoy themselves in any manner with
perfect freedom. The many-sided, wonderful course the
Liberated pursue, on the inscrutable Path, ever free of at-
tachment, knowing no limit, always tending to the good
of the universe, is as inscrutable as the course of fishes in
water, the passage of birds in the atmosphere, or the
course of wind throughout space.
Svarajyasiddhi,
LIBERATION. 85
Doubt, dispute and explanation, all depend on
language which means duality. In the language of Unity,
there can be no question and no answer.
” Panchadasi.
There is in Reality no dissolution, no creation, none in
bondage, no pupilage, none desirous of liberation, none
liberated ; — this is the Absolute Truth.
Gaudapadacharya.
Bow to him who enunciated this method of harmony
in the Absolute, conducing to the well-being of all,
beneficent, above all dispute, entirely at One.
Gaudapadacharya.
Wonderful, supremely wonderful — this Philosophy!
More wonderful still the Masters who teach the Truth!
A thousand wonders surround the depth of Spiritual
Consciousness taught! The bliss of Knowledge is the
Silence of indescribable wonder!
Panchadasi.
FOURTEEN LESSONS
IN
YOGI PHILOSOPHY
AN£>
ORIENTAL OCCULTISM
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA.
Author of “Science of Breath,” “Hatha Yoga,” Etc.
An unique work covering the entire field of the Yogi Phil-
osophy and Oriental Occultism, stating the most profound
truths and hidden mysteries in the plainest, simplest, Eng-
lish style. No Sanscrit terms to puzzle the reader. Just
the book you have been waiting for.
Bound in Silk Cloth, Lettered in Gold, Pages.
Price $1.10 Postpaid.
A friend of mine loaned me a copy of your Fourteen Les-
sons and the teachings are just what I have been looking for
since a child. They have brought me peace and happiness.
I thank you sincerely for what it has done for me. M. E.
A., Milwaukee, Wis.
The five books of Yogi Ramacharaka’s that I have, I am
very much interested in. Frederick J. M., Kingston, Ont,
CM.
I have made a deep study of all your works and the good
yoor books are doing is wonderful. With best wishes for
your success, I remain Burd F. M., Omaha, Nebr.
SYNOPSIS OF
The Fourteen Lessons
LESSON I. On the Threshold— The Constitution of Man— The Seven
Principles of Man — The Physical Body — The Astral Body — Prana or
Vital Force.
LESSON II. The Fourth and Fifth Principles— The Instinctive Mind—
The Intellect.
LESSON III. The Sixth and Seventh Principles— The Spiritual Mind
— Spirit — Illumination, or Spiritual Consciousness.
LESSON IV. The Human Aura— Health Aura— Pranic Aura— Aura of
the three Mental Principles — Spirit Aura— Auric Colors, Phenomena,
etc.
LESSON V. Thought Dynamics— The nature, quality, and pow«r of
Thought— Th-raght Forms— Thought Influences— The Occult Teach-
ings on this great subject.
LESSON VI. Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Psychometry, Telepathy,
etc.— How to develop Psychic powers.
LESSON VII. Human Magnetism— Pranic Energy— Uses and Proper-
ties— Directions for development and use.
LESSON VIII. Occult Therapeutics— Spiritual Healing— Mental Heal-
ing— Pranic Healing — Theory and Practice.
LESSON IX. Psychic Influence— Personal Magnetism— Mesmerism,
etc., explained, with instructions regarding self-protection and warn-
ings against misuse of the power — A timely lesson upon an important
subject.
LESSON X. The Astral World; Its Phenomena— The Astral Body-
Astral Helpers, etc.
LESSON XI. Beyond the Border— The survival of the Ego after passing
out of the physical body— Where it goes and what it does after the
change called Death.
LESSON XII. Spiritual Evolution — The Growth of the Soul— It»
Travels — Its Purpose — Its Goal.
LESSON XIII. Spiritual Cause and Effect— The Yogi teachings regard-
ing the puzzling questions of Human Life, Conduct — The Sowing and
the Reaping explained.
LESSON XIV. The Yogi’s Path of Attainment— The Threefold Path-
Methods— Directions— Plans— Exercises, etc.— Advice and Words of
Encouragement to the Neophyte.
“Light on the Path”
A MANUAL FOR THE PERSONAL USE OP THOSE WHO
ARC, IGNORANT OF THE
E.ASTE.RN WISDOM
AND WHO DESIRE, TO ENTER WITHIN ITS INFLUENCE
Written Down by M. C.
CLASSIC among occultists, and the best known guide for those
who wish to tread the Path of Attainment. This little book will
be to many the first revelation of that which they have been all
their lives blindly seeking — the first bit of spiritual bread to sat-
isfy the hunger of the soul — the first drop of water from the great Foun-
tain of Life which will quench the thirst which has consumed them.
Those for whom this book is intended will recognize its inner meaning,
and will never be the same after they have once read it. If these words
mean anything to you, rest assured that this little book contains a mes-
sage for which you have been long waiting. It is as music to the soul of
those who seek the Divine Harmony. It symbolizes the successive steps
or the neophyte in occultism as he mounts the spiral stairway of Attain-
ment. Its precepts are practically those which were given to the neo-
phytes in the Great Lodge of The Brotherhood in Ancient Egypt, and
which for generations past have been handed down from guru to chela
in India. It is worded in the beautiful poetic style of the Orient.
Listen to these words from its first page :
“Before the eyes can see. they must be Incapable of tears Before tti*
ear can bear, it must have lost its sensitiveness. Before the voice can speak
ie the presence of the Masters, it must have lost the power to wound. Before
tne soi»l can stand ia the presence of the Masters, its feet must be washed in
the bkwd at the heart.”
This edition conforms to the earliest ones containing also the Essay
on Karma, and gives this beautiful classic in the original form in which
it was written down from the lips of the Masters.
No one can lay this little volume aside without a feeling of inspira-
tion and an earnest desire to at least try to enter the. Path which may
lead to spiritual attainment.
SMALL POCKET EDITION
Price, flexible feather, gilt side stamp, re* edges, 75 cent*
Cloth. 44 cents, postpaid
The Hindu- Yogi System of
Practical Water Cure
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA
Chapter I. The Hindu- Yogi Water Cure — An Important Branch
of Hatha Yoga — The Underlying Principle — Prana in the Water —
How Water Loses Prana — How Water May be Pranaized. Chap-
ter II. Nature’s Great Remedy — Water the Basis of Life — The
Important Part Played by Water in the Psychological Mechanism
of the System— What Water Does, and Why. Chapter III. Water
Drinking — Why Man Needs Water — How Much Water He Needs
— What He Suffers from Neglecting the Normal Amount of Fluids
— An Important Secret — Surprising Facts. Chapter IV. The
Stomach and Intestines — A Plain, Practical, Scientific Description
of the Organs of Assimilation and Elimination — Something that
Everyone Should Know to be Healthy. Chapter V. The Ob-
structed Sewer — A Scientific Statement Regarding the Great Sewer
of the System, Which When Clogged, Obstructed and Choked with
Waste-Matter, Causes Disease and Weakness. Chapter VI. The
Internal Bath — The Scientific Method of Keeping Clean the Great
Sewer of the System — A Simple Method of Internal Cleanliness,
and Resulting Health. Chapter VII. The Skin — A Plain Scien-
tific Description of the Skin, and the Part it Plays in Health and
Disease — Something that Everyone Should Know, but Few Realize.
Chapter VIII. Scientific Bathing — ‘Scientific Methods of Bathing
—The Cleansing Bath— The Non-Drying Bath— The Hot Bath—
The Cold Bath — Hardening Baths — Private Information. Chapter
IX. Pack Treatments— The Wet Sheet Pack, and How to Apply It
— The Half Pack — The Sweat Pack — Endosmose and Exosmose —
Hydropathy in a Nut Shell. Chapter X. Other Valuable Methods
— Fomentations, or Hot Steam Applications — Water Bandages and
Compresses — Hot Water Compresses, and Cold Water Bandages —
Special Applications — Sexual Vitality Treatments — Special Applica-
tions, etc.
This book has just been published, although Yogi Ramacharaka
wrote it some time ago.
Price 55 cents Postpaid.
RAJA YOGA
The Yogi Philosophy of
Mental Development
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA
“Raja Yoga” is devoted to the development of the latent
powers in Man — the gaining of the control of the mental
faculties by the Will — the attainment of the mastery of the
lower self — the development of the mind to the end that the
soul may be aided in its unfoldment. Much that the West-
ern World has been attracted to in late years under the
name of “Mental Science” and similar terms, really comes
under the head of “Raja Yoga.” This form of Yoga recog-
nizes the wonderful power of the trained mind and will, and
the marvelous results that may be gained by the training of
the same, and its application by concentration, and intelli-
gent direction. It teaches that not only may the mind be
directed outward, influencing outside objects and things,
but that it may also be turned inward, and concentrated
upon the particular subject before us, to the end that much
hidden knowledge may be unfolded and uncovered. Many
of the great inventors are really practicing “Raja Yoga” un-
consciously, in this inward application of it, while many
leaders in the world of affairs are making use of its outward,
concentrated application in their management of affairs.
RAJA YOGA
Attainment of Power
But the follower of the “Raja Yoga” path is not content
alone with the attainment of powers for either of above uses.
He seeks still greater heights, and manages by the same,
or similar processes, to turn the searchlight on concentrated
mind into his own nature, thus bringing to light many
hidden secrets of the soul. Much of the Yogi Philosophy
has really been brought to light in this way. The practice
of “Raja Yoga” is eminently practical, and is in the nature
of the study and practice of chemistry — it proves itself as
the student takes each step. It does not deal in vague theo-
ries, but teaches experiments and facts, from first to last.
We give to our students, in our practical work on the sub-
ject of “Raja Yoga,” (a work for which there is a great need
in the Western world) full instructions “how” to do those
things which have been stated to be possible by the numer-
ous writers who had grasped the theory but had not ac-
quainted themselves with the practice accompanying the
theory.
Bound in Blue Silk Cloth, Lettered in Gold, 299 Pages.
Price $1.10 Postpaid.
OR
The Inner Teachings of the Master
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA
The mystic and esoteric Teachings are to be found burning as a
bright flame in the heart of the Christian Religion. Many who have
been reared in the Christian churches feel that surely the Truth must
be found there, rather than in so-called “foreign religions,” while
many others have been erroneously led to believe that there was no
Truth at all to be found in the Christian Teachings. For both of these
classes this book is specially designed, although its interest will appeal
to every student of philosophy, religion and occultism. The Truth IS
to be found in the Christian Religion — all true occultists know this.
Under the exoteric or commonly accepted forms of all religions there is
always to be found an esoteric or hidden teaching — and Christianity is
no exception to this rule. This is no new discovery — the early Fathers
of the Christian Church knew this full well — the Gnostics taught Mystic
Christianity — the Early Church was Mystic in its essence and inner
circles. And all advanced students of Occultism, of whatever faith,
venerate the Founder of Christianity, and find in His teachings a source
of joy, delight and wisdom unknown to those who merely recognize the
outer forms and teachings. This is why we feel so earnestly impressed
to make public these Mystic Truths at this time. There is no reason
for the Christian to forsake his faith and “run hither and thither after
new gods” — he may find the very Truth imbedded in his own religion.
Every true occult doctrine is contained there-— every fundamental mystic
truth may be found in Mystic Christianity if yon but possess the key.
There is but one TRUTH, and it is found in all religions, under the
surface of the material doctrines. In the heart of the religion in which
you were born and reared there is to be found the SACKED FLAME
burning ever brightly, and subject ever to the Perpetual Adoration of
the Spiritually Illumined. Those among you who nave been prone t«
sneer at the teachings of Christianity shall see in these Inner Teachings
the Tree Light of toe Spirit — that those of you who have come to mock
may remain to pray. Those among you who have sought an illumination
outside of the Christian Teachings shall see the True Light burning on
the Sacred Altar, and shall more than ever recognize the greatness,
grandeur and godlike attributes of Him who has been known to
the Wise of all lands and creeds as “The Light of the World.” Them
things, and more, shall come to us who follow the Ligh< of the Cross, a»
seen by those who know the Secret Doctrine — The Inner Wisdom-
Mystic Christianity.
Bound in Extra Silk Cloth, Stamped in Gold— 302 pages
Price One Dollar and Ten Cents
THE SCIENCE OF
Psychic Healing
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA
A plain, practical series of lessons on Mental, Psychic and Spiritual
Healing, in its many phases and forms, with full instruc-
tions and directions regarding treatment, etc., very
little theory, but much practical instruction.
“All true healing results from an application of perfectly natural
laws and the power employed is as much a natural law as is elec-
tricity.” Here is a partial list of subjects treated:
Natural Laws of the Body — How to Get Full Nourishment from
the Food You Eat — The Instinctive Mind — How the Body Carries
on Its Works of Regeneration — The Three Forms of Psychic Heal-
ing— The Principles of Pranic Healing — Yogi Teachers and Pranic
Healing 2,500 Years Ago — Laying On of Hands, Magnetic Heal-
ing, etc., During the Middle Ages — The Practice of Pranic Healing
— ‘Means of Conveying Vital Force — Stroking, Rubbing, Kneading
and Massage — Breath Treatment — Pranic Breathing — Rhythmic
Breathing — General Directions — Pranic Treatments — How to Pre-
pare the Hands — Distant Healing — How Accomplished — Auto-
Pranic Treatments — ‘Inhibiting Pain — Thought-Force Healing —
How to Apply It to Liver Troubles, Constipation, Rheumatism, the
Nerves, etc., etc. — Suggestive Healing — Practice of Suggestive
Healing — Self-Suggestion — Mental Healing — Metaphysical Healing
— Spiritual Healing— How to Become a Healer.
Pages.
Price $1.10 Postpaid.
Please extend to the writer of the Yogi Books my Soulfelt grat-
itude for the blessings received through his most beautiful teach-
ings. They have prolonged my life on earth and given me a glor-
ious conception of “The absolute that fits me more perfectly for
life’s unfoldments.” — Mrs. B. G. O., Maple Rapids, Mich.
THE
BHAGAVAD GITA
. OR . .
The Message of The Master
Compiled and adapted from numerous old and new translation!
of the Original Sanscrit Text
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA
Author of the several “Yogi Books”, etc.
THIS is a new presentation of “Tm$ GITA”, that immortal
Hindu epic that has been the foundation of the Spiritual
knowledge of great souls for centuries past. It contains
the Inner Doctrine of the Wisdom Religion of India. The
present compilation brings the teachings before the public
in a plain, simple, practical form. It contains an interesting
essay on “The Scene; Theme; and Characters” of the epic,
which places the reader in close touch with the story embodied
In the epic.
Well Printed, Good *aper, Strong Binding
Silk Cloth Cover, Plain, Large Type, 150 Pages
PRICE, SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Postage, 5 Cento.
RETURI
TO-
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
SENT ON ILL
APR 0 9 1998
U C BERKELEY
r
t
FORM NO. DD 19
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
BERKELEY, CA 94720
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Lord Hari help for the orphan 