This post is the last of the Upanishad series.
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FOREST OF WISDOM
All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes.
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.
ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्ति
CHAPTER II
The Path to Immortality
4.1 “Maitreyi,” Yajnavalkya said to his wife one day, “the time has come for me to go forth from the worldly life. Come, my dear, let me divide my property between you and Katyayani.”
MAITREYI
4.2 My lord, if I could get all the wealth in the world, would it help me to go beyond death?
YAJNAVALKYA
Not at all. You would live and die like any other rich person. No one can buy immortality with money.
MAITREYI
4.3 Of what use then are money and material possessions to me? Please tell me, my lord, of the way that leads to immortality.
YAJNAVALKYA
4.4 You have always been dear to me, Maitreyi, and I love you even more now that you have asked me about immortality. Sit here by my side and reflect deeply on what I say.
4.5 A wife loves her husband not for his own sake but because the Self lives in him. A husband loves his wife not for her own sake but because the Self lives in her . . . Everything is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self lives in it.
This Self has to be realized. Hear about this Self and meditate upon him, Maitreyi. When you hear about the Self, meditate upon the Self, and finally realize the Self, you come to understand everything in life.
4.6 For brahmins confuse those who regard them as separate from the Self. Kshatriyas confuse those who regard them as separate from the Self . . . Everything confuses those who regard things as separate from the Self.
Brahmins, kshatriyas, creatures, the universe, the gods, everything: these are the Self.
4.7 No one can understand the sounds of a drum without understanding both drum and drummer; 4.8 nor the sounds of a conch without understanding both the conch and its blower; 4.9 nor the sounds of a vina without understanding both vina and musician. 4.10 As clouds of smoke arise from a fire laid with damp fuel, even so from the Supreme have issued forth all the Vedas, history, arts, sciences, poetry, aphorisms, and commentaries. All these are the breath of the Supreme.
[ . . . ]
MAITREYI
4.13 I am bewildered, Blessed One, when you say there is then no separate self.
YAJNAVALKYA
Reflect on what I have said, beloved, and you will not be confused.
4.14 As long as there is separateness, one sees another as separate from oneself, hears another as separate from oneself, smells another as separate from oneself, speaks to another as separate from oneself, thinks of another as separate from oneself, knows another as separate from oneself.
But when the Self is realized as the indivisible unity of life, who can be seen by whom, who can be heard by whom, who can be smelled by whom, who can be spoken to by whom, who can be thought of by whom, who can be known by whom? Maitreyi, my beloved, how can the knower ever be known?
CHAPTER IV
The States of Consciousness
YAJNAVALKYA
21. The Self is free from desire, free from evil, free from fear.
As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with the Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow.
22. In that unitive state there is neither father nor mother, neither worlds nor gods nor even scriptures. In that state there is neither thief nor slayer, neither low caste nor high, neither monk nor ascetic. The Self is beyond good and evil, beyond all the suffering of the human heart.
23–30. In that unitive state one sees without seeing, for there is nothing separate from him; smells without smelling, for there is nothing separate from him; tastes without tasting, for there is nothing separate from him; speaks without speaking, for there is nothing separate from him; hears without hearing, for there is nothing separate from him; touches without touching, for there is nothing separate from him; thinks without thinking, for there is nothing separate from him; knows without knowing, for there is nothing separate from him.
31. Where there is separateness, one sees another, smells another, tastes another, speaks to another, hears another, touches another, thinks of another, knows another.
32. But where there is unity, one without a second, that is the world of Brahman. This is the supreme goal of life, the supreme treasure, the supreme joy. Those who do not seek this supreme goal live on but a fraction of this joy.
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35. As a heavily laden cart creaks as it moves along, the body groans under its burden when a person is about to die. 36. When the body grows weak through old age or illness, the Self separates himself as a mango or fig or banyan fruit frees itself from the stalk, and returns the way he came to begin another life.
37. Just as when a king is expected to visit a village, the mayor and all the other officials turn out to welcome him with food and drink, all creation awaits the person who sheds his body having realized Brahman. “Here he comes!” they say. “Here comes Brahman himself!” 38 But the senses, while that man lies dying, gather around and mourn the Self’s departure, as courtiers mourn when their king is about to leave.
[4]
1. When body and mind grow weak, the Self gathers in all the powers of life and descends with them into the heart. As prana leaves the eye, it ceases to see. 2. “He is becoming one,” say the wise; “he does not see. He is becoming one; he no longer hears. He is becoming one; he no longer speaks, or tastes, or smells, or thinks, or knows.” By the light of the heart the Self leaves the body by one of its gates; and when he leaves, prana follows, and with it all the vital powers of the body. He who is dying merges in consciousness, and thus consciousness accompanies him when he departs, along with the impressions of all that he has done, experienced, and known.
3. As a caterpillar, having come to the end of one blade of grass, draws itself together and reaches out for the next, so the Self, having come to the end of one life and dispelled all ignorance, gathers in his faculties and reaches out from the old body to a new.
4. As a goldsmith fashions an old ornament into a new and more beautiful one, so the Self, having reached the end of the last life and dispelled all ignorance, makes for himself a new, more beautiful shape, like that of the devas or other celestial beings.
5. The Self is indeed Brahman, but through ignorance people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that, and appears to be everything.
CHAPTER V
What the Thunder Said
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The children of Prajapati, the Creator – gods, human beings, and asuras, the godless – lived with their father as students. When they had completed the allotted period the gods said, “Venerable One, please teach us.”
Prajapati answered with one syllable: “Da.”
“Have you understood?” he asked.
“Yes,” they said. “You have told us damyata, be self-controlled.”
“You have understood,” he said
2. Then the human beings approached. “Venerable One, please teach us.”
Prajapati answered with one syllable: “Da.”
“Have you understood?” he asked.
“Yes,” they said. “You have told us datta, give.”
“You have understood,” he said
Then the godless approached. “Venerable One, please teach us.”
Prajapati answered with one syllable: “Da.”
“Have you understood?” he asked.
“Yes,” they said. “You have told us dayadhvam, be compassionate.”
“You have understood,” he said.
The heavenly voice of the thunder repeats this teaching. Da-da-da! Be self-controlled! Give! Be compassionate!
ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्ति
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NOTES
2024.08.12
[2.4.14] Thus the sage . . . lol. My Zhuangzi tendencies.
[4.1.23-30] Same as above. More seemingly contradictory statements.
[4.1.36] Absolutely beautiful picture of the mango and banyan tree.
Changes:
Starting to trim Easwaran’s already trimmed Upanishads. Feels repetitive like my read of Zhuangzi’s Outer Chapters. At this point, I think I’m fully intellectually aware of the One. I just love hearing more about it.
I think I will go back, trim, and perhaps unpublish a few. Will start with Prashna and Aitareya.