Passages similar to: Chandogya Upanishad — Prapathaka VIII, Khanda 11
Source passage
Hindu
Chandogya Upanishad
Prapathaka VIII, Khanda 11 (3)
'So it is indeed, Maghavat,' replied Pragâpati; 'but I shall explain him (the true Self) further to you, and nothing more than this . Live here other five years.' He lived there other five years. This made in all one hundred and one years, and therefore it is said that Indra Maghavat lived one hundred and one years as a pupil with Pragâpati. Pragâpati said to him:
Janaka, [king] of Videha, descending from his cushion and approaching, said: c Adoration to you, Yajnavalkya. Do you instruct me.' He [i.e....
(4) Janaka, [king] of Videha, descending from his cushion and approaching, said: c Adoration to you, Yajnavalkya. Do you instruct me.' He [i.e. Yajnavalkya] said: 'Verily, as a king about to go on a great journey would prepare a chariot or a ship, even so you have a soul (atman) prepared with these mystic doctrines (tipanisad}. So, being at the head of a troop, and wealthy, learned in the Vedas, and instructed in mystic doctrines, whither, when released hence, will you go? ' ' That I know not, noble Sir — whither I shall go/ 2, £ Indha (i. e. the Kindler) by name is this person here in the right eye. Him, verily, who is that Indha people call " Indra" 1 K % cryptically, for the gods are fond of the cryptic, as it were, and dislike the evident.
Then Bhujyu Lahyayani questioned him. £ Yajfiavalkya/ said he, ( we were traveling around as wanderers among the Madras. As such we came to the house...
(3) Then Bhujyu Lahyayani questioned him. £ Yajfiavalkya/ said he, ( we were traveling around as wanderers among the Madras. As such we came to the house of Pataficala Kapya. He had a daughter who was possessed by a Gandharva. We asked him: " Who are you? " He said: " I am Sudhanvan, a descendant of Angiras." When we were asking him about the ends of the earth, we said to him: " What has become of the Parikshitas? What has become of the Parikshitas? "— I now ask you, Yajnavalkya. What has become of the Pari- kshitas? ' a. He said: ' That one doubtless said, c{ They have, in truth, gone whither the offerers of the horse-sacrifice go." ' ' Where, pray, do the offerers of the horse-sacrifice go? ' c This inhabited world, of a truth, is as broad as thirty-two days [i.e. days' journeys] of the sun-god's chariot. The earth, which is twice as wide, surrounds it on all sides. The ocean, which is twice as wide, surrounds the earth on all sides. Then there is an interspace as broad as the edge of a razor or the wing of a mosquito. Indra, taking the form of a bird, delivered them [i.e. the Parikshitas] to Wind. Wind, placing them in himself, led them where the offerers of the horse-sacrifice were. Somewhat thus he [i.e. Sudhanvan] praised Wind. Therefore Wind alone is individuality (vyasti). Wind is totality (samastf). He who knows this overcomes a second death.' Thereupon Bhujyu Lahyayani held his peace.
The threefold offspring- of Prajapati — gods, men, and devils (asura)— dwelt with their father Prajapati as students of sacred knowledge...
(5) The threefold offspring- of Prajapati — gods, men, and devils (asura)— dwelt with their father Prajapati as students of sacred knowledge (brahviacarya). Having lived the life of a student of sacred knowledge, the gods said: ' Speak to us, Sir/ To them then he spoke this syllable, 'Da.' £ Did you understand? ' ' We did understand/ said they. ' You said to us? ct Restrain yourselves (damyata)? ' ' Yes (Om)! ' said he. « You did understand/
Gargya said: cThe sound here which follows after one as he goes — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma ' ' Ajatas'atru said: 'Talk not to me about him! I...
(2) Gargya said: cThe sound here which follows after one as he goes — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma ' ' Ajatas'atru said: 'Talk not to me about him! I worship him, verily, as Life (asu). To him who worships him as such there comes a full length of life (dyu) in this world. Breath (prdna) leaves him not before the time.'
This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two Asvins. Seeing this, the seer spake: — f Upon Dadhyanc Atharvana ye Asvins...
(2) This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two Asvins. Seeing this, the seer spake: — f Upon Dadhyanc Atharvana ye Asvins Did substitute a horse's head, He, keeping true, declared to you the honey Of Tvashtri, which is your secret, O ye mighty ones/ 2 1 8. This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two AsVins. Seeing this, the seer spake: — ' Citadels with two feet he did make. Citadels with four feet he did make. Into the citadels he, having become a bird — Into the citadels {puras) the Person (purusa) entered/ This, verily, is the person (pnrusa) dwelling in all cities (pnri- soya). There is nothing by which he is not covered, nothing by which he is not hid. 19* This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two AsVins. Seeing this, the seer spake:— 1 RV i. 1 1 6. 12. The two Asvins desired instruction from Dadhyaac. But the latter was loath to impart it, for Indra had threatened Dadhyaiic thai if he ever told this honey-doctrine to any one else, he (India) would cut his head off. To avoid this untoward result, the A&yms took off Dadhyafic's head and substituted a horse's head. Then, after Uadhyafic had declared the honey- doctrine m com- pliance with their request and Indra had carried out his threat, the A&vms restored to Dadhyanc his own head. This episode shows the extreme difficulty with which even gods secured the knowledge originally possessed by Indra. 2 RV. I. 117. 22. This is to be looked upon as a form of him. Indra by his magic powers (may a) goes about in many forms; Yoked are his ten-hundred steeds/ I He [i.e. the Soul, Atmari\, verily, is the steeds. He, verily, is tens and thousands, many and endless. This Brahma is without an earlier and without a later, without an inside and without an outside. This Soul is Brahma, the all-perceiving. — Such is the instruction.
Verily, the person here who knows this, is himself that Prajapati with the sixteen parts who is the year. The fifteen parts are his wealth. The...
(1) Verily, the person here who knows this, is himself that Prajapati with the sixteen parts who is the year. The fifteen parts are his wealth. The sixteenth part is his self (atman). In wealth alone [not in self] is one increased and diminished. That which is the self (atman) is a hub; wealth, a felly. Therefore even if one is overcome by the loss of everything, provided he himself lives, people say merely. ' He has come off with the loss of a felly! ' The three worlds and how to win them j 6. Now, there are of a truth three worlds — the world of men, the world of the fathers, and the world of the gods.. This world of men is to be obtained by a son only, by no other means; the world of the fathers, by sacrifice; the world of the gods, by knowledge. The world of the gods is verily the best of worlds. Therefore they praise knowledge. A father's transmission to his son
On this point there is this verse: — When are liberated all The desires that lodge in one's heart, Then a mortal becomes immortal! Therein he reaches...
(4) On this point there is this verse: — When are liberated all The desires that lodge in one's heart, Then a mortal becomes immortal! Therein he reaches Brahma! As the slough of a snake lies on an ant-hill, dead, cast off, even so lies this body. But this incorporeal, immortal Life (prana) is Brahma indeed, is light indeed/ ' I will give you, noble Sir, a thousand [cows],' said Janaka, [king] of Videha.
" But did he tell you Its seat and support? ' I He did not tell me. c Forsooth, your Majesty, that is a one-legged [Brahma].' c Verily, Yajfiavalkya, ...
(4) f Let us hear what anybody may have told you/ [con- tinued Yajfiavalkya]. ' Udanka Saulbayana told me: "Brahma, verily, is the breath of life (prana)" ' As a man might say that he had a mother, that he had a father, that he had a teacher, so did that Saulbayana say, f< Brahma is the breath of life." For he might have thought, " What can one have who is without the breath of life? " But did he tell you Its seat and support? ' I He did not tell me. c Forsooth, your Majesty, that is a one-legged [Brahma].' c Verily, Yajfiavalkya, do you here tell us. should worship It as the dear (przya).' £The breath of life itself, your Majesty/ said he. c Verily, out of love for the breath of life, your Majesty, one has sacrifice offered for him for whom one should not offer sacrifice, one accepts from him from whom one should not accept. Out of love of just the breath of life, your Majesty, there arises fear of being killed wherever one goes. The highest Brahma, your Majesty, is in truth the breath of life. The breath of life leaves not him who, knowing this, worships it as such. All things run unto him. He, having become a god, goes even to the gods/ I 1 will give you a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant/ said Janaka, [king] of Videha. Yajnavalkya replied: c My father thought that without having instructed one should not accept/
Verily, O Gargi, if one pei forms sacrifices and worship and undergoes austerity in this world for many thousands of years, but without knowing that...
(3) Verily, O Gargi, if one pei forms sacrifices and worship and undergoes austerity in this world for many thousands of years, but without knowing that Imperishable, limited indeed is that [work] of his. Verily, 0 Gargi, he who departs from this world without knowing that Imperishable is pitiable But, O Gargi, he who departs from this world knowing that Imperishable is a Brahman.
Now Kahola Kaushltakeya questioned him. * Yajna- valkya/ said he, ' explain to me him who is just the Brahma present and not beyond our ken, him who...
(3) Now Kahola Kaushltakeya questioned him. * Yajna- valkya/ said he, ' explain to me him who is just the Brahma present and not beyond our ken, him who is the Soul in all things. ' He is your soul, which is in all things/ ' He who passes beyond hunger and thirst, beyond sorrow and delusion, beyond old age and death — Brahmans who know such a Soul overcome desire for sons, desire for wealth, desire for worlds, and live the life of mendicants. For desire for sons is desire for wealth, and desire for wealth is desire for worlds, for both these are merely desires. Therefore let a Brahman become disgusted with learning and desire to live as a child. When he has become disgusted both with the state of childhood and with learning, then he becomes an ascetic (muni). When he has become disgusted both with the non-ascetic state and with the ascetic state, then he becomes a Brahman/ us ' By what means would he become a Brahman? ' Aught else than this Soul (Atman) is wretched/ Thereupon Kahola Kaushitakeya held his peace.
He desired: ' Would that this [body] of mine were fit for sacrifice! Would that by it I had a self (atmanmn)! J Thereupon it became a horse (asva),...
(1) He desired: ' Would that this [body] of mine were fit for sacrifice! Would that by it I had a self (atmanmn)! J Thereupon it became a horse (asva), because it swelled (a£vat). ' It has become fit for sacrifice (medhya) \ ' thought he. There- fore the horse-sacrifice is called A6va-medha. He, verily, knows the A3va-medha, who knows it thus. He kept him [i.e. the horse] in mind without confining him. After a year he sacrificed him for himself, [Other] animals he delivered over to the divinities. Therefore men sacrifice the victim which is consecrated to Prajapati as though offered unto all the gods. free for a year. Verily, that [sun] which gives forth heat is the Asva-medha. The year is its embodiment (atmau). This [eaithly] fire is the ar&a. The worlds are its embodi- ments. These aie two, the arka sacrificial fire and the A^va- medha sacrifice. Yet again they are one divinity, even Death. He [who knows this] wards off death again, death obtains him not, death becomes his body (atman\ he becomes one of these deities.
If one is fortunate among men and wealthy, lord over others, best provided with all human enjoyments — that is the highest bliss of men. Now a...
(4) If one is fortunate among men and wealthy, lord over others, best provided with all human enjoyments — that is the highest bliss of men. Now a hundredfold the bliss of men is one bliss of those who have won the fathers' world. Now a hundredfold the bliss of those who have won the fathers' world is one bliss in the Gandharva- world. A hundredfold the bliss in the Gandharva-world is one bliss of the gods who gain their divinity by meritorious works. A hundredfold the bliss of the gods by works is one bliss of the gods by birth and of him who is learned in the Vedas, who is without crook- edness, and who is free from desire. A hundredfold the bliss of the gods by birth is one bliss in the Prajapati- world and of him who is learned in the Vedas, who is without crookedness, and who is free from desire. A hundredfold the bliss in the Prajapati-world is one bliss in the Brahma-world and of him who is learned in the Vedas, who is without crookedness, and who is free from desire. This truly is the highest world. This is the Brahma-world, O king/ — Thus spake Yajnavalkya, [Janaka said:] c I will give you, noble Sir, a thousand [cows]. Speak further than this, for my release.' Then Yajnavalkya feared, thinking: ' This intelligent king has driven me out of every corner.' l
That Prajapati 5s the year. He is composed of sixteen parts. His nights, truly, are fifteen parts. His sixteenth part is steadfast. He is increased...
(1) That Prajapati 5s the year. He is composed of sixteen parts. His nights, truly, are fifteen parts. His sixteenth part is steadfast. He is increased and diminished by his nights alone. Having, on the new-moon night, entered with that sixteenth part into everything here that has breath, he is born thence on the following morning [as the new moon]. Therefore on that night one should not cut off the breath of any breathing thing, not even of a lizard, in honoi of that divinity.
' Let us hear what anybody may have told you/ [con- tinued Yajnavalkya]. £ As a man might say that he had a mother, that he had a father, that he had...
(4) ' Let us hear what anybody may have told you/ [con- tinued Yajnavalkya]. £ As a man might say that he had a mother, that he had a father, that he had a teacher, so did that Jabala say, "Brahma is mind." For he might have thought, "What can one have who is without a mind? " But did he tell you Its^seat and support?' ' He did not tell me. ' Verily, Yajnavalkya, do you here tell us.' £ Its seat is just the mind; Its support, space. One should worship It as the blissful (ananda).' c What is Its blissfulness, Yajnavalkya? ' 'Just the mind, your Majesty/ said he. c Verily, your Majesty, by the mind one betakes himself to a woman. A son like himself is born of her. He is bliss. Verily, your Majesty, the highest Brahma is mind. Mind does not desert him who, knowing this, worships it as such. All things run unto him. He, becoming a god, goes to the gods/ ' I will give you a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant/ said Janaka, [king] of Videha. Yajnavalkya replied: 'My father thought that without having instructed one should not accept.'
Gargya said. 'The Person who is here in wind — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma! ' Ajatasatru said: ' Talk not to me about him! Verily, I worship him...
(2) Gargya said. 'The Person who is here in wind — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma! ' Ajatasatru said: ' Talk not to me about him! Verily, I worship him as Indra, the terrible (vaikuntha), and the uncon- quered army. He who worships him as such becomes indeed triumphant, unconquerable, and a conqueror of adversaries/