Mundaka Upanishad

Brahma was the first among the Devas, the creator of the universe, the protector of the world. He taught the knowledge of Brahman, on which all knowledge rests, to his eldest son Atharva.

That knowledge of Brahman which Brahma taught to Atharva, Atharva taught to Angira in ancient days; and he taught it to one of the Bharadvaja family by name Satyavaha ; and Satyavaha taught to Angiras the knowledge so descended from the greater to the less.

Saunaka, a great grihasta, having duly approached Angiras, questioned him “What is that, O Bhagavan which being known, all this becomes known. ”

To him he said “There are two sorts of knowledge to he acquired. So those who know the Brahman say; namely, Para and Apara, i. e. , the higher and the lower.

Of these, the Apara is the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, and the Atharva Veda, the siksha, the code of rituals, grammar, nirukta, chhandas and astrology. Then the para is that by which the immortal is known.

That which cannot be perceived, which cannot be seized, which has no origin, which has no properties, which has neither ear nor eye, which has neither hands nor feet, which is eternal, diversely manifested, all-pervading, extremely subtle, and undecaying, which the intelligent cognized as the source of the Bhutas.

As the spider creates and absorbs, as medicinal plants grow from the earth, as hairs grow from the living person, so this universe proceeds from the immortal.

By tapas Brahman increases in size and from it food is produced; from food the prana, the mind, the Bhutas the worlds, karma and with it, its fruits.

From the Brahman who knows all and everything of all and whose tapas is in the nature of knowledge, this Brahma, name, form and food are produced.

The various karma which seers found in the mantras are true and were much practised in the Treta age; practise them always with true wishes. This is your way to the attainment of the fruits of karma.

When the flame of the fire burning high is moving, then one should perform the oblations in the space between the portions, where the ghee should be poured on either side.

He whose agnihotra is without Darsa, without Paurnamasa, without Chaturmasya, without agrayana, without atithi (guests) and without oblation is without vaisvadeva, or irregularly performed, destroys his worlds till the seventh.

Kali, karali, also manojava, sulothia, sudhumravarna, sphulingini, and visvaruchi are the seven moving tongues of fire.

Him who performed karma ( agnihotra ) in the bright flames at the proper time, these oblations, performed by him, conduct through the rays of the sun where the Lord of the Devas is sole sovereign.

These oblations shining bright carry the sacrificer through the rays of the sun bidding him welcome, propitiating him and greeting him with pleasing words. This is the well-laid path of virtue leading to Brahmaloka.

The eighteen persons necessary for the performance of sacrifice are transitory and not permanent and karma in its nature inferior, has been stated as resting upon these. Those ignorant persons who delight in this, as leading to bliss, again fall into decay and death.

Being in the midst of ignorance and thinking in their own minds that they are intelligent and learned, the ignorant wander, afflicted with troubles, like the blind led by the blind.

The ignorant following the diverse ways of ignorance, flatter themselves that their objects have been accomplished. As these followers of karma do not learn the truth owing to their desire, they grow miserable and after the fruits of their karma are consumed, fall from Heaven.

These ignorant men regarding sacrificial and charitable acts as most important, do not know any other help to bliss; having enjoyed in the heights of Heaven the abode of pleasures, they enter again into this or even inferior world.

But they who perform tapas and sraddha in the forest, having a control over their senses, learned and living the life of a mendicant, go through the orb of the sun, their good and bad deeds consumed, to where the immortal and undecaying purusha is.

Let a Brahmin having examined the worlds produced by karma be free from desires, thinking, ‘there is nothing eternal produced by karma ?; and in order to acquire the knowledge of the eternal, let him Samid (sacrificial fuel) in hand, approach a perceptor (preceptor?) alone, who is versed in the Vedas and centered in the Brahman.

To him who has thus approached, whose heart is well subdued and who has control over his senses, let him truly teach that Brahmavidya by which the true immortal purusha is known.

This is true; as from the flaming fire issue forth, by thousands, sparks of the same form, so from the immortal proceed, good youth, diverse jivas and they find their way back into it.

He is bright, formless, all-pervading, existing without and within, unborn, without prana, without mind, pure and beyond the avyakrita, which is beyond all.

From him are born the prana, the mind, all the sensory organs, the akas, the wind, the fire, water and the earth which supports all.

This is he, the internal atman of all created things whose head is agni, whose eyes are the sun, and the moon, whose ears are the four directions, whose speeches are the emanated Vedas, whose breath is vayu, whose heart is all the universe and from whose feet the earth proceeded.

From him the Agni ( Dyu loka ) whose fuel is the sun; from the moon in the Dyu Loka, parjanya (clouds); from the clouds, the medicinal plant that grows on earth; from these, the male (fire) which sheds the semen on woman, thus gradually many living beings such as Brahmins, etc. , are born of the Purusha.

From him the Rig, the Sama, the Yajur, Diksha, sacrifices, all Kratus, Dakshina, the year, the sacrificer and the worlds which the moon sanctifies and the sun illuminates.

From him also the devas are variously born, the sadhyas, the men, the cattle, the bird, the prana and the apana, the corn and yava, tapas, devotion, truth Brahmacharya and injunction.

From him mare borne the seven pranas, the seven flames, their sevenfold fuel, the sevenfold oblation and these seven lokas where the pranas move, seven and seven in each living being lying in the cave, there fixed.

From him proceed the oceans and all the mountains and the diverse rivers; from him also, all the medicinal plants and taste, by which encircled by the Bhutas, i. e. , gross elements, the intermediate Atman, i. e. , subtle body is seated.

The purusha alone is all this universe— Karma and Tapas. All this is Brahman, the highest and the immortal who knows this as seated in the cavity of the heart, unties the knot of ignorance even here, Oh good looking youth!

Bright, well-fixed, moving in the heart, great and the support of all; in him is all this universe centred, what moves, breathes and winks. Know this which is all that has form and all that is formless, which is to be sought after by all, which is beyond the reach of man’s knowledge, and the highest of all.

What is bright, what is smaller than the small, in what are centred all the world and those that live in them is this immortal Brahman. That is prana, that is speech and mind. That is true and immortal; good looking youth. Strike thy mind upon that which should be struck by the mind.

Having taken the bow furnished by the Upanishads, the great weapon—and fixed in it the arrow rendered pointed by constant meditation and having drawn it with the mind fixed on the Brahman, hit, good looking youth! at that mark—the immortal Brahman.

The Pranava is the how, the Atman is the arrow and the Brahman is said to be its mark. It should he hit by one who is self-collected and that which hits becomes, like the arrow, one with the mark, i. e. . Brahman.

He in whom the heaven, the earth, the antariksha (sky), the mind with the pranas are centred; know him to be the one Atman of all; abandon all other speech; this is the road to immortality.

Where the nerves of the body meet together as the spokes in the nave of a wheel, this Atman is within it variously horn; meditate upon “Om” as the Atman. May there be no obstacle to your going to the other side beyond darkness.

This Atman who knows all and all of everything and whose glory is so celebrated on earth is seated in the akas of the bright city of Brahman. He is conditioned by the mind, is the leader of the prana and the body and is seated in food, i. e. , the body fixing the intelligence (in the cavity of their heart). The discerning people see by means of their superior knowledge on all sides the atman which shines, all bliss and immortality.

When he that is both high and low is seen, the knot of the heart is untied; all doubts are solved; and all his karma is consumed.

The stainless indivisible Brahman, the pure, the light of all lights is in the innermost sheath of golden hue. That is what the knowers of the Atman know.

The sun shines not there, nor the moon and the stars. Nor do these lightnings shine. How could this fire? All shine after him who shines. All this is illumined by his radiance.

All this before is immortal Brahman ; certainly all behind is Brahman ; all to the south and to the north; all bellow and all alone stretched out, i. e. , extended, all this is certainly Brahman, the highest.

Two inseparable companions of fine plumage perch on the self-same tree. One of the two feeds on the delicious fruit. The other not tasting of it looks on.

On the self same tree, the Jiva drowned as it were and perplexed, grieves owing to helplessness. Hut when he sees the other, the lord who is worshipped by all, and his glory, lie becomes absolved from grief.

When the seer sees him of golden line, the creator, lord, Purusha, and the source of ( Apara ) Brahma, then the knower, having shaken off all deeds of merit and sin, attains supreme equality, being untouched with stain.

This is, indeed. Prana, i. e. , Isvara, shining variously with all living beings. Knowing him, the wise man becomes not a talker regarding anything else. Sporting in self, delighted in self and doing nets (enjoined), this man is the best of those who know the Brahman.

This Atman within the body, resplendent and pure, can be reached by truth and tapas, by sound knowledge and by abstinence from sexual pleasures constantly practised; he is within the body, resplendent and pure; him, assiduous Sanyasins see, their faults removed.

Truth alone wins, not falsehood; by truth, the Devayanah (the path of the Devas ) is widened, that by which the seers travel on, having nothing to wish for to where there is that—the highest treasure attained by truth.

That shines as vast, heavenly, of unthinkable form and subtler than the subtle, much farther than the distant, near, also here, and seen fixed in the cavity, by the intelligent.

He is not grasped by the eye; nor by speech; nor by other senses; nor by tapas ; nor by karma ; when one’s mind is purified by the clearness of knowledge, then alone he sees the indivisible ( Brahman ) by contemplation.

This subtle Atman should be known by the mind as being in the body, whose prana entered in five different forms; the mind in all creatures is pervaded by these pranas. When it is purified, then the Atman shines out of itself.

Whatever worlds he covets by his mind, and whatever objects he wishes for the man of pure mind, he gains those worlds and those objects; therefore, let him who longs for Bhuti (manifested power) worship him who knows the atman.

He knows the highest Brahman, the place where all this universe rests, and which shines with clear brightness. The intelligent, who, free from all desire, worship this man, travel beyond this seed.

He, who broods on and longs for objects of desire, is born there and there with such desires; but of him whose desires have been fulfilled and who has realised, the Atman, the desires end even here (in this world).

This Atman cannot be attained by dint of study or intelligence or much hearing—whom he wishes to attain—by that it can be attained. To him this Atman reveals its true nature.

This Atman cannot he attained by one devoid of strength or by excitement or by tapas devoid of linga. But of the knower who strives with these aids, the Atman enters into the Brahman.

Having attained Him, the seers content with their knowledge, their purpose accomplished, free from all desire, and with full composure, having attained the all-pervading Atman on all sides, ever concentrated in their minds, enter into everything.

Having without doubt well ascertained the significance of the knowledge of Vedanta the seekers, their minds purified by dint of renunciation, attain the worlds of the Brahman and when their body falls, their Atman being one with the highest immortal Brahma n are absolved all round.

The fifteen kalas go back to their source; all the powers seated on the senses go back to their corresponding deities and all his karma and the atman, all these become one, in the highest and imperishable Brahman.

Just as rivers flowing become lost in an ocean, giving up both their name and form, just so, the knower, freed from name and form, attains the bright Purusha which is beyond the avyakta.

He who knows that highest Brahman becomes even Brahman ; and in his line, none who knows not the Brahman will be born. He crosses grief and virtue and vice and being freed from the knot of the heart, becomes immortal.

This is explained by the mantra “who perform the karma enjoined, who are srotriyas, who are centred in the Brahman (lower) and who with faith, offer oblations themselves to the fire named Ekarshi, perform the vow named Sirovrata (who duly carry a fire on the head); to those alone, let one teach this knowledge of the Brahman. ”

This external purusha did the seer Angiras teach in ancient times; none by whom the vow is not observed studies this; prostration to the great sages, prostration to the great sages.