Maitri Upanishad

1.1 Om. There was a king named Bṛhadratha. He entrusted the kingdom to his eldest son, reflected that this body does not endure, and, freed from attachment, departed into the forest. There he entered upon the highest austerity, standing with arms uplifted and eyes upon the sun. When a thousand had passed, a sage drew near: the blessed Śākāyanya, knower of the Self, like a smokeless fire, seeming to consume all with his radiance. “Rise, rise! Choose a boon,” he told the king. Bowing before him, the king answered, “Blessed one, I do not know the Self. We hear that you know reality. Teach us.” “What you have chosen is beyond what can be granted. Do not ask this question, descendant of Ikṣvāku. Choose other desires.” Clasping Śākāyanya's feet, the king uttered this song:

1.2 “Blessed one, what pleasure can desires give in this body—stained with bone, skin, sinew, marrow, flesh, seed, blood, mucus, tears; a reeking, hollow heap of dung, urine, wind, bile, and phlegm?

1.3 “What pleasure can desires give in this body, assailed by longing, anger, greed, fear, despondency, envy, loss of what is loved, union with what is hated, hunger, thirst, age, death, sickness, sorrow, and all the rest?

1.4 “We see that everything here must perish. These biting flies, mosquitoes, and their kind spring up and vanish like grass, born only to be destroyed.

1.5 “But why speak of these? Others were mighty archers, rulers of the whole earth: kings such as Sudyumna, Bhūridyumna, Indradyumna, Kuvalayāśva, Yauvanāśva, Vaddhiyāśva, Aśvapati, Śaśabindu, Hāriścandra, Ambarīṣa, Nanūkta, Svayāti, Yayāti, Anaraṇya, Ukṣasena, Uttha, Marutta, and Bharata. Before the eyes of their assembled kin, they surrendered vast splendor and passed from this world to the next.

1.6 “But why speak of these? We see an end even to Gandharvas, Asuras, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, hosts of spirits, Piśācas, serpents, possessing powers, and the rest.

“But why speak of these? Great oceans wither; mountain peaks fall; the pole star stirs; trees stand rooted; the earth sinks; the gods depart their stations. Here am I, in such a round of existence. What pleasure can desires give, when those who shelter in them are seen returning here again and again? Lift me out. In this round of existence I am a frog in a blind well. Blessed one, you are our passage. You are our passage.” 1.7Here ends the first Prapathaka.

2.1 Then the blessed Śākāyanya, well pleased, addressed the king: “Great King Bṛhadratha, son of the foremost standard-bearer of Ikṣvāku's line, you have accomplished what was yours to do. Renowned are you by the name Marut. This indeed is your Self.” “Which, blessed one? Tell of it,” he said to him.

2.2 “That which rises upward through an outward support, shaken yet unshaken, driving darkness away—this is the Self,” said the blessed one. “This serene being, rising from the body and entering the highest light, comes forth in its own form. This is the Self. This is immortality; this is freedom from fear. This is Brahman.”

2.3 “King, the blessed Maitreya unfolded for us this knowledge of Brahman, the knowledge of all the Upanishads. I will tell it to you. We hear of the Vālakhilyas, cleansed of evil, keenly radiant, their seed flowing upward. They asked Prajāpati, ‘Blessed one, this body is insensible, like a cart. Whose is this greatness, beyond the senses, by which such a body is made to stand as though conscious? Who impels it? Blessed one, tell us.’ He answered them:

2.4 “‘The one spoken of as standing beyond speech is pure, purified, empty, peaceful, life-breath, a Self without a lord, boundless, inexhaustible, steadfast, everlasting, unborn, sovereign, abiding in its own greatness. Through this the body stands as though conscious; this is its impeller.’ They said, ‘Blessed one, how can such a being, without desire, make this body stand as though conscious and impel it? How?’ He answered them:

2.5 “‘This subtle one, ungraspable and unseen, called the Person, moves here through a portion of itself with conscious purpose. As with one asleep, it awakens with conscious purpose. That portion of it is consciousness alone, the knower of the field in every person, marked by intention, resolve, and the sense of I: Prajāpati, whose eyes are everywhere. Through this conscious being the body stands as though conscious; this is its impeller.’ They asked, ‘Blessed one, how does such a being move through a portion of itself?’ He answered them:

2.6 “‘Prajāpati stood alone in the beginning and found no delight. He contemplated himself and brought forth many creatures. He beheld them as his very Self, unawakened, without breath, standing like posts. He found no delight. He thought, “I will enter within them and awaken them.” Making himself like wind, he entered within. He did not enter as one: dividing himself fivefold, he is called the life-breath, the downward breath, the balancing breath, the upward breath, and the pervading breath.

2.7 “‘That which rises upward is the life-breath; that which moves downward is the downward breath. That which sets the coarsest substance of food in the downward breath and carries the finest evenly through every limb is the balancing breath. That which brings up and swallows what is drunk and eaten is the upward breath. That which pervades these vessels is the pervading breath.

2.8 “‘Then Upāṃśu becomes Antaryāma, and Antaryāma becomes Upāṃśu. Between them is warmth, warmth made substantial; that is the Person. The Person is the fire Vaiśvānara. Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The fire Vaiśvānara is this Person within, by whom the food that is eaten is cooked.” Its sound is what one hears with the ears closed. When a person is about to depart, that sound is no longer heard.

2.9 “‘Having divided itself fivefold, this one lies hidden in the cave, made of mind, clothed in life-breath, manifold in form, true in resolve: the Self. Standing within the heart, it thought, “My objects are not attained. Let me become the objects.” Breaking through these openings of its own, it arose and consumed the objects through five rays. The organs of knowing are its rays; the organs of action, its horses; the body, its chariot; the mind, its driver; its goad is fashioned of nature. Urged by this, the body revolves like a wheel. In death the body no longer stands as though conscious. This is its impeller.

2.10 “‘This is the Self, moving through separate bodies as though brought under another's sway, as though overwhelmed by the bright and dark fruits of action. Unmanifest, subtle, unseen, ungraspable, possessing nothing, it has no fixed station. It does not act, yet stands as though an actor.

“‘Pure, steadfast, unmoving, unstained, undistracted, without longing, it stands as a spectator, tasting its own conduct. Veiling itself in a cloth woven of the qualities, it abides. Thus it abides.’” 2.11 Here ends the second Prapathaka.

3.1 They asked, “Blessed one, if this is the greatness you reveal in the Self, what is that other, lower self, overcome by the bright and dark fruits of action, entering good and evil wombs? It circles through a downward or an upward course, overpowered by opposites. Which is this?” He answered them:

3.2 “There is indeed another, lower one: the elemental self. Overcome by the bright and dark fruits of action, it enters good and evil wombs and circles through a downward or an upward course, overpowered by opposites. This is its explanation. The five subtle elements are called elements, and the five great elements are called elements. Their gathering is called the body; what is called the body is called the elemental self. Yet there is its Self, like a drop upon a lotus leaf. The elemental self is overcome by nature's qualities. Overcome, it falls into confusion and does not see the blessed lord within, the one who causes it to act. Sated by streams of qualities, defiled, unsteady, restless, grasping, desirous, distracted, it takes on the sense of I. Thinking ‘I am that; this is mine,’ it binds itself by itself, like a bird in a net. Driven by the ensuing fruits of its deeds, it circles on.

3.3 “Elsewhere, too, it is said: ‘The doer is this elemental self; the Person within causes it to act through its instruments. As a ball of iron, penetrated by fire and struck by workmen, takes many shapes, so the elemental self, penetrated by the Person within and struck by the qualities, takes many shapes. Possessed of three qualities, transformed into 8,400,000 wombs, elemental and threefold in quality—this is the form of multiplicity. The Person impels these qualities as a wheelwright impels a wheel. When the iron ball is struck, the fire is not overcome. So that Person is not overcome; the elemental self is overcome through its close attachment.’

3.4 “Elsewhere, too, it is said: ‘This body springs from intercourse, bereft of consciousness. Issuing through the passage of urine, it is hell itself: built of bones, plastered with flesh, bound in skin, filled with dung, urine, bile, phlegm, marrow, fat, grease, and many other impurities, collapsed like a case.’

“Elsewhere, too, it is said: ‘Delusion, fear, despair, sleep, torpor, wounds, age, grief, hunger, thirst, misery, anger, disbelief, ignorance, envy, unkindness, folly, shamelessness, deceit, arrogance, and unevenness accompany darkness. Craving, affection, attachment, greed, violence, pleasure, preoccupation with seeing, jealousy, fixation on desire, restlessness, the wish to seize, gathering wealth, favoring friends, reliance on possessions, aversion to unwanted sense objects, and clinging to those desired accompany passion. Filled and overcome by these, the elemental self assumes many forms. It assumes many forms.’” 3.5 Here ends the third Prapathaka.

4.1 Then those whose seed flowed upward, greatly astonished, drew close and said, “Blessed one, homage to you. Instruct us. You are our passage; no other is known to us. Who is the guest of this elemental self, through whom it may leave this behind and enter union with another?” He answered them:

4.2 “Elsewhere, too, it is said: ‘Its former deeds hold it back like eddies in great rivers. The coming of death is as hard to turn aside as the sea's tide. Bound like a beast in ropes woven of good and evil fruits, it is without freedom, like a captive; encompassed by fears, like one in Yama's dominion. It rejoices as one drunken, though not drunk with wine; it reels as one possessed by evil; its vision fails as though bitten by a great serpent. Passion blinds it like a vast darkness. It is fashioned of illusion, like a conjurer's show; its vision is false, like a dream. It has no heartwood, like the core of a banana stem. Its costume lasts a moment, like an actor's; its false appearance charms the mind, like a painted wall.’ And it is said: ‘Sound, touch, and the other objects stand as though they were afflictions. Bound to them, the elemental self forgets the highest place.’

4.3 “The elemental self has this remedy: the attainment of knowledge, observance of the law, and the ordered passage through one's stages of life. One's own duty bears all else as a trunk bears its branches. Through this one rises; otherwise one falls. One is bound by the duty set out in the Vedas. It is not by transgressing one's duty that one enters a stage of life; established in those stages, one is called an ascetic. This too is said: ‘Without austerity there is no attainment in meditation on the Self, nor purification of action.’ For it is said: ‘Through austerity clarity is gained; through clarity, mind; through mind, the Self. On attaining the Self, one turns back.’

4.4/15 “These verses are given here: ‘As fire, without fuel, subsides into its source, so mind, its movements spent, subsides into its source. 1 For the mind at peace in its source, moving toward truth and undeluded, sense objects are false, following the rule of action. 2 Mind itself is the round of existence: strive to cleanse it. As one's mind is, so one becomes. This is the eternal secret. 3 Through the clarity of mind one destroys action, good and evil. Clear in self, established in the Self, one tastes unfailing happiness. 4 If the mind of a creature were as fastened to Brahman as it is to the field of sense, who would remain bound? 5 Mind is declared twofold, pure and impure: impure through the conceiving of desire, pure when desire is absent. 6 Make mind utterly still, free from sinking and distraction. When it enters the condition beyond mind, that is the highest place. 7 Hold it in the heart until it ceases. This is knowledge and release; all else is the spreading out of books. 8 The happiness found when mind, cleansed of stain through absorption, rests in the Self cannot be told in words. It is grasped directly by the inward faculty. 9 Water in water, fire in fire, space in space cannot be distinguished. When mind has entered within in this way, the Person is released. 10 Mind alone is the cause of human bondage and release: attached to objects, it binds; without objects, it frees.’ 11 Then comes this praise of Kautsāyani: ‘You are Brahmā, you are Vishnu, you are Rudra, you are Prajāpati. You are fire, Varuṇa, wind; you are Indra, the maker of night. 12 You are Manu and Yama; you are earth and the unfailing one. For your own purpose and the purpose native to your nature, you stand manifold in heaven. 13 Lord of all, homage to you, Self of all, maker of every work. You are the eater of all, the illusion of all, the lord delighting in the play of all. 14 Homage to you, the peaceful Self; homage to the most secret, the inconceivable, immeasurable, without beginning or end.’

“This was darkness alone. Then, impelled by the higher, it passed into the condition of an object: this is the form of passion. Passion, impelled, passed into unevenness: this is the form of darkness. Darkness, impelled, flowed forth from darkness: this is the form of clarity. Clarity itself, impelled, flowed forth from clarity. This portion, consciousness alone, is the knower of the field in every person, marked by intention, resolve, and the sense of I: Prajāpati. His foremost bodies are named Brahmā, Rudra, and Vishnu. His portion of passion is Brahmā; his portion of darkness is Rudra; his portion of clarity is Vishnu. One, he became threefold, eightfold, elevenfold, twelvefold, and measureless in his forms. Having arisen, he moves among beings, becoming the ground and lord of all. That Self is within and without—within and without.” 4.5 Here ends the fourth Prapathaka.

5.1 This one bears the Self twofold: as this life-breath and as that sun. These two existed, fivefold in name, inward and outward, alternating through day and night. That sun is the outer Self; the life-breath is the inner Self. From the movement of the outer Self the movement of the inner is inferred. So it is said. Whoever knows, cleansed of evil, watchful, clear in mind, rooted in that, with eyes turned inward, may infer the movement of the outer Self from that of the inner. So it is said. The golden Person within the sun, who beholds me as golden, is the very one sheltered in the lotus of the heart, eating food.

5.2 The one sheltered in the lotus of the heart, eating food, is the solar fire abiding in heaven, unseen, named Time, devouring all beings as food. What is the lotus? Of what is it made? That lotus is this space: its four directions and four intermediate directions are arrayed within it. This fire is on the near side; beyond are these two, life-breath and sun. Worship the two with the syllable Om, the sacred utterances, and the Sāvitrī prayer.

5.3 Brahman has two forms, the formed and the formless. The formed is untrue; the formless is true. That is Brahman. Brahman is light, and light is the sun. Its Self is this syllable Om. It unfolded itself threefold, the three sound-measures of Om. By these all this is woven in it, through and through. So it is said: “This sun is Om.” Contemplating it in this way, one should bring the Self into union.

5.4 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The high chant is the sacred syllable; the sacred syllable is the high chant.” That sun is the high chant, the sacred syllable. So it is said: “The high chant, called the sacred syllable, the guide bearing name and form, free of sleep, free of age and death, also to be known fivefold, lies hidden in the cave.” So it is said. The root is above; Brahman's branches are space, wind, fire, water, earth, and the rest. This Brahman is held by one. Its radiance is that sun and the radiance of this syllable Om. Therefore worship it without ceasing through Om: this alone brings its essence to understanding. So it is said: “This very syllable is holy. Knowing this very syllable, whatever one desires becomes one's own.”

5.5 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “Its body thunders as Om. It has gender as female, male, and neuter; light as fire, wind, and sun; lordship as Rudra and Vishnu; mouths as the householder's fire, the southern fire, and the offering fire. It knows as the Rig, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas. It has worlds as earth, atmosphere, and heaven; time as what has been, what is coming to be, and what will be; burning power as life-breath, fire, and sun; nourishment as food, water, and moon; awareness as understanding, mind, and the sense of I. Some call it endowed with breath as the life-breath, the downward breath, and the pervading breath. At the words ‘I relinquish,’ these are presented and offered.” So it is said: “Satyakāma, this syllable Om is the higher and the lower.”

5.6 This was opened wide. Prajāpati, who is truth, practiced austerity and uttered: “Earth, atmosphere, heaven.” This world-bearing body of Prajāpati is his most substantial body. Heaven is its head, atmosphere its navel, earth its feet, and the sun its eye. The great reach of a person rests upon the eye: through it one moves among objects. The eye is truth, for the Person dwelling in the eye speaks of every object. Therefore worship with “Earth, atmosphere, heaven.” Thus Prajāpati is worshiped as food, as the Self of all, as the eye of all. So it is said: “This is Prajāpati's all-bearing body. Everything here is hidden in it, and it is hidden in everything here.” Therefore worship it.

5.7 “That of Savitṛ which is to be chosen”: that sun is Savitṛ, to be chosen in this way by one who desires the Self, say those who speak of Brahman. Then, “We meditate on the god's splendor”: Savitṛ is established there. “We contemplate his splendor,” say those who speak of Brahman. Then, “May he stir our thoughts”: thoughts are the powers of understanding. “May he stir these powers of ours,” say those who speak of Brahman. And as for splendor: what lies in this sun, in the pupil and the eye, is called splendor. It moves through rays, and so is splendor; it burns, and so is splendor, say those who speak of Brahman. Its name points to illumining these worlds, coloring these beings, and going: into it these creatures go, and from it they come. Through bearing them it is called splendor. Sūrya is named from the bringing forth of enemies; Savitṛ, from pressing forth; Āditya, from giving; Pāvamāna, from purifying; Āditya, from going. So it is said: “Through the Self, the self called immortal is the perceiver, thinker, mover, creator, giver of joy, doer, speaker, taster, smeller, toucher; all-pervading, it has its station in the body.” So it is said. Where awareness has become dual, one hears, sees, smells, tastes, touches: the Self knows all. Where awareness has become nondual, released from effect and cause, beyond utterance, beyond likeness, beyond description—what, then, could be spoken of it?

This indeed is the Self: Īśāna, Śambhu, Bhava, Rudra, Prajāpati, maker of all, Hiraṇyagarbha, truth, life-breath, the swan, the peaceful one, Vishnu, Nārāyaṇa, Arka, Savitṛ, Dhātṛ, the sovereign, Indra, Indu. This is the one who burns, veiled by fire, by thousand-eyed golden joy. He must be sought, he must be known. Granting freedom from fear to every being, entering the forest and setting the objects of sense outside, one finds him within one's own body. “The tawny one of every form, who knows all births, the final refuge, the one burning light—the thousand-rayed one, appearing a hundred ways, the life-breath of creatures: this sun rises.” 5.8 Here ends the fifth Prapathaka.

6.1 Now, Prapathaka 6. This one bears the Self in two forms: as this life-breath and as that sun. These are its two paths, inward and outward; with day and night the two alternate. That sun is the outer Self; the life-breath is the inner Self. Thus the movement of the inner Self may be inferred from the movement of the outer Self. So it is said. But a knower whose evil has been swept away, who governs the senses, whose mind is clear, who is rooted in that and has turned his gaze inward—he may infer the movement of the outer Self from the movement of the inner Self. So it is said. And the golden Person within the sun, who looks upon this earth from his golden station, is the very one who dwells within the lotus of the heart and eats food.

6.2 And the one who dwells within the lotus of the heart and eats food is that solar fire abiding in heaven, invisible, called Time, which eats all beings as its food. What is this lotus, and of what is it made? This space itself is that lotus; its four directions and four intermediate directions are arranged as its petals. The life-breath and the sun move about here within. One should worship these with the syllable Om, with the sacred utterances, and with the Sāvitrī prayer.

6.3 Brahman has two forms: the formed and the formless. What is formed is untrue; what is formless is true. That is Brahman; that is light. That light is the sun. This sun came to have Om as its Self. It unfolded itself threefold: Om has three sound-measures. “By these, all this is woven through and through—and I am it.” So it is said. “The sun is this Om.” Meditating in this way, one should bring the Self into union.

6.4 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The high chant is the sacred syllable; the sacred syllable is the high chant.” That sun is the high chant, and it is the sacred syllable. So it is said: “The high chant, called the sacred syllable, the guide, whose form is light, free of sleep, free of age, free of death, three-footed, three-lettered, and also to be known as fivefold, is hidden in the secret chamber.” So it is said. Brahman has its root above and three feet; its branches are space, wind, fire, water, earth, and the rest. This single tree, called the sacred fig, is Brahman. That sun is its radiance, and this is also the radiance of the syllable Om. Therefore one should worship it unceasingly with Om. This alone awakens one to it. So it is said: “This very syllable is holy; this very syllable is supreme. Knowing this very syllable, whatever one desires becomes one's own.”

6.5 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “Om is its body endowed with sound. It bears gender as female, male, and neuter. It bears light as fire, wind, and sun. It bears sovereignty as Brahmā, Rudra, and Vishnu. It bears mouths as the householder's fire, the southern fire, and the offering fire. It bears knowledge as the Rig, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas. It bears worlds as earth, atmosphere, and heaven. It bears time as what has been, what is coming to be, and what will be. It bears burning power as life-breath, fire, and sun. It bears nourishment as food, water, and moon. It bears consciousness as understanding, mind, and the sense of I. It bears life-breath as the life-breath, the downward breath, and the pervading breath.” Therefore, with the utterance Om, all these are praised, worshiped, and offered up. So it is said: “Truly, Satyakāma, this syllable Om is both the higher and the lower Brahman.”

6.6 Now, this was unuttered. Prajāpati, who is truth, practiced austerity and pronounced: “Earth, atmosphere, heaven.” This body of Prajāpati, consisting of the worlds, is his most substantial body. Heaven is its head, atmosphere its navel, earth its feet, and the sun its eye. For the greater part of a person depends on the eye: through the eye one moves among objects. The eye is truth, for the person who abides in the eye moves among all things. Therefore one should worship with “Earth, atmosphere, heaven.” By this, Prajāpati is worshiped as the Self of all, as the eye of all. So it is said: “This is Prajāpati's all-bearing body. All this is hidden within it, and it is hidden within all this.” Therefore one should worship it.

6.7 “That desirable radiance of Savitṛ”: that sun is Savitṛ. Those who speak of Brahman say that one who desires the Self should choose him above all. Then, “We meditate on the god's splendor”: Savitṛ is the god, and “We contemplate what is called his splendor,” say those who speak of Brahman. Then, “May he stir our thoughts”: thoughts are our powers of understanding; “May he stir these powers of ours,” say those who speak of Brahman. And as for “splendor”: the star hidden in that sun, the pupil in the eye, is what is called splendor. It is splendor because it moves by its rays; it is splendor because it burns. Those who speak of Brahman call it Rudra. The syllable bha means that he illumines these worlds; ra means that he delights these beings; ga means that these creatures go into him and come out from him. Because of this illuminating, delighting, and going, he is called splendor, bharga. He is Sūrya because he is continually being born; Savitṛ because he impels; Āditya because he takes; the purifier because he purifies; and the waters because he nourishes. So it is said: “He is the Self of the Self, the guide, called immortal, the conscious one, the thinker, the mover, the one who sends forth, the giver of joy, the doer, the speaker, the taster, the smeller, the seer, the hearer; he also touches, the all-pervading one who has entered the body.” So it is said. Where consciousness has become dual, there one hears, sees, smells, tastes, and touches: the Self knows everything. Where consciousness has become nondual, released from effect, cause, and action, beyond expression, beyond comparison, beyond description—what is that? It cannot be spoken.

6.8 This indeed is the Self: Īśāna, Śambhu, Bhava, Rudra, Prajāpati, the maker of all, Hiraṇyagarbha, truth, life-breath, the swan, the ruler, Vishnu, Nārāyaṇa, Arka, Savitṛ, Dhātṛ, Vidhātṛ, the sovereign, Indra, Indu. This is the one who burns, veiled like fire by fire, by the thousand-eyed golden egg. He is the one to be known, the one to be sought. Having granted every being freedom from fear, having gone into the forest and put the objects of the senses outside, one should discover him within one's own body. “The tawny one of every form, who knows all births, the final refuge, the one burning light—the thousand-rayed one, appearing a hundred ways, the life-breath of creatures: this sun rises.”

6.9 Therefore, knowing this twofold Self, one meditates upon the Self alone and sacrifices within the Self alone. Meditation is the mind established in practice, praised by the wise. Whatever is foul in the mind, defiled by leftovers, one should purify with this. One recites the prayer: “Whatever is left over or tainted by leftovers, whatever has been given by an evildoer or comes from the impurity of death or birth—may Vasu's purifier, fire, and the rays of Savitṛ purify my food, and whatever else I have done wrong.” First one encircles the food with water. With five invocations one offers it: “To the life-breath, svāhā! To the downward breath, svāhā! To the pervading breath, svāhā! To the balancing breath, svāhā! To the upward breath, svāhā!” Then, restraining speech, one eats what remains. Afterward one encircles it again with water. Having rinsed the mouth, sacrificing to the Self, one should meditate upon the Self with the two verses beginning “The life-breath is fire” and “You are all”: “The life-breath is fire, the supreme Self, dwelling with the five winds. Pleased, may it please all, the eater of all. You are all; you are the fire in all people. All that is born is sustained by you. May every offering enter you, and all creatures, there where you are the immortal in all.” Thus, by this rite, one does not again become food.

6.10 Something further must be known: the next development of this sacrifice to the Self, concerning food and the eater of food. Its explanation is this. The conscious Person, dwelling within primal matter, is the eater; he eats the food that comes from nature. This elemental Self is his food, and primal matter produces it. Thus what is to be eaten has three qualities; the eater is the Person within. Here is the evidence called direct observation: since animals arise from seed, seed is their food. This also explains how primal matter is food. Therefore the Person is the eater, and nature is what is eaten; dwelling within it, he eats. Food derived from nature, changing through the distinctions of the three qualities, is the distinguishing body, beginning with the great principle and ending with the particular elements. This also explains the fourteenfold path. This world, called pleasure, pain, and delusion, has become food. A seed's flavor cannot be enjoyed until it has brought forth. It too becomes food in its three stages—childhood, youth, and old age—because it changes. In this way one perceives the food-character of primal matter when it has become manifest. There, understanding and the rest become flavors: resolve, intention, and the sense of I. Then the objects of the senses become five flavors, as do all the actions of the senses and all the actions of the life-breaths. Thus the manifest is food, and the unmanifest is food. Its eater is without qualities, and his consciousness is established by his being the eater. Just as fire is the gods' eater of food, and Soma is food, so one who knows this eats food by fire. This elemental Self is called Soma, and the Person is called fire, since it is said, “Their mouth is the unmanifest.” Through the mouth of the unmanifest, the Person eats what has three qualities. One who knows this is a renunciant, a yogi, and a sacrificer to the Self. And just as no one in an empty house touches women who have entered it, so one who does not touch the objects of the senses that have entered is a renunciant, a yogi, and a sacrificer to the Self.

6.11 Food is the supreme form of this Self, for this life-breath is made of food. If one does not eat, one cannot think, hear, touch, see, speak, smell, or taste, and one lets go of the life-breaths. So it is said. But if one eats, filled with life-breath one becomes a thinker, a hearer, one who touches, a speaker, a taster, a smeller, a seer. So it is said: “From food are born all creatures that dwell upon the earth. By food alone they live, and into it they pass at last.”

6.12 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “All these beings fly forth day after day, seeking to seize food. The sun takes food with its rays, and by it the sun burns. Fed with food, these life-breaths cook. Fire blazes up with food. All this was fashioned by Brahman in its desire for food.” Therefore one should worship food as the Self. So it is said: “From food beings are born; once born, they grow by food. It is eaten, and it eats beings: therefore it is called food.”

6.13 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “This food is the body of the blessed Vishnu called the bearer of all. Life-breath is the essence of food; mind, of life-breath; knowledge, of mind; joy, of knowledge.” One who knows this possesses food, life-breath, mind, knowledge, and joy. As many beings as there are here eating food, within every one of them the knower of this eats food. “Food alone is ageless; food is held to win affection. Food is the life-breath of animals; food is the eldest; food is held to be the healer.”

6.14 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “Food is the womb of all this, time the womb of food, and the sun the womb of time.” Its form is the twelvefold year, gathered from units of time beginning with the blink of an eye. Half of it belongs to fire, half to Varuṇa. The fiery half begins with Maghā and reaches the middle of Śraviṣṭhā in forward order; the lunar half, in reverse order, begins with the Serpent's mansion and ends at the middle of Śraviṣṭhā. Within it, each has its own nine divisions, with its manner of movement. Because time is subtle, this is its measure; by this it is measured. Without a measure, what is measurable cannot be apprehended. What is measured, when set apart, itself becomes a measure, to make itself understood. So it is said: “As many as are the divisions of time, through so many that sun moves. For one who worships time as Brahman, time retreats far into the distance.” So it is said: “From time beings flow, and through time they come to growth. In time they go to rest. Time is form, itself formless.”

6.15 Brahman has two forms: time and the timeless. What is before the sun is timeless—timeless. What begins with the sun is time, with parts. The form of what has parts is the year. From the year these creatures are born; through the year those born here grow; in the year they come to rest. Therefore the year is Prajāpati, time, food, Brahman's dwelling, and the Self. So it is said: “Time ripens all beings within the great Self. But one who knows that in which time itself is ripened knows the Veda.”

6.16 This embodied time is an ocean, the king of creatures. The one who dwells within it is called Savitṛ, for from him are brought forth the moon, the constellations, the planets, the year, and the rest; from these comes all this. Whatever good or evil is seen here in the world comes from these. Therefore Brahman has the sun as its Self. One should worship the sun under the name of time. Some say, “The sun is Brahman.” So it is said: “The offering priest, the eater, the offering, the prayer, the sacrifice, Vishnu, Prajāpati, all, the Lord, the witness—whoever he may be, he is the one who shines in that disk.”

6.17 In the beginning this was Brahman: one, boundless—boundless toward the east, boundless toward the south, boundless toward the west, boundless toward the north, above and below, boundless on every side. No directions, east or otherwise, can be assigned to it, nor across, below, or above. This supreme Self cannot be inferred, measured, reasoned out, or conceived. Its Self is space. When everything perishes, this one alone keeps watch. From this space it awakens this whole world, which is consciousness alone; by it alone this world is contemplated, and into it this world sinks to rest. Its shining form is what burns in that sun, in the smokeless fire, and in the belly as the more vivid light that cooks food. So it is said: “The one in fire, the one here in the heart, and the one there in the sun are one.” One who knows this enters the oneness of the One.

6.18 The method of putting this into practice is this: control of the life-breath, withdrawal of the senses, meditation, concentration, inquiry, and absorption. These are called the six limbs of yoga. When, through this, the seer sees the golden-colored maker, the Lord, the Person, the womb of Brahman, then, knowing, leaving behind both good and evil, one makes everything one in the supreme, imperishable reality. So it is said: “As beasts and birds never settle on a mountain blazing with fire, so faults never settle on one who knows Brahman.”

6.19 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “When the knower has restrained the mind from outward things, and the objects of the senses with it, and has gathered them into the life-breath, one should then remain without intentions. For the living being called life-breath has arisen here from that which is without life-breath. Therefore one should hold the life-breath in that which is called the fourth.” So it is said: “There is that which is without mind, within the mind, inconceivable, secret, supreme. There one should lay the mind to rest: that is the distinguishing sign, resting on nothing.”

6.20 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “Beyond this comes concentration: the tongue's tip pressed against the palate. By restraining speech, mind, and life-breath, one sees Brahman through inquiry. As mind comes to an end, one sees through oneself the shining Self, smaller than the small. Seeing the Self through oneself, one becomes without a self; without a self, beyond reckoning, without a womb, to be contemplated. This is the mark of release, the highest secret.” So it is said: “Through the clarity of mind one destroys action, good and evil. Clear in self, established in the Self, one tastes unfailing happiness.”

6.21 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The channel Suṣumnā runs upward, carrying life-breath, interrupted within the palate. Through it, with life-breath, Om, and mind joined, one should ascend. Turning the tip back over the palate and disengaging the senses, greatness should behold greatness. Then one enters the condition without a self. Without a self, one has no share in pleasure and pain; one gains aloneness.” So it is said: “First establish the higher; then restrain the wind. Cross to the farther shore by the boundless; afterward join it at the crown.”

6.22 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “Two Brahmans are to be contemplated: sound and the soundless. Through sound alone the soundless is revealed. Here the sound is Om. Ascending through it, one finds rest in the soundless.” This, it is said, is the way, immortality, union with that, repose. As a spider climbs its thread and finds open space, so the meditator, ascending through Om, gains sovereignty. Other teachers of sound take another course: joining the thumbs to the ears, they listen to the sound of the space within the heart. Sevenfold are its likenesses: rivers, a little bell, a bronze wheel, frogs, a crying bird, rain, a voice speaking where no wind blows. Passing beyond their separate marks, they sink into the higher Brahman, soundless, unmanifest. There their natures are no longer separate, no longer discernible, as diverse flavors become one honey. So it is said: “Two Brahmans must be known: Brahman as sound, and that which is beyond. Immersed in Brahman as sound, one reaches the highest Brahman.”

6.23 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “Sound is this syllable Om. Beyond it lies the peaceful, soundless, fearless, sorrowless, joyful, fulfilled, steadfast, unmoving, immortal, unfailing, enduring, named Vishnu. Worship that to pass beyond all.” So it is said: “That god, higher and lower, bears the name Om. Soundless, become empty, one should practice at the place of the crown.”

6.24 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The body is the bow, Om the arrow, mind its point. Piercing that which bears darkness as its mark, it reaches darkness pervaded by what is not dark. Piercing what is pervaded, one sees Brahman beyond darkness, flashing like the circle of a whirling firebrand, sun-colored, full of vigor—the radiance in that sun, in the moon, in fire, in lightning. Seeing it, one enters immortality.” So it is said: “Meditation is set upon the highest reality within and upon its targets. Through this, undifferentiated awareness enters distinction. When mind has dissolved, the happiness witnessed by the Self alone is Brahman: immortal, bright. This is the way; this is the world.”

6.25 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The senses are withdrawn as in sleep; with an understanding utterly pure, as in a dream, one sees through the aperture of the senses, not subject to their power, the guide called the sacred syllable, whose form is light, free of sleep, free of age, free of death and sorrow. One too becomes that guide, called the sacred syllable, light in form, free of sleep, age, death, and sorrow.” So it is said: “Because one joins the life-breath and Om, from which all comes forth manifold—or because they are joined—it is remembered as yoga. The oneness of life-breath and mind, and of the senses likewise, the surrender of every state of being: this is called yoga.”

6.26 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “As a fowler raises creatures moving in water by an engine of thread and offers them to the fire within his belly, so one raises these life-breaths through Om and offers them to the fire free of affliction. Thus it is heated, like the earth. As heated ground, with clarified butter, flames at the touch of grass and wood, so that which is called breathless flames at the touch of life-breath. This flaming is Brahman's form, Vishnu's highest station, Rudra's very Rudrahood. Dividing itself beyond measure, it fills these worlds.” So it is said: “As sparks rise from fire and rays from the sun, so from that one the life-breaths and the rest rise here, again and again, each in order.”

6.27 Elsewhere, too, it is said: “The warmth of the body is the radiance of the highest, immortal, bodiless Brahman. This is its clarified butter. Though manifest, it is laid in the sky. With single-pointed attention they open the space within the heart, so that it becomes as its light. Soon one enters its nature, as an iron ball laid in earth soon enters the nature of earth. The iron ball, settled into an earthen state, is no longer mastered by fire, smiths, and the rest. In this way mind vanishes, together with its support.” So it is said: “The sheath of space within the heart is bliss, the highest dwelling. From it are our own being and yoga, and the radiance of fire and sun.”

6.29 Elsewhere, too, it is said:“Pass beyond the elements, the senses, and their objects. Take up the bow, renunciation its string, constancy its staff; with an arrow made of freedom from the sense of I, strike down the first guard at Brahman's door. Delusion is his crown, thirst and envy his earrings; drowsiness and attachment are his staff, self-importance his commander. With a bow strung with anger, its staff greed, and an arrow wrought of desire, he strikes down these beings. Slay him. On the raft of Om cross the space within the heart. When the inner space is revealed, enter Brahman's hall as a seeker of ore slowly enters the pit he has dug. Then, through the teaching handed down by a teacher, open Brahman's sheath with its four nets.“Pure, purified, empty, peaceful, without life-breath, without a self, boundless, inexhaustible, steadfast, everlasting, unborn, sovereign, one stands in one's own greatness. Standing in that greatness, one sees the wheel of wandering as a wheel that does not turn.” So it is said:“For the embodied one who practices six months, who is ever free,boundless, supreme, secret, perfected yoga unfolds.Never for the embodied one pierced by passion and darkness, fiercely inflamed,clinging to sons, wife, and household.” 6.28Having spoken thus, Śākāyanya was within the heart. The king bowed before him and heard: “King, through this knowledge of Brahman, Prajāpati's sons have mounted the path of Brahman.” Through the practice of yoga one gains contentment, endurance of opposites, and peace. This most secret teaching is not to be told to one who is neither son nor pupil, nor to one without peace. Give it to one devoted to this alone, endowed with every good quality.

6.30 Om. Pure in a pure place, established in clarity, let one study the true, speak the true, meditate on the true, sacrifice to the true. Then, finding repose in true Brahman, which desires truth, with the bonds of action's fruit severed, without expectation, seeing others as oneself, without fear or desire, one enters inexhaustible, measureless happiness and abides. Desirelessness is the highest treasure drawn from the highest store. The Person filled with all desires, marked by resolve, intention, and the sense of I, is bound; the opposite is free. Some say: “Through nature's diversity a quality takes the form of resolve and enters bondage to self. Release comes through the wasting away of resolve's faults.” Through mind one sees; through mind one hears. Desire, intention, doubt, faith, unfaith, constancy, inconstancy, shame, understanding, fear—all these are mind alone. Swept by streams of qualities, defiled, unsteady, restless, plundered, desirous, distracted, one assumes the sense of I. Thinking “I am that; this is mine,” one binds oneself by oneself, like a bird in a net. Thus the Person marked by resolve, intention, and the sense of I is bound; the opposite is free. Stand, therefore, without resolve, without intention, without the sense of I. This is the mark of release, the road to Brahman, the opening in the door: through it one passes beyond this darkness. Here all desires are gathered into rest. They give this verse: “When the five powers of knowing stand still with mind, and understanding makes no movement, that is called the highest way.” Having spoken thus, Śākāyanya was within the heart. The king bowed before him, rendered due service, and fulfilled what was to be done. He took the wind's northward path. There is no passage here by a crooked course. This is the road to Brahman: breaking the sun's door, they issue upward. They give these verses: “Boundless are the rays of the one who stands like a lamp in the heart—white and black, brown and blue, tawny and pale red. One among them stands upward: breaking through the sun's disk and passing beyond Brahmā's world, they follow it to the highest way. The other hundred rays that stand upward lead to the proper dwellings of the companies of gods. The many-colored rays below, gentle in their shining, bear one helplessly around here to taste the fruits of action.” Therefore that blessed sun is the cause of creation, heaven, and release.

6.31 “What is the nature of these senses in their movement? Who brings them forth here; who governs them?” he asks. The answer is: “The Self is their nature, for the Self brings them forth. The water-born and the sun-born are named rays; through five rays it consumes the objects.” Which Self? The one described as pure, purified, empty, peaceful, and the rest, to be apprehended by its own marks. The mark of the unmarked is the warmth that enters fire and the most gracious essence of water, some say. Others say speech, hearing, sight, mind, life-breath. Others say understanding, constancy, memory, insight. These are its own, as shoots belong to seed, or smoke, flame, and sparks to fire. They give this verse: “As sparks rise from fire and rays from the sun, so from that one the life-breaths and the rest rise here, again and again, each in order.”

6.32 From this Self rise all life-breaths, all worlds, all Vedas, all gods, all beings. Its secret teaching is “the truth of truth.” As separate clouds of smoke issue from fire heaped with damp fuel, so the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva-Aṅgiras, history, ancient lore, learning, Upanishads, verses, sūtras, further explanations, explanations—all these are the breathing of this great being. All these beings are its own.

6.33 This fire, the year, has five bricks: spring, summer, the rains, autumn, winter. With head, two wings, tail, and back, this fire takes the form of a person. This is Prajāpati's first piled altar. With its hands it raises the sacrificer to the middle region and yields him to the wind. Wind is life-breath; life-breath is fire. Its bricks are life-breath, pervading breath, downward breath, balancing breath, upward breath. With head, two wings, back, and tail, this fire takes the form of a person. The middle region is Prajāpati's second piled altar. With its hands it raises the sacrificer to heaven and yields him to Indra. That sun is Indra; that is this fire. Its bricks are the Rig, Yajur, Sāma, Atharva-Aṅgiras, and history and ancient lore. With head, two wings, tail, and back, this fire takes the form of a person. Heaven is Prajāpati's third piled altar. With its hands it makes an offering of the sacrificer to the knower of the Self. As the knower of the Self raises him and yields him to Brahman, there he becomes blissful, rejoicing.

6.34 Earth is the householder's fire, the middle region the southern fire, heaven the offering fire. From these arise Pavamāna, Pāvaka, Śuci. Through this the sacrifice is revealed, for the belly's fire is their union. Therefore fire is to be worshiped with sacrifice, built up, praised, contemplated. Taking the offering, the sacrificer longs to contemplate the deity: “The golden bird stands in the heart and in the sun—the diving bird, the swan, the bull of radiance. To him we sacrifice in this fire.” He also considers the prayer's meaning. “That desirable splendor of Savitṛ” is his contemplation. The meditator within the understanding follows the place where mind is peaceful and lays it in the Self alone. These verses follow: 1 As fire, without fuel, subsides into its source, so mind, its movements spent, subsides into its source. 2 For mind at rest in its source and desiring truth, the sense objects that bewilder it are false, following the rule of action. 3 Mind itself is the round of existence: strive to cleanse it. As one's mind is, so one becomes. This is the eternal secret. 4 Through the clarity of mind one destroys action, good and evil. Clear in self, established in the Self, one tastes unfailing happiness. 5 If the mind of a creature were as fastened to Brahman as it is to the field of sense, who would remain bound? 6 Mind is declared twofold, pure and impure: impure through contact with desire, pure when desire is absent. 7 Make mind utterly still, free from sinking and distraction. When it enters the condition beyond mind, that is the highest place. 8 Hold mind in the heart until it ceases. This is knowledge and release; all else is the spreading out of books. 9 The happiness arising when mind, washed of stain through absorption, rests in the Self cannot be told in words. It is grasped directly by the inward faculty. 10 Water in water, fire in fire, space in space cannot be distinguished. One whose mind has entered within in this way is fully released. 11 Mind alone is the cause of human bondage and release: clinging to objects, it binds; without objects, it frees. For those who offer no fire sacrifice, build no fire altar, and contemplate ignorance, remembrance of the space that is Brahman's station is therefore unfitting. Therefore fire is to be worshiped with sacrifice, built up, praised, contemplated.

6.35 Homage to fire, dwelling on earth, mindful of the world: grant this sacrificer a world. Homage to wind, dwelling in the middle region, mindful of the world: grant this sacrificer a world. Homage to the sun, dwelling in heaven, mindful of the world: grant this sacrificer a world. Homage to Brahman, dwelling in all, mindful of all: grant this sacrificer all. A golden vessel covers the face of truth. Uncover it, Pūṣan, for Vishnu, whose law is truth. The Person there in the sun—that am I. This is the true law, the sun's very sunhood: the bright Person without a mark. What lies in the sun's midst is but a portion of the radiance within space, and it is in the eye and in fire. This is Brahman, immortality, splendor, the true law. What lies in the sun's midst is but a portion of the radiance within space: the immortal one, whose sprouts are Soma and these life-breaths. This is Brahman, immortality, splendor, the true law. What lies in the sun's midst is but a portion of the radiance within space. There the sacrificial utterance shines: “Om. Waters, light, essence, immortality, Brahman; earth, atmosphere, heaven. Om.” The pure swan, eight-footed, three-threaded, minute, undying—with two conditions, blind and kindled by radiance, the all-seeing sees. What lies in the sun's midst is but a portion of the radiance within space. Rising, it becomes a ray. This is awareness, the true law, the sacrificial utterance, austerity, fire, wind, life-breath, water, moon, brightness, immortality, the field of Brahman, the luminous ocean. In that alone the sacrificers dissolve like salt. This is oneness with Brahman; here all desires are gathered into rest. They give these verses: “Like streams of rays, stirred by a subtle wind, that one flashes within the gods. One who knows this is a knower, a knower of duality; from here one would have a single dwelling and be of that very Self. They rise without ceasing like drops, like lightning, like flames of cloud in the highest sky. Those flames of glory, shaped by their support, are like the matted locks of fire, whose path is black.”

6.36 These are the two forms of Brahman's light: the peaceful and the flourishing. Space is the support of the peaceful; food here is the support of the flourishing. Therefore sacrifice within the altar with prayers, plants, clarified butter, flesh, sacrificial cakes, boiled rice, and the rest. With the remaining food and drink, too, sacrifice in the mouth, regarding the mouth as the offering fire—for the increase of radiance, the conquest of holy worlds, immortality. They give this teaching: “Let one desiring heaven offer the fire sacrifice. Through the Agniṣṭoma one wins Yama's realm; through the Uktha, Soma's realm; through the Ṣoḍaśin, the sun's realm; through the Atirātra, sovereignty; through a rite ending after a thousand years, Prajāpati's realm.” As a lamp endures through the joining of wick, vessel, and oil, so these two, the Self and the bright one, endure through the use of what lies within the egg.

6.37 Therefore worship this boundless radiance with Om. Threefold it is spoken of: in fire, in the sun, in life-breath. The channel named Abundant Food carries the offering in fire to the sun. From it the essence flows and rains down the high chant. Through that arise these life-breaths, and from the life-breaths, creatures. They give this teaching: “The offering cast into fire is carried to the sun. Through its rays the sun rains it down. From that comes food; from food, the birth of beings.” So it is said: “An offering rightly cast into fire reaches the sun. From the sun arises rain; from rain, food; from food, creatures.”

Offering the fire sacrifice, one breaks the net of greed. Cutting through delusion, neither praising anger nor dwelling on desire, one breaks Brahman's sheath with its four nets and passes into the highest space. Piercing the solar, lunar, fiery, and clear spheres, purified, one beholds within clarity the abode beyond all, named Vishnu: unmoving, immortal, unfailing, enduring, endowed with true desire and all knowledge, sovereign consciousness standing in its own greatness. They give this verse: “In the sun's midst stands the moon; in the moon's midst, fire. In radiance's midst stands clarity; in clarity's midst, the unfailing one.” Contemplating that which is thumb-sized within the body's span, smaller than the small, one passes to the highest. Here all desires are gathered into rest. They give this verse: “Thumb-sized, span-sized, body-sized, like a lamp's burning radiance, in two or three forms: praised as Brahman, the great god entered the worlds. Om. Homage to Brahman. Homage.” 6.38 Here ends the sixth Prapathaka.

7.1 Prapathaka 7. Agni, the Gāyatra meter, the threefold hymn, the Rathantara melody, spring, the life-breath, the stars, and the Vasus rise from the east, give heat, pour rain, sing praise, enter again, and gaze through the opening within upon the inconceivable, the formless, the deep: the enjoyer of qualities by nature, the unceasing, the lord of yoga, the all-knowing cloud, the immeasurable, without beginning or end, splendid, unborn, wise, beyond description, creator of all, Self of all, eater of all, lord of all, the inmost within all.

7.2 Indra, the Triṣṭubh meter, the fifteenfold hymn, the Bṛhat melody, summer, the diffused life-breath, Soma, and the Rudras rise from the south, give heat, pour rain, sing praise, enter again, and gaze through the opening within upon the one without beginning or end, without measure or boundary, moved by no other, sovereign, without distinguishing mark or form, of boundless power, the establisher, the maker of light.

7.3 The Maruts, the Jagatī meter, the seventeenfold hymn, the Vairūpa melody, the rains, the downward life-breath, Śukra, and the Ādityas rise from the west, give heat, pour rain, sing praise, enter again, and gaze through the opening within upon that peaceful, soundless, fearless, sorrowless bliss: fulfilled, steadfast, unmoving, immortal, unfailing, enduring, named Vishnu, the abode beyond all.

7.4 The All-Gods, the Anuṣṭubh meter, the twenty-onefold hymn, the Vairāja melody, autumn, the balancing life-breath, Varuṇa, and the Sādhyas rise from the north, give heat, pour rain, sing praise, enter again, and gaze through the opening within upon the inwardly pure, the purified, the empty, the peaceful, without life-breath, without Self, boundless.

7.5 Mitra and Varuṇa, the Paṅkti meter, the twenty-sevenfold and thirty-threefold hymns, the Śākvara and Raivata melodies, early winter and deep winter, the upward life-breath, the Aṅgirases, and the moon rise from above, give heat, pour rain, sing praise, enter again, and gaze through the opening within upon the guide whose name is Om, whose form is light, free from sleep, free from age, free from death, free from sorrow.

7.6 Saturn, Rāhu, Ketu, serpents, Rākṣasas, Yakṣas, human beings, birds, Śarabhas, elephants, and the rest rise from below, give heat, pour rain, sing praise, enter again, and gaze through the opening within upon the wise sustainer, the one within all, imperishable, pure, purified, radiant, forbearing, peaceful.

7.7 This is indeed the Self, smaller than the small within the heart, like a blazing fire, taking every form. All this is its food; upon it these creatures are woven. This is the Self, free from evil, free from age, free from death, free from sorrow, free from doubt, free from bonds, whose resolve comes true, whose desire comes true. This is the supreme lord; this is the ruler of beings; this is the guardian of beings; this is the bridge, the support. This indeed is the Self: Īśāna, Śambhu, Bhava, Rudra, Prajāpati, creator of all, Hiraṇyagarbha, truth, the life-breath, the swan, the ruler, Acyuta, Vishnu, Nārāyaṇa. The one in the fire, the one here in the heart, and the one there in the sun—this is one and the same. Homage to you, whose form is all, established in the true sky.

7.8 Now, king, the impediments to knowledge. Here indeed is the source of the net of delusion: the company the heaven-bound keep with those unfit for heaven. Even when the grove ahead has been described, they cling to the undergrowth below. There are those who are always merry, always wandering abroad, always begging, always living by their crafts; and others who beg in towns, who solicit those unfit to offer sacrifice, who are pupils of Śūdras, and Śūdras learned in the scriptures; and others who are flatterers, wearers of matted hair, actors, soldiers, wandering ascetics, performers on the stage, those degraded by royal service, and the like; and others who make their business of Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, hosts of spirits, Piśācas, serpents, possessing powers, and the rest, declaring, “We will appease them”; and others who vainly wear ocher robes and earrings, the bearers of skulls; and others who seek standing among followers of the Veda through empty arguments, analogies, deception, and conjuring. Do not dwell with them. They are thieves in plain sight, unfit for heaven. For it is said: “Led astray by the tricks of those who deny the Self, by false examples and arguments, the world wanders, not knowing the heart of Vedic knowledge.”

7.9 Bṛhaspati, taking the form of Śukra, created this ignorance to keep Indra safe and destroy the demons. Through it they call the auspicious inauspicious, and the inauspicious auspicious, and say, “Let there be contemplation of a doctrine that attacks the Vedas and the other scriptures.” One must therefore not profess it: it leads astray and is like a barren woman. Pleasure alone is its fruit; like the conduct of one fallen from virtue, it should not be undertaken. For it is said: “Far apart, opposed, their paths diverging, are ignorance and what is known as knowledge. I judge you, Nachiketas, to long for knowledge; the many desires do not entice you.” “Whoever knows both together, knowledge and ignorance, crosses death through ignorance and attains immortality through knowledge.” “Entangled in ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, the foolish wander, stumbling, like the blind led by one who is blind.”

7.10 The gods and demons, desiring the Self, approached Brahmā. Bowing to him, they said, “Holy one, we desire the Self. Tell us of it.” After long meditation, he thought, “These demons have a different conception of the Self.” So something different was told to them. The deluded live by that, clinging to it, wrecking the ferry, proclaiming falsehood. They see untruth as truth, as in a magic show. Thus, what has been declared in the Vedas is true. The learned live by what the Vedas have said. Therefore a Brahmin should not study what is outside the Vedas: this is the intended meaning.

This indeed is the very form of the space that lies within the hollow: the supreme radiance spoken of in three ways—in fire, in the sun, and in the life-breath. This indeed is the very form of the space that lies within the hollow: the syllable Om. Through this alone it awakens, rises, breathes forth. Or, sustained by thought of Brahman, it rises ceaselessly here in the wind, in space, as along a branch, and passes from trunk to trunk. They illustrate it in this way: like salt cast into water, like heat in clarified butter, like the widening of the one who meditates. Why, then, is it called a lightning-flash? Because the moment it is uttered, it lights up the whole body. Therefore one should worship this boundless radiance with Om.

1 The person of sight who dwells here in the right eye—

he is Indra; this wife of his dwells in the left eye.

2 Their meeting is in the hollow within the heart;

the clot of blood here is the radiance of them both.

3 From the heart it runs, reaching into this eye;

it is their channel, their passage, one for the two, yet divided in two.

4 Mind stirs the body's fire; the fire drives the wind.

Moving through the chest, the wind gives birth to a deep tone.

5 Joined in the heart through the union of space and fire, it is finer than an atom; in the throat, it is two atoms.

Know it as three atoms at the tongue's tip; once released, it is what they call a letter.

6 One who sees does not see death, or sickness, or suffering.

For, seeing all, one sees all, and gains all in every way.

7 The one of sight, the dream-wanderer, the sleeper, and the one beyond sleep—

these are his four forms; the fourth is greater than the others.

8 With one foot Brahman moves in the three; with three feet it moves in the higher.

For the experience of truth and untruth is the great Self's twofold being.

7.11 The great Self's twofold being.

Here ends the seventh Prapathaka.Om. The peace invocation beginning “May they be nourished.”Here ends the Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad.