Wednesday, January 29, 2014

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD IN SIMPLE ENGLISH PART TWO


                                                                   
                                                                CHAPTER TWO

                                                                 SECTION ONE

This is the truth. Just as from a blazing fire, sparks of similar form come out by the thousands, even so, dear one, do many kinds of beings come out from the Immutable Person, from Brahm, and return there too.

 Brahm, is divine and formless. He is without and within everything; he is inside and outside everything. He is unborn. He is without breath, He is without mind. He is pure and even higher than the highest immutable.

From him are born life as we know it. From him are born mind, from Him are born all the sense organs; from Him are also born ether, air, water, fire and the earth, which supports all.

Fire is His head. His eyes are the sun and the moon, the regions of space are His ears, the revealed Vedas are His speech, air is His life and His heart is the world. Out of His feet is born the earth. Indeed He is the Self, the Atma of all beings.

From Him comes fire whose fuel is the sun, from Him comes the moon and from the moon comes rain, and from rain come the herbs and plants on earth. Nourished by all these, the male pours seed into the female. This is how all creatures are produced from the person of Brahm, this is how the birth of all beings takes place from Brahm.

From him are born the verses of the Rig Veda, the chants of the Sama Veda, and the formulae of the Yajur Veda; from Him are born the rites of initiation, from Him are born all the sacrifices, all the ceremonies, all the rituals and sacrificial gifts, from Him are born the years and time too, and the sacrificer, as also the worlds where the moon purifies and where the radiant sun shines ever so brightly.

From Him are also born all the gods in many different ways, all the celestials, men, cattle, birds, the in- breath and the out- breath, rice and barley, austerity, faith, truth, chastity, and the law.

From Him come out the seven life breaths, the seven flames and their fuel, the seven oblations,  these seven worlds in which move the life breaths, seven and seven, which dwell in the secret place of the heart.

From Him emerge all the oceans, all the seas and all the mountains, from Him flow rivers of every kind, from Him come all the herbs and their juices, too, by which, together with the elements, the inner soul is upheld.
Brahm Himself is all that has been described. He is work, He is austerity and He is Brahma beyond death.

He who knows Brahm as residing in the secret place of the heart he, here on earth itself, O dear one, cuts open the knots of ignorance; he gets rid of all ignorance in his very lifetime itself.

                                                                        SECTION 2

The Great Support, Brahm, is seen in the secret place of the heart. It is well fixed and it is moving as well. In the same Great Support is centred all this which moves, which breathes and which winks. Know that support as being and also as non being, and as the Supreme Object to be desired. It is the highest and it is beyond the reach of man’s understanding.

That which is ever luminous, That which is subtler than the subtle, and That in which are centred all the worlds, and those that dwell in them, That is the Imperishable Brahm, That is life, That is speech, and That is mind. That is the true, That is the truth, That is immortal, That is Brahm to be known. Therefore, know That Brahm.

Taking the great weapon of the Upanishads as the bow, one should place in it the arrow of the self, sharpened by meditation. Then drawing the bowstring with a mind engaged in the contemplation of Brahm, one should make that very Imperishable Brahm as the target.

The syllable AUM is the bow, one’s own Self, one’s own Atma, indeed, is the arrow. Brahm is the target which is to be hit without making a mistake. Thus, hitting the target, the arrow becomes one with the target; the Atma becomes one with Brahm, the Atma merges with Brahm.

He in whom the sky, the earth, the inter space, the mind and all the vital breaths are all woven together, know Him alone as the one Self. Dismiss all other claims, dismiss all other utterances and conjectures. This is the bridge to immortality.

The heart is where the arteries of the body are brought together like spokes in the centre of a wheel. It is in that very heart that the Self moves about becoming many. May you be successful in crossing over from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge and wisdom.

He consists of mind and is the leader of life and the body and is seated in the body controlling the heart. By the knowledge of Brahm, the wise are able to clearly see the Immortal who shines forth brightly.

The doubts that assail the heart are dispelled, the knots, the bonds that bind the heart are cut, and all past deeds and actions terminate once the higher and the lower Brahm are seen.

Brahm is encased in the highest golden covering. Brahm is without stain, without parts, Brahm is pure and pristine; He is the light of all lights. The knowers of the Self know this.

The sun does not shine there, nor the moon, nor the stars; these lightnings so not shine there. Where then could this fire be? That fire and that light is, indeed, the light of Brahm itself. Everything shines only after the shining light of Brahm. The sun, the moon, the stars, and all the lightnings, they all get their light only from Brahm. Brahm, indeed, is the source of the light of this universe. It is the light of Brahm that actually illumines the whole world.

It is Brahm, indeed, who is this immortal. Brahm is everywhere. Brahm is in front, Brahm is behind,  Brahm  is to the right, Brahm is to the left, Brahm is above and below. Brahm, indeed, is this universe. Brahm is the greatest.
                                                          END OF CHAPTER TWO

                                                            END OF PART TWO

                                                 AUM, PEACE, PEACE, PEACE


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