This is my beginner level attempts for a simple summary of the main Upanishads. I am basically referencing the earlier English translations (check references at the last) and providing a concise brief on the verses. I have minimal Sanskrit knowledge and in no way these blog posts are complete and comprehensive. I am starting from the smallest of the Upanishads,
The Isha Upanishad
The Isha Upanishads forms the closing chapters of White (Sukla) Yajur Veda. This has 18 verses (plus the invocation). The original Upanishads in Vedic Sanskrit can be read
here. The English translation of the verses is in red and my interpretation is below that. I will also provide a general commentary on this Upanishad in a separate post.
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Invocation :
Ōm pūrṇam adaḥ, pūrṇam idam, pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||
Om ! That is full; this is full, (for) from the full the full (indeed) arises.When the full merges into the full, what remains is full indeed. Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !
That is perfect (whole). The unfixed and indeterminable '
That' is the Absolute which can not be perceived, which covers everything that can not be stated or explained or quantified. '
That' is the Brahman, the Absolute Reality itself one which is form-less, age-less, limitless and unbound. '
This' is perfect (whole). This being the manifested or the perceived world of ours. '
This' also projects from the whole only. This world of ours is also perfect. The forms and actions abound in this world are just representations or illusory. From the perfect (whole) comes the perfect(whole). This visible world has come from that Absolute.It is projected from the Absolute. Even though 'This' has been taken from the Absolute, the Absolute remains unchanged. These forms or illusions does not change the real nature of the Absolute. The Manifest flow back to the Absolute and still the Absolute is unchangeable. The forms and representations of the manifested world do not embellish or diminish the Whole.The Manifest and the Absolute are inseparable. Though they appear as separate realms, in fact the Divine, the Brahman permeates the
visible world (immanence). All existences are of the Divine and in
Divine, we all exist.
Verse 1 :
Ōm īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam yat kiṁ ca jagatyāṁ jagat |
tena tyaktena bhuñjitha, ma gṛdhaḥ kasyasvid dhanam ||1||
Om. All this should be covered by the Lord, whatsoever exists in the moving universe. By such a renunciation protect (thyself). Covet not the wealth of others.
Whatever moves in the moving universe - the beings, the stars whatever changes in this ever changing universe is covered by the same Unchangeable Truth. The Divine is everywhere, present in the unwavering mountains, in the tempestuous rivers and in the distant cosmic dust and in all thing animate and inanimate. The world is not apart from the Absolute, The Absolute pervades and permeates everything. The world is steeped in the God. Protect yourself (i.e. to realize the Truth and avoid condemning the Self by being attached to the material world). The knowledge that the Real Supreme One (Brahman) indwell in all beings(Ātman). The Brahman is my True Self, the universe has its root in the Self and can not exist independent of Ātman. Once one realizes it, the immanence of the Absolute, the falsehood (ignorance) shreds away revealing the innermost true Self (Ātman) which is the Absolute itself. The one who sees Unity and Oneness behind the Multiplicity, One who is aware of the sanctity of Self, liberates the Self from the illusions and griefs and the attachment around us and one will find peace and enjoyment in the world. The realization that True Self is indestructible, permanent, perfect and in harmony should make one covert no other possession in life for each and everything is part of the Same. Do not covet what belong to others. Identify with the innermost true self and not with the body and realize it and one will be happy. Realize that each is the living abode of the Divine, each one has the Whole inside it, sustaining it.
Verse 2 :
kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣet śataṁ samāḥ |
evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare ||2||
By performing karma in this world should one yearn to live a hundred years. Thus action does not bind thee, the doer. There is no other way than this.
If one desires to live in this world fully, one should perform righteous deeds (
karma). The previous verse says that being aware of the divinity and the agelessness of the Self, could one seek enjoyment (enjoyment in the denial of craving and material pursuits) in this world. But for beings that are unable to see that Truth (Self Knowledge), then those may follow the path of Right Action (karma) and live a life of hundred years. No one can escape from action. Even inaction also produces action that has its own results. We must work and not refrain from it. You have to do what's right for its own sake and then move on without getting tied down by praise or regret or by thought of consequences. Not withdrawing from this world but living in it, in midst of the suffering and joy and following the Right Action one can live with God like freedom. If one lives like this, then our actions will not bind us (i.e bind him to ignorance or wheel of birth and death). Be aware of your responsibilities as a Man (responsibility to yourself and people around and the Supreme Reality) and perform selfish action (i.e. work done with the realization all things are sacred and all actions are sacrifice and surrender to the Lord). There is no other way than to live like this. Life can be spent in contemplation, but it is no substitute for (Right) Action. One can live actively in virtuous manner and does not need to withdraw from the world or work. True freedom does not lie in escaping from work, but doing in Right way and moving on. We must live in this world without being choke by it.
Verse 3 :
asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasā vṛtāḥ |
tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ ||3||
Those sunless worlds are enshrouded by blinding gloom. Those who are the slayers of the Self go to them after death.
Those who seek delight in bodily and sensual worlds, those who are addicted to this physical life of material joys, After death their world is sunless world, engulfed in a blinding darkness that is never ending. There is no morning light in this world. Those who do not seek the knowledge of the Self, they are delegated to such nether regions after death. Their inability to see Light in themselves condemns them to utter Darkness. The Darkness is within them as well as outside for their True Self fails to shine through in the all encompassing Darkness. All Men and Gods who slay the Supreme Self will fall to this sunless world. Self can not be destroyed, but it can only be obscured by pursuit of desires. Their blinding ignorance (not to see the Divinity of Self), causes them to fall to darkness which can not be penetrated. Unlike the hell and heaven which is temporary and finite as our actions and deeds are finite, this Darkness (absence of Knowledge), is a everlasting and those caught are in an endless cycle of births and deaths. As long as one is slave to the material world, one will be slave to the outcomes of fate and his deeds. They can not experience Knowledge, Peace and Immortality. Good deeds
will only make them be born higher in the next life, but they still can
not achieve liberation unless they realize the True Self.
Verse 4 :
anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvamarṣat |
tad dhāvato’nyān-atyeti tiṣṭhat tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti ||4||
Unmoving, It is one, faster than the mind. The senses cannot reach It, for It proceeds ahead. Remaining static It overtakes others that run. On account of Its presence, Matarsiva (the wind) conducts the activities of beings.
That Self, though motionless and unchanging and never stirring (never deviating from its true nature), is swifter than the mind. The senses (always changing) can not reach it for the Self moves faster and always ahead of them. The senses and forms have a finite perception and state and space at a given time. They move from one place to another however fast they can but they can only occupy a singular space. The Self is present everywhere and hence it is already present
there however fast the senses try to reach
there. The Self (Ātman) needs to be admitted and perceived before we can perceive anything else. Remaining motionless, it outruns others that run. Un-moving, it outpaces everything. The Self though attribute-less, yet when superimposed by the senses (due to ignorance) like mind move faster then the mind. The mind can be conscious of the object only it is conscious of the Self. Due to the presence of this eternal Consciousness (Ātman), the Cosmic Wind (
Matarsiva) comes out as breath and conducts the life of all beings. The infinite and all pervasive Self with the infinite and all pervasive Wind give breath and life to all living beings (i.e. runs their life). The Wind is the first cosmic manifestation of the Absolute in this world and this gives life to the world by distributing its function to everyone. The wind lords over everything because Ātman is it inner self. Without Ātman, even the Cosmic Wind ceases to exist. Everything happens, everything lives because the eternal Ātman exists as
individual seed of consciousness emanating from the Supreme inside all. All exist in the light of Ātman and all things happen because of it.
Verse 5 :
tad ejati tan naijati tad dūre tad vad antike |
tad antarasya sarvasya tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ ||5||
It moves; It moves not. It is far; It is near. It is within all; It is without all.
The Self though motionless and unchanging, but it also moves in the vehicle of the body. Like fallen leaves in the ripples of the water, they move with the water but they are also static in the water. For the wise, the Self is near for they realize that to be their innermost core. But for the ignorant, they can not reach the Self even if they live thousands of years. They will never reach (realize) it. It is inside all as it is innermost Spirit, the omnipresent Ātman. It is present inside all as all forms and cause and effect bear evidence to that all pervading Ātman. And it is outside all, as the essence of this whole universe is the rooted in it. It is that ether that's present everywhere. It is infinite and boundless, covering all. The Self like the Absolute is one essence but in two attributes - Un-moving in itself, yet moving all. Near, yet far. Unchanging, yet changing all. Inside of all, outside of all. In these contradictory attributes, it proceeds that Self like Absolute is free from all attributes. They are beyond human comprehension, They are being conceived through negations but Absolute is anything but Void.
Verse 6 :
yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtani ātmany evānupaśyati |
sarvabhūteṣu catmānaṁ tato na vijugupsate ||6||
He who perceives all beings in the Self alone, and the Self in all beings, does not entertain any hatred on account of that perception.
The wise is who perceives and sees all beings in the Self alone and the Self in all beings. The Ātman is indivisible and unchanging. The forms and the vehicle are just representations imposed by the sense. The wise can see beyond these temporal illusions and multiplicity and see the immutability of the Ātman in all Beings. What we see as different is being projected by the mental faculties. The one is the eternal truth of things, the many its manifestation. The latter is not a filament of the mind. It becomes so, when divorced from the sense of its eternal background. The innermost Self embody all Beings. One's Self is not different from other beings. The multiplicity are just the manifestation of the Divine and ultimately flow back to it. This Oneness connects us all, exists in all regardless of any distinction. If one can see all Beings in Self and the Self in all beings, than they do not bear any hatred against any being due to that perception. Malice comes forth, when one is consumed by evil that one sees around. But the very root of hatred in destroyed, when one sees the Self in oneself and all Others. One who sees through this haze that shrouds us and see the pureness, the equality of the Self, leaves behind any hatred against others for they are not disturbed by the outer appearances of Others.
Verse 7 :
yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ |
tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śokaḥ ekatvam anupaśyataḥ ||7||
When a man realises that all beings are but the Self, what delusion is there, what grief, to that perceiver of oneness?
He who realizes that Self is everywhere, feels united with all beings. He sees the unity of life and seeing all creatures in himself. The one who perceives that each and everyone of the living being has the same innermost Self, and all beings in Self, then to that wise being, what grief? what delusion? can he get. Due to ignorance, we see the indivisible Self in in its multiple representations and forms, we realize these forms to be real and try to desire what we do not have. This identification of mine and of yours and the differences in forms leads to grief or anxiety (when he loses) and delusion (that desires can be fulfilled and internal satisfaction achieved). But the one who knows the Ātman to be unchanging and eternal bliss, blameless and pure, inside and outside of all, he realizes that the it is essence of everything. The awareness of the Oneness, the negation of basis of multiplicity removes the basis for grief and causes of misery.
Verse 8 :
sa paryagāc chukram, akāyam, avraṇam, asnāviram, śuddham, apāpaviddham |
kavir manīṣī, paribhūḥ, svayambhūḥ, yāthātathyato’rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyas samābhyaḥ ||8||
He (Self) is all-pervading, radiant, bodiless, soreless, without sinews, pure, untainted by sin, the all-seer, the lord of the mind, transcendent and self-existent. That (Self) did allot in proper order to the eternal Prajapatis known as samvalsara (year) their duties.
The Self is omnipresent, all encompassing and bright and radiant. The Self fills through all the space, penetrates everything and shines through in its own lightness. It is formless, pure, spotless and without blemishes. It is pureness, untouched by the rigors and limitations (limitations of action, form) of this world. The Self is all knowing (Self is a witness to all the action) and sees all in detail. It is the Lord of the mind, beyond the limits of all possible experience and knowledge and it is Un-created. The self-existent Self is the true basis of our creation. Such is the essence of Self. When we shed our exteriors and senses from the illusory forms, we realize the true nature of Ātman. He has duly allocated and ordered perfectly the duties to the eternal and unchanging years according to their nature. As a Cosmic Soul, He controls all activities of the world. He allocates to the eternal Prajapatis also known as years their duties. These eternal years are still not absolute eternal as only Brahman transcends time.
Verse 9 :
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti yo’vidyām upasate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ ||9||
Those who worship avidya go to pitch darkness, but to a greater darkness than this go those who are devoted to vidya alone.
Those who worship and are devoted to the path of ignorance (
avidya), those who only seek selfish pleasures and desires, they will enter into blinding darkness. Those in the pursuit of desires and ignore the true nature of the Spirit, those who are forever lost in the world of karmic wheel of birth and death, ignorant of the Being and Becoming and overlooking the True Self, those will enter the world of darkness where True Knowledge is unattainable and remote. Even greater darkness than this will those go to who are devoted to understanding the True Knowledge for merely intellectual pride and satisfaction alone. These will go to even greater depths for they misused the Knowledge to which they were aware but they never realized the Truth. These theorists will go to even greater darkness than the former. The darkness of intellectual dishonesty is greater than the darkness of ignorance.
Another interpretation being that
vidya is the knowledge of deities and
avidya being the ritualistic work. Those devoted to rituals only and have lack of knowledge( this is not Supreme Knowledge), they enter blind darkness. But even greater darkness awaits those who meditate on deities without any rituals. Harmony needs to be established between the knowledge of deity and ritualistic work for the best possible results.
An alternate interpretation -
vidya is the awareness of Unity of all things (Unity is Truth), the Oneness of all and
avidya being the conscious of the multiplicity only (multiplicity in its manifestation). Those aware of only the multiplicity of forms and not their reconciling Oneness sink into darkness. But those who only look at Unity of things, the sheer Oneness alone and denying the fact of Many, they withdraw from life-activity and merge into a state of non-being. They are ignorant by the choice of Knowledge. Multiplicity is sustained by the Unity and Unity is realized in its full potential by Multiplicity. The Many provides a fertile field for the One to live and experience the Becoming in all its richness and provide the path for the Many to realize the Oneness.
Verse 10 :
anyad evāhur vidyayā anyad āhur avidyayā |
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇām ye nas tad vicacakṣire ||10||
Different indeed, they say, is the result (attained) by vidya and different indeed, they say, is the result (attained) by avidya. Thus have we heard from the wise who had explained it to us.
Different is the result reached when pursued by vidya or knowledge and different indeed in the result when pursued by avidya or ignorance. The results of actions based on knowledge will be different from the results based on ignorance. Actions will produce results irrespective of if they are based on knowledge or ignorance. Awareness of the Unity of all things (
vidya) and being consciousness of the Multiplicity only (
avidya) even though they are two sides of the same supreme Self-Awareness, yet the results of actions based on each of them are totally different. If we base our actions on
vidya, the results would be akin to
vidya and if we base our actions on
avidya, the results would be akin to
avidya. The right result can not be obtained from the True Knowledge or the lack of it. We can grasp the ultimate nature of Reality only by taking both in equal measure. Birth and non-birth, acceptance of manifestation and withdrawal from manifestation, awareness of Unity and consciousness of Multiplicity of the Oneness, will result in Right Action when taken together or else they will lead to only partial and incomplete results. So have we heard from the wise who have clearly explained it.
An alternate interpretation that
avidya is ritualistic work and
vidya being meditation on the deity. When done separately, they still will produce results but not the one that are expected. Harmony of both ritual and meditation is needed to produce the correct results. Neither alone can lead to the ultimate goal. Work done with the pure motive and noble intentions will lead to higher plane. He can now mediate and realize the True nature of the Self and its nature with the Brahman. This is the Ultimate Goal that can be reached. This is what we have heard from the wise who have explained us.
Verse 11 :
vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas tad vedobhayam saha |
avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute ||11||
He who knows both vidya and avidya together, transcends mortality through avidya and reaches immortality through vidya.
Those who have are aware only of ignorance(conscious of Multiplicity only), for these illumined people death is the final act of all their knowledge and actions. They can not see beyond what the senses can perceive. Those who are only aware of Knowledge(of Oneness), the eternal nature of the Self, they deny the the reality of life external to the Self. They do not see death. They do not see Individual. Each needs to first realize and be conscious of the individual Ego and then transcend this state of separateness. From this life we have to rise and seek out the Self. The ignorance has to be transcended by Knowledge. The one who has the knowledge of both
vidya and
avidya, the one who has first realized his sacred individual life and then rose to understood the true nature of Ātman, He who has first performed unselfish and pure deeds in his life and purified the mind and then gained True Knowledge. He has realized and transcended mortality of life through good deeds (achieved in one of the many manifestation of the Oneness) and reached immortality through the knowledge of the Timeless Self. Hence
avidya is the prerequisite for
vidya. Without
avidya there is no individual, no life and no liberation to be achieved. Life is the vehicle for immortality, provided one uses this Life (this one manifestation of the Supreme among countless many) to work towards it.
Avidya brings forth
vidya.
An alternate interpretation that
avidya is ritualistic work and
vidya being meditation on the deity. So by performing the rituals, one can overcome death and by meditation of deities, one can achieve immortality.
In each of the above 3 verses (9,10 and 11), vidya can be understood as Knowedge of Self, or knowledge of deities while avidya can be rituals or work or awareness of Multiplicity only.
Verse 12 :
vandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye’sambhūtim upāsate |
tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u sambhutyāṁ ratāḥ ||12||
To pitch darkness they go who worship the Unmanifested (Prakriti). To a greater darkness than this go those who are devoted to the Manifested (Hiranyagarbha).
The Un-manifested
prakriti being the state of non-manifestation before the creation of forms and shapes and names. This state being formless and undifferentiated is in equilibrium. Disturbance in this state of equilibrium bring forth the Creation. This Invisible state is caused into visible manifestation (this world) by its own nature. Those who only worship and believe in Non-becoming, those who do not believe in re-birth, they will go to pitch darkness where light from the wisdom will not penetrate them for they believe in Void, in blankness, in Non-Being. Manifested Hiranyagarbha is the first manifestation of the Brahman in this universe and it is created from the Unmanifested
prakriti. It is the primordial source of all things and hence
all things. Those who only worship and believe in visible manifestation, the phenomenal world, of matter and forms, they will enter even greater darkness for they do not believe in transcendence of the Self. The True Reality, the True Self is not the Un-manifested only, nor the Manifested only. The Self is not Invisible Cause, The Self is also not Visible Phenomenon. A balanced understanding of the visible and the invisible, of matter and spirit, knowledge and work is needed to comprehend the Absolute. Both being one and same, and no complete knowledge is possible without understanding both. If one worships only one, the results will not be complete. The Unity (non-birth) and the Multiplicity (re-birth) are aspects of the Divine Self. He who understands it, sees the Him is all beings and all being in Him.
Verse 13 :
anyad evahūḥ sambhavād anyad āhur asambhavāt |
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇām ye nas tad vicacakṣire ||13||
Different indeed, they say, is the result (attained) by the worship of the Manifested and different indeed, they say, is the result (attained) by the worship of the Unmanifested. Thus have we heard from the wise who had explained it to us..
If one follows or worships only the Visible Phenomenon
(Maya), the results attained would be different. They would not be the results one had expected. Same would happen if one worshiped the Un-manifested. In either case, actions would bring forth the results but the results attained would be different. Thus have we heard from the wise who have explained us. For attaining the correct results, for attaining that highest goal, a union of both the visible and the invisible is needed. The earthly and the supernal, the work and the knowledge, the spirit and the body needs to work together to achieve that True Wisdom. By worshiping the Un-manifest only, the realization is Void only, an undifferentiated abstraction. There is no life breathing richness to be realized. By worshiping the Manifest only, the sacredness of Self, its eternal and timeless nature is not realized. To combine both - in the visible universe doing good deeds, dissolving the reinforcing Ego and gaining wisdom and use this wisdom to comprehend the true nature of Self (its timeless and unchanging nature) in the eternal universe. Once you harmonize the two, the ends obtained would be perfect and what is desired.
Verse 14 :
sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha |
vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyā amṛtam aśnute ||14||
He who knows both the Unmanifested and the destructible (Hiranyagarbha) together, transcends death by the (worship of) the destructible and attains immortality by the (worship of ) the Unmanifested.
The one who knows that both the the Un-manifested
prakriti and the Manifested
Hiranyagarbha needs to be realized together, overcomes death by the worship of the Visible, and obtains immortality by the devotion to the Invisible.
Hiranyagarbha is the first primordial being, the first individualized manifestation of the untamed Un-manifested and since what ever has born, is bound to be destroyed, therefore His destruction is inevitable. Perfect knowledge is not possible without knowing Both, without the simultaneous comprehension of both. They are both required and without the one, the other does not exist. The essence of one, is the existence of the other, One bringing forth the Other, One being the same as the Other, the two states of the Same. The one who knows the mortality and the limitations of the earthly life, the one who realizes the essence of the sacred body and sacred work in this mutable world, the one who works towards dissolution of the self-limiting ego, one free from the limitation and desires which are the harbingers of death. Death can be conquered by overcoming these agents of death that abound in the Manifested world if one does noble deeds without fear or praise (but on its own merit). Such being transcends death. The one who realizes and worships the Un-manifested, he gains the wisdom to perceive the Invisible in all Visible forms. He merges with the Absolute and exists in the Absolute and the Absolute in him. By this he attains immortality. To be present in this world but not awe at the Supernal Self, Or to be awe of the Supernal and meditative Self, but ignore the happening of this world is not the correct way. One needs to live a noble life in this Visible world, but with a spirit of non-attachment with a mind centered on the Un-Manifested remembering that the eternal is the soul for the temporal.
Verse 15 :
hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitam mukham |
tat tvaṁ pūṣan āpāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye ||15||
The face of the Truth is veiled by a bright vessel. Mayst thou unveil it, O Sun, so as to be perceived by me whose dharma is truth.
The face of the Truth is covered by a brilliant golden disc. Unveil it, O' Nourisher [The sun is personified as O pūṣan], remove it so that I who is follower of
dharma [Truth] may behold it. The sun is called as the Nourisher of all beings. The sun's rays nourish the whole world, giver of all the light present in the universe. The infinite brightness and luminosity, that uncovers and shreds away darkness and pestilence. Such infinite powers of the sun makes it a symbol of the Infinite and the giver of the Good and All Wisdom. The seeker of the Truth prays to the Radiant One, to control His blinding and shinning rays so that his humble eyes can perceive and behold the truth. In Vedic thought, Sun represents the many ideas of Good and Divine. Because of its vastness, infinite nature, purity and luminosity and the power of self revelation, The sun can be associated with Truth, Law, Vast, Fosterer and Controller and Knower. The sun is all Truth and all Knower, and this flows out but in our mind and senses, all we see is a blinding light. The seeker prays to Sun to unveil its True nature and show the Form Of The Good.
Verse 16 :
pūṣann ekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīn samūha tejaḥ |
yat te rūpaṁ kalyāṇatamaṁ tat te paśyāmi yo sāv asau puruṣaḥ, so’ham asmi ||16||
O nourisher, pilgrim of the solitude, controller, absorber (of all rasas), offspring of Prajapati, cast away thy rays, gather them up and give up thy radiating brilliance. That form of thine, most graceful, I may behold. He, the Purusha (in the solar orb), I am.
In the previous verse, where the seeker implores the Sun to control its blinding light so as to perceive the Truth. O' Nourisher, The sole traveller of the heaves (the sole seer), The Controller of All, The Upholder, The Son of
Prajapati, spread forth your rays and gather up your radiant light and withdraw your light. Do not waste your light, Give up your radiating brilliance, O' The Brilliant One! so that I can behold you, I can by your Grace gaze your loveliest form, The most Glorious!. Now that I see you, The
Purusha who dwells there, I am indeed He. Whoever is that person, I am also that. I myself am He. By the light of the Truth, I am able to see beyond the real and unreal and realize the Knowledge that I am the one with the Supreme. The forms, the deceptions shred away and and the Oneness of all beings in the divine Soul of the Universe is perceived. The
Purusha there, He am I. The
Purusha is the Cosmic Soul, the unchanging Universal Principle that causes all things to happen in this universe, that brings forth all change. It is the source of all consciousness in the Manifested
Prakriti. The Self Itself. I am that
Purusha, I am He, He is me. The Glorious Being and I are one and the same.
Verse 17 :
vāyur anilam amṛtam athedam bhasmāntaṁ śarīram |
aum krato smara kṛtaṁ smara krato smara kṛtaṁ smara ||17||
Let (my) vital air (prana) now attain the immortal Air (all-pervading Self); then let this body be reduced to ashes. Om, O mind, remember – remember that which has been done, O mind, remember – remember that which has been done.
May this life of mine enter into the immortal breath, then may this body end in ashes. Let now my breath return to the immortal, all-pervading eternal Self (The Cosmic Breath or The Eternal Prāna), May my life-breath go to the immortal Prāna and let this body be reduced to ashes. Do not desire for the transient and momentary rewards of this mortal life. This body is perishable, This life of yours in transitory. Strive for the eternal refuge of the Self. Seek the undying and timeless nature of the Ātman. Those who become conscious and have perceived clearly the nature of this temporal body and the nature of the immortal Self, they let go off all the physical desires and material craving that afflict him. Those can boldly say, let this body of mine be burned to cinders for soul attains freedom and merges with the Eternal Self. Death is nothing other than shredding away of the facade and uniting with the all pervading Prāna. O! Mind , remember, remember what has been done. O! Intelligence, remember, remember what has been done. Remember all that has been done. Remember all. Remember whatever was done in this life, O! mind recall all the good and noble deeds done in the life. When at the last moments in this temporal abode that we so much endear, all thoughts of actions and deeds of his whole life comes to this mind, One should fill it with good thoughts only. But it should be remembered that only one who lives a virtuous and righteous life, can while dying sincerely and voluntary remember noble thoughts.
Verse 18 :
agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān |
yuyodhyasmaj juharāṇam eno bhūyiṣṭhāṁ te nama-uktim vidhema ||18||
O Fire, O Deva, knower of all our actions or all our knowledge, lead us by the good path for enjoying the fruits of actions. Liberate us from our deceitful sins. We offer thee ever more our words of adoration.
O! Agni, O! Holy Fire, lead us, along the virtuous path O!
Deva, who knowest all our deeds. Lead us to blessedness by the good path, lead us to the correct way for the enjoyment of the fruits of our actions. Illuminate the way that leads us the right path that await us by virtue of the good deeds we did. Knower of all our actions, Remove all illusions and take away from us the deceitful sins. To Thee we offer our prayers and supplications ever more and more. To Thee we pray again and again. At these last moment in out lives, when the only thing this weak body can do it to lie prostrate, we pray to Thee, the Knower of all our Actions. Lead to the good path and liberate us. We pray again and again lying on this death bed. Amidst the maze of ways and byways with which course of man's life is strewn, in the distractions and the diversions of desires and ignorance. In this minefield, the seeker knows the correct Path, but loses sight of it due to ego and sin. Aid us! Show us the correct way, pass us beyond the realms of sin and ego.
Invocation :
Ōm pūrṇam adaḥ, pūrṇam idam, pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||
Om ! That is full; this is full, (for) from the full the full (indeed) arises.When the full merges into the full, what remains is full indeed. Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !
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References :-
- Upanishads by Shri Aurobindo
- The Upanishads Volume I by Swami Nikhilananda
- The Upanishads by Swami Paramananda
- The Ten Principal Upanishads by Shri Purohit Swami & W.B. Yeats
- The Principal Upanishads by S.Radhakrishnan
