other · wisdom

The Upanishads — Selected

c. 800–200 BCE · Late Vedic to Early Classical · Indian subcontinent

Chandogya Upanishad — Tat Tvam Asi (That Art Thou)

1There lived a man called Svetaketu Aruneya.
2His father said to him: "Svetaketu, go to school.
3There is no one in our family who is not learned."
4So he went to school at twelve years of age,
5And having learnt all the Vedas, returned home at twenty-four,
6Very conceited, thinking himself well-read, and very stiff.
7His father then said to him: "Svetaketu,
8As you are so conceited, think yourself so well-read,
9And are so stiff — did you ask for that instruction
10By which we hear what cannot be heard,
11By which we perceive what cannot be perceived,
12By which we know what cannot be known?"
13"What is that instruction, Sir?" he asked.
14His father replied: "Fetch me a fruit from that Nyagrodha tree."
15"Here it is, Sir." "Break it." "It is broken, Sir."
16"What do you see there?" "Some seeds, Sir, exceedingly small."
17"Break one of them." "It is broken, Sir."
18"What do you see there?" "Nothing at all, Sir."
19The father said: "My son, that subtle essence which you do not perceive there —
20In that very essence stands the being of that great Nyagrodha tree.
21In that which is the subtle essence,
22All that exists has its self.
23That is the True. That is the Self.
24Tat tvam asi — That art thou, O Svetaketu."

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad — The Self as Brahman

25"Now, if someone should ask him: since you say that all beings spring from the self,
26What is the self itself?"
27He should reply: "This self — what is it?"
28It is that which among breathing creatures breathes,
29Among seeing creatures sees,
30Among hearing creatures hears,
31Among thinking creatures thinks.
32This is the self, this is Brahman.
33As a spider sends forth its thread, as sparks come from fire,
34Even so from this self come forth all vital breaths, all minds,
35All sense organs, all elements, all gods.
36The wise who know the self become immortal.
37They are not born again.
38This self is dearer than a son, dearer than wealth,
39Dearer than all other things,
40And is innermost.
41If one were to say to a man who speaks of anything other than the self as dear,
42That he will lose what he holds dear — he would indeed lose it.

Kena Upanishad — The Unknown Knower

43By whom is the mind directed to its object?
44By whom is the first breath of life set in motion?
45By whom is this speech impelled?
46What god directs the eye and the ear?
47It is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind,
48The speech of speech, the breath of breath,
49And the eye of the eye.
50Having detached the self from the senses,
51The wise man, freed from the old, goes forth immortal.
52There the eye does not go, nor speech, nor mind.
53We do not know, we do not understand,
54How anyone can teach it.
55It is different from the known; it is beyond the unknown.
56Thus we have heard from those of old who taught us.
57What is not thought by the mind, but that by which the mind thinks —
58Know that alone as Brahman, not this which people here worship.
59What is not seen by the eye, but that by which the eye sees —
60Know that alone as Brahman.

Mandukya Upanishad — AUM and the Four States

61AUM — this word is all this.
62All that is past, present, and future is indeed AUM.
63And whatever transcends the three times, that also is AUM.
64All this is indeed Brahman.
65This self (atman) is Brahman.
66This self has four feet.
67The first foot is Vaishvanara, whose sphere is the waking state,
68Whose consciousness is outward-turned, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths,
69And who enjoys gross objects.
70The second is Taijasa, whose sphere is the dream state,
71Whose consciousness is inward-turned, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths,
72And who enjoys subtle objects.
73The third is Prajna, the state of deep sleep,
74Where the sleeping man desires no desires and sees no dream.
75He becomes unified, a mass of consciousness made of bliss,
76Enjoying bliss, whose mouth is thought.
77The fourth — Turiya — is not that which is conscious of the inner world,
78Nor that which is conscious of the outer world,
79Nor that which is both, nor a mass of consciousness,
80Nor conscious, nor unconscious.
81It is unseen, beyond empirical dealings, beyond grasp,
82Without any distinguishing mark, unthinkable, unnameable,
83The essence of the knowledge of the one self,
84The place where the world is resolved,
85Peaceful, benign, without a second.
86This is the self; this is what should be known.

notes

The Upanishads (Sanskrit: "sitting down near" — a student sitting at the feet of a teacher) are a collection of philosophical texts forming the end of the Vedic corpus. Of the 108 texts traditionally counted, thirteen are considered the principal Upanishads and have shaped all subsequent Indian philosophy. Composed between approximately 800 and 200 BCE, they mark a decisive turn in Indian religious thought: away from the external ritual of the Vedas toward internal contemplation of the self (atman) and its identity with the cosmic absolute (Brahman). The central teaching, expressed in the Chandogya Upanishad as "Tat tvam asi" (That art thou), is that the individual self and the ultimate reality are identical — a radical equation that dissolves the boundary between the individual and the cosmos. The Upanishads form the basis of Vedanta philosophy, and through it, of Hinduism as it has been practiced for two millennia. Translation after F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vols. 1 and 15 (1879–1884). Public domain.

currently held: Manuscript tradition

CreationPhilosophyCosmologyVedic

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