Upanishads (Müller) — Adhyâya IV

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The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01), by Max Müller, [1879], at sacred-texts.com

FOURTH ADHYÂYA 1

1. 1.There was formerly Gârgya Bâlâki 2, famous as a man of great reading; for it was said of him that he lived among the Usînaras, among the Satvat-Matsyas, the Kuru-Pañkâlas, the Kâsî-Videhas 3. Having gone to Agâtasatru, (the king) of Kâsî, he said to him: 'Shall I tell you Brahman?' Agâtasatru said to him: 'We give a thousand (cows) for that speech (of yours), for verily all people run away, saying, "Ganaka (the king of Mithilâ) is our father (patron)."'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the sun, on him I meditate (as Brahman).'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'No, no! do not challenge me (to a disputation) on this 1. I meditate on him who is called great, clad in white raiment 2, the supreme, the head of all beings. Whoso meditates

on him thus, becomes supreme, and the head of all beings.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the moon, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as Soma, the king, the self, (source) of all food. Whoso meditates on him thus, becomes the self, (source) of all food.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the lightning, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the self in light. Whoso meditates on him thus, becomes the self in light.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the thunder, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the self of sound 1. Whoso meditates on him thus, becomes the self of sound.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the ether, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the full, quiescent Brahman. Whoso meditates on him thus, is filled with offspring and cattle. Neither he himself nor his offspring dies before the time.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the air, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as Indra Vaikuntha, as the unconquerable army. Whoso meditates on him thus, becomes victorious, unconquerable, conquering his enemies.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the fire, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as powerful. Whoso meditates on him thus, becomes powerful among others 1.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the water, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the self of the name. Whoso meditates on him thus, becomes the self of the name.' So far with regard to deities (mythological); now with regard to the body (physiological).

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the mirror, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the likeness. Whoso meditates on him thus, to him a son is born in his family who is his likeness, not one who is not his likeness.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the echo, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the second, who never goes away. Whoso meditates on him thus, he gets a second from his second (his wife), he becomes doubled 2.

Bâlâki said: 'The sound that follows a man, on that I meditate.

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on

this. I meditate on him as life. Whoso meditates on him thus, neither he himself nor his offspring will faint before the time.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the shadow, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as death. Whoso meditates on him thus, neither he himself nor his offspring will die before the time.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is embodied, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as Lord of creatures. Whose, meditates on him thus, is multiplied in offspring and cattle.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The Self which is conscious (prâgña), and by whom he who sleeps here, walks about in sleep, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as Yama the king. Whoso meditates on him thus, everything is subdued for his excellencies.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said: 'The person that is in the right eye, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the self of the name, as the self of fire, as the self of splendour. Whoso meditates on him thus, he becomes the self of these.'

1. 1.Bâlâki said The person that is in the left eye, on him I meditate.'

Agâtasatru said to him: 'Do not challenge me on this. I meditate on him as the self of the true, as the self of lightning, as the self of light. Whoso

meditates on him thus, he becomes the self of these.'

1. 1.After this Bâlâki became silent. Agâtasatru said to him: 'Thus far only (do you know), O Bâlâki?' 'Thus far only,' replied Bâlâki.

Then Agâtasatru said to him: 'Vainly did you challenge me, saying: 'Shall I tell you Brahman? O Bâlâki, he who is the maker of those persons (whom you mentioned), he of whom all this is the work, he alone is to be known.'

Thereupon Bâlâki came, carrying fuel in his hand, saying: 'May I come to you as a pupil?' Agâtasatru said to him: 'I deem it improper that a Kshatriya should initiate a Brâhmana. Come, I shall make you know clearly.' Then taking him by the hand, he went forth. And the two together came to a person who was asleep. And Agâtasatru called him, saying: 'Thou great one, clad in white raiment, Soma, King 1.' But he remained lying. Then he pushed him with a stick, and he rose at once. Then said Agâtasatru to him: 'Bâlâki, where did this person here sleep? Where was he? Whence came he thus back?' Bâlâki did not know.

1. 1.And Agâtasatru said to him: 'Where this person here slept, where he was, whence he thus came back, is this: The arteries of the heart called Hita extend from the heart of the person towards the surrounding body. Small as a hair divided a thousand times, they stand full of a thin fluid of various colours, white, black, yellow, red. In these the person is when sleeping he sees no dream.

Then he becomes one with that prâna alone. Then speech goes to him with all names, the eye with all forms, the car with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he awakes, then, as from a burning fire, sparks proceed in all directions, thus from that self the prânas (speech, &c.) proceed, each towards its place, from the prânas the gods, from the gods the worlds. And as a razor might be fitted in a razor-case, or as fire in the fire-place (the arani on the altar), even thus this conscious self enters the self of the body (considers the body as himself) to the very hairs and nails. And the other selfs (such as speech, &c.) follow that self, as his people follow the master of the house. And as the master feeds with his people, nay, as his people feed on the master, thus does this conscious self feed with the other selfs, as a master with his people, and the other selfs follow him, as his people follow the master. So long as Indra did not understand that self, the Asuras conquered him. When he understood it, he conquered the Asuras and obtained the pre-eminence among all gods, sovereignty, supremacy. And thus also he who knows this obtains pre-eminence among all beings, sovereignty, supremacy,--yea, he who knows this.

Footnotes

300:1 Prâna, breath or life, has been explained in the preceding chapter. But this prâna is not yet the highest point that has to be reached. Prâna, life, even as united with pragñâ, consciousness, is only a covering of something else, viz. the Self, and this Highest Self has now to be explained.

300:2 The same story is told in the Brihad-âranyaka II, 1 seq., but with important variations.

300:3 I take iti to depend on samspashta, and read satvanmatsyeshu, though the commentary seems to have read so 'vasan, or sa vasan, for savasan. See Introduction, p. lxxvii.

300:4 The second paragraph forms a kind of table of contents for the discussion which is to follow. I have given instead a fuller table of contents, taken from the Brihad-âranyaka II, as compared with the Kaushîtaki-upanishad in its two texts. The variations of text A are given in small letters. In text B, the table of contents is given at the end of the discussion, in § 18.

302:1 The king means to say that he knows this already, and that he can mention not only the predicates of the person in the sun thus meditated on as Brahman, but also the rewards of such meditation.

302:2 This is properly a predicate of the moon, and used as such in the Brihad-âranyaka-upanishad, in the second paragraph of the dialogue.

303:1 This is not mentioned in the Brihad-âranyaka.

304:1 Instead of anyeshu, the second text, as printed by Professor Cowell, has anv esha.

304:2 This paragraph does not occur in the Brihad-âranyaka.

306:1 See § 3 init.

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