Aitareya Upanishad

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Aitareya Upanishad

 

 

Om ! May my speech be based on (i.e. accord with) the mind;

 

May my mind be based on speech.

 

O Self-effulgent One, reveal Thyself to me.

 

May you both (speech and mind) be the carriers of the Veda to me.

 

May not all that I have heard depart from me.

 

I shall join together (i.e. obliterate the difference of) day

 

And night through this study.

 

I shall utter what is verbally true;

 

I shall utter what is mentally true.

 

May that (Brahman) protect me;

 

May That protect the speaker (i.e. the teacher), may That protect me;

 

May that protect the speaker – may That protect the speaker.

 

Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

 

 

 

I-i-1: In the beginning this was but the absolute Self alone. There was nothing

else whatsoever that winked. He thought, “Let Me create the worlds.â€

 

I-i-2: He created these world, viz. ambhas, marici, mara, apah. That which is

beyond heaven is ambhas. Heaven is its support. The sky is marici. The earth is

mara. The worlds that are below are the apah.

 

I-i-3: He thought, “These then are the worlds. Let Me create the protectors of

the worlds.†Having gathered up a (lump of the) human form from the water

itself, He gave shape to it.

 

I-i-4: He deliberated with regard to Him (i.e. Virat of the human form). As He

(i.e. Virat) was being deliberated on, His (i.e. Virat'’) mouth parted, just

as an egg does. From the mouth emerged speech; from speech came Fire. The

nostrils parted; from the nostrils came out the sense of smell; from the sense

of smell came Vayu (Air). The two eyes parted; from the eyes emerged the sense

of sight; from the sense of sight came the Sun. The two ears parted; from the

ears came the sense of hearing; from the sense of hearing came the Directions.

The skin emerged; from the skin came out hair (i.e. the sense of touch

associated with hair); from the sense of touch came the Herbs and Trees. The

heart took shape; from the heart issued the internal organ (mind); from the

internal organ came the Moon. The navel parted; from the navel came out the

organ of ejection; from the organ of ejection issued Death. The seat of the

procreative organ parted; from that came the

procreative organ; from the procreative organ came out Water.

 

I-ii-1: These deities, that had been created, fell into this vast ocean. He

subjected Him (i.e. Virat) to hunger and thirst. They said to Him (i.e. to the

Creator), “Provide an abode for us, staying where we can eat food.â€

 

I-ii-2: For them He (i.e. God) brought a cow. They said, “This one is not

certainly adequate for us.†For them He brought a horse. They said, “This

one is not certainly adequate for us.â€

 

I-ii-3: For them He brought a man. They said “This one is well formed; man

indeed is a creation of God Himselfâ€. To them He said, “Enter into your

respective abodesâ€.

 

I-ii-4: Fire entered into the mouth taking the form of the organ of speech; Air

entered into the nostrils assuming the form of the sense of smell; the Sun

entered into the eyes as the sense of sight; the Directions entered into the

ears by becoming the sense of hearing; the Herbs and Trees entered into the skin

in the form of hair (i.e. the sense of touch); the Moon entered into the heart

in the shape of the mind; Death entered into the navel in the form of Apana

(i.e. the vital energy that presses down); Water entered into the limb of

generation in the form of semen (i.e. the organ of procreation).

 

I-ii-5: To Him Hunger and Thirst said, “Provide for us (some abode).†To

them He said, “I provide your livelihood among these very gods; I make you

share in their portions.†Therefore when oblation is taken up for any deity

whichsoever, Hunger and Thirst become verily sharers with that deity.

 

I-iii-1: He thought, “This, then, are the senses and the deities of the

senses. Let Me create food for them.

 

I-iii-2: He deliberated with regard to the water. From the water, thus brooded

over, evolved a form. The form that emerged was verily food.

 

I-iii-3: This food, that was created, turned back and attempted to run away. He

tried to take it up with speech. He did not succeed in taking it up through

speech. If He had succeeded in taking it up with the speech, then one would have

become contented merely by talking of food.

 

I-iii-4: He tied to grasp that food with the sense of smell. He did not succeed

in grasping it by smelling. If He had succeeded in grasping it by smelling, then

everyone should have become contented merely by smelling food.

 

I-iii-5: He wanted to take up the food with the eye. He did not succeed in

taking it up with the eye. If He had taken it up with the eye, then one would

have become satisfied by merely seeing food.

 

I-iii-6: He wanted to take up the food with the ear. He did not succeed in

taking it up with the ear. If He had taken it up with the ear, then one would

have become satisfied by merely by hearing of food.

 

I-iii-7: He wanted to take it up with the sense of touch. He did not succeed in

taking it up with the sense of touch. If He had taken it up with touch, then one

would have become been satisfied merely by touching food.

 

I-iii-8: He wanted to take it up with the mind. He did not succeed in taking it

up with the mind. If He had taken it up with the mind, then one would have

become satisfied by merely thinking of food.

 

I-iii-9: He wanted to take it up with the procreative organ. He did not succeed

in taking it up with the procreative organ. If He had taken it up with the

procreative organ, then one would have become satisfied by merely ejecting food.

 

I-iii-10: He wanted to take it up with Apana. He caught it. This is the devourer

of food. That vital energy which is well known as dependent of food for its

subsistence is this vital energy (called Apana).

 

I-iii-11: He thought, “How indeed can it be there without Me ?†He thought,

“Through which of the two ways should I enter ?†He thought, “If utterance

is done by the organ of speech, smelling by the sense of smell, seeing by the

eye, hearing by the ear, feeling by the sense of touch, thinking by the mind,

the act of drawing in (or pressing down) by Apana, ejecting by the procreative

organ, then who (or what) am I ?â€

 

I-iii-12: Having split up this very end, He entered through this door. This

entrance is known as vidriti (the chief entrance). Hence it is delightful. Of

Him there are three abodes – three (states of) dream. This one is an abode,

this one is an abode. This one is an abode.

 

I-iii-13: Being born, He manifested all the beings; for did He speak of (or

know) anything else ? He realised this very Purusha as Brahman, the most

pervasive, thus: “I have realised thisâ€.

 

I-iii-14: Therefore His name is Idandra. He is verily known as Idandra. Although

He is Idandra, they call Him indirectly Indra; for the gods are verily fond of

indirect names, the gods are verily fond of indirect names.

 

II-i-1: In man indeed is the soul first conceived. That which is the semen is

extracted from all the limbs as their vigour. He holds that self of his in his

own self. When he sheds it into his wife, then he procreates it. That is its

first birth.

 

II-i-2: That becomes non-different from the wife, just as much as her own limb

is. Therefore (the foetus) does not hurt her. She nourishes this self of his

that has entered here (in her womb).

 

II-i-3: She, the nourisher, becomes fit to be nourished. The wife bears that

embryo (before the birth). He (the father) protects the son at the very start,

soon after his birth. That he protects the son at the very beginning, just after

birth, thereby he protects his own self for the sake of the continuance of these

worlds. For thus is the continuance of these worlds ensured. That is his second

birth.

 

II-i-4: This self of his (viz. the son) is substituted (by the father) for the

performance of virtuous deeds. Then this other self of his (that is the father

of the son), having got his duties ended and having advanced in age, departs. As

soon as he departs, he takes birth again. That is his (i.e. the son’s) third

birth.

 

II-i-5: This fact was stated by the seer (i.e. mantra): “Even while lying in

the womb, I came to know of the birth of all the gods. A hundred iron citadels

held me down. Then, like a hawk, I forced my way through by dint of knowledge of

the Selfâ€. Vamadeva said this while still lying in the mother’s womb.

 

II-i-6: He who had known thus (had) become identified with the Supreme, and

attained all desirable things (even here); and having (then) ascended higher up

after the destruction of the body, he became immortal, in the world of the Self.

He became immortal.

 

III-i-1: What is It that we worship as this Self ? Which of the two is the Self

? Is It that by which one sees, or that by which one hears, or that by which one

smells odour, or that by which one utters speech, or that by which one tastes

the sweet or the sour ?

 

III-i-2: It is this heart (intellect) and this mind that were stated earlier. It

is sentience, rulership, secular knowledge, presence of mind, retentiveness,

sense-perception, fortitude, thinking, genius, mental suffering, memory,

ascertainment resolution, life-activities, hankering, passion and such others.

All these verily are the names of Consciousness.

 

III-i-3: This One is (the inferior) Brahman; this is Indra, this is Prajapati;

this is all these gods; and this is these five elements, viz. earth, air, space,

water, fire; and this is all these (big creatures), together with the small

ones, that are the procreators of others and referable in pairs – to wit,

those that are born of eggs, of wombs, of moisture of the earth, viz. horses,

cattle, men, elephants, and all the creatures that there are which move or fly

and those which do not move. All these have Consciousness as the giver of their

reality; all these are impelled by Consciousness; the universe has Consciousness

as its eye and Consciousness is its end. Consciousness is Brahman.

 

III-i-4: Through this Self that is Consciousness, he ascended higher up from

this world, and getting all desires fulfilled in that heavenly world, he became

immortal, he became immortal.

 

Om ! May my speech be based on (i.e. accord with) the mind;

 

May my mind be based on speech.

 

O Self-effulgent One, reveal Thyself to me.

 

May you both (speech and mind) be the carriers of the Veda to me.

 

May not all that I have heard depart from me.

 

I shall join together (i.e. obliterate the difference of) day

 

And night through this study.

 

I shall utter what is verbally true;

 

I shall utter what is mentally true.

 

May that (Brahman) protect me;

 

May That protect the speaker (i.e. the teacher), may That protect me;

 

May that protect the speaker – may That protect the speaker.

 

Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

 

 

Here ends the Aitareyopanishad, as contained in the Rig-Veda.

 

 

Translated by Swami Gambhirananda

 

Published by Advaita Ashram, Kolkatta

 

 

http://babaprayers.blogspot.com

 

 

 

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