Upanishads · Rigveda
Aitareya Upanishadऐतरेयोपनिषद्
Sanskrit beside F. Max Müller’s English (Sacred Books of the East 1, 1879).
Müller translated the whole Aitareya Āraṇyaka; the Upanishad is its second book, chapters 4–6, given here. His references to the Āraṇyaka are shown beside the Upanishad’s own.
Sanskrit
स इमाँल्लोकानसृजत । अम्भो मरीचीर्मापोऽदोऽम्भः परेण दिवं द्यौः प्रतिष्ठाऽन्तरिक्षं मरीचयः । पृथिवी मरो या अधस्तात्त आपः ॥ २ ॥
स ईक्षतेमे नु लोका लोकपालान्नु सृजा इति ॥ सोऽद्भ्य एव पुरुषं समुद्धृत्यामूर्छयत् ॥ ३ ॥
तमभ्यतपत्तस्याभितप्तस्य मुखं निरभिद्यत यथाऽण्डं मुखाद्वाग्वाचोऽग्निर्नासिके निरभिद्येतं नासिकाभ्यां प्राणः । प्राणाद्वायुरक्षिणी निरभिद्येतमक्षिभ्यां चक्षुश्चक्षुष आदित्यः कर्णौ निरभिद्येतां कर्णाभ्यां श्रोत्रं श्रोत्रद्दिशस्त्वङ्निरभिद्यत त्वचो लोमानि लोमभ्य ओषधिवनस्पतयो हृदयं निरभिद्यत हृदयान्मनो मनसश्चन्द्रमा नाभिर्निरभिद्यत नाभ्या अपानोऽपानान्मृत्युः शिश्नं निरभिद्यत शिश्नाद्रेतो रेतस आपः ॥ ४ ॥
English Müller
With this adhyâya begins the real Upanishad, best known under the name of the Aitareya-upanishad, and often separately edited, commented on, and translated. If treated separately, what we call the fourth adhyâya of the second Âranyaka, becomes the first adhyâya of the Upanishad, sometimes also, by counting all adhyâya from the beginning of the Aitareya-âranyaka, the ninth. The divisions adopted by Sâyana, who explains the Upanishad as part of the Âranyaka, and by Saṅkara, who explains it independently, vary, though Sâyana states that he follows in his commentary on the Upanishad the earlier commentary of Saṅkara. I have given the divisions adopted by Sâyana, and have marked those of Saṅkara's by figures in parentheses, placed at the end of each paragraph. The difference between this Upanishad and the three preceding adhyâyas is easily perceived. Hitherto the answer to the question, Whence this world? had been, From Prâna, prâna meaning breath and life, which was looked upon for a time as a sufficient explanation of all that is. From a psychological point of view this prâna is the conscious self (pragñâtman); in a more mythological form it appears as Hiranyagarbha, 'the golden germ,' sometimes even as Indra. It is one of the chief objects of the prânavidyâ, or life-knowledge, to show that the living principle in us is the same as the living principle in the sun, and that by a recognition of their identity and of the true nature of prâna, the devotee, or he who has rightly meditated on prâna during his life, enters after death into the world of Hiranyagarbha.
This is well expressed in the Kaushîtaki-upanishad III, 2, where Indra says to Pratardana: 'I am Prâna; meditate on me as the conscious self (pragñâtman), as life, as immortality. Life is prâna, prâna is life. Immortality is prâna, prâna is immortality. By prâna he obtains immortality in the other world, by knowledge (pragñâ) true conception. Prâna is consciousness (pragñâ), consciousness is prâna.'
This, however, though it may have satisfied the mind of the Brahmans for a time, was not a final solution. That final solution of the problem not simply of life, but of existence, is given in the Upanishad which teaches that Âtman, the Self, and not Prâna, Life, is the last and only cause of everything. In some places this
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doctrine is laid down in all its simplicity. Our true self, it is said, has its true being in the Highest Self only. In other passages, however, and nearly in the whole of this Upanishad, this simple doctrine is mixed up with much that is mythological, fanciful, and absurd, arthavâda, as the commentators call it, but as it might often be more truly called, anarthavâda, and it is only towards the end that the identity of the self-conscious self with the Highest Self or Brahman is clearly enuntiated.
Adoration to the Highest Self. Hari, Om!
1. Verily, in the beginning 1 all this was Self, one only; there was nothing else blinking 2 whatsoever.
2. He thought: 'Shall I send forth worlds?' (1) He sent forth these worlds,
3. Ambhas (water), Marîki (light), Mara (mortal), and Ap (water).
4. That Ambhas (water) is above the heaven, and it is heaven, the support. The Marîkis (the lights) are the sky. The Mara (mortal) is the earth, and the waters under the earth are the Ap world 3. (2)
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5. He thought: 'There are these worlds; shall I send forth guardians of the worlds?'
He then formed the Purusha (the person) 4, taking him forth from the water 5. (3)
6. He brooded on him 6, and when that person had thus been brooded on, a mouth burst forth 7 like an egg. From the mouth proceeded speech, from speech Agni (fire) 8.
Nostrils burst forth. From the nostrils proceeded scent (prâna) 9, from scent Vâyu (air).
Eyes burst forth. From the eyes proceeded sight, from sight Âditya (sun).
Ears burst forth. From the ears proceeded hearing, from hearing the Dis (quarters of the world),
Skin burst forth. From the skin proceeded hairs (sense of touch), from the hairs shrubs and trees.
The heart burst forth. From the heart proceeded mind, from mind Kandramas (moon).
The navel burst forth. From the navel proceeded the Apâna (the down-breathing) 10, from Apâna death.
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The generative organ burst forth. From the organ proceeded seed, from seed water. (4)
Translator’s notes (10)
Before the creation. Comm.
Blinking, mishat, i. e. living; cf. Rv. X, 190, 2, visvasya mishato vasî, the lord of all living. Sâyana seems to take mishat as a 3rd pers. sing.
The names of the four worlds are peculiar. Ambhas means water, and is the name given to the highest world, the waters above the heaven, and heaven itself. Marîkis are rays, here used as a name of the sky, antariksha. Mara means dying, and the earth is called so, because all creatures living there must die. Ap is water, here explained as the waters under the earth. The usual division of the world is threefold, earth, sky, and heaven. Here it is fourfold, the fourth division being the water round the earth, or, as the commentator says, under the earth. Ambhas was probably intended for the highest heaven (dyaus), and was then explained both as what is above the heaven and as heaven itself, the support. If we translate, like Saṅkara and Colebrooke, I the water is the region above the heaven which heaven upholds,' we should lose heaven altogether, yet heaven, as the third with sky and earth, is essential in the Indian view of the world.
Purusha; an embodied being, Colebrooke; a being of human shape, Röer; purushâkâram virâtpindam, Sâyana.
According to the commentator, from the five elements, beginning with water. That person is meant for the Virâg.
Tap, as the commentator observes, does not mean here and in similar passages to perform austerities (tapas), such as the Krikkhra, the Kândrâyana, &c., but to conceive and to will and to create by mere will. I have translated it by brooding, though this expresses a part only of the meaning expressed by tap.
Literally, was opened.
Three things are always distinguished here--the place of each sense, the instrument of the sense, and the presiding deity of the sense.
Prâna, i. e. ghrânendriya, must be distinguished from the prâna, the up-breathing, one of the five prânas, and likewise from the prâna as the principle of life.
The Apâna, down-breathing, is generally one of the five vital airs p. 239 which are supposed to keep the body alive. in our place, however, apâna is deglutition and digestion, as we shall see in II, 4, 3, 10.
Sanskrit
ताभ्यो गामानयत्ता अब्रुवन्न वै नोऽयमलमिति । ताभ्योऽश्वमानयत्ता अब्रुवन्न वै नोऽयमलमिति ॥ २ ॥
ताभ्यः पुरुषमानयत्ता अब्रुवन् सुकृतं बतेति पुरुषो वाव सुकृतम् । ता अब्रवीद्यथायतनं प्रविशतेति ॥ ३ ॥
अग्निर्वाग्भूत्वा मुखं प्राविशद्वायुः प्राणो भूत्वा नासिके प्राविशदादित्यश्चक्षुर्भूत्वाऽक्षिणी प्राविशद्दिशः श्रोत्रं भूत्वा कर्णौ प्राविशन्नोषधिवनस्पतयो लोमानि भूत्वा त्वचं प्राविशंश्चन्द्रमा मनो भूत्वा हृदयं प्राविशन्मृत्युरपानो भूत्वा नाभिं प्राविशदापो रेतो भूत्वा शिश्नं प्राविशन् ॥ ४ ॥
तमशनायापिपासे अब्रूतामावाभ्यामभिप्रजानीहीति ते अब्रवीदेतास्वेव वां देवतास्वाभजाम्येतासु भागिन्यौ करोमीति । तस्माद्यस्यै कस्यै च देवतायै हविर्गृह्यते भागिन्यावेवास्यामशनायापिपासे भवतः ॥ ५ ॥
English Müller
1. Those deities (devatâ), Agni and the rest, after they had been sent forth, fell into this great ocean 1.
Then he (the Self) besieged him, (the person) with hunger and thirst.
2. The deities then (tormented by hunger and thirst) spoke to him (the Self): 'Allow us a place in which we may rest and eat food 2.' (1)
He led a cow towards them (the deities). They said: 'This is not enough.' He led a horse towards them. They said: 'This is not enough.' (2)
He led man 3 towards them. Then they said: 'Well done 4, indeed.' Therefore man is well done.
3. He said to them: 'Enter, each according to his place.' (3)
4. Then Agni (fire), having become speech, entered the mouth. Vâyu (air), having become scent, entered the nostrils. Âditya (sun), having become sight, entered the eyes. The Dis (regions), having become hearing, entered the ears. The shrubs and trees, having become hairs, entered the skin. Kandramas (the moon), having become mind, entered
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the heart. Death, having become down-breathing, entered the navel. The waters, having become seed, entered the generative organ. (4)
5. Then Hunger and Thirst spoke to him (the Self): 'Allow us two (a place).' He said to them: 'I assign you to those very deities there, I make you co-partners with them.' Therefore to whatever deity an oblation is offered, hunger and thirst are co-partners in it. (5)
Translator’s notes (4)
They fell back into that universal being from whence they had sprung, the first created person, the Virâg. Or they fell into the world, the last cause of which is ignorance.
To eat food is explained to mean to perceive the objects which correspond to the senses, presided over by the various deities.
Here purusha is different from the first purusha, the universal person. it can only be intended for intelligent man.
Sukrita, well done, virtue; or, if taken for svakrita, self-made.
Sanskrit
सोऽपोऽभ्यतपत्ताभ्योऽभितप्ताभ्यो मूर्तिरजायत । या वै सा मूर्तिरजायतान्नं वै तत् ॥ २ ॥
तदेनत्सृष्टं पराङ्त्यजिघांसत्तद्वाचाऽजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोद्वाचा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनद्वाचाऽग्रहैष्यदभिव्याहृत्य हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ३ ॥
तत्प्राणेनाजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोत्प्राणेन ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनत्प्राणेनाग्रहैष्यदभिप्राण्य हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ४ ॥
तच्चक्षुषाऽजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोच्चक्षुषा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनच्चक्षुषाऽग्रहैष्यद्दृष्ट्वा हैवानमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ५ ॥
तच्छ्रोत्रेणाजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोच्छ्रोत्रेण ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनच्छ्रोत्रेणाग्रहैष्यच्छ्रुत्वा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ६ ॥
तत्त्वचाऽजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोत्त्वचा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनत्त्वचाऽग्रहैष्यत् स्पृष्ट्वा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ७ ॥
तन्मनसाऽजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोन्मनसा ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनन्मनसाऽग्रहैष्यद्ध्यात्वा हैवान्नमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ८ ॥
तच्छिश्नेनाजिघृक्षत् तन्नाशक्नोच्छिश्नेन ग्रहीतुम् । स यद्धैनच्छिश्नेनाग्रहैष्यद्वित्सृज्य हैवानमत्रप्स्यत् ॥ ९ ॥
तदपानेनाजिघृक्षत् तदावयत् सैषोऽन्नस्य ग्रहो यद्वायुरनायुर्वा एष यद्वायुः ॥ १० ॥
स ईक्षत कथं न्विदं मदृते स्यादिति स ईक्षत कतरेण प्रपद्या इति । स ईक्षत यदि वाचाऽभिव्याहृतं यदि प्राणेनाभिप्राणितं यदि चक्षुषा दृष्टं यदि श्रोत्रेण श्रुतं यदि त्वचा स्पृष्टं यदि मनसा ध्यातं यद्यपानेनाभ्यपानितं यदि शिश्नेन विसृष्टमथ कोऽहमिति ॥ ११ ॥
स एतमेव सीमानं विदर्यैतया द्वारा प्रापद्यत । सैषा विदृतिर्नाम द्वास्तदेतन्नाऽन्दनम् । तस्य त्रय आवसथास्त्रयः स्वप्ना अयमावसथोऽयमावसथोऽयमावसथ इति ॥१२॥
स जातो भूतान्यभिव्यैख्यत् किमिहान्यं वावदिषदिति । स एतमेव पुरुषं ब्रह्म ततममपश्यत् । इदमदर्शनमिती ३ ॥ १३ ॥
तस्मादिदन्द्रो नामेदन्द्रो ह वै नाम तमिदन्द्रं सन्तमिन्द्र इत्याचक्षते परोक्षेण । परोक्षप्रिया इव हि देवाः परोक्षप्रिया इव हि देवाः ॥ १४ ॥
॥ अथ ऐतरोपनिषदि द्वितीयोध्यायः ॥
English Müller
1. He thought: 'There are these worlds and the guardians of the worlds. Let me send forth food for them.' (1)
He brooded over the water 1. From the water thus brooded on, matter 2 (mûrti) was born. And that matter which was born, that verily was food 3. (2)
2. When this food (the object matter) had thus been sent forth, it wished to flee 4, crying and turning away. He (the subject) tried to grasp it by speech. He could not grasp it by speech. If he had grasped it by speech, man would be satisfied by naming food. (3)
He tried to grasp it by scent (breath). He could not grasp it by scent. If he had grasped it by scent, man would be satisfied by smelling food. (4)
He tried to grasp it by the eye. He could not
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grasp it by the eye. If he had grasped it by the eye, man would be satisfied by seeing food. (5)
He tried to grasp it by the ear. He could not grasp it by the ear. If he had grasped it by the ear, man would be satisfied by hearing food. (6)
He tried to grasp it by the skin. He could not grasp it by the skin. If he had grasped it by the skin, man would be satisfied by touching food. (7)
He tried to grasp it by the mind. He could not grasp it by the mind. If he had grasped it by the mind, man would be satisfied by thinking food. (8)
He tried to grasp it by the generative organ. He could not grasp it by the organ. If he had grasped it by the organ, man would be satisfied by sending forth food. (9)
He tried to grasp it by the down-breathing (the breath which helps to swallow food through the mouth and to carry it off through the rectum, the pâyvindriya). He got it.
3. Thus it is Vâyu (the getter 5) who lays hold of food, and the Vâyu is verily Annâyu (he who gives life or who lives by food). (10)
4. He thought: 'How can all this be without me?'
5. And then he thought: 'By what way shall I get there 6?'
6. And then he thought: 'If speech names, if scent smells, if the eye sees, if the ear hears, if the skin feels, if the mind thinks, if the off-breathing digests, if the organ sends forth, then what am I?' (11)
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7. Then opening the suture of the skull, he got in by that door.
8. That door is called the Vidriti (tearing asunder), the Nândana (the place of bliss).
9. There are three dwelling-places for him, three dreams; this dwelling-place (the eye), this dwelling-place (the throat), this dwelling-place (the heart) 7. (12)
10. When born (when the Highest Self had entered the body) he looked through all things, in order to see whether anything wished to proclaim here another (Self). He saw this person only (himself) as the widely spread Brahman. 'I saw it,' thus he said 8; (13)
Therefore he was Idam-dra (seeing this).
11. Being Idamdra by name, they call him Indra mysteriously. For the Devas love mystery, yea, they love mystery. (14)
Translator’s notes (8)
The water, as mentioned before, or the five elements.
Mûrti, for mûrtti, form, Colebrooke; a being of organised form, Röer; vrîhiyavâdirûpâ mûshakâdirûpâ ka mûrtih, i.e. vegetable food for men, animal food for cats, &c.
Offered food, i.e. objects for the Devatâs and the senses in the body.
Atyagighâmsat, atisayena hantum gantum aikkhat. Sâyana.
An attempt to derive vâyu from vî, to get.
Or, by which of the two ways shall I get in, the one way being from the top of the foot (cf. Ait. Âr. II, 1, 4, 1), the other from the skull? Comm.
Passages like this must always have required an oral interpretation, but it is by no means certain that the explanation given in the commentaries represents really the old traditional interpretation. Sâyana explains the three dwelling-places as the right eye, in a state of waking; as the throat, in a state of dreaming; as the heart, in a state of profound sleep. Saṅkara explains them as the right eye, the inner mind, and the ether in the heart. Sâyana allows another interpretation of the three dwelling-places being the body of the father, the body of the mother, and one's own body. The three dreams or sleeps he explains by waking, dreaming, and profound sleep, and he remarks that waking too is called a dream as compared with the true awakening, which is the knowledge of Brahman. In the last sentence the speaker, when repeating three times 'this dwelling-place,' is supposed to point to his right eye, the throat, and the heart. This interpretation is supported by a passage in the Brahma-upanishad, Netre gâgaritam vidyât kanthe svapnam samâdiset, sushuptam hridayasya tu.
In this passage, which is very obscure, Saṅkara fails us, either because, as Ânandagñâna says, he thought the text was too easy to require any explanation, or because the writers of the MSS. left out p. 243 the passage. Ânandagñâna explains: 'He looked through all creatures, he identified himself with them, and thought he was a man, blind, happy, &c.; or, as it is elsewhere expressed, he developed forms and names. And how did this mistake arise? Because he did not see the other, the true Self;' or literally, 'Did he see the other Self?' which is only a figure of speech to convey the meaning that he did not see it. The particle iti is then to be taken in a causal sense, (i. e. he did so, because what else could he have wished to proclaim?) But he allows another explanation, viz. 'He considered all beings, whether they existed by themselves or not, and after having considered, he arrived at the conclusion, What shall I call different from the true Self?' The real difficulties, however, are not removed by these explanations. First of all, we expect vâvadisham before iti, and secondly, unless anyam refers to âtmânam, we expect anyad. My own translation is literal, but I am not certain that it conveys the true meaning. One might understand it as implying that the Self looked about through all things, in order to find out, 'What does wish to proclaim here another Self?' And when he saw there was nothing which did not come from himself, then he recognised that the Purusha, the person he had sent forth, or, as we should say, the person he had created, was the developed Brahman, was the Âtman, was himself. Sâyana explains vâvadishat by vadishyâmi, but before iti the third person cannot well refer to the subject of vyaikshat.
Sanskrit
तत्स्त्रिया आत्मभूयं गच्छति यथा स्वमङ्गं तथा । तस्मादेनां न हिनस्ति । साऽस्यैतमात्मानमत्र गतं भावयति ॥ २ ॥
सा भावयित्री भावयितव्या भवति । तं स्त्री गर्भ बिभर्ति । सोऽग्र एव कुमारं जन्मनोऽग्रेऽधिभावयति । स यत्कुमारं जन्मनोऽग्रेऽधिभावयत्यात्मानमेव तद्भावयत्येषां लोकानां सन्तत्या । एवं सन्तता हीमे लोकास्तदस्य द्वितीयं जन्म ॥ ३ ॥
सोऽस्यायमात्मा पुण्येभ्यः कर्मभ्यः प्रतिधीयते । अथास्यायामितर आत्मा कृतकृत्यो वयोगतः प्रैति । स इतः प्रयन्नेव पुनर्जायते तदस्य तृतीयं जन्म ॥ ४ ॥
तदुक्तमृषिणा गर्भे नु सन्नन्वेषामवेदमहं देवानां जनिमानि विश्वा शतं मा पुर आयसीररक्षन्नधः श्येनो जवसा निरदीयमिति । गर्भ एवैतच्छयानो वामदेव एवमुवाच ॥५॥
स एवं विद्वानस्माच्छरीरभेदादूर्ध्व उत्क्रम्यामुष्मिन् स्वर्गे लोके सर्वान् कामानाप्त्वाऽमृतः समभवत् समभवत् ॥ ६ ॥
॥ अथ ऐतरोपनिषदि तृतीयोध्यायः ॥
English Müller
1. Let the women who are with child move away 1!
2. Verily, from the beginning he (the self) is in man as a germ, which is called seed.
3. This (seed), which is strength gathered from all the limbs of the body, he (the man) bears as self in his self (body). When he commits the seed to the woman, then he (the father) causes it to be born. That is his first birth. (1)
4. That seed becomes the self of the woman, as
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if one of her own limbs. Therefore it does not injure her.
5. She nourishes his (her husband's) self (the son) within her. (2) She who nourishes, is to be nourished.
6. The woman bears the germ. He (the father) elevates the child even before the birth, and immediately after 2.
7. When he thus elevates the child both before and after his birth, he really elevates his own self,
8. For the continuation of these worlds (men). For thus are these worlds continued.
9. This is his second birth. (3)
10. He (the son), being his self, is then placed in his stead for (the performance of) all good works.
11. But his other self (the father), having done all he has to do, and having reached the full measure of his life, departs.
12. And departing from hence he is born again. That is his third birth.
13. And this has been declared by a Rishi (Rv. IV, 27, 1): (4)
14. 'While dwelling in the womb, I discovered all the births of these Devas. A hundred iron strongholds kept me, but I escaped quickly down like a falcon.'
15. Vâmadeva, lying in the womb, has thus declared this. (5)
And having this knowledge he stepped forth, after this dissolution of the body, and having obtained all his desires in that heavenly world, became immortal, yea, he became immortal. (6)
Translator’s notes (2)
Some MSS. begin this adhyâya with the sentence apakrâmantu garbhinyah, may the women who are with child walk away! It is counted as a paragraph.
By nourishing the mother, and by performing certain ceremonies both before and after the birth of a child.
Sanskrit
यदेतद्धृदयं मनश्चैतत् । सञ्ज्ञानमाज्ञानं विज्ञानं प्रज्ञानं मेधा दृष्टिधृर्तिमतिर्मनीषा जूतिः स्मृतिः सङ्कल्पः क्रतुरसुः कामो वश इति । सर्वाण्येवैतानि प्रज्ञानस्य नामधेयानि भवन्ति ॥ २ ॥
एष ब्रह्मैष इन्द्र एष प्रजापतिरेते सर्वे देवा इमानि च पञ्चमहाभूतानि पृथिवी वायुराकाश आपो ज्योतींषीत्येतानीमानि च क्षुद्रमिश्राणीव । बीजानीतराणि चेतराणि चाण्डजानि च जारुजानि च स्वेदजानि चोद्भिज्जानि चाश्वा गावः पुरुषा हस्तिनो यत्किञ्चेदं प्राणि जङ्गमं च पतत्रि च यच्च स्थावरं सर्वं तत्प्रज्ञानेत्रं प्रज्ञाने प्रतिष्ठितं प्रज्ञानेत्रो लोकः प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठा प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म ॥ ३ ॥
स एतेन प्राज्ञेनाऽऽत्मनाऽस्माल्लोकादुत्क्रम्यामुष्मिन्स्वर्गे लोके सर्वान् कामानाप्त्वाऽमृतः समभवत् समभवत् ॥ ४ ॥
॥ इति ऎतरेयोपनिषत् समाप्ता ॥
English Müller
1. Let the women go back to their place.
2. Who is he whom 1 we meditate on as the Self? Which 2 is the Self?
3. That by which we see (form), that by which we hear (sound), that by which we perceive smells, that by which we utter speech, that by which we distinguish sweet and not sweet, (1) and what comes from the heart and the mind, namely, perception, command, understanding, knowledge, wisdom, seeing, holding, thinking, considering, readiness (or suffering), remembering, conceiving, willing, breathing, loving, desiring?
4. No, all these are various names only of knowledge (the true Self). (2)
5. And that Self, consisting of (knowledge), is Brahman (m.) 3, it is Indra, it is Pragâpati 4. All these Devas, these five great elements, earth, air, ether, water, fire, these and those which are, as it were, small and mixed 5, and seeds of this kind and that kind, born from eggs, born from the womb., born from heat, born from germs 6, horses, cows, men, elephants, and whatsoever breathes, whether walking or flying, and what is immoveable--all that is led (produced) by knowledge (the Self).
6. It rests on knowledge (the Self). The world
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is led (produced) by knowledge (the Self). Knowledge is its cause 7.
7. Knowledge is Brahman. (3)
8. He (Vâmadeva), having by this conscious self stepped forth from this world, and having obtained all desires in that heavenly world, became immortal, yea, he became immortal. Thus it is, Om. (4)
Translator’s notes (7)
I read ko yam instead of ko 'yam.
Or, Which of the two, the real or the phenomenal, the nirupâdhika or sopâdhika?
Hiranyagarbha. Comm.
Virâg. Comm.
Serpents, &c., says the commentary.
Cf. Kh. Up. VI, 3, 1, where the svedaga, born from heat or perspiration, are not mentioned.
We have no words to distinguish between pragñâ, state of knowing, and pragñâna, act of knowing. Both are names of the Highest Brahman, which is the beginning and end (pratishthâ) of everything that exists or seems to exist.