CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD | Chapter 6

CHĀNDOGYA UPANISHAD.

SIXTH CHAPTER.

Section I.

1. Hari! Om! Of a truth there lived Swetaketu son of Aruṇa. Unto him said his father, " O Swetaketu, [go and] abide as a Brahmachari [in the house of a tutor], for verily, child, none of our race has neglected the Vedas and therebybrought disgrace on himself."

2. Of a truth he having repaired to a tutor, on his twelfth year, and studied all the Vedas to the twenty-fourth year of his age, returned home, a vain-minded [youth], confident of his knowledge of the Vedas, and proud.

3. Unto him said his father, " O Swetaketu, since you are, child, so vain-minded, so confident of your knowledge of the Vedas, and so proud, have you enquired of your tutor about that subject which makes the unheard-of heard, the unconsidered considered, and the unsettled settled,”

4. "What is that subject, O Lord?" "Verily, child, as the knowledge of [the nature of] a single clod of earth makes manifest [the nature of] all earthen objects, [and shows] that the various [fictile] fabrications indicated by different words and names are of a truth only earth-

5. "Child, as the knowledge of [the nature of] a single [lump of] gold, shows that all articles of gold indicated by different words and names, are mere variations of form, but in truth gold alone-

6. "Child, as by a knowledge of the nail-cutter, all iron instruments are known to be modifications of that substance, differing only in name and words, but of a truth iron alone, so is the subject [I allude to."]
7. "Verily my learned tutors [said Swetaketu] know it not. Had they known it, why should they have omitted to impart it to me? Lord, do you relate that unto me?" "Be it so, child," said the father.

Section II.

1. "Before, O child, this was a mere state of being (sat), one only, without a second. Thereof verily others say: 'Before this was non-being, one alone, without a second; from that non-being proceeds the state of being.’”

2. He continued: "but of a truth, O child, how can this be? How can being proceed from non-being? Before, O child, this was only being, one only, without a second.

3. "It willed ' I shall multiply and be born.’ It created heat. That heat willed ‘I shall multiply and be born.’ It created water.
"Therefore wherever and whenever anybody is heated or perspires, it is from heat that water is produced.

4. "The water willed, ‘I shall multiply and be born.’ It created aliment. Therefore wherever and whenever rain falls, much aliment is produced; verily it is from water that aliment is produced.

Section III.

1. "Verily of all these living objects there are three sources, viz., oviparous, viviparous, and sprouting objects.

2. "That Deity willed: ‘entering these three objects (devatās) in the form of life (jivātmā) I shall be manifest in various names and forms.

3. "I shall convert each of these three sources into a trinary form.' That Deity entering the three elements (devatās) in the form of life manifested them with (due) names and forms.

4. "Them did he convert into trinary forms. Learn from me, my child, how these three elements each became a trinary form.

Section IV.

1. "The redness of Agni is due to heat, its whiteness to water, and its darkness to earth; hence Agni ceases to be Agni. It is nothing but a word; it is an effect and is nominal.
Its three forms are alone true.

2. "The redness of the Sun is due to heat, its whiteness to water, and its darkness to earth. Hence the sun ceases to be the sun. It is nothing but a word; it is an effect and is nominal.
Its three forms are alone true.

3. "The redness of the moon is due to heat, its whiteness to water, and its darkness to earth. Hence the moon ceases to be the moon. It is nothing but a word; it is an effect and is nominal. Its three forms are alone true.

4. "The redness of lightning is due to heat, its whiteness to water, and its darkness to earth. Hence the lightning ceases to be lightning. It is nothing but a word; it is an effect and is nominal. Its three forms are alone true.

5. "Verily, knowing this the great house-holders and knowers of the Vedas (srotrias) of yore said, 'From this day none of us shall talk of anything of which he has not heard, nor considered, nor known; for of a truth, hence he has learnt (everything.),

6. "Whatever appeared to them red, they knew to be due to beat; whatever appeared to them white, they knew to be the form of water, and whatever appeared dark they attributed to the earth.

7. "Verily whatever appeared to be inscrutable they took to be a union of these three elements (devatās). Now of a truth learn from me, my child, how every object (devatā) becomes threefold in living beings.

Section V.

1. Aliment when consumed becomes threefold; the gross particles become excrement, the middling ones flesh, and the fine ones the mind.
2. "Water when drunk becomes threefold; the gross particles become urine, the middling ones blood, and the fine ones respiration (prāṇa).

3. "Heat, when consumed, becomes threefold; the gross particles become bones, the middling ones marrow, and the fine ones speech.

4. "The mind, my child, is (the result of) aliment, the prana is (that of) water, and speech (is that of) heat." "Will it please my Lord to explain this again unto me." "Be it so, my child."

Section VI.

1. "My child, when curd is churned, its fine particles which rise upwards, form butter.

2. "Thus, my child, when food is consumed, the fine particles, which rise upwards, form the mind.

3. "Again, my child, when water is drunk, the fine particles, which ascend upwards, form the prāṇa.

4. "My child, when heat is consumed, the fine particles, which rise upwards, form speech.

5. "(Hence) verily the mind is aliment, the prāṇa water, and the speech heat."
"Will it please my Lord to explain this again unto me?"
Be it so, my child."

Section VII,

1. "Man, my child, is sixteen fold. Let him not eat for fifteen days, but let him drink according to his desire, for life is formed of water, and if it be sustained thereby it will not leave him."

2. Verily he (Swetaketu) did not eat for fifteen days. Then did he repair to the tutor and enquire, "Sir, what shall I repeat now ?
"(The father said,) "Do you, my child, repeat the Rig, Yajur and Sāma hymns." He replied, "Sir, of a truth none of them occurs (now) to my memory."

3. Unto him said the tutor, "My child, when a large fire leaves a small remnant insignificant as (the spark of) the fire-fly, it cannot consume much (fuel, if the same be at once heaped over it); so of your sixteen parts only one now remains, and therefore you remember not the Vedas. Do you go and eat (first) what is meet,

4. "And then will you learn from me." Verily, he ate, and then repaired to his tutor.

5. "O my child, as a small remnant, insignificant as (the spark of) the fire-fly, of a large fire invigorated with little bits of hay or straw becomes powerful and able to consume much,

6. "Even so when the last single remnant of thy sixteen parts is invigorated with food, you are enabled to understand the Vedas. Verily, the mind, my child, is made of food, the prana of water, and the speech of heat."
Of a truth he understood - verily he understood this.

Section VIII.

1. Uddālaka son of Aruṇa, unto his son Swetaketu, said,
'Learn from me, my child, the nature of sleep. When man assumes the epithet 'sleeping’ he identifies himself with the Universal Soul (sat, truth) he attains his self (swa), therefore he is said to be swapiti (‘sleeping'); for then he attains his self.

2. "A bird tied to a string after lying towards the sides and finding no place of rest, at last has recourse to the spot to which it is tied. Even so the mind, my child, after roaming towards all sides and failing to obtain a resting-place, at last takes the shelter of the Soul (prana) Verily the mind has the Soul for its tie-rope.

3. "Learn from me, my child, the nature of hunger and thirst. When man assumes the epithet 'hungry, (Aśiśishati) verily water then carries down the food, (through his gullet). Those who lead cattle are called gonāya, those who lead horses are called aswanāya, those who lead men are purushanāya; accordingly water (which leads down food) is called aswanāya.
Thereof this (body) is a product. Think not, O child, that it has proceeded without a cause."

4. (What is its cause, enquired Swetaketu). "Where can be its cause (answered his father) except in aliment? Thus, my child, you should know water to be the cause of the product aliment. Thus again heat is the cause of the product water; and of that product heat Truth is the cause. Hence verily, my child, all the varied objects of the universe have the Truth for their origin.

5. "When man assumes the epithet, ‘thirsty,’ it is heat that carries down the drink through his gullet. Those who lead cattle are called gonāya, those who lead horses are called aswanāya, those who lead men are called purushanāya; and accordingly heat is called udanna (carrier of water) ; thereof this (body) is the product. Think not, my child,that it has proceeded without a cause."

6. "What is its cause?" (enquired Swetaketu). "What can be its cause but water ? (replied his father.) Thus, my child, you should know heat to be the cause of the product water, aud of that heat know Truth to be the cause. Hence verily, my child, all these varied objects of the universe have the Truth for their origin, sustenance and end. How each of these three objects becomes threefold in man has been already described. When man departs (this life) his speech merges into the mind; the mind merges into life; the life into heat, and the heat into the Supreme Deity. This is its abstract form.

7. "All this universe has the (Supreme) Deity for its life. That Deity is Truth, lie is the Universal Soul. Thou art He, O Swetaketu."
"Will it please my Lord to explain this farther unto me ?"
"Be it so, my child:" replied the tutor.

Section IX.

1. "As the bees, my child, intent upon making honey, collect the essences of various trees from different quarters and reduce them to one uniform fluid,

2. "Which no longer retains the idea of its having belonged to different trees; so, my child, created beings when dead, know not that they have attained the Truth.

3. "They are born again in the form in which they lived before, whether that be of a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a bear, a worm, an insect, a gnat, or a mosquito.

4. "That particle which is the Soul of all this is Truth; it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, thou art that." "Will it please, my Lord, to explain it again unto me?" "Be it so, my child," replied he.

Section X.

1. "These rivers, my child, proceed from the East towards the West, thence from the ocean (they rise in the form of vapour and dropping again they low towards the South and) merge into the ocean. Here as they do not remember what they were;

2. "Even so all these created beings, having proceeded from the Truth, know not that they have issued therefrom. They therefore become of the form they had before, whether that be of a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a bear, a worm, an insect, a gnat, or a mosquito.

3. "That particle which is the Soul of all this is Truth; it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, thou art that."
"Will it please my Lord to explain it (once) again unto me (how beings, after attaining, during sleep and after death, the one Universal Soul, do not lose their identity?")
"Be it so, my child," replied he.

Section XI.

1. " My child, were one to strike once on the root of yonder
wide-spreading tree, it would discharge (a little of its) sap: struck
over on the middle the tree would (still) discharge its sap, and
so would it if it were struck once on the top. Pervaded by life it
would continue to draw the humours (of the earth) and thrive.
2. " (But) thereof when life forsakes one of the branches, it
dries up. When a second is forsaken, it dries up. When a
third is forsaken, it (too) dries up; and when the entire tree is
forsaken by life, the whole dries up. Verily, know my pupil,"
continued he,

3. "When this (body) is forsaken by life it dies, but the life dies not. That particle which is the soul of this (body) is Truth; it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, Thou art that."
"Will it please my Lord to explain it once again unto me, (how the creation proceedeth from the invisible Truth which has neither name nor form and is mere existence)?"
"Be it so, my child," said the father.

Section XII.

1. "Bing me a fruit of the Nyāgrodha tree." "Here it is, my Lord," said the pupil. "Break it." "It is broken, my Lord." "What do you perceive in it?" "Some very small seeds, my Lord." "Will you, dear, break one of them?" "Here, I have broken it, my Lord." "What do you perceive in it?" "Nothing, my Lord."

2. Unto him said the father, "Where, my child, you perceive nothing, there dwells invisibly a mighty Nyāgrodha.

3. "Mind it, my child, that particle which is the soul of all, this is Truth-it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, Thou art that."
"Will it please my Lord to explain it once again (how, since the creation proceeds from the Truth, it does not attain permanence-truthfulness?") "Be it so, my child," said the father.

Section XIII.

1. "Dissolve this salt in that water, and appear before me tomorrow morning." He did so. Unto him said (the father), "My child, find out the salt that you put in that water last night.
"The salt, having been dissolved, could not be made out. (Unto Swetaketu said his father,)" Child,

2. "Do you taste a little from the top of that water." (The child did so. After a while the father enquired,)
"How tastes it?"
"It is saltish," (said Swetaketu.) "Try a little from the middle." (He did so. The father then enquired,) "How is it?" "It is saltish," (replied the son). "Taste a little from the bottom," (ordered he. The son did so. The father then enquired,) "How is it?" "It is saltish." "If so (throwing it away) wash your mouth and grieve not." Verily he did so, (and said to his father,)
"The salt that I put in the water exists for ever; (though I perceive it not by my eyes, it is felt by my tongue)." (Unto him) said (his father,) "Verily, such is the case with the Truth, my child.
Though you perceive it not, it nevertheless pervades this (body).

3. "That particle which is the soul of all this is Truth; it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, Thou art that."
"Will it please my Lord to explain farther (how, like the salt which though invisible is still perceptible by the tongue, can the Soul, the cause of the world, unperceivable by the organs of perception, be grasped by the mind-the Soul by not attaining which, I am unblest, and by attaining which I am blest; and what means exist for its attainment)?" "Be it so, my child," replied (the father).

Section XIV.

1. "O my child, in the world when a man with blind-folded eyes is carried away from Gandhara and left in a lonely place, he makes the East and the North and the West resound by crying, , I have been brought here blind-folded. I am here left blind-folded.’

2. "Thereupon (some kind-hearted man) unties the fold on his eyes and says, 'This is the way to Gandhara; proceed thou by this way.' The sensible man proceeds from village to village, enquiring the way, and reaches at last the (province) of Gandhara.
Even thus a man who has a duly qualified teacher learns (his way) and thus remains liberated (from all worldly ties) till he attains (the Truth-Moksha).

3. "That particle which is the soul of all this is Truth-it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, thou art that."
"Will it please my Lord to explain farther (by example, how one attains the Truth)?"
"Be it so my child," replied (the father).

Section XV.

1. "My child, when a man is laid up with a mortal illness, his relations surround him to render him service and enquire,
'Do you recognise me, do you recognise me?, He recognises them until his speech merges into his mind, his mind merges into his life, his life merges into heat, and the heat into the Supreme Deity.

2. "When his speech is merged into his mind, and his mind is merged into his life, his life is merged into heat, and heat into the Supreme Deity, he recognises them not.

3. "That particle which is the soul of all this is Truth-it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, thou art that."
"Will it please my Lord to explain farther (by an example, why the ignorant, after death should return to this world, while the liberated does not, although the dead and the liberated seem equally to attain the truth)?"
"Be it so, my child," replied (the father).

Section XVI.

1. " O my child, when a man (suspected of theft,) is brought with his hands tied up and told, 'Thou hast stolen.' (He denies. The magistrate thereupon orders,)  Let the hatchet be heated for him,' If he should happen to be the author of the theft, and seek to protect himself in untruth, he, the upholder of untruth, enveloping his soul in an untruth, grasps the heated blade and is burnt as well as punished.

2. "While, if he happened not to be the author of the theft, and be desirous of making himself truthful, he, the upholder of truth, enveloping his soul in truth, grasps the heated blade which burns him not, and liberates himself (from his fetters).
3. "Even as he, (by the intervention of truth,) escapes from the heated blade, so all this has truth for its soul; it is the Truth - it is the Universal Soul. O Swetaketu, thou art that."
Thus verily was he instructed-thus was he instructed.