Jābāli Upanishad
Jābāli Upanishad
Om!
Let my limbs and speech, Prāṇa, eyes, ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishads.
May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishads be in me,
Who am devoted to the Ātman; may they reside in me.
Om! Let there be Peace in me!
Let there be Peace in my environment!
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me!
The Sage Pippalāda approached Sage Jābāli and asked him:
"Oh God like sage, please teach me the secret of the absolute philosophy:
What is Tattva (principle)? Who is Jīva (being)? What is Paśu?
Who is Īśvara? And what is the method for salvation?"
Thus asked sage Jābāli explained to him everything as follows:
Jīva (being) is nothing but God (the Lord of all beings - Paśupati) himself who is acting the role of egoism.
That Jīva (being) is the Paśu.
Paśupati is he who knows everything, who does the five jobs like creation, and who is the Lord of all beings.
Paśu (in common parlance) are those animals which eat grass, which do not have viveka (knowledge to differentiate), which are driven by others, which are made to work in jobs like agriculture and which undergo lot of sufferings.
Similar to the owner of such animals is the God Paśupati who rules over all beings.
To the question: "What trick is there to acquire such knowledge?"
Jābāli replied: "By wearing of the holy ash".
He further told:
"After taking the holy ash in hand by reciting the five Brahma mantras
starting with 'Sathyojatham', and chanting "Agniriti Bhaṣma (Holy ash is fire)",
mix it with water by chanting, "Manasthoke"
and then wear the holy ash in head, forehead and shoulders
in sets of three lines chanting the three mantras "trayayusham".
Further wear these by chanting the three mantras starting with "Trayayusham" and the mantra "Tryambakam" is called Śāmbhava penance.
Those with knowledge of Veda say that this has been told in all Vedas.
For avoiding rebirth, the people with eternal wisdom, should adopt this.
Among the three lines, the first one is Gārhapatya (the domestic fire), the letter Ā, the quality of Rajas, earth, Jivātmā (soul of beings), the power of creation, Rigveda, time of dawn and its God is Lord Brahma.
The second line is Dakṣiṇāgni (Fire of the south), the letter U, the quality of Sattva, atmosphere, the soul inside the body, the power of desire, Yajurveda, the time of noon, and its God is Lord Vishnu.
The third line is the Āhavaṇiya agṇi (the fire of the Sun), the letter Ma, the quality of Tamas, the place of Gods, the Paramātma, the power of knowledge, Sāmavēda, the time of dusk and its God is Shiva.
That individual, who wears holy ash, whether he is a Brahmachari or Sannyāsī, gets rid of great as well as minor sins. He becomes fit to worship all gods; he becomes one who has taken bath in all holy waters and the one who has chanted all the Rudra mantras.
He does not have rebirth. This Upanishad tells that, it is sworn that he will not have rebirth.
Om!
Let my limbs and speech, Prāṇa, eyes, ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishads.
May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishads be in me,
Who am devoted to the Ātman; may they reside in me.
Om! Let there be Peace in me!
Let there be Peace in my environment!
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me!
Here ends the Jābāli Upanishad, included in the Sāma Veda.
Translated by P. R. Ramachander