Unknown

“ Well then, O Gautama, I shall tell thee this mystery, the old Brahman, and what happens to the Self, after reaching death.
7. Some enter the womb in order to have a body, as organic beings, others go into inorganic matter, according to their work and according to their knowledge [48] .
8. He, the highest Person, who is awake in us while we are asleep, shaping one lovely sight after another, that indeed is the Bright, that is Brahman, that alone is called the Immortal. All worlds are contained in it, and no one goes beyond. ”

“ If a man performs his sacred works when these flames are shining, and the oblations follow at the right time, then they lead him as sun-rays to where the one Lord of the Devas dwells.
6. Come hither, come hither! the brilliant oblations say to him, and carry the sacrificer on the rays of the sun, while they utter pleasant speech and praise him, saying: "This is thy holy Brahma-world (Svarga) , gained by thy good works."
7. But frail, in truth, are those boats, the sacrifices, the eighteen, in which this lower ceremonial has been told [16] . ”

“ For he is the Breath shining forth in all beings, and he who understands this becomes truly wise, not a talker only. He revels in the Self, he delights in the Self, and having performed his works (truthfulness, penance, meditation, &c.) he rests, firmly established in Brahman, the best of those who know Brahman [29] .
5. By truthfulness, indeed, by penance, right knowledge, and abstinence must that Self be gained; the Self whom spotless anchorites gain is pure, and like a light within the body. ”

“ He who understands all and who knows all, he to whom all this glory in the world belongs, the Self, is placed in the ether, in the heavenly city of Brahman (the heart) . He assumes the nature of mind, and becomes the guide of the body of the senses. He subsists in food, in close proximity to the heart. ”

“ Manifest, near, moving in the cave (of the heart) is the great Being. In it everything is centred which ye know as moving, breathing, and blinking, as being and not-being, as adorable, as the best, that is beyond the understanding of creatures. ”

“ The Person not larger than a thumb, the inner Self, is always settled in the heart of men [72] . Let a man draw that Self forth from his body with steadiness, as one draws the pith from a reed [73] . Let him know that Self as the Bright, as the Immortal; yes, as the Bright, as the Immortal [74] .
18. Having received this knowledge taught by Death and the whole rule of Yoga (meditation) , Nakiketa became free from passion [75] and death, and obtained Brahman. Thus it will be with another also who knows thus what relates to the Self. ”

“ That (true Brahman) shines forth grand, divine, inconceivable, smaller than small; it is far beyond what is far and yet near here, it is hidden in the cave (of the heart) among those who see it even here.
8. He is not apprehended by the eye, nor by speech, nor by the other senses, not by penance or good works [30] . When a man's nature has become purified by the serene light of knowledge, then he sees him, meditating on him as without parts. ”

“ As the one air, after it has entered the world, though one, becomes different according to whatever it enters, thus the one Self within all things becomes different, according to whatever it enters, and exists also without. ”

“ Whatever there is, the whole world, when gone forth (from the Brahman) , trembles in its breath [59] . That Brahman is a great terror, like a drawn sword. Those who know it become immortal.
3. From terror of Brahman fire burns, from terror the sun burns, from terror Indra and Vâyu, and Death, as the fifth, run away [60] .
4. If a man could not understand it before the falling asunder of his body, then he has to take body again in the worlds of creation [61] .
5. As in a mirror, so (Brahman may be seen clearly) here in this body; as in a dream, in the world of the Fathers ”

“ Considering sacrifice and good works as the best, these fools know no higher good, and having enjoyed (their reward) on the height of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.
11. But those [18] who practise penance and faith in the forest, tranquil, wise, and living on alms, depart free from passion through the sun to where that immortal Person dwells whose nature is imperishable [19] .
12. Let a Brâhmana, after he has examined all these worlds which are gained by works, acquire freedom from all desires. ”

“ The wise who, by means of meditation on his Self, recognises the Ancient, who is difficult to be seen, who has entered into the dark, who is hidden in the cave, who dwells in the abyss, as God, he indeed leaves joy and sorrow far behind [29] ."
13. A mortal who has heard this and embraced it, who has separated from it all qualities, and has thus reached the subtle Being, rejoices, because he has obtained what is a cause for rejoicing. The house (of Brahman) is open, I believe, O Nakiketas." ”

“ The Brahman swells by means of brooding (penance) [4] ; hence is produced matter (food) ; from matter breath [5] , mind, the true [6] , the worlds (seven) , and from the works (performed by men in the worlds) , the immortal (the eternal effects, rewards, and punishments of works) .
9. From him who perceives all and who knows all, whose brooding (penance) consists of knowledge, from him (the highest Brahman) is born that Brahman [7] , name, form [8] , and matter (food) ."
SECOND Khanda
1. ”

“ The ether between (sun and earth) is the Samâna (on-breathing) , the air is Vyâna (back-breathing) .
9. Light is the Udâna (out-breathing) , and therefore he whose light has gone out comes to a new birth with his senses absorbed in the mind.
10. Whatever his thought (at the time of death) with that he goes back to Prâna, and the Prâna, united with light [33] , together with the self (the gîvâtmâ) leads on to the world, as deserved.
11. He who, thus knowing, knows Prâna, his offspring does not perish, and he becomes immortal. Thus says the Sloka:
12. ”

“ Who, save myself, is able to know that God who rejoices and rejoices not?
22. The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve.
23. That Self [35] cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be can gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own. ”

“ When the seer sees the brilliant maker and lord (of the world) as the Person who has his source in Brahman, then he is wise, and shaking off good and evil, he reaches the highest oneness, free from passions ”

“ The Apâna is the Gârhapatya fire, the Vyâna the Anvâhâryapakana fire; and because it is taken out of the Gârhapatya fire, which is fire for taking out [38] , therefore the Prâna is the Âhavanlya fire [39] .
4. Because it carries equally these two oblations, the out-breathing and the in-breathing, the Samâna is he (the Hotri priest) [40] . The mind is the sacrificer, the Udâna is the reward of the sacrifice, and it leads the sacrificer every day (in deep sleep) to Brahman.
5. There that god [41] (the mind) enjoys in sleep greatness. ”

“ A wise man who has repeated or heard the ancient story of Nakiketas told by Death, is magnified in the world of Brahman.
20. And he who repeats this greatest mystery in an assembly of Brâhmans, or full of devotion at the time of the Srâddha sacrifice, obtains thereby infinite rewards."
SECOND ADHYÂYA.
FOURTH Vallî
1. Death said: "The Self-existent pierced the openings (of the senses) so that they turn forward; therefore man looks forward, not backward into himself. Some wise man, however, with his eyes closed and wishing for immortality, saw the Self behind. ”

“ The Self [30] is in the heart. There are the 101 arteries, and in each of them there are a hundred (smaller veins) , and for each of these branches there are 72,000 [31] . In these the Vyâna (the back-breathing) moves.
7. Through one of them, the Udâna (the out-breathing) leads (us) upwards to the good world by good work, to the bad world by bad work, to the world of men by both.
8. The sun rises as the external Prâna, for it assists the Prâna in the eye [32] . The deity that exists in the earth, is there in support of man's Apâna (down-breathing) . ”

“ Beyond the senses there are the objects, beyond the objects there is the mind, beyond the mind there is the intellect, the Great Self is beyond the intellect.
11. Beyond the Great there is the Undeveloped, beyond the Undeveloped there is the Person (purusha) . Beyond the Person there is nothing — this is the goal, the highest road. ”

“ The Self [32] , smaller than small, greater than great, is hidden in the heart of that creature. A man who is free from desires and free from grief, sees the majesty of the Self by the grace of the Creator [33] . ”

“ Devas [39] . Their deeds and their Self with all his knowledge become all one in the highest Imperishable.
8. As the flowing rivers disappear in the sea [40] , losing their name and their form, thus a wise man, freed from name and form, goes to the divine Person, who is greater than the great [41] .
9. He who knows that highest Brahman, becomes even Brahman. In his race no one is born ignorant of Brahman. He overcomes grief, he overcomes evil; free from the fetters of the heart, he becomes immortal. ”

“ He (the knower of the Self) knows that highest home of Brahman [33] , in which all is contained and shines brightly. The wise who, without desiring happiness, worship that Person [34] , transcend this seed, (they are not born again.)
2. He who forms desires in his mind, is born again through his desires here and there. But to him whose desires are fulfilled and who is conscious of the true Self (within himself) all desires vanish, even here on earth. ”

“ This Prâna (spirit) is born of the Self. Like the shadow thrown on a man, this (the prâna) is spread out over it (the Brahman) [27] . By the work of the mind [28] does it come into this body.
4. As a king commands officials, saying to them: Rule these villages or those, so does that Prâna (spirit) dispose the other prânas, each for their separate work.
5. The Apâna (the down-breathing) in the organs of excretion and generation; the Prâna himself dwells in eye and ear, passing through mouth and nose. In the middle is the Samâna [29] (the on-breathing) ”

“ Day and Night [13] are Pragâpati; its day is spirit, its night matter. Those who unite in love by day waste their spirit, but to unite in love by night is right.
14. Food is Pragâpati. Hence proceeds seed, and from it these creatures are born.
15. Those therefore who observe this rule of Pragâpati (as laid down in §13) , produce a pair, and to them belongs this Brahma-world here [14] . But those in whom dwell penance, abstinence, and truth ”

“ He performed penance [7] , and having performed penance, he produces a pair, matter (rayi) and spirit (prâna) , thinking that they together should produce creatures for him in many ways.
5 [8] . The sun is spirit, matter is the moon. All this, what has body and what has no body, is matter, and therefore body indeed is matter. ”

“ When the five instruments of knowledge stand still together with the mind, and when the intellect does not move, that is called the highest state.
11. This, the firm holding back of the senses, is what is called Yoga. ”

“ Therefore at that time that man does not hear, see, smell, taste, touch, he does not speak, he does not take, does not enjoy, does not evacuate, does not move about. He sleeps, that is what people say. ”

“ Having enjoyed greatness in the Soma-world, he returns again.
5. Again, he who meditates with this syllable AUM of three Mâtrâs, on the Highest Person, he comes to light and to the sun. And as a snake is freed from its skin, so is he freed from evil. He is led up by the Sâman-verses to the Brahma-world [49] ; and from him, full of life (Hiranyagarbha, the lord of the Satya-loka [50] ) , he learns [51] to see the all-pervading, the Highest Person. And there are these two Slokas:
6. ”

“ The Vyâna is identified with the Dakshinâgni, the Southern fire, because it issues from the heart through an aperture on the right. pranyana, in the same manner as the prâna proceeds in sleep from the apina. The Vyâna is identified with the Dakshinâgni, the Southern fire, because it issues from the heart through an aperture on the right. ↑ The name of the Hotri priest must be supplied. He is supposed to carry two oblations equally to the Âhavanîya, and in the same way the Vyâna combines the two breathings, the in and out breathings. ”

“ II, 5. ↑ According to the commentator, this verse refers to those who know the uselessness of sacrifices and have attained to a knowledge of the qualified Brahman. They live in the forest as Vânaprasthas and Samnyâsins, practising tapas, i.e. whatever is proper for their state, and sraddhâ, i.e. a knowledge of Hiranyagarbha. The wise are the learned Grihasthas, while those who live on alms are those who have forsaken their family. ↑ That person is Hiranyagarbha. His immortality is relative only, it lasts no longer than the world (samsâra) . ”

“ VII, 12, 2. ↑ Yama seems here to propound the lower Brahman only, not yet the highest. Deva, God, can only be that as what the Old, i.e. the Self in the heart, is to be recognised. It would therefore mean, he who finds God or the Self in his heart. ”

“ Now I ask you, where is that person?"
2. He replied: "Friend, that person is here within the body, he in whom these sixteen parts arise.
3. He reflected: What is it by whose departure I shall depart, and by whose staying I shall stay?
4. He sent forth (created) Prâna (spirit) [55] ; from Prâna Sraddhâ (faith) [56] , ether, air, light, water, earth, sense, mind, food; from food came vigour, penance, hymns, sacrifice, the worlds, and in the worlds the name [57] also. ”

“ The seven wheels are explained as the rays or horses of the sun; or as half-years, seasons, months, half-months, days, nights, and muhûrtas. ↑ Taken as one, as a Nychthemeron. ↑ In the moon, reached by the path of the Fathers. ↑ Devâh, powers, organs, senses. ↑ Their respective power. ↑ This is Sankara's explanation, in which bâna is taken to mean the same as sarîra, body. ”