Aithareya Upanishadh
(Chapters 4-6 of 2nd Âranyaka of Aithareya Brâhmana, Rg-Vedha)

May my speech be one with my mind, and may my mind be one with my speech.
O thou self-luminous Brahman, remove the veil of ignorance from before me, that I may behold thy light.
Do thou reveal to me the spirit of the scriptures.
May the truth of the scriptures be ever present to me.
May I seek day and night to realize what I learn from the sages.
May I speak the truth of Brahman.
May I speak the truth.
May it protect me.
May it protect my teacher.
OM . . . Peace -- peace -- peace.

1.1. THE CREATION OF THE COSMIC PERSON.

1. Before creation, all that existed was the Self, the Self alone. Nothing else was. Then the Self thought: "Let me send forth the worlds."

2. He sent forth these worlds: Ambhas, the highest world, above the sky and upheld by it; Marîci, the sky; Mara, the mortal world, the earth; and Âpah, the world beneath the earth.

3. He thought: "Behold the worlds. Let me now send forth their guardians." Then he sent forth their guardians. Having gathered up a lump of the human form from Âpah, the worlds below, he gave shape to it.

4. He deliberated with regard to Him (i.e. Virât of the human form). As He (i.e. Virât) was being deliberated on, His (i.e. Virât's) 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 Vâyu (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.

1.2. THE COSMIC POWERS IN THE HUMAN PERSON.

1. These deities, that had been created, fell into this vast ocean. He subjected Him (i.e. Virât) to hunger and thirst. They said to Him (i.e. to the Creator), "Provide an abode for us, staying where we can eat food."

2. For them He (i.e. God) brought a cow. They said, "This one is certainly not adequate for us." For them He brought a horse. They said, "This one is certainly not adequate for us."

3. For them He brought a man. They said, "This one is well formed; man indeed is a creation of God Himself." To them He said, "Enter into your respective abodes."

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 Apâna (i.e. the vital force that presses down); Water entered into the limb of generation in the form of semen (i.e. the organ of procreation).

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 being offered) for any deity whichsoever, Hunger and Thirst become verily sharers with that deity.

1.3. THE ENTRANCE OF THE SELF INTO THE BODY

1. He thought: "Behold these worlds and the guardians of these worlds. Let me send forth food for the guardians."

2. He deliberated with regard to the water. From the water, thus brooded over, evolved a form. The form that emerged was verily food.

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.

4. He tried 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 would have become contented merely by smelling food.

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 everyone would have become satisfied by merely seeing food.

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 everyone would have become satisfied merely by hearing of food.

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 everyone would have been satisfied merely by touching food.

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 everyone would have become satisfied by merely thinking of food.

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 everyone would have become satisfied by merely ejecting food.

10. He wanted to take it up with Apâna. He took it up. This is the devourer of food. That vital energy which is well known as dependent on food for its subsistence is this vital energy (called Apâna).

11. He thought: "How shall there be guardians and I have no part in them?"

"If without me, speech utters, breath is drawn, eye sees, ear hears, skin feels, mind thinks, sex organs procreate, then what am I?"

12. He thought: "Let me enter the guardians." Whereupon, opening the center of their skulls, he entered. The door by which he entered is called the door of bliss.

The Self being unknown, all three states of the soul are but dreaming -- waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. In each of these dwells the Self: the eye is his dwelling place while we wake, the mind is his dwelling place while we dream, the lotus of the heart is his dwelling place while we sleep the dreamless sleep.

13. Having entered into the guardians, he identified himself with them. He became many individual beings. Now, therefore, if an individual awakes from his threefold dream of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, he sees no other than the Self. He sees the Self dwelling in the lotus of his heart as Brahman, omnipresent, and he declares: "I know Brahman!"

14. His name is Idhandhra. He is verily known as Idhandhra. Although He is Idhandhra, they call Him indirectly Indhra; for the gods are verily fond of indirect names, the gods are verily fond of indirect names.

2. THREE BIRTHS OF THE SELF

1. In man indeed is the soul first conceived. That which is this semen is extracted from all the limbs as their vigor. 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.

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).

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.

4. This self of his (viz. the son) is deputed (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 fulfilled and having advanced in age, departs. As soon as he departs, he takes birth again. That is his third birth.

5. This fact was stated by the seer: "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 the knowledge of the Self." Vâmadheva said this while still lying in the mother's womb.

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.

3. NATURE OF THE SELF

1. Who is this Self whom we desire to worship? Of what nature is this Self?

Is he the self by which we see form, hear sound, smell odor, speak words, and taste the sweet or the bitter?

2. Is he the heart and the mind by which we perceive, command, discriminate, know, think, remember, will, feel, desire, breathe, love, and perform other like acts?

3. Nay, these are but adjuncts of the Self, who is pure consciousness. And this Self, who is pure consciousness, is Brahman. He is God, all gods; the five elements -- earth, air, fire, water, ether; all beings, great or small, born of eggs, born from the womb, born from heat, born from soil; horses, cows, men, elephants, birds; everything that breathes, the beings that walk and the beings that walk not. The reality behind all these is Brahman, who is pure consciousness.

All these, while they live, and after they have ceased to live, exist in him.

4. The sage Vâmadheva, having realized Brahman as pure consciousness, departed this life, ascended into heaven, obtained all his desires, and achieved immortality.

REFERENCES

Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester (translation). (1947). The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal (selections). Hollywood, California: Vedanta Press.

Swami Gambhirananda (translation). (1957). Eight Upanisads. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama.

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