1. To Him who appears radiant in the shimmering rays, like half-bloomed buds of the crescent moon which ornaments His head; who sportively burned Cupid like a moth; whose presence augurs supreme well-being; who, like the sun, inwardly dispels the dense darkness of ignorance engulfing the mind; who is like a lamp of knowledge shining in the hearts of yogis; Victory to Shiva!
2. Traveling across many difficult and dangerous places brought me no wealth; giving up pride of lineage, I have served the rich in vain, without self-respect, in others' homes; I have craved and eaten like crows in others' homes; and still, oh Desire! instigator of wicked deeds, you prosper and even then remain unsatisfied.
3. Digging the earth for wealth, smelting the rocks for precious metals, crossing the oceans, laboring to keep in favor of kings, chanting incantations with a totally absorbed mind in cremation sites, brought me not even a broken piece of a glimmering shell. Oh Desire! therefore, remain contented.
4. Enduring somehow in servility the talk of the wicked; holding back tears; smiling with a vacant mind; bowing low to wealthy but stupid people; oh insatiable Desire! What other futile deeds would you have me dance in?
5. Our energies, as fickle as the water drops on the lotus leaf, we have spent with thoughtless abandon. In front of the rich, with their minds dulled by the arrogance of wealth, we have sinned by flattering ourselves.
6. Forgiving out of weakness, giving up comforts of the home out of lack of fulfillment, tolerating the unbearable cold, wind, heat, without fulfilling austerities, thinking of riches day and night with intense energy but not on Shiva's feet; thus have we performed the actions of the ascetic recluse, but devoid of the benefits.
7. We have not enjoyed mundane pleasures, but ourselves have been devoured by desires. We have not performed austerities, but got scorched ourselves, nevertheless; time is not gone but we approach the end. Desires do not wear out, only we ourselves are struck down by senility.
8. Face covered with wrinkles, the head painted white with gray hair, the limbs feeble, and yet Desire alone stays youthful.
9. With desires receding, even much respect of many dropping away, dear friends close to my heart fleeing to heaven, standing up slowly with the help of a stick, eyesight darkened by cataracts, even then the body in its stupidity, wonders at the prospect of death!
10. Hope, like a river, with fantasies as water, agitated by waves of desires; attachments to various objects serving as prey; abounding in thoughts of greed, like birds; destroying the foes of courage; surrounded by eddies of ignorance deep and difficult to cross; with precipitous banks of anxiety---such a river the perfected yogis of pure minds, cross to enjoy beatitude.
11. I do not see true well-being accruing from actions repeated life after life in this world. On deep thought, I find it fearsome this collection of merits. By this great store of merits further enjoyments can be procured. Attachment to pleasures only brings more misery.
12. Sensual pleasures will surely leave us sometime, even if they stay with us for a long time. Then, what difference does it make if the people discard them by their own choice? The mind is sorely afflicted if pleasures leave us of their own accord. However, if people renounce them voluntarily, such self-control gives infinite bliss.
13. Ah! knowledge of Reality gained by discrimination through purified intellect must be difficult. For it results from the absolute renunciation of desires which wealth enabled them to enjoy. The same obtained in the past or present, or to be obtained in the future, we are unable to renounce, though they remain as mere longings.
14. Blessed are they who live in mountain-caves, meditating on the Supreme Light, with the birds fearlessly sitting on their laps drinking the tears of joy. Our life fades away, reveling in fantasies in palaces or on the banks of refreshing ponds, or in pleasure gardens.
15. For eating I have tasteless food once a day, after begging of alms; the earth for a bed, and my own body as a servant; for dress, a blanket made from hundreds of rags; and yet alas! sensual desires do not leave me!
16. The poets give such metaphors as golden vessels to the breasts which are but two lumps of flesh; the mouth, seat of phlegm and mucus, are compared to the moon; the loins, outlet for wet urine, are likened to the forehead of an elephant; thus glorifying the human form that is always contemptible.
17. Uniquely great is Shiva among the sensuous, for he shares half the body with His beloved; among the dispassionate no one excels Him in detachment from women. Rest of the people, stunned in infatuation by Cupid's irresistible arrows tipped with serpent poison, can neither enjoy their desires nor give them up at will.
18. Like a moth falling in fire, not knowing its burning power; or like the fish caught in ignorance by the baited hook; we, despite knowing the dangers, do not renounce sensual pleasures. Oh! how profound is the glory of delusion!
19. When the mouth is parched with thirst, a person drinks cool and sweet water; when smitten with hunger the person eats rice, flavored with meat etc.; when afire with passion, he embraces the wife with great firmness; thus, joy is the remedying of these diseases(thirst, hunger, lust), and yet how much distress in these remedies!
20. Owning towering mansions, with sons honored by the learned and wealthy; with a charitable and youthful wife, the ignorant people regard this world as permanent, and enter this prison of repeated cycles of birth and death. Blessed indeed is one who sees the momentary transience and renounces it.
21. Distressed, misery written on her face, constantly tugged at her worn-out clothes by hungry, crying children -- if one were to see such a wife, what wise person, smitten with hunger, with a choked and faltering voice, would say "Give me", fearing refusal of his entreaty?
22. Clever in undoing the knots of self-respect; like the moonlight brightly shining on the lotus of virtues; like a hatchet cutting off the lush creepers of our vaunted modesty -- such is the hard mockery of filling the pit of the stomach.
23. Wandering in holy places or extensive forests, whose outskirts are grey with smoke of fires tended by priests expert in rituals; a begging bowl in hand covered with a white cloth; entering from door to door to appease the distressing hunger by filling the stomach and sustaining the energy, is preferred by a self-respecting person to being a beggar among his compeers every day.
24. Will the Himalayan ranges, cooled by the fine spray from the waves of the Ganges, and with the beautiful rocky plateaus habited by celestial musicians, dissolve and disappear, prompting people to disgrace themselves by depending on others for their livelihood?
25. Have the roots and herbs from the caves gone out of existence, or have the streams disappeared from the mountains, or have the trees yielding succulent fruits on their branches and barks from their trunks been destroyed, which would lead these wicked folks, destitute of good breeding, to show their faces, with eyebrows dancing like wind-blown creepers due to arrogance of laboriously earning their meager livelihood?
26. Now, accepting lovingly the sacred roots and fruits for sustenance and the earth covered with fresh leaves of branches for a bed, let us go forth to the forest, where people whose minds are mean and devoid of discretion, and who always talk excruciatingly of the afflictions of wealth, are not even heard from.
27. With fruits available at will in every forest, and cool, sweet water from holy streams in every place, and a bed made of tender leaves and twigs, still these miserable people endure sorrow at the gates of the rich.
28. Those who grovel before the rich, and those given to meanness with their reason satisfied with mere sensual pleasures, may I recall their days of plight with an inner smile, while lying down on a stone-bed in a mountain-cave, during lulls in-between meditation.
29. The joy of those who are contented remains uninterrupted, while those greedy for wealth and with confused reason never have their cravings killed. Therefore, for what purpose did the Creator bring into existence the Meru mountain of infinite riches, which serves only to glorify itself? I have no taste for it.
30. Food obtained by begging alms is not humiliating, gives joy that is not dependent on fulfilling others' needs, and is totally devoid of fear. It destroys envy, arrogance, pride, impatience, and the stream of miseries. It is easily available everywhere, without great effort, and regarded as sacred by holy persons. It is like Shiva's feeding house, ever accessible and inexhaustible. Thus do the perfected yogis describe it.
31. Description of the transiency of Enjoyments: There is fear of disease in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures; in lineage, fear of decline; in riches, fear of kings; fear of humiliation in honor; fear of enemies when in power; fear of old age in beauty; in learning, fear of disputants; in virtue, fear of the wicked; in body, fear of death. All facets of man's life on earth engender fear; renunciation alone is fearless.
32. Birth is attacked by death, and bright youth by old age; contentment by greed for wealth; peace of mind by seductive women; virtues by the envy of others; forests by beasts of prey; kings by the unscrupulous; and even fame by transitoriness. Is there anything on earth that is not afflicted by something?
33. Hundreds of varieties of illness root out health of people. Adversities find an open door wherever Laxmi, Goddess of Wealth, is present. Whatever is born, Death is sure to make it powerless and aborb it into itself, again and again. Then what has the Creator made that can be regarded as stable?
34. Sensual pleasures are transient like the breaking of high waves. Life can end in a moment. Youthful cheerfulness in infatuation lasts only a few days. Wise teachers, having realised that the whole revolving wheel of life is lacking in true worth, strive to achieve equanimity for the benefit of the people.
35. Sensual pleasures are as fickle as the flash of lightning in the clouds. Life can collpse as easily as the drop of water on the edge of a lotus leaf swayed by the wind. Fickle are the longings in youth. Quickly realising this, let the wise ones engage their minds in equanimity, attained easily by courage.
36. Life undulates like a wave. Youthful beauty lasts a few days. Riches are as short-lived as thoughts. The successive enjoyments are like autumnal lightning flashes. The beloved's embrace round the neck lasts only a moment. Lovingly tie your mind to Brahman to overcome the fear of crossing the ocean of cycles of births and deaths.
37. Life in the womb involves lying in discomfort amidst unclean surroundings, with the limbs confined. Enjoyments in youth are vitiated by intense sorrow when separated from the beloved. Even old age incurs contempt and derision of women. Oh, men! say, is there even a trace of happiness in such a life?
38. Like a tigress, fearsome is old age. Illnesses attack the body like enemies. Life flows like water from a leaky vessel. Yet, is it not a wonder that man engages in actions not conducive to well-being?
39. Varied and transient pleasures make up this life. Then why do you wander here exerting yourself incessantly? The bonds of hope arising from desires, with their hundreds of strings, to be appeased to attain equanimity of mind, only faith in the word of the Supreme Abode and mental concentration on it can achieve it.
40. Where Brahma, Indra, and other hosts of gods appear as worth as little as blades of grass; where taste is lost for the greatest possessions, like the sovereignty over the three worlds; such is the unique enjoyment of Brahman, eternal, supreme, and immutable. Oh Pure One! indulge not in any pleasure that lasts no more than a moment.
41. Description of the Glory Of Time: Salutations to Time! Under your sway all these passed away to form mere memories: that enchanting city, that great king surrounded by his vassals and clever advisers by his side, beauties with moon-like faces, headstrong princes, and flattering court-musicians!
42. Where in some home there were many occupants, now there is only one; where there was one or successively many, none is left in the end. Thus does Time expertly play the game on the checker-board of this world, with creatures as the pieces to be moved, and throwing the dice of days and nights.
43. With the sun rising and setting daily, life ebbs away, and Time passes unknowingly under the heavy burden of various activities. Watching birth, ageing, suffering, and death, no distress is felt, for the world has become insane by drinking the intoxicating wine of infatuation.
44. Watching the night following the day, creatures still vainly persist in running busily with various actions motivated by desires. Such repetitious actions, alas! born of desires bring us no shame, keeping us deluded in the revolving cylces of births and deaths.
45. To break away from the bondage of this world, we have not meditated on the Lord's feet; nor have we performed rituals to acquire merits enough to open heaven's gates. Nor, even in our dreams, have we embraced a woman with full-grown breasts. We have, by being born, only served the purpose like an axe to to cut the bloom of our mother's youth.
46. Not having studied and acquired adequate knowledge to defeat scholarly debaters; not having gained heaven-high fame , like wielding the sword strongly enough to knock down an elelphant's head; nor kissed at moonrise the tender lips of a woman! Alas! all youth has slipped by fruitlessly, like a lamp in a deserted house.
47. Faultless knowledge has not been gained, nor riches acquired; nor served the parents devotedly; nor, even in dreams, embraced the beloved with her dancing eyes; whole life has been spent, like greedy crows, in subordination to others.
48. Those who begot us have passed on into eternity. Those with whom we grew up have also become parts of memory only. Now with every passing day our condition is akin to the trees on the sandy banks of a river.
49. Men's life-span is limited to a hundred years. Half of it is spent in the darkness of nights. Of the remaining half, half is spent in childhood and old age; and the rest illnesses, bereavements, and vexatious service of others. Where is the happiness for creatures whose life is as fickle as the ripples of water?
50. For a moment like a child, for another moment a lascivious youth; one moment a pauper, another a wealthy person; at the end of life, the body worn out by age and covered with wrinkles, man enters the abode of Death like an actor exiting the stage.
51. Description of a dialogue between an ascetic and a king: You are a king; we also, through service to our Teacher, have been uplifted in wisdom. You are famous by your wealth; our successes are broadcast in all directions by the learned. Thus, there is a great difference between us regarding honor and wealth. If you are indifferent towards us, we also are perfectly dispassionate towards you.
52. You are the master of wealth; we are also masters of words. You are brave; we are ever skilful in subduing the pride of debaters. The rich serve you; we are served by those who would study scriptures to purify the mind. If you show no regard for me, I have none for you either.
53. We are content to wear tree-barks for clothes, and you with rich dresses; but the contentment is alike, and the difference is not significant. He whose desires are numerous is indeed poor. If contentment is in the mind, then who is rich or poor?
54. Enough for us are fruits for food, tasty water to drink, the earth for a bed, and tree-barks for dress. I have no taste for the immodesty of the wicked, deluded by drinking the wine of wealth.
55. We shall eat from the begging of alms; we shall wear the sky for clothing; lie down on the earth for a bed; why bother with the rich?
56. We are not actors, nor jesters, nor singers, nor experts in debating in court, nor courtesans, to wish to meet the king.
57. In days of yore, these kingdoms were created by kings with generous hearts, ruled by others, and conquered or squandered like straw by still others. Some heroes even now enjoy everything in the universe. Why then this inordinate pride of ruling over a few towns?
58. The earth has not been left unenjoyed, even for a moment, by hundreds of rulers. Will its acquisition then bring any honor to any king? The dull-witted, instead of grieving, are joyous in owning even the most trifling fraction of it.
59. The earth is a mere clod rimmed by water. Even the whole of it is but an atom. Hosts of kings enjoy it after fighting for it a hundred times. With their paltry and mean minds they may or do give; for it is not strange to them. But despicable are the men who would beg from them petty riches.
60. His birth is worthwhile indeed, whose death provides his white skull as an ornament on the head of Shiva, Cupid's enemy. Men engrossed in protecting their own lives, flatter others showing immoderate pride, to what purpose?
61. Control of Mind by Wisdom: Winning the favors of others is hard; why then does your heart seek to appease the minds of others? With inward tranquillity and abstaining from social intercourse, wise thought will arise in you spontaneously; and should you wish for anything what will you not acquire?
62. Oh Mind! Why do you wander about in vain? Rest somewhere. Whatever happens is bound to happen, of itself, not otherwise. Thus not recalling the past, nor planning for the future, I experience the joys that come, without question.
63. Therefore, refrain yourself from the perilous maze of sense-objects. Take to the path of supreme welfare that can, in a moment, remove all sorrows. Reach the state of your True Self. Abandon the wavelike agitation and change. Do not cling to the transitory joys of the world, and now seek the tranquillity of the mind.
64. Clear up all misperception; worship the One in whose crown the gem is the crescent. Situate yourself on the banks of the celestial river, Ganga. How can you rely on waves or bubbles, flashes of lightning, fickle fortune, flames of fire, serpents, or hosts of friends?
65. Oh Mind! do not dwell on the thought of the capricious goddess of fortune, whose nature resemble the courtesan at the beck and call as the king moves his eyebrows. Clad in rags, and standing at the doors in the streets of Varanasi, let us beg for alms with our hands as bowls.
66. If there be music playing in front of you, by your side expert poets from the South, and behind you the courtesans waving fans and shaking their bracelets with a clinking sound, then indulge unstintingly in these worldly pleasures. If not, O Mind! enter the realm of beatitude devoid of all thoughts.
67. What if one acquires wealth that will fulfil all desires? Even stomping on the enemies' heads with one's feet? Or if riches bought friends? Or even if one's body lasts till the end of time?
68. If there be devotion in the heart and the fear of death and birth, no ties to family, nor agitation by passions; when there is the solitude of uninhabited forests, and dispassion, what gain can be better than this?
69. Therefore, meditate on the infinite, ageless, supreme, luminous Reality. Why these false thoughts about the unreal? The sovereignty over the world, with its accompanying pleasures, will appear as the desires of the petty-minded when compared to the pursuit of Reality.
70. With such a fickle mind, you will enter the nether worlds one moment, fly to the limits of the sky, or wander in all directions. Why, in a floundering manner even, do you not meditate on that Transcendent Truth, of the nature of perfection of your true Self?
71. Discrimination of the Immutable from the Mutable: Of what use is the study of Vedas, scriptures, mythology, the extensive codes, and the bewildering labyrinth of rituals which promise a passage to heaven, which is but a hamlet of hutments? The only way to destroy the burden of life's sorrows like the apocalyptic fire, is that which lets you enter the beatitude of self-ralisation. All else is but bartering for profit!
72. When the majestic Meru moutain collapses in the fire of the cosmic conflagration; when the oceans, in which reside numerous sharks and other aquatic animals, dry up; when the earth, even though supported by mountains, meets its end; what can you say about this body, which is only as steady as the ear-tip of a baby elephant!
73. With feeble limbs, unsteady movements, teeth that have fallen off, poor eye-sight, worsening deafness, drooling mouth; with relatives disregarding what you say, the wife offering no help, the son turning hostile, such, alas! are the miseries of senility.
74. When hair grows white on a man's head, indicating the disconcert of senility, young women run away from him, like the outcastes' well encircled with bones!
75. As long as this body is healthy and free of infirmity, as long as senility is distant, as long as the faculties have not lost their vigor, as long as life is not enfeebled, till then should the wise ones make great efforts to reach the supreme goal of life. For what is the use of digging a well when the house is on fire?
76. Shall we live ascetically on the banks of the heavenly river, or serve humbly our virtuous wives? Shall we drink at the streams of scriptures or the nectarine poetry? With a life-span of a few eye-winks, we do not know what action to take!
77. Thease earthly rulers are difficult to please and fickle-minded like the horse, and we have strong desires, and intent on huge gains. Senility gnaws away the body and death steals this dear life. Oh Friend! for the wise nothing is as salutary as austerities.
78. When honor declines, riches squandered away, flatterers depart, the circle of friends dwindles, attendants leave, and slowly the youth is spent, the wise have only one proper way left to follow---make a home somewhere on the side of a valley in the Himalayas, whose rocks have been made holy by the water of the Ganges.
79. Enchanting are the moonbeams and the verdant outskirts of the forest; delightful is the company of the wise, and the poetry of stories; charming is the beloved's face gleaming in tears of indignation; all is fascinating, except when the mind realises the transience of it all.
80. Living in a palace is pleasant, is it not? Or listening to music with its accompaniments? or the company of women, as dear as life? But wise persons have taken to forest life, having realised that these are as fickle as the shadow of a flickering flame on the fluttering wings of a delirious moth.
81. Worship of Shiva My son! Since creation, in our search in all the three worlds, we have not seen nor heard anything that can act like a trap to control the mind, deeply and inexplicably infatuated with sensuality, like an elephant wildly excited by the female elephant.
82. The vows of roaming freely, eating pure food, associating with holy persons, and cultivating spiritual wisdom, yields only the fruit of a pieceful mind. Even after prolonged contemplation, I fail to understand that such lofty austerities can control the mind and lead it to peace.
83. The fantasies of the heart are exhausted; youth has also left the body. Alas! Virtues have proven barren for lack of discriminating admirers. The mighty, unforgiving, all-consuming Death is gathering speed. What is the proper action? Alas! there is no way other than to surrender oneself at the feet of Shiva.
84. Between the great Lord of the universe, Shiva, and the innermost Self of the universe, Vishnu, there is no difference for me. However, my devotion is to Shiva, holding the crescent moon on His head.
85. Sitting peacefully on the banks of the celestial river, in the bright scattered glow of the moonlight, when silence pervades the nights, distressed by the thoughts of birth and death, when shall we roar the names of Shiva, and reach the state of holding back tears of ecstasy?
86. Forsaking all, with the heart full of the most tender compassion, recalling the sorrowful fate, let us spend the nights in holy forests, in the glow of the autumnal moonbeams, meditating on Siva's feet, our sole shelter.
87. When shall I spend my momentary life on the banks of the heavenly river in Varanasi, wearing just a loin-cloth, holding my folded hands over my head, and weeping loudly, " Oh! Lord of Gauri! Conqueror of the demon Tripura! Ever auspicious and having the third eye (of the Supreme Light)! Have compassion on me! "
88. After bathing in the waters of the Ganga, worshipping you with the choicest fruits and flowers,with my mind meditating on you, seated on a bed of stone in a mountain-cave, enjoying the bliss of the Self, surviving on fruits, joyfully engrossed in the spiritual preceptor's instructions, Oh! Cupid's Enemy! when will you free me with your grace, from the sorrow of having served the rich?
89. When shall I be free from the roots of action, leading a life of solitude, dispassion, serenity, with my hands serving as a bowl, and the sky for clothing?
90. Using the hands as a bowl, contented with the naturally pure food from alms, resting in any place, constantly viewing the world to be worth no more than a blade of grass, experiencing uninterrupted supreme joy even before the body falls, for such aspirants alone the grace of Shiva makes the path of liberation easy of attainment.
91. The Way of Life of a Self-Realised Ascetic: Wearing a loin-cloth worn-out and tattered into a hundred rags, with a wrap-around in similar condition, free from anxiety, eating food from alms begged without any expectations, sleeping in a forest or a cremation-ground, roaming freely without hindrance, ever indrawn and calm, and also established in the great joy of Divine union, -------for such a one even sovereignty of the three worlds is beneath comparison.
92. Will the wise ones show greed for this universe, which is but a mere mirage? Indeed, the ocean is not agitated by the movements of a fish!
93. Oh Mother Lakshmi! devote yourself to someone else! Do not long for me! Those who covet pleasures are under your sway; what are you to us who are dispassionate? Now, we want to subsist on alms gathered and purified in a bowl instantly made from the leaves of Palasa tree.
94. With the earth for a bed, the arms for a large pillow, the sky for a roof, the gentle breeze for a fan, the autumnal moon for a lamp, renunciation as conjugal bliss, the sage sleeps in contentment and tranquillity, like a sovereign of immense glory.
95. Living on alms, unattached to the company of people, ever acting with total freedom, devoted to the path of dispassion towards the exchange of wealth, such a one is a true ascetic. Wearing worn-out rags thrown in the streets, using a blanket received by chance for a seat, without pride or selfishness, the ascetic wishes solely for the joy of the controlled mind.
96. " Is this person an outcaste? or a twice-born? or a sudra? or an ascetic? or else some master yogi with the mind filled with philosophical discernment? " When people address the ascetic thus, doubting and debating garrulously, the Yogis themselves walk awy, neither angry nor pleased.
97. The creator has provided for serpents air as food, got without violence or effort. Beasts are satisfied with eating sprouting grass and laying on the ground. Likewise, for people intellectually able enough to cross the sea of birth-death cycles, some such means of living has been created. Those who seek this are able to bring to final cessation the play of their natural attributes.
98. Seated in the lotus-posture on a stone in the Himalayas on the banks of the Ganga; attaining yogic sleep by the practice of meditation on the Supreme Reality; with deer, old with age and free from fear, caressing their bodies against mine------- will such fortune come to me?
99. The hands serving as a sacred bowl, subsisting on the never-dwindling alms obtained while roaming, the vast expanse of the sky serving as a dress, and the earth for a stable, spacious bed---people with such dispassion are blessed indeed, for they have renounced the poverty of attitude seeking mundane pleasures and thus giving up worldly contacts, and inwardly contented in heart fulfilled by accepting solitude, and thus able to uproot all actions (the roots of future rebirths and deaths).
100. Oh Mother Earth! Oh Wind, my Father! Oh Fire, my friend! Oh Water, my good relative! Oh Sky, my Brother! With clasped hands this is my concluding salutations to you! My association with you all resulted in an accumulation of scintillating merits, culminating in abundance of pure knowledge, which helped me overcome the marvellous sway of Unreality! May I now unite with the Transcendent Truth!
Encoded and Translated by Sri Sunder hattangadi gourish@internet1.net
Please send comments & suggestions to sanskrit@cheerful.com
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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