Chapter 1
15 verses
Section 115 verses
1हरि । ब्रह्मवादिनो वदन्ति।Hari Om! The enirers of Brahman converse (among each other). What is the cause, Is it Brahman, Whence are we born, By whom do we live, Where do we ultimately abide, By whom governed, in pains and pleasures, do we live our various conditions, O ye knowers of Brahman?
2कालः स्वभावो नियतिर्यदृच्छा भूतानि योनिः पुरुष इति चिन्त्या। संयोग एषां न त्वात्मभावादात्माप्यनीशः सुखदुःखहेतोःTime, inherent nature, law or necessity or chance or the elements or matter or a womb or a male, are to be considered as the cause. It is not a combination of these because of the existence of the soul (Atman). The soul (the individual soul) also is not free as he is under the sway of pleasure and pain.
3ते ध्यानयोगानुगता अपश्यन्देवात्मशक्तिं स्वगुणैर्निगूढाम्। यः कारणानि निखिलानि तानि कालात्मयुक्तान्यधितिष्ठत्येकःThey who practised meditation realised or saw as the cause of creation, the power of God (Devatma-Sakti) hidden in His own alities (Gunas) which alone rules over all these causes (enumerated above in verse 2,) beginning with time and ending with the individual soul.
4तमेकनेमिं त्रिवृतं षोडशान्तं शतार्धारं विंशतिप्रत्यराभिः। अष्टकैः ष़ड्भिर्विश्वरूपैकपाशं त्रिमार्गभेदं द्विनिमित्तैकमोहम्We understand Him as a wheel which has one felly with a triple tyre with sixteen end parts, fifty spokes, twenty counter spokes, with six sets of eights, which has one rope of various forms, which has three different roads or paths and which has one revolution for two traces.
5पञ्चस्रोतोम्बुं पञ्चयोन्युग्रवक्रां पञ्चप्राणोर्मिं पञ्चबुद्धयादिमूलाम्। पञ्चावर्तां पञ्चदुःखौघवेगां पञ्चशद्भेदां पञ्चपर्वामधीमःWe understand Him as a river of five streams from five sources, impetuous and crooked, whose waves are the five Pranas or vital breaths, whose original source is fivefold perception (the mind), which has five whirlpools, which is impelled by the velocity of the fivefold misery or pain, which is divided by the five kinds of misery and which has five turnings or branches.
6सर्वाजीवे सर्वसंस्थे बृहन्ते अस्मिन्हंसो भ्राम्यते ब्रह्मचक्रे। पृथगात्मानं प्रेरितारं च मत्वा जुष्टस्ततस्तेनामृतत्वमेतिIn this infinite wheel of Brahman in which everything lives and rests, the pilgrim soul or the reincarnating Self is whirled about when he thinks that he and the Supreme Ruler are different or separate. He attains immortality when he is blessed or favoured by Him.
7उद्गीतमेतत्परमं तु ब्रह्म तस्मिंस्त्रयं सुप्रतिष्ठाक्षरं च। अत्रान्तरं ब्रह्मविदो विदित्वा लीना ब्रह्मणि तत्पराः योनिमुक्ताःThis is verily declared as the Supreme Brahman. In that is the triad. It is the firm support. It is the indestructible. By knowing what is therein, the knowers of Brahman become devoted to Brahman, merge themselves in it, and are liberated from birth.
8संयुक्तमेतत्क्षरमक्षरं च व्यक्ताव्यक्तं भरते विश्वमीशः। अनीशश्चात्मा बध्यते भोक्तृभावाज्ज्ञात्वा देवं मुच्यते सर्वपाशैःThe Lord supports this universe which consists of a combination of the perishable and the imperishable, the manifest and the unmanifest, As long as the individual soul does not know the Lord, he is attached to the sensual pleasures. He becomes the enjoyer and is bound. When he knows the Lord, he is released from all fetters.
9ज्ञाज्ञौ द्वावजावीशानीशावजा ह्येका भोक्तृभोग्यार्थयुक्ता। अनन्तश्चात्मा विश्वरूपो ह्यकर्ता त्रयं यदा विन्दते ब्रह्ममेतत्The knowing Lord and the unknowing individual soul, the Omnipotent and the impotent are both unborn. She (i.e., nature, Prakriti) too, who is connected with the enjoyer and objects of enjoyment, who causes the realisation of the enjoyer and the enjoyed is unborn. When all these three are realised as Brahman, the Self becomes infinite, universal and inactive (free from the sense of agency or actor).
10क्षरं प्रधानममृताक्षरं हरः क्षरात्मानावीशते देव एकः। तस्याभिध्यानाद्योजनात्तत्त्वभावाद्भूयश्चान्ते विश्वमायानिवृत्तिःMatter is perishable, but God (Hara) is immortal and imperishable. He, the only God, rules over the perishable matter and the individual souls. By meditating upon Him, by union with Him and by becoming one with Him, there is finally cessation of all illusion.
11ज्ञात्वा देवं सर्वपाशापहानिः क्षीणैः क्लेशैर्जन्ममृत्युप्रहाणिः। तस्याभिध्यानात्तृतीयं देहभेदे विश्वैश्वर्यं केवल आप्तकामःBy knowledge of God all the bonds (of ignorance) are destroyed; there is cessation of birth and death with distress destroyed. By meditating on Him one attains the third state, viz., universal lordship at the dissolution of the body. All his desires are gratified and he becomes one without a second (Kevala). This is to be known as eternally existing in one's own Self. Truly there is nothing higher than that to be known. When one recognises the enjoyer, the object of enjoyment and the dispenser or the Supreme Ruler, all has been said. This is the threefold Brahman.
12एतज्ज्ञेयं नित्यमेवात्मसंस्थं नातः परं वेदितव्यं हि किञ्चित्। भोक्ता भोग्यं प्रेरितारं च मत्वा सर्वं प्रोक्तं त्रिविधं ब्रह्ममेतत्As fire is not perceived when it is latent in its cause, the firewood, and yet there is no destruction of its subtle form, because it is again perceived in its cause the firewood by rubbing, so also the Atman is perceived in the body by meditating on the sacred syllable Om.
13वह्नेर्यर्था योनिगतस्य मूर्तिर्न दृश्यते नैव च लिङ्गनाशः। स भूय एवेन्धनयोनिगृह्यस्तद्वोभयं वै प्रणवेन देहेBy making one's own body the lower piece of wood or friction stick, and the syllable Om the upper friction stick and by practising the friction or churning of meditation, one will realise God who is hidden, as it were.
14तिलेषु तैलं दधीनीव सर्पिरापः स्रोतःस्वरणीषु चाग्निः। एवमात्माऽत्मनि गृह्यतेऽसौ सत्येनैनं तपसा योऽनुपश्यतिAs oil in sesame seeds, as butter in curd, as water in river-beds, and as fire in wood, even so is Atman perceived within his own Self by a person who beholds Him by truth and austerity (by controlling his senses and the mind.)
15सर्वव्यापिनमात्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिरिवार्पितम्। आत्मविद्यातपोमूलं तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परं तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परमितिThe Atman which pervades all things like butter in milk is rooted in Self- knowledge and austerity. This is the mystic doctrine (Upanishad) concerning Brahman. This is the mystic doctrine (Upanishad) concerning Brahman