| |
Chandogya Upanisad
Chapter Six
VI.8
1. Uddalaka Aruni once said to his son, 'Svetaketu, 'Good lad, learn from me about the state of sleep. When a person "sleeps", as it is called, then, good lad, he has entered into being; he is merged with his own. That is why they say of him, "he sleeps" (svapiti), for he is merged with his own (svam apita).
2. 'Just as a bird, tied by a thread, flies in every direction but, failing to reach a home elsewhere, returns to its bondage, so, good lad, the mind flies in every direction but, failing to reach a home elsewhere, returns to the breath. For, good lad, the mind is bound to breath.
3. 'Good lad, learn from me about hunger and thirst. When a person here "is hungry", as it is called, then water leads the food (asitam nayante). So they call water "the leader of food" (asanaya=hunger), just like a leader of cows (gonaya), a leader of horses (asvanaya), a leader of men (purusanaya). Good lad, learn from me where this shoot has sprung from: it cannot be rootless.
4. 'Where else could its root be, but in food? Good lad, through food as the shoot seek for water as the root. Good lad, through water as the shoot seek for heat as the root. Good lad, through heat as the shoot seek for being as the root. Good lad, all creatures have being as their root, being as their home, being as their base.
5. 'When a person "is thirsty", as it is called, then heat leads the drink. So they call heat "leader of water" (udanya=thirst), just like a leader of cows, a leader of horses, a leader of men. Good lad, learn from me where this shoot has sprung from: it cannot be rootless.
6. 'Where else could its root be, but in water? Good lad, through water as the shoot seek for heat as the root. Good lad, through heat as the shoot seek for being as the root. Good lad, all creatures have being as their root, being as their home, being as their base.
'Good lad, I have said before how those three deities each become threefold-each one threefold-when they come into contact with the person. Good lad, when the person departs, his speech enters into mind, his mind into breath, his breath into heat, his heat into the highest deity.
7. 'This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Svetaketu.
'Blessed one, explain it to me further.'
'I will, good lad,' he said.
VI.9
1. 'Good lad, just as bees secrete honey by collecting the nectars from different kinds of trees, and combine the nectar into oneness,
2. 'And just as there they do not keep any distinction, so as to be able to say, "I am the nectar of that tree", "I am the nectar of that tree", so, good lad, all creatures, once they have entered into being, do not know that they have entered into being.
3. 'Whatever they are here - a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a boar, a worm, a flying thing, a gnat or a mosquito-they become that.
4. 'This subtle part is what all this has as self. It is truth: it is the self. You are that, Svetaketu.'
'Blessed one, explain it to me further.'
'I will, good lad,' he said.
VI.10
1. 'Good lad, the eastern rivers flow east and the western rivers flow west, and from the sea merge into the sea. That is just sea. Just as there they do not know "I am that river", "I am that river",
2. 'So, good lad, all creatures, once they have come forth from being, do not know that they have come forth from being. Whatever they are here-a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a boar, a worm, a flying thing, a gnat or a mosquito-they become that.
<< Back
Next
>>
|
|
|
