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The Mundaka Upanisad
Chapter One
I.1 1. OM. First of the gods, Brahma came into beings, Maker of all, protector of the earth. He taught the knowledge of brahman, basis of all knowledge, To Atharva, his eldest son.
2. The knowledge of brahman, such as Brahma taught to Atharvan, Atharvan of old taught o Angir. He taught it to Bharadvaja Satyavaha: Bharadvaja to Angiras, the higher and lower knowledge.
3. Saunaka, a great householder, approached angiras in the proper way and asked him, ‘Blessed one, what must one know for all this to become known?
4. He said to him, ‘Two knowledges must be known- so say the knowers of Brahman-the higher and the lower.
5. ‘In it, the lower is the Rgveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, the Atharvaveda,
‘Phonetics, ritual, grammar, Etymology, metre, and astronomy;
By the higher is that by which the imperishable (aksara)is understood.
6. ‘That which is invisible, unseizable, without lineage, without colour, without eye or ear, without ands or feet,
Eternal, pervading, omnipresent, very subtle- That is the unfailing, that the wise see as the source (yoni) of beings.
7. ‘As a spider emits its thread and seizes on to it, As plants grow on the earth, As head- and body-hair from a living person, All here arises from the imperishable.
8. ‘Brahman increases by heat (tapas); From it, food is produced: From food come breath, mind, truth, The worlds: in works grows immortality.
9. ‘From the one who is all-knowing, all-wise, whose asceticism (tapas) is formed of knowledge, Are born brahman, Name and form, and food.
1.2 1. ‘This is truth: ‘The works which the poets have seen in the mantras Are laid out in the triple knowledge in many forms. Practise them constantly, lovers of truth. This is your path to the world of the good deed.
2. ‘As’ the flame flickers When the oblation-fire is kindled, Then one should cast the offerings Between the two portions of melted butter- An offering made with faith.
3. ‘The one whose Agnihotra is followed by no new moon sacrifice or full moon sacrifice, no four-month sacrifice or harvest sacrifice; is barred to guests, not offered, offered without the Visvedevas’ rite, or improperly offered, destroys his worlds even to the seventh.
4. ‘Kali, Karali, Manojava, Sulohita, Sudhumravarna, Sphulingini and divine Visvarupi Are the seven flickering tongues, as they are called.
5. ‘Whoever acts while they are blazing And at the right time, The offerings, as rays of the sun, take and lead him To the lord of the gods, the one dweller above.
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