Niralamba-Upanishad Selections

Who is Jiva? Who are Women? What is Moksha? These and many more are the questions. (18)

What is Brahman? It is the Chaitanya that appears as this vast mundane egg composed of Mahat, Ahankara and the five elements, earth, water, fire, Vayu and Akash – Further, Brahman is without beginning and end, beneficial indeed, peaceful, and Guna-less and hardly describable. (18)

Who and how is Ishwara? Brahman, having created the worlds and being latent in them, is named Ishwara. (19)

Who is Jiva? Ishwara [internal Brahman] is Jiva. Though one, he appears as many Jivas. (19)

What is Prakriti (matter)? It is the Sakti [potency] of Brahman and is able to produce worlds by the mere presence of Brahman. (19)

What is Paramatma? The supreme Atma or soul. It is Brahman alone that is Paramatma as it (the former) is far superior to bodies and others. (19)

Who is Brahma [the creator]? Vishnu [the preserver]? Rudra [the destroyer]? Indra? Yama [the angel of death]? Surya [the Sun]? Chandra [the Moon]? Devas [the Angels]? Asuras [the Demons]? Manushyas [the men]? Women? Beasts? - It is Brahman. Brahman is Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and Indra, Yama, Sun and Moon, Devas, Asuras, Pishachas, men, women, beasts, etc., etc. In Brahman (God) there is no manyness in the least degree: all this is verily Brahman. (19)

What is caste? There is no caste for Atma; caste is only conventional. (20)

Jana is realisation by direct cognition of the fact that there is nothing but Chaitanya [the one life] that is Consciousness, is all around. This realisation is brought about by means of splendid meditation. (20)

Sukha, overwhelming happiness is a state of being, of the nature of bliss, of the Reality of Sachchidananda [be-ness, consciousness and bliss]. (20)

Swarga (heaven) is the association with Sat [either good men or Brahman which is Sat, the true]. (21)

The thought of the development in oneself of the eight Siddhis (higher psychical powers) is bondage.

The thought of propitiating the angels, men, etc., is bondage. The thought of going through the eight means of Yoga practice, Yama, etc., is bondage.

The thought of performing the duties of one's own caste and order of life is bondage. (21)

The thought that command, fear and doubt are the attributes of [or pertain to] Atma is bondage. (21)

The thought of knowing the rules of performing sacrifices, vows, austerity and gift is bondage. Even the mere thought of desire for Moksha (emancipation) is bondage. (21)

Moksha [emancipation] is the (state of) the annihilation, through the discrimination of the eternal from the non-eternal, of all thoughts of bondage, like those of "mine" in objects of pleasure and pain, lands, etc., in this transitory mundane existence. (21)

The disciple, sishya, is that Brahman alone that remains after the consciousness of the universe has been lost (in him) through Brahmic wisdom. (22)

Tapas is the act of burning – through the fire of direct cognition of the knowledge that Brahman is the truth and the universe. (22)

The supreme abode, Paramapada, is the seat of the eternal and emancipated Brahman which is far superior to Pranas (the vital airs), the organs of sense and actions, the internal organs (of thought), the Gunas and others, which is of the nature of Sachchidananda and which is the witness to all. (22)

What is Grahya, fit to be taken in? That Reality of Absolute Consciousness which is not conditioned by space, time or substance. (22)

Who is the true Sannyasi? It is an ascetic who has taken his refuge in Brahman alone. He is an emancipated person, a Paramahamsa, an Avadhuta, a Brahman. (22-23)

Notes

There are several higher and lower Siddhis (yoga powers, so called).

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Maitreya-Upanishad Selections

Chapter 1

King Brihadratha retired to the forest, leaving his eldest son to rule over his kingdom. With eyes fixed on the [inward] sun, he performed austerities. At the end of three years or so, Sakayanya Muni, a knower of Atma, approached him, saying: "Rise, rise and choose a boon." (24)

The retired king greeted him reverently and said: "I am not a knower of Atma, not an Atmawita. So please enlighten me about the state of Sat, of Brahman." (24)

The muni answered: "Your question is difficult to answer. Ask for any other thing you desire." (24)

The king recited a verse: "You are able to extricate me out of this Samsara (wheel of the world). I am drowned like a frog in a dry well. You are my refuge." (24)

Sakayanya was pleased and said: "You have done you duty." (25)

The king now asked: "How can you describe Atma?" (25)

Sakyamuni: "Through Tapas, Sattwa (quality) is acquired; through Sattwa, a (pure) mind is acquired; and through mind, (Parama-) Atma, (the higher Self) is reached. Through attaining Atma, one gets liberation. Chitta (thought) without mind modifications is absorbed into its own womb (source). Chitta (deep mind) should be cleansed with proper effort. One whose mind is thus cleansed attains the indestructible Bliss (through his own Self). One should meditate in the middle of the lotus of the heart, Parameshwara (the highest Lord). (25)

"The Parameshwara is the witness to the play, the object of supreme love, and beyond the reach of mind and speech. He has no beginning or end, is Sat alone. He is changeless and vehicleless. I am He – that Paramatma is the eternal, the pure, the liberated. (25-26)

"I am He, the ocean of bliss, superior to Pratyagatma (the lower Self). I am depending on my own bliss in my heart the bliss of own Self., I look on this universe as (but) a jugglery. One should dwell in that endless and most supreme Bliss." (26)

Chapter 2

Then Maitreya went to Kailasa and asked him: "Please initiate me." (26)

Mahadeva at Kailasa answered: "The body is said to be a temple. The Jiva in it is Siva alone. One should worship Him with So'ham [a mantra].

"One should drink the nectar of Brahman and maintain the body well. (26-27)

"The conception of Dwaita (dualism) should not be taken in as food for mind. (27)

"The Chit (consciousness) of the sun is ever shining in the resplendent Akash of the heart. (27)

"At the moment when indifference towards all objects arises in the mind, a learned person may take up Sannyasa. Otherwise, he is a fallen person. (28)

"Those men (termed) great through wealth, age, and knowledge, are only servants to those that are great through their wisdom. (28)

"Those whose minds are deluded by my Maya, roam about like crows, simply for the purpose of filling up their belly. (28)

"The ascetic should relinquish external worship. Worship Atma alone, the resplendent supreme presence, and the real supreme State." (28-29)

(26-29)

Chapter 3

"I am "I" (the Self), Brahman. I am the Source (of all things). (29)