Verse 1.1
beginnerब्रह्मवादिनो वदन्ति। किं कारणं ब्रह्म कुतः स्म जाता जीवाम केन क्व च सम्प्रतिष्ठाः। अधिष्ठिताः केन सुखेतरेषु वर्तामहे ब्रह्मविदो व्यवस्थाम्॥
brahmavādino vadanti | kiṃ kāraṇaṃ brahma kutaḥ sma jātā jīvāma kena kva ca sampratiṣṭhāḥ | adhiṣṭhitāḥ kena sukhetareṣu vartāmahe brahmavido vyavasthām ||
"Those who discuss Brahman ask: What is the cause? Is it Brahman? Whence are we born? By what do we live? Where do we rest? Ruled by whom do we experience pleasure and pain, O knowers of Brahman, in our various conditions?"
What This Means:
The Upanishad opens with fundamental questions: What is the cause of everything? Where do we come from? What sustains us? Why do we experience joy and sorrow?
Going Deeper:
These are the essential metaphysical questions that drive philosophical inquiry. The answer will unfold as the realization of the one Lord behind all.
How To Apply This:
Ask yourself these fundamental questions. What is the source of your existence? What governs your experiences?
#fundamental questions#cause#origin#suffering
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113 verses of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Quest for the Eternal
- 1.1Those who discuss Brahman ask: What is the cause? Is it Brahman? Whence are we born? By what do we live...
- 1.2Is the cause time, inherent nature, necessity, chance, the elements, the womb, or the Person? These are to...
- 1.3Those who followed meditation and yoga saw the self-power of God hidden in His own qualities. He alone...
- 1.4We understand Him as a wheel with one felly, three tires, sixteen ends, fifty spokes, twenty...
- 1.5We understand this river (of existence) with five streams, five sources, five terrible mouths, five waves...
- 1.6In this vast wheel of Brahman, which gives life to all and in which all rest, the individual soul (hamsa)...
- 1.7This is the supreme Brahman, sung in the Vedas, in which the triad and the imperishable are well...
- 1.8The Lord bears the universe - the perishable and imperishable, the manifest and unmanifest, combined. The...
- 1.9Two are unborn - the knowing and the unknowing, the Lord and the non-lord. One unborn is connected with...
- 1.10The perishable is matter (pradhana); the immortal and imperishable is Hara (Shiva). The one God rules over...
- 1.11By knowing God, there is falling away of all bonds. With afflictions destroyed, there is cessation of...
- 1.12This is to be known - the eternal, residing in the self. There is nothing higher to be known than this...
- 1.13Just as fire, latent in its source (wood), is not visible, yet its subtle form is not destroyed - it can...
- 1.14Making one's body the lower friction-stick and OM the upper friction-stick, through the practice of...
- 1.15As oil in sesame seeds, as butter in cream, as water in river beds, as fire in friction-sticks - so is the...
- 1.16The all-pervading Self is in everything as butter is in milk. Self-knowledge and austerity are the root...
The Practice of Yoga
- 2.1First yoking the mind and thoughts to truth, Savitri (the divine light), having discerned the light of...
- 2.2With yoked mind, may we be in the inspiration of the divine Savitri, with the power that leads to heaven.
- 2.3Having yoked the gods through the mind to the thoughts going to heaven, may Savitri impel them.
- 2.4The wise ones yoke their minds and their thoughts to the wise one, the great, the all-knowing. The one who...
- 2.5I join with you the ancient Brahman with salutations. May my hymn go forth like the sun on its path. All...
- 2.6Where fire is churned forth, where wind is controlled, where soma overflows - there the mind is born.
- 2.7Through the inspiration of Savitri, one may enjoy the ancient Brahman. Making there your source, your...
- 2.8Holding the body steady with the three upper parts (head, neck, chest) erect, directing the senses and...
- 2.9Compressing the pranas here (in the body), with controlled movements, when the breath is diminished, one...
- 2.10In a clean, level place, free from pebbles, fire, and sand, by sounds of water and other features pleasing...
- 2.11Mist, smoke, sun, wind, fire, fireflies, lightning, crystal, and moon - these are the preliminary forms...
- 2.12When the fivefold quality of yoga, arising from earth, water, fire, air, and space, has manifested, there...
- 2.13Lightness, health, freedom from greed, clearness of complexion, pleasantness of voice, agreeable odor, and...
- 2.14Just as a mirror stained with mud shines brilliantly when well cleaned, so the embodied one, seeing the...
- 2.15When, with the Self as a lamp, the yogi sees Brahman - unborn, constant, free from all categories...
- 2.16This God indeed is in all directions, He was born first, and He is within the womb. He alone is born, He...
- 2.17The God who is in fire, who is in water, who has entered the whole world, who is in plants, who is in...
The Lord of All
- 3.1He who alone, possessing the net (of maya), rules with His ruling powers, who rules all worlds with His...
- 3.2Rudra is indeed one; there is no place for a second. He rules these worlds with His ruling powers. He...
- 3.3With eyes everywhere, faces everywhere, arms everywhere, and feet everywhere - the one God, creating...
- 3.4He who is the source and origin of the gods, the ruler of all, Rudra the great seer - who produced...
- 3.5O Rudra, that form of yours which is auspicious (shiva), not terrible, revealing no evil - with that most...
- 3.6O dweller in the mountains, the arrow which you hold in your hand to shoot - make it auspicious, O...
- 3.7Higher than that is the supreme Brahman, the great, hidden in all beings according to their bodies, the...
- 3.8I know this great Person (Purusha), sun-colored, beyond darkness. Only by knowing Him does one go beyond...
- 3.9There is nothing higher than Him, nothing smaller nor greater than Him. Like a tree He stands rooted in...
- 3.10What is higher than that is formless and free from affliction. Those who know this become immortal; others...
- 3.11With faces, heads, and necks everywhere, dwelling in the cave (heart) of all beings, all-pervading, the...
- 3.12The great Lord indeed is the Purusha, the impeller of the highest consciousness. He is the ruler, the most...
- 3.13The Person of the size of a thumb, the inner Self, is always seated in the hearts of people. He is...
- 3.14The Person has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. Covering the earth on all sides, He...
- 3.15The Person is all this - what was and what will be. He is also the Lord of immortality, which He surpasses...
- 3.16With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads, and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere - That...
- 3.17Shining with all sense-qualities, yet free from all senses - the Lord of all, the ruler of all, the great...
- 3.18In the city of nine gates, the embodied one (hamsa) sports outward. He is the controller of the whole...
- 3.19Without hands and feet, He is swift and a grasper. Without eyes He sees; without ears He hears. He knows...
- 3.20Smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest - the Self is hidden in the cave of the heart of this...
- 3.21I know this ageless, ancient one, the Self of all, all-pervading because of His vastness. The expounders...
The Divine Maya
- 4.1He who is one and colorless, yet through the manifold working of his power gives rise to many colors and...
- 4.2That One alone is the fire, and the sun, and the wind, and the moon as well. That One is the bright one...
- 4.3You are the woman, you are the man; you are the youth and also the maiden. As the old man you totter along...
- 4.4You are the dark-blue bird and the green parrot with red eyes; you are the cloud that holds lightning in...
- 4.5There is one unborn female, red, white, and black, who brings forth many offspring shaped like herself...
- 4.6Two birds, inseparable companions, cling to the very same tree. One of them eats the sweet pippala fruit...
- 4.7On that same tree the soul sits sunk down, grieving and bewildered by its own sense of powerlessness. But...
- 4.8The sacred hymns rest in the Imperishable, in the highest heaven, where all the gods are seated. What use...
- 4.9The sacred meters, the sacrifices, the rites, the vows, the past and the future, and all that the Vedas...
- 4.10Know that nature (prakṛti) is māyā, and that the wielder of māyā is the Great Lord (Maheśvara). This...
- 4.11He is the One who presides over every source of birth, the One in whom this whole universe comes together...
- 4.12He who is the source and origin of the gods, the ruler over all, Rudra, the great seer who beheld...
- 4.13He is the overlord of the gods, the one in whom all the worlds rest, the one who rules over everything...
- 4.14When you know Him who is subtler than the subtlest, who dwells in the very midst of chaos as the creator...
- 4.15He alone, in due time, is the protector of the world, the overlord of the universe, hidden within all...
- 4.16When you know the auspicious Lord (Śiva), subtler than the subtle, like the delicate film of cream finer...
- 4.17This God, the maker of all, the great Self, is forever seated in the hearts of all people. He is grasped...
- 4.18When the darkness is gone, there is neither day nor night, neither being nor non-being, the Auspicious One...
- 4.19No one has grasped him, not above, not across, not in the middle. There is no likeness of him, whose name...
- 4.20His form does not stand within the range of sight; no one can see Him with the eye. Those who know Him...
- 4.21"He is unborn", with this thought, some frightened soul takes refuge in You. O Rudra, by that gracious...
- 4.22Do not harm us in our children and descendants, nor in our own lives, nor in our cattle, nor in our...
The Hidden Truth
- 5.1In the infinite, supreme Brahman, two things are hidden: knowledge and ignorance. Ignorance leads to the...
- 5.2He who presides over every source, every form, and all sources - He who in the beginning nurtured with...
- 5.3This God, diversifying each web (of maya) in many ways, withdraws it in this field (of creation). Again...
- 5.4Just as the sun illumines all quarters - above, below, and across - so does this adorable God, the blessed...
- 5.5He who ripens the inherent nature of things, the source of the universe, who transforms all that can be...
- 5.6That which is hidden in the secret of the Vedas, in the Upanishads - Brahma knows that as the source of...
- 5.7He who is connected with the qualities, who is the doer of action and its fruits, the experiencer of what...
- 5.8Thumb-sized, like the sun in appearance, endowed with will and ego, with the quality of intellect and the...
- 5.9If the tip of a hair were divided into a hundred parts, and one of those into a hundred again - the...
- 5.10The Self is neither female, nor male, nor neuter. Whatever body it takes, with that it becomes associated.
- 5.11Through thoughts, touch, sight, and delusion, through food, water, and rain, the embodied soul grows and...
- 5.12The embodied soul assumes gross and subtle forms, many indeed, by its own qualities. The cause of the...
- 5.13Beginningless and endless, in the midst of chaos, the creator of the universe, of many forms, the one who...
- 5.14Knowing the God who is grasped by the heart, called "without nest" (formless), the cause of existence and...
The Lord Beyond Time
- 6.1Some wise ones speak of inherent nature as the cause, others of time - all bewildered. But it is the...
- 6.2He by whom all this is ever enveloped - the knower, the maker of time, possessing qualities, the...
- 6.3Having performed that work and withdrawn again, having united in yoga the truth with the truth, with one...
- 6.4...He who initiates actions connected with qualities and assigns all states of being - in the absence of...
- 6.5He is the beginning, the instrumental cause of union, beyond the three times (past, present, future)...
- 6.6He is other than and beyond the tree of existence, time, and forms - from whom this phenomenal world...
- 6.7May we know Him - the supreme Lord of lords, the supreme Deity of deities, the supreme Master of masters...
- 6.8He has no work to do, no instrument to do it. None is seen equal to or greater than Him. His supreme power...
- 6.9There is no master of His in the world, no ruler, nor is there any mark of Him. He is the cause, the lord...
- 6.10The one God who, like a spider, covers Himself by His own nature with threads born of pradhana (primal...
- 6.11The one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the inner Self of all beings, the overseer of action...
- 6.12The one Controller of the many who are inactive, who makes the one seed manifold - the wise who perceive...
- 6.13The Eternal among eternals, the Conscious among conscious beings, the One who fulfills the desires of many...
- 6.14There the sun does not shine, nor moon and stars, nor lightning, much less this fire. Everything shines...
- 6.15The one Swan in the midst of this world - He alone is the fire seated in the waters. Knowing Him alone...
- 6.16He is the creator and knower of all, the self-caused, the wise, the maker of time, possessing all...
- 6.17He is identified with that (Brahman), immortal, established as Lord, knowing, omnipresent, the protector...
- 6.18He who in the beginning created Brahma and who delivered the Vedas to Him - to that God who illumines the...
- 6.19Without parts, without activity, peaceful, faultless, stainless - the supreme bridge to immortality, like...
- 6.20When humans can roll up space like a leather (hide), then without knowing God there will be an end to...
- 6.21Through the power of austerity and the grace of God, the wise Shvetashvatara realized Brahman. Then he...
- 6.22This supreme secret of Vedanta, taught in ancient times, should not be given to one who is not tranquil...
- 6.23To one who has supreme devotion to God, and as much devotion to the guru as to God, to that great soul...