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MufJ<f,aka Upani~ad.

Mul}~aka Upani~ad

2
1
2

1-13
(same topic continued)
All beings originate from the primeval Person
Description of brahman

1-2

The way one can perceive brahman

THE MuQ<;iaka Upani~ad does not form part of a larger vedic text,
although tradition ascribes it to the Atharvaveda. This ascription,
however, should not be taken too seriously, because most later
Upani~ads that did not form part of any other vedic collection
were, almost by default, ascribed to the Atharva Veda.
The title 'MuQ<;iaka' has been the subject of some discussion. It
literally means 'shaven' or 'shaven-headed'. On the basis of this
title, some have suggested that the MuU was composed by and/or
intended for shaven-headed ascetics. They have interpreted the
'head-vow' (sirovrata) mentiooed at the conclusion of the Upani~ad as a reference to the shaving of the head and as another indication that the text was meant for ascetics. Although such an
interpretation is plausible, especially in light of the MuU's antiritual attitude and its use of the terms yati, probably in the sense of
ascetic (MuU 3.1.5; 3.2.6), and sarrrnyiisa, in the sense of ascetic
renunciation (MuU 3.2.6), I do not think it is certain. The text also
uses the term mufJ<f,aka for 'chapter', clearly an unusual term.
More than any other Upani~ad, the MuU engages in a direct and
frontal attack against both vedic ritualism and the vedic texts that
embody the ritual tradition. It establishes a clear distinction
between a lower class of religious texts, the old vedic texts and
ancillary literature, and a higher class consisting of texts that teach
the imperishable brahman and contain the knowledge passed
down in a tradition reaching back to Brahman (here as God) himself. It is this higher knowledge that MuU refers to as 'Vedanta'
(3.2.6), one of the earliest re~orded use of this significant term.
This translation is based on the critical edition of the MuU by
Hertel (1924), an edition that is somewhat different from the vulgate upon which is based the commentary traditionally ascribed to
Sarkara.

-~

CONTENTS
1

1-6

7-9

The higher and the lower types of knowledge

Path of rites and the path of knowledge

266

267

Mw;uj,aka

From food comes breath

mind, truth, and worlds,
and immortality in rites.

CHAPTER 1
BRAHMA arose as the first among gods,
as the creator of all,
as the guardian of the world.
To Atharvan, his firstborn son, he disclosed
the knowledge of brahman,
of all know ledge the root.

1
2

The knowledge of brahman,

which Brahma taught himboth the higher and the lowerAtharvan of old disclosed to Ailgir,
Ailgir, to Bharadvaja Satyavaha,
Bharadvaja, to Ailgiras.

Saunaka, a wealthy householder, once went up to Ailgiras in the

prescribed manner and asked: 'What is it, my lord, by knowing
which a man comes to know this whole world?' 4 This is what
Ailgiras told him.
Two types of know ledge a man should learn-those who know
brahman tell us-the higher and the lower. 5 The lower of the two
consists of the ~gveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, the
Atharvaveda, phonetics, the ritual science, grammar, etymology,
metrics, and astronomy; whereas the higher is that by which one
grasps the imperishable.

seen, what cannot be grasped,

without colour, without sight or hearing,
without hands or feet;
What is eternal and all-pervading,
extremely minute, present everywhereThat is the immutable,
which the wise fully perceive.
7 As a spider spins out threads, then draws them into itself;
As plants sprout out from the earth;
As head and body hair grows from a living man;
So from the imperishable all things here spring.

9 He is

omniscient, he knows all

knowledge is his austerity. '
From him is born this brahman,
as also name, appearance, and food.

Here is the truth:

The rites that the wise poets
saw in the vedic formulas,
stretched in many ways
across the three Vedas- Perform them always,
you who long for the truth;
That's your path to the world of those
who correctly perform the rites.
2

s Through heat brahman is built up;

thereby food is produced.

268

When the flame flickers after the fire is lit

let him then make his offerings,
'
between the two pourings of ghee.

3A

man's daily fire sacrifice that remains

without the new-moon, the full-moon,
and the four-month sacrifice
an~ without offerings to guests;
That ts performed without an offering to all the gods
or without following the rules;
'
Will rob him of his worlds, up to the very seventh.

6 What cannot be

[Ritualists argue:]

Upani~ad

The Black, the Terrible, the Swift-as-the-mind

The Blood-red, the Smoke-coloured, the Sparkling
And the glittering Goddess'
These are the seven flickering tongues of flame.

When a man moves within these

as they are shining bright,
'
receiving oblations offered at the proper time;
Then, as sunbeams, these carry him
to where the king of gods resides,
the only place to reside.

6 'Come!

Come!' say the oblations shining bright,

As they carry their offerer on the sun's rays of light,

269

1.2.6

Mu!J<f.aka Upani:jad

Upani:jads

1.2.6

that learned man faithfully imparted,

The knowledge of brahman,
by which he understood that Personthe true, the imperishable.

They praise him, telling him flattering things:

'This is yours, this brahman's world,
Built by good deeds and rites well done.'

[The Author replies:]

7

Surely, they are floating unanchored,

these eighteen forms of the sacrifice,
the rites within which are called inferior.
The fools who hail that as the best,
return once more to old age and death.

s Wallowing in ignorance, but calling themselves wise,

thinking they are learned, the fools go around,
hurting themselves badly, like a group of blind men,
led by a man who is himself blind.
in ignorance time and again,
the fools imagine, 'We have reached our aim!'
Because of their passion, they do not understand,
these people who are given to rites.
Therefore, they fall, wretched and forlorn,
when their heavenly stay comes to a close.

. CHAPTER 2

Here is the truth:

As from a well-stoked fire sparks fly by the thousands,
all looking just like it,
So from the imperishable issue diverse things,
and into it, my friend, they return.

9 Wallowing

sacrifices and gifts as the best,

the imbeciles know nothing better.
When they have enjoyed their good work,
atop the firmament,
They return again to this abject world.

10 Deeming

But those in the wilderness, calm and wise,

who live a life of penance and faith,
as they beg their food;
Through the sun's door they go, spotless,
to where that immortal Person is,
that immutable self.
12 When-he perceives the worlds as built with rites,
A Brahmin should acquire a sense of disgust'What's made
can't make
what is unmade!'
To understand it he must go, firewood in hand,
to a teacher well versed in the Vedas,
and focused on brahman.

11

t3

To that student of tranquil mind and calm disposition,

who had come to him in the right manner,
270

That Person, indeed, is divine,

he has no visible form;
He is both within and without,
unborn, without breath or mind;
He is radiant, and farther than
the farthest imperishable.

3 From him

issue breath and mind,

and all the organs,
wind, fire, water, and space,
And the earth that bears everything.

His head is the fire, his eyes the sun and moon;
His ears are the quarters; his speech the Vedas disclosed;
His breath is the wind, his heart the universe;
and with his feet he is, indeed,
the inmost self of every being.

5 From him

comes the fire whose firewood is the sun;

From the moon comes rain; plants grow upon earth;
And in the woman the man spills his seedFrom the Person have issued many creatures.

6 ~g

verses, Siiman chants, Yajus formulas,

As well as sacrificial consecrations:
from him do they spring;
All sacrifices, rites, sacrificial gifts:
from him do they spring;
The year, the sacrificer, and the worlds271

2.1.6

2.1.6

Upani:jads

Mu!J<;/.aka Upani:jad

Worlds where the sun and the moon shinefrom him do they spring.
7

That very imperishable is the target, my friend.

Strike it!

Gods, celestial beings, humans, beasts, and birds:

from him in diverse ways they spring;
In-breath and out-breath, barley and rice,
penance, faith, and truth,
the chaste life and the rules of rites:
from him do they spring.

4 The

bow is O!'y1, the arrow's the self,

The target is brahman, they say.
One must strike that undistracted.
He will then be lodged in that.
Like the arrow, in the target.

That alone is the self, you must understand,

On which are woven the earth,
.intermediate region, and sky,
the mind, together with all breaths.
Put away other words, for this
is the dike to the immortal.

s The seven breaths, the seven flames,

the seven oblations, the seven pieces of wood:
from him do they spring.
These seven worlds in which the breaths move
as they lay hidden, seven by seven, within the cave:
from him do they spring.

9 From him

spring all oceans and hills;

From him flow rivers of all types;
From him spring all plants and the sap by which
he abides in things as their inmost self.

10 All

this is simply that Personrites, penance, prayer (brahman), the highest immortal.
One who knows this, my friend, hidden within the cave,
cuts the knot of ignorance in this world.

Though manifest, it is lodged in the cave,

this vast abode named 'Aged'.

In it are placed this whole world;

In it are based what moves or breatheswhat moves or breathes, what blinks the eye,
what's most desirable, beyond perception,
what people desire most.
2 What is smaller than the smallest and intensely bright,
in which rest these worlds and those who live thereinIt is the imperishable brahman;
It is breath, it is the immortal.
It is what we must strike, my friend.
Strike it!
3

Take, my friend, this bow,

this great weapon of upani~ad;
Place veneration on it
as the whetted arrow;
Stretch it with the thought fixed on the nature Of that;
272

Where the veins come together like spokes,

in it is that one, taking birth in many ways.
'It is 0!\1'-meditate thus on this self;
Good luck to you, as you cross
beyond the darkness!

?a Who

knows all, who observes all,

to whom belongs all greatness on earthHe is this self in the divine fort of brahman,
having a secure footing in the sky.

?b Consisting

of thought, controller of body and breaths;

he has a secure footing in food,
after having settled in the heart.
By perceiving him the wise see
what becomes visible as the immortal
in the form of bliss.

s When one sees himboth the high and the low;

The knot of one's heart is cut,
all doubts are dispelled;
and his works come to an end.
9

In that high golden container is brahman,

stainless and partless,
the brilliant light of lights!
This is what they know,
those who know the self.

10 There the sun does

not shine,
nor the moon and the stars;
273

2.1.10

Upani~ads

2.2.10

Mu;;<jaka

There lightning does not shine,

of the common fire need we speak!
Him alone, as he shines, do all things reflect;
this whole world radiates with his light.
11

Brahman alone here extends to the east;

brahman, to the west;
it alone, to the south, to the north,
it alone extends above and below;
It is brahman alone that extends
over this whole universe,
up to its widest extent.

alone he wins, never the ~nreal.

Along the real runs the path to the gods,
On which the seers proceed, their desires fulfilled,
To where that highest treasure of the real is found.
7 It is large, heavenly, of inconceivable form;
yet it appears more minute than the minute.
It is farther than the farthest,
yet it is here at hand;
It is right here within those who see,
l;tidden within the cave of their.heart.
s Not by sight, not by speech, nor by any other sense;
nor by austerities or rites is he grasped.
Rather the partless one is seen by a man, as he meditates,
when his being has become pure,
through the lucidity of knowledge.
9 By thought is this subtle self to be known,
into which breath has entered in five ways;
By the senses is laced th' entire thought of people,
in which, when it is pure, this self becomes disclosed.
10
Whatever world a man, whose being is purified,
ponders with his mind,
and whatever desires he covets;
that very world, those very desires, he wins.
A man who desires prosperity, therefore,
should worship one who knows the self.

Two birds, companions and friends,

nestle on the very same tree.
One of them eats a tasty fig;
the other, not eating, looks on.
2

Stuck on the very same tree,

one person grieves, deluded
by her who is not the Lord;
But when he sees the other,
the contented Lord-and his majestyhis grief disappears.
the seer sees that Person,
the golden-coloured, the creator, the Lord,
as the womb of brahman;
Then, shaking off the good and the bad,
the wise man becomes spotless,
and attains the highest identity.

J;i;

3 When

4 It is

breath that is visible in all beingsBe a man who perceives, who knows this,
and thereby a man who out-talks;
a man who dallies with the self,
who finds pleasure in the self,
and thus an active man.
He is brahman!
and of those who know brahman,
He is the best!

By truth can this self be graspedby austerity, by right knowledge,

and by a perpetually chaste life.
It lies within the body, brilliant and full oflight,
which ascetics perceive,
when their faults are wiped out.

6 The real

CHAPTER 3

Upani~ad

He knows this highest abode of brahman,

placed in which shines everything bright.
The wise men, free from desires,
who worship the Person,
go beyond what is here bright.

2
2

One who hankers after desires in his thoughts,

is borri here and there through his actions.
But when one's desires are fulfilled,
and one's self is made perfect,
all his desires disappear in this very world.
275

3.2.2

3.2.3

Upani:fads
3

This self cannot be grasped,

by teachings or by intelligence,
or even by great learning.
Only the man he chooses can grasp him,
whose body this self chooses as his own.

This self cannot be grasped,

by a weak man or through carelessness,
or even by austerity without the marks.
But when a wise man strives by these means,
this self enters his brahman-abode.

The seers, sated with knowledge,

when they have attained him,
become free from passion and tranquil,
and their selves are made perfect.
The wise, their selves controlled,
when they attain him altogether,
he who is present in All,
they enter into that very All.

The ascetics who have firmly determined their goal

through a full knowledge of the Vedanta,
have their being purified
by the discipline of renunciation.
In the worlds of brahman, at the time of the final end,
having become fully immortal,
they will all be fully liberated.

The fifteen parts have retired to their foundations;

And all the senses, to the respective divinities;
Works and the self consisting of knowledgeall unite in the highest immutable.

Mw:z<f,aka Upani:fad
Who are versed in the Vedas and perform rites,
Who are grounded in b1'ahman
Who offer for themselves, with faith in the lone seer
to these alone let a man teach
'
this knowledge of brahman,
So long as t_hey have duly performed the head-vow.

11 Here is the truth _that the seer Angiras proclaimed of old. A man
who has not performed the head-vow may not learn it.

Homage to the highest seers!

Homage to the highest seers!

s As the rivers flow on and enter into the ocean

giving up their names and appearances;
So the knower, freed from name and appearance,
reaches the heavenly Person, beyond the very highest.
9 When a man comes to know that highest brahman, he himself
becomes that very brahman. A man without the knowledge of
brahman will not be born in his family. He passes beyond sorrow,
he passes beyond evil. Freed from the knots of his heart, he will
become immortal. IOThis point has been made in the ~gvedic
verse:

276

3.2.11

277