Translated by Prof. A. A. Ramanathan
Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai
Om ! Let my limbs and speech, Prana, eyes, ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishads.
May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishads be in me,
Who am devoted to the Atman; may they reside in me.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
I-1. The King, Brihadratha by name, had his eldest son installed on the throne and considering the body to be impermanent and feeling disgusted (with worldly life) went to a (penance) forest. There he performed the highest kind of penance and facing the sun remained with his arm uplifted. At the end of a thousand years the sun-god (taking the form of the sage Sakayanya) approached the sage. Like fire (blazing) without smoke and burning all as it were with his effulgence the sage Sakayanya, the knower of the Self, said to the king: ‘Rise up, rise up, choose a boon’. Bowing to him the king said: ‘Revered Sir, I know not the Atman. But we hear that you are a knower of the truth. Expound to me that’. ‘This request of yours is impossible on the very face of it. Do not ask me this question. Oh descendant of Ikshvaku, choose (the fulfilment of) other desires’. Reverently touching the feet of the sage Sakayanya the king gave utterance to the following religious text (Gatha).
I-2. Now then why speak of other things ? (There is) the drying up of great seas, the downfall of mountains, the movement of the polestar or of trees, the submerging of the earth and the loss of position by the gods. In this worldly life which is of the nature of (distinction between) ‘he’ and ‘I’, what is the use of enjoying desires as, resorting to them, there is seen the repeated return (to the phenomenal world) ? Hence it behoves on your part to uplift me. I am like a frog in a well in this worldly life. Revered Sir, you are my refuge’. Thus (the king said).
I-3. Revered Sir, this body is born of sexual union alone, is devoid of consciousness and is verily hell as it has emerged through the urinal path, full of bones, daubed with flesh and encased in skin; it is fully filled with faeces, urine, wind, bile, phlegm, marrow, fat, fatty exudations and many other filthy things. Remaining in a body of this kind, revered Sir, you are my refuge. Thus (he implored).
I-4. Then the revered sage Sakayanya greatly pleased, said to the king: ‘Great king Brihadratha, you are prominent in the family of the Ikshvakus, a knower of the Atman,
I-5. The objects such as those denoted by sound and touch are apparently (a source of) danger; for the individual self (encased in the five elements) may not remember the highest goal when attached to them.
I-6. Through penance one gets to know the inborn disposition (Sattva); from Sattva one gets (stability of) the mind; through the mind one realizes the Atman; by realizing the Self (worldly life is) prevented.
I-7. Just as fire, when fuel is exhausted, calms down in itself, so the mind, when its activity is exhausted, becomes quiescent in its source (i.e. in the Self).
I-8. When the mind is calmed down into its source and goes in the true path, the results dependent on activities are unreal as the objects of the senses are confounded (i.e. actions performed do not affect him as he is without attachment).
I-9. It is the mind that constitutes worldly life; this should be purified. As the mind, so the things appear coloured by it; this is the eternal secret.
I-10. By the purity of the mind one destroys (the effect of) good and bad actions. When with a pure mind one remains in the Self one enjoys inexhaustible bliss.
I-11. If a person’s mind, which is well attached to the region of the sense-objects, were turned towards Brahman, who will not be released from bondage ?
I-12-14. One should feel the supreme Lord to be present in the midst of the lotus of one’s heart as the spectator of the dance of the intellect, as the abode of supreme love, as beyond the range of mind and speech, as he rescue ship scattering all worry (of those sinking in the sea of worldly life), as of the nature of effulgent Existence alone, as beyond thought, as the indispensable, as incapable of being grasped by the (active) mind, possessing uncommon attributes, the immobile, steady and deep, neither light nor darkness, free from all doubts and semblance, and is consciousness consisting of the final beatitude.
I-15. That which is the eternal, the pure, the ever vigilant, free from the nature (of delusions), the true, the subtle, the supremely powerful, the one without a second, the ocean of bliss and transcendent, that I am, the innermost essence (of all); there is no doubt about it.
I-16. How can the danger (of duality) approach me, resorting as I do to the inner bliss of the Self, who despise the female goblin of desires, who view the phenomenal world as in illusion and who am unattached to it ?
I-17. Those ignorant people who stick to castes and orders of life obtain the (worthless) fruit of their respective actions. Those who discard the ways of caste, etc., and are happy with the bliss of the Self become merged in Brahman (lit. Purushas).
I-18. The body consisting of various limbs and observing the (rules of) castes and orders has a beginning and an end and is only a great trouble. Free of attachment to one’s children, etc., and the body, one should live in the endless supreme happiness.
II-1. Then the revered sage Maitreya went to Kailasa. Approaching him (the Lord) he said: ‘Lord, expound to me the secret of the supreme Truth’. The great god said to him:
II-2. The body is said to be the temple; the individual Self (Jiva) is Shiva alone. One should discard the faded flowers in the form of spiritual ignorance and worship God (with the conviction) ‘He and I are one’.
II-3. True knowledge consists of seeing non-different (in all); deep meditation consists of the mind freed from thinking on sensory objects; bathing is the removal of impurity in the mind and cleansing consists of controlling the senses.
II-4. He should imbibe the nectar, Brahman, go about for alms to preserve the body, and becoming devoted to the one (Brahman) live in the solitary place of oneness free from duality. Thus should a wise man spend his life; he alone will attain liberation.
II-5. This body is born and it has death; it has originated from the impure secretions of the mother and father; it is the abode of joy and sorrow and it is impure. Bathing in the form of discarding attachment to it is ordained when one touches it with the idea that it belongs to one.
II-6. It is built up of primary fluids, subject to grievous maladies, abode of sinful actions, transitory and diffused with agitated feelings. Touching this body, bathing (as aforesaid) is ordained.
II-7. It always naturally exudes at the appropriate time impure secretions through the nine apertures (eyes, ears, etc.,). Having impure matter it smells foul. Touching this, bathing (as aforesaid) is ordained.
II-8. It is associated with the mother in impurity at birth and is born with the impurity caused by child-birth; as it is born associated with death (in due course) and the impurity caused by child birth, touching this body, bathing (as aforesaid) is ordained.
II-9. Viewing the body as ‘I’ and mine is smearing oneself with faeces and urine in the place of cosmetics. Thus pure cleansing has been spoken of (in the verses above). Cleansing (the body) with mud and water is (the external one) practised in the world.
II-10. Cleansing which purifies the mind consists of the destruction of the three inborn tendencies (loka-vasana, shastra-vasana and deha-vasana); (real) cleansing is said to be by washing with mud and water in the form of (true) knowledge and dispassion (Jnana and Vairagya).
