II-18. Bondage results from lack of inquiry; liberation results from inquiry. Therefore investigate at all times. One’s own nature may be determined through superimposition and its repudiation. Therefore always inquire (into the nature of) the individual Self and the supreme Self. When the state of Jiva and that of the world are sublated, Brahman alone, non-different from the inner Self, remains.
III-1-2. Then Paingala said to Yajnavalkya: Set forth the explanation of the major text(s) [Maha-vakyas]. Yajnavalkya replied: Thou art That; Thou That art; Thou Brahman art; I am Brahman – One should meditate thus.
III-3. The expressed sense of the word ‘tat’ is the world-cause, marked by ‘other-ness’ (mediacy), having Being, Consciousness and Bliss as his characteristics, Maya as his adjunct and omniscience, etc., as his features. The very same with awareness mixed up with the inner sense, the object of the I-notion, is the expressed meaning of ‘tvam’. Rejecting the adjuncts of the supreme (God) and the Jiva, viz.: Maya and avidya, the indicated sense of tat and tvam is Brahman, non-different from the inner Self.
III-4. ‘Hearing’ is investigation into the import of propositions like ‘That Thou art’ and ‘I am Brahman’. Reflection is the exclusive dwelling on the content of what has been heard. Meditation is the fixing of the mind one-pointedly on the reality, made doubtless through investigation and reflection. Concentration, resembling a flame in a windless spot, is the thought (chitta) whose content is solely the object meditated, exclusive of the agent, and the act, of meditation.
III-5. Then (mind’s) modifications referring to the Self, though shooting up, remain uncognised; they are only inferred from memory. By this (Samadhi) alone are dissolved Crores of deeds accumulated in the course of beginningless transmigratory existence. Through skilful practice, thence, then, flow, in a thousand ways, streams of nectar. Therefore, the best knowers of Yoga call (this) Concentration dharmamegha, cloud of virtues. When the meshes of latent impressions are entirely obliterated by virtue of it and the accumulation of deeds, good and evil, pulled up by their roots, the proposition (whose content was) earlier mediated on generates unimpeded and immediate realization (resembling, in its certitude) the gooseberry in the palm (of one’s hand). Then one becomes liberated in life.
III-6. God desired the non-quintuplication of the quintuplicated elements. Leading the effected macrocosm and the worlds included in it to their causal state, unifying the subtle organs of action, vital breaths, organs of cognition and the four-fold inner sense, reducing all elemental (effects) to the five-fold cause, (he) dissolves in (due) order the earth in water, water in fire, fire in air, air in ether, ether in the ego, the ego in the Mahat, the Mahat in the unmanifest and the unmanifest in the Spirit (Purusha). Due to the dissolution of the adjuncts, Virat, Hiranyagarbha and God are dissolved in the supreme Self.
III-7. Having become non-quintuplicated through the attenuation of (the accumulated) deeds and the ripening of good deeds, and one with the subtle (body), returning to the cause and its cause, the gross body generated by deeds done through the quintuplicated gross elements becomes non-quintuplicated and gets dissolved in the immutable inner Self. Vishva, taijasa and Prajna dissolve in the same due to the dissolution of their adjuncts.
III-8. The microcosm consumed in the fire of knowledge together with (its) causes is dissolved in the supreme Self. Therefore the Brahmana should concentratedly dwell on the identity (of the contents) of the terms tat and tvam. Thence, when the clouds are
dispelled as the sun (shines forth), the Self is manifested.
III-9-10. Meditating on the Self, of the size of a thumb, in the centre (of the heart ?) like a smokeless flame, meditate on the illumining Self in the centre, immutable and immortal. The silent sage Liberated-in-life, sits meditating till sleep, till death; he is the blessed one who has performed his duty.
III-11. Giving up the status of Liberation-in-life, when one’s body is consumed by time, he reaches the status of disembodied liberation like the wind becoming stirless.
III-12. That immortal and certain (one), devoid of sound, touch, form, taste or smell, without beginning and end, beyond the Mahat, alone remains without impurity and suffering.
IV-1. Then Paingala asked Yajnavalkya: How does a knower (Jnanin) act ? How does he stay in repose ?
IV-2. Yajnavalkya replied: One seeking liberation, having acquired freedom from egotism, etc.; takes 21 generations (of his ancestors and descendants) across the (sea of samsara). The knower of Brahman by himself alone does so 101 generations.
IV-3. Know the Self to be the rider in the chariot; the body verily to be the chariot; the intellect to be the charioteer and the mind to be the reins.
IV-4. The senses, the wise say, are the horses; the objects are what they range over; the hearts are the moving many-storeyed mansions.
IV-5. The great sages aver that the Self combined with sense-organs and mind is the experiencer. Therefore in the heart, immediately, is Narayana well-established.
IV-6. Upto (the exhaustion of) the operative deeds, the homeless liberated Self, behaves like the Slough of a snake, like the moon (in the sky).
IV-7. Shedding the body in a holy spot or (may be) in the home of an eater of dog’s flesh, (the liberated one) attains Isolation.
IV-8. Afterwards, make an offering of his body to the cardinal points or bury (his body). Mendicancy is prescribed for the male, never for the other.
IV-9. No observance of (the period of) pollution, no burning (of the corpse), no offering of rice balls or of water, no fortnightly rites (are laid down) for a mendicant who has become Brahman.
IV-10. There is no burning of what is (already) consumed, just as there is no cooking of what is (already) cooked. For one whose body is consumed in the fire of knowledge there is neither ceremonial rice offering nor any (other) rite (of obsequies).
IV-11. As long as the adjuncts (body, etc.,) persist, let one wait upon the teacher. Let him treat the wife of the teacher and his children as he does the teacher himself.
IV-12. When with the knowledge, ‘I am That !’ ‘I am That’ — I, whose mind is pure essence, is pure Spirit, is long-suffering – wisdom is won, when the object of knowledge, the supreme Self, is established in the heart; when the body is dissolved in the state of achieved Peace, then one becomes destitute of the luminous mind and intellect.
IV-13. Of what use is water to one who has had his fill of ambrosia ? Similarly, (for one) who has known his Self, of what use are the Vedas ? No duty remains for the Yogin who has had his fill of the ambrosia of knowledge. If duty be there, he is no knower of Truth. Though stationed at a distance, he is not distant; though embodied, he is disembodied; he is the omnipresent inner self.
IV-14. Making the heart pure, contemplating the well-being (of all), one must experience supreme joy in the thought, ‘I am the supreme, the All’.
IV-15. As there is non-difference when water is poured in water, milk in milk and ghee in ghee, so is the case with the individual Self and the supreme Self.
IV-16. When the body is burned by knowledge and knowledge becomes infinite in form, then the knower consumes the bondage of Karma in the fire of Brahman-Knowledge.
IV-17. Thence (follows the state of) the holy non-dual(Reality), named the Supreme Lord, like unto the stainless sky. Self’s nature, abiding without adjuncts, is as (that of) water mixed with water.
IV-18. Like the ether the Self in the subtle body. The inner Self like air is not perceived. That stirless inner Self perceives the external (manifold) with the torch of (objective) knowledge.
IV-19. The knower, dead, no matter due to whatever (form of) death, is dissolved (in Brahman that is) like the all-pervasive sky.
IV-20. This dissolution he knows in truth as of the pot-space (in the infinite space). He attains (the status of) the self-sustained light of all-pervasive knowledge.
IV-21. Standing on one foot, let man do austerities for a 1000 years; but (that austerity) is less than one sixteenth of this Yoga of meditation.
IV-22. This is knowledge; this is to be known; one wishes to know all that. Were he to live (even) for a 1000 years, he would not reach the end of the Shastras.
IV-23. What should be known is just the Imperishable; (but) life is fleeting. Avoiding the labyrinths of Shastras, meditate on the Truth (alone).
IV-24. Action are endless – purification, mutterings, (of holy names), sacrifices, pilgrimage to holy places. These (are valid) only till Truth is won.
IV-25. As regards the great-souled ones, the sure cause of liberation is (the knowledge) ‘I am Brahman’. The two words determining bondage and liberation are ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’.
IV-26. The import of ‘mine’ binds the living being; he is liberated by that of ‘not mine’. When the mind is dementalised, no longer is duality cognised.
IV-27. When dementalisation is achieved, That becomes the supreme status. Wherever, then, the mind goes, there, verily, is the supreme status.
IV-28. Thus, there, everywhere, is Brahman well-established. For one who holds ‘I am not Brahman’ no liberation is possible; (it is as futile) as striking the sky with clenched fists or a hungry man’s chewing the chaff.
IV-29. Whoso studies the Upanishad as a rule (every day) is purified by fire (as it were); by air; by the sun; by Vishnu; by Rudra. He has bathed in all sacred waters. He is versed in all the Vedas; has performed all the sacred rites taught by all the Vedas. He has ritually muttered Lacs of Itihasas and Puranas and one Lac times Rudra’s (tantras). He has muttered a million times the sacred syllable, OM. He redeems ten generations of his line, past and future. He purifies the rows of diners of which he is a number. He becomes great. He is purged of the sins of Brahmin-slaughter, drink, stealth, adultery with (even a) teacher’s spouse and of association with those who are guilty of these.
IV-30. That supreme Status of Vishnu spread out, like an eye, in the sky, the enlightened ones always behold.
IV-31. The wise, ever vigilant and diligent in praise richly glorify That supreme Status of Vishnu.
IV-32. OM-Truth – This is the secret teaching.
Om ! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.
The infinite proceeds from the infinite.
(Then) taking the infinitude of the infinite (universe),
It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.
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 !
Here ends the Paingalopanishad belonging to the Sukla-Yajur-Veda.
