THE UPANISHADS Rendered into simple and rhythmic English (Comprising six Upanishads namely the Isha, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, Prashna and Mandukya) Svalpamapyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt Bhagavadgita Even a little of this Law delivereth one out of great fear. Quel chʼella par quando un poco sorride, Non si pò dicer né tenere a mente, Si è novo miracolo e gentile. Dante What she appears when she smiles a little, Cannot be spoken of, neither can the mind lay hold on it, It is so sweet and strange and sublime a miracle. First page, typewritten by Sri Aurobindo of the manuscript containing

The Upanishad in Aphorisms THE ISHA UPANISHAD FOR the Lord all this is a habitation whatsoever is moving thing in her that moves. Why dost thou say there is a world? There is no world, only One who moves. What thou callest world is the movement of Kali; as such embrace thy world-existence. In thy all-embracing stillness of vision thou art Purusha and inhabitest; in thy outward motion and action thou art Prakriti and the builder of the habitation. Thus envisage thy being. There are many knots of this movement and each knot thy eyes look upon as an object; many currents and each current thy mind sees as force and tendency. Forces and objec

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD MUNDAKA UPANISHAD CHAPTER ONE : SECTION I Brahma first of the Gods was born, the creator of all, the worldʼs protector, he to Atharvan, his eldest son, declared the God-knowledge in which all sciences have their foundation. The God-knowledge by Brahma declared to Atharvan, Atharvan of old declared to Angir; he to Satyavaha the Bharadwaja told it, the Bharadwaja to Angiras, both the higher and the lower knowledge. Shaunaka, the great house-lord, came to Angiras in the due way of the disciple and asked of him, “Lord, by knowing what does all th

THREE Parabrahman SO FAR the great Transcendent Reality has been viewed from the standpoint of the human spirit as it travels on the upward curve of evolution to culminate in the Supreme. It will now be more convenient to view the Absolute from the other end of the cycle of manifestation where, in a sense, evolution begins and the great Cause of phenomena stands with His face towards the Universe He will soon create. At first of course there is the Absolute, unconditioned, unmanifested, unimaginable, of Whom nothing can be predicated except negatives. But as the first step towards manifestation the Absolute — produces, shall we say? let the word serve for

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Sri Aurobindo translated a number of Upanishads and wrote commentaries and articles on them at various times. Some of these were revised, a few more than once, and were published as stated below. For the purposes of the Centenary Edition the last revised version is included wherever it is available. In other cases the edition follows the available manuscripts. The series of six articles, comprising Philosophy of the Upanishads and one On Translating the Upanishads, are early writings and belong to the Baroda period. The first six articles appeared in the Advent in 1953. On Translating the Upanishads was used as Introduction to EIGHT

Kena Upanishad FOREWORD AS THE Isha Upanishad is concerned with the problem of God and the world and consequently with the harmonising of spirituality and ordinary human action, so the Kena is occupied with the problem of God and the Soul, and the harmonising of our personal activity with the movement of infinite energy and the supremacy of the universal Will. We are not here in this universe as independent existences. It is evident that we are limited beings clashing with other limited beings, clashing with the forces of material Nature, clashing too with forces of immaterial Nature of which we are aware not with the senses but by the mind. The Upanishad ta

KAIVALYA UPANISHAD THE FIRST MANTRA KAIVALYA UPANISHAD Om. Ashwalayana to the Lord Parameshthi came and said, “Teach me, Lord, the highest knowledge of Brahman, the secret knowledge ever followed by the saints, how the wise man swiftly putting from him all evil goeth to the Purusha who is higher than the highest.ˮ Page – 415 Commentary THE Lord Parameshthi is Brahma — not the creator Hiranyagarbha, but the soul who in this Kalpa has climbed up to be the instrument of creation, the first in time of the Gods, the Pitamaha or original and general Prajapati; the Pitamaha, because all the fathers or special

CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD chapter one : section 1 Worship ye OM, the eternal syllable, OM is Udgitha, the chant of Sama-veda; for with OM they begin the chant of Sama. And this is the exposition of OM. Earth is the substantial essence of all these creatures and the waters are the essence of earth; herbs of the field are the essence of the waters, man is the essence of the herbs. Speech is the essence of man, Rig-veda the essence of Speech, Sama the essence of Rik. Of Sama OM is the essence. Thi

ISHA UPANISHAD ISHA UPANISHAD All this is for habitation¹ by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not after any manʼs possession. Doing verily² works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man.³ ¹There are three possible senses of vasyam, “to be clothedˮ, “to be worn as a garmentˮ and “to be inhabitedˮ. The first is the ordinarily accepted meaning. Shankara explain

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD MANDUKYA UPANISHAD OM is this imperishable Word, OM is the Universe, and this is the exposition of OM. The past, the present and the future, all that was, all that is, all that will be, is OM. Likewise all else that may exist beyond the bounds of Time, that too is OM. All this Universe is the Eternal Brahman, this Self is the Eternal, and the Self is fourfold. He whose place is the wakefulness, who is wise of the outward, who has seven limbs, to whom there are nineteen doors, who feels and enjoys gross objects, Vaishwanara, th