First Mundaka

Preparation for the knowledge of God

First Khanda

The line of tradition of this knowledge

1 God, the Maker of all, the Protector of the world, sent His knowledge, the foundation of all knowledge, to Atharvan, His eldest messenger.

2 What God taught to Atharvan, even that knowledge of God, Atharvan told in ancient time to Angir.

He told it to Bharadvaja Satyavaha;

Bharadvaja, to Angiras, both the higher and the lower knowledge.

Saunaka's quest for an understanding of the world

3 Saunaka, a great householder, approached Angiras with respect and asked: "Through understanding of what, pray, does all this world become understood, Sir?"

Two kinds of knowledge

4 To him then he said: "There are two knowledges to be known, as indeed the knowers of God are wont to say: a higher and also a lower.

5 Of these, the lower is the study of the scriptures and the sciences: pronunciation, ritual, grammar, definition, metrics, and astrology.

Now, the higher is that whereby the Imperishable is apprehended.

The imperishable source of all things

6 That which is invisible, ungraspable, without family, without caste,

without sight or hearing as we have them, without hand or foot as we have them,

everlasting, all-encompassing, exceedingly subtle:

that is the Imperishable, whom the wise perceive as the source of beings.

7 As a spider emits and draws in its thread,

as herbs arise on the earth,

as hairs grow from a living person,

so from the command of the Imperishable arises everything here.

8 By His will creation is built up.

From that, food is produced;

from food, life-breath, mind, truth,

the worlds, and the reward of deeds.

9 He who is all-knowing, all-wise,

whose purpose is knowledge:

from Him are produced the creation here,

name and form, and food.

Second Khanda

The vanity of mere ceremonies

1 This is the truth:

the works which the sages saw in the sacred sayings

are manifoldly spread forth.

Follow them constantly, ye lovers of truth, in sincerity!

This is your path to the world of good deeds.

7 Unsafe boats, however, are mere ceremonial forms,

in which is expressed the lower work.

The fools who approve that as the better

go again to old age and death.

The consequences of ignorance

8 Those abiding in the midst of ignorance,

self-wise, thinking themselves learned,

hard smitten, go around deluded,

like blind men led by one who is himself blind.

9 Manifoldly living in ignorance,

they think to themselves, childishly: "We have accomplished our aim!"

Since doers of deeds do not understand, because of passion,

therefore, when their worldly gains are exhausted, they sink down wretched.

10 Thinking ritual and merit is the chiefest thing,

naught better do they know, deluded!

Having had enjoyment on the top of the heaven won by good works,

they enter again a lower state.

But the unstriving, retiring knowers, reach the Eternal

11 They who practise devotion and faith in the forest,

the peaceful knowers who live on alms,

depart passionless through the door of the sun,

to where is the Everlasting, the Imperishable One.

This knowledge of God is to be sought from a qualified teacher

12 Having scrutinized the worlds that are built up by work, a man of learning

should arrive at indifference to them. The world that was not made is not won by what is done.

For the sake of this knowledge let him go, in humility,

to a teacher who is learned in the scriptures and established in God.

13 Such a knowing teacher, unto one who has approached properly,

whose thought is tranquilized, who has reached peace,

teaches in its very truth that knowledge of God

whereby one knows the Imperishable, the True.

Second Mundaka

The doctrine of God

First Khanda

The Imperishable, the source and the goal of all beings

1 This is the truth:

as from a well-blazing fire, sparks

by the thousand issue forth of like form,

so from the Imperishable, my friend, beings manifold

are produced, and thither also return.

The supreme God

2 Heavenly, without form, is He.

He is without and within, unborn,

beyond need of breath, beyond need of mind, pure,

higher than the high Imperishable.

The source of the human being and of the elements

3 From Him are produced breath,

mind, and all the senses,

space, wind, light, water,

and earth, the supporter of all.

The signs of His creation

4 The heavens and the lights are among His signs; the sun and moon are among His signs;

the regions of space hear His command; His word is the revealed scripture.

The wind moves by His command; the whole world is in His knowledge. Out of His creative command

came the earth. Truly, He is the Lord of all.

The source of the world and of man

5 From Him proceeds the fire whose fuel is the sun;

from the moon, by His leave, rain; herbs, on the earth.

The male pours seed in the female.

Many creatures are produced by His command.

The source of all religious duty

6 From Him the revealed verses, the chants, the formulas of worship.

And all the devotions, ceremonies, and charitable gifts,

the year too, and the worlds

where the moon shines brightly, and where the sun.

The source of all forms of existence

7 From Him, too, the angels are manifoldly produced,

men, cattle, birds,

the in-breath and the out-breath, rice and barley, devotion,

faith, truth, chastity, and the law.

The source of the activity of the senses

8 From Him come forth the seven life-breaths,

these seven worlds, wherein do move

the life-breaths that dwell in the secret place of the heart,

placed seven and seven.

The source of the world

9 From Him, the seas and the mountains all.

From Him roll rivers of every kind.

And from Him all herbs, and the essence too,

whereby the soul dwells in beings.

God is the Knower of all

10 God knows everything here:

work and devotion and the Truth, beyond death.

He who knows Him, nearer than the heart,

he here on earth, my friend, rends asunder the knot of ignorance.

Second Khanda

God, near and hidden

1 Manifest, yet hidden; the great abode!

Therein is placed that

which moves and breathes and winks.

What that is, know as being and non-being,

as the object of desire, higher than understanding,

as what is the best of creatures!

2 That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,

on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants:

that is the imperishable truth.

It is life, and speech, and mind.

That is the real. It is everlasting.

It is a mark to be aimed at. Aim at it, my friend!

A target to be aimed at by the remembrance of God

3 Taking as a bow the great weapon of the scripture,

one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by devotion.

Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of God,

aim at that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.

4 The bow is the praise of God. The arrow is the soul.

God is said to be the mark.

By the undistracted man is He to be aimed at.

One should come to Him, as the arrow to the mark.

The one Lord of the world and of the individual

5 He on whom the sky, the earth, and the atmosphere

are woven, and the mind, together with all the life-breaths:

Him alone know as the one Lord. Other

words dismiss. He is the bridge to life everlasting.

The great Lord to be found in the heart

6 Where the arteries are brought together

like the spokes in the hub of a wheel,

therein the soul moves about,

becoming manifold in its states.

Thus remember your Lord.

Success to you in crossing to the farther shore beyond darkness!

7 He who is all-knowing, all-wise,

whose is this greatness on the earth,

He is in the heaven established!

The soul, consisting of mind, leader of the life-breaths and of the body,

is established on food, under His control.

By this knowledge the wise perceive

the blissful One who gleams forth.

Deliverance gained through vision of Him

8 The knot of the heart is loosened,

all doubts are cut off,

and one's deeds are weighed

when He is seen, both the higher and the lower.

The Light of the world

9 In the highest golden sheath

is the Truth, without stain, without parts.

Brilliant is it, the light of lights:

that which knowers of God do know!

10 The sun shines not there, nor the moon and stars;

these lightnings shine not, much less this earthly fire!

By His light, as He shines, doth everything shine;

this whole world is illumined with His light.

The omnipresence of God's knowledge and power

11 His is this everlasting dominion. His knowledge is before,

His knowledge is behind, to right and to left,

stretched forth below and above.

His power encompasses this whole world, this widest extent.

Third Mundaka

The Way to God

First Khanda

Recognition of the great Companion, the supreme salvation

1 Two birds, fast bound companions,

clasp close the self-same tree.

Of these two, the one eats sweet fruit;

the other looks on without eating.

2 On the self-same tree a person, sunken,

grieves for his impotence, deluded;

when he sees the other, the Lord, contented,

and His greatness, he becomes freed from sorrow.

3 When a seer sees the brilliant

Maker, Lord, the Source of all,

then, being a knower, shaking off the burden of good and evil,

stainless, he attains the highest nearness to Him.

Delight in remembering God

4 Truly, it is by His life-giving command that all things shine forth!

Understanding this, one becomes a knower. There is no superior speaker.

Having delight in God, having pleasure in God, doing righteous deeds,

such a one is the best of those who know God.

The pure soul, obtainable by true methods

5 God is attained by truth, by devotion,

by proper knowledge, by a life of chastity, constantly practised.

Within the body, consisting of light, pure is the soul

whom the devout, with imperfections done away, behold.

6 Truth alone conquers, not falsehood.

By truth is laid out the path leading to God,

by which the sages whose desire is satisfied ascend

to where is the highest repository of truth.

The Lord, near yet unthinkable

7 Vast, heavenly, of unthinkable nature,

and more minute than the minute, He shines forth.

He is farther than the far, yet here near at hand,

set down in the secret place of the heart, even here among those who behold.

Obtainable by contemplation, purified from sense

8 Not by sight is He grasped, not even by speech,

not by any other sense-organs, devotion, or work alone.

By the peace of knowledge, one's nature purified,

in that way, however, by meditating, one does perceive Him who is without parts.

9 The subtle truth is to be known by thought,

wherein the senses fivefoldly have entered.

The whole of men's thinking is interwoven with the senses.

When that is purified, the truth shines forth.

The power of purified thought

10 Whatever world a man of purified nature makes clear in mind,

and whatever desires he desires for himself,

that world he wins, those desires too.

Therefore he who is desirous of welfare should honour the knower of God.

Second Khanda

Desires as the cause of ruin

1 He knows that Supreme Abode of God,

founded on which the whole world shines radiantly.

They who, being without desire, worship their Lord

and are wise, pass beyond the seed of corruption here.

2 He who in fancy forms desires,

because of his desires falls here and there.

But of him whose desire is satisfied, who is a perfected soul,

all desires even here on earth vanish away.

God is known only by revelation to His chosen

3 This knowledge is not to be obtained by instruction,

nor by intellect, nor by much learning.

He is to be obtained only by the one whom He chooses;

to such a one God reveals His own guidance.

Certain indispensable conditions, pre-eminently knowledge

4 God is not to be obtained by one destitute of fortitude,

nor through heedlessness, nor through a false notion of devotion.

But he who strives by these means, provided he knows,

into his abode of nearness to God this knowledge enters.

Tranquil nearness to God is salvation from death

5 Attaining His nearness, the seers who are satisfied with knowledge,

who are perfected souls, from passion free, tranquil,

attaining Him who is the all-encompassing Lord, those wise,

devout souls enter into His mercy.

6 They who have ascertained the meaning of the knowledge of the end of things,

the devout, with natures purified through renunciation,

they in the abodes of the Garden at the end of time

are all saved beyond death.

7 Gone are the fifteen parts according to their station,

even all the powers of sense in their sources!

One's deeds and the soul that consists of understanding

all stand before the Imperishable.

8 As the flowing rivers in the ocean

disappear, quitting name and form,

so the knower, being released from the burdens of this life,

goes unto the heavenly Lord, higher than the high.

The rewards and conditions of this knowledge

9 He, verily, who knows God in truth, is among the saved. In his family no one ignorant of God arises. He crosses over sorrow. He crosses over sin. Released from the knots of the heart, he is saved.

10 This very teaching has been declared in the verse:

They who do the rites, who are learned in the scriptures, who are intent on God,

they who, possessing faith, give themselves devoutly to God alone:

to them indeed one may declare this knowledge of God,

when, however, the vow of humility has been performed by them according to rule.

11 This is the truth. The seer Angiras declared it in ancient time. One who has not undertaken the vow of humility does not read this.

Adoration to God, Lord of the highest seers!

Adoration to God, Lord of the highest seers!