First Prasna

Six questioners seek the highest truth from a teacher

1 Sukesan Bharadvaja, and Saibya Satyakama, and Sauryayanin Gargya, and Kausalya Asvalayana, and Bhargava Vaidarbhi, and Kabandhin Katyayana: these, indeed, were devoted to God, intent upon God, in search of the highest truth. Thinking "He, verily, will tell it all," in humility they approached the honorable Pippalada.

2 To them then that seer said: "Dwell with me a year more, with devotion, chastity, and faith. Then ask what questions you will. If we know, we will tell you all."

Question: Concerning the source of creatures on earth

3 Then Kabandhin Katyayana came up and asked: "Sir, whence, verily, are creatures here born?"

God created matter and life for the generation of creatures

4 To him then he said: "God, the Creator, desired creatures. By His will He produced a pair, matter and life, saying, 'These two shall bring forth creatures in manifold ways.'"

The sun and moon, such a pair

5 The sun gives life; the moon, by God's leave, gives increase to matter. Both are His signs.

Matter, whether formed or formless, is His creation. Therefore every material form is a creation of God.

The sun, a sign of God's provision for creatures

6 Now the sun, when it rises, enters the eastern quarter. Thereby it gathers the living beings of the east in its rays. When it illumines the southern, the western, the northern, the lower, the upper, the intervening quarters, when it illumines everything, thereby it gathers all living beings in its rays.

7 This light rises by God's command, giving life to every form. This very teaching has been declared in the verse:

8 God, who is all-knowing, the final goal, the only Light, the giver of warmth, has made yon sun, thousand-rayed, rolling on its hundredfold course, to arise as a provision for creatures.

The year, and the two paths of the departed

9 The year has two courses, the Southern and the Northern.

Now, those who think "Our rites and merit are our own work!", they win only a lesser reward in the life to come, and no more. Therefore those who are desirous only of offspring and worldly gain follow this course.

10 But they who seek God by devotion, chastity, faith, and knowledge, by the Northern course win nearness to God. That is the support of life. That is the everlasting, the fearless. That is the final goal. From that they are not turned back. That is the end of ruin. As to that there is this verse:

14 Food, verily, is God's provision. By it, creatures here are sustained and born.

Concluding assurance

15 Now, they who keep this rule of the Creator, being righteous in their married life, are blessed with offspring.

They indeed possess the abode of God

who possess devotion and chastity,

in whom the truth is established.

16 To them belongs yon stainless abode of God,

in whom there is no crookedness and falsehood, nor trickery.

Second Prasna

Concerning the several powers of a person and the chief of them

1 Then Bhargava Vaidarbhi asked him: "Sir, how many powers support a creature? How many illumine this body? Which one again is the chiefest of them?"

The supporting and illumining powers

2 To him then he said: "Space, verily, is such a power, and wind, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight, and hearing too. These, having illumined it, declare: 'We uphold and support this trunk!'"

Life, the essential and chiefest

3 To them Life, the chiefest, said: "Fall not into delusion! I indeed, dividing myself fivefold, support and sustain this body!"

4 They were incredulous. Life, from pride, as it were, rises up aloft. Now when he rises up, then all the others also rise up; and when he settles down, they all settle down with him.

Now, as all the bees rise up after the king bee when he rises up, and all settle down when he settles down, even so speech, mind, sight, and hearing. They, being satisfied, praise Life.

God alone is the Sustainer

5 In truth, God warms by the fire. God gives light by the sun. God sends the bountiful rain. God drives the wind. God has spread out the earth, and matter, and the angels. He is the Lord of what is seen and what is unseen, and of that which does not perish.

6 Like the spokes on the hub of a wheel, everything is established by His command: the revealed verses, the formulas of worship, the chants, devotion, the nobility and the learned.

Second Prasna (continued)

Praise of God, the Giver of life

7 O God, Thou art the Creator; Thou formest in the womb,

and Thou bringest forth again.

To Thee, O Lord, creatures here bring their thanks.

Thou art with every living being!

8 Thou art the first Giver of every provision!

Thou art the true practice of the seers,

the descendants of Atharvan and Angiras!

9 Mighty art Thou, O Lord, in Thy brilliance!

Thou art the Protector and the Avenger!

Thou movest the atmosphere,

and the sun is Thy sign, O Lord of lights!

10 When Thou sendest down the rain upon them,

then these creatures of Thine, O Lord,

are blissful, thinking:

"There will be food for all desire!"

11 Thou alone art the Seer,

the real Lord of all!

We are the receivers of Thy provision!

The winds are subject to Thy command.

12 Make propitious that gift of life which abides in speech,

which abides in hearing, which abides in sight,

and which is extended in the mind!

Take it not away from us!

13 This whole world is in Thy control,

even what is established in the third heaven!

As a mother her son, protect us!

Grant to us prosperity and wisdom!

Third Prasna

Six questions concerning a person's life

1 Then Kausalya Asvalayana asked him: "Whence, Sir, is this life born? How does it come into this body? How does it distribute itself and establish itself? Through what does it depart? How does it relate itself to the external? How with reference to the self?"

2 To him then he said: "You are asking questions excessively. But you are pre-eminently devoted to God, methinks. Therefore I tell you.

The source of a person's life

3 This life is created by God and comes by His command. As in the case of a person there is this shadow extended, so it is in this case. By His decree it comes into this body.

Its establishment and distribution in the body

4 As an overlord commands his overseers, saying "Superintend such and such villages," even so this life controls the other life-breaths one by one.

5 The out-breath is in the organs of excretion and generation. The life-breath as such establishes itself in the eye and ear, together with the mouth and nose. While in the middle is the equalizing breath, for it is this that equalizes whatever has been taken as food.

6 In the heart, truly, is the seat of the soul. Here there are a hundred and one arteries. To each one of these belong a hundred smaller arteries. To each of these belong seventy-two thousand branching arteries. Within them moves the diffused breath.

Its departure

7 Now, when the soul departs, it is the righteous who are led by God's leave to the Garden; the wicked, to Hell.

Its relations to the signs of creation

8 The sun rises externally as a provision for life, for it is that which helps the life-breath in the eye. The earth supports a person's out-breath. What is between the sun and the earth, namely space, is the equalizing breath. The wind is the diffused breath.

9 Heat is the up-breath. Therefore one whose heat has ceased comes to the end of this life, with his senses sunk in mind.

One's thinking determines one's destiny

10 Whatever is one's intention, therewith he enters into the life to come. His life, together with his soul, is led according to his deeds and his intention.

Recapitulation

11 The knower who knows this thus, his offspring is not lost; he is saved. As to this there is this verse:

12 The source, the entrance, the location,

the fivefold extension,

and the relation of life to the soul:

by knowing these one obtains the life everlasting!

By knowing these one obtains the life everlasting!

Fourth Prasna

Concerning sleep and the ultimate basis of things

1 Then Sauryayanin Gargya asked him: "Sir, what are they that sleep in a person here? What are they that remain awake in him? Which is the faculty that sees the dreams? Whose is the happiness? In whom, pray, are all things established?"

All sense-functions unified in the mind during sleep

2 To him then he said: "O Gargya, as the rays of the setting sun all become one in the orb of brilliance and go forth again and again when it rises, even so everything here becomes one in the mind. Therefore in that condition the person hears not, sees not, smells not, tastes not, touches not, speaks not, takes not, enjoys not, emits not, moves not about. 'He sleeps!' they say.

5 There, in sleep, the mind experiences greatness. Whatever object has been seen, it sees again; whatever has been heard, it hears again. That which has been severally experienced in different places and regions, it severally experiences again and again. Both what has been seen and what has not been seen, both what has been heard and what has not been heard, both the real and the unreal, it sees all.

The happiness of dreamless sleep

6 When it is overcome with brilliance, then the mind sees no dreams; then here in this body arises this happiness.

God, the ultimate refuge of the world and of the individual

7 As birds resort to a tree for a resting-place, even so, O friend, it is to God that everything here returns:

8 Earth and the elements of earth, water and the elements of water, heat and the elements of heat, wind and the elements of wind, space and the elements of space, sight and what can be seen, hearing and what can be heard, smell and what can be smelled, taste and what can be tasted, the skin and what can be touched, speech and what can be spoken, the hands and what can be taken, the organ of generation and what can be enjoyed, the organ of excretion and what can be excreted, the feet and what can be walked, mind and what can be perceived, intellect and what can be conceived, self-regard and what can be connected with "me," thought and what can be thought, brilliance and what can be illumined, life-breath and what can be supported.

9 Truly, this seer, toucher, hearer, smeller, taster, thinker, conceiver, doer, the conscious soul, the person: his return is to God, the Imperishable.

Knowing, and returning to God

10 Verily, O friend! he who recognizes that Imperishable One, shadowless, bodiless, bloodless, pure, attains the Imperishable's mercy. He, knowing all that he was taught, is among the saved. On this there is the verse:

11 O friend! he who recognizes as the Imperishable the One on whom the conscious soul, with all its powers, and the life-breaths and the elements do depend,

he, knowing, has come to the truth of all.

Fifth Prasna

Concerning the remembrance of God

1 Then Saibya Satyakama asked him: "Verily, Sir, if some one among men here should remember the name of God until the end of his life, which world, verily, does he win thereby?"

Partial or complete devotion brings a corresponding reward

2 To him then he said: "Verily, O Satyakama, remembrance of God's name is both the higher and the lower way. Therefore with this support, in truth, a knower reaches one or the other.

3 If he remembers God in only one measure, being instructed by that alone, he quickly comes to the earth after death, and is rewarded among men. There, united with devotion, chastity, and faith, he experiences greatness.

4 Now, if he is united in mind with two measures, he is raised to a middle station, and having experienced greatness there, returns hither again to be judged.

5 Again, he who remembers the One God with the fullest devotion of heart, tongue, and deed, is united with brilliance. As a snake is freed from its skin, even so, verily, is he freed from sin. He is led to the Garden. He is brought nearer to God than the highest of the living. As to this there are these two verses:

6 The three measures are deadly when employed one after the other, separately.

When they are properly employed together, whether in actions external, internal, or intermediate, the knower trembles not.

7 With the verses of revelation, to this world; with the chants, to the middle station; with the formulas of worship, to that which sages recognize;

with the remembrance of God as a support, the knower reaches Him

who is peaceful, unaging, everlasting, fearless, and supreme!"

Sixth Prasna

Concerning the Creator and His creation

1 Then Sukesan Bharadvaja asked him: "Sir, Hiranyanabha, a prince of the Kosalas, came to me and asked this question: 'Bharadvaja, do you know the one with the sixteen parts?' I said to the youth: 'I know him not. If I had known him, would I not have told you? Verily, he dries up even to the roots, who speaks untruth. Therefore it is not proper that I should speak untruth.' In silence he mounted his chariot and departed.

I ask it of you: Where is He?"

4 God created life; from life, faith, space, wind, light, water, earth, sense-faculty, mind, food; from food, strength, devotion, sacred sayings, worship, the worlds; and in the worlds, names.

5 As these flowing rivers that tend toward the ocean, on reaching the ocean, disappear, their name and form are destroyed, and it is called simply "the ocean," even so all of creation tends toward its Lord, and all return to Him. To Him belongs the dominion, everlasting! As to that there is this verse:

6 On whom the whole of creation rests firm

like the spokes on the hub of a wheel,

Him I know as the One to be known!

So let death disturb you not!

Conclusion of the instruction

7 To them then he said: "Thus far, in truth, I know the supreme God. There is naught higher than He."

8 They praised him and said: "You truly are our guide, you who lead us across to the shore beyond ignorance."

Adoration to God, Lord of the highest seers!

Adoration to God, Lord of the highest seers!