First Adhyaya

Questions concerning the First Cause

1 Those who discourse on God say:

What is the cause? Whence are we born?

Whereby do we live? And on what are we established?

Overruled by whom, in pains and pleasures,

do we live our various conditions, O ye knowers of God?

2 Time, or inherent nature, or necessity, or chance,

or the elements, or a womb, or a man, are to be considered as the cause?

Not a combination of these, because of the existence of the soul.

The soul certainly is powerless over the cause of pleasure and pain.

3 Those who have followed after meditation and devotion

saw the power of God hidden in His own creation.

He is the One who rules over all these causes,

from "time" to "the soul."

The soul in manifold distress

6 In this world, which God vitalizes and which appears in all things, the great,

the soul flutters about, thinking itself and its Lord are independent.

When favored by Him, it attains the life everlasting.

The saving knowledge of the one God

7 This has been sung as the supreme truth.

In it there is a triad: the Lord, the souls, and the creation. It is the firm support, the Imperishable.

By knowing what is therein, those who know God

become intent on Him, saved from the fear of punishment.

8 That which is joined together as perishable and imperishable,

as manifest and unmanifest: the Lord supports it all.

Now, without the Lord the soul is bound, because it is a mere enjoyer;

by knowing God one is released from all fetters.

9 There are the knowing Lord and the unknowing soul, the Omnipotent and the powerless.

When one finds out this triad, that is the truth about God.

10 What is perishable is the creation. What is everlasting and imperishable is the Lord.

Over both the perishable and the soul the One God rules.

By meditation upon Him, by devotion to Him, and by surrendering to His will

more and more, there is finally cessation from every illusion.

11 By knowing God there is a falling off of all fetters;

with distresses destroyed, there is deliverance from fear of death.

By meditating upon Him, at the dissolution of the body,

one is brought to the Garden; and his desire is satisfied.

12 That Eternal One should be known as near to the soul.

Truly there is nothing higher than that to be known.

When one recognizes the enjoyer, the object of enjoyment, and the Lord of all,

all has been said. This is the threefold truth.

Made manifest like latent fire, by devotion

13 As fire when latent in its source, the fire-wood,

is not perceived, and yet there is no evanishment of its subtle form,

but may be caught again by means of the drill in its source,

so, verily, are God's signs to be found in oneself by those who remember Him.

14 By making one's own body the lower friction-stick

and the praise of God the upper friction-stick,

by practising the friction of meditation,

one may find the truth that is hidden, as it were.

15 As oil in sesame seeds, as butter in cream,

as water in river-beds, and as fire in the friction-sticks,

so is God's guidance found in one's own soul,

if one looks for it with true devotion.

16 This knowledge of God, which pervades all things

as butter is contained in cream,

which is rooted in self-knowledge and devotion:

this is the highest teaching!

This is the highest teaching!

Second Adhyaya

Prayer to God for inspiration and self-control

1 First controlling mind and thought for truth,

may God, the Inspirer, bring forth the light out of the earth.

2 With mind controlled, we are

in the inspiration of God,

for heaven and strength.

3 With mind having controlled the powers

that unto bright heaven through thought do go,

may God inspire them,

that they may make a mighty light!

4 The sages of the great wise Sage

control their mind, and control their thoughts.

The One who knows the rules has arranged the functions.

Mighty is the chorus of praise of God.

5 I join your ancient prayer with adorations!

My verses go forth like suns upon their course.

All the sons of the immortal listen,

even those who ascended to heavenly stations!

Rules and results of devotional discipline

8 Holding his body steady with the three upper parts erect,

and causing the senses with the mind to enter into the heart,

a wise man should cross over with the boat of knowledge of God

all the fear-bringing streams.

9 Having controlled his breathings here in the body, and having his movements checked,

one should breathe through his nostrils with diminished breath.

Like that chariot yoked with vicious horses,

his mind the wise man should restrain undistractedly.

10 In a clean level spot, free from pebbles, fire, and gravel,

by the sound of water and other things favorable to thought, not offensive to the eye,

in a hidden retreat protected from the wind, one should practise devotion.

The vision of the truth

14 Even as a mirror stained by dust

shines brilliantly when it has been cleansed,

so the embodied one, on seeing the truth of his soul,

becomes at peace, his end attained, from sorrow freed.

15 When with the truth of the soul, as with a lamp,

a devout person beholds here the truth of God,

who is unborn, steadfast, from every flaw free,

by knowing God one is released from all fetters!

God, the Lord of all

16 God faces all the quarters of heaven.

His knowledge was before, and He knows what is within the womb.

He has brought forth creatures. He will bring them forth again.

He stands opposite His creatures, His knowledge turned to all directions.

17 To God who created fire, who created water, who is Lord of the whole world, who created plants, who created trees: to that God be adoration, yea, be adoration!

Third Adhyaya

The One God

1 The One who spreads the net, who rules with His ruling powers,

who rules all the worlds with His ruling powers,

the One who alone stands in their arising and in their continued existence:

they who know Him are saved.

2 For truly, God the Avenger is the One; they stand not for a second.

He rules all the worlds with His ruling powers.

He stands opposite His creatures. He, the Protector,

after creating all beings, gathers them together at the end of time.

3 His knowledge is on every side and His power on every side.

The One God forges together the heaven and the earth.

4 He who is the source and origin of the angels,

the ruler of all, the great Seer:

may He endow us with clear intellect!

Prayers unto God for favor

5 That aspect of Thine, O Lord, which is kindly,

unterrifying, revealing no evil:

with that most benign mercy

turn to us, O God!

6 The punishment which Thou holdest in Thy hand to send,

make kindly, O Protector!

Injure not man or beast!

Knowing the One Lord overcomes death

7 Higher than this world is God, the Supreme, the Great,

hidden in all things, body by body,

the One who encompasses the universe:

by knowing Him as Lord men are saved.

8 I know this mighty Lord,

of the light of the sun, beyond darkness.

Only by knowing Him does one pass over death.

There is no other path for going there.

9 Than whom there is naught else higher,

than whom there is naught smaller, naught greater,

the One stands like a tree established in heaven.

By Him this whole world is filled with His knowledge.

10 That which is beyond this world

is without form and without ill.

They who know Him become safe from fear;

but others go only to sorrow.

The Lord with His supreme attributes

11 His is the knowledge of the face, the head, the neck of all,

who dwells nearer to all things than themselves.

All-encompassing is He, and bountiful;

therefore omnipresent, and kindly.

12 A mighty Lord is He,

the guide of the highest being

unto the purest attainment,

the Ruler, a light imperishable!

15 All that has been and all that will be

is by His command,

and He is the Lord of life everlasting,

and of whatever grows up by food.

16 His knowledge extends on every side,

His sight and hearing encompass all in the world.

He stands encompassing all.

17 Seeming to possess the qualities of all the senses,

He is devoid of all the senses!

The Lord, the ruler of all,

the great shelter of all.

18 Though the soul dwells in the nine-gated city of the body,

back and forth to the external hovers the soul;

the Controller of the whole world,

both the stationary and the moving, is God.

19 Without foot or hand, He is swift and a seizer!

He sees without eye; He hears without ear!

He knows whatever is to be known; Him there is none who knows!

Men call Him the Great, the Eternal.

20 More minute than the minute, greater than the great

is the knowledge of God that is set in the heart of a creature here.

One beholds it as being without selfish striving, and becomes freed from sorrow,

when through the grace of the Creator he sees the Lord and His greatness.

21 I know this undecaying, eternal Lord of all,

present in everything by His knowledge,

of whose exemption from birth they speak;

for those who know God speak of Him as eternal.

Fourth Adhyaya

The One God of the manifold world

1 The One who, Himself without color, by the manifold application of His power

distributes many colors in His hidden purpose,

and into whom, its end and its beginning, the whole world returns: He is God!

May He endow us with clear intellect!

2 Fire, the sun, the wind, the moon,

the pure, the waters, are all His creation and His signs.

3 It is Thou who createdst woman and man,

the youth and the maiden too.

It is Thou who leadest the old man to totter with a staff.

Thou art the One who brings forth every creature, facing in every direction.

4 Thou hast created the dark-blue bird and the green parrot with red eyes.

Thou hast created the lightning, the seasons, and the seas.

Having no beginning, Thou dost abide by Thy knowledge,

and from Thee all beings are born.

Two companions

6 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.

7 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.

The ignorant soul in the illusion of a manifold universe

8 Of what avail is the recited verse of revelation to him who knows not the Lord of the highest heaven?

They, indeed, who know Him are here assembled.

The saving knowledge of the one, kindly God of the universe

11 The One who rules over every single source,

in whom this whole world comes together and dissolves,

the Lord, the giver of blessing, God adorable:

by revering Him one goes for ever to this peace.

12 He who is the source and origin of the angels,

the ruler of all, the great Seer:

may He endow us with clear intellect!

13 He who is the overlord of the angels,

on whom the worlds do rest,

who is Lord of biped and quadruped here:

to whom but God will we give devotion?

14 More minute than the minute, in the midst of confusion,

the Creator of all, of manifold creatures,

the One who encompasses the universe:

by knowing Him as kindly one attains peace forever.

15 He indeed is the protector of the world in time,

the overlord of all, hidden in all things,

with whom the seers who know God are joined in faith.

By knowing Him thus, one cuts the cords of death.

16 By knowing as kindly Him who is hidden in all things,

exceedingly fine, like the cream that is finer than butter,

the One who encompasses the universe,

by knowing God one is released from all fetters.

17 That God, the Creator of all, the Great,

is near to the hearts of His creatures,

is perceived by the heart, by the thought, by the mind.

They who know Him are saved.

18 Before creation there was only the Kindly One alone.

He is the Imperishable.

And from Him was the first intelligence created.

19 Not above, not across,

nor in the middle has one grasped Him.

There is no likeness of Him

whose name is Great Glory.

20 His form is not to be beheld.

No one soever sees Him with the eye.

They who thus know Him with heart and mind

as near to the heart, are saved.

Supplications to God for favor

21 With the thought "He is eternal!"

a certain one in fear approaches.

O God, that mercy of Thine which is propitious:

with that do Thou protect me ever!

22 Injure us not in child or grandchild, nor in life!

Injure us not in cattle! Injure us not in horses!

Slay not our strong men in anger, O Lord!

With devotion ever we call upon Thee.

Fifth Adhyaya

God, the One Lord of the manifold world

1 In the imperishable, infinite, supreme God are two things;

for with Him are knowledge and ignorance recorded.

Now, ignorance is a thing perishable, but knowledge is a thing immortal.

And He who rules the ignorance and the knowledge is another.

2 The One who rules over every single source,

all forms and all sources,

who bears in His knowledge, and beholds when born,

the seer who was engendered in the beginning.

3 God spreads out the nets of His creation manifoldly,

and draws them together here in the world.

Thus again, having created His angels, the Lord

exercises universal overlordship.

4 As the illumining sun shines upon

all regions, above, below, and across,

so that One God, glorious, adorable,

rules over whatever creatures are born from a womb.

5 The source of all, who develops His own creation,

who brings to maturity whatever can be ripened,

and who distributes all qualities:

over this whole world rules the One.

6 That which is hidden in the secret of the scriptures:

God knows it as the source of the sacred word.

The seers of old who knew this,

they, coming to be of the righteous, verily, have been saved.

The accountable individual soul

7 Whoever has qualities is the doer of deeds that bring recompense;

and of such action surely he experiences the consequence.

The soul treads its paths, and is recompensed according to its deeds.

13 Him who is without beginning and without end, in the midst of confusion,

the Creator of all, of manifold creatures,

the One who encompasses the universe:

by knowing God one is released from all fetters.

14 Him who is to be apprehended in existence, who is called "incorporeal,"

the Maker of existence and non-existence, the Kindly One,

God, the Maker of the creation and its parts:

they who know Him have left the body behind.

Sixth Adhyaya

The One God, Creator and Lord, in and over the world

1 Some sages discourse of inherent nature; others likewise, of time. Deluded men!

It is the greatness of God in the world

by which this wheel of creation is caused to revolve.

2 He by whom this whole world is constantly encompassed

is intelligent, the author of time, possessor of all attributes, omniscient.

Ruled over by Him, His work revolves:

this which is regarded as earth, water, fire, air, and space.

3 He creates this work, and it is according to His decree.

Everything is by His command, whether one, or two, or three, or eight,

with time too, and the subtle qualities of a soul.

4 He begins with works which are connected with qualities,

and distributes all existences.

In the absence of these qualities there is a disappearance of the work that has been done.

In the destruction of the work He continues essentially other than it.

5 The beginning, the efficient cause of combinations,

He is to be seen as beyond the three times, without parts too!

Worship Him, the origin of all being,

the adorable God who is aware of one's own thoughts, the primeval.

6 Higher and other than the world-tree, time, and forms

is He from whom this expanse proceeds.

The bringer of right, the remover of evil, the lord of prosperity:

know Him as near to one's own self, as the everlasting abode of all.

7 Him who is the supreme Mighty Lord of lords,

the supreme Ruler of rulers, paramount,

Him let us know as the adorable God, the Lord of the world.

8 No action or organ of His is found;

there is not seen His equal, nor a superior.

His high power is revealed to be various indeed;

and innate is the working of His intelligence and strength.

9 Of Him there is no ruler in the world,

nor lord; nor is there any likeness of Him.

He is the Cause, lord of the lords of sense-organs.

Of Him there is no progenitor, nor lord.

11 The one God, hidden in all things,

all-pervading in His knowledge,

the Overseer of deeds, in all things abiding,

the Witness, the sole Thinker, devoid of all weakness.

12 The one Controller of the many who have no power of their own,

who makes the one seed manifold:

the wise who perceive Him as near to one's self,

they, and no others, have eternal happiness.

13 Him who is constant among the inconstant, the Knower among those who know,

the One among many, who grants desires,

that Cause, attainable by discrimination and devotion:

by knowing God, one is released from all fetters!

14 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.

16 He who is the maker of all, the all-knower, self-sourced,

intelligent, the author of time, possessor of attributes, omniscient,

is the ruler of creation and of the soul, the lord of qualities,

the cause of bondage and of deliverance, of continuance and of restraint.

17 Everlasting, existing as the Lord,

intelligent, omnipresent, the guardian of this world,

is He who constantly rules this world.

There is no other cause found for the ruling.

18 To Him who of old creates, and who delivers to His messenger the revelation,

to that God, who gives light to every intellect,

do I, being desirous of salvation, resort as a shelter,

19 to Him who is without parts, without need, tranquil,

irreproachable, spotless,

the highest bridge to life everlasting,

like a light that burns without smoke.

20 When men shall roll up space

as it were a piece of leather,

then will there be an end of evil

apart from knowing God!

Epilogue

21 By the efficacy of his devotion and by the grace of God

the wise Svetasvatara in proper manner declared the truth

unto the devout of the most advanced stage as the supreme means of purification.

This is well pleasing to the company of seers.

The conditions for receiving this knowledge

22 This supreme mystery, which has been declared in former time,

should not be given to one not tranquil,

nor again to one who is not a son or a pupil.

23 To him who has the highest devotion for God,

and for his teacher as one who teaches in God's name,

to him these matters which have been declared

become manifest, if he be a righteous soul.

Yea, they become manifest if he be a righteous soul!