What is bondage?
What is freedom?
What is vidya - right learning -
and avidya - false learning- ?
What are these four states:
Waking, dreaming, sleeping and turiya, the fourth?
What are these 5 kosha's - bodies?
sheaths of food, breath, mind, knowing, and bliss?
What is the meaning of the doer, living being,
panchvarga - 5 groups -
kshetragya - knower of the field,
sakshi - witness,
kutastha -the supreme -
and antaryami - the imminent?
The same way, what are these three:
self, supreme self and maya - the world of appearances?
The self or soul is both God and living being.
But the body, which is not the soul,
gets infected with a sense of ego,
and that is what is called
living being's bondage.
The cessation of this ego is
what is called freedom.
That which gives rise to the ego
is called avidya - false learning -.
And that which leads to the cessation of the ego
is called vidya - right learning-.
The state in which the soul,
with the help of the energies of the sun
and other gods,
and through the instrumentality of these fourteen:
mind, intellect, mind stuff, ego,
and then the ten sense organs -
becomes sensitive to sound, touch
and such other gross objects,
is called waking state.
When the living being,
on account of the unfulfilled desires
of the waking state,
becomes sensitive to sound, touch
and such other gross objects
- even in the absence of the latter -
it is called the dreaming state
of the self or soul.
The sleeping state is one,
in which all the fourteen organs
are still and tranquil,
and when
-for lack of real knowledge-
the self or soul
is insensitive to sound, touch
and such other objects.
And the one,
which is aware of the creation and dissolution
of these three states
-waking, dreaming and sleeping -
but which is itself beyond
creation and dissolution,
is known as turiya,
the fourth state of consciousness,
the state of turiya.
A collection of sheaths,
composed of nourishing food,
in the form of the physical body,
is called annamaya kosh,
or the food body.
The fourteen kinds of winds,
like the vital energy, etcetera,
circulating through the food body,
are called pranayama kosh,
or the vital body.
When the self,
living inside the food body and the vital body,
thinks,
through the instrumentality of the fourteen organs like mind etcetera,
about objects like sound, smell, touch, etcetera,
it is called the manomaya kosh,
or the mental body.
When the self,
united with these three bodies,
knows through intelligence,
it is called vigyanmaya kosh,
or the knowing body.
When the self,
in union with these four bodies,
the food body, vital body, mental body and the knowing body,
dwells in its primeval and causative ignorance,
it is called the anandamaya kosh,
or the bliss body.
In the context of pleasure and pain,
the desire for pleasurable things
is called the sense of pleasure,
and aversion to painful things
is called the sense of pain.
And because of what one does
to gain pleasure and shun pain,
one is called a doer.
Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell -
these five objects are causes of pleasure and pain.
When the self,
in pursuit of virtuous and sinful acts,
identifies itself with the body,
which it is not,
then it is called the diseased being.
Grouping of
mind, vital breath, desire, essence and virtue
with the associates
is called
panchvarga, or five groups.
A living being
identified with the nature
opf the panchvarga
cannot be free of them
without knowledge or knowing.
The disease arising out of
the subtle elements
like the mind and the rest of it
seems to be covering the self,
and it is called the seed body;
it is also known as the knot,
or complex of the heart.
And the consciousness dwelling inside it
is called the kshetragya,
or the knower of the field.
That which is aware
of the creation and dissollution
of the knower, the known and the knowable,
but is itself beyond creation and dissolution
is called sakshi,
or the witnessing self.
That which dwells in the minds of all beings,
from Brahma (the creator)
down to an ant,
and which lives everlastingly
even after the destruction of their
gross and subtle bodies
is called kutastha
or the crest-indweller.
From among the kutastha
and its different forms
the self,
for the sake of the realization of its nature,
permeates the body
like a thread
threading a necklace,
and it is called
, or the imminent.
When the self as consciousness,
which is truth, knowledge, infinity and bliss,
devoid of all its attributes,
shines like pure gold
freed from all its forms
such as bangle and a crown,
it is called twam or thou.
The brahmanis truth, infinity and knowledge.
That which is indestructible is truth.
And that which does not perish,
even after destruction of space, time, etcetera,
is called the avinashi, the imperishable.
Eternal consciousness,
itself beyond creation and destruction,
is known as knowledge.
The consciousness,
that is whole and all-pervading,
and that permeates the entire cosmos like
clay permeating the articles made of clay,
and like gold permeating the articles made of gold,
and like yarn permeating the articles made of yarn,
is called infinity.
That which is blissful consciousness,
which is an ocean of unlimited bliss,
and which is the very nature
of everlasting happiness
is known as bliss.
These four
(truth, knowledge, infinity and bliss)
are the characteristics,
and that which is changeless,
in spite of symbolic objects like space, time, etcetera,
is called Tat or that,
which is the equivalent of paramatma
or the supreme self.
That which is beginningless
and yet which ends,
which is neither being nor non-being
and which in itself is seen
as the purest of energies is called
maya or the magical world.
It cannot be described in any other way except this.
This maya is ignorance-like, petty and unreal,
but is seen by the deluded persons as real at all times -
past, present, future.
Therefore to say that it is such
cannot explain its real character.
I am never born as a body.
I am not the ten senses.
And I am neither intellect,
nor mind nor everlasting ego.
I am eternally pure self-nature
without vital breath and mind.
I am the witness without intellect,
and i am the everknowing self-nature.
There is no doubt, whatsoever, about it.
I am not the doer.
i am not the consumer.
I am simply the witness of nature.
And just because of my nearness,
the body, etcetera,
have the feeling of being conscious,
and they act accordingly.
Beyond a shade of doubt,
I am still, eternal, everlasting bliss -
everknowing pure self or soul.
And I pervade all beings
as the witnessing soul.
I am the brahman, known by the whole Vedanta
( that which is beyond knowledge)
And I am neither ether nor air,
nor anything that I appear to be.
I am neither form, nor name,
nor action, but only brahman,
which is satchitanand
(existence, awareness, bliss).
I am not the body,
so how can I be subject to
birth and death?
I am not the vital breath,
so how can I be subject to
hunger and thirst?
I am not the mind,
so how can I be subject to
sorrow and attachment?
I am not the doer,
so how can I be subject to
bondage and freedom?
Such is the mystery.
Here ends Sarvasar Upanishad.
