The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface
• Remarks Concerning the Translation Its Method and Arrangement
• List of Abbreviations
• Errata
• An Outline of the Philosophy of the Upanishads
• Chapter I: The Place of the Upanishads In the History of Philosophy
• Chapter II: The Upanishads and Their Place In Indian Philosophy
• Chapter III: First Attempts At the Conception of a Unitary World-ground
• Chapter IV: The Development of the Conception of Brahma
• Chapter V: The Development of the Conception of the Atman and Its Union With Brahma
• Chapter VI: The Realistic Conception of the Ultimate Unity, and the Doctrine of Illusion
• Chapter VII: Idealism and the Conception of Pure Unity
• Chapter VIII: The Outcome On Religion and On the Doctrine of Karma
• Chapter IX: The Outcome On Practical Life and On Morals
• Chapter X: The Artificial Method of Unity In Renunciation and In Yoga
• Chapter XI: Concluding Estimate
• BṚihad-ĀraṆyaka Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• ChĀndogya Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka a Glorification of the Chanting of the Sāma-veda 1
• Second PrapĀṬhaka the Significance of the Chant In Various Forms
• Third PrapĀṬhaka Brahma As the Sun of the World-all
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka Conversational Instructions
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning Breath, the Soul, and the Universal Soul
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Śvetaketu By Uddālaka Concerning the Key to All Knowledge
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Nārada By Sanatkumāra
• Eighth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning the Nature of the Soul
• TaittirĪya Upanishad
• First VallĪ (Śikshā Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Instruction’)
• Second VallĪ (brahmānanda Vallī, ‘bliss-of-brahma Chapter’)
• Third VallĪ (bhṛigu Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Bhṛigu’)
• Aitareya Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• KaushĪtaki Upanishad 1
• First AdhyĀya the Course of Reincarnation, and Its Termination Through Metaphysical Knowledge 2
• Second AdhyĀya the Doctrine of Prāṇa, Together With Certain Ceremonies
• Third AdhyĀya Doctrine of Prāṇa (the Breathing Spirit)
• Fourth AdhyĀya a Progressive Definition of Brahma 2
• Kena Upanishad 1
• (first KhaṆḌa)
• (second KhaṆḌa)
• (third KhaṆḌa) 3
• (fourth KhaṆḌa)
• KaṬha Upanishad
• First VallĪ 1
• Second VallĪ
• Third VallĪ
• Fourth VallĪ
• Fifth VallĪ
• Sixth VallĪ
• ĪŚĀ Upanishad 1
• MuṆḌaka Upanishad
• First MuṆḌaka Preparation For the Knowledge of Brahma
• Second MuṆḌaka the Doctrine of Brahma-Ātman
• Third MuṆḌaka the Way to Brahma
• PraŚna Upanishad 1
• First PraŚna
• Second PraŚna
• Third PraŚna
• Fourth PraŚna
• Fifth PraŚna
• Sixth PraŚna
• MĀṆḌŪkya Upanishad
• ŚvetĀŚvatara Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• Maitri Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka
• Second PrapĀṬhaka
• Third PrapĀṬhaka
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka
• A Bibliography of the Upanishads Selected, Classified, and Annotated

(FIRST KHAṆḌA)

Query: The real agent in the individual?

[Question:]

1. By whom impelled soars forth the mind projected?

By whom enjoined goes forth the earliest breathing?

By whom impelled this speech do people utter?

The eye, the ear—what god, pray, them enjoineth?

The all-conditioning, yet inscrutable agent, Brahma

[Answer:]

2. That which is the hearing of the ear, the thought of the mind,

The voice of speech, as also the breathing of the breath,

And the sight of the eye!2 Past these escaping, the wise,

5. That which one thinks not with thought (manas, mind),

[or, That which thinks not with a mind,]1

That with which they say thought (manas, mind) is thought—

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

6. That which one sees not with sight (cak us, eye),

[or, That which sees not with an eye,]1

That with which one sees sights (cakṣūṁsi)2 —

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

7. That which one hears not with hearing (śrotra, ear),

[or, That which hears not with an ear,]1

That with which hearing here is heard—

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

8. That which one breathes (prāṇiti) not with breathing (prāṇa, breath),

[or, That which breathes not with breath,]1

That with which breathing (prāṇa) is conducted (praṇīyate)—

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

[2 ]The first two and a half lines of this second stanza seem to form a direct answer to the query of the first stanza. But their metrical structure is irregular; that would be improved by the omission of sa u, ‘as also.’ And—more seriously—the grammatical structure of the phrases is apparently impossible; one phrase is certainly in the nominative, one certainly in the accusative, the other three might be construed as either. Moreover, in each of the five phrases it is the same word that is repeated (as in a similar passage at Bṛih. 4. 4. 18); accordingly, a strictly literal rendering of them would be, ‘the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of speech, the breath of breath, the eye of the eye.’ However, very frequently in the Upanishads these words for the five ‘vital breaths’ are used either for the abstract function or for the concrete instrument of the function. Here, more evidently than in many places, the connotation seems to be double. But at Chānd. 8. 12. 4 and Ait. 2. 4 the distinction between the function and its sense organ is clearly conceived.

[3 ]3 g and h recur, with slight variation, as Īśā 10 c and d, and Īśā 13 c and d.

[1 ]Both renderings of the verse are permissible, and both are in harmony with the theory which is being expounded.

[2 ]Or, ‘That with which one sees the eyes.’