The Online Library of Liberty

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• 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

FIFTH VALLĪ

The real Soul of the individual and of the world

• 1.

  By ruling over the eleven-gated citadel1
• Of the Unborn, the Un-crooked-minded one,
• One sorrows not.
• But when liberated [from the body], he is liberated indeed.

The priest by the altar, the guest in the house,

In man, in broad space, in the right (ṛta), in the sky,

• 5.

  Not by the out-breath (prāṇa) and the in-breath (apāna)5
• Doth any mortal whatsoever live.
• But by another do men live—
• Even That whereon both these depend.

The appropriate embodiment of the transmigrating soul

• • 6.

    Come! I will declare this to you:
  • The hidden, eternal Brahma;
  • And how, after it reaches death,
  • The soul (ātman) fares, O Gautama!

• • 7.

    Some go into a womb
  • For the embodiment of a corporeal being.
  • Others go into a stationary thing
  • According to their deeds (karman), according to their knowledge.

One’s real person, the same as the world-ground

8. He who is awake in those that sleep,

The Person who fashions desire after desire—

• That indeed is the Pure. That is Brahma.
• That indeed is called the Immortal.
• On it all the worlds do rest;
• And no one soever goes beyond it.1

This, verily, is That!

The unitary world-soul, immanent yet transcendent

9. As the one fire has entered the world

And becomes corresponding in form to every form,

So the one Inner Soul (Ātman) of all things

Is corresponding in form to every form, and yet is outside.

10. As the one wind has entered the world

And becomes corresponding in form to every form,

So the one Inner Soul of all things

Is corresponding in form to every form, and yet is outside.

11. As the sun, the eye of the whole world,

Is not sullied by the external faults of the eyes,

So the one Inner Soul of all things

Is not sullied by the evil in the world, being external to it.

The indescribable bliss of recognizing the world-soul in one’s own soul

12. The Inner Soul (antarātman) of all things, the One Controller,

Who makes his one form manifold—

The wise who perceive Him as standing in oneself,

They, and no others, have eternal happiness!

13. Him who is the constant among the inconstant, the intelligent among intelligences,

The One among many, who grants desires—

The wise who perceive Him as standing in oneself,

They, and no others, have eternal peace!

• 14.

  ‘This is it!’—thus they recognize
• The highest, indescribable happiness.
• How, now, shall I understand ‘this’?
• Does it shine [of itself] or does it shine in reflection?

The self-luminous light of the world

15. The sun shines not there, nor the moon and stars,

These lightnings shine not, much less this (earthly) fire!

After Him, as He shines, doth everything shine,

This whole world is illumined with His light.1

[1 ]That is, the body, with its eleven orifices: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, the two lower orifices, the navel, and the sagittal suture (vidṛti—Ait. 3. 12). By the omission of the last two, the body is conceived of as a nine-gated city at Śvet. 3. 18 and BhG. 5. 13.

[2 ]With the omission of the last word this stanza = RV. 4. 40. 5; exactly as here it = VS. 10. 24; 12. 14; TS. 3. 2. 10. 1; Śat. Br. 6. 7. 3. 11.

[3 ]That is, in the middle of the body, and the devās are the bodily powers (or ‘senses,’ as not infrequently), according to Śaṅkara’s interpretation.

[4 ]Line d = 4. 3 d.

[5 ]As in 5. 3 a, b.

[1 ]The last four lines recur again as 6. 1. c-f.

[1 ]This stanza = Muṇḍ. 2. 2. 10 and Śvet. 6. 14.