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

THIRD ADHYĀYA

The One God identified with Rudra

1. The One spreader of 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 That, become immortal.

2. For truly, Rudra (the Terrible) is the One—they stand not for a second—

Who rules all the worlds with his ruling powers.

He stands opposite creatures. He, the Protector,

After creating all beings, merges them together at the end of time.

3. Having an eye on every side and a face on every side,

Having an arm on every side and a foot on every side,

The One God forges1 together with hands, with wings,

Creating the heaven and the earth.2

4. He who is the source and origin of the gods,

The ruler of all, Rudra, the great seer,

Who of old created the Golden Germ (Hiraṇyagarbha)—

May He endow us with clear intellect!3

Prayers from the Scriptures unto Rudra for favor4

• • 5.

    The form of thine, O Rudra, which is kindly (śiva),
  • Unterrifying, revealing no evil—
  • With that most benign form to us
  • Appear, O dweller among the mountains!

• • 6.

    O dweller among the mountains, the arrow
  • Which thou holdest in thy hand to throw
  • Make kindly (śiva), O mountain-protector!
  • Injure not man or beast!

Knowing the One Supreme Person overcomes death

7. Higher than this5 is Brahma. The Supreme, the Great,

Hidden in all things, body by body,

The One embracer of the universe—

By knowing Him as Lord (īś) men become immortal.

8. I know this mighty Person (Purusha)

Of the color of the sun, beyond darkness.

Only by knowing Him does one pass over death.

There is no other path for going there.6

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.7

By Him, the Person, this whole world is filled.8

10. That which is beyond this world

Is without form and without ill.

They who know That, become immortal;

But others go only to sorrow.1

The cosmic Person with human and superhuman powers

• • 11.

    Who is the face, the head, the neck of all,
  • Who dwells in the heart of all things,
  • All-pervading is He, and bountiful (maghavan);2
  • Therefore omnipresent, and kindly (śiva).

• • 12.

    A mighty lord (prabhu) is the Person,
  • The instigator of the highest being (sattva)3
  • Unto the purest attainment,
  • The ruler, a light imperishable!

13. A Person of the measure of a thumb is the inner soul (antarātman),

Ever seated in the heart of creatures.

He is framed by the heart, by the thought, by the mind.

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

He sees without eye; he hears without ear!

He knows whate’er is to be known; him there is none who knows!

Men call him the Great Primeval Person.

20. More minute than the minute, greater than the great,

Is the Soul (Ātman) that is set in the heart of a creature here.

One beholds Him as being without the active will, and becomes freed from sorrow—

When through the grace (prasāda) of the Creator he sees the Lord (īś) and his greatness.3

21. I know this undecaying, primeval

Soul of all, present in everything through immanence,

Of whose exemption from birth they speak—

For the expounders of Brahma (brahma-vādin) speak of Him as eternal.

[1 ]Compare RV. 10. 72. 2, where Brahmaṇaspati ‘forged together’ (sam-adhamat) all things here.

[2 ]With variants this stanza = RV. 10. 81. 3; VS. 17. 19; AV. 13. 2. 26; TS. 4. 6. 2. 4; TA. 10. 1. 3; MS. 2. 10. 2.

[3 ]With variants this stanza = 4. 12 and Mahānār. 10. 19.

[4 ]These two stanzas = VS. 16. 2-3.

[5 ]Either ‘higher than this [Terrible, Vedic god Rudra],’ or ‘higher than this [world].’

[6 ]This stanza = VS. 31. 18.

[7 ]Compare ‘the eternal fig-tree rooted in heaven,’ described at Kaṭha 6. 1.

[8 ]This stanza = Mahānār. 10. 20.

[1 ]The last two lines = Bṛih. 4. 4. 14 c, d.

[2 ]The first three lines are reminiscent of RV. 10. 81. 3 and 10. 90. 1. Cf. also 3. 3 above.

[3 ]Cf. Kaṭha 6. 7.

[4 ]Line a = Katha 6. 17 a. The first part of it also = Katha 4. 12 a; 4. 13 a. Lines c and d = Kaṭha 6 9 c, d. Lines b, c, d, recur as Śvet. 4. 17 b, c, d.

[5 ]This stanza = RV. 10. 90. 1; VS. 31. 1; SV. 1. 618; TA. 3. 12. 1; AV. 19. 6. 1.

[6 ]This stanza = RV. 10. 90. 2; VS. 31. 2; SV. 1. 620, AV. 19. 6. 4; TA. 3. 12. 1, with variants.

[7 ]This stanza = BhG. 13. 13.

[1 ]The first two lines occur as BhG. 13. 14 a, b.

[2 ]That is, in the body, cf. Kaṭha 5. 1 and BhG. 5. 13.

[3 ]This stanza = TA. 10. 10. 1 (= Mahānār. 10. 1, or in the Atharva Recension 8. 3), and also, with slight variation, Kaṭha 2. 20.