Contents
F1RST QUESTION. 
Adoration to the Highest Self! Harih, Om!
1. Sukesas Bharadvaga, and Saivya Satyakama, and Sauryayanin
Gargya, and Kausalya Asvalayana, and Bhargava Vaidarbhi, and Kabandhin Katyayana,
these were devoted to Brahman, firm in Brahman, seeking for the Highest Brahman.
They thought that the venerable Pippalada could tell them all that, and they
therefore took fuel in their hands (like pupils), and approached him.
2. That Rishi said to them: 'Stay here a year longer, with
penance, abstinence, and faith; then you may ask questions according to your
pleasure, and if we know them, we shall tell you all.'
3. Then Kabandhin Katyayana approached him and asked: 'Sir,
from whence may these creatures be born?'
4. He replied: 'Pragapati (the lord of creatures) was
desirous of creatures (pragah). He performed penance, and having performed
penance, he produces a pair, matter (rayi) and spirit (prana), thinking that
they together should produce creatures for him in many ways.
5. The sun is spirit, matter is the moon. All this, what has
body and what has no body, is matter, and therefore body indeed is matter.
6. Now Aditya, the sun, when he rises, goes toward the East,
and thus receives the Eastern spirits into his rays. And when he illuminates the
South, the West, the North, the Zenith, the Nadir, the intermediate quarters,
and everything, he thus receives all spirits into his rays.
7. Thus he rises, as Vaisvanara, (belonging to all men,)
assuming all forms, as spirit, as fire. This has been said in the following
verse:
8. (They knew) him who assumes all forms, the golden, who
knows all things, who ascends highest, alone in his splendour, and warms us; the
thousandrayed, who abides in a hundred places, the spirit of all creatures, the
Sun, rises.
9. The year indeed is Pragapati, and there are two paths
thereof, the Southern and the Northern. Now those who here believe in sacrifices
and pious gifts as work done, gain the moon only as their (future) world, and
return again. Therefore the Rishis who desire offspring, go to the South, and
that path of the Fathers is matter (rayi).
10. But those who have sought the Self by penance,
abstinence, faith, and knowledge, gain by the Northern path Aditya, the sun.
This is the home of the spirits, the immortal, free from danger, the highest.
From thence they do not return, for it is the end. Thus says the Sloka:
11. Some call him the father with five feet (the five
seasons), and with twelve shapes (the twelve months), the giver of rain in the
highest half of heaven; others again say that the sage is placed in the lower
half, in the chariot with seven wheels and six spokes.
12. The month is Pragapati; its dark half is matter, its
bright half spirit. Therefore some Rishis perform sacrifice in the bright half,
others in the other half.
13. Day and Night are Pragapati; its day is spirit, its night
matter. Those who unite in love by day waste their spirit,but to unite in love
by night is right.
14. Food is Pragapati. Hence proceeds seed, and from it these
creatures are born.
15. Those therefore who observe this rule of Pragapati (as
laid down in #13), produce a pair, and to them belongs this Brahma-world here.
But those in whom dwell penance, abstinence, and truth,
16. To them belongs that pure Brahma-world, to them, namely,
in whom there is nothing crooked, nothing false, and no guile.'
SECOND QUESTION
1. Then Bhargava Vaidarbhi asked him: 'Sir, How many gods
keep what has thus been created, how many manifest this, and who is the best of
them?'
2. He replied: 'The ether is that god, the wind, fire, water,
earth, speech, mind, eye, and ear. These when they have manifested (their
power), conten~ and say : We (each of us) support this body and keep it.
3. Then Prana (breath, spirit, life), as the best, said to
them: Be not deceived, I alone, dividing myself fivefold, support this body and
keep it.
4. They were incredulous; so he, from pride, did as if he
were going out from above. Thereupon, as he went out, all the others went out,
and as he returned, all the others returned. As bees go out when their queen
goes out, and return when she returns, thus (did) speech, mind, eye, and car;
and, being satisfied, they praise Prana, saying:
5. He is Agni (fire), he shines as Surya (sun), he is
Parganya (rain), the powerful (Indra), he is Vayu (wind), he is the earth, he is
matter, he is God - he is what is and what is not, and what is immortal.
6. As spokes in the nave of a wheel, everything is fixed in
Prana, the verses of the Rig-veda, Yagur-veda, Sama-veda, the sacrifice, the
Kshatriyas, and the Brahmans.
7. As Pragapati (lord of creatures) thou movest about in the
womb, thou indeed art born again. To thee, the Prana, these creatures bring
offerings, to thee who dwellest with the other pranas (the organs of sense).
8. Thou art the best carrier for the Gods, thou art the first
offering to the Fathers. Thou art the true work of the Rishis, of the
Atharvangiras.
9. O Prana, thou art Indra by thy light, thou art Rudra, as a
protector; thou movest in the sky, thou art the sun, the lord of lights.
10. When thou showerest down rain, then, O Prana, these
creatures of thine are delighted, hoping that there will be food, as much as
they desire.
11. Thou art a Vratya, O Prana, the only Rishi, the consumer
of everything, the good lord. We are the givers of what thou hast to consume,
thou, O Matarisva, art our father.
12. Make propitious that body of thine which dwells in
speech, in the ear, in the eye, and which pervades the mind; do not go away!
13. All this is in the power of Prana, whatever exists in the
three heavens. Protect us like a mother her sons, and give us happiness and
wisdom.'
THIRD QUESTION
1. Then Kausalya Asvaiayana asked: 'Sir, whence is that Prana
(spirit) born? How does it come into this body? And how does it abide, after it
has divided itself? How does it go out? How does it support what is without, and
how what is within?'
2. He replied: 'You ask questions more difficult, but you are
very fond of Brahman, therefore I shall tell it you.
3. This Prana (spirit) is born of the Self. Like the shadow
thrown on a man, this (the prana) is spread out over it (the Brahman). By the
work of the mind does it come into this body.
4. As a king commands officials, saying to them: Rule these
villages or those, so does that Prana (spirit) dispose the other pranas, each
for their separate work.
5. The Apana (the down-breathing) in the organs of excretion
and generation; the Prana himself dwells in eye and ear, passing through mouth
and nose. In the middle is the Sarnana (the onbreathing); it carries what has
been sacrificed as food equally (over the body), and the seven lights proceed
from it.
6. The Self is in the heart. There are the 101 arteries, and
in each of them there are a hundred (smaller veins), and for each of these
branches there are 72,000. In these the Vyana (the backbreathing) moves.
7. Through one of them, the Udana (the outbreathing) leads
(us) upwards to the good world by good work, to the bad world by bad work, to
the world of men by both.
8. The sun rises as the external Prana, for it assists the
Prana in the eye. The deity that exists in the earth, is there in support of
man's Apana (down-breathing). The ether between (sun and earth) is the Samana
(on-breathing), the air is Vyana (back-breathing).
9. Light is the Udana (out-breathing), and therefore he whose
light has gone out comes to a new birth with his senses absorbed in the mind.
10. Whatever his thought (at the time of death) with that he
goes back to Prana, and the Prana, united with light, together with the self
(theovatma) leads on to the world, as deserved.
11. He who, thus knowing, knows Prana, his offspring does not
perish, and he becomes immortal. Thus says the Sloka:
12. He who has known the origin, the entry, the place, the
fivefold distribution, and the internal state of the Prana, obtains immortality,
yes, obtains immortality. '
FOURTH QUESTION
1. Then Sauryayanin Gargya asked: 'Sir, What are they that
sleep in this man, and what are they that are awake in him? What power (deva) is
it that sees dreams? Whose is the happiness? On what do all these depend?'
2. He replied: 'O Gargya, As all the rays of the sun, when it
sets, are gathered up in that disc of light, and as they, when the sun rises
again and again, come forth, so is all this (all the senses) gathered up in the
highest faculty (deva), the mind. Therefore at that time that man does not hear,
see, smell, taste, touch, he does not speak, he does not take, does not enjoy,
does not evacuate, does not move about. He sleeps, that is what People say.
3. The fires of the pranas are, as it were , awake in that
town (the body). The Apana is the Garhapatya fire, the Vyana the Anvaharyapakana
fire; and because it is taken out of the Garhapatya fire, which is fire for
taking out, therefore the Prana is the Ahavaniya fire.
4. Because it carries equally these two oblations, the
out-breathing and the in-breathing, the Samana is he (the Hotri priest). The
mind is the sacrificer, the Udana is the reward of the sacrifice, and it leads
the sacrificer every day (in deep sleep) to Brahman.
5. There that god (the mind) enjoys in sleep greatness. What
has been seen, he sees again; what has been heard, he hears again; what has been
enjoyed in different countries and quarters, he enjoys again; what has been seen
and not seen, heard and not heard, enjoyed and not enjoyed, he sees it all; he,
being all, sees.
6. And when he is overpowered by light, then th:it god sees
no dreams, and at that time that happiness arises in his body.
7. And, O friend, as birds go to a tree to roost, thus all
this rests in the Highest Atman,-
8. The earth and its subtile elements, the water and its
subtile elements, the light and its subtile elements, the air and its subtile
elements, the ether and its subtile elements; the eye and what can be seen, the
car and what can be heard, the nose and what can be smelled, the taste and what
can be tasted, the skin and what can be touched, the voice and what can be
spoken, the hands and what can be grasped, the feet and what can be walked, the
mind and what can be perceived, intellect (buddhi) and what can be conceived,
personality and what can be personified, thought and what can be thought, light
and what can be lighted up, the Prana and what is to be supported by it.
9. For he it is who sees, hears, smells, tastes, perceives,
conceives, acts, he whose essence is knowledge, the person, and he dwells in the
highest, indestructible Self,-
10. He who knows that indestructible being, obtains (what is)
the highest and indestructible, he without a shadow, without a body, without
colour, bright,yes, O friend, he who knows it, becomes all-knowing, becomes all.
On this there is this Sloka:
11. He, O friend, who knows that indestructible being wherein
the true knower, the vital spirits (pranas), together with all the powers
(deva), and the elements rest, he, being all-knowing, has penetrated all.'
FIFTH QUESTION
1. Then Saivya Satyakama asked him: 'Sir, if some one among
men should meditate here until death on the syllable Om, what would he obtain by
it?'
2. He replied: 'O Satyakama, the syllable Om (AUM) is the
highest and also the other Brahman; therefore he who knows it arrives by the
same means at one of the two.
3. If he meditate on one Matra (the A), then, being
enlightened by that only, he arrives quickly at the earth. The Rik-verses lead
him to the world of men, and being endowed there with penance, abstinence, and
faith, he enjoys greatness.
4. If he meditate with two Matras (A + U) he arrives at the
Manas 5, and is led up by the Yagusverses to the sky, to the Soma-world. Having
enjoyed greatness in the Soma-world, he returns again.
5. Again, he who meditates with this syllable AUM of three
matras, on the Highest Person, he comes to light and to the sun. And as a snake
is freed from its skin, so is he freed from evil. He is led up by the
Saman-verses to the Brahma-world; and from him, full of life (Hiranyagarbha, the
lord of the Satya-loka), he learns to see the all-pervading, the Highest Person.
And there are these two Slokas:
6. The three Matras (A+U+M), if employed separate, and only
joined one to another, are mortal; but in acts, external, internal, or
intermediate, if well performed, the sage trembles not.
7. Through the Rik-verses he arrives at this world, through
the Yagus-verses at the sky, through the Saman-verses at that which the poets
teach,-he arrives at this by means of the Onkara; the wise arrives at that which
is at rest, free from decay, from death, from fear,-the Highest.'
S1XTH QUESTION
1. Then Sukesas Bharadvaga asked him, saying: 'Sir,
Hiranyanabha, the prince of Kosala, came to me and asked this question: Do you
know the person of sixteen parts, O Bharadvaga? I said to the prince: I do not
know him; if I knew him, how should I not tell you? Surely, he who speaks what
is untrue withers away to the very root; therefore I will not say what is
untrue. Then he mounted his chariot and went away silently. Now I ask you, where
is that person?'
2. He replied: 'Friend, that person is here within the body,
he in whom these sixteen parts arise.
3. He reflected: What is it by whose departure I shall
depart, and by whose staying I shall stay?
4. He sent forth (created) Prana (spirit); from Prana Sraddha
(faith), ether, air, light, water, earth, sense, mind, food; from food came
vigour, penance, hymns, sacrifice, the worlds, and in the worlds the name also.
5. As these flowing rivers that go towards the ocean, when
they have reached the ocean, sink into it, their name and form are broken, and
people speak of the ocean only, exactly thus these sixteen parts of the
spectator that go towards the person (purusha), when they have reached the
person, sink into him, their name and form are broken, and people speak of the
person only, and he becomes without parts and immortal. On this there is this
verse:
6. That person who is to be known, he in whom these parts
rest, like spokes in the nave of a wheel, you know him, lest death should hurt
you.'
7. Then he (Pippaiada) said to them: 'So far do I know this
Highest Brahman, there is nothing higher than it.'
8. And they praising him, said:'You, indeed, are our father,
you who carry us from our ignorance to the other shore.'
Adoration to the highest Rishis!
Adoration to the highest Rishis!
Tat sat. Harih, Om!
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