Chapter 1: What is the cause? The wheel of Brahman

ॐ ब्रह्मवादिनो वदन्ति ।
किं कारणं ब्रह्म कुतः स्म जाता जीवाम केन क्व च सम्प्रतिष्ठा ।
अधिष्ठिताः केन सुखेतरेषु वर्तामहे ब्रह्मविदो व्यवस्थाम्

oṃ brahmavādino vadanti |
kiṃ kāraṇaṃ brahma kutaḥ sma jātā jīvāma kena kva ca sampratiṣṭhā |
adhiṣṭhitāḥ kena sukhetareṣu vartāmahe brahmavido vyavasthām

The teachers of Brahman ask among themselves: Is Brahman the cause? From where were we born? By what do we live, and where do we finally rest? Under whose rule do we pass through joy and sorrow? You who know Brahman, tell us how this order stands.

कालः स्वभावो नियतिर्यदृच्छा भूतानि योनिः पुरुष इति चिन्त्यम् ।
संयोग एषां न त्वात्मभावादात्माप्यनीशः सुखदुःखहेतोः

kālaḥ svabhāvo niyatiryadṛcchā bhūtāni yoniḥ puruṣa iti cintyam |
saṃyoga eṣāṃ na tvātmabhāvādātmāpyanīśaḥ sukhaduḥkhahetoḥ

Should time be thought the cause, or inborn nature, or fixed destiny, or chance, or the elements, or the womb, or the Purusha? Not a mere combination of these, for that would need a Self to bind them; and the individual self too is powerless, being itself caught in joy and sorrow.

ते ध्यानयोगानुगता अपश्यन्देवात्मशक्तिं स्वगुणैर्निगूढाम् ।
यः कारणानि निखिलानि तानि कालात्मयुक्तान्यधितिष्ठत्येकः

te dhyānayogānugatā apaśyandevātmaśaktiṃ svaguṇairnigūḍhām |
yaḥ kāraṇāni nikhilāni tāni kālātmayuktānyadhitiṣṭhatyekaḥ

Following the path of meditation, they saw the power of the Deity Himself, hidden by its own gunas. He is the One who rules over all those causes, from time to the self.

तमेकनेमिं त्रिवृतं षोडशान्तं शतार्धारं विंशतिप्रत्यराभिः ।
अष्टकैः षड्भिर्विश्वरूपैकपाशं त्रिमार्गभेदं द्विनिमित्तैकमोहम्

tamekanemiṃ trivṛtaṃ ṣoḍaśāntaṃ śatārdhāraṃ viṃśatipratyarābhiḥ |
aṣṭakaiḥ ṣaḍbhirviśvarūpaikapāśaṃ trimārgabhedaṃ dvinimittaikamoham

We know Him as a wheel: one felly, a threefold tyre of the gunas, sixteen ends, fifty spokes with twenty counter-spokes, six groups of eight, one rope of many forms, three paths, and the one delusion born of two causes, merit and sin.

पञ्चस्रोतोम्बुं पञ्चयोन्युग्रवक्त्रां पञ्चप्राणोर्मिं पञ्चबुद्ध्यादिमूलाम् ।
पञ्चावर्तां पञ्चदुःखौघवेगां पञ्चाशद्भेदां पञ्चपर्वामधीमः

pañcasrotombuṃ pañcayonyugravaktrāṃ pañcaprāṇormiṃ pañcabuddhyādimūlām |
pañcāvartāṃ pañcaduḥkhaughavegāṃ pañcāśadbhedāṃ pañcaparvāmadhīmaḥ

We know it also as a river: its waters are the five streams of the senses, made fierce and winding by the five elements, its waves the five pranas, its source the mind, the root of the five perceptions. It has five whirlpools, a rushing flood of five sorrows, fifty divisions and five branches.

सर्वाजीवे सर्वसंस्थे बृहन्ते तस्मिन्हंसो भ्राम्यते ब्रह्मचक्रे ।
पृथगात्मानं प्रेरितारं च मत्वा जुष्टस्ततस्तेनामृतत्वमेति

sarvājīve sarvasaṃsthe bṛhante tasminhaṃso bhrāmyate brahmacakre |
pṛthagātmānaṃ preritāraṃ ca matvā juṣṭastatastenāmṛtatvameti

In this vast wheel of Brahman, which gives life to all and in which all rest, the swan, the soul, wanders about, thinking itself separate from the Mover. When it is blessed by Him, it attains immortality.

उद्गीतमेतत्परमं तु ब्रह्म तस्मिंस्त्रयं सुप्रतिष्ठाऽक्षरं च ।
अत्रान्तरं ब्रह्मविदो विदित्वा लीना ब्रह्मणि तत्परा योनिमुक्ताः

udgītametatparamaṃ tu brahma tasmiṃstrayaṃ supratiṣṭhā'kṣaraṃ ca |
atrāntaraṃ brahmavido viditvā līnā brahmaṇi tatparā yonimuktāḥ

This has been sung as the supreme Brahman. In it rest the three, the enjoyer, the enjoyed and the ruler, and it is the firm, imperishable ground. Knowing what lies within it, the knowers of Brahman merge in Brahman, devoted to it, and are freed from rebirth.

संयुक्तमेतत्क्षरमक्षरं च व्यक्ताव्यक्तं भरते विश्वमीशः ।
अनीशश्चात्मा बध्यते भोक्तृभावाज्ज्ञात्वा देवं मुच्यते सर्वपाशैः

saṃyuktametatkṣaramakṣaraṃ ca vyaktāvyaktaṃ bharate viśvamīśaḥ |
anīśaścātmā badhyate bhoktṛbhāvājjñātvā devaṃ mucyate sarvapāśaiḥ

The Lord upholds this universe, the perishable and the imperishable joined together, the manifest and the unmanifest. The self, not being lord, is bound because it takes itself to be the enjoyer. Knowing the Deity, it is freed from every bond.

ज्ञाज्ञौ द्वावजावीशनीशावजा ह्येका भोक्तृभोग्यार्थयुक्ता ।
अनन्तश्चात्मा विश्वरूपो ह्यकर्ता त्रयं यदा विन्दते ब्रह्ममेतत्

jñājñau dvāvajāvīśanīśāvajā hyekā bhoktṛbhogyārthayuktā |
anantaścātmā viśvarūpo hyakartā trayaṃ yadā vindate brahmametat

There are two unborn ones, the knower and the ignorant, the Lord and the one who is not lord. There is a third unborn, Prakriti, bound up with the enjoyer and what is enjoyed. And the Self is infinite, of every form, never the doer. When one finds these three, that is Brahman.

क्षरं प्रधानममृताक्षरं हरः क्षरात्मानावीशते देव एकः ।
तस्याभिध्यानाद्योजनात्तत्त्वभावाद्भूयश्चान्ते विश्वमायानिवृत्तिः

kṣaraṃ pradhānamamṛtākṣaraṃ haraḥ kṣarātmānāvīśate deva ekaḥ |
tasyābhidhyānādyojanāttattvabhāvādbhūyaścānte viśvamāyānivṛttiḥ

Matter is perishable; Hara, the Lord, is immortal and imperishable. The one God rules over both the perishable and the self. By meditating on Him, uniting with Him and becoming one with His being, at the end all the illusion of the world falls away.

ज्ञात्वा देवं सर्वपाशापहानिः क्षीणैः क्लेशेर्जन्ममृत्युप्रहाणिः ।
तस्याभिध्यानात्तृतीयं देहभेदे विश्वैश्वर्यं केवल आप्तकामः

jñātvā devaṃ sarvapāśāpahāniḥ kṣīṇaiḥ kleśerjanmamṛtyuprahāṇiḥ |
tasyābhidhyānāttṛtīyaṃ dehabhede viśvaiśvaryaṃ kevala āptakāmaḥ

When the Deity is known, every bond falls away; with the afflictions worn out, birth and death cease. By meditating on Him, at the body's fall one reaches a third state, lordship over all; and then, alone and complete, every desire fulfilled.

एतज्ज्ञेयं नित्यमेवात्मसंस्थं नातः परं वेदितव्यं हि किञ्चित् ।
भोक्ता भोग्यं प्रेरितारं च मत्वा सर्वं प्रोक्तं त्रिविधं ब्रह्ममेतत्

etajjñeyaṃ nityamevātmasaṃsthaṃ nātaḥ paraṃ veditavyaṃ hi kiñcit |
bhoktā bhogyaṃ preritāraṃ ca matvā sarvaṃ proktaṃ trividhaṃ brahmametat

This is to be known, for it ever dwells within one's own self; beyond it there is nothing more to know. When the enjoyer, the enjoyed and the Mover are understood, all has been declared. This is the threefold Brahman.

वह्नेर्यथा योनिगतस्य मूर्तिर्न दृश्यते नैव च लिङ्गनाशः ।
स भूय एवेन्धनयोनिगृह्यस्तद्वोभयं वै प्रणवेन देहे

vahneryathā yonigatasya mūrtirna dṛśyate naiva ca liṅganāśaḥ |
sa bhūya evendhanayonigṛhyastadvobhayaṃ vai praṇavena dehe

Fire hidden in its source, the fire-stick, is not seen, yet its subtle form is not lost; it can be drawn out again from the wood. In the same way both, the Self and Brahman, are grasped in the body through Om.

स्वदेहमरणिं कृत्वा प्रणवं चोत्तरारणिम् ।
ध्याननिर्मथनाभ्यासाद्देवं पश्यन्निगूढवत्

svadehamaraṇiṃ kṛtvā praṇavaṃ cottarāraṇim |
dhyānanirmathanābhyāsāddevaṃ paśyannigūḍhavat

Make your own body the lower fire-stick and Om the upper one. By the constant churning of meditation you will see the Deity, hidden as it were within.

तिलेषु तैलं दधिनीव सर्पिरापः स्रोतःस्वरणीषु चाग्निः ।
एवमात्माऽत्मनि गृह्यतेऽसौ सत्येनैनं तपसा योऽनुपश्यति

tileṣu tailaṃ dadhinīva sarpirāpaḥ srotaḥsvaraṇīṣu cāgniḥ |
evamātmā'tmani gṛhyate'sau satyenainaṃ tapasā yo'nupaśyati

As oil is in sesame seeds, butter in curd, water in hidden springs and fire in the fire-sticks, so the Self is found within oneself by the one who seeks Him with truth and tapas, austerity.

सर्वव्यापिनमात्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिरिवार्पितम् ।
आत्मविद्यातपोमूलं तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परं तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परमिति

sarvavyāpinamātmānaṃ kṣīre sarpirivārpitam |
ātmavidyātapomūlaṃ tadbrahmopaniṣatparaṃ tadbrahmopaniṣatparamiti

The Self pervades all, as butter lies hidden in milk. Its root is self-knowledge and tapas. That is Brahman, the highest teaching of the Upanishad. That is Brahman, the highest teaching.