|
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
Maitri Upanisad
Chapter Seven
9. Becoming Sukra, Brhaspati created this ignorance for the safety of Indra and the destruction of the demons. By it folk teach the auspicious (siva) as inauspicious and the inauspicious as auspicious: they say, ‘Let there be meditation on dharma which is destructive of the Vedas and the rest of the sciences.’ So one should not meditate on that. On the contrary, it is like a barren woman: pleasure is its only fruit, as it is of one who has fallen from the course. It is not to be undertaken. Someone has said:
‘These two are far apart, disparate,
Ignorance and what is called wisdom.
I think Naciketas is a seeker of wisdom:
Many desires do not distract you.
‘Whoever knows knowledge and ignorance-
Both of them, together-
By ignorance crosses over death
And by wisdom reaches immortality.
‘Entwined in the midst of ignorance,
Wise in their own view, thinking themselves learned,
The foolish rush about,
Like blind men led by one who is blind.
10. The gods and demons once approached Brahma seeking the self. They paid homage to him and said, ‘Blessed one, we seek the self: teach us.’
After meditating for a long time, he thought, ‘The demons seek for a different self.’ So a different one was taught to them. So these foolish ones live with great attachment, destroying their raft, praising falsehood: because of the conjuring, they see falsehood as truth. What is set out in the Vedasis truth. Those who know live by what is taught in the Vedas. Therefore a Brahmana should not meditate on what is not Vedic.
11. The very own form of the sky is the supreme brightness that exists within space. It is disposed in three forms: in fire, in the sun, and in the breath. The very own form of the sky that exists within space is the syllable, OM. So by OM one should worship the limitless brightness. By it one wakes up, rises up, and recovers one’s breath.
There is a constant support through meditation on Brahman. Here, in the stirring of breath, it has its place in the heat which scatters light. In a stirring like that of smoke, going up into the sky along a branch it moves from limb to limb. It is like the casting of salt in water, or the heat of ghee, or the range of the meditator. On this, folk say:
‘So why is called lightning-like?’ Because, even as it goes up, the whole body lights up. So by OM one should worship the limitless brightness.
The eye-person, who rests
N the right eye
Is Indra. His wife
Rests in the left eye.
Their meeting place
Is in the channel that enters the heart.
The clot of blood here
Is the energy of them both.
Reaching to the eye
And firmly set there
That vein is a stream for the two,
Single, while being double.
Mind strikes the fire of the body;
That sets in motion the wind;
But the wind, moving in the chest,
Produces a soft sound.
By joining with fire of the body;
That sets in motion the wind;
But the wind, moving in the chest,
Produces a soft sound.
By joining with fire from space, it is harnessed in the heart,
Subtler (anu) than an atom (anu): twice an atom in the region of the throat;
On the tip of the tongue know it to be three atoms’ size.
It comes forth as the alphabet they say.
Seeing, one does not see death,
Not disease, nor suffering:
Seeing, one sees everything,
Wins everything, everywhere.
The one with sight, the mover in dreams,
The deeply asleep, and the one who is beyond sleep-
These are the four division.
The greatest of them is the fourth.
In three of them, Brahman goes on one foot;
In the last, it goes on three feet.
In order to experience truth and falsehood,
The great self takes on duality.
OM. May my limbs, speech, breath, eye, ear, strength and all senses grow strong. Everything is the brahman of the Upanisads. May I not reject brahman. May Brahman not reject me. May there be no rejecting. May there be no rejecting of me. May all the dharmas which are in the Upanisads be in me, who delight in the self. May they be in me.
OM. Peace, peace, peace.
<< Back
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
