Select quotations from The Upanishads: A New Translation, Vol. 1-4
by Swami Nikhilananda
By means of thoughts, seeing, and passions, the jiva assumes successively, in various places, various forms in accordance with his deeds, just as the body grows when food and drink are poured into it. The jiva assumes many shapes, coarse or refined, in accordance with his virtue, and having himself caused his union with them, is seen as different beings, through the qualities of his acts and the qualities of his body. (Svetasvatara Up v. 10-12)
As the jiva does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good and by doing evil it becomes evil – it becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil acts. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV, iv, 5)
One becomes good through good work and evil through evil work. (Brihadaranyaka Upnishad, III, ii, 13)
All the good and evil that befall a man during one lifetime cannot be explained if we confine our attention to this life alone… A mortal ripens like corn, and like corn he springs up again…..Our present acts and thoughts are the result of our past and create our future. Man is the architect of his own fate and the builder of his own future destiny….As he accepts with serenity his present good or ill fortune, he can also look forward to the future with joy and courage. If present suffering is the result of past action, then, in order to avoid suffering in a future existence, a thoughtful man should desire to sin no more. (vol 1, 95).
The rishis of the Upanishads were not impressed by the theory of eternal retribution in heaven or hell. That theory reveals a total disproportion between cause and effect. Life on earth is short, exposed to error, and bristling with temptations. Many of our wrong actions are the result of faulty upbringing and environment. To inflict upon the soul eternal punishment for the errors of a few years, or even of a whole lifetime, is to throw to the winds all sense of proportion. It is also inconsistent with God’s love for His created beings…
When a man has fulfilled every desire through repeated births, without deriving abiding satisfaction, and finds the relative world to be bound by the law of cause and effect, he longs for communion with Brahman, which alone is untouched by the causal law…
Neither a god nor an animal reaps the fruits of action. Therefore they cannot be liberated unless they are born again in a human body…
In every birth a person may acquire a little more understanding and detachment and in the end attain perfect Knowledge and Freedom. This theory is in conformity with the law of cause and effect, which is the very basis of the physical universe…
Each man is born into a world that has been fashioned by himself. (vol 1, 96-98)
When all the desires that dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal becomes immortal and here attains Brahman. (Katha Upanishad II, ii, 14-15)
He who is the knower of Brahman becomes self-controlled, calm, withdrawn into himself, enduring, and concentrated, and sees the Self in his own body; he sees all as the Self. Evil does not overtake him, but he transcends all evil. Evil does not trouble him, but he consumes all evil. He becomes sinless, taintless, free from doubts, and a knower of Brahman. (Brihadaranyaka Upnishad, IV, iv, 23)
Brahman is non-dual and therefore free from fear. Wherever there is duality there is fear. (vol 1, 147)
The knower of Brahman is awakened from the dream of illusory individuality. (vol 1, 150)
[Developed knowledge of the world], in the end, creates dispassion for the world and spurs the seeker to the search for Brahman, the unchanging Reality. If a person is born with true dispassion for material objects, the Vedantic teachers explain it by saying that he must have acquired a thorough knowledge of the manifold universe in previous incarnations. The manifest Brahman, or the universe, is in reality non-different from Pure Consciousness. It is māyā that makes the apparent difference. (vol 1, 163).
The individual soul uses the body as its instrument to gain experiences, which ultimately lead to its emancipation. When it abandons the body, the latter disintegrates, like a city after the king has abandoned it. (vol 1, 171)
The wise man beholds all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings; for that reason he does not hate anyone. (Isha Upanishad, 6).
Childlike spontaneity is the natural state of the Supreme Self, characterized by absence of egotism and vanity. (vol. 2, p. 362).
This is the eternal glory of Brahman: It neither increases nor decreases through work. Therefore one should know the nature of That alone. Knowing It one is not touched by evil action.
Therefore he who knows It as such becomes self-controlled, calm, withdrawn into himself, patient, and collected; he sees the Self in his own self; he sees all as the Self. Evil does not overcome him, but he overcomes all evil. Evil does not afflict him, but he consumes all evil. He becomes sinless, taintless, free from doubts, and a true knower of Brahman. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, IV iv 23)
As a clod of earth is scattered when hitting stone, thus will he be scattered who wishes evil to one who knows this (the Supreme Self) or who injures him; for he is a solid stone (Chandogya Upanishad I, ii, 8).
Now, verily, a man consists of will. As he wills in this world, so does he become wen he has departed hence. Let him with this knowledge in mind form his will. (Chandogya Upanishad iii, xiv, 1 – The Sandilya Doctrine). [One should remember that what happens after death is determined by one’s will in one’s present life. Vol 4, p. 206]
He who consists of the mind, whose body is subtle, whose form is light, whose thoughts are true, whose nature is like ākāśa, whose creation is this universe, who cherishes all righteous desires, who contains all pleasant odors, who is endowed with all tastes, who embraces all this, who does not speak, and who is without longing-- He is my Self within the heart, smaller than a grain of rice, smaller than a grain of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a grain of millet; He is my Self within the heart, greater than the earth, greater than the mid-region, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds. (Chandogya Upanishad, III, xiv, 4 – The Sandilya Doctrine).
The Self, indeed is below. It is above. It is behind. It is before. It is to the south. It is to the north. The Self, indeed, is all this. Verily, he who sees this, reflects on this, and understands this delights in the Self, sports with the Self, rejoices in the Self, revels in the Self, Even while living in the body, he becomes a self-ruler. He wields unlimited freedom in all the worlds. (Chandogya Upanishad, VII, xxv, 2 – Instruction About the Infinite).
The knower of Truth does not see death or disease or sorrow. The knower of Truth sees everything and obtains everything everywhere…
When the food (anything that is taken in through the senses) is pure, the mind becomes pure. When the mind is pure the memory becomes firm. When the memory is firm all ties are loosened. (Chandogya Upanishad, VII, xxvi, 2 – Self Knowledge).
OM. There is in this city of Brahman an abode, the small lotus of the heart; within it is a small ākāśa. Now what exists within that small ākāśa, that is to be sought after, that is what one should desire to understand.(Chandogya, VIII, i, 1 – Brahman in the Heart)
As far as this great ākāśa extends, so far extends the ākāśa within the heart. Both heaven and earth are contained within it, both fire and air, both sun and moon, both lightning and stars; and whatever belongs to him (the embodied creature) in this world, and whatever does not, all that is contained within the ākāśa of the heart. (Chandogya Upanishad, VIII, i, 3).
Brahman is realized in the heart by those aspirants who have controlled their senses, are free from attachment to the external world, and are expert in meditation.
In the pure hear the yogi sees the clear reflection of Brahman, as one sees one’s own reflection of Brahman, as one sees one’s own reflection in a clean mirror or in water…When the heart becomes pure through spiritual discipline, one experiences there the presence of Brahman. (vol 4, p. 359-360)
All objects of desire exist in the self. But through ignorance people search for them in the outer world….they are attached to the world. This attachment befouls their minds and covers the truth.
Those of his fellows who belong to him here, and those who are dead and whatever else there is which he wishes for and does not obtain – he finds all that by going into his own Self. For there, indeed, lie those true desires of his, covered by what is false. As people who do not know the spot where a treasure of gold has been hidden somewhere in the earth, walk over it again and again without finding it, so all these creatures day after day go into the World of Brahman and yet do not find it, because they are carried away by untruth. (Chandogya Upanishad, III, i, 2)
Everyone, ignorant or illumined, enters into Brahman during deep sleep. Yet there is a difference. The knower of Brahman becomes aware, in deep sleep, of the fact that he has become Brahman, and experiences exceeding bliss, having rid himself of the pain or misery caused by the contact of the senses with their objects during the states of waking and dreaming. But the ignorant are not aware of their being united with Brahman in deep sleep. (vol 4, 366)