Translated by Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai Om ! O Devas, may we hear with our ears what is auspicious; May we see with our eyes what is auspicious, O ye worthy of worship ! May we enjoy the term of life allotted by the Devas, Praising them with our body and limbs steady ! May the glorious Indra bless us ! May the all-knowing Sun bless us ! May Garuda, the thunderbolt for evil, bless us ! May Brihaspati grant us well-being ! Om ! Let there be Peace in me ! Let there be Peace in my environment ! Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
I-1-2. The king of Yogins, Nidagha, prostrated flat (like a rod) before Ribhu, that preeminent knower of Brahman. Then, rising, that ascetic respectfully said, ‘Teach me the truth about the Self; by what kind of adoration have you, Oh Brahmana, attained this state ?
I-3-4. Teach me that grand science which yields sovereignty over the empire of emancipation. ‘You have done well, Nidagha ! Listen to the eternal science by the knowledge of which alone will you be liberated life. Lodged in Om that envelopes the Root of phenomena (Brahman), supporting the syllable ‘aim’,
I-5-7. ‘Eternal bliss, independent (‘hrim’), renowned, with streaming stresses (‘sauh’), the ruler of the world (‘srim’), Mahalakshmi, (at once) desire (‘klim’), fulfilment, and humanity, is the divine Annapurna. ‘I begged of Her, using the celebrated and quintessential incantation of 27 syllables, cultivated by hosts of female ascetics,
I-8. ‘Namely, aim, hrim, sauh, srim, klim, aum namo bhagavatyannapurne mamabhilashitam annam dehi Svaha. [Salutation, O divine Annapurna, vouchsafe the food I desire]: ‘Thus have I been instructed by my father. From then on have I established myself in (this) discipline, persisting in the activities of my station (in life) and have given myself up to the daily practice of this incantation.
I-9. ‘When many days passed thus, there appeared in front of me Annapurna, wide-eyed, her lotus-face beaming with a smile.
I-10. ‘Seeing her, I prostrated flat on the ground, and (then) stood up with folded hands. Well, child, you have done well; ask of me a boon, delay not.
I-11. Oh (Nidagha), best of sages ! Thus hidden by the wide-eyed (deity) I spoke: ‘O Daughter of the mountain, may the truth of the Self dawn on my mind’.
I-12. Saying ‘be it so’ she vanished, then and there. Then, through the perception of the world’s variety the idea (mati) arose in me.
I-13. Delusion appears five-fold; it will be presently set forth. Due to the first delusion, Jiva and God appear to have different forms.
I-14. Due to the second, the attribute of agency dwelling in the Self appears to be real. The third (consists in) deeming the Jiva associated with the three bodies as having attachment.
I-15. The fourth takes the world-cause (God) to be mutable. The fifth delusion ascribes reality to the world as distinguished from its cause. Then, also, in the mind flashes the cessation of the five-fold delusion.
I-16. From that moment, spontaneously, my mind was assimilated to Brahman. O Nidagha, thus may you, too, secure knowledge of reality.
I-17. With humility and respect (Nidagha spoke to Ribhu: impart to me, having faith (in you), the peerless science of Brahman.
I-18. Gratified, Ribhu said: ‘so be it’. I shall impart to you the knowledge of reality, O sinless one. Be a mighty agent, ardent enjoyer, and a great renouncer. Having this investigated your own real nature, be happy.
I-19. ‘I am Brahman, ever manifest, pure, first, endless; there is no room for the slightest dallying with aught else’ – thus think, having become blemishless; achieve Nirvana (permanent peace) having purified and quietened all movements of the mind.
I-20. Know that none of the things seen here is there; it is all like ‘the city in the sky’ and ‘water in the desert’.
I-21. On the other hand, what is nowhere seen, at all, is not given (as an object); beyond the range of the sixth sense, mind, O sage -- assimilate yourself to That.
I-22. Grasp: I am That which is the indestructible, infinite, Spirit, the Self of everything, integral, replete, abundant and partless.
I-23. Due to the absolute contemplation of absence (or nihil), when the mind dwindles, there results the state of the being-in-general (satta-samanya), of that whose essence is unqualified consciousness.
I-24. Surely, devoid of all objective tinge, when consciousness (chit) subsides, there supervenes the exceedingly transparent being-in-general that resembles non-being.
I-25. For the liberated Self, both embodied and disembodied, surely there occurs this ultimate perception known as the state-beyond-the fourth.
I-26. O sinless one, this occurs in the case of the knower both when he has risen from Concentration (Samadhi) and when he is established in it; being born of awareness, this does not happen for the ignorant alone.
I-27. All waverings between states of reasoning, etc., having vanished long since, his face steeped in the lovely light of Brahmic bliss, (the sage) attains the blessed state through right knowledge alone.
I-28. The inner cool (calm repose) of him who perceives this multitude of gunas as non- Self is said to be Concentration.
I-29. The steady mind is empty of latent impulses; the same is (the state of) contemplation. The same also is Aloneness. Besides, it is nothing but perpetual quiescence.
I-30. The mind with attenuated latent impulses is said to be bound for the highest state. Next, the mind, without such impulses, attains the status of the non-doer.
I-31. On the other hand, the mind’s imagination of being the doer is replete with latent impulses; it causes all sufferings; therefore attenuated latent impulses.
I-32. When the imagination of unity with all objects is mentally discarded, due to its constant introverted state, all things are resolved into empty space.
I-33. As crowds in a market, though active, are as good as non-existent (to the observer) when he is not related (to them), so too, to the knower is a village like unto a forest.
I-34. Being inwardly withdrawn, the knower, either asleep, awake, walking or reading, beholds a city, country-side, or village as if it were no other than a forest (i.e. with total disinterestedness).
I-35. Once the inner cool is won, the world is cool. To those scorched by the inner thirst, the world is afire.
I-36. For all (unliberated) beings what is within is projected externally.
I-37. But the lover of the inner Self, though operating through the organs of action, is unaffected by joy and sorrow; he is said to be concentrated.
I-38. He who, as a matter of course and not through fear, beholds all beings as one’s own Self and others’ possessions as clods of earth, alone sees aright.
I-39. Let death come now or at the end of cycles; he remains unblemished as gold (fallen) in mire.
I-40. Consider in your mind: who am I ? How is all this (brought about) ? How do death and birth (happen) ? Thus (considering) will you earn the great benefit (of investigation).
I-41. Your mind will shed its (discursive) form and quietly win repose, once, through investigation, you comprehend your real nature.
I-42. O Brahmin, your mind, cured of its feverishness, no more sinks in empirical activities, as an elephant does not, in the hollow made by a cow’s hoof.
I-43. But a petty mind, O Brahmin, does sink in any petty affair, just as a battered mosquito does, in the water collected in the hollow made by a cow’s hoof.
I-44. O best of ascetics, to the extent all objects are readily renounced, the supreme Self, the transcendent light, alone remains.
I-45. So long as all objects are not renounced, the Self is not won. What remains after the renunciation of the entire objective manifold is said to be the Self.
I-46. Therefore, in order to realize the Self, renounce everything. Having cast off all (objects), assimilate yourself to that which remains.
I-47. Whatever object is beheld in the world around is but the vibration of Consciousness, it is nothing permanent.
I-48. O Brahmin, by the term Samadhi (Concentration) the wise denote transcendent understanding that is concentrated, eternally appeased, and is cognisant of things as they are.
I-49. The term Concentration denotes the stable, mountain-like, status (of the self) that is unagitated, unegoistic, and unrelated to dualities.
I-50. O Brahmin, it denotes the perfected flow of the mind that is sure, choiceless and goalless.
I-51. The best of the knowers of the Vedas, the great ones, win that fourth and stable perception that is fashioned solely through a part of the light of the Spirit.
I-52. (It is) lodged in the heart of all things and not altogether unlike dreamless slumber, when the mind and the ego subside.
I-53. After liquidating the mind with the mind, that state – that supremely divine blissbody – is automatically won.
I-54. Thence follows the obliteration of all cravings for objects; then dawns the auspicious and superbly splendid light, and then, in the case of the very best, due to the sway of even-mindness (takes place) the ineffable transformation into the Self’s substance.
I-55. Directly experienced indeed as the God of gods and Self of all entities, moving and stationary is this total and infinite reality of the Self, dwelling in the fast-evolving mind that is quietened externally.
I-56. The unattached, steady, and controlled mind is not in evidence in the worldings; the attached mind, though subjected to long-drawn austerities is, as it were, altogether bound.
I-57. The man free from inner clingings, whose mind dwells on the blissful (Brahman) may or may not act externally; never can he be either agent or experiencer.
II-1. Nidagha: What is attachment like ? What kind of it leads to human bondage ? And what kind of it is said to liberate ? How is this (attachment) cured ?
II-2. (Ribhu): Imagination, ignoring wholly the distinction between the body and the embodied (Self) – the exclusive faith in the body – is the attachment that is said to bind.
II-3. All this is Self: what shall I seek here and what avoid ? Know this to be the position of non-attachment that the Jivanmukta fosters.
II-4. I am not; none, other than me, is; neither this nor the non-other exists. This (attitude) is said to be non-attachment, always maintaining, ‘I am Brahman’.
II-5. He does not approve of inactivity; neither does he cling to activities. He, the renouncer, is the superbly equable (in outlook); he is said to be the non-attached.
II-6. One who mentally, and not in the concrete act alone, renounces fruits, etc., of all his activities – that adept is said to be non-attached.
II-7. Imaginations and the manifold activities issuing (therefrom) are cured, here, by nonindulgence in imagination; thus promote well-being.
II-8-9. The mind that clings not to acts, thoughts, and things, to wanderings and reckonings of time, but reposes in Consciousness alone, finding no delight anywhere, even when turned toward some objects, revels in the Self.
II-10. Let him perform or not all this empirical activity; doing or non-doing, his true occupation is Self-delight.
II-11. Or, giving up even that objective element, as stabilised Consciousness, the tranquillised Jiva abides in the Self like a radiant gem.
II-12. The quiescent state of the attenuated mind, free from all objective reference, is said to be the deep sleep in wakefulness.
II-13. This state of slumber, O Nidagha, fully developed through practice, is styled the Fourth by the best knowers of Truth.
II-14. Having attained the indestructible status in this fourth stage, one reaches a nonblissful poise (as it were), its nature being invariably delightful.
II-15. Thence lifted above all relativities, like non-bliss and great bliss, the time-less Yogin, reaching the state beyond the fourth, is said to be liberated.
II-16. With all bonds of birth loosened, and all Tamasic conceits dissolved, the great sage (abides) as the blissful being of the supreme Self like a salt-crystal in water.
II-17. That which is the trans-empirical and experiential reality, present in the (contrasted) perceptions of the material and the conscious, is the essence; Brahman is said to be that.
II-18(a). Bondage is encompassed by the object; on release from this, liberation is said to supervene.
II-18(b)-19. Resting in that unvexed experience, discriminated in the link between the substance and perception, abide you; thus one attains the (peace) of deep sleep. That develops into the Fourth; station your gaze on That.
II-20. The Self is neither gross nor subtle; neither manifest nor hidden; neither spiritual nor material; neither non-being nor being.
II-21. That non-dual indestructible one which has become the object, the ground of mind and all sense-organs, is neither ‘I’ nor another; neither one nor many.
II-22. That real joy (experienced) in the relation between the object and perception is the transcendental state; therefore it is, as it were, nothing (in itself).
II-23. Liberation is not on the top of the sky; not in the nether world; not on the earth. The dwindling of mind in which all desires dry up is held to be liberation.
II-24. With the thought, within, ‘let me have liberation’ the mind springs up; this worldly bondage is firm in the mind agitated with thought.
II-25. The mere non-cleansing of the mind reduces it to a state of prodigious transmigration; its cleansing alone, on the other hand, is said to be liberation.
II-26. What is bondage and what is liberation in respect of the Self that transcends all things or that pervades all forms ? Think freely.
II-27. Loving the Spirit, lifted above all hopes, full, holy in mind, having won the incomparable state of repose, he seeks nothing here.
II-28. He is called the Jivanmukta (Liberated in life) who lives, unattached, in the pure Being that sustains all, the indubitable Spirit that is the Self.
II-29. He craves not for what is yet to be; he does not bank on the present; he remembers not the past; yet he does all work.
II-30. Ever unattached to those who cling to him; devoted to the devotees; he is harsh, as it were, to the harsh.
II-31. A child amidst children; adult amidst adults; bold amidst the bold; a youth amidst the youthful; lamenting amidst those who lament;
II-32. Steadfast, blissful, polished, of holy speech, wise, simple and sweet; never given to self-pity;
II-33. Through discipline, when the throb of vital breaths ceases, the mind is wholly dissolved; the impersonal bliss (Nirvana) remains;
II-34. Whence all discursive speech turns back. With the obliteration of all of one’s mental constructions that (Brahmic) status abides.
II-35. Here is the supreme Self whose essence is the light of Consciousness without beginning or end; the wise hold this luminous certitude to be the right knowledge.
II-36. The plenitude due to the knowledge ‘all the world is Self alone’ is the right measure of Self-realization everywhere in the world.
II-37. All is Self alone; what are the (empirical) states being and non-being ? Where have they fled ? Where are those notions of bondage and liberation ? What stands out is Brahman alone.
II-38. All is the one supreme Sky. What is liberation ? What is bondage ? This is the great Brahman, established mightily, with extended form; duality has vanished far from It; be you, yourself, the Self alone.
II-39. When the form of a stock, stone and cloth is seen aright, there is not even a shadow of difference; bent on imagination (of differences) where are you ?
II-40. This imperishable and tranquil essence, (present) at the beginning and end of things and yourself, always be That.
II-41. With mental distinctions of duality and non-duality and delusions of old age and death, the Self alone shines in its phases (atmabhih) just as the sea, in its (phases of) waves.
II-42. What enjoyment of the desired (fruits) can disturb him, who dwells steadfast, ever wedded, in thought, to the pure Self that fells the tree of dangers, to the status of bliss supreme ?
II-43. Mental enjoyments are the foes of one who has thought extensively; they move him not in the least just as gentle breezes move not a hill at all.
II-44. ‘Plurality exists in diverse imaginings, not really, within; just as there is nothing but water in a lake’ – a man filled with this one certitude is said to be liberated; he who has perceived the Real.
III-1. (Nidagha): What is the nature of liberation without the body ? Who is the great sage in possession of it ? Resorting to which Yoga has he achieved that supreme status ?
III-2. Ribhu: In the region of Sumeru the celebrated sage Mandavya resorting to Truth (imparted by) Kaundinya became liberated in life.
III-3. Having attained the status of Jivanmukti, that foremost knower of Brahman, that great sage, made up his mind, once upon a time, to withdraw all his sense-organs (from their respective objects).
III-4. He sat in the lotus-posture, with eyes half-closed, slowly avoiding contacts (with objects), external and internal.
III-5. Then he, with his sinless mind, (reflected on) the (degree of) steadiness of his mind: ‘clearly, though withdrawn, this mind of mine is extremely restless’.
III-6. It wanders from a cloth to a pot and thence to a big cart. The mind wanders among objects as a monkey does from tree to tree.
III-7. The five openings, eyes and so forth, known as the sense organs of cognition, I am watching carefully with my mind.
III-8. O you sense-organs ! Slowly give up your mood of agitation. Here I am, the divine spiritual Self, the witness of all.
III-9. With that all-knowing Self, I have comprehended (the nature of) eyes, etc. I am completely secure and at peace. Luckily I am fearless.
III-10. Incessantly I rest in my Self, the Fourth; my vital breaths, its extensions, have all, in due order, subsided within.
III-11. (I am) as a fire with its multitudinous flames, when the fuel has been consumed; it blazed forth but now is extinguished – the blazing fire has, indeed, been extinguished.
III-12. Having been purified utterly, I remain equable, enjoying all alike, as it were. I am awake though in deep sleep; though in deep sleep, I am awake.
III-13-14. Resorting to the Fourth, I remain within the body with a stable status, having abandoned, together with the long thread of sound reaching upto OM, objects in all the three worlds fashioned by imagination.
III-15. As a bird, for flying in the sky, leaves the net (in which it was enmeshed), the great sage sheds (his) identification with the sense-organs; then (he sheds) his awareness of limbs which has become illusory.
III-16. He has won the knowledge of a new-born infant; as if the air should give up its power to vibrate, he has terminated the proneness of consciousness to attach itself to objects.
III-17. Then, attaining the unqualified state of Consciousness – the state of pure Being – resorting, (as it were), to the state of dreamless slumber, he has stayed immovable like a mountain.
III-18. Winning the stability of dreamless sleep he has attained the Fourth; though gone beyond bliss, (he is) still blissful; he has become both being and non-being.
III-19. Then he becomes that which is beyond even the range of words which is the nihil of the nihilist and Brahman of the knowers of Brahman;
III-20. Which is the pure blemishless cognition of the knowers of cognition, the Purusha of the Sankhyas and Ishvara of the Yogins;
III-21. The Shiva of the Shivagamas; the Time of those who affirm Time alone (as the basic principle); the final doctrine of all Shastras, and what conforms to every heart;
III-22. Which is the All, the all-pervading Reality, the Truth. He has become That, the unuttered, the moveless, the illuminator even of lights;
III-23. The Principle whose sole proof is one’s experience of It – he has remained as That.
III-24. That which is unborn, deathless, beginningless and the First immaculate state, whole and impartite – he has remained as That; a state subtler than that of the sky. In a moment, he has become the hallowed God.
V-1. Has the Jivanmukta characteristics like the power to fly in space, etc., ? If so, great sage, it is not present in the perfected man (described above).
IV-2. O Brahmin, a non-knower of the Self, still in bondage, achieves (the powers) to fly in space, etc., by virtue of (specific) substances, incantations, practices and potencies of time.
IV-3. This is not the concern of the Self-knower. One having contentment in one’s Self never hankers after (the phenomena of) nescience.
IV-4. Whatever objects are present in the world are (held to be) of the stuff of nescience. How can the great Yogin, who has dispelled nescience, plunge into them ?
IV-5. Whichever confounded person or man of little understanding desires the group of Yogic powers achieves them, one by one, through set practices, instrumental to them.
IV-6. Substances, incantations, actions applied at (the right) time, yield Yogic powers all right. None of them lifts man to the status of God.
IV-7. Only influenced by some desire does man work for miraculous powers. The perfect man, seeking nothing, can have no desire whatsoever.
IV-8. When all desires dry up, O sage, the Self is won. How can the mindless (sage) desire miraculous powers ?
IV-9. The man liberated in life would feel no surprise were the sun to radiate cool light, the moon scorching rays or the fire to blaze downwards.
IV-10. (The whole world) is superimposed on the supreme Reality, the Ground, as the snake is on the rope. No curiosity is aroused as regards these superimposed wonders.
IV-11. Those indeed who have known what is to be known and shed all attachments, whose intellect is great, the knots of whose hearts have been cut, are free, though living in the body.
IV-12. Dead is his mind who is unmoved in joy and sorrow, and whom nothing jerks out of equality, even as breaths stir not a mighty mountain.
IV-13. Dead is the mind of one who is undisturbed by danger, resourcelessness, energy, hilarity, dullness, or great rejoicing.
IV-14. The destruction of mind is twofold, determinate and indeterminate. In (the state of) liberation in life it is determinate; in that of disembodied liberation it is indeterminate.
IV-15. The presence of mind makes for sorrow; its destruction promotes joy. Attenuate the existent mind and bring about its destruction.
IV-16. The nature of mind, know, is folly, O sinless one ! When that perishes one’s real essence, mindlessness, is (won).
IV-17. The mind of one liberated in life, having qualities like friendliness, etc., is rich in noble impulses; it is never reborn.
IV-18. This ‘destruction’ of the Jivanmukta’s mind is determinate; Nidagha, with disembodied liberation comes indeterminate destruction.
IV-19. One liberated in disembodiment is he who realizes the partless Self; his mind, the abode of all excellent qualities as it was, is dissolved.
IV-20-21. In that supremely holy, blemishless status of disembodied liberation, marked by ‘mindlessness’, in that state of indeterminate destruction of the mind, just nothing remains, neither qualities nor their absence; neither glory nor its absence; nothing (whatsoever) of the world;
IV-22. Neither sunrise nor sunset; neither sensations of joy or anger; neither light nor darkness; neither twilight, day nor night; neither being, non-being, nor centrality marks the status (of disembodied liberation).
IV-23. The spacious status of those (who are liberated in disembodiment), who have gone beyond intellect and the pomp of worldly life, is like the sky, the abode of the winds.
IV-24. The great (Jivanmuktas) whose bodies are the subtle ether become disembodied there (in the state of disembodied liberation); all their sufferings are cured; they are immaterial; totally quiescent, immobilized in bliss, beyond Rajas and Tamas. In that state dissolve the remnants of their mind.
IV-25. O great sage, Nidagha, rid your mind of all latent tendencies; concentrate your mind forcefully, and go beyond all mental constructions.
IV-26. That eternally self-shining Light, illuminating the world, is alone the witness of this world, the Self of all, the pure One.
IV-27. As massed Intelligence It is the ground of all beings. That non-dual Brahman characterised by truth, knowledge, and bliss is the object of knowledge.
IV-28-29. The sage fulfils his duty with the realization, ‘I am the one Brahman’; (Brahman is) the ground of all, non-dual, supreme, eternal, of the essence of being, intelligence, and bliss, beyond the range of word and mind.
IV-30. There shine not the forms of the moon and the sun; the winds blow not; and none of the gods (are there). This divinity alone shines forth as being, pure by itself, free from rajas.
IV-31. The knot of the heart is split; all doubts are cut asunder. All his actions dwindle when He, who is both here and beyond, is seen.
IV-32. In this body are the birds, called the Jiva and the Lord, dwelling together. Of them the Jiva eats the fruit of action, not the great Lord.
IV-33. Alone as the Witness, without participation, the great Lord shines by Himself. Through Maya is set up the difference between them. Spirit is other than Its form; as It does not dwindle, the Spirit is non-different (from all objects).
IV-34. As the unity of the Spirit is established through reasoning and means of right knowledge, once that unity is comprehensively known, one no more sorrows; nor is one deluded.
IV-35. Having the certain knowledge, ‘I am the ground of the whole world, solid Truth and Knowledge’, the sage may dispel (all) sorrow.
IV-36. Those whose flaws have (all) been attenuated realize in their own bodies the Witness of all, whose essence is self-luminous Being; not those others who are encompassed by Maya.
IV-37. Knowing Him alone, let the intelligent Brahmana build up wisdom; let him not dwell on a multitude of words that only makes for verbal weariness.
IV-38. Having mastered the knowledge of Brahman let him live in childlikeness alone. Having mastered both Brahman-knowledge and childlikeness, the sage possesses the Self.
IV-39. Know the elemental body as the seed of the creeper of samsara (the transmigratory life) with its immense sprouts, good and evil, having their potencies latent (in the body).
IV-40. Of this body, the seed is the mind conforming to cravings; it is a sheath of active and quiescent moods, a casket holding the gem of pain.
IV-41. The tree of the mind has two seeds; one is the vibration of the vital breath; the other, obstinate imagination.
IV-42. When the vital breath, aroused by nervous contacts, vibrates, at once the mind is transformed into a mass of sensations.
IV-43. That all-pervading awareness is aroused by the vibration of the vital breath. It is better to suppress the awareness (of objects); less harmful is the vibration of the vital breath, etc.
IV-44. For mental peace, the Yogins suppress vital breaths through breath-control, meditation and practices dictated by reasoning.
IV-45. Know the supreme cause yielding the fruit of mental peace: (namely) the joyful Self-abidance of cognition that is known as breath-control.
IV-46. Latent impression is said to consist in the seizing of an object (by the force of) entrenched imagination, despite all considerations of cause and effect.
IV-47. Rejecting everything and imagining nothing, either to be chosen or rejected, the mind remains (in itself); now is the mind unborn.
IV-48. Being continuously free from latent impressions, when the mind ceases to ponder there arises mindlessness that yields supreme tranquillity.
IV-49. When no aspect of objects in the world is imagined how can the mind be born in the empty sky of the heart ?
IV-50. The conception of a thing’s absence is based on its non-being; mindlessness is posited with reference to the object-as-such.
IV-51. The mind abiding coolly in itself, after the inner rejection (of all objects), though in modifications, is (still) held to have the form of non-being.
IV-52. They indeed are deemed liberated in life whose latent, unenjoyed, impressions are like the fried seeds, incapable of sprouting any more.
IV-53. Their minds have acquired the form of Sattva; they have gone beyond the farther shore of knowledge; they are said to be mindless. With the fall of their bodies they become sky-like.
IV-54. Due to rejection of objects, both the vibrations of vital breaths and latent impressions swiftly perish as does a tree whose root is cut off.
IV-55. In this state of cognition, whatever appears either as experienced before or as altogether new, must be meticulously wiped out by every one whose knowledge is sound.
IV-56. The vast transmigratory life is (due to) the failure to obliterate them; on the contrary, liberation is held to be just their obliteration.
IV-57. Be immaterial (spiritual), rejecting all pleasures and cognitions.
IV-58. Knowledge depends on the states of objects; one having no knowledge is noncognitive, though he performs a hundred actions; he is held to be non-inert.
IV-59. He is said to be liberated in life, the clear sphere of whose emotions is not in the least affected by objects; his knowledge is spiritual.
IV-60. Due to the absence of latent impressions in the mind when nothing is imagined, it remains steady with cognitions similar to those of children and the dumb.
IV-61. Now the sage is no longer affected; for he resorts to the vast intelligent nonknowing (in the objective mode).
IV-62. Through the concentration of modelessness, rejecting all latent impressions, he becomes one with it; in the Infinite even that is dissolved.
IV-63. Though standing, walking, touching, smelling, the intelligent sage, devoid of all clingings, gets rid of (fluctuating) pleasures, and the cognitions (of the particulars); he is at peace.
IV-64. A shoreless ocean of excellences, he crosses the sea of sufferings, because he resorts to this vision even in the midst of vexed activities.
IV-65. Devoid of all particular the stainless, pure Being is one vast essence – That is held to be the abode of (immutable) existence.
IV-66. Rejecting distinctions like the being of time, the being of instants, the being of entities, be solely devoted to pure Being.
IV-67. Contemplating but one unqualified universal Being, be omnipresent, full, supremely blissful, filling up all space.
IV-68. The pristine inconceivable Status, without beginning and end, that remains at the fringe of universal Being, is causeless.
IV-69. Cognitions dissolve there. It remains beyond the possibility of doubts. A man who reaches That returns to pains no more.
IV-70. It is the cause of all beings; itself has no cause. It is the quintessence of all essences; nothing is more quintessential that It.
IV-71. In that vast mirror of Intelligence, all these perceptions of objects are reflected as the trees on the bank are reflected in the lake.
IV-72. That is the pure unobscured Truth of the Self; when that is known the mind is tranquillised. Having, through knowledge, won Its essence you become truly free from the fear of samsara.
IV-73. By the application of the remedies mentioned by me for the causes of suffering, that (supreme) status is attained.
IV-74-75. O knower of Truth ! If by manly endeavour you forcefully eschew latent impressions and establish yourself, all alone, in that indestructible status, even for a moment, at the very summit of universal being, well, at this very moment you achieve it all right;
IV-76. Or, if you sedulously cultivate the status of universal being, that status you will attain with somewhat greater effort.
IV-77. Nidagha, if you stay meditating on the principle of cognition, through (still) greater effort you will win that exalted status.
IV-78. Or, sir, if you strive to shed latent impressions (know) that till the mind is dissolved, the latent impressions, too, are not attenuated.
IV-79. As long as the latent impressions are not attenuated, the mind is not tranquillised; as long as the knowledge of truth is not won, whence can come mental tranquillity ?
IV-80. As long as the mind is not tranquil, Truth cannot be known; so long as the knowledge of Truth is not won whence can mental tranquillity come ?
IV-81-82. Knowledge of Truth, mind’s destruction, attenuation of latent impressions – (these) mutually cause one another; they are indeed hard to accomplish. Therefore, flinging far from you the desire for enjoyment, cultivate this triad.
IV-83. High-souled one ! Sought for long and simultaneously, the attenuation of latent impressions, knowledge (of Truth), and the destruction of the mind are held to prove effective.
IV-84. By means of these three, cultivated aright, the tough knots of the heart are shattered without residue as are their threads when the lotus stalks are crushed.
IV-85. Truth-knowers know that breath-control corresponds to the eschewal of latent impressions; therefore, also, practise this latter too, by breath control.
IV-86. By eschewing latent impressions the mind ceases to be; also by obstructing the
vibrations of the vital breath (it does so); do (the one or the other) as you choose.
IV-87. By the steady practice of breath-control, the exercise of reasoning taught by the teacher, the practice of Yogic postures and the regulation of diet, the vibration of breath is obstructed.
IV-88. Through behaviour without attachment, avoidance of contemplation of birth (and empirical life) and the perception of the decline of the body, latent impressions cease to operate.
IV-89. The vibration of the vital breath is indeed the same as mind’s vibration. The intelligent man should strive hard to conquer vibrations of the vital breath.
IV-90. Without sound reasoning it is impossible to conquer the mind. Resorting to pure cognition and rejecting attachment, be steady.
IV-91. O great-souled one ! Abide solely in the heart, contemplating without conceptions the pristine, single, matchless and indubitable status of cognition without objects; but perform action, having achieved the status of inactivity in the blaze of tranquil glory.
IV-92. The man who, through ratiocination, in however small a measure, has slain his mind has achieved the object of his life.
V-1. He is said to be dead whose mind is not given over to investigation when he walks or stands; when he is awake or sleep.
V-2. Know the Spirit-in-Itself to be of the nature of the light of right knowledge. It is fearless; neither subjugated nor depressed.
V-3. The knower digests (whatever) food he eats – (whether it is) impure, unwholesome, defiled through contact with poison, well-cooked or stale, as though it were ‘sweet’ (i.e. a hearty meal).
V-4. The (wise) know liberation to be the renunciation of (all) attachment: non-birth results from it. Give up attachment to objects; be liberated in life, O sinless one !
V-5. Attachment is held to be the impure impressions causing reactions like joy and indignation when the objects sought after are present or absent.
V-6. Pure is the impression latent in the bodies of the liberated in life which does not lead to rebirth and is untainted by elation or depression.
V-7. O Nidagha ! Pains do not depress you; joys do not elate you; abandoning servitude to desires, be unattached.
V-8. ‘Undetermined by space and time, beyond the purview of ‘is’ and ‘is not’, there is but Brahman, the pure indestructible Spirit, quiescent and one; there is nothing else’.
V-9. Thus thinking, with a body at once present and absent, be (liberated), the silent man, uniform, with quiescent mind delighting in the Self.
V-10. There is neither mind -stuff nor mind; neither nescience nor Jiva. Manifest is the one Brahman alone, like the sea, without beginning or end.
V-11. The illusory perception of mind, etc., continues as long as the I-sense is bound up with the body, objects are mistaken for the Self, and the sense of possession, expressed as ‘this is mine’, persists.
V-12. Sage ! Illusory perceptions of mind, etc., vanish for one who, through introversion, internally burns up, in the fire of the Spirit, the dry grass that is this three-fold world.
V-13. I am the Self that is the Spirit; I am impartite. I have neither cause not effect. Remember your vast (infinite) form; through memory, do not be finitized.
V-14. By means of the mantra (incantation) of the spiritual science, contemplated within, the deadly disease of craving dwindles as does mist in autumn.
V-15. (The sages) hold that the best (form of) renunciation, namely that of latent impressions, by virtue of knowledge, is the status of Aloneness, as it is pure universal Being.
V-16. Where latent impressions remain in solution there is ‘deep sleep’; it does not make for perfection. Where the impressions are seedless, there is ‘the Fourth’ that yields perfection.
V-17. Even a very small residue of latent impressions, of fire, debt, disease and adversaries, of attachment, enmity and poison affects one adversely.
V-18. With the seeds of latent impressions consumed, and conformed to universal Being, with or without a body, one no more partakes of sufferings.
V-19. The decision, ‘This is not Brahman’, is the sum total of nescience, whose extinction consists in (the opposite) decision, ‘this is Brahman’.
V-20. Brahman is Spirit, Brahman is the world. Brahman is the congregation of beings, Brahman is myself, Brahman is the adversary of the Spirit, Brahman is the allies and friends of the Spirit.
V-21. Once it is realized that Brahman is all, man is Brahman indeed ! One experiences the omnipresent Spirit that is peace.
V-22. When the mind, the guide of unregenerate senses, ceases to operate in regard to the alien, the immaculate, all-pervading awareness (that remains), the Brahman-Intelligence, am I.
V-23. Resort to that intelligent Self, having discarded all speculations, all curiosity, all vehemence of feelings.
V-24. Thus intelligent beings, with full knowledge, equanimous, with minds rid of all attachment, neither applaud nor condemn either life or death.
V-25-26. O Brahmin, the vital breath has the ceaseless power of vibration; it always moves. In this body with its ins and outs, this up going vital breath is placed above; the down breath too is similar; only it is stationed below.
V-27. That best breath control that operates in the expert, whether awake or asleep – listen to (an account of) that for better being.
V-28. Puraka is the contact of the body with the up-breaths that move forwards (from the nostrils) through the space of twelve finger-breadths.
V-29. Apana (the down-breath) is the moon that keeps the body in well-being, O welldisciplined sage ! The up-breath is the sun or the fire which internally warms the body.
V-30. Resort to the spiritual identity of the down-and-up breaths that dwells near the point where the up-breath dwindles and the down-breath rises.
V-31. Resort to that spiritual, impartite Principle when the down-breath has set and, for a moment, the up-breath has not yet arisen.
V-32. Resort to that spiritual impartite Principle, at the tip of the nose where the breaths revolve, before the down-breath sets while the up-breath has done so.
V-33. These three worlds are only an appearance, neither existent nor non-existent; (the consequent) renunciation of all concern with an other, the wise maintain, is right knowledge.
V-34. Noble Brahmin ! Even this appearance is distorted by the mirror of the mind. Therefore, giving up that, too, be rid of all appearances.
V-35. Uprooting this fearful demon of the mind, detrimental to the essence of steadiness, remain what you are; be steadfast.
V-36. The Spirit that is beyond cause and effect and is likened to the (boundless) sky is incapable of confrontation by any (real) object; it remains at the end of all mental processes.
V-37. The satisfaction (felt) at the moment of desire is caused by that very desire. This satisfaction lasts only till discontent (sets in); therefore, reject desire.
V-38. Reduce desire to desirelessness; let conceptions cease; let mind grow into mindlessness in the process of your life without attachment.
V-39. Acting through sense organs, free from (the force) of latent impulses, like the sky, you would not alter though there be a thousand disturbances.
V-40. Due to the activity and the inactivity of the mind does empirical life start and subside. Through the suppression of latent impulses and the vital breath, reduce the mind to inactivity.
V-41. Due to the activity and inactivity of the vital breaths does empirical life start and subside. Through drill and application, reduce it to inactivity.
V-42. Due to the active and passive phases of ignorance do activities get started and cease. Dissolve it (ignorance) forcefully by winning a teacher and the instructions of the Shastras.
V-43. By a mere quiver of the non-objective knowledge or by the suppression of vital breaths is mind reduced to mindlessness; that is the supreme status.
V-44. Through the perception of Brahman, infallibly directed to it (bliss), behold that real bliss occasioned by the visioning of the knowable (as Brahman).
V-45. That indeed is the non-factitious bliss which the mind does not reach; it is free from decline and growth; it neither rises nor sets.
V-46. The mind of the knower is not called mind; mind indeed is the Truth of Spirit. Therefore, in the Fourth state, it transcends that state.
V-47. Having renounced all mental constructions, equable, and with a quiescent mind, be a sage, wedded to the Yoga of renunciation, possessing both knowledge and freedom.
V-48. The supreme Brahman is that which conforms to no act of mentation. (It is what remains) when mental activities completely die down and all masses of latent impulses have been liquidated.
V-49. By securing right knowledge, and by unremitting concentration, those who become enlightened in the wisdom of the Upanishads are the Sankhyas and the others are the Yogins.
V-50. Those are the Yogins, versed in Yoga, who, after the quiescence of the breaths through ascetic practices, achieve the status above sufferings, beginningless and endless.
V-51. What is required to be won by all is the uncaused and still status; the contemplation of the one changeless Real, the control of breaths, the dwindling of the mind.
V-52. When one of them is perfected, it helps perfect the others (also). The vital breaths and mind of living beings are all concomitant.
V-53. Like the container and the content they perish when only one is present. Through self-destruction they produce that best of products, namely, liberation.
V-54. If, remaining steady, you reject all this by understanding, then, on the cessation of the I-sense, you yourself are the supreme Status.
V-55. There is but one great Spirit, which is called the Being; it is flawless, even, pure, free from the I-sense.
V-56. It shines forth but once, the pure, the ever risen, the same. It is described by many names, as Brahman, the supreme Self, etc.
V-57. O Nidagha, knowing for creation ‘I am That’, having done what had to be accomplished, I never think of the past or the future.
V-58. I cling wholly to the vision that is present here (and now). ‘This have I won today; I shall achieve this beautiful’ (thing).
V-59. I laud not; neither do I condemn. Nothing other than the self is anywhere. The gaining of the good does not gladden me; evil betiding me does not sadden me.
V-60. Sage, the waverings of my mind have been totally stilled; it is rod of all sorrow. It is cured of all wantings. It is tranquil. Therefore I am hale, and untrammelled.
V-61. ‘This is a friend; that is a foe; this is mind; that is a stranger’ – this sort of knowledge does not occur to me, O Brahmin; no affection touches me.
V-62. Rid of all latent impressions, the mind is liberated from old age and death. Mind with latent impressions inherent in it is knowledge. What is to be known is the mind rid of all latent impressions.
V-63. When the mind is rejected, this duality on all sides is dissolved; but remains the tranquil supreme One, pure and untrammelled.
V-64. The endless, unborn, unmanifest, unageing, tranquil, unlapsing, non-dual, beginningless and endless which (nevertheless) is the first Apprehension.
V-65. One, devoid of beginning and end, wholly spirit, pure, pervasive, subtler far than the sky; thou art that Brahman indubitably.
V-66. Undetermined by space, time, etc.; superlatively pure, ever arisen, omnipresent, this one End is all-in-all; be thou that pure Spirit.
V-67. ‘All is this tranquil one, devoid of beginning, middle and end. All is unborn, both Being and non-being' – so thinking, be happy.
V-68. I am not bound nor liberated. I am indeed the untrammelled Brahman. I am free from duality. I am being, Intelligence, bliss.
V-69. Keeping far away the entire multitude of objects, be you ever devoted to the Self, your mind all cooled.
V-70. ‘This is fine; this is not ! -- such (feeling) is the seed of your extended sorrow. When that is burned in the fire of impartiality, where is the occasion for sorrow ?
V-71. First augment wisdom by means of familiarity with the Shastras and by seeking the company of the holy.
V-72. The true, real and ultimate Brahman, superlatively pure, eternal, without beginning and end, is the cure for all forms of transmigratory life.
V-73. So also is It neither coarse nor spaced; neither tangible nor visible; It is tasteless and scentless; unknowable and peerless.
V-74. Well disciplined (sage) ! For achieving liberation, one should meditate on the bodiless Self that is Brahman - Being consciousness and Bliss without end – as ‘I am (That)’.
V-75. Concentration is the origination of knowledge in regard to the unity of the Supreme and the Jiva. The Self, verily, is eternal, omnipresent, immutable and flawless.
V-76. Being (but) one, through Maya it splits up; not in Its essence. Therefore the nondual alone is; no manifold, no empirical life (is there).
V-77. Just as space is called ‘Pot-space’ (and) ‘great space’, so, due to delusion, is the self called Jiva and Ishvara in two ways.
V-78. When the all-pervading spirit shines always without a break in the mind of the Yogin then one becomes one’s Self.
V-79. Verily, when one beholds all beings in one’s own Self, and one’s Self in all beings, one becomes Brahman.
V-80. In the state of concentration, atoned with the Supreme, one beholds no beings; one then is the Alone.
V-81. The first plane, generating the desire for liberation, is marked by the practice (of discipline) and detachment due to intimacy with the Shastras and the company of the holy.
V-82. The second is marked by investigation; the third by contemplation with (all) its accessories; the fourth is the solvent as it consists in the dissolution of latent impressions.
V-83. The fifth is the rapturous; it is purely cognitive. This is the station of the Liberatedin- life who is, as it were, half awake and half asleep.
V-84. The sixth plane is non-cognitive. It is the station similar to deep sleep, having the nature of pure and massive bliss.
V-85. The seventh plane is (marked by) equability, utter purity, tenderness; it is indeed unqualified liberation, the quiescent Fourth State.
V-86. The transcendent state beyond the Fourth, Nirvana in its essence, is the transcendent and developed seventh plane; it does not come within the purview of mortals.
V-87. The first three constitute but the wakeful life; the fourth is called the dream (state) where the world is regrettably dream-like.
V-88. The fifth, conforming to massive bliss, is styled deep sleep. In contrast the sixth which is non-cognitive is named the Fourth State.
V-89. The most excellent seventh plane is the state beyond the Fourth, beyond the range of mind and words, and identified with the self-luminous Being.
V-90. If due to the withdrawal (of the cognitive organs) into (one’s self) no object is perceived., (one) is liberated, indeed, indubitably by that mighty sameness (of vision).
V-91. ‘I die not; neither do I live; being preponderantly non-existent, I am existent neither. ‘I am nothing (but) Spirit’, so thinking the intelligent Jivanmukta sorrows not.
V-92. ‘Stainless am I; unageing and unattached, with latent impressions all tranquillised. I am impartite, (the veritable) Spirit-sky’, so thinking he sorrows not.
V-93. ‘Rid of the I-sense, pure, awake, unageing, immortal peaceful (am I), all appearances have been quietened for me’, so thinking he sorrows not.
V-94. ‘I am one with Him who dwells at the tips of grass, in the sky, in the Sun, in man, the mountain, and the gods’, so thinking he sorrows not.
V-95. Discarding all mental constructions about objects, rising well above them, dwell on the thought ‘I, the free, am the supreme Brahman that remains’.
V-96. Beyond the purview of words, rid of the predicament of hankering after objects, unagitated even by the flavour of climatic bliss, he delights in the Self by himself.
V-97. Renouncing all actions, ever content, independent, neither by virtue, sin nor aught else is he stained.
V-98. Just as a mirror is not stained by reflections, so is the b-Knower inwardly unstained by actions’ fruits.
V-99. Freely moving amidst the masses, he knows neither pains nor pleasures when his body is tortured or honoured, as if these are directed to (one’s) reflections.
V-100. Beyond praise and change, recognising neither worship nor its object, at once conforming and indifferent to all codes of etiquette,
V-101. Let him give up his body either in a holy spot or in the hut of an eater of dog’s flesh: Once knowledge is won, one becomes Jnanin (a knower) of Brahman, free from all latent impressions of Karma.
V-102. The cause of bondage is mental construction; give that up. Liberation comes through the absence of mental construction; practise it intelligently.
V-103. In the context of objects, sense-organs and their contact by wary, perpetually and steadily avoiding states of mental construction.
V-104. Do not succumb to objects; neither identify (yourself) with the sense-organs. Having renounced all constructions, identify with what remains.
V-105. If anything please you, then in a state of bondage are you in empirical life; if nothing pleases you, then (indeed) are you liberated here.
V-106. In the multitude of objects, moving and stationery, extending from grass, etc.; upto the living bodies, let there be nothing that gives you pleasure.
V-107. In the absence of the I-sense and its negation, at once existent and non-existent, what remains unattached, self-same, superlatively pure, and steadfast is said to be the Fourth.
V-108. That superlatively pure sameness, the quiescent status of liberation-in-life, the state of the spectator is, inempirical usage, called the fourth state.
V-109. This is neither wakefulness nor dream, for there is no room for mental constructions. Neither is this the state of deep sleep; for no inertness is involved in this.
V-110. This world as it is, is dissolved, and then it is the Fourth State for those who are tranquillised and rightly awakened; for the unawakened it stands changeless (as it is in its plurality).
V-111. When the aspect of I-sense is given up, and equability dominates, and the mind disintegrates, the Fourth State comes on.
V-112. The repudiation of the objective manifold is the doctrine of the Shastras setting forth the Spirit. Here is neither avidya nor Maya; this is the tranquil Brahman, unfatigued.
V-113. One is inevitably tranquillised in the clear sky of the Spirit, known as Brahman whose essence is quietude and equability and which is resplendent with all powers.
V-114. Giving up everything, be wedded to an immense silence, O sinless one ! Plunged into Nirvana, lifted above ratiocination, with mind attenuated and intellect becalmed.
V-115. With a tranquillised mind abide in the Self, like one dumb, blind and deaf; ever turned inward, superlatively pure, with brimming inner wisdom.
V-116. O twice born, perform acts, remaining in deep slumber in wakefulness itself. Having internally renounced everything, act externally as occasion arises.
V-117. Mind’s being alone is suffering; the giving up of the mind alone is joy. Therefore, through non-cognition (of objects) attenuate the mind in the sky of the Spirit.
V-118. Seeing that the beautiful or the ugly always remains, like a stone, irremovable – thus, through one’s own effort, is empirical existence conquered.
V-119. What is hidden in the Vedanta, taught in bygone ages, should not be offered to one who is not established in peace; neither to one who is not a son or pupil.
V-120. Whoever studies the Annapurnopanishad with the blessing of (one’s) teacher become a Jivanmukta, and by himself altogether Brahman – This is the Upanishad.
Om ! O Devas, may we hear with our ears what is auspicious; May we see with our eyes what is auspicious, O ye worthy of worship ! May we enjoy the term of life allotted by the Devas, Praising them with our body and limbs steady ! May the glorious Indra bless us ! May the all-knowing Sun bless us ! May Garuda, the thunderbolt for evil, bless us ! May Brihaspati grant us well-being ! Om ! Let there be Peace in me ! Let there be Peace in my environment ! Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me ! Here ends the Annapurnopanishad, as contained in the Atharva-Veda.