World  Spiritual  Heritage

The Upanishads

147 quote(s)  | Page 5 / 6




W hen the whole mantram … goes on reverberating in the mind, One is freed from fear, awake or asleep… Established in this cosmic vibration, the sage goes beyond fear, decay, and death to enter into infinite peace.


quote 3221  | 
Prashna Up. Question 5, 6-7, p. 166 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




B rahman is the first cause and last refuge.
Brahman, the hidden Self in everyone,
Does not shine forth. He is revealed only
To those who keep their mind one-pointed
On the Lord of Love and thus develop
A superconscious manner of knowing.
Meditation enables them to go
Deeper and deeper into consciousness,
From the world of words to the world of thoughts,
Then beyond thoughts to wisdom in the Self.


quote 3220  | 
Katha Up. Part 1, 3:11-13, p. 89 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




B rahman is beyond all duality, beyond the reach of thinker and thought.


quote 3219  | 
Tejabindu Up. 6, p. 240 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




C ovet nothing. All belongs to the Lord. Thus working you may live a hundred years. Thus alone will you work in real freedom.


quote 3218  | 
Isha Up. 1-2, p. 208 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




I n the secret cave of the heart, two are seated by life's fountain.
The separate ego drinks of the sweet and bitter stuff,
Liking the sweet, disliking the bitter,
While the supreme Self drinks sweet and bitter
Neither liking this nor disliking that.
The ego gropes in darkness, while the Self lives in light.


quote 3217  | 
Katha Up. Part 1, 3:1, p. 88 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self.


quote 3216  | 
Chandogya Up. Chapter 3, 14:1, p. 177 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




W hen all desires that surge in the heart are renounced, the mortal becomes immortal.


quote 3215  | 
Katha Up. Part 2, 3:14, p. 97 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




T hose who dwell on and long for sense-pleasure are born in a world of separateness.
But let them realize they are the Self and all separateness will fall away.


quote 3214  | 
Mundaka Up. Part 3, 2:2, p. 116 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




L ike two golden birds perched on the selfsame tree, intimate friends, the ego and the Self dwell in the same body. The former eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree of life while the latter looks on in detachment. As long as we think we are the ego, we feel attached and fall into sorrow. But realize that you are the Self, the Lord of life, and you will be freed from sorrow. When you realize that you are the Self, supreme source of light, supreme source of love, you transcend the duality of life and enter into the unitive state.


quote 3213  | 
Mundada Up. 3:1-3, p. 115; also compare Shvetashvatara Up. 4:6, p. 225 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




T here are two selves, the separate ego and the indivisible Atman. When one rises above I and me and mine, the Atman is revealed as one's real Self.


quote 3212  | 
Katha Up. Part 2, 3:13, p. 97 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




B right but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart. Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes lives in the Self. He is the source of love and may be known through love but not through thought. He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!


quote 3211  | 
Mundaka Up. Part 2, 2:1, p. 113 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




T he ignorant think the Self can be known by the intellect, but the illumined know he is beyond the duality of the knower and the known.


quote 3210  | 
Kena Up. 2:3, pp. 69-70 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




Y ou are the supreme Brahman, infinite, yet hidden in the hearts of all creatures. You pervade everything.


quote 3209  | 
Shvetashvatara Up. 3:7, p.223 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




M editate and realize this world is filled with the presence of God.


quote 3208  | 
Shvetashvatara Up. 1:12, p.219 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




T he supreme Self is neither born nor dies. He cannot be burned, moved, pierced, cut, nor dried. Beyond all attributes, the supreme Self is the eternal witness, ever pure, indivisible, and uncompounded, far beyond the senses and the ego… He is omnipresent, beyond all thought, without action in the external world, without action in the internal world. Detached from the outer and the inner, This supreme Self purifies the impure.


quote 3207  | 
Atma Up. 3, p. 242 in The Upanishads. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1987 




D welling in every heart,
the Self is the Lord of all,
the seer of all,
the source and goal of all.
The Self is not outer awareness,
It is not inner awareness,
Nor is it the suspension of awareness.
It is not knowing,
It is not unknowing,
Nor is it knowingness itself
It cannot be seen nor grasped,
It cannot be contained.
It is beyond all expression and beyond
all thought.
It is indefinable.

The only way to know it is to become it.

It is the final resting place of all activity,
silent and unchanging,
the Supreme Good,
One without a second.
It is the Supreme Self
It, above all else, should be known.


quote 3009  | 
Mandukya Upanishad 




T hough the Infinite One is without color,
He colors the entire universe;
Though immortal,
He is born, and lives, and dies.
That One is all that was, and is, and will be,
Yet He is always the same.

He is the Supreme, Unchanging, Absolute.

He becomes the fire, the sun,
The wind, and the moon.
He becomes the starry heavens,
And the vast waters, giving life to all.

He becomes the woman, the man,
The youth, and the maiden too.
He becomes the old fellow
Tottering on his staff.
He becomes every face
Looking in every direction.

He becomes the blue butterfly,
The green parrot with red eyes.
He becomes lightning, the seasons,
The endless seas.

Without birth or death,
Beyond all time and space,
He is the One from whom
All the worlds are born.


quote 3008  | 
Shvetashvatara Upanishad 




A UM STANDS for the supreme Reality.
It is a symbol for what was, what is,
And what shall be. AUM represents also
What lies beyond past, present, and future.


quote 2658  | 
Mandukya Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




B rahman is all, and the Self is Brahman.
This Self has four states of consciousness.

The first is called Vaishvanara, in which
One lives with all the senses turned outward,
Aware only of the external world.

Taijasa is the name of the second,
The dreaming state in which, with the senses
Turned inward, one enacts the impressions
Of past deeds and present desires.

The third state is called Prajna, of deep sleep,
In which one neither dreams nor desires.
There is no mind in Prajna, there is no
Separateness; but the sleeper is not
Conscious of this.
Let him become conscious
In Prajna and it will open the door
To the state of abiding joy.

Prajna, all-powerful and all-knowing,
Dwells in the hearts of all as the ruler.
Prajna is the source and end of all.

The fourth is the superconscious state called
Turiya, neither inward nor outward,
Beyond the senses and the intellect,
In which there is none other than the Lord.
He is the supreme goal of life.
He is Infinite peace and love. Realize him!


quote 2657  | 
Mandukya Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




A s a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with the Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow.
In that unitive state there is neither father nor mother, neither worlds nor gods nor even scriptures. In that state there is neither thief nor slayer, neither low caste nor high, neither monk nor ascetic. The Self is beyond good and evil, beyond all the suffering of the human heart.

In that unitive state one sees without seeing, for there is nothing separate from him; smells without smelling, for there is nothing separate from him; tastes without tasting, for there is nothing separate from him; speaks without speaking, for there is nothing separate from him; hears without hearing, for there is nothing separate from him; touches without touching, for there is nothing separate from him; thinks without thinking, for there is nothing separate from him-, knows without knowing, for there is nothing separate from him.

Where there is separateness, one sees another, smells another, tastes another, speaks to another, hears another, touches another, thinks of another, knows another. But where there is unity, one without a second, that is the world of Brahman. This is the supreme goal of life, the supreme treasure, the supreme joy. Those who do not seek this supreme goal live on but a fraction of this joy.


quote 2656  | 
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




T he human being has two states of consciousness: one in this world, the other in the next. But there is a third state between them, not unlike the world of dreams, in which we are aware of both worlds, with their sorrows and joys. When a person dies, it is only the physical body that dies; that person lives on in a nonphysical body, which carries the impressions of his past life. It is these impressions that determine his next life. In this intermediate state he makes and dissolves impressions by the light of the Self.


quote 2655  | 
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




N o more questions have they to ask of life.
With self-will extinguished, they are at peace.
Seeing the Lord of Love in all around,

Serving the Lord of Love in all around,
They are united with him forever.
They have attained the summit of wisdom
By the steep path of renunciation.
They have attained to immortality
And are united with the Lord of Love.
When they leave the body, the vital force
Returns to the cosmic womb, but their work
Becomes a beneficial force in life
To bring others together in the Self.


quote 2654  | 
Mundaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




N ot through discourse, not through the intellect,
Not even through study of the scriptures
Can the Self be realized. The Self reveals
Himself to the one who longs for the Self.
Those who long for the Self with all their heart
Are chosen by the Self as his own.

Not by the weak, not by the unearnest,
Not by those who practice wrong disciplines
Can the Self be realized. The Self reveals
Himself as the Lord of Love to the one
Who practices right disciplines.


quote 2653  | 
Mundaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




T hose who dwell on and long for sense-pleasure
Are born in a world of separateness.
But let them realize they are the Self
And all separateness will fall away.


quote 2652  | 
Mundaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 




T HE wise have attained the unitive state,
And see only the resplendent Lord of Love.
Desiring nothing in the physical world,
They have become one with the Lord of Love.


quote 2651  | 
Mundaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California 



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