Chandogya Upanishad Book 6 Part 1
VI.1
1. OM. There once was a boy called Svetaketu Aruneya.
His father said to him, ‘Svetaketu, go and live as a
brahmacarin. Good lad, there is no one in our family who is
just a Brahmana by birth, without learning.
2. So at twelve years old he went, and at twenty-four years
old he returned, having learned all the Vedas, haughty,
proud of his learning, and opinionated. His father said to
him, ‘Svetaketu, good lad, since you are haughty, proud of
your learning, and opinionated, did you ask for the symbolic
statement
‘Blessed one, what sort of symbolic statement is that?’
4. ‘Good lad, just as through one lump of clay everything
made of clay is known, so difference of shape is just name,
dependent on speech: “clay” is the reality.
5. ‘Good lad, just as through one copper ornament
everything made of copper is known, so difference of shape
is just name, dependent on speech: “copper” is the reality.
6. ‘Good lad, just as through one nail clipper everything
made of iron is known, so difference of shape is just name,
dependent on speech: “iron” is the reality. Such, good lad,
is the symbolic statement.’
7. ‘The blessed ones certainly did not know this, for if
they had known it, how would they not have told me?
Blessed one, you tell me about it.’
‘I will, good lad,’ he said.
VI.2
1. ‘In the beginning, good lad, this was being, one alone
without a second. Some say, “In the beginning this was
not-being, one alone without a second. From that not-being,
being was produced.”
2. ‘But, good lad, how could that be?’ he said. ‘How could
being be produced from not-being? In the beginning, good
lad, surely this was being, one alone without a second.
3. ‘It thought, “Let me become many; let me be born.” It
created heat. Heat thought, “Let me become many; let
me be born.” It created the waters. So when and wherever
a person grieves or sweats, the waters are born from heat.
4. ‘The waters thought, “Let us become many; let us be
born.” They created food. So when and wherever it rains,
food becomes more abundant. So good food is born from
the waters.
VI.3
1. ‘Beings have three seeds, the egg-born, the live-born,
the shoot-born.
2. ‘The deity thought, “Come, I must enter these three
deities with life, with the self,” and created differences of
name and form.
3. ‘Thinking, “I must make each one of them
three-fold?each one threefold,” the deity entered the three
deities with the life, with the self, and created differences
of name and form.
4. ‘He made each one of them threefold?each one
threefold. Good lad, learn from me how those three deities
each became threefold?each one threefold.
VI.4
1. ‘The red form of fire is the form of heat; the white is
that of water; the black is that of food. The “fire-ness” of
fire has disappeared. Difference of shape is just name,
dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.
2. ‘The red form of the sun is the form of heat; the white
is that of water; the black is that of food. The “sun-ness”
of the sun has disappeared. Difference of shape is just name,
dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.
3. ‘The red form of the moon is the form of heat; the white
is that of water; the black is that of food. The “moon-ness”
of the moon has disappeared. Difference of shape is just
name, dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.
4. ‘The red form of lightning is the form of heat; the white
is that of water; the black is that of food. The “lightning-ness”
of lightning has disappeared. Difference of shape is just
name, dependent on speech: the three forms are the reality.
5. ‘Knowing this, of old, great householders and great
scholars said, “No one of ours will speak of the unheard, the
unthought, the unknown,” for they knew it through these?
6. ‘What seemed red they knew as the form of heat; what
seemed white they knew as the form of water; and what
seemed black they knew as the form of food.
7. ‘What seemed unknown they knew as the combination
of these deities. Good lad, learn from me how those three
deities become threefold?each one threefold?when they
come into contact with the person.
VI.5
1. ‘Food, once eaten, is divided into three. The grossest
element becomes faeces; the middling, flesh; the subtlest,
mind.
2. ‘Water, once drunk, is divided into three. The grossest
element becomes urine; the middling, blood; the subtlest,
breath.
3. ‘Heat, once consumed, is divided into three. The
grossest element becomes bone; the middling, marrow; the
subtlest, speech.
4. ‘Good lad, the mind is made of food, the breath is made
of water, the speech is made of heat.’
‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’
‘I will, good lad,’ he said.
VI.6
1. ‘Good lad, when soured milk is churned, the subtle part
of it rises to the top. That becomes butter.
2. ‘In the same way, good lad, when food is eaten, the
subtle part of it rises to the top. That becomes mind.
3. ‘Good lad, when water is drunk, the subtle part of it
rises to the top. That becomes breath.
4. ‘Good lad, when heat is consumed, the subtle part of
it rises to the top. That becomes speech.
5. ‘Good lad, the mind is made of food, the breath is made
of water, the speech is made of heat.’
‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’
‘I will, good lad,’ he said.
VI.7
1. ‘Good lad, the person has sixteen fractions. Do not
eat for fifteen days, but drink water as you wish. The breath
is made of water. If you not drink, your breath will be cut
off.’
2. For fifteen days he did not eat. Then he approached
him, saying, ‘Father, what shall I say?’
‘Re verses, yajus verses and saman verses, good lad,’ he
said.
‘They do not come clear to me, father.’
3. He said to him, ‘Good lad, just as when only one ember,
the size of a firefly, is left of a great fire, it cannot bum
anything big, now that you, good lad, have only one fraction
left of your sixteen fractions, you have not the strength for
the Vedas. Eat, and you will understand me.’
4. He ate, then approached him. Then he understood
whatever he asked him.
5. He said to him, ‘Good lad, just as when only one ember,
the size of a firefly, is left of a great fire, one can make it
blaze up by feeding it with grass, and then it can burn
something big,
6. ‘So, good lad, one fraction was left of your sixteen
fractions: when fed with food, it blazed up, and so you have
the strength for the Vedas. Good lad, the mind is made of
food, the breath is made of water, the speech is made of
heat.’
Then he understood his teaching: he understood.
VI. 8
1. Uddalaka Aruni once said to his son, Svetaketu, ‘Good
lad, leam from me about the state of sleep. When a person
“sleeps”, as it is called, then, good lad, he has entered into
being; he is merged with his own. That is why they say of
him, “he sleeps” (svapiti), for he is merged with his own
(svam apita).
2. ‘Just as a bird, tied by a thread, flies in every direction
but, failing to reach a home elsewhere, returns to its bondage,
so, good lad, the mind flies in every direction but, failing
to reach a home elsewhere, returns to the breath. For, good
lad, the mind is bound to breath.
3. ‘Good lad, leam from me about hunger and thirst. When
a person here “is hungry”, as it is called, then water leads
the food (asitam nayante). So they call water “the leader of
food” {asandyd= hunger), just like a leader of cows (gonaya),
a leader of horses (a’svanaya), a leader of men (purusamya).
Good lad, learn from me where this shoot has sprung from:
it cannot be rootless.
4. ‘Where else could its root be, but in food? Good* lad,
through food as the shoot seek for water as the root. Good
lad, through water as the shoot seek for heat as the root.
Good lad, through heat as the shoot seek for being as the
root. Good lad, all creatures have being as their root, being
as their home, being as their base.
5. ‘When a person “is thirsty”, as it is called, then heat
leads the drink. So they call heat “leader of water”, just like a leader of cows, a leader of horses, a leader of men. Good lad learn from me .where this shoot has sprung from: it cannot be rootless.
6. ‘Where else could its root be, but in water? Good lad,
through water as the shoot seek for heat as the root. Good
lad, through heat as the shoot seek for being as the root.
Good lad, all creatures have being as their root, being as
their home, being a their base.
‘Good lad, I have said before how those three deities
each become threefold?each one threefold?when they come
into contact with the person. Good lad, when the person
departs, his speech enters into mind, his mind into breath,
his breath into heat, his heat into the highest deity.
7. ‘This subtle part is what all this has as self.
truth: it is the self. You are that, Svetaketu.’
‘Blessed one, explain it to me further.’
‘I will, good lad,’ he said.