Chandogya Upanishad Book 7 Part 2

VII. 14

1. ‘Hope is greater than memory. Kindled by hope the
memory recites mantras, performs actions, wishes for
offspring and animals, wishes for this world and that one.
Worship hope.

2. ‘For the one who worships hope as brahman, all his
desires are prospered by hope, and his prayers are never in
vain. He wins freedom to move as far as hope can go?the
one who worships hope as brahman.’

‘Blessed one, is there anything greater than hope?’

‘There is something greater than hope.’

‘Tell me about it, blessed one.’

VII.15

1. ‘Breath is greater than hope. Just as spokes are held
together in a wheel-hub, everything is held together in the
breath. Breath moves by breath. Breath gives breath, gives
it to breath. Breath is father, breath is mother, breath is
brother, breath is sister, breath is teacher, breath is Brahmana.

2. ‘If one says something slightly harsh to father, mother,
brother, sister, teacher or Brahmana, folk say to one, “Shame
on you! You are killing your father! You are killing your
mother! You are killing your brother! You are killing your
sister! You are killing your teacher! You are killing a
Brahmana!”

3. ‘But once breath has left them, even if one bums them
in a heap, turning them with a spear, folk do not then say
to one, “You are killing your father! You are killing your
mother! You are killing your brother! You are killing your
sister! You are killing your teacher! You are killing a
Brahmana!”

4. Tor the breath becomes all these. The one who sees
this, thinks this, knows this, speaks boldly. If folk should
say to him, “You speak boldly,” he would say, “I do speak
boldly.” He would not deny it.

VII.16

1. ‘He who speaks boldly through truth speaks boldly
indeed.’

‘Blessed one, let me speak boldly through truth!’

‘Then you must seek to know truth.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know truth.’

VII.17

1. ‘When one understands, one speaks truth. If one does
not understand, one does not speak truth. If one understands,
one does speak truth. You must seek to know understanding.’
‘Blessed one, I seek to know understanding.’

VII.18

1. ‘When one thinks, one understands. If one has not
thought, one does not understand. If one has thought, one
does understand. You must seek to know thought.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know thought.’

VII.19

1. ‘When one has faith, one thinks. If one has no faith,
one does not think. If one has faith, one does think. You
must seek to know faith.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know faith.’

VII.20

1. ‘When one serves, one has faith. If one does not serve,
one has no faith. If one serves, one has faith. You must
seek to know service.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know service.’

VII.21

1. ‘When one acts, one serves. If one has not acted, one
does not serve. If one has acted, one does serve. You must
seek to know action.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know action.’

VII.22

1. ‘When one attains happiness, one acts. If one has not
attained happiness, one does not act. If one has attained
happiness, one does act. You must seek to know happiness.’
‘Blessed one, I seek to know happiness.’

VII.23

1. ‘Abundance is happiness. There is no happiness in
smallness. Abundance is happiness. You must seek to know
abundance.’

‘Blessed one, I seek to know abundance.’

VII.24

1. ‘Where one does not see another, does not hear another,
does not know another, that is abundance. Where one sees
another, hears another, knows another, that is smallness.
Abundance is immortal: smallness is mortal.’

‘Blessed one, on what does it rest (prati-stha-)?’
‘On its own greatness?or perhaps not on greatness.

2. ‘What folk here call greatness is cows and horses,
elephants and gold, slaves and wives, fields and houses.
That is not what I am saying. I say,’ he said, ‘that it is
other, and rests on something other.

VII.25

1. ‘It is below, it is above, it is in the west, it is in the
east, it is in the south, it is in the north. It is all this. Hence
the symbolic statement on “I”: “I am below, I am above, I
am in the west, I am in the east, I am in the south, I am
in the north. I am all this.”

2. ‘Hence the symbolic statement on “self”: “The self is
below, the self is above, the self is in the west, the self is
in the east, the self is in the south, the self is in the north.
The self is all this.” Seeing this, thinking this, knowing
this?taking pleasure in the self, playing in the self, making
love with the self, delighting in the self?one becomes one’s
own ruler, and wins freedom to move in all worlds. But
those who know it in other ways are ruled by others, live
in perishable worlds, and win no freedom to move in all
worlds.

VII.26

1. ‘When one sees this, thinks this, knows this, one’s
breath is of the self; one’s hope is of the self; one’s memory
is of the self; ,one’s space is of the self; one’s heat is of the
self; one’s waters are of the self; one’s appearance and
disappearance are of the self; one’s food is of the self; one’s
strength is of the self;- one’s understanding is of the self;
one’s meditation is of the self; one’s intelligence is of the
self; one’s will is of the self; one’s mind is of the self; one’s
speech is of the self; one’s name is of the self; one’s mantras
are of the self; one’s actions are of the self; all this is of
the self.

2. ‘There is a verse about it:

‘The seer does not see death,
Nor disease, nor suffering:
The seer sees everything,
Wins everything, everywhere.
‘It is onefold, threefold, fivefold, sevenfold, ninefold;
again, it is traditionally called “eleven”, “a hundred and ten
and one”, and “twenty thousand”. In purity of food is purity
of being; in purity of being is constant memory; in the
finding of memory is the undoing of all knots.’

To the one whose impurities have been wiped away,
the blessed Sanatkumara reveals the farther shore of
darkness. They call him Skanda: they call him Skanda.