Chandogya Upanishad:

The Chanters' Teaching:

Book VIII Part I


VIII.l

1. OM. Within the tiny lotus-house Pundanka vesman, a dwelling [which is] a [white] lotus, visualized as within the heart. which is in the city of brahman there is a tiny space. That which is in it one must seek for, one must want to know.

2. If folk were to ask him, 'Within the tiny lotus-house which is in the city of brahman there is a tiny space. What is found there that one must seek for, one must want to know?', the sage would say:A more obvious interpretation would be, 'If [folk] were to ask one . . . one should say'. However the expression 'he said' (uvitca) in CU VIII.3.4 suggests that chapters 1-3 represent the teaching of some specific person, perhaps Sanatkumara (as in Book VU), or Prajapati (anticipating chapters 7-12, below).

3. 'The space within the heart is as big as this space. Both sky and earth are concentrated within it: both fire and air, both sun and moon, both lightning and constellations, what one has here and what one does not have here-everything is concentrated within it.'

4. If they were to ask him, 'If all this, and all beings, and all desires, are concentrated within the city of brahman, when old age seizes it or it perishes, what is left of it?'

5. He would say, 'It does not grow old with the ageing of this, nor is it slain with the slaying of this. It is the true city of brahman. Desires are concentrated within it. The self is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, without hunger, without thirst, of true desire, Satyakama, here primarily meaning 'having desires which [invariably] come true', rather than 'desiring the truth', though of course it is the fact that it desires only truth that enables this to happen. of true resolve. Satyasamkalpa, cp. CU note 75.

Just as here people follow at command, and live in whatever place, whatever country, whatever share of land they wish for . . .Ambiguous. Probably, just as here people follow [a king] at [his] command, and'so [as a reward] live in whatever place, they wish for, [there, people who have performed acts of merit in the hope of reward receive worlds as their reward. But] just as here worlds won by action perish [e.g. when the king's favour is lost], there worlds won by merit perish [when the merit is used up].'

6. 'Just as here worlds won through action perish, there worlds won through merit perish. While those here who pass on without having known the self and the true desires do not gain freedom to move in all worlds, those here who pass on having known the self and the true desires do gain freedom to move in all worlds.

VIII.2

1. 'If one desires a world of fathers, 'When one knows the self and the true desires' is to be understood. Pitrloka seems not to have its usual meaning of 'world of the ancestors', since separate worlds of mothers, brothers, etc. are mentioned below, $ankara considers that fathers, mothers, etc. from previous births appear to him as objects of enjoyment, a metaphorical understanding of loka. at one's will fathers appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of fathers.

2. 'If one desires a world of mothers, at one's will mothers appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of mothers.

3. 'If one desires a world of brothers, at one's will brothers appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of brothers.

4. 'If one desires a world of sisters, at one's will sisters appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of sisters.

5. 'If one desires a world of friends, at one's will friends appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of friends.

6. 'If one desires a world of perfumes and garlands, at one's will perfumes and garlands appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of perfumes and garlands.

7. 'If one desires a world of food and drink, at one's will food and drink appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of food and drink.

8. 'If one desires a world of singing and music, at one's will singing and music appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of singing and music.

9. 'If one desires a world of women, Or 'wives' at one's will women appear and one triumphs, blessed with a world of women.

10. 'Whatever place one longs for, whatever desire one desires, at one's will it appears and one triumphs, blessed with it.

VIII.3

1. 'These true desires are hidden by falsehood. Falsehood is what hides desires that are true, for when any of one's folk passes on from here one is no longer able to see him.

2. 'By going there Atra, literally 'here', but referring to the self. one finds everything, both those of one's folk who are alive here and those who have passed away, and whatever else one cannot get by desiring: for here one's true desires are hidden by falsehood. Just as those who do not know the land would not find a golden treasure, though they might walk over it again and again, so all these creatures do not find the world of brahman, though they go to it every day; I.e. in deep sleep for they are kept away by falsehood.

3. 'This self is in the heart. This is the derivation of it: "this in the heart" (hrdy ayam), hence "heart" (hrdayam). The one who knows this goes every day to a heavenly world.

4. 'The blissful one Samprasada, 'complete peace', the self during deep sleep that, leaving this body and entering the light beyond, appears in its own form, is the self,' he said. 'This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman. The name of this brahman is "truth" (satya).'

5. 'There are three syllables, sa-ti-yam. What is sat (being) is immortal. What is ((' is mortal. By that which is yam one controls (yam-) them both. Since one controls both by it, it is yam. The one who knows this goes every day to a heavenly world.'

VIII.4

1. The self is a dam, a separation between worlds so that they do not run together. Day and night do not cross it, nor old age nor death nor grief, nor good action nor bad action. All evils turn back from it, for the world of brahman is freed from evil.

2. On crossing this dam, one who was blind is blind no longer; one who was wounded is wounded no longer; one who was suffering suffers no longer. On crossing this dam, night turns into day, for the world of brahman is always bright.

3. The world of brahman belongs to those who through studentshipOr specifically, 'celibacy' (brahmacarya) find the world of brahman. They win freedom to move in all worlds.

VIII.5

1. What folk call 'sacrifice' is studentship, for only through studentship does the knower find it. What they call 'offering' (isti) is studentship, for only by seeking {istva)The participle istva has the double meaning of 'having sacrificed', from yaj-, and 'having wished', from is- through studentship does one find the self.

2. What they call 'a sequence of sacrifices' (sattrayana) is studentship, for only through studentship does one find protection (trana) of the self which is being (sat).'A course (ayana) of long sacrifices' (sattra, a particularly long and elaborate form of Soma sacrifice). What they call 'silent practice' (mauna)The practice of the muni or silent sage is studentship, for only by finding the self through studentship does one think (man-).

3. What they call 'a period of fasting' (anaakayana) is studentship, for the self that one finds through studentship does not perish (na nasyati).Pun on an-Ssaka (not eating) and a-na'saka (not destroying). What they call 'going to the forest' (aranyayana) is studentship, for there are two oceans, Ara and Nya, in the world of brahman, in the sky, the third from here.I.e. the world after earth and middle-air: or perhaps 'in the third sky (i.e. heaven) from here', visualising a hierarchy of heavens. The names of the oceans Ara and Nya seem to have been invented for this passage, to give an esoteric etymology for aranya, 'foresf. There is a hint of a further pun on Srnava, 'ocean'. There is a lake called Airammadiya;'Of refreshment and intoxication/bliss' there is a fig-tree called Somasavana;'Soma-pressing' there is a citadel of brahman called Aparajita;'Unconquered' there is a golden palace, Prabhu.'Lord'

4. The world of brahman belongs to those who through studentship find the two oceans, Ara and Nya. They win freedom to move in all worlds.

VIII.6

1. There exist channels of the heart, of a subtle essence, tawny, white, blue, yellow, red.224 The sun, too, is tawny,white/ blue, yellow, red.

2. Just as a highway reaches both villages, this one and that one, so the rays of the sun go to both worlds, this one and that one. They spread out from the sun, slipping into these channels: they spread out from these channels, slipping into the sun.

3. So when, asleep, withdrawn and perfectly calm, one knows no dream, one has slipped into these channels. No evil touches one, for one is endowed with light (tejas).

4. Now when someone is brought to weakness, folk sit around him and say, "Do you know me? Do you know me?" As long as he has not left the body, he knows them.

5. When he leaves the body, he goes upward by these rays. Chanting OM, he passes upwards: otherwise not. In the time that it would take to throw the mind there, he goes to the sun. For those who know, this is the door of the world, a way onward, but for those who do not know,it is an obstruction.225

6. There is a verse about it:

A hundred and one are the channels of the heart. Of them, one flows out through the head. Going up by it, one reaches immortality.

Others, on departing, go in all directions-On departing.




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