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VIII.7 1. One must seek for and want to know the self, which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrow-less without hunger, without thirst, of true desire, of true resolve. The one who has found and knows the self attains all worlds and all desires.' So said Prajapati. 2. Both gods and demons came to know of this. They said, 'Come, we will seek for the self, since by knowing the self one attains all worlds and all desires.' Of the gods, Indra set forth, and of the demons, Virocana, and unbeknown to one another, they came into Prajapati's presence with firewood in their hands. 3. For thirty-two years they lived as brahmacarins. Then Prajapati asked them, 'What did you want, that you came to stay here?' They said, 'Folk report your saying, blessed one: "One must seek for and want to know the self, which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrow-less, without hunger, without thirst, of true desire, of true resolve. The one who has found and knows the self attains all worlds and all desires." That is what we wanted, that we came to stay here.' 4. Prajapati said to them, 'The person who is seen in the eye is the self.' He said, 'This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.' 'Then, blessed one, which is it, the one that is discerned in water, or the one that is discerned in a mirror?' 'It is discerned in all places,' he said. VIII.8 1. 'Look at yourselves (atman) in a dish of water, then tell me what you do not understand about the self.' They looked in a dish of water. Prajapati asked them, 'What do you see?' They said, 'Blessed one, we see ourselves in reflection, from hair to nails.'
2. Prajapati said to them, 'Make yourselves smart, 3. They said, 'Blessed one, just as we are smart, well-dressed and elegant, so these, blessed one, are smart, well-dressed and elegant.' 'This is the self,' he said. 'This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.' And they left, their hearts at peace.
4. Seeing them, Prajapati said, 'They are leaving without
attaining or knowing the self. Those who have this as their
inner teaching,
Virocana went to the demons, his heart at peace, and
taught them this inner teaching: 'The self must be glorified,
the self must be served here.
5. So even here, today, they say of one who does not give,
does not have faith, does not sacrifice, 'Alas! He is demonic!'
for this inner teaching belongs to the demons. Folk make
ready the body of the departed with alms, VIII.9 1. But before he had reached the gods, Indra saw the danger: 'When the body is smart, it is smart. When the body is well-dressed, it is well-dressed. When the body is elegant, it is elegant. But in the same way, when the body is blind, it is blind. When the body is lame, it is lame. When the body is mutilated, it is mutilated. On the destruction of the body, it is destroyed. I see no satisfaction here.' 2. He went back with firewood in his hands. Prajapati said to him, 'Maghavan, you went away with Virocana, your heart at peace. So what did you want, that you came back?' He said, 'Blessed one, when the body is smart, it is smart. When the body is well-dressed, it is well-dressed. When the body is elegant, it is elegant. But in the same way, when the body is blind, it is blind. When the body is lame, it is lame. When the body is mutilated, it is mutilated. On the destruction of the body, it is destroyed. I see no satisfaction here.' 3. 'Just so, Maghavan,' he said. 'I will explain it to you further. Stay another thirty-two years.' He stayed another thirty-two years. Then he said to him: VIII.10 1. 'The one that, triumphing, moves about in dream is the self,' he said. 'This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.' He went away, his heart at peace, but before he had reached the gods, he saw the danger: 'Though the body becomes blind, it is not blind. Though the body is lame, it is not lame. It is not flawed by its flaws.
2. 'It is not slain with its slaying, nor lamed with its laming.
But it seems to be killed; it seems to be stripped. 3. He went back with firewood in his hands. Prajapati said to him, 'Maghavan, you went away, your heart at peace. So what did you want, that you came back?' He said, 'Blessed one, though the body becomes blind, it is not blind. Though the body is lame, it is not lame. It is not flawed by its flaws. 4. 'It is not slain with its slaying, nor lamed with its laming. But it seems to be killed; it seems to be stripped. It seems to experience unpleasant things; it seems to weep. I see no satisfaction here.' 'Just so, Maghavan he said. 'I will explain it to you further. Stay another thirty-two years.' He stayed another thirty-two years. Then he said to him: VIII.ll 1. 'When, asleep, withdrawn and perfectly calm, one knows no dream, this is the self,' he said. 'This is the immortal, the fearless: this is brahman.'
He went away, his heart at peace, but before he had
reached the gods, he saw the danger: 'Surely this does not
directly know itself (atman) as "I am this", nor does it know
beings. It merges and dissolves. 2. He went back with firewood in his hands. Prajapati said to him, 'Maghavan, you went away, your heart at peace. So what did you want, that you came back?' He said, 'Blessed one, surely this does not directly know itself as "I am this", nor does it know beings. It merges and dissolves. I see no satisfaction here.' 3 'Just so, Maghavan,' he said. 'I will explain it to you further, this and nothing else. Stay another five years.' He stayed another five years. Altogether it came to a hundred and one years. So folk say, 'Maghavan lived as a brahmacarin with Prajapati for a hundred and one years.' Then he said to him: VIII.12 1. 'Maghavan, the body is mortal. It has been taken by death. But it is the support of the self, which is immortal and bodiless. The embodied has been taken by the pleasant and the unpleasant. For the embodied, there is no escaping the pleasant and the unpleasant. But that which is bodiless the pleasant and the unpleasant do not touch. 2. 'Air is bodiless. Cloud, lightning and thunderthese are bodiless. Just as they, rising up from space and reaching the light beyond, appear in their own form,
3. 'So the blissful one, leaving this body and entering the
light beyond, appears in its own form. That is the highest
person.
4. 'Where the eye is fixed upon space, that is the person
of the eye. 5. 'The one who experiences, "Let me think this", is the self. Mind is its divine eye. It takes pleasure, seeing with this divine eye, the mind, the desires 6. 'Which are in the world of brahman. The gods worship the self as such, so all worlds and all desires have been taken by them. The one who has found and knows the self attains all worlds and all desires.' So said Prajapati. So said Prajapati. VIII.13
1. From the dark I take refuge in the dappled,
From the dappled I take refuge in the dark. VIII.14
1. Space, as it is called, is the bringer into being of name
and form. That which contains them I reach the house, the court of Prajapati. I become glory. I have attained The glory of the Brahmanas, glory of the kings, glory of the people. The glory of glories, may I not go To the white, toothless, Toothless, white and slimy May I not go to the slimy! VIII.15
1. Brahma taught this to Prajapati, Prajapati to Manu, and
Manu to his offspring. If one studies the Veda, according to the rule, in the time left over from one's guru's work; if,
after returning from the teacher's house into the family, one
recites it to oneself in a clean place; if one brings up virtuous
children; OM. May my limbs, speech, breath, eye, ear, strength and all senses grow strong. Everything is the brahman of the Upanisads. May I not reject brahman. May brahman not reject me. May there be no rejecting. May there be no rejecting of me. May all the dharmas which are in the Upanisads be in me, who delight in the self. May they be in me. OM. Peace, peace, peace.
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well-dressed and elegant, and look in a dish of water.' They
made themselves smart, well-dressed and elegant, and looked
in a dish of water. Prajapati asked them, 'What do you see?'
