Kausitaki Upanishad

1. OM. Pratardana Daivodasi reached the beloved home of
Indra through battle and manly deeds. Indra said to him,
‘Pratardana, choose a boon (vara).’

Pratardana said, ‘You choose for me what you think best
for a human being,

Indra said to him, ‘A superior (vara) does not choose
for an inferior (avara). You choose.’

Pratardana said, ‘That is no favour (avara) to me.’

But Indra did not depart from truth, for Indra is truth.
Indra said to him, ‘Know me; I think this is best for a
human being, that he should know me. I slew the
three-headed son of Tvastr; I gave the Arunmukha sorcerers
up to the wolves; breaking many treaties I destroyed the
Prahladiyas in the sky, the Paulomas in middle-air, and
the Kalakanjas on earth: yet, such though I was, not a
hair of mine grows less. If someone knows me, his world
does not grow less by any action of his, not by theft, not
by murder, not by the killing of his mother, not by the
killing of his father. Though he has commited any evil, the
dark colour does not leave his face.’

2. He said, ‘I am the breath, the self of awareness: so
worship me as immortal life. The life is the breath, the
breath is the life. As long as the breath dwells in the body,
there is life. By the breath one attains immortality in this
world: by awareness one attains true resolve. The one
who worships me as immortal life attains a full life-span in
this world: he attains immortality, imperishability, in the
heavenly world.’

Some say; ‘The breaths become a unity, or no-one would
be able at once to be made aware of a name with speech,
a form with the eye, a sound with the ear, a thought with
the mind: but becoming a unity, the breaths make one aware
of all these, one by one. When the speech speaks, all the
breaths speak with it; when the eye sees, all the breaths
see with it; when the ear hears, all the breaths hear with
it; when the mind thinks, all the breaths think with it; when
the breath breathes, all the breaths breathe with it.’

‘So it is,’ said Indra, ‘but there is a supremacy among
the breaths.

3. ‘One lives without speech, for we see the dumb. One
lives without the eye, for we see the blind. One lives without
the ear, for we see the deaf. One lives without the mind,
for we see the foolish. One lives with arms cut off, one
lives with legs cut off, for we see it is so. But when the
breath, the self of awareness, seizes the body, it causes it
to stand up (ut-tha): so one should contemplate it as the
Uktha. This is all-attainment in the breath. What the breath
is, awareness is, and what awareness is, the breath is: they
dwell in the body together and they leave it together.’
This is the seeing of it, this is the knowing of it:

When the person, asleep, sees no dream, he becomes
unified in the breath. Speech enters it with all names; the
eye enters it with all forms; the ear enters it with all sounds,-
the mind enters it with all thoughts. When he wakes up,
just as sparks from a burning fire might scatter in all
directions, the breaths scatter from the self, each to its proper
place; the gods from the breaths, the worlds from the
gods.

But when the breath, the self of awareness, seizes the
body, it makes it stand up, so one should contemplate it as
the Uktha. This is all-attainment in the breath. What the
breath is, awareness is, and what awareness is, the breath
is.

This is the proof of it, this is the understanding of it:

When the person, ailing and about to die, becomes weak
and falls into unconsciousness, folk say of him, ‘His
consciousness has left him: he does not hear, he does not
see, he does nor speak with speech, he does not think.’ He
becomes unified in the breath. Speech enters it with all
names; the eye enters it with all forms; the ear enters it
with all sounds; the mind enters it with all thoughts.

When it leaves the body, it leaves with all these together.

4. Speech releases all names into it; by speech it attains
all names. The breath releases all smells into it: by the breath
it attains all smells. The eye releases all forms into it: by
the eye it attains all forms. The ear releases all sounds into
it: by the ear it attains all sounds. The mind releases all
thoughts into it: by the mind it attains all thoughts. This is
all?attainment in the breath. What the breath is, awareness
is, and what awareness is, the breath is. These two live
in the body together, and leave it together.

Now we will explain how all beings become one with
this awareness.

5. Speech is one part taken out of it, and name is the
external element of being which corresponds to it. The
breath is one part taken out of it, and smell is the external
element of being which corresponds to it. The eye is one
part taken out of it, and form is the external element of
being which corresponds to it. The ear is one part taken out
of it, and sound is the external element of being which
corresponds to it. The tongue is one part taken out of it,
and the taste of food is the external element of being which
corresponds to it. The hands are one part taken out of it,
and action is the external element of being which corresponds
to them. The body is one part taken out of it, and joy and
sorrow are the external element of being which corresponds
to it. The loins are one part taken out of it, and delight,
pleasure and procreation are the external element of being
which corresponds to them. The feet are one part taken out
of it, and movements are the external element of being which
corresponds to them. The mind is one part taken out of it,
and thoughts and desires are the external element of being
which corresponds to them.

6. Rising to speech through awareness, by speech one wins
all names. Rising to the breath through awareness, by the
breath one wins all smells. Rising to the eye through
awareness, by the eye one wins all forms. Rising to the ear
through awareness, by the ear one wins all sounds. Rising
to the tongue through awareness, by the tongue one wins
all tastes of food. Rising to the hands through awareness,
by the hands one wins all actions. Rising to the body through
awareness, by the body one wins all joy and sorrow. Rising
to the loins through awareness, by the loins one wins all
delight, pleasure and procreation. Rising to the feet through
awareness, by the feet one wins all movements. Rising to
the mind through awareness, by the mind one wins ail
thoughts.

7. Without awareness, speech cannot make one aware of
any name. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not
aware of this name,’ Without awareness, the breath cannot
make one aware of any smell. One says, ‘My mind was
elsewhere: I was not aware of this smell.’ Without awareness,
the eye cannot make one aware of any form. One says, ‘My
mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this form.’ Without
awareness, the ear cannot make one aware of any sound.
One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this
sound.’ Without awareness, the tongue cannot make one
aware of any taste of food. One says, ‘My mind was
elsewhere: I was not aware of this taste of food.’ Without
awareness, the hands cannot make one aware of any action.
One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not aware of this
action.’ Without awareness, the body cannot make one
aware of any joy or sorrow. One says, ‘My mind was
elsewhere: I was not aware of this joy or sorrow.’ Without
awareness, the loins cannot make one aware of any delight,
pleasure or procreation. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere:

I was not aware of this delight, pleasure or procreation,
Without awareness, the feet cannot make one aware of any
movement. One says, ‘My mind was elsewhere: I was not
aware of this movement.’ Without awareness, thought cannot
be effective, or be aware of that of which it should be aware.
8. One should not seek, to know speech: one should know
the speaker. One should not seek to know smell: one should
know the smeller. One should not seek to know form: one
should know the seer. One should not seek to know
sound: one should know the hearer. One should not seek
to know the taste of food: one should know the knower of
the taste of food. One should not seek to know action: one
should know the doer. One should not seek to know joy
and sorrow: one should know the knower of joy and sorrow.
One should not seek to know delight, pleasure or procreation:

one should know the knower of delight, pleasure and
procreation. One should not seek to know movement: one
should know the mover. One should not seek to know mind:

one should know the thinker.

Those are the ten elements of being in relation to
awareness. There are ten elements of awareness in relation
to being. For if there were no elements of being there would
be no elements of awareness, and if there were no elements
of awareness there would be no elements of being, since
form cannot be realised from either one of them alone.

It is not various. Just as the rim is fixed to the spokes
of a chariot wheel, and the spokes are fixed to the hub, the
elements of being are fixed to the elements of awareness,
and the elements of awareness are fixed to the elements of
being. Breath is the self of awareness, delight, unageing,
immortal.

It does not grow greater by right action or less by wrong
action. The one that it wishes to lead up out of these worlds
it impels to right action, and the one it wishes to lead down
it impels to wrong action. It is the guardian of the world,
the overlord of the world, the ruler of the world.119 One
should know: it is my self. One should know: it is my self.