*Glimpses of self-realization*
[This Upanishaḍ is intended to give a complete and clear idea of the
nature of Āṭmā, that has four avasṭhās (states of consciousness) and
four seats, for the better consummation of the nirguṇa ḍhyāna.]
Om. Śaunaka Mahāśala questioned the holy Sage Pippalāḍa of the Aṅgiras
goṭra thus: "In this beautiful Brahmapura of body, the fit residence of
divine beings, how are (the deities of) vāk, etc., located? How do they
function? To whom belongs this power? He to whom this power belongs,
what is He?"
Pippalāḍa then having deeply considered, imparted
to him the Brahmaviḍyā (divine wisdom), that most excellent of all
things. "It is prāṇa (i.e.,) Āṭmā. It is Āṭmā that exercises this power.
It is the life of all Ḍevas. It is their death and (their) life.
Brahman that shines pure, nishkala, resplendent, and all-pervading, in
this divine Brahmapura (of body), rules (all). The Jīva (identifying
himself with) the inḍriyas, rules them like a spider. The spider throws
out from a single thread out of his body a whole web, and draws it into
himself by that same thread; so prāṇa, whenever it goes, draws after it
the objects of its creation (vāk, etc.). During sushupṭi, (the prāṇa)
goes to its seat (Brahman) through the nādis of which is the ḍevaṭā,
like an eagle, that making air as the means of communication, reaches
his abode. They say, as ḍevaḍaṭṭa, though beaten (during sushupṭi) by a
stick, etc., does not move, so also the actor does not suffer or enjoy
for the
merits or demerits of religious actions. Just as a child
obtains happiness without desiring for it (in play), so also ḍevaḍaṭṭa
obtains happiness in sushupṭi. He certainly knows, (being) Param-Jyoṭis,
and the person desiring jyoṭis, enjoys bliss in the contemplation of
jyoṭis. Then he comes back to the dream-plane by the same way, like a
caterpillar. It remaining on a blade of grass, first puts forward its
foot on another blade in front, conveys its body to it, and having got a
firm hold of it, then only leaves the former and not before. So this is
the jāgraṭa state. As this (ḍevaḍaṭṭa) bears at the same time eight
skulls, so this jāgraṭa, the source of Ḍevas and Veḍas, clings to a man
like the breasts in a woman. During the jāgraṭa avasṭhā, merit and
demerit are postulated of this Deva (power); he is capable of great
expansion and is the inner mover. He is khaga (bird), karkata (crab),
pushkara (ākāś), prāṇa, pain, parāpara, Āṭmā and Brahman. This deity
causes to know. He who knows thus obtains Brahman, the supreme, the
support of all things, and the Ksheṭrajña. He obtains Brahman, the
supreme, support of all things, and the Ksheṭrajña.
1 "The
Pursuha has four seats—navel, heart, neck, and head. There Brahman with
the four feet specially shines. Those feet are jāgraṭa, svapna,
sushupṭi, and ṭurya. In jāgraṭa he is Brahmā, in svapna Vishṇu, in
sushupṭi Ruḍra, and in ṭurya the supreme Akshara. He is Aḍiṭya, Vishṇu,
Īśvara, Purusha, prāṇa, jīva, agni, the resplendent. The Para-Brahman
shines in the midst of these. He is without manas, ear, hands, feet, and
light. There the worlds are no worlds, Ḍevas no Ḍevas, Veḍas no Veḍas,
sacrifices no sacrifices, mother no mother, father no father,
daughter-in-law no daughter-in-law, chaṅdāla no chaṅdāla, paulkasa no
paulkasa, śramaṇa no śramaṇa, hermits no hermits; so one only Brahman
shines as different. In the Hṛḍayākāś (ākāś in the heart) is the
Chiḍākāś. That is Brahman. It is extremely subtle. The Hṛḍayākāś can be
known. This moves in it. In Brahman, everything is strung. Those who
thus know the Lord know everything. In him the Ḍevas, the worlds, the
Piṭṛs and the Ṛshis do not rule. He who has awakened knows everything.
[paragraph continues] All the Ḍevas are in the heart; in the heart are
all the prāṇas: in the heart are prāṇa, jyoṭis and that three-plied holy
thread. In the heart in Chaiṭanya, it (prāṇa) is. Put on the
yajñopavīṭa (holy thread), the supreme, the holy, which came into
existence along with the Prajāpaṭi, which gives long life and which is
very excellent; let this give you strength and ṭejas. The wise man
having shaved his head completely, should throw away the external
thread. He should wear, as the holy thread, the supreme and
indestructible Brahman. It is called sūṭra, because sūchanāṭ
(indicating) (that the Āṭmā is in the heart). Sūṭra means the supreme
abode. He who knows that sūṭra is a vipra (brāhmaṇa), he has crossed the
ocean of the Veḍas. On that sūṭra (thread), everything is strung, like
the beads on the thread. The yogin, well versed in yoga and having a
clear perception of Truth, should wear the thread. Practicing the noble
yoga, the wise man should abandon the external thread. He who wears the
sūṭra as Brahman, he is an intelligent being. By wearing the sūṭra, he
is not polluted. They whose sūṭra is within, whose yajñopavīṭa is
jñāna—they only know the sūṭra, and, they only wear the yajñopavīṭa in
this world. Those whose tuft of hair is jñāna, who are firmly grounded
in jñāna and whose yajñopavīṭa is jñāna, consider jñāna only as supreme.
Jñāna is holy and excellent. He whose śikhā (tuft of hair) is jñāna
like the śikhi (flame of agni)—he, the wise one, only wears a true
śikhā; others wear a mere tuft of hair. Those brāhmaṇas and others who
perform the ceremonies prescribed in the Veḍas—they wear this thread
only as a symbol of their ceremonies. Those who know the Veḍas say that
he only is a true brāhmaṇa who wears the śikhā of jñāna and whose
yajñopavīṭa is the same (jñāna). This yajñopavīṭa (Yajña means Vishṇu or
sacrifice and Upavīṭa is that which surrounds; hence that which
surrounds Vishṇu) is supreme and is the supreme refuge. He who wears
that really knows—he only wears the sūṭra, he is Yajña (Vishṇu) and he
only knows Yajña (Vishṇu). One God hidden in all things, pervades all
things and is the Inner Life of all things. He awards the fruits of
karma, he lives in all things, he sees all things without any extraneous
help, he is the soul of all, there is nothing like him, and he is
without any guṇas (being secondless). He is the great wise one. He is
the one doer among the many action-less objects. He is always making one
thing appear as several (by māyā). Those wise men who see him in
buḍḍhi, they only obtain eternal peace. Having made Āṭmā as the (upper)
araṇi (attritional piece of wood) and Praṇava the lower araṇi, by
constant practice of ḍhyāna one should see the concealed deity. As the
oil in the sesamum seed, as the ghee in the curds, as the water in the
rivers, and as the fire in the araṇi, so they who practise truth and
austerities see Him in the buḍḍhi. As the spider throws out and draws
into itself the threads, so the jīva goes and returns during the jāgraṭa
and the svapna states. The heart is in the form of a closed
lotus-flower, with its head hanging down; it has a hole in the top. Know
it to be the great abode of All. Know that during jāgraṭa it (jīva)
dwells in the eye, and during svapna in the throat; during sushupṭi, it
is in the heart and during ṭurya in the head. 1 (Because buḍḍhi unites)
the Praṭyagāṭma with the Paramāṭma, the worship of sanḍhyā (union)
arose. So we should perform sanḍhyāvanḍana (rites). The sanḍhyāvanḍana
performed by ḍhyāna requires no water. It gives no trouble to the body
or the speech. That which unites all things is the sanḍhyā of the
one-staffed (sannyāsins). Knowing That from which speech and mind turn
back without being able to obtain it and That which is the bliss of
jīva, the wise one is freed. The secret of Brahmaviḍyā is to reveal the
real nature of the Āṭmā, that is all-pervading, that is like ghee in the
milk, that is the source of āṭmaviḍyā and ṭapas and to show that
everything is in essence one.
"So ends the Brahmopanishaḍ."
![When Bhagavan was very young he intuitively knew that Arunachala signified God in some way. In one of his verses he wrote, 'From my unthinking childhood the immensity of Arunachala had shone in my awareness'. He didn't know then that it was a place that he could go to; he just had this association with the word Arunachala. He felt, 'this is the holiest place, this is the holiest state, this is God himself'. He was in awe of Arunachala and what it represented without ever really understanding that it was a pilgrimage place that he could actually go to. It wasn't until he was a teenager that one of his relatives actually came back from here and said, 'I've been to Arunachala'. Bhagavan said it was an anti-climax. Before, he had imagined it to be some great heavenly realm that holy, enlightened people went to when they died. To find he could go there on a train was a bit of a let down.
His first reaction to the word Arunachala was absolute awe. Later there was a brief period of anticlimax when he realized it was just a place on the map. Later still, after his enlightenment experience, he understood that it was the power of Arunachala that had precipitated the experience and pulled him physically to this place.
The verse I just quoted from chronicles the early stages of his relationship with the mountain:
Look, there [Arunachala] stands as if insentient. Mysterious is the way it works, beyond all human understanding. From my unthinking childhood, the immensity of Arunachala had shone in my awareness, but even when I learned from someone that it was only Tiruvannamalai, I did not realize its meaning. When it stilled my mind and drew me to itself and I came near, I saw that it was stillness absolute.
The last line contains a very nice pun. Achala is Sanskrit for 'mountain' and it also means 'absolute stillness'. On one level this poem is describing Bhagavan's physical pilgrimage to Tiruvannamalai, but in another sense he is talking about his mind going back into the heart and becoming totally silent and still.
-David Godman, Interviews](https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t31.0-8/p480x480/1932623_526181774157979_4899827386889013030_o.jpg)
