Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

1. Part 1.1

   1.1.1The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad begins by picturing the horse used in a sacrifice as the whole universe. The dawn is its head, the sun its eye, the wind its breath, the year its body, the stars its bones, the clouds its flesh, and its movements are lightning, thunder and rain.
2. 1.1.2Day and night came after the horse, like a gold bowl set in front of it and a silver bowl set behind it at the sacrifice, linked to the eastern and western seas. The horse carried gods, heavenly singers, demons and humans, and the sea is where it came from.

3. Part 1.2

   1.2.1In the beginning nothing could be seen; everything was hidden by Death, which is the same as hunger. Death wished for a body, and as he worshipped, water appeared; this is why water is called 'arka,' a word play on worship and water.
4. 1.2.2The foam on that water hardened and became the earth. Death rested on the earth, and from his heat came Agni, the god of fire, full of light.
5. 1.2.3That fiery being split into three: fire, the sun and the air. Its body was spread across the directions, sky and earth, and whoever knows this stands firm wherever he goes.
6. 1.2.4Death wanted a second body, so in his mind he joined with Speech, and from this the year was born. When the newborn year came out, Death opened his mouth to swallow it, and the child cried 'Bhan!', which became speech.
7. 1.2.5Death thought that if he ate the child he would have little food, so instead he created everything—the sacred hymns, rituals, people and animals—and set out to eat it all. That is why he is called Aditi, from the word 'to eat,' and whoever knows this can enjoy everything.
8. 1.2.6Death wanted to perform an even bigger sacrifice, so he worked hard and practiced strict discipline. As he did, his strength, meaning his senses, left him, his body began to swell, and his mind stayed inside it.
9. 1.2.7Prajapati, the creator (here also seen as Death), wanted his swollen body to be fit for sacrifice, so it became a horse. That is how the great horse sacrifice, the Ashvamedha, got its name. The passage then says the sun is really this sacrifice and fire is the sacred fire, and both are one god, Death. Whoever understands this is no longer touched by death, because death has become his own Self.

10. Part 1.3

    1.3.1The creator had two families of children: the Devas (gods) and the Asuras (demons). The Asuras were older. The Devas were fighting them and decided to win by singing the udgitha, a sacred chant sung during the sacrifice.
11. 1.3.2The gods asked Speech to sing the chant for them, and she did. But she also kept some of the joy of speaking well for herself. The demons saw their chance and struck her with evil. That is why speech can now say bad and hurtful things.
12. 1.3.3Next the gods asked the sense of smell to sing. It also kept some of the pleasure of smelling for itself. So the demons struck it with evil, and that is why we can smell bad things.
13. 1.3.4Then the gods asked the eye to sing. The eye kept some of the pleasure of seeing for itself. So the demons struck it with evil, and that is why we can see bad things.
14. 1.3.5Then the gods asked the ear to sing. The ear kept some of the pleasure of hearing for itself. So the demons struck it with evil, and that is why we can hear bad things.
15. 1.3.6Then the gods asked the mind to sing. The mind kept some of the pleasure of thinking for itself. So the demons struck it with evil, and that is why we can think bad thoughts. In this way the demons spoiled all these powers with evil.
16. 1.3.7Finally the gods asked the main breath, the life-breath in the mouth, to sing. When the demons attacked it, they shattered like a clump of earth thrown against a rock. So the gods won and the demons fell. Whoever knows this rises, and their enemies fall.
17. 1.3.8The gods asked who had stood by them so firmly. It was the breath inside the mouth, so it is called Ayasya. It is also the life-juice of the body's limbs, so it is called Angirasa.
18. 1.3.9This breath is also called Dur, meaning "far," because death stays far from it. Death stays far from anyone who knows this.
19. 1.3.10The breath took away the evil and death from the other powers and sent them to the far edges of the earth, and left their sins there. So people are told not to go to a man there, and not to go to those far ends, so they do not meet that evil and death.
20. 1.3.11After taking away their evil and death, the breath carried the other powers beyond death.
21. 1.3.12The breath carried Speech across death first. Free from death, speech became Agni, the god of fire, and now shines.
22. 1.3.13Next the breath carried the sense of smell across death. Free from death, it became Vayu, the wind, and now blows.
23. 1.3.14Next the breath carried the eye across death. Free from death, it became Aditya, the sun, and now burns bright.
24. 1.3.15Next the breath carried the ear across death. Free from death, it became the directions of space all around us.
25. 1.3.16Last, the breath carried the mind across death. Free from death, it became the moon, and now shines. In the same way, this breath carries anyone who knows this beyond death.
26. 1.3.17By its singing, the breath also won food for itself, because all food is eaten through the breath. The other powers asked for a share, so the breath invited them to enter it. That is why, when the breath takes in food, all the senses are fed too.
27. 1.3.18A person who understands this becomes like the breath for their family: their support and leader. Anyone in the family who opposes such a person cannot even take care of their own people. But whoever follows and works with them can provide for those who depend on them.
28. 1.3.19The breath is called Ayasya Angirasa because it is the life-juice of the limbs. Whatever part of the body the breath leaves, that part dries up and withers.
29. 1.3.20Breath is also called Brihaspati, a name meaning "lord of speech." Speech is called Brihati, a name for the Rig Veda's verses, and breath is its master, since we need breath to speak.
30. 1.3.21Breath is also called Brahmanaspati, because speech is the holy word and breath rules it. Breath is also the Saman, the sung chant of the Sama Veda. The word joins "sa" (speech) and "ama" (breath), because singing needs both.
31. 1.3.22Breath is called Saman for another reason too. "Sama" means "equal," and the same breath lives in a tiny bug, a gnat, an elephant and the whole universe. Whoever understands this becomes one with it.
32. 1.3.23Breath is also the Udgitha, the main chant sung at a sacrifice. "Ut" stands for breath, which holds up the whole world, and "githa" means song, which is speech. Together they make the word Udgitha.
33. 1.3.24Brahmadatta, grandson of Kikitana, swore an oath while drinking Soma, the sacred ritual drink. He said the sage Ayasya Angirasa sang the chant using nothing but speech and breath, and he would lose his head if this were not true.
34. 1.3.25The true wealth of the chant is a good tone of voice. So a priest who sings at a sacrifice should want a fine, clear voice. People choose a priest with a good voice the way they would choose a rich man. Whoever knows this gains wealth.
35. 1.3.26The gold of the chant is also its good tone. Whoever knows this gains gold.
36. 1.3.27The chant rests on speech, because breath is sung through speech. When the singing starts, the worshipper should pray: "Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality." Both "unreal" and "darkness" mean death, so all three lines ask the same thing: "Make me immortal."
37. 1.3.28During the other chants, the worshipper may ask for any wish he has. A priest who understands this chant can win, by his singing, whatever is wished for himself or for the worshipper. This knowledge is called the conqueror of worlds. Whoever has it need not fear being shut out of any world.

38. Part 1.4

    1.4.1At first only the Self existed, in the shape of a person. He looked around and saw nothing else, so his first words were "This is I." That is why people still say "It's me" before giving their name. The text explains the word purusha (person) as the one who burned away all evil before anything else existed.
39. 1.4.2Being alone, he felt afraid, and that is why lonely people feel fear. Then he thought, "There is nothing here but me, so what is there to fear?" and his fear went away. Fear only comes when there is someone or something other than yourself.
40. 1.4.3He still felt no joy, which is why a lonely person feels no joy. He wanted a companion, so he split himself in two, and husband and wife came into being. The sage Yajnavalkya said a married couple are like the two halves of one shell, and a wife or husband fills the empty half. From their union, people were born.
41. 1.4.4The wife thought it was wrong for him to unite with her, since she came from him, so she hid by turning into a cow. He became a bull, and cows were born. They kept changing into horses, donkeys, goats and sheep, and so every kind of creature that comes in pairs was made, down to the ants.
42. 1.4.5He realized, "I am this whole creation, because I made all of it." So he became the creation. Whoever knows this feels at home in that creation.
43. 1.4.6Next he made fire from his mouth and hands. All the gods people worship are really just forms of him, because he is every god. The world is made of food and eaters: Soma, the moist offering, is food, and Agni, the fire, is the eater. His highest creation was making the undying gods even though he himself was then mortal.
44. 1.4.7At first the world had no shape. Then it took on names and forms. The Self entered everything, right to the fingertips, hidden like a razor in its case. When it breathes we call it breath, when it sees we call it eye, but these are only names for what it does. Worship it as the whole Self, because it is like a footprint that leads you to everything.
45. 1.4.8The Self is closer to us than anything. It is dearer than a child, dearer than money, dearer than everything else. If you love something other than the Self most, you may well lose it. If you love the Self most, what you love will never die.
46. 1.4.9People ask a question: if knowing Brahman, the ultimate reality, lets us become everything, then what did Brahman itself know, from which the whole world came?
47. 1.4.10In the beginning Brahman knew only itself, saying "I am Brahman," and everything came from that. Any god, sage or person who wakes up to this becomes Brahman too. The sage Vamadeva realized it and sang, "I was Manu, I was the sun." A person who worships a god as separate from himself does not truly understand. The gods even prefer that people do not learn this, because people serve them like farm animals serve a man.
48. 1.4.11At first Brahman was alone and not strong enough. So it created rulers and powerful gods like Indra, Varuna and Yama. That is why kings rank so high, and why the priest sits below the king at the royal crowning ceremony. Yet priestly wisdom is where royal power comes from, so a king who harms a priest harms his own source and becomes worse.
49. 1.4.12The story of creation goes on. Brahman, the one source of everything, still did not feel complete. So it made the common people among the gods. These are groups of gods called the Vasus, Rudras, Adityas, Visve Devas and Maruts.
50. 1.4.13Brahman still did not feel complete. So it made the Sudra class, the workers, in the form of Pushan, the god who feeds and nourishes. The earth itself is Pushan, because the earth feeds every living thing.
51. 1.4.14Brahman still did not feel complete, so it created dharma, which means law or what is right. Right is stronger than any ruler, so nothing stands above it. Because of it, even a weak person can stand up to a strong one, as if a king were backing them. Right and truth are the same thing: speaking the truth is speaking what is right.
52. 1.4.15Brahman showed up among the gods as fire and among people as the four social classes. But a person who dies without knowing their true inner Self loses what they gained. Even great good deeds will not last for them in the end. A person who worships the Self as their true home keeps the fruit of their work and gets what they wish for.
53. 1.4.16Every person supports many beings. By offering to the gods, a person feeds the gods. By reciting sacred hymns, they honor the ancient sages. By honoring the ancestors and raising children, they serve the ancestors. By feeding guests and caring for animals, they serve people and animals. Even the birds and ants living in their home depend on them. So all beings want such a person to be safe and well.
54. 1.4.17In the beginning the Self was alone and wished for a wife, children, and wealth for religious offerings. That is why lonely people feel incomplete until they have these things. But a person is already complete inside. The mind is like the husband and speech is like the wife. The breath is like the child. The eye brings worldly wealth and the ear brings spiritual wealth. The body is how they do their work.

55. Part 1.5

    1.5.1This is an old verse with riddles. The father of creation made seven kinds of food. One kind is shared by all beings, two are for the gods, three are for himself, and one is for the animals. Everything depends on this food. The verse asks why food never runs out even though it is always being eaten. Whoever knows the answer lives with strength and reaches the gods.
56. 1.5.2The text explains the riddle. The shared food is the everyday food everyone eats. A person who only lives for that food is not free from wrongdoing, because it belongs to everyone. The two foods for the gods are the offerings into fire and the gifts given at a ritual. The food for animals is milk, which every newborn lives on. Food never runs out because the Person, the inner Self, keeps making it again and again.
57. 1.5.3The three foods the creator kept for himself are mind, speech, and breath. We really see and hear with the mind. That is why people say, 'My mind was elsewhere, I didn't hear.' Desire, doubt, faith, memory, shame, and fear all belong to the mind. All sound is speech. All kinds of breathing are breath. A person is made of these three.
58. 1.5.4Speech, mind, and breath are matched with the three worlds. Speech is the earth, mind is the sky, and breath is heaven.
59. 1.5.5Speech, mind, and breath are also matched with the three Vedas, the ancient holy books. Speech is the Rig Veda, mind is the Yajur Veda, and breath is the Sama Veda.
60. 1.5.6Speech, mind, and breath are also the three kinds of beings. Speech is the gods, mind is the ancestors, and breath is living people.
61. 1.5.7Speech, mind, and breath are also like a family. The mind is the father, speech is the mother, and breath is the child.
62. 1.5.8What we already know takes the form of speech, because speech is clear and known. Speech, in this role, protects a person.
63. 1.5.9What we are still trying to know takes the form of mind, because the mind is always working things out. The mind, in this role, protects a person.
64. 1.5.10What is unknown takes the form of breath, because breath is hidden and hard to grasp. Breath, in this role, protects a person.
65. 1.5.11Speech has the earth as its body and fire as its light. Speech reaches as far as the earth and fire reach.
66. 1.5.12The mind has heaven as its body and the sun as its light. It reaches as far as heaven and the sun. When fire and sun come together, wind is born, and the wind is Indra, king of the gods, who has no rival. Rivals only exist when there is a second, so whoever understands this has no rival.
67. 1.5.13Breath has water as its body and the moon as its light. Speech, mind, and breath are equal and endless. If you think of them as small and limited, you get a small life. If you see them as endless, you get an endless world.
68. 1.5.14Prajapati, the lord of creatures, is the year, and he has sixteen parts like the phases of the moon. Fifteen parts are the nights that grow and shrink, and one part stays fixed. On the new-moon night he enters every living thing and is born again in the morning. So on that night no one should kill any living creature, not even a lizard.
69. 1.5.15A person who understands this is like Prajapati (the creator god), who is pictured as the year. His wealth is like the outer rim of a wheel and his true Self is the hub at the center. Wealth comes and goes, but if he loses everything and still has his Self, people say he only lost the rim, which can be replaced.
70. 1.5.16There are three worlds: the world of people, the world of the ancestors (the Fathers), and the world of the gods (Devas). You keep a place in the human world through a son, reach the ancestors' world through sacrifice, and reach the gods' world through knowledge. The gods' world is best, so knowledge is praised most.
71. 1.5.17When a father feels he is about to die, he hands his duties to his son, saying, 'You are the Veda (the sacred learning), you are the sacrifice, you are the world.' The son accepts them. The father feels his son will carry on his work and make up for his mistakes, and so the father's speech, mind, and breath live on in the son.
72. 1.5.18Holy speech comes into such a person from the earth and from fire. Holy speech is speech where whatever he says comes true.
73. 1.5.19Holy mind comes into him from the sky and the sun. Holy mind is the kind of mind that makes a person happy and free from grief.
74. 1.5.20Holy breath comes into him from water and the moon. This breath never gets tired and never dies. Whoever knows this becomes one with all beings, like the great god Hiranyagarbha, and is honored by all. Grief leaves him, and only good comes near him.
75. 1.5.21Prajapati created the senses, and they argued over who was best: speech wanted to speak, the eye to see, the ear to hear. Death came as tiredness and wore them out, but it could not touch the central breath. So the senses all took breath's form, which is why they are called 'breaths.' A family with someone who knows this is named after him.
76. 1.5.22The same happened among the gods. Fire wanted to burn, the sun to warm, the moon to shine. Like breath among the senses, Vayu, the wind, was the one that never fades. The others set or go out, but the wind never stops.
77. 1.5.23A verse says the sun rises and sets in breath, and the gods made breath the lasting law. So a person should keep one practice: breathing in and breathing out, so death does not reach him. If he keeps it up to the end, he becomes one with breath, the life-force (prana).

78. Part 1.6

    1.6.1The world is made of three things: name, form, and action. For all names, speech is their source, it is the same as them, and it holds them up.
79. 1.6.2For all forms and shapes, the eye is their source, it is the same as them, and it holds them up.
80. 1.6.3For all actions, the body is their source, the same as them, and their support. These three, name, form, and action, are really one thing: the Self. The undying breath is hidden inside the passing world of names and forms.

81. Part 2.1

    2.1.1Gargya Balaki, a proud and well-read man, offered to teach King Ajatashatru of Kashi about Brahman, the ultimate reality. The king happily offered a thousand cows, saying people usually run to King Janaka for such teaching.
82. 2.1.2Gargya said he worships the person in the sun as Brahman. The king stopped him: he already honors that one as the supreme ruler of all beings, and whoever does so becomes a supreme ruler too.
83. 2.1.3Gargya said he worships the person in the moon as Brahman. The king said he already honors that one as great, dressed in white, as Soma the king, and whoever does so never runs out of food.
84. 2.1.4Gargya said he worships the person in lightning as Brahman. The king said he already honors that one as shining, and whoever does so becomes bright, and so do his children.
85. 2.1.5Gargya said he worships the person in space as Brahman. The king said he already honors that one as full and still, and whoever does so is blessed with children and cattle, and his family line lasts.
86. 2.1.6Gargya said he worships the person in the wind as Brahman. The king said he already honors that one as Indra, the unbeatable army of storm gods, and whoever does so wins and cannot be defeated.
87. 2.1.7Gargya said he worships the person in fire as Brahman. The king said he already honors that one as powerful, and whoever does so becomes strong, and so do his children.
88. 2.1.8Gargya said he worships the person in water as Brahman. The king said he already honors that one as likeness, and whoever does so receives what is right and fitting, and his children are like him.
89. 2.1.9The scholar Gargya says he worships the person seen in a mirror as Brahman, the ultimate reality. King Agatasatru stops him and says he already honors that as "the brilliant." Whoever honors it this way becomes brilliant, and so do his children, and he outshines the people he meets.
90. 2.1.10Gargya says he worships the sound that follows a person as they walk as Brahman. Agatasatru says he already honors that as "life." Whoever honors it this way lives a full lifespan, and breath does not leave him too early.
91. 2.1.11Gargya says he worships the person in space as Brahman. Agatasatru says he already honors that as "the companion who never leaves us." Whoever honors it this way always has a companion, and his group of friends and followers is never cut off from him.
92. 2.1.12Gargya says he worships the person made of shadow as Brahman. Agatasatru says he already honors that as "death." Whoever honors it this way lives his whole lifespan, and death does not come to him before its time.
93. 2.1.13Gargya says he worships the person in the body as Brahman. Agatasatru says he already honors that as "the embodied one." Whoever honors it this way becomes embodied, and so do his children. Then Gargya has nothing more to say and falls silent.
94. 2.1.14Agatasatru asks Gargya if that is all he knows, and Gargya admits it is. The king says this is not enough to truly know Brahman. Gargya humbly asks to become the king's student.
95. 2.1.15Agatasatru says it is unusual for a Brahmin, a priest and teacher, to ask a Kshatriya, a warrior-king, to teach him about Brahman, but he agrees to explain it clearly. He takes Gargya by the hand to a sleeping man and calls out grand names to him, but the man does not wake. Only when the king shakes him does he get up.
96. 2.1.16Agatasatru asks Gargya where the man's conscious self was while he was asleep, and where it came back from when he woke up. Gargya does not know the answer.
97. 2.1.17Agatasatru explains that during sleep, the knowing self gathers in the powers of all the senses and rests in the space inside the heart. Then breath, speech, hearing, sight and mind are all drawn inward. This drawing in is what we call sleep.
98. 2.1.18Agatasatru explains that when a person dreams, the dream becomes his world. In it he may seem to be a great king or a great priest, or seem to rise and fall. Like a king moving freely around his own kingdom, the self takes the senses with it and moves as it likes within its own body.
99. 2.1.19Agatasatru explains that in deep, dreamless sleep, when a person knows nothing, the self moves through 72,000 channels called Hita that spread from the heart through the body, and rests there. It rests as peacefully as a young man or a great king at the height of happiness.
100. 2.1.20Agatasatru teaches that just as a spider spins out its thread and sparks fly up from a fire, all senses, worlds, gods and living beings come out of the Self. The Self's secret name is "the Truth of the truth": the senses are real, but the Self is even more real than they are.

101. Part 2.2

     2.2.1This riddle speaks of a baby with its home, room, post and rope. The baby is the inner life, the home is the body, the room is the head, the post is the breath, and the rope is food. Whoever understands this keeps away seven hostile forces.
102. 2.2.2The passage links each part of the eye to a god: the red lines to Rudra, the tears to Parjanya the rain god, the pupil to the sun, the iris to Agni the fire god, the white to Indra, and the eyelashes to earth and heaven. Whoever knows this will never run short of food.
103. 2.2.3A verse describes an upside-down cup filled with glory, with seven sages on its rim and a tongue as the eighth that speaks with Brahman. The passage explains that the cup is the head, the glory and the sages are the senses, and the tongue, through speech, connects with the divine.
104. 2.2.4The passage names the senses after famous sages called Rishis: the two ears, two eyes and two nostrils each match a pair of sages, and the tongue is the sage Atri, whose name sounds like the word for eating. Whoever knows this can enjoy everything as his food.

105. Part 2.3

     2.3.1Brahman, the ultimate reality, has two forms. One has shape, dies and is solid. The other has no shape, never dies and is flowing. Together they make up what is called "true."
106. 2.3.2Everything except the wind and the sky has a shape, will die, and is solid and fixed. The shining sun is the very essence of all these solid, mortal things.
107. 2.3.3The wind and the sky have no fixed shape, do not die, and flow freely. The essence of these unseen things is the person inside the sun's disk. This is how it works in the world of nature and the gods.
108. 2.3.4Now the same teaching is applied to the human body. Everything in the body except the breath and the space inside it is solid, mortal and fixed. The eye is the essence of these solid parts.
109. 2.3.5Inside the body, the breath and the inner space have no fixed shape, do not die, flow freely and have no clear limits. Their essence is the 'person in the right eye.'
110. 2.3.6That inner person is described with bright images: saffron cloth, white wool, red dye, a flame, a white lotus, a flash of lightning. Whoever knows this shines like lightning. But Brahman, the ultimate reality, is best described as "not this, not this," because nothing we can name captures it. It is called "the Truth of the truth." Our senses are true, and Brahman is what makes them true.

111. Part 2.4

     2.4.1The sage Yajnavalkya is about to leave home and live in the forest as a hermit. He tells his wife Maitreyi that he wants to divide his property between her and his other wife, Katyayani.
112. 2.4.2Maitreyi asks if owning the whole world's wealth would make her immortal. Yajnavalkya says no. She would live comfortably like rich people do, but money cannot free anyone from death.
113. 2.4.3Maitreyi asks what use wealth is if it cannot make her immortal. She asks her husband to teach her what he knows about immortality instead.
114. 2.4.4Yajnavalkya is pleased with her question. He tells her she is truly dear to him and her words are dear too. He asks her to sit down and listen carefully while he explains.
115. 2.4.5Yajnavalkya explains that husbands, wives, children, wealth, priests, warriors, worlds, gods, creatures and everything else are not dear for their own sake. They are dear for the sake of the Self. So the Self is what we must come to see, hear, think about and understand. When we know the Self, we know everything.
116. 2.4.6Anyone who thinks people, worlds or gods exist apart from the Self loses touch with them. Priests, warriors, worlds, gods, creatures — everything is that one Self.
117. 2.4.7You cannot catch the sound of a drum by itself. But if you take hold of the drum or the drummer, you have the sound too.
118. 2.4.8A conch shell's sound cannot be grabbed out of the air by itself. You hold it by holding the shell or the person blowing it.
119. 2.4.9The notes of a lute cannot be caught on their own. They are held by holding the lute or the person playing it.
120. 2.4.10Smoke rises by itself from a fire of damp wood. In the same way, all sacred knowledge came out of the great Being like breath: the four Vedas (the oldest Hindu scriptures), the legends, the histories, the Upanishads, verses and commentaries.
121. 2.4.11All waters meet in the sea. All touches meet in the skin, all tastes in the tongue, all smells in the nose, all colours in the eye, all sounds in the ear, all thoughts in the mind, all knowledge in the heart, all actions in the hands, all movements in the feet, and all the Vedas in speech.
122. 2.4.12Salt dropped in water dissolves and cannot be taken out again, yet every drop tastes salty. In the same way, the endless great Being, made of pure awareness, fills everything. It seems to arise in the body and the elements and to vanish with them. After death, Yajnavalkya says, there is no separate awareness left.
123. 2.4.13Maitreyi says she is confused by the idea that no awareness remains after death. Yajnavalkya explains. When there seem to be two, one sees, hears and knows the other. But when everything is the one Self, there is no 'other' left to see or know. And the Knower itself cannot be known like an object.

124. Part 2.5

     2.5.1The earth and all living beings feed and sustain each other, like honey (madhu) that nourishes. The bright, deathless presence in the earth and the same presence in our body are one. It is the Self, the immortal Brahman, the All.
125. 2.5.2Water and all beings support each other like honey. The bright, deathless presence in water is the same as the presence in the body's life-giving seed. Both are the one Self, Brahman, the All.
126. 2.5.3Fire and all beings nourish each other like honey. The bright, deathless presence in fire is the same as the presence in our speech. Both are the one Self, Brahman, the All.
127. 2.5.4Air and all beings sustain each other like honey. The bright, deathless presence in the wind is the same as the presence in our breath. Both are the one Self, Brahman, the All.
128. 2.5.5The sun and all beings sustain each other like honey. The bright, deathless presence in the sun is the same as the presence in our eyes. Both are the one Self, Brahman, the All.
129. 2.5.6The directions of space and all living things feed and support each other, like honey (madhu) that each gives the other. The shining, deathless presence in space is the same one that lives in us as our hearing. That one presence is the Self, Brahman, the reality behind everything.
130. 2.5.7The moon and all beings are like sweet honey to each other, each one nourishing the other. The shining, deathless presence in the moon is the same one that lives in us as the mind. Both are the one Self, called Brahman, which is everything.
131. 2.5.8Lightning and all beings nourish each other like honey. The shining, deathless presence in lightning is the same one that lives in us as our inner light. Both are the one Self, Brahman, the whole of reality.
132. 2.5.9Thunder and all beings nourish each other like honey. The shining, deathless presence in thunder is the same one that lives in us as our sound and voice. Both are the one Self, Brahman, which is everything.
133. 2.5.10The open sky-space (ether) and all beings nourish each other like honey. The shining, deathless presence in that vast space is the same one that lives in the small space of our heart. Both are the one Self, Brahman, which is everything.
134. 2.5.11Dharma, the law of what is right that holds the world in order, and all beings nourish each other like honey. The deathless presence in that law outside is the same one that guides us as goodness within. Both are the one Self, Brahman.
135. 2.5.12Truth (satyam) and all beings nourish each other like honey. The deathless presence in truth out in the world is the same one that lives in us as our truthfulness. Both are the one Self, Brahman.
136. 2.5.13Humankind and all beings nourish each other like honey. The deathless presence in all humanity is the same one that lives in each single person. Both are the one Self, Brahman.
137. 2.5.14The Self and all beings nourish each other like honey. The shining, deathless presence in everything is the very Self in us. It is the one Immortal, Brahman, which is all.
138. 2.5.15This Self is the ruler and king of all beings. Just as all the spokes of a wheel are held together by its hub and rim, every being and every world is held together in this one Self.
139. 2.5.16This teaching of honey was first given by the sage Dadhyak Atharvana to the Asvins, twin gods of healing. A Vedic poet praised the bold deed of the Asvins, who received it from him through the head of a horse.
140. 2.5.17The Vedic poet tells how the Asvins put a horse's head on the sage Dadhyak. Wanting to keep his promise, he taught them through it the secret honey teaching.
141. 2.5.18The poet says the Lord made bodies with two feet and four feet, and then entered them as the person living inside. This person, called purusha, "the one who dwells in the body," fills and covers everything; nothing is without him.
142. 2.5.19The Lord takes on every form, and appears as many through maya, meaning appearances, working through the countless senses like a chariot pulled by many horses. Yet underneath, there is only one Brahman, with no cause, no result, no inside and no outside. This Self is Brahman, present everywhere and knowing everything; this is the core teaching.

143. Part 3.1

     3.1.1King Janaka of Videha held a great sacrifice and gave rich gifts to the priests, and many learned Brahmins (priests and scholars) came. Wanting to know who was the most learned, he set aside a thousand cows with gold tied to their horns as a prize.
144. 3.1.2Janaka said the wisest Brahmin could take the cows, but no one dared, except the sage Yajnavalkya, who told his student to drive them home. The others got angry, and the priest Asvala asked if he truly thought himself the wisest. Yajnavalkya said he bowed to the wisest but simply wanted the cows, and so the questioning began.
145. 3.1.3Asvala asks how a person doing a sacrifice can get free from death, since death reaches everything. Yajnavalkya answers that freedom comes through the Hotri priest, the one who recites, understood as speech and as Agni, the fire god. Seeing speech as the divine fire is what sets one free.
146. 3.1.4Asvala asks how one can get beyond day and night, the passing of time that wears everything down. Yajnavalkya says it is through the Adhvaryu priest, the one who performs the actions, understood as the eye and as the sun. Knowing this brings complete freedom.
147. 3.1.5Asvala asks how one can get beyond the waxing and waning of the moon, the monthly cycles that control everything. Yajnavalkya says it is through the Udgatri priest, the one who sings, understood as breath and as the wind. Knowing this brings complete freedom.
148. 3.1.6Asvala asks how a person can reach heaven (Svarga) when the sky has no staircase. Yajnavalkya says it is through the Brahman priest, the silent overseer, understood as the mind and as the moon. These are the full ways of being freed from death.
149. 3.1.7Asvala, a priest at King Janaka's court, keeps testing the sage Yagnavalkya. He asks how many verses from the Rig Veda the Hotri priest (the one who recites) will use. Yagnavalkya names three kinds and says that through them the priest wins everything that breathes.
150. 3.1.8Asvala asks about the three kinds of offerings the Adhvaryu priest pours into the fire. Yagnavalkya says offerings that blaze up win the world of the gods. Those that crackle loudly win the world of the ancestors. Those that sink down win the world of humans.
151. 3.1.9Asvala asks how many gods the Brahman priest, who sits on the right and watches over the ritual, uses to protect it. Yagnavalkya says only one: the mind. The mind is endless, like the countless gods called the Visvedevas, so through it the priest wins an endless world.
152. 3.1.10Asvala asks about the three hymns the Udgatri priest (the one who chants) will sing. Yagnavalkya links the three hymns to three kinds of breath in the body. He says they win the earth, the sky and heaven. After this Asvala falls silent, defeated.

153. Part 3.2

     3.2.1A new challenger, Artabhaga, asks Yagnavalkya about the eight 'graspers' and the eight 'over-graspers'. These are things that seize us and the things that seize them in turn. Yagnavalkya says there are eight of each.
154. 3.2.2Yagnavalkya says the breath is a grasper. It is held in turn by the down-breath, because we smell with the down-breath.
155. 3.2.3Speech is a grasper, and it is held by names, because we use speech to say names.
156. 3.2.4The tongue is a grasper, and it is held by taste, because we taste with the tongue.
157. 3.2.5The eye is a grasper, and it is held by the things it sees, because we see shapes and colors with the eye.
158. 3.2.6The ear is a grasper, and it is held by sound, because we hear sounds with the ear.
159. 3.2.7The mind is a grasper, and it is held by desire, because we want things with the mind.
160. 3.2.8The arms are a grasper, and they are held by work, because we do our work with our arms.
161. 3.2.9The skin is a grasper, and it is held by touch, because we feel touch through the skin. Yagnavalkya says these are all eight graspers and their eight over-graspers.
162. 3.2.10Artabhaga says everything is eaten by death, and asks what eats death itself. Yagnavalkya answers that fire is death, yet water puts out fire. So even death can be overcome.
163. 3.2.11Artabhaga asks whether the life-breaths leave a wise person when they die. Yagnavalkya says no. The breaths gather inside the body, it swells, and the dead body lies at rest.
164. 3.2.12Artabhaga asks what stays with a person after death. Yagnavalkya says the name, because a name lasts without end. Through it the person wins an endless world.
165. 3.2.13Artabhaga asks where a person really is once every part has gone back to nature: speech to fire, breath to wind, eyes to the sun, body to the earth. Yagnavalkya takes his hand and says they should discuss this privately. Alone, they agree the answer is karma (one's actions): a person becomes good by good deeds and bad by bad deeds.

166. Part 3.3

     3.3.1Another challenger, Bhujyu, tells a story from his student days. A girl was possessed by a Gandharva, a heavenly spirit. The students asked the spirit where the Parikshitas, a line of old kings, went after death. Now Bhujyu asks Yagnavalkya the same question.
167. 3.3.2Yagnavalkya says the Parikshitas went where those who did the great horse sacrifice go. He describes the world, the earth and the ocean around it, with a gap as thin as a razor's edge. The god Indra, as a bird, passed them through the gap to Vayu, the wind, who carried them there. So the wind is everything, and whoever knows this overcomes death.

168. Part 3.4

     3.4.1Ushasta asks Yagnavalkya to show him the Self (atman), the true inner being that lives in everyone. Yagnavalkya says it is your own Self. It is the one who breathes in, breathes out and breathes through you.
169. 3.4.2Ushasta complains that Yagnavalkya only described the Self the way you point at a cow or a horse, and asks again. Yagnavalkya says you cannot see the one who does the seeing, or hear the one who does the hearing, or know the one who does the knowing; that inner witness is your Self, and everything apart from it brings suffering.

170. Part 3.5

     3.5.1Kahola asks about the Self within all, and Yagnavalkya says it is the one beyond hunger, thirst, sorrow, passion, old age and death. Wise people who know it stop chasing children, money and future worlds, because all of these are just desires. They go from learning, to real inner strength, to becoming a Muni (a silent sage), and finally become true knowers of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Everything else, he says, is bad.

171. Part 3.6

     3.6.1Gargi, a woman scholar, asks Yagnavalkya what everything is woven into, like threads on a loom, and he answers step by step: water in air, air in the sky, and so on up to the worlds of Brahman, the ultimate reality. When she asks what Brahman is woven into, he warns her to stop, because that final reality cannot be reached by more questions.

172. Part 3.7

     3.7.1Uddalaka tells how a spirit once asked his teacher about the hidden thread that ties this world, the next world and all beings together, and about the inner ruler who guides them from inside. He challenges Yagnavalkya to explain these, or else lose his head for taking the prize cows. Yagnavalkya says he knows, and Uddalaka says anyone can claim that, so prove it.
173. 3.7.2Yagnavalkya says the thread is air, or the life-breath, which holds this world, the next world and all creatures together. That is why people say a dead person's limbs have come undone. Uddalaka agrees and asks him to explain the inner ruler next.
174. 3.7.3Yagnavalkya says the inner ruler lives inside the earth and guides it from within, using the earth as its body, yet the earth does not know it. This inner ruler is your own deathless Self.
175. 3.7.4The same inner ruler lives within water and guides it from inside, though water does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
176. 3.7.5The inner ruler also lives within fire and guides it from inside, though fire does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
177. 3.7.6The inner ruler lives within the sky and guides it from inside, though the sky does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
178. 3.7.7The inner ruler lives within the air and guides it from inside, though the air does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
179. 3.7.8The inner ruler lives within the heavens and guides them from inside, though the heavens do not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
180. 3.7.9The inner ruler lives within the sun and guides it from inside, though the sun does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
181. 3.7.10The inner ruler lives within the directions of space and guides them from inside, though they do not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
182. 3.7.11The inner ruler lives within the moon and stars and guides them from inside, though they do not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
183. 3.7.12The inner ruler lives within open space (akasha, the empty space everything sits in) and guides it from inside, though space does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
184. 3.7.13The inner ruler lives even within darkness and guides it from inside, though darkness does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
185. 3.7.14The inner ruler lives within light and guides it from inside, though light does not know it; it is your own deathless Self. This ends the list of forces of nature, and Yagnavalkya now turns to living beings.
186. 3.7.15Yagnavalkya says the inner ruler lives inside all living beings and guides them from within, though they do not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
187. 3.7.16The inner ruler lives within the breath and guides it from inside, though the breath does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
188. 3.7.17The inner ruler lives within speech and guides it from inside, though speech does not know it. It is your own deathless Self.
189. 3.7.18Yagnavalkya continues: there is something living inside your eye that the eye itself cannot see. It uses the eye and guides it from within. That inner guide is your true Self, and it never dies.
190. 3.7.19Yagnavalkya says the same about hearing. Something lives inside the ear and guides it, but the ear does not know it. That inner guide is your Self, which never dies.
191. 3.7.20Yagnavalkya says something lives inside your mind and guides it, yet the mind cannot know it. That inner guide is your true Self, and it is undying.
192. 3.7.21Yagnavalkya says something lives inside the skin, the sense of touch, and guides it from within. The skin does not know it. That inner guide is your undying Self.
193. 3.7.22Yagnavalkya says something lives inside our knowing and understanding and guides it. Our knowledge cannot grasp it. That inner guide is your true Self, which never dies.
194. 3.7.23Yagnavalkya says the inner guide also lives in the seed of life. It cannot be seen, heard or known, yet it is the one that sees, hears and knows in everyone. It alone is your undying Self, and everything apart from it brings suffering. After this, the sage Uddalaka Aruni, who had asked the question, fell silent.

195. Part 3.8

     3.8.1Gargi, also called Vakaknavi, tells the other Brahmanas, the priests, that she will ask Yagnavalkya two questions. If he answers them, she says, none of them will beat him in debate about Brahman, the ultimate reality. Yagnavalkya invites her to ask.
196. 3.8.2Gargi compares herself to a warrior who strings his bow and takes two sharp arrows into battle. She says her two questions are like those arrows. Yagnavalkya calmly tells her to ask.
197. 3.8.3Gargi asks her first question. People say there is something above the sky, below the earth, holding both, and spanning past, present and future. What is that thing woven into, like threads on a loom?
198. 3.8.4Yagnavalkya answers that all of that, across all space and all time, is woven into akasa, the space or ether that fills everything.
199. 3.8.5Gargi bows to Yagnavalkya for answering well. She tells him to get ready for her second question, and he says, 'Ask.'
200. 3.8.6Gargi repeats her question. What is the thing that spans heaven, earth, past, present and future woven into?
201. 3.8.7Yagnavalkya gives the same answer: it is woven into space, the ether. Gargi then asks the deeper question: what is space itself woven into?
202. 3.8.8Yagnavalkya says the wise call the final ground the Akshara, which means 'the imperishable,' the thing that never decays. It has no size, shape, color, taste, smell or senses. It has no inside or outside. It eats nothing, and nothing can eat or destroy it.
203. 3.8.9Yagnavalkya says everything keeps its order because of the Imperishable. Sun and moon, heaven and earth, moments, days, months and years, and rivers flowing east or west all hold their places by its command. Even people praising generous givers, and gods and ancestors receiving offerings, follow its rule.
204. 3.8.10Yagnavalkya says that someone who does rituals and hard spiritual practice for a thousand years without knowing the Imperishable gains only results that run out. Whoever dies without knowing it is pitiable. But whoever dies knowing it is truly wise, a true Brahmana.
205. 3.8.11Yagnavalkya says Brahman cannot be seen, heard or known, yet it is what sees, hears and knows. Nothing else truly sees or knows except it. Space itself is woven into this Imperishable.
206. 3.8.12Gargi tells the other priests they should feel lucky just to bow to Yagnavalkya and walk away. She says no one will beat him in debate about Brahman. Then she falls silent.

207. Part 3.9

     3.9.1Next, the scholar Vidagdha Sakalya asks Yagnavalkya how many gods there are. Yagnavalkya first quotes a hymn: three hundred and three, plus three thousand and three. Each time Sakalya asks again, the number drops: thirty-three, six, three, two, one and a half, and finally one. Sakalya then asks who the thousands of gods are.
208. 3.9.2Yagnavalkya says the thousands of gods are only different powers of thirty-three main gods. Those are the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Adityas, plus Indra the king of gods and Prajapati the creator.
209. 3.9.3Sakalya asks who the Vasus are. Yagnavalkya says they are fire, earth, air, sky, sun, heaven, moon and stars. They are called Vasus, meaning "dwellers," because everything in the world lives and rests in them.
210. 3.9.4Yagnavalkya says the Rudras are the ten life-powers of the body: the five senses and the five powers of action, with the self as the eleventh. When they leave the body at death, they make the living cry. The word Rudra comes from "to make cry."
211. 3.9.5Yagnavalkya says the Adityas are the twelve months of the year. They are called Adityas because they keep moving on and take everything along with them.
212. 3.9.6Yagnavalkya says Indra, king of the gods, is thunder, which means the thunderbolt. Pragapati, the lord of creatures, is the sacrifice, which means the animals offered in it.
213. 3.9.7Yagnavalkya names the six gods: fire, earth, air, sky, sun and heaven. Together these six make up the whole world.
214. 3.9.8Yagnavalkya says the three gods are the three worlds, because all the gods live in them. The two gods are food and breath. The "one and a half" god is the wind that blows.
215. 3.9.9People ask why the wind, which is one, is called "one and a half." The answer is a word-play: when the wind blows, everything grows. Finally Yagnavalkya says the one god is breath, which is Brahman, the thread running through all things, and people simply call it "That."
216. 3.9.10Sakalya says a real teacher must know the being whose home is the earth and the body. Yagnavalkya says he knows it: it is the physical person, the body. He asks Sakalya what deity rules it, and Sakalya answers, "The Immortal."
217. 3.9.11Sakalya asks about the being whose home is desire and love. Yagnavalkya says it is the loving person, the self full of desire. Sakalya says its deity is women.
218. 3.9.12Sakalya asks about the being whose home is colours and whose seeing is the eye. Yagnavalkya says it is the person in the sun. Sakalya says its deity is the True.
219. 3.9.13Sakalya asks about the being whose home is open space and whose sense is the ear. Yagnavalkya says it is the person who hears and answers. Sakalya says its deity is Space.
220. 3.9.14Sakalya asks about the being whose home is darkness. Yagnavalkya says it is the shadow person. Sakalya says its deity is Death.
221. 3.9.15Sakalya asks about the being whose home is bright colours and whose sense is the eye. Yagnavalkya says it is the person seen in a mirror. Sakalya says its deity is the breath of life.
222. 3.9.16Sakalya asks about the being whose home is water. Yagnavalkya says it is the person in the water. Sakalya says its deity is Varuna, the god of the waters.
223. 3.9.17Sakalya asks about the being whose home is seed. Yagnavalkya says it is the son, the person born from a parent. Sakalya says its deity is Pragapati, the lord of creatures.
224. 3.9.18Yagnavalkya asks Sakalya if the other priests, who were too afraid to argue, pushed him forward to be beaten. Sakalya angrily asks what Brahman Yagnavalkya knows, since he looked down on the priests of the Kuru-Panchala lands.
225. 3.9.19Yagnavalkya says he knows the directions of the world, their gods, and where those gods rest. Sakalya begins to test him on this.
226. 3.9.20For the east, Yagnavalkya names the sun. The sun rests in the eye, the eye rests in the colours it sees, and the colours rest in the heart, because we know what we see through the heart. Sakalya agrees.
227. 3.9.21For the south, Yagnavalkya names Yama, god of death. Yama rests in sacrifice, sacrifice rests in the gifts given to priests, and the gifts rest in faith, because only a person who believes gives. Faith rests in the heart, because the heart is how we know faith. Sakalya agrees.
228. 3.9.22For the west, Yagnavalkya names Varuna, god of waters. Varuna rests in water, water in seed, and seed in the heart. That is why people say a son who looks like his father came from his father's heart. Sakalya agrees.
229. 3.9.23Sakalya asks Yagnavalkya which god rules the north. Yagnavalkya says Soma, the moon and sacred drink. Soma rests on the Diksha (a vow taken before a ritual), the vow rests on truth, and truth rests in the heart, because we know what is true with our heart.
230. 3.9.24Sakalya asks about the god of the sky above. Yagnavalkya says Agni, the fire god, who rests in speech, and speech rests in the heart. Then Sakalya presses further and asks what the heart itself rests on.
231. 3.9.25Yagnavalkya calls Sakalya a fool (Ahallika) for thinking the heart could rest somewhere outside us. If the heart were away from the body, he says, dogs or birds could eat it.
232. 3.9.26Yagnavalkya says body and self rest on the breath, and he names the five kinds of breath in a chain. The true Self can only be described as "not this, not this": it cannot be grasped, cannot die, clings to nothing, and does not suffer. He then asks Sakalya to explain the Self taught in the Upanishads. Sakalya cannot, and as warned, his head falls off.
233. 3.9.27After Sakalya's death, Yagnavalkya invites all the priests to question him, one by one or all together, or to be questioned by him. None of them dares to speak.
234. 3.9.28Yagnavalkya compares a person to a tree: hair like leaves, skin like bark, blood like sap, bones like hard wood. A cut tree grows again from its root, but what root makes a person live again after death? The answer given is Brahman, the highest reality, which is knowledge and joy. It is the final support both for the one who gives to others and for the one who stands firm in knowing.

235. Part 4.1

     4.1.1King Janaka of Videha is holding court when Yagnavalkya arrives. The king asks if he came for cows as a reward or for deep questions. Yagnavalkya says he came for both.
236. 4.1.2Janaka says a teacher told him speech is Brahman, the highest reality. Yagnavalkya agrees but says that teaching stands on only one leg, so it is incomplete. He adds that the tongue is its body and space is its home, and that it should be honored as knowledge, since through speech we know friends, holy books and the world. The king offers a thousand cows, but Yagnavalkya refuses payment until the teaching is complete.
237. 4.1.3Janaka says another teacher told him life-breath (prana) is Brahman. Yagnavalkya says breath is its body and space its home, and it should be honored as what is dear. Life is so dear that people will do unworthy things or travel into danger to protect it. Again he refuses the reward until the teaching is complete.
238. 4.1.4Janaka says a teacher told him sight is Brahman. Yagnavalkya says the eye is its body and space its home, and it should be honored as truth, because when someone says "I saw it," people believe it. He refuses payment until the teaching is complete.
239. 4.1.5Janaka says a teacher told him hearing is Brahman. Yagnavalkya says the ear is its body and space its home, and it should be honored as endless, because the directions of space never come to an end, and hearing is linked to space. He refuses payment until the teaching is complete.
240. 4.1.6Janaka says Satyakama Jabala told him the mind is Brahman. Yagnavalkya says the mind is its body and space its home, and it should be honored as joy. Through the mind a man desires a wife, and the son born to them is a joy. He refuses payment until the teaching is complete.
241. 4.1.7Janaka says Sakalya told him the heart is Brahman. Yagnavalkya says the heart is its body and space its home, and it should be honored as steadiness, because all things rest in the heart. Once more he refuses payment until the teaching is complete.

242. Part 4.2

     4.2.1King Janaka steps down from his throne, bows, and asks Yagnavalkya to teach him. Yagnavalkya says the king is well prepared with learning, like a traveler with a chariot. Then he asks where the king will go when he dies. Janaka admits he does not know, and Yagnavalkya promises to tell him.
243. 4.2.2Yagnavalkya says the person seen in the right eye is called Indha, "the shining one." People call him Indra, king of the gods, as a hidden name, because the gods like hidden names more than plain ones.
244. 4.2.3Yagnavalkya says the figure in the right eye is Indra's wife, Viraj. They meet in the space inside the heart and are fed there. They travel along a channel rising up from the heart. Tiny veins called Hita, finer than a hair split a thousand ways, carry finer food to the inner self (the Taigasa).
245. 4.2.4Yagnavalkya says all the directions are the breaths going out to them. The Self can only be described as "not this, not this": it cannot be grasped, does not decay, clings to nothing, does not suffer or die. He tells Janaka he has reached fearlessness. The grateful king wishes him the same and offers him his whole kingdom and himself.

246. Part 4.3

     4.3.1Yagnavalkya comes to King Janaka planning to stay quiet. But long ago, after a debate about the fire ritual (Agnihotra), he had granted the king the right to ask any question he liked. So the king asks first.
247. 4.3.2Janaka asks what gives a person light. Yagnavalkya says the sun, because by its light we sit, move, work and come home. The king agrees.
248. 4.3.3Janaka asks what gives a person light after the sun has set. Yagnavalkya says the moon, because by its light we can still sit, move, work and come home. The king agrees.
249. 4.3.4King Janaka (Ganaka Vaideha) asks the sage Yajnavalkya what lights a person's way once both the sun and the moon have set. Yajnavalkya answers that fire is then the light that lets a person sit, move about, work and come home.
250. 4.3.5The king asks what a person's light is when the sun, moon and fire are all gone. Yajnavalkya says sound is then the light: even when you cannot see your own hand in the dark, you can walk toward a voice.
251. 4.3.6The king asks what light is left when the sun, moon, fire and even sound are all gone. Yajnavalkya answers that the Self, a person's own inner being, is the light by which they live and act.
252. 4.3.7The king asks who this Self is. Yajnavalkya says it is the bright, knowing presence inside the heart, surrounded by the senses. It stays the same while it moves between this world and the dream world, and in dreams it goes beyond everything that dies.
253. 4.3.8When the Self is born and takes on a body, it becomes tied up with all kinds of troubles and wrongs. When the body dies, the Self leaves all those troubles behind.
254. 4.3.9Yajnavalkya says a person has two places, this world and the next world, plus an in-between state, dreaming sleep, where both can be glimpsed. In dreams the person takes pieces of the waking world, breaks them down and builds them up again, lit only by their own inner light.
255. 4.3.10In dreams there are no real chariots, horses, roads, lakes or rivers, and no real joys. The dreamer makes all of them up. The Self is the maker of the dream world.
256. 4.3.11An old verse says that in sleep the Self quiets the body and senses but does not sleep itself. It watches over them, and then returns to its place, shining like a golden person or a lonely bird.
257. 4.3.12While breath keeps the body, the 'lower nest', alive, the deathless Self flies out of it and goes wherever it likes in dreams, like a golden, lonely bird.
258. 4.3.13In dreams the Self goes up and down and takes many shapes. It might enjoy love, laugh with friends, or see frightening things.
259. 4.3.14People can see the dream world, but no one ever sees the Self that makes it, so you should not wake a sleeper suddenly in case it does not return to the body properly. Some people say dreams only repeat what we see while awake, but Yajnavalkya says the dreamer shines by its own light. The grateful king gives him a thousand and asks him to keep teaching so he can become free.
260. 4.3.15After enjoying deep, peaceful sleep and seeing good and bad, the Self goes back to dreaming. Nothing it saw clings to it, because the Self is not attached to anything. The king again gives a thousand and asks him to go on.
261. 4.3.16After roaming in dreams and seeing good and bad, the Self returns to being awake. What it saw in the dream does not cling to it, because it is attached to nothing. The king once more rewards Yajnavalkya and asks for more.
262. 4.3.17After living through the waking day and seeing good and bad, the Self goes back again into dreaming sleep.
263. 4.3.18A large fish swims along both banks of a river, the right and the left. In the same way, the Self moves back and forth between dreaming and waking.
264. 4.3.19A falcon gets tired after flying around, folds its wings and heads home to its nest. In the same way, the Self hurries into deep sleep, where it wants nothing and dreams nothing.
265. 4.3.20The body has tiny channels called Hita, finer than a hair and full of colors. In dreams, out of ignorance, a person may imagine being killed, chased by an elephant or falling into a well, the same dangers feared while awake. But when he feels he is a god or a king, or that he is everything, that is his highest state.
266. 4.3.21In deep sleep a person shows their true nature: free of wanting, free of wrong, free of fear. Just as someone held by a loved one forgets everything inside and outside, the person held by the knowing Self is aware of nothing else. There every wish is fulfilled, no wish is left, and there is no sorrow.
267. 4.3.22In that state, labels no longer apply. Father and mother, gods and holy books, thief and murderer, outcaste groups like Chandalas and Paulkasas, and wandering monks and hermits all stop being what they were. Neither good nor bad deeds follow the person, and every sorrow of the heart is gone.
268. 4.3.23People say that in deep sleep a person sees nothing. Yet the power to see is still there, because the seer can never be destroyed. There is simply nothing separate from him to look at.
269. 4.3.24The sage Yajnavalkya explains that in deep, dreamless sleep (Sushupti) a person does not smell anything. Yet the power of smelling is still there and never dies. There is simply nothing separate from him left to smell.
270. 4.3.25In deep, dreamless sleep a person tastes nothing. Still, the power to taste does not disappear. There is just nothing outside him to taste.
271. 4.3.26In deep, dreamless sleep a person says nothing. Still, the power to speak is not destroyed. There is simply no one else there to speak to.
272. 4.3.27In deep, dreamless sleep a person hears nothing. Still, the power to hear stays and cannot perish. There is just no second thing there for him to hear.
273. 4.3.28In deep, dreamless sleep a person has no thoughts. Still, the one who thinks is still there and cannot be destroyed. There is simply nothing separate from him to think about.
274. 4.3.29In deep, dreamless sleep a person touches nothing. Still, the power to feel touch does not die. There is just nothing outside him to touch.
275. 4.3.30In deep, dreamless sleep a person does not know any object. Still, the knower is there and cannot perish. There is simply nothing separate from him to know.
276. 4.3.31When we are awake or dreaming, there seems to be something else besides us. Only then can we see, smell, speak to, hear, think about, touch and know something other than ourselves.
277. 4.3.32Yajnavalkya tells King Janaka that the one true Seer is like an ocean, with nothing separate from it. This is the world of Brahman, the highest reality. It is a person's highest goal, success and joy, and all other beings live on just a small share of that joy.
278. 4.3.33Yajnavalkya compares joys. The best human life, healthy, rich and powerful, is one unit. Each higher world, of ancestors, heavenly musicians (Gandharvas), gods, and the creator Prajapati, holds a hundred times more joy than the one below, and Brahman's joy is highest. A learned person (Srotriya) who is free of wrongdoing and greed already has these joys. King Janaka offers a thousand gifts and asks for more teaching, and Yajnavalkya worries that the king, now so wise, will drive him from all his positions.
279. 4.3.34Yajnavalkya says that after a person has wandered through dreams, seeing good and bad things, he hurries back to where he began, the waking state.
280. 4.3.35When a person is about to die, the body moves along groaning, like an overloaded cart. It is carrying the conscious Self inside it.
281. 4.3.36When the body becomes weak from old age or illness, the Self lets go of the limbs, the way a ripe mango or fig drops from its stem. Then it hurries on to a new life.
282. 4.3.37Officials wait with food and drink for a king who is returning home. In the same way, all the elements of nature wait for the person who knows this truth, saying, "Here comes Brahman."
283. 4.3.38Officials gather around a king who is leaving. In the same way, all the senses (pranas, the life powers) gather around the Self at the moment of death.

284. Part 4.4

     4.4.1Yajnavalkya goes on. When a dying person grows weak and seems to lose consciousness, the senses gather around the Self. Taking their light with it, the Self goes down into the heart, and the eyes no longer see shapes.
285. 4.4.2People around the dying person say he no longer sees, hears, speaks or knows, because all his senses have become one. The tip of the heart lights up, and by that light the Self leaves through the eye, the top of the head or another opening. The life breath and the other senses follow it. The Self stays aware, and it carries with it its knowledge, its past deeds and its old memories.
286. 4.4.3A caterpillar reaches the end of one blade of grass, grabs the next one and pulls itself over. In the same way, the Self drops this body and reaches toward another body.
287. 4.4.4A goldsmith melts a piece of gold into a newer, more beautiful shape. In the same way, the Self drops this body and makes itself a new and finer form. That form may be like the ancestors, the heavenly musicians (Gandharvas), the gods, the creator Prajapati, Brahman, or other beings.
288. 4.4.5The Self is Brahman, and it includes everything: mind, senses, the elements, desire and no desire, anger and no anger, right and wrong. We become what we do: good deeds make a person good and bad deeds make a person bad. A person is shaped by desire, because desire shapes the will, the will leads to actions, and we reap what our actions bring.
289. 4.4.6Yajnavalkya, the sage teaching King Janaka, says that a person goes after death to whatever their mind was attached to. When the reward of their deeds runs out, they come back to this world. But a person who has let go of desires, or wants only the Self, does not go anywhere else after death. Being Brahman, the one reality behind everything, they simply become one with Brahman.
290. 4.4.7When every desire in a person's heart is gone, that mortal person becomes immortal and reaches Brahman. The dead body is left behind like the old skin a snake sheds on an anthill, while the true spirit is Brahman and pure light. King Janaka is so moved that he offers the sage a thousand as a gift.
291. 4.4.8The sage quotes a verse about a narrow, ancient path that he has found. Wise people who know Brahman travel on it to heaven and then beyond, completely free.
292. 4.4.9People describe this path in different colors, like white, blue, yellow, green or red. Brahman opened this path, and those who know Brahman, live good lives and shine inwardly walk on it.
293. 4.4.10People who follow ignorance fall into deep darkness. But people who delight in knowledge fall, in a way, into an even deeper darkness.
294. 4.4.11There are joyless worlds covered in darkness. People who stay ignorant and never wake up to the truth go to those worlds after death.
295. 4.4.12If a person truly understands the Self and can say "I am That," they no longer crave anything. Why would they keep worrying about the body?
296. 4.4.13The Self lives hidden inside this body, which is pieced together from many parts. Whoever finds and understands it is the maker of everything. The whole world belongs to them, and they are the world itself.
297. 4.4.14We can come to know the Self while we are alive here. If we fail to, we stay ignorant, and that is a great loss. Those who know it become immortal, but everyone else suffers.
298. 4.4.15When a person clearly sees this Self as God, the ruler of the past and the future, they are no longer afraid.
299. 4.4.16The years and days turn under his rule. Even the gods worship him as the light behind all lights and as time that never dies.
300. 4.4.17The speaker says that the five kinds of beings and space itself all rest in this One. He sees it as his true Self and as Brahman. Because he knows it, he is immortal, just as it is immortal.
301. 4.4.18Brahman is what makes life alive. It is what lets the eye see, the ear hear, and the mind think. Those who know this have understood the ancient Brahman, which existed before everything.
302. 4.4.19This One can be known only through the mind. There are no separate parts in it. A person who sees separation and division there keeps dying again and again.
303. 4.4.20This eternal being cannot be proved by argument and can be known in only one way. It is pure and beyond even space. It is the Self that was never born, great and eternal.
304. 4.4.21A wise seeker who has found the Self should live by that wisdom. He should not chase after lots of words and talk, because that only tires the tongue.
305. 4.4.22The great unborn Self lives in the space within the heart and is lord and protector of all. Good deeds do not make it bigger, and bad deeds do not make it smaller. People seek it through scripture study, worship, giving, and fasting, and some leave home to wander as monks. The ancients saw that wanting children, money and heaven are all just desires. The Self can only be described as "not this, not this." One who knows it is no longer troubled by the good or bad he has done.
306. 4.4.23The greatness of the knower does not grow through work or shrink because of it. Whoever knows the Self becomes calm, controlled, content, patient and focused, and sees the Self in everything. Evil cannot overcome or burn him. Free from doubt, he becomes a true knower of Brahman. When Yajnavalkya finishes, King Janaka offers himself and his whole kingdom of Videha to serve him.
307. 4.4.24This great, unborn Self is strong and gives all wealth. Whoever knows this receives wealth.
308. 4.4.25This great unborn Self never ages, never dies, and has no fear. It is Brahman. Whoever knows this becomes Brahman and is free from fear too.

309. Part 4.5

     4.5.1The sage Yagnavalkya had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. Maitreyi cared about spiritual knowledge of Brahman (the ultimate reality), while Katyayani knew only ordinary things. Yagnavalkya was ready to leave home and live as a hermit in the forest.
310. 4.5.2Yagnavalkya tells Maitreyi that he is leaving the house for the forest. He wants to divide his property fairly between her and his other wife, Katyayani.
311. 4.5.3Maitreyi asks whether owning the whole rich earth would make her immortal. Yagnavalkya says no: she would live like a rich person, but money cannot give lasting life.
312. 4.5.4Maitreyi says she does not want things that cannot make her immortal. She asks her husband to teach her what he knows about lasting life instead.
313. 4.5.5Yagnavalkya is pleased by her question and says she has become even dearer to him. He agrees to explain and asks her to listen carefully.
314. 4.5.6Yagnavalkya teaches that we do not love a husband, wife, children, money, gods or anything else just for their own sake. We love them because of the Self, the deep inner reality in all things. So the Self is what we should look at, hear about, think about and come to know, because knowing it means knowing everything.
315. 4.5.7Yagnavalkya says that anyone who thinks priests, rulers, worlds, gods, scriptures or creatures exist apart from the Self will lose them. All of these, and everything, are really that one Self.
316. 4.5.8Yagnavalkya gives an example: you cannot catch the sounds of a drum by themselves. But you hold the sounds when you hold the drum or the drummer.
317. 4.5.9The same is true of a conch shell's sound. You cannot grab the sound alone, but you control it by holding the shell or the person blowing it.
318. 4.5.10It is the same with a lute, a stringed instrument. You cannot grab its notes alone, but you have them when you hold the lute or the player.
319. 4.5.11Just as smoke rises by itself from a fire of damp wood, all the sacred books, stories, teachings, rituals, food, drink, this world, the next world and all creatures came out from the great Being like breath. Everything comes from that one source.
320. 4.5.12Yagnavalkya lists meeting places: all waters meet in the sea, all touches in the skin, tastes in the tongue, smells in the nose, colours in the eye, sounds in the ear, thoughts in the mind, knowledge in the heart, actions in the hands, movements in the feet, and all the Vedas in speech.
321. 4.5.13A lump of salt tastes salty all through, inside and out. The Self is the same: it is pure awareness through and through. It shows up through the body and elements and disappears back into them, and after death there is no more separate personal knowing.
322. 4.5.14Maitreyi says she is confused and does not understand. Yagnavalkya assures her he is not trying to confuse her: the Self can never be destroyed.
323. 4.5.15Yagnavalkya explains that seeing, hearing and knowing need two things: one who knows and something known. When only the Self exists, there is no other to see or know, and no one can know the Knower itself. The Self can only be described as 'not this, not this'; it cannot be grasped, cannot die, clings to nothing and does not suffer. Having taught this, he left for the forest.

324. Part 5.1

     5.1.1That unseen reality is whole and complete, and this visible world is whole and complete too. The visible comes from the unseen, and when the whole is taken from the whole, the whole still remains. The sacred sound Om stands for Brahman, the ultimate reality, and through it one can know all that needs knowing.

325. Part 5.2

     5.2.1The gods, humans and demons all studied under their father Prajapati, the creator. When the gods asked for a final teaching, he said only 'Da.' The gods understood it as 'Damyata,' meaning 'control yourselves,' and he agreed.
326. 5.2.2Then the humans asked for a teaching. Prajapati again said 'Da,' and they understood it as 'Datta,' meaning 'give.' He said they were right.
327. 5.2.3Then the demons asked, and Prajapati again said 'Da.' They understood it as 'Dayadhvam,' meaning 'be merciful,' and he agreed. Thunder still repeats 'Da Da Da' to remind everyone: control yourself, give, and be kind.

328. Part 5.3

     5.3.1The heart is Prajapati, the creator; it is Brahman and everything. The word for heart, 'hridaya,' has three parts, and the passage links each to a reward: people bring offerings and gifts to the one who understands it, and he reaches heaven.

329. Part 5.4

     5.4.1The heart spoken of before is the true Brahman, the ultimate reality behind everything. Whoever knows this great first-born reality as the truth wins these worlds and overcomes his enemies, because Brahman is truth itself.

330. Part 5.5

     5.5.1At the start the world was water, and from it came truth, which is Brahman, the ultimate reality. Brahman produced Prajapati, the creator, who produced the gods, and the gods honor only truth. The word for truth, satyam, has three parts; the outer two stand for truth and the middle for untruth, so truth surrounds untruth and is stronger, and untruth cannot harm one who knows this.
331. 5.5.2The truth is the sun, the being who lives in the sun, and the being in a person's right eye. They support each other: the sun shines its rays into the eye, and the eye's senses reach out to the sun. When a person is about to die, he sees the sun as plain white, and its rays no longer come back to him.
332. 5.5.3The being in the sun is pictured using three sacred words: Bhuh is his head, Bhuvah his two arms, and Svar his two feet, matching the number of syllables. His secret name is Ahar, meaning 'day.' Whoever knows this destroys evil and leaves it behind.
333. 5.5.4The being in the right eye is pictured the same way: Bhuh is his head, Bhuvah his two arms, and Svar his feet. His secret name is Aham, meaning 'I.' Whoever knows this destroys evil and leaves it behind.

334. Part 5.6

     5.6.1Inside the heart lives a being made of mind and light, as tiny as a grain of rice or barley. Yet this small being is the ruler and lord of everything that exists.

335. Part 5.7

     5.7.1People say lightning is Brahman, the ultimate reality, because the word for lightning comes from the idea of 'cutting.' Whoever knows this is cut free from evil by Brahman.

336. Part 5.8

     5.8.1One should think of speech as a cow with four udders, which are four sacred words used in rituals. The gods are fed by two of them, people by one, and the ancestors by the last. Breath is the cow's bull and the mind is her calf.

337. Part 5.9

     5.9.1There is a fire inside each person, called Agni Vaishvanara, that digests the food we eat. It is the humming sound you hear when you cover your ears. When someone is about to die, they no longer hear it.

338. Part 5.10

     5.10.1When a person dies, he goes first to the wind, which opens a small gap for him to rise through. Then the sun and the moon each open a gap, and he rises past them. He reaches a world with no sorrow and no cold, and lives there for endless years.

339. Part 5.11

     5.11.1When a sick person suffers pain, that suffering counts as the highest spiritual discipline. Being carried to the forest after death, and being placed on the funeral fire, also count as the highest discipline. Whoever understands this wins the highest world.

340. Part 5.12

     5.12.1Some say food is Brahman, the ultimate reality, and others say life-breath is, but each fails without the other, so some say they are highest when joined. Pratrida asks his father whether he could do any good or harm to someone who knows this. His father waves his hand and says no, because knowing only that these two are one does not reach the highest state. Then he teaches that food is 'Vi' because all beings rest on it, and life is 'Ram' because all beings delight in it. All beings rest on and delight in the one who knows this.

341. Part 5.13

     5.13.1Breath is the Uktha, a sacred hymn, because breath raises everything up. Whoever knows this will have a wise son and becomes one with the Uktha.
342. 5.13.2Breath is the Yajus, the ritual verses, because all beings are joined together through breath. For one who knows this, all beings join to help him do well, and he becomes one with the Yajus.
343. 5.13.3Breath is the Saman, the sung chants, because all beings meet in breath. For one who knows this, all beings come together to help him do well, and he becomes one with the Saman.
344. 5.13.4Breath is Kshatra, meaning power and protection, because breath protects a person from harm. Whoever knows this gains a power that needs no protection and becomes one with it.

345. Part 5.14

     5.14.1The words for earth, sky and heaven together make eight syllables, just like the first line of the Gayatri, a sacred verse. Whoever knows this line as the three worlds wins everything those worlds contain.
346. 5.14.2The names of the three Vedas, the oldest holy books, together make eight syllables, like the second line of the Gayatri. Whoever knows this line as the three Vedas gains all that this sacred knowledge reaches.
347. 5.14.3The names of three kinds of breath make eight syllables, like the third line of the Gayatri, and whoever knows this gains all that breathes. The Gayatri also has a fourth, shining part high above the skies, meaning the being seen in the sun. Whoever knows this fourth part shines with happiness and glory.
348. 5.14.4The Gayatri rests on its shining fourth part, which rests on truth, and truth is the eye, which is why we trust someone who says 'I saw' over someone who says 'I heard.' Truth in turn rests on strength, which is life-breath. The Gayatri is named for protecting the life-breaths, and a teacher who teaches it protects the life of his student.
349. 5.14.5Some teachers teach the sacred Savitri prayer in a different verse form called Anushtubh, claiming it stands for speech. The Upanishad says not to do this, but to teach it as the Gayatri. Even a large payment given to a teacher who knows this is worth less than one part of the Gayatri.
350. 5.14.6Even if a teacher were paid with the three worlds, all the knowledge of the Vedas (the holy scriptures), and every living thing, that would only equal the first three parts of the Gayatri prayer. Its fourth, shining part is beyond anything anyone can own, so no payment could ever match it.
351. 5.14.7This is a prayer of praise to the Gayatri: it has one, two, three and four parts, yet it has no parts because it cannot be fully known. Bow to its fourth shining part beyond the skies. A person who knows this can use the prayer to block the wishes of someone he dislikes, or to gain what he himself wants.
352. 5.14.8King Janaka of Videha teased the scholar Budila, who claimed to know the Gayatri, asking why he had been reborn as an elephant carrying the king. Budila said he had not known the prayer's 'mouth,' which is fire. Just as fire burns up any amount of wood, a person who truly knows this burns up even great wrongs and becomes pure and free from death.

353. Part 5.15

     5.15.1A prayer: the face of the highest Truth is hidden behind a golden disk, like the sun. It asks Pushan, the god who nourishes and guides, to remove that cover so we can see what is truly real.
354. 5.15.2The prayer calls the sun by many names, including Pushan, the lone seer, Yama the judge, and Surya, son of Prajapati. It asks the sun to spread out its rays and gather them in. The worshipper says he sees its most beautiful light, and declares, 'I am that same being who lives in the sun.'
355. 5.15.3A dying person prays that his breath may return to the air and the deathless, as his body becomes ashes. He tells his own mind to remember the deeds he has done in his life.
356. 5.15.4A prayer to Agni, the god of fire, who knows everything. It asks him to lead us by a good road to true happiness, to keep crooked wrongdoing far away, and promises him our fullest praise.

357. Part 6.1

     6.1.1Breath is the first and best of the powers in the body. Whoever understands this becomes first and best among his people, and among whomever he chooses.
358. 6.1.2Speech is called the richest of the body's powers. Whoever understands this becomes the richest among his people.
359. 6.1.3The eye is the firm support, because seeing lets a person stand steady on smooth or rough ground. Whoever understands this stands firm on smooth and rough ground.
360. 6.1.4The ear is success, because the holy Vedas are learned by hearing them. Whoever understands this gets whatever he wishes for.
361. 6.1.5The mind is the home where everything rests. Whoever understands this becomes a home, a place of support, for his own people and for everyone.
362. 6.1.6Seed, the power to create new life, is called generation. Whoever understands this has many children and much cattle.
363. 6.1.7The body's powers, called Pranas here, argued about which of them was the best and asked Brahman, the Creator. He said the best is the one whose leaving makes the body worst off.
364. 6.1.8Speech left the body for a year to test the others. When it came back, they said they lived fine like people who cannot speak, still breathing, seeing, hearing and thinking. So speech came back in.
365. 6.1.9Then sight left for a year. The others lived on like blind people, still breathing, speaking, hearing and thinking. So the eye came back in.
366. 6.1.10Then hearing left for a year. The others lived on like deaf people, still breathing, speaking, seeing and thinking. So the ear came back in.
367. 6.1.11Then the mind left for a year. The others lived on like foolish people who do not understand, but still breathing, seeing and hearing. So the mind came back in.
368. 6.1.12Then the seed, the power to have children, left for a year. The others lived on like people unable to have children, still breathing, seeing, hearing and thinking. So the seed came back in.
369. 6.1.13When the life-breath began to leave the body, it pulled all the senses loose, like a strong horse pulling up the pegs it is tied to. The senses begged it to stay, saying they could not live without it, and agreed to give it an offering.
370. 6.1.14Each sense admits that its own gift really belongs to the breath: speech, sight, hearing, mind and the power to have children all depend on it. They say all food in the world is the breath's food and water is its clothing. This is why learned Vedic priests sip water before and after eating, to 'dress' the breath.

371. Part 6.2

     6.2.1Svetaketu, a young man, visits the land of the Panchalas and meets King Pravahana Jaivali. The king asks if his father has taught him, and Svetaketu says yes.
372. 6.2.2The king asks Svetaketu five deep questions: where people go after death, how they come back, why the other world never fills up, how water takes on a human voice, and what leads people to the path of the gods or the path of the ancestors. Svetaketu admits he cannot answer any of them.
373. 6.2.3Svetaketu refuses the king's hospitality and runs home upset. He complains to his father that he was called well-taught, yet could not answer a single one of the king's questions.
374. 6.2.4His father Gautama says he taught his son everything he knew, and suggests they both go to the king as students. The son refuses, so Gautama goes alone, and the king welcomes him with honor and offers him a gift.
375. 6.2.5Gautama asks for his gift to be the teaching the king spoke of to his son.
376. 6.2.6The king replies that this is a divine gift and asks Gautama to pick an ordinary human gift instead.
377. 6.2.7Gautama says he already has plenty of gold, cattle and possessions and wants no more. When the king asks if he truly seeks to learn, Gautama humbly comes to him as a student, and he really lived as one, not just in words.
378. 6.2.8The king asks Gautama not to be offended, explaining that this knowledge had never before belonged to any Brahmin priest. Still, he agrees to teach him because Gautama asked so sincerely.
379. 6.2.9The king begins his teaching by describing the sky as a sacred fire, with the sun as its fuel and the day as its light. The gods offer faith into this fire, and from it the moon arises.
380. 6.2.10Next the rain god is pictured as a sacred fire, with clouds as smoke and lightning as light. The gods offer the moon into it, and rain is born.
381. 6.2.11This world is pictured as a sacred fire, with the earth as fuel and the stars as sparks. The gods offer rain into it, and food grows.
382. 6.2.12A man is pictured as a sacred fire, with his mouth, breath, tongue, eyes and ears as its parts. The gods offer food into him, and from that comes the seed of new life.
383. 6.2.13A woman is pictured as a sacred fire, and when seed is offered into her, a child is born. That person lives out their life, and then dies.
384. 6.2.14When a person dies, they are placed on the funeral fire, which is now a real fire. The gods offer the person into it, and from it the person rises shining and bright.
385. 6.2.15Those who understand this teaching, and those who worship faith and the True in the forest, travel after death along a path of light through day, the bright half of the moon, the sun and lightning. A spirit leads them to the worlds of Brahman, where they live for ages and never return.
386. 6.2.16Those who earn good results through rituals, charity and self-discipline travel by a darker path to the moon, where they stay until their good deeds run out. Then they come back as rain, become food, and are born again, going round the same cycle. Those who follow neither path are reborn as worms, birds and insects.