Mundaka Upanishad

1. Part 1.1

   1.1.1Brahma, the first of the gods and the maker and keeper of the world, taught the knowledge of Brahman, the ultimate reality, to his eldest son Atharva. This knowledge is the base of all other knowledge.
2. 1.1.2Atharvan passed this knowledge to Angir. Angir taught it to Satyavaha Bharadvaja, who then passed it on to Angiras. It was handed down from teacher to student.
3. 1.1.3Shaunaka, a wealthy householder, came respectfully to the teacher Angiras with a question. He asked what one thing, once known, would make everything else known.
4. 1.1.4Angiras answered that there are two kinds of knowledge to learn, a higher one and a lower one. Everyone who knows Brahman, the ultimate reality, says so.
5. 1.1.5Angiras says the lower knowledge is the four Vedas, the sacred texts, plus the studies that go with them: pronunciation, ritual, grammar, word origins, poetic meter and astronomy. The higher knowledge is the one that lets you know the Indestructible, Brahman.
6. 1.1.6The wise see the source of all beings as something that cannot be seen or grabbed. It has no family and no caste, no eyes, ears, hands or feet. It is eternal, everywhere, extremely subtle and never destroyed.
7. 1.1.7A spider spins out its thread and takes it back in. Plants grow from the earth, and hair grows on a person's body. In the same natural way, everything in the world comes out of the Indestructible, Brahman.
8. 1.1.8Brahman, the one reality behind everything, grows through deep inner concentration, and from it comes matter, called "food" here. From matter come breath, mind, the elements, the worlds, and the deeds people do there, whose results last on and on.
9. 1.1.9The highest Brahman sees all and knows all, and its concentration is pure knowing. From it come the creator god (also called Brahman), along with names, shapes and matter.

10. Part 1.2

    1.2.1The fire rituals that ancient poet-seers found in the Vedic hymns are real and were done in many ways in an earlier age. People who love truth should do them carefully, because they lead to a heavenly world earned by good deeds.
11. 1.2.2When the sacred fire is lit and the flame is dancing, a person should pour in the offering at the right spot, between two portions of melted butter, and do it with faith.
12. 1.2.3If a person does the daily fire offering, called the Agnihotra, but skips the other required rituals, ignores guests, or does it carelessly and against the rules, it harms him instead of helping. It ruins all the good worlds he hoped to reach.
13. 1.2.4The sacred fire has seven flickering tongues of flame. Their names are Black, Terrible, Swift as Thought, Very Red, Smoky Purple, Sparkling, and All-Shaped.
14. 1.2.5If a person makes his offerings while these flames are shining and at the right times, the offerings carry him like rays of sunlight. They take him to the place where Indra, the king of the gods, lives.
15. 1.2.6The shining offerings call out to the worshipper, "Come here, come here!" They carry him on the sun's rays, praise him with sweet words, and tell him, "This holy heaven is yours, earned by your good deeds."
16. 1.2.7But these rituals are like weak, leaky boats. They cannot carry you across for good. Foolish people who think rituals are the highest goal keep getting old and dying, over and over again.
17. 1.2.8Foolish people live in darkness but think they are wise. Proud of what they know, they wander around lost, like blind people being led by other blind people.
18. 1.2.9People who stay ignorant for a long time are like children who think they are happy. Those who rely only on their good deeds are driven by desires and do not see far ahead. When the heaven they earned runs out, they fall and become miserable.
19. 1.2.10These fools think rituals and good deeds are the best thing there is, and they know nothing higher. After enjoying their reward in heaven for a while, they are born again into this world or an even lower one.
20. 1.2.11But some people live simply in the forest with self-discipline and faith. They are calm and wise and live on what others give them. Free from desire, they pass through the sun to where the undying, eternal Being lives.
21. 1.2.12A seeker should look carefully at everything that can be earned by actions and see that none of it lasts. Then he should let go of all wanting, because something eternal cannot be earned by actions that come and go. To learn the truth, he should carry firewood as a humble gift and go to a teacher who is learned and lives fully in Brahman.
22. 1.2.13When a student comes respectfully, with a calm mind not troubled by desires, the wise teacher shares the true knowledge of Brahman. Through it the student comes to know the eternal, true Being.

23. Part 2.1

    2.1.1The teacher says: this is the truth, my friend. Just as thousands of sparks fly out of a blazing fire and are made of the same fire, all living beings come out of the Imperishable, the one eternal reality, and they return to it again.
24. 2.1.2That divine Being has no body. It is both outside and inside everything. It was never born, does not need breath or mind, is completely pure, and is higher than anything else.
25. 2.1.3From that Being come breath, mind, and all the senses. From it also come space, air, fire, water, and the earth that holds everything up.
26. 2.1.4The whole universe is like the body of this Being. The sky is its head, the sun and moon its eyes, the directions its ears, the Vedas its speech, the wind its breath, and the world its heart. The earth came from its feet. It is the inner Self of everything.
27. 2.1.5From this Being comes fire, with the sun as its fuel. From the moon comes rain, and from the earth come plants. A man gives seed to a woman. In this way many living beings come from the one Person, called Purusha.
28. 2.1.6Everything to do with worship comes from the one Person, the source of all. This includes the sacred hymns of the Vedas (the Rik, Saman and Yajus), the rites that start a person's religious life, all sacrifices, and the gifts paid to priests. The year, the worshipper, and the worlds lit by the sun and moon come from him too.
29. 2.1.7The gods, spirits, people, animals and birds all come from this one source. So do breathing, food grains, self-discipline, faith, truth, self-control and moral law.
30. 2.1.8Our senses also come from him. So do the act of sensing, the things we sense, and what we experience through them. They are counted in groups of seven and rest in the hidden space of the heart.
31. 2.1.9The seas, mountains and rivers all come from him. So do the plants and the sap that feeds the body, which keeps the inner Self living in it.
32. 2.1.10The divine Person is all of this: worship, discipline, and Brahman, the highest reality that never dies. Whoever finds him hidden in their own heart is freed, even in this life, from the tangle of not knowing the truth.

33. Part 2.2

    2.2.1The great Being is close to us and plain to see. It lives in the hidden space of the heart. Everything that moves, breathes or blinks rests in it, and so does everything that exists or does not. It is worthy of worship, the very best, and beyond what our minds can grasp.
34. 2.2.2Brahman, the ultimate reality, is shining and smaller than the smallest thing. Yet all the worlds and everyone in them rest on it. It cannot be destroyed. It is the life-breath, speech and mind, and it is true and immortal. The teacher tells his student: aim at it and hit it.
35. 2.2.3The teaching is like a mighty bow. Put on it an arrow made sharp by devotion. Then draw it back with your mind fixed on what is real, and hit the target, which is the Indestructible.
36. 2.2.4The sacred sound Om is the bow, your own Self is the arrow, and Brahman is the target. A person who is careful and alert can hit it. Then, just as an arrow sinks into its target, they become one with Brahman.
37. 2.2.5Heaven, earth, sky, the mind and all the senses are woven together in him. Know him alone as your true Self and stop the empty talk. He is the bridge that leads to immortality.
38. 2.2.6The Self lives in the heart, where the body's channels meet like spokes in the center of a wheel, and it shows up in many forms. Meditate on the Self using the sound Om. The teacher wishes you well as you cross over the darkness.
39. 2.2.7The Self knows and understands everything, and all the glory of the world is his. He lives in the space of the heart, called Brahman's city. He takes the form of the mind, guides the body and senses, and is kept alive by food near the heart. Wise people who understand this see the immortal one shining with joy.
40. 2.2.8When a person truly sees the One who is both the highest and the lowest, the cause and all its results, the knots in their heart come undone. All their doubts are cleared up, and their past actions lose their hold on them.
41. 2.2.9In the innermost golden layer of a person is Brahman. It is pure and whole, without desires and without parts. It is the light of all lights, and those who know the Self know it.
42. 2.2.10There, the sun, moon, stars, lightning and fire do not shine on their own. When Brahman shines, everything else shines after it. All things get their light from its light.
43. 2.2.11The immortal Brahman is in front, behind, to the right and to the left. It spreads below and above. Brahman alone is everything, and it is the best.

44. Part 3.1

    3.1.1Two birds, close friends that are never apart, sit on the same tree. One eats the sweet fruit. The other just watches without eating.
45. 3.1.2A person sits on that same tree, sunk in sorrow and confused, feeling powerless. But when they see the other bird, the Lord, calm and content, and see his greatness, their sorrow goes away.
46. 3.1.3When a person sees the shining Creator and Lord, whose source is Brahman, that person becomes wise. They rise above good and bad deeds, become free of cravings, and reach the highest oneness.
47. 3.1.4The Lord is the life-breath shining in every being. Whoever understands this becomes truly wise, not just someone who talks about it. They find joy and delight in the Self. After doing their duties, such as being truthful, disciplined and meditating, they rest firmly in Brahman as the best of those who know it.
48. 3.1.5The true Self is reached by being honest, by self-discipline, by right understanding, and by self-control. People who live pure, simple lives find it. It is pure, like a light shining inside the body.
49. 3.1.6Truth wins in the end, not lies. Truth builds the road called "the way of the gods." On that road, the old sages, whose wants were satisfied, travel to the highest home of the True One.
50. 3.1.7Brahman, the ultimate reality, shines great and divine, beyond what the mind can picture. It is smaller than the smallest thing. It is farther than the farthest place, yet it is right here. Those who truly see find it hidden in their own heart.
51. 3.1.8You cannot see the Self with your eyes, describe it in words, or grasp it with any sense. Hard practices and good deeds alone cannot reach it either. When your mind becomes clear and pure through knowledge, you see it as you meditate on it as one whole, without parts.
52. 3.1.9The subtle Self is known through the mind, here in the body where the breath works in five ways. People's thoughts are always tangled up with the senses. When the mind is made clear and pure, the Self shows itself.
53. 3.1.10A person with a purified heart gets whatever state or goal he truly sets his mind on, for himself or for others. So anyone who wants happiness should honor a person who knows the Self.

54. Part 3.2

    3.2.1The one who knows the Self knows Brahman's highest home, which holds everything and shines brightly. Wise people who honor that Person without chasing their own happiness move beyond the seed of rebirth.
55. 3.2.2A person who keeps making wishes and cravings in his mind is born again and again to chase them. But for someone who knows the true Self inside, all cravings fall away, even in this life.
56. 3.2.3You cannot reach the Self just by studying scripture, by being clever, or by learning a lot. The Self is reached by the one it chooses. To that person, the Self shows its own true nature.
57. 3.2.4Someone who is weak, careless, or does not meditate properly cannot reach the Self. But a wise person who works at it with strength, real effort, and right meditation enters the home of Brahman.
58. 3.2.5When sages reach the Self, they feel fully satisfied by that knowledge. Their strong desires are gone and they are at peace. Devoted to the Self, they become completely one with the One who is everywhere.
59. 3.2.6Those who live simply and set things aside understand clearly what Vedanta, the final teaching of the Vedas, points to. They purify themselves by giving things up. At death they become fully free in Brahma's worlds and enjoy the highest immortality.
60. 3.2.7At death, the parts of the wise person go back to the elements they came from. Their senses go back to the gods who rule them. Their actions and their Self become one with the highest, never-ending reality.
61. 3.2.8Rivers flow into the sea and lose their names and shapes. In the same way, a wise person lets go of name and form and joins the divine Person, who is greater than the greatest.
62. 3.2.9Whoever truly knows the highest Brahman becomes Brahman. No one in his family line will be ignorant of it. He moves beyond sorrow and wrongdoing. Free from the knots in his heart, he becomes immortal.
63. 3.2.10A verse from the Rig Veda says who should be taught this knowledge of Brahman. It is for those who have done their duties, know the Vedas, and are steady in faith. They should make offerings to the sacred fire, called Agni, with trust and carry out the vow of carrying fire on the head, as the Atharva tradition requires.
64. 3.2.11Long ago the sage Angiras taught this truth. Someone who has not done the proper preparation should not study it. The Upanishad ends by bowing twice to the great sages.