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← The Upanishads

Taittiriya Upanishad

  1. Part 1.1

    1.1.1This is an opening prayer asking many gods, such as Mitra, Varuna, Indra and Vishnu, to be kind. It honors Vayu, the wind, as the visible form of Brahman, and asks that both student and teacher be protected, ending with a wish for peace.

  2. Part 1.2

    1.2.1This lesson is about Shiksha, the study of how to pronounce sacred words correctly. It lists letters, accent, length, effort, tone and how sounds join together.

  3. Part 1.3

    1.3.1Teacher and student pray that they both gain honor and the light of sacred knowledge. The teacher then begins explaining hidden meanings of 'joining' in five areas, starting with the worlds: earth and heaven are joined by the space between them.
  4. 1.3.2Earth and heaven are joined through the air. Fire and the sun are joined by water through lightning. In learning, the teacher is the first part of the joining.
  5. 1.3.3The student is the second part, and knowledge is what joins teacher and student, through reciting the sacred texts. Mother and father are joined in their child, through having children.
  6. 1.3.4In the body, the lower and upper jaw are joined by speech. Whoever understands these joinings is blessed with children, cattle, sacred knowledge, food and a place in heaven.

  7. Part 1.4

    1.4.1The student prays to Indra, the lord of the gods, for wisdom. He asks for a strong body, kind speech and ears that hear much, and asks Om to guard what he has learned.
  8. 1.4.2The teacher prays for Shri, goddess of good fortune, to bring clothes, cows, food and drink. He also prays that many students come to him and that they practice self-control and find peace.
  9. 1.4.3A teacher prays to Om, the sacred sound, calling it a treasure. He asks to be honored among people and richer than the richest, to become one with Om and be made clean by it, and for students to come to him as steadily as water flows downhill. He ends by asking Om to be his shelter, to give him understanding and to take hold of him completely.

  10. Part 1.5

    1.5.1Bhu, Bhuvas and Suvas are three sacred words spoken in prayer. A sage named Mahakamasya added a fourth word, Mahas, and said it stands for Brahman, the one reality behind everything, and the other three are like its limbs. Bhu stands for this earth, Bhuvas for the sky, and Suvas for the heavenly world.
  11. 1.5.2The fourth word, Mahas, is linked to the sun, because the sun makes all the worlds grow. In another set, Bhu is fire, Bhuvas is air and Suvas is the sun, while Mahas is the moon, which makes all the lights in the sky shine brighter. In a third set, the three words stand for the three kinds of Vedic verses: Rik, Saman and Yajus.
  12. 1.5.3Mahas is Brahman, the ultimate reality, and it makes all the Vedas, the sacred texts, great. The three other words stand for three kinds of breath in the body, and Mahas is food, which keeps all breathing going. Whoever understands these four groups of four knows Brahman, and all the gods honor that person.

  13. Part 1.6

    1.6.1Inside the heart there is a small space, and in it lives a Person made of mind who is shining, golden and cannot die. The soft flap at the back of the throat is called the starting point of Indra, the lord. Where the hair parts on the head, he opens the two sides of the head and, saying the sacred word Bhu, enters fire, and saying Bhuvas, enters the air.
  14. 1.6.2Saying Suvas, the knower enters the sun, and saying Mahas, he enters Brahman, the ultimate reality. There he becomes master of his own mind, speech, sight, hearing and understanding. He reaches Brahman, which is like open space, true, joyful in life and mind, perfectly peaceful and undying. The teacher tells his student Prachinayogya to meditate on Brahman this way.

  15. Part 1.7

    1.7.1The text lists things in the world in groups of five, like earth, sky, heaven and the directions, or fire, air, sun, moon and stars. It also lists the body in groups of five, like five kinds of breath, five senses, and skin, flesh, muscle, bone and marrow. A sage concluded that everything comes in fives, and that the fives inside the body match and complete the fives outside it.

  16. Part 1.8

    1.8.1The sacred sound Om stands for Brahman, the one ultimate reality.
  17. 1.8.2Om stands for everything that exists.
  18. 1.8.3Om is also a word of agreement, like saying "yes." When people are told "Om, speak," they begin to speak.
  19. 1.8.4Priests say Om before they sing the Saman chants.
  20. 1.8.5Priests say Om before they recite the sacred hymns.
  21. 1.8.6The Adhvaryu, the priest who handles the ritual actions, says Om before he gives his reply in the ceremony.
  22. 1.8.7The chief priest, who oversees the ritual, says Om before he gives instructions.
  23. 1.8.8The person holding the ceremony says Om to give permission for the Agnihotra, the daily fire offering.
  24. 1.8.9When a Brahmin, a priest-teacher, begins to recite or teach, he says, "Om, may I gain the Veda," the sacred knowledge. By doing this, he truly gains it.

  25. Part 1.9

    1.9.1The text says each good duty must go together with learning and practising the Veda, the sacred texts. These duties include doing right, being truthful, self-discipline, self-control, calm, keeping the sacred fires and offerings, welcoming guests, doing one's duty, marriage, children and grandchildren. Three teachers each pick one thing as most important: one says truth, one says self-discipline, and one says learning and practising the Veda, because that itself is self-discipline.

  26. Part 1.10

    1.10.1The speaker says, "I am the one who shakes the tree," meaning the tree of the world, which has to be cut down by knowledge.
  27. 1.10.2The speaker says his glory is like the top of a mountain, high and lofty.
  28. 1.10.3The speaker says the pure light of his knowledge has risen high. He is the same undying reality that lives in the sun.
  29. 1.10.4The poet Trisanku goes on describing what he feels after knowing the true Self. He says he is the brightest and most precious treasure.
  30. 1.10.5Trisanku ends his words by saying he is wise, cannot die, and cannot be destroyed. He speaks as one who has found the deathless Self within.
  31. 1.10.6This verse names the source. These words are a teaching of the Veda, the ancient sacred texts, spoken by the poet-sage Trisanku.

  32. Part 1.11

    1.11.1When a student finishes his studies, the teacher gives him parting advice. Tell the truth and do your duty. Keep studying and teaching. Pay your teacher what he is owed. Start a family. Never stray from truth, duty, what is useful, or what is great.
  33. 1.11.2The teacher goes on. Keep up your offerings to the gods and to your ancestors. Honour your mother, father, teacher and guests as if each were a god. Copy only our good and blameless actions.
  34. 1.11.3Do not copy our faults, the teacher says. Honour people wiser than us by offering them a seat. When you give, give with faith, with joy, with humility, with care and with kindness, never carelessly. He then turns to what to do if you are unsure how to act.
  35. 1.11.4If you are unsure what is right, the teacher says, act as wise and good people act. Follow those who are devoted to duty but not harsh or extreme. This is the rule, the teaching and the heart of the Veda, and it must be followed.

  36. Part 1.12

    1.12.1This is a closing prayer to many gods, asking them to be kind. It honours Brahman, the ultimate reality, and Vayu, the wind, called Brahman that can be seen. The speaker says truth has protected both him and his teacher, and ends by asking for peace three times.

  37. Part 2.1

    2.1.1Whoever knows Brahman, the ultimate reality, reaches the highest. Brahman is real, aware and endless, and hidden deep in the heart. From Brahman came space, then air, fire, water and earth. From earth came plants, then food, then seed, then people. So the human body is made of food.

  38. Part 2.2

    2.2.1All living things come from food, live by food, and go back to food at death, so food is called the oldest and the cure for all. Inside the body made of food is a deeper layer, a self made of breath. It fills the body and has the same human shape.

  39. Part 2.3

    2.3.1Gods, people and animals all live by breath, so breath is the life of every being. Those who honour breath as Brahman live a full life. Inside the self made of breath is a deeper self made of mind. The sacred hymns form its parts.

  40. Part 2.4

    2.4.1Words and thoughts cannot reach Brahman's joy, but a person who knows that joy is never afraid. Inside the self made of mind is a deeper self made of understanding. Its parts are faith, what is right, what is true, and deep meditation.

  41. Part 2.5

    2.5.1Understanding is what really performs every sacred act, and even the gods honour it. Whoever holds to it leaves evil behind and gets what he wishes. Inside the self of understanding is the deepest self, made of bliss. Its parts are joy and contentment, and Brahman holds it up.

  42. Part 2.6

    2.6.1Whoever thinks Brahman does not exist becomes like nothing himself, and whoever knows Brahman exists is truly real. The student asks if both the wise and the ignorant reach that world after death. In answer, the teacher says Brahman wished to become many, created everything, and entered into all of it. So everything, seen and unseen, is Brahman, the True.

  43. Part 2.7

    2.7.1In the beginning there was no form or name. From that, everything that exists came, and it made itself. Brahman is the joy behind all pleasure and breath. A person who rests in this unseen reality becomes free from fear. Seeing even a small split between oneself and it brings fear back.

  44. Part 2.8

    2.8.1The wind, the sun, fire, Indra the king of gods, and Death all do their work out of awe of Brahman. Then the passage measures joy. Imagine the happiest young man, strong, learned and owning the whole world. Each higher level of beings has a hundred times more joy, up to the joy of Brahman. A wise person free of desires already has each of these joys. The Brahman in a person and in the sun is one.

  45. Part 2.9

    2.9.1Whoever knows Brahman's joy, which words and thoughts cannot reach, fears nothing. He no longer torments himself asking, "Why didn't I do good? Why did I do wrong?" Knowing both good and bad in this way, he becomes free.

  46. Part 3.1

    3.1.1Bhrigu asks his father Varuna to teach him about Brahman. Varuna names food, breath, sight, hearing, mind and speech. Then he says: find out what all beings are born from, live by, and return to at death. That is Brahman. Bhrigu goes off to practise discipline and think deeply.

  47. Part 3.2

    3.2.1After his effort, Bhrigu decides food is Brahman, since beings come from food, live by it and return to it. He goes back to his father, who does not say yes or no. Varuna only tells him to keep seeking through discipline, and Bhrigu does.

  48. Part 3.3

    3.3.1Next Bhrigu decides breath is Brahman, since beings come from breath, live by it and return to it. Again Varuna tells him to keep seeking through discipline. Bhrigu goes back to work.

  49. Part 3.4

    3.4.1After more effort, Bhrigu decided that the mind is Brahman, the source of all things, because beings come from the mind, live by it and go back into it. Still not satisfied, he asked his father Varuna again, and Varuna again told him to keep up his discipline, since that is how Brahman is known.

  50. Part 3.5

    3.5.1Next Bhrigu decided that understanding, or wisdom (vijnana), is Brahman, because beings come from it, live by it and return to it. He went back to his father once more, and Varuna again told him to keep practicing his discipline to know Brahman.

  51. Part 3.6

    3.6.1At last Bhrigu saw that bliss, a deep joy, is Brahman: all beings come from joy, live by joy and return to joy. This is the wisdom of Bhrigu and Varuna, found deep in the heart, and whoever knows it lives a full life with plenty of food, health, family, wealth and good name.

  52. Part 3.7

    3.7.1Never speak badly of food; that is the rule. Breath and body depend on each other, each feeding the other, and whoever understands this link lives well, with health, family, plenty and a good name.

  53. Part 3.8

    3.8.1Never refuse or waste food; that is the rule. Water and fire depend on each other, and whoever understands how things in nature support each other lives well, with health, family, plenty and a good name.

  54. Part 3.9

    3.9.1Grow and gather plenty of food; that is the rule. The earth and the open space around it (ether) rest on each other, and whoever understands this lives well, with health, family, plenty and a good name.

  55. Part 3.10

    3.10.1Never turn away a guest or stranger from your home; that is the rule, so keep plenty of food on hand to share. What you give comes back to you: give generously and you receive generously, give stingily and you receive stingily.
  56. 3.10.2A wise person sees Brahman in the everyday workings of the body: in speech, in breathing in and out, in the hands that work, the feet that walk and even in the body letting go of waste. In nature, Brahman can be seen as the comfort of rain and the power of lightning.
  57. 3.10.3Brahman can also be seen as the glory of cattle, the light of the stars, the joy and new life of having children, and as the space that holds everything. Whatever you worship Brahman as, you become: worship it as support and you are supported, as greatness and you become great, as mind and you gain a strong mind.
  58. 3.10.4Worship Brahman with reverence and your wishes come to you; worship it as Brahman and you become one with it, and your enemies fade away. The same Brahman that lives in a person is the one that shines in the sun; they are one.
  59. 3.10.5Whoever knows this, after death, passes through all the layers of the self—body made of food, breath, mind, understanding and bliss. Then he is free to move through the worlds, take any form and have whatever he wants, and he sings a song of joy: 'Havu, havu, havu!'
  60. 3.10.6The freed person sings that he is both the food and the one who eats it, and the one who joins them together; he was there before the gods, at the heart of all that never dies. Whoever shares him keeps him, whoever only takes is himself taken, and the one who knows this shines and rises over the whole world.