Katha Upanishad About 1400BC A Selection of Verses from Ancient India An Ancient Model of Inner Man
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Autumn of 1996

Introduction

In the introduction to the "Hindu Scriptures", translated and edited by R.C. Zaehner (Oxford, Everymans University Library, 1966), and which is used for the following translation of selections of the Katha Upanishad, we find written:

"To sum up: the Upanishads investigate the nature of reality and their main conclusion is that in both the universe at large and in the individual human being there is a ground of pure Being which is impervious to change."

It is to this particular ancient model of the Inner World of man that I referred in the abstract submitted to the Arizona University's "Towards a Science of Consciousness - Tucson II - 1966. In every indigenous culture of all the terrestrial lands and in all of the Ages under the sun, there are often found the remnants of a great wealth of knowledge and wisdom concerning their understanding of Nature. In particular, with the ancient Indian culture and literature, there is remarkable illustration that not only did these ancestors have a great understanding of the Outer World but that they indeed possesed extemely developed notions and knowledges concerning the Inner World of Man.

The scattered remnant of writings from the pre-Socratic ancient Greeks, such as those of Thales and Heraclitus, and the record of Pythagoras indicate that the culture of ancient India was quite advanced even before the western world was young. There are very little cross cultural comparisons available from such ancient times, over two and a half millennia ago, however one such account is to be found in a book entitled The Life of Apollonius of Tyana which was first published in 220AD and concerns the journey of the Greek Philospher/Sage Apollonius to the land of India "to converse with the Brahmins" in the time of Jesus Christ. [This "buried" classic - by Philostratus - should be available in any major library].

Perhaps the most apt introduction to the upanishads should be made by Sri Aurobindo (1872 - 1950), and the following extract is from his own collection of Upanishadic translations:

The Upanishads are Vedanta, a book of knowledge in a higher degree even than the Vedas, but knowledge in the profounder Indian sense of the word, JnanaJnana. And because it is only by an integral knowing of the self that this kind of direct knowledge can be made complete, it was the self of the Vedantic sages sought to know, to live in and to be one with it by identity. And through this endeavour they came easily to see that the self in us is one with the Universal Self of all things and that this self again is the same as God and Brahman, a transcendent Being or Existence, and they beheld, felt, lived in the inmost truth of manīs inner and outer existence by the light of this one and unifying vision. The Upanishads are epic hymns of self-knowledge and world-knowledge and God-knowledge.

The Katha Upanishad is therefore now presented for your webulous edification.

Peace.

PRF Brown
BCSLS {Freshwater}
Mountain Man Graphics, Australia

An Ancient Inner World Model of Man
from the Katha Upanishad

Chapter III

• [1] [Like] light and shade [there are] two [selves]
  [One] here on earth imbibes the law (rta) of his own deeds:
  [The other,] though hidden in the secret places [of the heart],
  [Dwells] in uttermost beyond.
  So say [the seers] who Brahman know,
  The owners of the five fires and of the three Naciketa fires.

• [2] We may master the Naciketa fire,
  [Sure] bridge for men who sacrifice,
  Seeking to reach the [further] shore
  Beyond the reach of fear, -
  [The bridge that leads to] Brahman,
  Imperishable, supreme.

  [3] Know this:
  The self is the owner of the chariot,
  The chariot is the body,
  Soul (buddhi) is the [body's] charioteer,
  Mind the reigns [that curb it].

  

  [4] Senses, they say, are the [chariot's] steeds,
  Their object the tract before them;
  What, then, is the subject of experience?
  'Self, sense and mind conjoined,' wise men reply.

Perhaps in the world today the concept of a chariot is not immediately evident to those who are not familiar with such horse-drawn contrivances, but in the ancient lands of three millenia ago, the reliance upon natural means was implicit. Neverthess, I find it a reasonably clear metaphor concerning the arrangement of the Inner World - one which is not in fact singular and monolithic, but one which relies on the interaction and common management of a number of elemental parts.

In a further article entitled "The Nature of Nature" or The EcoSystem of the Soul, I explore the derivation of a model which uses the earth, the sun and the moon to "stand-in" for the concepts used above in the model of the chariot, for it is clear we are now approaching the Space Age.

The ancients of both the East and West knew that we lived in a natural terrestrial ecosystem in which the elements of nature (earth, water and air) were vital. However the nature of the cosmic environment was not immediately perceivable to the ancient man who walked the miles of the earth, for he invariably believed it to be the center of creation. Thus, with a few notable exceptions, the ancients of the planetary earth/moon system did not derive the actual cosmology of things until after the Dark Ages, and in the western realms. Only at that time was it generically accepted that the sun did not orbit the earth once each day, and that the night sky was not in fact a depthless shroud upon which, without any great conception of distance or of solar-heat, were strung the stars.

Katha Upanishad

Chapter I

• [1] [A certain] Usan, son of Vajasravas,
  gave away all his property.
  He had a son called Naciketas;

• [2] And as [the cattle to be distributed as] the fee for the sacrifice performed
  were being brought near,
  faith entered into him, boy though he was,
  and he thought:

• [3] "They drink water, eat grass, give milk, insensitive:
  Joyless the worlds to which the giver of these must go!"

• [4] He said to his father,
  "Daddy, to whom will you give me?"
  [And he said it] a second and a third time.
  His father said to him:
  "I'll give you to death".

  [Naciketas speaks:]

• [5] Of many the first to go.
  Of many the middlemost,
  What is Yama (Death) to do with me,
  For today I'm his concern?

• [6] Look back, [how fared] the first,
  Look forward, [how fared] the last:
  Like a corn a man grows up,
  Like corn he is born again.

• [7] Like a fire a Brahman guest
  Enters a house;
  To appease [his fiery anger],
  Bring water, [Yama,] Vivasvat's son.

• [8] Hope and expectation, conviviality and good cheer,
  Sacrifice, its merit, sons, cattle, - all of this
  The Brahman wrests away from the man of little wit
  In whose house he, nothing eating, dwells.

  [Yama, the god of death, returning after three days' absence and finding
  that Naciketas has not received the hospitality due to Brahmans, says:]

• [9] Since for three nights, O Brahman, thou hast dwelt
  In [this] my house, an honoured guest, [yet] nothing eating.
  I now salute thee, Brahman, may it go well with me.
  Three boons [I grant] thee, choose [what thou wilt].

  [Naciketas speaks:]

• [10] Let my father's ill-will be stilled, let him be well disposed,
  Let his anger with me melt away, O Death:
  Let him greet me kindly, dismissed by thee:
  Of the three boons this the first I choose.

  [Yama speaks:]

• [11] Thy father, Auddalaka Aruni, as before
  Will be well pleased [with thee] dismissed by me;
  His anger spent, how sweet his sleep at night will be,
  When he [again] beholds thee from the jaws of Death set free.

  [Nicaketas speaks:]

• [12] In paradise there is [no such things as] fear;
  Thou art not there, nor shrinks one from old age.
  Hunger and thirst, these two transcending,
  Sorrow, surpassing, a man makes merry in paradise.

  [13] O death, thou understand the fire that leads to paradise;
  Declare it [then] to me, for I have faith:
  The heavenly worlds partake of immortality;
  This do I choose as my second boon.

  [Yama speaks:]

• [14] This [too] I will declare to thee, - take note of it;
  The fire that leads to paradise, I know it well.
  Know that [this fire] can win [thee] worlds unending,
  It is the ground (pratistha) [of all], hidden in secret spaces.

• [15] [And so] he told him of [this] fire, the world's beginning,
  [He told him] of the firebricks, how many and how to be disposed.
  And [Naciketas] repeated [all] just as he had said it:
  Well satisfied with him Death spake again.

• [16] "To thee again today I grant another boon:
  This fire shall bear thy name, no other;
  Accept this garland variously contrived.

• [17] Who thrice performs the Naciketa rite,
  With the three [Vedas] concludes a pact,
  And performs the three works [prescribed],
  He transcends both birth and death:
  Knowing that God adorable who knows
  What is Brahman born,
  And realizing Him,
  He attains to peace and what is absolute.

• [18] Who thrice performs the Naciketa rite,
  And understands all three,
  Who, knowing them, builds up the Naciketa fire,
  He thrusts afar Death's fetters, sorrow surpassing,
  And makes full merry in the heavenly world.

• [19] This is the Naciketa fire, thy very own,
  Leading to paradise;
  This didst thou choose as thy second boon;
  This fire will men proclaim as thine indeed.
  Naciketas, [now] thy third boon choose!"

  [Naciketas speaks:]

• [20] When a man is dead, this doubt remains:
  Some say, "He is," others again, "He is not,"
  This would I know, by thee instructed, -
  This is the third of the boons [I crave].

  [Yama speaks:]

• [21] Of old the gods themselves this doubt assailed, -
  How hard it is to know! How subtle a matter (dharma) !
  Choose thou another boon, O Naciketas;
  Insist not overmuch, hold me excused in this.

  [Naciketas speaks:]

• [22] "Of old indeed the gods themselves this doubt assailed, -
  How hard it is to know!" S, Death, hast thou declared.
  Thou alone canst tell it forth; none other is there like thee:
  No other boon is there equal to this in any wise.

  [Yama speaks:]

• [23] Choose sons and grandsons to live a hundred years,
  [Choose] wealth in cattle, horses, elephants and gold,
  Choose wide property in land, and thou thyself
  Live out thy years as many as thou wilt.

• [24] Or shoudst thou think this this is a boon [at all] equivalent,
  Chooses riches and long life;
  Be thou of the great ones in the land:
  I grant to thee enjoyment of all thou canst desire!

• [25] Whatever a man could possibly desire
  In [this] the world of men,
  How hard to win,
  Ask anything thou wilt at thy good pleasure, -
  Fair women, chariots, instruments of music.
  The like of these cannot be won by [other] men:-
  All these things I give thee, bend them to thy service.
  O naciketas, ask me no futher concerning death.

  [Naciketas speaks:]

• [26] The morrows of a man, O Death, wear down
  The power of all senses.
  A life though [lived] entire is short indeed;
  Keep [then] thy chariots, keep thy songs and dances!

• [27] With riches can a man never be satisfied:
  When once we've seen thee, [how] sha;; we riches win?
  So long as we'll live as thou [for us] ordainest;
  This, then, is the only boon that I would claim.

• [28] What mortal man, grown old and wretched here below,
  Could meet immortals, strangers to old age,
  Know them, and [still] meditate on colours, pleasures, joys,
  Finding [some] comfort in this life however long.

• [29] Wherein men, puzzled, doubt, O Death, [that tell us];
  What [happens] at the great departing tell us!
  That is the boon that's hidden in secret places:
  Therefore no other [boon] doth Naciketas choose."

Katha Upanishad

Chapter II

[Yama speaks:]
• [1] The better part is one thing, the agreeable another;
  Though different their goals both restrict a man:
  For him who takes the better of the two all's well,
  But he who chooses the agreeable fails to attain his goal.

• [2] 'Better' and 'agreeable' present themselves to man:
  Considering them carefully the wise man discriminates,
  Preferring the better to what only pleasure brings:
  Dull men prefer the 'agreeable',-
  For the getting and keeping [of what they crave].

• [3] Thou, Naciketas, has well considered [all objects of] desire,
  [Ali] that's agreeable in form,-thou has rejected them;
  Tllou wouldst not accept this garland of wealth compacted
  In which how many a man has been [dragged down,] submerged !

• [4] Different, opposed, wide separated these,-
  Unwisdom (avidyda) and what men as wisdom know
  Wisdom [it is that] Naciketas seeks, I see;
  Not thou to be distracted by rnanifold desire.

• [5] Self-wise, puffed up with learning, some
  Turn round and round [emprisoned] in unwisdom['s realm];
  Hither and thither rushing, round they go, the fools,
  Like blind men guided by the blind !

• [6] No glimmering have such of man's last destiny,-
  Unheeding, childish fools, by wealth deluded:
  'This world alone exists, there is no other,' so think they;
  Again and ever again they fall into my hands.

• [7] Many there are who never come to hear of Him,
  Many, though hearing of Him, know Him not:
  Blessed the man who, skilled therein, proclaims Him, grasps Him;
  Blessed the man who learns from one so skilled and knows Him !

• [8] How difficult for man, though meditating much,
  To know Him from the lips of vulgar men:
  [Yet] unless another tells of Him, the way (gati) to Him is barred
  For than all subtleties of reason He's more subtile,-
  Logic He defies.

• [9] No reasoning, [no logic,] can attain to this Idea;
  Let another preach it, then is it easily cognized.
  [And yet] hast thou achieved it, for steadfast in truth art thou:
  May there never be another like thee, Naciketas, dear,
  To question [me about it].

• [10] I know that what's called treasure is impermanent,
  For by things unstable the Stable cannot be obtained.
  Have l, then, builded up the Naciketa fire,-
  By things impermanent have I the Permanent attained?

• [11] The winning of desires is the foundation of the world,
  The unending fruit of sacrifice is the bourn of fearlessness-
  [All this] hast thou rejected, wise and steadfast
  For thou hast seen that this foundation broadly based
  ls [Brahman,] worthy of great praise.

• [12] Let a wise man think upon that God,
  Let him engage in spiritual exercise (yoga) related to the Self
  [Let him think upon that God,] so hard to see

  Deep hidden in the depths, dwelling in a secret place
  Firm-fixed in the abyss, primordial;
  Then will he put behind him both sorrow and [unstable] joy.

• [13] Let a man hear this and understand,
  Let him take hold upon this subtile [God],
  Let him uproot all things of law, -rejoice,
  For he has won That in which [alone] he should find joy:
  A house wide open is Naciketas [now], I see.

  [Naciketas speaks:]

• [14] Other than righteousness (dharma), other than unrighteousness,
  Other than what's done or left undone
  Other than what has been and what is yet to be,-
  This that thou seest, tell it forth !

  [Yama speaks:]

• [15] The single word announced by all the Vedas
  Proclaimed by all ascetic practices,
  [The word] in search of which men practise chastity
  This word I tell [thee now] in brief.
  Om - this is it.

• [16] The Imperishable Brahman this,
  This the Imperishable Beyond (para):
  Whoso this Imperishable comes to know,-
  What he desires is his.

• [17] Depend on This, the best;
  Depend on This, the ultimate:
  Who knows that on This [alone all things] depend,
  In the Brahman-world is magnified.

• [18] This wise one is not born nor dies;
  From nowhere has He [sprung] nor has He anyone become;
  Unborn is He, eternal, everlasting and primeval,-
  He is not slain when the body is slain.

• [19] Should the killer think I kill,
  Or the killed "I have been killed",
  Both these have no [right] knowledge:
  He kills not, is not killed.

• [20] More subtile that the subtile, greater than the great,
  The Self is hidden in the heart [secret place] of creatures [here]:
  The man without desitre, [all] sorrow spent, beholds It
  The majesty of the Self, by the grace of the Ordainer.

• [21] Seated he strides afar,
  Lying down he ranges everywhere:
  This God is joy and joylessness,'-
  Who but I can understand Him?

• [22] In bodies bodiless,
  In things unstable still, abiding
  The Self, the great Lord all pervading,-
  Thinking on Him the wise man knows no grief.

• [23] This Self cannot be won by preaching [Him],
  Not by sacrifice [or intellect] or much lore heard;
  By him alone can He be won whom He elects:
  To him this Self reveals his own [true] form (tanu).

• [24] Not he who has not ceased from doing wrong
  Nor he who knows no peace, no concentration (asamahita)
  Nor he whose mind is filled with restlessness,
  Can grasp Him, wise and clever though he be.

• [25] [Though some there be] for whom the dignity
  Of both Brahman and prince are as a dish of rice
  With death its sauce [and condiment],-
  [Yet] where He is,- [this] who really knows?

Katha Upanishad

Chapter III

• [1] [Like] light and shade [there are] two [selves]
  [One] here on earth imbibes the law (rta) of his own deeds:
  [The other,] though hidden in the secret places [of the heart],
  [Dwells] in uttermost beyond.
  So say [the seers] who Brahman know,
  The owners of the five fires and of the three Naciketa fires.

• [2] We may master the Naciketa fire,
  [Sure] bridge for men who sacrifice,
  Seeking to reach the [further] shore
  Beyond the reach of fear, -
  [The bridge that leads to] Brahman,
  Imperishable, supreme.

  [3] Know this:
  The self is the owner of the chariot,
  The chariot is the body,
  Soul (buddhi) is the [body's] charioteer,
  Mind the reigns [that curb it].

  

  [4] Senses, they say, are the [chariot's] steeds,
  Their object the tract before them;
  What, then, is the subject of experience?
  'Self, sense and mind conjoined,' wise men reply.

• [5] Who knows not how to discriminate
  With mind undisciplined the while,-
  Like vicious steeds untarned, his senses
  He cannot master, -he their charioteer.

• [6] But he who does know how to discriminate
  With mind [controlled and] disciplined,-
  Like well-trained steeds, his senses
  He masters [fully], -he their charioteer.

• [7] But he who knows not how to discriminate,
  Mindless, never pure
  He reaches not that [highest] state (pada), returns
  To this round of never-ending birth and death (samsara).

• [8] But he who does know how to discriminate,
  Mindful, always pure,
  He gains [indeed] that [highest] state
  From which he's never born again.

• [9] The man whose charioteer is wisdom (vijnana),
  Whose reins a mind [controlled],
  Reaches the journey's end [indeed],
  Vishnu's final state (pada).

• [10] Higher than the senses are the [senses'] objects
  Higher than these the mind
  Higher than mind is soul (buddhi),
  Higher than soul the self, the 'great'.

• [11] Higher than the 'great' the Unmanifest,
  Higher than that the ''Person':
  Than 'Person' there's nothing higher;
  He is the goal, He the All-highest Way.[refuge]

• [12] This is the Self, deep-hidden in all beings,
  [The Self that] shines not forth,-
  Yet it can be seen by men who see things subtile,
  By the subtile soul (bouddhi), [man's] noblest part.

• [13] Let the wise man hold tongue and mind in check,
  Submit them to the intellectual (jnana) self;
  Let him submit this intellect to the self [called] 'great',
  And this to [that] Self which is [forever] still (santa).

• [14] Arisel Awakel Your boons you've won!
  [Awake and] understand [them] !
  A sharpened razor's edge is hard to cross,-
  The dangers of the path,-wise seers proclaim them !

• [15] Beyond the 'great' abiding, endless, beginningless,
  Soundless, intangible, It Lows not form or taste or smell,
  Eternal, changeless,-[such It is,] discern It !
  [For only so] can ye escape the jaws of death.

• [16] Wise men who hear and utter forth this deathless tale
  Concerning Naciketas, told by Death,-
  These shall win greatness in the Brahman-world.

• [17] Whoso, well versed therein, shall spread abroad
  This highest mystery
  Among assembled Brahmans or at the commemoration of the dead,
  He is conformed to infinity,-
  To infinity he's conformed !

Katha Upanishad

Chapter IV

• [1] The self-existent [Lord] bored holes facing the outside world;
  Therefore a man looks outward, not into [him]self.
  A certain sage, in search of immortality,
  Turned his eyes inward and saw the self within.

• [2] Fools pursue desires outside themselves,
  Fall into the snares of widespread death:
  But wise men, discerning immortality,
  Seek not the Stable here among unstable things.

• [3] By what [one knows] of form and taste and smell,
  Sound, touch and sexual union,
  By that [same thing] one knows:
  'What of all this abides?'

• [4] By what one sees these both,-
  The state of slee, the state of wakefulness
  'That is tne self, the great, the lord,'
  So think the wise, unsorrowing.

• [5] Who knows this honey-eating self,
  The living [self] so close at hand,
  Lord of what was and what is yet to be
  He shrinks not from him.

• [6] Who descried him from among contingent beings
  As first-born of fervid penance,
  As entering into the secret place [and there] abiding
  He is the first-born of the waters.

• [7] Who comes to be by the breath of life (prana)
  Who entered into the secret place [and there] abodes,
  Aditi, pregnant with divinity,
  Was born from among contingent beings.

• [8] The all-knowing [fire] concealed between the fire-sticks
  Like an embryo well nurtured by a woman with child,
  Should every day be reverenced by wakeful men,
  Bearing their offerings to him, the fire.

• [9] From whence the sun arises,
  To whither it goes down
  Thereon are all the gods suspended;
  None passes beyond this.

  This in truth is That.

• [10] What [we see] here is also there beyond;
  What there, that too is here:
  Death beyond death does he incur
  Who sees in this what seems to be (iva) diverse!

• [11] Grasp this with your mind:
  Herein there's no diversity at all.
  Death beyond death is all the lot
  Of him who sees in this what seems to be diverse.

• [12] Of the measure of a thumb, the 'Person'
  Abides wilhin the Self
  Lord of what was and what is yet to be:
  No need to shrink from Him.

• [13] Of the measure of a thumb, [this] 'Person',
  Resembling a smokeless flame,
  Lord of what was and of what is yet to be:
  He is today, tomorrow He.

• [14] As rain that falls in craggy places
  Loses itself, dispersed throughout the mountains,
  So does the man who sees things (dharma) as diverse,
  [Himself] become dispersed in their pursuit.

• [15] As water pure into pure [water] poured
  Becomes even as [that pure water] is,
  So too becomes the self of him,-
  The silent sage who knows.

Katha Upanishad

Chapter V

• [1] Whoso draws nigh to the city of eleven gates [body]
  Of him who is not born, whose thought is not perverse,
  He grieves not, for he has won deliverance:
  Deliverance is his !

• [2] As swan he dwells in the pure [sky],
  As god (vasu) he dwells in the atmosphere,
  As priest he dwells by the altar,
  As guest he dwells in the house:
  Among men he dwells, in vows,
  In Law (rta) and in the firmament;
  Of water born, of kine, of Law (rta),
  Of rock-[He], the great cosmic Law !

• [3] He leads the out-breath upward
  And casts the in-breath downward:
  To this Dwarf seated at the centre
  All gods pay reverence.

• [4] When the embodied soul whose dwelling is the body
  Dissolves and from the body is released,
  What then of this remains?

• [5] Neither by breathing in nor yet by breathing out
  Lives any mortal man:
  By something else they live
  On which the two [breaths] depend.

• [6] Lo! I will declare to thee this mystery
  Of Brahman never-failing,
  And of what the self becomes
  When it comes to [the hour of] death.

• [7] Some to the womb return,-
  Embodied souls, to receive another body;
  Others pass into a lifeless stone (sthanu) In accordance with their works (karma),
  In accordance with [the tradition] they had heard (sruta).

• [8] When all things sleep, [that] Person is awake,
  Assessing all desires:
  That is the Pure, that Brahman,
  That the Immortal, so they say:
  In It all the worlds are stablished;
  Beyond it none can pass.

• [9] As the one fire esconced within the house
  Takes on the forms of all that's in it,
  So the One Inmost Self of every being
  Takes on their several forms, [remaining] without [the while].

• [10] As the one wind, once entered into a house,
  Takes on the forms of all that's in it
  So the One Inmost Self of every being
  Takes on their several forms, [remaining] without [the while].

  [11] Just as the sun, the eye of all the world,
  Is not defiled by the eye's outward blemishes,
  So the One Inmost Self of every being
  Is not defiled by the suffering of the world,-
  [But remains] outside [it].

• [12] One and all-mastering is the Inmost Self of every being;
  He makes the one form manifold:
  Wise men who see Him as subsistent in [their] selves,
  Taste everlasting joy, -no others.

• [13] Permanent among impermanents, conscious among the conscious,
  The One among the many, Disposer of desires:
  Wise men who see Him as subsistent in [their] selves,
  Taste of everlasting peace, -no others.

• [14] 'That is this ' so think [the wise]
  Concerning that all-highest bliss which none can indicate.
  How, then, should I discern lt?
  Does It shine of itself or but reflect the brilliance?

• [15] There the sun shines not, nor moon nor stars;
  These lightnings shine not [there], -let alone this fire.
  All things shine with the shining of this light,
  This whole world reflects its radiance.

Katha Upanishad

Chapter VI

• [1] With roots above and boughs beneath
  This immortal fig tree [stands];
  That is the Pure, that Brahman,
  That the Immortal, so men say:
  In it all the worlds are established;
  Beyond it none can pass.

• [2] This whole moving world, whatever is,
  Stirs in the breath of life (prana), deriving from it:
  The great fear [this], the upraised thunderbolt;
  Whoso shall know it [thus], becomes immortal.

• [3] For fear of It the fire burns bright,
  For fear [of It] the sun gives forth its heat,
  For fear [of It] the gods of storm and wind,
  And Death, the fifth, [hither and thither] fly.

• [4] Could one but know It here [and now]
  Before the body's breaking up . . .!
  [Falling] from such [a state] a man is doomed
  To bodily existence in the 'created' (sarga) worlds.

• [5] In the self one sees as in a mirror,
  In the world of the ancestors as in a dream,
  In the world of the heavenly minstrels as across the waters,
  In the world of Brahman as into light and shade.

• [6] Separately the senses come to be,
  [Separately] they rise and fall,
  Separately are they produced, -so thinking
  The wise man grieves no more.

• [7] Higher than the senses is the mind,
  Higher than mind the soul (sattva)
  Higher than soul, the self, the 'great',
  Higher than [this] 'great' the Unmanifest.

• [8] Higher than [this] Unmanifest the 'Person'
  Pervading all, untraceable (alinga) [sexless]:
  When once a creature knows Him, he is freed,
  And goes on to immortality.

• [9] His form is not something that can be seen;
  No one beholds Him with the eye -
  By heart and mind and soul (manis) is He conceived of:
  Whoso knows this becomes immortal.

• [10] When the five senses (jnana) stand, [their action stilled,]
  Likewise the mind; and when the soul (buddhi)
  No longer moves or acts, -
  Such, have men said, is the all-highest Way.

• [11] Yoga,' this is how they think of it,-
  [It means] to check the senses firmly, still them:
  Then is a man freed from heedlessness,
  For Yoga is origin and end.

• [12] [This Self] cannot be apprehended
  By voice or mind or eye:
  How, then, can He be understood,
  Unless we say - HE IS?

• [13] HE IS - so must we understand Him
  And as the true essence (tattva) of the two:
  HE Is - when once we understand Him thus
  The nature of his essence is limpidly shown forth.

• [14] When all desires that shelter in the heart
  Of [mortal] man are cast aside (pramuc-),
  Then mortal puts on immortality, -
  Thence to Brahman he attains.

• [15] When here [and now] the knots [of doubt]
  Are all cut out from the heart
  Mortal puts on immortality:
  Thus far the teaching goes.

• [16] A hundred veins (nadi) and one pervade the heart -
  Of these [but] one extends up to the head:
  By ascending this [a self] fares on to immortality -
  The rest, at death are dissipated everywhere.

• [17] Of the measure of a thumb is [this] Person,
  The Inmost Self, in the heart of creatures abiding ever.
  Stand firm! and from thy body wrench Him out
  Like pith extracted from a reed.
  Pure and immortal He: so know Him !
  So know Him: pure and immortal He !

• [18] So did Naciketas learn this [holy] science
  By Death declared, and all the arts of Yoga: [ways of putting it into practice]
  Immaculate, immortal, to Brahman he won through -
  And so shall all who know what appertains to Self.

  May he bring aid to both of us,
  may He bring profit to both of us.
  May we together make a manly effort;
  may this lesson bring us glory;
  may we never hate each other.

  Om.

  Peace-peace-peace.

Editorial Notation

These ancient texts are an inheritance to the student of life which have been passed down to us in this Age from an earlier age. Although these writings are from a culture which may not be the same as that into which you were born, it is up to the integrity of the student and indeed his lateral thinking ability, to enable the imagination to envisage the ancient life and environment of these ancient times of the Indian SubContinent some three to four thousand years in the past.

As to whether the reader of this document is from the west or from the east is of no regard to the editor, for it is my opinion that it is mandatory that the student of life seek out those teachings and truths, those writings of peace and of great souls, which are in fact "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" for we are talking about a global understanding here, and not one which was designed to be restricted to terrestrial horizons.

Perhaps it was with this thought in mind that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote:

"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun. "

It has been eloquently stated that "All things are connected", and while everyone knows this it true, the understanding of the connectivity is not immediately apparent to the students of Life. It is my firm belief that in the recorded wisdom of the ancient cultures [and in the new !] there are many many references to the one fundamental and natural understanding of both the Inner and Outer worlds.

Scientific and technological development, in being driven (as with most other endevours) with the reins of commerce, is almost exclusively turned to seek out rewarding results from the Outer World environment, and in doing so, the so-called "Laws of Nature" which have been crystalised from this research are expressed in a typically materialistic sense.

However, I have sound faith in the fact that the future will change thic course of events, and that there will come a time when collaborative research in the fields of the Life Sciences, will commence to engender a less material groundwork for the foundation of their doctrine.

At this time, research will be directed at the reason NOT why and how the apple falls from the appletree, but why and how it made it up there in the first place.

I will conclude by re-quoting one of the verses above which resonates strongly with the simple philosophy of nature expressed - or attempted to be expressed - at this website:

	Just as the sun, the eye of all the world, Is not defiled by the eye's outward blemishes, So the One Inmost Self of every being Is not defiled by the suffering of the world,- [But remains] outside [it].

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Further References ...

Vedic History - Resource Documents:

In reference to the controversy surrounding the true & correct History of India:

The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India - By David Frawley

A History of India and Hindu Dharma - A clear outline of the New and the Old Models of Indian History, with very good references, maintained by Ms. Neha K. Desai at the universtiry of Manitoba in Canada.

Ancient India in a New Light - By C.J.S. Wallia, a review of two interesting books: Vedic "Aryans" and the Origins of Civilization by Navaratna Rajaram and David Frawley, World Heritage Press, 1995 and In Search of the Cradle of Civilization by Georg Feuesrstein, Subhash Kak, & David Frawley - Wheaton, Illinois Quest Books, 1995

Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization (c. 3000 B.C.) - A thoroughly researched article by Dr. S. Kalyanaraman of Mylapore, Madras, India which, in the words of the author, has the objective "to promote an understanding of and further researches into delineating the courses of the `lost' Sarasvati river from Siwalik ranges to the Rann of Kutch (sAgara) and to gain deeper insights into an ancient civilization that flourished on the Sarasvati and Indus river valleys circa 3000 BC."

Demise of Aryan Racial/Invasion Theory - A very interesting article retained during November 1995 consisting of a post by Dinesh Agrawal, of the State College, PA, USA which provides excellent references, discussion, bibliography and resource notes for the interested research student. This archive site is worth exploration, and is managed by the Soc.Religion.Hindu Newsgroup.

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Further resources on the Upanishads:

Upanishhadic Philosophy An excellently presented resource concerning the philosophy of the Upanishads. "The ideal which the thinkers of the upanishhads pursued, the ideal of man's ultimate beatitude, the perception of the Real in which the religious hunger of the mystic for divine vision and the philosopher's ceaseless quest for Truth are both satisfied, is still our ideal." This site is maintained by Sreedhar Chintalapaty (Sree), from the University of Memphis.

The Mundaka Upanishad - A textual literature reference giving from the Spirit-WWW site

Other Ancient Hindu Writings on the Web

The Ramayana: : one of the largest epics in the world, comparable to the Illiad and Odyssey.

The Mahabharata: : the largest epic in the history of mankind, and includes the Bhagavad-Gita.

General Information on Hindu WWW Resources

Global Hindu Electronic Networks: The Hindu Universe - Extensive resource, hosts of the above links for The Ramayana and Mahabharata and other literature available in many formats and languages.

Soc.Religion.Hindu Newsgroup HomePage - Extensive archived resources of articles, posts and other information discussed within this newsgroup for quite some time - host to a number of excellent pages.

Alt.Hindu Newsgroup Home Page - A further set of archived articles, posts and other information gathered from 1994.

Katha Upanishad About 1400BC A Selection of Verses from Ancient India An Ancient Model of Inner Man
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Autumn of 1996