217 Quotes from The Upanishads: Penguin Classics by Juan Mascaró
Introduction
The whole (word Upanishad) would mean a sitting, an instruction, the sitting at the feet of a master.
If all the known Upanishads were collected in one volume, they would make an anthology about the length of the Bible.
The Bhagavad-Gita could be considered an Upanishad.
This was read by Schopenhauer, he said of the Upanishads: their reading has been the constellation of my life, and will be of my death.
Let not the thread of my song be cut while I sing. - Rig Veda 11.28
Darkness was hidden in darkness. - Rig Veda x.129
And in one arose love: love the first seat of the soul. - Rig Veda x.129
The gods are later than its beginning: who knows therefore whence comes this creation? - Rig Veda x.129
He only knows, or perhaps he knows not. - Rig Veda x.129
We find in the Upanishads a reaction against external religion; and when ideas of the Vedas are accepted, they are given a spiritual interpretation. It is the permanent struggle between the letter that kills and the spirit that gives life. We thus read in the Manduka Upanishad.
As is the use of a well of water where water everywhere overflows, such is the use of all the Vedas to the seer of the supreme. - Bhagavad Gita
Scholarship is necessary to bring us the fruits of ancient wisdom, but only an elevation of thought and emotion can help us to enjoy them and transform them into life.
Who sees variety and not the unity wanders on from death to death.
Words are weariness.
When asked again to express God in words, (the Sage) says: “Neti, neti,” “ not this, not this”; but when pressed for a positive explanation, he utters the sublimely simple words: “Tat Tvam Asi,” “Thou art That.”
Only the Eternal in us can lead us to the Eternal.
The self-training for the vision of the unity of Atman and the Brahman is called Yoga.
The absolute fact remains that we have to live our inner life alone, even as we have to die our own death: no one can live our own inner life for us; and no one can go through our own death. In the infinite struggle of man to know this world and the universe around him, and also to know the mind that allows him to think, he comes before the simple fact that Life is above thought.
Not through much learning is the Atman reached. - Katha Upanishad
He is unknown to the learned and known to the simple. - Kena Upanishad
A flower can be an object of trade: something to buy and sell for money. This is its lowest value. It can also be an object of intellectual interest, but then it becomes an abstraction, and from a purely intellectual point of view a nettle may sometimes be more interesting than a flower. But to the soul the flower is an object of joy, and to the poet it can be a thing of beauty and truth: a window from which we may look in wonder into the beauty and truth of the universe, and the truth and beauty of our own souls. - Kaushitaki Upanishad
When one sees eternity in things that pass away and infinity in finite things, then one has pure knowledge. - Bhagavad-Gita xviii 20-22
We are free enough to deny the light and even to deny God.
The more we deny the Spirit of the Lord, our Atman, our own Self, the more we are bound.
Our masters of the spiritual life want us to be at least as practical in the work that leads to joy as others are “practical” in the work that leads to the illusion of self-exaltation.
When we can argue about a thing, it shows that it is not worth arguing about.
There are two ideas around which the deepest problems of thought and of all spiritual vision and life revolve: the idea of Being and the idea of Love.
The holy word of the Upanishads, Om, one of the meanings of which is yes. How can we know? This truth can be known in the silence of the soul.
The truly spiritual is always poetical.
The truly spiritual comes from the power of a high imagination, not from weak pious beliefs, nor from intellectual activities of the mind.
Imagination is the light of the soul.
Most of the miseries of man, such as selfishness, injustice, and cruelty, have their root in a lack of imagination.
“The stronger is the imagination, the less imaginary it is.” – Rabindranath Tagore
See the difference between faith based on vision and fear based on superstition.
We slowly learn to distinguish the true from the false, the good from the less good, our spiritual criticism can be developed so that we can distinguish true spiritual values from their imitations; and then we can choose the guides of our spiritual life.
All help from outside, whether from books or from men, must pass the test of our reason.
“Thou my mother, and my father Thou. Thou my friend, and my teacher Thou. Thou my wisdom, and my riches Thou. Thou art all to me, O God of all gods.” - Ramanuja
And what is love? We know that it cannot be defined.
If Tao (Love) could be defined, it would be small and not great. - Lao Tzu
He who loves does not dispute: he who disputes does not love. - Lao Tzu
Love is that which places the free in bondage and to those in bondage gives freedom. - Ramon Lull
When by love the full communion of man with God has taken place, when man sees God in all in all in God, then that man is one with Brahman, he has crossed the river of life, and he has heard the songs of immortality welcoming him on the other shore. This is what all the masters of the spirit tell us.
The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on: nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it. - Omar Khayyám
Whilst science makes concrete things abstract, art makes abstract things concrete: in the art of loving God, the Upanishads lead us to a concrete God.
God is love and also the end of love: herein we find the whole contribution of mysticism. The mystic will never grow tired of speaking of this twofold love… That divine love is not something belonging to God: it is God himself… All mystics are unanimous in declaring that God has need of us, even as we have need of God. Why should God need us, unless it were to give us His love? - Henri Bergson
If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of deliverance in death? It is but an empty dream that the soul shall have union with him, because it has passed from the body: if he is found now, he is found then. - Kabir
Those who found light and love, give us their help for our journey. They speak to us of a path. According to the Katha Upanishad, the path is “narrow as the edge of a razor“ or, in the words of Jesus, “narrow is the way which leadeth us unto life.“
“And now there is no path here; since, for the pure man there is no law.” - John of the Cross
With the upright body, head and neck lead the mind and its powers into the heart; and the Om of Brahman will then be thy boat with which to cross the rivers of fear. - Bhagavad-Gita
Then his soul is a lamp whose light is steady, for it burns in a shelter were no winds come. - Bhagavad-Gita
Critics have to write books on poets, but poets do not write poems on critics – the living words of sacred books are infinitely above those of their commentators.
It was found that there is a great relation between the mind and the body: that certain postures of the physical body helped concentration, and others hindered it, that our breath varies with our emotions, and that a deep quiet, silent breath is a reflection of a quiet mind; and then the elaborate rules found in the teachings of Yoga were composed.
“Whereas speaking distracts, silence and action collect the thoughts, and strengthen the spirit. As soon therefore as a person understands what has been said to him for his good, he has no further need to hear or to discuss; but to set himself in earnest to practice what he has learnt with silence and attention.” - St John of the Cross
“Never fail, whatever may befall you, be it good or evil, to keep your heart quiet and calm in the tenderness of love.” - St John of the Cross
A man must be the same in heat or in cold, in pleasure or in pain, in victory or defeat.
How can the waters of love be given to one who is not thirsty? That is why we find that meditation, longing, and sorrow are the first prayers of the soul: as the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, for the living god: when shall I come and appear before God? - Rabindranath Tagore
It is in the inner battle for concentrating on the higher and thus rejecting the lower, that yoga, psychology, philosophy, and wisdom can help.
At its worst, it is that pride and desire for power, which are the surest signs of spiritual darkness.
The lover of the physical miracle is in fact a materialist.
The external events of the world, and the inner events of our minds are spiritually all external to our Atman, to our higher self.
Meditation is a movement of thought, limited within a circle, but in contemplation, there is a silence of thought. Meditation is the mental activity of the thinker; contemplation is the silence of the poet.
In meditation, we consider carefully defined things, and we pass from one to another, so that the heart may feel love. It is as though we should strike a flint, to draw a spark of fire. But in contemplation, the spark is struck: the love we were seeking is here. The soul enjoys the silence and peace, not buy many reasonings, but by simply contemplating the truth.
Meditation is the means, contemplation is the end.
Prayer is perfect, when he who prays remembers not that he is praying.
“When I see people very anxious to know what sort of prayer they practice, covering their faces and afraid to move or think, lest they should lose any slight tenderness and devotion they feel, I know now how little they understand how to obtain union with God, since they think it consists in such things as these. No, sisters, no; our lord expects work of us.” – Mother Theresa
The Upanishads can be called in truth, Himalayas of the soul.
Their (Upanishads) paradoxes and contradictions are where we find a living truth.
Isa Upanishad
Find joy in the eternal.
Only actions done in God bind not the soul of man.
The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the mind.
Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear.
Kena Upanishad
Those who follow wisdom past beyond and, on leaving this world, become immortal.
He is above the known and he is above the unknown.
Know that alone to be Braman, the Spirit; and not what people hear adore.
Master. If you think “I know well,” little truth you know.
Pursue your meditation.
The wise, who have seen him in every being, on leaving this life, attain life immortal.
Who is that being that fills us with wonder?
“What power is in you?” asked Brahman. “I can burn all things on earth.” And Brahman placed a straw before him, saying: “Burn this.” The god of fire strove with all his power, but was unable to burn it.
Concerning whom it is said: He is seen in nature in the wonder of a flash of lightning. He comes to the soul in the wonder of a flash of vision. His name is Tadvanam, which translated means “the end of love longing.”
Katha Upanishad
A mortal ripens like corn, and like corn is born again.
Choose than three boons. 1) May my father’s anger be a piece… 2) There is no fear in heaven… You know, O Death, that sacred fire, which leads to heaven. Explain it to me, since I have faith… 3) When a man dies, this doubt arises: some say “he is” and some say “he is not.” Teach me the truth.
Death. Even the gods had this doubt in times of old: four mysterious is the law of life and death.
Man cannot be satisfied with wealth.
There is the path of joy, and there is the path of pleasure. Both attract the soul. Who follows the first comes to good; who follows pleasure reaches not the End.
The way to him is through a teacher who has seen him.
With strength and wisdom, you have announced them all; the fulfillment of all desire, the dominion of the world, the eternal reward of ritual, the shore, where there is no fear, the greatness of fame and boundless spaces.
When is the wise rests his mind on contemplation on our God beyond time, who invisibly dwells in the mystery of things and in the heart of man, then he rises above pleasures and sorrow.
When a man has heard and has understood and, finding the essence, reaches the inmost, then he finds joy in the source of joy.
When the great word is known, one is great in the heaven of Brahman.
If the slayer thinks that he kills, and if the slain thinks that he dies, neither knows the way of truth.
Resting, he wanders afar.
When the wise realize the omnipresent spirit, who rests invisible in the visible and permanent in the impermanent, then they go beyond sorrow.
Know the Atman as lord of a chariot; and the body as the chariot itself. Know that reason is the charioteer; and the mind indeed is the reins.
When the soul becomes one with the mind and the senses, he is called “one who has joys and sorrows.”
Beyond the senses are there objects, and beyond the objects is the mind. Beyond the mind is pure reason, and beyond reason is the spirit in man.
The wise should surrender speech in mind, mind in the knowing self, the knowing self in the spirit of the universe, and the spirit of the universe in the spirit of peace.
A sage who sought immortality looked within himself and found his own soul.
As pure water raining on pure water becomes one and the same, so becomes, O Nachiketas, the soul of the sage who knows.
A mortal lives not through that breath that flows in and that flows out. The source of his life is another, and this causes the breath to flow.
There is one ruler, the Spirit that is an all things, who transforms his own form into many. Only the wise who see him in their souls attain the joy eternal.
If one sees him in this life, before the body passes away, one is free from bondage; but if not, one is born and dies again in new worlds and new creations.
Beyond the senses is the mind, and beyond mind is reason, it’s essence. Beyond reason is the spirit in man, and beyond this is the spirit of the universe, the evolver of all.
When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the path supreme. This steadiness of the senses is called yoga.
Become watchful, because Yoga comes and goes.
How can he then be perceived except by him who says “He is.”
Prasna Upanishad
In the beginning, the Creator longed for the joy of creation. He remained in meditation, and then came Rayi, matter, and Prana, life. “These two,“ thought he, “will produce beings for me.”
Food is in truth of the Lord of creation. From food seed is produced, and from this beings are born.
Master, what are the powers that keep the union of the being?…The Sage replied: the powers are space, air, fire, water, and earth; and voice, mind, the eye, and the ear.
On Life, all things are resting, as spokes in the center of a wheel.
O Life: give us glory, and give us wisdom.
Even as a man casts a shadow, so the Spirit casts the shadow of life.
In dreams the mind holds its own immensity.
The mind sees all, since the mind is all.
Even as birds, O beloved, return to their tree for rest, thus all things find their rest in Atman, the supreme spirit.
He who knows, O my beloved, that eternal spirit wherein consciousness and the senses, the powers of life and the elements find final peace, knows the All and has gone into the All.
He who speaks untruth withers like a tree to the roots.
Mundaka Upanishad
Sages say that there are two kinds of wisdom, the higher and lower.
The lower wisdom is in the four sacred Vedas, and in the six kinds of knowledge that help to know, to sing, and to use the Vedas: definition and grammar, pronunciation and poetry, ritual and the signs of heaven. But the higher wisdom is that which leads to the eternal.
If at the sacred fire of Agnihotra no heed is taken of the new moon, or of the full moon, or of the seasons of the year, or of the first fruits of spring; if no guests are present, if the offering of the sacrifice is left undone or not done according to rule, or the offering to all the gods is forgotten, then the offerer does not attain the reward of the seven worlds.
Imagining religious ritual and gifts of charity as the final good, the unwise see not the path supreme.
Let the lover of God attain renunciation: what is above creation cannot be attained by action.
Take the great bow of the Upanishads and place in it an arrow sharp with devotion. Draw the bow with concentration on him and hit the centre of the mark, the same everlasting Spirit.
The bow is the sacred Om, and the arrow is your own soul.
Upon Om, Atman, your Self, place your meditation. Glory unto you in your faraway journey beyond darkness!
There are two birds, too sweet friends, who dwell on the self-same tree… The first is the human soul, who, resting on that tree, though active, feel sad in his unwisdom. But on the holding the power and glory of the higher spirit, he becomes free from sorrow.
The wise who strive and who are pure, see him within the body in his pure glory and light.
Far, far away is he, and yet he is very near, resting in the inmost chamber of the heart.
All mind is woven with the senses; but in a pure mind shines the light of the self.
Not through much learning is the Atman reached, not through the intellect, or sacred teaching. He has reached by the chosen of him. To his chosen the Atman reveals his glory.
Having reached that place supreme, the seers find joy in wisdom, their souls have fulfillment, their passions have gone, they have peace.
In truth who knows God becomes God.
Mandukya Upanishad
Om. This is eternal word is all: what was, what is and what shall be, and what beyond is an eternity. All is Om.
Atman, the self, has four conditions. The first condition is the waking life of outward moving consciousness… The second condition is the dreaming life of inner moving consciousness… The third condition is the sleeping life of silent consciousness when a person has no desire and beholds no dreams… the fourth condition is Atman in his own pure state: the awakened life of supreme consciousness.
He is the end of evolution and non-duality. He is peace and love.
Svetasvatara Upanishad
Our soul is under the power of pleasure and pain!
By the yoga of meditation and contemplation, the wise saw the power of God, hidden in his own creation.
“The great illusion” – the illusion which sees the one as two.
There is the soul of man with wisdom and unwisdom, power and powerlessness; there is nature, Prakriti, which is creation for the sake of the soul; and there is God, infinite, omnipresent, who watches the work of creation. When a man knows the three, he knows Brahman.
Know that Brahman is forever and thee, and nothing higher is there to be known.
The soul is the word below that can burn and be fire, and Om is the whirling friction-rod above. Prayer is the power that makes Om turned round, and then the mystery of God comes to light.
There is a spirit who is hidden in all things, as cream is hidden in milk.
With upright body, head and neck lead the mind and its powers into thy heart; and the Om of Brahman will then be thy boat with which to cross the rivers of fear.
When the yogi has full power over his body composed of the elements of earth, water, fire, air, and either, then he obtains a new body of spiritual fire, which is beyond illness, old age, and death.
The first fruits of the practice of yoga are: health, little waste matter, and a clear complexion; lightness of the body, a pleasant scent, and a sweet voice; and an absence of greedy desires.
He is the same at the time of creation and at the time of dissolution.
He is the inmost soul of all, which like a little flame the size of a thumb is hidden in the hearts of men.
Of what use is the Rig Veda to one who does not know the spirit from whom the Rig Veda comes, and in whom all things abide? For only those who have found him have found peace.
The soul can be thought as the part of a point of hair, which, divided by 100 were divided by 100 again; and yet in this living soul there is the seed of infinity.
The soul is born and unfolds in a body.
He is an incorporeal Spirit, but he can be seen by a heart which is pure.
Some sages speak of the nature of things as the cause of the world, and others, in their delusion, speak of time.
He is seen by those who love him.
If ever for man it were possible to fold the tent of the sky, in that day he might be able to end his sorrow without the help of God.
Maitri Upanishad
The spirit is free because he is free from selfishness.
He seems to work and not be; but in truth he works not, and he is.
His infinity is everywhere. In him there is neither above nor across nor below; and in him there is neither east nor west.
At the end of the worlds all things sleep: he alone is awake in eternity.
There is something beyond our mind, which abides in silence within our mind. It is the supreme mystery beyond thought.
There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in sound and in silence.
Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread, the man of contemplation by means of Om reaches freedom.
Samsara, the transmigration of life, takes place in one’s own mind.
If men thought of God, as much as they think of the world, who would not attain liberation?
Even as water becomes one with water, fire with fire, and air with air, so the mind becomes one with the infinite mind, and thus attains final freedom.
Kaushitaki Upanishad
When a man is speaking, he cannot be breathing: this is the sacrifice of breath to speech. And when a man is breathing, he cannot be speaking: this is the sacrifice of speech to breath.
Make me free from sins.
He fought the inner fight with all his soul, and thus he reached the house of Indra, the house of the love of God.
The breath of life is one: when we speak, life speaks. When we see, life sees. When we hear, life hears. When we think, life thinks. When we breathe,life breathes. And there is something greater than the breath of life.
It is not the things seen which we should want to know: we should know the seer. It is not the mind we should want to know: we should know the thinker.
Taittiriya Upanishad
Who denies God, denies himself. Who affirms God, affirms himself.
Seek to know Brahman by tapas, by prayer, because Brahman is prayer.
From mind all beings have come, by mind they all live, and unto mind they all return.
Then he saw that Brahman is joy: for from joy all beings have come, by joy they all live, and unto joy they all return.
I am the food of life, and I am he who eats the food of life: I am the two in one.
I have gone beyond the universe, and the light of the sun is my light.
Chandogya Upanishad
Space is indeed all these world’s beginnings, and space is their final end.
Even as all leaves come from a stem, all worlds come from the sound Om.
There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart.
Man in truth is made of faith.
He enfolds the whole universe, and in silence is loving to all.
We should consider that in the inner world Brahman is consciousness; and we should consider that in the outer world Brahman is space. These are the two meditations.
Have you asked for that knowledge whereby what is not heard is heard, what is not thought is thought, and what is not known is known?
Meditation is in truth higher than thought.
He who does not know, cannot speak truth.
He who does not think does not know.
He who has not faith does not think.
Where there is no progress there is no faith.
Where there is no creation there is no progress.
Where there is no joy there is no creation.
Man must find his own soul… The gods and the devils heard these words and they said: “Come, let us go and find the Atman, let us find the soul, so that we may obtain all our desires.”
What you see when you look into another person’s eyes, that is the Atman, immortal, beyond fear, that is Brahman.
The same as seen in all.
Anyone who holds their beliefs, shall perish.
Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad
From delusion lead me to truth. From darkness lead me to light. From death lead me to immortality.
The immortal is veiled by the real.
In wealth there is no hope of life eternal.
It is not for the love of the gods, that the gods are dear; but for the love of the soul in gods, that the gods are dear.
Religion will abandon the man who thinks that religion is apart from the soul. Power will abandon the man who thinks that power is apart from the soul. The gods will abandon the man who thinks that the gods are apart from the soul. The all will abandon the man who thinks that the all is apart from the soul.
There is no consciousness after death.
When all has become spirit, one’s own self, how and whom could one see?
The Supreme Teaching
The sun is his light… And when the sun is set, what is then the light of man? The moon then becomes his light… And when the sun and the moon are set, what is then the light of man? Fire than becomes his light… And when the sun and the moon are set, and the fire has sunk down, what is then the light of man? Voice then becomes his light… And when the sun is set, and the moon is also set, and the fire has sunk down, and the voice is silent, what is then, the light of man? The soul then becomes his light… What is the soul?… It is the light of the heart. For ever remaining the same.
The spirit of man is creator.
Even as a falcon or an eagle, after soaring in the sky folds his wings for he is weary, and flies down to his nest, even so the spirit of man hastens to that place of rest, where the soul has no desires and the spirit sees no dreams.
Like a king or a god, when the spirit feels “I am all,” then he is in the highest world… There, a father is a father no more, nor is a mother there a mother; the worlds are no longer worlds, nor the gods are gods any longer. There the Vedas disappear; and the thief is not a thief, nor is a slayer a slayer; the outcast is not an outcast, nor the baseborn a baseborn; the pilgrim is not a pilgrim, and the hermit is not a hermit; because the spirit of man has crossed the lands of good and evil, and has passed beyond the sorrows of the heart.
Where there seems to be a duality, there one sees another, one feels another’s perfume, one tastes another, one speaks to another, one listens to another, one touches another, and knows another. But in the ocean of spirit, the seer is alone beholding his own immensity.
(In death) a person’s powers of life become one and people say: “he sees no more. He feels perfumes no more. He tastes no more. He speaks no more. He hears no more. He thinks no more. He touches no more. He knows no more.” Then at the point of the heart a light shines, and this light illumines the soul on its way afar.
Even as a caterpillar, when coming to the end of a blade of grass, reaches out to another blade of grass and draws itself over to it, in the same way the soul, leaving the body and unwisdom behind, reaches out to another body and draws itself over to it.
Even as a worker in gold, taking an old ornament, moulds it into a form newer and fairer, even so the soul, leaving the body and unwisdom behind, goes into a form newer and fairer.
The soul is made of all that is near: it is made of all that is afar.
A man comes with his actions to the end of his determination.
When a man in truth can say: “I am He,” what desires could lead him to grieve in fever for the body?
Let the lover of Brahman follow wisdom. Let him not ponder on many words, for many words are weariness.
His greatness becomes not greater by good actions, nor less great by evil actions.
He who knows him becomes a Muni, a sage.
Who has found this path becomes free from the bonds of evil.
Who knows this and has found peace, he is the Lord of himself, he is a calm endurance, and calm concentration.
This is the spirit of the universe, a refuge from all fear.