Mantra 1

In plain words

Now the lineage for the Yājñavalkīya book begins, just as it did for the Madhu-kāṇḍa before it -- and it is explained the same way, so there is no need to repeat the method. Brahman, self-existent. Homage to Brahman. Om.

Close to the Sanskrit

Now next, the lineage of the Yājñavalkīya book is begun, just as the lineage of the Madhu-kāṇḍa [was given]. The explanation, however, [is] as before. Brahman, self-existent; homage to Brahman; Om -- thus.

In plain words

That radiant one shining in the sky -- that is what the word 'that' means. Once you know the Self itself as the one supreme, complete Brahman, you can say: I am that complete Brahman. Taking hold of that fullness this way strips away the false sense of incompleteness -- a sense ignorance produced, born only from contact with name and form. Through this knowledge of Brahman, fullness alone is left standing, nothing else. Scripture says the same thing elsewhere: therefore all this came to be full. What every Upaniṣad is really pointing to is Brahman, and this verse simply restates that, to connect what has been said with what comes next. The practices about to be taught -- meditation on Om, self-restraint, giving, compassion -- all serve knowledge of Brahman, belong to this part of the text, and support every form of meditative worship alike.

Here is another way some teachers put it: fullness rises out of a full cause. That effect, even now while it still stands as this visible world of two, is genuinely full -- fully real, only wearing the shape of duality. And when the world dissolves, that same fullness is simply taken back into its source, and fullness -- now in the shape of cause -- is all that is left. So through arising, standing, and dissolving alike, there is only ever fullness, whether you call it effect or cause; one single fullness wears two names. That is how Brahman can be one and still show both a dual and a non-dual face. Think of the ocean: it is nothing but water, wave, foam, and bubble together, and the water is real, and the waves and foam and bubbles that rise from it are themselves the ocean's own substance -- they only appear and vanish, but what they are made of is real through and through. In just that way, all this duality... … '...all the leaves' -- so say this and other scriptures. And this tells us something: the Veda is the syllable Om. Whatever there is to know, you know it entirely through Om alone. That is why Om is the Veda, and why the rest of the Veda even earns the name 'Veda' in the first place. So this Om stands apart, and is to be grasped as the means it is. Or take it another way: that 'Veda' the brahmins know -- what is it? It is Om. To the brahmins it is to be known through its various guises, as praṇava, as udgītha, and so on. Because once Om itself is put to use, the whole Veda is, in effect, already at work.

Close to the Sanskrit

[That is] the one shining forth in heaven -- that; in that, having known the Self alone as the supreme, full Brahman -- 'I am that full Brahman' -- thus, taking hold of fullness, having set aside the state of incomplete nature made by ignorance, born from contact with the limiting adjuncts of name and form, by this knowledge of Brahman fullness alone, exclusively, remains. And thus it is said: 'therefore all that came to be' -- thus. That which is the meaning of all the Upaniṣads, Brahman -- that very one is recapitulated by this mantra, for the sake of connection with what follows. Because, as a means to the knowledge of Brahman, the means about to be stated -- called Om, restraint, giving, and compassion -- are intended to be enjoined, and, because of their connection with the supplementary section, they are also limbs common to every form of meditative worship.

Here, some explain: from the full cause, the full effect rises up. The effect, thus arisen, even in its present state, is indeed full, a really-existent thing, in the form of duality. Again, at the time of dissolution, taking the fullness of the full effect and placing it in itself, fullness alone remains, in the form of the cause. Thus, in all three states -- origination, continuance, and dissolution -- there is fullness alone, of both effect and cause. And that one single fullness is designated differently as effect and cause, by mere difference. And thus Brahman is one, having the nature of both duality and non-duality. Just as, indeed, the ocean itself has the nature of water, wave, foam, bubble, and the rest; and just as the water is real, and the waves, foam, and bubbles arising from it, being themselves of the very substance of the ocean, having only the property of appearing and disappearing, are themselves really existent -- so all this duality [is] really exist[ent] -- … -- '...all the leaves' -- because of this and other different scriptural passages. And hence this Veda is the syllable Om: whatever is to be known, all of that one knows by this very Om, by this. Therefore this Om is the Veda; the Veda-ness of the rest of the Veda, too, is from this very source. Therefore this Om, being distinguished, is to be understood as a means -- thus. Or else: 'the Veda' -- who is that? [It is] Om, which the brahmins know. For, to the brahmins, that [Om] is to be understood through its various forms, as praṇava, udgītha, and so on. For when that is employed as a means, the whole Veda, in effect, becomes employed -- thus.