Maitrī

Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda

85 Passages

Mantra 1Om. There was a king named Bṛhadratha. Having established his eldest son in the kingdom, and holding this body to be impermanent, he came to dispassio…
Mantra 2Sir, in this body, defiled by bone, skin, sinew, marrow, flesh, seed, blood, mucus and tears, a heap of dung and urine, of wind and bile and phlegm, f…
Mantra 3In this body, stricken by desire, anger, greed, fear, dejection, envy, separation from the loved, union with the unloved, hunger, thirst, old age, dea…
Mantra 4And we see that all this is perishing, as are these gnats and flies and the rest, which are destroyed like grass, coming to be and passing away.
Mantra 5But what of these? There are others still greater — mighty bowmen and world-rulers: Sudyumna, Bhūridyumna, Indradyumna, Kuvalayāśva, Yauvanāśva, Vaddh…
Mantra 6But what of these? There are others still greater, whose destruction we see — of Gandharvas, Asuras, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, hosts of spirits, Piśācas, serp…
Mantra 7But what of these? There is besides the drying up of great oceans, the falling of mountain peaks, the shifting of the pole star, the tearing up of the…
Mantra 1Then the blessed Śākāyanya, well pleased, said to the king: Great king Bṛhadratha, banner of the line of Ikṣvāku, thou hast done what was to be done a…
Mantra 2That which, when the outward support is withdrawn, goes upward without trembling, though it seems to tremble, and drives away the darkness — that is t…
Mantra 3Now this knowledge of Brahman, O king, this knowledge of all the Upaniṣads, was expounded to us by the blessed Maitreya; and I shall tell it to thee.…
Mantra 4He who is heard of as standing above the strands — he indeed is pure, cleansed, empty, tranquil, without breath, without a master, endless, imperishab…
Mantra 5This subtle one, ungraspable, unseen, called the Person, comes to be here with a part of himself, unknown to the understanding, as he awakens with a p…
Mantra 6In the beginning Prajāpati stood alone. Being alone he had no delight. Meditating upon himself, he brought forth many creatures. He saw that they were…
Mantra 7Now that which goes upward is the out-breath; that which moves downward is the down-breath; that which sets the coarsest part of the food in the down-…
Mantra 8Then the whispered offering overpowers the inner controller and the inner controller the whispered offering; and between the two there is heat. That h…
Mantra 9Having divided himself fivefold, he is set down in the cave of the heart, made of mind, having breath for his body, of many forms, whose resolve is tr…
Mantra 10This Self, as though brought under sway, as though overcome by the bright and dark fruits of deeds, moves among bodies one after another; and because…
Mantra 11This one is pure, firm, unmoving, unstained, unagitated, without longing, standing as a spectator, and enjoying what it has itself done; it stands vei…
Mantra 1They said: "Sir, if thou dost thus point out the greatness of this Self, then who is that other, the further one, who, overcome by the bright and dark…
Mantra 2There is indeed another, a further one, the elemental self, who, overcome by the bright and dark fruits of deeds, enters a good or an evil womb, so th…
Mantra 3And it is said elsewhere too: He who acts is the elemental self, and the inner person is the one who makes it act through the instruments. And as a lu…
Mantra 4And it is said elsewhere too: This body has arisen from coupling, has grown up bereft of awareness in what is a very hell, and has come out by the pas…
Mantra 5And it is said elsewhere too: Bewilderment, fear, dejection, sleep, sloth, injury, old age, sorrow, hunger, thirst, meanness, anger, unbelief, ignoran…
Mantra 1Then those whose seed was drawn upward, greatly amazed, came together and said: "Sir, salutation to thee; teach us. Thou art our way; no other is know…
Mantra 2It is said elsewhere too: What he has done before turns him back, as waves turn upon a great river; the coming of death upon him is as hard to ward of…
Mantra 3Now this indeed is the remedy for the elemental self: the acquiring of knowledge and the following of what is right, the going through of the stages o…
Mantra 4On this there are these verses. As a fire without fuel dies down in its own source, so thought, when its movements are spent, dies down in its own sou…
Mantra 5In the beginning this was darkness alone. That, stirred by the highest, passed into unevenness. This is the form of passion. That passion, being stirr…
Mantra 1This Self bears itself in two ways: as this breath, and as that sun yonder. And these two are its two paths, within and without; they turn about as da…
Mantra 2And he who, seated in the lotus of the heart within, eats food — he is that fire set in the sky, of the sun, called time, unseen, who eats all beings…
Mantra 3There are two forms of Brahman: the formed and the formless. What is formed is unreal; what is formless is real, and that is Brahman. What is Brahman…
Mantra 4And it is said elsewhere too: The Udgītha is the Praṇava, and the Praṇava is the Udgītha; and that sun yonder is the Udgītha, and is the Praṇava. So i…
Mantra 5And it is said elsewhere too: This is the sounding body of it, which is Om. It has gender, as feminine, masculine and neuter. It has brightness, as fi…
Mantra 6Now this was unuttered. The real, Prajāpati, having performed austerity, uttered forth bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ. This is the coarsest body of Prajāpati, the…
Mantra 7"That choicest light of Savitṛ" — that sun yonder is Savitṛ, and he is thus to be chosen by one who desires the Self, say those who speak of Brahman.…
Mantra 8For this Self is the ruler, the benign, the becoming one, Rudra, Prajāpati, the maker of all, the golden germ, the real, the breath, the swan, the pea…
Mantra 1This Self bears itself in two ways: as this breath, and as that sun yonder. And these are its two paths, within and without; they turn about with day…
Mantra 2And he who, seated in the lotus of the heart within, eats food — he is that fire set in the sky, of the sun, called time, unseen, who eats all beings…
Mantra 3There are two forms of Brahman: the formed and the formless. What is formed is unreal; what is formless is real, and that is Brahman, and that is ligh…
Mantra 4And it is said elsewhere too: The Udgītha is the Praṇava, and the Praṇava is the Udgītha; and that sun yonder is the Udgītha, and is the Praṇava. So i…
Mantra 5And it is said elsewhere too: This is the sounding body of it, which is Om. It has gender, as feminine, masculine and neuter. It has brightness, as fi…
Mantra 6Now this was unuttered. That real one, Prajāpati, having performed austerity, uttered forth bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ. This is the coarsest body of that Praj…
Mantra 7"That choicest light of Savitṛ" — that sun yonder is Savitṛ, and he is thus to be chosen by one who desires the Self, say those who speak of Brahman.…
Mantra 8For this Self is the ruler, the benign, the becoming one, Rudra, Prajāpati, the maker of all, the golden germ, the real, the breath, the swan, the ord…
Mantra 9Therefore he who knows this Self as both meditates upon it in the Self alone and sacrifices in the Self alone. Meditation set upon its practice is a m…
Mantra 10Now something further is to be known, a higher unfolding of this sacrifice in the Self: how it is that there is food and an eater of food. This is the…
Mantra 11This is the highest form of the Self, namely food; for this breath is made of food. And if a man does not eat, he becomes one who does not think, does…
Mantra 12And it is said elsewhere too: All these beings run about day after day seeking to lay hold of food. The sun takes food with his rays, and by that he b…
Mantra 13And it is said elsewhere too: This food is the body of the blessed Viṣṇu named the World-bearer. The breath is the savour of food, the mind of the bre…
Mantra 14And it is said elsewhere too: Food is the source of all this, and time is the source of food, and the sun is the source of time. And this is time's fo…
Mantra 15There are two forms of Brahman: time and the timeless. What is before the sun is timeless and without parts; what is from the sun onward is time and h…
Mantra 16This time has a body: he is the ocean-king of creatures. Standing in that is the one called Savitṛ, from whom are brought forth the moon, the stars, t…
Mantra 17In the beginning this was Brahman, one and endless — endless to the east, endless to the south, endless to the west, endless to the north, and above a…
Mantra 18Now the rule of its practice: restraint of breath, withdrawal of the senses, meditation, concentration, reflection and absorption — this is called the…
Mantra 19And it is said elsewhere too: When a knower has held his mind back from what is outside, and has settled the breath and the objects of the senses, the…
Mantra 20And it is said elsewhere too: Beyond this is its concentration. By pressing the tip of the tongue against the palate and restraining speech, mind and…
Mantra 21And it is said elsewhere too: There is an upward channel called Suṣumṇā by which the breath travels; it is divided within the palate. By it, when the…
Mantra 22And it is said elsewhere too: There are two Brahmans to be meditated on, the one with sound and the one without sound; and it is by the one with sound…
Mantra 23And it is said elsewhere too: The sound is that syllable Om, and what is at the summit of it is tranquil, soundless, fearless, sorrowless, blissful, c…
Mantra 24And it is said elsewhere too: The body is the bow, Om is the arrow, and the mind is its point. Piercing through what is marked by darkness, one comes…
Mantra 25And it is said elsewhere too: He who, with his senses withdrawn as though in sleep, sees with a wholly purified understanding, as though in a dream, i…
Mantra 26And it is said elsewhere too: As a fowler draws up with a net the creatures that move in the waters and offers them in the fire of his belly, so a man…
Mantra 27And it is said elsewhere too: This is the splendour of Brahman, of the highest, the immortal, the bodiless — and the warmth of the body is its ghee. T…
Mantra 28And it is said elsewhere too: Having passed beyond the elements, the senses and their objects, and having taken up the bow whose string is the going-f…
Mantra 29Having spoken thus within his heart, Śākāyanya bowed to him and said: O king, by this knowledge of Brahman the sons of Prajāpati have mounted the path…
Mantra 30Om. In a clean place, himself clean, established in goodness, let a man study what is real, speak what is real, meditate on what is real and sacrifice…
Mantra 31Of what nature are these senses that go forth, and who is their sender forth, and who is their controller here? He answers: they are of the nature of…
Mantra 32From this Self all the breaths, all the worlds, all the Vedas, all the gods and all beings go forth. Its secret name is the real of the real. And as f…
Mantra 33This fire of five bricks is the year. Its bricks are these: spring, summer, the rains, autumn and winter. It has a head, two wings, a tail and a back.…
Mantra 34The earth is the householder's fire, the middle region the southern fire, and the sky the offering fire; and from that very source the three called Pa…
Mantra 35Salutation to Agni, who dwells in the earth, who holds the world in mind: bestow the world upon this sacrificer. Salutation to Vāyu, who dwells in the…
Mantra 36There are these two forms of the light of Brahman: one at peace and one abounding. Of that which is at peace the support is space; of that which aboun…
Mantra 37Therefore let a man worship with Om this unmeasured splendour, which is declared in three places: in fire, in the sun and in the breath. Now this chan…
Mantra 38He who performs the fire offering pierces the net of greed. Then, cutting through bewilderment, not praising anger, not meditating upon desire, he pie…
Mantra 1Fire, the Gāyatrī metre, the threefold hymn, the Rathantara chant, the spring, the out-breath, the constellations, the Vasus — these rise in the east,…
Mantra 2Indra, the Triṣṭubh metre, the fifteenfold hymn, the Bṛhat chant, the summer, the diffused breath, Soma, the Rudras — these rise in the south, burn, r…
Mantra 3The Maruts, the Jagatī metre, the seventeenfold hymn, the Vairūpa chant, the rains, the down-breath, the bright one, the Ādityas — these rise in the w…
Mantra 4The All-gods, the Anuṣṭubh metre, the twenty-onefold hymn, the Vairāja chant, the autumn, the even breath, Varuṇa, the Sādhyas — these rise in the nor…
Mantra 5Mitra and Varuṇa, the Paṅkti metre, the twenty-sevenfold and thirty-threefold hymns, the Śākvara and Raivata chants, the winter and the cool season, t…
Mantra 6Saturn, Rāhu and Ketu, serpents, demons, Yakṣas, men, birds, the Śarabha, elephants and the rest — these rise from below, burn, rain, sing praise and…
Mantra 7This Self within the heart is finer than the finest, kindled like fire, of every form. All this is its food, and these creatures are woven upon it. Th…
Mantra 8Now, O king, the hindrances to knowledge. This indeed is the source of the net of delusion: that those who do not deserve heaven should keep company w…
Mantra 9Bṛhaspati, becoming Śukra, brought forth this ignorance for the safety of Indra and the destruction of the demons. By it they point out the auspicious…
Mantra 10The gods and the demons who desired the Self went to the presence of Brahman. Bowing to him they said, "Sir, we desire the Self; do thou tell us of it…
Mantra 11This is the very form of the highest splendour set within the sky, in space; and it is declared in three places, in fire, in the sun and in the breath…