Brahmabindūpaniṣad

1

praṇava / oṃ (the sacred syllable OM). The mind, indeed, is declared to be of two kinds: the pure and the impure. The impure is that beset by desire and willful intention; the pure is that wholly free of desire.

2

The mind alone is the cause for human beings of [both] bondage and liberation. Attached to objects, it is held to be [the cause] of bondage; free of objects, [the cause] of liberation.

3

Since liberation is held to belong to this mind [only] when it is free of objects, therefore one who seeks liberation should make the mind constantly free of objects.

4

When the mind, its clinging to objects cast off and [itself] restrained within the heart, reaches the unmanī(bhāva) (the mind-transcending state in which thought ceases) state, then that is the supreme abode.

5

[The mind] is to be restrained just until it has gone to dissolution within the heart. This [alone] is knowledge and this [alone] is liberation; all else is [mere] elaboration of books.

6

[It is] neither the thinkable nor the unthinkable, [yet] the unthinkable [appearing] as the very thinkable. Then Brahman, freed from all partiality [toward either alternative], is attained.

7

One should join [the practice of] yoga by means of the audible [syllable, OM]; [then] one should meditate on the supreme as the soundless. For through the soundless mode of being, [true] being—not non-being—is realized.

8

That alone is the niṣkala (partless, undivided) Brahman, free of all distinction, nirañjana (stainless, untainted). Having known "That Brahman am I," one assuredly attains Brahman.

9

[Brahman is] free of distinction, infinite, devoid of [logical] ground and analogy, immeasurable, and beginningless—and [one is liberated] having known [it as] the supreme auspicious [reality].

10

There is no cessation and no origination, no one in bondage and no [path of] discipline, no desire for release and no release. Such is the paramārthatā (the state of ultimate truth/reality).

11

The Self is to be known as one and the same throughout waking, dream, and deep sleep. For one who has transcended the three states, there is no rebirth.

12

Truly there is but one bhūtātman (the Self present in all beings), established in every single being; it is seen as one and [yet] as many, like the jalacandra (moon('s reflection) in water).

13

As [with] the space enclosed within a pot, when the pot dissolves it is the pot that dissolves, not the space—just so is the jīva (the individual living self), which is likened to the pot [while the Self is the ghaṭākāśa (the space enclosed in a pot, simile for the jīva)].

14

[The bodily form,] like a pot, is of manifold shapes and is broken again and again; [the Self] does not [come to] know that it is broken, yet [the Self itself] knows [all] perpetually.

15

So long as one is veiled by the illusion of sound (word), so long does one abide in the [lotus of the] heart [bound to plurality]; but when the darkness is sundered, one perceives oneness—one [reality] alone.

16

The akṣara (the imperishable; also the OM-syllable) word [OM] is the [lower] supreme Brahman; on the cessation of which, that which is [the higher] imperishable [shines forth]. Knowing this, one should meditate on the imperishable, if one desires peace for oneself.

17

Two knowledges are to be known: the śabdabrahman (Brahman as sacred sound/word; the lower Brahman) and that which is the supreme. One who has become accomplished in the word-Brahman attains the parabrahman (the supreme, transcendent Brahman).

18

Having studied the book, the wise one—[having grasped its truth] through knowledge and realized insight—should discard the book entirely, just as one seeking the grain [discards] the palāla (chaff/straw left after threshing grain).

19

Of cows of many colors the milk yet has [but] one color; one should regard knowledge as [like] the milk, and the bearers of [outward] marks [the various doctrines] as [like] the cows.

20

Like ghee hidden within milk, vijñāna (realized, discriminative knowledge) dwells in every single being; it must be churned out unceasingly by the mind serving as the churning-staff.

21

Taking up [knowledge] as the eye, one should thereafter proceed [drawing up the knowledge] as fire [draws up the hidden ghee]. That Brahman—partless, undefiled, peaceful—is declared [to be realized as] "That Brahman am I."

22

And that which is the dwelling-place of all beings, which dwells over [and within] [all] beings as the bestower of grace upon all—That am I, Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa/Viṣṇu as the all-pervading Self).