The Amritabindu Upanishad

The Hidden Self

The mind may be said to be of two kinds,
Pure and impure. Driven by the senses
It becomes impure; but with the senses
Under control, the mind becomes pure.

It is the mind that frees us or enslaves.

Driven by the senses we become bound;
Master of the senses we become free.
Those who seek freedom must master their senses.

When the mind is detached from the senses

One reaches the summit of consciousness.
Mastery of the mind leads to wisdom.
Practice meditation. Stop all vain talk.
The highest state is beyond reach of thought,
For it lies beyond all duality.

Keep repeating the ancient mantram om

Until it reverberates in your heart.

Brahman is indivisible and pure;

Realize Brahman and go beyond all change.
He is immanent and transcendent.
Realizing him, sages attain freedom
And declare there are no separate minds.
They have but realized what they always are.

Waking, sleeping, dreaming, the Self is one.

Transcend these three and go beyond rebirth.

There is only one Self in all creatures.

The One appears many, just as the moon
Appears many, reflected in water.

The Self appears to change its location

But does not, just as air in a jar
Changes not when the jar is moved about.
When the jar is broken, the air knows not;
But the Self knows well when the body is shed.

We see not the Self, concealed by maya;

When the veil falls, we see we are the Self.

The mantram is the symbol of Brahman;

Repeating it can bring peace to the mind.
 Knowledge is twofold, lower and higher.
Realize the Self; for all else is lower.
Realization is rice; all else is chaff.

The milk of cows of any hue is white.

The sages say that wisdom is the milk
And the sacred scriptures are the cows.

As butter lies hidden within milk,

The Self is hidden in the hearts of all.
Churn the mind through meditation on it;
Light your fire through meditation on it:
The Self, all whole, all peace, all certitude.

I have realized the Self, declares the sage,

Who is present in all beings.
I am united with the Lord of Love;
I am united with the Lord of Love.

OM Shanti Shanti Shanti

Brahmabindu Upanishad / Amrita-bindu Upanishad

The ultimate medicine: Being what you really are

The Manas, they say, is twofold,

Either impure or pure,

Impure, when it imagines desires,

Pure, when it is free from desires.

The Manas therefore is the cause

Of bondage and liberation to us:

Of Bondage, when attached to an object,

Of liberation, when free from it.

Since by the objectless Manas

Liberation is conditioned,

So one who aspires after it,

Should free his mind from object.

Free from attachment to the sense world,

Who locks up his Manas in the heart,

And thus reaches Manas-lessness,

He goes to the highest one.

Restrain your Manas so long,

Until it is annihilated in the heart,

This is knowledge, this liberation,

The rest is all learned trash.

Not thinkable and not unthinkable,

Thinkable and unthinkable together,

Free from every partisanship

Is Brahman, which he then reaches.

Beginning the Yoga with Om,

Meditate wordlessly on the highest one,

Since through wordless meditation

Is being attainted, not mere non-being.

That is Brahman, the partless,

Changless and without deception;

"I am that Brahman", so knowing

One surely reaches the Brahman.

The changeless, endless,

Causeless, incomparable,

Without limits and without beginning,

One knows as the highest bliss.

There's no death, no becoming,

None bound, none aspirant,

No liberated existence, no desire for it,

That is the highest reality.

Know the Atman as one,

Then, waking, dream, and deep sleep,

Throwing off these states,

You will never be born again.

A single self-being is there,

It dwells in each and every being,

Uniform and yet multiform

It appears like the moon in a pond.

As the space, which a jar encloses,

When the jar is broken to pieces,

The jar alone breaks, not the space

Life is like the jar.

All forms are like the jar;

Unceasingly they break to pieces;

When departed, they are unaware,

Still his is aware eternally.

One who is enveloped in word-delusion,

Remains caught up in the heart-lotus,

But when the darkness grows clear,

He sees the unity all alone.

Brahman is the syllable of the Om-sound;

When it fades off, what remains,

The wise meditate on that eternal one,

The seekers of the peace of the soul.

Two sciences are necessary,

The Word-Brahman and the uppermost;

One who is versed in the Word-Brahman,

Attains to the highest Brahman too.

The wise, searching through books

For real insight into knowledge,

Throw off the mass of bookish stuff,

As one the chaff, who strives after corn.

The cows, to be sure, are many colored,

But uniform is the color of milk;

The Self-knowledge is like the milk,

Its characteristic like cows.

Like butter, hidden in milk,

True knowledge dwells in all that lives;

Ever, with mind as the churning rod,

Everyone should churn it out in himself (Arya).

Using the whirling rope of knowledge,

One should obtain, like fire by friction,

That partless, stainless silence;

"I am that Brahman", as it's said.

That which is the abode to all beings,

To which all beings are abode;

Which holds in it all affectionately,

That I am, the Vasudeva,

-That I am, the Vasudeva

This is a translation of the Brahmabindu Upanishad, one of the Yoga Upanishads included in Sixty Upanisads
of the Veda, volume II, by Paul Deussen, published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers in Delhi.