Maitrayanīya Upaniṣad

! oṃ atha maitrāyaṇyupaniṣat !

oṃ sahanāvavatu sahanau bhunaktu sahaviryam karavāvahai |

tejasvināvadhītamastu ma vidviṣāvahai oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ !

Prathamaprapāṭhakaḥ

Lesson 1

oṃ brahma yajño vā eṣa yat purveṣām cayanaṃ, tasmād yajamānaḥ

chitvaitān agnīn ātmānam abhidhyāyet; sa pūrnaḥ khaluvā aḍdvā
avikalaḥ sampadyate yajñaḥ, kah so’bhidyeyo’yaṃ yaḥ prāṇākhyaḥ;
tasyopākhyānam !1!
The laying of the formerly described sacrificial fires is indeed for the sake of
(knowing) Brahman. Therefore let the sacrificer, after he has laid those
fires, meditate on the self. Only thus does the fire sacrifice and sacrificer
become complete and flawless. But who is to be meditated upon? He who
is called Prana (breath). Of him there is this tale:

oṃ bṛhadratho ha vai nāma rājā rājye jyeṣṭhaṃ putraṃ

nidhāpayitvedamaśāśvataṃ manyamānaḥ śārīraṃ
vairāgyamupeto'raṇyaṃ nirjagāma sa tatra paramaṃ tapa
āsthāyādityamīkṣamāṇa ūrdhvabāhustiṣṭhatyante sahasrasya
munirantikam ājagāma agnirivādhūmakastejasā
nirdahannivātmavidbhagavāñchākāyanya uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha varaṃ
vṛṇīśveti rājānamabravītsa tasmai namaskṛtyovāca bhagavan
nāhamātmavittvaṃ tattvavicchṛṇumo vayaṃ sa tvaṃ no
brūhītyetadvṛtaṃ purastādduḥśakyaṃ
etatpraśnamaikṣvākānyānkāmānvṛṇīśveti śirasāsya
caraṇāvabhimṛśyamāno rājemāṃ gāthāṃ jagāda !2!
A King, named Bṛhadratha, having established his son (as his successor),
resorted to the forest, because he considered this body as transient, and
had obtained freedom from all desires. There he performed the highest
penance, standing, with uplifted arms, looking up to the sun. At the end of a
thousand (days), the saint Śākāyanya, who knew the self, approached him,
burning with splendor, like a fire without smoke. He said to the King: 'Arise,
arise! Choose a boon!' The King, bowing before him, said: 'O Lord, I know
not the self, thou knowest its essence, we have heard thus . Teach it to us.'
Ṣākāyanya replied: 'This was achieved of yore; but what you ask is
impossible to attain now. Therefore do not ask this question. O Aikshvaka,
choose other boons.' Then the king, touching Śākāyanya’s feet with his
head, recited the following:

bhagavan asthi-carma-snāyu-majjā-māṃsa-śukra-śoṇita-śleṣmā-
aśrudūṣite viṇmūtra-vāta-pitta-kaphasaṅghāte durgandhe
nissāre'smiñcharīre kiṃ kāmopabhogaiḥ? kāma-krodha-lobha-bhaya-
viṣāda-īrṣyā-ṣṭaviyoga-aniṣṭa-saṃprayoga-kṣut-pipāsā-jarā-mṛtyu-
rogaśokādyairabhihatte'smiñcharīre kiṃ kāmopabhogaiḥ? sarvaṃ
cedaṃ kṣayiṣṇu paśyāmo yatheme daṃśa-maśakādayaḥ
tṛṇavanaspataya udbhūta-pradhvaṃsinaḥ !3!
O Lord, what is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures in this malodorous,
pithless body --an assemblage of bones, skin, sinews, marrow, flesh, seed,
blood, mucus, tears, phlegm, excrement, urine, bile, and slime. What is the
use of the enjoyment of pleasures in this body, which is assailed by lust,
hatred, greed, delusion, fear, anguish, jealousy, bereft of the desirable, but
united with the distasteful, hunger, thirst, old age, death, illness, grief, and
other evils. Further, we see that all this is as perishable, like these gnats,
flies, etc., and like grasses and shrubs, growing and decaying.

atha kimetairvā pare'nye mahādhanurdharāścakravartinaḥ kecit

sudyumna bhūridyumna indradyumna kuvalayāśva-yauvanāśva-
vadhryāśva-aśvapatiḥ śaśabinduḥ-hāriścandra ambarīṣo
nanaktusaryātiḥ yayāti-anaraṇya-ukṣasenādayaḥ atha
maruttabharataprabhṛtayo rājāno miṣato bandhu-vargasya mahatīṃ
śriyaṃ tyaktvā asmāllokādamuṃ lokaṃ prayānti !4!
Furthermore more, what of the other great (warrior-kings) wielders of bows,
rulers of empires, Sudyumna, Bhuridyumna, Indradyumna, Kuvalayasva,
Yauvanasva, Vadhryasva, Asvapati, Sasabindu, Harischandra, Ambarisha,
Nanaktu, Saryati, Yayati, Anaranya, Ukshasena, etc., and kings such as
Marutta, Bharata (Daushyanti), and others, who before the eyes of their
people having surrendered their great glories, passed on from this world to
the next.

atha kimetairvā pare'nye gandharvā-sura-yakṣa-rākṣasa-bhūtagaṇa-

piśāca-uraga-grahādīnāṃ nirodhanaṃ paśyāmaḥ !5!
And what to talk of these? We see the destruction of other great ones such
as the celestial gandharvas and yakshas, the demonic asuras and
rakshasas, the five elements, the ghostly ones, snakes, and crocodiles.
atha kimetairvānyānāṃ śoṣaṇaṃ mahārṇavānāṃ śikhariṇāṃ
prapatanaṃ dhruvasya pracalanaṃ vṛścanam vātarajjūnām
nimajjanaṃ pṛthivyāḥ sthānād apasaraṇaṃ surāṇaṃ ityetad
vidhe'sminsaṃsāre kiṃ kāmopabhogaiḥ yaiḥ evāśritasyāsakṛd
ihāvartanaṃ dṛśyata ityuddhartum arhasi ityandhodapānastho bheka
ivāhamasminsaṃsāre bhagavaṃstvaṃ no gatistvaṃ no gatiḥ !6! iti
prathamaḥ prapāṭhakaḥ !
And what of these others? The drying up of other great oceans, the falling
of mountains, the dislocation of the pole-star, the cutting of the wind-ropes
(that map the constellations), the submergence of the earth, and the
departure of the gods (suras) from their place. In such a world of
impermenance (samsara), what is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures, if
one who has fed on them is seen to return (to this world) again and again!
O Lord, deign therefore to take me out. In this world I am like a frog in a dry
well. You are my sole refuge; you are my sole refuge.' Thus concludes the
first lesson.

Dvitiyaprapāṭhakaḥ

3. atha khalviyam brahmavidya sarvopanishadvidya vā rājan

asmākam bhagavatā Maitriṇā-ākhyātāhaṃ te kathayiśyāmīti, atha
apahatapāpmānaḥ tigma-tejasā urdhvaretaso vālakhilyā iti
śrūyante, atha kratum-prajāpatim abruvan, bhagavan śakaṭamiva
acetanaṃ śarīram kasyaiṣa khalvīdriśo mahimā-atindriya
bhutasya yenaitaidvidham etaccetanavat pratiṣṭhāpitaṃ
pracodayitā vā asya, yad bhagavan vetsi tadasmākaṃ bruhīti,
tān hovāceti.
This is the knowledge of Brahman, and the purport of all the upanishads, O King, that
which was unfolded to us by the Lord Maitri, I shall teach you. Now it is heard in the
śruti that there were highly evolved beings, of sharp intellect, celibate renunciants, free
of all pāpā, known as the Valakhilyas, . They approached Prajāpati-Kratu (Lord Brahmā
ji) and said: “O Lord, to what transcendental being belongs this great power by which
this body, which is as insentient as a cart, has been made intelligent? Or who is the
impeller of such a body? Please tell us what you know O Lord." Prajapati answered and
said:

4. yo ha khalvāvavopariṣṭhaḥ śrūyate guneṣu-iva-ūrdhvaretasaḥ

sa vā eṣa śuddhaḥ pūtaḥ śūnyaḥ śānto’prāṇo nirātmānanato’
kṣhayyaḥ sthiraḥ śāśvatao’jah svatantraḥ sve mahimni tiṣṭhati-
ajenedam śarīraṃ cetanavat pratiṣṭhāpitaṃ pracodayitā vā
eṣo’pyasyeti, te hochuḥ, bhagavan, katham anena-īdriśena-
aniṣṭhena-etadvidhamidam cetanavat pratiṣṭhāpitaṃ pracodayitā
vai eṣo’sya kathamiti, tān hovāca.
“That one in the śruti known as the one who stands apart like desireless ascetics,
amidst the objects of the world, he, indeed, the pure, clean, unmanifest, tranquil, free of
prāṇa, free of being embodied, limitless, imperishable, unchanging, everlasting, unborn,
independent, abiding in its own glory, is indeed this being by whom this body been
made as though intelligent, and this being alone is its impeller.” They said: “Lord, how
has this been made intelligent by such a being as this which has no desires, and how
can this being be its impeller?' He answered them and said:

5. sa vā eṣa sukṣmo’grāhyo’dṛṣyaḥ puruṣasaṃjño buddhipūrvam

ihaivāvartate’ṃśeneti suptasyeva buddhipūrvam vibodha
evamiti, atho yo ha khalu vāvaitasya so’ṃśo’yam yaścetāmācaḥ
pratipuruṣaḥ kshetragjñaḥ saṅkalpa-adhyavasāya-
abhimānaliṅgaḥ prajāpatiḥ viśvākhyaḥ cetanenedam śarīram
cetanavat pratiṣṭhāpitam pracodayitā vaiṣo’pyasyeti.
“That self which is very subtle, invisible, unavailable for objectification, called Purusha, indwells
this body intelligently (without undergoing any change), just as one who is fast asleep can
awaken with intent to do so. This self, which is self-effulgent, reflected in the person, as the
conscious being, which is the knower of this body, manifest in the form of the (faculty of the
mind) characterized by its capacity of conceiving, resolution, and “I” notion is Prajāpati, known
as viśva. By this intelligent being, is this body made intelligent, and it is the impeller thereof.”

yathā nirindhano vanhiḥ svayonāvupaśāmyati |

tathā vṛttikṣayāccitaṃ svayonāvupaśāmyati ||
As a fire without fuel becomes quiet in its place, thus do the thoughts, when all activity
ceases, become quiet in their place.

svayonāvupaśāntasya manasaḥ satyagāminaḥ |

indriyārthā vimūḍhasyānṛtāḥ karmavaśānugāḥ ||
Even in a mind which loves the truth and has gone to rest in itself there arise, when it is
deluded by the objects of sense, wrongs resulting from former acts.

cittameva hi saṃsāraḥ tatprayatnena śodhayet |

yaccittastanmayo bhavati guhyametatsanātanam ||