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The Upanishads, Part 1

By Max Müller

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VI, 8

EIGHTH KHANDA.
1. Uddâlaka Âruni said to his son Svetaketu:

Learn from me the true nature of sleep (svapna). When a man sleeps here, then, my dear son, he becomes united with the True 2, he is gone to his own (Self). Therefore they say, svapiti, he sleeps, because he is gone (apîta) to his own (sva) 1.

2. 'As a bird when tied by a string flies first in every direction, and finding no rest anywhere, settles down at last on the very place where it is fastened, exactly in the same manner, my son, that mind (the gîva, or living Self in the mind, see VI, 3, 2), after flying in every direction, and finding no rest anywhere, settles down on breath 2; for indeed, my son, mind is fastened to breath.

3. 'Learn from me, my son, what are hunger and thirst. When a man is thus said to be hungry, water is carrying away (digests) what has been eaten by him. Therefore as they speak of a cow-leader (go-nâya), a horse-leader (asva-nâya), a man-leader (purusha-nâya), so they call water (which digests food and causes hunger) food-leader (asa-nâya). Thus (by food digested &c.), my son, know this offshoot (the body) to be brought forth, for this (body) could not be without a root (cause).

4. 'And where could its root be except in food (earth) 3? And in the same manner, my son, as food (earth) too is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. water. And as water too is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. fire. And as fire too is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. the True. Yes, all these creatures, my son, have their root in the True, they dwell in the True, they rest in the True.

5. 'When a man is thus said to be thirsty, fire carries away what has been drunk by him. Therefore as they speak of a cow-leader (go-nâya), of a horse-leader (asva-nâya), of a man-leader (purusha-nâya), so they call fire udanyâ, thirst, i. e. water-leader. Thus (by water digested &c.), my son, know this offshoot (the body) to be brought forth: this (body) could not be without a root (cause).

6. 'And where could its root be except in water? As water is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. fire. As fire is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. the True. Yes, all these creatures, O son, have their root in the True, they dwell in the True, they rest in the True.

'And how these three beings (devatâ), fire, water, earth, O son, when they reach man, become each of them tripartite, has been said before (VI, 4, 7). When a man departs from hence, his speech 1 is merged in his mind, his mind in his breath, his breath in heat (fire), heat in the Highest Being.

7. 'Now that which is that subtile essence (the root of all), in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.'

'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said the son.

'Be it so, my child,' the father replied.

Footnotes
98:2 The deep sushupta sleep is meant, in which personal consciousness is lost, and the self for a time absorbed in the Highest Self. Sleep is produced by fatigue. Speech, mind, and the senses rest, breath only remains awake, and the gîva, the living soul, in order to recover from his fatigue, returns for a while to his true Self (âtmâ). The Sat must be taken as a substance, nay, as the highest substance or subject, the Brahman. The whole purpose of the Upanishad is obscured if we translate sat or satyam by truth, instead of the True, the true one,τ? ?ντως ?ν.

99:1 This is one of the many recognised plays on words in the Upanishads and the Vedânta philosophy. Svapiti, he sleeps, stands for sva (his own), i.e. the self, and apîta, gone to.

99:2 The commentator takes prâna here in the sense of Sat, which it often has elsewhere. If so, this illustration would have the same object as the preceding one. If we took prâna in the sense of breath, breath being the result of water, this paragraph might be taken to explain the resignation of the living Self to its bondage to breath, while on earth.

99:3 That food is the root of the body is shown by the commentator in the following way: Food when softened by water and digested becomes a fluid, blood (sonita). From it comes flesh, from flesh fat, from fat bones, from bones marrow, from marrow seed. Food eaten by a woman becomes equally blood (lohita), p. 100 and from seed and blood combined the new body is produced. We must always have before us the genealogical table:--

Sat, τ? ?ν.
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Tegas (fire) = Vâk (speech).
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Ap (water) = Prâna (breath).
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Anna (earth)= Manas (mind).

100:1 If a man dies, the first thing which his friends say is, He speaks no more. Then, he understands no more. Then, he moves no more. Then, he is cold.