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The Upanishads, Part 1

By Max Müller

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III, 2, 4

FOURTH KHANDA.
1. To him the Vedas yield no more milk, he has no luck in what he has learnt (from his Guru); he does not know the path of virtue.

2. This has also been declared by a Rishi (Rv. X, 71, 6):--

3. 'He who has forsaken the friend (the Veda), that knows his friends, in his speech there is no luck. Though he hears, he hears in vain, for he does not know the path of virtue.'

4. Here it is clearly said that he has no luck in what he has learnt, and that he does not know the path of virtue.

5. Therefore let no one who knows this, lay the sacrificial fire (belonging to the Mahâvrata) for another, let him not sing the Sâmans of the Mahâvrata for another, let him not recite the Sastras of that day for another.

6. However, let him willingly do this for a father or for an Âkârya; for that is done really for himself.

7. We have said that the incorporeal conscious self and the sun are one 1. When these two become separated 2, the sun is seen as if it were the moon 3; no rays spring from it; the sky is red like madder; the patient cannot retain the wind, his head smells bad like a raven's nest:--let him know then that his self (in the body) is gone, and that he will not live very long 4.

8. Then whatever he thinks he has to do,. let him do it, and let him recite the following hymns: Yad anti yak ka dûrake (Rv. IX, 67, 21-27); Ad it pratnasya retasah (Rv. VIII, 6, 30); Yatra brahmâ pavamâna (Rv. IX, 113, 6-11); Ud vayam tamasas pari (Rv. I, 50, 10).

9. Next, when the sun is seen pierced, and seems like the nave of a cart-wheel, when he sees his own shadow pierced, let him know then that it is so (as stated before, i. e. that he is going to die soon).

10. Next, when he sees himself in a mirror or in the water with a crooked head, or without a head 5, or when his pupils are seen inverted 6 or not straight, let him know then that it is so.

11. Next, let him cover his eyes and watch, then threads are seen as if falling together 1. But if he does not see them, let him know then that it is so.

12. Next, let him cover his ears and listen, and there will be a sound as if of a burning fire or of a carriage 2. But if he does not hear it, let him know then that it is so.

13. Next, when fire looks blue like the neck of a peacock 3, or when he sees lightning in a cloudless sky, or no lightning in a clouded sky, or when he sees as it were bright rays in a dark cloud, let him know then that it is so.

14. Next, when he sees the ground as if it were burning, let him know that it is so.

15. These are the visible signs (from 7-14).

16. Next come the dreams 4.

17. If he sees a black man with black teeth, and that man kills him; or a boar kills him; a monkey jumps on 5 him; the wind carries him along quickly; having swallowed gold he spits it out 6; he eats honey; he chews stalks; he carries a red lotus; he drives with asses and boars; wearing a wreath of red flowers (naladas) he drives a black cow with a black calf, facing the south 7,

18. If a man sees any one of these (dreams), let him fast, and cook a pot of milk, sacrifice it, accompanying each oblation with a verse of the Râtri hymn (Rv. X, 12 7), and then, after having fed the Brâhmanas, with other food (prepared at his house) eat himself the (rest of the) oblation.

19. Let him know that the person within all beings, not heard here 1, not reached, not thought, not subdued, not seen, not understood, not classed, but hearing, thinking, seeing, classing, sounding, understanding, knowing, is his Self.

Footnotes
261:1 Ait. Âr. III, 2, 3, 8.

261:2 This separation of the self of the sun and the conscious self within us is taken as a sign of approaching death, and therefore a number of premonitory symptoms are considered in this place.

261:3 ?λιος μηνοειδ?ς Xen. Hist. gr. 4, 3, 10.

261:4 The Kashmir MS. reads gîvayishyati.

261:5 The Kashmir MS. reads gihmasirasam vâsarîram âtmânam.

261:6 A white pupil in a black eye-ball. Comm.

262:1 The Kashmir MS. reads batirakâni sampatantîva.

262:2 See Kh. Up. III, 13, 8. The Kashmir MS. and the commentary give the words rathasyevopabdis, which are left out in the printed text.

262:3 The Kashmir MS. reads mayûragrîvâ ameghe.

262:4 The Kashmir MS. reads svapnah.

262:5 The Kashmir MS. reads âskandati.

262:6 The Kashmir MS. reads avagirati.

262:7 The commentator separates the last dream, so as to bring their number to ten.

263:1 The Kashmir MS. reads sa yatas sruto.