8/8/2019 Atma Upanishad
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Atma Upanishad (Part of the Atharva Veda)
Om! O Devas! May we hear only the good with our ears; O the ones
to be worshipped!
May we see only the good with our eyes; may we have strong limbs
and bodies, whichwill enable us to pray and worship the Devas. May
we live unto such time the Devas feel
we should live. May the Lord Indra, of great fame, shower some
grace and good on us.May the Lord Surya (the Sun God), the knower
of all, shower some grace and good on
us. May the Lord Garuda, who has an unfettered clear path (to
liberation), shower somegrace and good on us. May the Lord
Brhaspati shower some grace and good on us.
Om Shanti ! Shanti ! Shanti !
Thus spoke Angiras (the sage):
Man is threefold, namely External Self, Inner Self and the
Higher Self.
That self in which there are skin, bones, flesh, marrow, hair,
fingers, thumbs, vertebralcolumn, nails, ankles, belly, navel,
genitals, hips, thighs, cheeks, brows, forehead, arms,
sides, head, arteries, eyes and ears and that which is born and
dies; that is called the
External Self.
Now the Inner Self: The one who, on the one hand through the
perceptions of the earth,
the water, the wind, the fore, the ether, as also through
desire, hate, lust, pain, greed,
delusion, misunderstanding etc. while he possesses the
characteristic of memory; on theother hand through speaking with a
high tone, low tone, short, long, extra long, faltering,
shouting, blurting out through dancing, singing, playing,
swooning, yawning etc;
becomes a listener, smeller, taster, thinker, perceiver and
doer; and who as the conscious
self, as person (Purusa) knows to distinguish in the activities
of hearing whether it is apuraanam, nyaya, mimamsa or dharma sastra
of smelling, drawing towards oneself it
is this one who is called the Inner Self.
Now the Highest Self: The one, who to be worshipped according to
the constituents of
the word OM while one meditates over him, as ones self, by
breath control, withdrawing
inwards from the objects of sense, meditation and
yoga-practices, as seed of the fig tree,as seed of the millet, is
mot comprehended or grasped through a hundred-thousand fold
splitting of the hairs end and the like who is not born and who
does not die, does not
wither up, and who is not burnt, does not shake, is not divided
and is not split up, who isthe gunaless observer, the pure, the
limbless Atman, the subtle, part less, spotless, free
from self-illusion, free from sound, touch, taste, form and
smell, changeless, desire less,
all penetrating He, the inconceivable and indescribable, who
purifies the impure and theunholy, unto whom no work sticks, nor
the effect of the work that is the Highest Self,
the Purusa that is the Highest Self, the Purusa
(reiterated).
Om! O Devas! May we hear only the good with our ears; O the ones
to be worshipped!May we see only the good with our eyes; may we
have strong limbs and bodies, which
will enable us to pray and worship the Devas. May we live unto
such time the Devas feel
