God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads
EIGHTH ANUVÂKA VIII
(1) 'From terror of it (Brahman) the wind blows, from terror the sun rises; from terror of it Agni and Indra, yea Death runs as the fifth 3.'
Now this is an examination of (what is meant by) Bliss (ânanda):
Let there be a noble young man, who is well read (in the Veda), very swift, firm, and strong, and let the whole world be full of wealth for him, that is one measure of human bliss.
One hundred times that human bliss (2) is one measure of the bliss of human Gandharvas (genii),
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and likewise of a great sage (learned in the Vedas) who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of human Gandharvas is one measure of the bliss of divine Gandharvas (genii), and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of divine Gandharvas is one measure of the bliss of the Fathers, enjoying their long estate, and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of the Fathers is one measure of the bliss of the Devas, born in the Âgâna heaven (through the merit of their lawful works), (3) and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of the Devas born in the Âgâna heaven is one measure of the bliss of the sacrificial Devas, who go to the Devas by means of their Vaidik sacrifices, and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of the sacrificial Devas is one measure of the bliss of the (thirty-three) Devas, and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of the (thirty-three) Devas is one measure of the bliss of Indra, (4) and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of Indra is one measure of the bliss of Brihaspati, and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of Brihaspati is one measure of the bliss of Pragâpati, and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
One hundred times that bliss of Pragâpati is one
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measure of the bliss of Brahman, and likewise of a great sage who is free from desires.
(5) He 1 who is this (Brahman) in man, and he who is that (Brahman) in the sun, both are one 2.
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He who knows this, when he has departed this world, reaches and comprehends the Self which consists of food, the Self which consists of breath, the Self which consists of mind, the Self which consists of understanding, the Self which consists of bliss.
On this there is also this Sloka:
Footnotes59:3 Kath. Up. VI, 3.
61:1 Cf. III, 10, 4.
61:2 In giving the various degrees of happiness, the author of the Upanishad gives us at the same time the various classes of human and divine beings which we must suppose were recognised in his time. We have Men, human Gandharvas, divine Gandharvas, Fathers (pitaras kiralokalokâh), born Gods (âgânagâ devâh), Gods by merit (karmadevâh), Gods, Indra, Brihaspati, Pragâpati, Brahman. Such a list would seem to be the invention of an individual rather than the result of an old tradition, if it did not occur in a very similar form in the Satapatha-brâhmana, Mâdhyandina-sâkhâ XIV, 7, 1 ,31, Kânva-sâkhâ (Brih. Âr. Up. IV, 3, 32). Here, too, the highest measure of happiness is ascribed to the Brahmaloka, and other beings are supposed to share a certain measure only of its supreme happiness. The scale begins in the Mâdhyandina-sâkhâ with men, who are followed by the Fathers (pitaro gitalokâh), the Gods by merit (karmadevâh), the Gods by birth (âgânadevâh, with whom the Srotriya is joined), the world of Gods, the world of Gandharvas, the world of Pragâpati, the world of Brahman. In the Brihad-âranyaka-upanishad we have Men, Fathers, Gandharvas, Gods by merit, Gods by birth, Pragâpati, and Brahman. If we place the three lists side by side, we find--
| TAITTIRÎYA-UPAN | SATAPATHA-BRÂH | BRIHADÂRAN.-UPAN |
Men
| Men | Men |
Human Gandharvas
(and Srotriya) | -------- | -------- |
| Divine Gandharvas | -------- | -------- |
| Fathers (kiraloka) |
Fathers (gitaloka) |
Fathers (gitaloka) |
| -------- | -------- | Gandharvas |
Gods by birth
| Gods by merit | Gods by merit |
| Gods by merit | Gods by birth | Gods by birth |
| Gods | Gods | -------- |
| Indra |
Gandharvas | -------- |
| Brihaspati | -------- | -------- |
Pragâpati
| Pragâpati
| Pragâpati
|
Brahman
| Brahman
| Brahman
|
The commentators do not help us much. Sa?kara on the Taittirîyaka-upanishad p. 62 explains the human Gandharvas as men who have become Gandharvas, a kind of fairies; divine Gandharvas, as Gandharvas by birth. The Fathers or Manes are called Kiraloka, because they remain long, though not for ever, in their world. The âgânaga Gods are explained as born in the world of the Devas through their good works (smârta), while the Karmadevas are explained as born there through their sacred works (vaidika). The Gods are the thirty-three, whose lord is Indra, and whose teacher Brihaspati. Pragâpati is Virâg, Brahman Hiranyagarbha. Dvivedaga?ga, in his commentary on the Satapatha-brâhmana, explains the Fathers as those who, proceeding on the Southern path, have conquered their world, more particularly by having themselves offered in their life sacrifices to their Fathers. The Karmadevas, according to him, are those who have become Devas by sacred works (srauta), the Âgânadevas those who were gods before there were men. The Gods are Indra and the rest, while the Gandharvas are not explained. Pragâpati is Virâg, Brahman is Hiranyagarbha. Lastly, Sa?kara, in his commentary on the Brihadâranyakaupanishad, gives nearly the same explanation as before; only that he makes âgânadevâh still clearer, by explaining them as gods âgânatah, i.e. utpattitah, from their birth.
The arrangement of these beings and their worlds, one rising above the other, reminds us of the cosmography of the Buddhists, but the elements, though in a less systematic form, existed evidently before. Thus we find in the so-called Gargî-brâhmana (Satapatha-brâhmana XIV, 6, 6, 1) the following succession: Water, air, ether a, the worlds of the sky b, heaven, sun, moon, stars, gods, Gandharvas c, Pragâpati, Brahman. In the Kaushîtaki-upanishad I, 3 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. i, p. 275) there is another series, the worlds of Agni, Vâyu, Varuna, Indra, Pragâpati, and Brahman. See Weber, Ind. Stud. II, p. 224.
61:a Deest in Kânva-sâkhâ.
61:b Between sky and sun, the Kânva-sâkhâ places the Gandharvaloka (Brih. Âr. Up. III, 6, 1, p. 609).
61:c Instead of Gandharvas, the Brih. Âr. Up. places Indra.
