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132
. KHÂNDOGYA-UPANISHAD.
Sixth KHANDA. 1. Now those arteries of the heart consist of a brown substance, of a white, blue, yellow, and red
or abstinence from all worldly enjoyments, enjoined on the brahmakârin, the student, as a means of obtaining a knowledge of Brahman. But instead of showing that such abstinence is indispensable for a proper concentration of our intellectual faculties, we are told that abstinence is the same as certain sacrifices; and this is shown, not by arguments, but by a number of very far-fetched plays on words. These it is impossible to render in any translation, nay, they hardly deserve being translated. Thus abstinence is said to be identical with sacrifice, yagña, because yo grátâ, "he who knows,' has a certain similarity with yągña. Ishla, another kind of sacrifice, is compared with eshanâ, search; sattrayana with Sat, the True, the Brahman, and trayana, protection ; mauna, silence, with mana na, meditating (which may be right); anâsakayana, fasting, with nas, to perish, and aranyágana, a hermit's life, with ara, nya, and ayana, going to the two lakes Ara and Nya, which are believed to exist in the legendary world of Brahman. Nothing can be more absurd. Having once struck the note of Brahmanic legends, such as we find it, for instance, in the Kaushîtaki-brâhmana-upanishad, the author goes on. Besides the lakes Ara and Nya (in the Kaushîtaki-brâhmana-upanishad we have only one lake, called Âra), he mentions the Airammadîya lake, and explains it as aira (irâ annam, tanmaya airo mandas, tena pürnam airam) and madîya, delightful. The Asvattha tree, which pours down Soma, is not tortured into anything else, except that Soma is explained as the immortal, or nectar. Aparâgita becomes the city of Brahman, because it can be conquered by no one except those who have practised abstinence. And the hall which elsewhere is called Vibhu-pramita becomes Prabhuvimitam, or Prabhu-vinirmita, made by Prabhu, i.e. Brahman. All the fulfilled desires, as enumerated in khandas 2-5, whether the finding again of our fathers and mothers, or entering the Brahmaloka with its lakes and palaces, must be taken, not as material (sth@la), but as mental only (mânasa). On that account, however, they are by no means considered as false or unreal, as little as dreams are. Dreams are false and unreal, relatively only, i.e. relatively to what we see, when we awake; but not in themselves. Whatever we see in waking, also, has been shown to be
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| SR No. | 007670 |
| Book Title | Upnishad |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1879 |
| Total Pages | 1835 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 35 MB |