Disciple:

Teacher:

The Supreme shines in the lotus of the heart. They enter who struggle and aspire. Understanding the spirit of the scriptural teachings they renounce the world (attachment to the world).

Retire into solitude. Seat yourself on a clean spot and in erect posture, with head and neck in a straight lne. Be indifferent to the world. Control all sense organs. Bow down in devotion to your Guru (teacher or perception of the Absolute). Then enter the lotus of the heart and there meditate on the presence of Brahman - the pure, the infinite, the blissful.

Unmanifest to the senses, beyond all thought, infinite in form is God. He is doer of all good; He is forever tranquil; He is immortal. He is One, without beginning, middle or end; He is all pervading. He is infinite wisdom, and He is bliss.

The seers meditate on him and reach the source of all beings, the witness of all. He goes beyond all darkness. He is Brahma, He is Shiva, He is Indra, He is supreme, the changeless Reality. He is Vishnu, He is the primal energy, He is eternity.

He is all. He is what has been and what shall be. He is eternal. He who knows him conquers death. There is no other way to liberation.

By seeing the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self, one goes to Brahman. That is the only way.

The mind may be compared to a firestick, the syllable OM to another. Rub the two sticks together by repeating the sacred word and meditating on Brahman, and the flame of knowledge will be kindled in your heart and all impurities will be burnt away.

He, as the Self, resides in ALL forms, but is veiled by ignorance.

When He is in the state of dream that men call waking, He becomes the individual self and enjoys food, drink and many other pleasures.

When He is in the state of dream that men call dreaming, He is happy or miserable because of the creations of his mind.

And when He is in the state of dream that men call dreamless sleep, He is overcome by darkness, He experiences nothing, He enjoys rest.

At death He is born again, and the circumstances of his new life are determined by his past deeds and by the habits He has formed. He continues to live in the three states of consciousness - waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. As long as He continues in these states, He is the individual self.

He, as the Self, is infinite, indivisible; he is consciousness, bliss. In him are merged all the three states of consciousness. From him are born mind, life, and the senses; earth, air, water, fire, and ether. He is the reality behind all existence.

He is the Supreme Brahman. He is in all, He is the foundation of all. Subtler than the subtlest. He is eternal.

Thou art he! Thou art he!

He who has made this great spectacle of waking, dream and dreamless sleep - He I am. I am Brahman: Know this and break all bonds.

In the three states of consciousnes, whatever appears as the enjoyer or the object of enjoyment, I am the witness thereof, separate from all. I am pure consciousness. I am the eternal Shiva.

From me all emerge, in me all exist, and to me all return. I am Brahman - One without a second.

I am subtler than the subtlest; I am greater than the greatest; I am the Eternal Being. I am this manifold universe. I am the Lord of golden effulgence. I am Shiva.

I am without hands or feet. My divine powers non can conceive. I see, though without eyes. I hear, though without ears. I know all, but none know me. I am infinite wisdom. I am the One to be known through the scriptures. Merit or demerit does not affect me.

I was not born; I have neither body, nor senses, nor mind. I the Supreme Self, I dwell in the lotus of the heart.

I am pure. I am One without a second.

From 'The Upanishads - Breath Of The Eternal' translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester. Related links: