Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 5

The Chandogya Upanishad is generally considered one of the earliest Upanishads. One piece of evidence for this is that it uses the sacrificial language and metaphors characteristic of the earlier Brahmana texts. Another is that although it is much (MUCH) longer than any of the other Upanishads, it has no clearly defined philosophical perspective, and is often inconsistent or even contradictory. This Upanishad is a collection of dialogues and stories, and their ultimate purpose is less to articulate a specific doctrine than to speculate--on the ultimate nature of the universe and the ultimate nature of human beings.  To speak in very broad terms, the people who composed the Upanishads were seeking the ultimate realities upon which all other things were based.

The following story contains the first known reference to reincarnation. Note the differences between the two paths (the way of the Gods and theWay of the ancestors) and the results coming from each. Note too that the person revealing this secret knowledge is not a brahmin, but a member of the princely class.]

5.3.1. Svetaketu Aruneya once went to an assembly of the Panchalas, and Pravahana Jaibali adressed him thus: "Young man, has your father instructed you?"

"Yes indeed sir, he said"

2. Do you know where living creatures go [when they depart] from here?

"No sir."

"Do you know how they come back again?"

"No sir."

"Do you know the partings of the two paths, the way of the gods and the way of the ancestors?"

"No sir."

3. "Do you know how it is that the world up there is not filled up?"

"No sir."

"Do you know how it is that at the fifth offering water comes to have a human voice?"

"No sir."

4. "Then, how could you say that you had been instructed? How indeed could anyone who does not know these things consider themselves instructed?"

Much depressed, he returned to his father's house, and said to him: "You have not instructed me at all, and yet, sir, you claimed that you had done so. Some fellow of the princely class asked me five questions, and I was unable to answer even one of them."

The father said, "I do not know the answer to even one of these questions you have repeated to me. Had I known, would I not have told you?"

6. Then Gautama (the father) went off to the king's house, and on his arrival [the king] paid him due respect. The next morning the king went up to Gautama as he was entering the assembly-hall, and said: "Venerable Gautama, ask for whatever you would like."

Gautama said, "Keep such things for yourself, your majesty. Rather, tell me what you asked this young man."

7. The king was troubled. Then he bade Gautama stay with him for awhile and said: "As for what you have asked, this wisdom has never reached the brahmins before you, and that is why in all the worlds ruling power has belonged to the princely class alone." Then he said to him.....

[SECTIONS 5.4-5.8 DESCRIBE, USING THE METAPHOR OF SACRIFICE, THE CONCEPTION OF A HUMAN BEING. THE FIFTH "OFFERING" MENTIONED IS THE SEMEN THAT BRINGS ABOUT CONCEPTION].

5.9.1 "Thus at the fifth oblation water comes to have a human voice. Enveloped in the womb the embryo lies for nine, ten, or however many months, and is then born.

2. "Once born he lives out his allotted span. When dead he is carried from here to the [cremation] pyre to go to the allotted place from which he came, from which he arose.

5.10.1. "Those who know thus as well as those who worship in the forest, knowing that self-mortification is the same as faith, merge into the flame (of the pyre), from the flame they pass on to the day, from the day to the waxing moon, from the waxing moon to the six months when the sun is moving northwards, (2) from those months into the year, from the year into the sun, from the sun into the moon, from the moon into the lightning. There, there is a non-human Person. He leads them on to Brahman. This path is the "way of the gods."

3. "But those who in their villages lay great store by sacrifice, good works, and giving alms, merge into smoke, from the smoke they go to the night, from the night to the waning moon, from the waning moon to the six months when the sun moves southwards. These do not reach the year. (4) From those months they go to the world of the ancestors, from the world of the ancestors into space, from space into the moon which is King Soma, the food of the gods. This the gods eat up.

5. There they remain until the merit (from their good deeds) is exhausted, and then they once again return on the same path. They merge into space, from space to wind, from wind to smoke, from smoke to mist, (6) from mist they become a cloud, after which they pour forth as rain. Then they are born here as rice or barley, herbs or trees, sesame or beans. To emerge from these is difficult, only if someone or other eats him as food and pours him out as semen can he be reborn.

7. Those whose conduct on earth has given pleasure, can hope to enter a pleasant womb, that is, the womb of a Brahmin, or a woman of the princely class, or a woman of the peasant class; but those whose conduct on earth has been foul can expect to enter a foul and stinking womb, such as the womb of a dog or a pig or an outcast.

8. But those small and continually returning creatures (like flies and worms) are not to be found on either of these two paths: theirs is a third condition, "Be born and die."

That is why the world up there is not filled up, and that is why a man should carefully watch his actions. On this there is the following verse:

9. "Stealer of gold, drinker of wine, defiler of his teacher's bed, slayer of Brahmins,

These four are the greatest sinners, as is one who associates with them.

10. But whoever knows these five fires is not defiled by evil, even though he associates with such people. Pure and clean, he reaches the world of the good and the pure.

Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 8

[This particular story is still centered on the search for the Self, but with different characters, and a different understanding of the Self (this latter point shows that the understanding of the Self in the Upanishads was still speculative, and not yet philosophically fixed.]

8.7.1. Prajapati (the creator) declared: "That Self which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, without hunger or thirst, whose desires and declarations are true--that is to be sought after, to be discerned. One who thoroughly investigates and realizes that Self obtains all the worlds, attains all desires."

2. Both the gods and demons heard that, and they said: "Alas! Let us seek after that Self, the Self which having sought after one obtains all the worlds and attains all desires!" And Indra from the gods and Virochana from the demons went forth, the two without consulting each other, and came, fuel in hand, to Prajapati.

3. They lived as students for 32 years, and Prajapati said to them: "Desiring what have you lived thus?"

They said: "That Self which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, without hunger or thirst, whose desires and declarations are true--that is to be sought after, to be discerned. One who thoroughly investigates and realizes that Self obtains all the worlds, attains all desires. Such do people declare to be your words, and desiring that have we [lived] in this manner."

4. And Prajapati said to them: "That person seen by the eye, that is the Self of which I spoke, that is the deathless, without fear, that is Brahman."

"But sir, that which one perceives in water and that which [one sees in] a mirror, which one is he?"

"That very One, That One is perceived in all of these" he (Prajapati) said.

8.8.1. Prajapati said "Look at yourself in a pan of water, and tell me anything you do not understand about the Self."

The two of them looked in a pan of water, and Prajapati said to them, "What do you see?"

They said "We see a reflection, sir, that corresponds exactly to ourselves, down to the hair and fingernails."

2. And then Prajapati said to them: "Become well-ornamented, well-dressed, and adorned, and look in a pan of water."

They became well-ornamented, well-dressed, and adorned, and looked in a pan of water. And Prajapati said to them "What do you see?"

3. And they said "Just as it is with us, sir, well-ornamented, well-dressed, and adorned, in the same way those two are well-ornamented, well-dressed, and adorned."

"This is the Self," he said, "this is the deathless, without fear, this is Brahman." And the two set out with tranquil hearts.

4. Having glanced after them, Prajapati said: "They are going without having comprehended, without having obtained the Self. Whoever upholds this doctrine (upanisad) will perish, [whether] gods or demons."

And Virochana went to the demons with tranquil heart, and to them spoke this doctrine: "Oneself alone is to be made happy here on earth, oneself alone is to be served! By making oneself happy and serving oneself, one attains both worlds, this one and the next."

5. And therefore even now, here on this earth, they say of one who gives no alms, has no faith, and performs no sacrifice "Alas! Demonic!," for this is the doctrine of the demons. Thus they adorn a dead body with ornaments and clothes [obtained] by begging, thinking [that] by this they will win the next world.

8.9.1. But then Indra, even before he had returned to the gods, saw this danger: "Truly, just as this [Self] is well-ornamented when the body is well-ornamented, well-clothed when it is well-clothed, adorned when it is adorned, in the same way when this [body] is blind it becomes blind, when lame it becomes lame, when maimed it becomes maimed, and it is destroyed with the destruction of the body. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

2. Then he went back, fuel in hand, and Prajapati said to him: "O Maghavan (Indra), since you and Virochana just departed with tranquil hearts, desiring what have you returned?"

And he said: "Verily, sir, just as the Self is well-ornamented when this body is well-ornamented, well-clothed when it is well-clothed, adorned when it is adorned, in the same way it is blind when the body is blind, lame when it is lame, maimed when it is maimed, and it is destroyed with the destruction of the body. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

3. "He (the Self) is even so, O Maghavan," he said to him, "but I will explain it to you further. Live with me 32 more years." He lived with him for 32 more years, and Prajapati spoke to him.

8.10.1. Prajapati said "He who wanders rejoicing in a dream, he is the Self. That is the deathless, without fear, that is Brahman," said he. And he (Indra) departed with tranquil heart. But even before reaching the gods, he saw this danger. "Even if this body is blind, that [Self] is not blind, it is not lame if [the body] is lame, it is not blemished by any defect of this [body].

2. It is not killed when the body is slain, not lame with [the body's] lameness, yet it is as if they kill it, as if they unclothe it, as if it experiences unpleasant things, as if it weeps. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

3. So he returned, fuel in hand, and Prajapati said to him: "O Maghavan, since you departed with tranquil heart, seeking what have you returned?"

He said "Sir, even if this body is blind, that [Self] is not blind, it is not lame if [the body] is lame, it is not blemished by any of its defects.

4. It is not killed with the body's slaying, nor not lame with its lameness, yet it is as if they kill it, as if they unclothe it, as if it experiences unpleasant things, even as if it weeps. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

"It is exactly so, O Maghavan," he said to him, "but I will explain it to you further. Live with me 32 more years." He lived with him for 32 more years, and Prajapati spoke to him.

8.11.1. He said "[that which one perceives] when one is sound asleep, composed, soothed, and knows no dream--that is the Self, that is the deathless, without fear, that is Brahman! And he (Indra) departed with tranquil heart. But even before reaching the gods, he saw this danger: "Alas! Surely this [sort of Self] is not aware of itself, having the thought `I am he,' nor of these [other] living beings, hence it too is merely destroyed. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

2. He went back, fuel in hand, and Prajapati said to him, "O Maghavan, since you departed with tranquil heart, desiring what have you returned?"

He said, "Alas! Surely, sir, such a self is not aware of itself, having the thought `I am he,' nor of these [other] living beings, hence it too is merely destroyed. I see nothing enjoyable in this."

3. "It is exactly so, O Maghavan," he said to him, "but I will explain it to you further. Live with me five more years. He dwelt there for five years more--that makes 101 years--and thus it is they say that Maghavan lived for 101 years in Prajapati's house as a student. And he (Prajapati) said to him:

8.12.1. "O Maghavan, verily this body is mortal, food for death, [but] it is the dwelling-place (adhisthanam) of the deathless, bodiless Self. An embodied person is subject to [both] the pleasant and the unpleasant, and for one embodied there is no escape from the pleasant and the unpleasant. But the pleasant and unpleasant do not touch (affect) one without a body.

2. The wind is bodiless, cloud, lightning, and thunder--these are bodiless. Now as these, having risen above this space and having attained the highest light, appear each in their own form,

3. even so the Soul, perfectly quiet, having risen above this body and attained the highest light, appears in its own form. He is the supreme person, he roams about there eating, playing, diverting himself with women and chariots, or with friends, not remembering this appendage [which is] a body. As a draft animal is yoked to a cart, in the same way the breath is yoked to this body.

4. Now when the eye is directed thus into space, [the One who directs it] is the seeing person, the eye is [the organ] for seeing. The one who knows `I am smelling this,' that is the Self, the nose is [the organ] for smelling. The one who knows `I am speaking this,' that is the Self, the voice is [the organ] for speaking. The one who knows `I am hearing this,' that is the Self, the ear is [the organ] for hearing.

5. The one who knows `I am thinking thus,' that is the Self, the mind is the divine eye. Truly, he who sees desires with this divine eye, the mind, enjoys them.

6. Truly, those gods in the realm of Brahman worship that Self, and because of this they have enjoyed all worlds and all desires. One who searches after that Self and realizes it attains all the realms and all desires." Thus spoke Prajapati, thus Prajapati spoke.