Vedic Verses

     This 'Atman' is not attained by instruction or by intelligence or by learning. By him whom he chooses is the atman attained. To him the atman reveals his own being. The one who has not turned away from wickedness, who has no peace, who is not concentrated, whose mind is restless-he cannot realize the atman, who is known by wisdom. –[Krishna Yajur Veda, Katha Upanishad 1.2.24-25. ve, p. 710]. 

  He who dwells in the light, yet is other than the light, whom the light does not know, whose body is the light, who controls the light from within -- He is the atman within you. [Shukla Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.7.14. VE, P. 708].

With his mind purified, with his consciousness purified, with patience, thinking I am He, and with patience when he has attained the consciousness of I am He, he is established by wisdom in the supreme atman who is to be known in the heart. [Shukla Yajur Veda, Paingala Upanishad 4.9. VE, P. 441].

In the Support the worlds consist; in him Creative Fervor and Order have their ground. You I have known, O Support, face to face, in Indra wholly concentrated.  [Atharva Veda X, 7, 29].

In Indra the worlds consist; in Indra Creative Fervor and Order have their ground. You I have known, O Indra, face to face, in the Support wholly established. [Atharva Veda X, 7, 30].

  There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in sound and in silence. By sound we go to silence. The sound of Brahman is Aum. With Aum we go to the End, the silence of Brahman. The End is immortality, union and peace. Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread, the man of contemplation by means of Aum reaches freedom. The sound of Brahman is Aum. At the end of Aum is silence. It is a silence of joy. It is the end of the journey, where fear and sorrow are no more: steady, motionless, never-falling, everlasting, immortal. It is called the omnipresent Vishnu. In order to reach the Highest, consider, in adoration, the sound and the silence of Brahman. For it has been said: God is sound and silence. His name is Aum. Attain, therefore, contemplation in silence on Him. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 6.22-23. upm, 102].

 Than whom there is naught else higher, than whom there is naught smaller, naught greater, the One stands like a tree established in heaven. By Him, the Person, is this whole universe filled. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3.9. upr, 727].

 Even as wa.er becomes one with water, fire with fire, and air with air, so the mind becomes one with the Infinite Mind and thus attains final freedom.[Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 6.34.11. tu, 103].

 All the sacred books, all holy sacrifice and ritual and prayers, all the words of the Vedas, and the whole past and present and future, come from the Spirit. With maya, His power of wonder, He made all things, and by maya the human soul is bound. Know, therefore, that nature is maya, but that God is the ruler of maya, and that all beings in our universe are parts of His infinite splendor. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Svetasvatara Upanishad 4.9-10. upm, 92].

 The seer sees not death, nor sickness, nor any distress. The seer sees only the All, obtains the All entirely. For the sake of experiencing the true and the false, the great Self has a dual nature. Yea, the great Self has a dual nature. Yea, the great Self has a dual nature! [Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 7.11.6 & 8. uph, 458].

 The Moon was born from his mind; the Sun came into being from his eye; from his mouth came Indra and Agni, while from his breath the Wind was born. From his navel issued the Air; from his head unfurled the Sky, the Earth from his feet, from his ear the four directions. Thus have the worlds been organized. Seven were the sticks of the enclosure, thrice seven the fuel sticks were made, when the Gods, performing the sacrifice, bound the Man as the victim. [Rig Veda X, 90, 13-15].

 The soul is born and unfolds in a body, with dreams and desires and the food of life. And then it is reborn in new bodies, in accordance with its former works. The quality of the soul determines its future body; earthy or airy, heavy or light. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 5.11-12. upm, p. 94].

 Mind is indeed the source of bondage and also the source of liberation. To be bound to things of this world-this is bondage. To be free from them-this is liberation. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 6.34. upm, p. 104].

 “God is, in truth, the whole universe: what was, what is and what beyond shall ever be. He is the God of life immortal and of all life that lives by food. His hands and feet are everywhere. He has heads and mouths everywhere. He sees all, He hears all. He is in all, and He Is.” [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvet Upanishad 3.15-16. upm, 90].

  “He is the God of forms infinite in whose glory all things are--smaller than the smallest atom, and yet the Creator of all, ever living in the mystery of His creation. In the vision of this God of love there is everlasting peace. He is the Lord of all who, hidden in the heart of things, watches over the world of time. The Gods and seers of Brahman are one with Him, and when a man knows Him, he cuts the bonds of death.” [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4.14-15. upm, 91-92].

 “He who is source and origin of the Gods, the Lord of all, Rudra, the Mighty Sage who produced in ancient days the Golden Germ--may He endow us with purity of mind!” [Krishna Yajur Veda, Svetasvatara Upanishad 3.4. ve, 156].

  “Truth obtains victory, not untruth. Truth is the way that leads to the regions of light. Sages travel therein free from desires and reach the supreme abode of Truth. He is immeasurable in His light and beyond all thought, and yet He shines smaller than the smallest. Far, far away is He, and yet He is very near, resting in the inmost chamber of the heart. He cannot be seen by the eye, and words cannot reveal Him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by austerity or sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, He can be seen, indivisible, in the silence of contemplation. This invisible atman can be seen by the mind wherein the five senses are resting. All mind is woven with the senses; but a pure mind shines the light of the Self. Whatever regions the pure in heart may see in his mind, whatever desires he may have in his heart, he attains those regions and wins his desires. Let one who wishes for success reverence the seers of the Spirit.” [Atharva Veda, Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6-10. upm, 80].

 Having reached the last order of life, one should sit in a solitary place in a relaxed posture, with pure heart, with head, neck and body straight, controlling all the sense organs, having bowed with devotion to the master. [Atharva Veda, Kaivalya Upanishad 5. ve, 442].