NIRĀLAMBA UPANIṢAD
What supports the universe? That is rarely understood. Learn! Realize! Know fully Who is that support! I take refuge in God, Who is without support (nirālamba).
Oṁ. That is complete. This is complete. This fullness proceeds from That fullness. Taking fullness from fullness leaves only fullness.
Oṁ. Peace, peace, peace.
Oṁ. Peace, peace, peace.
Oṁ. Reverence to Śiva, the Guru, Whose nature is being-awareness-bliss, invisible, tranquil, bright, and without support.
Taking refuge in That which is without support, the liberated ascetics and yogis abandon dependence on the words of the scriptures. For the alleviation of this disastrous ignorance in all creatures, I will relate, in full, that which needs to be known.
Comment: In the original, all the questions are listed first, followed by the answers; however, for convenience, the Upaniṣad will be presented here in a question and answer format.
Taking refuge in That which is without support, the liberated ascetics and yogis abandon dependence on the words of the scriptures. For the alleviation of this disastrous ignorance in all creatures, I will relate, in full, that which needs to be known.
Comment: In the original, all the questions are listed first, followed by the answers; however, for convenience, the Upaniṣad will be presented here in a question and answer format.
1. What is Brahman, the Supreme?
That which is said to be comprised of intellect, ego, earth, water, fire, and ether; the vast egg resulting from karma and knowledge. Brahman is pure consciousness, brilliant, without a second, complete, free of limitation, full of the highest potential, without parts, and without beginning or end. Although indescribable, That is spoken of as pure, auspicious, peaceful, and without material qualities.
2. Who is Īśvara, the Lord?
Īśvara is truly Brahman, utilizing His own power called Prakṛti (material nature) creating and entering into the worlds and, as the inner soul, Īśvara rules over Brahmā, the Creator and others, as well as the intellect, sense faculties, etc.
3. What is Jīva, the individual soul?
Due to the subjugation of false imposition, the individual soul wrongly asserts “I am gross” and by assuming name and form, beginning with (the highest beings) Brahmā, Viśnu, Śiva, Indra, etc. (down to the lowest).
4. What is Prakṛti, material nature?
Prakṛti is clearly the power (Śakti) of Brahman, in the form of the intellect, which manifests the diverse, manifold universe from the presence of Brahman.
5. What is Paramātman, the Divine Self?
The Divine Self is definitely Brahman and superior to the body, mind, senses, etc.
6. Who is Brahmā, the Creator?
7. Who is Viṣnu, the Maintainer?
8. Who is Rudra, the Destroyer?
9. Who is Indra, the Celestial King?
10. Who is Yama, Death?
11. Who is the Sun?
12. Who is the Moon?
13. Who are the gods?
14. Who are the devils?
15. Who are the evil spirits?
16. Who are the men?
17. Who are the women?
18. What are cattle, etc.?
19. What is inanimate?
20. Who are the Brahmins, etc.?
All are undoubtedly Brahman. There is absolutely no separation whatsoever.
21. What is caste?
Caste is not due to one’s skin, nor to one’s blood, nor to one’s flesh, nor to one’s bones. The Self has no caste. Caste is the result of one’s actions.
22. What is karma, action?
It is only the sense faculties that are engaged in activity. By believing that “I am the doer,” the Supreme Self cultivates karma.
23. What is akarma, freedom from the consequences of action?
The ego’s ownership of agency and enjoyment in the fruits of rites, sacrifice, vows, austerity, charity, and other actions, is the cause of bondage in the form of birth, death, rebirth, etc. By not being attached to those (fruits) one becomes free of karma.
24. What is knowledge?
Knowledge is control of the body and senses; serving a true guru; learning; and constant, thoughtful contemplation of what is taught leading to the realization that whatever is of the nature of subject and object, such as a pot or a cloth, is actually all-pervasive, unchanging awareness, which is seated within and without that nothing would be perceived.
25. What is ignorance?
Ignorance is false imposition, like mistaking a rope for a snake, assuming that the All-pervading, All-comprehending Brahman, Who is one without a second, is the limited adjuncts of celestial beings, animals, people, plants, women, men (subject to) caste, stages of life, bondage, and liberation.
26. What is happiness?
Knowing one’s natural state that is Being-Awareness-Bliss is true happiness.
27. What is suffering?
The desire for sense objects, which are not-self in nature, is clearly suffering.
28. What is heaven?
Union with Pure Being is heaven.
29. What is hell?
Hell is this unreal, mundane existence that is born from commingling with sense objects.
30. What is bondage?
Bondage is ideas, due to timeless ignorance and false notions, such as “I am born,” etc. Bondage is the idea of father, mother, siblings, wife, children, home, gardens, fields; mundane existence that obscures true understanding. Bondage is the idea of the ego as the owner of agency, etc. Bondage is the idea of developing the eight mystic powers, such as atomic-nature. Bondage is the idea of selfless devotion to gods, men, and others. Bondage is the idea of practices in the eightfold Yoga (Raja Yoga). Bondage is ideas of caste, stages of life, religious law, karma, etc. Bondage is the idea that obedience, fear, doubt, etc. are qualities of one’s true self. Bondage is knowledge of the rules for performing religious sacrifice, vows, austerity, charity, etc. In fact, any concept is a cause of bondage, even dependence on the idea of liberation is bondage.
31. What is liberation?
The pleasure and pain from association with sense objects and the sense of the body as “me” or “mine” is the bondage of transitory existence. The termination of these, from the discrimination between what is eternal and transitory is liberation.
32. Who is to be honored?
Brahman in the form of the guru who leads seekers to the Pure Consciousness that abides in all bodies.
33. Who is a student?
Truly the student who, having lost regard for the world and being established in Brahman, is immersed in that auspicious knowledge.
34. Who is wise?
One who experiences realization of his True Nature, which abides within all beings.
35. Who is a fool?
The ego, which manifests the state of being the owner of agency, enjoyment, etc.
36. What is demonical?
The demonic are those who perform required austerities with the desire for the powers of Brahmā, Viṣnu, Śiva, Indra, and other supernatural beings and who injure the Inner-Self with intense passions, such as hatred, violence, and arrogance.
37. What is austerity?
Austerity is burning the original desire for the powers of Brahmā and other supernatural beings with the fire of direct knowledge that Brahman is real and the world is an illusion.
38. What is the Supreme Abode?
To be eternally liberated, abiding in Brahman, Whose nature is being-awareness-bliss, superior to the qualities of life-force, sense organs, etc. (the body) or the inner-organ (the mind).
39. What is to be realized?
The absolute consciousness that is one’s own True Nature and which cannot be defined in terms of space, time, or substance.
40. What is to be rejected?
Thinking that the world, which is full of illusion, perceived by the mind and sense organs, and is distinct from one’s own True Self is reality.
41. Who is saṁnyāsin, a renunciate?
The independent, ascetic who wanders about in the state of Self-awareness (Nirvikalpa Samādhi). The selfless one who, having abandoned all religious duties and being free of ego, sought and attained refuge in Brahman. From knowledge of the great verses of the Upaniṣads, such as “You are That,” “I am Brahman,” “Surely, all this is Brahman,” and “There is no difference in this whatsoever,” the purpose of which is the direct realization that “I am Brahman.” He is the renunciate, the liberated, the honorable yogi. He is completely detached, the highest ascetic, and the true Brahmin.
When this Nirālamba Upaniṣad is learned, by the blessing of a guru, one becomes pure, like air, and he does not return (to this world) again.
He is not reborn again; surely, he is not reborn again.
That concludes the Upaniṣad
That which is said to be comprised of intellect, ego, earth, water, fire, and ether; the vast egg resulting from karma and knowledge. Brahman is pure consciousness, brilliant, without a second, complete, free of limitation, full of the highest potential, without parts, and without beginning or end. Although indescribable, That is spoken of as pure, auspicious, peaceful, and without material qualities.
2. Who is Īśvara, the Lord?
Īśvara is truly Brahman, utilizing His own power called Prakṛti (material nature) creating and entering into the worlds and, as the inner soul, Īśvara rules over Brahmā, the Creator and others, as well as the intellect, sense faculties, etc.
3. What is Jīva, the individual soul?
Due to the subjugation of false imposition, the individual soul wrongly asserts “I am gross” and by assuming name and form, beginning with (the highest beings) Brahmā, Viśnu, Śiva, Indra, etc. (down to the lowest).
4. What is Prakṛti, material nature?
Prakṛti is clearly the power (Śakti) of Brahman, in the form of the intellect, which manifests the diverse, manifold universe from the presence of Brahman.
5. What is Paramātman, the Divine Self?
The Divine Self is definitely Brahman and superior to the body, mind, senses, etc.
6. Who is Brahmā, the Creator?
7. Who is Viṣnu, the Maintainer?
8. Who is Rudra, the Destroyer?
9. Who is Indra, the Celestial King?
10. Who is Yama, Death?
11. Who is the Sun?
12. Who is the Moon?
13. Who are the gods?
14. Who are the devils?
15. Who are the evil spirits?
16. Who are the men?
17. Who are the women?
18. What are cattle, etc.?
19. What is inanimate?
20. Who are the Brahmins, etc.?
All are undoubtedly Brahman. There is absolutely no separation whatsoever.
21. What is caste?
Caste is not due to one’s skin, nor to one’s blood, nor to one’s flesh, nor to one’s bones. The Self has no caste. Caste is the result of one’s actions.
22. What is karma, action?
It is only the sense faculties that are engaged in activity. By believing that “I am the doer,” the Supreme Self cultivates karma.
23. What is akarma, freedom from the consequences of action?
The ego’s ownership of agency and enjoyment in the fruits of rites, sacrifice, vows, austerity, charity, and other actions, is the cause of bondage in the form of birth, death, rebirth, etc. By not being attached to those (fruits) one becomes free of karma.
24. What is knowledge?
Knowledge is control of the body and senses; serving a true guru; learning; and constant, thoughtful contemplation of what is taught leading to the realization that whatever is of the nature of subject and object, such as a pot or a cloth, is actually all-pervasive, unchanging awareness, which is seated within and without that nothing would be perceived.
25. What is ignorance?
Ignorance is false imposition, like mistaking a rope for a snake, assuming that the All-pervading, All-comprehending Brahman, Who is one without a second, is the limited adjuncts of celestial beings, animals, people, plants, women, men (subject to) caste, stages of life, bondage, and liberation.
26. What is happiness?
Knowing one’s natural state that is Being-Awareness-Bliss is true happiness.
27. What is suffering?
The desire for sense objects, which are not-self in nature, is clearly suffering.
28. What is heaven?
Union with Pure Being is heaven.
29. What is hell?
Hell is this unreal, mundane existence that is born from commingling with sense objects.
30. What is bondage?
Bondage is ideas, due to timeless ignorance and false notions, such as “I am born,” etc. Bondage is the idea of father, mother, siblings, wife, children, home, gardens, fields; mundane existence that obscures true understanding. Bondage is the idea of the ego as the owner of agency, etc. Bondage is the idea of developing the eight mystic powers, such as atomic-nature. Bondage is the idea of selfless devotion to gods, men, and others. Bondage is the idea of practices in the eightfold Yoga (Raja Yoga). Bondage is ideas of caste, stages of life, religious law, karma, etc. Bondage is the idea that obedience, fear, doubt, etc. are qualities of one’s true self. Bondage is knowledge of the rules for performing religious sacrifice, vows, austerity, charity, etc. In fact, any concept is a cause of bondage, even dependence on the idea of liberation is bondage.
31. What is liberation?
The pleasure and pain from association with sense objects and the sense of the body as “me” or “mine” is the bondage of transitory existence. The termination of these, from the discrimination between what is eternal and transitory is liberation.
32. Who is to be honored?
Brahman in the form of the guru who leads seekers to the Pure Consciousness that abides in all bodies.
33. Who is a student?
Truly the student who, having lost regard for the world and being established in Brahman, is immersed in that auspicious knowledge.
34. Who is wise?
One who experiences realization of his True Nature, which abides within all beings.
35. Who is a fool?
The ego, which manifests the state of being the owner of agency, enjoyment, etc.
36. What is demonical?
The demonic are those who perform required austerities with the desire for the powers of Brahmā, Viṣnu, Śiva, Indra, and other supernatural beings and who injure the Inner-Self with intense passions, such as hatred, violence, and arrogance.
37. What is austerity?
Austerity is burning the original desire for the powers of Brahmā and other supernatural beings with the fire of direct knowledge that Brahman is real and the world is an illusion.
38. What is the Supreme Abode?
To be eternally liberated, abiding in Brahman, Whose nature is being-awareness-bliss, superior to the qualities of life-force, sense organs, etc. (the body) or the inner-organ (the mind).
39. What is to be realized?
The absolute consciousness that is one’s own True Nature and which cannot be defined in terms of space, time, or substance.
40. What is to be rejected?
Thinking that the world, which is full of illusion, perceived by the mind and sense organs, and is distinct from one’s own True Self is reality.
41. Who is saṁnyāsin, a renunciate?
The independent, ascetic who wanders about in the state of Self-awareness (Nirvikalpa Samādhi). The selfless one who, having abandoned all religious duties and being free of ego, sought and attained refuge in Brahman. From knowledge of the great verses of the Upaniṣads, such as “You are That,” “I am Brahman,” “Surely, all this is Brahman,” and “There is no difference in this whatsoever,” the purpose of which is the direct realization that “I am Brahman.” He is the renunciate, the liberated, the honorable yogi. He is completely detached, the highest ascetic, and the true Brahmin.
When this Nirālamba Upaniṣad is learned, by the blessing of a guru, one becomes pure, like air, and he does not return (to this world) again.
He is not reborn again; surely, he is not reborn again.
That concludes the Upaniṣad
Oṁ. That is complete. This is complete. This fullness proceeds from That fullness. Taking fullness from fullness leaves only fullness.
Oṁ. Peace, peace, peace.
Oṁ. Peace, peace, peace.
