Chandogya 6 Selected Teachings

6.1 clay, gold, iron

1. ‘Dear boy, just as through a single clod of clay all that is made of clay would become known, for all modification is but name based upon words and the clay alone is real. 

2. ‘Dear boy, just as through a single ingot of gold, all that is made of gold would become known, for all modification is bat name based upon words and the gold alone is real, 

3. ‘Dear boy, just as through a single nail-parer all that is made of iron would become known, for all modification is but name based upon words and the iron alone is real—such, dear boy, is that teaching.’

6.2 beginning being

1. ‘In the beginning, dear boy, this was Being alone, one only, without a second. Some say that, in the beginning, this was Non-being alone, one only, without a second. From that Non-being arose Being.’

2. Āruṇi said, ‘But how, indeed, dear boy, could it be so? How could Being arise from Non-being? In truth, dear boy, in the beginning (before creation), there was Being alone, one only, without a second.

6.8 root being

4. ‘Where could its root be apart from food? Even so, dear boy, with food as the shoot, look for water as the root; with water as the shoot, dear boy, look for fire as the root; with fire as the shoot, dear boy, look for Being as the root. All these creatures, dear boy, have Being as their root, have Being as their abode, and have Being as their support.

7. ‘That Being which is this subtle essence (cause), even That all this world has for its self. That is the true. That is the Ātman. That thou art, O Śvetaketu.’ ‘Revered sir, please explain it further to me.’ ‘So be it, dear boy said (the father).

(sah yah esah anima; aitadatmyam idam sarvam; tat satyam, sah atma; tat tvam asi, svetaketu iti)

6.9 honey being

1-2. ‘As, dear boy, the bees make honey by collecting juices from different trees and reduce them into one essence, and there, as these juices have no such discrimination as “ I am the juice of this tree, I am the juice of that tree”; even so, dear boy, all these creatures having merged into Being, do not know, “We have merged into Being.”

4. sah yah esah anima; aitadatmyam idam sarvam; tat satyam, sah atma; tat tvam asi, svetaketu iti

6.10 river ocean being

1-2. ‘These eastern rivers, dear boy, flow along to the east and the western ones to the west. They rise from the ocean and merge in the ocean, and become that ocean itself. And there as these rivers do not know themselves as “I am this river, I am that river”, even so, dear boy, ail these creatures, having come from Being, do not know, “We have come from Being”. And whatever these creatures were here, tiger or lion or wolf or boar or worm or fly or gad-fly or mosquito, that they become again.

3. sah yah esah anima; aitadatmyam idam sarvam; tat satyam, sah atma; tat tvam asi, svetaketu iti

6.11 being does not die

3. The father said, ‘Dear boy, know that even so being left by the living self this body surely dies but the living self does not die. That being which is this subtle essence, even That all this world has for its self...

6.12 imperceptible being

1-2. ‘Bring a fruit from this banian tree.’ ‘Here it is, revered sir.’ ‘Break it.’ ‘It is broken, revered sir.’ ‘What do you see in this?’ ‘These seeds, small like particles, revered sir.’ ‘Break one of these, my child.’ ‘It is broken, revered sir.’ What do you see in it?’ ‘Nothing, revered sir.’ The father said to him, ‘Dear boy, this subtle essence which you do not perceive, growing from this subtle essence the large banian tree thus stands. Have faith, dear boy.

3. That being which is this subtle essence, even That all this world has for its self...

6.13 salt and being in the body

1-2. ‘Put this salt into water and then come to me in the morning.’ He did so. The father said to him, ‘Bring the salt, my child, which you put into water at night.’ Having searched for it, ho did not find it, as it had compretely dissolved. ‘My child, take a sip from the top of this water. How is it?’ ‘It is salt.’ ‘Take a sip from the middle. How is it?’ ‘It is salt.’ ‘Take a sip from the bottom. How is it?’ ‘It is salt.’ ‘Throw this water away and then come to me.’ He did so (and returned saying), ‘It is there always.’ The father said to him, ‘Dear boy, as you do not see what is present in this water though indeed it exists in it, similarly, (Being exists) indeed in this body.

3. sah yah esah anima; aitadatmyam idam sarvam; tat satyam, sah atma; tat tvam asi, svetaketu iti

6.14 the preceptor

1. ‘Just as, dear boy, (some robber) having: brought a man from the Gandhāra region with his eyes bound up, might leave him in a very desolate place, and just as that man70 would shout towards the east, or towards the north, or towards the south, or towards the west, (saying) “I have been brought here with my eyes bound up, I have been left here with my eyes bound up.”

2. ‘And as some one might remove his bandage and tell him, “The Gandhāra region is in this direction, proceed in this direction” and as he, enquiring his way from village to village, and being instructed and capable of judging by himself, would reach the Gandhāra region itself, even so, in this world, that person knows who has a preceptor. And for him, only so long is the delay as he is not liberated (from the body) and then immediately he is merged in Being.

3. sah yah esah anima; aitadatmyam idam sarvam; tat satyam, sah atma; tat tvam asi, svetaketu iti

6.15 knowing and not knowing

1. ‘Dear boy, the relatives of a man who is ill assemble round him and ask, “Do you know me? Do you know me?” As long as his speech is not merged in the mind, the mind in Prāṇa, Prāṇa in fire, and fire in the supreme deity, so long does he know them.

2. ‘Then when his speech is merged in the mind, the mind in Prāṇa, Prāṇa in fire, and fire in the supreme deity, then he does not know them.

3. sah yah esah anima; aitadatmyam idam sarvam; tat satyam, sah atma; tat tvam asi, svetaketu iti

6.16 the one of knowledge

3. ‘And as in this case he (the man attached to truth) is not burnt, (similarly a man of knowledge is not born again) Thus has all this world That for its self. That is the true. That is the Ātman. That thou art, O Śvetaketu.’ From his words Śvetaketu understood that—yea, he understood.

~tr. Swahananda