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Vajrasoochikaa Upanishad-1
This Upanishad is based on Saam Ved.
Vajrasoochikaa Upanishad tells about who is Braahman --
Om ! Let my limbs and speech, Praan, eyes, ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahman of the Upanishad.
May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishad be in me,
Who are devoted to the Aatmaa; may they reside in me.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
I shall set
for Vajra-soochi (the diamond needle) which pierces ignorance, rebukes the
ignorant and ornaments those who have wisdom as eye.
The Smriti
affirm, following the Ved that the Braahman is the most important of the four
castes. It must be asked, "Who is a Braahman" – the self?, the body? the
class?, the knowledge?, the action? or virtue?
The soul is not a Braahman because the soul is the same in all bodies past and
future. The same person takes many bodies according to his Karm, nor the body is
Braahman – the body is the same from the Chaandaal to the highest caste being
made of the five elements and is seen to have old age, death etc, alike. There
is no fixity (of color) such as Braahman is white, Kshatriya is red, Vaishya is
yellow and Shoodra is black; also when the father's body is cremated, the son
etc, may be guilty of killing a Braahman.
Nor any
class is a Braahman. Because there would be many classes within the classes.
Many are the great sages: Rishyashring born of a deer, Kaushik is born of reed,
Jambook is born of a jackal, Vaalmeeki of an ant-hill, Vyaas of a fisher-girl,
Gautam of a hare's back, Vashishth of Urvashee, Agastya of a pot according to
tradition. These are not Braahman by birth but they are Braahman by their knowledge.
Nor knowledge is Braahman : because Kshatriya and others can also have knowledge.
Nor Karm is Braahman : because all creatures are seen to have similar Karm of
their Praarabdh etc, and all creatures act being impelled by their own Karm.
Nor a man of
virtue is Braahman : because there are many givers of gold – Kshatriya etc.
One who has directly realized, like the berry in the palm, the Aatmaa without a
second, devoid of class, quality and action and of defects like the six waves
(like hunger), the states (like birth and death), of the nature of truth,
knowledge and bliss, free from adjuncts, the basis of all thoughts, immanent in
all creatures, present inside and outside like space. Bliss impartite, beyond
(ordinary) knowledge, to be realized by experience alone – and having become
successful, free from lust etc, rich in mental control, without greed etc, mind
untouched by hypocrisy etc.
This is the
intention of Ved etc. Otherwise the nature of a Braahman cannot be achieved. One
should contemplate one's self as the spirit without a second, truth, knowledge
and bliss. This is the Upanishad.
Om ! Let my
limbs and speech, Praan, eyes, ears, vitality
And all the senses grow in strength.
All existence is the Brahm of the Upanishad.
May I never deny Braahman, nor Braahman may deny me.
Let there be no denial at all:
Let there be no denial at least from me.
May the virtues that are proclaimed in the Upanishad be in me,
Who am devoted to the Atman; may they reside in me.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
Here ends the Vajrasoochika Upanishad, included in the Saam Ved.
END OF VAJRA SOOCHIKAA UPANISHAD
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