Mahanarayana Upanishad, tr. Vimalananda

Swami Vimalananda (T) · Secret Doctrine's First Proposition Series · 35 pages

Thirty-five pages carrying the Mahanarayana Upanishad complete, in the translation by Swami Vimalananda first published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, in 1957. The text is given whole, section by section with the verses numbered, and without commentary — one of the few files in this series that is simply a scripture rather than a study of one.

It opens with the traditional invocation, and the opening is worth quoting for its shape: a prayer that Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Indra, Brihaspati and all-pervading Vishnu may be propitious and grant welfare and bliss, followed by a bow to Brahman and an address to Vayu as perceptible Brahman. What follows is the peace-invocation used between teacher and pupil, and its reciprocity is the point — may He protect us both together, may He nourish us both together, may we work conjointly with great energy, may our study be vigorous and effective, and may we not mutually dispute. The verses themselves describe the Lord of creation present in the shoreless waters, on the earth and above the heaven, greater than the great, who has entered the shining intelligences of creatures in seed form and acts in the foetus which grows into the living being that is born. The formulation the Upanishad returns to is that of the container: that in which all this universe exists together and into which it dissolves, in which all the gods remain enjoying their respective powers, and which is whatever has been in the past and whatever is to come. The closing image of the early sections is characteristic — He by whom the sun burns and gives light, and whom the sages bind in the ether of their hearts with the string of meditation.

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