Chandogya Upanishad 8.5

8.5.1

atha yad yajña ity ācakṣate brahmacaryam eva tat \
brahmacaryeṇa hy eva yo jñātā taṃ vindate \
atha yad iṣṭam ity ācakṣate brahmacaryam eva tat \
brahmacaryeṇa hy eveṣṭvātmānam anuvindate \\805.1\

1. Now, what people call ‘sacrifice’ (_yajña_) is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge (_brahmacarya_), for only through the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge does he who is a knower (_ya jñātṛ_) find that [world].

Now, what people call ‘what has been sacrificed’ (_iṣṭam_) is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge, for only after having searched (_iṣṭvā_) with the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge does one find the Soul (Ātman).

8.5.2

atha yat sattrāyaṇam ity ācakṣate brahmacaryam eva tat \
brahmacaryeṇa hy eva sata ātmanas trāṇaṃ vindate \
atha yan maunam ity ācakṣate brahmacaryam eva tat \
brahmacaryeṇa hy evātmānam anuvidya manute \\805.2\

2. Now, what people call ‘the protracted sacrifice’ (_sattrāyaṇa_) is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge, for only through the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge does one find the protection (_trāṇa_) of the real (_sat_) Soul (Ātman).

Now, what people call ‘silent asceticism’ (_mauna_) is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge, for only in finding the Soul through the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge does one [really] think (_manute_).

8.5.3

atha yad anāśakāyanam ity ācakṣate brahmacaryam eva tat \
eṣa hy ātmā na naśyati yaṃ brahmacaryeṇānuvindate \
atha yad araṇyāyanam ity ācakṣate brahmacaryam eva tat \
tat araś ca ha vai ṇyaś cārṇavau brahmaloke tṛtīyasyām ito divi \
tad airaṃmadīyaṃ saraḥ \
tad aśvatthaḥ somasavanaḥ \
tad aparājitā pūr brahmaṇaḥ prabhuvimitaṃ hiraṇmayam \\805.3\

3. Now, what people call ‘a course of fasting’ (_an-āśakāyana_ ) is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge, for the Soul (Ātman) which one finds through the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge perishes not (_na naśyati_).

Now, what people call ‘betaking oneself to hermit life in the forest’ (_araṇyāyana_) is really the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge. Verily, the two seas in the Brahma-world, in the third heaven from here, are _Ara_ and _Ṇya_. There is the lake Airammadīya (‘Affording Refreshment and Ecstasy’);

there, the fig-tree Somasavana (‘the Soma-yielding’); there, Brahma’s citadel, Aparājitā (‘the Unconquered’), the golden hall of the Lord (_prabhu_).

8.5.4

tad ya evaitāv araṃ ca ṇyaṃ cārṇavau brahmaloke brahmacaryeṇānuvindanti teṣām evaiṣa brahmalokaḥ \
teṣāṃ sarveṣu lokeṣu kāmacāro bhavati \\805.4\

4. But only they who find those two seas, Ara and Ṇya, in the Brahma-world through the chaste life of a student of sacred knowledge—only they possess that Brahma-world. In all the worlds they possess unlimited freedom.