Bāṣkala Upaniṣad (Bāṣkalamantropaniṣad)

Indra carried off Medhātithi, the son of Kaṇva, to heaven, having knowingly approached him in the form of a ram. / Someone questioned him who was choking with grief, as he was binding him to the highest step: //1

“Who are you who have intervened here? Surely there is no descending for me here. / You walk about right kindly, observing far and wide; no one has reported a thief in this manner.” //2

“Being lifted up, he has not touched this [earth]; who indeed traverses yonder [heaven]? / Instruct that very thing, you who are all-knowing; may the bliss-yielding sacred formulation reach you without harm.” //3

“Indra, beholder of men, bull, quick to conquer, victorious through ascetic heat, perceives me. / He indeed, a god of dreadful deeds, [snatches] him who is pursuing cosmic order away from the strong one who has thrown him down.” //4

“Where indeed will you lead me against my will from here? Where indeed, O most wondrous one, is your foundation? / Where indeed is our father, a good father, who knows neither the one who has been abducted nor the abductor?” //5

“The west, the south, the east, and the other two [directions] are not here; I have not truly approached them. / These surely do not know my paths thus, who do not go toward me, shining in turn.” //6

Smiling beyond, he uncovered his sting: “What do you think of this as a shelter? / Surely I will not leave you, who are now cursing, without having brought you to the most beautiful abode.” //7

“I am the giver to the singers; I am the milk-mixture, I am the one who has consumed this. / Beholding all the worlds, I am the giver of nourishment at the mouth of the gods. //8

My foundations are the worlds, the egg-shells; I disperse and I gather together, I who am exuberant. / I indeed [struck down] the serpent resting on the mountain, fierce indeed, for the sake of the strong one seeking help, in truth. //9

I broke open the ribs of the mountains, which Indra did with his troops. / Who truly knows, who shall proclaim it here? Who shall attain the hostility of the slayer? //10

Who has seen my aids to the worshiper, reaching in all directions, throughout all the worlds? / Form by form do I continually become through birth, the one looking on through his powers of transformation. //11

Guiding close at hand, I behold all; no one else commands my greatness. / Stretching out heaven and earth, I bear the heated offering for the protection of people. //12

I indeed go along the downward path worthy of sacrifice; I know the navel of the world. / I am his friend, father, and sun all around; I bear the celestial and intermediate woolly clouds. //13

I am [the essence] of the Vedas and of the sacrifices; I found the wealth of the meters. / I ripen from the supreme lake that which moves as it were in the midst of the ocean. //14

I am now the supreme Jātavedas, whom the Adhvaryu priest kindled to fill the space, / whom the winged bird of the atmosphere brought along, cleaving the bounds with cattle from here and from yonder. //15

And I, proceeding in a wingless chariot with twelve spokes and a single wheel on its rim, / I indeed, shining day by day, having nourished my body, bear immortality. //16

The cardinal directions, the intermediate directions, and the pointed directions—purifying in all directions, I encompass the world. / I placed the embryo in all plants, with which the offspring of the worshiper might refresh this. //17

I move in the midst of the world, pervading again what is high and what is low. / Whoever knows me hidden even in the secret cave, he indeed shall continually become thus, to rest [in me]. //18

Fivefold, tenfold, and onefold, and a thousandfold, not once was I here. / By me this [world] is stretched out, it reaches so far; it would be otherwise if they knew me to be non-existent. //19

No singer reaches me, and no one at all; no one reaches me around with these cattle. / Neither the one who has not eaten nor the worshiper has grasped me; all approach me from every side. //20

Where is the mischievous one? Where is the deer? Where is the youthful one? All this I bear in part and in part from here. / That these fear me is my single [power]; they ate me, and I ate them in return. //21

Because you performed ascetic heat in many ways for me long ago, for that very reason I have continually become a ram. / For you have entered upon the path of cosmic order; you go to that which is my one truth; come! //22

I am the light, I am the cosmic order bound fast, I am what is born, what is being born, and what is yet to be born. / I am you, I am I, you are indeed I; look at me as you, do not doubt me with straight mind. //23

Ruler of all, supporter, having all forms, Rudra, Prajāpati the suffocator by his guidance, / the swan, free from sorrow, ageless, ancient, moving in cosmic order—such am I by name. //24

I am the singer, facing everywhere, roaming around, supreme, beholder of men. / I am everywhere, I am strong, I am the one, whatever is here.” //25