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Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c6.s5: Jābāla Upaniṣad

Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c6.s5

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Jābāla Upaniṣad

c6.s5.1

[*59*] Bṛhaspati said to Yājñavalkya: "Tell me what is comparable to the field of Kurus¹ as the sacrificial ground of the gods and as the seat of Brahman open to all beings."

c6.s5.2

¹ Kurukṣetra is the ancient name of a plain near modern Delhi where the epic battle described in the *Mahābhārata* is believed to have been fought. It is regarded as holy ground and is called dharmakṣetra, "the field of *dharma*" (BhG 1.1), and a place of sacrifice, a righteous battle often being homologized with a sacrifice.

c6.s5.3

Yājñavalkya said: "Avimukta² truly is the field of Kurus; it is the sacrificial ground of the gods and the seat of Brahman open to all beings. Wherever he³ may go, therefore, he should think of that place thus: 'This truly is the field of Kurus; [*60*] this is the sacrificial ground of the gods and the seat of Brahman open to all beings.' For here,⁴ as the vital breaths depart from a person, Rudra reveals the saving prayer⁵ by which he becomes immortal and attains liberation. Therefore, a man should live only in Avimukta, and he should never forsake Avimukta.”

c6.s5.4

² Avimukta literally means "a place that is never abandoned (by Śiva)." It normally refers to a specially sacred area within the holy city of Benares, but it is also used frequently to designate the entire city. Because Śiva never abandons it, his devotees are also advised never to leave it. Our text, following the general practice of these Upaniṣads, explains the term allegorically in a variety of ways. Avimukta is the self, and it is therefore located within the renouncer who knows the self. The place where he resides becomes the true Avimukta.

c6.s5.5

³ Although the person is not identified, it appears likely that the author has a renouncer in mind.

c6.s5.6

⁴ Namely, in Avimukta, here identified as the place where the renouncer is.

c6.s5.7

⁵ This may refer to the sacred syllable OM, which is identified with Brahman, or to the *Śatarudrīya* hymn (see below JU 62–63, n. 11). Cf. also the *Rāmottaratāpanīya Upaniṣad*, 1.

c6.s5.8

“That is truly so, O Yājñavalkya.”

c6.s5.9

Then Atri asked Yājñavalkya: “How can I know this infinite and unmanifest self?”

c6.s5.10

Yājñavalkya replied: “He should be worshipped as Avimukta; *[61]* for this infinite and unmanifest self is located in Avimukta.”

c6.s5.11

“Where is Avimukta located?”

c6.s5.12

“It is located between Varaṇā and Nāsī.”⁶

c6.s5.13

⁶ These are the names of the two rivers flowing into the Ganges to the north and south of Vārānasī (Benares). According to an etymology derived from phonetic similarity, the name Vārānasī is formed by the combination of the names of these two rivers. The names of the rivers are likewise allegorized by resorting to etymologies based on the phonetic similarity between Varaṇā and *vārayati* (warding off faults) and between Nāsī and *nāśayati* (destroying sins). The rivers and the city are also allegorically explained as located in the renouncer’s body.

c6.s5.14

“What is Varaṇā? And what is Nāsī?”

c6.s5.15

“Varaṇā gets its name from the fact that it wards off [*vār-ayati*] all faults committed by one’s organs. Nāsī gets its name from the fact that it destroys [*nāśayati*] all sins committed by one’s organs.”

c6.s5.16

“But where is it located?”

c6.s5.17

*[62]* “The juncture [*saṃdhi*] between the eyebrows and the nose is the juncture between the heavenly world and the other world.⁷ The knowers of Brahman, therefore, worship this very juncture [*saṃdhi*] as their twilight worship [*saṃdhyā*].⁸ He⁹ should be worshipped as Avimukta. Indeed, a man who knows it as such proclaims his Avimukta knowledge.”¹⁰

c6.s5.18

⁷ According to the commentators, “other world” refers to the Truth-world, the highest of the worlds [ĀrU 4, n. 3]. The Truth-world is located above the forehead, while the lower worlds, including the heavenly worlds other than the Truth-world, are located below the eyebrows.

c6.s5.19

⁸ For the allegory of *saṃdhyā* see ĀrU 7, n. 7.

c6.s5.20

⁹ This statement refers back to the opening remark of Yājñavalkya’s reply concerning the unmanifest self. Here, however, the statement may be intended to include a man who recognizes the mystical identities referred to above. In him exists the true Vārānasī; he is the true Avimukta.

c6.s5.21

¹⁰ His knowledge is *avimukta* because it relates to the Self defined earlier as Avimukta, or because it is never forgotten.

c6.s5.22

The Vedic students said to him: “Tell us the prayer the muttering of which leads to immortality?” [*63*] Yājñavalkya replied: “The Śatarudrīya.¹¹ These truly are the names of the immortal. By them indeed one becomes immortal.” “That is truly so, O Yājñavalkya.”

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¹¹ This is a long hymn containing a hundred names of Rudra-Śiva: VS 16.1–66.

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IV

c6.s5.25

Then, Janaka, the king of Videha, came up to Yājñavalkya and said: “Lord, explain renunciation.” Yājñavalkya said: [*64*] “After he has completed his Vedic studentship, a man should become a householder. After he has been a householder, he should become a forest hermit. After he has been a forest hermit, he should renounce. Or rather, he may renounce directly from Vedic studentship, or from home, or from the forest. Let him even renounce on the very day that he becomes detached, regardless of whether he has taken the vow or not,¹² whether he has graduated or not,¹³ and whether he has kindled the sacred fire or is without a fire.¹⁴ “Here, some do indeed perform a sacrifice to Prajāpati.¹⁵ But one should not do so. *[65]* One should perform, on the contrary, a sacrifice to fire, for fire truly is the vital breath, and thereby he offers to breath. Let him perform just the ‘Three-Element’ offering.¹⁶ These are the three elements: goodness, energy, and darkness.

c6.s5.26

¹² “Vow” refers to Vedic initiation. Thus a detached person may renounce before or after his initiation. See ĀrU 9.

c6.s5.27

¹³ *Snātaka*, here translated as one who has graduated from Vedic school, is a young adult who has performed the ceremony (*samāvartana*) that concludes the period of Vedic studies. This ceremony ends in a ritual bath, and hence the graduate is called a *snātaka*, “one who has taken the bath.”

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¹⁴ See LSU 15, n. 1. Kindling the sacred fire is an indirect reference to marriage, because only a married man can have a sacred fire.

c6.s5.29

¹⁵ Sources record two divergent customs regarding this last sacrifice prior to renunciation. Some prescribe that it be offered to Prajāpati: KśU 38; NpU 138. The JU rejects that practice and prescribes that the sacrifice be offered to Agni, the fire god: KśU 31.

c6.s5.30

¹⁶ This is a rite associated in the Vedas with the consecration of a king (*rājasūya*). A cake of rice and barley is prepared in twelve dishes (KśU 38, n. 16) and offered to Indra and Viṣṇu. According to the ŚB (5.5.5.1–6), it is called *Traidhātavī* (“consisting of three elements”) because the three Vedas were retrieved from the demon Vṛtra by Indra and Viṣṇu. Our text, however, associates the name with the three strands (*guṇa*) of Sāṃkhya cosmology.

c6.s5.31

whence born you did shine.
Knowing this, O Fire, mount it,
and make our wealth increase. [VS 3.14; TS 1.5.5.2]

c6.s5.32

*[66]* “Reciting this mantra, let him inhale the fire.¹⁷ Breath is truly the birthplace of fire. He declares the same when he says: ‘Go to breath, *svāhā*!’¹⁸

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¹⁷ The translation of this mantra here and elsewhere is taken with slight modifications from Keith’s translation of the TS. “Inhale the fire” means to inhale the smoke or the warmth of the fire: cf. Introduction, 4.2.

c6.s5.34

¹⁸ The renouncer says these words when he internalizes the fire. They show that breath is the womb or the birthplace of fire. This is made more explicit in the variant reading found in NpU 150 and PpU 279.

c6.s5.35

“Having fetched the sacred fire from the village,¹⁹ let him inhale it as described before. If he cannot obtain fire, let him offer the oblation in water, for the waters truly are all the gods. He should offer the oblation with the words: ‘I offer to all the gods, *svāhā*!’ He should then take some from it and eat that salubrious oblation mixed with ghee. He shall thus learn that the mantra of liberation [viz. OM] is the triple Veda. *[67]* That is Brahman. That should be worshipped.”

c6.s5.36

¹⁹ This section appears to be addressed to a man who has not maintained a sacred fire. He should either obtain the fire from a person who has one or make the offering in water. See the variant reading in PpU 279 and Schrader’s comment on it (468).

c6.s5.37

“That is truly so, O Lord.” So said Yājñavalkya.

c6.s5.38

V

c6.s5.39

Atri then asked Yājñavalkya: “I ask you, Yājñavalkya, how can a man be a Brahmin when he has no sacrificial string?”

c6.s5.40

Yājñavalkya replied: “After he eats and sips water, this very self becomes his sacrificial string.²⁰ *[68]* This is the rule for wanderers when they resort to the path of heroes, not eating, drowning, entering a fire, or the great journey [KśU 39, n. 18]. Now a wanderer²¹ who wears discolored clothes, shaves his head, has no possessions, is pure and without enmity, and subsists on almsfood, is fit for becoming Brahman. If a man is in mortal danger, *[69]* he may renounce mentally or orally.²² This path was discovered by Brahman, and along that path travels a renouncer who knows Brahman.”

c6.s5.41

²⁰ The eating and the sipping may refer to the eating of the oblation mentioned at the end of the previous section. For the allegory of the sacrificial string see ĀrU 7; KśU 34; BU 85–87; PbU 293–300.

c6.s5.42

²¹ That is, if he decides to continue living. See KśU 39; Ypra 17.1–32; 18.1–13.

c6.s5.43

²² A person is in danger of imminent death (*ātura*) either because of an illness or when he is attacked by robbers or wild animals (cf. NpU 137; Ypra 20.12). At such a time one can renounce by saying the mantra “I have renounced” either orally or mentally. This procedure is known as *āturasannyāsa*.

c6.s5.44

“That is truly so, O Lord.” So said Yājñavalkya.

c6.s5.45

VI

c6.s5.46

Of these,²³ Paramahaṃsas [ĀrU 11, n. 14] are men such as Saṃvartaka, Āruṇi, Śvetaketu, Durvāsas, Ṛbhu, Nidāgha, Jaḍabharata, Dattātreya, and Raivataka, who have no visible emblem,²⁴ who keep their conduct concealed, and who, although they are sane, behave like madmen. *[70]* Triple staff, water pot, sling [LSU, 21, n. 27], bowl, water strainer, topknot, sacrificial string: abandoning all these in water with the words: “Earth *svāhā*,” let him seek after the self. He is clad as he was at birth. He is indifferent to the pairs of opposites.²⁵ He has no possessions. He is firmly established in the path of Brahman. His mind is pure. Merely to sustain his life, he begs food randomly at the prescribed time, using his stomach as a begging bowl²⁶ and remaining the same both when he receives and when he does not. In deserted houses, in temples, on haystacks, *[71]* by anthills, at the foot of trees, in potter’s sheds, in sheds for fire sacrifices, on sandy banks of rivers, in mountain caves, in glens, in the hollows of trees, in lonely spots, or in open fields, he lives without a home. He does not strive. He is selfless. He devotes himself completely to meditating on the pure Brahman. He is grounded in the Supreme Self. He is dedicated to the uprooting of impure acts. Such a man who abandons his body through renunciation is called a Paramahaṃsa.

c6.s5.47

²³ The reference is probably to ascetics in general, who were the subject of the preceding sections.

c6.s5.48

²⁴ The emblem of an ordinary renouncer consists of articles such as staff, begging bowl, sacrificial thread, and topknot. Paramahaṃsas abandon these and live without outward symbol of their state. See ŚU 324, n. 9.

c6.s5.49

²⁵ These pairs are cold and heat, pain and pleasure, and the like. See PhU 47–48.

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²⁶ “Randomly” means that he does not select the houses he will visit beforehand. The proper time for begging is the late afternoon, when the people have already finished their meals. See BSU 267. On the use of the stomach as a begging bowl, see ĀrU 11, n. 14.

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