Katha-Upanishad: Fifth Valli

1. “There is a town with eleven gates belonging to the Unborn (Brahman), whose thoughts are never crooked. He who approaches it, grieves no more, and liberated (from all bonds of ignorance) becomes free. This is that.”

2. “He (Brahman) is the swan (sun), dwelling in the bright heaven; he is the Vasu (air), dwelling in the sky; he is the sacrificer (fire), dwelling on the hearth; he is the guest (Soma), dwelling in the sacrificial jar; he dwells in men, in gods (vara), in the sacrifice (rita), in heaven; he is born in the water, on earth, in the sacrifice (rita), on the mountains; he is the True and the Great.”

3. “He (Brahman) it is who sends up the breath (prâna), and who throws back the breath (apgma). All the Devas (senses) worship him, the adorable (or the dwarf), who sits in the centre.”

4. “When that incorporated (Brahman), who dwells in the body, is torn away and freed from the body, what remains then? This is that!”

5. “No mortal lives by the breath that goes up and by the breath that goes down. We live by another, in whom these two repose.”

6. “Well then, O Gautama, I shall tell thee this mystery, the old Brahman, and what happens to the Self, after reaching death.”

7. “Some enter the womb in order to have a body, as organic beings, others go into inorganic matter, according to their work and according to their knowledge.”

8. “He, the highest Person, who is awake in us while we are asleep, shaping one lovely sight after another, that indeed is the Bright, that is Brahman, that alone is called the Immortal. All worlds are contained in it, and no one goes beyond. This is that.”

9. “As the one fire, after it has entered the world, though one, becomes different according to whatever it burns, thus the one Self within all things becomes different, according to whatever it enters, and exists also without.”

10. “As the one air, after it has entered the world, though one, becomes different according to whatever it enters, thus the one Self within all things becomes different, according to whatever it enters, and exists also without.”

11. “As the sun, the eye of the whole world, is not contaminated by the external impurities seen by the eyes, thus the one Self within all things is never contaminated by the misery of the world, being himself without.”

12. “There is one ruler, the Self within all things, who makes the one form manifold. The wise who perceive him within their Self, to them belongs eternal happiness, not to others.”

13. “There is one eternal thinker, thinking non-eternal thoughts, who, though one, fulfils the desires of many. The wise who perceive him within their Self, to them belongs eternal peace, not to others.”

14. “They perceive that highest indescribable pleasure, saying, This is that. How then can I understand it? Has it its own light, or does it reflect light?”

15. “The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings, and much less this fire. When he shines, everything shines after him; by his light all this is lighted.”