Translated by Prof. A. A. Ramanathan
Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai
Om ! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.
The infinite proceeds from the infinite.
(Then) taking the infinitude of the infinite (universe),
It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
1. Now the grandfather of all people (the god Brahma) respectfully approaching
his father, Adinarayana (Lord Vishnu) said, ‘What is the path of the
Avadhutas after the Turiyatita stage, and what is their standing ?’ To
him replied the Lord Narayana: Wise sages consider that one who remains in
the path of the Avadhuta is very rare in the world and (such sages) are not
many; if one becomes (an Avadhuta) he is ever pure, he is indeed the embodiment
of dispassion; he is indeed the visible form of wisdom and he is indeed the
personification of the Veda (Vedapurusha). He is a (truly) great man, as his
mind abides in me alone. Indeed I too abide in him. In due order, having been
first a hut-dwelling ascetic (Kutichaka), he reaches the stage of a mendicant
monk (Bahudaka); the mendicant monk attains to the stage of a Hamsa ascetic;
the Hamsa ascetic (then) becomes the highest kind of ascetic (Paramahamsa).
(In this stage) by introspection he realizes the entire world (as non-different
from his Self); renouncing all personal possessions in (a reservoir of) waters,
(such things as) his emblematic staff, water pot, waist band, loincloth that
covers (his privities) and all ritualistic duties enjoined on him (in a previous
stage); becoming unclad (lit. clothed by the points of the compass); abandoning
even the acceptance of a discoloured, worn out bark garment or (deer) skin;
behaving thereafter (after the stage of the Paramahamsa) as one subject to
no mantras (i.e. performing no rituals) and gives up shaving, oil bath, the
perpendicular mark of sandal paste on the forehead, etc.
2. He is one terminating all religious and secular duties; free of religious
merit or otherwise in all situations; giving up both knowledge and ignorance;
conquering (the influence of) cold and heat, happiness and misery, honour and
dishonour; having burnt up in advance, with the latent influence (vasana) of
the body, etc., censure, praise, pride, rivalry, ostentation, haughtiness,
desire, hatred, love, anger, covetousness, delusion, (gloating) joy, intolerance,
envy, clinging to life, etc.; viewing his body as a corpse, as it were; becoming
equanimous effortlessly and unrestrainedly in gain or loss; sustaining his
life (with food placed in the mouth) like a cow; (satisfied) with (food) as
it comes without ardently longing for it; reducing to ashes the host of learning
and scholarship; guarding his conduct (without vaunting his noble way of life);
disowning the superiority or inferiority (of any one); (firmly) established
in non-duality (of the Self) which is the highest (principle) of all and which
comprises all within itself; cherishing the conviction, ‘There is nought
else distinct from me’; absorbing in the Self the fuel (of concept) other
than the secret known only by the gods; untouched by sorrow; unresponsive to
(worldly) happiness; free of desire for affection; unattached everywhere to
the auspicious or the inauspicious; with (the functioning of) all senses at
standstill; unmindful of the superiority of his conduct, learning and moral
merit (dharma) acquired in the previous stages of his life; giving up the conduct
befitting caste and stage of life (Vanaprastha); dreamless, as night and day
are the same to him; ever on the move everywhere; remaining with the body alone
left to him; his water-pot being the watering-place (only); ever sensible (but)
wandering alone as though he were a child, madman or ghost; always observing
silence and deeply meditating on his Self, he has for his support the propless
(Brahman); forgetting everything (else) in consonance with the absorption in
his Self; this Turiyatita sage reaching the state of the Avadhuta ascetic and
completely absorbed in non-duality (of the Atman) (finally) gives up his body
as he has become one with Om (the Pranava): such an ascetic is an Avadhuta;
he has accomplished his life’s purpose. Thus (ends) the Upanishad.
Om ! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.
The infinite proceeds from the infinite.
(Then) taking the infinitude of the infinite (universe),
It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
Here ends the Turiyatitavadhutopanishad belonging to the Sukla-Yajur-Veda.