Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Madhu Kanda. Adhyaya 1, Brahmana 4. In the beginning, the Self: I am Brahman

New to these pages?

Each mantra is given four ways: the Sanskrit in its Devanagari script, the same sounds in Roman letters, an English translation set in our own voice, and then the line once more in plain words, for a first and unhurried reading.

Not every passage is opened to the same depth. A few central mantras carry the full cross-school commentary, where the schools are set side by side. The rest are kept here whole and faithful, set in their place but not expounded, so the book stays entire and nothing is dropped for being thought minor.

Where the schools read a line differently, the difference is kept open. None is crowned and none is corrected. Each is met on its own terms, and where they contradict, the contradiction is left standing for you to sit with.

॥ 1.4.11 ॥

Brahman creates the ruling power

ब्रह्म वा इदमग्र आसीदेकमेव । तदेकं सन्न व्यभवत् । तच्छ्रेयो रूपमत्यसृजत क्षत्रं, यान्येतानि देवत्रा क्षत्राणीन्द्रो वरुणः सोमो रुद्रः पर्जन्यो यमो मृत्युरीशान इति । तस्मात्क्षत्रात्परं नास्ति । तस्माद्ब्राह्मणः क्षत्रियं अधस्तादुपास्ते राजसूये । क्षत्र एव तद्यशो दधाति । सैषा क्षत्रस्य योनिर्यद्ब्रह्म । तस्माद्यद्यपि राजा परमतां गच्छति ब्रह्मैवान्तत उपनिश्रयति स्वां योनिम् । य उ एनं हिनस्ति स्वां स योनिमृच्छति । स पापीयान् भवति यथा श्रेयांसं हिंसित्वा

In transliteration

brahma vā idamagra āsīdekameva | tadekaṃ sanna vyabhavat | tacchreyo rūpamatyasṛjata kṣatraṃ, yānyetāni devatrā kṣatrāṇīndro varuṇaḥ somo rudraḥ parjanyo yamo mṛtyurīśāna iti | tasmātkṣatrātparaṃ nāsti | tasmādbrāhmaṇaḥ kṣatriyaṃ adhastādupāste rājasūye | kṣatra eva tadyaśo dadhāti | saiṣā kṣatrasya yoniryadbrahma | tasmādyadyapi rājā paramatāṃ gacchati brahmaivāntata upaniśrayati svāṃ yonim | ya u enaṃ hinasti svāṃ sa yonimṛcchati | sa pāpīyān bhavati yathā śreyāṃsaṃ hiṃsitvā

In English

In the beginning this was Brahman, one only. Being one, it did not flourish. It created a better form, the Kshatra, namely those who are Kshatras among the gods: Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Mrtyu, Isana. Therefore there is nothing higher than the Kshatra. So at the Rajasuya the Brahmana sits below the Kshatriya; he confers that honor on the Kshatra alone. But Brahman is the source of the Kshatra. Therefore, though the king attains supremacy, at the end he resorts to Brahman, his own source. Whoever injures him strikes at his own source; he becomes more wicked, as one who has injured his better.

In plain words

In the beginning Brahman alone existed, but being solitary it did not thrive, so it brought forth a higher form, the ruling power (kshatra), seen among the gods as Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Mrtyu, and Isana. That is why nothing is held higher than the kshatra, and why at the royal consecration (rajasuya) the brahmana even sits below the kshatriya, granting that glory to the ruling power. Yet Brahman (here the priestly power) is the womb and source of the kshatra, so however supreme a king becomes, in the end he falls back on Brahman, his own origin; and anyone who harms that source is striking at his own root and becomes as guilty as one who has injured his superior.

All mantras