Atma Upanishad (Part of the Atharva Veda)

Om! O Devas! May we hear only the good with our ears; O the ones to be worshipped!
May we see only the good with our eyes; may we have strong limbs and bodies, which
will enable us to pray and worship the Devas. May we live unto such time the Devas feel
we should live. May the Lord Indra, of great fame, shower some grace and good on us.
May the Lord Surya (the Sun God), the knower of all, shower some grace and good on
us. May the Lord Garuda, who has an unfettered clear path (to liberation), shower some
grace and good on us. May the Lord Brhaspati shower some grace and good on us.

Om Shanti ! Shanti ! Shanti !

Thus spoke Angiras (the sage):

Man is threefold, namely External Self, Inner Self and the Higher Self.

That self in which there are skin, bones, flesh, marrow, hair, fingers, thumbs, vertebral
column, nails, ankles, belly, navel, genitals, hips, thighs, cheeks, brows, forehead, arms,
sides, head, arteries, eyes and ears and that which is born and dies; that is called the
External Self.

Now the Inner Self: The one who, on the one hand through the perceptions of the earth,
the water, the wind, the fore, the ether, as also through desire, hate, lust, pain, greed,
delusion, misunderstanding etc. while he possesses the characteristic of memory; on the
other hand through speaking with a high tone, low tone, short, long, extra long, faltering,
shouting, blurting out – through dancing, singing, playing, swooning, yawning etc;
becomes a listener, smeller, taster, thinker, perceiver and doer; and who as the conscious
self, as person (Purusa) knows to distinguish in the activities of hearing – whether it is a
puraanam, nyaya, mimamsa or dharma sastra – of smelling, drawing towards oneself – it
is this one who is called the Inner Self.

Now the Highest Self: The one, who to be worshipped according to the constituents of
the word OM while one meditates over him, as one’s self, by breath control, withdrawing
inwards from the objects of sense, meditation and yoga-practices, as seed of the fig tree,
as seed of the millet, is mot comprehended or grasped through a hundred-thousand fold
splitting of the hair’s end and the like who is not born and who does not die, does not
wither up, and who is not burnt, does not shake, is not divided and is not split up, who is
the gunaless observer, the pure, the limbless Atman, the subtle, part less, spotless, free
from self-illusion, free from sound, touch, taste, form and smell, changeless, desire less,
all penetrating He, the inconceivable and indescribable, who purifies the impure and the
unholy, unto whom no work sticks, nor the effect of the work – that is the Highest Self,
the Purusa – that is the Highest Self, the Purusa (reiterated).

Om! O Devas! May we hear only the good with our ears; O the ones to be worshipped!
May we see only the good with our eyes; may we have strong limbs and bodies, which
will enable us to pray and worship the Devas. May we live unto such time the Devas feel
we should live. May the Lord Indra, of great fame, shower some grace and good on us.
May the Lord Surya (the Sun God), the knower of all, shower some grace and good on
us. May the Lord Garuda, who has an unfettered clear path (to liberation), shower some
grace and good on us. May the Lord Brhaspati shower some grace and good on us.

Om Shanti ! Shanti ! Shanti !

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