The Knower of Atman

As fire, of fuel destitute,
Becomes extinct in its own source,
So thought by loss of activeness,
Becomes extinct in its own source.

Becomes extinct in its own source,
Because the mind the Real seeks!
For one confused by things of sense,
There follow action's false controls,

Samsara (existence) is just one's own thought;
With effort he should cleanse it, then.
What is one's thought, that he becomes;
This is the eternal mystery.

For by tranquillity of thought,
Deeds (karma), good and evil, one destroys.
With soul serene, stayed on the Soul,
Delight eternal one enjoys!

As firmly as the thought of man
Is fixed within the realm of sense —
If thus on Brahma it were fixed,
Who would not be released from bond?

The mind is said to be twofold:
The pure and also the impure;
Impure — by union with desire;
Pure — from desire completely free!

By making mind all motionless,
From sloth and from distraction freed,
When unto mindlessness one comes,
Then that is the supreme estate!

So long the mind should be confined,
Till in the heart it meets its end.
That is both knowledge and release
All else is but a string of words!

With mind's stains washed away by concentration,
What may his joy be who has entered Atman —
Impossible to picture then in language!
Oneself must grasp it with the inner organ.

In water, water; fire in fire;
In air, air one could not discern.
So he whose mind has entered in —
Released is he from everything!

The mind, in truth, is for mankind
The means of bondage and release:
For bondage, if to objects bound;
From objects free — that’s called release!

— Maitri Upanishad