Refuge in God and Divine Creation – Selections From the Upanishads, an Ancient Hindu Text, Part 1 of 2

We now present selections from the Upanishads on taking refuge in God for spiritual liberation.

“Some wise men, deluded, speak of Nature, and others of Time as the cause of everything; but it is the greatness of God by which this Brahma-wheel is made to turn.

It is at the command of Him who always covers this world, the Knower, the Time of time, who assumes qualities and all knowledge, it is at His command that this work (creation) unfolds itself, which is called Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether; He who, after He has done that work and rested again, and after He has brought together one essence (the Self) with the other (matter), with one, two, three, or eight, with Time also and with the subtle qualities of the mind, Who, after starting the works endowed with the three qualities, can order all things, yet when, in the absence of all these, He has caused the destruction of the work, goes on, being in truth different from all He has produced;

He is the beginning, producing the causes which unite the soul with the body, and, being above the three kinds of time (past, present, future), He is seen as without parts, after we have first worshipped that adorable God, who has many forms, and who is the true source of all things, as dwelling in our own mind. He is beyond all the forms of the tree of the world and of time, He is the Other, from whom this world moves round, when one has known Him who brings good and removes evil, the Lord of bliss, as dwelling within the Self, the immortal, the support of all.

Let us know that highest Great Lord of lords, the Highest Deity of deities, the Master of masters, the Highest Above, as God, the Lord of the world, the Adorable. […]”

“A man who knows Him truly, passes over death; there is no other path to go. He makes all, He knows all, the Self-caused, the Knower, the Time of time (destroyer of time), who assumes qualities and knows everything, the Master of nature and of man, the Lord of the three qualities (guna), the cause of the bondage, the existence, and the liberation of the world. He who has become that, He is the immortal, remaining the Lord, the Knower, the ever-present guardian of this world, who rules this world forever, for no one else is able to rule it. Seeking for freedom I go for refuge to that God who is the Light of His own thoughts, He who first creates Brahman and delivers the Vedas [Sacred Scriptures] to Him. […]”