The Upanishads (Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality Book 2)

by Eknath Easwaran

CHAPTER VI The Story of Shvetaketu 1.1 Shvetaketu was Uddalaka’s son. When he was twelve, his father said to him: “It is time for you to find a teacher, Dear one, for no one in our family Is a stranger to the spiritual life.” 1.2 So Shvetaketu went to a teacher And studied all the Vedas for twelve years. At the end of this time he returned home, Proud of his intellectual knowledge. “You seem to be proud of all this learning,” Said Uddalaka. “But did you ask Your teacher for that spiritual wisdom 1.3 Which enables you to hear the unheard, Think the unthought, and know the unknown?” “What is that wisdom, Father?” asked the son. Uddalaka said to Shvetaketu: 1.4 “As by knowing one lump of clay, dear one, We come to know all things made out of clay That they differ only in name and form, While the stuff of which all are made is clay;