Yajur Veda · Krishna Yajur Veda (Yoga Upanishad group) · 22 mantras
Amritabindu Upanishad
Amṛtabindūpaniṣad
Central theme: The "drop of immortality" — the silent bindu of consciousness reached by withholding mind from objects
A short Yoga Upanishad of 22 mantras that distils the entire Vedantic-yogic project into a single image — the amrita-bindu, the imperishable drop at the centre of awareness. Famously opens with the declaration that the mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation — "मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः" — a sloka quoted in nearly every later Advaita and Tantric manual. Distinguishes the two minds (shuddha = pure, ashuddha = stained), prescribes pranava-japa with the four matras of Om as the ladder to nirvikalpa, and ends with the recognition that the one Atman appears as many only because of the upadhi of the bodies, as a single moon appears multiplied in many pots of water.
Amritabindu Upanishad 2
मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः । बन्धाय विषयासक्तं मुक्त्यै निर्विषयं स्मृतम्
Mana eva manuṣyāṇāṁ kāraṇaṁ bandha-mokṣayoḥ, bandhāya viṣayāsaktaṁ muktyai nirviṣayaṁ smṛtam
The mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation for human beings — attached to objects, it binds; freed from objects, it liberates.
You are bound by the mind attached to objects; you are freed by the mind withdrawn from objects. The Self never moved.