(1) Now with reference to the divinities. — c Verily, I am going to blaze/ began the Fire. c I am going to give forth heat/ said the Sun. e I am going to shine/ said the Moon. So said the other divinities, each according to his divine nature. As Breath holds the central position among the vital breaths [or functions], so Wind among these divinities; for the other divinities have their decline, but not Wind The Wind is that divinity which never goes to rest.

(4) But when the sun has set, and the moon has set, what light does a person here have? ' ' Fire, indeed, is his light/ said he, c for with fire, indeed, as his light one sits, moves around, does his work, and returns/ ' Quite so, Yajnavalkya.

(4) Fire (the sky) is his head, his eyes the sun and the moon, the quarters his ears, his speech the Vedas disclosed, the wind his breath, his heart the universe; from his feet came the earth; he is indeed the inner Self of all things.

(69) And as the three elements, fire, air and water, proceed from the sun and stars, and are one body in one another, and cause the living motion, and the spirit of all the creatures of this world.

(4) But when the sun has set, Yajnavalkya, and the moon has set, and the fire has gone out, what light does a person here have? ' £ Speech, indeed, is his light/ said he, f for with speech, indeed, as his light one sits, moves around, does his work, and returns. Therefore, verily, O king, where one does not discern even his own hands, when a voice is raised, then one goes straight towards it.' ' Quite so, Yajnavalkya.

(4) Panvotrus saith:—I signify to posterity that air is a tenuous matter of water, and that it is not separated from it. It remains above the dry earth, to wit, the air hidden in the water, which is under the earth. If this air did not exist, the earth would not remain above the humid water. They answer:—Thou hast said well; complete, therefore, thy speech. Sut he continueth: The air which is hidden in the water under the earth is that which sustains the earth, lest it should be plunged into the said water; and it, moreover, prevents the earth from being overflowed by that water. The province of the air is, therefore, to fill up and to make separation between diverse things, that is to say, water and earth, and it is constituted a peacemaker between hostile things, namely, water and fire, dividing these, lest they destroy one another.

The Turba saith:—If you gave an illustration hereof, it would be clearer to those who do not understand.

He answereth:—An egg is an illustration, for therein four things are conjoined; the visible cortex or shell represents the earth, and the albumen, or white part, is the water.* But a very thin inner cortex is joined to the outer cortex, representing, as I have signified to you, the separating medium between earth and water, namely, that air which divides the earth from the water. The yolk also of the egg represents fire; the cortex which contains the yolk corresponds to that other air which separates the water from the fire. But they are both one and the same air, namely, that which separates things frigid, the earth from the water, and that which separates the water from the fire. But the lower air is thicker than the upper air, and the upper air is more rare and subtle, being nearer to the fire than the lower air. In the egg, therefore, are four things—earth, water, air, and fire. But the point of the Sun, these four excepted, is in the centre of the yolk, and this is the chicken. Consequently, all philosophers in this most excellent art have described the egg as an example, which same thing they have set over their work.

(67) The three elements, fire, air and water, have a threefold moving or qualification, but proceed from one body; and consider, the fire or heat swells and flies aloft from the sun and stars; and from the heat the air swells [or expands itself] and flies aloft; and from the air comes the water.

(3) £ Yajnavalkya/ said he, 'when the voice of a dead man goes into fire, his breath into wind, his eye into the sun, his mind into the moon, his hearing into the quarters of heaven, his body into the earth, his soul (atman) into space, the hairs of his head into plants, the hairs of his body into trees, and his blood and semen are placed in water, what then becomes of this person (purusa)? ' 'Artabhaga, my dear, take my hand. We two only will know of this. This is not for us two [to speak of] in public/ The two went away and deliberated. What they said was karma (action). What they praised was karma. Verily, one becomes good by good action, bad by bad action. Thereupon Jaratkarava Artabhaga held his peace.

(2) Air is, therefore, twofold in nature-tangible atmosphere and an intangible, volatile substratum which may be termed spiritual air. Fire is visible and invisible, discernible and indiscernible--a spiritual, ethereal flame manifesting through a material, substantial flame. Carrying the analogy further, water consists of a dense fluid and a potential essence of a fluidic nature. Earth has likewise two essential parts--the lower being fixed, terreous, immobile; the higher, rarefied, mobile, and virtual. The general term elements has been applied to the lower, or physical, phases of these four primary principles, and the name elemental essences to their corresponding invisible, spiritual constitutions. Minerals, plants, animals, and men live in a world composed of the gross side of these four elements, and from various combinations of them construct their living organisms.

(4) But when the sun has set, Yajnavalkya, and the moon has set, and the fire has gone out, and speech is hushed, what light does a person here have? ' ( The soul (atman), indeed, is his light/ said he, £ for with the soul, indeed, as his light one sits, moves around, does his work, and returns/ situation referred to in $at. Br. (see the following foot-note) explains Janaka's forwardness in asking questions. The various conditions of the soul

(1) Iximiprus saith:—I testify that the beginning of all things is a Certain Nature, which is perpetual, coequalling all things, and that the visible natures, with their births and decay, are times wherein the ends to which that nature brings them are beheld and summoned.* Now, I instruct you that the stars are igneous, and are kept within bounds by the air. If the humidity and density of the air did not exist to separate the flames of the sun from living things, then the Sun would consume all creatures. But God has provided the separating air, lest that which He has created should be burnt up. Do you not observe that the Sun when it rises in the heaven overcomes the air by its heat, and that the warmth penetrates from the upper to the lower parts of the air? If, then, the air did not presently breathe forth those winds whereby creatures are generated, the i Sun by its heat would certainly destroy all that lives. But the Sun is kept in check by the air, which thus conquers because it unites the heat of the Sun to its own heat, and the humidity of water to its own humidity. Have you not remarked how tenuous water.

is drawn up into the air by the action of the heat of the Sun, which thus helps the water against itself? If the water did not nourish the air by such tenuous moisture, assuredly the Sun would overcome the air. The fire, therefore, extracts moisture from the water, by means of which the air conquers the fire itself. Thus, fire and water are enemies between which there is no consanguinity, for the fire is hot and dry, but the water is cold and moist.. The air, which is warm and moist, joins these together by its concording medium; between the humidity of water and the heat of fire the air is thus placed to establish peace. And lock ye all how there shall arise a spirit from the tenuous vapour of the air, because the heat being joined to the humour, there necessarily issues something tenuous, which will become a wind. For the heat of the Sun extracts something tenuous out of the air, which also becomes spirit and life to all creatures. All this, however, is disposed in such manner by the will of God, and a coruscation appears when the heat of the Sun touches and breaks up a cloud.

The Turba saith:—Well hast thou described the fire, even as thou knowest concerning it, and thou hast believed the word of thy brother.

(2) It is — as, from a fire laid with damp fuel, clouds of smoke separately issue forth, so, lo, verily, from this great Being (bkutd) has been breathed foith that which is Rig- Veda, Yajur- Veda, Sama-Veda, [Hymns] of the Atharvans and Angirascs, Legend (itihasa), Ancient Lore (pitrand)> Sciences (vidya), Mystic Doctrines (^m^rf), Verses (sloka), Aphorisms (sutra), desert '; so also in all the following similar sentences. Cf. Bnh. 4. 5. 7. 2 A designation of the Atharva-Veda. Explanations (amivydkkydua)> and Commentaries (vyakhyana). From it, indeed, are all these breathed foith. ii. It is — as of all waters the uniting-point is the sea, so of all touches the uniting-point is the skin, so of all tastes the uniting-point is the tongue, so of all smells the uniting-point is the nostrils, so of all forms the uniting-point is the eye, so of all sounds the uniting-point is the ear, so of all intentions (samkalpa) the uniting-point is the mind (manas\ so of all knowledges the uniting-point is the heart, so of all acts (karma) the uniting-point is the hands, so of all pleasures (ananda) the uniting-point is the generative organ, so of all evacuations the uniting-point Is the anus, so of all journeys the uniting-point is the feet, so of all the Vedas the uniting-point is speech. 12,. It is — as a lump of salt cast in water would dissolve right- into the water; there would not be [any] 2 of it to seize forth, as it were (iva), but wherever one may take, it is salty indeed — so, lo, verily, this great Being (bhuta\ infinite, limitless, is just a mass of knowledge (vijnana-ghana). Arising out of these elements (bkuta), into them also one vanishes away. After death there is no consciousness (na pretya samjna *sti). Thus, lo, say I.' Thus spake Yajnavalkya.

(92) "For the fire will consume all, and causes a high rising in the source, and the meekness of the light causes entity or substantiality; viz. in the eternal light it causes the water-spirit of eternal life; and in the third principle of this world it causes water, together with the existency or original of the air.

(2) All things descend from Heaven to Earth, to Water and to Air. ’Tis Fire alone, in that it is borne upwards, giveth life; that which [is carried] downwards [is] subservient to Fire. Further, whatever doth descend from the above, begetteth; what floweth upwards, nourisheth. ’Tis Earth alone, in that it resteth on itself, that is Receiver of all things, and [also] the Restorer of all genera that it receives. This Whole, therefore, as thou rememberest, in that it is of all,—in other words, all things, embraced by nature under “Soul” and “World,” are in [perpetual] flux, so varied by the multiform equality of all their forms, that countless kinds of well-distinguished qualities may be discerned, yet with this bond of union, that all should seem as One, and from “One” “All.” III

(3) 'From terror of Brahman fire burns, from terror the sun burns, from terror Indra and Vâyu, and Death, as the fifth, run away.'

(3) ' Yajnavalkya/ said he, * since everything here is food for death, who, pray, is that divinity for whom death is food? ' £ Death, verily, is a fire. It is the food of water (apas}. He overcomes (apa-jayati) a second death [who knows this].' 3

(3) * Yajnavalkya/ said he, £ since everything here is over- taken by the waxing and waning moon, by what means does a sacrificer obtain release from the waxing and waning moon? ' ' By the Udgatri-priest, by the wind, by breath. Verily breath is the Udgatri of the sacrifice. That which is this breath is wind, is the Udgatri. This is release, this is com- plete release.

(34) But that also the element of fire is, and does rule in the deep of the air and water, thou seest in tempests of lightning; also thou perceivest how the light of the sun kindleth the element of fire on the earth with its reflection, although many times aloft in the upper region towards the moon it is very cold.

(3) ' Yajnavalkya/ said he, ' since everything here is overtaken by death, since everything is overcome by death, whereby is - a sacrificer liberated beyond the reach of death? ' 'By the Hotri-priest, by fire, by speech. Verily, speech is the Hotri of sacrifice. That which is this speech is this fire, is the Hotri. This is release (mukti), this is complete release/ 4- ' Yajnavalkya, said he, c since everything here is overtaken by day and night, since everything is overcome by day and night, whereby is a sacrificer liberated beyond day and night? ' By the Adhvaryu-priest, by the eye, by the sun. Verily, the eye is the Adhvaryu of sacrifice. That which is this eye is yonder sun, is the Adhvaryu. This is release, this is complete release/

(1) There is this verse on the subject: — From whom the sun. rises And in whom it sets — in truth, from Breath it lises, and in Breath it sets — Him the gods made law (dharmd)\ He only today and tomorrow will be. Verily, what those [functions] undertook of old, even that they accomplish today. Therefore one should practise but one activity. He should breathe in and breathe out, wishing, which he practises he should desire to fulfil to the end. Thereby he wins complete union with that divinity [i.e. Breath] and residence in the same world.