(8) 'There is Agni (fire), the all-seeing, hidden in the two fire-sticks, well-guarded like a child (in the womb) by the mother, day after day to be adored by men when they awake and bring oblations. This is that.'

(6) Then he takes a sip, saying: — 'On this desired [glory] of Savitri — 'Tis sweetness, winds for pious man — "Tis sweetness, too, the streams pour forth. Sweet-filled for us let be the herbs' To Earth (b/iur), hail! [On this desired] glory of the god let us meditate. Sweet be the night and morning glows! Sweet be the atmosphere of earth ' And sweet th' Heaven-father (dyaus pita) be to us! To Atmosphere (bhuvas), hail! And may he himself inspire our thoughts' 6 The tree be full of sweet for us! And let the sun be full of sweet! Sweet-filled the cows become for us 1 7 To the Sky (svar\ hail! ' He repeats all the Savitri Hymn and all the « Sweet-verses/ and says: 'May I indeed become this world -all! O Earth (bhnr) and Atmosphere (bhuvas) and Sky (svar) \ Hail!' Finally, having taken a sip, having washed his hands, he lies down behind the fire, head eastward. In the morning he worships the sun, and says: c Of the quarters of heaven thou art the one lotus-flower! s May I of men become the one lotus-flower! ' s bear some lesemblance to the phrase which involves a play on words m the corresponding passage in Chand. 5. 2. 6, amo ndmd 'si ama hi te sarvam zdam, c Thou art He (ama) by name, for this whole world is at home (ama) m thee.' 8 A symbolic expression for ' pre-eminent.' Then he goes back the same way that he came, and, seated behind the fire, mutters the Line of Tradition (vamsa)* 7- This, indeed, did Uddalaka Arurn tell to his pupil Vaja- saneya Yajnavalkya, and say: « Even if one should pour this on a dry stump, branches would be produced and leaves would spring forth.

(3) He said to them: < Venerable Brahmans, let him of you who is the best Brahman drive away these cows/ Those Brahmans durst not. Then Yajnavalkya said to his pupil: ' Samasravas, my dear, drive them away.' He drove them away. The Brahmans were angry. ' How can he declare himself to be the best Brahman among us? ' Now there was Asvala, the Hotri-priest of Janaka, [king] of Videha. He asked him: < Yajfiavalkya, are you now the best Brahman among us? * He replied, < We give honor to the best Brahman. But we are really desirous of having those cows/ Thereupon Asvala, the Hotri-priest, began to question him.

(5) On this point, verily, Janaka, [king] of Videha, spoke as follows to Budila Asvatarasvi: f^io! Now if you spoke of yourself thus as a knower of the Gayatri, how then have you come to be an elephant and are carrying? ' ' Because, great king, I did not know its mouth/ said he. Its mouth is fire. Verily, indeed, even if they lay very much 1 RV. 3. 62. 1: On this, of Savitri the god, The choicest glory let us think. Our thoughts may he himself inspire! on a fire, it burns it all. Even so one who knows this, al- though he commits very much evil, consumes it all and becomes clean and puie, ageless and immortal

(3) [Sakalya said:] f What divinity have you in this fixed quarter [L e. the zenith]? ' ' The god Agni/ ' That Agni — on what is he based? ' ' On speech/ ' And on what is speech based? '

(2) Ajatasatru said: ' Verily, it is contrary to the course of things that a Brahman should come to a Kshatriya, thinking BR1HAD-ARANYAKA UPANISHAD [-3.1. " He will tell me Brahma/' However, I shall cause you to know him clearly/ He took him by the hand and rose. The two went up to a man who was asleep. They addressed him with these words: [i.e. Ajatasatru] woke him by rubbing him with his hand. That one arose.

(4) ' Let us hear what anybody may have told you,' [con- tinued Yajnavalkya]. 'Jitvan Sailini told me: " Brahma, verily, is speech (vac)"' [said Janaka]. 'As a man might say that he had a mother, that he had a father, that he had a teacher, so did that Sailina say, " Brahma, verily, is speech." For he might have thought (iti), '* What can one have who can not speak? " But did he tell you Its seat and support?' ' He did not tell me.' ' Forsooth, your Majesty, that is a one-legged [Brahma].' ' Its seat is just speech; Its support, space (akasa). One should worship It as intelligence (prajna)' ' What is Its quality of intelligence, Yajnavalkya? ' 'Just speech, your Majesty,' said he. c Verily, by speech, your Majesty, a friend is recognized. By speech alone, your Majesty, the Rig- Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the [Hymns] of the Atharvans and Angirases, Legends (itika$a\ Ancient Lore (pur and], Sciences (vidya), Mystic Doctrines (upanisad)) Verses (sloka), Aphorisms (sutra\ Explanations (anuvyakhyand)) Commentaries (uyakkyana), what is offered in sacrifice and as oblation, food and drink, this world and the other, and all beings are known. The highest Brahma, your Majesty, is in truth speech. Speech does not desert him be noted, takes the active bruyat as if it were middle voice — a late epic usage. 2 A designation of the Atharva-Veda. who, knowing this, worships it as such. All things run unto him. He, having become a god, goes even to the gods/ { I will give you a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant/ said Janaka, [king] of Videha. Yajfiavalkya replied: 'My father thought that without having instructed one should not accept'

(6) Now, toward morning, having prepared melted butter in the manner of the SthaHpaka, he takes of the Sthallpaka and makes a libation, saying: ' To Agni, hail! To Anumati, hail! To the god Savitri (' Enlivener/ the Sun), whose is true procreation z (satya-prasava), hail! ' Having made the libation, he takes and eats. Having eaten, he offers to the other [i.e. to her]. Having washed his hands, he fills a vessel with water and therewith spi inkles her thrice, saying: — 'Arise from hence, Visvavasut Some other choicer maiden seek! This wife together with her lord — '

(4) ' Let us hear what anybody may have told you,' [con- tinued Yajnavalkya]. c Gardabhivipita Bharadvaja told me: "Brahma, verily, is hearing.'" c As a man might say that he had a mother, that he had a father, that he had a teacher, so did that Bharadvaja say, " Brahma is hearing." For he might have thought, " What can one have who can not hear?" But did he tell you Its seat and support? J < He did not tell me.' £ Forsooth, your Majesty, that is a one-legged [Brahma].' e Verily, Yajnavalkya, do you here tell us.' c Its seat is just hearing; Its support, space. One should worship It as the endless (ananta).' fore, verily, your Majesty, to whatever quarter one goes, he does not come to the end of it, for the quarters of heaven are endless. Verily, your Majesty, the quarteis of heaven are 1 K hearing. Verily, your Majesty, the highest Brahma is hearing. Hearing does not desert him who, knowing this, worships it as such. All things run unto him. He, becoming a god, goes to the gods. c I will give you a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant, said Janaka, [king] of Videha. Yajnavalkya replied: ' My father thought that without having instructed one should not accept.'

(10) And this is declared by the following Rik-verse: 'Let a man tell this science of Brahman to those only who have performed all (necessary) acts, who are versed in the Vedas, and firmly established in (the lower) Brahman, who themselves offer as an oblation the one Rishi (Agni), full of faith, and by whom the rite of (carrying fire on) the head has been performed, according to the rule (of the Âtharvanas).'

(2) Gargya said: 'The Person who is yonder in lightning — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma! ' Ajatasatru said: 'Talk not to me about him! I worship him, verily, as the Brilliant. He who worships him as such becomes brilliant indeed. His offspring becomes brilliant/

(2) Gargya said: cThe sound here which follows after one as he goes — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma ' ' Ajatas'atru said: 'Talk not to me about him! I worship him, verily, as Life (asu). To him who worships him as such there comes a full length of life (dyu) in this world. Breath (prdna) leaves him not before the time.'

(6) When [the son] is born, he [i.e. the father] builds up a fire, places him on his lap, mingles ghee and coagulated milk in a metal dish, and makes an oblation, ladling out of the mingled ghee and coagulated rnilk, and saying: — The first quatrain occurs also at AV. 5. 25. 5; the second (with slight alterations) at AV. 5. 25.3. 'In this son may I be increased, And have a thousand in mine house! May nothing rob his retinue Of offspring or of animals! Hail! The vital* powers (prana) which are in me, my mind, I offer in you. Hail! What in this rite I overdid, Or what I have here scanty made — Let Agni, wise, the Prosperer, Make fit and good our sacrifice! Hail I'

(107) If a man for a hundred years worship Agni (fire) in the forest, and if he but for one moment pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded (in true knowledge), better is that homage than sacrifice for a hundred years.

(2) Gargya said: 'The Person who is here in fire — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma ' ' Ajatasatru said: ' Talk not to me about him! I worship him, verily, as the Vanquisher. He who worships him as such becomes a vanquisher 'indeed. His offspring become van- quishers/

(4) f Let us hear what anybody may have told you/ [con- tinued Yajfiavalkya]. ' Udanka Saulbayana told me: "Brahma, verily, is the breath of life (prana)" ' As a man might say that he had a mother, that he had a father, that he had a teacher, so did that Saulbayana say, f< Brahma is the breath of life." For he might have thought, " What can one have who is without the breath of life? " But did he tell you Its seat and support? ' I He did not tell me. c Forsooth, your Majesty, that is a one-legged [Brahma].' c Verily, Yajfiavalkya, do you here tell us. should worship It as the dear (przya).' £The breath of life itself, your Majesty/ said he. c Verily, out of love for the breath of life, your Majesty, one has sacrifice offered for him for whom one should not offer sacrifice, one accepts from him from whom one should not accept. Out of love of just the breath of life, your Majesty, there arises fear of being killed wherever one goes. The highest Brahma, your Majesty, is in truth the breath of life. The breath of life leaves not him who, knowing this, worships it as such. All things run unto him. He, having become a god, goes even to the gods/ I 1 will give you a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant/ said Janaka, [king] of Videha. Yajnavalkya replied: c My father thought that without having instructed one should not accept/

(15) Yama then told him that fire-sacrifice, the beginning of all the worlds, and what bricks are required for the altar, and how many, and how they are to be placed. And Nakiketas repeated all as it had been told to him. Then Mrityu, being pleased with him, said again:

(4) Janaka, [king] of Videha, descending from his cushion and approaching, said: c Adoration to you, Yajnavalkya. Do you instruct me.' He [i.e. Yajnavalkya] said: 'Verily, as a king about to go on a great journey would prepare a chariot or a ship, even so you have a soul (atman) prepared with these mystic doctrines (tipanisad}. So, being at the head of a troop, and wealthy, learned in the Vedas, and instructed in mystic doctrines, whither, when released hence, will you go? ' ' That I know not, noble Sir — whither I shall go/ 2, £ Indha (i. e. the Kindler) by name is this person here in the right eye. Him, verily, who is that Indha people call " Indra" 1 K % cryptically, for the gods are fond of the cryptic, as it were, and dislike the evident.

(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) This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two Asvins. Seeing this, the seer spake: — f Upon Dadhyanc Atharvana ye Asvins Did substitute a horse's head, He, keeping true, declared to you the honey Of Tvashtri, which is your secret, O ye mighty ones/ 2 1 8. This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two AsVins. Seeing this, the seer spake: — ' Citadels with two feet he did make. Citadels with four feet he did make. Into the citadels he, having become a bird — Into the citadels {puras) the Person (purusa) entered/ This, verily, is the person (pnrusa) dwelling in all cities (pnri- soya). There is nothing by which he is not covered, nothing by which he is not hid. 19* This, verily, is the honey which Dadhyanc Atharvana declared unto the two AsVins. Seeing this, the seer spake:— 1 RV i. 1 1 6. 12. The two Asvins desired instruction from Dadhyaac. But the latter was loath to impart it, for Indra had threatened Dadhyaiic thai if he ever told this honey-doctrine to any one else, he (India) would cut his head off. To avoid this untoward result, the A&yms took off Dadhyafic's head and substituted a horse's head. Then, after Uadhyafic had declared the honey- doctrine m com- pliance with their request and Indra had carried out his threat, the A&vms restored to Dadhyanc his own head. This episode shows the extreme difficulty with which even gods secured the knowledge originally possessed by Indra. 2 RV. I. 117. 22. This is to be looked upon as a form of him. Indra by his magic powers (may a) goes about in many forms; Yoked are his ten-hundred steeds/ I He [i.e. the Soul, Atmari\, verily, is the steeds. He, verily, is tens and thousands, many and endless. This Brahma is without an earlier and without a later, without an inside and without an outside. This Soul is Brahma, the all-perceiving. — Such is the instruction.