' 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'

Speech makes us understand the Rig-veda, Yagur-veda, Sâma-veda, and as the fourth the Âtharvana, as the fifth the Itihâsa-purâna, the Veda of the Veda...

Speech yields the milk, which is the milk of speech itself to him who knows this Upanishad (secret doctrine) of the Sâmans in this wise. He becomes...

Speech yields the milk, which is the milk of speech itself, to him who knowing this meditates on the sevenfold Sâman in speech. He becomes rich in...

That Brahman (mind) has four feet (quarters). Speech is one foot, breath is one foot, the eye is one foot, the car is one foot-so much with reference...

Saunaka Kâpeya, pondering on that speech, went to the student and said: 'He is the self of the Devas, the creator of all beings, with golden tusks,...

'Thus, my dear son, there was one part of the sixteen parts left to you, and that, lighted up with food, burnt up, and by it you remember now the...

Speech is indeed the fourth foot of Brahman. That foot shines with Agni (fire) as its light, and warms. He who knows this, shines and warms through...