The Upanishads, Part I — SBE Vol. 1 (trans. F. Max Müller, 1879)

The Prastotr:, when singing the Prastéva portions, sings them five times. The Udgdtr? and Pratihartr? sing their portions, the Udgitha and Pratihara, five times. The Udgatri again sings the Upadrava five times. And all the Udg4tr7s together sing the Nidhana five times.

2 The Stobha syllables are syllables without any meaning, added when verses have to be sung, in order to have a support for the music. See XA’. Up. 1,13. In singing the five Sâmans, each five times, one thousand of such Stobha syllables are required.

® There are in the Nishkevalya hymn, which the Hotr? has to recite, three sets of eighty trnas each. The first, consisting of GAyatrts, begins with mah4# indro ya ogasa. The second, consisting of Brzhatis, begins with ma 4id anyad. The third, consisting of Ushnihs, begins with ya indra somapâtama. These three sets form the food of the bird, as the emblem of the sastra. The hymns

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5. This (the hymns of this Sastra) as a whole (if properly counted with the Stobha syllables) comes to one thousand (of Brzhatf verses). That (thousand) is the whole, and ten, ten is called the whole. For number is such (measured by ten). Ten tens are a hundred, ten huridreds are a thousand, and that is the whole. These are the three metres (the tens, pervading everything). And this food also (the three sets of hymns being represented as food) is threefold, eating, drinking, and chewing. He obtains that food by those (three numbers, ten, hundred, and thousand, or by the three sets of eighty tvzkas).

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FirtH Kuawpa.

1. This (nishkevalya-sastra) becomes perfect as a thousand of Brzhatt verses.

2. Some teachers (belonging to a different Sakh4) recognise a thousand of different metres (not of Bvehatts only). They say: ‘Is another thousand (a thousand of other verses) good? Let us say it is good.’

3. Some say, a thousand of Trish¢ubh verses, others a thousand of Gagatt verses, others a thousand of Anush¢ubh verses.

4. This has been said by a Rzshi (Rv. X,124,9):—

5. ‘ Poets through their understanding discovered Indra dancing an Anushtubh.’ This is meant to say: They discovered (and meditated) in speech (called Anush¢ubh)—at that time (when they worwhich precede these, form the body, head, and wings of the bird. This is one order. Then follow the three sets of eighty tritas each; and lastly, the fifth order, consisting of the hymns which form the belly and the legs of the bird.

Q2

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shipped the uktha)—the Préwa (breath) connected with Indra.

6. He (who takes the recited verses as Anushtubhs) is able to become celebrated and of good report.

7. No! he says; rather is such a man liable to die before his time. For that self (consisting of Anushtéubhs) is incomplete. For if a man confines himself to speech, not to breath, then driven by his mind, he does not succeed with speech ?.

8. Let him work towards the Byvzhatt, for the
Brzhatt (breath) is the complete self.

For that self (consisting of Anushtéubhs) is incomplete. For if a man confines himself to speech, not to breath, then driven by his mind, he does not succeed with speech ?.

8. Let him work towards the Byvzhatt, for the
Brzhatt (breath) is the complete self.

9. That self (gtvatman) is surrounded on all sides by members. And as that self is on all sides surrounded by members, the Bvzhatt also is on all sides surrounded by metres *.

10. For the self (in the heart) is the middle of these members, and the Brvzhatt is the middle of the metres.

11. ‘Heis able to become celebrated and of good

1 This passage is obscure, and probably corrupt. I have followed the commentator as much as possible. He says: ‘If the Hotri priest proceeds with reciting the sastra, looking to the Anush/subh, which is speech, and not to the thousand of Brthatts which are breath, then, neglecting the Brzshatf (breath), and driven by his mind to the Anushfubh (speech), he does not by his speech obtain that sastra. For in speech without breath the Hotrt cannot, through the mere wish of the mind, say the sastra, the . activity of all the senses being dependent on breath.’ The commentator therefore takes vagabhi for vasam abhi, or for some old locative case formed by abhi. He also would seem to have read prize na. One might attempt another construction, though it is very doubtful. One might translate, ‘For that self, which is speech, is incomplete, because he understands if driven to the mind by breath, not (if driven) by speech.’

* Either in the sastra, or in the list of metres, there being some that have more, others that have less syllables.

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report, but (the other) able to die before his time,’ thus he said. For the Brzhatt is the complete self, therefore let him work towards the Brzhatt (let him reckon the sastra recitation as a thousand Brzhatts).

SixtH Kuawpa.

1. This (nishkevalya-sastra) becomes perfect as a thousand of Byzhatt verses. In this thousand of Brzhatis there are one thousand one hundred and twenty-five Anushéubhs. For the smaller is contained in the larger.

2. This has been said by a A’shi (Rv. VIII, 76,
12):—

3. ‘A speech of eight feet ;’—because there are eight feet of four syllables each in the Anush¢ubh.

4. ‘Of nine corners ;’—because the Brzhatt becomes nine-cornered (having nine feet of four syllables each).

5. ‘Touching the truth ;’—because speech (Anushtubh) is truth, touched by the verse (Brzhatt) }.

6. ‘He (the Hotvz) makes the body out of Indra ;’— for out of this thousand of Brvzhatt verses turned into Anush¢ubhs, and therefore out of Praza as connected with Indra?, and out of the Brzhati (which is Praza), he makes speech, that is Anush¢ubh, as a body *. .

7. This Mahaduktha is the highest development

1 Vk, speech, taking the form of Anush/ubh, and being joined with the Az, or the Brzhati, touches the true, i.e. Prana, breath, which is to be meditated on under the form of the Brzhatf. Comm.

.

7. This Mahaduktha is the highest development

1 Vk, speech, taking the form of Anush/ubh, and being joined with the Az, or the Brzhati, touches the true, i.e. Prana, breath, which is to be meditated on under the form of the Brzhatf. Comm.

2 Cf, Ait. Ar. II, 2, 3, 4.

8 Because the Anush/ubh is made out of the Brzhat?, the Brzhatt being breath, therefore the Anush/ubh is called its body.

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of speech, and it is fivefold, viz. measured, not measured, music, true, and untrue.

8. A zk verse, a gatha!, a kumby4? are measured (metrical). A Yagus line, an invocation, and general remarks 5, these are not measured (they are in prose). A Saman, or any portion (parvan) of it, is music. Om is true, Na is untrue.

9. What is true (Om) is the flower and fruit of speech. He is able to become celebrated and of good report, for he speaks the true (Om), the flower and fruit of speech.

10. Now the untrue is the root‘ of speech, and as a tree whose root is exposed dries up and perishes, thus a man who says what is untrue exposes his root, dries up and perishes. Therefore one should not say what is untrue, but guard oneself from it.

11. That syllable Om (yes) goes forward (to the first cause of the world) and is empty. Therefore if a man says Om (yes) to everything, then that (which he gives away) is wanting to him here®. If he says Om (yes) to everything, then he would empty himself, and would not be capable of any enjoyments.

12, That syllable Na (no) is full for oneself*. If a man says No to everything, then his reputation

’ A gfâtha is likewise in verse, for instance, pratah prâtar anritam te vadanti.

* A kumby4 is a metrical precept, such as, brahmaédryasy4posanam karma kuru, diva m4 sv4psif, &c.

* Such as arthav4das, explanatory passages, also gossip, such as is common in the king’s palace, laughing at people, &c.

* As diametrically opposed to the flowers and fruits which represent the true. Comm.

® Then that man is left empty here on earth for that enjoyment. Comm.

* He who always says No, keeps everything to himself.

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would become evil, and that would ruin him even here.

13. Therefore let a man give at the proper time only, not at the wrong time. Thus he unites the true and the untrue, and from the union of those two he grows, and becomes greater and greater.

14. He who knows this speech of which this (the mahaduktha) is a development, he is clever. A is the whole of speech, and manifested through different kinds of contact (mutes) and of wind (sibilants), it becomes manifold and different.

15. Speech if uttered in a whisper is breath, if spoken aloud, it is body. Therefore (if whispered) it is almost hidden, for what is incorporeal is almost hidden, and breath is incorporeal. But if spoken aloud, it is body, and therefore it is perceptible, for body is perceptible.

SEVENTH KHAwpa.