These objects, thus lifted up into symbols of Brahman, are of two kinds, either connected with sacrifice or not. In our Upanishad we have to deal with the former class only, viz. with certain por- tions of the Mah4vrata, as described in the first Aranyaka. In order that the mind may not be entirely absorbed by the sacrifice, it is lifted up during the performance from the consideration of these sacrificial objects to a meditation on higher objects, leading up at last to Brahman as praza or life.
This meditation is to be performed by the priests, and while they meditate they may meditate on a hymn or on a single word of it as meaning something else, such as the sun, the earth, or the sky, but not viceversa. Andifin one Sakha, as in that of the Aitareyins, for instance, a certain hymn has been symbolically explained, the same explanation may be adopted by another Sakha also, such as that of the Kaushitakins. It is not necessary, however, that every part of the sacrifice should be accompanied by meditation, but it is left optional to the priest in what particular meditation he wishes to engage, nor is even the time of the sacrifice the only right time for him to engage in these meditations.
This is the path: this sacrifice, and this Brah-
man. This is the true’.
2. Let no man swerve from it, let no man trans-
gress It.
1 Comm. The path is twofold, consisting of works and know- ledge. Works or sacrifices have been described in the Samhita, the Brahmana, and the first Aranyaka. Knowledge of Brahman forms the subject of the second and third Aranyakas. The true path is that of knowledge.
202 AITAREYA-ARANYAKA.
3. For the old (sages) did not transgress it, and those who did transgress, became lost.
4. This has been declared by a Avzshi (Rv. VIII,
101, 14): ‘ Three (classes of) people transgressed,
others settled down round about the venerable
(Agni, fire); the great (sun) stood in the midst of
the worlds, the blowing (Vayu, air) entered the
Harits (the dawns, or the ends of the earth).’
5. When he says: ‘Three (classes of) people trans-
gressed,’ the three (classes of) people who trans-
gressed are what we see here (on earth, born again)
as birds, trees, herbs, and serpents’.
6. When he says: ‘Others settled down round
about the venerable, he means those who now sit
down to worship Agni (fire).
7. When he says: ‘ The great stood in the midst
of the worlds, the great one in the midst of the
world is meant for this Aditya, the sun.
8. When he says: ‘The blowing entered the
Harits,’ he means that Vayu, the air, the purifier,
entered all the corners of the earth *.
SEcOND KHANDA.
1. People say: ‘Uktha, uktha, hymns, hymns! (without knowing what uktha, hymn®, means.) The
* Vangah is explained by vanagaté vrzkshah; avagadhah is ex- plained by vrihiyavadya oshadhayah; frapada’ is explained by urah- pada sarpak. Possibly they are all old ethnic names, like Vanga, Kera, &c. In Anandatirtha’s commentary vayamsi are explained by Pisika, Vangdvagadhas by Rakshasa, and IrapAdas by Asuras.
* Three classes of men go to Naraka (hell); the fourth class, full of faith and desirous of reaching the highest world, worships Agni, Vayu, and other gods. Comm.
* The Comm. explains uktha as that from whence the favour of the gods arises, uttish/haty anena devataprasdda iti vyutpatte/.
I1 ARANYAKA, I ADHYAYA, 2 KHANDA, II. 203
hymn is truly (to be considered as) the earth, for
from it all whatsoever exists arises.
2. The object of its praise is Agni (fire), and the
eighty verses (of the hymn) are food, for by means
of food one obtains everything.
3. The hymn is truly the sky, for the birds fly
along the sky, and men drive following the sky.
The object of its praise is Vayu (air), and the eighty
verses (of the hymn) are food, for by means of food
one obtains everything.
4. The hymn is truly the heaven, for from its gift
(rain) all whatsoever exists arises. The object of its
praise is Aditya (the sun), and the eighty verses are
food, for by means of food one obtains everything.
5. So much with reference to the gods (mytholo- gical) ; now with reference to man (physiological).
6. The hymn is truly man. He is great, he is Pragdpati. Let him think, I am the hymn.
7. The hymn is his mouth, as before in the case of the earth.
8. The object of its praise is speech, and the
eighty verses (of the hymn) are food, for by means
of food he obtains everything.
9. The hymn is the nostrils, as before in the case of the sky.
10. The object of its praise is breath, and the
eighty verses (of the hymn) are food, for by means
of food he obtains everything.
11. The slight bent (at the root) of the nose is, as it were, the place of the brilliant (Aditya, the sun).
The object is now to show that the uktha or hymn used at the Mahavrata ceremony has a deeper meaning than it seems to have, and that its highest aim is Brahman; not, however, the highest Brahman, but Brahman considered as life (prava).
204 AITAREYA-ARANYAKA.
12. The hymn is the forehead, as before in the
case of heaven. The object of its praise is the
eye, and the eighty verses (of the hymn) are food,
for by means of food he obtains everything.
13. The eighty verses (of the hymn) are alike
food with reference to the gods as well as with
reference to man. For all these beings breathe and
live by means of food indeed. By food (given in
alms, &c.) he conquers this world, by food (given
in sacrifice) he conquers the other. Therefore the
eighty verses (of the hymn) are alike food, with refer-
ence to the gods as well as with reference to man.
14. All this that is food, and all this that con-
sumes food, is only the earth, for from the earth
arises all whatever there is.
15. And all that goes hence (dies on earth),
heaven consumes it all; and all that goes thence
(returns from heaven to a new life) the earth con-
sumes it all.
16. That earth is thus both food and consumer.
He also (the true worshipper who meditates on
himself as being the uktha) is both consumer and
consumed (subject and object'). No one possesses
that which he does not eat, or the things which do
not eat him 2.
* As a master who lives by his servants, while his servants live by him. Comm.
* I have translated these paragraphs, as much as possible, accord- ing to the commentator. I doubt whether, either in the original or in the interpretation of the commentator, they yield any very definite sense. ‘They are vague speculations, vague, at least, to us, though intended by the Brahmans to give a deeper meaning to certain ceremonial observances connected with the Mahavrata. The uktha, or hymn, which is to be meditated on, as connected with the sacrifice, is part of the Mahavrata, an important ceremony, to be
11 Aranyaka, I Adhyaya, 3 Khanda, 2. 205
Taurirp KHaAnpa.
1. Next follows the origin of seed. The seed
of Pragdpati are the Devas (gods). The seed of
the Devas is rain. The seed of rain are herbs.
The seed of herbs is food. The seed of food is
seed. Thé seed of seed are creatures. The seed
of creatures is the heart. The seed of the heart
is the mind. The seed of the mind is speech (Veda).
The seed of speech is action (sacrifice). The action
done (in a former state) is this man, the abode of
Brahman.
2. He (man) consists of food (ira), and because
he consists of food, (iramaya), he consists of gold
(hirazmaya'). He who knows this becomes golden
in the other world, and is seen as golden (as the
sun) for the benefit of all beings.
performed on the last day but one (the twenty-fourth) of the Gavamayana sacrifice. That sacrifice lasts a whole year, and its performance has been fully described in the Brahmamas and Aranyakas. But while the ordinary performer of the Mahavrata has simply to recite the uktha or nishkevalya-sastra, consisting of eighty verses (trzka) in the Gayatri, Brzhati, and Ushzih metres, the more advanced worshipper (or priest) is to know that this uktha has a deeper meaning, and is to meditate on it as being the earth, sky, heaven, also as the human body, mouth, nostrils, and forehead. The worshipper is in fact to identify himself by meditation with the uktha in all its senses, and thus to become the universal spirit or Hiramyagarbha. By this process he becomes the consumer and consumed, the subject and object, of everything, while another sacrificer, not knowing this, remains in his limited individual sphere, or, as the text expresses it, does not possess what he cannot eat (perceive), or what cannot eat him (perceive him). The last sentence is explained differently by the com- mentator, but in connexion with the whole passage it seems to me to become more intelligible, if interpreted as I have proposed to interpret it. 1 Play on words. Comm.
206 AITAREYA-ARANYAKA.
FourRTH KHANDA.
. Brahman (in the shape of praza, breath) entered _.
into that man by the tips of his feet, and because
Brahman entered (prdpadyata) into that maa. by
the tips of his feet, therefore people call them the -
tips of the feet (prapada), but hoofs and cl4ws in
other animals,
2. Then Brahman crept up higher, and therefore they were (called)! the thighs (ard).
3. Then he said: ‘Grasp wide,’ and that was (called) the belly (udara).
4. Then he said: ‘Make room for me, and that was (called) the chest (uras).
5. The Sarkarakshyas meditate on the belly as
Brahman, the Aruzis on the heart”. Both (these
places) are Brahman indeed °. j
6. But Brahman crept upwards and came to the
head, and because he came to the head, therefore
the head is called head +.
7. Then these delights alighted in the head, sight, hearing, mind, speech, breath.
8. Delights alight on him who thus knows, why the head is called head.
9. These (five delights or senses) strove to-
gether, saying: ‘I am the uktha (hymn), I am the
uktha®.’ ‘Well,’ they said, ‘let us all go out from
" These are all plays on words. Comm.
* This does not appear to be the case either in the KA. Up. V, 15; 17, or in the Satapatha-brahmaza X, 6, 1.
* The pluti in tazi is explained as sdstriyaprasiddhyartha.
* All puns, as if we were to say, because he hied up to the head. therefore the head was called head.
5 Each wished to be identified with the uktha, as it was said
before that the human body, mouth, nostrils, forehead were to be identified with the uktiia. Cf. Kaush. Up. III, 3.
11 Aranyaka, I Adhyaya, 4 Khanda, 17. 207
this body ; then on whose departure this body shall fall, he shall be the uktha among us 1.’
10. Speech went out, yet the body without speaking remained, eating and drinking.
Sight went out, yet the body without seeing re- mained, eating and drinking.
Hearing went out, yet the body without hearing remained, eating and drinking.
Mind went out, yet the body, as if blinking, re- mained, eating and drinking.
Breath went out, then when breath was gone out, the body fell.
11. It was decayed, and because people said, it
decayed, therefore it was (called) body (sartra).
That is the reason of its name.
12. If a man knows this, then the evil enemy
who hates him decays, or the evil enemy who hates
him is defeated.
13. They strove again, saying: ‘lam the uktha,
I am the uktha.’ ‘Well,’ they said, ‘let us enter
that body again; then on whose entrance this body
shall rise again, he shall be the uktha among us.’
14. Speech entered, but the body lay still. Sight
entered, but the body lay still. Hearing entered,
but the body lay still. Mind entered, but the body
lay still. Breath entered, and when breath had
entered, the body rose, and it became the uktha.
15. Therefore breath alone is the uktha.
16. Let people know that breath is the uktha indeed.
17. The Devas (the other senses) said to breath :
‘Thou art the uktha, thou art all this, we are thine,
thou art ours.’
' Cf. Kh. Up. V, 1; Bréh. Up. VI, 1; Kaush. Up. II, 12-14; Hl 2 Prama. Up. Il, 1.
208 AITAREYA-ARANYAKA.
18. This has also been said by a Avzshi (Rv. VIII, 92, 32): ‘Thou art ours, we are thine.’
FirtH KHANDA.
1. Then the Devas carried him (the breath)
forth, and being carried forth, he was stretched out,
and when people said, ‘ He was stretched out,’ then
it was in the morning; when they said, ‘ He is gone
to rest,’ then it was in the evening. Day, therefore,
is the breathing up, night the breathing down.
2. Speech is Agni, sight that Aditya (sun), mind
the moon, hearing the Dis (quarters): this is the
prahités samyoga®, the union of the deities as sent
forth. These deities (Agni, &c.) are thus in the
body, but their (phenomenal) appearance yonder is
among the deities—this was intended.
3. And Hirazyadat Vaida also, who knew this
(and who by his knowledge had become Hirazya-
garbha or the universal spirit), said: ‘Whatever
they do not give to me, they do not possess them-
selves.’ I know the prahitasz samyoga, the union of
the deities, as entered into the body’. This is it.