Part Six
Chapter I—The Supremacy of the Prana
1. Om. He who knows what is the oldest and greatest becomes the
oldest and greatest among his kinsmen. The vital breath (prana) is
indeed the oldest and greatest. He who knows this becomes the oldest
and greatest among his kinsmen and also among those of whom he wishes
to be so.
2. He who knows what is the most excellent (vasishtha) becomes the
most excellent among his kinsmen. The organ of speech is indeed the
vasishtha. He who knows this becomes the most excellent among his
kinsmen and also among those of whom he wishes to be so.
3. He who knows what has the attribute of steadiness (pratishtha)
lives steadily in rough as well as smooth places and times. The eye
indeed is endowed with steadiness, for with the help of the eye one
remains steady in rough as well as smooth places and times. He who
knows this lives steadily in rough as well as smooth places and times.
4. He who knows prosperity (sampad) attains whatever object he
desires. The ear indeed is prosperity, for when the ear is intact all
the Vedas are acquired. He who knows this attains whatever object he
desires.
5. He who knows the abode (ayatana) becomes the abode of his kinsmen
and also of other people. The mind indeed is the abode. He who knows
this becomes the abode of his kinsmen as well as of other people.
6. He who knows what has the attribute of procreation (prajati) is
enriched with children and animals. Semen verily has this attribute. He
who knows this is enriched with children and animals.
7. These organs, disputing about who was superior among them, went
to Prajapati and asked: "Which one among us is the most excellent
(vasishtha)?" He said: "That one among you is the most excellent by
whose departure this body is considered to suffer most."
8. The organ of speech departed. After being absent for a whole year
it came back and said: "How have you been able to live without me?" The
other organs said: "We lived just as dumb people live, without speaking
through the tongue, but living through the vital breath, seeing through
the eye, hearing through the ear, knowing through the mind and
procreating through the organ of generation." Then the organ of speech
entered the body.
9. The eye departed. After being absent for a whole year it came
back and said: "How have you been able to live without me?" The other
organs said: "We lived just as blind people live, without seeing
through the eye, but living through the vital breath, speaking through
the organ of speech, hearing through the ear, knowing through the mind
and procreating through the organ of generation." Then the eye entered
the body.
10. The ear went out. After being absent for a whole year it came
back and said: "How have you been able to live without me?" The other
organs said: "We lived just as deaf people live, without hearing
through the ear, but living through the vital breath, speaking through
the organ of speech, seeing through the eye, knowing through the mind
and procreating through the organ of generation." Then the ear entered
the body.
11. The mind went out. After being absent for a whole year it came
back and said: "How have you been able to live without me?" The other
organs said: "We lived just as idiots live, without knowing through the
mind, but living through the vital breath, speaking through the organ
of speech, seeing through the eye, hearing through the ear and
procreating through the organ of generation." Then the mind entered the
body.
12. Then the organ of generation went out. After being absent for a
whole year it came back and said: "How have you been able to live
without me?" The other organs said: "We lived just as impotent people
live, without procreating children through the organ of generation, but
living through the vital breath, speaking through the organ of speech,
seeing through the eye, hearing through the ear and knowing through the
mind." Then the organ of generation entered the body.
13. Then as the vital breath was about to depart, it uprooted the
organs from their places just as a great, noble horse of the Sindhu
country tears up the pegs to which his feet are tied. They said:
"Venerable Sir, please do not go out. We shall not be able to live
without you." "If I am such, then give me an offering." "So be it."
14. The organ of speech said: "That attribute of being most
excellent which I possess is yours." The eye said: "That attribute of
steadiness which I possess is yours." The ear said: "That attribute of
prosperity which I possess is yours." The mind said: "That attribute
of being an abode which I possess is yours. The organ of generation
said: "That attribute of procreation which I possess is yours." Then
the vital breath said: "If I am such, then what will be my food and
what will be my dress?" They replied: "Whatever food there is—including
that of dogs, worms, insects and moths—will be your food and water will
be your dress." He who knows the food of the vital breath to be such
never happens to eat anything or accept anything that is not food.
Wise men who are versed in the Vedas therefore take a sip of water Just
before and after eating; they think that thereby they remove the
nakedness of the vital breath.
Chapter II—The Process of Rebirth
1. Svetaketu, the grandson of Aruna, came to the assembly of the
Panchalas. He approached Pravahana, the son of Jivala, who was being
waited upon by his courtiers. As soon as the king saw him, he said:
"Is it you, boy?" He replied: "Yes, Sir." Then the king asked: "Have
you been taught by your father?" "Yes," he replied.
2. The king said: "Do you know how people, after departing from this
life, proceed on different paths?" "No," he replied. "Do you know how
they return to this world?" "No," he replied. "Do you know why the
other world is never filled up even though so many people go there
again and again?" "No," he replied. "Do you know after how many
offerings of oblations the water (the liquid oblation) becomes endowed
with a human voice, rises up and speaks?" "No," he replied. "Do you
know the means of access to the path leading to the gods or to that
leading to the Manes, that is to say, through what deeds men attain the
path leading to the gods or that leading to the Manes? We have heard
the following words of the Mantra: ‘I have heard of the two paths for
men, one leading to the Manes and the other to the gods. Going along
them they (departed souls) are united with their destination. They
(the paths) lie between the father (heaven) and the mother (earth).’
Svetaketu said: "I do not know even one of these."
3. Then the king invited him to stay. But the boy, disregarding the
invitation, hurried away. He went to his father and said: "Did you not
tell me before that you had fully instructed me?" "What then, my
intelligent child?" "That fellow of a kshatriya asked me five questions
and I did not know one of them." "What were they?" "These," said
Svetaketu and he recited them.
4. The father said: "My child, believe me, whatever I myself knew, I
told you. But come, let us go there and live as religious students
(brahmachirins)." "You may go, Sir," the son replied. Then Gautama went
to where King Pravahana, the son of Jivala, was giving audience. The
king offered him a seat, ordered water for him and made him the
reverential offering. Then he said: "Revered Gautama, we will give you
a boon."
5. Gautama said: "You have promised me this boon. Now please tell me
what you spoke about to my boy."
6. The king said: "Ah, those are divine boons, Gautama. Please ask a
human boon."
7. Gautama said: "You know well that I have gold, cows, horses,
maidservants, retinue and apparel. Please do not be ungenerous towards
me in regard to that gift which is plentiful, infinite and
in—exhaustible." The king said: "Then, verily, O Gautama, you should
ask it in the prescribed way." Gautama replied: "I approach you as a
disciple." The ancients used to approach a teacher through mere
declaration. So Gautama lived with the king by merely announcing that
he was a student.
8. The king said: "Please do not be offended with us even as your
paternal grandfather was not offended with ours. Before now this
knowledge never rested with a brahmin. But I shall teach it to you, for
who can refuse you when you speak like this? 190
9. "Yonder world is the sacrificial fire, the sun is its fuel, the
rays its smoke, the day its flame, the four quarters its cinders and
the intermediate quarters its sparks. In this fire the gods offer
faith as libation. Out of that offering King Moon is born.
10. "Parjanya (the god of rain), O Gautama, is the fire, the year is
its fuel, the clouds its smoke, lightning its flame, the thunderbolt
its cinders, the rumbling its sparks. In this fire the gods offer King
Moon as libation. Out of that offering rain is produced.
11. "This world, O Gautama, is the fire, the earth is its fuel, fire
its smoke, the night its flame, the moon its cinders, the stars its
sparks. In this fire the gods offer rain as libation. Out of that
offering food is produced.
12. "Man, O Gautama, is the fire, the open mouth is its fuel, the
vital breath its smoke, speech its flame, the eye its cinders and the
ear its sparks. In this fire the gods offer food as libation. Out of
that offering semen is produced.
13. "Woman, O Gautama, is the fire, her sexual organ is the fuel,
the hairs the smoke, the vulva the flame, sexual intercourse the
cinders, enjoyment the sparks. In this fire the gods offer semen as
libation. Out of this offering a man is born. He lives as long as he is
to live. Then, when he dies,
14. "They carry him to be offered in the fire. The fire becomes his
fire, the fuel his fuel, the smoke his smoke, the flame his flame, the
cinders his cinders and the sparks his sparks. In this fire the gods
offer the man as libation. Out of this offering the man emerges in
radiant splendour.
15. "Those even among householders who know this, as described and
those too who, living in the forest, meditate with faith upon the Satya
Brahman (Hiranyagarbha), reach the deity identified with flame, from him
the deity of the day, from him the deity of) the fortnight in which the
moon waxes, from him the deities of the six months during which the sun
travels northward, from them the deity identified with the world of the
gods (devaloka), from him the sun, from the sun the deity of lightning.
Then a being created from the mind of Hiranyagarbha comes and leads
them to the worlds of Brahmin. In those worlds of Brahma they become
exalted and live for many years. They no more return to this world.
16. "But those who conquer the worlds through sacrifices, charity
and austerity reach the deity of smoke, from smoke, the deity of the
night, from night the deity of the fortnight in which the moon wanes,
from the decreasing half of the moon the deities of the six months
during which the sun travels southward, from these months the deity of
the world of the Manes and from the world of the Manes, the moon.
Reaching the moon they become food. There the gods enjoy them, just as
here the priests drink the shining soma juice—saying as it were:
"Flourish, dwindle." And when their past work is exhausted they reach
this very akasa, from the akasa they reach the air, from the air rain,
from rain the earth. Reaching the earth they become food. Then they are
again offered in the fire of man and thence in the fire of woman. Out
of the fire of woman they are born and perform rites with a view to
going to other worlds. Thus do they rotate. "Those, however, who do
not know these two ways become insects and moths and those creatures
which often bite (i.e. mosquitoes and gnats)."
Chapter III—Rites for the Attainment of
Wealth
1. Whoever wishes to attain greatness (i.e. wealth for performing
sacrificial rites) should act as follows: On an auspicious day of the
fortnight in which the moon waxes, under a constellation bearing a
masculine name, during the northward journey of the sun, he should
undertake for twelve days a vow connected with the Upasads, gather in a
cup or a bowl made of fig wood all the herbs and their grains, sweep
and plaster the ground, lay the fire, spread the kusa grass, purify the
offering (clarified butter) according to the rules, place between
himself and the fire the mantha (the paste made of those herbs etc.)
and offer oblations with the following mantras: "O Fire, to all those
gods under you who spitefully slay men’s desires, I offer their share.
May they be satisfied and satisfy me with all the objects of my desire!
Svaha! "To that deity who turns out to be spiteful under your
protection, thinking that she is the support of all, I offer this
stream of clarified butter. Svaha!"
2. "Svaha to the oldest, svaha to the greatest!"—uttering these
words, he offers an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder
adhering to the ladle drip into the paste (mantha). "Svaha to the vital
breath (prana), svaha to the vasishtha (the most excellent)!"—uttering
these words, he offers an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder
adhering to the ladle drip into the paste (mantha). "Svaha to the
organ of speech, svaha to that which has steadiness!" —uttering these
words, he offers an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder
adhering to the ladle drip into the paste (mantha). "Svaha to the eye,
svaha to prosperity!"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in
the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the
paste (mantha). "Svaha to the ear, svaha to the abode!"—uttering these
words, he offers an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder
adhering to the ladle drip into the paste (mantha). "Svaha to the
mind, svaha to procreation (prajati)!"—uttering these words, he offers
an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle
drip into the paste (mantha). "Svaha to the organ of
generation!"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in the fire
and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the paste
(mantha).
3. "Svaha to fire"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in
the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the
paste. "Svaha to the moon"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation
in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the
paste. "Svaha to the earth"—uttering these words, he offers an
oblation in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip
into the paste. "Svaha to the sky"—uttering these words, he offers an
oblation in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip
into the paste. "Svaha to heaven"—uttering these words, he offers an
oblation in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip
into the paste. "Svaha to earth, sky and heaven"—uttering these words,
he offers an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to
the ladle drip into the paste. "Svaha to the brahmin"—uttering these
words, he offers an oblation in the fire and lets the remainder
adhering to the ladle drip into the paste. "Svaha to the
kshatriya"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in the fire and
lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the paste. "Svaha to
the past"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in the fire and
lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the paste. "Svaha
to the future"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in the fire
and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the paste.
"Svaha to the universe"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in
the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the
paste. "Svaha to all"—uttering these words, he offers an oblation in
the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip into the
paste. "Svaha to Prajapati"—uttering these words, he offers an
oblation in the fire and lets the remainder adhering to the ladle drip
into the paste.
4. Then he touches the paste, uttering the mantra: "You move as the
vital breath; you bum as fire; you are infinite as Brahman; you are
unshaken as the sky. You are the meeting—place of all. You are the
sound hing and are uttered as hing in the sacrifice by the prastotri.
You are the Udgitha and are chanted by the udgatri. You are recited by
the adhvaryu and recited back by the agnidhra. You are fully ablaze in
the moist cloud. You are omnipresent and the ruler. You are food as the
moon and light as fire. You are death and you are that in which all
things merge."
5. Then he raises the paste, saying: "As the vital breath you know
all; we too are aware of your greatness as the vital breath. The vital
breath is the king, the ruler, the sovereign. May it make me king,
ruler and sovereign."
6. Then he eats the paste, saying: ‘Tat saviturvarenyam’ (‘That
adorable light’)—’The winds blow sweetly (madhu), the rivers pour forth
sweetness (madhu); may the herbs be sweet (madhu) unto us!’ ‘Svaha to
the earth (Bhuh). ‘Bhargo devasya dhimahi’—(‘Of the radiant sun, We
meditate upon’ )—’May the nights and days be sweet (madhu), may
the dust of the earth be sweet (madhu), may heaven, our father, be
sweet (madhu)!’ ‘Svaha to the sky (Bhuvah).’ ‘Dhiyo yo nah prachodayit’
(‘May He stimulate our intellect’)— ‘May the soma creeper be sweet
(madhu) unto us, may the sun be sweet (madhu), may the quarters be
filled with sweetness (madhu) for us!’ ‘Svaha to heaven (Svah).’ Then
he repeats the whole Gayatri and all the verses about sweetness
(madhumati) and says at the end: "May I be all this! Svaha to earth,
sky and heaven. Then he eats all that is left of the paste, washes his
hands and lies down behind the fire with his head to the east. In the
morning he salutes the sun saying: "You are the one non—dual and best
lotus of the quarters; may I be the one lotus among men. Then he
returns the way he went, sits behind the fire and repeats the line of
teachers.
7. Uddalaka, the son of Aruna, taught this to his pupil Vijasaneya
Yajnavalkya and said: "Should One pour it (the paste) even On a dry
stump, branches would grow and leaves spring forth."
8. Then Vajasaneya Yajnavalkya taught this to his pupil Madhuka, the
son of Paingi and said: "Should one pour it even on a dry stump,
branches would grow and leaves spring forth."
9. Then Madhuka, the son of Paingi, taught this to his pupil Chula,
the son of Bhagavitta and said: "Should one pour it even on a dry
stump, branches would grow and leaves spring forth."
10. Then Chula, the son of Bhagavitta, taught this to his disciple
Janaki, the son of Ayasthuna and said: "Should One pour it even on a
dry stump, branches would grow and leaves spring forth."
11. Then Janaki, the son of Ayasthuna, taught this to his pupil
Satyakama, the son of Jabala and said: "Should one pour it even on a
dry stump, branches would grow and leaves spring forth."
12. And Satyakama, the son of Jabala, taught this to his pupils and
said: "Should one pour it even on a dry stump, branches would grow and
leaves spring forth." One must not teach this to anyone but a son or a
pupil.
13. Four articles are made of fig wood: the sacrificial ladle, the
bowl, the fuel and the two mixing—rods. The cultivated grains are ten
in number: Rice, barley, sesamum, beans, millet (anu), panic seeds
(priyangu), wheat, lentils, pulse and vetch. They should be crushed
and soaked in curds, honey and clarified butter and offered as an
oblation.
Chapter IV—Conception and Birth as
Religious Rites
1. The earth is verily the essence of all these beings, water is the
essence of the earth, herbs of water, flowers of herbs, fruits of
flowers, man of fruits and semen is the essence of man.
2. Prajapati said to Himself: "Well, let Me make a firm basis for it
(semen)." So He created woman. Having created her, He placed her below
and worshipped her. Therefore one should worship a woman, placing her
below. He (Prajapati) extended His organ that projects and with it
impregnated her.
3. Her lap is the sacrificial altar, her hair the sacrificial grass,
her skin within the organ the lighted fire; the two labia of the vulva
are the two stones of the soma—press. He who, knowing this, practises
sexual intercourse wins as great a world as is won through the Vijapeya
sacrifice; he acquires for himself the fruit of the good deeds of the
woman. But he who, without knowing this, practises sexual intercourse
turns over to the woman his own good deeds.
4. Having known this, Uddalaka the son of Aruna, Naka the son of
Mudgala and Kumara—harita said: "Many mortals, brahmins only in name,
perform the sexual act without knowledge of what has been said and
depart from this world impotent and without merit." Even if this much
semen—of one asleep or of one awake—is spilled,
5. He should touch it and repeat the following mantra: "Whatever
semen of mine has spilt on earth, whatever has flowed to plants,
whatever to water, I reclaim it." With these words he should take the
semen with his ring finger and thumb and rub it between his breasts or
eyebrows, repeating the following mantra: "Let the semen return to me,
let Vigour come to me again, let glow and good fortune come to me
again. May the deities who dwell in the sacrificial fire put the semen
back in its proper place."
6. Now, if a man sees himself (his reflection) in water, he should
recite the following mantra: "May the gods bestow on me vigour,
manhood, fame, wealth and merit." In praise of the wife who will bear
him a son: She (his wife) has put on the soiled clothes of impurity;
she is, verily, loveliness among women. Therefore when she has removed
the clothes of impurity and appears beautiful, he should approach her
and speak to her.
7. If she does not willingly yield her body to him, he should buy
her with presents. If she is still unyielding, he should strike her
with a stick or with his hand and overcome her, repeating the following
mantra: "With power and glory I take away your glory." Thus she
becomes discredited.
8. If she grants his desire, he should repeat the following mantra:
"With power and glory I give you glory." Thus they both become
glorious.
9. If a man desires his wife with the thought: "May she enjoy love
with me," then, after inserting the member in her, joining mouth to
mouth and stroking her organ, he should utter the following mantra: "O
semen, you have been produced from my every limb, especially from my
heart through the essence of food you are the essence of the limbs.
Bring this woman under my control, like a deer pierced by a poisoned
arrow."
10. Now, the wife whom he desires with the thought: "May she not
conceive"—after inserting the member in her and joining mouth to mouth,
he should inhale and then exhale, repeating the following mantra:
"With power, with semen, I reclaim the semen from you." Thus she comes
to be without semen.
11. Now, the wife whom he desires with the thought: "May she
conceive"—after inserting the member in her and joining mouth to mouth,
he should inhale and then exhale, repeating the following mantra:
"With power, with semen, I deposit semen in you." Thus she verily
becomes pregnant.
12. Now, if a man’s wife has a paramour whom he detests, he should
perform the following rite in order to cast an evil spell upon him:
Let him put fire in an unbaked earthen vessel, spread stalks of reed
and kusa grass inversely and offer in the sacrificial fire the reed
tips, soaked in clarified butter, inversely, repeating the following
mantra: "You have made a libation in my kindled fire! I take away your
prana and apana, you, _______! Here the name of the evil—doer should be
uttered. You have made a libation in my kindled fire! I take away your
sons and cattle, you, _______! You have made a libation in my kindled
fire! I take away your Vedic rites and those done according to the
Smritis, you, _______! You have made a libation in my kindled fire! I
take away your hopes and expectations, you, _______ He whom a brahmin
who knows this rite curses, departs from this world impotent and shorn
of merit. Therefore let no one even joke with the wife of a Vedic
scholar who knows this rite; for he who has this knowledge is a
dangerous enemy.
13. If a man’s wife has the monthly sickness, she should for three
days drink water from a cup made of bell metal. Let no sudra man or
woman touch her. After three nights she should bathe, put on a new
cloth and her husband should make her thresh rice.
14. If a man wishes that a son with a fair complexion should be born
to him, that he should study one Veda and that he should attain a full
term of life, then they (husband and wife) should have rice cooked in
milk and eat it with clarified butter. Thus they should be able to
beget such a son.
15. If a man wishes that a son with a tawny or brown complexion
should be born to him, that he should study two Vedas and that he
should attain a full term of life, then they should have rice cooked in
curds and eat it with clarified butter. Thus they should be able to
beget such a son.
16. If a man wishes that a son with a dark complexion and red eyes
should be born to him, that he should study three Vedas and that he
should attain a full term of life, then they should have rice cooked in
water and eat it with clarified butter. Thus they should be able to
beget such a son.
17. If a man wishes that a daughter should be born to him who will
be a scholar and attain a full term of life, then they should have rice
cooked with sesamum and eat it with clarified butter. Thus they should
be able to beget such a daughter.
18. If a man wishes that a son should be born to him who will be a
famous scholar, frequenting assemblies and speaking delightful words, a
student of all the Vedas and an enjoyer of the full term of life, he
should have rice cooked with the meat of a young bull or of one more
advanced in years and he and his wife should eat it with clarified
butter. Then they should be able to beget such a son.
19. Now, towards morning he purifies the clarified butter according
to the rules of Sthalipaka and offers Sthalipaka oblations repeatedly,
saying: "Svaha to fire! Svaha to Anumati! Svaha to the radiant sun,
who produces infallible results!" Having made the offering, he takes up
the remnant of the cooked food, eats part of it and gives the rest to
his wife. Then he washes his hands, fills the water—vessel and
sprinkles her thrice with water, uttering once this mantra: "Get up
from here, O Visvavasu! Seek another young woman, a wife with her
husband."
20. Then he embraces her, repeating the following mantra: I am the
vital breath and you are speech. You are speech and I am the vital
breath. I am Saman and you are Rig; I am heaven and you are earth.
Come, let us strive together so that we may have a male child."
21. Then he spreads apart her thighs, repeating the following
mantra: "Spread yourselves apart, Heaven and Earth." Inserting the
member in her and joining mouth to mouth, he strokes her three times
from head to foot, repeating the following mantra: "Let Vishnu make
the womb capable of bearing a son! Let Tvashtra shape the various limbs
of the child! Let Prajapati pour in the semen! Let Dhatra support the
embryo! O Sinivali, make her conceive; O goddess whose glory is
widespread, make her conceive! May the two Atvins, garlanded with
lotuses, support the embryo!
22. "Let the two Atvins chum the womb with the two golden arani
sticks! I am placing a seed in your womb to be delivered in the tenth
month. As the earth has fire in its womb, as heaven is pregnant with
the sun, as the quarters are impregnated by air, so I am impregnating
you by placing this seed in your womb." After the reciting of the
mantra, he utters his own name and that of his wife and places the
seed.
23. When she is about to deliver the child, he sprinkles her with
water, repeating the following mantra: "As the wind agitates a pond on
every side, even so let your foetus stir and come out along with the
chorion. Indra (prana) made a path when the seed entered the womb. O
Indra, follow 200 that path and come out with the foetus and the
covering and cause also the after birth to come forth with the babe."
24. When the son is born, he should light a fire, take the child on
his lap, put a mixture of curds and clarified butter in a bell— metal
cup and offer oblations in the fire repeatedly, uttering the mantra:
"May I increase as the son in my own home and support a thousand
people! May the Goddess of Fortune never depart, with children and
cattle, from his line! Svaha! The vital breath that is in me, I
mentally offer to you. Svaha! If I have done anything too much or too
little in this ceremony, may the all— knowing and highly beneficent
fire make it just right and proper for me. Svaha!"
25. The, putting his month to the child’s right ear, he should say
thrice: "Speech! Speech!" Next he would mix together curds, honey and
clarified butter and feed the child with a golden stick which is not
placed inside the month, saying these mantras: "I put the earth (Bhuh)
into you; I put the sky (Bhuvah) into you; I put heaven (Svah) into
you. The whole of earth, sky and heaven I put into you."
26. Then he (the father) gives him (the son) a name: ‘You are the
Veda (knowledge)." That is his secret name.
27. Then he presents him to the mother to give him her breast,
uttering the mantra: "O Sarasvati, that breast of thine which is
fruitful, the sustainer of all, full of milk, the bestower of wealth
and generous and by which thou nourishest all who are worthy—transfer
that breast here to my wife, for my child to suck.
28. Then he addresses the mother of the child thus: ‘You are the
adorable Arundhati, the wife of Vasishtha and with me, who am a man, as
your partner you have brought forth a male child. Be the mother of many
male children, for you have given us a son.
Chapter V—The Line of Teachers
1. Now the line of teachers: The son of Pautimashi received this
knowledge from the son of Katyayani. The son of Katyayani from the son
of Gautami. The son of Gautami from the son of Bharadvaji. The son of
Bharadvaji from the son of Parasari. The son of Parasari from the son
of Aupasvasti. The son of Aupasvasti from the son of another Parasari.
The son of this Parasari from the son of Katyayani. The son of
Katyayani from the son of Kausiki. The son of Kausiki from the son of
Alambi and the son of Vaiyaghrapadi. The son of Vaiyaghrapadi from the
son of Kanvi and the son of Kapi. The son of Kapi
2. From the son of Atreyi. The son of Atreyi from the son of
Gautami. The son of Gautami from the son of Bharadvaji. The son of
Bharadvaji from the son of Parasari. The son of Parasari from the son
of Vatsi. The son of Vatsi from the son of another Parasan.. The son of
this Parasan from the son of Varkaruni. The son of Varkaruni from the
son of another Varkaruni. The son of this Varkaruni from the son of
Artabbagi. The son of Artabbagi from the son of Saungi. The son of
Saungi from the son of Sankriti. The son of Sankriti from the son of
Alambayani. The son of Alambayani from the son of Alambi. The son of
Alambi from the son of Jayanti. The son of Jayanti from the son of
Mandukayani. The son of Mandukayani from the son of Manduki. The son of
Manduki from the son of Sandili. The son of Sandili from the son of
Rathitari. The son of Rathitari from the son of Bhaluki. The son of
Bhaluki from the two sons of Kraunchiki. The two sons of Kraunchiki
from the son of Vaidabhriti. The son of Vaidabhriti from the son of
Karsakeyi. The son of Karsakeyi from the son of Prachinayogi. The son
of Prachinayogi from the son of Sanjivi. The son of Sanjivi from
Asurivasin, who was the son of Prasni. The son of Prasni from
Asurayana. Asurayana from Asuri. Asuri
3. From Yajnavalkya. Yajnavalkya from Uddalaka. Uddalaka from Aruna.
Aruna from Upavesi. Upavesi from Kusri. Kusri from Vajasravas.
Vajasravas from Jihvavat, the son of Badhyoga. Jihvavat, the son of
Badhyoga, from Asita, the son of Varshagana. Asita, the son of
Varshagana, from Harita Kasyapa. Harita Kasyapa from Silpa Kasyapa.
Silpa Kasyapa from Kasyapa, the son of Nidhruva. Kasyapa, the son of
Nidhruva, from Vach. Vach from Ambhini. Ambhini from the sun. These
white Yajuses (sacrificial formulas not vitiated by human blemishes)
are explained by Yajnavalkya, belonging to the Vajasaneyi school.
4. The line of teachers is the same up to the son of Sanjivi. The
son of Sanjivi received this knowledge from Mandukayani. Mandukayani
from Mandavya. Mandavya from Kautsa. Kautsa from Mahitthi. Mahitthi
from Vamakakshiyana. Vamakakshiyana from Sandilya. Sandilya from
Vatsya. Vatsya from Kusri. Kusri from Yajnavachas, the son of
Rajastamba. Yajnavachas, the son of Rajastamba, from Tura, the son of
Kavashi. Tura, the son of Kavashi, from Prajapati (Hiranyagarbha).
Prajapati received this knowledge from his relationship to Brahman (the
Vedas). Brahman is self— existent. Salutation to Brahman.
End of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
The Peace Chant
Om.
That is full; this is full. This fullness has been projected from that
fullness. When this fullness merges in that fullness, all that remains
is fullness.
Om.
Peace! Peace! Peace!
Part
One |
Part
Two |
Part
Three |
Part
Four |
Part
Five |
Part
Six
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