Brahadaranyaka Upanishad - Part 6
 

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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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