# Sacred Books of the East/Volume 1/Khândogya-upanishad/Fifth Prapâthaka

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FIFTH PRAPÂTHAKA.
First Khanda.
1. He who knows the oldest and the best becomes himself the oldest and the best. Breath indeed is the oldest and the best.
2. He who knows the richest, becomes himself the richest. Speech indeed is the richest.
3. He who knows the firm rest, becomes himself firm in this world and in the next. The eye indeed is the firm rest.
4. He who knows success, his wishes succeed, both his divine and human wishes. The ear indeed is success.
5. He who knows the home, becomes a home of his people. The mind indeed is the home.
​7. They went to their father Pragâpati and said: 'Sir, who is the best of us?' He replied: 'He by whose departure the body seems worse than worst, he is the best of you.'
8. The tongue (speech) departed, and having been absent for a year, it came round and said: 'How have you been able to live without me?' They replied: 'Like mute people, not speaking, but breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, thinking with the mind. Thus we lived.' Then speech went back.
9. The eye (sight) departed, and having been absent for a year, it came round and said: 'How have you been able to live without me?' They replied: 'Like blind people, not seeing, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the tongue, hearing with the ear, thinking with the mind. Thus we lived.' Then the eye went back.
10. The ear (hearing) departed, and having been absent for a year, it came round and said: 'How have you been able to live without me?' They replied: 'Like deaf people, not hearing, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the tongue, thinking with the mind. Thus we lived.' Then the ear went back.
11. The mind departed, and having been absent for a year, it came round and said: 'How have you been able to live without me?' They replied: 'Like children whose mind is not yet formed, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the tongue, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear. Thus we lived.' Then the mind went back.
12. The breath, when on the point of departing, tore up the other senses, as a horse, going to start, ​might tear up the pegs to which he is tethered. They came to him and said: 'Sir, be thou (our lord); thou art the best among us. Do not depart from us!'
13. Then the tongue said to him: 'If I am the richest, thou art the richest.' The eye said to him: 'If I am the firm rest, thou art the firm rest.'
14. The ear said to him: 'If I am success, thou art success.' The mind said to him: 'If I am the home, thou art the home.'
15. And people do not call them, the tongues, the eyes, the ears, the minds, but the breaths (prâna, the senses). For breath are all these.
Second Khanda.
1. Breath said: 'What shall be my food?' They answered: 'Whatever there is, even unto dogs and birds.' Therefore this is food for Ana (the breather). His name is clearly Ana. To him who knows this there is nothing that is not (proper) food.
​ 3. Satyakâma Gâbâla, after he had communicated this to Gosruti Vaiyâghrapadya, said to him: 'If you were to tell this to a dry stick, branches would grow, and leaves spring from it.'
4. If a man wishes to reach greatness, let him perform the Dîkshâ (preparatory rite) on the day of the new moon, and then, on the night of the full moon, let him stir a mash of all kinds of herbs with curds and honey, and let him pour ghee on the fire (âvasathya laukika), saying, 'Svâhâ to the oldest and the best.' After that let him throw all that remains (of the ghee) into the mash.
5. In the same manner let him pour ghee on the fire, saying, 'Svâhâ to the richest.' After that let him throw all that remains together into the mash.
In the same manner let him pour ghee on the fire, saying, 'Svâhâ to the firm rest.' After that let him throw all that remains together into the mash. In the same manner let him pour ghee on the fire, saying, 'Svâhâ to success.' After that let him throw all that remains together into the mash.
6. Then going forward and placing the mash ​in his hands, he recites: 'Thou (Prâna) art Ama by name, for all this together exists in thee. He is the oldest and best, the king, the sovereign. May he make me the oldest, the best, the king, the sovereign. May I be all this.'
7. Then he eats with the following Rik verse at every foot: 'We choose that food'—here he swallows—'Of the divine Savitri (prâna)'—here he swallows—'The best and all-supporting food'— here he swallows — "We meditate on the speed of Bhaga (Savitri, prâna)'—here he drinks all.
8. Having cleansed the vessel, whether it be a kamsa or a kamasa, he sits down behind the fire on a skin or on the bare ground, without speaking or making any other effort. If in his dream he sees a woman, let him know this to be a sign that his sacrifice has succeeded.
9. On this there is a Sloka: 'If during sacrifices which are to fulfil certain wishes he sees in his dreams a woman, let him know success from this vision in a dream, yea, from this vision in a dream.'
Third Khanda.
1. Svetaketu Âruneya went to an assembly of the Pañkâlas. Pravâhana Gaivali said to him: 'Boy, has your father instructed you?' 'Yes, Sir,' he replied.
​'Do you know how they return again?' 'No Sir,' he replied.
'Do you know where the path of Devas and the path of the fathers diverge?' 'No, Sir,' he replied.
3. "Do you know why that world never becomes full?' 'No, Sir," he replied.
'Do you know why in the fifth libation water is called Man?' 'No, Sir,' he replied.
4. 'Then why did you say (you had been) instructed? How could anybody who did not know these things say that he had been instructed?' Then the boy went back sorrowful to the place of his father, and said: 'Though you had not instructed me, Sir, you said you had instructed me.
5. 'That fellow of a Râganya asked me five questions, and I could not answer one of them.' The father said: 'As you have told me these questions of his, I do not know any one of them. If I knew these questions, how should I not have told you?
6. Then Gautama went to the kings place, and when he had come to him, the king offered him proper respect. In the morning the king went out on his way to the assembly. The king said to him: ​'Sir, Gautama, ask a boon of such things as men possess.' He replied: 'Such things as men possess may remain with you. Tell me the speech which you addressed to the boy.'
7. The king was perplexed, and commanded him, saying: 'Stay with me some time.' Then he said: 'As (to what) you have said to me, Gautama, this knowledge did not go to any Brâhmana before you, and therefore this teaching belonged in all the worlds to the Kshatra class alone. Then he began:
Fourth Khanda.
1. 'The altar (on which the sacrifice is supposed to be offered) is that world (heaven), O Gautama; its fuel is the sun itself, the smoke his rays, the light the day, the coals the moon, the sparks the stars.
2. 'On that altar the Devas (or prânas, represented by Agni, &c.) offer the sraddhâ libation (consisting of water). From that oblation rises Soma, the king (the moon).
Fifth Khanda.
​2. 'On that altar the Devas offer Soma, the king (the moon). From that oblation rises rain.
Sixth Khanda.
1. 'The altar is the earth, O Gautama; its fuel is the year itself, the smoke the ether, the light the night, the coals the quarters, the sparks the intermediate quarters.
2. 'On that altar the Devas (prânas) offer rain. From that oblation rises food (corn, &c.)
Seventh Khanda.
1. 'The altar is man, O Gautama; its fuel speech itself, the smoke the breath, the light the tongue, the coals the eye, the sparks the ear.
2. 'On that altar the Devas (prânas) offer food. From that oblation rises seed.
Eighth Khanda.
1. 'The altar is woman, O Gautama.
2. 'On that altar the Devas (prânas) offer seed. From that oblation rises the germ.
Ninth Khanda.
1. 'For this reason is water in the fifth oblation called Man. This germ, covered in the womb, having dwelt there ten months, or more or less, is born.
2. 'When born, he lives whatever the length of his life may be. When he has departed, his friends carry him, as appointed, to the fire (of the funeral pile) from whence he came, from whence he sprang.
Tenth Khanda.
1. 'Those who know this (even though they still be grihasthas, householders) and those who in the forest follow faith and austerities (the vânaprasthas, and of the parivrâgakas those who do not yet know the Highest Brahman) go to light (arkis), from light to day, from day to the light half of the moon, from the light half of the moon to the six months when the sun goes to the north, from the six months when the sun goes to the north to the year, from the year to the sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to the lightning. There is a person not human,—
2. 'He leads them to Brahman (the conditioned Brahman). This is the path of the Devas.
3. 'But they who living in a village practise (a life of) sacrifices, works of public utility, and alms, they go to the smoke, from smoke to night, from night to the dark half of the moon, from the dark half of the moon to the six months when the sun goes to the south. But they do not reach the year.
​5. 'Having dwelt there, till their (good) works are consumed, they return again that way as they came, to the ether, from the ether to the air. Then the sacrificer, having become air, becomes smoke, having become smoke, he becomes mist,
​7. 'Those whose conduct has been good, will quickly attain some good birth, the birth of a Brâhmana, or a Kshatriya, or a Vaisya. But those whose conduct has been evil, will quickly attain an evil birth, the birth of a dog, or a hog, or a Kandâla.
8. 'On neither of these two ways those small creatures (flies, worms, &c.) are continually returning of whom it may be said, Live and die. Theirs is a third place.
​'Hence let a man take care to himself! And thus it is said in the following Sloka:—
9. 'A man who steals gold, who drinks spirits, ​who dishonours his Guru's bed, who kills a Brahman, these four fall, and as a fifth he who associates with them.
10. 'But he who thus knows the five fires is not defiled by sin even though he associates with them. He who knows this, is pure, clean, and obtains the world of the blessed, yea, he obtains the world of the blessed.'
Eleventh Khanda.
1. Prâkînasâla Aupamanyava, Satyayagña Paulushi, Indradyumna Bhâllaveya, Gana Sârkarâkshya, and Budila Âsvatarasvi, these five great householders and great theologians came once together and held a discussion as to What is our Self, and what is Brahman.
2. They reflected and said: 'Sirs, there is that Uddâlaka Âruni, who knows at present that Self, ​called Vaisvânara. Well, let us go to him.' They went to him.
3. But he reflected: 'Those great householders and great theologians will examine me, and I shall not be able to tell them all; therefore I shall recommend another teacher to them.'
4. He said to them: 'Sirs, Asvapati Kaikeya knows at present that Self, called Vaisvânara. Well, let us go to him.' They went to him.
5. When they arrived (the king) ordered proper presents to be made separately to each of them. And rising the next morning he said: 'In my kingdom there is no thief, no miser, no drunkard, no man without an altar in his house, no ignorant person, no adulterer, much less an adulteress. I am going to perform a sacrifice, Sirs, and as much wealth as I give to each Ritvig priest, I shall give to you, Sirs. Please to stay here.'
6. They replied: 'Every man ought to say for what purpose he comes. You know at present that Vaisvânara Self, tell us that.'
7. He said: 'To-morrow I shall give you an answer.' Therefore on the next morning they approached him, carrying fuel in their hands (like students), and he, without first demanding any preparatory rites, said to them:
Twelfth Khanda.
1. 'Aupamanyava, whom do you meditate on as the Self?' He replied: 'Heaven only, venerable king.' He said: 'The Self which you meditate on is the Vaisvânara Self, called Sutegas (having good light). Therefore every kind of Soma libation is seen in your house.
2. 'You eat food, and see your desire (a son, &c), and whoever thus meditates on that Vaisvânara Self, eats food, sees his desire, and has Vedic glory (arising from study and sacrifice) in his house. That, however, is but the head of the Self, and thus your head would have fallen (in a discussion), if you had not come to me.'
Thirteenth Khanda.
1. Then he said to Satyayagña Paulushi: 'O Prâkînayogya, whom do you meditate on as the Self?' He replied: 'The sun only, venerable king.' He said: 'The Self which you meditate on is the Vaisvânara Self, called Visvarûpa (multiform). Therefore much and manifold wealth is seen in your house.
2. 'There is a car with mules, full of slaves and jewels. You eat food and see your desire, and whoever thus meditates on that Vaisvânara Self, eats food and sees his desire, and has Vedic glory in his house.
'That, however, is but the eye of the Self, and you would have become blind, if you had not come to me.'
Fourteenth Khanda.
1. Then he said to Indradyumna Bhâllaveya: 'O Vaiyâghrapadya, whom do you meditate on as the Self?' He replied: 'Air only, venerable king.' He said: 'The Self which you meditate on is the Vaisvânara Self, called Prithagvartman (having various courses). Therefore offerings come to you in various ways, and rows of cars follow you in various ways.
2. 'You eat food and see your desire, and whoever thus meditates on that Vaisvânara Self, eats food and sees his desire, and has Vedic glory in his house.
'That, however, is but the breath of the Self, and your breath would have left you, if you had not come to me.'
Fifteenth Khanda.
1. Then he said to Gana Sârkarâkshya: 'Whom do you meditate on as the Self?' He replied: 'Ether only, venerable king.' He said: 'The Self which you meditate on is the Vaisvânara Self, called Bahula (full). Therefore you are full of offspring and wealth.
2. 'You eat food and see your desire, and whoever thus meditates on that Vaisvânara Self, eats food and sees his desire, and has Vedic glory in his house.
That, however, is but the trunk of the Self, and your trunk would have perished, if you had not come to me.'
Sixteenth Khanda.
1. Then he said to Budila Âsvatarâsvi, 'O Vaiyâghrapadya, whom do you meditate on as the Self?' He replied: 'Water only, venerable king.' He said: ​'The Self which you meditate on is the Vaisvânara Self, called Rayi (wealth). Therefore are you wealthy and flourishing.
2. 'You eat food and see your desire, and whoever thus meditates on that Vaisvânara Self, eats food and sees his desire, and has Vedic glory in his house.
'That, however, is but the bladder of the Self, and your bladder would have burst, if you had not come to me.'
Seventeenth Khanda.
1. Then he said to Auddâlaka Âruni: 'O Gautama, whom do you meditate on as the Self?' He replied: 'The earth only, venerable king.' He said: 'The Self which you meditate on is the Vaisvânara Self, called Pratishthâ (firm rest). Therefore you stand firm with offspring and cattle.
2. 'You eat food and see your desire, and whoever thus meditates on that Vaisvânara Self, eats food and sees his desire, and has Vedic glory in his house.
'That, however, are but the feet of the Self, and your feet would have given way, if you had not come to me.'
Eighteenth Khanda.
1. Then he said to them all: 'You eat your food, knowing that Vaisvânara Self as if it were many. But he who worships the Vaisvânara Self as a span long, and as identical with himself, he eats food in all worlds, in all beings, in all Selfs.
​2. 'Of that Vaisvânara Self the head is Sutegas (having good light), the eye Visvarûpa (multiform), the breath Prithagvartman (having various courses), the trunk Bahula (full), the bladder Rayi (wealth), the feet the earth, the chest the altar, the hairs the grass on the altar, the heart the Gârhapatya fire, the mind the Anvâhârya fire, the mouth the Âhavanîya fire.
Nineteenth Khanda.
1. 'Therefore the first food which a man may take, is in the place of Homa. And he who offers that first oblation, should offer it to Prâna (up-breathing), saying Svâhâ. Then Prâna (up-breathing) is satisfied,
2. 'If Prâna is satisfied, the eye is satisfied, if the eye is satisfied, the sun is satisfied, if the sun is satisfied, heaven is satisfied, if heaven is satisfied, whatever is under heaven and under the sun is satisfied. And through their satisfaction he (the sacrificer or eater) himself is satisfied with offspring, cattle, health, brightness, and Vedic splendour.
Twentieth Khanda.
1. 'And he who offers the second oblation, should offer it to Vyâna (back-breathing), saying Svâhâ. Then Vyina is satisfied,
2. 'If Vyâna is satisfied, the ear is satisfied, if the ear is satisfied, the moon is satisfied, if the moon is satisfied, the quarters are satisfied, if the quarters are satisfied, whatever is under the quarters and under the moon is satisfied. And through their satisfaction he (the sacrificer or eater) himself is satisfied with offspring, cattle, health, brightness, and Vedic splendour.
Twenty-first Khanda.
1. 'And he who offers the third oblation, should offer it to Apâna (down-breathing), saying Svâhâ. Then Apâna is satisfied. If Apâna is satisfied, the tongue is satisfied, if the tongue is satisfied, Agni (fire) is satisfied, if Agni is satisfied, the earth is satisfied, if the earth is satisfied, whatever is under the earth and under fire is satisfied.
2. 'And through their satisfaction he (the sacrificer or eater) himself is satisfied with offspring, cattle, health, brightness, and Vedic splendour.
Twenty-second Khanda.
1. 'And he who offers the fourth oblation, should offer it to Samâna (on-breathing), saying Svâhâ. Then Samâna is satisfied,
2. 'If Samâna is satisfied, the mind is satisfied, if the mind is satisfied, Parganya (god of rain) is satisfied, if Parganya is satisfied, lightning is satisfied, if lightning is satisfied, whatever is under Parganya and under lightning is satisfied. And through their ​satisfaction he (the sacrificer or eater) himself is satisfied with offspring, cattle, health, brightness, and Vedic splendour.
Twenty-third Khanda.
1. 'And he who offers the fifth oblation, should offer it to Udâna (out-breathing), saying Svâhâ. Then Udâna is satisfied,
2. 'If Udâna is satisfied, Vâyu (air) is satisfied, if Vâyu is satisfied, ether is satisfied, if ether is satisfied, whatever is under Vâyu and under the ether is satisfied. And through their satisfaction he (the sacrificer or eater) himself is satisfied with offspring, cattle, health, brightness, and Vedic splendour.
Twenty-fourth Khanda.
1. 'If, without knowing this, one offers an Agnihotra, it would be as if a man were to remove the live coals and pour his libation on dead ashes.
2. 'But he who offers this Agnihotra with a full knowledge of its true purport, he offers it (i.e. he eats food) in all worlds, in all beings, in all Selfs.
3. 'As the soft fibres of the Ishîkâ reed, when thrown into the fire, are burnt, thus all his sins are burnt whoever offers this Agnihotra with a full knowledge of its true purport.
4. 'Even if he gives what is left of his food to a Kandâla, it would be offered in his (the Kandâla's) Vaisvânara Self. And so it is said in this Sloka:—
'As hungry children here on earth sit (expectantly) round their mother, so do all beings sit round the Agnihotra, yea, round the Agnihotra.'
* ↑ The chief object is to show the different ways on which people proceed after death. One of these ways, the Devapatha that leads to Brahman and from which there is no return, has been described, IV, 15. The other ways for those who on earth know the conditioned Brahman only, have to be discussed now.
* ↑ The same fable, the prânasamvâda or prânavidyâ, is told in the Brihadâranyaka VI, 1, 1-14, the Aitareya Âr. II, 4, the Kaush. Up. Ill, 3, and the Prasna Up. II, 3. The last is the simplest version of all, but it does not follow therefore that it is the oldest. It would be difficult to find two fables apparently more alike, yet in reality differing from each other more characteristically than this fable and the fable told to the plebeians by Menenius Agrippa.
* ↑ Padvîsa, fetter, πέδη, pedica, a word now well known, but which Burnouf (Commentaire sur le Yaçna, Notes, CLXXIV) tried in vain to decipher.
* ↑ Burnouf rightly preferred pratishthâsi to pratishtho 'si, though the commentary on the corresponding passage of the Brihadâranyaka seems to favour tatpratishtho 'si.
* ↑ Ana, breather, more general than pra-ana=prâna, forth-breather, and the other more specified names of breath.
* ↑ They rinse the mouth before and after every meal.
* ↑ We expect, "He who knows this' instead of prâna, but as prâna may apply to every individual prâna, the usual finishing sentence was possibly dropt on purpose.
* ↑ The oblation here described is called mantha, a mortar, or what is pounded in a mortar, i.e. barley stirred in some kind of gravy. See Gaim. N.M.V. p. 406.
* ↑ Not the real dîkshâ, which is a preparatory rite for great sacrifices, but penance, truthfulness, abstinence, which take the place of dîkshâ with those who live in the forest and devote themselves to upâsana, meditative worship.
* ↑ What is here called sampâtam avanayati is the same as samsravam avanayati in the Brih. Âr. VI, 3, 2. The commentator says: Sruvâvalepanam âgyam mantham samsrâvayati.
* ↑ Cf. Brih. Âr. I, 1, 3, 22.
* ↑ This story is more fully told in the Brihadâranyaka VI, 2, Satapatha-brâhmana XIV, 8, 16.
* ↑ Samiti, or parishad, as in the Brih. Âr.
* ↑ He is the same Kshatriya sage who appeared in 1, 8, 1, silencing the Brâhmans.
* ↑ That of the fathers. Comm.
* ↑ Or, according to others, why the water has a human voice; purushavâkah in Brih. Âr. XIV, 9, 3.
* ↑ I doubt whether the elliptical construction of these sentences is properly filled out by the commentator. In the Brihadâranyaka the construction is much easier. 'You know me well enough to know that whatever I know, I told you.'
* ↑ I read avedishyam, though both the text and commentary give avadishyam. Still viditavân asmi points to an original avedishyam, and a parallel passage, VI, 1, 7, confirms this emendation.
* ↑ Cf. Kh. Up. V, 11, 5.
* ↑ He answers the last question, why water in the fifth libation is called Man, first.
* ↑ The sacrificers themselves rise through their oblations to heaven, and attain as their reward a Soma-like nature.
* ↑ Hrâduni, generally explained by hail, but here by stanayitnusabdâh, rumblings.
* ↑ The water, which had assumed the nature of Soma, now becomes rain.
* ↑ Tasyâ upastha eva samid, yad upamantrayate sa dhûmo, yonir arkir, yad antah karoti te 'ngârâ abhinandâ vishphulingâh.
* ↑ The doctrine of the five fires, and our being born in them, i.e. in heaven, rain, earth, man, and woman.
* ↑ Cf. Kh. Up. IV, 15, 5.
* ↑ Instead of mânava, human, or amânava, not human, the Brih. Âr. reads mânasa, mental, or created by manas, mind.
* ↑ This passage has been translated, "They are the food of the gods. The gods do eat it." And this is indeed the literal meaning of the words. But bhag (to enjoy) and bhaksh (to eat) are often used by theosophical writers in India, in the more general sense of cherishing or loving, and anna in the sense of an object of desire, love, and protection. The commentators, however, as the use of bhaksh in this sense is exceptional, or as it has no support in the use of the ancients, warn us here against a possible misunderstanding. If those, they say, who have performed sacrifices enter at last into the essence of Soma, the moon, and are eaten by the Devas, by Indra, &c, what is the use of their good works? No, they reply, they are not really eaten. Food (anna) means only what is helpful and delightful; it is not meant that they are eaten by morsels, but that they form the delight of the Devas. Thus we hear it said that men, women, and cattle are food for kings. And if it is said that women are loved by men, they are, in being loved, themselves loving. Thus these men also, being loved by the Devas, are happy and rejoice with the Devas. Their body, in order to be able to rejoice in the, moon, becomes of a watery substance, as it was said before, that the water, called the Sraddhâ libation, when offered in heaven, as in the fire of the altar, becomes Soma, the king (Kh. Up. V, 4, 1). That water becomes, after various changes, the body of those who have performed good works, and when a man is dead and his body burnt (Kh. Up. V, 9, 2), the water rises from the body upwards with the smoke, and carries him to the moon, where, in that body, he enjoys the fruits of his good works, as long as they last. When they are consumed, like the oil in a lamp, he has to return to a new round of existences.
* ↑ But only to a certain point.
* ↑ In this manner all the five questions have been answered. First, why in the fifth oblation water is called man; secondly, to what place men go after death, some by the path of the Devas, others by the path of the fathers, others again by neither of these paths; thirdly, how they return, some returning to Brahman, others returning to the earth; fourthly, where the paths of the Devas and the fathers diverge, viz. when from the half-year the path of the Devas goes on to the year, while that of the fathers branches off to the world of the fathers; fifthly, why that world, the other world, does never become full, viz. because men either go on to Brahman or return again to this world. Many questions are raised among Indian philosophers on the exact meaning of certain passages occurring in the preceding paragraphs. First, as to who is admitted to the path of the Devas? Householders, who know the secret doctrine of the five fires or the five libations of the Agnihotra, as described above, while other householders, who only perform the ordinary sacrifices, without a knowledge of their secret meaning, go by the path of the fathers. Secondly, those who have retired to the forest, and whose worship there consists in faith and austerities, i.e. Vânaprasthas and Parivrâgakas, before they arrive at a knowledge of the true Brahman. The question then arises, whether religious students also enter the path of the Devas? This is affirmed, because Purânas and Smritis assert it, or because our text, if properly understood, does not exclude it. Those, on the contrary, who know not only a conditioned, but the highest unconditioned Brahman, do not proceed on the path of the Devas, but obtain Brahman immediately. Again, there is much difference of opinion whether, after a man has been in the moon, consuming his works, he can be born again. Birth is the result of former works, and if former works are altogether consumed, there can be no new birth. This, however, is shown to be an erroneous view, because, besides the good sacrificial works, the fruits of which are consumed in the moon, there are other works which have to be enjoyed or expiated, as the case may be, in a new existence. The great difficulty or danger in the round of transmigration arises when the rain has fructified the earth, and passes into herbs and trees, rice, corn, and beans. For, first of all, some of the rain does not fructify at once, but falls into rivers and into the sea, to be swallowed up by fishes and sea monsters. Then, only after these have been dissolved in the sea, and after the sea water has been attracted by the clouds, the rain falls down again, it may be on desert or stony land. Here it may be swallowed by snakes or deer, and these may be swallowed by other animals, so that the round of existence seems endless. Nor is this all. Some rain may dry up, or be absorbed by bodies that cannot be eaten. Then, if the rain is absorbed by rice, corn, &c, and this be eaten, it may be eaten by children or by men who have renounced marriage, and thus again lose the chance of a new birth. Lastly, there is the danger arising from the nature of the being in whom the food, such as rice and corn, becomes a new seed, and likewise from the nature of the mother. All these chances have to be met before a new birth as a Brâhmana, Kshatriya, or Vaisya can be secured. Another curious distinction is here made by Sankara in his commentary. There are some, he says, who assume the form of rice, corn, &c, not in their descent from a higher world, as described in the Upanishad, but as a definite punishment for certain evil deeds they have committed. These remain in that state till the results of their evil deeds are over, and assume then a new body, according to their work, like caterpillars. With them there is also a consciousness of these states, and the acts which caused them to assume this or that body, leave impressions behind, like dreams. This is not the case with those who in their descent from the moon, pass, as we saw, through an existence as rice, corn, &c. They have no consciousness of such existences, at least not in their descent. In their ascent to the moon, they have consciousness, as a man who climbs up a tree knows what he is about. But in their descent, that consciousness is gone, as it is when a man falls down from a tree. Otherwise a man, who by his good works had deserved rewards in the moon, would, while corn is being ground, suffer tortures, as if he were in hell, and the very object of good works, as taught by the Veda, would be defeated. As we see that a man struck by a hammer can be carried away unconscious, so it is in the descent of souls, till they are born again as men, and gain a new start for the attainment of the Highest Brahman.
* ↑ Let him despise it. Comm.
* ↑ Evidently an old Trishtubh verse, but irregular in the third line. See Manu XI, 54.
* ↑ The same story is found in the Satapatha-brâhmana X, 6, I, I.
* ↑ Âtman and Brâhman are to be taken as predicate and subject.
* ↑ The commentator explains that the king, seeing that they would not accept his presents, and thinking that they did not consider him worthy of bestowing presents on them, made these remarks.
* ↑ When they still refused his presents, he thought the presents he had offered were too small, and therefore invited them to a sacrifice.
* ↑ He was satisfied with the humility of the Brahmans, who, being Brahmans, came to him, who was not a Brahman, as pupils.
* ↑ Soma is said to be suta in the Ekâha, prasuta in the Ahîna, âsuta in the Sattra-sacrifices.
* ↑ The two words prâdesamâtra and abhivimâna are doubtful. The commentator explains the first in different ways, which are all more or less fanciful. He is measured or known (mâtra) as Self, by means of heaven as his head and the earth as his feet, these being the prâdesas; or, in the mouth and the rest, which are instruments, he is known as without action himself; or, he has the length from heaven to earth, heaven and earth being called prâdesa, because they are taught. The interpretation, supported by the Gâbâlasruti, that prâdera is the measure from the forehead to the chin, he rejects. Abhivimâna is taken in the same meaning as abhimâna in the Vedânta, seeing everything in oneself. Vaisvânara is taken as the real Self of all beings, and, in the end, of all Selfs, and as thus to be known and worshipped.
* ↑ The object now is to show that to him who knows the Vaisvânara Self, the act of feeding himself is like feeding Vaisvânara, and that feeding Vaisvânara is the true Agnihotra.
* ↑ Cf. V, 18, 1.
Footnotes