[ p. 247 ]
THIRD ÂRANYAKA [^619].
FIRST ADHYÂYA.
1. Next follows the Upanishad of the Samhitâ [^620].
2. The former half is the earth, the latter half the heaven, their union the air [1], thus says Mândukeya; their union is the ether, thus did Mâkshavya teach it.
3. That air is not considered [2] independent [3], therefore I do not agree with his (Mandûka’s) son.
4. Verily, the two are the same, therefore air is [ p. 248 ] considered independent, thus says Âgastya. For it is the same, whether they say air or ether 1.
5. So far with reference to deities (mythologically); now with reference to the body (physiologically):
6. The former half is speech, the latter half is mind, their union breath (prâna), thus says Sûravîra 2 Mândukeya.
7. But his eldest son said: The former half is mind, the latter half speech. For we first conceive with the mind indeed 3, and then we utter with speech. Therefore the former half is indeed mind, the latter half speech, but their union is really breath.
8. Verily, it is the same with both, the father (Mândukeya) and the son 4.
9. This (meditation as here described), joined 5 with mind, speech, and breath, is (like) a chariot drawn by two horses and one horse between them (prashtivâhana).
10. And he who thus knows this union, becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
11. Now all this comes from the Mândukeyas.
1. Next comes the meditation as taught by Sâkalya. [ p. 249 ] 2. The first half is the earth, the second half heaven, their uniting the rain, the uniter Parganya [4].
3. And so it is when he (Parganya) rains thus strongly, without ceasing, day and night [5],
4. Then they say also (in ordinary language), ‘Heaven and earth have come together.’
5. So much with regard to the deities; now with regard to the body:—
6. Every man is indeed like an egg [6]. There are two halves [7] (of him), thus they say: ‘This half is the earth, that half heaven.’ And there between them is the ether (the space of the mouth), like the ether between heaven and earth. In this ether there (in the mouth) the breath is fixed, as in that other ether the air is fixed. And as there are those three luminaries (in heaven), there are these three luminaries in man.
7. As there is that sun in heaven, there is this eye in the head. As there is that lightning in the sky, there is this heart in the body; as there is that fire on earth, there is this seed in the member.
8. Having thus represented the self (body) as the whole world, Sâkalya said: This half is the earth, that half heaven.
9. He who thus knows this union, becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, [ p. 250 ] and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
1. Next come the reciters of the Nirbhuga [9].
2. Nirbhuga abides on earth, Pratrinna in heaven, the Ubhayamantarena in the sky.
3. Now, if any one should chide him who recites the Nirbhuga, let him answer: ‘Thou art fallen from the two lower places [10].’ If any one should chide him who recites the Pratrinna, let him answer: ‘Thou art fallen from the two higher places [11].’ But he who recites the Ubhayamantarena, there is no chiding him.
4. For when he turns out the Sandhi (the union of words), that is the form of Nirbhuga [12]; and when be pronounces two syllables pure (without modification), that is the form of Pratrinna [13]. This comes [ p. 251 ] first [14]. By the Ubhayamantara (what is between the two) both are fulfilled (both the sandhi and the pada).
5. Let him who wishes for proper food say the Nirbhuga; let him who wishes for Svarga, say the Pratrinna; let him who wishes for both say the Ubhayamantarena.
6. Now if another man (an enemy) should chide him who says the Nirbhuga, let him say to him: ‘Thou hast offended the earth, the deity; the earth, the deity, will strike thee.’
If another man should chide him who says the Pratrinna, let him say to him: ‘Thou hast offended heaven, the deity; heaven, the deity, will strike thee.’
If another man should chide him who says the Ubhayamantarena, let him say to him: ‘Thou hast offended the sky, the deity; the sky, the deity, will strike thee.’
7. And whatever the reciter shall say to one who speaks to him or does not speak to him, depend upon it, it will come to pass.
8. But to a Brâhmana let him not say anything except what is auspicious.
9. Only he may curse a Brâhmana in excessive wealth [15].
10. Nay, not even in excessive wealth should he curse a Brâhmana, but he should say, ‘I bow before Brâhmanas,’—thus says Sûravîra Mândûkeya.
[ p. 252 ]
1. Next follow the imprecations [16].
2. Let him know that breath [17] is the beam (on which the whole house of the body rests).
3. If any one (a Brâhmana or another man) should chide him, who by meditation has become that breath as beam [18], then, if he thinks himself strong, he says: ‘I grasped the breath, the beam, well; thou dost not prevail against me who have grasped the breath as the beam.’ Let him say to him: ‘Breath, the beam, will forsake thee.’
4. But if he thinks himself not strong, let him say to him: ‘Thou couldst not grasp him who wishes to grasp the breath as the beam. Breath, the beam, will forsake thee.’
5. And whatever the reciter shall say to one who speaks to him or does not speak to him, depend upon it, it will come to pass. But to a Brâhmana let him not say anything except what is auspicious. Only he may curse a Brâhmana in excessive wealth. Nay, not even in excessive wealth should he curse a Brâhmana, but he should say, ‘I bow before Brâhmanas,’—thus says Sûravîra Mândûkeya.
[ p. 253 ]
1. Now those who repeat the Nirbhuga say:
2. ‘The former half [19] is the first syllable, the latter half the second syllable, and the space between the first and second halves is the Samhitâ (union).’
3. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
4. Now Hrasva Mândûkeya says: ‘We reciters of Nirbhuga say, “Yes, the former half is the first syllable, and the latter half the second syllable, but the Samhitâ is the space between the first and second halves in so far as by it one turns out the union (sandhi), and knows what is the accent and what is not [20], and distinguishes what is the mora and what is not.”’
5. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
6. Now his middle son, the child of his mother Prâtibodhî [21], says: 'One pronounces these two syllables letter by letter, without entirely separating [ p. 254 ] them, and without entirely uniting them [22]. Then that mora between the first and second halves, which indicates the union, that is the Sâman (evenness, sliding). I therefore hold Sâman only to be the Samhitâ (union).
7. This has also been declared by a Rishi (Rv. II, 23, 16):—
8. ‘O Brihaspati, they know nothing higher than Sâman.’
9. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
1. Târukshya [23] said: ‘The Samhitâ (union) is formed by means of the Brihat and Rathantara [24] Sâmans.’
2. Verily, the Rathantara Sâman is speech, the Brihat Sâman is breath. By both, by speech and breath, the Samhitâ is formed [25].
3. For this Upanishad (for acquiring from his teacher the knowledge of this Samhitâ of speech and breath) Târukshya guards (his teacher’s) cows a whole year.
4. For it alone Târukshya guards the cows a whole year. [ p. 255 ] 5. This has also been declared by a Rishi (Rv. X, 181, 1; and Rv. X, 181, 2):—
6. 'Vasishtha carried hither the Rathantara; ‘Bharadvâga brought hither the Brihat of Agni.’
7. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
8. Kauntharavya said: ‘Speech is united with breath, breath with the blowing air, the blowing air with the Visvedevas, the Visvedevas with the heavenly world, the heavenly world with Brahman. That Samhitâ is called the gradual Samhitâ.’
9. He who knows this gradual Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga, in exactly the same manner as this Samhitâ, i.e. gradually.
10. If that worshipper, whether for his own sake or for that of another, recites (the Samhitâ), let him know when he is going to recite, that this Samhitâ went up to heaven, and that it will be even so with those who by knowing it become Devas. May it always be so!
11. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
12. Pañkâlakanda said: ‘The Samhitâ (union, composition) is speech.’
13. Verily, by speech the Vedas, by speech the metres are composed. Friends unite through speech, all beings unite through speech; therefore speech is everything here [26]. [ p. 256 ] 14. With regard to this (view of speech being more than breath), it should be borne in mind that when we thus repeat (the Veda) or speak, breath is (absorbed) in speech; speech swallows breath. And when we are silent or sleep, speech is (absorbed) in breath; breath swallows speech. The two swallow each other. Verily, speech is the mother, breath the son.
15. This has been declared also by a Rishi (Rv. X, 114, 4):—
16. ‘There is one bird; (as wind) he has entered the sky; (as breath or living soul) he saw this whole world. With my ripe mind I saw him close to me (in the heart); the mother (licks or) absorbs him (breath), and he absorbs the mother (speech).’
17. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
18. Next follows the Pragâpati-Samhitâ.
19. The former half is the wife, the latter half the man; the result of their union the son; the act of their union the begetting; that Samhitâ is Aditi (indestructible).
20. For Aditi (indestructible) is all this whatever there is, father, mother, son, and begetting.
21. This has also been declared by a Rishi (Rv. I, 189, 10)—
22. ‘Aditi is mother, is father, is son.’
23. He who thus knows this Samhitâ (union), becomes united with offspring, cattle, fame, glory of countenance, and the world of Svarga. He lives his full age.
247:1 This last portion of the Upanishad is found in the MS. discovered by Dr. Bühler in Kashmir, and described by him in the journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1877, p. 36. I have collated it, so far as it was possible to read it, many lines being either broken off altogether, or almost entirely obliterated. ↩︎
247:2 Samhitâ is the sacred text in which all letters are closely joined. The joining together of two letters is called their samhitâ; the first letter of a joined group the pûrvarûpa (n.), the second the uttararûpa. For instance, in agnim île the m is pûrvarûpa, the î uttararûpa, and mî their samhitâ or union. ↩︎
247:3 As in worshipping the Sâlagrâma stone, we really worship Vishnu, so we ought to perceive the earth, the heaven, and the air when we pronounce the first and the second letters of a group, and that group itself. ↩︎
248:4 Both views are admissible. Comm. ↩︎
248:5 Prânasamhitah, Kashmir MS. ↩︎
249:1 If i is followed by a, the i is changed to y, and both are united as ya. Here a is the cause which changes i into y. Thus Parganya, the god of rain, is the cause which unites earth and heaven into rain. Comm. ↩︎
249:2 When it rains incessantly, heaven and earth seem to be one in rain. ↩︎
249:3 Ândam, andasadrisam. Comm. ↩︎
249:4 The one half from the feet to the lower jaw, the other half from the upper jaw to the skull. Comm. ↩︎
250:1 Cf. Rig-veda-prâtisâkhya, ed. Max Müller, p. iii, and Nachträge, p. ii. ↩︎
250:2 Nirbhuga(n) is the recitation of the Veda without intervals, therefore the same as Samhitâ. Pratrinna is the recitation of each word by itself (pada-pâtha); Ubhayamantarena, the between the two, is the intertwining of Samhitâ and Pada-pâtha, the so-called Krama-pâtha. By reciting the Samhitâ inattentively, one may use forms which belong to the Pada-text; and by reciting the Pada inattentively, one may use forms which belong to the Samhitâ-text. But in reciting the Krama both the Samhitâ and Pada forms are used together, and therefore mistakes are less likely to happen. ↩︎
250:3 From earth and sky. Cf. Kh. Up. II, 22, 3. ↩︎
250:4 From the sky and from heaven. ↩︎
250:5 Nirbhuga may mean without arms, as if the arms of the words were taken away, or with two arms stretched out, the two words forming, as it were, two arms to one body. ↩︎
250:6 Pratrinna means cut asunder, every word being separated from the others. ↩︎
251:1 The words were first each separate, before they were united according to the laws of Sandhi. ↩︎
251:2 He may curse him, if he is exceeding rich; or he may wish him the curse of excessive wealth; or he may curse him, if something great depends on it. ↩︎
252:1 The commentator explains anuvyâhâra, not as imprecations, but as referring to those who leach or use the imprecations, such imprecations being necessary to guard against the loss of the benefits accruing from the meditation and worship here described; such teachers say what follows. ↩︎
252:2 Breath, the union of mind and speech, as explained before. This is the opinion of Sthavira Sâkalya, cf. III, 2, 1, 1. ↩︎
252:3 If he should tell him that he did not meditate on breath properly. ↩︎
253:1 As spoken of before, III, 1, 1, 1. ↩︎
253:2 In agnim île, île by itself has no accent, but as joined by sandhi with agnim, its first syllable becomes svarita, its second prakita. In tava it, the vowel i is a short mora or mâtrâ; but if joined with va, it vanishes, and becomes long e, tavet. Comm. ↩︎
253:3 Prâtîbodhîputra, the son of Prâtîbodhî, she being probably one out of several wives of Hrasva. Another instance of this metronymic nomenclature occurred in Krishna Devakîputra, Kh. Up. III, 7, 6. The Kashmir MS. reads Prâkîbodhî, but Pratibodha is a recognised name in Gana Vidâdi, and the right reading is probably Prâtibodhî. The same MS. leaves out putra âha. ↩︎
254:1 So that the ê in tavet should neither be one letter e, nor two letters a + i, but something between the two, enabling us to hear a + i in the pronunciation of ê. ↩︎
254:2 The Kashmir MS. reads Târkshya, a name used before as the title of a hymn (Ait. Âr. I, 5, 2, 8). Here Târakshya seems preferable, see Pân. IV, 1, 105. ↩︎
254:3 See Ait. Âr. I, 4, 2, 1-4. ↩︎