Brhat Aranyak Upanisad
Fifth Brahmana
I. apa evedam agra asuh, ta apah satyam asrjanta, satyam brahma, brahma prajapatim, prajapatir devan. te devah satyam evopasate, tadetat try-aksaram: sa-ti-yam iti. sa ity ekam aksaram; ti ity ekam aksaram, yam iti ekam aksaram: prathama uttame aksare satyam, madhyato nrtam; tad etad anrtam ubhayatah satyena parigrhitam satyabhuyam eva bhavati. naivam vidvamsam amrtam hinasti.
1. In the beginning this universe was just water. That water produced the true (or the real), Brahman is the true. Brahman (produced) Praja-pati and Praja-pati (produced) the gods. Those gods meditated on the real. That consists of three syllables, sa, ti, yam: sa is one syllable, ti is one syllable, and yam is one syllable. The first and the last syllables are the truth; in the middle is untruth. This untruth is enclosed on both sides by truth; it partakes of the nature of truth itself. Him who knows this, untruth does not injure.
Keeping consistent with the Upanishadic apophaticism, it is maintained in this verse that truth (the Highest Brahman) is enclosed by untruth. This in turn is consistent with the apophatic positing of the hiddenness of God, even though the Upanisadic transcendent reality is not the same as the Godhead of the conventional monotheism. Both, hoever, are speaking of a higher metaphysical truth.
Also, in keeping with the Upanisadic method or style, a figurative language is employed to bring out the thesis. The genesis of Brahman from the primeval waters and the genesis of the rest of the world from Brahman is invoked through a creation narrative. Subsequently the mystical syllables are prescribed as mediators by meditation on which Brahman or the Real is achieved. These primeval syllable are already, like Logos in Christianity, or its precursor, Greek philosophy), at the originnary moment which can be accessed by meditation on these primeval syllables. Thus, language, or at least some of its constituent syllables (sound/speech), already mediates the Real or the True (or truth) to man. These syllables, hence, are the truth and not knowing these syllables (untruth) leads to death. In soteriological terms, this death should be understood as the death of the soul and not merely of the body.
The access to higher reality (the Real or the True), being enclosed by untruth on all sides can only be mediated by speech/language (the mystic syllables). The meditation on the mystic syllables yields access to the Real. However, ordinary, everyday speech/language is severely limited with regard to rendering the thus enclosed real. It is only through special speech (the mystic syllables) that the Real is accessible. The mystic syllables hence acquire a figurative significance to the extent that they are mystical and not prosaic, i.e., bearing a relation to their signified in a manner that is beyond ordinary linguistic logic. It signifies the Real which is otherwise impossible of description.
First Brahmana
THE WORLD AS A SACRIFICIAL HORSE
1. aum. usa va asvasya medhyasya sirah, suryas caksuh,yatah pranah, vyattam agnir vaisvanarah; samvatsara atmasvasya medhyasya, dyauh prstham, antariksam udaram, prthivi pajasyam, disah pdrsve, avantaradisah parsavah, rtavongani, masas cardhamasds ca parvani, ahoratrani pratisthah, naksa- -trany asthini, nabho mamsani; uvadhyam sikatah, sindhavo gudah, yakrc ca klomdmas ca parvatah, osadhayas ca vanaspatayas ca lomani. udyan purvardhah, nimlocah jaghanardhah, yad vijrmbhate tad vidyotate, yad vidhunute tat stanayati, yan mehati tad varsati; vag evasya vdk.
1. Aum, the dawn, verily, is the head of the sacrificial horse, the sun the eye, the wind the breath, the open mouth the Vaisvanara fire; the year is the body of the sacrificial horse, the sky is the back, the atmosphere is the belly, the earth the hoof, the quarters the sides, the intermediate quarters the ribs, the seasons the limbs, the months and the half-months the joints, days and nights the feet, the stars the bones, the clouds the flesh; the food in the stomach is the sand, the rivers are the blood-vessels, the liver and the lungs are the mountains, the herbs and the trees are the hair. The rising (sun) is the forepart, the setting (sun) the hind part, when he yawns then it lightens, when he shakes himself, it thunders, when he urinates then it rains; voice, indeed, is his voice.
This sloka is another instance of the the Upanisadic use of figurative language to indicate and possibly delineate the cosmic and the metacosmic. It is a trait of apophatic philosophy and its language to eschew any attempts at direct and immediate descriptions of reality. It approaches the Real only through indirect speeech or through figurative speech. For instance, in this sloka the world is likened to a sacrificial horse. Creation as sacrifice is an ancient idea in Indian philosophy that can be traced back to the Purusa Sukta in the Rig Veda where each part of the Adi Purusa or the Primeval person is sacrificed to create a corresponding part of the universe. The sacrificial horse stands here as a synecdoche for the created world and the horse sacrifice acts as a simile for the creation of the world through the primeval sacrifice. The supraphysical can only be approached after the physical has been firmly understood and embraced. The metaphor of the world as the sacrificial horse is significant because the primeval sacrifice of the Real to create this world can be understood only after the created (physical) world, with its 'concrete realities and sensible facts', has itself been first conceptualized in metaphorical terms as a sacrificial horse.
2. ahar va asvam purastan mahima nvajayata. tasya piirvc samudre yonih, ratrir enam pascan mahima nvajayata, tasyapare samudre yonih, etau va asvam mahimanav abhitah sambabhuvatuh hayo bhutva devan avahat, vaji gandharvan, arvasuran, asvo manusyan; samudra evasya bandhuh, samudro yonih.
2. The day, verily, arose for the horse as the vessel called mahiman appeared in front (of the horse). Its source is in the eastern sea. The night, verily, arose for the horse as the vessel called mahiman appeared behind (the horse). Its source is in the western sea. These two vessels, verily, arose on the two sides of the horse as the two sacrificial vessels. Becoming a steed he carried the gods, as a stallion the Gandharvas, as a runner the demons, as a horse men. The sea, indeed, is-his relative, the sea is his source.
It is the further elaboration of the metaphor of the horse where the sea stands as a synecdoche for the supreme self which is the source of all.
3.sa tredhatmanam vyakuruta, adityam tytiyam, vayurii trtlyam, sa esa pranas trcdha vihitah. tasya praci dik sirah, asau casau cairmau; atha asya pratici dik puccham, asau cdsau ca sakthyau; daksina codici ca parsve, dyauh prstham, antariksam udaram, iyain urah, sa eso’psu pratisthitah, yatra kva caiti tad eva pratitisthaty evam vidvdn.
3. He divided himself threefold (fire is one-third), the sun one-third and the air one-third. He also is life divided threefold, the eastern direction is his head and his arms are that and that (the left and the right sides). Likewise the western direction is his tail and his two hip-bones are that and that. The southern and the northern directions are his sides. The sky is the back, the atmosphere the belly. This (earth) is the chest. Thus he stands firm in the waters. He who knows this stands firrp wherever he goes.
The Primeval Being is anthromorphically conceived as the Adi Purusa, or the Primeval Person, whose parts are visualized as the parts of the person. Through this anthromorphic metaphor the world or the physical creation is allegorized as a person.
4. so’kamayata, dvitiyo ma atma jayeteti, sa manasa vacam mithunam samabhavad asandya mrtyuh, tad yad reta asit, sa samvatsaro ’bhavat; na ha purd tatah samvatsara asa. tam etavantam kalam abhibhah. yavdn samvatsarah, tam etavatah, kalasya parastad asrjata; tam jdtam abhivyadadat sa bhan akarot saiva vdg abhavat.
4. He desired, let a second self (body or form) be born of me. He, hunger or death, brought about the union of speech by mind. What was the seed there became the year. Previous to that there was no year. He reared him for as long as a year and after that time he sent him forth. When he was born he (Death) opened his mouth (to devour him). He (the babe) cried, bhan. That, indeed, became speech.
In this allegorized narration of creation, the genesis of time and speech from the Adi Purusa is described. Time and speech are both described as born of the will of the Adi Purusa. Mind and speech are attributed with procreative power and death with the agency to bring about their union. The relation of death and time is delineated with death as the devourer of time.
Fourth Brahmana
1. atmaivedam agra asit purusavidhah, so’nuviksya nanyad dtma.no pasyat, so’ham asmity agre vyaharat; tato’ham nama- bhavat, tasmad apy etarhy amantritah; aham ayam ity evagra uktva, athanyan nama prabruteyad asyabhavati. sa yat purvo’smat sarvasmat sarvan papmana ausat, tasmat purusah; osati ha vai sa tam, yo’smat purvo bubhusati, ya evarh veda.
1. In the beginning this (world) was only the self, in the shape of a person. Looking around he saw nothing else than the self. He first said, ‘I am.’ Therefore arose the name of I. There¬ fore, even to this day when one is addressed he says first ‘This is I’ and then speaks whatever other name he may have. Because before all this, he burnt all evils, therefore he is a person. He who knows this, verily, burns up him who wishes to be before him.
In this sloka, the world is likened again to a person. It delineates the panentheistic worldview, where the person or the self is simultaneously the world and separate from the world. The existence of all selves is predicated on the primeval self.
Fifth Brahmana
I. apa evedam agra asuh, ta apah satyam asrjanta, satyam brahma, brahma prajapatim, prajapatir devan. te devah satyam evopasate, tadetat try-aksaram: sa-ti-yam iti. sa ity ekam aksaram; ti ity ekam aksaram, yam iti ekam aksaram: prathama uttame aksare satyam, madhyato nrtam; tad etad anrtam ubhayatah satyena parigrhitam satyabhuyam eva bhavati. naivam vidvamsam amrtam hinasti.
1. In the beginning this universe was just water. That water produced the true (or the real), Brahman is the true. Brahman (produced) Praja-pati and Praja-pati (produced) the gods. Those gods meditated on the real. That consists of three syllables, sa, ti, yam: sa is one syllable, ti is one syllable, and yam is one syllable. The first and the last syllables are the truth; in the middle is untruth. This untruth is enclosed on both sides by truth; it partakes of the nature of truth itself. Him who knows this, untruth does not injure.
Keeping consistent with the Upanishadic apophaticism, it is maintained in this verse that truth (the Highest Brahman) is enclosed by untruth. This in turn is consistent with the apophatic positing of the hiddenness of God, even though the Upanisadic transcendent reality is not the same as the Godhead of the conventional monotheism. Both, hoever, are speaking of a higher metaphysical truth.
Also, in keeping with the Upanisadic method or style, a figurative language is employed to bring out the thesis. The genesis of Brahman from the primeval waters and the genesis of the rest of the world from Brahman is invoked through a creation narrative. Subsequently the mystical syllables are prescribed as mediators by meditation on which Brahman or the Real is achieved. These primeval syllable are already, like Logos in Christianity, or its precursor, Greek philosophy), at the originnary moment which can be accessed by meditation on these primeval syllables. Thus, language, or at least some of its constituent syllables (sound/speech), already mediates the Real or the True (or truth) to man. These syllables, hence, are the truth and not knowing these syllables (untruth) leads to death. In soteriological terms, this death should be understood as the death of the soul and not merely of the body.
The access to higher reality (the Real or the True), being enclosed by untruth on all sides can only be mediated by speech/language (the mystic syllables). The meditation on the mystic syllables yields access to the Real. However, ordinary, everyday speech/language is severely limited with regard to rendering the thus enclosed real. It is only through special speech (the mystic syllables) that the Real is accessible. The mystic syllables hence acquire a figurative significance to the extent that they are mystical and not prosaic, i.e., bearing a relation to their signified in a manner that is beyond ordinary linguistic logic. It signifies the Real which is otherwise impossible of description.
First Brahmana
THE WORLD AS A SACRIFICIAL HORSE
1. aum. usa va asvasya medhyasya sirah, suryas caksuh,yatah pranah, vyattam agnir vaisvanarah; samvatsara atmasvasya medhyasya, dyauh prstham, antariksam udaram, prthivi pajasyam, disah pdrsve, avantaradisah parsavah, rtavongani, masas cardhamasds ca parvani, ahoratrani pratisthah, naksa- -trany asthini, nabho mamsani; uvadhyam sikatah, sindhavo gudah, yakrc ca klomdmas ca parvatah, osadhayas ca vanaspatayas ca lomani. udyan purvardhah, nimlocah jaghanardhah, yad vijrmbhate tad vidyotate, yad vidhunute tat stanayati, yan mehati tad varsati; vag evasya vdk.
1. Aum, the dawn, verily, is the head of the sacrificial horse, the sun the eye, the wind the breath, the open mouth the Vaisvanara fire; the year is the body of the sacrificial horse, the sky is the back, the atmosphere is the belly, the earth the hoof, the quarters the sides, the intermediate quarters the ribs, the seasons the limbs, the months and the half-months the joints, days and nights the feet, the stars the bones, the clouds the flesh; the food in the stomach is the sand, the rivers are the blood-vessels, the liver and the lungs are the mountains, the herbs and the trees are the hair. The rising (sun) is the forepart, the setting (sun) the hind part, when he yawns then it lightens, when he shakes himself, it thunders, when he urinates then it rains; voice, indeed, is his voice.
This sloka is another instance of the the Upanisadic use of figurative language to indicate and possibly delineate the cosmic and the metacosmic. It is a trait of apophatic philosophy and its language to eschew any attempts at direct and immediate descriptions of reality. It approaches the Real only through indirect speeech or through figurative speech. For instance, in this sloka the world is likened to a sacrificial horse. Creation as sacrifice is an ancient idea in Indian philosophy that can be traced back to the Purusa Sukta in the Rig Veda where each part of the Adi Purusa or the Primeval person is sacrificed to create a corresponding part of the universe. The sacrificial horse stands here as a synecdoche for the created world and the horse sacrifice acts as a simile for the creation of the world through the primeval sacrifice. The supraphysical can only be approached after the physical has been firmly understood and embraced. The metaphor of the world as the sacrificial horse is significant because the primeval sacrifice of the Real to create this world can be understood only after the created (physical) world, with its 'concrete realities and sensible facts', has itself been first conceptualized in metaphorical terms as a sacrificial horse.
2. ahar va asvam purastan mahima nvajayata. tasya piirvc samudre yonih, ratrir enam pascan mahima nvajayata, tasyapare samudre yonih, etau va asvam mahimanav abhitah sambabhuvatuh hayo bhutva devan avahat, vaji gandharvan, arvasuran, asvo manusyan; samudra evasya bandhuh, samudro yonih.
2. The day, verily, arose for the horse as the vessel called mahiman appeared in front (of the horse). Its source is in the eastern sea. The night, verily, arose for the horse as the vessel called mahiman appeared behind (the horse). Its source is in the western sea. These two vessels, verily, arose on the two sides of the horse as the two sacrificial vessels. Becoming a steed he carried the gods, as a stallion the Gandharvas, as a runner the demons, as a horse men. The sea, indeed, is-his relative, the sea is his source.
It is the further elaboration of the metaphor of the horse where the sea stands as a synecdoche for the supreme self which is the source of all.
3.sa tredhatmanam vyakuruta, adityam tytiyam, vayurii trtlyam, sa esa pranas trcdha vihitah. tasya praci dik sirah, asau casau cairmau; atha asya pratici dik puccham, asau cdsau ca sakthyau; daksina codici ca parsve, dyauh prstham, antariksam udaram, iyain urah, sa eso’psu pratisthitah, yatra kva caiti tad eva pratitisthaty evam vidvdn.
3. He divided himself threefold (fire is one-third), the sun one-third and the air one-third. He also is life divided threefold, the eastern direction is his head and his arms are that and that (the left and the right sides). Likewise the western direction is his tail and his two hip-bones are that and that. The southern and the northern directions are his sides. The sky is the back, the atmosphere the belly. This (earth) is the chest. Thus he stands firm in the waters. He who knows this stands firrp wherever he goes.
The Primeval Being is anthromorphically conceived as the Adi Purusa, or the Primeval Person, whose parts are visualized as the parts of the person. Through this anthromorphic metaphor the world or the physical creation is allegorized as a person.
4. so’kamayata, dvitiyo ma atma jayeteti, sa manasa vacam mithunam samabhavad asandya mrtyuh, tad yad reta asit, sa samvatsaro ’bhavat; na ha purd tatah samvatsara asa. tam etavantam kalam abhibhah. yavdn samvatsarah, tam etavatah, kalasya parastad asrjata; tam jdtam abhivyadadat sa bhan akarot saiva vdg abhavat.
4. He desired, let a second self (body or form) be born of me. He, hunger or death, brought about the union of speech by mind. What was the seed there became the year. Previous to that there was no year. He reared him for as long as a year and after that time he sent him forth. When he was born he (Death) opened his mouth (to devour him). He (the babe) cried, bhan. That, indeed, became speech.
In this allegorized narration of creation, the genesis of time and speech from the Adi Purusa is described. Time and speech are both described as born of the will of the Adi Purusa. Mind and speech are attributed with procreative power and death with the agency to bring about their union. The relation of death and time is delineated with death as the devourer of time.
Fourth Brahmana
1. atmaivedam agra asit purusavidhah, so’nuviksya nanyad dtma.no pasyat, so’ham asmity agre vyaharat; tato’ham nama- bhavat, tasmad apy etarhy amantritah; aham ayam ity evagra uktva, athanyan nama prabruteyad asyabhavati. sa yat purvo’smat sarvasmat sarvan papmana ausat, tasmat purusah; osati ha vai sa tam, yo’smat purvo bubhusati, ya evarh veda.
1. In the beginning this (world) was only the self, in the shape of a person. Looking around he saw nothing else than the self. He first said, ‘I am.’ Therefore arose the name of I. There¬ fore, even to this day when one is addressed he says first ‘This is I’ and then speaks whatever other name he may have. Because before all this, he burnt all evils, therefore he is a person. He who knows this, verily, burns up him who wishes to be before him.
In this sloka, the world is likened again to a person. It delineates the panentheistic worldview, where the person or the self is simultaneously the world and separate from the world. The existence of all selves is predicated on the primeval self.
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