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I will receive thee; thou hast not departed from truth." When he had received him, he set aside four hundred lean and feeble cows, and said: "Herd thou these, beloved." As he drove them forth, [Satyakama] said: "I will not return but with a thousand." He stayed away some years; then when they had grown to a thousand, a bull said to him, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered. "We have come to a thousand, beloved; take us to the master's homestead. I will tell thee a quarter of Brahma." [p. 86] "Tell me, sir." And he said to him: "The eastern region is a sixteenth, the western region a sixteenth, the southern region a sixteenth, the northern region a sixteenth. This, beloved, is a quarter of Brahma, in four sixteenths, and called The Brilliant. He who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Brilliant, becomes brilliant in this world; brilliant worlds he wins who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Brilliant. The Fire will tell thee a quarter." In the morning he drove out the cows. When they came home at evening, he laid a fire, closed in the cows, laid on fuel, and sat down facing the east westward of the fire. The Fire said to him, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered. "I will tell thee a quarter of Brahma, beloved." "Tell me, sir." And he said to him: "The earth is a sixteenth, the sky a sixteenth, the heaven a sixteenth, the ocean a sixteenth. This, beloved, is a quarter of Brahma, in four sixteenths, and called The Boundless. He who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Boundless, becomes boundless in this world; boundless worlds he wins who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma [p. 87] in four sixteenths as The Boundless. The Swan will tell thee a quarter." In the morning he drove out the cows. When they came home at evening, he laid a fire, closed in the cows, laid on fuel, and sat down facing the east westward of the fire. A swan flew towards him and said, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered. "I will tell thee a quarter of Brahma, beloved." "Tell me, sir." And he said to him: "Fire is a sixteenth, the sun a sixteenth, the moon a sixteenth, the lightning a sixteenth. This, beloved, is a quarter of Brahma, in four sixteenths, and called The Lustrous. He who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Lustrous, becomes lustrous in this world; lustrous worlds he wins who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Lustrous. The madgu-bird will tell thee a quarter." In the morning he drove out the cows. When they came home at evening, he laid a fire, closed in the cows, laid on fuel, and sat down facing the east westward of the fire. A madgu-bird flew towards him and said, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered. "I will tell thee a quarter of Brahma, beloved." "Tell me, sir." And he said to him: "The breath is a sixteenth, [p. 88] the eye a sixteenth, the ear a sixteenth, the mind a sixteenth. This, beloved, is a quarter of Brahma, in four sixteenths, and called The Spacious. He who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Spacious, becomes spacious in this world; spacious worlds he wins who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Spacious." He came to the master's homestead. The master said to him, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered. "Thou art bright, beloved, as one who knows Brahma. Who has taught thee?" "Other than men," he answered; "but prithee do thou tell it to me, sir. For I have heard from men like thee, sir, that knowledge learned from a master is the best guide." He told him thereof; and naught of it was lost. Footnotes ^84:1 The first five are wind, fire, sun, moon, and water, in the cosmos; the second five are breath, speech, eye, ear, and mind, in the microcosm. Wind and Breath are the final principles of being. He who knows himself to be identical with Wind and Breath, and thus becomes himself the highest principle, gathers to himself all the nourishing powers of nature. These ten natural forces are typified by the four-throw in dice, which counts as ten, and by Virat, which is both the name of a metre of ten syllables and a mythological figure symbolic of primitive matter. ^84:2 Chhandogya Upanishad, iv. 4-9. ^84:3 In default of a father's name, that of his mother is to serve our hero to form his patronymic. ^85:1 Used in the ceremony of the reception (upanayana) of the Brahman-student (brahma-chari) by the teacher in whose house he was henceforth to lodge. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com XIII. LIGHT AND DARKNESS [*1] In the Lord is to be veiled this universe, whatsoever stirs in the world. With renunciation thereof [*2] thou mayst enjoy; lust thou after the wealth of none. [p. 89] One may seek to live a hundred years doing works here. So it is with thee, not otherwise; his work defiles not man. [*1] Daemonic are in sooth these worlds, veiled in blind darkness; into them pass after death whatsoever folk slay their own souls. The One, unstirring, is yet swifter than the mind; the gods cannot reach it as it travels before. Standing it outspeeds others that run; in it the Wind-spirit lays the waters. It stirs, and stirs not; it is far, and near. It is within all, and outside all that is. But he who discerns all creatures in his Self, and his Self in all creatures, has no disquiet thence. What delusion, what grief can be with him in whom all creatures have become the very self of the thinker discerning their oneness? He has spread around, a thing bright, bodiless, taking no hurt, sinewless, pure, unsmitten by evil; a sage, wise, encompassing, self-existent, he has duly assigned purposes for all time. Into blind darkness pass they who worship Ignorance; into still greater dark they who are content with Knowledge. [*2] It is neither what comes by Knowledge, they [p. 90] say, nor what comes by Ignorance; thus have we heard from the sages who taught us this lore. He who understands both Knowledge and Ignorance [*1] passes by Ignorance over death and by Knowledge enjoys deathlessness. Into blind darkness pass they who worship Change-into-naught; into still greater dark they who worship Change-into-aught. [*2] It is neither what comes by Change-into-aught, they say, nor what comes by Change-into-naught; thus have we heard from the sages who taught us this lore. He who understands [*3] both Change-into-aught and Destruction passes by Destruction over death and by Change-into-aught enjoys deathlessness. The face of truth is covered with a golden bowl. O Pushan, remove it, that the keeper of truths may see. [*4] O Pushan, sole seer, O Yama, Sun, child of [p. 91] [paragraph continues] Praja-pati, part asunder thy rays, mass together thy radiance. I see that fairest shape of thee. Yonder, yonder spirit am I. The breath to the everlasting wind; and be this body ended in ashes. Om! remember, O my spirit, remember the work! remember, O my spirit, remember the work! O Fire, lead us by good ways to riches, thou god who knowest all courses; keep far from us crooked sin, and we will offer to thee exceeding homage and praise. Footnotes ^88:1 The Is'avasya or Vajasaneyi-samhita Upanishad. ^88:2Viz. of the phenomenal world of sense-perception. ^89:1 Provided he has knowledge of Brahma. ^89:2 "Ignorance" probably means the conception of the phenomenal world as really existent in itself; "Knowledge," the attempt to trace the universe back to a first principle different from the Self. ^90:1 Viz. he who knows both these forms of knowledge to be delusive. ^90:2 The author here attacks those who believe that Being undergoes change either into non-being or into a different phase of being. His cardinal principle is that Being is one and changeless. ^90:3 I.e., he who knows both ideas to be false. ^90:4 This and the following verses (a death-bed prayer, according to tradition) are a prayer to the Sun-god to reveal the figure of the Purusha in the sun (corresponding to the figure in the human eye, and symbolic of Brahma; see p. 16). The Sun-god is here identified with Yama, the ruler of the dead. On Praja-pati, see p. 14; in the next extract he is mythically represented as a teacher of philosophic lore. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com XIV. THE FALSE AND THE TRUE [*2] "The Self, free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless, real of desire, real of purpose, this should men inquire after, yea, should seek to know. All worlds he wins and all desires who traces out and understands the Self," said Praja-pati. Both the gods and the demons marked this. "Come," said they, "let us seek out this Self by seeking out which one wins all worlds and all desires." So Indra of the gods and Virochana of the demons set out on a travel, and without being in compact they both came with faggots [p. 92] in their hands [*1] to Praja-pati, and stayed as Brahman-students for two-and-thirty years. Then said Praja-pati to them, "What would ye, that ye have stayed?" And they said, "The Self, free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless, real of desire, real of purpose, this should men inquire after, yea, should seek to know. All worlds he wins and all desires who traces out and understands this Self. This they report to be thy saying, sir; in desire thereof have we stayed." Then Praja-pati said to them, "The Being [*2] who is seen in the eye is the Self"--thus he spake--"this is the deathless, the fearless; this is Brahma." "Then who is he, sir, that is discerned in water and in a mirror?" "It is he that is discerned in all these beings." "Look upon yourselves in a basin of water," said he, "and tell me what of yourselves you do not perceive.