{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe01/sbe01024.htm","path":"hin/sbe01/sbe01024.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01024.htm","text":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01), by Max M\u00fcller, [1879]\nNow follows the meditation on the udg\u00eetha with reference to the gods. Let a man meditate on the udg\u00eetha (Om) as he who sends warmth (the sun in the sky). When the sun rises it sings as Udg\u00e2tri for the sake of all creatures. When it rises it destroys the fear of darkness. He who knows this, is able to destroy the fear of darkness (ignorance).\n2. This (the breath in the mouth) and that (the sun) are the same. This is hot and that is hot. This they call svara (sound), and that they call praty\u00e2svara 1 (reflected sound). Therefore let a man meditate on the udg\u00eetha (Om) as this and that (as breath and as sun).\n3. Then let a man meditate on the udg\u00eetha (Om) as vy\u00e2na indeed. If we breathe up, that is pr\u00e2na, the up-breathing. If we breathe down, that is ap\u00e2na, the down-breathing. The combination of pr\u00e2na and ap\u00e2na is vy\u00e2na, back-breathing or holding in of the breath. This vy\u00e2na is speech. Therefore when we utter speech, we neither breathe up nor down.\n4. Speech is Rik, and therefore when a man utters a Rik verse he neither breathes up nor down.\nRik is S\u00e2man, and therefore when a man utters a S\u00e2man verse he neither breathes up nor down.\nS\u00e2man is udg\u00eetha, and therefore when a man sings (the udg\u00eetha, Om) he neither breathes up nor down.\n5. And other works also which require strength, such as the production of fire by rubbing, running a race, stringing a strong bow, are performed without breathing up or down. Therefore let a man meditate on the udg\u00eetha (Om) as vy\u00e2na.\n6. Let a man meditate on the syllables of the udg\u00eetha, i. e. of the word udg\u00eetha. Ut is breath (pr\u00e2na), for by means of breath a man rises (uttishthati). G\u00ee is speech, for speeches are called girah. Tha is food, for by means of food all subsists (sthita).\n7. Ut is heaven, g\u00ee the sky, tha the earth. Ut is the sun, g\u00ee the air, tha the fire. Ut is the S\u00e2ma-veda,, g\u00ee the Yagur-veda, tha the Rig-veda 1.\n[paragraph continues] Speech yields the milk, which is the milk of speech itself 1, to him who thus knowing meditates on those\nsyllables of the name of udg\u00eetha, he becomes rich in food and able to eat food.\n8. Next follows the fulfilment of prayers. Let a man thus meditate on the Upasaranas, i. e. the objects which have to be approached by meditation: Let him (the Udg\u00e2tri) quickly reflect on the S\u00e2man with which he is going to praise;\n9. Let him quickly reflect on the Rik in which that S\u00e2man occurs; on the Rishi (poet) by whom it was seen or composed; on the Devat\u00e2 (object) which he is going to praise;\n10. On the metre in which he is going to praise; on the tune with which he is going to sing for himself;\n11. On the quarter of the world which he is going to praise. Lastly, having approached himself (his name, family, &c.) by meditation, let him sing the hymn of praise, reflecting on his desire, and avoiding all mistakes in pronunciation, &c. Quickly 1 will the desire be then fulfilled to him, for the sake of which he may have offered his hymn of praise, yea, for which he may have offered his hymn of praise 2.\n7:1 As applied to breath, svara is explained by the commentator in the sense of moving, going out; praty\u00e2svara, as applied to the sun, is explained as returning every day. More likely, however, svara as applied to breath means sound, Om itself being called svara (Kh. Up. I, 4, 3), and prasv\u00e2ra in the Rig-veda-pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya, 882. As applied to the sun, svara and praty\u00e2svara were probably taken in the sense of light and reflected light.\n8:1 The commentator supplies explanations to all these fanciful etymologies. The heaven is ut, because it is high; the sky is g\u00ee, because it gives out all the worlds (giran\u00e2t); earth is tha, because it is the place (sth\u00e2na) of living beings. The sun is ut, because it is high. The wind is g\u00ee, because it gives out fire, &c. (giran\u00e2t); fire is tha, because it is the place (sth\u00e2na) of the sacrifice. The S\u00e2ma-veda is ut, because it is praised as svarga; the Yagur-veda is g\u00ee, because the gods take the oblation offered with a Yagus; the Rig-veda is tha, because the S\u00e2ma verses stand in it. All this is very childish, and worse than childish, but it is interesting as a phase of human folly which is not restricted to the Brahmans of India. I take the following passage from an interesting article, 'On the Ogam Beithluisnin and on Scythian Letters,' by Dr. Charles Graves, Bishop of Limerick. 'An Irish antiquary,' he says, 'writing several hundred years ago, proposes to give an account of the origin of the names of the notes in the musical scale.\n'\"It is asked here, according to Saint Augustine, What is chanting, or why is it so called? Answer. From this word cantalena; p. 9 and cantalena is the same thing as lenis cantus, i. e. a soft, sweet chant to God, and to the Virgin Mary, and to all the Saints. And the reason why the word puinec (puncta) is so called is because the points (or musical notes) ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, hurt the devil and puncture him. And it is thus that these points are to be understood: viz. When Moses the son of Amram, with his people in their Exodus was crossing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his host were following him, this was the chant which Moses had to protect him from Pharaoh and his host--these six points in praise of the Lord:--\n'\"The first point of these, i. e. ut: and ut in the Greek is the same as liberat in the Latin; and that is the same as saer in the Gaelic; i.e. O God, said Moses, deliver us from the harm of the devil.\n\"'The second point of them, i.e. re: and re is the same as saer; i. e. O God, deliver us from everything hurtful and malignant.\n'\"The third point, i.e. mi: and mi in the Greek is the same as militum in the Latin; and that is the same as ridere (a knight) in the Gaelic; i. e. O God, said Moses, deliver us from those knights who are pursuing us.\n'\"The fourth point, i.e. fa: and fa in the Greek is the same as famulus in the Latin; and that is the same as mug (slave) in the Gaelic; i. e. O God, said Moses, deliver us from those slaves who are pursuing us.\n'\"The fifth point, i.e. sol: and sol is the same as grian (sun); and that is the same as righteousness; because righteousness and Christ are not different; i. e. O Christ, said Moses, deliver us.\n'\"The sixth point, i. e. la, is the same as lav; and that is the same as indail (wash); i.e. O God, said Moses, wash away our sins from us.\n'\"And on the singing of that laud Pharaoh and his host were drowned.\n'\"Understand, O man, that in whatever place this laud, i. e. this chant, is sung, the devil is bound by it, and his power is extirpated thence, and the power of God is called in.\"\n'We have been taught that the names of the first six notes p. 10 in the gamut were suggested by the initial syllables of the first six hemistichs in one of the stanzas of a hymn to St. John:\nUt queant laxis\n Resonare fibris\n Mira gestorum\n Famuli tuorum,\n Solve polluti\n Labii reatum,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sancte Ioannes.'\n9:1 The milk of speech consists in rewards to be obtained by the Rig-veda, &c. Or we may translate, Speech yields its milk to him who is able to milk speech.\n10:1 Abhy\u00e2so ha yat, lit. depend on it that it will be fulfilled, but always explained by quickly. See Kh. Up. II, 1, 4; III, 19, 4; V, 10, 7. Frequently, but wrongly, written with a dental s.\n10:2 The repetition of the last sentence is always an indication that a chapter is finished. This old division into chapters is of great importance for a proper study of the Upanishads.","title":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01): Kh\u00e2ndogya Upanishad...","type":"page"}