{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe15/sbe15112.htm","path":"hin/sbe15/sbe15112.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe15/sbe15112.htm","text":"The Upanishads, Part 2 (SBE15), by Max M\u00fcller, [1879]\n1. The laying of the formerly-described sacrificial fires 1 is indeed the sacrifice of Brahman. Therefore let the sacrificer, after he has laid those fires, meditate on the Self. Thus only does the sacrificer become complete and faultless.\nBut who is to be meditated on? He who is called Pr\u00e2na (breath). Of him there is this story:\n2. A King, named Brihadratha, having established his son in his sovereignty 2, went into the forest, because he considered this body as transient, and had obtained freedom from all desires. Having performed the highest penance, he stands there, with uplifted arms, looking up to the sun. At the end of a thousand (days) 3, the Saint S\u00e2k\u00e2yanya 4, who knew the Self, came near 5, burning with splendour,\nlike a fire without smoke. He said to the King: 'Rise, rise! Choose a boon!'\nThe King, bowing before him, said: 'O Saint, I know not the Self, thou knowest the essence (of the Self). We have heard so. Teach it us.'\nS\u00e2k\u00e2yanya replied: 'This was achieved of yore; but what thou askest is difficult to obtain 1. O Aikshv\u00e2ka, choose other pleasures.'\nThe King, touching the Saint's feet with his head, recited this G\u00e2th\u00e2:\n3. 'O Saint, What is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures in this offensive, pithless body--a mere mass of bones, skin, sinews, marrow 2, flesh, seed, blood, mucus, tears, phlegm, ordure, water 3, bile, and slime! What is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures in this body which is assailed by lust, hatred, greed, delusion, fear, anguish, jealousy, separation from what is loved, union with what is not loved 4, hunger, thirst, old age, death, illness, grief, and other evils!\n4. And we see that all this is perishable, as these flies, gnats, and other insects, as herbs and trees 5,\ngrowing and decaying. And what of these? There are other great ones, mighty wielders of bows, rulers of empires, Sudyumna, Bh\u00fbridyumna, Indradyumna, Kuvalay\u00e2sva, Yauvan\u00e2sva, Vadhryasva, Asvapati 1, Sasabindu, Hariskandra, Ambar\u00eesha 2, Nahusha, An\u00e2nata, Sary\u00e2ti, Yay\u00e2ti, Anaranya 3, Ukshasena 4, &c., and kings such as Marutta, Bharata (Daushyanti), and others, who before the eyes of their whole family surrendered the greatest happiness, and passed on from this world to that. And what of these? There are other great ones. We see the destruction 5 of Gandharvas, Asuras 6, Yakshas, R\u00e2kshasas, Bh\u00fbtas, Ganas, Pis\u00e2kas, snakes, and vampires. And what of these? There is the drying up of other great oceans, the falling of mountains, the moving of the pole-star, the cutting of the wind-ropes (that hold the stars), the submergence of the earth, and the departure of the gods (suras) from their place. In such a world as this, what is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures, if he who has fed 7 on them is seen 8 to return (to this world) again\nand again! Deign therefore to take me out! In this world I am like a frog in a dry well. O Saint, thou art my way, thou art my way.'\n287:1 The performance of all the sacrifices, described in the Maitr\u00e2yana-br\u00e2hmana, is to lead up in the end to a knowledge of Brahman, by rendering a man fit for receiving the highest knowledge. See Manu VI, 82: 'All that has been declared (above) depends on meditation; for he who is not proficient in the knowledge of the Self reaps not the full reward of the performance of rites.'\n287:2 Instead of vir\u00e2gye, a doubtful word, and occurring nowhere else, m. reads vair\u00e2gye.\n287:3 Or years, if we read sahasrasya instead of sahasr\u00e2hasya.\n287:4 The descendant of S\u00e2k\u00e2yana. Saint is perhaps too strong; it means a holy, venerable man, and is frequently applied to a Buddha.\n287:5 Both M. and m. add muneh before antikam, whereas the commentary has r\u00e2g\u00f1ah.\n288:1 Though the commentator must have read etad vrittam purast\u00e2d duhsakyam etat pras\u00f1am, yet pras\u00f1am as a neuter is very strange. M. reads etad vrittam purast\u00e2t, dussakama prikkha pras\u00f1am; m. reads etad vratam purast\u00e2d asakyam m\u00e2 prikha pras\u00f1am aikshv\u00e2ka, &c. This suggests the reading, etad vrittam purast\u00e2d duhsakam mi prikkha pras\u00f1am, i.e. this was settled formerly, do not ask a difficult or an impossible question.\n288:2 Read magg\u00e2.\n288:3 M. adds v\u00e2ta before pitta; not m.\n288:4 An expression that often occurs in Buddhist literature. See also Manu VI, 62: 'On their separation from those whom they love, and their union with those whom they hate; on their strength overpowered by old age, and their bodies racked with disease.'\n288:5 The Sandhi vanaspatayodbh\u00fbta for vanaspataya udbh\u00fbta is anomalous. M. reads vanaspatayo bh\u00fbtapradhvamsinah.\n289:1 M. carries on asvapatisasabinduhariskandr\u00e2mbar\u00eesha.\n289:2 After Ambar\u00eesha, M. reads Nabhush\u00e2nanutusayy\u00e2tiyay\u00e2tyanarany\u00e2kshasen\u00e2dayo. Nahusha (Naghusha?) is the father of Sary\u00e2ti; N\u00e2bh\u00e2ga, the father of Ambar\u00eesha. These names are so carelessly written that even the commentator says that the text is either kh\u00e2ndasa or pr\u00e2m\u00e2dika. An\u00e2nata is a mere conjecture. It occurs as the name of a Rishi in Rig-veda IX, 111.\n289:3 Anaranya, mentioned in the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, I, 230.\n289:4 M. reads anarany\u00e2kshasena.\n289:5 M. and m. read nirodhanam.\n289:6 M. adds Apsarasas.\n289:7 AL and m. read \u00e2sritasya, but the commentator explains asitasya.\n289:8 Here we have the Maitr\u00e2yana Sandhi, drisyat\u00e2 iti, instead of drisyata iti; see von Schroeder, Maitr\u00e2yan\u00ee Samhit\u00e2, p. xxviii. M. and m. read drisyata.","title":"The Upanishads, Part 2 (SBE15): Maitr\u00e2yana Br\u00e2hmana Upanishad: First Prap\u00e2thaka","type":"page"}