Sacred Texts Hinduism Satapatha Brahmana Index Previous Next
Buy this Book at Amazon.com
Satapatha Brahmana Part IV (SBE43), Julius Eggeling tr. [1897], at sacred-texts.com
10:4:5:11. Now the doctrines of mystic imports 2. The Sâkâyanins hold that 'Agni is Vâyu (the wind);' but some say that 'Agni is Âditya (the sun).' And either Sraumatya, or Hâliṅgava, said, 'Agni is no other than Vâyu: wherefore the Adhvaryu, when he performs the last work 3, passes into that (wind).'
10:4:5:22. And Sâtyâyani said, 'Agni is no other than the Year; his head is the spring, his right wing the summer, his left wing the rainy season, his middle body (trunk) the autumn season, and his tail and feet the winter and dewy seasons--Agni is speech, Vâyu breath, the sun the eye, the moon the mind, the quarters the ear, the generative power water 4, the feet (and tail) fervour, the joints the months, the veins the half-moons, the silver and gold feathers
the days and nights: thus he passes over to the gods.' Let him know, then, that Agni is the Year; and let him know that it is thereof 1 he consists.
10:4:5:33. And Kelaka Sândilyâyana said, 'Let him know that the three layers containing the naturally-perforated (bricks) 2 are these worlds, that the fourth (layer) is the Sacrificer, and the fifth all objects of desire; and that it is these worlds, and his own self and all his objects of desire he compasses.'
363:2 Athânantaram upanishadâm rahasyârthânâm âdesâ upadesâ vakshyante. Sây.--Prof. Oldenberg (Zeitsch. of G. Or. S., 50, p. 457 seq.) takes 'upanishad' in the sense of 'worship.'
363:3 That is, the concluding rites of the sacrifice,--tasmâd adhvaryuh yadâ uttamam yagñasamâptilakshanam karma karoti, tadaitam eva vâyum apyeti, tathâ hi, samishtayagurhome devâ gâtuvido gâtum vittvâ gâtum ita manasaspata iti mantreऽvâki, svâhâ vâte dhâh svâhâ, iti vâyau dhâranam uktam. Sây. See IV, 4, 4, 53, where the sacrifice (though not the Adhvaryu priest) is consigned to the wind by means of the Samishtayagus formulas.
363:4 Note the change in the relative position of subject and predicate from here.
364:1 That is, of the objects enumerated before.
364:2 That is, the first, third, and fifth layers. By the fourth and fifth layers mentioned immediately after, we have not of course to understand the real fourth and fifth layers, but the two making up the five layers (viz. the second and fourth).