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The Upanishads, Part 1

By Max Müller

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II, 3, 6

SIXTH KHANDA.
1. This (nishkevalya-sastra) becomes perfect as a thousand of Brihatî verses. In this thousand of Brihatîs there are one thousand one hundred and twenty-five Anushtubhs. For the smaller is contained in the larger.

2. This has been said by a Rishi (Rv. VIII, 76, 12):--

3. 'A speech of eight feet;'--because there are eight feet of four syllables each in the Anushtubh.

4. 'Of nine corners;'--because the Brihatî becomes nine-cornered (having nine feet of four syllables each).

5. 'Touching the truth;'--because speech (Anushtubh) is truth, touched by the verse (Brihatî) 1.

6. 'He (the Hotri) makes the body out of Indra;--'for out of this thousand of Brihatî verses turned into Anushtubhs, and therefore out of Prâna as connected with Indra 2, and out of the Brihatî (which is Prâna), he makes speech, that is Anushtubh, as a body 3.

7. This Mahaduktha is the highest development of speech, and it is fivefold, viz. measured, not measured, music, true, and untrue.

8. A Rik verse, a gâthâ 1, a kumbyâ 2 are measured (metrical). A Yagus line, an invocation, and general remarks 3, these are not measured (they are in prose). A Sâman, or any portion (parvan) of it, is music. Om is true, Na is untrue.

9. What is true (Om) is the flower and fruit of speech. He is able to become celebrated and of good report, for he speaks the true (Om), the flower and fruit of speech.

10. Now the untrue is the root 4 of speech, and as a tree whose root is exposed dries up and perishes, thus a man who says what is untrue exposes his root, dries up and perishes. Therefore one should not say what is untrue, but guard oneself from it.

11. That syllable Om (yes) goes forward (to the first cause of the world) and is empty. Therefore if a man says Om (yes) to everything, then that (which he gives away) is wanting to him here 5. If he says Om (yes) to everything, then he would empty himself, and would not be capable of any enjoyments.

12. That syllable Na (no) is full for oneself 6. If a man says No to everything, then his reputation would become evil, and that would ruin him even here.

13. Therefore let a man give at the proper time only, not at the wrong time. Thus he unites the true and the untrue, and from the union of those two he grows, and becomes greater and greater.

14. He who knows this speech of which this (the mahaduktha) is a development, he is clever. A is the whole of speech, and manifested through different kinds of contact (mutes) and of wind (sibilants), it becomes manifold and different.

15. Speech if uttered in a whisper is breath, if spoken aloud, it is body. Therefore (if whispered) it is almost hidden, for what is incorporeal is almost hidden, and breath is incorporeal. But if spoken aloud, it is body, and therefore it is perceptible, for body is perceptible.

Footnotes
229:1 Vâk, speech, taking the form of Anushtubh, and being joined with the Rik, or the Brihatî, touches the true, i. e. Prâna, breath, which is to be meditated on under the form of the Brihatî. Comm.

229:2 Cf. Ait. Âr. II, 2, 3, 4.

229:3 Because the Anushtubh is made out of the Brihatî, the Brihatî being breath, therefore the Anushtubh is called its body.

230:1 A gâthâ is likewise in verse, for instance, prâtah prâtar anritam te vadanti.

230:2 A kumbyâ is a metrical precept, such as, brahmakâryasyâposânam karma kuru, divi ma svâpsîh, &c.

230:3 Such as arthavâdas, explanatory passages, also gossip, such as is common in the king's palace, laughing at people, &c.

230:4 As diametrically opposed to the flowers and fruits which represent the true. Comm.

230:5 Then that man is left empty here on earth for that enjoyment. Comm.

230:6 He who always says No, keeps everything to himself.