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The Upanishads, Part 1

By Max Müller

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III, 2, 5

FIFTH KHANDA 2
1. Now next the Upanishad of the whole speech.

True all these are Upanishads of the whole speech, but this they call so (chiefly).

2. The mute consonants represent the earth, the sibilants the sky, the vowels heaven.

The mute consonants represent Agni (fire), the sibilants air, the vowels the sun.

The mute consonants represent the Rig-veda, the sibilants the Yagur-veda, the vowels the Sâma-veda.

The mute consonants represent the eye, the sibilants the ear, the vowels the mind.

The mute consonants represent the up-breathing, the sibilants the down-breathing, the vowels the back-breathing.

3. Next comes this divine lute (the human body, made by the gods). The lute made by man is an imitation of it.

4. As there is a head of this, so there is a head of that (lute, made by man). As there is a stomach of this, so there is the cavity 1 (In the board) of that. As there is a tongue of this, so there is a tongue 2 in that. As there are fingers of this, so there are strings of that 3. As there are vowels of this, so there are tones of that. As there are consonants of this, so there are touches of that. As this is endowed with sound and firmly strung, so that is endowed with sound and firmly strung. As this is covered with a hairy skin, so that is covered with a hairy skin.

5. Verily, in former times they covered a lute with a hairy skin.

6. He who knows this lute made by the Devas (and meditates on it), is willingly listened to, his glory fills the earth, and wherever they speak Âryan languages, there they know him.

7. Next follows the verse, called vâgrasa, the essence of speech. When a man reciting or speaking in an assembly does not please, let him say this verse:

8. 'May the queen of all speech, who is covered, as it were, by the lips, surrounded by teeth, as if by spears, who is a thunderbolt, help me to speak well.' This is the vâgrasa, the essence of speech.

Footnotes
263:2 After having inserted the preceding chapter on omina and the concluding paragraph on the highest knowledge, he now returns to the meditation on the letters.

264:1 The Kashmir MS. reads udara evam, &c.

264:2 Vâdanam, what makes the instrument speak, hastena. Comm.

264:3 Here the order is inverted in the text.