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The Upanishads, Part II

By Max Müller

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Brihadâranyaka Upanishad III,3

THIRD BRÂHMANA 2.
1. Then Bhugyu Lâhyâyani asked. 'Yâgñavalkya,' he said, 'we wandered about as students 3, and came to the house of Patañkala Kâpya. He had a daughter who was possessed by a Gandharva. We asked him, 'Who art thou?' and he (the Gandharva) replied: 'I am Sudhanvan, the Â?girasa.' And when we asked him about the ends of the world, we said to him, 'Where were the Pârikshitas 4? Where then were the Pârikshitas, I ask thee, Yâgñavalkya, where were the Pârikshitas?'

2. Yâgñavalkya said: 'He said to thee, I suppose, that they went where those go who have performed a horse-sacrifice.'

He said: 'And where do they go who have performed a horse-sacrifice?'

Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Thirty-two journeys of the car of the sun is this world. The earth surrounds it on every side, twice as large, and the ocean surrounds this earth on every side, twice as large. Now there is between 1 them a space as large as the edge of a razor or the wing of a mosquito. Indra, having become a bird, handed them (through the space) to Vâyu (the air), and Vâyu (the air), holding them within himself, conveyed them to where they dwell who have performed a horse-sacrifice. Somewhat in this way did he praise Vâyu indeed. Therefore Vâyu (air) is everything by itself, and Vâyu is all things together. He who knows this, conquers death.' After that Bhugyu Lâhyâyani held his peace.

Footnotes
127:2 Mâdhyandina text, p. 1070.

127:3 The commentator explains karakâh as adhyayanârtham vratakaranâk karakâh, adhvaryavo vâ. See Professor R. G. Bhandarkar, in Indian Antiquary, 1883, .

127:4 An old royal race, supposed to have vanished from the earth.

128:1 The commentator explains that this small space or hole is between the two halves of the mundane egg.