These objects, thus lifted up into symbols of Brahman, are of two kinds, either connected with sacrifice or not. In our Upanishad we have to deal with the former class only, viz. with certain portions of the Mahavrata, as described in the first Aranyaka. In order that the mind may not be entirely absorbed by the sacrifice, it is lifted up during the performance from the consideration of these sacrificial objects to a meditation on higher objects, leading up at last to Brahman as prana or life.

This meditation is to be performed by the priests, and while they meditate they may meditate on a hymn or on a single word of it as meaning something else, such as the sun, the earth, or the sky, but not vice versa. And if in one Sakha, as in that of the Aitareyins, for instance, a certain hymn has been symbolically explained, the same explanation may be adopted by another Sakha also, such as that of the Kaushitakins. It is not necessary, however, that every part of the sacrifice should be accompanied by meditation, but it is left optional to the priest in what particular meditation he wishes to engage, nor is even the time of the sacrifice the only right time for him to engage in these meditations.

1. This is the path: this sacrifice, and this Brahman. This is the true .

2. Let no man swerve from it, let no man transgress it.

3. For the old (sages) did not transgress it, and those who did transgress, became lost.

4. This has been declared by a Rishi (Rv. VIII, 101, 14): 'Three (classes of) people transgressed, others settled down round about the venerable (Agni, fire); the great (sun) stood in the midst of the worlds, the blowing (Vayu, air) entered the Harits (the dawns, or the ends of the earth).'

5. When he says: 'Three (classes of) people transgressed,' the three (classes of) people who transgressed are what we see here (on earth, born again) as birds, trees, herbs, and serpents .

6. When he says: 'Others settled down round about the venerable,' he means those who now sit down to worship Agni (fire).

7. When he says: 'The great stood in the midst of the worlds,' the great one in the midst of the world is meant for this Aditya, the sun.

8. When he says: 'The blowing entered the Harits,' he means that Vayu, the air, the purifier, entered all the corners of the earth .

Footnotes

^201:1 Comm. The path is twofold, consisting of works and knowledge. Works or sacrifices have been described in the Samhita, the Brahmana, and the first Aranyaka. Knowledge of Brahman forms the subject of the second and third Aranyakas. The true path is that of knowledge.