^284:2 The commentator explains this somewhat differently. He takes it to be the object of the last paragraph to show that the Prana-vidya can ultimately produce final liberation, and not only temporal rewards. The Adhvaryu priest, he says, takes what is called uktha, and has been identified with Rik, Yagus, and Saman hymns, all contained in the mouth, as being outwardly the sacrificial fire of the altar, because that fire cannot be lighted without such hymns. Thus the self of the Adhvaryu priest becomes identified, not only with the uktha, the hymns, but also with the sacrificial fire, and he meditates on himself as fire, as hymn (uktha), and as breath (prana). I read sa esha sarvasyai trayyai vidyaya atma, esha u evasyatma. Etadatma bhavati ya evam veda. But if we read asyatma, we cannot with the commentator explain it by asya uktayas trayya atma, but must refer asya to prana, breath, life, which is here to be identified with Brahman.

^285:1 This is one of the earliest, if not the earliest mention of the yagnopavita, the sacred cord as worn over the left shoulder for sacrificial purposes; cf. Taitt. Brahm. III, 10, 19, 12.

^286:1 This refers to movements of the arm, following the moon and the sun.

^286:2 It is extremely difficult to translate the Vedic verses which are quoted in the Upanishads. They are sometimes slightly changed on purpose (see section11), frequently turned from their original purport by the authors of the Upanishads themselves, and then again subjected to the most fanciful interpretations by the various commentators on the Upanishads. In our paragraph ( section 8) the text followed by the commentator differs from the printed text. The commentator seems to have read: Yat te susimam hridayam adhi kandramasi sritam, tenamritatvasyesane maham pautram agham rudam. I have translated according to the commentator, at least up to a certain point, for, as Professor Cowell remarks, there is an undercurrent in the commentator's explanation, implying a comparison between the husband as the sun or fire, and the wife as the moon, which it would be difficult to render in an English translation. The same or a very similar verse occurs in section 10, while other modifications of it may be seen in Asval. Grihya-sutras I, 13, 7, and elsewhere. The translation of the verses in full, of three of which the Upanishad gives the beginnings only, would be according to the commentator: '(O goddess of the moon) who hast obtained immortal joy through that which is a beautiful (portion of the sun) placed in the moon, and filling thy heart (with pleasure), may I never weep for misfortune concerning my children.'