The Upanishads, Part 2 (SBE15)
Chapters
Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad: Fifth Adhyaya: Thirteenth Brahmana

THIRTEENTH BRAHMANA.

1. Next follows the Uktha . Verily, breath (prana) is Uktha, for breath raises up (utthapayati) all this. From him who knows this, there is raised a wise son, knowing the Uktha; he obtains union and oneness with the Uktha.

2. Next follows the Yagus. Verily, breath is Yagus, for all these beings are joined in breath . For him who knows this, all beings are joined to procure his excellence; he obtains union and oneness with the Yagus.

3. Next follows the Saman. Verily, breath is the Saman, for all these beings meet in breath. For him who knows this, all beings meet to procure his excellence; he obtains union and oneness with the Saman.

4. Next follows the Kshatra. Verily, breath is the Kshatra, for breath is Kshatra, i.e. breath protects (trayate) him from being hurt (kshanitoh). He who knows this, obtains Kshatra (power), which requires no protection; he obtains union and oneness with Kshatra .

Footnotes

^195:1 Meditation on the hymn called uktha. On the uktha, as the principal part in the Mahavrata, see Kaush. Up. III, 3; Ait. Ar. II, 1, 2. The uktha, yagus, saman, &c. are here represented as forms under which prana or life, and indirectly Brahman, is to be meditated on.

^195:2 Without life or breath nothing can join anything else; therefore life is called yagus, as it were yugus.

^195:3 Instead of Kshatram atram, another Sakha, i.e. the Madhyandina, reads Kshatramatram, which Dvivedaganga explains as, he obtains the nature of the Kshatra, or he obtains the Kshatra which protects (Kshatram atram).