Now when he says, 'Lead me from the unreal to the real,' the unreal is verily death, the real immortality. He therefore says, 'Lead me from death to immortality, make me immortal.'

When he says, 'Lead me from darkness to light,' darkness is verily death, light immortality. He therefore says, 'Lead me from death to immortality, make me immortal.'

When he says, 'Lead me from death to immortality,' there is nothing there, as it were, hidden (obscure, requiring explanation) .

28. Next come the other Stotras with which the priest may obtain food for himself by singing them. Therefore let the sacrificer, while these Stotras are being sung, ask for a boon, whatever desire he may desire. An Udgatri priest who knows this obtains by his singing whatever desire he may desire either for himself or for the sacrificer. This (knowledge) indeed is called the conqueror of the worlds. He who thus knows this Saman , for him there is no fear of his not being admitted to the worlds .

Footnotes

^74:6 Called the Agni-brahmana, and intended to teach the origin of Agni, the fire, which is here used for the Horse-sacrifice. It is found in the Satapatha-brahmana, Madhyandina-sakha X, 6, 5, and there explained as a description of Hiranyagarbha.

^75:1 We ought to read arkasyarkatvam, as in Poley's edition, or ark-kasyarkkatvam, to make the etymology still clearer. The commentator takes arka in the sense of fire, more especially the sacrificial fire employed at the Horse-sacrifice. It may be so, but the more natural interpretation seems to me to take arka here as water, from which indirectly fire is produced. From water springs the earth; on that earth he (Mrityu or Pragapati) rested, and from him, while resting there, fire (Virag) was produced. That fire assumed three forms, fire, sun, and air, and in that threefold form it is called prana, spirit.

^75:2 As Agni, Vayu, and Aditya.

^75:3 Here Agni (Virag) is taken as representing the fire of the altar at the Horse-sacrifice, which is called Arka. The object of the whole Brahmana was to show the origin and true character of that fire (arka).

^76:1 He is the same as what was before called mrityu, death, who, after becoming self-conscious, produced water, earth, fire, &c. He now wishes for a second body, which is the year, or the annual sacrifice, the year being dependent on the sun (Aditya).

^76:2 The commentator understands the father, instead of Speech, the mother.

^76:3 The interjectional theory.

^76:4 All these are merely fanciful etymologies of asvamedha and arka.

^77:1 Or glory (senses) and power. Comm.

^77:2 He considered himself as the horse. Roer.

^78:1 Called the Udgitha-brahmana. In the Madhyandina-sakha, the Upanishad, which consists of six adhyayas, begins with this Brahmana (cf. Weber's edition, p. 104 7; Commentary, p. 1109).