"Tell me, sir."

And he said to him: "Fire is a sixteenth, the sun a sixteenth, the moon a sixteenth, the lightning a sixteenth. This, beloved, is a quarter of Brahma, in four sixteenths, and called The Lustrous. He who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Lustrous, becomes lustrous in this world; lustrous worlds he wins who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Lustrous. The madgu-bird will tell thee a quarter."

In the morning he drove out the cows. When they came home at evening, he laid a fire, closed in the cows, laid on fuel, and sat down facing the east westward of the fire. A madgu-bird flew towards him and said, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered.

"I will tell thee a quarter of Brahma, beloved."

"Tell me, sir."

And he said to him: "The breath is a sixteenth,

the eye a sixteenth, the ear a sixteenth, the mind a sixteenth. This, beloved, is a quarter of Brahma, in four sixteenths, and called The Spacious. He who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Spacious, becomes spacious in this world; spacious worlds he wins who with such knowledge worships this quarter of Brahma in four sixteenths as The Spacious."

He came to the master's homestead. The master said to him, "Satyakama!" "Sir!" he answered.

"Thou art bright, beloved, as one who knows Brahma. Who has taught thee?"

"Other than men," he answered; "but prithee do thou tell it to me, sir. For I have heard from men like thee, sir, that knowledge learned from a master is the best guide."

He told him thereof; and naught of it was lost.

Footnotes

^84:1 The first five are wind, fire, sun, moon, and water, in the cosmos; the second five are breath, speech, eye, ear, and mind, in the microcosm. Wind and Breath are the final principles of being. He who knows himself to be identical with Wind and Breath, and thus becomes himself the highest principle, gathers to himself all the nourishing powers of nature. These ten natural forces are typified by the four-throw in dice, which counts as ten, and by Virat, which is both the name of a metre of ten syllables and a mythological figure symbolic of primitive matter.

^84:2 Chhandogya Upanishad, iv. 4-9.

^84:3 In default of a father's name, that of his mother is to serve our hero to form his patronymic.

^85:1 Used in the ceremony of the reception (upanayana) of the Brahman-student (brahma-chari) by the teacher in whose house he was henceforth to lodge.

XIII. LIGHT AND DARKNESS

In the Lord is to be veiled this universe, whatsoever stirs in the world. With renunciation thereof thou mayst enjoy; lust thou after the wealth of none.