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Brhadaranyaka Upanisad
Chapter One
1.1
1. OM. Dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse. The sun is the eye of the sacrificial horse, the wind his breath, the fire that is in all men his open mouth, the year his body (atman). The sky is his back, middle-air his belly, earth his flanks, the directions his two sides, the intermediate directions his ribs, the seasons his limbs, the months and half-months his joints, the days and nights his feet, the constellations his bones, the clouds his flesh. The food in his stomach is the sands; the rivers are his bowels, liver and lungs; the mountains, plants and tree are his hairs; the rising sun is his front half, the setting sun his rear half; it thunders; when he urinates, it rains; speech is his voice.
2. Day arose as the sacrificial vessel in front of the horse: its birthplace was in the eastern ocean. Night arose as the sacrificial vessel behind it: its birthplace was in the western ocean. These two came into being as the vessels at either end of the horse.
Becoming Steed, he carried the gods; becoming Charger, he carried the gandharvas; becoming Courser, he carried the demons; becoming Horse, he carried human beings. The ocean was his kinsman, the ocean his birthplace.
1.2
1. In the beginning there was nothing here: this was covered by Death, by Hunger, for Hunger is Death. Death made up his mind: ‘If only I could have a self (atman)!’ Shining (arc-), he moved about, and as he shone, the waters were born of him. 'As I shone, water (ka) came to me,’ he thought: that is why water is called arka. Water will come to the one who knows in this way why water is called arka.
2. The waters are arka. The foam of the waters was compacted together. It became the earth. He toiled on it, and as he toiled and grew hot, his brightness, his essence, became fire.
3. He divided himself into three, one third being the sun and one third the air. As breath, too, he was divided into three. The eastern direction became his head; that one and that one became his forequarters; that one and that one became his hindquarters. The southern and northern directions became his two sides, the sky his back, middle-air his belly, this his breast. He stands firm on the waters. Knowing this, one stands firm wherever one goes.
4. He desired that a second self might be born of him. By means of mind, Hunger, that is Death, joined with Speech in sexual union. The seed became the year. Before that there was no year. He carried it for so much time. After so much time, a year, he sent it out. He opened his jaws to eat his offspring. It made the noise, ‘Bhan!’ That became speech.
5. He realized that if he were to kill it, he would make less food for himself. With that speech, that self, he sent out all this, whatever there is: the Rigveda, Yajurveda, and Samaveda, the metres, people and animals. Whatever he sent forth, he began to eat. Because he eats everything, space is called Aditi. Whoever knows that is why space is called Aditi becomes the eater of all this: all this becomes his food.
6. He desired that he might sacrifice again with a greater sacrifice. He toiled, he raised heat; and as he toiled and grew hot, his splendour, his vigour, departed. The breaths (prana) are splendour, vigour. Once the breaths had departed, his body began to swell, but mind was still in his body.
7. He desired that that body of his should become fit for sacrifice, and that by it he should become embodied. Then his body became a horse. ‘Since it has swollen (asvat); he thought, ‘it has become fit for sacrifice (medhya).' That is why the horse-sacrifice is the asvamedha. Whoever knows this, knows the horse-sacrifice.
Letting it go free, he contemplated it. After a year, he sacrificed it to himself. He offered the animals to the deities. That is why folk offer the horse, which is consecrated to all the deities, as an offering to Prajapati.
The one who gives heat is the horse?sacrifice: the year is his self. Fire is arka: the worlds are his bodies. They are two, the shining one and the horse?sacrifice. Then again, they are just one deity, Death. He conquers re?death; Death does not get him; Death becomes his body (atman); he becomes one of the deities.
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