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AITAREYA-ARANYAKA.
by saying this the poet pleases the hymns (the senses), and magnifies them.
9. “As far as Brahman reaches, iso far reaches speech;'-wherever there is Brahman, there is a word; and wherever there is a word, there is Brahman, this was intended.
10. The first of the hymns among all those hymns has nine verses. Verily, there are nine prânas (openings), and it serves for their benefit.
11. Then follows a hymn of six verses. Verily, the seasons are six, and it serves to obtain them.
12. Then follows a hymn of five verses. Verily, the Pankti consists of five feet. Verily, Parkti is food, and it serves for the gaining of proper food.
13. Then follows a tristich. Three are these threefold worlds, and it serves to conquer them.
14. These verses become Brihatis, that metre being immortal, leading to the world of the Devas. That body of verses is the trunk of the bird represented by the whole sastra), and thus it is. He who knows this comes by this way (by making the verses the trunk of the bird) near to the immortal Self, yea, to the immortal Self?.
* Each foot of the Trishtubh has eleven syllables, to which seven are added from the Nada hymn. This gives eighteen syllables for each pâda. Two pâdas therefore give thirty-six syllables, and this is a Brihati. In this manner the twenty-three verses of the hymns yield forty-six Brihatîs. Comm.
2 He obtains a birth among the gods by means of this Mahavrata ceremonial, if performed with meditation and a right understanding of its hidden meaning.
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