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VI PRAPÂTHAKA, 4.
307
He divided himself threefold, for Om consists of three letters, a +u+m. Through them all this is contained in him as warp and woof. For thus it is said :
'Meditate on that Sun as Om, join your Self (the breath) with the (Self of the) Sun.'
4. And thus it has been said elsewhere: The Udgitha (of the Sâma-veda) is the Pranava? (of the Rig-veda), and the Pranava is the Udgitha, and thus the Sun is Udgitha, and he is Pranava or Om. For thus it is said ::
The Udgitha, called Pranava, the leader in the performance of sacrifices), the bright, the sleepless, free from old age and death, three-footed", consisting of three letters (a +u+m), and likewise to be known as fivefold (five prânas) placed in the cave.' And it is also said :
The three-footed Brahman has its root upwardo, the branches are ether, wind, fire, water, earth, &c. This one Asvattha? by name, the world, is Brahman, and of it that is the light which is called the Sun, and it is also the light of that syllable Om. Therefore let him for ever worship that (breath and sun, as manifestations of Brahman) with the syllable Om.'
He alone enlightens us. For thus it is said : .
yad brahma tag gyotir, yad gyotis sa âdityah.' This is exactly the reading of my own MS.
i M. reads kaivâsminn ity evam hyâha. 2 The mystic syllable Om.
See Khândogyopanishad I, 5; Maitr. Up. VI, 25. 4 M. reads nâmarûpam.
The three feet of the prâna are waking, slumber, and deep sleep; the three feet of the sun, the three worlds, bhùh, bhuvah, svar, as in VII, 11. See also Khând. Up. III, 12.
Cf. Kath. Up. VI, 1. ? Asvattha, lit. fig-tree, then frequently used metaphorically as a name of the world. Here explained as it will not stand tillto-morrow.'
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