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CHAPTER V, 21.
259
the interior, in the midst of all these (life-winds) which move about in the body and swallow up one another, blazes the Vaisvana fire S sevenfold. The nose, and the tongue, and the eye, and the skin, and the ear as the fifth, the mind and the understanding, these are the seven tongues of the blaze of Vaisvânara. That which is to be smelt, that which is to be drunk, that which is to be seen, that which is to be touched, and likewise that which is to be heard, and also that which is to be thought of, and that which is to be understood, those are the seven (kinds of) fuel for me. That which smells, that which eats, that which sees, that which touches, and that which hears as the fifth, that which thinks, and that which understands, these are the seven great officiating priests. And mark this always,
controlled and held under check by the Prära and Apâna, into which latter the former are absorbed in sleep. The latter two are held in check and controlled by the Udåna, which thus controls all. And the control of this, which is the control of all the five, and which is otherwise called penance, destroys the course of worldly life, and leads to the supreme self.
' I.e. within the body. As explained in note 8, p. 258.
• This, says Nilakantha, explains the word 'l' in the sentence preceding. Vaisvånara is a word often used to denote the self. The Vishamaslokî derives it thus, that which saves all beings from hell;' see the Prasna-upanishad, pp. 167-188 (where seven tongues are also referred to); Mundaka, p. 292; Khåndogya, P. 364; Mandukya, p. 341.
• Cf. Taittiriya-åranyaka, p. 802. • I.e. the Vaisvånara. Cf. Taittirfya-aranyaka, p. 803 and gloss.
• These I take to be the powers of hearing, &c., which are presided over by the several deities; or, belter, perhaps, they may mean the soul distinguished as so many with reference to these several powers; cf. Brihadaranyaka, p. 169; Maitrt, p. 96; Prasa, pp. 214, 215; Kaushitaki, p. 96; Aitareya, p. 187; Khandogya, p. 616. The latter sense is accepted by Arguna Misra.
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