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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Khila Kanda. Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 13. The uktha, the yajus, the saman, the ksatra

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Each mantra is given four ways: the Sanskrit in its Devanagari script, the same sounds in Roman letters, an English translation set in our own voice, and then the line once more in plain words, for a first and unhurried reading.

Not every passage is opened to the same depth. A few central mantras carry the full cross-school commentary, where the schools are set side by side. The rest are kept here whole and faithful, set in their place but not expounded, so the book stays entire and nothing is dropped for being thought minor.

Where the schools read a line differently, the difference is kept open. None is crowned and none is corrected. Each is met on its own terms, and where they contradict, the contradiction is left standing for you to sit with.

॥ 5.13.1 ॥

The breath that raises the world

उक्थम् । प्राणो वा उक्थम् । प्राणो हीदं सर्वमुत्थापयति । उद्धस्मादुक्थविद्वीरस्तिष्ठति । उक्थस्य सायुज्यं सलोकतां जयति य एवं वेद ॥
In transliteration
uktham | prāṇo vā uktham | prāṇo hīdaṃ sarvamutthāpayati | uddhasmādukthavidvīrastiṣṭhati | ukthasya sāyujyaṃ salokatāṃ jayati ya evaṃ veda ||

In English

The uktha. The vital breath, truly, is the uktha, for the breath raises up all this world. From the one who knows this there rises a hero, a knower of the breath. He who knows this thus wins union with the uktha and a dwelling in the same world as the uktha.

In plain words

The breath is the uktha, the chief hymn of praise, because it lifts up everything (ut-tha, raising up). One who meditates on it this way gains a worthy heir and comes to share the very world of the uktha.