Khila Kanda. Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 15. The dying man's prayer: O Pusan, uncover the face of truth
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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.
Uncover the face of truth
The face of Truth is covered over with a golden vessel. Uncover it, O Pusan, for me whose very nature is truth, that I may see. O Pusan, sole seer, Yama, Surya, child of Prajapati, spread apart your rays and gather up your burning light. That form of yours which is the most blessed, that I now behold. The Being who dwells there, that Being am I. Now let my breath return to the immortal air, and let this body end in ashes. Om. O will, remember; remember what has been done. O will, remember; remember what has been done. O Fire, lead us by the good path to our riches, you who know all our ways, O god. Drive far from us the crooked sin, and we shall offer you the fullest words of praise.
Truth's true face is hidden, as if by a brilliant golden lid: the dazzling disc of the sun screens the Being seated within it. So the dying knower prays to the sun-god (Pusan) to draw that disc aside, so that he, whose very reality is truth (satyadharma), may see the face directly. He calls the sun by its names (Pusan the nourisher, Ekarshi the sole seer, Yama the controller, Surya, child of Prajapati) and asks it to spread out its blinding rays and concentrate its glare, so the kindly form behind it can be looked upon. Seeing that most blessed form, he declares the supreme identity: the Person there in the sun is none other than himself (so'ham asmi). Then he lets go of the body: his breath (vayu) merges into the all-pervading immortal air (anila), and the body is left to become ash. He calls on the sacrificial fire (krato, the deity of will and rite) to remember, at this last hour, all that he has done (kritam smara). And he prays to Agni, the fire who knows all his paths, to lead him by the good, bright northern path (supatha) toward his true wealth, to drive off the crooked, misleading sin (juhuranam enah), and in return he offers the fullest salutation and praise he can, being too weak now for any other service.
In the commentaries
Sankara reads this as the prayer of a dying knower of the golden person in the sun. The golden vessel is the resplendent solar orb veiling the face, the true nature, of Brahman (Satya), and only a concentrated mind may see past it; Pusan is asked to remove it so the worshipper, whose own reality is that very truth (satyadharma), may behold it directly. The names heaped on the sun (Pusan, Ekarshi, Yama, Surya, Prajapatya) are all the one deity, begged to spread out and gather in his dazzling rays so his benign form can be seen. "That Being am I" (so'ham asmi) is the assertion of identity: the person within the sun is the worshipper's own Self. At death the breath returns to the cosmic immortal air and the body to ashes, while he bids the fire (krato, the deity of will and sacrifice) recollect his deeds, since a desired end is reached through such recollection at the last moment. The closing verse to Agni asks to be led by the good, bright path of the gods (the northern way that does not return) rather than the dark southern path, to have the crooked, misleading sin driven off, and offers abundant salutation as the one service still within a dying man's power.