Khila Kanda. Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 8. Speech as the milch cow
New to these pages?
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.
Speech as the milch cow
Let a man meditate on speech as a milch cow. She has four teats: the call Svaha, the call Vasat, the call Hanta, and the call Svadha. Upon two of her teats the gods feed, the call Svaha and the call Vasat; upon the call Hanta human beings feed; upon the call Svadha the ancestors feed. Her bull is the vital force, and her calf is the mind.
Meditate on speech (the Vedas) as a cow. Her four teats are the four ritual cries: Svaha and Vasat feed the gods, Hanta feeds human beings, and Svadha feeds the ancestors. Her bull, who makes her fruitful, is the vital breath; her calf, who draws out her milk, is the mind.