Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Khila Kanda. Adhyaya 6, Brahmana 3. The rite for greatness

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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.

॥ 6.3.1 ॥

Gathering the herbs for greatness

स यः कामयेत महत्प्राप्नुयामित्युदगयन आपूर्यमाणपक्षस्य पुण्याहे द्वादशाहमुपसद्व्रती भूत्वौदुम्बरे कंसे चमसे वा सर्वौषधं फलानीति संभृत्य परिसमुह्य परिलिप्याग्निमुपसमाधाय परिस्तीर्यावृताज्यं संस्कृत्य पुंसा नक्षत्रेण मन्थं संनीय जुहोति यावन्तो देवास्त्वयि जातवेदस्तिर्यञ्चो घ्नन्ति पुरुषस्य कामान् । तेभ्योऽहं भागधेयं जुहोमि ते मा तृप्ताः सर्वैः कामैस्तर्पयन्तु स्वाहा । या तिरश्ची निपद्यसेऽहं विधरणी इति । तां त्वा घृतस्य धारया यजे संराधनीमहं स्वाहा

In transliteration

sa yaḥ kāmayeta mahatprāpnuyāmityudagayana āpūryamāṇapakṣasya puṇyāhe dvādaśāhamupasadvratī bhūtvaudumbare kaṃse camase vā sarvauṣadhaṃ phalānīti saṃbhṛtya parisamuhya parilipyāgnimupasamādhāya paristīryāvṛtājyaṃ saṃskṛtya puṃsā nakṣatreṇa manthaṃ saṃnīya juhoti yāvanto devāstvayi jātavedastiryañco ghnanti puruṣasya kāmān | tebhyo'haṃ bhāgadheyaṃ juhomi te mā tṛptāḥ sarvaiḥ kāmaistarpayantu svāhā | yā tiraścī nipadyase'haṃ vidharaṇī iti | tāṃ tvā ghṛtasya dhārayā yaje saṃrādhanīmahaṃ svāhā

In English

He who desires, May I attain greatness, should, during the northward course of the sun, in the bright fortnight as the moon waxes, on an auspicious day, having kept for twelve days the vow of the Upasads, gather all herbs and their fruits in a vessel or cup of fig wood, sweep clean the ground and smear it, set up the fire and strew the grass around it, prepare the clarified butter in the prescribed way, mix the paste under a male constellation, and offer it, saying: O Fire, to as many gods as are in you, who, set athwart, thwart the desires of man, to them I offer their share. May they, being satisfied, satisfy me with every desire. Svaha. To her who lies athwart, who thinks, I am the upholder of all, to that procurer of all I offer this with a stream of clarified butter. Svaha.

In plain words

One who wants to become great should perform this rite at the right time: when the sun is moving north, in the waxing fortnight, on a holy day, after keeping a twelve-day preparatory vow. He gathers every herb and its fruits in a fig-wood vessel, cleans and prepares the ground, lights the fire, lays the grass around it, readies the ghee, and under a male star mixes the paste (the mantha). Then he offers it into the fire with two prayers. The first is to Fire (Jatavedas): all the gods within the fire who block people's wishes, he gives them their portion so that, satisfied, they will satisfy him with everything he desires. The second is to the deity who lies across (tirashchi), who supposes herself the support of all: he offers her a stream of ghee so that she becomes the one who procures all his wishes.

All mantras