OR SACRED WRITINGS OF THE HINDUS. 475 



and another. This other is the Rigvkia, the Ya- 

 jurveda, the Samaveda, the Atharva-veda* ; the rules 

 of accentuation, the rites of rehgion, grammar, 

 the glossary and explanation of obscure terms, 

 prosody, and astronomy : also the Itihasa and 

 Purana; and logic, with the rules of interpreta- 

 tion, and tlie system of moral duties. 



" But the supreme science is that, by which this 

 unperishable [nature] is apprehended ; invisible [or 

 imperceptible, as is that nature] : not to be seized; 

 nor to be deduced ; devoid of colour ; destitute of 

 eyes and ears ; without hands or feet, yet ever va- 

 riously pervading all : minute, unalterable ; and 

 contemplated by the wise for the source of beings. 



" As the spider spins and gathers back [its 

 thread]; as plants sprout on the earth; as hairs 

 grow on a living person : so is this universe, here, 

 produced from the unperishable nature. By con- 

 templation, the vast one germinates ; from him, 

 food [or body] is produced ; and thence, succes- 

 sively, breath, mind, real [elements], worlds, and 

 immortality arising from [good] deeds. The om- 

 niscient is profound contemplation, consisting in 

 the knowledge of him, who knows all : and, from 

 that, the [manifested] vast one, as well as names, 

 forms, and food, proceed : and this is truth." 



The Pras'na, which is the second Upamshad, 

 and equally important with the first, consists, like 

 it, of six sections ; and has been similarly nter- 

 preted by S ancara and Ba'lacrishn'a ]'. In this 



^ Meaning the prayers contained in the four Vcdas, disjoined 

 from theology. 



t I have several copies of the text, besides commentaries on 

 l>olh Vpanishada, 



