'The forty-fourfold Stoma', (with these words he puts down) on the south; the forty-fourfold is splendour; verily he places splendour on the south; therefore the right side is the more resplendent. 'The sixteenfold Stoma', (with these words he puts down) on the north; the sixteenfold is force; verily he places force on the north; therefore [1] he that advances to the north is victorious. The forty-fourfold is a thunderbolt, the sixteenfold is a thunder bolt; in that he puts down these two bricks, he hurls the bolt after the foe born and to be born whom he has repelled, to lay them low. He puts down in the middle (a brick) full of dust, the middle of the body is faeces (púrisa); verily he piles the fire with its own body, and with his own body he is in yonder world who knows thus. These bricks are called the unrivalled; no rival is his for whom they are put down [2]. The fire is an animal; he puts down the Viraj (bricks) in the highest layer; verily be confers upon cattle the highest Viraj; therefore he that is possessed of cattle speaks the highest speech. Ten by ten he puts (them) down, to confer power on them. Transversely he puts (them) down; therefore cattle move their limbs transversely, for support. By those metres which were heavenly, the gods went to the world of heaven; for that the seers toiled [3]; they practised fervour, these they saw by fervour, and from them they fashioned these bricks. 'The course metre; the space metre', (with these words) they put them down; with these they went to the world of heaven; in that he puts down these bricks, the sacrifice goes to the world of heaven with the metres that are heavenly. By the sacrifice Prajapati created creatures; he created them by the Stomabhagas; in that [4] he puts down the Stomabhagas, the sacrificer creates offspring. In the Stomabhagas Brhaspati collected the brilliance of the sacrifice; in that he puts down the Stomabhaga (bricks) he piles the fire with its brilliance.YV 3.5h · Yajur Veda
YV 3.5h
Yajur Veda · translated by Arthur Berriedale Keith
Themes in this passage
SpeechTruthThe DivineWorshipCreationChildrenNatureStrength
Speech in other traditions
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Beware of the anger of the tongue, and control thy tongue! Leave the sins of the tongue, and practise virtue with thy tongue!Dhp 17.232 · Dhammapada · Anger
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.1 Corinthians 14:2 · Bible · 1 Corinthians
O ye who believe! Guard your duty to Allah, and speak words straight to the point;Quran 33:70 · Quran · The Allies
He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it.Tao Te Ching 56.1 · Tao Te Ching
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