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APPENDIX V
(left) to the very tips of his nails [1] : (such is the case with him) who, knowing this, studies. Wherefore etc. 5. Rig-veda-verses are honey, Sama-verses butter, Yajus-verses nectar ( amrita ) . When a man reads dialogues ( vakovakya ) and legends these two sorts of composition are respectively oblations of cooked milk and cooked flesh. 6. He who, knowing this, daily reads Rig-veda verses, satisfies the gods with honey; and they, when satisfied, satisfy him with all objects of desire, and with all enjoyments. 7. He who, knowing this, daily reads Sama-verses, satisfies the gods with butter; and they, when satisfied, etc. (as before). 8. He who, knowing this, daily reads Yajus-verses, satisfies the gods with nectar; and they, etc. (as before). 9. He who, knowing this, daily studies dialogues and the different classes of ancient stories, satisfies the gods with milk—and flesh-oblations; and they, etc. (as before). 10. The waters move. The Sun moves. The Moon moves. The constellations move. The Brahman who on any day does not study the Veda, is on that day like what these moving bodies would be if they ceased to move or act. Wherefore such study is to be practised. Let a man therefore present as his offering a verse of the Rig-veda, or the Saman, or the Yajush, or a Gatha, or a Kumvya, in order that the course of his observances may not be interrupted.”
Manu also supports the Satapatha Brahmana. He says:
“The Veda is the eternal eye of the fathers, of Gods, and of men; it is beyond human power and comprehension; this is a certain conclusion. Whatever traditions are apart from the Veda, and all heretical views, are fruitless in the next world, for they are declared to be founded on darkness. All other (books) external to the Veda, which arise and pass away, are worthless and false from their recentness of date. The system of the four castes, the three worlds, the four states of life, all that has been, now is, or shall be, is made manifest by the Veda. The objects of touch and taste, sound, form, and odour, as the fifth, are made known by the Veda, together with their products, qualities, and the character of their action. The eternal Veda supports all beings; hence I regard it as the principle instrument of well-being to this creature, man. Command of armies, royal authority, the administration of criminal justice, and the sovereignty of all worlds, he alone deserves who knows the
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1 This sentence is differently rendered by Professor Weber, Ind. Stud. x. p. 112, as follows: “He burns (with sacred fire) to the very tips of his nails.” In a later page of the same Essay we are told that according to the doctrine of a teacher called Naka Maudgaly as stated in the Taittiriya Aranyaka, the study and teaching of the Veda are the real tapas svadhyaya-pravachane eva tad hi tapah). In the text of the Aranyaka itself, vii. 8, it is declared that study and teaching should always accompany such spiritual or ritual acts as satyam, tapas, dama, sama the agnihotra sacrifice, etc. See Indische Studien, ii.
214, and x. 113.