Part 4

SEVENTH PRAPATHAKA.

FIRST KHANDA

1. Narada approached Sanatkumara and said, 'Teach me, Sir!' Sanatkumara said to him: 'Please to tell me what you know; afterward I shall tell you what is beyond.'

2. Narada said: 'I know the Rig-veda, Sir, the Yagur-veda, the Sama-veda, as the fourth the Atharvana, as the fifth the Itihasa-purana (the Bharata); the Veda of the Vedas (grammar); the Pitrya (the rules for the sacrifices for the ancestors); the Rasi (the science of numbers); the Daiva (the science of portents); the Nidhi (the science of time); the Vakovikya (logic); the Ekayana (ethics); the Devavidya (etymology); the Brahma-vidya (pronunciation, siksha, ceremonial, kalpa, prosody, khandas); the Bhuta-vidya (the science of demons); the Kshatra-vidya (the science of weapons); the Nakshatra-vidya (astronomy); the Sarpa and Devagana-vidya (the science of serpents or poisons, and the sciences of the genii, such as the making of perfumes, dancing, singing, playing, and other fine arts). All this I know, Sir.

3. 'But, Sir, with all this I know the Mantras only, the sacred books, I do not know the Self. I have heard from men like you, that he who knows the Self overcomes grief. I am in grief. Do, Sir, help me over this grief of mine.'

Sanatkumira said to him: 'Whatever you have read, is only a name.

4. 'A name is the.Rig-veda, Yagur-veda, Samaveda, and as the fourth the Atharvana, as the fifth the Itihasa-purana, the Veda of the Vedas, the Pitrya, the Rasi, the Daiva, the Nidhi, the Vakovakya, the Ekiyana, the Deva-vidya, the Brahma-vidya, the Bhuta-vidya, the Kshatra-vidya, the Nakshatra-vidya, the Sarpa and Devagana-vidya. All these are a name only. Meditate on the name.

5. 'He who meditates on the name as Brahman, is, as it were, lord and master as far as the name reaches-he who meditates on the name as Brahman.'

'Sir, is there something better than a name?'

'Yes, there is something better than a name.'

'Sir, tell it me.'