स होवाच प्रजापतिः अग्निर्वै देवा इदं सर्वं विश्वा भूतानि प्राणा वा इन्द्रियाणि पशवोऽन्नमभृतं सम्राट् स्वराड्विराट् तत्साम्नः प्रथमं पादं जानीयात् । ऋग्यजुःसामाथर्वरूपः सूर्योऽन्तरादित्ये हिरण्मयः पुरुषस्तत्साम्नो द्वितीयं पादं जानीयात् । य ओषधीनां प्रभुर्भवति ताराधिपतिः सोमस्तत्साम्नस्तृतीयं पादं जानीयात् । स ब्रह्मा स शिवः स हरिः सेन्द्रः सोऽक्षरः परमः स्वराट् तत्साम्नश्चतुर्थं पादं जानीयाद्यो जानीते सोऽमृतत्वं च गच्छति
sa hovāca prajāpatiḥ agnirvai devā idaṃ sarvaṃ viśvā bhūtāni prāṇā vā indriyāṇi paśavo'nnamabhṛtaṃ samrāṭ svarāḍvirāṭ tatsāmnaḥ prathamaṃ pādaṃ jānīyāt | ṛgyajuḥsāmātharvarūpaḥ sūryo'ntarāditye hiraṇmayaḥ puruṣastatsāmno dvitīyaṃ pādaṃ jānīyāt | ya oṣadhīnāṃ prabhurbhavati tārādhipatiḥ somastatsāmnastṛtīyaṃ pādaṃ jānīyāt | sa brahmā sa śivaḥ sa hariḥ sendraḥ so'kṣaraḥ paramaḥ svarāṭ tatsāmnaścaturthaṃ pādaṃ jānīyādyo jānīte so'mṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati
Prajāpati said: “Fire is the gods and all this, all beings, the breaths and the senses, cattle and food — samrāṭ, svarāṭ and virāṭ: him let him know as the first quarter of this chant. The sun, having the form of the Ṛg-veda, the Yajur-veda, the Sāma-veda and the Atharva-veda — the golden Puruṣa within the sun — as the second quarter. Him who is the lord of plants and ruler of the stars, the moon, — as the third quarter. And he is Brahmā, he is Śiva, he is Hari, he is Indra, he the imperishable, the highest self-ruler: him let him know as the fourth quarter. Who knows attains immortality.”
ac96504efffc · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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A third superposition on the same four quarters: fire, the sun, the moon, and He who is called by all the names.
Fire, sun and moon are the three lights of which we spoke in reading the fourth paragraph of the fifth Upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī: fire on earth, the sun in heaven, the moon by night. The most ancient triad of the Vedic rite.
“The golden Puruṣa within the sun” is from the Chāndogya, where it is said of him that his beard is golden and his hair golden, and that his name is “ud”, for he has risen above all evil.
And the fourth quarter is a list of names: Brahmā, Śiva, Hari, Indra.
It is this list that deserves notice. We read such lists in the Atharvaśiras, in the Kaivalya, in the Māntrikā; each time the names of different gods were set in one row and declared the names of One.
Here the same — and here it is added that all of them are the fourth quarter, that is, what lies beyond the three worlds and the three lights.
Note sam-rāṭ, sva-rāṭ, vi-rāṭ — three words with the root rāj, “to reign”: “co-king”, “self-king”, “out-king”. They are referred to three degrees of sovereignty; the last, virāṭ, is the name of the gross body of the universe.