Aitareyabrahmana 4.20

4.20

He mounts the difficult mounting. The difficult mounting is the heavenly world.
He who knows thus mounts indeed the heavenly world.
As to why it is a difficult mounting:
He who shines yonder is indeed difficult to mount;
scarcely anyone goes there.
In that he mounts the difficult mounting, he mounts that very one.
He mounts with the Haṃsavatī verse:
'The swan seated in the pure,'—he is indeed the swan seated in the pure;
'the Vasu seated in the atmosphere,'—he is indeed the Vasu seated in the atmosphere;
'the hotṛ priest seated at the altar,'—he is indeed the hotṛ priest seated at the altar;
'the guest seated in the dwelling,'—he is indeed the guest seated in the dwelling;
'seated among men,'—he is indeed seated among men;
'seated in the best,'—he is indeed seated in the best.
For that is the best of seats wherein he shines when approached;
'seated in ṛta,'—he is indeed seated in truth;
'seated in the ether,'—he is indeed seated in the ether.
For the ether is that seat wherein he shines when approached;
'born of the waters,'—he is indeed born of the waters.
For he rises in the morning from the waters, and enters the waters in the evening;
'born of cattle,'—he is indeed born of cattle;
'born of ṛta,'—he is indeed born of truth;
'born of the mountain,'—he is indeed born of the mountain;
'the ṛta,'—he is indeed truth.
He is all these; this indeed is, as it were, his most direct form among the metres.
Therefore, wherever he mounts the difficult mounting, he should mount with the Haṃsavatī verse.
For one desiring the heavenly world, he should mount with the Tārkṣya hymn.
Tārkṣya indeed went first along this road
where yonder gāyatrī, having become a bird of fine feathers, brought the soma.
Just as one would make one who knows the way a guide on the path,
such is it when [he mounts] with the Tārkṣya.
This [wind] which purifies here is indeed Tārkṣya; he is the conveyor to the heavenly world.
'Him the swift, god-impelled,'—
he is indeed swift and god-impelled;
'victorious, surpassing chariots,'—
he is indeed victorious and surpassing, for he immediately traverses these worlds;
'having unbroken felloes, battle-conquering, swift,'—
he is indeed one with unbroken felloes, battle-conquering, swift;
'for welfare,'—[by this] he prays for well-being;
'we call here upon Tārkṣya,'—thus indeed he calls upon him;
'calling upon him like the bounty of Indra, for welfare,'—[by this] he prays for well-being;
'may we mount as upon a ship'—
thus indeed he mounts upon him for the attainment, achievement, and reaching of the heavenly world.
'Broad, wide, abundant, deep, may we not stumble in you two on this side or on that side'—
thus he addresses these two [worlds] as he is about to go forth and back.
'He who at once by his might, like the sun with his light, stretched out the five races of men, the waters'—
thus he addresses the sun directly.
'Winning thousands, winning hundreds, his speed they cannot check, like a maiden, like an arrow'—
with this he prays for a blessing for himself and for the sacrificers.