Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa ("of a hundred paths") 10.5.3.3

10.5.3.3

tadidam manaḥ sṛṣṭamāvirabubhūṣat niruktataram mūrtataraṃ tadātmānamanvaicattattapo'tapyata tatprāmūrcattatṣaṭtriṃśataṃ sahasrāṇyapaśyadātmano'gnīnarkānmanomayānmanaścitaste manasaivādhīyanta manasācīyanta manasaiṣu grahā agṛhyanta manasāstuvata manasāśaṃsanyatkiṃ ca yajñe karma kriyate yatkiṃ ca yajñiyaṃ karma manasaiva teṣu tanmanomayeṣu manaścitsu manomayamakriyata tadyatkiṃ cemāni bhūtāni manasā saṃkalpayanti teṣāmeva sā kṛtistānevādadhati tāṃścinvanti teṣu grahāngṛhṇanti teṣu stuvate teṣu śaṃsantyetāvatī vai manaso vibhūtiretāvatī visṛṣṭiretāvanmanaḥ ṣaṭtriṃśatsahasrāṇyagnayo'rkāsteṣāmekaika eva tāvānyāvānasau pūrvaḥ

This Mind, when created, wished to become manifest,--more defined, more substantial: it sought after a self (body). It practised austerity: it acquired consistency. It then beheld thirty-six thousand Arka-fires of its own self, composed of mind, built up of mind: mentally alone they were established (on sacrificial hearths) and mentally built up; mentally the cups (of Soma) were drawn thereat mentally they chanted, and mentally they recited on (near) them,--whatever rite is performed at the sacrifice, whatever sacrificial rite there is, that was performed mentally only, as a mental performance, on those (fires or fire-altars) composed of mind, and built up of mind. And whatever it is that (living) beings here conceive in their mind that was done regarding those (mental Agnis):--they establish them (on the hearths) and build them up (as fire-altars); they draw the cups for them; they chant on (near) them and recite hymns on them,--of that extent was the development of Mind, of that extent its creation,--so great is Mind: thirty-six thousand Arka-fires; and each of these as great as that former (fire-altar) was.