A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s3.139

v1.c8.s3.139

Nor are we much impressed by the fact that this ox is identified with Indra and others of the highest gods, still less by the fact that he yields milk, "his milk is the sacrifice, the priestly fee is his milking," and we willingly believe that "he who knows the seven inexhaustible milkings of the ox, gains offspring and heaven." This ox is of no more importance than the bull that is extolled extravagantly in Ath. IX, 4—he bears all forms in his sides, he was in the beginning an image of the primeval water, and so on,—and that is finally discovered to be only an ordinary sacrificial bull which is to be slaughtered. The fact, however, that this pseudo-philosophy and mystery-mongering at bottom pursues a very practical purpose, is proved by such a hymn as Ath. X, 10. Here the great mystery of the cow is announced : heaven and earth and the waters are protected by the cow. A hundred pails, a hundred milkers, a hundred cow-herds are on her back. The gods who breathe in the cow, they know the cow. The cow is the mother of the warrior, sacrifice is the weapon of the cow, thought originated in her. In this manner it proceeds till this secret doctrine reaches its climax in the words : "The cow alone is called Immortality, the cow alone is worshipped as death ; the cow became this universe, gods, people, asuras, manes and seers (they all are the cow).” But now follows the practical use: Only he who knows this great secret may accept a cow as a gift, and he who gives a cow to the Brahmans, gains all worlds, for in the cow is enclosed all the highest—Ṛta (the order of the universe), Brahman (the world-soul) and Tapas (asceticism)—and: