The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c14.4

v1.c14.4

The heaven is essentially the abode of the gods, the Fathers, who are also especially connected with the moon² where Yama, first of mortals, lives in hare shape, and the Soma, and when three divisions of heaven are conceived they are said to abide in the third and highest of them all. The constant endeavour to refine is reflected in phrases such as the ridge of the vault, or the summit of the vault, in place of the simple phrase, the vault, and even the third ridge in the luminous space of heaven is mentioned. When the sky and earth are conceived as including the whole universe, they are compared to two bowls turned towards each other: a different but allied conception is that they are the two wheels at the end of the axle of a chariot. From the heaven to the earth is a distance which no bird can fly, the Rigveda³ declares; but the Atharvaveda¹ states that the two wings of the sun bird flying to heaven are a thousand days’ journey apart, and the number is repeated by the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa,² which fixes the distance as a thousand days’ journey of a horse, while the affection of the priest for cows results in the truly remarkable view of the Pañcaviṁça Brāhmaṇa³ that the true measure of distance is that afforded by placing 1,000 cows on the top of one another.