Section 2.8 (eighth khaṇḍa) (three texts)

Upaniṣad text:

Now for the Seven-fold (Sāma): One should meditate upon the seven-fold Sāma, in reference to Speech: that particular form of Speech which consists of ‘Hum’ is the syllable ‘Hiṃ’; that which consists of ‘Pra’ is the Prastāva; that which consists of ‘Ā’ is the Ādi.—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now follows the excellent meditation of the entire sevenfold Sāma.—The form ‘vāci’ (Locative) is to be explained as before [ in the case of the words ‘lokeṣu’ and the rest, under text (1) of the second section, above and the following; the sense is that one should meditate upon the Sevenfold Sāma, viewed as Speech—That particular form of Speech—sound—which consists of the peculiar syllable ‘Huṃ’ is the syllable ‘Hiṃ’, because the letter ‘ha’ is common to both.—That form of speech which consists of ‘Pra’ is the Prastāva; because the letter ‘pra’ is common to both.—‘That which consists of ‘ā’ is the Ādi,’—because the letter ‘ā’ is common to both; ‘ādi’ here stands for the syllable ‘Om’, because that is the beginning of all things.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

That which is ‘Ut’ is the Udgītha: that which is ‘Prati’, is the Pratihāra; that which is ‘Upa’ is the Upadrava; and that which is ‘ni’ is the Nidhana.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

That which is ‘Ut’ is Udgītha: because the first part of the term ‘Udgītha’ consists of ‘ut’—That which is Pra is the Pratihāra; because the syllable ‘pra’ is common to both.—That what is ‘upa’ is the Upadrava; because the name ‘Upadrava’ begins with the syllable ‘upa’.—That which is ‘ni’ is the Nidhana; because the syllable ‘ni’ is common to both.—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

If one knowing this thus meditates upon the seven-fold Sāma in reference to Speech,—for him Speech itself milks the milk of speech, and he becomes rich in food and an eater of food.—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

For him Speech yields milk etc., etc.,—this has been already explained above.—(3)

End of Section (8) of Discourse II