'Dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse. The sun is the eye of the sacrificial horse, the wind his breath, the fire that is in all men his open mouth, the year his body. The sky is his back, middle-air his belly, earth his flanks, the directions his two sides, the intermediate directions his ribs, the seasons his limbs, the months and half-months his joints, the days and nights his feet, the constellations his bones, the clouds his flesh. The food in his stomach is the sands; the rivers are his bowels, liver and lungs; the mountains, plants and trees are his hairs; the rising sun is his front half, the setting sun his rear half; when he yawns, it lightens; when he shakes himself, it thunders; when he urinates, it rains; speech is his voice.'
The Upanishads form part of the Vedas, the ancient sacred texts of Hinduism. I was introduced to them earlier this year whilst in India. They date from about 700BC. They are the foundation of the Indian Hndu world and were originally spoken during sacrifical rituals. With all the philosophy I have read, these brief texts, for me, are amongst the most powerful and crack you open into thesublime. You can hear more about them here, on In Our Time.
The painting is George Stubbs, Whistlejacket, 1760