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There at the beginning Narada says, 'I know the Rig-veda, the Yajur-veda, the Sama-veda, the Atharvana as the fourth, the Itihasa- purana as the fifth, and so on, enumerating all the various branches of knowledge, and finally summing up 'with all this I know the mantras only, I do not know the Self. Now this declaration of the knowledge of the Self not being attainable through any branch of knowledge except the knowledge of the Bhuman evidently has no other purpose but to glorify this latter knowledge, which is about to be expounded.
As the mantra 'Agnir vai hotram vetu, although given in the Sama-veda, yet has to be recited in the Yajur-veda style, with a subdued voice, because it stands in a subordinate relation to the upasad-offerings prescribed for the four-days 'sacrifice called Jamadagnya; those offerings are the principal matter to which the subordinate matter the mantra has to conform.
There are four Vedas, the Rig-Veda, which has the body of hymns; the Yajur-Veda, in which the prescribed formulas to be used in acts of sacrifice are collected; the Sama-Veda, containing the chants; and the Atharva-Veda, a collection of hymns, in part of a later date. Besides, each Veda contains, as a second part, one or more Brahmanas, or prose treatises on the ceremonial system.
It is also known as the Talavakara-Upanishad because of its place as a chapter in the Talavakara-Brahmana of the Sama-Veda. Among the Upanishads it is one of the most analytical and metaphysical, its purpose being to lead the mind from the gross to the subtle, from effect to cause.
Then the preface, which must embrace some account of the Rig-veda, the Sama-veda, the Yagur-veda, and the Atharva-veda, with the Brahmanas, could hardly be completed in less than ten volumes.
Many works belonging to that age are lost, though a large number still exists. The most important of the Vedas are three in number. First, The "Rig- Veda," which is the great literary memorial of the settlement of the Aryans in the Punjaub, and of their religious hymns and songs. Second, The "Yajur-Veda." Third, The "Sama-Veda."
The text of the Atharvanikas exhibits at the beginning of their Upanishad some mantras, 'Pierce the sukra, pierce the heart. The followers of the Sama-veda read at the beginning of their rahasya- brahmana 'O God Savitri, promote the sacrifice. The Kathakas and the Taittiriyakas have 'May Mitra be propitious to us, may Varuna be propitious. The Satyayanins have 'Thou art a white horse, a tawny and a black one! The Kaushitakins have a Brahmana referring to the Mahavrata- ceremony, 'Indra having slain Vritra became great. The Kaushitakins also have a Mahavrata-brahmana.
From the Varhishadas it was obtained by a Brahmana well-versed in the Sama-Veda, and known by the name of Jeshthya. And because he was well-versed with the Samans, therefore was he known also by the name of Jeshthya-Samavrata Hari. From the Brahmana known by the name of Jeshthya, this cult was obtained by a king of the name of Avikampana.
Some authorities declare it to belong to the Yajur-Veda, others to the Sama-Veda, while a large number put it down as a part of the Atharva-Veda. The story is first suggested in the Rig-Veda; it is told more definitely in the Yajur-Veda; and in the Katha-Upanishad it appears fully elaborated and interwoven with the loftiest Vedic teaching.
And most certainly this great philosopher who revealed to the world the heliocentric system before Copernicus and Galileo knew better than anyone else how dependent are the least sounds in nature on Akasha and its interrelations. One of the four Vedas, namely, the Sama-Veda, entirely consists of hymns.
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