"But when the sun is set, O Yayñavalkya, and the moon has set, and the fire is extinguished, what then serves man as light? Then speech serves him as light; then, by the light of speech he sits, and moves, he carries on his work, and he returns home. But when the sun is set, O Yayñavalkya, and the moon is set, and the fire extinguished, and the voice is dumb, what then serves man as light? Then he serves himself (Atman) as light; then, by the light of himself, he sits and moves, carries on his work and returns home."
In this passage we notice that fire again stands in the
closest relation to speech. Speech itself is called a
"light," which, in its turn, is reduced to the "light" of
the Atman, the creating psychic force, the libido. Thus
the Hindoo metapsychology conceives speech and fire
as emanations of the inner light from which we know
that it is libido. Speech and fire are its forms of manifestation,
the first human arts, which have resulted from
its transformation. This common psychologic origin
seems also to be indicated by certain results of philology.
The Indo-Germanic root bhâ designates the idea of "to
lighten, to shine." This root is found in Greek, [Greek: pha/ô],
[Greek: phai/nô], [Greek: pha/os][1]; in old Icelandic bán = white, in New
High German bohnen = to make shining. The same root
bhâ also designates "to speak"; it is found in Sanskrit
bhan = to speak, Armenian ban = word, in New High
German bann = to banish, Greek [Greek: phâ-mi/, e)/phan, phâ/tis].[2]
Latin fâ-ri, fânum.
The root bhelso, with the meanings "to ring, to bark," is found in Sanskrit bhas = to bark and bhâs = to talk,
