'As clouds of smoke proceed by themselves out of a lighted fire kindled with damp fuel, thus, verily, O Maitreyi, has been breathed forth from this great Being what we have as Rig-veda, Yagur-veda, Sama-veda, Atharvangirasas, Itihasa (legends), Purana (cosmogonies), Vidya (knowledge), the Upanishads, Slokas (verses), Sutras (prose rules), Anuvyakhyanas (glosses), Vyakhyanas (commentaries). From him alone all these were breathed forth.

In plain words: Smoke rises by itself from a fire of damp wood. In the same way, all sacred knowledge came out of the great Being like breath: the four Vedas (the oldest Hindu scriptures), the legends, the histories, the Upanishads, verses and commentaries.