The verse and its meaning · Upanishads · Aitareya · The Gods Ask for a Dwelling

Each God Finds Its Place

Aitareya Upanishad 1.2.4

अग्निर्वाग्भूत्वा मुखं प्राविशद्वायुः प्राणो भूत्वा नासिके प्राविशदादित्यश्चक्षुर्भूत्वाऽक्षिणी प्राविशद्दिशः श्रोत्रं भूत्वा कर्णौ प्राविशन्नोषधिवनस्पतयो लोमानि भूत्वा त्वचं प्राविशंश्चन्द्रमा मनो भूत्वा हृदयं प्राविशन्मृत्युरपानो भूत्वा नाभिं प्राविशदापो रेतो भूत्वा शिश्नं प्राविशन्

Meaning · English

Fire turned into speech and went into the mouth. Wind, sun, directions, plants, moon, death and waters followed, each becoming a power settled in its own part of the body.

The powers of the outer world move into a person. Wind becomes breath in the nose. The sun becomes sight in the eyes. The four directions become hearing in the ears. Plants become the hair on the skin. The moon becomes the mind, seated in the heart. Death becomes the downward breath at the navel. Water becomes seed in the sexual organ. Every faculty a person uses is a piece of the larger world, now living inside one body.

Think of a new house on moving day. The stove goes into the kitchen, the bed into the bedroom, the books onto the shelf, each thing carried to the room built for it. The body is that house, and fire, wind, sun and the rest are what moves in, each going to the opening shaped for it.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: The Human Form Accepted · Aitareya Upanishad 1.2.3
• Next: A Share in Every Offering · Aitareya Upanishad 1.2.5
• All of Upanishads · Ask Krishna about it

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