The verse and its meaning · Upanishads · Taittiriya · The Bliss of Brahman

The Self of Breath Inside

Taittiriya Upanishad 2.2.1

अन्नाद्वै प्रजाः प्रजायन्ते । याः काश्च पृथिवीँ श्रिताः । अथो अन्नेनैव जीवन्ति । अथैनदपि यन्त्यन्ततः । अन्नँ हि भूतानां ज्येष्ठम् । तस्मात् सर्वौषधमुच्यते । सर्वं वै तेऽन्नमाप्नुवन्ति । येऽन्नं ब्रह्मोपासते । अन्नँ हि भूतानां ज्येष्ठम् । तस्मात् सर्वौषधमुच्यते । अन्नाद् भूतानि जायन्ते । जातान्यन्नेन वर्धन्ते । अद्यतेऽत्ति च भूतानि । तस्मादन्नं तदुच्यत इति । तस्माद्वा एतस्मादन्नरसमयात् । अन्योऽन्तर आत्मा प्राणमयः । तेनैष पूर्णः । स वा एष पुरुषविध एव । तस्य पुरुषविधताम्। अन्वयं पुरुषविधः । तस्य प्राण एव शिरः । व्यानो दक्षिणः पक्षः । अपान उत्तरः पक्षः । आकाश आत्मा । पृथिवी पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा । तदप्येष श्लोको भवति

Meaning · English

All creatures on earth are born from food, live by it, and return to it. Inside the self made of food lies another, made of breath, shaped like a person.

Every living thing on earth comes out of food, is kept alive by food, and at death goes back into it. Food came first, before the creatures it feeds, so it is called the medicine for everything. Those who honor food as the highest reality gain all food. The word for food is tied to eating: beings eat it, and it eats them. Then the teacher moves inward. Inside the food-self is a self of breath that fills it completely and has the same human shape.

A rubber glove lying flat on a counter has five fingers but nothing in them. Slide a hand in and each finger fills out, because the hand inside has the same shape. That is how the breath-self sits within the food-self: a second person-shaped layer, filling the outer one from inside.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: How the Elements Arose · Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1
• Next: The Mind Beneath Life-Force · Taittiriya Upanishad 2.3.1
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