The verse and its meaning · Upanishads · Taittiriya · Bhrigu Asks His Father

Both Feast and Feaster

Taittiriya Upanishad 3.10.6

अहमन्नमहमन्नमहमन्नम् । अहमन्नादो३ऽहमन्नादो३ऽअहमन्नादः । अहँश्लोककृदहँश्लोककृदहँश्लोककृत् । अहमस्मि प्रथमजा ऋता३स्य । पूर्वं देवेभ्योऽमृतस्य ना३भायि । यो मा ददाति स इदेव मा३ऽऽवाः । अहमन्नमन्नमदन्तमा३द्मि । अहं विश्वं भुवनमभ्यभवा३म् । सुवर्णज्योतीः । य एवं वेद । इत्युपनिषत्

Meaning · English

I am food, I am its eater, I join the two. Firstborn of the true order, before the gods. Whoever gives me keeps me. As food, I eat the eater.

The singer has passed through every layer of himself and found nothing that stands apart from the world. He is food, meaning whatever gets taken in. He is the one who takes it in. He is also what joins the two. He calls himself firstborn of the order that keeps things true, older than the gods, sitting at the centre of what does not die. Food that is given away keeps him. Whoever only eats is eaten in turn. The song ends with a light like gold, for whoever knows this.

Picture a compost heap behind a kitchen. Peels and coffee grounds go in and rot into dark soil. That soil grows the tomatoes that end up on the plate, and their skins go back on the heap. Nothing on the plate is a stranger to the one eating it. That loop is the song: eater and eaten are one material.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: The Knower's Wandering Song · Taittiriya Upanishad 3.10.5
• All of Upanishads · Ask Krishna about it

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