संवत्सरो वै प्रजापतिः ।
तस्यायने दक्षिणं चोत्तरं च ।
तद् ये ह वै तदिष्टापूर्ते कृतिम् इत्य् उपासते ते चान्द्रमसम् एव लोकम् अभिजयन्ते ।
त एव पुनर् आवर्तन्ते ।
तस्माद् एत ऋषयः प्रजाकामा दक्षिणं प्रतिपद्यन्ते ।
एष ह वै रयिर् यः पितृयाणः
saṃvatsaro vai prajāpatiḥ |
tasyāyane dakṣiṇaṃ cottaraṃ ca |
tad ye ha vai tadiṣṭāpūrte kṛtim ity upāsate te cāndramasam eva lokam abhijayante |
ta eva punar āvartante |
tasmād eta ṛṣayaḥ prajākāmā dakṣiṇaṃ pratipadyante |
eṣa ha vai rayir yaḥ pitṛyāṇaḥ
"The year indeed is Prajāpati; it has two courses, the southern and the northern. Those who venerate [only] sacrifices and works of charity as the [chief] deed win the lunar world — and return again. Therefore the seers who desire offspring take the southern [path]; this is rayi, the path of the fathers."
8ff2b37a283b · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:35:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Prajāpati shows himself as time too: saṁvatsaro vai prajāpatiḥ — "the year is Prajāpati"; creation continues in the round of the seasons, and the yearly circle has two "arms": dakṣiṇam — the southern (the half-year of the waning sun) and uttaram — the northern (the half-year of the growing light). Behind the astronomy lie two roads for the soul.
The southern: ye… iṣṭāpūrte kṛtam ity upāsate — "who venerate the sacrificial and the charitable as the [chief] deed": iṣṭa is rites, pūrta public benefactions (wells, gardens, shelters). A worthy path — but one that rests its hope on works: te cāndramasam eva lokam abhijayante — "they win the lunar world" (the world of rayi, the stored and nourishing!) — ta eva punar āvartante — "and they return again": a stock of merit is finite, and when it is spent comes the return into the round of births. Merit is a currency, not a citizenship.
eṣa ha vai rayir yaḥ pitṛyāṇaḥ — "this is rayi, the path of the fathers": the road of the continuance of family and world, hallowed but circular. The Gītā (8.25 and 9.21) speaks of it in the same words: "having spent [their merit] they enter again the world of mortals." The Upaniṣad does not condemn the southern path — it merely strips from it a false promise of finality; of the road with no return, the next verse.