Upanishads · Praśna 6.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मै स होवाच ।
इहैवान्तः शरीरे सोम्य स पुरुषो यस्मिन्न् एताः षोडश कलाः प्रभवन्तीति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmai sa hovāca |
ihaivāntaḥ śarīre somya sa puruṣo yasminn etāḥ ṣoḍaśa kalāḥ prabhavantīti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मै सः ह उवाचtasmai saḥ ha uvācato him he said; the seer answered him
इह एवiha evaright here (iha eva); here itself; in this very place
अन्तः शरीरेantaḥ śarīrewithin the body (antaḥ-śarīra); in the inner body; in the depth of the body
सोम्यsomyaO gentle one; dear one
सः पुरुषःsaḥ puruṣaḥthat Puruṣa; this person
यस्मिन्yasminin which; from whom
एताः षोडशetāḥ ṣoḍaśathese sixteen; the said sixteen
कलाःkalāḥthe parts, the portions (kalā — as the moon's phases); the sixteen portions; the phase-parts
प्रभवन्ति इतिprabhavanti itiarise (pra-√bhū); come forth; are born
Translation
He said to him: "Right here, within the body, dear one, is that Puruṣa in whom these sixteen parts arise."
Version
dba033d859c6 · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:35:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer begins with coordinates — and they astonish by their simplicity: ihaivāntaḥ-śarīre somya sa puruṣaḥ — "right here, within the body, is that Puruṣa". The prince had searched among teachers, Sukeśā travelled to Pippalāda — and the Sought was at a distance of zero: in the seeker himself. As in the Kaṭha ("the Puruṣa of a thumb's size — in the heart"), as in the fifth question (puriśayam — "lying in the city"): the far Goal of all the roads lives at the starting point of all the roads.
yasminn etāḥ ṣoḍaśa kalāḥ prabhavanti — "in whom these sixteen parts arise": kalā is a part, a phase (like the phases of the moon): the sixteen components of a living being (verse 63 will list them — from prāṇa to the name). The direction matters: the parts arise in Him — He is not assembled out of parts. The Puruṣa is not the sum of sixteen kalās but their source and their field; the whole here is prior to the parts — as the moon is prior to her phases.
This overturns the very manner of seeking: not to piece God together out of the shards of experience, but to know Him in whom the shards arose. Next Pippalāda will show that arising itself — why and how the One unfolded the sixteen out of himself.