Upanishads · Muṇḍaka 1.1.7
॥
Devanāgarī
यथा ऊर्णनाभिः सृजते गृह्णते च यथा पृथिव्याम् ओषधयः संभवन्ति ।
यथा सतः पुरुषात् केशलोमानि तथा अक्षरात् संभवति इह विश्वम् ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
yathā ūrṇanābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca yathā pṛthivyām oṣadhayaḥ saṃbhavanti |
yathā sataḥ puruṣāt keśalomāni tathā akṣarāt saṃbhavati iha viśvam ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथाyathāhow; like
ऊर्णनाभिःūrṇanābhiḥthe spider (ūrṇa-nābhi — 'with the thread in its navel'); the weaver-spider; the one that spins out of itself
सृजतेsṛjatesends forth (from √sṛj — 'to emit'); pours out; brings forth
गृह्णते चgṛhṇate caand draws in (from √grah); and pulls back; and takes back again
यथाyathāhow; like
पृथिव्याम्pṛthivyāmon the earth; out of the earth
ओषधयःoṣadhayaḥthe herbs (oṣadhi); plants; the grains
संभवन्तिsaṃbhavantiarise; appear
यथाyathāhow; like
सतः पुरुषात्sataḥ puruṣātout of a living man; from the existing Puruṣa
केशलोमानिkeśalomānithe hairs [of head and body] (keśa-loman); hair and down; tresses
तथाtathāthus; in this way
अक्षरात्akṣarātout of the Akṣara; from the imperishable
संभवतिsaṃbhavatiarises; comes about
इहihahere; in this world
विश्वम्viśvamthe universe; all that is manifest
Translation
As a spider sends forth [its thread] and draws it in again, as herbs spring up on the earth, as hairs [grow] from a living man, so from the Imperishable everything arises here.
Version
5ce31c278bf2 · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:10:40 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three images of creation — three corrections to human notions of it. The spider: yathorṇanābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca — "sends forth and draws in": the world is woven out of the Creator Himself, as a web out of the spider's own substance, with no external material; and creation is reversible — He draws the thread back in: pralaya is no catastrophe but the return of the thread to the weaver. Herbs from the earth: what is born feeds on what bears it and cannot live apart from the soil. Hairs from a living man: sataḥ puruṣāt — emphatically: from a living one — creation grows out of Him without being Him in the full sense: hairs are from a man, but the man is not the hairs; they may fall and he remains.
Together the three images hold a balance that is lost when each stands alone: the world is out of Him (not out of nothing and not out of a second principle), the world lives by Him (not wound up and abandoned), and the world is not equal to Him (He is greater than what He puts forth, as the spider is greater than the web). This is that simultaneity of unity and difference by which all the Upaniṣads breathe.
And the answer to Śaunaka is already given in seed: having known the Imperishable you know everything — just as, knowing the spider, you know the nature of every thread of its web: not each thread separately, but the being of each. All that exists is a thread of His outputting; for one who has known the Weaver no thread is any longer a riddle about its own origin.