Upanishads · Aitareya 1,3.10
॥
Devanāgarī
तत् अपानेन अजिघृक्षत् तत् आवयत् सः एषः अन्नस्य ग्रहः यत् वायुः अन्नायुः वा एषः यत् वायुः
Transliteration (IAST)
tat apānena ajighṛkṣat tat āvayat saḥ eṣaḥ annasya grahaḥ yat vāyuḥ annāyuḥ vā eṣaḥ yat vāyuḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्tatthat; it
अपानेनapānenawith the apāna; with the downward breath
अजिघृक्षत्ajighṛkṣathe tried to seize; he wished to take
तत्tatthat; it
आवयत्āvayathe swallowed (ā-√vī/av — 'to take in'); he devoured; he consumed
सःsaḥhe; that one
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
अन्नस्यannasyaof food; of nourishment
ग्रहःgrahaḥthe seizer (graha); the catcher; the grasper
यत्yatwhich; that
वायुःvāyuḥthe wind; the air
अन्नायुःannāyuḥliving by food (anna-āyus); whose life is food; alive by nourishment
वाvāindeed; verily
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
यत्yatwhich; that
वायुःvāyuḥthe wind; the air
Translation
He wished to seize it with the apāna — and swallowed it. This seizer of food is that wind [the apāna]; and that wind is verily the one that lives by food.
Version
12316d6f7074 · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:36:16 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The denouement of the chase: tad apānena ajighṛkṣat tad āvayat — "he wished to seize it with the apāna — and swallowed it": success came to the last and lowest of the powers — the apāna, the downward breath that governs swallowing and elimination: sa eṣo 'nnasya graho yad vāyuḥ — "this is the seizer of food, this wind"; annāyur vā eṣa yad vāyuḥ — "the one who lives by food is this wind".
The irony is perfect: speech, sight, mind — the aristocracy of the body — all missed; the eating was done by the modest apāna, the drudge-power of swallowing, the very one out of which Death was born (verse 4)! Food that flees from all that is grasping and brilliant gives itself to the humble downward current, which shines at nothing — it merely receives and conducts downward.
The lesson is twofold. Bodily: nourishment is neither perception nor thought but a particular gift of receiving; and spiritual, for whose sake the parable is told: the assimilation of truth is accomplished not by the proudest faculties but by a humble readiness to swallow — to take within, to let it pass into the depths and become oneself. He who only speaks, looks and thinks about truth will not be fed; the one who receives is nourished. It remains to install the Master Himself in this remarkable contrivance.