Upanishads · Chāndogya 4,6.1
॥
Devanāgarī
अग्निः ते पादम् वक्ता इति सः ह श्वः भूते गाः अभिप्रस्थापयाम् चकार ताः यत्र अभिसायम् बभूवुः तत्र अग्निम् उपसमाधाय गाः उपरुध्य समिधम् आधाय पश्चात् अग्नेः प्राङ् उपोपविवेश
Transliteration (IAST)
agniḥ te pādam vaktā iti saḥ ha śvaḥ bhūte gāḥ abhiprasthāpayām cakāra tāḥ yatra abhisāyam babhūvuḥ tatra agnim upasamādhāya gāḥ uparudhya samidham ādhāya paścāt agneḥ prāṅ upopaviveśa
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अग्निःagniḥfire; Agni
तेteto you; for you
पादम्pādamquarter; the foot
वक्ताvaktāhe will tell you (literally 'will be the speaker'; from √vac); he will declare; he will declare
इतिitithus; how
सःsaḥhe; that one
हhaindeed; surely
श्वःśvaḥtomorrow; on the next day
भूतेbhūtewhen it had come; having come to be
गाःgāḥof cows; cattle
अभिप्रस्थापयाम्abhiprasthāpayāmhe drove them on (causative of abhi-pra + √sthā); he set them on the road; he sent them further
चकारcakāraHe made; I have performed
ताःtāḥthey; those; these
यत्रyatrawhere; when
अभिसायम्abhisāyamtoward evening; the evening hour
बभूवुःbabhūvuḥthey became; they proved
तत्रtatrathere; in this
अग्निम्agnimfire; Agni
उपसमाधायupasamādhāyahaving laid [the fire] (upa-sam-ā + √dhā — 'to place, to arrange'); having kindled it; having ordered
गाःgāḥof cows; cattle
उपरुध्यuparudhyahaving penned [the cows] (upa + √rudh — 'to keep in an enclosure'); having shut up; having gathered them in
समिधम्samidhamfirewood (samidh — sacrificial fuel); logs for the fire; the sacrificial fuel
आधायādhāyahaving placed; having laid under
पश्चात्paścātwestward; behind
अग्नेःagneḥof fire; Agni
प्राङ्prāṅfacing east; turned toward the east; eastward
उपोपविवेशupopaviveśahe sat down beside it (upa-upa + √viś — 'to settle close by'); he seated himself near; he took his place beside
Translation
"Fire will tell you the next quarter." In the morning he drove the cows on. Where evening found them, there he laid a fire, penned the cows, put on fuel, and sat down behind the fire, facing east.
Version
4cc05c09b7ae · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:19:15 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The bull does not finish the teaching: each quarter of the knowledge has its own teacher, and he passes it on himself. So the paramparā is stamped into the very structure of the narrative: truth moves along a chain, and no link of it appropriates the whole.
Notice Satyakāma's evening routine. No one bade him perform the agnihotra, yet every evening he lays a fire, settles the herd, puts on fuel and sits facing east — like a pupil at the sacrificial hearth. Knowledge comes to him not for a feat of thought but for fidelity to an order of service kept even in the wilderness, where no one is watching. The fire will speak precisely because he sits by it as by a holy thing.
The posture "behind the fire, facing east" is that of a servant, not an owner: he is not warming himself at the blaze, he is standing before it. The east, the side of sunrise, is already known to us as the first portion of the "Shining" quarter — the bull's lesson is at once translated into the posture of body and heart.