Upanishads · Chāndogya 4,16.1
॥
Devanāgarī
एषः ह वै यज्ञः यः अयम् पवते एषः ह यत् इदम् सर्वम् पुनाति यत् एषः यत् इदम् सर्वम् पुनाति तस्मात् एषः एव यज्ञः तस्य मनस् च वाक् च वर्तनी
Transliteration (IAST)
eṣaḥ ha vai yajñaḥ yaḥ ayam pavate eṣaḥ ha yat idam sarvam punāti yat eṣaḥ yat idam sarvam punāti tasmāt eṣaḥ eva yajñaḥ tasya manas ca vāk ca vartanī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
हhaindeed; surely
वैvaiverily; indeed
यज्ञःyajñaḥthe sacrifice (yajña — from √yaj — 'to sacrifice, to worship'); sacrifice; the yajña
यःyaḥwho; the one who
अयम्ayamthis; this one here
पवतेpavateit blows (from √pū/pav — 'to purify; to blow'); it moves purifying; it blows
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
हhaindeed; surely
यत्yatwhich; that which
इदम्idamthis; thus
सर्वम्sarvamall; entirely
पुनातिpunātiit purifies (from √pū — 'to cleanse'); it makes clean; it sanctifies
यत्yatwhich; that which
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
यत्yatwhich; that which
इदम्idamthis; thus
सर्वम्sarvamall; entirely
पुनातिpunātiit purifies (from √pū — 'to cleanse'); it makes clean; it sanctifies
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; for that reason
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
एवevaindeed; surely
यज्ञःyajñaḥthe sacrifice (yajña — from √yaj — 'to sacrifice, to worship'); sacrifice; the yajña
तस्यtasyait; concerning this
मनस्manasthe mind (manas); thought; the intellect
चcaand; as well as
वाक्vākspeech (vāc); the word; the voice
चcaand; as well as
वर्तनीvartanīthe two ruts (vartanī — 'a track, a wheel's path'); the two tracks; the two ways
Translation
Truly the sacrifice is he who blows here: moving, he purifies all this. Because, moving, he purifies all this, he is the sacrifice. His two tracks are mind and speech.
Version
91603c01827d · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:22:39 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The chapter's last two sections (4.16–17) instruct concerning the brahman-priest, and they open with a bold identification: the yajña is "he who blows", the wind, the prāṇa. The sacrifice is not a single event at an altar but the breathing of the world itself: the wind moves without cease and by its motion "purifies all this" (punāti). The world lives by a constant sacrificial current — the inhalation and exhalation of the universe; the altar rite only makes visible what is always happening. The Gītā compresses this into a law: "From food come beings, from rain food, from sacrifice rain…" (BG 3.14).
This universal sacrifice has "two tracks" (vartanī): mind and speech. Everything a man brings into the world runs along these two: the thought and the utterance. The rite is whole when both tracks are sound and in agreement — and ruined when thought and word diverge. So the teaching about sacrifice quietly becomes a teaching about truthfulness — the theme with which the chapter began, in the story of Satyakāma, who lied neither in word nor in thought.