Upanishads · Chāndogya 4,17.1
॥
Devanāgarī
प्रजापतिः लोकान् अभ्यतपत् तेषाम् तप्यमानानाम् रसान् प्रावृहत् अग्निम् पृथिव्याः वायुम् अन्तरिक्षात् आदित्यम् दिवस्
Transliteration (IAST)
prajāpatiḥ lokān abhyatapat teṣām tapyamānānām rasān prāvṛhat agnim pṛthivyāḥ vāyum antarikṣāt ādityam divas
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्रजापतिःprajāpatiḥPrajāpati (prajā-pati — 'the Lord of progeny', the creator); the Lord of creatures; Prajāpati
लोकान्lokānworlds; realms
अभ्यतपत्abhyatapathe brooded upon them (abhi + √tap — 'to heat', to create by tapas); he warmed them with austerity; he heated them
तेषाम्teṣāmof them; for them
तप्यमानानाम्tapyamānānāmof those being heated; of those subjected to heat
रसान्rasānthe saps (rasa — 'juice, essence, taste'); the essences; the essences
प्रावृहत्prāvṛhathe drew out (pra + √vṛh — 'to pull out, to press out'); he pressed out; he obtained
अग्निम्agnimfire; Agni
पृथिव्याःpṛthivyāḥout of the earth; from the earth
वायुम्vāyumthe wind; Vāyu
अन्तरिक्षात्antarikṣātout of the mid-space; from the atmosphere
आदित्यम्ādityamthe sun; Āditya
दिवस्divasout of heaven; from the heavens
Translation
Prajāpati brooded upon the worlds. From the worlds as he brooded he drew out their saps: fire from the earth, wind from the mid-region, the sun from heaven.
Version
1c3a119a2ecc · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:23:57 PM UTC
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The chapter's last section answers a practical question: what is to be done if the sacrifice has been damaged after all? The answer begins far off — with creation itself. Prajāpati "brooded upon" the worlds with tapas (abhyatapat): creation is the first austerity, and everything precious in the world is a pressing-out of that heat. From the three worlds came forth three "saps" (rasa): fire, the essence of the earth; wind, the essence of the middle space; the sun, the essence of heaven.
Rasa is the very word by which the Vedas name both taste and inmost essence: to press out the sap is to obtain a thing's heart. The whole chain that follows (worlds → lights → Vedas → vyāhṛtis) is a successive distillation of the universe down to its purest drops, and it is not done out of curiosity: from these drops a medicine will be compounded for a wounded sacrifice.