Upanishads · Chāndogya 5,4.1
॥
Devanāgarī
असौ वाव लोकः गौतम अग्निः तस्य आदित्यः एव समित् रश्मयः धूमः अहः अर्चिः चन्द्रमा अङ्गाराः नक्षत्राणि विस्फुलिङ्गाः
Transliteration (IAST)
asau vāva lokaḥ gautama agniḥ tasya ādityaḥ eva samit raśmayaḥ dhūmaḥ ahaḥ arciḥ candramā aṅgārāḥ nakṣatrāṇi visphuliṅgāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
असौasauthat [world] (asau lokaḥ — heaven); that [heavenly one]; yonder
वावvāvatruly; indeed
लोकःlokaḥthe world; dwelling
गौतमgautamaO Gautama; Gautama
अग्निःagniḥthe [sacrificial] fire; the fire as altar; the sacrificial fire
तस्यtasyait; concerning this
आदित्यःādityaḥthe sun; Āditya
एवevaindeed; surely
समित्samitfirewood (samidh — sacrificial fuel); fuel; the logs
रश्मयःraśmayaḥthe rays (raśmi); the beams of light; the sunbeams
धूमःdhūmaḥsmoke (dhūma); the smoke of the sacrifice; smoke
अहःahaḥthe day; the bright day
अर्चिःarciḥthe flame (arcis); the tongue of flame; the blaze
चन्द्रमाcandramāthe moon; Candra
अङ्गाराःaṅgārāḥthe coals (aṅgāra); the glowing embers; the embers
नक्षत्राणिnakṣatrāṇithe stars; the constellations
विस्फुलिङ्गाःvisphuliṅgāḥthe sparks (visphuliṅga); the flying sparks; little sparks
Translation
"That world, Gautama, is a fire. The sun is its fuel, the rays its smoke, the day its flame, the moon its embers, the stars its sparks.
Version
8e44dcbfb6c6 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:27:54 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The pañcāgni-vidyā begins, the knowledge of the five fires — the answer to the king's fifth question: how the waters become a human being. Its method is majestic: the whole universe is read as an unbroken sacrifice. The first altar is "that world", the sky: the sun is its fuel, for the heavenly fire burns as the sun; the rays are the smoke rising from the fuel; the day is the flame, the moon the embers glowing after the day's heat; the stars are the sparks scattered through the dark.
Each of the five fires will be analysed by the same five members of the agnihotra: fuel, smoke, flame, embers, sparks. This is no poetic licence but a strict rule for reading the world: the universe is liturgical; in it there are no processes — there are oblations. For one who learns to see so, the boundary between temple and nature disappears: the whole cosmos is an altar, and everything performed in it is performed before God and toward God.