प्रवृत्तः अश्वतरीरथः दासी निष्कः अत्सि अन्नम् पश्यसि प्रियम् अत्त्य् अन्नम् पश्यति प्रियम् भवति अस्य ब्रह्मवर्चसम् कुले यः एतम् एवम् आत्मानम् वैश्वानरम् उपास्ते चक्षुः तु एतत् आत्मनः इति ह उवाच अन्धः अभविष्यः यत् माम् न अगमिष्यः इति
pravṛttaḥ aśvatarīrathaḥ dāsī niṣkaḥ atsi annam paśyasi priyam atty annam paśyati priyam bhavati asya brahmavarcasam kule yaḥ etam evam ātmānam vaiśvānaram upāste cakṣuḥ tu etat ātmanaḥ iti ha uvāca andhaḥ abhaviṣyaḥ yat mām na agamiṣyaḥ iti
a chariot with she-mules, a maidservant, a golden necklace. You eat food and see what is dear; he eats food and sees what is dear, and the lustre of Brahman is in the family of one who venerates this Vaiśvānara-ātman thus. But this is only the eye of the ātman," he said. "You would have gone blind had you not come to me."
a0cdd55895fb · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:32:08 PM UTC
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The fruits of sun-veneration are listed with royal concreteness: a chariot drawn by she-mules, a maidservant, a golden necklace — the moving, the living and the glittering, the whole variegation of "all-formed" prosperity. The Upaniṣad does not disdain daily life: veneration works, and works literally — after the image of what is venerated.
But the verdict is the same: the sun is only the cakṣus, the eye of the Vaiśvānara (we remember the Puruṣa seen in the sun — 1.6, 4.11): "you would have gone blind had you not come to me". He who venerates an eye as the whole God has narrowed his relations with God down to sight — and sight, overloaded with a divine dignity, would have failed. The part must be given back to the Whole not because it is bad but because it cannot bear the weight of worship due to the Whole.