अत्सि अन्नम् पश्यसि प्रियम् अत्त्य् अन्नम् पश्यति प्रियम् भवति अस्य ब्रह्मवर्चसम् कुले यः एतम् एवम् आत्मानम् वैश्वानरम् उपास्ते पादौ तु एतौ आत्मनः इति ह उवाच पादौ ते व्यम्लास्येताम् यत् माम् न अगमिष्यः इति
atsi annam paśyasi priyam atty annam paśyati priyam bhavati asya brahmavarcasam kule yaḥ etam evam ātmānam vaiśvānaram upāste pādau tu etau ātmanaḥ iti ha uvāca pādau te vyamlāsyetām yat mām na agamiṣyaḥ iti
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 these are only the feet of the ātman," he said. "Your feet would have withered had you not come to me."
a01bf0af7d17 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:32:08 PM UTC
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The earth is the pādau, the two feet of the Vaiśvānara: the world's lowest tier is that on which the All-human One stands. The Ṛg-veda said it before anyone: "All beings are a quarter of him" — pādo 'sya viśvā bhūtāni (RV 10.90.3): the whole earth with everything living upon it is the Puruṣa's foot. Uddālaka, venerating the earth, was holding on to that foot without raising his eyes.
Six answers have been gathered, six members named: head-heaven, eye-sun, breath-wind, trunk-space, vessel-waters, feet-earth. Each guest venerated his own member and lived by its fruits; each was threatened by that member's failure; all were saved by the road to a knower. The main thing remains — to gather the members into a Body and show the guests the One whom they venerated piecemeal. This the next verse will do, the summit of the Vaiśvānara-vidyā.