Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,2.3
॥
Devanāgarī
तत् ऐक्षत बहु स्याम् प्रजायेय इति तत् तेजः असृजत तत् तेजः ऐक्षत बहु स्याम् प्रजायेय इति तत् अपः असृजत तस्मात् यत्र क्व च शोचति स्वेदते वा पुरुषः तेजसः एव तत् अधि आपः जायन्ते
Transliteration (IAST)
tat aikṣata bahu syām prajāyeya iti tat tejaḥ asṛjata tat tejaḥ aikṣata bahu syām prajāyeya iti tat apaḥ asṛjata tasmāt yatra kva ca śocati svedate vā puruṣaḥ tejasaḥ eva tat adhi āpaḥ jāyante
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्tatthat; this
ऐक्षतaikṣatait thought (from √īkṣ — 'to look, to conceive'); it looked forth; it formed a design
बहुbahumany (bahu); numerous; by much
स्याम्syāmmay I become (optative of √as); let me be; let me become
प्रजायेयprajāyeyamay I propagate (optative of pra + √jan); let Me bring Myself forth; may I multiply
इतिitithus; how
तत्tatthat; this
तेजःtejaḥheat (tejas — 'heat-light-fire'); light-and-heat; the fiery power
असृजतasṛjatait created (from √sṛj — 'to emit'); it made; it poured forth
तत्tatthat; this
तेजःtejaḥheat (tejas — 'heat-light-fire'); light-and-heat; the fiery power
ऐक्षतaikṣatait thought (from √īkṣ — 'to look, to conceive'); it looked forth; it formed a design
बहुbahumany (bahu); numerous; by much
स्याम्syāmmay I become (optative of √as); let me be; let me become
प्रजायेयprajāyeyamay I propagate (optative of pra + √jan); let Me bring Myself forth; may I multiply
इतिitithus; how
तत्tatthat; this
अपःapaḥthe waters; the watery element
असृजतasṛjatait created (from √sṛj — 'to emit'); it made; it poured forth
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; for that reason
यत्रyatrawhere; when
क्वkvaanywhere; to anywhere
चcaand; as well as
शोचतिśocatihe grieves (from √śuc — 'to burn, to mourn'); grieves; laments
स्वेदतेsvedatehe sweats (from √svid); he breaks into sweat; he perspires
वाvāverily; surely
पुरुषःpuruṣaḥman; Puruṣa
तेजसःtejasaḥout of heat; out of the fiery power
एवevaindeed; surely
तत्tatthat; this
अधिadhiafter; because of
आपःāpaḥthe waters; drops of water
जायन्तेjāyanteare born; appear
Translation
It thought: "May I become many, may I propagate!" — and it created heat. The heat thought: "May I become many, may I propagate!" — and it created the waters. Therefore wherever a man grieves or sweats, there the waters are born out of heat.
Version
c5b3feb36271 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:36:21 PM UTC
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The greatest word of the cosmogony: tad aikṣata — "It looked, It thought." Being did not "unfold" blindly, as matter unfolds — It looked and desired: bahu syāṁ prajāyeya — "may I become many". The Vedānta-sūtra clings to this verb as to an anchor: īkṣater nāśabdam — "since 'It looked' is said, the Cause is not wordless matter" (VS 1.1.5): only the Living can think. Creation begins not with an explosion but with a desire — and therefore the world is at bottom not accidental but wanted.
"May I become many" is not the neediness of a lonely one but the generosity of the Full: love does not bear an arithmetical solitude; it needs many — someone to give to. Here is the root of the whole path of bhakti: if the world was begun by the desire of the One to become many, then the meaning of the many is to return to the One not by dissolution but by the love for whose sake they were desired.
First was born tejas, heat-and-light, and from it the waters. And at once a domestic seal of authenticity: where a man "grieves or sweats" — from grief and from heat flow tears and sweat — there the first cosmogony is repeated to this day: out of heat, water. The Upaniṣad loves such everyday signatures beneath the great: everyone's body is a rough draft of creation.