Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,7.1
॥
Devanāgarī
षोडशकलः सोम्य पुरुषः पञ्चदशाहानि मा अशीः कामम् अपः पिब आपोमयः प्राणः न पिबतः विच्छेत्स्यते इति
Transliteration (IAST)
ṣoḍaśakalaḥ somya puruṣaḥ pañcadaśāhāni mā aśīḥ kāmam apaḥ piba āpomayaḥ prāṇaḥ na pibataḥ vicchetsyate iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
षोडशकलःṣoḍaśakalaḥof sixteen parts (ṣoḍaśa-kala — 'of sixteen portions'); consisting of sixteen kalās; sixteen-portioned
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
पुरुषःpuruṣaḥman; Puruṣa
पञ्चदशाहानिpañcadaśāhānifor fifteen days (pañcadaśa-ahan); fifteen days and nights; for half a month
माmānot; me
अशीःaśīḥdo not eat (mā aśīḥ — prohibitive of √aś); take no food; abstain from eating
कामम्kāmamas much as you like (kāmam — 'at will'); to your fill; as you wish
अपःapaḥthe waters; the watery element
पिबpibadrink (imperative of √pā); drink freely; drink
आपोमयःāpomayaḥconsisting of water; produced from the waters
प्राणःprāṇaḥthe prāṇa; the vital breath
नnanot; no
पिबतःpibataḥof one who drinks; while you drink
विच्छेत्स्यतेvicchetsyateit will be cut off (vi + √chid — 'to be severed'); it will fail; it will break off
इतिitithus; how
Translation
"A man, my dear, consists of sixteen parts. For fifteen days do not eat; drink water as much as you wish: the breath consists of the waters and will not be cut off in one who drinks."
Version
2d06e69eee9f · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:37:31 PM UTC
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The experiment is prescribed with the exactness of a laboratory protocol: a man is ṣoḍaśa-kala, "of sixteen parts" (an image of fullness familiar from Praśna 6, where sixteen kalās issue from the Puruṣa, and from the moon with her sixteen digits); fifteen days of fasting will remove fifteen parts, like the nights of a waning moon — leaving one. Water is permitted: the thread of breath, watery in composition, must not be cut — the experiment is on the mind, not on the life.
The audacity of this lesson can hardly be overstated: a father proves a spiritual thesis by his own son's hunger — because he knows what he is doing, and because a truth verified on oneself is the only kind that is not forgotten. Vedic faith is not afraid of experiment; it prescribes it. "Fifteen days" here is the same pedagogical device as the kings' "stay a long while" (5.3.7, 5.11.7): truth needs the body's time, not the mind's only.