सः त्रेधा आत्मानम् व्यकुरुत आदित्यम् तृतीयम् वायुम् तृतीयम् सः एषः प्राणः त्रेधाविहितः तस्य प्राची दिक् शिरः असौ च असौ च इमौ अथ अस्य प्रतीची दिक् पुच्छम् असौ च असौ च सक्थ्यौ दक्षिणा च उदीची च पार्श्वे द्यौः पृष्ठम् अन्तरिक्षम् उदरम् इयम् उरः सः एषः अप्सु प्रतिष्ठितः यत्र क्व च एति तद् एव प्रतितिष्ठति एवम् विद्वान्
saḥ tredhā ātmānam vyakuruta ādityam tṛtīyam vāyum tṛtīyam saḥ eṣaḥ prāṇaḥ tredhāvihitaḥ tasya prācī dik śiraḥ asau ca asau ca imau atha asya pratīcī dik puccham asau ca asau ca sakthyau dakṣiṇā ca udīcī ca pārśve dyauḥ pṛṣṭham antarikṣam udaram iyam uraḥ saḥ eṣaḥ apsu pratiṣṭhitaḥ yatra kva ca eti tad eva pratitiṣṭhati evam vidvān
He divided himself in three: the sun a third, the wind a third [and fire a third]. So this breath is disposed in three. The eastern quarter is his head; those two [north-east and south-east] are his forelegs; the western quarter is his tail; those two are his thighs; south and north are his flanks; heaven is his back, the mid-region his belly, this earth his chest. He stands firm upon the waters; and wherever he goes, he stands firm there too — he who knows thus.
93ff8ed478c3 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:37:41 AM UTC
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Death the creator divides himself in three — fire, sun, wind: the world's three great lights and breaths, the familiar triad (matched by earth, heaven and mid-region, and by the three Vedas). The one prāṇa is "disposed in three" — and at once gathered again into a body: the horse of the book's opening reappears on the scale of the creator: the quarters of space are head and legs, heaven the back, earth the chest.
The support of this world-body is the waters: "he stands firm upon the waters" (apsu pratiṣṭhitaḥ). And the promise to the knower is of the same assay: "wherever he goes, he stands firm there too". He who knows what the universe stands on gains its stability himself: not because he is strong but because he has stopped standing on what is accidental. So the Upaniṣad pronounces for the first time its constant yaḥ evaṁ veda — "he who knows thus": the formula with which it will reward every vision.