Upanishads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 1,3.14
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ चक्षुर् अत्यवहत् तद् यदा मृत्युम् अत्यमुच्यत सः आदित्यः अभवत् सः असौ आदित्यः परेण मृत्युम् अतिक्रान्तस् तपति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha cakṣur atyavahat tad yadā mṛtyum atyamucyata saḥ ādityaḥ abhavat saḥ asau ādityaḥ pareṇa mṛtyum atikrāntas tapati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथathathereupon; further
चक्षुर्cakṣurthe eye; sight
अत्यवहत्atyavahathe carried beyond; he led across
तद्tadthat; this
यदाyadāwhen; at the moment when
मृत्युम्mṛtyumdeath; dying
अत्यमुच्यतatyamucyatashe was freed beyond; she passed beyond death
सःsaḥhe; that one
आदित्यःādityaḥthe sun (āditya); Āditya; the sun
अभवत्abhavatshe became; arose
सःsaḥhe; that one
असौasauthat one; he
आदित्यःādityaḥthe sun (āditya); Āditya; the sun
परेणpareṇaon the far side; beyond
मृत्युम्mṛtyumdeath; dying
अतिक्रान्तस्atikrāntasone who has passed over; one who has surpassed
तपतिtapatiit blazes (from √tap); warms; scorches
Translation
Then it carried sight beyond. When it was released from death, it became the sun. This sun, having passed beyond death, burns.
Version
add0c0a4a27f · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:40:48 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third transfiguration is the eye into the sun: a correspondence familiar from all the Upaniṣads (a man's eye and the world's eye are one thread), but here it is given a history of salvation: the sun is sight that has passed through death. By day our own rescued gaze blazes overhead.
The series teaches us to look at the luminaries as kin: fire, wind, sun, the quarters of space, the moon are not alien mechanisms but the elder destinies of our own faculties. Between man and the universe there is no chasm but a genealogy; that is why the Upaniṣads can read the cosmos by the body and the body by the cosmos.