तद् एतद् ब्रह्म क्षत्रम् विट् शूद्रः तद् अग्निना एव देवेषु ब्रह्म अभवत् ब्राह्मणः मनुष्येषु क्षत्रियेण क्षत्रियः वैश्येन वैश्यः शूद्रेण शूद्रः तस्मात् अग्नौ एव देवेषु लोकम् इच्छन्ते ब्राह्मणे मनुष्येषु एताभ्याम् हि रूपाभ्याम् ब्रह्म अभवत् अथ यः ह वा अस्मात् लोकात् स्वम् लोकम् अदृष्ट्वा प्रैति सः एनम् अविदितः न भुनक्ति यथा वेदः वा अननूक्तः अन्यत् वा कर्म अकृतम् यदि ह वा अपि अनेवंवित् महत्पुण्यम् कर्म करोति तद् ह अस्य अन्ततः क्षीयते एव आत्मानम् एव लोकम् उपासीत सः यः आत्मानम् एव लोकम् उपास्ते न ह अस्य कर्म क्षीयते अस्मात् हि एव आत्मनः यत् यत् कामयते तत् तत् सृजते
tad etad brahma kṣatram viṭ śūdraḥ tad agninā eva deveṣu brahma abhavat brāhmaṇaḥ manuṣyeṣu kṣatriyeṇa kṣatriyaḥ vaiśyena vaiśyaḥ śūdreṇa śūdraḥ tasmāt agnau eva deveṣu lokam icchante brāhmaṇe manuṣyeṣu etābhyām hi rūpābhyām brahma abhavat atha yaḥ ha vā asmāt lokāt svam lokam adṛṣṭvā praiti saḥ enam aviditaḥ na bhunakti yathā vedaḥ vā ananūktaḥ anyat vā karma akṛtam yadi ha vā api anevaṃvit mahatpuṇyam karma karoti tad ha asya antataḥ kṣīyate eva ātmānam eva lokam upāsīta saḥ yaḥ ātmānam eva lokam upāste na ha asya karma kṣīyate asmāt hi eva ātmanaḥ yat yat kāmayate tat tat sṛjate
So then: brahman, kṣatra, viś, śūdra. Among the gods Brahman became Agni, among men a brāhmaṇa; a kṣatriya through the [heavenly] kṣatriya, a vaiśya through the vaiśya, a śūdra through the śūdra. Therefore men seek their world among the gods in Agni and among men in a brāhmaṇa, for it is by these two forms that Brahman became. But he who departs from this world without having seen his own world — that world, being unknown, does not avail him, like a Veda unrecited or a work left undone. Even if one who does not know this performs a great meritorious work, in the end it is exhausted for him. Let him venerate the world as the ātman: for one who venerates the ātman as his world, his work is not exhausted — out of this very ātman he creates whatever he desires.
d9063ad59291 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:45:06 AM UTC
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The summing-up of the social cosmogony — and a sharp turn to the essential. All four varṇas are forms of the One, in heaven and on earth; but then the Upaniṣad pronounces one of its sternest sayings: he who departs "without having seen his own world" (svaṁ lokam adṛṣṭvā) carries it away unknown, and it "does not avail him — like an unrecited Veda, like a work left undone". One's own world — the inner universe of the ātman — may remain an unopened inheritance: you owned it and never broke the seal.
More terrible still is what is said of merits: even a "great meritorious work" of one who does not know "is in the end exhausted" — the same kṣīyate as of the lunar worlds (ChU 8.1.6): everything amassed outside is finite. One thing alone is inexhaustible: work done "out of the ātman"; for one who venerates the ātman as his world, "his work is not exhausted", for it is drawn from the Inexhaustible. This is the watershed between two religions: a religion of accumulation, and a life from the Source; the second does not hoard but flows, and therefore cannot run out.