तम् एताः सप्ताक्षितयः उपतिष्ठन्ते तद् याः इमाः अक्षन् लोहिन्यः राजयः ताभिः एनम् रुद्रः अन्वायत्तः अथ याः अक्षन् आपः ताभिः पर्जन्यः या कनीनका तया आदित्यः यत् कृष्णम् तेन अग्निः यत् शुक्लम् तेन इन्द्रः अधरया एनम् वार्तन्या पृथिवी अन्वायत्ता द्यौः उत्तरया न अस्य अन्नम् क्षीयते यः एवम् वेद
tam etāḥ saptākṣitayaḥ upatiṣṭhante tad yāḥ imāḥ akṣan lohinyaḥ rājayaḥ tābhiḥ enam rudraḥ anvāyattaḥ atha yāḥ akṣan āpaḥ tābhiḥ parjanyaḥ yā kanīnakā tayā ādityaḥ yat kṛṣṇam tena agniḥ yat śuklam tena indraḥ adharayā enam vārtanyā pṛthivī anvāyattā dyauḥ uttarayā na asya annam kṣīyate yaḥ evam veda
Seven inexhaustible ones wait upon it: the red streaks in the eye — by them Rudra is attached to it; the moisture of the eye — by it Parjanya; the pupil — by it Āditya; the dark part — by it Agni; the white part — by it Indra; by the lower eyelid the earth is attached to it, by the upper the sky. For him who knows thus, food does not fail.
3616f804bb8a · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:53:23 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The seven "inexhaustible" (akṣiti) attendants of the infant-breath are shown within a single eye: the streaks are Rudra's threads, the moisture Parjanya's (the rain-god's), the pupil the Sun's, the dark iris Agni's, the white Indra's, the eyelids earth and sky. A whole pantheon is gathered in an eyeball: each god holds his own thread, tying him to a man's life.
The point of this microcosmics is practical: the gods are not beyond the clouds — they are stitched into us in the living flesh, into every layer of every organ; a man is a knot of divine threads. Hence a glance is an event of cosmic size, and hence "food does not fail" the knower: he whom seven inexhaustible ones serve is provided for from their whole table.