किंदेवतः अस्याम् प्राच्याम् दिशि असि इति आदित्यदेवतः इति सः आदित्यः कस्मिन् प्रतिष्ठितः इति चक्षुषि इति कस्मिन् नु चक्षुः प्रतिष्ठितम् इति रूपेषु इति चक्षुषा हि रूपाणि पश्यति कस्मिन् नु रूपाणि प्रतिष्ठितानि इति हृदये इति ह उवाच हृदयेन हि रूपाणि जानाति हृदये हि एव रूपाणि प्रतिष्ठितानि भवन्ति इति एवम् एव एतत् याज्ञवल्क्य
kiṃdevataḥ asyām prācyām diśi asi iti ādityadevataḥ iti saḥ ādityaḥ kasmin pratiṣṭhitaḥ iti cakṣuṣi iti kasmin nu cakṣuḥ pratiṣṭhitam iti rūpeṣu iti cakṣuṣā hi rūpāṇi paśyati kasmin nu rūpāṇi pratiṣṭhitāni iti hṛdaye iti ha uvāca hṛdayena hi rūpāṇi jānāti hṛdaye hi eva rūpāṇi pratiṣṭhitāni bhavanti iti evam eva etat yājñavalkya
— with what deity are you in the eastern quarter?" — "With Āditya, the sun." — "On what is Āditya established?" — "On the eye." — "And the eye on what?" — "On forms: with the eye one sees forms." — "And forms on what?" — "On the heart," he said; "with the heart one knows forms; on the heart forms are established." — "Just so, Yājñavalkya!"
0e78ea13423b · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:06:37 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The east is the quarter of Āditya, and the chain of supports unrolls swiftly: the sun stands on the eye (a luminary exists for the one who sees), the eye on forms (sight lives by the visible), forms on the heart: hṛdayena hi rūpāṇi jānāti — "with the heart one knows forms". In the last resort it is not the eye that sees but the heart; the eye is only the window it stands at.
Note the direction of the chain: from the great luminary inward, into the man. Every quarter of the sky will be built the same way: god — organ — object — heart; the whole compass of the world is folded into a rib-cage. Śākalya nods approvingly ("just so!"), not sensing that he is himself driving the conversation to the place where his questions will run out.