Upanishads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 3,9.28:6
॥
Devanāgarī
यत् समूलम् आवृहेयुः वृक्षम् न पुनः आभवेत् मर्त्यः स्वित् मृत्युना वृक्णः कस्मात् मूलात् प्ररोहति
Transliteration (IAST)
yat samūlam āvṛheyuḥ vṛkṣam na punaḥ ābhavet martyaḥ svit mṛtyunā vṛkṇaḥ kasmāt mūlāt prarohati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत्yatthat which; that which
समूलम्samūlamwith the root (sa-mūla); root and all; with the root
आवृहेयुःāvṛheyuḥthey should tear it up (ā + √vṛh, optative pl.); they would pull it out; they tear it up
वृक्षम्vṛkṣamthe tree; the trunk
नnanot; no
पुनःpunaḥagain; once more
आभवेत्ābhavetit would grow again (ā + √bhū, optative; na punar ābhavet); it would come to be again; he shall rise
मर्त्यःmartyaḥa mortal; man
स्वित्svitsurely; whether
मृत्युनाmṛtyunāby death; by mortality
वृक्णःvṛkṇaḥfelled; cut down
कस्मात्kasmātout of which; whence
मूलात्mūlātout of the root; from the root
प्ररोहतिprarohatiit sprouts; it grows up again
Translation
but if a tree is torn up with its root, it will not come up again; and a mortal, felled by death — from what root does he spring up?
Version
d18170b75dd7 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:08:05 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A hardening: tear a tree up by the root, and that is the end — there will be no shoot. And death, it would seem, tears a man up in just that way: with the whole root of his visible life. The question is repeated a third time, now as a sentence: if there is no root either, whence the rising?
The riddle is deliberately driven to the limit of hopelessness: the answer that is about to sound must be not a consolation but a discovery — something not to be derived from botany or from pedigrees.