तद् यथा पेशस्कारी पेशसः मात्राम् अपादाय अन्यन् नवतरं कल्याणतरं रूपं तनुते एवम् एव अयम् आत्मा इदम् शरीरम् निहत्य अविद्याम् गमयित्वा अन्यन् नवतरं कल्याणतरं रूपं कुरुते पित्र्यं वा गान्धर्वं वा दैवं वा प्राजापत्यं वा ब्राह्मं वा अन्येषाम् वा भूतानाम्
tad yathā peśaskārī peśasaḥ mātrām apādāya anyan navataraṃ kalyāṇataraṃ rūpaṃ tanute evam eva ayam ātmā idam śarīram nihatya avidyām gamayitvā anyan navataraṃ kalyāṇataraṃ rūpaṃ kurute pitryaṃ vā gāndharvaṃ vā daivaṃ vā prājāpatyaṃ vā brāhmaṃ vā anyeṣām vā bhūtānām
As a goldsmith, taking the gold of an image, hammers out another form, newer and more beautiful, so this self, having cast off this body and let go of ignorance, makes for itself another form, newer and more beautiful: of the fathers, or of the gandharvas, or of the gods, or of Prajāpati, or of Brahmā, or of other beings.
3462f7d46aa0 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:15:25 AM UTC
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The second image comes from the workshop: the peśaskārī, the goldsmith, takes the gold of an old image and hammers out "another form, newer and more beautiful" (anyan navataraṁ kalyāṇataraṁ rūpam). The metal is one; the shapes change in the master's hands. So after death the self hammers out a new body for itself — anywhere on the ladder of the worlds, from the fathers to Brahmā.
The image carries a double gold. First: the continuity of the substance — the soul is not torn but re-forged, like gold that does not lose itself in the re-workings. Second, and daring: navataraṁ kalyāṇataram — "newer and more beautiful"! For one on the path of knowledge, the re-forging is an ascent: a master does not spoil his gold. And who is the master? The self, which has been a "maker" ever since the dream-forge (4.3.10); but bhakti also remembers the Goldsmith above the goldsmith: by whose patterns the best forms are hammered will be told in the verse about the Lord (4.4.22).