LinuxTurn pages
Upanishads · Jābāli 12
॥
Devanāgarī
यास्य प्रथमा रेखा सा गार्हपत्यश्चाकारो रजो भूर्लोकः स्वात्मा क्रियाशक्तिः ऋग्वेदः प्रातःसवनं प्रजापतिर्देवो देवतेति
Transliteration (IAST)
yāsya prathamā rekhā sā gārhapatyaścākāro rajo bhūrlokaḥ svātmā kriyāśaktiḥ ṛgvedaḥ prātaḥsavanaṃ prajāpatirdevo devateti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
या अस्य प्रथमा रेखाyā asya prathamā rekhāwhichever is its first line
सा गार्हपत्यः च अ-कारःsā gārhapatyaḥ ca a-kāraḥthat is the householder’s fire and the sound “a”
रजः भूः लोकःrajaḥ bhūḥ lokaḥpassion, the world of earth
स्व-आत्मा क्रिया-शक्तिःsva-ātmā kriyā-śaktiḥone’s own self, the power of action
ऋग्-वेदः प्रातः-सवनंṛg-vedaḥ prātaḥ-savanaṃthe Ṛgveda, the morning pressing
प्रजापतिः देवः देवता इतिprajāpatiḥ devaḥ devatā itiPrajāpati is its god, its deity
Translation
“Whichever is its first line is the householder’s fire and the sound ‘a,’ passion, the world of earth, one’s own self, the power of action, the Ṛgveda, the morning pressing; and its deity is the god Prajāpati.”
Version
a787785b4fe0 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here begins the mapping of the three lines, and each receives nine correspondences; the design deserves examination. The first line: the household fire, the sound a, the quality of passion, the earth, “one’s own self,” the power of action, the Ṛgveda, the morning pressing of soma, Prajāpati. That is, the line on the forehead is linked at once to rite, to grammar, to the qualities of matter, to worlds, to levels of the soul, to powers, to Vedas, to times of day, and to a deity.
This construction is basic to Indian thought and is called bandhu, “connection, kinship”: whatever occupies the same position in its own series is held kindred to the rest. Let us say this plainly, for it is, to my mind, the chief device of all Vedic thought. The world was conceived as several series set opposite one another; and one who knew the correspondences could, by acting in one series, act in all of them.
Hence the rite was held so powerful: draw the line — and you have touched fire, Veda, world, and god at once. The Vaiṣṇava side knows such correspondences and uses them; but it sets a limit on them, and that limit was cited reading Varāha (5.62): resemblance grants no power. That there are three fires within me does not make me the master of fire; and that the line corresponds to the Ṛgveda does not make its drawer a scholar of the Ṛgveda.
Add, too, the word kriyā-śakti, “the power of action”: the first line is given to doing, the second will be given to willing, the third to knowing; and this threefold division (action, desire, knowledge) is fundamental to Śaiva teaching.