Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 2.12
॥
Devanāgarī
पृथ्व्यप्तेजोऽनिलखे समुत्थिते पञ्चात्मके योगगुणे प्रवृत्ते ।
न तस्य रोगो न जरा न मृत्युः प्राप्तस्य योगाग्निमयं शरीरम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pṛthvyaptejo'nilakhe samutthite pañcātmake yogaguṇe pravṛtte /
na tasya rogo na jarā na mṛtyuḥ prāptasya yogāgnimayaṃ śarīram
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पृथ्व्यप्तेजोऽनिलखेpṛthvyaptejo'nilakhewhen earth, water, fire, wind and ether; at the fivefold set of elements
समुत्थितेsamutthitehave risen; have appeared in fullness
पञ्चात्मकेpañcātmakefivefold; consisting of five
योगगुणेyogaguṇein the quality of yoga; in the property yoga confers
प्रवृत्तेpravṛttehaving come into play; having begun to act
न तस्य रोगःna tasya rogaḥfor him there is no disease; no illness befalls him
न जराna jarānor old age; nor withering
न मृत्युःna mṛtyuḥnor death; nor decease
प्राप्तस्यprāptasyafor the one who has attained; for him who has reached it
योगाग्निमयम्yogāgnimayammade of the fire of yoga; consisting of yogic flame
शरीरम्śarīrama body; a bodiliness
Translation
When earth, water, fire, wind and ether have risen — when the fivefold quality of yoga has come into play — for him there is neither disease, nor old age, nor death: he has obtained a body made of the fire of yoga.
Version
8745abaec69e · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The mantra says that ascetic practice changes the bodily side of a man too. The five elements of which the body is composed "rise", that is, are purified and brought into concord; the state thus formed is called "the fivefold quality of yoga".
The promise sounds loud: neither disease, nor old age, nor death. It should be read with a sense of measure. The Upaniṣad does not promise eternal life in the present body — it speaks of a body "made of the fire of yoga", yogāgnimaya: a body reworked by austerity, where the former laws of wear no longer hold in the former degree. The same fire that was drawn by friction in the first adhyāya here pervades the very matter of the body.
This passage is the oldest root of the later teachings about the transformation of the body in yoga; the text itself, however, has no intention of lingering over it. The very next mantra will bring the discussion down to entirely verifiable things — complexion and lightness — and one after that will return to the one thing for whose sake all of it is done: the vision of God.
This order is worth remembering: health in the Upaniṣad is called not the goal but a companion. It comes because the discord in the very matter of which we are made has subsided; but the man who sits down for the sake of health will be deceived by it — he will stop at the signs without reaching Him whose signs they are.