अथात एकधनावरोधनं यदेकधनमभिध्यायात्पौर्णमास्यां वाऽमावास्यायां वा शुद्धपक्षे वा पुण्ये नक्षत्रेऽग्निमुपसमाधाय परिसमुह्य परिस्तीर्य पर्युक्ष्योपूर्वदक्षिणं जान्वाच्य स्रुवेण वा चमसेन वा कंसेन वैता आज्याहुतीर्जुहोति वाङ्नामदेवतावरोधिनी सा मेऽमुष्मादिदमवरुन्धां तस्यै स्वाहा । प्राणो नाम देवताऽवरोधिनी सा मेमुष्मादिदमवरुन्धां तस्यै स्वाहा । चक्षुर्नाम देवतावरोधिनी सा मेऽमुष्मादिदमवरुन्धां तस्यै स्वाहा । श्रोत्रं नाम देवतावरोधिनी सा मेऽमुष्मादिदमवरुन्धां तस्यै स्वाहा । मनो नाम देवतावरोधिनी सा मेऽमुष्मादिदमवरुन्धां तस्यै स्वाह। प्रज्ञा नाम देवतावरोधिनी सा मेऽमुष्मादिदमवरुन्धां तस्यै स्वाहेत्यथ धूमगन्धं प्रजिघ्रायाज्यलेपेनाङ्गान्यनुविमृज्य वाचंयमोऽभिप्रवृज्यार्थं ब्रवीत दूतं वा प्रहिणुयाल्लभते हैव
athāta ekadhanāvarodhanaṃ yadekadhanamabhidhyāyātpaurṇamāsyāṃ vā'māvāsyāyāṃ vā śuddhapakṣe vā puṇye nakṣatre'gnimupasamādhāya parisamuhya paristīrya paryukṣyopūrvadakṣiṇaṃ jānvācya sruveṇa vā camasena vā kaṃsena vaitā ājyāhutīrjuhoti vāṅnāmadevatāvarodhinī sā me'muṣmādidamavarundhāṃ tasyai svāhā | prāṇo nāma devatā'varodhinī sā memuṣmādidamavarundhāṃ tasyai svāhā | cakṣurnāma devatāvarodhinī sā me'muṣmādidamavarundhāṃ tasyai svāhā | śrotraṃ nāma devatāvarodhinī sā me'muṣmādidamavarundhāṃ tasyai svāhā | mano nāma devatāvarodhinī sā me'muṣmādidamavarundhāṃ tasyai svāha| prajñā nāma devatāvarodhinī sā me'muṣmādidamavarundhāṃ tasyai svāhetyatha dhūmagandhaṃ prajighrāyājyalepenāṅgānyanuvimṛjya vācaṃyamo'bhipravṛjyārthaṃ bravīta dūtaṃ vā prahiṇuyāllabhate haiva
Now — the winning of a singular treasure. If a man desires a singular treasure, then at the full moon, or at the new moon, or in the bright half of the month under an auspicious asterism, having laid the fire, swept, strewn and sprinkled around, bent the right knee, he offers with a ladle, or a cup, or a bowl these oblations of ghee: “The deity named Speech is the winner; may she win this for me from such-a-one; to her — svāhā. The deity named Breath is the winner... to her — svāhā. The deity named Eye... Ear... Mind... The deity named Insight is the winner; may she win this for me from such-a-one; to her — svāhā.” Then, having smelt the smell of the smoke and rubbed his limbs with the residue of ghee, restraining speech, he goes out and states his business, or sends a messenger — and he obtains it, assuredly.
683187efc3f8 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:43:45 AM UTC
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Here the Upaniṣad passes to rites, and the passage may perplex: a moment ago the talk was of Brahman, and now comes instruction on how to obtain a needed thing from one's neighbour.
But look at the rite's construction. The oblations are offered not to Agni, not to Indra, not to Soma, but to six “deities”: Speech, Breath, Eye, Ear, Mind and Insight. To those very powers, that is, which in the first two mantras were named the court of breath-Brahman. The rite is turned inward: a man offers to his own faculties, acknowledging them as deities.
The word avarodhinī, “she who wins”, is from the root meaning “to hold, to take possession”: these powers are named as those able to take what is desired. And their order is telling: the list begins with speech and ends with prajñā, insight. Insight stands last and highest — just as at the close of the first adhyāya Brahmā asked by what thoughts and desires are taken, and the answer was “by insight”.
The practical part of the rite is sober to the letter: breathe in the smoke, rub oneself with the remainder of the ghee, keep silence, go out and state one's business — or send a messenger. No miracle beyond this is promised: it is promised that the affair will succeed. And the silence kept until the very conversation is the usual condition of such rites: the power gathered by the oblation must not be spent on idle speech.
Why is all this in an Upaniṣad? Because it does not divide life into the sacred and the low. A man has needs; and the book shows how to deal with them without stepping out of that same order in which prāṇa is Brahman. The approach to men rests on one's own powers set in order, not on abasement — a direct continuation of the rule “let him not beg” from the first mantra.