Upanishads · Kauṣītaki 4.10
॥
Devanāgarī
स होवाच बालाकिर्य एवैष आदर्शे पुरुषस्तमेवाहमुपास इति तं होवाचाजातशत्रुर्मा मैतस्मिन्समवादयिष्ठाः प्रतिरूप इति वा अहमेतमुपास इति स यो हैतमेवमुपास्ते प्रतिरूपो हैवास्य प्रजायामाजायते नाप्रतिरूपः
Transliteration (IAST)
sa hovāca bālākirya evaiṣa ādarśe puruṣastamevāhamupāsa iti taṃ hovācājātaśatrurmā maitasminsamavādayiṣṭhāḥ pratirūpa iti vā ahametamupāsa iti sa yo haitamevamupāste pratirūpo haivāsya prajāyāmājāyate nāpratirūpaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः ह उवाच बालाकिःsaḥ ha uvāca bālākiḥBālāki said; spoke Bālāki
यः एव एषः आदर्शे पुरुषःyaḥ eva eṣaḥ ādarśe puruṣaḥ“the puruṣa who is in the mirror”; “the person who is in the looking-glass”
तम् एव अहम् उपासे इतिtam eva aham upāse iti“him I revere”; “precisely him I worship”
तम् ह उवाच अजातशत्रुःtam ha uvāca ajātaśatruḥAjātaśatru said to him; that Ajātaśatru replied
मा मा एतस्मिन् समवादयिष्ठाःmā mā etasmin samavādayiṣṭhāḥ“do not draw me into talk of him”; “do not make me discourse of him”
प्रतिरूपः इतिpratirūpaḥ iti“the Likeness”; “the reflection”
वै अहम् एतम् उपासे इतिvai aham etam upāse iti“so do I revere him”; “thus I worship him”
सः यः ह एतम्saḥ yaḥ ha etamand he who him; the one who him
एवम् उपास्तेevam upāsteso reveres; worships thus
प्रतिरूपः ह एव अस्यpratirūpaḥ ha eva asyaone like him; one resembling him
प्रजायाम् आजायतेprajāyām ājāyateis born in his progeny; is born within his line
न अप्रतिरूपःna apratirūpaḥand not one unlike; and not one dissimilar
Translation
Bālāki said: “The puruṣa who is in the mirror — him I revere.” Ajātaśatru said to him: “Do not draw me into talk of him! I revere him as the Likeness.” And he who so reveres him — in his progeny one like him is born, and not one unlike.
Version
f8f23d92aa61 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:43:45 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The inner series begins, and the first item in it is the reflection in the mirror.
The choice is strange only at first sight. The reflection is what repeats exactly and yet is not the thing itself; on it, most conveniently of all, one can show what likeness as such is. Hence the correction: pratirūpa, “the Likeness”, “what stands opposite as an image”.
The fruit is named unexpectedly and very domestically: for the reverer, “in his progeny one like him is born”. The reflection in the mirror and a son resembling his father are set in one row as two cases of the same thing — the reproduction of an image.
Remember that in the second adhyāya the son was called the father's “self”, and his birth described as issuing from the heart. Here the same tie is taken from the side of the countenance: the son's likeness is the same mirror, only not momentary but alive.
And one thing more. Ajātaśatru does not dismiss the mirror as empty seeming. In the reflection there is its own puruṣa, and the reverence of him bears fruit. The Upaniṣad is in no hurry to declare appearance nothing; it only asks, each time, of what the appearance is.