Upanishads · Kaṭharudra 16
॥
Devanāgarī
ब्रह्माण्डस्योदरे देवा दानवा यक्षकिन्नराः । मनुष्याः पशुपक्ष्याद्यास्तत्तत्कर्मानुसारतः
Transliteration (IAST)
brahmāṇḍasyodare devā dānavā yakṣakinnarāḥ | manuṣyāḥ paśupakṣyādyāstattatkarmānusārataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ब्रह्म-अण्डस्य उदरे देवाःbrahma-aṇḍasya udare devāḥin the womb of the egg of Brahmā — gods
दानवाः यक्ष-किन्नराःdānavāḥ yakṣa-kinnarāḥdānavas, yakṣas, kinnaras
मनुष्याः पशु-पक्षि-आद्याःmanuṣyāḥ paśu-pakṣi-ādyāḥhumans, cattle, birds, and the rest
तत्-तत्-कर्म-अनुसारतःtat-tat-karma-anusārataḥin accordance with this and that deed
Translation
In the womb of the egg of Brahmā — gods, dānavas, yakṣas, kinnaras, humans, cattle, birds, and the rest — in accordance with this and that deed.
Version
ad7c52e60b80 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is named who lives in this world, and why each is where he is: tat-tat-karma-anusārataḥ, "in accordance with this and that deed." This is karma, and it is worth speaking of it simply, for much is said about it, and usually imprecisely. The word means "deed, action." The teaching is that the position in which a person is born is a consequence of what he did before, and that his present deeds will likewise set his next position.
It is worth noting what this teaching does not contain, and what is often attributed to it. It does not assert that the one suffering has deserved it and therefore need not be helped: help is a deed too, and it too will enter into the helper's own account. Nor does it assert that everything is predetermined: the present position is set, but the present action is not — otherwise the reckoning would have no meaning.
The Vaiṣṇava side adds one thing to this, and it is essential. Karma explains how the order of recompense is arranged, but does not cancel the One who upholds this order; the Gītā says: "I am the recompense, the abode, the lord, the witness" (9.18), and the Vedānta-sūtra examines specially that it is not the deed itself that gives the fruit, but He (3.2.38). Otherwise the result is a machine without an owner, and there is no one to ask — yet people do ask, and these books are full of petitions.
It is worth adding that the list here is not haughty: gods, demons, humans, cattle, and birds stand in one row. All are inhabitants of one egg, and differ only in what each has done.