Upanishads · Bhāvanā p20
॥
Devanāgarī
एता दश वह्निकलाः सर्वज्ञत्वाद्यन्तर्दशारगा देवताः
Transliteration (IAST)
etā daśa vahnikalāḥ sarvajñatvādyantardaśāragā devatāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एताः दश वह्नि-कलाःetāḥ daśa vahni-kalāḥthese ten portions of fire
सर्व-ज्ञ-त्व-आदि-sarva-jña-tva-ādi-omniscience and the rest
अन्तः-दश-आर-गाः देवताःantaḥ-daśa-āra-gāḥ devatāḥthe deities of the inner ten-spoked [circle]
Translation
These ten portions of fire — the deities of the inner ten-spoked [circle], [called] omniscience and the rest.
Version
491826a132e4 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Ten actions of fire are equated to ten deities of the inner ten-cornered figure, and these deities bear names like sarvajñatva, "omniscience," and others of the same kind: omnipotence, all-fullness, beginninglessness. This equation is worth noting, for it is bold to the point of awkwardness: digestion is equated to omniscience. This must be said plainly, without mockery and without pretended agreement. Such conjunctions are made in books of this kind not from thoughtlessness but by a rule: if a person is a likeness of the world, then something must be matched to every place in the diagram, and what is left over gets matched. This rule produces both discoveries and strained fits; here — a strained fit.
The Vaiṣṇava side here points out the limit of every such method. A correspondence in itself proves nothing: anything can be matched with anything, so long as the number is the same. Ten breaths, ten portions of fire, ten spokes — a coincidence of numbers; and from a coincidence of numbers follows neither kinship nor identity.
The rule for testing this is simple and holds beyond this book. A correspondence has value if it explains something — that is, if knowing one thing helps one better understand the other. Knowing about heartburn does not help one better understand omniscience; and so this correspondence is an ornament of the diagram, not knowledge.