Upanishads · Bhāvanā p27
॥
Devanāgarī
सलिलमिति लौहित्यकारणं सत्त्वम्
Transliteration (IAST)
salilamiti lauhityakāraṇaṃ sattvam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सलिलम् इतिsalilam iti"water" — thus
लौहित्य-कारणं सत्त्वम्lauhitya-kāraṇaṃ sattvamthe cause of redness, the essence
Translation
"Water" — thus, the cause of redness, the essence.
Version
f85d0368c260 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is obscure, and commentators disagree; apparently it concerns the ritual offering of water, here reinterpreted. Salila means "water, moisture." Lauhitya — "redness," from lohita, "red"; the same word also means blood. Sattva here stands, probably, not in the sense of the guṇa, but in its old meaning — "being, essence, what is."
The sense, then, is this: the water offered in the rite is, in fact, that from which comes blood — that is, the very basis of life in the body. This reinterpretation is in the spirit of the whole book: material offering is translated into the inward. And it is worth saying the thought here is not empty: water indeed is what a person is for the most part made of, and to offer water is to offer the very substance of one's life.
The Vaiṣṇava side knows and keeps the offering of water: pādya — water for the feet, arghya — for the hands, ācamanīya — for rinsing the mouth. All of these were examined when reading the Tripurā-tāpanī (61), and all are services rendered to a guest. The difference between the two readings is visible here too. Here water is explained by what it is in the body; there it is offered to the one who has come. The first turns the rite into reflection on oneself; the second leaves it as what it was — a service.