Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.4
॥
Devanāgarī
चतुरङ्गुलमायामविस्तारं मुनिपुङ्गव । कुक्कुटाण्डसमाकारं भूषितं तु त्वगादिभिः
Transliteration (IAST)
caturaṅgulamāyāmavistāraṃ munipuṅgava | kukkuṭāṇḍasamākāraṃ bhūṣitaṃ tu tvagādibhiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
चतुः-अङ्गुलम् आयाम-विस्तारंcatuḥ-aṅgulam āyāma-vistāraṃfour finger-widths in length and breadth
मुनि-पुङ्गवmuni-puṅgavaO bull among sages
कुक्कुट-अण्ड-सम-आकारंkukkuṭa-aṇḍa-sama-ākāraṃshaped like a hen's egg
भूषितं तु त्वक्-आदिभिःbhūṣitaṃ tu tvak-ādibhiḥcovered with skin and the rest
Translation
"…four finger-widths in length and breadth, O bull among sages, shaped like a hen's egg, covered with skin and the rest."
Version
52a4aa8f0582 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The bulb is described: the size of a palm, shaped like a hen's egg, covered with membranes. The comparison to an egg deserves noting, for it has its own history in Indian literature. Brahmanda, "Brahma's egg," is the common name for the universe: the world is conceived as an egg in which everything is enclosed.
Here the same comparison is applied to a small knot within the body; and the correspondence spoken of when reading the Rudraksha-jabala results: what is in the great is repeated in the small. This correspondence, bandhu, is the basic device of all Vedic thought, and it deserves stating once more, for here it is seen with particular clarity. The world is an egg; the body is an egg; the knot within the body is an egg. Everything repeats everything, and hence, knowing one, one knows another.
This thought has both a merit and a weakness, and both deserve naming. The merit: it does not allow one to think of the human being as an accidental speck of dust — he is made to the same measure as the whole. The weakness: correspondence in form proves nothing, and cannot be built on alone.
The Vaishnava side accepts the thought of correspondence and expresses it through the virat-rupa, the universal form; but it draws its conclusions not from this, but from the testimony of its books. Hence its reasoning about a human being rests not on the resemblance of one egg to another, but on direct statements — such as that the soul is "My own eternal fragment" (Gita 15.7).