Upanishads · Pañcabrahma 2
॥
Devanāgarī
ऋग्वेदो गार्हपत्यं च मन्त्राः सप्तस्वरास्तथा । वर्णं पीतं क्रिया शक्तिः सर्वाभीष्टफलप्रदम्
Transliteration (IAST)
ṛgvedo gārhapatyaṃ ca mantrāḥ saptasvarāstathā | varṇaṃ pītaṃ kriyā śaktiḥ sarvābhīṣṭaphalapradam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ऋग्वेदः गार्हपत्यं चṛgvedaḥ gārhapatyaṃ cathe Ṛgveda and the household fire
मन्त्राः सप्त-स्वराः तथाmantrāḥ sapta-svarāḥ tathāmantras and the seven sounds
वर्णं पीतं क्रिया शक्तिःvarṇaṃ pītaṃ kriyā śaktiḥyellow color, the power of action
सर्व-अभीष्ट-फल-प्रदम्sarva-abhīṣṭa-phala-pradamgiving every desired fruit
Translation
"The Ṛgveda and the household fire, mantras and the seven sounds; yellow color, the power of action; giving every desired fruit."
Version
984e06d2ea3e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The mapping of the first face is brought to a close, and two points in it are worth noting. First: gārhapatya, "the household fire." This is the one of the three sacrificial fires that burns constantly and from which the others are lit; its name comes from gṛhapati, "master of the house."
That is, the first face is given the ordinary fire, not the festal one: the one kept up day after day. This detail, if held onto, explains the whole order of the fivefold sequence. It begins not with the lofty but with the foundation: earth, household fire, action.
Second: kriyā śaktiḥ, "the power of action." Of the three powers — will, knowledge, and action — discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (6.2), the first face is given the last, the coarsest. The order, accordingly, goes from below upward: from doing to knowing to willing.
The Vaiṣṇava side holds the same order in the arrangement of a person's life: karma ("deed"), jñāna ("knowledge"), bhakti ("devotion"); and she recognizes all three as steps, not rivals. Let us add the qualification she attaches, worth remembering while reading this whole mapping: these steps are not canceled — one who has reached devotion does not stop doing and knowing. The Gītā says this directly, calling the highest mat-karma-kṛt, "one who does deeds for Me" (11.55) — that is, at the top of the ladder, doing appears once more, only with its goal changed.