Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 1.1
॥
Devanāgarī
अथातः सर्वोपनिषत्सारं संसारज्ञानातीतमन्त्रसूक्तं शारीरयज्ञं व्याख्यास्यामः । यस्मिन्नेव पुरुषः शरीरे विनाप्यग्निहोत्रेण विनापि सांख्ययोगेन संसारविमुक्तिर्भवतीति
Transliteration (IAST)
athātaḥ sarvopaniṣatsāraṃ saṃsārajñānātītamantrasūktaṃ śārīrayajñaṃ vyākhyāsyāmaḥ | yasminneva puruṣaḥ śarīre vināpyagnihotreṇa vināpi sāṃkhyayogena saṃsāravimuktirbhavatīti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ अतः सर्व-उपनिषत्-सारंatha ataḥ sarva-upaniṣat-sāraṃnow — the essence of all upaniṣads
शारीर-यज्ञं व्याख्यास्यामःśārīra-yajñaṃ vyākhyāsyāmaḥwe shall explain the bodily sacrifice
यस्मिन् एव पुरुषः शरीरेyasmin eva puruṣaḥ śarīrein which very body a person
विना अपि अग्नि-होत्रेणvinā api agni-hotreṇaeven without the fire-sacrifice
विना अपि सांख्य-योगेनvinā api sāṃkhya-yogenaeven without sāṃkhya and yoga
Translation
Now we shall explain the essence of all upaniṣads, a teaching beyond the knowledge of the round of rebirth — the bodily sacrifice, by which a person, in this very body, without even the fire-sacrifice, and without even sāṃkhya and yoga, attains freedom from the round.
Version
c1f4eb5e248e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book opens with a promise worth examining, for it sets aside three things at once: agnihotra, sāṃkhya, and yoga. Agnihotra is the daily libation into fire, the householder's chief rite: morning and evening, milk is poured into the fire. It requires fire, vessels, milk, and time.
Sāṃkhya is the teaching that distinguishes spirit from matter; yoga is the eight-step ladder discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana. And here it is said: without all of this. Note what is offered instead: śarīra-yajña, "the bodily sacrifice," that is, the turning of ordinary eating into a sacrifice.
The idea is easy to state, and it is excellent. A rite requires special conditions; a person eats regardless, every day, three times. If this very act is turned into service, the rite ceases to be a separate occupation.
The Vaiṣṇava side stands on this entirely, and its whole practice is the unfolding of this same idea. Food is first offered, then received as prasāda, "grace"; this was discussed when reading the Bhāvanā-upaniṣad. Let us add a verse of the Gītā that fits here and is, in essence, the same thought: "whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever austerity you perform — do it as an offering to Me" (9.27).
The word aśnāsi, "you eat," stands there second in the list; and so this book, devoted entirely to this one act, is, in substance, an unfolded commentary on a single word of the Gītā.