Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 2.6
॥
Devanāgarī
तत्रसूर्योऽग्निर्नाम सूर्यमण्डलाकृतिः सहस्ररश्मिपरिवृत एकऋषिर्भूत्वा मूर्धनि तिष्ठति । यस्मादुक्तो
Transliteration (IAST)
tatrasūryo'gnirnāma sūryamaṇḍalākṛtiḥ sahasraraśmiparivṛta ekaṛṣirbhūtvā mūrdhani tiṣṭhati | yasmādukto
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्र सूर्यः अग्निः नामtatra sūryaḥ agniḥ nāmathere, the fire named Sūrya
सूर्य-मण्डल-आकृतिःsūrya-maṇḍala-ākṛtiḥshaped like the solar disc
सहस्र-रश्मि-परिवृतःsahasra-raśmi-parivṛtaḥsurrounded by a thousand rays
एक-ऋषिः भूत्वा मूर्धनि तिष्ठतिeka-ṛṣiḥ bhūtvā mūrdhani tiṣṭhatihaving become Ekarṣi, dwells in the crown
Translation
There, the fire named Sūrya, shaped like the solar disc, surrounded by a thousand rays — having become Ekarṣi, dwells in the crown.
Version
767868640c04 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The listing of the body's four fires begins, and the first of them is solar, placed in the crown of the head. Ekarṣi, "the sole seer," is the name of one of the sacrificial fires in Atharvan practice. Note that the fire is described by its form: sūrya-maṇḍala-ākṛti, "having the shape of the solar disc."
This detail shows that the description here is not abstract, but visual: concentrating on the crown, one is to picture a disc with rays. We noted, when reading the Jābāla-darśana (8.6), that abstract concentration does not hold for long, and the mind itself demands something definite; and here it is given this at once. The Vaiṣṇava side does not place the sun in the crown, but holds to the custom of giving the mind something visual, and has carried it to its full extent. Its concentration is the contemplation of a form with detail: color, ornaments, the position of the hands, the expression of the face, the surroundings.
The reasoning given is this: the mind is held by details, not by general definitions. Anyone who remembers a dear face remembers it by small things — a mole, the tilt of the head; one cannot remember "a person in general." Let us add what follows from this for all such descriptions. Their abundance in these books is not ornament and not superstition, but an instrument of attention; and to demand abstract rigor of them is to demand something other than what they were written for.