Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 2.9
॥
Devanāgarī
कोष्ठाग्निर्नामाशितपीतलीढखादितानि सम्यग्व्यष्ट्यां श्रपयित्वा गार्हपत्यो भूत्वा नाभ्यां तिष्ठति
Transliteration (IAST)
koṣṭhāgnirnāmāśitapītalīḍhakhāditāni samyagvyaṣṭyāṃ śrapayitvā gārhapatyo bhūtvā nābhyāṃ tiṣṭhati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कोष्ठ-अग्निः नामkoṣṭha-agniḥ nāmathe fire named the belly's
अशित-पीत-लीढ-खादितानिaśita-pīta-līḍha-khāditāniwhat is eaten, drunk, licked, chewed
सम्यक् व्यष्ट्यां श्रपयित्वाsamyak vyaṣṭyāṃ śrapayitvāhaving properly cooked it in parts
गार्हपत्यः भूत्वा नाभ्यां तिष्ठतिgārhapatyaḥ bhūtvā nābhyāṃ tiṣṭhatihaving become the household fire, dwells in the navel
Translation
The fire named the belly's, having properly cooked in parts what is eaten, drunk, licked, and chewed — having become the household fire, dwells in the navel.
Version
eea7c79ed2a4 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fourth fire is in the navel, and it is the one that cooks food. Note the list: aśita, pīta, līḍha, khādita — "eaten, drunk, licked, chewed." These are the four kinds of food by manner of intake, and this list is fixed in Indian books.
The Gītā uses the same reckoning, in a verse cited when reading the first part of this book: "I, having become Vaiśvānara... digest food of four kinds" — pacāmy annaṃ catur-vidham (15.14). Let us compare the two passages, for they speak of the same thing and differ by one word.
Here it is koṣṭha-agni, "the belly-fire," that cooks. There it is aham, "I," that cooks. That is, one and the same action is described in one place as the operation of the mechanism, and in the other as the deed of the One within the mechanism.
The Vaiṣṇava side builds its reading of all such enumerations on exactly such comparisons. It does not reject the descriptions of the powers and fires; it says that behind every one of them stands the One who acts through them. Let us add what follows from this for a person examining his own constitution.
If it is the fire that cooks, there is no one to thank, and all that remains is to see that the fire burns evenly. If it is He who cooks, then every act of digestion is a service rendered personally; and this whole book, which commands five exclamations before eating, is, in essence, a training in noticing what has been rendered.