Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 4.4
॥
Devanāgarī
ओङ्कारो यूपः । आशा रशना । मनो रथः । कामः पशुः । केशा दर्भाः । बुद्धीन्द्रियाणि यज्ञपात्राणि । कर्मेन्द्रियाणि हवींषि
Transliteration (IAST)
oṅkāro yūpaḥ | āśā raśanā | mano rathaḥ | kāmaḥ paśuḥ | keśā darbhāḥ | buddhīndriyāṇi yajñapātrāṇi | karmendriyāṇi havīṃṣi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओंकारः यूपः आशा रशनाoṃkāraḥ yūpaḥ āśā raśanāoṃkāra is the post, hope the cord
मनः रथः कामः पशुःmanaḥ rathaḥ kāmaḥ paśuḥthe mind the chariot, desire the sacrificial animal
केशाः दर्भाःkeśāḥ darbhāḥthe hair the kuśa grass
बुद्धि-इन्द्रियाणि यज्ञ-पात्राणिbuddhi-indriyāṇi yajña-pātrāṇithe cognitive senses the sacrificial vessels
कर्म-इन्द्रियाणि हवींषिkarma-indriyāṇi havīṃṣithe active senses the offerings
Translation
Oṃkāra is the post, hope the cord, the mind the chariot, desire the sacrificial animal, the hair the kuśa grass, the cognitive senses the vessels, the active senses the offerings.
Version
afe4b0c7a8db · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Here is the answer to the sharpest question of the third part, and it is, to my mind, the finest passage of the whole book: kāmaḥ paśuḥ, "desire is the sacrificial animal." That is, what is subject to slaughter is one's own craving. This resolution deserves being appreciated at its worth, for it removes at a stroke a difficulty disputed for centuries.
The Vedic sacrifice required slaughter; harmlessness forbade killing. Disputants diverged: some said the Veda's precept outranked the general prohibition; others, that slaughter was a later corruption. Here a third way is offered: the slaughter remains, but the animal is changed.
Let us add that this rendering is no trick: it follows from the word itself. Paśu means "cattle," and from the same root comes pāśa, "bonds"; and the whole Śaiva theology is built on the pair paśu and pati, "cattle and shepherd," where the bound soul is called cattle, and the bonds are what binds it. That is, in the very language, the slaughter of an animal and the cutting of bonds are denoted by kindred words.
The Vaiṣṇava side says the same of desire, but more often proposes not killing it but redirecting it; and the distinction between extinguishing and changing the object was discussed when reading the Rudrākṣa-jābāla (2.15). Let us add the phrase āśā raśanā, "hope — the cord," standing in the same line. A cord binds the animal to the post; and desire is bound by hope.
The correspondence is precise: desire is held not by pleasure, but by anticipation; and anyone who has observed himself knows that anticipation is stronger than fulfillment.