Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 4.5
॥
Devanāgarī
अहिंसा इष्टयः । त्यागो दक्षिणा । अवभृतं मरणात्
Transliteration (IAST)
ahiṃsā iṣṭayaḥ | tyāgo dakṣiṇā | avabhṛtaṃ maraṇāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अ-हिंसाः इष्टयःa-hiṃsāḥ iṣṭayaḥharmlessness — the offerings
त्यागः दक्षिणाtyāgaḥ dakṣiṇāgiving away — the payment to priests
अवभृतं मरणात्avabhṛtaṃ maraṇātthe concluding ablution — from death
Translation
Harmlessness is the offerings, giving away is the payment to priests, the concluding ablution is from death.
Version
604a07366063 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three answers, and all three deserve separate examination, for they crown the listing. First: ahiṃsā iṣṭayaḥ, "harmlessness is the offerings." That is, what in the rite is performed as separate libations is here abstinence from harm.
Second: tyāgo dakṣiṇā, "giving away is the payment to priests." Dakṣiṇā is what is paid at the close of the rite, and without it the rite is not considered accomplished. This substitution is precise: a rite is invalid without payment, and life is invalid without giving.
Third, and the most unexpected: avabhṛtam maraṇāt, "the concluding ablution is death." The concluding ablution was discussed when reading the sixth line of the third part: it removes the consecration and returns the sacrificer to ordinary life. Here it is said that death serves as this ablution.
That is, the sacrifice, begun by birth, ends with death; and the whole of life turns out to be one rite, with an entrance and an exit. This position, to my mind, is the true sum of the book, and it explains what all the preceding was for. If life is a rite, there is no time in it outside of service: there are no "worldly" hours and "sacred" ones. There is only one continuous act, with its own rules.
The Vaiṣṇava side expresses this with its own definition: sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṃ tat-paratvena nirmalam, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṃ bhaktir ucyate — "service to the Lord of the senses, by one's own senses, purified and turned toward Him, is called devotion" (Nārada-pañcarātra, cited in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.12). The word hṛṣīkeṇa, "by the senses," is decisive here: one serves not against the body and not apart from it, but with it itself; and in this the definition coincides fully with this book.