Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 4.6
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वा ह्यस्मिन्देवताः शरीरेऽधिसमाहिताः
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvā hyasmindevatāḥ śarīre'dhisamāhitāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वाः हि अस्मिन् देवताःsarvāḥ hi asmin devatāḥfor all deities are indeed in this
शरीरे अधि-समाहिताःśarīre adhi-samāhitāḥbody, assembled together
Translation
For all deities are indeed assembled together in this body.
Version
a0aca9f7bdc8 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is short, and it is, in substance, the justification of the whole book: since all deities are in the body, the sacrifice to them is offered in the body. Note the verb adhi-samāhitāḥ, "assembled, gathered together," from sam-ā-dhā, the same root as samādhi; and the meaning "gathering together" was discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (10.1). That is, the body is called a place of gathering.
This position is ancient in the upaniṣads and is repeated many times: the Aitareya tells how the deities entered a person — fire became speech and entered the mouth, wind became breath and entered the nostrils, the sun became sight and entered the eyes (1.2.4). Let us say what follows from this and deserves keeping. If every faculty is someone's presence, then the use of a faculty is dealing with the one present; and a person who uses his sight badly acts not only foolishly, but discourteously.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this position and adds its own, discussed when reading the Pañcabrahma (11): One oversees all, and so dealing with the faculties is dealing with Him. Let us add what it draws from this in practice, and what forms the whole of its practice. Every sense is assigned a task: the eyes to look upon the form, the ears to hear the story, the tongue to taste what is offered and to utter the Name, the feet to go to the holy place, the hands to serve.
This list stands prominently in its books; and its meaning is the same as here: not to take the senses' objects away from them, but to give them the proper ones.