Upanishads · Varāha 1.5
॥
Devanāgarī
एतैस्तत्त्वैः समं पञ्चीकृतभूतानि पञ्च च । पृथिव्यापस्तथा तेजो वायुराकाशमेव च
Transliteration (IAST)
etaistattvaiḥ samaṃ pañcīkṛtabhūtāni pañca ca | pṛthivyāpastathā tejo vāyurākāśameva ca
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एतैः तत्त्वैः समंetaiḥ tattvaiḥ samaṃtogether with these principles
पञ्ची-कृत-भूतानि पञ्च चpañcī-kṛta-bhūtāni pañca caand the five quintupled elements
पृथिवी आपः तथा तेजःpṛthivī āpaḥ tathā tejaḥearth, water, and likewise fire
वायुः आकाशम् एव चvāyuḥ ākāśam eva cawind and space, likewise
Translation
"Together with these principles, and the five quintupled elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and space, likewise."
Version
2eacd7a24d16 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The five elements are added, and are called panchi-krita, "quintupled." This word denotes the well-known doctrine of mixture, and it is worth setting out, for it explains why there are five elements but many things. Panchikarana, "quintupling," consists in this: no element is pure; half of it is itself, and the other half is divided into four parts and composed of the other four.
That is, earth contains half earth and, in eighth parts, water, fire, wind, and space; and so with every element. From this comes diversity: there are no pure elements in the world, only mixtures in different proportions. This doctrine is, in my view, remarkable for anticipating a thought science arrived at by its own path: things differ not by substance, but by composition.
Let us add what stands behind it in substance and matters for our discussion. If everything is mixed, then nothing is pure anywhere; and hence it is useless to seek the unchanging in matter — there, everything is a mixture. The Vaishnava side draws from this its own position, that the object of the quest lies outside matter; and the Gita says: apareyam itas tv anyam prakritim viddhi me param, "this [nature] is lower; but know another, higher nature of Mine" (7.5).