Upaniṣads · Chāndogya 1,10.4
॥
Devanāgarī
न स्विद् एते अपि उच्छिष्टाः इति न वा अजीविष्यम् इमान् अखादन् इति ह उवाच कामः मे उदपानम् इति
Transliteración (IAST)
na svid ete api ucchiṣṭāḥ iti na vā ajīviṣyam imān akhādan iti ha uvāca kāmaḥ me udapānam iti
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
नnanot; no
स्विद्svidis it that; whether
एतेetethese; the present
अपिapieven; also
उच्छिष्टाःucchiṣṭāḥthe leavings; defiled as leavings
इतिitithus; how
नnanot; no
वाvāverily; surely
अजीविष्यम्ajīviṣyamI would [not] have lived (conditional of √jīv); I should not have lived; I should not have survived
इमान्imānof these; of these
अखादन्akhādannot having eaten (a-khādat); without eating; tasting nothing
इतिitithus; how
हhaindeed; surely
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
कामःkāmaḥa matter of choice (kāma — 'at will, not from need'); a thing of preference; a mere wish
मेmemyself; for me
उदपानम्udapānamthe drinking of water (uda-pāna); water-drinking; a draught of water
इतिitithus; how
Traducción
"But are not these [beans] leavings too?" — "Had I not eaten them I should not have lived," said he; "but the drinking of water is a matter of [my] pleasure."
Versión
384ac7675f4d · publicado 26 jul 2026, 22:31:57 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The rich man catches him in a contradiction: na svid ete 'py ucchiṣṭā iti — "but are not the beans leavings too?" And Uṣasti's answer is a jewel of moral theology: na vā ajīviṣyam imān akhādan — "had I not eaten them I should not have lived"; kāmo ma udapānam — "but the drinking of water is my pleasure [not my necessity]": clean water can be found — nobody dies for want of this drink now.
The line is drawn: the prohibition yields to a threat to life — and not one step beyond it. To eat leavings when starving is dharma (the preservation of life is the ground of all dharmas); to drink them when there is a choice is adharma (the emergency has ended, the rule has returned). Neither is the rule absolute nor is the emergency unbounded: the measure is strict necessity, and conscience is bound to reckon it exactly, mouthful by mouthful. This is āpad-dharma — "the dharma of calamity" — in its purest specimen: a law that knows its own limits, and a man who does not widen those limits by a single drop.