Upaniṣads · Chāndogya 6,7.5
॥
Devanāgarī
तम् ह उवाच यथा सोम्य महतः अभ्याहितस्य एकम् अङ्गारम् खद्योतमात्रम् परिशिष्टम् तम् तृणैः उपसमाधाय प्राज्वलयेत् तेन ततः अपि बहु दहेत्
Transliteración (IAST)
tam ha uvāca yathā somya mahataḥ abhyāhitasya ekam aṅgāram khadyotamātram pariśiṣṭam tam tṛṇaiḥ upasamādhāya prājvalayet tena tataḥ api bahu dahet
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तम्tamit; that one
हhaindeed; surely
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
यथाyathāhow; like
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
महतःmahataḥof the great; the great one
अभ्याहितस्यabhyāhitasyaof the kindled; of the piled-up
एकम्ekamone; single
अङ्गारम्aṅgārama coal; a smouldering coal
खद्योतमात्रम्khadyotamātramof the size of a firefly; barely glowing
परिशिष्टम्pariśiṣṭamremaining; still left
तम्tamit; that one
तृणैःtṛṇaiḥwith grass (tṛṇa, instrumental plural); with blades of grass; with straws
उपसमाधायupasamādhāyahaving fed it (upa-sam-ā + √dhā); having nourished it; having laid on [fuel]
प्राज्वलयेत्prājvalayethe would blaze it up (causative of pra + √jval — 'to kindle'); he would set it alight; he would make it flare
तेनtenawith that; by means of this
ततःtataḥthan this; from that
अपिapieven; also
बहुbahumuch; abundant
दहेत्dahetI would burn up; it would burn
Traducción
His father said to him: "As, my dear, an ember the size of a firefly left from a great fire may be fed with grass and fanned into flame, and with it one could again burn much,
Versión
8b753aacbee3 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 23:39:08 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The father carries the image through to the end, and in that lies all his generosity: the ember is not merely a "remainder" — it is the seed of the bonfire. Lay on grass (tṛṇaiḥ upasamādhāya — the same verb with which Satyakāma laid the sacrificial fuel, 4.5–8) and out of a firefly the old blaze will catch.
The image of the ember is among the most consoling in the whole Veda: however exhausted the higher may be in a man — by fasting, by grief, by years of forgetting — it does not die but smoulders, and a handful of grass is enough for it. The bhakti tradition recognises here its own law of mercy: no effort on this path is lost (BG 2.40), and a soul apparently gone out flares up at a single touch — a kind word, the holy name, a meeting with a devotee.