उदशरावे आत्मानम् अवेक्ष्य यत् आत्मनः न विजानीथः तत् मे प्रब्रूतम् इति तौ ह उदशरावे अवेक्षाम् चक्राते तौ ह प्रजापतिः उवाच किम् पश्यथ इति तौ ह ऊचतुः सर्वम् एव इदम् आवाम् भगवः आत्मानम् पश्यावः आ लोमभ्यः आ नखेभ्यः प्रतिरूपम् इति
udaśarāve ātmānam avekṣya yat ātmanaḥ na vijānīthaḥ tat me prabrūtam iti tau ha udaśarāve avekṣām cakrāte tau ha prajāpatiḥ uvāca kim paśyatha iti tau ha ūcatuḥ sarvam eva idam āvām bhagavaḥ ātmānam paśyāvaḥ ā lomabhyaḥ ā nakhebhyaḥ pratirūpam iti
"Look at yourselves in a bowl of water, and whatever you do not know of yourselves, tell me." They looked into the bowl of water. Prajāpati asked: "What do you see?" They answered: "We see, sir, our whole selves — a likeness down to the hairs and the nails."
e468b1bf90ba · publicado 26 jul 2026, 23:52:58 UTC
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The experiment with the bowl is a trap-test. The task is worded with a false bottom: "whatever you do not know of yourselves, tell me" (yad ātmano na vijānīthaḥ): the teacher invites them to notice in themselves the unknown — what is not reflected. The right answer would have been a question: "we see bodies, but where is the one who is looking?"
The pupils fail the test with distinction: "we see our whole selves — down to the hairs and the nails" (ā lomabhyaḥ ā nakhebhyaḥ). Their whole selves! For them the reflection has contained the whole of their "I" without remainder — nothing unrecognised was found. So the mirror becomes an examination in depth: a shallow man sees himself entire in it, a deep man only his surface. Prajāpati's bowl stands before everyone: do you consider that "all of you" is what can be seen?