तौ ह अन्वीक्ष्य प्रजापतिः उवाच अनुपलभ्य आत्मानम् अननुविद्य व्रजतः यतराः एतदुपनिषदः भविष्यन्ति देवाः वा असुराः वा ते पराभविष्यन्ति इति सः ह शान्तहृदयः एव विरोचनः असुरान् जगाम तेभ्यः ह एताम् उपनिषदम् प्रोवाच आत्मा एव इह महय्यः आत्मा परिचर्यः आत्मानम् एव इह महयन् आत्मानम् परिचरन् उभौ लोकौ आप्नोति इमम् च अमुम् च इति
tau ha anvīkṣya prajāpatiḥ uvāca anupalabhya ātmānam ananuvidya vrajataḥ yatarāḥ etadupaniṣadaḥ bhaviṣyanti devāḥ vā asurāḥ vā te parābhaviṣyanti iti saḥ ha śāntahṛdayaḥ eva virocanaḥ asurān jagāma tebhyaḥ ha etām upaniṣadam provāca ātmā eva iha mahayyaḥ ātmā paricaryaḥ ātmānam eva iha mahayan ātmānam paricaran ubhau lokau āpnoti imam ca amum ca iti
Looking after them, Prajāpati said: "They go away without having grasped or found the ātman! Whoever takes this for the upaniṣad — gods or asuras — will perish." And Virocana, with a heart at peace, came to the asuras and proclaimed this upaniṣad to them: "Here one must gratify oneself [the body], one must wait upon oneself. Gratifying oneself here and waiting upon oneself, one obtains both worlds, this one and that."
f869240e87e4 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 23:54:28 UTC
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The teacher's grief as he looks after them — "they go away without having found!" — and a prophecy: those who take this for the highest teaching "will perish" (parābhaviṣyanti). Prajāpati does not run after them: truth is not forced on anyone; a pupil has the terrible right to carry away an error.
And Virocana carries it away with a heart at peace — and preaches to the asuras an "upaniṣad of the body": ātmā eva iha mahayyaḥ — "gratify yourself, wait upon yourself, and you will obtain both worlds". The error of the mirror has become a religion: if I am what is reflected, then care of the body is the spiritual life, adornment is liturgy, comfort is salvation. The Upaniṣad has described with frightening accuracy a cult that does not age in any millennium.
The Gītā will name this worldview: āsurī sampad — "the world has no other ground than lust" — and its outcome: "they fall" (BG 16.8–20, with the same verb patanti). And note, finally, a merciless detail: Virocana did not lie to the asuras — he honestly passed on what he had understood. Sincerity does not save one from the depth of one's own hearing; which is why the tradition requires not only an honest teacher but a purified pupil.