Upaniṣads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 3,9.28:6
॥
Devanāgarī
यत् समूलम् आवृहेयुः वृक्षम् न पुनः आभवेत् मर्त्यः स्वित् मृत्युना वृक्णः कस्मात् मूलात् प्ररोहति
Transliteración (IAST)
yat samūlam āvṛheyuḥ vṛkṣam na punaḥ ābhavet martyaḥ svit mṛtyunā vṛkṇaḥ kasmāt mūlāt prarohati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
यत्yatthat which; that which
समूलम्samūlamwith the root (sa-mūla); root and all; with the root
आवृहेयुःāvṛheyuḥthey should tear it up (ā + √vṛh, optative pl.); they would pull it out; they tear it up
वृक्षम्vṛkṣamthe tree; the trunk
नnanot; no
पुनःpunaḥagain; once more
आभवेत्ābhavetit would grow again (ā + √bhū, optative; na punar ābhavet); it would come to be again; he shall rise
मर्त्यःmartyaḥa mortal; man
स्वित्svitsurely; whether
मृत्युनाmṛtyunāby death; by mortality
वृक्णःvṛkṇaḥfelled; cut down
कस्मात्kasmātout of which; whence
मूलात्mūlātout of the root; from the root
प्ररोहतिprarohatiit sprouts; it grows up again
Traducción
but if a tree is torn up with its root, it will not come up again; and a mortal, felled by death — from what root does he spring up?
Versión
d18170b75dd7 · publicado 27 jul 2026, 1:08:05 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
A hardening: tear a tree up by the root, and that is the end — there will be no shoot. And death, it would seem, tears a man up in just that way: with the whole root of his visible life. The question is repeated a third time, now as a sentence: if there is no root either, whence the rising?
The riddle is deliberately driven to the limit of hopelessness: the answer that is about to sound must be not a consolation but a discovery — something not to be derived from botany or from pedigrees.