Upaniṣads · Subāla 4.1
॥
Devanāgarī
हृदयस्य मध्ये लोहितं मांसपिण्डं यस्मिंस्तद्दहरं पुण्डरीकं कुमुदमिवानेकधा विकसितं हृदयस्य दश छिद्राणि भवन्ति येषु प्राणाः प्रतिष्ठिताः
Transliteración (IAST)
hṛdayasya madhye lohitaṃ māṃsapiṇḍaṃ yasmiṃstaddaharaṃ puṇḍarīkaṃ kumudamivānekadhā vikasitaṃ hṛdayasya daśa chidrāṇi bhavanti yeṣu prāṇāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
हृदयस्य मध्येhṛdayasya madhyein the middle of the heart; at the heart's centre
लोहितम् मांसपिण्डम्lohitam māṃsapiṇḍama red lump of flesh; a scarlet clot of meat
यस्मिन् तत् दहरम् पुण्डरीकम्yasmin tat daharam puṇḍarīkamin which that small lotus; where that tiny lily
कुमुदम् इव अनेकधा विकसितम्kumudam iva anekadhā vikasitamopened manifold like a water-lily; like a water-flower, many-petalled
हृदयस्य दश छिद्राणि भवन्तिhṛdayasya daśa chidrāṇi bhavantithe heart has ten openings; in the heart are ten apertures
येषु प्राणाः प्रतिष्ठिताःyeṣu prāṇāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥin which the breaths are established; where the prāṇas are fixed
Traducción
In the middle of the heart is a red lump of flesh, in which is that small lotus, opened into many petals like a water-lily. And the heart has ten openings, in which the breaths are established.
Versión
86059114594a · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:12:03 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The book passes to the most bodily thing in it: the description of the heart.
And the description begins almost like a physician's: “a red lump of flesh”. No poetry: a piece of meat, red. The Upaniṣad names a thing one could take in the hand.
And inside it — daharaṁ puṇḍarīkam, “the small lotus”. This expression is known to the Chāndogya too, where a whole vidyā is devoted to it: “in this city of Brahman there is a small lotus-palace, and in it a small space”. The word dahara means “tiny”, and in the Upaniṣads it always points to this: the greatest is housed in the least.
The comparison with the water-lily is chosen for the way it opens: not at one stroke, but in layers, into many petals. So the heart too is described not as a cavity but as an opened flower.
Then ten openings are named, “in which the breaths are established”. The number corresponds to the five chief prāṇas and the five auxiliary ones of which the śāstras speak.
Why is this in an Upaniṣad? Because the next mantra will show: what the soul sees depends on which of the breaths it joins. The structure of the heart proves to be here not anatomy, but an explanation of where dreams and visions come from.