अथ हैनं रैक्वः पप्रच्छ भगवन्कस्मिन्सर्वे संप्रतिष्ठिता भवन्तीति रसातललोकेष्विति होवाच कस्मिन्रसातललोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति भूर्लोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्भूर्लोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति भुवर्लोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्भुवर्लोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति सुवर्लोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्सुवर्लोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति महर्लोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्महर्लोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति जनोलोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन् जनोलोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति तपोलोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिंस्तपोलोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति सत्यलोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्सत्यलोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति प्रजापतिलोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्प्रजापतिलोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति ब्रह्मलोकेष्विति होवाच । कस्मिन्ब्रह्मलोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति सर्वलोका आत्मनि ब्रह्मणि मणय इवौताश्च प्रोताश्चेति स होवाच
atha hainaṃ raikvaḥ papraccha bhagavankasminsarve saṃpratiṣṭhitā bhavantīti rasātalalokeṣviti hovāca kasminrasātalalokā otāśca protāśceti bhūrlokeṣviti hovāca | kasminbhūrlokā otāśca protāśceti bhuvarlokeṣviti hovāca | kasminbhuvarlokā otāśca protāśceti suvarlokeṣviti hovāca | kasminsuvarlokā otāśca protāśceti maharlokeṣviti hovāca | kasminmaharlokā otāśca protāśceti janolokeṣviti hovāca | kasmin janolokā otāśca protāśceti tapolokeṣviti hovāca | kasmiṃstapolokā otāśca protāśceti satyalokeṣviti hovāca | kasminsatyalokā otāśca protāśceti prajāpatilokeṣviti hovāca | kasminprajāpatilokā otāśca protāśceti brahmalokeṣviti hovāca | kasminbrahmalokā otāśca protāśceti sarvalokā ātmani brahmaṇi maṇaya ivautāśca protāśceti sa hovāca
And now Raikva asked him: “Master, in what is everything established?” — “In the nether worlds,” he said. — “And the nether worlds — in what are they woven, warp and woof?” — “In the earthly worlds.” — “And the earthly?” — “In the airy worlds.” — “And the airy?” — “In the heavenly worlds.” — “And the heavenly?” — “In the mahar-lokas.” — “And those?” — “In the jano-lokas.” — “And those?” — “In the tapo-lokas.” — “And those?” — “In the worlds of truth.” — “And those?” — “In the worlds of Prajāpati.” — “And those?” — “In the worlds of Brahmā.” — “And the worlds of Brahmā — in what are they woven, warp and woof?” — “All the worlds are woven, warp and woof, in the Self, in Brahman, like beads,” — so he said.
874197907ea2 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:12:03 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
A way of asking famous in the Upaniṣads: “and this — in what?” — and so on until the answers run out. So Gārgī cross-questioned Yājñavalkya in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, and the answer there was in substance the same.
Raikva leads the ladder from below upward, from the nether worlds to the world of Brahmā — all seven steps of the usual Vedic chart of the universe and two more above them. Each time he does not argue but asks again: and this rests on what?
His question is exact and insatiable. Every answer that names a place at once demands a new place: if A stands on B, then on what does B stand? One could go on without end — and the Upaniṣad shows that this chain is broken in only one way.
It is broken not by finding the lowest foundation, but by changing the kind of answer. “All the worlds are woven, warp and woof, in the Self, in Brahman, like beads.”
The expression ota-prota — “woven, warp and woof” — is a weaver's, and it has met us already in the Kauṣītaki, of Nārāyaṇa. But here another thing is added: maṇayaḥ iva, “like beads”. The image is clear: beads are held not one upon another, but all together — on the thread that passes through each.
In this is the answer. The worlds do not stand one on another like storeys; they are strung on that which is inside each. And therefore the question “and this on what?” here comes to an end: the thread has no support, because it does not stand — it holds.