Upaniṣads · Kaṭharudra 17
॥
Devanāgarī
अस्थिस्नाय्वादिरूपोऽयं शरीरं भाति देहिनाम् । योऽयमन्नमयो ह्यात्मा भाति सर्वशरीरिणः
Transliteración (IAST)
asthisnāyvādirūpo'yaṃ śarīraṃ bhāti dehinām | yo'yamannamayo hyātmā bhāti sarvaśarīriṇaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अस्थि-स्नायु-आदि-रूपः अयंasthi-snāyu-ādi-rūpaḥ ayaṃconsisting of bones, sinews, and the rest
शरीरं भाति देहिनाम्śarīraṃ bhāti dehināmthis body shines for the embodied
यः अयम् अन्न-मयः हि आत्माyaḥ ayam anna-mayaḥ hi ātmāthis self, consisting of food
भाति सर्व-शरीरिणःbhāti sarva-śarīriṇaḥshines for all the embodied
Traducción
This body, consisting of bones, sinews, and the rest, shines for the embodied; this self, consisting of food, shines for all the embodied.
Versión
372972341c9c · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The mapping of the five kośas, "sheaths," begins, famous from the Taittirīya (2.1–2.5): consisting of food, of breath, of mind, of discernment, of bliss. The first — annamaya, "consisting of food," that is, the body. It is named directly and without squeamishness: bones, sinews, and the rest.
It is worth noting the word annamaya. It is no metaphor: the body is truly made of what is eaten, and anyone who has pondered this has found matter for reflection here. The bone with which a person walks was yesterday grain; his blood is yesterday's water.
The Vaiṣṇava side draws from this observation a conclusion others arrive at less often. If the body is what is eaten, then food is the first thing with which a person builds himself; and hence these books give it so much attention. Not out of squeamishness, and not from rules of purity, but by direct reckoning: what one has put into oneself is what one has become.
Hence too the custom of eating only what has been offered — prasāda. Its meaning is simple: if the body is composed of what is eaten, let it be composed of what has been given and returned, not taken directly for oneself. A separate word is worth saying about the verb bhāti, "shines, appears." It will recur in every line of this mapping, and each time means not "is," but "appears, is seen": a sheath is what a person seems to be — to himself and to others.