Upaniṣads · Prāṇāgnihotra 2.7
॥
Devanāgarī
दर्शनाग्निर्नाम चतुराकृतिराहवनीयो भूत्वा मुखे तिष्ठति
Transliteración (IAST)
darśanāgnirnāma caturākṛtirāhavanīyo bhūtvā mukhe tiṣṭhati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
दर्शन-अग्निः नामdarśana-agniḥ nāmathe fire named sight
चतुः-आकृतिः आहवनीयः भूत्वाcatuḥ-ākṛtiḥ āhavanīyaḥ bhūtvāfour-cornered, having become the āhavanīya
मुखे तिष्ठतिmukhe tiṣṭhatidwells in the mouth
Traducción
The fire named sight, four-cornered, having become the āhavanīya, dwells in the mouth.
Versión
9830e78a7dfa · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The second fire is called darśana-agni, "the fire of sight," and is placed in the mouth. A strange correspondence: sight — and the mouth. It is explained, apparently, by the fact that the āhavanīya is the fire into which the offering is poured; and in the body, one pours into the mouth. And it is named "sight" because this fire is visible: it is on the outside.
Note also the shape: catur-ākṛti, "four-cornered." In ritual, altars have different shapes: the āhavanīya is square, the gārhapatya round, the dakṣiṇa semicircular; and the book has preserved these shapes, transferring the fires into the body. The transfer, then, is made with the details preserved, not merely by general sense; and this, to my mind, is a sign that it was done by people who knew the rite thoroughly.
The Vaiṣṇava side counts the mouth first among the instruments of service and speaks of it in words fitting here. The Bhāgavatam: "those mouths are serpent-holes that do not sing the Name of Hari"; and elsewhere — that a tongue not tasting the story of Him is the tongue of a frog croaking in a swamp (2.3.20 and following). The images are harsh, and it is worth saying why they are cited. The mouth is a double instrument: with it one eats, and with it one speaks; and both uses are set side by side in these books.
Hence this whole book, having begun with eating, ends by commanding that one read; and the mouth, having been an altar, turns out also to be a voice.