उपनिषद् · Aitareya 1,3.2
॥
देवनागरी
सः अपः अभ्यतपत् ताभ्यः अभितप्ताभ्यः मूर्तिः अजायत या वै सा मूर्तिः अजायत अन्नम् वै तत्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
saḥ apaḥ abhyatapat tābhyaḥ abhitaptābhyaḥ mūrtiḥ ajāyata yā vai sā mūrtiḥ ajāyata annam vai tat
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सःsaḥHe; that one
अपःapaḥthe waters; the watery element
अभ्यतपत्abhyatapatwarmed with tapas; heated
ताभ्यःtābhyaḥfrom them; out of them
अभितप्ताभ्यःabhitaptābhyaḥfrom the heated ones (abhi-tapta); out of the warmed ones; out of the brooded-over [waters]
मूर्तिःmūrtiḥa form (mūrti — 'the congealed'); a shape; the formed
अजायतajāyatawas born (from √jan); arose; came forth
याyāwhich; that which
वैvaiverily; indeed
साsāit; this
मूर्तिःmūrtiḥa form (mūrti — 'the congealed'); a shape; the formed
अजायतajāyatawas born (from √jan); arose; came forth
अन्नम्annamfood; nourishment
वैvaiverily; indeed
तत्tatthat; this
अनुवाद
He warmed the waters. Out of the heated [waters] a form was born; and the form that was born — that is verily food.
संस्करण
02aa6e8f5418 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:36:16 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Food is created by the same gesture as man: so 'po 'bhyatapat — "He warmed the waters" (abhi-√tap — the same tapas-brooding that warmed the Puruṣa in verse 4): the Creator does not "manufacture" — He gestates: everything is born alive out of the waters under His heat.
tābhyo 'bhitaptābhyo mūrtir ajāyata — "out of the heated waters a mūrti was born — a form": and the definition is astonishing: yā vai sā mūrtir ajāyata annaṁ vai tat — "the form that was born, that is food": every form is edible! Everything shaped is somebody's food: form and food are synonyms in the constitution of the manifest: whatever has an outline is thereby offered to be eaten (the Taittirīya: "food is eaten and eats beings").
This verse is the soberest definition of the material world: the world of forms is a world of mutual eating; to be embodied is to enter the food chain. The Upaniṣad neither recoils from this nor relishes it: it states the condition of the game — and will lead on to the question of who in that chain is the Eater above eaters, and how the food itself will try to escape being eaten.