उपनिषद् · Aitareya 2.2
॥
देवनागरी
तत् स्त्रियाः आत्मभूयम् गच्छति यथा स्वम् अङ्गम् तथा तस्मात् एनाम् न हिनस्ति सा अस्य एतम् आत्मानम् अत्र गतम् भावयति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tat striyāḥ ātmabhūyam gacchati yathā svam aṅgam tathā tasmāt enām na hinasti sā asya etam ātmānam atra gatam bhāvayati
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तत्tatthat; this
स्त्रियाःstriyāḥof the woman; of the mother
आत्मभूयम्ātmabhūyamidentity with her own self (ātma-bhūya — 'self-becoming'); becoming her very self; fusion with her being
गच्छतिgacchatigoes; attains
यथाyathāas; like
स्वम्svamher own; one's own
अङ्गम्aṅgamlimb (aṅga); part of the body; organ
तथाtathāso; in that way
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; for that reason
एनाम्enāmher; this woman
नnanot; no
हिनस्तिhinastiit harms (from √hiṁs); it injures; it does damage to
साsāshe; this one
अस्यasyaof him; his
एतम्etamthis; the present
आत्मानम्ātmānamself; own being
अत्रatrahere; hither
गतम्gatamcome; having entered
भावयतिbhāvayatishe fosters (causative of √bhū — 'she makes to be'); she rears; she carries and nourishes
अनुवाद
It becomes one with the very self of the woman — as her own limb; therefore [the child] does her no harm. She fosters this self of his, which has come here.
संस्करण
f2c09f08a976 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:36:16 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The mystery of gestation: tat striyā ātma-bhūyaṁ gacchati — "it [the seed] enters into the self-being of the woman": yathā svam aṅgaṁ tathā — "as her own limb": another's life becomes her body — the one case in nature where "another" is received without remainder into "I": the mother is a living lesson in non-duality, taught by the flesh itself. tasmād enāṁ na hinasti — "therefore it does her no harm": the foetus is not rejected — it is her own.
sāsyaitam ātmānam atra gataṁ bhāvayati — "she fosters (bhāvayati — 'she causes to be', a causative of 'to be'!) this self of his, come hither": the mother is a co-creator: she literally makes the being of the one who has come, bringing the entered soul up into the light.
The Upaniṣad builds a theology of motherhood: as the Creator warmed the Puruṣa with the tapas of His gaze, so the mother warms with herself the one who has entered — motherhood reproduces the first creation; every pregnant woman repeats the cosmogony. Hence, for all ages, the sacred inviolability of a mother: in her is accomplished what Brahmā accomplished over the waters.