ब्रह्म वै इदम् अग्रे आसीत् एकम् एव तद् एकम् सन् न व्यभवत् तत् श्रेयः रूपम् अत्यसृजत क्षत्रम् यानि एतानि देवत्रा क्षत्राणि इन्द्रः वरुणः सोमः रुद्रः पर्जन्यः यमः मृत्युः ईशानः इति तस्मात् क्षत्रात् परम् न अस्ति तस्मात् ब्राह्मणः क्षत्रियम् अधस्तात् उपास्ते राजसूये क्षत्रे एव तद् यशः दधाति सा एषा क्षत्रस्य योनिः यद् ब्रह्म तस्मात् यद् अपि राजा परमताम् गच्छति ब्रह्म एव अन्ततः उपनिश्रयति स्वाम् योनिम् यः उ एनम् हिनस्ति स्वाम् सः योनिम् ऋच्छति सः पापीयान् भवति यथा श्रेयांसम् हिंसित्वा
brahma vai idam agre āsīt ekam eva tad ekam san na vyabhavat tat śreyaḥ rūpam atyasṛjata kṣatram yāni etāni devatrā kṣatrāṇi indraḥ varuṇaḥ somaḥ rudraḥ parjanyaḥ yamaḥ mṛtyuḥ īśānaḥ iti tasmāt kṣatrāt param na asti tasmāt brāhmaṇaḥ kṣatriyam adhastāt upāste rājasūye kṣatre eva tad yaśaḥ dadhāti sā eṣā kṣatrasya yoniḥ yad brahma tasmāt yad api rājā paramatām gacchati brahma eva antataḥ upaniśrayati svām yonim yaḥ u enam hinasti svām saḥ yonim ṛcchati saḥ pāpīyān bhavati yathā śreyāṃsam hiṃsitvā
In the beginning this was Brahman alone. Being one, he did not unfold. He created a better form, the kṣatra: those who are kṣatriyas among the gods — Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Death, Īśāna. Therefore there is nothing higher than the kṣatra; therefore at the rājasūya a brāhmaṇa honours the kṣatriya from below — he places glory in the kṣatra. Yet the brahman is the womb of the kṣatra: therefore, even on reaching the summit, a king in the end takes refuge in the brahman, his own womb. He who injures him cuts at his own womb; he becomes the worse the better the one he has injured.
71ccbb72883f · प्रकाशित 27 जुल॰ 2026, 12:43:58 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here begins a social cosmogony: the One "did not unfold" while alone, and so poured forth the kṣatra, the power of rule — and that as "a better form" (śreyo rūpam): the kings among the gods — Indra, Varuṇa, Yama — are senior to the other ranks. At the rājasūya the priest does indeed honour the king "from below": spiritual authority bows before the sovereign power — the Upaniṣad is not afraid to admit it.
But at once comes the counterweight on which the whole Indian civilisation stands: brahma is the yoni kṣatrasya, "the womb of the kṣatra": power is born of the sacred word and returns into it; a king at the summit "takes refuge in the brahman, his own womb". A power that hacks at the sacred "cuts at its own womb" — destroys its own source, and the measure of its fall is exactly set: he who injures the better becomes worse in the same measure as the other is better.
The lesson is timeless: a state without a sanctity is a suicide on deferment; a sanctity without power is a womb without offspring. Their right alliance is as in the verse: the power is honoured, the sanctity gives birth.