उपनिषद् · Kauṣītaki 4.14
॥
देवनागरी
स होवाच बालाकिर्य एवैष शारीरः पुरुषस्तमेवाहमुपास इति तं होवाचाजातशत्रुर्मा मैतस्मिन्समवादयिष्ठाः प्रजापतिरिति वा अहमेतमुपास इति स यो हैतमेवमुपास्ते प्रजायते प्रजया पशुभिः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
sa hovāca bālākirya evaiṣa śārīraḥ puruṣastamevāhamupāsa iti taṃ hovācājātaśatrurmā maitasminsamavādayiṣṭhāḥ prajāpatiriti vā ahametamupāsa iti sa yo haitamevamupāste prajāyate prajayā paśubhiḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सः ह उवाच बालाकिःsaḥ ha uvāca bālākiḥBālāki said; spoke Bālāki
यः एव एषः शारीरः पुरुषःyaḥ eva eṣaḥ śārīraḥ puruṣaḥ“the puruṣa who is in the body”; “the person who is embodied”
तम् एव अहम् उपासे इतिtam eva aham upāse iti“him I revere”; “precisely him I worship”
तम् ह उवाच अजातशत्रुःtam ha uvāca ajātaśatruḥAjātaśatru said to him; that Ajātaśatru replied
मा मा एतस्मिन् समवादयिष्ठाःmā mā etasmin samavādayiṣṭhāḥ“do not draw me into talk of him”; “do not make me discourse of him”
प्रजापतिः इतिprajāpatiḥ iti“Prajāpati”; “the Lord of creatures”
वै अहम् एतम् उपासे इतिvai aham etam upāse iti“so do I revere him”; “thus I worship him”
सः यः ह एतम्saḥ yaḥ ha etamand he who him; the one who him
एवम् उपास्तेevam upāsteso reveres; worships thus
प्रजायते प्रजया पशुभिःprajāyate prajayā paśubhiḥmultiplies in progeny and cattle; increases in children and herds
अनुवाद
Bālāki said: “The puruṣa who is in the body — him I revere.” Ajātaśatru said to him: “Do not draw me into talk of him! I revere him as Prajāpati.” And he who so reveres him multiplies in progeny and cattle.
संस्करण
f2c053546673 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:43:45 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Fifth in the inner series is the bodily man himself, and the correction names him Prajāpati, “the Lord of creatures”.
The name belongs to the creator of beings, to him who begets and preserves. It is given to the body — and given without mockery: the body truly is that by which a man produces offspring and through which the line continues.
Hence the fruit, the most direct of all: “he multiplies in progeny and cattle”. Nothing abstract; the reverence of the body as Prajāpati yields the very thing the body serves for.
Here it is worth recalling how this same book has dealt with the body before. In the second adhyāya the father embraces his son “with that with which Prajāpati embraced the creatures for their unhurtness”; there too the body is handed over piece by piece. Nowhere is the body called a hindrance or a prison.
But the limit of this reverence is visible too. Prajāpati is the creator within the universe, not that which creates him; and in the third adhyāya it was said that the body without prāṇa lies like a log. Bālāki pointed to the living body; but who raises it — of that the speech is still to come.