तं होवाचाजातशत्रुर्यत्रैष एतद्बालाके पुरुषोऽशयिष्ट यत्रैतदभूद्यत एतदागाद्धिता नाम हृदयस्य नाड्यो हृदयात्पुरीततमभिप्रतन्वन्ति तद्यथा सहस्रधा केशो विपाटितस्तावदण्व्यः पिङ्गलस्याणिम्ना तिष्ठन्ति । शुक्लस्य कृष्णस्य पीतस्य लोहितस्येति तासु तदा भवति । यदा सुप्तः स्वप्नं न कञ्चन पश्यत्यस्मिन्प्राण एवैकधा भवति तथैनं वाक्सर्वैर्नामभिः सहाप्येति चक्षुः सर्वै रूपैः सहाप्येति श्रोत्रं सर्वैः शब्दैः सहाप्येति मनः सर्वैर्ध्यातैः सहाप्येति स यदा प्रतिबुध्यते यथाग्नेर्ज्वलतो सर्वा दिशो विस्फुलिङ्गा विप्रतिष्ठेरन्नेवमेवैतस्मादात्मनः प्राणा यथायतनं विप्रतिष्ठन्ते प्राणेभ्यो देवा देवेभ्यो लोकास्तद्यथा क्षुरः क्षुरध्यानेऽवहितः स्याद्विश्वंभरो वा विश्वंभरकुलाय एवमेवैष प्राज्ञ आत्मेदं शरीरमात्मानमनुप्रविष्ट आ लोमभ्य आ नखेभ्यः
taṃ hovācājātaśatruryatraiṣa etadbālāke puruṣo'śayiṣṭa yatraitadabhūdyata etadāgāddhitā nāma hṛdayasya nāḍyo hṛdayātpurītatamabhipratanvanti tadyathā sahasradhā keśo vipāṭitastāvadaṇvyaḥ piṅgalasyāṇimnā tiṣṭhanti | śuklasya kṛṣṇasya pītasya lohitasyeti tāsu tadā bhavati | yadā suptaḥ svapnaṃ na kañcana paśyatyasminprāṇa evaikadhā bhavati tathainaṃ vāksarvairnāmabhiḥ sahāpyeti cakṣuḥ sarvai rūpaiḥ sahāpyeti śrotraṃ sarvaiḥ śabdaiḥ sahāpyeti manaḥ sarvairdhyātaiḥ sahāpyeti sa yadā pratibudhyate yathāgnerjvalato sarvā diśo visphuliṅgā vipratiṣṭherannevamevaitasmādātmanaḥ prāṇā yathāyatanaṃ vipratiṣṭhante prāṇebhyo devā devebhyo lokāstadyathā kṣuraḥ kṣuradhyāne'vahitaḥ syādviśvaṃbharo vā viśvaṃbharakulāya evamevaiṣa prājña ātmedaṃ śarīramātmānamanupraviṣṭa ā lomabhya ā nakhebhyaḥ
Ajātaśatru said to him: “Where this man lay, Bālāki, where he was and whence he returned — this is where. The channels of the heart called hitā stretch from the heart to the pericardium; they are as fine as a hair split a thousandfold, and stand in the fineness of brown, white, black, yellow and red. In them he then abides. When, asleep, he sees no dream, then breath alone remains one in him; then speech with all names enters into him, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he awakes, then — as sparks fly out in all directions from a blazing fire — so from this self the breaths disperse to their places, from the breaths the gods, from the gods the worlds. And as a razor is laid in its case or fire in the hearth, so this understanding self has entered this body — down to the hairs, down to the nails.”
8c49b57f5674 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:43:45 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The answer to “where was he?” — and the answer begins with a description of the place, a bodily description at that.
The channels of the heart, hitā, stretch from the heart to the pericardium; they are “as fine as a hair split a thousandfold”, and colours are distinguished in them: brown, white, black, yellow, red. Of these same channels the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and the Chāndogya speak. One should not look for anatomy in our sense here; what is said is that sleep has a place in the body, and that place is the heart.
Then is repeated word for word what already stood in the third adhyāya: in deep sleep speech with all names, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts enter into the man and become one with prāṇa. The repetition here is no carelessness: there Indra said it as doctrine; here the king says it over the lying body, pointing with a finger.
And the awakening is described with the same image of sparks from fire. The world does not await the wakened man ready-made — it unfolds out of him: first the breaths to their places, then the deities, then the worlds.
And at the end two comparisons are given, both taken from household use. A razor laid in its case: the blade is wholly inside and unseen from without. And fire in the hearth: it burns within, and the hearth does not burn away. So “the understanding self has entered this body — down to the hairs, down to the nails”.
The last words deserve to be heard. Not “it sits in the heart”, but — down to the hairs and the nails: there is no place in the body it has not penetrated. And yet it is laid into the body like a razor into its case — that is, distinct from it, and taken out of it whole.