उपनिषद् · Prāṇāgnihotra 2.7
॥
देवनागरी
दर्शनाग्निर्नाम चतुराकृतिराहवनीयो भूत्वा मुखे तिष्ठति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
darśanāgnirnāma caturākṛtirāhavanīyo bhūtvā mukhe tiṣṭhati
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
दर्शन-अग्निः नामdarśana-agniḥ nāmathe fire named sight
चतुः-आकृतिः आहवनीयः भूत्वाcatuḥ-ākṛtiḥ āhavanīyaḥ bhūtvāfour-cornered, having become the āhavanīya
मुखे तिष्ठतिmukhe tiṣṭhatidwells in the mouth
अनुवाद
The fire named sight, four-cornered, having become the āhavanīya, dwells in the mouth.
संस्करण
9830e78a7dfa · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second fire is called darśana-agni, "the fire of sight," and is placed in the mouth. A strange correspondence: sight — and the mouth. It is explained, apparently, by the fact that the āhavanīya is the fire into which the offering is poured; and in the body, one pours into the mouth. And it is named "sight" because this fire is visible: it is on the outside.
Note also the shape: catur-ākṛti, "four-cornered." In ritual, altars have different shapes: the āhavanīya is square, the gārhapatya round, the dakṣiṇa semicircular; and the book has preserved these shapes, transferring the fires into the body. The transfer, then, is made with the details preserved, not merely by general sense; and this, to my mind, is a sign that it was done by people who knew the rite thoroughly.
The Vaiṣṇava side counts the mouth first among the instruments of service and speaks of it in words fitting here. The Bhāgavatam: "those mouths are serpent-holes that do not sing the Name of Hari"; and elsewhere — that a tongue not tasting the story of Him is the tongue of a frog croaking in a swamp (2.3.20 and following). The images are harsh, and it is worth saying why they are cited. The mouth is a double instrument: with it one eats, and with it one speaks; and both uses are set side by side in these books.
Hence this whole book, having begun with eating, ends by commanding that one read; and the mouth, having been an altar, turns out also to be a voice.