उपनिषद् · Prāṇāgnihotra 4.3
॥
देवनागरी
तन्मात्राणि सदस्याः । महाभूतानि प्रयाजाः । भूतानि गुणा अनुयाजाः । जिह्वेडा । दन्तोष्ठौ सूक्तवाकः । तालुः शंयोर्वाकः । स्मृतिर्दया क्षान्तिरहिंसा पत्नीसंयाजाः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tanmātrāṇi sadasyāḥ | mahābhūtāni prayājāḥ | bhūtāni guṇā anuyājāḥ | jihveḍā | dantoṣṭhau sūktavākaḥ | tāluḥ śaṃyorvākaḥ | smṛtirdayā kṣāntirahiṃsā patnīsaṃyājāḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तन्मात्राणि सदस्याःtanmātrāṇi sadasyāḥthe subtle elements are those seated
महा-भूतानि प्रयाजाःmahā-bhūtāni prayājāḥthe great elements the preliminary sacrifices
जिह्वा इडा दन्तौष्ठौ सूक्त-वाकःjihvā iḍā dantauṣṭhau sūkta-vākaḥthe tongue the iḍā, the teeth and lips the recitation of the hymn
स्मृतिः दया क्षान्तिः अ-हिंसाsmṛtiḥ dayā kṣāntiḥ a-hiṃsāmemory, mercy, patience, harmlessness
पत्नी-संयाजाःpatnī-saṃyājāḥthe sacrifices with the wife
अनुवाद
The subtle elements are those seated, the great elements the preliminary sacrifices, [the guṇas] the after-sacrifices; the tongue the iḍā, the teeth and lips the recitation of the hymn, the palate the recitation of peace; memory, mercy, patience, and harmlessness — the sacrifices with the wife.
संस्करण
87b6464b6020 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here is the passage for whose sake this listing deserves reading: smṛtir dayā kṣāntir ahiṃsā patnī-saṃyājāḥ. Into a ritual list where everything up to now has been bodily — tongue, teeth, palate — four moral qualities are set: memory, mercy, patience, harmlessness. And they are set in the place of patnī-saṃyāja, "the sacrifices with the wife," that is, those closing libations in which the spouse takes part.
This correspondence, to my mind, is not chosen at random, and it is worth saying why. The wife, in the rite, is the one without whom it is invalid; and in her place are set the qualities without which everything else is invalid. That is, it is said: one can perform the whole rite with the body and not perform it at all, if these four are absent.
The Vaiṣṇava side has a list of such qualities, discussed more than once; here it is worth noting that three of the four named coincide with the first in its own list: kṛpālu ("merciful"), titikṣu ("patient"), akṛta-droha ("harmful to no one") — Bhāgavatam 3.25.21. The fourth, smṛti, "memory," stands separately for it, and means remembrance of Him. Let us add what should be said about this joining of rite and character. The book does not say "character instead of rite," and does not say "rite instead of character": it inserts character into the rite, at a definite place.
This arrangement, to my mind, is truer than either extreme. It allows neither performing the rite without character, nor invoking character while performing nothing at all.