उपनिषद् · Varāha 5.21
॥
देवनागरी
चतुरङ्गुलमुत्सेधं चतुरङ्गुलमायतम् । अण्डाकारं परिवृतं मेदोमज्जास्थिशोणितैः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
caturaṅgulamutsedhaṃ caturaṅgulamāyatam | aṇḍākāraṃ parivṛtaṃ medomajjāsthiśoṇitaiḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
चतुर्-अङ्गुलम् उत्सेधंcatur-aṅgulam utsedhaṃfour finger-widths in height
चतुर्-अङ्गुलम् आयतम्catur-aṅgulam āyatamfour finger-widths in length
अण्ड-आकारं परिवृतंaṇḍa-ākāraṃ parivṛtaṃegg-shaped, surrounded
मेदः-मज्जा-अस्थि-शोणितैःmedaḥ-majjā-asthi-śoṇitaiḥby fat, marrow, bone, and blood
अनुवाद
"Four finger-widths in height, four finger-widths in length, egg-shaped, surrounded by fat, marrow, bone, and blood…"
संस्करण
d63a4f9d35db · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The description continues, and worth noting is its materiality: the knot is surrounded by fat, marrow, bone, and blood. That is, the discourse is not of a subtle body, but of a bodily organ: it has a size, a shape, and neighbors. This detail is telling, for later expositions of this teaching make the passages and knots bodiless, while here they are still fully material.
Let us add what deserves saying of such a transition. When the teaching of nadi and chakras was not confirmed by dissection, it had two ways out. The first — to admit the description was wrong.
The second — to declare it pertains to another body, inaccessible to the knife. The second was chosen; and this choice, in my view, deserves noting without mockery, but without concealment either: it removes the teaching from verification. We noted the same trait when examining "known only to oneself" (2.81), and let us repeat the conclusion: what cannot be refuted, cannot be confirmed either.
The Vaishnava side subjects its own teaching to verification and gives observable signs: a change of character, tears, a diminishing pull toward everything else; discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (5.11). This, in my view, is the chief difference between a teaching of inner structure and a teaching of relation: the second is visible from outside, the first is not.