奥义书 · Praśna 1.13
॥
天城文
अहोरात्रो वै प्रजापतिः ।
तस्याहरेव प्राणो रात्रिरेव रयिः ।
प्राणं वा एते प्रस्कन्दन्ति ये दिवा रत्या संयुज्यन्ते ।
ब्रह्मचर्यमेव तद्यद्रात्रौ रत्या संयुज्यन्ते
转写 (IAST)
ahorātro vai prajāpatiḥ |
tasyāhareva prāṇo rātrireva rayiḥ |
prāṇaṃ vā ete praskandanti ye divā ratyā saṃyujyante |
brahmacaryameva tadyadrātrau ratyā saṃyujyante
逐字释义
梵语IAST释义
अहोरात्रः वैahorātraḥ vaiday-and-night indeed; the round of day and night
प्रजापतिःprajāpatiḥPrajāpati; the lord of creatures
तस्यtasyait; in It
अहः एवahaḥ evathe day indeed; the bright part
प्राणःprāṇaḥthe prāṇa; vital force
रात्रिः एवrātriḥ evathe night indeed; the dark part
रयिःrayiḥrayi; the nourishing-material principle
प्राणम् वाprāṇam vāprāṇa indeed; vital force
एते प्रस्कन्दन्तिete praskandantithey squander (pra-√skand — 'to spill out'); they spill; they waste
ये दिवाye divāwho by day; those who in the daytime
रत्या संयुज्यन्तेratyā saṃyujyantethey unite (sam-√yuj); they couple; they come together
ब्रह्मचर्यम् एवbrahmacaryam evabrahmacarya indeed; chastity indeed
तत् यत्tat yatthis is when; that which
रात्रौrātrauby night; in the night-time
रत्या संयुज्यन्तेratyā saṃyujyantethey unite (sam-√yuj); they couple; they come together
译文
"Day-and-night indeed is Prajāpati: the day is prāṇa, the night rayi. Those who unite in pleasure by day squander prāṇa; that they unite by night is [as good as] continence."
版本
614806d5fa20 · 发布于 2026年7月26日 20:35:21 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
The third and closest circle: ahorātro vai prajāpatiḥ — "day-and-night is Prajāpati": day is prāṇa, night is rayi. The cosmology is carried through to the bedchamber: even conjugal union is written into the rhythm of the two principles. By day, in the time of prāṇa, the powers are turned to work and ascent — one who spends them in pleasure prāṇaṁ praskandanti — "squanders prāṇa", goes against the current of life; by night, in the time of rayi, the nourishing and restoring, the permitted union of spouses brahmacaryam eva — "remains as it were continence".
The last formula is astounding: the Upaniṣad calls brahmacarya — continence! — a married life that accords with dharma and rhythm. Purity by the Vedic measure is no refusal of nature but a fidelity to order: everything in its own time and its own measure; what is hallowed is not the suppression of life but its ordering. The Gītā (7.11) gives this its ultimate formula in the first person: dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi — "I am the desire in beings that is not contrary to dharma."
So the first question ("whence creatures?") has quietly come down to the very act of their conception — and has hallowed it: the begetting of offspring, performed in concord with time and with a vow, is a participation in Prajāpati's creative work, not a fall out of it. One step down the ladder of causes remains — food and seed.