न हि प्रज्ञापेता वाङ्नाम किञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह । नाहमेतन्नाम प्राज्ञासिषमिति । न हि प्रज्ञापेतः प्राणो गन्धं कञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह नाहमेतं गन्धं प्राज्ञासिषमिति । न हि प्रज्ञापेतं चक्षू रूपं किञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह । नाहमेतद्रूपं प्राज्ञासिषमिति न प्रज्ञापेतं श्रोत्रं शब्दं कञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह । नाहमेतं शब्दं प्राज्ञासिषमिति न हि प्रज्ञापेता जिह्वान्नरसं कञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह । नाहमेतमन्नरसं प्राज्ञासिषमिति न प्रज्ञापेतौ हतौ कर्म किञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेतामन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह नाहमेतत्कर्म प्राज्ञासिषमिति न हि प्रज्ञापेतं शरीरं सुखदुःखं किञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह नाहमेतत्सुखदुःखं प्राज्ञासिषमिति न हि प्रज्ञापेत उपस्थ आनन्दं रतिं प्रजातिं काञ्चन प्रज्ञपयेदन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह । नाहमेतमानन्दं न रतिं प्रजातिं प्राज्ञासिषमिति न हि प्रज्ञापेतौ पादावित्यां काञ्चन प्रज्ञापयेतामन्यत्र मे मनोऽभूदित्याह । नाहमेतामित्यां प्राज्ञसिषमिति न हि प्रज्ञापेता धीः काचन सिद्ध्येन्न प्रज्ञातव्यं प्रज्ञायेत्
na hi prajñāpetā vāṅnāma kiñcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha | nāhametannāma prājñāsiṣamiti | na hi prajñāpetaḥ prāṇo gandhaṃ kañcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha nāhametaṃ gandhaṃ prājñāsiṣamiti | na hi prajñāpetaṃ cakṣū rūpaṃ kiñcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha | nāhametadrūpaṃ prājñāsiṣamiti na prajñāpetaṃ śrotraṃ śabdaṃ kañcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha | nāhametaṃ śabdaṃ prājñāsiṣamiti na hi prajñāpetā jihvānnarasaṃ kañcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha | nāhametamannarasaṃ prājñāsiṣamiti na prajñāpetau hatau karma kiñcana prajñapayetāmanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha nāhametatkarma prājñāsiṣamiti na hi prajñāpetaṃ śarīraṃ sukhaduḥkhaṃ kiñcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha nāhametatsukhaduḥkhaṃ prājñāsiṣamiti na hi prajñāpeta upastha ānandaṃ ratiṃ prajātiṃ kāñcana prajñapayedanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha | nāhametamānandaṃ na ratiṃ prajātiṃ prājñāsiṣamiti na hi prajñāpetau pādāvityāṃ kāñcana prajñāpayetāmanyatra me mano'bhūdityāha | nāhametāmityāṃ prājñasiṣamiti na hi prajñāpetā dhīḥ kācana siddhyenna prajñātavyaṃ prajñāyet
For speech without insight would make known no name: “my mind was elsewhere”, he says, “I did not recognise this name”. Smell without insight would make known no odour: “my mind was elsewhere, I did not recognise this odour”. The eye without insight would make known no form: “my mind was elsewhere, I did not recognise this form”. The ear without insight would make known no sound: “I did not recognise this sound”. The tongue without insight would make known no taste of food: “I did not recognise this taste”. The hands without insight would make known no deed: “I did not recognise this deed”. The body without insight would make known neither pleasure nor pain: “I did not recognise this pleasure and pain”. The organ of generation without insight would make known neither bliss, nor delight, nor procreation: “I recognised neither this bliss, nor the delight, nor the procreation”. The feet without insight would make known no going: “I did not recognise this going”. And thought without insight would succeed in nothing, and the knowable would not be known.
c5d28265d4a3 · 发布于 2026年7月29日 03:43:45 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
Proof from the contrary, and it is taken from the most ordinary experience: from absent-mindedness.
A man listened but did not hear; looked but did not see; ate and did not notice the taste. And his excuse is always one: anyatra me manaḥ abhūt — “my mind was elsewhere”. The Upaniṣad repeats this phrase nine times running, and in the repetition lies the argument's whole force.
The conclusion is this: the organ was in place and in working order. The ear had not gone deaf, the eye had not gone blind, the tongue had not gone numb. Only the rider was missing — that very insight which in the previous mantra mounted them. And therefore nothing “was made known”.
The verb prajñapayet underlies the whole analysis: “to make known, to present”. The organ does not itself cognise; it only presents — and it can present only when there is someone to present to.
This sets right the habitual notion that the senses give us the world and reason then processes it. Here it is said otherwise: without insight the senses give nothing. Hearing without attention is not muffled hearing — it is none.
And the last line extends the same to thought itself: “thought without insight succeeds in nothing”. Even reflection, that is, is not the same as prajñā; one can think and not understand, as one can look and not see.
From here the direct step to the next mantra, where it will be said that one must seek not the object, but the one who takes it.