奥义书 · Kaṭharudra 14
॥
天城文
आकाशाद्वायुसंज्ञस्तु स्पर्शोऽपञ्चीकृतः पुनः । वायोरग्निस्तथा चाग्नेराप अद्भ्यो वसुन्धरा
转写 (IAST)
ākāśādvāyusaṃjñastu sparśo'pañcīkṛtaḥ punaḥ | vāyoragnistathā cāgnerāpa adbhyo vasundharā
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आकाशात् वायु-संज्ञः तुākāśāt vāyu-saṃjñaḥ tufrom space — called wind
स्पर्शः अ-पञ्चीकृतः पुनःsparśaḥ a-pañcīkṛtaḥ punaḥtouch, again unquintupled
वायोः अग्निः तथा च अग्नेःvāyoḥ agniḥ tathā ca agneḥfrom wind, fire; and so from fire
आपः अद्भ्यः वसुन्धराāpaḥ adbhyaḥ vasundharāwater; from water, the earth
译文
From space — called wind, touch, again unquintupled; from wind, fire, and so from fire, water; from water, the earth.
版本
a8a95ce8a9be · 发布于 2026年8月12日 05:00:00 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
A chain of elements: space, wind, fire, water, earth. It is found in the Taittirīya (2.1) and recurs in all these books; it was discussed when reading the Kuṇḍikā and the Tripurā-tāpanī (21). It is worth noting the word apañcīkṛta, "unquintupled." It points to the teaching of pañcīkaraṇa, "quintupling," which the book will set out in the next verse: the subtle elements, before becoming the coarse world, mix with one another in a fixed proportion — half of one's own and an eighth from each of the other four.
This teaching is worked out in detail in later Vedānta, and it is, in essence, an explanation of why pure substances do not occur in our world. Water is never only water: it contains something of earth, of fire, and of air; and hence it wets, flows, and cools at once. This observation is true and, more importantly, verifiable. Everything we touch is a mixture; no one has ever seen a pure element, and they are a matter of reasoning, not of experience.
A separate word is worth saying about the word vasundharā, "bearing wealth," by which the earth is named. Vasu means "good, possession"; dhara, "bearer." The earth is named not as hard or heavy, but as that which bears good upon itself; and this again is what one notices constantly in such lists: even in an abstract inventory of elements, the last is named for its usefulness to the living.