Aitareya Upanishad

The Aitareya Upanishad is a short prose text from the Aitareya Aranyaka in the Rig Veda. It explains the symbolic meaning of the rituals described in the previous chapters of the Aranyaka, and contains particularly famous aphorisms (maha vakya) like prajnanam brahma - "Brahman is perfect knowledge". Aitareya Upanishad discusses the philosophy of the individual and the self, the theory of reincarnation, and the relationship between individual consciousness and the universal consciousness.

Aitareya 1.1.4

He scorched him so the mouth cracked open like an egg. From the mouth came speech, and from that speech came the god of fire. The nostrils parted, giving way to breath, and from that breath came the god of the wind. The two eyes split, producing the sense of sight, and from that sense of sight came the god of the sun. The two ears parted, producing the sense of hearing, and from hearing came the four directions. The skin emerged, producing body hair, and from that hair came herbs and trees. The heart opened, producing the mind, and from the mind came the moon. The navel parted, producing the excretory system, and by the organ of excretion came death. The penis emerged, producing semen, and from that stream came water.








  • tamabhyatapattasyābhitaptasya —

  • mukhaṃ —

  • nirabhidyata —

  • yathā'ṇḍaṃ —

  • mukhādvāgvāco'gnirnāsike —

  • nirabhidyetaṃ —

  • nāsikābhyāṃ —

  • prāṇaḥ —

  • prāṇādvāyurakṣiṇī —

  • nirabhidyetamakṣībhyāṃ —

  • cakṣuścakṣuṣa —

  • ādityaḥ —

  • karṇau —

  • nirabhidyetāṃ —

  • karṇābhyāṃ —

  • śrotraṃ —

  • śrotraddiśastvaṅnirabhidyata —

  • tvaco —

  • lomāni —

  • lomabhya —

  • oṣadhivanaspatayo —

  • hṛdayaṃ —

  • nirabhidyata —

  • hṛdayānmano —

  • manasaścandramā —

  • nābhirnirabhidyata —

  • nābhyā —

  • apāno'pānānmṛtyuḥ —

  • śiśnaṃ —

  • nirabhidyata —

  • śiśnādreto —

  • retasa —

  • āpaḥ —

Aitareya Upanishad