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You have taken birth from my various limbs and have arisen from my very heart. You are my own self in the form of my son. May you live through a hundred autumns.

Satapatha Brahmana (14.9.8.4).

I found this quote attributed to the Satapatha Brahmana, on a commentary of the Bhagavata Purana, although I could not find it online.

What is the meaning of this verse?

Edit.: Got a better source from comment.

Thou arisest from me, limb by limb, above all art thou born from my heart ; thou art verily my soul, my son; live thou an hundred years.

Kaushitaki Upanishad.

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  • Firstly, I would like to know about the numbering used 14.9.8.4 . The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa is usually divided in kāṇdas, which are further divided into adhyāyas and then into brāhmaṇas. There is no 9th adhyāya and 8th brāhmaṇa in the 14th kāṇḍa in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. The last verse is 14:3:2:31. So, the last adhyāya in 14th kāṇda is 3rd adhyāya. I am giving the links wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/satapatha-brahmana-english sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/index.htm Please tell the correct number of verse in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa because the one given in the question is wrong
    – Bingming
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 21:13
  • @Bingming I couldn't find it either, I found it on a commentary of Bhagavata Purana. vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/78/36
    – Terjij Kassal
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 21:17
  • I see, that's quite problematic. Don't know what numbering they have used in this vedabase site for the verses of Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. If one goes on the standard numbering, 14.9.8.4 doesn't exist.
    – Bingming
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 21:18
  • The commentary in vedabase site has another problem it says that the verse, mentioned by you, in the question has similar content as Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 6.4.8, but that's wrong. BU 6.4.8 is as follows: If she is willing, he should proceed, uttering the following Mantra: ‘I transmit reputation into you,’ and they both become reputed (which is nowhere similar , it is totally different context) –
    – Bingming
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 21:43

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Edit: Question had been updated since my answer below. However, Kaushitaki Upanishad, being one of the 11 most important Upanishads is its own authoritative source, vs. Bhagavad Puran. Upanishads are a higher level pramANa compared to purANAs, just stating for sake of those who were not aware of this. i.e. if you have found something in an Upanishad, you have found the source and there is no reason to go look for other sources.

It is from Kaushitaki Upanishad. Verse is:

angad angat sambhavasi hrdayad abhijayase atma vai putra-namasi sañjiva saradah satam

Meaning: Thou arisest from me, limb by limb, above all art thou born from my heart ; thou art verily my soul, my son; live thou an hundred years.

If you are asking what does it mean, it directly means what it says, i.e. the child is always born with flesh of the parents, and the Atma/Soul in the child is a split-part of the Atma/Soul of the father.

Here is the link to this upanishad.

This verse occurs on Pg 156 in this. Unfortunately, I could not find a better formated source for this upanishad online. There are of course Hindi versions for those who can read & understand Hindi: enter image description here

The last word there has a sandhi (conjunction in English, but there is no equivalent for this grammatical construct in English), so that last word highlighted is in half, because the meaning I provided above ends with half of that word. Removing the sandhi "..sharadam shatamiti nAmAsya.." becomes "..sharadam shatam iti nAmAsya.." and this is the sanskrit verse provided above.

This Hindi verse is from this source, pg 57.

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  • "and the Atma/Soul in the child is a split-part of the Atma/Soul of the father." Is this really true? I thought that the atman of the child is eternal and pre-existed the father's body?
    – Terjij Kassal
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 2:48
  • I amended my answer to include your source.
    – Terjij Kassal
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 2:50
  • @Terjij Kassal - Yes THE soul is eternal, it has been since Brahma was born, and the same soul continues through all of us. That is what punar-janma is in reality, and not what we currently imagine it to be. I already included the sources above. Those of us fathers already have had our punar janma, we can see it walking and talking in our house every day, and we can see its body grow taller every year and finally mature in teens etc.
    – Vijay Sharma
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 14:56
  • The question and answer has been totally changed now😅 This is II.11 btw from Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa Upaniṣad
    – Bingming
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 19:40

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