ते हेमे प्राणा अहंश्रेयसे विवदमाना ब्रह्म जग्मुः, तद्धोचुः, को नो वसिष्ठ इति; तद्धोवाच, यस्मिन्व उत्क्रान्त इदं शरीरं पापीयो मन्यते स वो वसिष्ठ इति ॥ ७ ॥
te heme prāṇā ahaṃśreyase vivadamānā brahma jagmuḥ, taddhocuḥ, ko no vasiṣṭha iti; taddhovāca, yasminva utkrānta idaṃ śarīraṃ pāpīyo manyate sa vo vasiṣṭha iti || 7 ||
7. These organs, disputing over their respective greatness, went to Brahman and said to him, ‘Which of us is the Vasiṣṭha?’ He said, ‘That one of you will be the Vasiṣṭha, who departing from among yourselves, people consider this body far more wretched.’
These organs, that of speech and the rest, disputing over—lit. giving contradictory accounts of—their respective greatness, each claiming that it was the greatest, went to Brahman, or Prajāpati denoted by the word ‘Brahman,’ and said to him, ‘Which of us is the Vasiṣṭha,—(best) lives and overcomes others?’ He, Brahman, being asked by them, said, ‘That one of you will be the Vasiṣṭha, who departing from the body from among yourselves, people consider this body far more wretched than before’—for the body, being an aggregate of many impure things, is wretched even while a person is alive; it will be more so then. This is said for creating a feeling of disgust in us. Prajāpati, although he knew it, did not say, ‘This is the Vasiṣṭha,’ to avoid offending the rest.