Āpāka

Āpāka · āpāka, “a potter’s kiln”

Grammar: masculine noun.

Meaning: a potter’s kiln; the text glosses it आँवाँ, आँचा-भट्ठी.

In the scriptures: in the Āpāka-dāna, Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches that a thousand earthen vessels are placed in the kiln, the fire is lit at evening, and the night is spent in jāgaraṇa. At dawn the vessels are taken out and given away with these mantras, in which the kiln is addressed as the form of Brahma and the vessels as living beings (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 167).

आपाक ब्रह्मरूपोऽसि भाण्डानीमानि जन्तवः ।
प्रदानात् ते प्रजापुष्टिः स्वर्गश्चास्तु ममाक्षयः ॥
भाण्डरूपाणि यान्यत्र कल्पितानि मया किल।
भूत्वा सत्पात्ररूपाणि उपतिष्ठन्तु तानि मे॥

āpāka brahmarūpo’si bhāṇḍānīmāni jantavaḥ |
pradānāt te prajāpushṭiḥ svargaścāstu mamākshayaḥ ||
bhāṇḍarūpāṇi yānyatra kalpitāni mayā kila |
bhūtvā satpātrarūpāṇi upatishṭhantu tāni me ||

Āpāka, you are the form of Brahma, and all these vessels are the form of living beings. By giving you, may I have increase through progeny, and may I have undecaying svarga. May all the vessels I have had made stand before me in the form of worthy recipients.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 167

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 167