LinuxTurn pages
Upanishads · Śāṭyāyanīya 9
॥
Devanāgarī
विष्णुलिङ्गं द्विधा प्रोक्तं व्यक्तमव्यक्तमेव च । तयोरेकमपि त्यक्त्वा पतत्येव न संशयः
Transliteration (IAST)
viṣṇuliṅgaṃ dvidhā proktaṃ vyaktamavyaktameva ca | tayorekamapi tyaktvā patatyeva na saṃśayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विष्णु-लिङ्गं द्विधा प्रोक्तंviṣṇu-liṅgaṃ dvidhā proktaṃthe mark of Viṣṇu is said to be twofold
व्यक्तम् अ-व्यक्तम् एव चvyaktam a-vyaktam eva camanifest and unmanifest
तयोः एकम् अपि त्यक्त्वाtayoḥ ekam api tyaktvāabandoning even one of the two
पतति एव न संशयःpatati eva na saṃśayaḥone falls — there is no doubt
Translation
"The mark of Viṣṇu is said to be twofold: manifest and unmanifest; abandoning even one of the two, [a person] falls — there is no doubt."
Version
216da0666fa4 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The concept of viṣṇu-liṅga, "the mark of Viṣṇu," is introduced, and it is the central concept of this book. Liṅga means "mark, sign, token"; and this word here has no connection to the Śaiva usage, where it denotes an image. It is worth examining the division into manifest and unmanifest, for it is, to my mind, the finest passage in the whole book.
Vyakta, "manifest," is the outer: staff, thread, tilaka, clothing. Avyakta, "unmanifest," is the inner: restraint, memory, devotion. And it is said that one who abandons even one of the two falls.
This statement is worth voicing, for it rejects at once two usual extremes. The first: "what matters is the inner, and the outer does not matter." To this the book answers: one who abandons the manifest falls.
The second: "do what is prescribed, and what is within is your own affair." To this it answers: one who abandons the unmanifest falls just the same. The requirement of both is, to my mind, the soberest arrangement ever devised for religious life; and it is precisely what the Vaiṣṇava side calls vidhi and bhāva: rule and feeling.
Let us add what she says about their relation. A rule without feeling is dry but not fruitless: it holds a person until the feeling comes. Feeling without a rule does not hold: it comes and goes, and there is nothing to keep it.
Hence her practice requires both, and Rūpa Gosvāmī's verse states that practice by rule is a preparation for practice by inclination, not a rival to it.