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Upanishads · Śāṭyāyanīya 12
॥
Devanāgarī
त्रिसन्ध्यं शक्तितः स्नानं तर्पणं मार्जनं तथा । उपस्थानं पञ्चयज्ञान्कुर्यादामरणान्तिकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
trisandhyaṃ śaktitaḥ snānaṃ tarpaṇaṃ mārjanaṃ tathā | upasthānaṃ pañcayajñānkuryādāmaraṇāntikam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्रि-सन्ध्यं शक्तितःtri-sandhyaṃ śaktitaḥthree times a day, according to ability
स्नानंsnānaṃbathing
तर्पणं मार्जनं तथाtarpaṇaṃ mārjanaṃ tathālibation and sprinkling, likewise
उपस्थानंupasthānaṃstanding [before the sun]
पञ्च-यज्ञान्pañca-yajñānand the five sacrifices
कुर्यात् आ-मरण-अन्तिकम्kuryāt ā-maraṇa-antikamlet him perform until death
Translation
"Three times a day, according to ability, bathing, libation and sprinkling, standing [before the sun], and the five sacrifices — let him perform until death."
Version
7b1df9d56158 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of daily practice begins, and it is worth noting how detailed it is for a book on renunciation. The renounced, by this code, is not free of rite: he bathes three times, performs libation, recites the gāyatrī, stands before the sun, and offers the five sacrifices. It is worth voicing why this matters.
The usual notion of renunciation is that the renounced abandons everything — rite included. Here the opposite is said: he abandons property and family, but the rite ā-maraṇa-antikam, "until death itself." Let us add the qualification śaktitaḥ, "according to ability," standing beside the bathing.
This qualification repeats the one given with the five marks (verse 6), and shows that the code was written by people who had seen the old and the sick. The Vaiṣṇava side holds a rule on this score worth citing, for it is her usual resolution of such questions. Duties are not abandoned by being thrown off, but by being absorbed into the chief thing; and the verse of the Bhāgavatam 4.31.14 speaks of this by comparison: as one who waters the root of a tree nourishes both trunk and branches, and as one who feeds the stomach nourishes all the limbs — so one who serves Him accomplishes everything.
Read this way, the injunction here is not contradicted: the rite is retained not as a duty but as service; and so it neither burdens nor is it canceled.