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Upanishads · Jābāli 1
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ हैनं भगवन्तं जाबालिं पैप्पलादिः पप्रच्छ भगवन्मे ब्रूहि परमतत्त्वरहस्यम् । किं तत्त्वं को जीवः कः पशुः क ईशः को मोक्षोपाय इति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha hainaṃ bhagavantaṃ jābāliṃ paippalādiḥ papraccha bhagavanme brūhi paramatattvarahasyam | kiṃ tattvaṃ ko jīvaḥ kaḥ paśuḥ ka īśaḥ ko mokṣopāya iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ ह एनं भगवन्तं जाबालिंatha ha enaṃ bhagavantaṃ jābāliṃthen, the Lord Jābāli
पैप्पलादिः पप्रच्छpaippalādiḥ papracchaPaippalādi asked
भगवन् मे ब्रूहिbhagavan me brūhi“Lord, tell me
परम-तत्त्व-रहस्यम्parama-tattva-rahasyamthe secret of the highest truth
किं तत्त्वं कः जीवःkiṃ tattvaṃ kaḥ jīvaḥwhat is truth, who is the living being
कः पशुः कः ईशःkaḥ paśuḥ kaḥ īśaḥwho is the beast, who is the lord
कः मोक्ष-उपायः इतिkaḥ mokṣa-upāyaḥ itiwhat is the means of liberation”
Translation
“Then Paippalādi asked the Lord Jābāli: ‘Lord, tell me the secret of the highest truth: what is truth? who is the living being? who is the beast? who is the lord? what is the means of liberation?’”
Version
e91b3dab33f4 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The Jābāli Upaniṣad begins, and it is worth saying in advance what sort of book this is. In the Muktikā list it is entered as the Jābāla of the Sāmaveda — this is how it is told apart from the Jābāla Upaniṣad on renunciation, which stands nineteenth on this site. By category it is Śaiva, and its content is twofold: the teaching of paśu and pati, “the beast and its master,” and the rite of marking the ash in three lines.
Note who is asking: Paippalādi, that is, a pupil of Pippalāda, the very one who answers the six questions of the Praśna Upaniṣad. Five of his questions are put at once: what is truth, who is the living being, who is the beast, who is the lord, what is the means. Note the third question, for it is unusual and does not appear elsewhere in the Upaniṣads: kaḥ paśuḥ, “who is the beast?”
Paśu means “beast, domestic animal”; and in Śaiva teaching this word is technical: it denotes the soul. This teaching is called pati-paśu-pāśa, “the master, the beast, and the tether”; and the whole book will set it forth. Let us say in advance what the Vaiṣṇava side has to say about this word, for it has something to say, and quite directly.
It too knows the image of the herdsman and the herd — and knows it better than anyone: its chief name is Gopāla, “herdsman,” and Govinda, “finder of cows.” But in its image the herdsman knows his cows by name and calls them, and the cows run at the call; and the difference between such a herdsman and a master who drives his beasts to the field is, as we shall see, the whole difference between the two teachings.