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Upanishads · Jābāli 7
॥
Devanāgarī
स तमुवाच यथा तृणाशिनो विवेकहीनाः परप्रेष्याः कृष्यादिकर्मसु नियुक्ताः सकलदुःखसहाः स्वस्वामिबध्यमाना गवादयः पशवः । यथा तत्स्वामिन इव सर्वज्ञ ईशः पशुपतिः
Transliteration (IAST)
sa tamuvāca yathā tṛṇāśino vivekahīnāḥ parapreṣyāḥ kṛṣyādikarmasu niyuktāḥ sakaladuḥkhasahāḥ svasvāmibadhyamānā gavādayaḥ paśavaḥ | yathā tatsvāmina iva sarvajña īśaḥ paśupatiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथा तृण-अशिनःyathā tṛṇa-aśinaḥas grass-eaters
विवेक-हीनाः पर-प्रेष्याःviveka-hīnāḥ para-preṣyāḥdevoid of discernment, sent by others
कृषि-आदि-कर्मसु नियुक्ताःkṛṣi-ādi-karmasu niyuktāḥset to ploughing and other tasks
सकल-दुःख-सहाःsakala-duḥkha-sahāḥenduring every suffering
स्व-स्वामि-बध्यमानाःsva-svāmi-badhyamānāḥbound by their own master
गव-आदयः पशवःgava-ādayaḥ paśavaḥoxen and the like are the beast
यथा तत्-स्वामिनः इवyathā tat-svāminaḥ ivaso their master
सर्व-ज्ञः ईशः पशुपतिःsarva-jñaḥ īśaḥ paśupatiḥthe all-knowing Īśa, lord of the beast
Translation
“As oxen and the like are the beast — grass-eaters, devoid of discernment, sent by others, set to ploughing and other tasks, enduring every suffering, bound by their own master — so the all-knowing Īśa, lord of the beast, is like their master.”
Version
087bfc0562f8 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A picture is given, and it deserves to be examined feature by feature, for every feature here is chosen deliberately. Tṛṇāśinaḥ — “grass-eaters”: they feed on what grows underfoot. Viveka-hīnāḥ — “devoid of discernment”: they cannot tell the useful from the harmful.
Para-preṣyāḥ — “sent by others”: they go not where they themselves wish. Kṛṣy-ādi-karmasu niyuktāḥ — “set to ploughing”: they labour for another’s gain. Sakala-duḥkha-sahāḥ — “enduring every suffering.”
Sva-svāmi-badhyamānāḥ — “bound by their own master.” The picture is precise and, it must be said, cheerless: the beast is described as a work-animal, and the master as the one who ties it and drives it. Let us say plainly what to make of this comparison.
The first five features are, to my mind, true and applicable: a person really does feed on what is underfoot, fails to discern the useful, goes where driven, labours for another, and endures. The sixth — “bound by its own master” — is exactly what the Vaiṣṇava side objects to, and objects to on substance. If the master ties the knot, then the trouble comes from him, and there is no one to complain to: one would be complaining precisely to him.
Its own reading is different, and was cited reading Varāha (2.54): the world is īśena kalpita, “fashioned by the Lord,” but the bonds are jīva-kalpita, “fashioned by the soul itself.” That is, the tether was not put on by the master but wound on by oneself; and so it is removed, without requiring any reconsideration of him. Add, too, that in its own image of the herd all this looks different.
The cows of Vṛndāvana neither plough nor are bound; they graze, they come at the call, and they stand entranced. The difference between the two pictures is, to my mind, the difference between a cattle-yard and a pasture; and both are called by the one word paśu.