Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 6
॥
Devanāgarī
कृष्णेति ब्रह्मचारीत्युक्त्वा मार्गं वो दास्यति
Transliteration (IAST)
kṛṣṇeti brahmacārītyuktvā mārgaṁ vo dāsyati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कृष्णः इतिkṛṣṇaḥ iti"Kṛṣṇa" thus; with the word "Kṛṣṇa"
ब्रह्मचारी इतिbrahmacārī iti"a brahmacārin" thus; and "the celibate"
उक्त्वाuktvāhaving said; having uttered
मार्गम् वः दास्यतिmārgam vaḥ dāsyatiit will give you a road; it will yield you a path
Translation
"Say: 'Kṛṣṇa is a brahmacārin' — and the river will give you a road."
Version
fecbd9571be9 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:30:24 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer is famous and immediately disconcerting. The river will part if one says that Kṛṣṇa is a brahmacārin, that is, one who keeps complete continence.
The disconcertment is legitimate: these are the very women who have spent the night with Him. The word they are told to utter contradicts to the ear what they have just experienced. Of precisely this they will ask in mantra 13.
In the Veda there is a rule: the waters part before truth. So too in tradition a river lets through one behind whom stands an unbroken vow. Here what is put to the test is not the river but the words themselves.
The book will give the answer to the perplexity later, and it will be double. Kṛṣṇa is not bound by a body as we are: His pastimes are not bodily deeds, and therefore He remains untouched. And second: a word spoken in faith works not because we have understood its sense but because it is His.
Note too that it is the river that will give the road — Kṛṣṇa will not part the waters, the waters themselves will. The word once handed over works of itself.