Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 13
॥
Devanāgarī
कथं कृष्णो ब्रह्मचारी कथं दूर्वाशनो मुनिः
Transliteration (IAST)
kathaṁ kṛṣṇo brahmacārī kathaṁ dūrvāśano muniḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कथम् कृष्णः ब्रह्मचारीkatham kṛṣṇaḥ brahmacārīhow is Kṛṣṇa a brahmacārin; in what way is Kṛṣṇa continent
कथम् दूर्वाशनः मुनिःkatham dūrvāśanaḥ muniḥhow is the sage one who does not eat; in what way does Durvāsā fast
Translation
"How then is Kṛṣṇa a brahmacārin? And how is this sage one who does not eat?"
Version
974d8bd93875 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:30:24 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The question is put without evasion, and in it is all the honesty of this book. The women do not pretend not to have noticed the contradiction; they name it aloud.
Note that they ask not "is this true?" but "how is it possible?" The word that carried them across the river has proved its power; there is no doubt of it. There is perplexity as to the manner of its being true.
This is the fitting position of a pupil in the Upaniṣads: to accept the efficacy and ask for an explanation. The sages of the book's first part went the same way — they did not contest Brahmā's answer but asked him to unfold the names.
The answer that follows will not be domestic at all. Durvāsā will not explain that he ate little or that Kṛṣṇa danced innocently; he will begin with the structure of the world — with sound and space, fire and taste — and will show that the eater and the eaten are not at all where we look for them.
So out of a question about a river crossing will grow the most abstract argument in the whole book.