Upanishads · Brahma 3.7
॥
Devanāgarī
धारणात्तस्य सूत्रस्य नोच्छिष्टो नाशुचिर्भवेत् । सूत्रमन्तर्गतं येषां ज्ञानयज्ञोपवीतिनाम्
Transliteration (IAST)
dhāraṇāttasya sūtrasya nocchiṣṭo nāśucirbhavet | sūtramantargataṃ yeṣāṃ jñānayajñopavītinām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
धारणात् तस्य सूत्रस्यdhāraṇāt tasya sūtrasyafrom the wearing of that thread; from bearing this cord
न उच्छिष्टः न अशुचिः भवेत्na ucchiṣṭaḥ na aśuciḥ bhavethe becomes neither defiled by leavings nor unclean; he is made neither leavings-fouled nor impure
सूत्रम् अन्तर्गतम् येषाम्sūtram antargatam yeṣāmthose in whom the thread has gone within; they in whom the cord is hidden inside
ज्ञानयज्ञोपवीतिनाम्jñānayajñopavītināmthe wearers of the sacred thread of knowledge; those clothed in the yajñopavīta of knowing
Translation
From the wearing of that thread he is neither defiled by leavings nor unclean — those in whom the thread is within, the wearers of the sacred thread of knowledge.
Version
95dcf523a3d7 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:09:07 AM UTC
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The verse promises what for the ancient household mattered more than much else: ucchiṣṭa — “the leavings”.
The word denotes food the lips have touched, and the one who has eaten and not washed. The rules about it are strict and minute: the leavings defile, and with them one may neither pray nor touch the vessels.
And now it is said: the wearer of the inner thread is not defiled by leavings.
Mark the measure. Not “the rules are repealed”, but “they do not fall on him” — as they do not fall on one who has left the sphere in which they operate.
We read something similar in the twenty-fourth mantra of the Kaivalya, where the reciter of the Śatarudriya was purified “from the done and the not-done”.
Note the expression jñāna-yajñopavītin — “wearer of the sacred thread of knowledge”. It is compounded of three words and carries the chapter's whole thought: knowledge, sacrifice, thread — one.
And antargata, “gone within”. Not “absent”: gone within.