Upanishads · Mahā 3.24
॥
Devanāgarī
क्षणमायाति पातालं क्षणं याति नभस्थलम् क्षणं भ्रमति दिक्कुञ्जे तृष्णा हृत्पद्मषट्पदी
Transliteration (IAST)
kṣaṇamāyāti pātālaṃ kṣaṇaṃ yāti nabhasthalam kṣaṇaṃ bhramati dikkuñje tṛṣṇā hṛtpadmaṣaṭpadī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
क्षणम् आयाति पातालम्kṣaṇam āyāti pātālamin a moment it reaches the netherworld; in an instant it descends to the abysses below
क्षणम् याति नभः-स्थलम्kṣaṇam yāti nabhaḥ-sthalamin a moment it goes to the vault of heaven; in an instant it flies to the firmament
क्षणम् भ्रमति दिक्-कुञ्जेkṣaṇam bhramati dik-kuñjein a moment it roams the thickets of the quarters; in an instant it wanders the groves of every direction
तृष्णा हृत्-पद्म-षट्पदीtṛṣṇā hṛt-padma-ṣaṭpadīcraving — the bee in the lotus of the heart; thirst is the bee on the heart's lotus
Translation
“In a moment it is in the netherworld, in a moment on the vault of heaven, in a moment it roams the thickets of the quarters: craving is a bee on the lotus of the heart.”
Version
a36c584a10ac · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third image, and the most beautiful: craving as a bee on the lotus of the heart.
The image is double, and therein is its power. A bee on a lotus is a peaceful, even tender picture. And it is also the picture of what lingers nowhere.
Thrice repeated is kṣaṇam, “in a single moment”: the netherworld, heaven, all the quarters. There is no distance for it.
Note that the heart is called a lotus — that very lotus in which, by this book's first adhyāya (1.10), a flame burns, and in the flame — He. The bee sits in the same place.
It turns out that craving has settled exactly where something else should be. Hence the Vaiṣṇava way of dealing with it: not to drive the bee away, but to give it the flower for which it was made.