Upanishads · Parabrahma 1.5
॥
Devanāgarī
को जालं विक्षिपेदेको नैनमपकर्षत्यपकर्षति । प्राणदेवाश्चत्वारः । ताः सर्वा नाड्यः सुषुप्तश्येनाकाशवत्
Transliteration (IAST)
ko jālaṃ vikṣipedeko nainamapakarṣatyapakarṣati | prāṇadevāścatvāraḥ | tāḥ sarvā nāḍyaḥ suṣuptaśyenākāśavat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कः जालं विक्षिपेत् एकःkaḥ jālaṃ vikṣipet ekaḥwho, alone, would cast the net
न एनम् अपकर्षतिna enam apakarṣatidoes not draw him along
प्राण-देवाः चत्वारःprāṇa-devāḥ catvāraḥof the breath-gods, four
ताः सर्वाः नाड्यःtāḥ sarvāḥ nāḍyaḥall those veins
सुषुप्त-श्येन-आकाश-वत्suṣupta-śyena-ākāśa-vatas the sky for the sleeping falcon
Translation
Who, alone, would cast the net? ... it does not draw him along. Of the breath-gods, four; all those veins — as the sky for the sleeping falcon.
Version
3b2dd91adcf9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is obscure, and in it the question deserves noting: ko jālaṃ vikṣipet ekaḥ, "who, alone, would cast the net?" Jāla means "net" — a fishing or fowling net; and it is cast by one who catches. The question, then, is rhetorical: who but He alone cast this net? The image of the net for the world is constant in Vaiṣṇava books and always double-edged: a net catches, but it also holds together. The word sūtra, "thread," of which a net is woven, was discussed when reading the Pāśupata (1.10); and the Gītā says: "on Me all this is strung, as pearls on a thread" (7.7).
It is worth noting that the difference between a net and a strand of pearls is not in the structure, but in the purpose. One thread catches, the other holds a necklace together; and both alike run through everything. The Vaiṣṇava reading, then, does not dispute the image of the net: it is true for one thrashing within it. But that same cord against which a fish struggles is, for a pearl, what holds it in the row; and everything depends on whether you are the fish or the pearl — that is, whether you pull away or lie where you were placed.