Upanishads · Parabrahma 1.20
॥
Devanāgarī
अपवर्गस्य यतेः शिखायज्ञोपवीतमूलं प्रणवमेकमेव वदन्ति । हंसः शिखा । प्रणव उपवीतम् । नादः संधानम्
Transliteration (IAST)
apavargasya yateḥ śikhāyajñopavītamūlaṃ praṇavamekameva vadanti | haṃsaḥ śikhā | praṇava upavītam | nādaḥ saṃdhānam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अपवर्गस्य यतेःapavargasya yateḥof the ascetic seeking release
शिखा-यज्ञ-उपवीत-मूलंśikhā-yajña-upavīta-mūlaṃthe root of the tuft and sacrificial thread
प्रणवम् एकम् एव वदन्तिpraṇavam ekam eva vadantithey call the praṇava alone
हंसः शिखा प्रणवः उपवीतम्haṃsaḥ śikhā praṇavaḥ upavītamthe haṃsa — the tuft, the praṇava — the thread
नादः संधानम्nādaḥ saṃdhānamsound — the joining
Translation
For the ascetic seeking release, the root of the tuft and sacrificial thread is called the praṇava alone: the haṃsa — the tuft, the praṇava — the thread, sound — the joining.
Version
fc0d717b4fcd · published Aug 6, 2026, 4:32:42 PM UTC
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The correspondence is carried to full completion: the outer thread has a tuft, a strand, and a knot; and for the inner thread three are likewise named — haṃsa, praṇava, and nāda, "sound." Look at the third: nādaḥ saṃdhānam, "sound — the joining." Saṃdhāna means "binding, junction, that by which things are fastened together"; and on the outer thread this is the knot that binds the ends into a loop.
This correspondence is well thought out. A thread, after all, is not a length of string: it is closed, worn as a loop over the shoulder; and that by which it is closed is what makes it a thread and not a scrap. So it is said: sound is that by which the inner is closed into a loop. Not the beginning and not the end, but the junction; and without it, everything would come apart.
The Vaiṣṇava reading has full sympathy for this passage, for in the Vaiṣṇava tradition sound occupies the very same position. The Name is that by which a person joins with Him; not a means of approach and not a description, but the very fastening itself. And note: the fastening on a thread is neither an ornament nor the largest part — it is small and inconspicuous; yet remove it, and there is no thread.