Upanishads · Parabrahma 2
॥
Devanāgarī
पुनर्जन्मनिवृत्यर्थं मोक्षस्याहर्निशं स्मरेत् । सूचनात्सूत्रमित्युक्तं सूत्रं नाम परं पदम्
Transliteration (IAST)
punarjanmanivṛtyarthaṃ mokṣasyāharniśaṃ smaret | sūcanātsūtramityuktaṃ sūtraṃ nāma paraṃ padam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पुनः-जन्म-निवृत्ति-अर्थंpunaḥ-janma-nivṛtti-arthaṃfor the sake of ceasing new birth
मोक्षस्य अहः-निशं स्मरेत्mokṣasya ahaḥ-niśaṃ smaretlet him remember liberation day and night
सूचनात् सूत्रम् इति उक्तंsūcanāt sūtram iti uktaṃ'from indicating — thread,' so it is said
सूत्रं नाम परं पदम्sūtraṃ nāma paraṃ padamthe thread is named the highest station
Translation
For the sake of ceasing new birth, let him remember liberation day and night. 'From indicating — thread,' so it is said: the thread is named the highest station.
Version
5469b6b8c7cc · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An interpretation of the word sūtra is given through sūcana, "indicating": the thread is called a thread because it indicates. This interpretation is common in Sanskrit and rests on the resemblance of the roots siv, "to sew," and sūc, "to indicate"; it is not strict etymology, but the thought in it is good. Let us think what it says. The thread is not the thing itself: it is a sign by which the wearer is recognized. A thread on the shoulder indicates who you are; and the inner thread indicates the same thing, only to someone else.
It is worth noting the first half-verse too: ahar-niśam smaret, "let him remember day and night." Again the demand for continuity, discussed when reading the Pāśupata (2.44), and again it is almost unattainable by effort. The Vaiṣṇava reading treats the word smaret, "let him remember," as the chief thing, and does not consider it a demand on memory. Smaraṇa in the Vaiṣṇava tradition is one of the nine acts of devotion, and it comes not from an effort to remember, but from the object being dear. One who loves remembers without a reminder; and so in the Vaiṣṇava tradition the work is done not on memory, but on making it beloved.