Upanishads · Kaṭharudra 3
॥
Devanāgarī
स्नानं पानं तथा शौचमद्भिः पूताभिराचरेत् । नदीपुलिनशायी स्याद्देवागारेषु वा स्वपेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
snānaṃ pānaṃ tathā śaucamadbhiḥ pūtābhirācaret | nadīpulinaśāyī syāddevāgāreṣu vā svapet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्नानं पानं तथा शौचम्snānaṃ pānaṃ tathā śaucambathing, drinking, and purification
अद्भिः पूताभिः आचरेत्adbhiḥ pūtābhiḥ ācaretlet him perform with purified water
नदी-पुलिन-शायी स्यात्nadī-pulina-śāyī syātlet him sleep on a riverbank
देव-आगारेषु वा स्वपेत्deva-āgāreṣu vā svapetor let him sleep in the houses of the gods
Translation
Bathing, drinking, and purification let him perform with purified water; let him sleep on a riverbank, or in the houses of the gods.
Version
e66e73b955db · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The simplest rules: to drink and wash with strained water, to sleep on the riverbank or in a temple. Adbhiḥ pūtābhiḥ, "with purified water," means water passed through cloth. This is done, like the rule against running (p11), for the sake of small life: unstrained water is full of it, and one who drinks it kills.
It is worth noting the choice of lodging: riverbank sand or a temple. What unites both places is that they belong to no one. One cannot settle on the sand — the river will wash it away; one cannot make a home of the temple — it is not one's own. The renounced is given places one cannot turn into a dwelling.
The Vaiṣṇava side knows this custom and holds it to this day: the renounced are not to spend more than three nights under one roof — precisely so as not to grow accustomed. Behind this rule stands an observation about people, precise and unhappy. Attachment is not formed by decision, but grows of itself, through repetition; and anyone who has lived in one place for three nights begins to consider the corner his own. Hence the rule speaks not of feelings, but of a term: feelings cannot be reasoned with, but a term can be measured out.